UCD
Charles Institute
UCD Charles Institute The site for University College Dublin Charles Institute of Dermatology is located between two existing buildings; The UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research on one side and UCD Health Sciences Library on the other. It is an Academic Centre located within Ireland’s largest School of Medicine. This specific context with its physical and abstract factors (academic and scientific character of the place) allowed to form a strong IDEA to create design strategy derived directly from the architectural, urban, environmental, abstract and mental context to emphasize the nature of this development. I have designed Charles Institute while working within RKD architects back in 2008. Considering the complexity and importance of such development it took to analyze different pragmatic and abstract, philosophical layer to build solid design outcome.
CONTEXT Everything exists within the context. Everything relates to it. Depending on the values and character of each surrounding entity, one can promote its context or be in opposition. To link to and marvel symbiosis or to stand tall in self celebration. It may be very difficult to establish the exact character of relation, as some are balancing somewhere in between symbiosis and self-promotion. I believe that good example is Rem Koolhaas “fuck the context” statement. Seemingly being in opposition, it is such only without its context, and promoting the context once among its own ideological context of bigger parental philosophy. Context-appropriate architecture by design is looking for qualities / forces that drives the certain space. Testing possibilities of materialization of relationship. Creating direct connections complementing each other spatial and functional needs for better usability, comfort, prosperity. But at the same time protecting from undesirable defragmentation, that leads to chaos, lack of reasoning and degradation through spatial chaos
The purpose of Charles Institute is to provide laboratories and facilities for approx. 70 research scientists at all levels of their development. It is a multi-disciplinary centre engaged in the study of skin in both health and disease states, with focus on genetics, immunology/ inflammation, wound-healing, cancer, and pigmentation science. Innovative technologies are in use (transcriptomics, proteomics, interactomics, metabolomics etc.) to complement state-of-the-art imaging, molecular and cellular biology approaches to make meaningful advances in our understanding of how the skin, our body’s largest organ, can be maintained in a healthy state.
SKIN The sole reason of the existence of the building. An outer layer that holds both aesthetic and functional characteristics. With its dualism across form and function it’s in a constant process to sustain quality of one based on the other. In architectural abstract can be represented in a loop Form follows Function follows Form… etc That simplification relates to a wider understanding of SKIN as a container of all things, mainly living organisms. Therefore, universal Skin should hold flexible and randomized but with unified dynamic parametric set of rules to provide patterns best accommodating local conditions, which may vary from conditions a unit away. Motion in dynamics of skin patterns is directly derived from local conditions, and the pattern itself is representation of ability to adapt to those local conditions.
elevation treatment in simple syntetic way is reflecting the purpouse, the function. It is created from randomized solid and transparent square surfaces dynamically distributed over the skin. The variable density of solids vs transparencies depending on local desire conditions would guarantee its parametric respond and adaptation to local conditions. Randomization of those elements is also an analogy to motion, preserved in time representation of dynamic patterns being an adaptation of infinitely changing abstract and physical conditions but captured in that of many possible, yet contextual-appropriate arrangement.
LOOP The significance of the LINK is determined by its context, and the context evolves thanks to the LINK. They are in a constant reasoning cycle, the feedback loop. The LINK and its LOOP of reasoning. Looping over on itself defines metaphorical LOOP in a chain of UCD scientific research network. We have chosen to express this notion in a looping form of a LINK. It is a formal analogy of constant feedback loop, networking loop, evolving cycle, change of space that allows for a moment of reflection. Within this architectural feature of looping slab and ceilings in the link the collision space has been created to allow students, researchers and scientist to collide with each other, meet up and have an informal exchange of ideas. This was located directly of the link circulation on a first level of the atrium.
LINK Everything is linked. Nothing is fully self-sustain. Sometimes Context itself is generating demand for expansion of space or inflation of new related entity. The pressure against the capacity (physical and / or abstract) of existing explodes with new entities to emerge. The desire for a new space, new building that is created from demand of existing relationships. A LINK. In such cases the connection is rather found and not created. Created by the progress of academic excellence of UCD and necessity for new facilities. By nature of things, Charles Institute of Dermatology as a new entity had to be connected to its quality neighbors for further prosperity and flexibility. This architectural symbiosis is taken directly from the nature and symbiosis of all things that evolve to prosper and produce. Charles Institute is a LINK. A Physical link, enclosed walkway that makes the travel distance shorter and more comfortable, more efficient circulation, connects facilities in obvious, visible way, to improve the invisible, materialization of the idea, the speed of academic progress, the speed of knowledge exchange, the quality of research, laboratory, experiments, debates and brain storming. To bring a betterness into tomorrow. It is a LINK to the future. Materialization of an Idea in simple LINK between the buildings
The final design resulted in constructing elegant black stone elevation with randomized pattern of windows. Stone elevation represents solid skin over the research facilities, transparent glazed atrium accommodating seating area and circulation link exposing the inner organism of the building. Although it is rationalized through materialization of architecture itself, it still holds essential values of abstract design strategy. Abstract relating to or denoting architecture that does not attempt to mimic the style of the context reality, but rather seeks to achieve its material form using spatial representation of analogies to theories of dynamic distribution of bio shapes, connections, symbiosis, cycles and textures. This leads to dynamically unified randomness of the elevation structure to achieve sense of desired responsiveness and flexibility of skin. It visually represents a relationship of outer skin to inner-building meandering functions like inner body systems. Creating an efficient circulation between new and existing facilities to represent an infinite loop of evolution of knowledge. Everything is Liked, nothing is selfsustained
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