DORNBRACHT - Butterfly Trading

DORNBRACHT the SPIRITof WATER Dornbracht Research Unit ETH Zurich
RITUALS
AND
VISIONS
Dornbracht Research Unit
ETH Zurich
ARCHITONIC
Nils Becker and Tobias Lutz
are the managing directors
of Architonic AG, Zurich.
The internationally based
network, consisting of architects,
designers and IT
specialists, develops design,
communications and information
processes in the context
of architecture, design
and marketing. The platform
www.architonic.com is an
international research instrument
for high-quality design
products, materials and
innovative concepts.
Nils Becker e Tobias Lutz
sono i direttori della
Architonic AG, Zurigo. La
rete, organizzata a livello
internazionale e composta
da architetti, designer e
informatici, mette a punto
processi di progettazione,
di comunicazione e d’informazione
nell’ambito dell’architettura,
del design e del
marketing. La piattaforma
028
www.architonic.com è uno
strumento di ricerca internazionale
per prodotti di
design e materiali di prima
qualità e per progetti
innovativi.
Nils Becker y Tobias Lutz son
los gerentes de Architonic AG,
Zurich. La red internacional
está compuesta por arquitectos,
diseñadores e informáticos
que conforman los
procesos de proyección,
comunicación e información
en el contexto de la arquitectura,
el diseño y el marketing.
La plataforma
www.architonic.com es un
instrumento internacional
de investigación para productos
de diseño, materiales
y conceptos innovadores de
calidad.
RITUALS IN THE ROOM
“Ritual Architecture” is for Dornbracht the result
of many years of dealing with space and personal
hygiene, which was given key inspiration from
the context of the Statements Projects curated by
Mike Meiré.
It became apparent in the works of artists, designers,
musicians, architects and authors that in addition
to physical cleansing there is also mental
cleansing, that subject matter increases in importance
through conscious actions at an idealistic
level, so that the mundane suddenly attains significance.
Man, with his customs and rituals, is then placed
at the centre of the architectural design. In contrast,
the architecture of the 20 th century was characterised
under the influence of modernity, predominantly
by functional aspects which led to numerous
standards in the built-up environment. As a spatial
consequence of this functionalistic way of thinking,
the bathrooms became the wet room. The individual
functions such as washing, showering and
bathing were optimised on the smallest possible
area from a technical and hygienic perspective –
i.e. they were minimised. Until now these functional
elements, standardised in form and size, have
been taken by many planners and architects as
“given” and simply placed one after the other. On
the pretext of economical and functional necessities
the bathroom was increasingly faded out of
architectural design, to become an anteroom.
However, from the perspective of architects, it is
an exciting challenge to include these topics and
considerations of “ritual architecture” in the
design process and to give the purely functional
and technical aspects of the bathroom an added
dimension of human rituals, actions and customs.
This is not primarily about formal or aesthetic
questions, but rather that architecture has become
an interface between the user and his rituals. The
Dornbracht Research Unit was set up together
with Architonic at the ETH Zurich chaired by
Prof. Marc Angélil (Architecture and Design) to
investigate the design potential of the essence of
the “ritual architecture” vision and convert it into
architectural visions. Over several months model
design strategies were implemented with selected
students, which made the aspects of human rituals
in cleansing and personal hygiene the starting point
for the architectural projects. For this a special
design process was developed under the scientific
management of Dirk Hebel and Jörg Stollmann:
1. Investigation of human actions and rituals in
the bathroom including personal hygiene products.
Direct notation of the observation in 1:1 models
and drawings.
2. Further development of the 1:1 model by confrontation
of the private environment of a bathroom
with the public area.
3. Formulation of a thesis from the observations
made.
4. Testing and further development of the thesis
on various building typologies, such as loft
dwelling, one-family house, villa, multiple family
dwelling, tower block and hotel, and their typical
inhabitants.
5. Development of the thesis using a concrete
architectural proposal.
The results are as confusing as they are eclectic.
They all provide architectural visions, stimuli and
inspirations to question the bathroom as a wet
room and to extend it into a living space in the
midst of daily rituals. The illustrated design
processes encourage designers to consciously use
the design potential in the exact observation and
conceptual inclusion of human rituals – regardless
of whether private or mundane, conscious or
unconscious.
RITUALI NELLO SPAZIO
Per Dornbracht l’architettura rituale è il risultato
dell’annoso confronto tra spazio e igiene corporale
che ha trovato il nucleo della sua ispirazione
nel contesto degli Statement Projects, curati da
Mike Meiré.
I lavori di artisti, designer, musicisti, architetti e
autori hanno rivelato che ad una purificazione corporale
si accompagna una purificazione mentale e
che la materia acquista importanza sul piano ideale
grazie alla piena consapevolezza dei gesti. Ed è
così che il quotidiano all’improvviso diventa
significativo.
L’uomo con le sue abitudini e i suoi rituali è
posto al centro della struttura architettonica.
L’architettura del XX secolo, segnata dall’influenza
della modernità, era improntata prevalentemente
agli aspetti funzionali che hanno condotto a una
sequela di standard nell’ambiente costruito. La
conseguenza, in termini di spazio, di questa prospettiva
funzionale è stata la riduzione del bagno a
locale di servizio. Le singole funzioni, quali le
abluzioni, la doccia e il bagno, sono state ottimizzate
su una superficie ridotta e in base ad aspetti
strettamente tecnici e igienici, insomma, sono
state minimizzate. A tutt’oggi sono molti i progettisti
e gli architetti che allineano in modo scontato
questi elementi funzionali, standardizzati nella
forma e nelle dimensioni. Col pretesto di costrizioni
economiche e funzionali, il bagno è stato via
via scartato dalla progettazione architettonica,
scadendo a stanza di secondo ordine.
Eppure, proprio dal punto di vista dell’architetto,
diventa una sfida avvincente il poter includere i
temi e le riflessioni sull’“architettura rituale” nelle
fasi di progettazione e l’estendere gli aspetti puramente
funzionali e tecnici del bagno alla dimensione
di rituali, di gesti e di abitudini dell’uomo.
Non si tratta quindi semplicemente di questioni
formali o estetiche, quanto piuttosto di un’architettura
che diventa interfaccia tra l’utente e i suoi
DORNBRACHT the SPIRITof WATER Dornbracht Research Unit ETH Zurich
Studies by Christina Nater
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