Three youngLondon practices – Ocean UK, UFO and Plasma Studio are at the forefrontof digital practice in this country, using advanced processes to createarchitectural structures that previously would not have been possible.
Kieran Longassesses the similarities and differences in their work and working methods
PlasmaStudio is seen as being in the vanguard of digital practice, despite its stillsmall size. Its approach to architecture depends on a highly politicised andinflected interpretation and use of computer technology.
While itsbuildings would also be inconceivable without computer technology, it isstriking that Plasma still works heavily in physical models, and talks aboutrelatively conventional architectural concerns when describing its work, and isperhaps less couched in jargon than some of its contemporaries.
Plasma isalso more willing to admit that its approach is a physical and aestheticattempt to discuss critically the boundaries between spatial and politicalrealms. It talks about its work as avoiding hierarchies of organisation,allowing for public space and creating non-didactic spaces conducive toinhabitation.
Itsapproach is often about the sectional relationship of the building, the surroundinglandscape and the city at large. Partner Eva Castro, who previously worked atOcean UK, says: "The section has been quite neglected in traditionalarchitecture in the last decade. The floorplan approach tends to lead to andencourage [vertical] extrusion. A sectional approach allows you to think aboutmovement and time."
Technology,says Holger Kehne, forces a new approach to design. "With these geometriesthere is not a lot of constraint, which means you have to find your own."This willingness to find the edges of what is appropriate seems a long way fromthe formal pyrotechnics that most people see as the result of computer aideddesign at its most technologically sophisticated.
Plasma'sentry into the competition for the Ocean Museum on Germany's Baltic coast showsthese concerns. The practice was shortlisted for the project against such bignames as Sn0hetta, Gunter Behnisch, Zvi Hecker and Nicholas Grimshaw, with ascheme that brought the public into its heart, while preserving a direct,formal relationship with its site on the spectacular north coast of Germany.
Thebuilding is conceived as a series of folded plates, completely without columns,with a void at its heart which serves as a covered public square. Plasma'sinterest in threshold and topography defined the project. "We didn't wantit as a blob, we thought it should have some definition," says Castro. Thebuilding is intended to suggest an underwater world, but without explicitsymbolism, rather "taking away normal referents such as columns".
Perhapswhat is most exciting about Plasma's work is that despite the intimaterelationship of computer technology to its work, it is not afraid to see itselfin relation to more conventional architectural themes and practioners. Kehnesays: "We see ourselves in a tradition - with people like Haring andScharoun. Like any other kind of architecture, it is part of development."
Its projectfor the Mozarteum music conservatoire in Salzburg (placed third in theinternational competition) shows a Scharoun-like concern with topography andhierarchy, creating a folding plane at ground floor entrance level thatencourages a wide range of activities. There are places in which to linger,places to view the space, and also a central area which slowly guides thevisitor up and into the building.
This verypublic space also has an urban function, creating a route through the buildingfrom the city to some historic baroque gardens beyond - a change of level of6m. These public spaces are tempered by the creation of very individual areasfor the various departments of the Mozarteum, given identity through the use ofcolour, but also specific shifting geometries which allow easy navigationthrough the building.
Plasma'slatest projects are both hotels. One is a spectacular interior for a boutiquehotel in Madrid; the other a new build hotel in the Alps of northern Italy. TheMadrid interior is a radical reworking of the conventional hotel corridor,making a cave-like space with an exuberant fractal geometry. It is a staggeringlycomplex geometry, and the amount of physical models littering Plasma's officesuggest that there is some way to go before the final version is arrived at.
Thisperhaps has echoes of a recently completed exhibition design in Munster,Germany, where Kehne teaches. Plasma designed a sinuous form of timber andwhite geo-textile, on to which was projected pictures of the work of variousarchitectural practices. The installation forces visitors around the space in astrictly defined route, and the width and height of the fabric tunnel changesconstantly, making the visitor always aware of his or her own proportions.
All ofPlasma's work is eminently buildable, and although it is highly experimental,its projects are conceived with this in mind.
Copyright2003 Kieran Long/ Building Design