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Stefan Rutzinger/ Kristina Schingger

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Based on geometrical rules, aggregations produce complex spatial configurations, peculiarities and even “failures”. Such aggregation processes produce masses and densities instead of surfaces.

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The prototype shown in the Schindler house is a deflatable structure based on an octahedron. An octahedron consists of symmetrical subgeometries and can be described as a square bi-pyramid, a rectified tetrahedron and a triangular antiprism. A cross of congruent axis is embedded into the octahedron which functions as its  supporting structure.

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A polar array of 5 octahedrons around a center point produces an open rosette with a gap of approx. 7 degrees. This characteristic leads to a wider variation of angles and positions within the structure and produces a tendency to grow in linear branches instead of closed loops. Such peculiarities were further investigated through scripting, which enabled the manipulation of certain aggregation parameters such as linearity, direction of growth, attraction or repulsion of obstacles.

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Through changing the air pressure the deflatable structure can shift phase. When the structure is vacuumed, the skin gets sucked in and the inner axis are rendered visible. When the air streams back, the skin gradually relaxes and reverts to its initial shape. Over the repeating “breathing” cycle the appearance shifts between solid and open, opaque and transparent, from a closed mass to a structure with depth.

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The “breathing” could be made sensitive to subtle exterior input as the rhythm of shade and sunlight during a day or the movement of approaching people. The shifting patterns produced by the deflation and unstressing prevent the structure from becoming a fixed shape and refer to the temporality and changeability of aggregation processes.

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Breeze was currently exhibited by the MAK Center Los Angeles at Rudolph Schindler’s Kings Road House (March 2009).

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Conventional concert spaces function like picture stages although our ears know no perspective but are rather immersed in sound. Furthermore the wide range of performances within contemporary music is not suited best through a neutral multifunctional space, but should generate a palette of transformable spatial instruments that trigger new experiments.

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The pavilion acts like a visual and acoustic filter which allows flexible positioning of musicians and audience as well as the integration of the surrounding. Pivotable acoustic elements are arrayed along a surface as tangents (normals). Through rotation of the reflectors this simple rule produces a changing pattern that shifts between regularity and seemingly (because not readable) irregularity.

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Visual and spatial qualities as well as certain acoustis properties can be modified and interlinked with musical effects of compositions. The pavilion’s appearance, depending on the position of the elements varies from dense to sparse, enclosed to transparent. Like the sounds that emerge from it the hairy mass of the pivotable panels produces no form but a flickering presence. The pavilion is no space to enter but a synaesthetic filter to immerse into.

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Synaesthetic Filter was initially developed as a competition and was exhibited at the Aedes Gallery in  Berlin (‘Ohrenstrand’ – Architecture for Contemporary Music, Januar 2009).  It was published in Architektur Aktuell (The Art of Competition, Springer-Verlag, March 2009). Synaesthetic Filter won the recognition price for Experimental Tendencies 2008. Further Information about the Project can be found at Dezeen.

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The structure of the pavilion reflects on the exhibition as an aggregation process under a theme. The different appearances of the basic geometry produce a heterogenous structure that can incorporate diverse artefacts that themselves then get part of the spatial aggregation.

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Unlike modularity, which tries to find efficient ways of breaking up bigger structures into manageable parts, aggregations are based on a molecular element and its inherent accumulation possibilities, often leading to unforeseen results. Molecular design is not solely about finding an efficienct way for creating complexity, but a search for peculiarities and even ‚failures‘ rules produce and how they can be enabled for function.

The basic element is an octahedron which consists of 8 equilateral triangles. A three-dimensional axis-cross is embedded in the octahedron geometry which is congruent to the octahedron surfaces. An aggregation of five octahedrons/crosses in a rotational array leads to a rosette which leaves a gap of approximately 7,4° open.

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The lighting elements are an integral part of the design and create a pattern, that is deduced from the structure‘s geometry. They fill the gaps of the rosettes if they are not otherwise used for water drain. The seemingly failure of the aggregation – the occurence of gaps – is used to enable the structure to function as a summer pavilion.

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soma* won the second prize in the competition for the redesign of the Karlsplatz-Passage, Vienna. It is the busiest public transport hub in Austria, counting over 200.000 passengers a day.

The result of the competition is published in the current edition of Architektur Aktuell (The Art of Competition, Springer-Verlag, March 2009).

The Karlsplatz-Passage is currently cutt-off from its aboveground surrounding. The proposal wants to reconnect it to its context and enforce it as an urban street space.

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The Karlsplatz links some of Vienna’s main cultural institutions like the Künstlerhaus, the Kunsthalle or the Musikverein. Through various options for displays and installations the underpass can be converted into a subterranean gallery: The storefronts function as a visual display, the existing columns are wrapped in matte glass to enable light installations. Informations, schedules or art videos shown on the continuous information screen accompany passer-bys through the passage.

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The curved geometry combined with functions on both sides break the linearity and perspectivity of the passage and create a diversified spatial experience of walking through. The spatial monotony of the passage is further disrupted by the insertion of the “ear”, a visual contact to aboveground that lets sunlight enter the passage. The ear is equipped with loudspeakers to broadcast live-concerts or install sound installations.

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Jury statement: „A proposal with an overall very independent approach, which distinguishes itself from the other projects’ clearly in its expressivity (…) Appreciated is especially the expressive light opening to aboveground with the mulitmedia-based cultural programming.”

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Contemporary music has no built representation in Vienna, the self-proclaimed „city of music“. Sonic Tower wants to fill this gap and bring modern music back to the center, the Karlsplatz.
The broad spectrum of musical creations asks for flexible spaces that do not limit performances to a set-up but offer new possibilities and trigger the experimental.

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In Sonic Tower different types of auditoriums are combined in a vertical continuum. Through air-tight valves segments of the auditorium tube can be acoustically linked or seperated during concerts to modify spatial and acoustic effects. The valves enable the simultaneous use of non-adjanctant auditoriums for individual events or rehearsals.

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The auditorium body is connected to the underground system of the Karlsplatz with its tunnels, passages and the subterranean Wienfluss. Above ground the tower divides the Karlsplatz into two defined areas, the actual square in front of the Karlskirche and the traffic zone along the Wienzeile.
A public ramp leads up the tower allowing non-paying visitors to glimpse and listen into performances and rehearsals. Sonic Tower is a widely visible landmark for modern music and a public place for immersing into the unknown.
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Sonic Tower was a thesis project at the University of Applied Arts Vienna in 2005 and won several prices like the Austrian Baupreis (category: thesis projects) or the Experimentelle Tendenzen in der Architektur. It was also exhibited at the The Essence in Vienna.

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Aggregation is a landmark for a media city. The structure is an open system consisting of lines creating a felt-like mass. Instead of boundaries (e.g. walls and floors) connections are space-defining.

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A single linear element can aggregate in different phases of state to create layers of densities that describe spaces. The solid phase consists of tetrahedral-like elements that unfold into 2-dimensional formations (liquid phase). The basic element is equipped with installations for sound and light (gasiform phase).

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The structure is open to all directions and provokes a simultaneity of spaces and activities. By moving through the structure the central perspective gets distorted – spaces and shapes emerge out of the mass and dissolve back into it. There is no defined inside or outside – the aggregation blends with the surrounding urban context.

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To inhabit the open structure alternative building services were introduced: e.g. water drain through cohesion along the linear elements, infrared heating combined with the wind breaking and light scattering effect of the aggregated elements for air conditioning.

While climbing up the tower and overlooking the city one immerses into a media volume that enables animated, three dimensional patterns of light and sound to stream through the aggregation.

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Aggregation is not a building you enter, but a volume you immerse into.

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Aggregation was developed as a thesis project at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. It won the Austrian Baupreis (category: thesis projects) in 2006. Aggregation was exhibited at the Peking Biennale 2006, the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), the Guangdong Museum of Art and at The Essence, MAK Vienna. It was published in several magazines, catalogs and books like: Neil Leach ‘Emerging Talents, Emerging Technologies’ (China Architecture & Building Press), Hans Hollein ‘Sculptural Architecture in Austria’ (Verlag Anton Pustet), A.C.C. Magazine (Ukraine).