home > files

Files

Contemporary Architecture Practice. An Interview with Ali Rahim

Monia De Marchi



Contemporary Architecture Practice is a design firm in New York founded by Ali Rahim. Co-director Hina Jamelle, joined the firm in 2002, after she had been working for several years in a well-known media consulting firm in New York, Razorfish, where she was a partner. This interview was conducted in London. A series of different questions referred to their projects, while their research shows us the work of a young practice based in New York in which experimentation and research are continuously developed in projects at different scales. Contemporary Architecture Practice investigates the employment of new materials, the use of digital technologies in the design and manufacture of architecture and the re-definition of the program that includes user interaction with the projects interior and exterior. After the Reebok Flagship Store that is going to be built in China which has been published in many international reviews, the office is now building two towers in Dubai, which will be completed in 2007 and 2008. Between unique brand concepts and experimentation, digital design and production techniques are integrated in order to achieve "elegant architecture" in which experimentation, program and materials are integrated in a unique proposal. Editor of two issues of A.D., (Contemporary Processes in Architecture and Contemporary Techniques in Architecture) Ali Rahim is also developing his research in his design unit at the University of Pennsylvania, while preparing his forthcoming book, titled Catalytic Formations: Architecture and Digital Design, in which five sole authored chapters accompany seven of Contemporary Architecture Practices projects. The book will be available for purchase on October 30th, 2005. [MDM]



 
[in italiano] MONIA DE MARCHI: Ali, can you tell me about Contemporary Architecture Practice? When did it begin?

ALI RAHIM: Contemporary Architecture Practice started in 1999 in New York, my partner Hina joined later on in 2002. About myself, I graduated with a Master in Architecture from Columbia University where I graduated with Design Honors. After that I have been teaching and developing my office. Hina, also an architect, was a Partner at Razorfish, which is a media consulting company. You can see some of the ideas out of brand strategy prevalent in some of our projects, especially in the Reebok Store in Shanghai, although it is present in other projects that address our clients' interest to be unique- to differentiate themselves and their projects from others.

You have been developing your research through teaching and publications, especially in your investigation with the use of digital techniques in architecture. Can you tell me in which areas Contemporary Architecture Practice is particularly interested? What have you tried to develop, for instance, do communication and the management take an important part in your projects? Does the experimentation of materials play a major role? If you could expand...

Digital techniques, material investigation, and management are important in our projects. Usually I talk about myself and Hina, as two separate strengths. Hina brings forward management consulting, brand strategy and how to properly define the clients' intentions that excite the client as well as me. She also manages client relations which she is excellent at. My role is developing new techniques and their relationship with social and cultural attributes that are put together by the project and Hina's statement of uniqueness and potential three-dimensional translations for each project. I develop these ideas with issues of context including site, inhabitants, environment etc. and develop all these disparate pieces of information into the formulation of a design that addresses these issues. This is an iterative process that goes back and forth and enfolds more and more factors and complexities into the design. In addition I am interested in experimenting with new techniques and new materials as you say, but also in new ways of thinking about architecture program and how to develop social situations in informing our designs through the inhabitants interacting with the spatiality of our projects. We incorporate the emergence of many uses through digital techniques that we have developed to help assess how each space might be used.

Can you please give me an example?

[25aug2005]
The residence for a fashion designer in London is at the same time a weekend residence but is also a space to show new fashion lines and collections. We used techniques to assess how the spatiality may benefit from the two different uses and tested the social distribution through the spaces. The resulting studies allowed us to inflect surfaces and hence spaces within the project to differing extents. For this reason there is a path where models can move through the house, but this path can also be used in other social situations for congregating or sitting that may spawn other activities around the area of gathering. In this way there is a double fold between how the project is used in different ways- providing for social situations to arise when neither of the living nor the fashion shows occur within the house. What we achieved is a space without borders between the two programs, so the runway is not isolated in the house but is completely integrated within the form of the residence. The form of our project facilitates human performance.


Residence for a Fashion Designer. London, 2002. Exterior.

We can call them ambiguous spaces, in which the program tries not only to be flexible for different uses, but these spaces could also constitutes ambiguous generating overlapping spatiality.

  Ambiguous space is an interesting term, but the ambiguity is formed with intention, intention to provide the most potential for emergent user behaviors within the space. Our spaces incorporate a range of issues including environmental ones.

It is visible in your projects, spaces in which different components are together and generate the form; everything is interlocking and nothing more can be added, as nothing can be subtracted.

We are interested in producing elegant architecture that completely integrates all the conditions. And at the same time we are trying to use new fabrication technologies, materials and their potentials, and integrate them in order to produce elegance. In the end not one of these attributes can be taken away and allowed for the project to exist without completely changing its form.


Residence for a Fashion Designer. London, 2002. Interior.

So program, new materials, and digital techniques produce effects that define the space. What impact does digital technology have in the production of your work?

We use the computer for everything, from the underpinning of the concepts to the manifestation of the built architectural form. We are completely digital. It's important for our practice as it allows us to provide a tremendous service for our clients. Also digital fabrication technologies are extremely important in the manufacturing and assembly of our work.


Reebok Flagship Store. Shanghai. Render.

The digital at the same time allows us to maintain control of the design quality and its manifestation through the fabrication process. The main technique to explore the conceptual is dynamical systems which allow the precise modulation and control of attributes that are transportable to our engineers accurately, whom use the same information to run structural and mechanical tests. The integration of all of these data bases is an important element of our work. Once we have folded in to our designs not only the conceptual and the performance of space as well as the interactivity by the users, we fold in all the engineering ideas as well, to finally develop a design that meets all the specified criteria.

Our criteria for evaluation at each stage are an internal process. Once we have achieved all criteria and are happy with it, we develop fabrication drawings. For example, for the tower in Dubai the drawings show how all the panels are manufactured and assembled -whether it is on site or off site and transported. In our project for Reebok and the residential tower, we are using a dynamic mold system that we have developed with a manufacturer in Guangdong, China. The mold produces any curvelinearity of mold that we require for each project, and is able to fabricate glass fiber reinforced panels that meet all the fire ratings necessary for its use interior and exterior. In conclusion, I really feel that our work, working method or fabrication would not be possible without the digital.

You have been a guest editor of Contemporary Processes in Architecture and Contemporary Techniques in Architecture published as the first issue in 2000 and the second in 2002. You talked about performative architecture and performative techniques in these books. Can you tell me more about the idea of the performative?

Performative is about emergent activities and behaviors, and all depend on how to operate and perform a system. The system can be dynamical in the design process or architecture that has been built. If it is the latter then performance is how the user/ inhabitant performs and uses the space, I refer to literal body movements as in dance, but this can be expanded to how the performance of one body can affect the performance of other bodies in groups, and how these groups may influence larger organizations such as companies etc. It relates to social interactions that invigorate the environment.

You also use digital technology to visualize and communicate the idea of body performance in the space, for example by illustrating these concepts in animations.

Digital techniques, especially animation, define the way we communicate our projects. Often the classical representation of plan and section is not enough to show our projects. We communicate through animations; we show different types of scenarios of how the project is potentially used. For example, in the residence for the fashion designer we show how different scenarios can activate the spaces, from a fashion show to its use as a weekend residence. It's a very important technique for our clients to understand the complexity of the work.

I know you are building two towers in Dubai, one residential and one mixed use (office and commercial). Can you please tell me more about these two projects?

The Dubai towers are both interesting projects for us. In the residential tower the client wanted us to address a series of issues, including increasing the desirability of the mid-section of the tower which is always the most difficult to sell, many emergency exits and different sizes of apartments ranging from one to three bedroom units. To achieve these intentions we convinced the client to sell units by "volumetric" spaces, and not "planametric" spaces which is incorporated into their marketing strategy.


Residential Housing Tower. Dubai. Completion 2007. Exterior.

Which materials did you use for the tower?

The main materials are concrete and glass. The concrete is newly developed in Japan, which is good in compression and tension that we are importing into Dubai. In each structural module all the mechanical and lightning systems are integrated and each unit has its own public and emergency circulation.

Is there a level of customization of the space?

Only partial customization, we didn't want just anything go on, the user can only easily divide or open the space in prescribed areas - in others it is very difficult. In our projects as I said before, everything is completely integrated. If you move one element, the form of the project changes.

How can you describe the mixed use (office and commercial) tower in Dubai? Can you please tell me more about it?

Also this tower is a very interesting piece. In Dubai, they have companies that come and go frequently. There are companies that are big and small, so we use the idea of these different types of companies and how they turn over as a guide to design architecture. Our client wants to have the possibility to allow different people to be able to use common space in different ways. For instance, the conference room can be used by different companies or by more companies at the same time. The idea is generate interactivity and produce ideas between people; also, this was a marketing strategy to generate new possibilities and potentially longevity for the companies inhabiting the tower.


Commercial Office Tower. Dubai. Completion 2007. Exterior.

The idea was to reconfigure the space in a way that nothing is hierarchical, but everything allows for the redistribution of desks, people, and companies in many different ways. We wrapped the outside of the building with a spiral skin that changes density in relation with the organization of the inside space. The intention of the project for us was to have the maximum potential for reorganization and reconfiguration of different types of companies.


Commercial Office Tower. Dubai. Completion 2007. Interior.

And the pattern of the exterior skin?

The pattern opens in the conference area between each floor and is reconfigured by it transforming itself through the spiral nature of it rising up the tower.

From the big scale to the small scale... You are building the Reebok Flagship Store in Shanghai that's been published in many different magazines. Can you tell me a bit more about that?

The Reebok Store is located in Xi Tian Di district that is really attractive and an interesting area for shopping and restaurants that has been developed in the last few years. For the Rebook Store, we developed a dynamical system that operates in different locations at different scales and is to potentially be used to roll out two hundreds variations of the store that you are referring to throughout the entire Eastern region of China which is eighty per cent of Reebok's sales market. The idea was the development of this system with the brand strategy of Reebok "Wear the Vector, Outperform". The intention of the proposal was to perceive speed and movement when you move through the space. Essentially, the form of the vector is spatialized which can be inhabited. When one moves through the vector one can feel the speed of different rhythms changing around the user.

The store is a space that performs in itself. The manager is like a choreographer; he can show products in very different ways or organize events. In the store only one space is defined for exposing products. Every other space is completely ambiguous in which you can sit, show products, or organize events. There is for instance, the space along a tall vertical surface, for the basket ball player. In this space when there is no event, you can use the wall to show products. The idea is that you can also attract people in different areas, for different reasons. The space reconfigures itself and gives so many possibilities, so many platforms for interaction maximizing the potential for sales.


Reebok Flagship Store. Shanghai. Render.

In the Reebok store the main material is fiberglass. Can you tell me more about the material?

The fiberglass is manufactured in China. China had the capacity to produce beautiful fiberglass works. They produce very precise pieces and also are extremely cheap with respect to New York. In the Reebok Store the fiberglass is made of many smaller panels that clad the structure. The structure is manufactured off site and clad with the fiberglass panels, and finished in a factory. It is then transported to the site and installed. The monocoque shell is supported by the stairs, the existing structure and vertical wall surface. There are also transparent parts made with a plastic material used for lenses in eyeglasses, in which the pressurization generates distortions when you look through it. In all the building you perceive the pressure in the materiality of the form, pressure between the ceiling and the suspended fiberglass, and pressure in the glass re articulating the intentions of the force of the vector. There is a strong contrast between the suspended fiberglass and the existing concrete building; contrast between inside and outside, to attract people to enter.

So we perceive in this building ambiguous spaces generated through material investigation.

I'm fascinated with materials properties, especially how the material can change and shift. The materials themselves can grow and shrink in different conditions; our work in the future is to produce interactivity through material changes without changing the form.

An investigation in material itself, in its properties.

Yes, in the range of behaviors that a material produces, that's really fascinating. I'm always looking for developments in smart materials specifically nanotechnology.

Do you already have an idea about the next material you would like to experiment with?

Not really, but nanotechnology, can open up the creative potential for architects in exponential ways. [I write extensively about this in my book.] I like to try to use materials in different ways, in a way that has never been used, rewriting materials, potentially rewriting how the project looks like. I'm interested in the reorganization at different scales, for instance in my Design Studio Research at the University of Pennsylvania, I try to understand the potentiality of a surface, how it reorganizes itself depending on different factors and behaves in different manners. My design studio is about reorganization of surfaces through new materials, which is really important in teaching and for the development of my research.

I know there is a forthcoming a book titled Catalytic Formations: Architecture and Digital Design, can you tell me something about it?

Catalytic Formations: Architecture and Digital Design is going to be published on October, 2005; the book is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is about Technique and Technology, the second is about Temporality, the third is about the Virtual and the Actual, the fourth is named Affect and Effect, and fifth is about Feedforward: New Potential Technologies and Techniques. The book is a cycle that starts from techniques and goes back to techniques. In this book I look at practices that work within digital techniques in interesting ways. I mentioned seven architects from Zaha Hadid to Greg Lynn, form Mark Goulthorpe to Lars Spuybroek for example. The majority of the book however is my work at Contemporary Architecture Practice. The book is a tell all of digital design methodology and techniques and has been written so that all can read and understand the ideas that are important to my work. It has been written for all audiences- from the beginning student to the professional.

So if Performative was about the process, Catalytic Formations is about the result and shows nine years of work carried out by Contemporary Architecture Practice. We are going from process to effects.

Yes, in 1996 I was interested in the process. At that time many architects were investigating different processes and these were all new to generate form. Now I want to show with this publication which effects can be produced through different processes and why this is important to architecture- it has been in developmental for a long time. It also shows what future techniques may be instrumental in affecting the profession in the near and far future.

And if we look to the future, what would you like to experiment with in the next large scale and small scale building?

I will say a bit of both. We are working on the small scale, for a lighting manufacturer in the United States. This is a young company embedded within a very large famous company, which is hiring ten designers and architects from the world to produce lighting design. For the big scale we are working on a very large project in an environment near the water with sea water, sand, and very corrosive salt, we are trying to dry the salt out of the air and collect salt particles into formations. It is very exciting. About the different scales, it is very interesting that in the office we are working on both. The small scale is great because you can experiment new ideas and new materials and see the effects in a relatively short time, you can get feedback very quickly. About the large scale, it is very exciting because more components and complexities are involved and the scale of the results in itself is always impressive. These are very challenging but very exciting. It is a really interesting moment now; there are many small practices that are doing interesting architecture and research at the same time. Universities like Penn are situated well to share information and ideas- for example my book is designed by Dean Di Simone of KDLAB who also teaches at Penn.

A book that we are going to see soon... Thank you very much.

You are welcome.
> CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE PRACTICE

Per qualsiasi comunicazione
 è possibile contattare la
redazione di ARCH'IT


laboratorio
informa
scaffale
servizi
in rete


archit.gif (990 byte)



iscriviti gratuitamente al bollettino ARCH'IT news







© Copyright DADA architetti associati
Contents provided by iMage