A New Nature: 9 Architectural Conditions Between Liquid and Solid

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The Ph.D. thesis ’A new nature, 9 architectural conditions between liquid and solid’2 establishes a way of thinking about architecture as conditions, as opposed to architecture as form and type. An architectural condition is understood as a connection of physical, mental and spatial conditions. Looking at the world as conditions and stages between liquid and solid, between the homogeneous and the heterogeneous, etc. it is possible to work with the man­made as one sub­ stance. The Ph.D. thesis examines this hypothesis and con­ structs a form­developing process out of nine conditions between liquid and solid. The thesis establishes a foundation that is fundamentally elementary but in its fluid, combinatory possibilities com­ plex – a complexity that approaches the modern city’s diver­ sity of space, materials and structures. The thesis gradually expands the complexity, from introductory physical experi­ ments, through the establishment of architectural conditions between liquid and solid, to the construction of architectural sequences created by conditions, and conclude with the establishment of narratives that are combined conditions and sequences3. Using the narrative, the condition concept is linked to a specific place where the physical organisation of mate­ rials, manufacturing processes, structures and spaces are converted into conditions. The narrative becomes the new context creating a possible future plan for the area. In connection with the presentation of the thesis, there was an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture4 that featured drawings, sketches and mod­ els from preliminary casting experiments; actual conditional drawings of sequences and photomontages, and details in 1:1 from a narrative about the changing of an area south of Copenhagen, Denmark. The following pages show selected works from this exhibi­ tion as well as from the project A buoy for Copenhagen Har­ bour , which is one work out of a number of specific projects that present various nuances of elements of the thesis. In the winter of 2005, the thesis will be published in an English version entitled A NEW NATURE – 9 architectural conditions between liquid and solid 5 by The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture’s publishers, Kunstakad­ emiets Arkitektskoles Forlag.