Décosterd and Cotting
Background information from the Practice
The Egremont's Project is an opportunity to gather our competences in Architecture and Engineering. On one hand Guscetti and Tournier bureau, one of the most prominent engineers in Geneva, also well known for their innovative approach to structural designs, will be dealing with the technical part of this project.
On the other hand, Decosterd and Cotting's architecture practice are in charge of the overall Egremont's project. Catherine Cotting joined recently the practice of Jean-Gilles Decosterd. Who is acknowledged for the Swiss pavillon he designed in 2002 at the biennale of Venice with his former associate. Mr Decosterd has had several prizes, publications and exhibitions to his credit for the last 15 years while teaching architecture in Switzerland.
Décosterd and Cotting's practice draw their high standard performances from the option to remain a small company close to their clients and their needs. They are able to tailor made their research skills, their personal commitment from the first connections to the delivery of their work.
Their architectural motto can be resumed in a single question: In order to deliver a suitable architectural proposal, we need to explore the substance in the following matter trilogy of the body, the physical space and the landscape.
From the territorial dimension of their work, they do not think architecture as additional objects but a catalyser, which interacts with the given context, such as, physiological, social or territorial. They believe that architecture is nothing else than the "sought-after piece" linking those different realities.
Decosterd and Cotting developed further the concept of Kenneth Frampton "critical regionalism" concerning the lack of meaning in Modern Architecture. "Climatic regionalism" strives to highlight architecture as a local climate rather than a formal proposal. Their groundbreaking conception seeks a climatic answer to a climatic context through parameters such as technical, phenomenological and ecological.
Décosterd and Cotting's practice quote on the project
The structural concept echoes the architectural project which is a dialogue between the castle and its environment throughout the curved, straightforward and fluid silhouette.
The choice of the structural scheme and its integrated materials meant to be used frequently must cope with assembly and dismantling on a daily basis.
The shape of the cover, a hyperbolic paraboloid, is capable of supplying the necessary rigidity and strength.
The membranous forces are balanced by an "ovoid ring beam". The roof system rests on five hydraulic masts buried in the ground which guarantee the general stability of the roof. Their hydraulic mechanism is lodged in a well sealed in the ground. With their upward movement they can favourably influence the structural behaviour and increase the versatility of the event area.
The multipurpose structure will be supported by few anchor points, which requires wide spanning, and the use of lightweight material. This technology is common knowledge in shipbuilding such as carbon fibres and cable armed foil. Five hydraulic cylinders anchored in the ground grant the whole structure with versatility. Those aluminium retractable masts will remain buried in their underground tube when there are not in use. Once the roof is stretched, the hydraulic masts can be raised up to one meter high so allowing easy working access on the ground. When the whole structure is attached together, the hydraulic mast can then be raised to its full extent, up to 8 meters high.
This structure which appears at first glance simple is in fact complex. The following three elements: the membrane, the ring and the masts are interacting and sharing loads according to their rigidities. The membrane and the ring behave as muscles and bones in the human body.
As well as being a very resilient structure, we are able to make the most of it by Influencing Its design In order to provide the structure with a high responding factor to external actions, such as wind or snow.
The membrane consists of a composite PVC and coated polyester pre-stressed membrane. It is very resistant, hard-wearing and eco-friendly
One of the most innovative solutions consists of using composite materials, in particular carbon fibre. The great benefit of such solution will grant a very good rigidity/weight ratio. Furthermore, the ring elements management will require little labour force.
The Egremont project is a creative approach to architecture merging together three different realities: urban, contextual and technical The urban facet of the project is an opportunity to boost the urban strategy of Egremont in two stages: the construction of a new public space and the shifting of Egremont social gravity centre onto its historical roots. According to this aspiration we should assume that we are building a public space as such. Therefore we have to adopt a public scale and a clear visibility for the project.
The frame work delineating the scale of intervention remind us that the prior responsibility of architecture is about dealing with publics needs and responding to local context. As a result the urban dimension of the castle and its re-incorporation into the landscape are the fabric of our intervention.
Architects don't develop isolated objects from their environment but intervene between the urban fabrics, in the same way as we aim to regenerate the area of the castle itself more than just dropping a flat roof upon Egremont castle.
According to the existing needs and developments of Egremont, a large sheltered area leads to flexibility of use while formulating an adequate solution. From a technical position operating in an historical spot, we are considering only five anchors points for the whole structure. The shape design and the structure are the result of the wide span between the five anchor points positioning. The new covered area and the castle are collaborating together to award us with this elegant sail.
Bearing in mind that our project proposal is meeting a historical site within a preserved landscape, we mean a straightforward design and the use of a quiet architectural vocabulary.
Our research aims at a conceptual contemporary structure meeting an eight hundred years construction. Historically, the usual response to entropy was to apply heavy materials and thick walls to construct premeditated forms. The castle itself illustrates such strategy against external solicitations as gravitation, wind and rain. Nowadays high tech materials are available and have the ability to react by internal deformation to external solicitation.
Our proposal is not determined by its form, but rather a proposal standing between our wish for space meanwhile the scope of what we can do within the limitation of the context.
The formal definition of the structure is also relevant to its climatic contextualisation In order to deal with the wind factor, the whole structure has the ability to minimize its confrontation. The hydraulic masts will permit height and angle adjustment accordingly to lessen its flying surface. The round cylindrical beam made of carbon fibre, which sustains the sail border, has a variable geometrical design. The most exposed part of the round cylindrical beam to the dominant winds bears an elliptical design, whereas the least exposed part has a circular shape.
The central coverage material made of armed foil is an opportunity to be used as filter for daylight. For that reason, we aim to transform the quality of daylight by warming it throughout our main architectural feature. North European homes use colours and light to warm up their interiors to counterbalance the greyness of
their weather. The coverage could gain a new function by "warming up the daylight". Whereas in night conditions, the bottom of the coverage will act like a big reflector disseminating the projected light as a diffused ambience.
In summary, all the formal and constructive decisions pertaining to the Egremont's project fit in the Decosterd and Cotting theoretical and applied research approach to architecture. They re-enforce the concept of "climatic regionalism" which postulates that today's meaning of territory is not only about landscape in a pictorial approach, stylistic in a cultural approach or formal in a morphological approach while climatic reality is becoming a sign of our times.
As a matter of fact, new ways of research and practice open up for an architecture meant in terms of immersion: body's immersion into architectural space and immersion of architecture into climatic and physical territory. In that sense, Architecture stops being apprehended aesthetically; it becomes a straightforward connection between the body and the territory.
