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3La Liturgia non è un paLcoscenico deLLo spirituaLe

4scopo e senso: L’insegnamento deLLa LiturgiaFrancesco dal co

18–37adeguamenti Liturgicia cura di massimo Ferrari

181. dan FLavinrinnovamento deLLa chiesa di santa maria annunciata in chiesa rossa a miLanomassimo Ferrari

202.Jannis KouneLLis, hidetoshi nagasawa, cLaudio parmiggiani, ettore spaLLettiadeguamento Liturgico deLLa cattedraLe di reggio emiLia massimo Ferrari

223.nicoLa de maria, Jannis KouneLLis, mimmo paLadino, cLaudio parmiggiani, sean shanahan, david simpsonitinerario d’arte sacra neLLa chiesa di san FedeLe a miLanomassimo Ferrari

254.paoLo Zermaniadeguamento Liturgico deLLa basiLica di sant’andrea a mantova

27paoLo Zermani. riForma architettonica e Liturgica deLLa basiLica di sant’andrea a mantovamassimo Ferrari

305.caruso st John architectsarredi sacri per La cattedraLe di san gaLLo, sviZZera

31neL corso deL tempo: arredi sacri per La cattedraLe di san gaLLoFederico tranfa

38–79costruZioniin Legno

39reiuLF ramstad romsdaL FoLK museum, moLde, norvegia

40aLLa ricerca di un’identitàmassimil iano savorra

48sameep padora centro buddista Jetavan, india

49un’architettura autoriaLe e partecipata per iL riscatto sociaLe attraverso La sceLta reLigiosamarco biagi

56hua Li Forest buiLding, tongZhou, pechino, cina a cura di marco mulazzani

57artiFiciaLmente naturaLemichele bonino

60tongZhou new townFil ippo Fiandanese

66Kengo Kuma and associates artLab, campus epFL, Losanna, sviZZera

67umaniZZare Le tecnoLogie, una sFida attuaLe sotto uno stesso tettoFrancesca chiorino

76dai campi di coLZa aLLa megastruttura. breve storia deLL’ÉcoLe poLytechnique FÉdÉraLe de Lausannenicola braghieri

80–93som — air Force academya cura di marco biagi

82som new yorK vs som chicago vs som san Francisco: vince som new yorKnicholas adams

94–97bibLioteca

94recensioni

96L’affaire piranesigiovanna curcio

98–101engLish texts

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in copertina: Caruso St John Architects, arredi sacri per la Cattedrale di San Gallo, Svizzera, frammento della decorazione

Rudolf Schwarz, Gloria, acquerello e matita, 1923

Rudolf Schwarz, Gloria, watercolor and pencil, 1923

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SOM New York vs SOM Chicago vs SOM San Francisco: vince SOM New York

Nicholas Adamsla Polaris hall, il nuovo Center for Character and leadership progettato dagli architetti dell’ufficio newyorkese di skidmore, owings & Merrill, è il primo edificio che si costruisce nel campus centrale della air Force academy di Colorado springs dal 1968. scelta audace e fantasiosa da parte dell’air Force, esso rappresenta una svolta generazionale sotto il profilo formale e funzionale, dando origine a un nuovo simbolo e offrendo nuovi spazi educativi. si tratta, anche, di un condensato di paradossi: esempio di architecture parlante in un mondo in cui il silenzio è stato a lungo la regola, il manufatto rispetta il contesto in cui si inserisce, ma propone qualcosa di completamente originale. Per comprendere la Polaris hall è necessario conoscere la vita di un’accademia militare: il centro annuncia l’introduzione di nuovi metodi che col tempo, si spera, trasformeranno il modo di addestrare gli uomini e le donne dell’aeronautica. Un piccolo edificio, dunque, che concentra in sé un’idea ambiziosa.

l’air Force academy di Colorado springs è un grande complesso di fabbricati di stile modernista. lunghe aule accademiche e dormitori circondano, come carri del selvaggio West, un piazzale in scala con la pista di un aeroporto. Collocato sullo sfondo delle colline scure della ramparts range, sotto un vasto cielo aperto, il sito ha in sé qualcosa di primordiale: qui ci sono solo l’uomo e la natura. le perpendicolari del piazzale definiscono il tracciato di percorsi rettilinei che gestisce gli spostamenti da un’aula all’altra dei giovani cadetti e riecheggia più ampi reticolati geografici e razionali. Progettata da Walter netsch, della sede skidmore owings & Merrill di Chicago (1954–62), con l’esaustiva consulenza di Gordon Bunshaft, dell’ufficio di new York, l’accademia è un’architettura spettacolare.

il campus centrale –riservato ai cadetti– è diviso in due aree. il livello inferiore è assegnato

alle aule, ai dormitori e al grande piazzale aperto di pertinenza dei cadetti. al livello superiore, accessibile al pubblico, si trovano la harmon hall (l’edificio dell’amministrazione), l’arnold hall (l’associazione studentesca) e la Cadet Chapel. Quest’ultima è l’opera più nota di netsch; una fisarmonica di tetraedri di metallo plissettati e ondulati che evocano le ali di un aeroplano. È talmente celebre da essere stata riprodotta sui francobolli da 37 centesimi in occasione del cinquantesimo anniversario dell’academy, celebrato nel 2004, anno in cui l’intera area dei cadetti è stata dichiarata national historic Monument. all’apparenza, il campus è sostanzialmente immutato, con i nuovi edifici generalmente nascosti tra le colline al di là dell’area centrale. la perdita architettonica più rilevante riguarda l’air Garden disegnato da dan Kiley, un pattern a scacchiera di riquadri d’erba e acqua1.

Malgrado il complesso abbia mantenuto l’aspetto di sempre, sappiamo bene che il lavoro degli uomini e delle donne dell’aeronautica non è più quello della metà degli anni cinquanta. le nuove tecnologie, i sistemi di addestramento e gli allievi hanno oggi necessità che né i fondatori dell’istituzione né gli architetti di allora potevano immaginare. anche il ruolo dell’america nel mondo è cambiato. in un determinato momento, gli usa hanno detenuto il primato sul fronte dell’economia e della tecnologia, ma il divario con gli altri paesi si è progressivamente ridotto e anche i più appassionati sostenitori del making America great [rendere grande l’america] capiscono che la situazione non è più quella del passato, di prima che la russia sviluppasse la bomba atomica o l’organizzazione economica della Cina fosse invidiata da tutto il mondo. Per mantenere la loro posizione ed espandere la loro influenza nel mondo, gli stati Uniti non possono più agire con la forza militare o il colonialismo economico (o entrambe le cose), ma devono puntare sull’innovazione. e che ne è dei militari professionisti nel mondo di Google ed apple? il sistema didattico può essere ancora basato sul metodo del “saggio sul palco” che dà lezione a centinaia di studenti? e ha senso oggi richiamare la griglia di Mercatore o serve qualcos’altro?

intervenire in uno dei luoghi sacri del modernismo non era impresa semplice. Walter netsch (1920–2008), che ha lasciato som nel 1979, è sempre stato considerato con estremo rispetto in Colorado. Prima dell’11 settembre, l’air Force academy era la principale attrazione turistica dello stato, con oltre un milione di visitatori l’anno. l’architetto era rimasto in stretto contatto con l’accademia, che arrivava persino a consultarlo per ogni nuovo ampliamento del campus centrale. Come netsch ha raccontato allo storico dell’architettura detlef Mertins: «dicevo loro che era necessario lavorare nell’ambito della regola dell’academy, non copiarla, ma rispettarla»2. di certo, se netsch fosse stato ancora attivo quando il nuovo progetto ha mosso i primi passi, l’accademia lo avrebbe consultato. di fatto, l’air Force si è rivolta direttamente a som e, anziché bandire un concorso aperto a tutti, ha proposto una gara fra le tre sedi principali dello studio: san Francisco (il cui progettista senior, Craig

1, 2vedute del piazzale dell’accademia oggi e negli anni sessanta, con la Cadet Chapel, sulla sinistra, e l’edificio dell’amministrazione, sullo sfondo

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hartman, aveva lavorato con netsch), Chicago (il cui progettista senior, Brian lee, si era appena trasferito da san Francisco) e new York (dove il progetto è stato coordinato da roger duffy). la giuria era composta da ufficiali dell’aeronautica, guidati dal generale di divisione John regni e dal generale di divisione in pensione ervin rokke. del gruppo facevano parte anche la storica e critica Joan ockman, Kent Kleinman, preside della facoltà di architettura della Cornell University, e robert nauman, autore del testo di riferimento sull’architettura dell’air Force academy. la giuria ha scelto il progetto di new York. regni ha raccontato che, nel vedere la proposta di duffy: «Un brivido mi è sceso lungo la schiena; io ed erv [rokke] ci siamo guardati: per noi, roger aveva appena segnato un grande slam. lui e il suo team avevano fatto centro con una struttura unica e moderna, capace di soddisfare tutte le nostre esigenze, per di più dotata di un simbolismo che coglie l’essenza stessa della nostra accademia»3.

Vista dall’esterno, la Polaris hall appare come un lucernaio inclinato di acciaio e vetro alto 32 metri, che si innalza dal piazzale aperto del campus superiore in un’area nota come honor Court. l’esterno è uniforme, mentre, all’interno, le forze laterali determinano l’ossatura architettonica di acciaio a vista, modellando in due dimensioni le lastre di misure diverse. ne risulta un profilo interno morbido e variegato. l’acciaio è maggiormente presente sul lato sud, dov’è necessaria la protezione dal sole. in un campus con veri aeroplani parcheggiati nel piazzale, l’edificio non è affatto fuori posto: qualcuno ha paragonato il lucernario inclinato di 39 gradi alla coda di un velivolo sepolto nel terreno antistante il muro di marmo bianco della arnold hall. il vetro stampato impiegato sul fronte meridionale produce all’esterno della facciata un effetto simile a nebbia o a nuvole in movimento. osservando la costruzione da lontano, le proporzioni appaiono del tutto

diverse. la colonna si inserisce in uno skyline fino a oggi dominato dai tetraedri della cappella: il nuovo edificio è un razzo piuttosto che un aeroplano, un obelisco laico piuttosto che un tempio.

l’accesso formale alla Polaris hall avviene attraverso una monumentale scalinata di granito da sud, dalla direzione della cappella. oltrepassato l’ingresso con le pareti rivestite di vetro azzurro di Murano, si entra nello spazio principale sottostante l’obelisco-lucernario: un salone polifunzionale con un palco per le presentazioni ufficiali e una serie di box sopraelevati per riunioni di piccoli gruppi. le file di sedie fanno pensare a un ambiente destinato a lezioni e conferenze, ma i tavolini o le poltroncine rotonde rendono l’atmosfera meno formale, trasformandolo in una zona per discussioni di gruppo. dominato dal vuoto dell’obelisco inclinato e dal reticolo a rombi, lo spazio si presta all’educazione attiva, diventando così il cuore stesso del nuovo Centro. Qui si tengono conferenze, lezioni e briefing. sui lati est e ovest della sala centrale, ci sono sette stanze con pareti a vetro (quattordici in totale), chiamate Collaboration rooms, attrezzate con doppi schermi e postazioni per computer, in cui i cadetti possono lavorare ai vari incarichi in gruppi e in collaborazione con colleghi di altre accademie militari (possono collegarsi anche con ufficiali di stanza in europa o in Medio oriente). specchi riflettenti sospesi come mobiles di Calder catturano la luce, reindirizzandola all’interno. le due strisce di giardini chiamate air Terraces fiancheggiano il salone e gli uffici del corpo docente a est e a ovest. Gli interni di questi studi, in una calda tonalità acciaio grigio-azzurro, creano un effetto di raccoglimento e un appropriato senso di sobria efficienza istituzionale, lo stesso che caratterizzava gli edifici originari all’epoca della loro costruzione. Benché collocati sotto il livello del piazzale, gli uffici e il salone sono affacciati su questi spazi verdi. all’estremità nord dell’aula principale si apre un’uscita alternativa,

da cui si possono raggiungere la arnold hall o i giardini. Una stanza è nascosta alla vista. sul lato sud, alle spalle del palco

e del podio sopraelevato per l’oratore di turno, c’è la sala riunioni della commissione d’onore, la honor Board room. rivestita in legno d’acero, come le altre sale pubbliche, è illuminata parzialmente da una lunga lampada, in parte incassata nella parete, che dà la sensazione della luce naturale. in questo spazio accogliente ma appartato si concentra il programma dell’intero edificio, perché è qui che si riunisce la commissione di cadetti che decide le sorti di coloro che devono essere giudicati per un’infrazione al codice d’onore. Per comprendere la sua temibile funzione, è necessario analizzare il codice d’onore e il suo ruolo nelle università americane e nell’air Force academy.

il codice d’onore svolge un ruolo rilevante nelle istituzioni accademiche degli stati Uniti. alcune emanano direttive piuttosto generiche, altre specificano i comportamenti esplicitamente proibiti. in pratica, si tratta di ciò che nessun ufficiale o persona per bene, uomo o donna che sia, farebbe mai. il codice d’onore sottende la vita accademica, è qualcosa di cui si parla quando viene infranto, ma che per lo più rimane latente nel tran-tran quotidiano. in genere, nelle istituzioni accademiche statunitensi, gli studenti sottoscrivono la loro accettazione del codice all’ammissione. È possibile che debbano rinnovare l’impegno di tanto in tanto (durante le prove d’esame, per esempio), ma il codice non è sempre in cima ai loro pensieri. le istituzioni a sfondo religioso tendono a enfatizzare maggiormente certe regole, i divieti sono più specifici e il rinnovo dell’impegno più frequente. le istituzioni laiche sono più generiche al riguardo. le accademie militari sono un discorso a parte. la preparazione di uomini e donne alla professione militare esige il rispetto della parola data e dell’onore. durante i combattimenti, nei terribili momenti di incertezza, il codice d’onore è ancora un punto di riferimento fondamentale. o, per lo meno, così dovrebbe essere. in anni recenti, le accademie militari degli stati Uniti hanno dovuto affrontare situazioni critiche legate alle denunce di truffe, molestie sessuali e atti di nonnismo. riportare il codice d’onore al centro della vita dell’accademia aeronautica è il frutto di decisioni architettoniche audaci. l’idoneità di tali scelte può essere valutata solo alla luce di un’analisi del codice d’onore della air Force academy.

all’air Force academy, rispettare il codice d’onore non significa soltanto evitare il disonore –non ingannare, non mentire, non rubare, le tre regole principali– ma comporta una responsabilità collettiva. il giudizio è solo l’inizio di un processo di autocoscienza da parte del gruppo a cui appartiene il colpevole (il reparto, il corso accademico o la squadriglia). il gruppo poteva prevedere la possibile infrazione e fare qualcosa per evitarla? il gruppo avrebbe dovuto riconoscere la condizione di difficoltà in cui si trovava quella persona? i cadetti che ammettono le loro mancanze e i colleghi che si compattano per

analizzare il loro ruolo nel momento di crisi ne emergono rafforzati. Costruire un luogo speciale, riservato all’atto del giudizio, è un modo per sottolineare la centralità del codice d’onore nell’aeronautica. realizzarlo fuori dal campus centrale ne avrebbe sminuito l’importanza4.

lo stemma dell’air Force academy ha al centro Polaris, la stella del nord, la stella dei naviganti, l’unica stella del cielo che non si muove. Polaris era il tema del concorso: sia hartman sia lee, per la stessa area, hanno proposto strutture astratte in acciaio e vetro. il progetto di duffy, l’edificio oggi completato, fa un riferimento esplicito all’astro che indica il nord con l’obelisco rastremato orientato verso Polaris, in cima al quale si apre un oculo che la incornicia. la stella dei naviganti rimarrà visibile per altri dodicimila anni. secondo Plinio il Vecchio, gli obelischi erano rappresentazioni simboliche dei raggi solari che raggiungevano la Terra. il lucernario della Polaris hall inverte i termini del rapporto: l’obelisco punta verso una stella visibile solo di notte attraverso l’apertura alla sommità. siamo di fronte a un notevole esempio di architecture parlante, che pone le virtù del buon carattere e della leadership al centro della vita militare.

all’interno dell’aula in cui si riunisce la corte d’onore, si trova un tavolo rettangolare intorno al quale siede la commissione. a destra e a sinistra del tavolo, due file di poltroncine consentono ai membri dell’accademia di assistere al procedimento; altri possono accomodarsi nelle sedie disposte dietro una doppia parete di vetro. l’imputato prende posto a un’estremità del tavolo e, guardando in alto, può far scorrere lo sguardo lungo la linea centrale dell’obelisco inclinato puntato su Polaris, a indicare il vero nord verso cui il cadetto dovrebbe sempre dirigersi. Per citare i versi di shakespeare: «i cieli sono dipinti da scintille innumerevoli; sono tutte di fuoco e ognuna splende: ma soltanto una, tra tutte, mantiene saldo il suo posto»5.

3–6schizzo di studio planimetrico, prospetto esterno, prospetto interno e sviluppo interno di facciata della cappella di meditazione disegnata da Walter netsch nel 1998

planimetric study sketch, exterior elevation, interior elevation and internal development of the facade of the meditation chapel designed by Walter netsch in 1998

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Conseguito il diploma all’air Force academy, questi giovani uomini e donne potrebbero trovarsi nelle condizioni di prendere decisioni di vita o di morte; l’impegno a rispettare il codice d’onore è il fondamento della loro carriera militare. hanno bisogno di una direzione chiara.

il team di duffy si è mosso con grande equilibrio. Gli edifici che significano qualcosa non vengono più apprezzati, scartati insieme al postmodernismo. al loro posto sorgono i vari Gherkin (lo swiss re Building di londra, detto, appunto, “il Cetriolo”) e Turning Torso, shard (la scheggia) e Cheesegrater (il leadenhall Building di londra, soprannominato “la Grattugia”), edifici per uffici e torri residenziali, ognuno con la sua etichetta commerciale. eppure duffy vanta una lunga esperienza con artisti come James Turrel, con cui ha realizzato la Greenwich academy (2000-02) e il Koch Center for science, Math, and Technology della deerfield academy (2005-07). Tra gli altri collaboratori, vanno citati iñigo Mangiano-ovalle, lawrence Wiener, rita McBride e robert Whitman. Tutti i suoi progetti denotano un grande rispetto per la forza dello spazio, per le qualità della luce naturale e per la chiarezza della struttura. nell’aeroporto di Mumbai (2011-15), così come nel caso della air Force academy, la struttura si fa tema artistico.

sessanta anni fa, gli ufficiali dell’aeronautica militare statunitense si assunsero un grosso rischio nel costruire un campus modernista. Frank lloyd Wright lo descrisse come una “fabbrica di uomini volanti” e le tonanti critiche dei membri del Congresso di allora oggi sono più che altro una lettura divertente. adesso il territorio sacro del campus originario viene difeso con uguale passione. Per costruire un nuovo edificio era necessario avere il consenso interno e superare i timori che la nuova costruzione sminuisse quelle già esistenti. Forse, solo questa tensione ha reso possibile un simile progetto. i generali

dovevano rimanere soddisfatti. roger duffy e il suo team hanno fatto di tutto per garantire loro che il punto in cui i nuovi materiali incontravano i vecchi fosse appena percepibile. la Polaris hall rispetta il reticolo a moduli di 2,13 metri utilizzato in origine nel campus. i vetri di Murano dei grandi atri rimandano all’azzurro, al giallo e al rosso di altre pareti del campus. il nuovo edificio riprende anche il granito di Cold spring, in Minnesota (rockville Beige), utilizzato in tutta l’academy. l’intelaiatura d’acciaio grigio dell’obelisco è di certo coerente con il bianco e il grigio delle contigue arnold hall e harmon hall. la vista sulla Cadet Chapel continua a rimanere libera e l’ossatura interna del lucernaio evoca i contrafforti angolari lungo i lati della cappella. netsch pensava che un eventuale ampliamento del campus dovesse “rispettarne la regola” e, nel 1998, aveva anche eseguito degli schizzi per una cappella di meditazione (per coloro che non si sentivano a proprio agio nella Cadet Chapel) caratterizzata da una parete articolata a griglia diagonale, non dissimile dallo schema dell’intradosso del lucernaio del nuovo edificio. duffy e i suoi collaboratori hanno rispettato l’ordine del luogo.

il nuovo edificio si presenta con grandi ambizioni. È un’attestazione del fatto che il significato insito nei progetti di netsch abbia perso mordente agli occhi delle nuove generazioni e che, per quanto straordinari possano essere gli edifici originali, il modernismo degli anni Cinquanta produce un’impressione di compiaciuta familiarità (in altre parole: noi guardiamo a quell’epoca allo stesso modo in cui la generazione di eiffel guardava a schinkel). la Polaris hall cambia letteralmente il profilo dell’academy e aspira anche a qualcosa di più profondo: ricaricare di valore rituale gli spazi sacri dell’accademia, spostando, per citare Clifford Geertz, «il centro della società per affermare il suo legame con il trascendente»6. il progetto di som riesce a farlo con inattesa effervescenza.

Note 1 Gli air Gardens di Kiley provocavano infiltrazioni e sono stati svuotati nei primi anni settanta. È possibile che nel prossimo futuro siano ripristinati.2 Walter Netsch Interviewed by Detlef Mertins May 21, 2001, 1700 North Hudson Street, Chicago, in «soM Journal», n. 1, 2001, p. 146.3 John F. regni, History and Evolution of the Center for Character and Leadership Development (CCLD), 2005-2009, saggio inedito datato 11 ottobre 2012, p. 12.4 i temi della “leadership”, del “buon carattere” e i nuovi metodi di insegnamento vengono presi in considerazione dagli anni novanta.5 William shakespeare, Giulio Cesare, atto ii, scena 1, traduzione a cura di agostino lombardo, Feltrinelli, Milano 2000.6 Clifford Geertz, Centers, Kings & Charisma: Reflections on the Symbolics of Power, in Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretative Anthropology, Basic Books, new York 1983, p. 125.

Ringraziamenti all’air Force academy ho conosciuto Thomas J. Berry Jr., vicedirettore del Center for Character and leadership development, e il generale di divisione in pensione ervin J. rokke, ex presidente del Center for Character and leadership development, che mi hanno aiutato a capire il contesto in cui si colloca la Polaris hall. duane Boyle, architetto residente presso l’air Force academy ha risposto alle mie tante domande. da skidmore owings & Merrill, roger duffy, Frank Mahan, scott duncan ed emma Bird mi hanno generosamente fornito materiali e risorse. inoltre, ho avuto modo di discutere del nuovo edificio con david hill, di denver. il testo di riferimento sull’architettura dell’air Force academy è: robert allen nauman, On the Wings of Modernism: The United States Air Force Academy, University of illinois Press, Urbana e Chicago 2004.

7prospettiva da sud-est con la cappella del campus in primo piano

perspective from southeast with the campus chapel in the foreground

8planimetria generale. legenda: 1 parcheggio per i visitatori 2 Planetarium 3 harmon hall (amministrazione) 4 arnold hall (circolo studentesco) 5 Center for Character and leadership development (ccld) 6 livello pubblico “Corte d’onore” 7 Cadet Chapel 8 livello cadetti “la terrazza” 9 Vandenburg hall (dormitorio) 10 air Garden

11 biblioteca 12 Fairchild hall (aule per la didattica) 13 Mitchell hall (mensa) 14 sijan hall (dormitorio)

siteplan. legend: 1 visitors’ parking 2 Planetarium 3 harmon hall (administration) 4 arnold hall (students’ center) 5 Center for Character and leadership development (ccld) 6 public level “honor court” 7 Cadet Chapel 8 cadet level “terrace” 9 Vandenburg hall (dormitory) 10 air Garden 11 library 12 Fairchild hall (classrooms) 13 Mitchell hall (dining hall) 14 sijan hall (dormitory)

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9 pianta del piano terra. legenda: 1 salone polifunzionale 2 sala riunioni della commissione d’onore 3 Collaboration rooms 4 sala per seminari 5 biblioteca d’onore 6 uffici 7 sala riunioni 8 scalone cerimoniale 9 piazza di accesso 10 air Terrace 11 atrio sud 12 atrio nord 13 ingresso d’onore 14 ingresso cadetti 15 ingresso alla arnold hall 16 arnold hall 17 seminterrato della harmon hall

ground floor plan. legend 1 multifunctional hall 2 honor Committee meeting room 3 collaboration rooms 4 seminars 5 library 6 offices 7 meeting room 8 ceremonial staircase 9 access plaza 10 air Terrace 11 south lobby 12 north lobby 13 honor entrance 14 cadet entrance 15 entrance to arnold hall 16 arnold hall 17 semi-basement of harmon hall

10 sezione longitudinale. legenda: 1 sala riunioni della commissione d’onore 2 oculo 3 lucernario 4 oculo del lucernario 5 salone polifunzionale 6 scalone cerimoniale 7 piazza di accesso 8 harmon hall 9 arnold hall

longitudinal section. legend: 1 honor Committee meeting room 2 oculus 3 skylight 4 skylight oculus 5 multifunctional hall 6 ceremonial staircase 7 access plaza 8 harmon hall 9 arnold hall

11veduta della piazza d’accesso sul lato nord

view of the access plaza on the north side

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13, 14viste del lucernario da est e da ovest

views of the skylight from east and west

15 l’accesso sud dal livello pubblico della Corte d’onore

south access from the public level of the honor court

12veduta da sudo-vest con lo scalone cerimoniale in primo piano e la arnold hall alle spalle

view from southwest with the ceremonial staircase in the foreground and arnold hall behind it

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16 scorcio delle Collaboration rooms sui lati del salone polifunzionale

view of the Collaboration rooms on the sides of the multifunctional hall

17il salone centrale per conferenze, lezioni e briefing sotto l’obelisco-lucernario

the central hall for conferences, lectures and briefings under the obelisk-skylight

18la sala riunioni della commissione d’onore, illuminata attraverso un oculo a soffitto in asse con il lucernario di copertura

the honor Committee meeting room, lit through an oculus in the ceiling on axis with the roof skylight

19veduta notturna dall’ingresso sud

nocturnal view from the south entrance

skidmore, owings & Merrill

dati del progettoprogetto

skidmore, owings & Merrill llP: roger duffy (design Partner), anthony Vacchione (Managing Partner), scott duncan, Frank Mahan (senior designer), Thierry landis (Technical Coordinator)

struttureskidmore, owings & Merrill llP: Charles Besjak (director), Preetam Biswas

impianti, ingegneria civile e sostenibilità

skidmore, owings & Merrill llP

illuminotecnicaBrandston Partnership

acustica, impianti audiovisivi e informatici

Cerami & associatesconsulente teatrale

Fisher dachs associatesconservazione storica

robert naumanpreventivo costi

Faithful + Gouldrilievi topografici

nolte associatessicurezza antincendio

CCitest galleria del vento

rWdicommittente

United states air Force academy

dati dimensionali8.000 mq superficie dell’area4.320 mq superficie costruita

cronologia2008: progetto2016: costruzione

localizzazioneColorado springs, Colorado, stati Uniti

fotografieMagda Biernat, david lauer

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casabella 871 9998 englIsh TexTs

page 40Searching for an identity

Massimiliano Savorra

«The scent of fresh wood is among the last things you will forget when the veil falls». One is reminded of the words of the Norwegian poet Hans Børli when looking at this work by the studio Re-julf Ramstad. In fact, a cold land exists where burning wood is much more than a source of warmth. It has been magical-ly captured by the writer Lars Mytting, who starting with Børli’s suggestions has narrated, in Hel Ved. Alt om hog-ging, stabling og tørking – og vedfyringens sjel, how the art of wood can be an un-usual and unexpected path of redemp-tion. How to choose the trees, how to cut them, how to pile the firewood and dry it for burning, how to build houses. The phases of the lessons of life –prag-matic but also spiritual– on the relation-ship between man and nature, passed down in silence for centuries by the men of the North, immortalized by the poet of Eidskog.

The poetic figures evoked by Bør-li help us to approach the Romsdal Folk Museum, for which the use of this mate-rial seems fundamental. While the vol-umes of the museum suggest the mor-phology of the surrounding context, the pine wood determines the overall char-acter of this building nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2017.

The result of a competition held in 2007, the work by Rejulf Ramstad Arkitekter is inserted in an area near Molde –a small town known for its jazz festival– as an addition to the Romsdal-museet, an open-air museum complex founded in 1912 by Peter Tønder Solem-da, which includes about 50 buildings moved there from various places in the region. In a vast park near a lake, the natural setting of Moldejazz, the set-tlement is formed by barns, farmhous-es, spaces for the working of ice, storage structures, a small chapel (with decora-tions salvaged from abandoned church-es) and a road, “Bygata,” faced by the typical houses of the region in the pre-war era.

The pavilion has the aim of contain-ing the history of a community and the identity of a region in a work of archi-tecture that is configured, like the oth-ers in the park, as a true attraction. For this reason the form of the construction has the look of a tapered rocky moun-tain clad in wood, which in the winter months, in the vibrant light, can also look like an icicle. To make the pavilion the architects have imagined mountain-ous terrain composed of jagged, point-ed boulders, combined with the typi-cal Norwegian wooden house resting on stone, slightly raised at certain points and covered with earth, a reminder of the way men usually stack wood in these climes (to explain their idea, the design-ers simply use the figure of a mountain and a house joined by a +).

In functional terms, the museum is organized on two levels: the ground floor, flexible thanks to large sliding doors, is set aside for temporary and permanent exhibitions, as well as offic-es, with areas for an auditorium, a small library on local history, and a lounge with cafe. The permanent and tempo-rary exhibition zones can be combined, giving the curators the possibility of making optimal use of all the spaces for

the installation of shows. The archives, storerooms and workshops are in the basement (served by a large freight el-evator).

Though the main exhibition spac-es are completely closed to give the cu-rators total control of the artificial light-ing, the other parts of the museum have different openings gauged to filter light that enhances the interiors across the seasons, with always changing effects. The high-performance casements some-times contain screen printed glass, ac-centing the variations of the light during the long –or very short, depending on the season– Norwegian days.

As for the construction materials, as we were saying, pine –the most high-ly prized wood of the Norwegian forests– covers a steel structure and is used for the interiors and the outer walls, as well as the roof. Coated with biological oil, the wood –an authentic source of inspi-ration for all Norwegians, as Lars Myt-ting explains– supplies a character that changes with the seasons, the hours of the day and the weather conditions. Looking at the Romsdal Folk Museum from this standpoint, we also have to consider the fact that the construction rests on the ground while rising towards the sky, with the surface of the roof bent, higher at the extremities. Above all, we should focus on the lateral walls, which make a decisive contribution to the insertion of the building in the sur-rounding context. The treated wood, which changes in appearance based on different lighting conditions, creates a link with the nature of the site and the existing vernacular constructions.

Nevertheless, the figures and mate-rials take on a meaning in the museum that goes beyond a mere combination of parts. As in other works completed by Rejulf Ramstad, be they landscape projects (like the Trollstigen Nation-al Tourist Route Project, see «Casabella» no. 790) or works based on research on forms (like the Community Church of Knarvik, completed in 2014), the build-ing at Molde should not be seen as a mere geometric exercise inspired by the surrounding nature, but instead as an episode of that pursuit of identifica-tion of a people with a place described by Norberg-Schulz, and the patient con-struction of a relationship between man and nature, based on long periods of time and above all impalpable silences.

page 49Signature and participatory architecture

for social renewal through religious choice

Marco Biagi

Elementary, but not ingenuous or banal, the Jetavan Buddhist meditation and training center, in India, is a work that reconciles architecture with its techni-cal and ideal foundations. It reconnects it, first of all, to an artisan dimension, and the concrete essence of the act of building; it puts it back in tune with the sense of place, the community, the abil-ity to express this; and it takes architec-ture back, finally, to the authenticity of a form not developed for the sake of mar-keting, but created to establish relation-ships of use and perception through structural invention that shifts the ob-ject away from the norm. The particular feature of the design is clearly its char-

acteristic butterfly roof, with inverted pitches, which makes it possible to see the tops of the nearby Nīm and Gulmo-har trees above the small temple com-plex. The “holy forest” –devrai or deo-rai in the local dialect– is effectively a theme cherished by both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. The name select-ed for the center, Jetavan, links back to the myth of the monastery of the same name, or vihara –the “grove of Jeta in the garden of anāthapin. d. ika at Śrāvastī”– where Gautama Buddha preached and spent 19 of his 45 vassa. The land do-nated for the project by the benefactor Samir Somaiya is located in the zone of a sugar refining plant of his property, near the village of Vari, in rural Maharashtra. The structure is for devotees of the Dalit Buddhist movement promoted, start-ing in the 1950s, by the activist Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar to improve the lives of the victims of the Hindu caste system. The project, assigned to the architect Sameep Padora, based in Mumbai and previously the creator of several small works of remarkable quality (see «Casa-bella» no. 811, March 2012), has been de-veloped with the “liturgical” consult-ing of the monk of Czech origin Bhante Dhammadipa, and the “technical” ad-vice of the Hunnarshala Foundation, an institution based in Bhuj, Gujarat, that has the mission of safeguarding and re-viving regional construction traditions in India through the training and direct involvement of the population. In the case in question, to avoid sacri-ficing some of the plants on the land, the large settlement program has been split up into six contiguous blocks ar-ranged irregularly over a crepidine of three steps around a central courtyard for community events and a tiny access patio. The two main spaces are the med-itation hall and a training workshop; the smaller volumes contain the administra-tion offices, services and guestrooms. The terse linear architecture of the buildings intentionally avoids any refer-ence to the symbolism of Buddhist tem-ples, while the collaboration with the Hunnarshala Foundation can be seen in the organization of the worksite with volunteer labor (shramadaan) and in the use of experimental and sustaina-ble construction solutions. There is sys-tematic use of humble materials and resources, found in the vicinity and ap-plied in an unconventional way: the load-bearing walls in rammed earth, for example, use basalt dust from a nearby quarry and ashes from industrial plants that would otherwise be costly to dis-pose of; the floors are finished with cow manure with antiseptic properties; the special forks supporting the roof pitches are made with wood salvaged from the demolition of boats at the Alang ship-yards, and even the terracotta roof tiles come from demolished buildings. Under the latter, the decks have been replaced by innovative rolls of dried mud –ob-tained by soaking hemp cloths wrapped around strips of wood in damp clay– that guarantee more effective insulation from the intense sunlight. But the true invention of the project is represented by the successful structur-al anomaly of the formidable channel beams in reinforced concrete, poured at the midpoint along the longitudinal axis of the two larger halls. They support the rise of the wings of the roof, function-ing as gutters and drainpipes at the ex-

tremities, and draw the attention of vis-itors to the statue of the Buddha in the Dharmachakra mudra inside the prayer hall, and the image of Sarasvatī, the Hin-du goddess of knowledge and the arts, in the training room.

page 57Artificially natural

Michele Bonino

To the east of Beijing, the Grand Ca-nal Forest Park has recently been built, a forested strip that runs for 8 kilome-ters along the Grand Canal, the world’s longest artificial waterway (1800 kilom-eters), a part of Chinese history over the last 1000 years. The park has the job of reconciling the relationship between the Grand Canal –an infrastructure of great landscape value– and the new town of Tongzhou, presently under construction in an area of over 150 square kilometers. The city of Beijing is moving its munic-ipal government center to Tongzhou, in an about-face with respect to the 20th-century tradition of designing new cities to host the national capital, destined in this case to remain inside the Forbidden City, symbol of the homeland for all Chi-nese people. «A river, two banks, six land-scape areas, eighteen viewing points» is the slogan with which the park presents itself to visitors who enter, leaving be-hind the worksites and the fallow fields. The encounter between two gigantic hu-man works –the new city and the ancient canal– relies on nature, or more precise-ly its contemplation. Among the 18 view-ing points –bridges, platforms, belve-deres– described with evocative names like “picturesque scene on the island of the moon” or “joyous movement amidst the trees,” there is also the Forest Build-ing by Hua Li, facing the water and the large worksites of the new municipal cit-adel beyond the Canal.Hua, at the helm of TAO/Trace Archi-tecture Office (Museum of Gaoligong, «Casabella» no. 802, 2011), is one of the most brilliant designers of his genera-tion, with a degree from the mid-1990s from Tsinghua University in Beijing, the country’s most outstanding school, and subsequent experience in the USA. He shares this background with his contem-poraries Zhang Ke, head of Zhao/Stand-ardarchitecture (Visitors’ Center and Meditation Garden in Tibet, «Casabel-la» no. 802, 2011; Micro-Hutong, «Casa-bella» no. 837, 2014), and Zhang Li, own-er of Teamminus (Jianamani Visitors’ Center, «Casabella» no. 837, 2014). Eru-dite and equipped with international ex-perience, these architects now in their forties have revitalized the profession-al life of the capital, combining the dom-inant model of large public or univer-sity design institutes with their ateliers opened shortly after graduation, which have now expanded to employ 30 to 40 collaborators. The themes of their re-search can be summed up using the mar-ket solutions (standard) widespread in many public design institutes, through variations on the theme and reinterpre-tations; reduced to minimum terms in the constructive conception to bring out the intellectual dimension (minus); or rooted in the places and traditions of China (trace).Drawing on these shared foundations, Hua Li approaches the design of the For-est Building with a dual attitude, both

“rational” and “sensitive,” already ap-plied in previous works. For example, in the museum of Gaoligong in Yunnan Province (2008), where a plan organized by means of geometric repetitions cor-responds to an articulation of the roof-ing in closer tune with the landscape; or in the Rockview Teahouse, built in 2015 in an abandoned quarry in the prov-ince of Shandong, which displays a rig-orous constructive sections and a plan cut out to adapt to the position of trees and rocks. In the words of the design-er, the Forest Building «explores a spa-tial system generated by additive units to respond to the uncertainty of the pro-gram, but also a structural form and a construction system that respond to the character of the place». Where the first aspect is concerned, the explicit refer-ence point is the “No-stop City” of Ar-chizoom, as a model of indeterminate growth. The client –a developer involved in the making of the new Tongzhou– did not supply a functional program, but re-quested a building that would be capable of growing and adapting to functions of promotion, refreshment and hospitali-ty, which could be more precisely defined over time based on the progress of the real estate operations. Overlaid on the “rational” geometric organization of the plan, the “sensitive” dimension of the project takes on the form of a forest of trees in lamellar wood, below which vis-itors can relax and watch the canal, pro-tected by shelters clad in wooden shin-gles, but also by the brands of real trees incorporated in the new construction. Large glazed perimeter surfaces visual-ly connect indoor and outdoor spaces; the solid walls are made in packed earth gathered in the territory of the park and mixed with gravel, cement and yellow and red ferrite; the artificial base follows the jagged perimeter of the roofs. Raised about half a meter from the ground, the platform on which the construction rests protects the wooden structures from dampness, while making it possi-ble to create a technical space for physi-cal plant elements, completely freeing up the inner surfaces of the “trees”; at the same time, it is a way to indicate to visi-tors that they are entering, without cross-ing thresholds or barriers, a different space, suspended in a refined balance between artifice and nature – a sophisti-cated game that alludes to that of Tong-zhou, a new city that makes a mostly ar-tificial nature into the foundation for its urban growth.

page 60Tongzhou new town

Filippo Fiandanese

In Tongzhou, the eastern district of the Municipality of Beijing, the most impor-tant urban transformation in China is in progress today. Having grown up as a residential suburb of the capital, in 2004 Tongzhou was identified by the master plan of Beijing as one of the future cent-ers of urban and economic development in the region. About ten years later the first worksites appeared for the construc-tion of a vast business center, to supple-ment the Central Business District of Beijing. Activity in the area became fre-netic, at the end of 2015, after the pub-lic disclosure of the decision to move the offices of the Municipality of Beijing to this zone over the next two years.

Last fall 12 pairs of designers, each com-posed of one Chinese public architect and one foreign firm, were invited to de-sign the master plan of the 155 square kilometers of the new center. The com-petition, whose results were quickly an-nounced, involved outstanding names like Norman Foster, MVRDV, Christian de Portzamparc, Ove Arup, SOM and AE-COM. All six sub-areas addressed by the competition share frontage on the Grand Canal, the world’s longest artificial wa-terway (1800 kilometers) which since its construction (7th century) has trans-ported goods and people between Hang-zhou and Beijing. The canal has been in-cluded in the UNESCO heritage listings since 2014.The Grand Canal is therefore about to become the axis of growth of the larg-est new town of the Beijing metropol-itan area. On its banks, one of the few vestiges of the past of Tongzhou, a pago-da from the 17th century that is now the tallest in Beijing, will soon be surround-ed by the parade of towers announced by the promotional renderings. Here too, as in other cases based on the success-ful model of Shanghai Pudong, the riv-erfront will become the theatrical device used to channel the urban promise of the Chinese city of the 21st century.

page 67Humanizing technologies: a timely

challenge under the same roofFrancesca Chiorino

ArtLab, the new building by Kengo Kuma for the campus of the École Polytech-nique Fédérale of Lausanne, responds to several needs expressed by the client from the initial phases of the competi-tion held in 2012 and won by the Japa-nese architect with the project “Under One Roof.” The new building had not only to contain certain central functions for the growth of the Swiss campus and be useful to communicate a series of pro-jects connected with new technologies, but also to re-establish a balance of spac-es of circulation and recreation that had developed spontaneously around the Rolex Learning Center by SANAA, built in 2010.Kuma responded to the functional pro-gram which called for three distinct and independent areas with the expedient of a single roof of 235 meters, below which to create the sequence of a “Technolo-gy & Information” gallery, an “Arts & Sci-ence” pavilion, and the Montreux Jazz Café. The complex is located along the street the runs along the buildings to the west of the campus, leaving a large free area towards the volume by Kazujo Se-jima and offering, with its long portico, shelter for those moving along the north-south axis, while permitting permeabili-ty along the east-west axis, thanks to two tunnels that cross the building, divid-ing it into the three required function-al blocks.To preserve the view from the plaza to-wards the lake, the volume has a depth of 5 meters at the northern end and wid-ens to 16 at the southern extremity. For this continuously varying section, the studio has developed a structural solu-tion that combines wood and steel. By modifying the proportion of the wood-steel composition, it has been possi-ble to make the 57 portals of the struc-ture (each with a different span) with the

same section for the entire extension of the building, thus making the cladding modular and prefabricated. The external enclosure is made in larch wood, while the roof is in slabs of slate, both mate-rials that belong to the Swiss tradition, while a strong reference to traditional Japanese architecture is conveyed by the pacing of the portals whose lines are like the torii, the large gates that mark the start of the sacred area of temples. The pale gray tone of the wooden facing and the dark gray of the roof make the build-ing a poised, discreet presence in spite of its considerable length. The wooden ceiling generates an almost domestic at-mosphere. The overall meaning of the operation is outlined by the president of EPFL Patrick Aebisher: «Apart from its architectural enclosure, the ArtLab is a research pro-ject through which EPFL and its partners intend to explore the universe of digi-tal humankind, an emerging field rich in questions and stimuli.» Effectively, each of the three areas has characteristics of innovation along with a capacity to com-municate, particularly in relation to in-stallation techniques, and the theme of storage and use of “big data.” “Noir, c’est noir?” is the first exhibition in the “Arts & Science” space, examining the works of the French artist Pierre Sou-lage made with new photographic tech-nologies. Promoted by Fondation Gan-dur, the program encourages research and innovation in the exhibition dis-plays. The concerts of the famous Mon-treux Festival, whose archives are con-served and digitalized at EPFL, are the core offering of the “Montreux Jazz Café,” where visitors can listen in an im-mersive way, also thanks to new devic-es developed by EPFL, perusing 50 years of music history in 5000 hours of AV re-cordings. Finally, the third volume is a true showcase for the most innovative re-search projects of EPFL, aimed not only at the students of the entire campus, but also at visitors, in a large education-al platform.

page 76From rapeseed fields to megastructures.

A short history of EPFLNicola Braghieri

In the summer of 1964 Lausanne host-ed a World’s Fair. At the start of the 1960s the capital of the Canton of Vaud was still a heterogeneous urban cluster at the center of a large rural territory, with-out any specific calling other than agri-culture and elite tourism. Some historic buildings and many bourgeois edific-es, a castle, the college and the cathe-dral were perched at the top of the hills below which ran the railroad and the streams to drive the mills. In those nar-row valleys many workshops had al-ready existed, for centuries, as well as a large slaughterhouse and the first man-ufacturing firms. Lausanne, unlike Ge-neva or Basel, was not a city for heavy in-dustry, and it had rapidly gained wealth thanks to the successful industrial trans-formation of several small food produc-ers. The story of Henri Nestlé is a good example: in the second half of the 19th century he had already made brilliant ex-periments with the production of pow-dered milk, and in a few decades his firm grew from a small local company to a multinational empire, the world’s larg-

est in the food sector, with its headquar-ters a few kilometers from Lausanne. In the meantime another industry, that of tourism, was growing by leaps and bounds. On the shores of the lake and on the hills to the east overlooking the wa-ter, local entrepreneurs built big luxu-ry hotels with hundreds of rooms, ready to welcome large European families in flight from the turmoil of Europe during the “short century.” Thanks to the mild climate and the incomparable beauty of its views, the city managed, from the end of the 19th century, to transform itself into the most sought-after tourism cent-er in western Switzerland. Lausanne, to-gether with nearby Montreux and Vevey, became a place capable of attracting in-ternational elites throughout the year. Industry and luxury tourism were a per-fect combination for the growth of the old rural canton, which was still main-ly engaged in the production of products to fill up the shelves of supermarkets in Switzerland and the pantries of the fed-eral armed forces: not particularly good wines, modest cheeses, rather unremark-able tobacco, chocolate bars and hard-to-digest sausages.The World’s Fair was a great success. The recyclable pavilions, the prefabricated theater by Max Bill, the lake submarine by Auguste Piccard and the electronic symphony for 156 machines left an indel-ible mark on local society and culture. Lausanne wanted to become the Europe-an capital of research and innovation.The following spring, after the closure of Expo64, the government council decid-ed to move the university outside the ur-ban center. The canton provided a vast area to the west of the city, at the en-trance to the new highway built to con-nect Expo64 to the international airport of Geneva. Several hectares of country-side and woods, surrounded by farms, facing south towards the extraordinary panorama of the lake and Mont Blanc. A large plain was set aside for the construc-tion of the schools of engineering and ar-chitecture, in an area used for the cul-tivation of rapeseed, expropriated years earlier with the idea of building an inter-national airport, a dream that was sty-mied by popular demand. The western countryside of Lausanne, which seemed boundless and wild at the time, sudden-ly became a huge worksite. In Septem-ber 1970 the first students arrived in Do-rigny to take the preparatory courses of the university.In January 1969 the polytechnic school become an independent institution, sep-arating from the cantonal university, and with the name EPFL it was raised to the status of a federal school. It therefore re-quired an independent campus. The pre-liminary project developed by the com-mission to launch the competition called for the construction of a very dense, al-most urban complex, which would sug-gest the transdisciplinary character of the institution. In concrete terms, the idea was to connect all the technical de-partments through a single structure, avoiding the traditional separation in independent pavilions, as on Ameri-can campuses. The schemes provided for the competitors were quite explic-it: a megastructure which would contain all the necessary functions in a flexible, evolving way. Seven Swiss studios were invited to take part, including the firm of Luigi Snozzi, based in Ticino, who pre-sented a project that would remain a leg-

casabella 871 101100 englIsh TexTs

end for the architecture of those years, in many ways.In the fall of 1970 the winning project by the Zurich-based Jacob Zweifel and Hein-rich Strickler was presented. It lived up to the expectations: on a modular grid with the form of a three-dimensional lat-tice, almost a Meccano construction set, they placed different tower buildings for research and lecture halls. A large cross-wise covered street at the first floor lev-el was the axis to join the various parts. The ground level was left free for infra-structures, storage and garages. The roof was a continuous terrace, facing the panorama to the south, acting as an outdoor connection between the insti-tutes, restaurants and recreational func-tions. From the central axis a continuous framework extended, leaving certain por-tions open as gardens or courtyards. The buildings were constructed with the usu-al engineering language of those years: glass walls and aluminium panels, stair-wells in fair-face reinforced concrete, overhanging roofs and triangular steel walkways. Though the architecture dis-plays the limitations of talent of its mak-ers, the system lent itself well to the con-tinuous modifications and adjustments required by the political and pedagogi-cal evolution of those years. The school, built to train the classic figure of the en-gineer-physicist, was immediately faced by major changes, first of all the advent of microtechnologies and the entry in the polytechnic field of systems of com-munication, medicine, chemistry and bi-ology. The first courses on the new cam-pus were not held until the fall of 1978.In 1979, after the love of “metabolist” ar-chitecture, the EPFL administration de-cided to interrupt the development in keeping with the evolving system of 1970, and held a new competition for the ex-pansion in the western portion. Most-ly local architects were invited, and the winning project was one capable of con-vincing a jury that was not particularly qualified. The winner, Bernard Vouga, in-troduced a series of elements with clearly recognizable or even rather showy forms: diagonals, octagons, beveled prisms, a collection of anomalous shapes with re-spect to the Cartesian grid of the original plan. The buildings were covered with tiles in shades ranging from mustard to moss. It was the end of an era of rigor and the start of the carnival. When rigor was lost, so were its bearings.Finally, in 1992, a third competition called explicitly for reconsideration of the original project, through the config-uration of new buildings capable of ex-pressing a decisive and unified image of the institution. This time the winners were the Ticino-based Dolf Schnebli, Flo-ra Ruchat, Tobias Ammann and Sacha Menz, with a rigorous, austere design: porticos, regular windows, white stuc-co, a stone base. These are the buildings that would host the last move from the city center, that of the department of ar-chitecture.In the years to follow, in the gaps left open, further constructions were insert-ed. Atelier Cube, on the eastern edge of the campus, built the Centre de re-cherches en physique des plasmas (1996), Rodolphe Lüscher the Bâtiment des Communications (2004) and Patrick Devanthéry and Inès Lamunière the Sci-ences de la Vie building (2008). EPFL en-tered the worldwide spotlight in 2010, with the opening of what is considered

its architectural jewel: the Rolex Learn-ing Center by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa. The building, though criti-cized for its high costs of construction and maintenance, and for certain func-tional issues, has brought great interna-tional visibility to a school that was pre-viously a local institution in terms of its architectural image. The Rolex Center was the first step of a new era ushered in by the unstoppable Patrick Aebischer, a neuroscientist who became president of EPFL in 1999. Under his intrepid and ide-alistic guidance EPFL has reached an in-credible annual budget of about one bil-lion euros, with 12,000 students and rapid growth. The Rolex Center was fol-lowed by many other worksites, includ-ing the student housing by Anne-Cath-erine Javet and Alfonso Esposito (2009) and the Hotel Starling by Jean-Baptiste Ferrari (2010), the impressive Swiss Tech Convention Center and the residences by Jacques Richter and Ignacio Dahl Rocha (2014), the administration buildings (2013) and Neuroprosthetics laboratories by Dominique Perrault (2015), the ArtLab by Kengo Kuma (2016) and the project, now in the implementation phase, of the RTS by Kersten Geers (2019).On 31 December 2016 Patrick Aebischer handed over his throne to Martin Vetter-li, former president of the powerful Na-tional Fund for Scientific Research. The new supreme chieftain inherits many worksites to be finished, and many pro-jects yet to be started. These include the Students’ Center, a little giant slated to cost 30 million francs, for completion in 2020, whose design will soon be select-ed from 12 proposals by students of the school of architecture.To understand the frenetic growth that has enabled a young and relative small French-speaking school to attract large international research investments in just a few decades, and to rise in all the rankings, we need to take a step back into the recent past of its territory.Public investments, the presence of the Polytechnic, and political and fiscal sta-bility, have made this a rapidly growing district over the last few decades. Nestlé, the world’s biggest food multinational, is joined by Logitech and Ferring, with a research center inside EPFL, while a growing number of multinationals, from Honeywell to Philip Morris, have set up European R+D centers in the canton. The sector of light high technologies, especially those connected with medi-cal micro-engineering, is a recognized area of excellence, flanked by thousands of other small and medium companies in a range of different sectors. Statistics are like horoscopes –you can read any-thing you want into them– but certain numbers speak for themselves to illus-trate the frenetic activity of an industri-al district that leads the world in the area of development of advanced technolo-gies. The confederation invests about 3% of its domestic product on research, the highest percentage in the world. The re-sults are clearly visible across the terri-tory of the canton of Lausanne, in its in-frastructural organization and its social makeup. Over 30% of the inhabitants are foreigners, mostly working in the sectors of scientific research, culture and ad-vanced technological services. “Lausanne la rouge,” the Swiss city furthest to the left, is a small city of less than 150,000 in-habitants, in a canton of almost 800,000. The Polytechnic and the University have

30,000 persons working and studying, and 60,000 are employed by advanced micro-tech firms. The research sector employs almost 20% of active workers in the whole canton, an impressive quo-ta if we compare it to any other place in the world, including Silicon Valley. Eve-ry year from 1000 to 1500 new technolo-gy companies are created. Western Swit-zerland is the world’s industrial district where the highest number of patents is filed each year. The figure of the Portu-guese worker or the Italian restauranteur is a stereotype of little weight in numer-ical terms today, though it is still firmly rooted in the collective imagination.

page 82Polaris Hall, Center for Character and

Leadership development, air Force academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Skidmore Owings & Merrillnicholas adams

«i feel downright futuristic, lookin’ at this spankin’ new air Force academy.» Steve Canyon, 18 august 1958

Polaris Hall, the new Center for Character and Leadership, by a team from the new York office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, is the first building on the central campus of the air Force academy in Colorado Springs since 1968. it is a bold and imaginative step for the air Force representing generational change in function and form. it creates a new symbol and offers new educational spaces for the academy. it is also a build-ing of paradoxes: architecture parlante in a world where silence was long the standard. it respects everything around it and yet it of-fers something completely original. Coming to terms with Polaris Hall requires under-standing academy life for itself; it is a build-ing that proposes new rituals that will over time, it is hoped, transform the training of airmen and women. though a small building, it is a big idea. the air Force academy in Colorado Springs is a great modernist building complex. Long academic halls and dormitories encircle a runway-scaled plaza like wild-west wagons. Set against the brown hills of the ramparts range with a broad open sky above, it has an elemental quality: just man and nature. the orthogonals on the plaza provide the straight-line framework for junior cadets’ walk between classes and echo greater grids of geography and rationality. designed by Walter netsch in the Chicago office of Skidmore Owings & Merrill (1954–1962) with extensive consultation from gordon Bunshaft in the new York office, it is breath-taking architecture. the central campus site –the cadet area– is divided in two. at the lower level are class-rooms and dormitories and the great open plaza belonging to the cadets. On the upper level, accessible to the public, are Harmon Hall (the administration building), arnold Hall (the student union), and the Chapel. this last is netsch’s most popular building: an ac-cordion line of crimped and crinkly metal tetrahedrons that recall airplane wings. it is popular enough to have been placed on a 37-cent stamp commemorating the acad-emy’s 50th anniversary in 2004 when the entire cadet area was designated a national Historic Monument. to all appearances, the campus seems virtually unchanged with new buildings generally slotted in the hills outside the central cadet area. the most significant architectural loss has been the

air garden designed by dan Kiley, a gridded and checkered pattern of grass and water.1

though the air Force academy feels un-changed, no one would maintain that the job of airman or woman has remained what it was in the middle 1950s. new technolo-gies, instruction methods, and generations of students have needs hardly imagined by the founders or their architects. america’s role in the world has changed, too. at one time her advantage was economic and technological, but gaps have narrowed and even the most fervent supporter of “making america great” knows that the equation is not the same as it was before russia devel-oped the atom bomb or China’s economic mobilization became the envy of the world. if the united States is to maintain its place and expand its influence in the world it will not be through military might or economic colonialism alone or together, but through innovation. in the world of google and apple, we might wonder, what will that mean for the profession of arms? Will education look as it did in the past, with “the sage on the stage” lecturing to hundreds? Was now the time to re-echo the Mercator grid or was something else needed? to intervene in this holiest of modern-ist spaces is no small undertaking. Walter netsch (1920–2008), who retired from SOM in 1979, has long held saintly status in Colorado. Prior to 9/11 the air Force acad-emy was the number one tourist attraction in the state with well over a million visitors a year, and netsch maintained close contacts with the academy; they even invited him to consider the criteria for any new addition to the central campus. «i said,» netsch told the architectural historian detlef Mertins, «that people should work within the dis-cipline of the academy, not copy it, but do something within the discipline.»2 no doubt, had netsch been active as the new project moved forward, the air Force would have turned to him. in the event, the air Force first turned to SOM and instead of opening the competition to outsiders, they proposed a competition between the three principal of-fices: San Francisco (where Craig Hartman, the senior designer, had worked in netsch’s studio); Chicago (senior designer Brian Lee had only recently transferred from San Francisco); new York (where the entry was organized by roger duffy). a jury of air Force officials convened under the superinten-dent, Lt. general John regni and Lt. general (ret.) ervin rokke. among the group was the historian and critic Joan Ockman, the dean of the school of architecture at Cornell uni-versity Kent Kleinman, and robert nauman, author of the standard work on the architec-ture of the air Force academy. the jury se-lected the new York entry. as regni recalled, on seeing duffy’s entry: «a chill went down my spine and i looked over at erv [rokke], and he at me, and our eyes told each other’s roger had just hit a grand slam home run –he and his team nailed it with a modern, unique structure that met all our needs, and with symbolism that strikes to the core of the academy.»3

From the outside Polaris Hall appears as a 105-foot slanted glass and steel skylight that rises from the open plaza of the up-per campus in an area known as the Honor Court. the exterior of the skylight is smooth and on the interior lateral forces determine the architectural exposed structural steel skeleton; the plates vary in size and are modeled in two dimensions as a product of the lateral forces. the result produces a softness and variety to the interior profile. the densest gathering of steel occurs on the south side where protection from the sun is

needed. On a campus with real airplanes sit-ting out on the plaza there’s nothing out of place here: to some the skylight canted at 39 degrees appears like the tail of an aircraft buried into the ground facing the blank mar-ble wall of arnold Hall. Fritted glass along the southern edge makes the outer face look like mist or clouds disturbed by move-ment. When seen from a distance, on arrival, the scale is altogether different. the shaft joins a skyline dominated until now by the tetrahedrons of the Chapel –the new build-ing is a rocket ship rather than an airplane, a secular obelisk rather than a temple.Formal entry to Polaris Hall is down a monu-mental granite stair from the south, from the direction of the Chapel. threading past blue Murano-glass entry walls we come to the main space under the skylight–obelisk, a multi-use lecture hall with an elevated stage for formal presentations and raised break-out boxes along the side for small-group discussion. With lines of chairs, it seems like a setting for lectures, but tables or cir-cled chairs can quickly break down formality turning it into an area for group discussion. dominated by the hollow of the slanted ob-elisk and diamond grid, this is a place for active education and the heart of the Center. Lectures occur here and so too assignment briefings. On the east and west side of the central hall are seven glassed-in rooms (fourteen in all), called Collaboration rooms, equipped with double screens and com-puter hook ups for cadets to work in groups on assignments together or with colleagues at the other service academies. (they can also link to officers in europe or the Mid-dle east.) reflective mirrors suspended like a Calder mobile catch lights and refocus them. air terraces, two garden strips to east and west, flank the great hall and faculty of-fices ring the gardens at the southern head and along the far eastern and western sides of the gardens facing the hall. the design of the offices in warm blue-grey steel provides a cloistered effect and an appropriate sense of modest governmental efficiency much as the original buildings did when they were built. Offices and great hall, though below plaza level, are visually open to the gardens. there is an alternative exit from the hall to-wards the north and to arnold Hall and out to the gardens. One room is hidden from view. Behind the podium and the speaker’s raised platform to the south is the meeting room for the honor committee, the Honor Board room. Sheathed in maple, as are other public rooms, it is partially lit by a long strip light partially set into the wall that gives the feel-ing of daylight. this attractive but secluded space holds the key to the program of the whole building. For here is where a com-mittee of cadets meets to decide the fate of those who have been brought before them for infractions to the honor code. to under-stand its awesome function, the honor code and its place in american universities and at the air Force academy need to be examined.Honor codes play a significant role in the academic institutions of the united States. Some are general in their injunctions, other specify the acts that are explicitly prohib-ited; the things no officer or gentleman, man or woman, would do. Honor codes provide a leitmotif for academic life, something ac-knowledged when breached, but largely out of sight in day-to-day life. typically at academic institutions in the united States students sign their adherence to the honor code on admission. they may renew their pledge from time to time (at examinations, for example), but the code soon passes out of consciousness. religious faith-based in-

stitutions emphasize these pledges more –the injunctions more specific, the renewal of vows more frequent; secular institutions less so. the military academies are another mat-ter. the molding of men and women for the profession of arms requires an adherence to word and honor. in the face of battle, in terri-ble moments of uncertainty, the honor code is a still point of truth. Or so it should be. in recent years the military academies in the united States have faced significant chal-lenges with the exposure of cheating scan-dals, sexual harassment, and hazing rituals. Placing the honor code back at the heart of academy life required bold architectural de-cisions. the appropriateness of these deci-sions can only be understood when we exam the honor code at the air Force academy. at the air Force academy living out an honor code does not only mean avoiding dishonor –not cheating lying, or stealing, the three practices list– but entails collective respon-sibility. Judgment is just the beginning of a process of self-examination by the group of which the guilty party was a member (the living unit, the class year or the squadron). What could the group have done to antici-pate a possible infraction and head it off? Was this person in academic difficulty in a way that the group should have recognized? the cadets who acknowledge their lapse and their fellows who come together to ad-dress their role in the breakdown emerge strengthened. Building a special place for adjudication was a way to highlight the cen-trality of the honor code to the air Force. it could not be placed outside the central campus without diminishing its importance.4 the seal of the air Force academy has at its center Polaris, the north Star, the naviga-tor’s star, the one star in the heavens that does not move. Polaris was the theme for the competition: both Hartman and Lee produced abstract steel and glass designs for the same area. duffy’s design, and now the completed building, acknowledges the north Star directly with the tapered obelisk oriented towards Polaris: an oculus at its apex frames the star. the navigator’s star will remain in its sight for another 12,000 years. ancient obelisks were, according to Pliny the elder, symbolic representations of the descent of the sun’s rays. the skylight at Polaris Hall reverses the formula: the obelisk reaches toward a star visible only at night through its apex. it creates a remarkable piece of modernist architecture parlante, one that speaks the virtues of good charac-ter and leadership at the heart of military life. inside the honor room, the committee sits at the table. Members of the academy commu-nity may come in and sit at either side of the table; behind a double glass wall, others can watch the proceedings. the accused sits at the head of the table and looking up will sight along the central line of the slanted ob-elisk toward Polaris, a reminder of the true north towards which the cadet should steer. in the words of Shakespeare:The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks; They are all fire, and every one doth shine; But there’s but one in all doth hold his place.

after graduating from the air Force acad-emy, these young men and women can be making life and death decisions; their adher-ence to the honor code, living it out honor-ably, is the foundation of their military career. they need clear direction.duffy’s team has walked a fine line. Build-ings that mean something have gone out of favor, discarded with postmodernism. in its place are gherkins and turning torsos, Shards and Cheesegraters –office buildings

and apartment towers with marketing labels. Yet duffy has long experience with artists such as James turrell at greenwich acad-emy (2000–02) and at the Koch Center for Science, Math, and technology at deerfield academy (2005–07). duffy’s collaborators elsewhere include iñigo Mangiano-Ovalle, Lawrence Wiener, rita McBride, and robert Whitman. there is a respect for the power of space, for the virtues of sunlight, and for clarity of structure. at the Mumbai airport (2011–15), as at the air Force academy, structure becomes the artistic theme. Sixty years ago air Force officers took an enormous risk in building a modernist cam-pus. Frank Lloyd Wright described it as a “factory for birdmen,” and the thundering de-nunciations of members of the united State Congress make entertaining reading today. now the sanctified grounds of the original campus are defended with equal passion. Constructing a new building required gen-erating internal consensus on the theme and overcoming fears that the new building would inevitably detract from the old. Per-haps only that tension made such a building possible. the generals should be pleased. roger duffy and his team have done eve-rything to ensure that where new materials meet the old the border is barely felt. Polaris Hall respects the 7-foot module grid em-ployed by on the original campus. the great Murano glass entry foyers mirror walls in blue, yellow, and red elsewhere on campus. granite from Cold Spring, Minnesota (rock-ville Beige) used throughout the academy is picked up at Polaris Hall. the gray steel frame of the obelisk is certainly consistent with the white and gray of arnold and Har-mon halls, the closest neighbors. the view of the Chapel remains unobstructed and the inner skeleton of the skylight echoes the angular buttresses along the flanks of the Chapel. netsch thought any addition to the campus should be “within the discipline,” and in 1998 he also provided sketches for a meditation chapel (to accommodate those who did not feel comfortable in the Chapel) that used a diagrid articulated wall not dis-similar to the pattern inside the new Center’s skylight. duffy and his team have respected the original discipline.ambitions are high for this new building. it is an acknowledgment that the meanings inherent in netsch’s designs no longer carry the punch they once did for a new genera-tion, that however brilliant the original build-ings may be, there is a complacency of familiarity in the modernism of the 1950s. (Put another way: we look back on that time the way the generation of eiffel looked back on Schinkel.) Polaris Hall changes the literal profile of the academy; it also seeks some-thing more profound, to recharge with ritual significance the sacred spaces of the acad-emy, to shift, in the words of Clifford geertz, “the society’s center and affirm its con-nection with transcendent things.”5 SOM’s design has managed this with unexpected effervescence.

Acknowledgmentsat the air Force academy i met with thomas J. Berry Jr., deputy director Center for Char-acter and Leadership development and Lt. general (ret.) ervin J. rokke, former chair for Character and Leadership development who helped me understand the wider con-text for Polaris Hall. duane Boyle, resident architect of the air Force academy who answered my numerous questions. at Skid-more Owings & Merrill, roger duffy, Frank Mahan, Scott duncan, and emma Bird gen-erously provided resources. i was also able to share ideas about the building with david

Hill, denver, Colorado. the standard work on the air Force academy is by robert allen nauman, On the Wings of Modernism: The United States Air Force Academy (urbana and Chicago: university of illinois Press, 2004).

Notes1 Kiley’s air gardens, prone to leak, were emptied in the early 1970s. there are plans to return them to the terrazzo in the near future.2 “Walter netsch interviewed by detlef Mertins May 21, 2001, 1700 north Hudson Street, Chicago,” SOM Journal 1 (2001), p. 146.3 John F. regni, “History and evolution of the Center for Character and Leadership devel-opment (CCLd), 2005-2009,” unpublished essay, dated October 11, 2012, p. 12.4 the issue of “leadership” and “good char-acter,” and new forms of teaching has been under consideration since the 1990s.5 Clifford geertz, “Centers, Kings & Charis-ma: reflections on the Symbolics of Power,” in Local Knowledge: Further Essays in In-terpretative Anthropology (new York: Basic Books, 1983), p. 125.

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