Architects Defy Convention with Experimental Designs

Final testing of Vivisys at the Extension Gallery in Chicago.
Photo courtesy of Gattegno and Johnson

Imagine a building that reacts to the presence and movements of people and to elements of weather, responding with sound, lighting, and temperature variations as well as transformations of structure.  That is the fascinating vision of Nataly Gattegno and Jason Johnson, both assistant professors of architecture at U.Va.

Through their teaching and research, Gattegno and Johnson are pushing architectural bounds. “We are interested in architecture not as a static, passive entity but as dynamic—an entity with a pulse,” says Johnson.  “We want to embed chance in architecture—giving it the capability to react to changing variables like wind flow, sunlight, and patterns of use.” 

Johnson points out that traditionally, when buildings lose their ability to adapt to users, they are torn down.  Disillusioned by this, Gattegno and Johnson integrate sustainability into every aspect of their designs from the very beginning.  Their computational models allow them to simulate how a building may change over time and with shifting use.

Green building—designing buildings to be more efficient and have less impact on the environment—has received a lot of attention in recent years, but Gattegno and Johnson assert that their plans are more radical.  They not only look for ways to improve efficiency, they seek to harvest energy.  They consider cultural implications in their designs.  And they are concerned as much with aesthetic as utility.

“For our generation sustainability is a given,” notes Gattegno. “Design is a powerful tool that can weave together ecologically and aesthetically driven ideas into a synthetic whole. Our design approach is in negotiation with our surroundings, a responsive and performative relationship that augments and enriches our inhabitable environments.”

The design team uses new materials and technologies in their work.  They founded Future Cities Lab, a design studio with offices in Charlottesville and Athens, Greece, as “a provocation,” to be highly experimental and forward-thinking, according to Johnson.  “We are rooted in research,” he says.  “This yields innovation and helps us ask fundamental questions.”

Gattegno and Johnson’s work has garnered significant attention, including second place in the international Seoul Opera House design competition in 2006.  More recently, the duo was invited to exhibit a retrospective of their designs at Chicago’s Extension Gallery for Architecture. 

The Chicago exhibit features “Vivisys,” an installation that allowed Gattegno and Johnson to test their ideas on a larger scale.   They describe Vivisys as “an experimental double-curved acrylic lattice vault that plays host to an extraordinary cluster of rapidly prototyped metallic barnacles.”  Vivisys is equipped with sensors that trigger a robotic soundscape as well as a network of luminescence when activated.  Vivisys was conceptualized, designed, prototyped, and installed in 28 days in close collaboration with Troy Rogers, doctoral student in the Department of Music’s Composition and Computer Technologies program. 

“The Vivisys installation allowed us to explore the potential for architecture to have a dynamic relationship with its surroundings,” says Johnson.  “Using sensors and small embedded computers we were able to intermesh the physical structure with an extraordinary nervous system. The installation senses people moving around it and responds with nervous waves of blue light and sound. We are already working the next version that will change shape and adjust its transparency.”

Gattegno and Johnson have increasingly been involved in multidisciplinary projects and they gain inspiration from a wide variety of sources, from ecology to materials science to music.  They initiated GROW:DC, a design collaborative and urban think tank that includes landscape architects, urban designers and environmental engineers.  In early January, the team was a finalist in the History Channel’s “City of the Future” competition to create a thriving design for Washington, D.C. 100 years from now.

In addition, Gattegno and Johnson are working on several international commissions that cross disciplinary boundaries. They are developing a prototype for a pre-fabricated eco-hut in Vietnam that will be entirely computer-designed, prototyped, and assembled on-site by robotic machines. They are also in the process of developing a multi-unit contemporary housing project in Romania that will meet the highest standards of sustainable design—harvesting water, collecting sunlight, and using sustainable materials. They are working in close collaboration with developers, urban planners and ecologists on the design.        

“We deliberately set up our design practice and teaching approach to explore the intersection of architecture and landscape architecture with other disciplines,” says Gattegno. “Collaboration is integral. Exciting things happen when people work together.”

Chicago’s Extension Gallery for Architecture is running Gattegno and Johnson’s exhibit through February 4.  It also includes a series of models, drawings, and videos that document “Super Galaxy II,” “Kowloon Urban Archipelagos,” “Robotic Ecologies,” and the “Urban Energy Farm” (their Seoul Opera House competition entry), all recent Future Cities Lab projects.