Case Study: Form Analysis

October 5

2010Art Performing Center. Zaha Hadid. Abu Dhabi. 2007

The design concept for Performing Art Center in Abu Dhabi mostly

engaged with the topic of natural form. The first implication comes

to mind about natural form is being inspired by a form, structure or

element in nature! Performing Art Center has an organic form, "a

sculptural form that emerges from a linear intersection of pedestrian

paths within the cultural district, gradually developing into a

growing organism that sprouts a network of successive branches.

As it winds through the site, the architecture increases in

complexity, building up height and depth and achieving multiple

summits in the bodies housing the performance spaces, which spring

from the structure like fruits on a vine and face westward, toward

the water."(Zaha Hadid)

Hadid is inspired by structures and forms arise from natural world.

Her design emerges from abstracts diagrams, primary components

of biological analogies (branches, stems, fruits and leaves) and

analytical studies of organizational systems and growth in the

natural world which gradually transform into architectonic design

The above diagrams show formal development of the building and the network of successive branches. Natural forms were used as first idea. The structure with branches and leaf-like components, smooth and simple organic arm, growing and reaching out into the Gulf, almost swimming or gliding, as though ready to slide right off the islands' edge and the structure like fruits on a vine that are transformed from these abstract diagrams into architectonic design.

and lead to the set of topologies

that are the framework of the

Performing Art Centre’s distinct

formal language which guide the

architect to follow in the process

of conceiving the building.i

This approach of becoming more engaged with the natural world in

contemporary architecture, confirms both Michael Weinstock

discussion on how today the sensitivity to the life of buildings

increasesii and Elizabeth Grosz debate on power and futurity.iii Zaha

Hadid method in creating natural form in her design and natural

scenarios that are formed by energy being supplied to enclosed

systems, and the subsequent decrease in energy caused by

development of organized structures, show her tendency to preserve

nature and how architects try to return the position of power to

nature in the future.

The way she creates the structure begins with the development of

systems that are conceptually and mathematically related to the

metabolic morphologies of plants.iv This system, known as

Branching Networks, acts as a base for the structure of the building.

Branching algorithms and growth-simulation processes have been

Branching network indicate the maximum surface area for light similar to plants.

The sculptural form emerges from a linear intersection of pedestrian paths, gradually developing into a growing organism that sprouts a network of successive branches. As it grows through the site, the architecture increases in complexity. This shows “a growing interest in the dynamics of fluidity, in networks and in the new topologies of surfaces and soft boundaries” arrives from the natural metabolism." (Michael Weinstock, “Metabolism and Morphology” in M.Hensel and A.Menges, ed.Versatility and Vicissitude, 2008, 26)

used to develop spatial

representations into a set of basic

geometries.

Considering that the concept for

the building came from

examining basic geometries of

plant biology, the progression,

complexity and growth seen in the form, can be explained by

Cartesian Transformation too. In this respect, the correlation in

regard to form

which had seen too complex for analysis or comprehension will be

capable of very simple graphic expression.v In this regard, the

growing structure of the building includes a “node” or “point” where

growth is at a minimum and then about which node the rate of

growth may be assumed to increase.vi

Although the idea behind the form is simple, complexity and

contradictory are exploited in her design. Hadid considered different

criteria from pedestrian paths to biological analogies and also the

context of cultural district in her design. Therefore, her style is

probably perceived as following the Mies van der Rohe calls “less is

more”.vii

These diagrams indicate how the form of the building arises from its context as well as still is engaged with its environment and landscape and how a simple idea leads to ambiguity and tension. A form with fluid lines that transcend, meander and grow through the ground to actually construct a Performing Arts Center!

The building is so integral with

the landscape, and yet somehow,

stands alone as a great

architectural statement. In this

case, the predominant

movements in the urban fabric

along the pedestrian corridor and

the Cultural Centre’s seafront promenade - the site’s two

intersecting primary elements- are the important factors of engaging

the form with its context. In this sense, nature does not provide

either a ground or a limit to human and architecture, but inhabits the

architecture and the context of the building to make it more

dynamic, to make it grow and be capable of orienting itself.viii

To conclude, nature, context and environment as well as functional

aspects, the spirit of time and even psychological demands of space

are considered in Hadid’s design as fundamental issues.ix

Notes

i Giulio Carlo Argan, “On the Typology of Archtiecture”, in Kate Nesbitt, ed. Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture, 1996, 244ii Michael Weinstock, “Metabolism and Morphology” in M.Hensel and A.Menges, ed.Versatility and Vicissitude, 2008, 27iii Elizabeth Grosz, “In-Between: The Natural in Architecture and Culture,” in Architecture from the Outside: Essays on Virtual and Real Space, 2001, 103iv Michael Weinstock, “Metabolism and Morphology” in M.Hensel and A.Menges, ed.Versatility and Vicissitude, 2008, 30v D’Arcy Thompson, “On the Theory of Transformations, or the Comparison of Related Forms,” in On Growth and Form, 1961, 276vi Michael Weinstock, “Metabolism and Morphology” in M.Hensel and A.Menges, ed.Versatility and Vicissitude, 2008, 30 D’Arcy Thompson, “On the Theory of Transformations, or the Comparison of Related Forms,” in On Growth and Form, 1961, 278vii Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, The Museum of Modern Art, 1966, 17viii Elizabeth Grosz, “In-Between: The Natural in Architecture and Culture,” in Architecture from the Outside: Essays on Virtual and Real Space, 2001, 105ix Paul Rudolph, “The Six Determinants of Architectural Form,” in C. Jencks and K. Kropf, eds., Theories and Manifestoes of Contemporary Architecture, Wiley-Academy, 2006, ISBN 13 978-0-470-01469-1 (378 pages), 213-215.