"Delirium Palace" stems from a dream, from the rescue of a lost image that a monk left drawn in the 16th century, in a notebook that was said to be cursed. That monk, saving himself from a shipwreck off the coast of Porto, swore on the “Cliff of the estuary” to build the largest organ that had ever existed to collect the winds that saved him and turn them into heavenly sounds. Legend has it that everyone who read it would be lost forever in its impossible delirium. This legend is true, and so this delusion became my own. A chimera is thus constructed that consists of three parts: the structure of the organ, the enclosure of the organ and the inhabited organ.
The CFD (Code Fluids Dynamics) Simulation software is used to simulate and determine wind dynamics. By means of a model tester, a simulation is carried out with the determining factors of the place: wind speed and direction depending on the height, ground temperature, outside temperature, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure throughout a year. This is how we obtain 204 areas of maximum incidence of the winds on which the large catchment pipes are placed and an oriented and optimized tridimensional truncated pyramidal model that forms a built-up tissue around them. As if it were an organ, the wind is collected in wells associated with each of the pipes. Its curved exterior finish facilitates the collection of air that.
These pillars support the building and raise it to 9 meters above the ground. They receive loads and transmit them to a deep pile pile foundation. In this way, a wind catchment system is formed that enters through the wells, ascends vertically through the pillars, passes through the building's pipes, facilitating its natural air conditioning, runs through the pipes that make up the sound organ and ends in an inflatable cover.
The projects was developed within the context of ETSAM (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid).
KOOZ What prompted the project?
JJMM All started the day I bought a book about the history of Portugal. Reading the book, I came across the notebook of a monk named Fray Joâo de Vermelha who wrote a notebook of his life. I decided then that Delirium Palace was born from the reverie of the monk transferred to this century. I am trying to recover the lost images that the monk left drawn in the 16th century. This delusion out of its time was forgotten for 5 centuries, in a notebook that was said to be cursed. The legend says that everyone who reads it would be lost forever in its impossible chimera. This legend is true, and so this delusion became my own and, from now on, I want it to be yours.
KOOZ What questions does the project raise and which does it address?
JJMM If we go through history, we see how architecture evolves in its way. All buildings have their geographical, historical and political context. Delirium Palace tries to address the context to which it belongs, 2020 in Porto, Portugal. The phenomenon of climate change is the issue of our time and this project attempts to address an answer as an architectural condition of form and use. In addition, I am very interested in history, what tools and techniques were used in other historical moments, I wanted to capture what would be the ones we have now and show progress.
The project is implanted on the “Cliff of the estuary”, next to the “Cabedelo do Douro” beach. The winds that are generated by the collision of the Atlantic current with that of the banks of the Duero are studied using software that allows us to achieve the optimal way to carry out wind capture. For this, a vertical wind capture system was designed to facilitate aerodynamics, allows us to guide the winds to the different floors of the building, providing ventilation and air for filling the inflatable cover and, in addition, generate sounds in the metal trumpets. A horizontal system composed of the textile envelope that is designed taking into account the strong winds of the place allows to regulate the horizontal circulation.
Finally, at the beginning of 2020 we went through a historical event such as the quarantine at home due to COVID-19 and for me the way of living or inhabiting spaces changed radically, so much so that I modified the program to turn it into homes and a large park in height in order to investigate new models of living.
KOOZ How does the project deploy narrative as a tool for making architecture?
JJMM I have always thought that architecture is architecture if it has a story behind it. Architecture, like people, is a conglomeration of stories defined by the events and experiences that they go through their lives, thus obtaining an identity. It could be said that the narration supposes the process of creation of Delirium Palace.
KOOZ What role did Simulation software as CFD play in the design of the artefact?
JJMM The CFD (Code Fluids Dynamics) Simulation software could be used to simulate and determine wind dynamics. By means of a model tester, a simulation is carried out with the determining factors of the place: wind speed and direction depending on the height, ground temperature, outdoor temperature, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure throughout a year. This is how we obtain 204 areas of maximum incidence of the winds on which the large catchment pipes are placed and an oriented and optimized tridimensional truncated pyramidal model that forms a tissue built around them.
KOOZ What informed the types of visualizations through which the project is revealed? How do these compensate the narrative?
JJMM Delirium Palace is represented in this way because it was essential to explain the operation of the building as a set to explain the floors, sections and elevations. It was very important to explain the new technologies used, taking advantage of the results obtained from the softwares used to graphically innovate in the explanation of new applied technologies.
I made the visualizations to tell stories without using many or any words. It was a challenge to represent the idea as if it were paintings. My intention with this project was to work with feelings using architecture and art as tools. The narrative has served us as a generator of the project and allows us to dialogue with those technical aspects, to end up accompanying in a more poetic way some images and drawings through whose observation we live the building.
KOOZ How does the project approach the role of the architect in our contemporary society?
JJMM The architect must be aware of the roots and culture of contemporary society. It is essential that you study and investigate the cultural evolution of the community by which a project will be located. It is very important to understand the conditions of the place in order to create an architecture related to the natural environment with its inhabitants. We are aware that we live in a technology era never seen before and that is why we must apply these new technologies to improve construction processes which create better living spaces.
KOOZ What is for you the architect's most important tool?
JJMM The most important tool an architect must have and cultivate are their feelings. Feel the little things of the day to day, feel the social relationships, feel the moment in art, music, cinema, literature... all these factors determine your way of projecting architecture. Also, it is important to take a look back in history to connect with the future, to know that what we are now is thanks to the past, it is essential to know history to understand what our moment is, and above all, to let ourselves be guided by it.
Bio
Jacinto Jesús Moros Montañés graduated from the ETS Arquitectura. During his studies he has worked in the architectural magazine Pasajes Arquitectura, Diesño e Innovación and at the FabLab ETSAM Laboratory. He is excited about everything related to new construction techniques, aimed at improving the environment. He loves to investigate sustainable urban development paths that favor the functioning of the city, reducing polluting elements. His works and drawings aim to be part of the transformation of new urban spaces, proposing new ideas and carry them out with attitude. The use of New Technologies for him is essential since he have trained with great motivation and ability in these technological tools and programs.