Félix Escrig, Prof: of the School of Architecture of Sevilla, Spain José Sanchez, Prof: of the School of Architecture of Sevilla, Spain Mobility as a requirement for the Future Architecture Introduction Proposals that we know today as very advanced and technologically complex, based on deployability are nevertheless as old as civilisation is. From the moment when men abandoned caves and caverns to search for a better life, they need shelters built by them mostly through rapid assembly from materials found anywhere or by pieces easy to be transported. ‘The ancient architecture was mobile. The Berber tents (Figure 1), the Indian teepee (Figure 2) as well as the Mongol yurtas, based on an ingenious scissors system 3),Lightweight Projects Figure 2: Indian teepee.Figure 4: Concept of a space platform,Lightweight ProjectsMobility as a requirement for the Future ArchitectureLight ight Projects Figure 13: Motorisation ata harbour, ‘The movies, presenting steel animals with people inside (Figure 17) did contribute to the popularisation of machines and mechanisms. Pérez. Piiiero, who built deployable domes with spatial scissors, was the first to convert architecture into a transformable machine (Figure 14). Allen built the firstMobility as a requirement for the Future ArchitectureLightweight Projects Figure 14d: Pérez Piftero’s transformable machine. verre 15a: Sly Dame Taranto,Mobility as a requirement for the Future Architecture Figure 15b: Toronto Skv Dome is onenLightweight Projects Figure 16a: Futuoka DomeLightweight Projects Figure 18: Reichstag’ Dome, Foster. ‘The importance of movable structures Mobility has been converted in a necessity for the future since it is linked to ecology, rational use of energy, protection of the environment and intelligent building. Foster, in the project for the Reichstag (Figure 18), and Bodo Rasch when designing the umbrellas for the Holy Mosque in Medina (Figure 19) have highlighted these priori~ tics. Additionally mobility has been converted with an aesthetic and formal purpose that integrates a new dimension: time. Calatrava is the most conspicuous architect in the use of movement as a parameter for beauty (Figure 20). In several of his projects mobility turns into art. Once, adaptability was at the borderline between functionality and imagination. Now it has started to infiltrate in more conventional architectural applications. ‘Thousands of patents cover curious inventions. Some of them propose specific sys tems for umbrellas (Figure 21), sliding roofs (Figure 22) or fan shells (Figure 23). When mobility is a basic requirement it can be integrated in the concept of theMobility as. requirement for the Future Architecture Figure 19: Prototypes for the umbrellas for the Holy Mosque in Medina,Lightweight Projects Figure 20: Artistic movement.Mobility as a requirement for the Future Architecture Figure 21b: Mush-balloons, Osaka, 70.Lightweight Projects a J ce)Mobility as a requirement for the Future Architecture Figure 24: Asymmeteic sliding mechanism,Lightweight Projects Figure 27a: Retractable roof,Mobility as a requirement for the Future Architecture Figure 27b: Folding does not require parcel in the centre. Actual deployable structures We want to discuss about our own work because the experience was satisfactory. After systematising the ways to fold and deplay structural components we have proposed several alternatives, depending on the site, the client and the budget. For a completely automated sliding roof over a swimming pool with a constructed wall oriented to the south we proposed an asymmetric sliding mechanism (Figure 24). Figure 25 shows the design for the greatest cover in the world on only four piers (15.000 m?). It had to be built on a velodrome without disturbing the activities underneath. But recently the project changed: it was decided that a fixed cover would be constructed because otherwise the cost of the maintenance should be too high. Another possibility is the use of flexible materials that can be packed in a parcel. Figure 26 shows the cover over the arena of Algeciras, where part of the cover slides on a tensegrity system. To avoid the inconvenience of the aspect of a suspended parcel in the centre of the space we have proposed in Jaen the folding to the border (Figure 27), ‘The folding is more ordered if we use some guides to help the folding, which was applied in the Auditorium in Jaen with a cover based on a scissors system with curved bars (Figure 28). With this solution we achieve comfortable spaces that can be as transparent, as in Valencina in Sevilla (Figure 29). In the first case the movement isLightweight Projects Figure 28: Auditorium in Jaen.Mobility as a requirement for the Future Architecture Figure 29a: Swimming pool in Valencia in Sevilla. Figure 29b: Transparent roof achieves comfortable spaceLightweight Projects Figure 30: Domes made from plane scissors, From plane scissors it is possible to built stable domes. To obtain a rigid panel roof, the scissors can be combined with panels from glass a satisfactory folding (Figure 30). We proposed it in a visionary project (Figure 31). Cheaper than these solutions is a mixed solution, as we studied for a swimming x steel, for which we still can achieveMobility as a requirement for the Future Architecture Figure 31: Visionary project. Figure 32: Swimming pool in Barcelona. Nevertheless architecture is more than the solution of a mechanic problem and we can integrate the sensibility of historical building to our proposals. That we did for the arena of Burgos (Figure 33) where we copied the Cathedral lantern (Figure 34) and the Condestable Chapel (Figure 35). Final remark Even when mass production is required we can use beautifal and particularised solu- tions. Perhaps in a few years, as happened with the car, structural models will be trans- formed into a wide red en mass. Dect i : ‘ety of sophisticated and modern solutions fabriLightweight Projects References Escrig, F. “Mobile and Rapidly Assembled Architecture” STAR. Structu: Seville 1996. Ishii, K, “Structural Design of Retractable Roof Structures”, Advances in Arc WIT Southampton, UK. 1999. Escrig, F. Transformable Architecture. Journal of the International Associati Spatial Structures. N 132. 2000. Pp 3-22. School of Architecture, Reina Mercedes 2, E~41021 Sevilla, Spain Tel: (+34)95 4556583 Fax: (+34)95 4556534 e-mail: felix@arqui4.us.es