Greenhouse Studies
© Alice Harry Bewick. Image courtesy of Poppy Melia
What is a greenhouse without the green? Or a 'jardin d’hiver' without winter? As part of the 'Tackle The Type' series, Laboratory EAST presented the Spring'25 design studio. The design studio for bachelor and master students will explore greenhouses from a typological perspective and study its architecture as a set of climatic conditions, beyond its formal and functional characteristics.
Conservatories, greenhouses, glasshouses, forcing houses, hothouses, "invernaderos" in Spanish, orangeries, "jardins d' hiver" or "serres" in French - many are the terms associated with the idea of housing plants. All of these artefacts have a common goal: to create a climate adapted to plant life. Although greenhouses were conceived with a very precise objective, this climatic space quickly became an exhibition space, a social space, and even a space for living before it fell into disuse.
In the second half of the 20th century, greenhouse-based solutions made a comeback, fostering solar architecture and reinforcing the foundations of bioclimatic architecture in western societies. During this time, horticulture continued developing greenhouses as productive spaces, and innovations led to intensive fields of production. In absolute terms, it is not the form or function that characterizes the greenhouse but the definition of a space with specific climatic conditions. In most cases, using wood or metal structures and transparent materials such as glass, these structures keep a very low ratio between the material used and the enclosed space, offering the most with the least. The characterization of the greenhouse as an artefact of a climatic nature suggests that the greenhouse as a type does not depend on scale or size.
The design studio will focus on the dynamics between greenhouses in relation to existing buildings and domestic spaces. We will study the interactions that can occur and gain a better understanding of the typological transfers and climatic synergies between different spaces.. Greenhouse-like structures will provide the opportunity to study prefabricated systems, test design for deconstruction and reversibility in design thinking, and ultimately a "lighter" way to transform existing buildings. Through the study of greenhouses as specific built environments, the studio will aim to formulate solutions based on the concept of architecture as atmosphere while exploring their transformative potential. Additionally, by examining greenhouses as climate-responsive artefacts, the studio will explore how seasons can transform space, or, in other words, what it means to inhabit spaces seasonally. Finally, through the study of greenhouses as places of symbiotic life(s), the studio will cultivate knowledge where others would simply build.
Instructors: Tiago P. Borges, Anja Fröhlich, Martin Fröhlich and guest experts.