ALLEGRA SANTIS

SALLAMAARIA KOSKI
JULIETTE GROENENDAAL

FIREPLACE

fireplace

a place for domestic fire, especially a grate or hearth at the

base of a chimney

FUNCTION

HISTORY

10

TECHNICAL & MANUFACTURING

22

ECOLOGY & SUSTAINABILITY

25

ERGONOMICS

28

APPEARANCES & STYLES

30 PROJECTS

FUNCTION

Langgevelboerderij. - Wikipedia. Henri Berssenbrugge, 11 Dec. 2011. Web. Sept.

2014.

Skattejakt. House for Sale. 6 Oct. 2013. Web.

Sept. 2014.

Cooking ca. 1904 seen in a picture of Henri Berssenbrugge,

compared to cooking in a kitchen in 2014 with all the modern
facilities such as electric ovens and gas stove.

Erve ScholteLubberink. Interieur Boerderij. | Canon Van Denekamp. N.p., n.d. Web. Sept.
2014.

Day Night Round Timer. Honeywell. N.p., n.d.

Web. Sept. 2014.

Heating around 1900 with a stove and in 2014 with a normal thermostat.
4

FUNCTION

Keizersgracht 123. Keizersgracht 123, Het Huis Met De Hoofden | Amsterdamse Grachtenhuizen. Netplanet, n.d. Web. Sept.
2014.

TUBULAR. TANNER SLADE. N.p., 2014. Web. Sept.

2014.

The fireplace and candles used to be the main source of interior light until the light bulb was invented.

Picture: Sallamaaria Koski

Social gathering in 1992 next to the fireplace

compared to in 2014 gathering around an ipad. The
question is if there is a real improvement for social
gathering going from the fireplace to radio-> tv->
computer-> ipad?

Ogasawara, Todd. All in for IPad 2: University of

Kentuckys Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce - SocialTimes. N.p., 7 Mar. 2011.
Web. Sept. 2014.

HISTORY
A brief history of Fireplaces and style before the Twentieth Century
Before the 15th century houses had an open hearth in the center of main living room. Logs were
burnt resting on the bar between two fire dogs. The introduction of canopies to guide the smoke
away led to Fireplaces being moved to the wall where the canopies were easier to support.
The Fireplaces in medieval kitchens were extremely wide to accommodate large logs and cooking
spits. An oak beam or fireplace mantel spanned the opening and there was room to sit by the fire,
the ingle-nook (from the scots word aingeal meaning fire and nook meaning a corner)
The early 16th Century saw the introduction of the enclosed wall Fireplace with the chimneystack
containing the flue running up from the hearth. Most hearth openings were rectangular and spanned
by a stone or wood lintel. The Fireplace was treated as part of the wall but soon became a dominant
feature of most rooms with the development of the fire surround or Fireplace Mantelpiece.
The fire surround was devised during the renaissance in Italy and was inspired by classical Greek
and Roman architecture. The surround took the form of a pair of legs on either side of the hearth
linked by an entablature. The legs were columns, pilasters, carved figures or simple architectural
mouldings. The entablature was a decorative frieze. The surface of the chimneybreast was also
decorated with a wooden or stone over Fireplace Mantel
When much of Englands woodland disappeared due to the demands of shipbuilding it led to
widespread coal burning and the introduction of baskets to hold the coal.
The first coal burning fire baskets with a small fireback and bars all around developed into the heavy
dog grate raised above the hearth. Another way of providing a small fire basket was the hob grate.
With shelves on either side of the fire, it was the first grate to be permanently built in. To prevent
cinders falling on the floor, fenders were introduced.
Over the centuries many technical and decorative changes were made to the Fireplace. Canting of
the sides of the hearth was introduced to reflect heat into the room. There were reductions in the
size of the hearth and flue to increase the draw of air.
The excesses of Jacobean decoration were followed by a return to classical style. Fireplace recesses
were usually square with simple moulding in wood, stone, marble or painted plaster. The recess
could be lined with cast iron or have an ornamented fireback to reflect heat into the room. 17th
century classicism was followed by first baroque and then rococo style before reverting to classicism
with the Adams brothers. Their marble Fireplaces set a style, which continues to this day.
The areas between the legs and the hearth or grate were lined with marble, slate or ceramic tiles.
Picture panels were incorporated. The over Fireplace Mantel was dispensed with and picture or
mirrors were hung on the chimneybreast.
The Victorian period saw a number of changes in style. The High Victorian Style was a natural
progression, begun in the Regency period, towards excessive embellishment leading to the ornate
or cluttered look that most of us associate with the term Victorian. Victorian England was the first
mass consumer society. Wealth grew rapidly with industrialization as did the range and variety of
mass-produced goods available. Fireplaces were made from cast iron; marble chimney pieces were
prefabricated and pieced together. Fireplace mantel-shelves became wider to accommodate clocks,
candles and ornaments.
The Gothic Revival was a reaction to the high style based on the medieval Gothic style. It developed
partly from the severe Neo-Classicism of Palladian architecture, and partly from a romantic interest
in the Middle Ages.
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HISTORY
The Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s rejected unnecessary ornamentation. It relied on
simple designs with little unnecessary ornamentation. In the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave
way to the Arts and Crafts movement.
A History of Twentieth Century Fireplaces: 1905-1939
If the nineteenth century was the century of the cast iron Fireplace then the twentieth century,
certainly up to the 1970s, was the era of the tiled fireplace.
In 1905 much of Britain was coming out of the period of mourning that followed Queen Victorias
death. The black cast iron Fireplaces that had become increasingly ornate during Victorias reign
were on their way out too. By the late 1800s cast iron Fireplaces had been incorporating tile sets as
an adornment with Art Nouveau patterns featuring around the turn of the century. Embossed, tube
lined, transfer printed and hand painted tiles all were widely used in 5 tile vertical sets in the frame
and also set into the floor to create the hearth.
The Edwardian era saw a change of fashion. More substantial tiled Fireplace opening blocks were
produced which supplanted the need for a cast iron frame altogether. A Fireplace Mantel surrounded
the tiled panels or inserts, which they framed the Fireplace opening. Wooden and Tiled inserts
rapidly became the Fireplace of choice almost always with matching hearth tiles laid on top of the
constructional hearth and finishing flush with the floorboards. Tiled fenders (also matching) would
have been a common feature, though being a readily movable item few survive today.
Glazed finishes were often dramatic with mottles, pastel colors and iridescent glazes all common.
Geometric styles, with the tiles cross-bonded in a bricklaying fashion were often used but perhaps
the most pervasive design was the simple arch, known as a Clarence Arch with or without a
keystone.
The tiled back panels were prefabricated by a technique called slabbing whereby the tiles were
laid together upside down on a very flat surface, usually a slate table. Then temporary edges were
placed around the tiles and the back was filled with a mortar. When set, the piece was lifted from
the bench, and then grouted.
Early slabbed jobs were all made using white plaster, often reinforced with slate or thick pieces
of wrought iron. In the twenties this changed to a form of concrete, then in the 1970s lightweight
concrete mixtures, which utilized pearlite as an aggregate instead of stone, in turn replaced this.
Wooden Fireplace Mantelpieces to surround the Fireplace inserts were common up until World War
One as were marble and slate Fireplace Mantels, many of which were strikingly and very skillfully
painted. Over Fireplace Mantel mirrors became incorporated into the wooden Fireplace Mantel itself
rather than being an optional extra. Mahogany, as in the Victorian era, continued to be a popular
choice of wood, but Walnut and Oak were increasingly used, replacing the often darker cast iron,
slate and stone Fireplace Mantels that had been popular at the tail end of the Victorian era.
In 1861 one of the founding fathers of the Arts and Crafts movement, William Morris founded the
firm of Morris, Marshall, and Faulkner which promoted hand-made textiles, books, wallpaper, and
furniture. They reverted to medieval manufacturing methods, (basically hand made, although some
machinery was used) using traditional materials. Medieval Fireplace hoods and ingle nooks saw a
return.
Many other designers also looked to the Middle Ages for influence. Arts and Crafts styles were
united with mass production techniques bringing these designs to the general public at a reasonable
price. Common natural forms such as birds, blossom and fruit dominated and abstract patterns were
limited to borders and backgrounds. The classic tile design is the quartered tile based on popular
7

HISTORY
early William Morris designs. On many arts and crafts tiles each quarter had a different, simple
stylized flower spray. This basic quartered pattern design developed into a variety of more complex
designs.
The influence of the Arts and Crafts movement was very much in evidence by Edwardian times.
The fussiness of high Victorian decoration gave way to tapered columns, cleaner lines and less
ornamentation. The Arts and Crafts was a reaction to the uniformity of Victorian mass-produced
goods and the shoddiness of design and workmanship that inevitably followed. It attempted to
revive handicrafts and applied arts and stimulate good design. Beaten copper Fireplace inserts were
perhaps the best expressing of the Arts and Crafts tradition and were hand-made by the thousands
up until the time of World War 1. These Fireplaces were often found in stockbroker belt semi
detached houses of the period, typically the half-timbered Mock Tudor properties many of which had
heraldic decorative themes.
The cast iron Fireplace making industry, which had probably been kept very busy in the run up to,
the war, needed to adapt once the war was over. By the early 1920s few if any traditional black cast
iron Fireplaces were being installed any where in England. The answer the industry came up with
was Vitreous Enameling.
Vitreous enameled cast iron Fireplaces were made in modern colors and finishes- predominately
mottled brown and beiges, and were installed by the thousand in the bedrooms of 1920 / 30s houses.
Heating and cooking at this time was still mostly done by means of Bungalow Ranges, which were
also vitreous enameled.
Attempts were even made to copy the look of a tiled insert in enameled cast iron as this rare
example shows. So cast iron Fireplaces were still found around the home, but as a focus in lounges
and parlors, they had, by the 1920s almost disappeared, certainly in their traditional black form.
By the early 1920s a myriad of small and large manufacturers increasingly produced tiled inserts
and also completely Tiled Fireplaces for the mass market. This industry (which only required a small
initial investment to begin production) probably grew out of the existing tile making industry, and
several of the more famous tile makers were also to become large-scale Fireplace slabbers. But the
sheer number of small firms creating these Fireplaces, at least in part characterized the industry. For
small tile makers it was relatively easy to begin prefabricating these fashionable items.
The style of Art Deco is difficult to define as it had many diverse influences. It is a complex collection
of styles. In Europe and the United States it was more associated with the machine aesthetic. Art
Deco developed both as a reaction against the elaborate and sinuous Art Nouveau style and as a
new aesthetic that celebrated the machine age and is a mixture of styles from the 1910s, 1920s and
1930s, originally known as the Style Moderne or Paris 25.
Historical influences are discarded in favour of modern ideas, decorative detail is sacrificed to
function and industrial designs and methods are adopted. It was used primarily in furniture, jewellery,
textiles, ceramics, and interior design Early Art Deco pieces are identified by expensive materials
and craftsmanship used to create sculpture and luxury items.
Moderne designs often reflect the world-wide craze for Egyptology which swept the globe after
the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922. Historical influences are discarded in favour
of modern ideas, decorative detail is sacrificed to function and industrial designs and methods are
adopted.
8

HISTORY
Egyptology was used primarily in furniture, jewellery, textiles, ceramics, and interior design Early Art
Deco pieces are identified by expensive materials and craftsmanship used to create sculpture and
luxury items. Moderne designs often reflect the world-wide craze for Egyptology which swept the
globe after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922.
The central characteristics of Art Deco are clean lines and sharp edges, stylishness and symmetry.
Its sleek, streamlined forms conveyed elegance and sophistication. Bright primary colors, the use of
chrome, enamel, and highly polished stone, and references to ancient Egyptian and Greek design
are also associated with the style. Stylized flowers, girls, geometric patterns, zigzags, chevrons,
lightning bolts and stylized animals show clearly the Egyptian influence as well as elements of the
Orient, tribal Africa and the Ballet Russes. In Europe the influence of the Bauhaus and others led to
cleaner lines and less ornamentation.
Common motifs used principles of geometry with characteristic straight lines, triangles, zigzags,
steps, setbacks, sunbursts or similar regular forms.
The expensive handcrafted, limited edition pieces was a problem to modernist designers and brought
a change to the Moderne style. Design became for everyone, not just the wealthy. As objects were
increasingly mass-produced and the United States displaced France as the center of the movement,
Art Deco became even more geometric and linear.
In America, the style found expression in American Streamline with streamlined objects as diverse
as locomotives, roadside diners, radio cabinets, jukeboxes, advertising displays and skyscrapers
including William van Alens 1930 Chrysler Building in New York.
In Fireplaces Art Deco was almost immediately translated into a wealth of designs, which used
traditional Fireplace materials, but in a more spectacular, avant-garde way. Simple understated lines
were set off by the use of reflective chrome, lacquered wood or tiles to give a modern feeling without
being over ornate. Designs could reflect the Art Deco influence of the Mexican stepped pyramid or
might be asymmetric, influenced by the social realism movement.
World War II resulted in the urgent need to re-house families and consequently to a move from
traditional Fireplaces to quickly installed electric fires.
Prosperity began to return during the 1950s and Tiled Fireplaces returned although by the middle
of the decade even the wooden Fireplace Mantelshelf had disappeared and dcor trends accepted
the wall-mounted fire.
With the introduction of central heating many hearths were removed and the fire surrounds stripped
out or boarded up removing the architectural focal point of the room. In any case the focal point of
the rooms had moved from the Fireplace to the television from the mid 1950s.
In the early 1970s with the living flame gas fire demand returned for fire surrounds in the Adam style.
Initially these were housed in simple designs although stone Fireplaces later became popular again.

TECHNICAL & MANUFACTURING

Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer
Heat always transfers from a group of molecules with greater energy to groups of molecules with
lower energy, seeking equilibrium. In buildings, this means that heat transfers from objects with
higher energy levels (in terms of temperature or the degree of energy intensity) to objects with lower
energy levels. There are three modes of heat transfer in buildings: conduction, convection, and
radiation. Each of these modes of heat transfer plays a role in the modulation of thermal comfort.
Conduction is the transfer of heat energy through the contact of molecules in directly connected
objects.
Convection is the transfer of heat energy
through the movement of molecules within
a fluid or gas, resulting in a current or
flow of energy. In a building, convection
is the movement of air molecules coming
in contact with objects in the space. The
pattern of molecules in a gas and the
resulting patterns of convective flow
in a space is rather complex because
convective transfer seeks equilibrium
through diffusion. Convection diffusion
makes many designers mistakenly
assume that heat rises. Heat does not rise. Heat energy only transfers from objects of higher intensity
to lower intensity. In the case of air, air molecules that have higher temperature will rise due to the
buoyancy of air and other fluids. Hot air rises; but heat by it self does not. The buoyancy of warmed
air creates convection currents that circulate air. This is the basis of many HVAC systems.
Radiant transfer is the transfer of energy through electromagnetic waves emitted from one object
with greater energy intensity to an absorbing object with less energy intensity. A primary example
is the energy emitted from the sun that travels through space and is absorbed by the earth and its
objects.
Thermally active surface building systems
The most common thermally active surface system is a hydronic system cast into the bottom side
(ceiling side) of a concrete slab. PEX tubing with an oxygen barrier is often used and will last beyond
the life of the slab and building. Other systems include polypropylene capillary mat tubing that can
be plastered to a surface. These are more common in renovation projects or non-site cast concrete
new construction. A final solution is a hydronic system that clips into metal ceiling panels. The
relatively light weight of the metal surface transfers heat energy more quickly than a concrete slab.

Water walls are another type of thermally active surface. In a water wall, water below the
point of the ambient air is introduced to the space. The ambient air condenses on the cooler surfaces,
dehumidifying the air while also lowering its temperature. Transsolar and VJAA have built examples
of water walls in the Charles Hostler Student Recreation Center at the American University of Beruit
and the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life at Tulane University.

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TECHNICAL & MANUFACTURING

The Birth of Hot Air
The coupling of thermal comfort with convective
air flows for human comfort is as old as fire.
Often, radiant transfer is the dominant mode
of heat distribution in fire, but in many fireplace
configurations, convective transfer plays an
important role. The history of fireplace design is
a history of the mixture of these two modes of
heat transfer. The fireplace underwent significant
scientific developments during the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries, making its convective
transfer increasingly effective. These fireplaces,
with a burn chamber and increasingly convoluted
channels of combustion exhaust air contained
inside a box, were the prototypical logic for later
centralized heating systems.

A growing awareness in the medical field
about the effects of foul air in the mid-eighteenth
Transfer. N.d. Wikipedia - Heat-Its Role in Wildland Fire/
century spurred a series of experiments focused Heat
Radiation. Web. <http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Heat-Its_Role_in_
on adequate building ventilation in hospital and Wildland_Fire/Radiation>.
prison typologies. Natural ventilation systems
were developed, initially using cross ventilation strategies and then later using fire to induce and
amplify convective currents. The fire could also heat the ventilation air, a coupling that would come
to unreflectively dominate our thermal strategies. It became apparent that machine-powered devices
could force ventilation. These applications of power-operated ventilation and heating systems date
back to the early eighteenth century and were in widespread use by the beginning of the nineteenth
century: particularly in the foul air of mill buildings in England. Centralized heating and ventilation
systems, however, would not fully emerge until the late nineteenth century.

11

TECHNICAL & MANUFACTURING

Ondol Cross-section. Digital image. Ondol(Traditional Heating). Seoul City Tour, 2008. Web.

The Chinese Kang - a thermally active bed - and the Korean Ondol - a thermally active floor
system - date back to 1000 BCE. Ondol means warm stone in Korean. In this system, the living
space of the house was a few feet above the level of the kitchen and fireplace in an adjacent room.
Two construction techniques channeled hot air horizontally from the fire. In a subtractive mode,
slots ware dug under the finished floor from the fireplace to an exterior chimney. In an addive
mode, masonry pedestals raised stone floor slabs, creating the plenum of exhaust air to run to
a similar free-standing chimney outside the house. In both cases, the floor slabs were stone and
coated with clay. Atop this base were layers of oiled paper and floor mats. The impervious clay
layer contained the noxious combustion gases within the convection channels while heat from the
combustion exhaust air warmed the stone slabs. This in turn warmed the space above through
primaly radiant transfer. Thus the surface of the floor mass was the heat transfer mechanism, even
though secondary convection patterns are typically associated with thermally active surfaces.

The Ondol system helped engender a number of cultural and social patterns. The concentrated
heat in the living space, adjacent to the fireplace, established a patriarchal spatial hierarchy in which
the eldest occupied the warmest zones of the floor. Likewise, the tradition of not wearing shoes in a
house and sleeping on the floor are also connected to these thermally active floor systems.
Moe, Kiel. Thermally Active Surfaces in Architecture. New York: Princeton Architectural, 2010. Print.

12

TECHNICAL & MANUFACTURING

The Roman hypocaust system (hypo: below, and kaiein: to burn) is perhaps the most well-known
historical thermally active surface system. While its origins are not as clear as once thought, its
organization and use in the Roman era were well documented.

The hanging suspensurae of the hot bath rooms are to be constructed as follows. First the
surface of the ground should be laid with tiles a foot and a half square, sloping towards the furnace
in such a way that, if a ball is thrown in, it cannot stop inside but must return of itself to the furnace
room; thus the heat of the fire will more readily spread under the hung flooring. Upon them, pillars
made of eight-inch bricks are built, and set at such a distance apart the two-foot tiles may be used
to cover them. These pillars should be two feet in height, laid with clay mixed with hair, and covered
with the two-foot tiles which support the floor.
In the hypocaust, much like the Ondol, hot air from the praefurnium, of furnace fires, was drawn
through the floor plenums and exhausted through flues embedded in the warmed mansonry
envelope. In some cases the praefurnium was located below the bath level and in others it was level
with the baths.

13

TECHNICAL & MANUFACTURING

The Middle Ages
The principles of heating a thermal mass with hot air to condition spaces were used by other cultures
during various periods. A range of heating systems and building typologies developed around large
fireplaces and masonry heaters in Northern Europe during the Middle Ages. One notable is the
Malbork Castle in northern Poland. The castle incorporated a medival version of a hypocaust. In this
system, a subterranean double chamber stove generated heat for the large refectory space above.
The lower fire-box chamber, with an isolated combustion box and exhaust air chimneys, heated
a large pile of stones directly above the combustion chamber. Air was drawn through the stones,
exchanged its heat energy with this thermal mass, and rose to the refectory above through smallscale masonry ducts. Atop these ducts, the refectory has cast metal adjustable diffusers integrated
into the floor. This modulated the amount of convective heat energy that entered the space. While
primarily a convective technique, the thermal mass of the refectory surfaces and the thermal mass
of the stones captured and channeled heat by convective and radiant means.
Its principles were more frequently applied on
a smaller scale pervasively throughout Europe.
The Austrian kachelofen, Finnish kaakeliuuni,
Swedish kakelugn, and other variations of
masonry heaters also used low-temperature
radiant heat to temper the long winters in these
northern climates.
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
After the developement of the steam engine, piped steam and hot water were increasingly used in
Europe throughout the eighteent and nineteent centuries as heating implements. The steam system
was used to distribute heat energy to spaces through radiators and convectors, with convective
transfer as the primary method of heat transfer. An early example of a thermal surface strategy,
rather than thermally active object strategies, was in a mill building by Neil Snodgrass, located in
Dornoch, Scotland, built in 1800. In this case, steam circulated through vertical runs of tubes placed
in the walls of the mill to condition the interior space. This type of installation comes closer than any
other precedent to the operation of a contemporary thermally active surface. The Armley Mill in
Leeds another mill building in England, used cast iron columns to distribute radiant energy, an
early integration of structural and thermal conditioning systems. This made sense given the even
distribution of columns in the space.

Sir John Soane integrated a number of novel hot water strategies, steam strategies and
hypocaust-style thermally active surfaces into his projects during this period. At his house, high
pressure steam was ingeniously integrated in sculpture bases, furniture and around the bases of
its many skylights to offset thermal losses in these single panel glazing and iron thermal sinks. A
particularly innovative example is Soanes Bank of England Stock Office, completed in 1793.
It includes an under-floor hypocaust system, designed to recover heat energy in the form of
combustion air to heat the thermally active floor. The Register Office in Edinburgh (1837) by
Charles Richardson is an example of a different course. A pupil of Soane, Richardson used hot
water rather than steam as its thermal conditioning system.

While these examples show that progress was made in the application of radiant transfer,
interest lagged behind that of conductive and convective modes of heat transfer. A quantitative
understanding of radiant transfer did not occur until the twentieth century.

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TECHNICAL & MANUFACTURING

Twentieth Century
In 1908, an Englishman, Professor Arthur H. Barker, manufactured a commercially available
hydronic thermally active surface, Barkers system embedded small metal pipes in concrete and
plaster in floor and ceiling surfaces as the source of heat transfer. Although effective and popular,
the understanding of the building science and physiological responses to the system were not well
understood and further development was interrupted by World War I.

In 1916, American architect Frank Lloyd Wright left the United States to work on the Imperial
Palace Hotel in Japan, Wright visited a home built on the Korean Ondol model.
The experience and logic impressed Wright. He in turn
incorporated hydronic thermally active surfaces in the Imperial
Hotel. He then brought the technique back with him to United
States and tested many hydronic systems in his projects. By
the 1930s thermally active floor slabs were a standard system
in his Usonian Houses, including the Jacobs House built in
1936. The system Wright used consisted of cast iron or copper
pipes embedded in sand and crushed rock located under, and
sometimes within, a concrete floor
slab. Other significant thermally active projects of Wright: The First Open Air School, Amsterdam. Pictures:
+ Architecture. Pinterest. Rubins J. Spaans,
Herbert Fisk Johnsons 14.000 square-foot Wingspread house Art
n.d. Web.
and Johnson Wax headquarters in Racine, Wisconsin. Wright
referred to this system as gravity heat. In these projects he focused on the buoyancy of the air
caused by the radiant floor - this caused the warmed air to rise and drawing cooler air down to the
slab in a convective current.

In Europe during the second quarter of the twentieth
century, an English firm, Richard Crittall & Co., developed
hydronic radiant systems for schools and sanatorium
projects. The Crittall Ceiling became a common method
of installation for thermally active surfaces. One of the
most famous examples of this system is Bernard Bijvoet
and Johannes Duikers Open Air in Amsterdam built in
1928. The school reflects the debate in the early twentieth
century regarding indoor air quality. One outcome of this
debate was the Open Air School Movement in the United
States and in Europe. In the United States the poor quality of urban air, the increasing size of urban
schools, and poor student performance prompted experimentation with open-air classrooms.
During this time, open-air classrooms were supported as a medical approach to eradicate tuberculosis.
As such, open-air classrooms were also an extension to the benefits of fresh air and sun prescribed
as the primary tuberculosis treatment. Bijvoet and Duikers work on the Zonnestraal Sanatorium
prepared their work on the Open Air School in Amsterdam. In their Open Air School the benefits of
open-air and sunlit classrooms were engendered by a hydronic radiant system embedded in the
concrete ceilings and structure of the outdoor classrooms. The hydronic system extends the openair teaching season by modulating the operative temperature of the outdoor classrooms shared by
the two classrooms on each floor.

Duiker continued working on the thermally active surfaces in subsequent projects, including
his final project: the 1934 Grand Hotel in Gooiland, Hilversum. In a system developed and patented
with de Ridder, the hotel used an air based thermally
active concrete cealing structure to condition interior and exterior spaces. Throughout this period,
the application of thermally active surfaces remained largely as idiosyncratic as its architects.

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TECHNICAL & MANUFACTURING

Mid-Century Hydronic Systems
Following World War II, interest in the thermally active surfaces became more popular and their use
more widespread in the United States. A group of publications about their use of concrete slabs
and radiant heating were written in the United States after Warld War II, reflecting the penchant for
thermally active surface building science and a renewed interest in the possibilities of hydronic and
electric radiant heating. At the same time, in a book American Building: The Environmental Forces
that Shaped it, James Marston Fitch identified the benefits of radiant heating and proposed sixsided thermally active surface heating as the optimal thermal comfort technique. By this point, the
science behind radiant transfer was catching up with the research on convective and psychrometric
processes.

The literature and its audience expanded the implementation of radiant systems from
idiosyncratic customized installations to more systemic installations on a larger scale. A large scale
example of this post-war rise and fall of thermally active surfaces occured in Levittoen, New York.
Pex Tubing, systematized fittings, and
related technologies vastly increase
installation speed, quality and reliability.
As a result hydronic systems are being
used with greater regularity inboth
heating and cooling applications. Yet,
as Lewis Mumford stated, the habits of
mind in this industry do not align with the
physiological basis of these systems.
The recent growth in the discourse and
practise of the sustainability is shifting
these habits of mind
During the 1970s and 80s, Dr. Bruno
Keller worked on the development and

Picture: Radiant Heat Through the Ages. Reeves Journal. N.p., 19 Jan. 2004. Web.

intergration of techniques for low energy buildings. By the late 1980s he focused his efforts on high
performance building envelopes, displacement ventilation, and thermally active surfaces in a number of projects. The Messerli Ltd. building in Wetzikon, Switzerland, for instance, was the first of
many buildings to decouple thermal conditioning and fresh air ventilation. The building uses an all
glazed building with optimal U-values and an early cooled ceiling using panel radiators. The Saniport building in Fribourg was the first building integrating hydronics into concrete slab, in conjuction
with displacement ventilation and a high performance building envelope.

In a house near Zurich built in the mid-1980s, architect Otto Kolb used plastic hydronic tubing
behind stone walls as a thermally active wall surface, as well as a hydronic floor system to help heat
the circular solar house. Roof mounted solar collectors heat a pool on the south side of the house.
They reflect light into the house storing heat energy accumulated during the day.

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TECHNICAL & MANUFACTURING

Pictures: Esoteric Survey: Kolb / Associates. Esoteric

Survey: Kolb / Associates. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.

In the early 1990s, other practices in Switzerland further developed these components of thermally
active surface systems. Robert Meierhans, a Swiss engineer, developed a number of buildings and
published important research papers about ground source radiant cooling and the night purge of
concrete slabs. His collaborative work with architect Peter Zumthor on the Thermal Baths at the Vals
and the Kunsthaus Bregenz are both noteworthy examples. By the beginning of this century, the
technique is gaining more technological momentum, with significant applications in Central Europe,
China, and British Columbia.

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TECHNICAL & MANUFACTURING

Batiso (Constant Temperature Building)
These Buildings are characterized by designing the building envelope to a very high standard, and
the reliance on cast-in-place concrete structure that is temperature-controlled with water tubing cast
into them to control the radiant temperatures of the floors and ceiling. Ventilation air is reduced to
the minimum required for healthy indoor conditions. These building systems provide most of the
occupant comfort from radiant temperature exchange, with ventilation air supplied at just below the
desired room air temperature. Natural ventilation with operable windows and other types of natural
ventilation systems can also be used during spring and autumn seasons.

The high thermal mass of the tempered concrete structure provides a very stable indoor
temperature, while the high-performance envelope minimizes thermal load transients and variations
around the perimeter of the building.

Basic Steps in Designing a Batiso Building
1. Determine the local climate, including daily and hourly nighttime dry and wet bulb
temperatures to determine night cooling capabilities. The solar orientation, local wind
conditions, and all the other natural energy sources must be catalogued.
2. Clearly determine the indoor design requirements and compile detailed occupancy and
equipment data to be able to accurately calculate the indoor heat gains and occupancy
patterns.
3. Design the envelope based on the local climate to achieve the following goals:
-The inside surface temperature of windows must not be lower than 17C in winter and not
greater than 26,7C in summer.
- Perimeter solar heat gains must be kept less than 47 watts/square meter. Exterior solar
shading may be required to keep direct solar off the exterior glass surfaces depending on
glass exposure.
-Total indoor heat gains in the occupied zones must average less than 79 watts/square meter.
4. Super-windows, which are available in most areas of the world, meet the following criteria:
-Visionwall (based on original Geilinger AG windows)
-Southwall Heat Mirror suspended film glazing-Triple or quadruple glazing with Low-E coatings
-Double skin facades composed of conventional curtain wall glazing systems can provide the
required high thermal performance as well as allow opportunities for natural ventilation.
5. Calculate and select the HVAC systems and lighting for low energy consumption, using the
concrete structure as the primary temperature control system and minimizing the ventilation
systems to suit the indoor conditions and make-up air requirements for internal processes.
The use of a concrete core conditioning system with a nighttime fluid cooler for the radiant
slab cooling plant, a small daytime cooling source for the ventilation air tempering, and a lowtemperature condensing boiler for the heating plant is a common practise. Note that much of
the internal heat gains from lights, people, and equipment can be eliminated from the cooling
plant load when using a low-level ventilation air delivery system to rooms.

18

TECHNICAL & MANUFACTURING

Construction of an average fireplace
For ordinary room a fair average size for a fireplace openin is three feet in width(91,5cm) by
two and a half feet high(76,5cm), with depth half
the width. This kind of average fireplace provides maximun heat with minimun of draft.
The chimney should have the same size throughout its extent and it is one-tenth of the opening
into the room.
Vital elements in the construction are known as
a `smoke shelf and a smoke chamber which
prevent the cold air to strike directly upon the fire
and force the smoke into the room. The throat
and the smoke chamber at the bottom must extend across the full width of the fire chamber.
Source: Saylor, Henry H. Making a Fireplace. New York: McBride, Nast,
1913. Print.
Picture: Saylor, Henry H. Making a Fireplace. New York: McBride, Nast,
1913. Print.

Chimney:

A section through the fireplace and

chimney.
The broad cross-hatching represents
brickwork.

The chimney itself should extend at least a foot

or two above any nearby roof ridge and it should
work without any cowl, whirligig or other device
of that type on the top. There is no great objection to having the opening a horizontal one at
the top of the chimney, although in that case if
the flue is nearly straight throughout its course,
some rain will find its way down to the hearth
in a hard storm. In most cases there is enough
bend in the flue to prevent this, and if not it may
be avoided by covering the top of the chimney
with a stone and having the openings vertical
ones on all four sides just under this.
Some support is needed to raise the fuel so
that the air may find a clear passage under and
through it to the flames, and nothing could well
be devised to serve the purpose better than the
pair of horizontal wrought bars, each with its single rear foot and its steadying front, the upper
continuation of which serves to hold the burning
logs in place
Source Saylor, Henry H. Making a Fireplace. New York: McBride, Nast,
1913. Print.
Picture: Al Menting Mason Contractors. Al Menting Mason Contractors.
Intuit, 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.

19

TECHNICAL & MANUFACTURING

Construction:
There is a difference between the main back wall of
the chimney, eight inches thick, and the brick work
laid inside the fire chamber to form the hearth and
the back. The rough brick work of the chimney is always laid first, leaving the fire chamber with its sloping back and sides. The hearth will be filled later
with a better brick and perhaps finished with a tile.
The so called rock-lock or trimmer is a support
for the hearth. It is an arch between the foundation
masonry of the chimney and a pair of floor joists set
out at the proper distance. There is couple of other
ways to secure the support, such as corbeling out
from the masonry foundation or by extending two
short projections of this masonry from the bottom
up at either end of the hearth and throwing an arch
across between these.
The width of the hearth is ordinally made about
sixteen or eighteen inches beyond the face of the
opening with the average size fireplace, twenty
inches or even more with a larger ones.

A cross-section showing the construction

of a large stone fireplace with slightly
arched opening.

The terracotta flue lining is not necessary but it permits to use a thinner wall for the chimney and
provides the flue with smooth regular sides. Flue lining makes the flue entirely safe as the joints
between sections of the lining are carefully filled with cement mortar.
Saylor, Henry H. Making a Fireplace. New York: McBride, Nast, 1913. Print.
Pictures: Saylor, Henry H. Making a Fireplace. New York: McBride, Nast, 1913. Print.

Colonial Fireplace
Our colonial ancestors built
great cavernous openings and
generous flues that secured a
strong unobstructed current of
hot air up the chimney. Such
a hot draught requires a lot of
cool air which had to be coming
into the room from windows
and doors. In this kind of
fireplace almost the entire heat
will be lost and the front of the
fireplace has a cold stream
going towards the fire.
Source: Saylor, Henry H. Making a Fireplace.
New York: McBride, Nast, 1913. Print.
Picture: Saylor, Henry H. Making a Fireplace.
New York: McBride, Nast, 1913. Print.

20

TECHNICAL & MANUFACTURING

In the Rumford design the additional change
to the fireplace instigated by the Rumford
design was to smooth off the route the gases
take into the chimney and to create a venture
(known as the throat in the case of an open
fire), which speeded up the gas flow at the
critical point and then injected the smoke
into the gather or smoke chamber above.
This restriction also reduced the amount of
heat lost up the chimney and greatly reduced
the incidence of smoking back. The basic
principles used in the Rumford fireplace are
still current
today in the British Standard Fireplace
components, with some modifications to
bring the throat forward and the fire basket
further back.

The Franklin stove is a metal-lined fireplace named after

its inventor, Benjamin Franklin. It was invented in 1741. It
had a hollow baffle near the rear. It was intended to produce
more heat and less smoke than an ordinary open fireplace.
It is also known as a circulating stove or the Pennsylvania
fireplace. Franklins stove was essentially a free-standing
iron fireplace. It contained an air box below the hearth into
which fresh, cold air was drawn by the heat of the fire over
the box. Behind the fire stood an air column - actually an
extension of the air box - the whole unit being L-shaped.
At the top of the air column, the fresh air, now warmed by
the fire, was allowed to escape back into the room; but the
smoke was forced over, around, down, then up and out
through the chimney.
By the late 1780s, David R. Rittenhouse had
redesigned the stove by adding an L-shaped chimney.
Quite reasonably, he called it a Rittenhouse stove.
But legend has its prerogatives; the device is known to
this day as the Franklin stove. By 1790, the improved
Franklin stove was in wide use and became an integral
piece of Americana.
Source & Pictures: Franklin Stove. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Oct.
2014. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

21

ECOLOGY & SUSTAINABILITY

Mobel. "Cv Met Houtkachel." Cv Met Houtkachel. Klusidee,

30 Oct. 2009. Web. 20 Sept. 2014.

CV - Hearth
A CV Hearth is a good alternative for a normal fireplace. In this system the fireplace is connected to
the hot water boiler. The warmth smoke and gasses from the fireplace are used to
produce hot water. In this way you can have the benefits of a real fireplace, without polluting the
environment and saving energy.
Uw Haard. CV Haarden. - UW-haard.nl. Uw Haard, n.d. Web. Sept. 2014.
<http://www.uw-haard.nl/productgroep-cv-haarden/>.

A good working fireplace

A couple of things are very important for a good working
fireplace.
The chimney, the position of the chimney in the house
and the pull of the chimney.
To improve the pull of the chimney its important that
the chimney doesnt cool down. One of the things that
would help avoid the
chimney of cooling down is the placement of fireplaces
on top or besides each other. An other thing is to build
the chimney really in the wall and not on the outside of
the wall. This would also help avoid the
chimney to cool down. Its important for the environment
and for saving energy that the chimney has a good pull.
The better the pull, the less fuel you need and the less
energy is wasted.
A. van Oirschot, Open haarden en schouwen, 1972, tweede druk Prakta-paperbacks no. 24

22

ECOLOGY & SUSTAINABILITY

Heating space 58 %

Electricity 12%
Cooking 6%
Heating water 24 %
Duurzaam Thuis. Verwarming. Van Je Huis Kost Meeste
Energie. Overzicht Rendement Verwarmingsbronnen. Open
Haard, Cv, Pelletkachel. Duurzaam Thuis, n.d. Web. Sept.
2014.

Sustainable heating
One of the things we use the most energy for is heating our houses and offices. To make the
heating of our buildings more sustainable we can use different kind of energy sources like the sun,
the wind or water. But we can also take a look at the efficiency of the different heating methods we
can use.
Efficiency of the heating method:
Fireplace
Electric heating
Gas heating
Wood burner
Soapstone stove/
Tile heater
CV/VR Boiler
Pellet stove
(pellet = pressed wood)
HR Boiler
HRE Boiler
Heat pump

20%
40%
65%
75%
90%
92%
94%
107%
130%
600%

s. Verwarming. Van Je Huis Kost Meeste Energie. Overzicht Rendement Verwarmingsbronnen. Open Haard, Cv, Pelletkachel. Duurzaam Thuis,
n.d. Web. Sept. 2014. <http://www.duurzaamthuis.nl/energie/verwarming>.

23

ECOLOGY & SUSTAINABILITY

Bioethanol is a fuel for your fireplace made out
of natural ingredients. Its made by fermenting
the sugar and starch components of plant byproducts - mainly sugarcane and crops like
grain, using yeast. It is also made from corn,
potatoes, milk and rice, It is blended with petrol
to make a truly sustainable transport fuel, its
used in cosmetic and other manufacturing
processes, and it creates the clean burning,
beautiful dancing flame in our fireplaces.
The combustion of bioethanol results in a
clean emission: Heat, Steam and Carbon
Dioxide. Carbon dioxide is absorbed by plants
then processed via photosynthesis to help
the plant grow. This infinite cycle of creation
and combustion of energy makes bio ethanol
a carbon neutral fuel source. A fireplace
burning Bioethanol does not produce smoke,
rendering a chimney useless. This brings a
whole new world of fireplace designs.

Eco Smart Fire. What Is Bioethanol Fuel? Green Energy, Denatured Alcohol, & More. What Is Bioethanol Fuel? Green Energy, Denatured Alcohol, &
More. n.d. Web. Sept. 2014.

Eco Smart Fire. What Is Bioethanol Fuel? Green Energy, Denatured Alcohol, & More. What Is Bioethanol Fuel? Green Energy, Denatured Alcohol,
& More. Ecosmart Fire, n.d. Web. Sept. 2014. <http://www.ecosmartfire.com/about/about-bioethanol>.

Solar Heating from solar panels has become the most common heating for modern buildings.
Highly technical, the UV rays are collected on the roof, then transfered into heat which goes to a
boiler, which saves the energy and makes it ready for use.
Passive solar energy is when
a building is designed to absorb
the suns radiation through
strategic positioning without the
use of solar panels. This allows
more sun to enter the building
during colder months and
avoid sun exposure during the
warmer months. I.e.: the facade
is positioned in the southern
quadrant with a maximal
deviation to the east or west by
20 degrees. The house would
also have an obstruction angle
of maximum 16 degrees to still
allow the winter sun to enter.

Solar Choice. Solar Choise. Solar Choice, n.d. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.solarchoice. net.
au%2Fblog%2Fbipv-building-integrated-photovoltaics-the-future-of-pv%2F>.

- Hier Opgewekt. Zonnepanelen: Hoe Werken Ze? Hier Opgewekt. Hier Opgewekt, n.d. Web. <http://www.hieropgewekt.nl/zonnepanelen-hoewerken-ze>.
- Anderson, Bruce, and Michael Riordan. The Solar Home Book: Heating, Cooling, and Designing with the Sun. Harrisville, NH: Cheshire, 1976. Pr.
- Yanovshtchinsky, Vera, Kitty Huijbers, Andy Van Den Dobbelsteen, and Saskia t. Hart. Architectuur Als Klimaatmachine: Handboek Voor
Duurzaam Comfort Zonder Stekker. Amsterdam: SUN, 2012. Pr.

24

ERGONOMICS

Ergonomic Fireplaces
Fireplaces have many functions - heating, lighting,
cooking, seating, drying, and so on. In the following
pictures are examples of these functions.
A. van Oirschot, Open haarden en schouwen, 1972, tweede druk Praktapaperbacks no. 24

Fireplace with seating area under the chimney

Left: the fireplace is in the middle of the room for social gathering.
Right: the fireplace is open on different area as to allow communicate with people on either side.
25

ERGONOMICS

Left: the hearth can be used on both the interior and exterior
Right: The fireplace is designed with shelves to store belongings with
benches along to sit

Left: the chimney is used as a room divider and extra wall

Right: the fireplace is part of the roof construction and a central area in
the building

26

ERGONOMICS
The Stove Heater is an efficient and eco-friendly
installation designed in the 17th century. These
stoves are normally placed in the centre of the
house, mainly in kitchen or livingroom and can
be used in many different ways. They are used
for heating, cooking, drying of laundery, wood
and shoes. Most of the time theyre also made
to lean or sit against them with seating around
it. Depending on the design, a bed ontop is even
possible. The form of these stove heaters is
decided by its use, as evidenced in the following
examples.
Lowtech Magazine. Lowtech Magazine. Lowtech Magazine. Lowtech
Magazine, n.d. Web. Oct. 2014. <http://www.lowtechmagazine.be/>.
Gebhard, Torsten. Kachelfen Mittelpunkt Huslichen
Entwicklung, Form, Technik. Mnchen: Callwey, 1988. Print.

Lebens

27

APPEARANCES AND STYLES

Dominique Imbert - Gyrofocus
In 1967, French sculptor Dominique Imbert hand sculpted his first fireplace to warm his studio in the
south of France. He went on to create the internationally acclaimed gyrofocus, the first suspended
fireplace that pivots 360 degrees. Focus contemporary designs can be found in locations ranging
from art galleries in Marseille to condominiums in Tokyo, and Norman Foster-designed company
headquarters to some of the worlds most prestigious design museums including the Guggenheim
in New York City and the museum of Modern Art in Stockholm.

Source: FOCUS. Custom Fireplace Design. CUSTOM FIREPLACE DESIGN INC., 2014. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
Picture:Tverrfjellhytta, Norwegian Wild Reindeer Pavilion. Digital image. Snhetta. N.p., n.d. Web.

Cool wall mounted fireplace from Vauini

Coupla Spherical Fireplace
The modern fireplace from Vauini is a cool
choice to enhance your interior during
the winter season. Entitled Coupla this
wall mounted fireplace comes with unique
spherical shape integrated with an advanced,
adjustable bio-ethanol burner, allowing
ventless, hassle-free flames. Couplas
material is lightweight aluminum and its
available in two different colors black or white
matte finish.
Source & Picture: Cool Wall Mounted Fireplace from Vauini
Coupla Spherical Fireplace . Ed. DesignToDesign.com. The
Ultimate Design Magazine, 4 Jan. 2010. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

28

APPEARANCES AND STYLES

Portable Gel fireplace
Basically it is gel alcohol in a can
that you light up. Burn time of one
can is between two and three
hours. Gel fuel fireplaces are free
standing fireplaces that you can
choose to put in any room. There is
not much installation or assembly
required, and you can move them
from room to room, giving you the
flexibility to have a fireplace in any
room. Gel fuel fireplaces do not
require vents or chimneys as the
gel fuel is alcohol based and does
not give off smoke or fumes. You
do not need a vent or chimney to
use these fireplaces safely. There
are no ashes, either, so these
fireplaces do not require the same
care as traditional fireplaces.
Picture:
Houzz.
Digital
image.
Burnaby Capitol Hill Residence. Tanya
Schoenroth, 28 Jan. 2013. Web.

Roll Rollfire
It literally is a fire
that you can roll from
room to room. The ball
bearings and gravity
will keep the fuel
tank horizontally level
with the movement
of the frame. Fueled
with
Bio-alcohol,
it
burns
without
smoke, residue or
odor. It produces
only water vapor
and carbon dioxide
as a combustion byproduct.

Source & Picture: Presnal, Katja. Modern Ventless Fireplaces That Will Take You from
Winter to Spring. Skimbaco Lifestyle Online Magazine. SkimpacoLifestyle, 2 Mar. 2011.
Web. 14 Oct.2014.

29

PROJECTS
Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright is often quoted as saying, The hearth is the psychological center of the home.
Two homes that Wright built, Fallingwater in 1936 and the Pope House in 1939, though significantly
different in many respects, shared a common origin - strong identification with Wrights ideals on family,
values, and architecture, and especially with his belief in the centrality of the hearth in a home. In 1935
Frank Lloyd Wright designed a home for the wealthy Kaufmann family of Pittsburg: a remarkable feat of
engineering, the mountain retreat reaches over a waterfall. In 1939 Mr. Pope, an editor for a Washington,
DC, newspaper, asked Wright to design a home for him and his family in Falls Church, Virginia, after
seeing an article about Fallingwater. Wright designed a modest home, the Pope House. The two homes,
in some ways very different, both showcased principles on the relationship of an individual to a house,
and a house to its surroundings. We see a commitment by Wright to provide his clients, regardless of
how much money they had to spend, with homes designed to uplift the spirits of those who lived or
visited within them.
Wright created that spirituality in large part through the prominent integration of fireplaces and hearths
into houses. The hearth was not just a psychological center for Wright; it became a physical center as
well. Together with the kitchen, the hearth formed a core around which Wright wrapped the dwelling. The
physical building expressed otherwise intangible values and ideals about family and family life.
Though central heating and modern kitchens were well established in American homes by the 1930s,
Wright still centered his designs for the Kaufmann and Pope families on the hearth. Common among
Wright designs, even in homes as different as Fallingwater and the Pope House, the hearth, together
with the kitchen, formed a central core around which the house was built.
Wrights ideas about family and home life influenced the way he designed houses, for the design was
meant to facilitate living by a set of ideals that emphasized harmony with nature and simplicity. His
designs also reflected the circumstances of the individual family: the kitchen and hearth of the Pope
House reflect the needs of a middle-class family, while those of Fallingwater reflect those of a wealthy
family. Wright advocated a new style of architecture, and a new way of living, to solve the problem
of affordable housing. Wright rejected scaling down large, traditional homes to a size that would fit a
modest budget. His kitchen designs took advantage of certain trends in cooking, including preprocessed
ingredients and an emphasis on efficiency in cooking through efficiency of space.
Wrights positioning of the hearth in the Pope House and Fallingwater began the process of bringing
back together two aspects of the hearth that diverged long ago. We see after Wright the development
of the 1950s ranch house, with the kitchen once again becoming a gathering area and opening onto the
rest of the living space.
OConnor, Allison. More than Just a Fireplace: The Hearth, the Kitchen, and Frank Lloyd Wright Paper presented at the annual meeting of the
American Historical Association, Hilton Atlanta, Atlanta Marriott, and Hyatt Regency, Atlanta, GA, Jan 04, 2007 <Not Available>. 2013-12-16 <http://
citation.allacademic.com/meta/p121058_index.html>
Photo: Frank Lloyd Wright Hearth. 2008. DecoratingFlair. Web. <http://decoratingflair.com/fallingwater.htm>

30

PROJECTS
Louis Kahn

What slice of the sun enters your room? You feel the privacy of it, you feel that sun belongs to you,
coming through the window, playing along the sills and the jambs and the walls.
Kahn, House & Garden interview, 1972
The northeast-facing windows of the Kahn Korman House, are an example of how Kahn oriented
each part of the house to reveal the landscape and the changing light in subtle ways.Shadows move
across the pasture throughout the day. Light flows through the space from dawn until sunset, when
the setting sun illuminates the dining room chimney (visible through the windows).
The living room fireplaces chimney is hidden from view; instead, the eye is drawn to a brick
inglenook with built-in bench. Kahn envisioned the inglenook as an intimate place to sit and have
a conversation, a small-scale element that defines a house. Throughout the design process, the
Korman plan was anchored by its chimneys, but the inglenook evolved: it was first a semi-circular,
temple-like room of its own.
Kahn told Toby Korman and interior designer Susan Binswanger that he chose a very rich kind of
brown red brick for the fireplaces, which he found superior to the red red kind.
Kahn Korman House. Living. Kahn Korman House. Kahn Korman House, n.d. Web. Sept. 2014. <http://www.kahnkormanhouse.com/house-tour/
living/>.
Picture: Kahn Kormann House. Completed Plans. n.d. Web. Oct. 2014.

31

PROJECTS
The Glass House by Philip Johnson
The interior of the Glass House is completely
exposed to the outdoors except for the a
cylinder brick structure with the entrance to the
bathroom on one side and a fireplace on the
other side.
To explain the symbolic cylinder that Mr.
Johnson had positioned in the hearth of his
Glass House he said: ... the main motif of the
house, was not derived from Mies but rather
from a burnt village I saw once where nothing
was left but the foundations and chimneys of
brick...
Pictures: 1. Perez, Adelyn. Http://www.flickr.com/photos/
arzan/2784530538/. Digital image. AD Classics: The Glass House /
Philip Johnson. Arch Daily, 17 May 2010. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.
2. Perez, Adelyn. Creative Commons - Photo Credit: Melody Kramer.
Digital image. AD Classics: The Glass House / Philip Johnson. Arch
Daily, 17 May 2010. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.
3. Glass House Floor Plan. Digital image. The Glass House. 2013
National Trust for Historic Preservation and The Glass House, n.d.
Web.
Koolhaas, Rem. Fireplace. Elements: A Series of 15 Books
Accompanying the Exhibition Elements of Architecture at the 2014
Venice Architecture Biennale. Venezia: Marsilio, 2014. 78-79. Print.

32

PROJECTS
Casa Malaparte
Designed in 1937 by Italian architect Adalberto
Libera for the journalist, novelist and diplomat
Curzio Malaparte. Malaparte rejected Liberas
design for the house and ended up building it
himself with the help of Adolfo Amitrano, a local
stonemason and the house was completed in
1942. The floor of the grand space was made up
of large broken pieces of stone but the centerpiece
of the room is the sensational fireplace. Made
up of three sections of sculpted concrete capped
with a wood mantle the outer sections for wood
storage flank a window made of heat resistant
glass framing another view of the waves and
landscape below.

Picture: Fireplace with View of the Sea beyond by Francois Halard.

Digital image. The Gilded Owl. N.p., 1 May 2013. Web. 10 Oct.
2014.

Casa Malaparte is a paintinglike

scenery. The scenes are encounters
of the basic elements: water, stone,
air and fire, being heavily framed
to really seize the moment. The
fireplace hearth incorporates a
window of fireproof Jena glass,
giving a view through the flames,
as if on to a burning sea. Like then
windows, the fireplace frames a
mythical world, in which fire and
water are reconciled.
Talamona, Marida. Adalberto Libera and Villa
Malaparte. Villa Malaparte (n.d.): n. pag. Web.

Picture: Section. Digital image. The Gilded Owl. N.p., 1 May 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.

33

PROJECTS
Kunshaus Bregenz
Bregenz, Austria
The Kunsthaus Bregenz is a prime example of thermally active surfaces in architecture. Architect
Peter Zumthor and engineer Robert Meierhans designed a thermodynamically and physiologically
novel figure for the Kunsthaus Bregenz that formalized a new relationship between body and building.
Situated on the edge of Lake Constance in Bregenz, Austria, the visual and tectonic aspects of
Kunsthaus Bregenz are well known. The scheme presents a box of etched glass shingles that veil
the concrete structure of the building, as described by Zumthor:

The art museum stands in the light of Lake Constance. It is made of glass and steel and a cast
concrete stone mass which endows the interior of the building with texture and spatial composition.
From the outside, the building looks like a lamp. It absorbs the changing light of the sky, the haze
of the lake, it reflects light and color and gives an intimation of its inner life according to the angle of
vision, the daylight and the weather.
The Kunsthaus architecture emerged from a simple yet found physiological understanding of the
body as the context. Like the human body, the Kunsthaus is a hydronic heat and cool system with
a decoupled fresh air ventilation system. The concrete surfaces in the Kunsthaus are hydronic,
thermally active surfaces that temper the thermal comfort of bodies in the space through radiant
heat transfer as opposed to the minimal air system in the building. While this system may initially
seem simple, if not mundane, it engenders the austere appearance and low energy consumption of
the building.
The simplicity of the scheme is best understood through the clarity of its zoning. The building has
three primary zones: first, the occupied spaces of the galleries, the entry floor and the subterrain
levels; second, a service zone above each of the galleries; third, a buffer zone that wraps the
building. The galleries are supported and enclosed by a thermally active concrete structure. The
concrete superstructure bears on a set of piles that distributes its load down into the soft ground
condition.

Picture: Kunsthaus in Bregenz, Austria.

Archipost. N.p., 12 Nov. 2008. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.

34

PROJECTS
The Kunsthaus is an example of an earth-coupled, or geothermal, thermally active surface building. The building also has a perimeter slurry wall foundation that extends down to the bedrock,
isolating the construction from the flowing ground water in the soil. These foundation walls also
serve as a heat sink and source. The water from the adjacent take and on the site fluctuates
annually from 60-72F. This water cycles through the slurry walls and is used for cooling purposes.
Thses earth-coupled loops feed a 3800-liter storage tank that supplies the hydronic system for the
concrete structure of the Kunsthaus. The design integrated 28 000 kilometers of tubing into the
concrete pour. A gas-fired boiler supplies heat for the hydronic system in the winter months. The
structural configuration of the gallery creates controlled, thermally active surfaces on five sides of
a body in the gallery spaces. Together, this strategy minimizes perceived radiant asymmetries and
thus allows a lower supply temperature because the system does not compensate for unheated
surfaces in the space and the resultant thermal asymmetries.
Zollverein School of Management and Design
Essen, Germany Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa, SANAA
Transsolar KlimaEngineering
The observation of site context and climate as a primary premise for design is a familiar component
of bio-climatic and sustainable design. While the analysis of familiar models of passive energy gains
is important to thermally active surfaces, the Zollverein project is a case in which the entirety of the
buildings physical milieu was viewed as a total energy system. In doing so, this view imaginatively
identified energy sources that enable critical formal aspects of the project.

The mineshafts of the closed colliery play a central role in the thermal strategy of the building.
When the colliery was closed, its 1000 meter deep mine shafts were left and filled with water. The
owner of the mines pumps this water into the adjacent Emscher River. The water temperature at the
pump depth is a constant 84F. Transsolar, the buildings energy strategist, saw thermal value in what
was essentially waste water and recognized it as a source of free energy for the new construction. A
heat exchanger located in the pump stations above shafts 1,3 and 8 extracts heat energy from the
mireral-saturated water. This heated water is pumped to the school and cycled through its thermally
active surfaces. The result is a cheap and CO2 -free source of heat energy. This reduces energy
consumption by 75 percent, decreases carbon emissions by 31 tons annually, and saves roughly
7000 euros in annual heating costs.

Basulto, David.
Zollverein School of Management and Design /
SANAA 28 Mar 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed 26 Oct 2014. <http://www.
archdaily.com/?p=54212>

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Klarchek Information Commons, Loyola University
Chicago, Illinois
Solomon Cordwell Buenz
Transsolar KlimaEngineering
Elara Engineering
The Klarchek Information Commons is a 70 000-square-foot digital research library on the edge of
Lake Michigan. The lakefront site provides predictable land water wind patterns that underlie the
buildings energy strategies. Finally, given the north-south orientation of the building, the transparency
of the east and west exposures require particular attention to the solar control strategies. Responding
to these conditions, the building is a transparent box with limestone bookends that capture and
channel views, airflow, and solar energy.

The horizontal structural system of the building is a primary component of the mechanical
system. Hydronic tubing was cast in the pre-cast concrete planks for radiant heating and cooling. The
planks have a vaulted profile also diffuses the light from a strip of fluorescent up-lighting centered on
each vault.

The thermally active heating system and the high performance building envelope work
together in four operation modes: a heating mode, a cooling mode, a fill outside air mode and
a hybrid cooling mode. In the winter heating mode all operable vents are closed. The thermally
active surface emits radiant energy to heat occupants while the displacement ventilation air system
provides mechanical ventilation. A series of perimeter fin tube convectors along glazed east facade
assists in the heating mode, emitting a blanket of warm air across the surface of the glass. During
the summer cooling mode the east facade vents are closed and the dampers atop the west facade
cavity are open to exhaust. In this mode, the thermally active surfaces are absorbing and removing
radiant energy from the spaces below. In the mixed mode all the building vents are partially open and
thermally active surfaces remove internal heat gains from the space by channeling water through
the concrete structure. In the full outside air mode all the operable vents are fully open but thermally
active surfaces are not activated. Instead, lake air from the high windward vents provides fresh
air and helps to keep the slab cool by removing exhaust air as it rises to the ceiling, exhausting it
through the west cavity and dampers.

The Richard J. Klarchek Information Commons / Solomon Cordwell Buenz. ArchDaily. N.p., 19 May 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.

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PROJECTS

Architecture Photography: The Richard J. Klarchek Information Commons / Solomon Cordwell Buenz (11) (236313). Arch Daily, n.d. Web. 26 Oct.
2014.

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ALLEGRA SANTIS
SALLAMAARIA KOSKI
JULIETTE GROENENDAAL

3D

OBJECT