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The Umgebinde Variations A case-based study of formal typologies and systematic compositional variety

In architectural research there is a pronounced tendency towards the use of building types to emphasise similarities, rather than to recognise variation and invention within recognised building conventions. Aspects of variety, by which individual artefacts are actually identified and appreciated, are often considered irrelevant, or simply overlooked... This practice does not do justice to the perceptual complexity and compositional diversity of built objects and environments. It is not necessarily to consider designerly variation as unsystematic by nature (and hence unworthy of consideration). On the contrary, design decision-making is relatively methodical and it is therefore worthwhile to seek out recognisable themes of formal composition and to identify structure within complexity. This contribution documents a case-based, explorative study, aimed at recognising levels of ‘orchestration’ in design and perception. Central to this project is the analysis of a building type known as Umgebinde. A form which originated when two historic types of building conventions – the Slavic ‘block hut’ type and the Germanic ‘wood frame’ type – met in the relatively sheltered and self-contained borderland of the Oberlausitz. What is interesting is that these two ‘networks’ led to a fusion of approaches, resulting in a unique building type, which gradually developed into a distinct local style. Precisely because these historic houses (accommodating farming and weaving enterprises as well as serving as dwellings) share an easily recognisable volumetric set-up, the subtle variations become apparent. This Casus clearly demonstrates the effects of systematic variety, involving the interaction of identifiable, structural patterns on the one hand and forms of project specific articulation on the other. The Umgebinde Variations gave an important impulse to the development of a concise framework of design conceptions, which is presented as the outcome of this study.