Design:
Natassa Lianou, Ermis Chalvatzis with Andri Shalou, Chen Jian

Function:
Mixed Use Tower_Housing, Retail, Offices

Area:
40,000sqm

Location:
Tromsø, Norway

Status:
Design Research

Exhibited:
AA Project Reviews 2010, AA Project Review 2011, London, UK

Status:
AA Project Distinction 2011

Year:
2011

FIBROUS INTELLIGENCE
KRAMA is the exploration of the proto Tower that, as its name implies (from the greek κράμα//krama = alloy), it is a synthesis, a mixture of multi systems and sub systems which develop relationships in between them, while finally, they produce one interconnected soma, one organism able to perform as one unit with its inherent intelligence and rules.

KRAMA_Version 1.0, which performs at Tromso, North Norway, is proposing a new type of habitation in this area, a kind of vertical social network, which is able to accommodate and “protect” the residents from the harsh climate and the lack of sunlight. Moreover, its fibrous materiality is converting our creature into a cluster of bundled, aggregated and mutated luminous veins, which are able to trigger social interactions and collective behaviors and interrelationships. Therefore, Krama is a matter of relationships in between people as well as in between tectonic systems and subsystems of the structure, while the inherent micro-intelligence of each organism generates local adaptations and global variations.

“...The beauty is in the way that the slabs are registered and become an algorithmic representation of the fibrous skeleton. The second move is the wrinkling of the ceiling. These two aspects are enough to put in into the real domain and me it convincing...
...It is the first time or it might happened again 15 years ago, that I hear such positive comments from all the jury...”
Patrik Schumacher

“...Congratulations, for the intuition at the beginning, during your research which is consolidated at the outcome...
...I think spatially, it is a manifest... “
Mark Burry

“...What I like more about the building it is not only the idea but it is the vision that you built the light. Architecturally, the vision of the exoskeleton is absolutely magnificent, because it is also structural but it has the ability to distribute the functions, like the Pompidou with the tubes...
...It is really an accomplishment because it is not only the functional aspect but also all the qualitative aspects. Aesthetically it is a magnificent building".
Frederic Migayrou

“...I think it is a really really complete study. It is really well mastered . You really addressed every aspect and it could be a smart tower, a small city. It is very interesting that you really address everything step by step and you try to take profit of everything which constitute a tower, the slabs the ceiling, the skin and everything...
You try to push this at the limit. It is not a utopian project, it is a really realistic approach of what can be a tower in 2011...
...The style issue in every scale is a statement.You didn’t go into the trap, of remaining only at the level of style but also technologically is a master...”
Philippe Morel

“...When you start working to that level of fineses you don’t see that in student projects very often.
...It is incredibly exemplary...“
Neil Denari