<body bgcolor="#333333" text="#999999" link="#FFFFFF" vlink="#CCCCCC" alink="#6699CC"><br><br>Mazria Inc. was established in 1978 as Mazria Associates, Inc. Since its inception, our office has operated like a small design studio where innovation, experimentation and research is encouraged . Our expertise in building and site ecology and its design principles, technologies and applications is the result of this approach to architectural design. We are internationally recognized as a leader in the field of environmental design and daylighting in architecture. Our office is unique in that we apply these principles to all of our projects.<br><br>
Most contemporary buildings, like machines, can be viewed as <i>isolated
systems.</i> This means they need energy to operate but do not necessarily
need to interact with their environment to continue functioning. Like
all <i>isolated systems,</i> these buildings will operate according
to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. They import energy in the form
of electricity, propane and/or natural gas, convert that energy to
run heating, cooling, ventilation equipment and lighting fixtures,
and then dissipate that energy as waste heat. These buildings require
an uninterrupted supply of imported energy to operate. Otherwise,
after all the energy is consumed, they become uninhabitable; too hot,
too cold, no light, etc. They insulate themselves against the environment
for as long as possible in an effort to preserve their internal conditions.<br>
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Living organisms on the other hand, function quite differently.
They are open systems, which means they must maintain a continuous
flow and exchange of energy and matter with their environment
in order to stay alive. Through the process known as metabolism,
they take in substances to obtain both energy and nutrients
needed for vital functions, such as pumping of the heart, muscular
contraction or for organic molecule production. <br>
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At the same time open systems also have a high degree of stability
and resiliency. This stability and resiliency is dynamic and consists
of maintaining the same overall structure in spite of changes in the
environment. Machines for example, will fail if their parts do not
work in a very specific manner; if a part breaks down or if its energy
source is inadequate or interrupted, whereas a living organism will
maintain itself and keep itself operating in a changing environment
by repairing and renewing itself. This ability to adapt and self-maintain
in a constantly changing environment is an essential quality of open
systems. Fluctuations play a key role in the resiliency of these systems.
The elements that make up a system fluctuate within certain limits
so that the system maintains its flexibility in a balanced state of
continuous movement. As one element fluctuates in one way, other elements
will compensate, within their range of movement, to keep the system
stable. It is in this way that open systems, as a whole, adapt to
environmental changes. <br>
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A living organism also creates its own boundary which defines
it as a distinct open system. This boundary, or membrane, is
a filter of the environmental elements needed to sustain the
organism. The boundary also encloses a specific set of internal
relationships, an order that distinguishes one organism's existence
from any other. Order is then a particular configuration or
pattern of relationships that defines a specific open system
and gives that system its form. To understand and visualize
form we can map the patterns of relationships that make up the
system. Form is then both the envelope and contents that make
up a system. It is the visual nature of that system.<br>
Understanding living systems as powerful means of architectural expression,
became a primary focus in the design of the Rio Grande Conservatory
in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The 10,000 square foot conservatory is
comprised of two pavilions, each very different in nature. The Desert
Pavilion, approximately 2,700 square feet, houses over 900 species
of plants from the Chihuahuan and Sonoran Deserts as well as from
Baja California. The Mediterranean Pavilion exhibits plants native
to a Mediterranean climate such as southern California, South Africa,
Australia, coastal Chile and the Mediterranean Basin. <br>
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The form of the conservatory is a model, or reflection of our understanding
of the underlying pattern of relationships that define the living
organisms housed in each pavilion. Each pavilion is conceived as an
open system, characterized by a continuous exchange of energy and
matter with the environment in order to maintain internal conditions
suitable to its particular resident plant life. The building skin,
its glazing, vents, masonry and insulation filter the environmental
elements needed to sustain the system and to create specific internal
conditions for healthy plant growth. <br>
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Sunlight enters each pavilion from all directions through the
glazed portion of the building's skin, each surface having specific
solar transmission and thermal properties. The glazing was selected
for its transmission of sunlight or solar radiation in the blue
(450nm), red (660nm) and far-red (750nm) wavelengths; the spectrum
most needed by plants for photosynthesis. Outdoor air is admitted,
regulated, directed and discharged through openings at the base
and at the apex of each structure. <br>
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A computer simulation model was generated to determine the specific
properties of building elements; the envelope to filter and
regulate the exchange of energy and matter with the environment;
the concrete walls and floor, metal structure, soil, water and
plants to absorb, convert, store and release energy for system
stability; and the location and size of openings for natural
and induced ventilation. Rather than creating a model to just
predict the operation of the systems, we played with the model
to see what would happen when we changed variables. We changed
building materials, size and location of openings, glazing properties
and rate of air and heat exchange with the environment at different
times of the year, to name just a few. Variables were adjusted
in order to learn more about the systems performance, its daily
and seasonal fluctuations, and to match that performance against
the climatic conditions required for the plant life in each
pavilion. <br>
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The computer model was used as a tool to increase our intuition
about how each system worked and to make educated choices about
system materials and operations. For example, in the Mediterranean
Pavilion the southwest sloped roof glazing has a 45% light transmittance
in the visible spectrum and only a 19% solar gain transmittance
which is important in controlling system overheating during
the hot Albuquerque summers. The vertical south facade glazing,
on the other hand, has a 60% visible light and 30% solar gain
transmittance which is important for improved winter performance
of the system. <br>
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Using the computer model, the design of each pavilion was fine
tuned so that the relationships between system components produced
dynamic internal environments that closely resembled that of
Sonoran Desert and Mediterranean Basin climates. Small mechanical
systems were then added, hot-water baseboard heating, fan induced
natural ventilation, and a fogger system in the Mediterranean
Pavilion, to eliminate the thermal peaks and valleys (overheating
and underheating) that occurred during severe and atypical weather
conditions. It should be noted that the mechanical systems for
the pavilions were extremely small and inexpensive and comprised
only 15% of a total construction budget of $1,580,000 as compared
to 35% to 45% for a conventionally designed conservatory. The
heating system, which is rarely used, is programmed to turn-on
only when the outdoor temperature falls below 20 degrees F.
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The Conservatory has been open to the public and monitored for
over a year. Upon close examination of its performance during
this period, each pavillion exhibits a remarkably high degree
of internal thermal order characteristic of living systems.
Through the ceaseless exchange of energy and matter with the
environment, the pavillions are able to renew and maintain themselves
in a dynamic state that is very stable over time. Recorded data
reveal that during the winter months both pavillions continually
sustain temperatures that are 20 to 30 degrees above outdoor
lows. Daily temperature fluctuations are consistent within a
narrow range of 15 to 20 degrees in both summer and winter,
and when the annual temperature profile of each pavillion is
matched against that of a Sonoran Desert (Tucson, Arizona) and
Mediterranean Basin (Los Angeles, California) climate, their
profiles are strikingly similar. If, by design, we can create
desirable indoor conditions in a conservatory with little or
no imported energy, it should come as no surprise that it can
easily be accomplished in other building types as well, such
as housing, educational and recreational facilities, commercial
buildings, libraries, etc.<br>
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The order of the Rio Grande Conservatory is, however, not only
the pattern of relationships that define it as an open system,
but also the pattern of relationships that define its architectural
form. Architectural form then, encloses a particular order that
distinguishes one form from any other. This order can be purely
rational and functional and based on scientific principles,
or, it can speak to relationships that lie beyond the circumstantial,
to relationships that address the underlying principles behind
all living things. The language used to express these latter
principles is the language of the architect, expressed in architectural
form through number and geometry. <br>
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Number and geometry are powerful symbols. While ordinary
language facilitates attaining knowledge through reason, insight
into the underlying qualities present in nature is explored
through the arts, the language of symbols. Symbols themselves
are revelations of this underlying visual beauty in our world,
a permanent quality in a world of continual change. The geometrical
symbol or figure that reappears throughout history as the embodiment
of this quality is the squared circle. Leonardo DaVinci's Vitruvian
figure inscribed in the square and circle is a symbol of the
geometric and proportional relatiohships that exists in the
natural world. The power of the squared circle as a symbol lies
in its geometric and numeric qualities. <br>
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The squared circle is the underlying geometry behind the design
of the Rio Grande Conservatory. Throughout the Conservatory
there is self-similarity, meaning the same geometric patterns
derived from the diagram can be found at the various scales
of the building. The proportional relationships carry through
from plan to elevation, to the building components that make
up the Conservatory's enclosure. <br>
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While the Conservatory is a pattern of relationships in itself,
it is also only one element in the Albuquerque Biological Park.
The conservatory building is located at the narrowest point
within the Park site, divides the site in two, and is the visual
and symbolic center of the Park complex. To one side of the
Conservatory is the entry pavillion, aquarium and structured
theme gardens, and to the other side, a rustic "bosque" or riparian
wooded area along the banks of the Rio Grande river. The center
of the Conservatory, the point where the Desert and Mediterranean
pavillions meet, is both physically and visually the highest
point within the Park. Both parts of the site are unified through
this point by an opening cut through the center of the building.
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By incorporating sustainable design strategies patterned after
nature, the Rio Grande Conservatory has been able to maintain
the internal conditions required for desert and Mediterranean
plant growth with little or no outside energy input.<br>
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