Aug 24 - Sep 2, 2024
Dear IMHO,
My name is Jack Fife - an apprentice of the guild, just like you. We are allies.
I’d like to tell you about some recent experiences I’ve had with Guild Member Troy in France. My intention is that through explaining some of my experiences to you and core insights, we can both move into a clearer understanding of FABRYX, the work we do, the work that needs to be done, ideas & concepts that we believe to be very important, myself, yourself, the connection between all, and much more.
Our intention for our week together at Roseaux was to design, build, & develop the Thermi of the Transformer building (Sauna & Hammam). We will explain more details regarding the physical space at Roseaux.
I intend to convey to you what we did, how I felt, and core insights. & IMHO, remember, I am learning too - we learn together.
Arrival:
I arrived from Paris on the train in Verneuil Sur Avre & had lunch with Troy. We drove from lunch to Roseaux. Upon arriving on site, Troy gave me a full tour of the site, including all the buildings, their surroundings, & visions for both all the individual buildings as well as how they fit into the larger whole of the site. In addition, we discussed the larger vision for Fabryx.
The Work:
Prep: We came into the week with the intention to build a hammam, quickly frame the walls, and apply a tadelakt interior finish. Prior to showing up on site, I’d taken workshops on how to make tadelakt and apply it to the walls. Part of this process was researching what our substrate for the tadelakt would be. Due to the conditions of the walls, we decided that applying a cementitious lime layer would be best. Again, all of this prep work was regarding the hammam room and research / methods of application for the interior finish. We also spent time researching how to heat these spaces. Heating methods included the rocket mass heater and the dakota fire hole.
On Site Conceptual Analysis/Design: We began looking and thinking of the whole Thermi area as a cohesive unit. Adjacent to the hammam room, is a larger room with access to the outside of the building. We began aligning our thoughts with roman bath concepts of “dry” and “wet” heat. The hammam could be the source of our wet heat, and a sauna could be the source of our dry heat. These two rooms could act cohesively as a single unit of thermal experience, cleansing, and purification prior to engaging with float tank / meditative / AI program & infrastructure. The Thermi is the gateway between the outside world and and all of the associated stresses and the pure, sacred, transformative experience of what’s occurring inside the transformer building. Transformation at every level. Since the space we’d dedicated for the sauna is a room that connects to the exterior, it would be experienced first in the procession of the Thermi. We decided it would be smart to begin with designing / framing the sauna to not only set / establish the datum height for the entire Thermi, but also as a “trial run” for framing the hammam. We underestimated how long it would take to frame the sauna as this process took up our entire time on site.
Pre Existing Condition Analysis/ Space Preparation: Once we’d establish framing the sauna as the first action item, we began analyzing the room & doing some preliminary measurements to inform our framing efforts. This process also included removing all debris/existing machinery from the walls that would interfere with our framing efforts. We struck the balance of only removing items that would interfere with our framing, while keeping all other elements of the room to their original design and condition. Prepping the room also meant cleaning the room. We removed all debris and dust from the floors & cavities. In addition, we power washed all surfaces except for the ceiling, as we liked its condition and didn’t want to remove its character/feel by power washing it.
In addition to power washing/ cleaning the walls, we applied the same process to the underground cavities intended to store our heating equipment & apparatus. This process included going down into the cavities to remove debris, power wash, and take measurements of where the pipes / openings / drains are.
We found an old oil tank hanging on the wall. There has probably been oil spilling onto the slab for 100 years. In addition, upon emptying the tank, we spilled considerable amounts of oil onto the slab itself. We sourced an enzyme that will eat and remove the hydrocarbons from the space. When dealing with old buildings and renovations, it’s fundamental to consider pre existing uses and the potential chemicals that could be present on site. Often, forms of chemical / ritual purification will be required in order to facilitate the new program.
Sauna Concept Design: We began looking critically at how to design the sauna and put it into the pre existing space. Simultaneously thinking about the sauna and hammam as a cohesive unit, we set out on designing the framing of the sauna. Due to a sauna’s intense heat capacity and a necessity to insulate / store that heat, a large part of our conversation became how do we create a heatable volume, maintain that heat, all-the-while keeping beauty and ease of use in mind. Our first framing concept, while exciting, was overly complicated and in retrospect would have taken us months to frame. We began conceptually sketching and thinking about how to fit the sauna volume into the space through some preliminary sketching. Conceptual sketches were fundamental to our design process. It’s important to allow creativity to flow throughout the design process through sketching.
Start of Construction: While part of the preliminary design process includes sketching/thinking/theorizing/drawing ideas of what the design of the space could be, it's fundamental to marry this with beginning to construct and build. This project is design/build in the truest sense of the concept. In addition, there are always items/problems/concerns/ideas that flourish & come to the surface once the process of construction has actually begun. Since our framing exists in a preexisting space, there were little moments / measurements that would complicate our design and require problem solving. As you begin to actually construct within the space, the space responds, and it's important to get the conversation between existing space and new construction going earlier rather than later. In order to begin construction, we had to establish the necessary materials - wood framing (5x7), screws, drills, miter saw, hand saw, etc.
Continued Iteration: Once construction begins, and elements / concepts start taking shape, it’s valuable to constantly continue to sketch and iterate. We produced a series of framing documents after we’d begun construction on parts of the design.
Overall Conceptual Iteration/ The circuit: The sauna is just one piece that integrates into the larger system of the transformer. As the sauna itself began to come to life and metabolize, larger concepts regarding the sauna at large began to emerge to surface our consciousness. As one element of the system begins to metabolize, it activates all types of other pieces of information, ideas, data, designs about other parts of the site. We began to think experientially about the process / series of spaces and events that guests go through when using the transformer. We began to think about the procession through space as a circuit & of a cyclical nature - similar to that of birth, life, death, birth, life death, birth, life, death. One starts their experience with the site purifying themselves in the Thermi. Then, re enter the building through the eastern axis. Then, one processes through a series of primer spaces for the float tank to experience all processing from the east to the west. Then, after a transformational/profound float tank experience, one continues their journey west and enters back into the hammam through a little door in the wall (maybe the doorway is alluded to in the hammam so that during one’s first experience in the hammam space the psyche is activated to ponder what is behind it). Upon reentering the hammam, a participant has participated in a full cycle. A participant enters into the same space they began in, but in a profoundly different state of consciousness / being. The cycle is also a bit paradoxical in nature - a participant returns to the same place that they started at the beginning of the circuit but is really not in the same place at all from spiritual, physical, cellular, atomic, subatomic, quantum standpoint. The participant returns to the same place but it's really not the same place at all due to the transformation of the participant. This axial orientation is embedded within Egyptian / mystical mythology.
We’re a mineral arts guild - maybe we establish a room dedicated to honor minerals, their beauty, their wisdom. Bring in many different types of minerals and allow them to express themselves together in beauty and harmony
Continued Construction: We continued to create stud walls and frame them into place and with each other. In addition, we cut roof rafters and calculated these cut requirements with trigonometry. We began to frame out the necessary supports within the stud wall for our proposed bench concepts.
Light/Mechanistic connection: Different parts of the building represent different aspects of the larger system. How can we integrate all the different elements and get them to speak to each other / dance with each other? One method we experimented with was light. Let’s allow light to flow through spaces into other spaces in creative and interesting ways. Can certain lights / colors represent different spaces? Can lights signify that other spaces are in operation just like a machine?
Routines:
In the mornings we drank pure cacao. Throughout the day, but most specifically at night over dinner, we had great, deep conversations about many things.
Core Insight:
The best designs come when you can remove your pre-existing mental notions about what one should design on / within the site, and relax into the truth of what the site / design wants to be. This is a practice of listening and noticing. It’s fundamental to keep one’s heart and mind open and allow the site to speak for itself. The discipline of listening, noticing, and humbly honoring those realities. Listen, notice, learn, act with honor and reverence.
It’s fundamental to maintain flexibility of thought and design. Design is an iterative process. Great design goes through many different iterations, permutations, transformations, rebirths. One must be careful and intentional not to get lazy and stuck with certain notions about the site and design. These lessons integrate into listening, noticing, learning, & acting. When a certain element of the site makes itself known or contradicts a pre-existing notion of design, it's important to allow the design and thinking to adapt. Our design for the sauna went through probably 10 - 20 major design changes and upwards of 30 smaller design changes. Be flexible and honor the true forms of beauty as they make themselves evident.
Framing within preexisting space gets complicated as the dimensions of old buildings are unpredictable and require creative problem solving. Don’t underestimate the time it takes to frame inside pre existing space.
Strike a balance between designing and building. Allow design to inform building, and building to inform design.
Don’t superimpose your own will onto a place.
Maintain, respect, honor, and nurture the existing soul / character of a place. Consider the deep depth of history of place. Feel and consider the people, the interactions, the conversations, the fights, the work, the love that occurred before you are now interacting with the space. Lets go even farther back now - place your hand on the wall, what is the story of this material? How did it get here? What his it seen? What does it KNOW? How and where did it rest in its natural state in the earth? Even farther now, how old is it? How old is the earth? Feel infinity. We've reached source - where we've always been, and always will be.
Thank you for listening IMHO. & remember, what we do must be for the good of ALL. There is much to do. We'll begin by listening.
Jack Fife
