Hanghar : WhatsApp Architecture

Follow @wip.ish on IG for accompanying images (Fig. 264 - 288).

HANGHAR is an architecture practice led by Eduardo Mediero, who is currently a lecturer (and previous Fishman Fellow) at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture, where his academic work focuses primarily on the interplay between architectural precedents and financial organizational models : The OWN Foundation (@own.fndn), for example, is a non-profit organization founded by @hanghar.llc “committed to the decommodificatios of architecture and the built environment through alternative modes of ownership and finance,” (Fig. 264), and his students’ work also reflects this interest in “architecture’s entanglement with and reliance on immaterial systems” (Fig. 265 - 266). [1] 

However, I first met @hanghar.llc in a GSD option studio led by Tatiana Bilbao and Iwan Baan in 2018 (Fig. 267 - 268) - we sat across from one another in the trays that semester (Fig. 269). 

Quite soon after we graduated in 2019, @hanghar.llc completed his first built project : An interior renovation of an apartment in a 1950’s building located in the city of Murcia in Spain (Fig. 270). I personally like to refer to this @hanghar.llc project as his Green House due to its obvious celebration of the color - one I had previously seen @hanghar.llc use in his own academic work (Fig. 271). @hanghar.llc’s Green House, then, includes a beautiful green terrazzo countertop (Fig. 272), enormous green perforated armoires (Fig. 273), and meticulous woodworking details, particularly found in the windows (Fig. 274). Less obvious, though equally present, are the continuous ceiling level and oblique ceramic tiles (Fig. 275) that create a kind of seamless continuity throughout the apartment. 

It’s a beautiful project, one that is incredibly well photographed, too. However, I had no idea that this project began and ended during @hanghar.llc’s two year stay at the GSD, no idea he was texting contractors corrections via WhatsApp during Erika Naginski’s seminars (Fig. 276 - 278), and no earthly idea how one would even be able to accomplish a project like this one - not only while in school but also while being an entire sea away from the project itself. It’s not often you see architects our age complete built work on their own, and I think it’s even less common to see that kind of professional work done in parallel to completing a Master’s program. 

So, how did @hanghar.llc make it happen? 

Conceptually, @hanghar.llc’s Green House can be divided into two main collaborators : 1) The Construction Worker, who did the majority of demolishing, walls, and flooring - as well as sub-hired the project’s plumber, electrician, and HVAC technician. 2) The Carpenter, who handmade all of the walls and green cabinets (which actually have a MDF skeleton even though they read as being made entirely out of thin lacquered steel). There were other smaller collaborators, like @huguetmallorca who made the terrazzo kitchen sink (Fig. 279) to match the Pantone green powdered coated cabinets (Fig. 280), but the majority of @hanghar.llc’s communication was with the project’s construction worker and carpenter through WhatsApp. 

Surprisingly though, no construction documents of the project were ever made, instead @hanghar.llc drew only a plan, an electric plan, a plumbing plan, and detailed sections of the windows and cabinets. Having such a sparse number of documents was only legally possible because the project was considered an interior renovation : That is, if you don’t touch a building’s structure, you don’t need a licensed architect, which means you don’t need CDs. What was even more interesting to hear is that the drawings @hanghar.llc used to communicate with his collaborators also became documents he was able to use as fair leverage : When work wasn’t done correctly, @hanghar.llc could point to drawings that had been sent months in advance to ask that the work be redone - the right way - because being in a completely different time zone often meant waking up to texts / screenshots of work completed incorrectly in his absence. While some of these were done deals, unable to be corrected, @hanghar.llc often fought for more important details to be redone the way the had been drawn in the first place.

I can’t say I could have imagined the project being such a frustrating game of push and pull, yet I think you’ll agree you really can’t see even a hint of it while looking through the project images. Still, it was comforting to hear how @hanghar.llc had managed to pull off a project like this on his own - even if it came with unexpected bumps along the way - and it was clear he was learning from the process, implementing significant changes as he continued working on other projects : 

When working on the ground floor (what was previously a stable) of a stone house in La Rioja dating back to the 1800’s (Fig. 281), @hanghar.llc drew every single detail. The project ended up having more drawings altogether than the Green House even though it was much much smaller undertaking. The renovation included a free form concrete slab (Fig. 282), but @hanghar.llc found himself working with the only builder in the area, who, while incredibly experienced, was more accustom to a more rustic construction and had never had to build a curvy slab. When it came time to build it, there was no way for the builder to reproduce @hanghar.llc’s design exactly as he had drawn it based on his more traditionally-based knowledge. As a result, @hanghar.llc decided to redraw the slab out of various circles (Fig. 283), and made a drawing that annotated the center and radius of each circle relative to the garden boundaries, making it relatively easy to translate with only a measuring stick and some string. When @hanghar.llc wanted to widen the small 40 cm windows, the same builder, having worked on many of old houses in the remote town, similar to the one they found themselves working on, advised that any existing openings on the load bearing walls be no wider than 110cm (Fig. 284 - Fig. 285), and @hanghar.llc says a lot of the work goes like this : 

You rely heavily on the experience of the people you work with, but you also rely on your own knowledge and push for the things you do know how to do. Often times, you’re faced with a flat out resounding “NO”, but sometimes our own naiveté to make things without knowing how to make them can result in pushing collaborators to do more than they thought they could or merely doing things differently. For example, when designing a stair for an unfortunate change in height at the entrance of his sister’s new house, @hanghar.llc had envisioned a thin 4 cm concrete stair, but the construction worker he hired said a stair could only be made to be 8 cm thick (the structural steel rods alone measured 3 cm), and so they agreed on a 6.5 cm thick concrete stair (Fig. 286 - 287) : Compromise… though the hand rail was initially incorrectly painted black instead of light green, which once again required @hanghar.llc’s careful maneuvering to get it right (Fig. 288). 

When I asked @hanghar.llc how he prepared to individually take on what seem like such intimidating projects and produce real built architecture, he said he didn’t - not really : The truth is no one is ever really ready to take on their first real project, you just sort of take it on. You do your homework and you learn what you can. The rest is more or less trial and error. You draw what you don’t understand until you do, you learn from your collaborators, you hold your ground on the things you really care about, and sometimes you do it all over WhatsApp. 

Follow @wip.ish on IG for accompanying images (Fig. 264 - 288). On that note, I also want to know  what, where, and how you make! DM or email me at wip.ishhh@gmail.com with unsolicited WIP images or #wip posts with an optional caption and IG handle to be featured on the WIP-ish IG :

For this week’s featured WIP, I wanted to share the beginnings of my SMArchS AD thesis : My thesis argues that the spaces in which we work determine the breadth of our work - our models are tabletop size because… we work on desks! But we don’t just need space to do work, the qualities of the spaces in which we work also have the potential to be more (or less) conducive to creativity. Taking advantage of current remote working conditions, I’ve set up a space to work in my parents garage located in El Paso, TX. I’ve spent most of January planning this space, which included cleaning and painting tire streaked floors (Fig. 289), designing a modular curved rail system (Fig. 290) to hang lush velvety curtains (Fig. 291) that simultaneously hide the garage while creating a semi-open space in which I hope to be milling and constructing 1:1 objects that function somewhere between furniture and room.

[1] University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture : “Practice, Product, Protocol” Architecture Fellows Exhibition Opens. 01.02.21.