CROP CIRCLE

Purely a gift from the land, the crop circle possesses the sacred and resilient. Weddings and other ceremonies can be held in this natural event space.

The crop circle on the site is a 50’x60’ elliptical. Leveraging the most common element, sugarcane and red soil forming a lifetime experience within the farm.

Frame And Boundary

The gap between two vertical gabion walls attached on the vessels is 15’, not only creating a square frame for the views but also act as a threshold for the extension of the sugarcane. The circulation area works as a boundary of the ruins and the industrial, as well as the separation between fields and living.

Ruins & Fields Industrial & Life

the vessels from the moister which will damage the surface, steel pipe footing is applied to the design.

All configurations contain an L-shaped wind tower. In Hale Kai’a, the wind moves from the northeast into the sea. We see the trade wind as an opportunity to build the wind tower to distribute cool air into the housing unit. An operable roof provides natural air circulation while open and can be shut while raining. We are projecting to achieve a cooling system without consuming energy.

Site Plan

Access from the sugarcane farm from the east, people exit the narrow trail of the farmland, finding themselves in the open area; and along the perimeter of the crop circle are five slopes leading downhill to the vessels.

At the end of the slopes are the gabion towers, not only as a frame capturing the views but also as the extension of the retaining wall that is terracing the land. On both hand side are the water gathering staircase providing the access to the next level, as for the ADA ramp will be located on the north side along the farml and.

On the lower level stands five pairs of vessel units, common areas are located between each pair of units and a planting area will be shared by the pair units.

Water collection and solar panel

Three unit solar panels are installed in single-unit housing and four in family-unit housing facing south to optimize the solar power. The average solar panel produces 170 to 350 watts every hour, depending on the region and weather conditions. Four solar panels with an efficiency of 250 watts should produce 1000 watts for family-unit and 750 watts for single-uni t housing.

The single unit uses a 300-gallon portable water pillow tank placed on top of the vessel enough for 15 showers, while the family unit uses a 600-gallon-size water pillow tank to store the water.

Red soil

Basalt rocks

Gravel

Coarse sand

Fine sand

Charcoal

Cloth

Metal water pan

Water gathering staircase

Assembled by 8 layers, rainwater will follow the gravity and flow through the filters then finally the purified water landed on the metal water pan which extends to the lower level. Every step of the stair is a module of gabion which will be joined with the retain-ing gabion wall on both sides of the stair-case, with this approach we can stabilize the circulation.

Leaving one side of the stair as the platform is a polyvalent purpose since we need the whole surface area to maximize the water gathering, and by applying multiple functions to the infrastructure we both maintain the original use of the staircase but also provide a semi-space for activities to take place.

Water gather system

Metel panel

Basalt rocks

Gravel

Coarse sand

Fine sand

Charcoal

Cloth

Metal water pan

Each gabion module contains a small metal panel to keep the finer particles from being washed away, and the gap between the module and the metal water pan will be filled up with charcoal.

At the end of the staircase, the rainwater will be merged with those gathered by the water gathering slab, and into the buried overflow water tank before the clean water was pumped up to the water bladder on the rooftop.

After the 2020 pandemic people desire more options with their lifestyles; We expect our homes not only for living but also as an office, a classroom, or even a cafe. Within traditional townhouses, individual rooms occupy most areas, and walls became a symbol of mass production.

The Chang family house is a typical Taiwanese modern townhouse built in 2005, located in Fongshan, Kaohsiung. Living in the building for over 15 years, I think some things can be improved. Similar to other tropical cities, adequate sunlight and humidity are inevitable factors, and flooding is an issue in the area as well. Project 305-36 is to addresses the problems and redo the programming according to the living style of my family. Other than the experiments with light, space, and circulation, my passion for postmodernism and the history of the region also played an important role in the design.

By reallocating private and public areas, residents are encouraged to spend more time in the open spaces and make connections with the building. Home should not be a machine for living; it is the lifestyle that forms a home.

Front facing south, having most of the openings. To minimize the heat gain from the west wall, only two windows were placed on the largest facade, causing the lack of natural lighting to enter the back of the house. Especially in the living room and kitchen set on the first floor with the garage in the front, artificial lighting is essential anytime when using the spaces.

The original design was too compacted to place an elevator which was always part of the reconstruction plan of the owner, thus expanding the front facade above the initial ga rage space and clearing the room for it.

Divide the mass into five portions, and set 2 blocks as the light entrance to lit the back area of the house. Also, the front portion becomes a garden, not only to lower the temperature of the ground floor but also to maintain the privacy of the family.

Except for the front garden, the rest of the divided portions are considered four independent towers. Two light entrance towers provide vertical circulation and link the other two towers and outside space together. Colored glass and steel frame are the materials for the "bridge" in front of the elevator shaft located in the middle circulation tower to maximize the natural lighting.

Relocating the living room and kitchen to the second floor gives the building better resilience to flooding and allows the first floor to acquire the reception for guests like it used to also gives the owners better privacy simultaneously.

The purpose of the project is to gather artists, designers in the historic Garfield history district, and create more green space within the area also enable weekly events or conferences. The form of the building is inspired by the traditional housing in Taiwan, called “San-Ho-Yuan”. It was designed for the big families in agriculture society back then. There is always a big courtyard providing spaces for drying clothes or crops, but in this project, the function of the courtyard transformed into a green space for multiple uses. The central part of the building is another interesting alteration, Taiwanese often uses it as a place to make prayers to gods or ancestors, is now a small community library which can also hold conference indoor while summer. The residents there are like a big family, the big courtyard is able for them to interact more, and contribute to the district in a cultural way.

Summer temperature in Arizona is fairly high, especially the downtown area due to the heat island affect. To reduce the natural heat gain, and also to maintain the view of consistent historic preserve area the whole complex was designed as half -level subsurface ground floor.

By extending the cantilever roof towards the side walk and community courtyard creates shadings for both residents and pedestrians.

Ideally the two units on the first floor will be targeting design or art major students and young artists. They are designed to have a clear view and a direct interaction with the front living space which became a perfect storefront for working studio or small exhibits.

The only unit with two floors. With one master bedroom and two single bedrooms all located on the second floor, first floor provides a bigger and open living area.

Garfield historic neighbor is a culturally and architecturally rich downtown neighborhood, creating a complex that has the potential to not only just accommodate different groups of people but also encourage them to gather, interact with each other is the goal.