Alan Lau Design Portfolio Selected Works
AlanLau86@hotmail.com +852 6092 8755
I grew up in Singapore in a dense urban environment, the lack of public spaces led me to spend a lot of time in the in-between spaces across all sorts of environments. These spaces give me a strong sense of community and have developed my interest in tackling issues of density within my designs.
My Childhood ‘Playground’ . Singapore
-Utilise Local Workforce and Skills
-Relocate Locals
-Promote Local Cuisines
-Removing Village
-Provide Accommodation
-Build Fanciful Hotel
-Develop Tea Plantation
-Income
-Promote Tea Culture
$
$
-Payout to Locals
$
H
Tea Village Revival
Profits
+
-Tea Plantation Business -Hotel -Jobs -Heritage -Village Facilities
Shortlisted Finalist China AIM Architecture Award
Nanshan Tea Resort Nanshan Tea Resort Hotel aims to promote a unique tea-themed tourism attraction and rest stop by acknowledging and utilising the existing Nanshan Village’s local specialities, skills and site’s location. Initiating a process of bottom-up growth that will help the village self fund its development and expand over time that will lead the existing tea village into a prosperous super tea resort owned and operated by its own people. Focusing not only on environmental sustainability, but also social sustainability to help preserve and promote the existing local’s heritage, culture and tea business. Instead of proposing a ‘come and go’ tent hotel, the proposal adopts a progressive and flexible architecture approach to adapt and grow to cater for different hotel programs that serves not only tourists, but also shared with the local village over 24 hour, weekday weekend and seasonal shifts. Acknowledging both present and unknown future needs and challenges, flexibility becomes sustainability.
Click for Animation Link
Jan
Hunan Season Climate
Winter
Apr Spring
Tea Harvest Period
Summer
Oct Autumn
Tea Harvesting Season
Tourist Influx
Off-peak
Fully Open
Tea Pavillion
Hotel Villa
Winter
No Crops
Peak- Cooling place to visit during hot summers
Hotel Operation Times Villa Usage
Jul
Close Except Restaurant Tea Pavillion
Close
Annual Hotel Activities + Programs
“Acknowledging both present and unknown future needs and challenges, flexibility becomes sustainability!�
Transforming between Hotel Room and Tea Pavilion
Gentle Slopes for Future Tea Plantation
Steep Slope for Hotel Villas/ Tea Pavillions
Terrain Use Studies -Gentel Slopes Suitable for Future Tea Plantation
-Existing Tea Plantation
-Steep Slope for Hotel Villas/ Tea Pavillions
-Existing Buildings
Valley
Tall Mountains
Tall Mountains
View towards Nanshan City
Unobstructed Views -Valley -Landscape View Obstructions
Ce
nt
ra l
Sp
in
e
Framing Outdoor Courtyards
Hotel Villa (Peak Season)
Tea Pavillion (Off-Peak Season)
Shop-House Conversion (Future)
Phase 1- Basic Kitchen + Dining
Future Dining Hall Expansion
Dining Hall
Expandable Ancestral Hall Store Room Event Divider Swing Doors
Phase 2- Dining + Kitchen Expansion
Function Room 1 Inner Courtyard Entrance/ Amphitheatre Function Room 2
Community Kitchen
Phase 3- Function Rooms Expansion
New Hotel + Village Centre Expansion
Village + Hotel Centre as Exhibition Space + Restaurant
Village + Hotel Centre for Local Use at Night
Dining
Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner
Wedding
Ancestral Hall Classroom Amphitheatre Community Gathering
Ancestral Hall for Village Elections, Prayers, Funerals
Village After Hours Use
Dining
Large Scale Festival Events
Private Function + Dining
Diverse use of New Hotel + Village Centre
Permanent Stationary Champagne Bar National Library
HĂ´tel de Ville
Notre Dame
The Louvre
Orsay Museum
Place de la Concorde
French National Assembly
Grand Palais
Eiffel Tower
Pont de Bir-Hakeim
BAR River Seine
Proposed Mobile Champagne Bar
BAR
+
or/+
or/+
or/+
or/+
or/+
Proposed Bar Seating Area
Mobile Champagne Bar
Honourable Mention AC-CA Paris Champagne Bar Competition
Paris Champagne Bar Competition The Floating Champagne Bar is a temporary mobile float-in champagne bar to serve communities along the river Seine. Instead of bringing people to the bar as asked by the competition, why not bring the bar to people? Sustainability is achieved through flexibility where both the mobile bar and permanent seating area transforms spaces to cater for a variety of events. The mobile champagne bar travels along the river and engages with river edges of different heights and conditions with its carnival ride inspired ‘arms’, transforming spaces along river banks it docks. On the site next to Pont des Arts, the permanent seating area is designed as a mixed-use station pier to receive the float-in bar and different boat restaurants along the river, creating opportunities for a variety of cuisines to be enjoyed with the champagne bar. Facing the river, the facade is designed as a series of robust and flexible galvanised steel fixtures that transforms to become boat boarding ramps, dining furniture or pool lounge chairs. When boats are not docked, the pier becomes a space for community and recreational activities.
Construction Sites @Port de Javel Bas
Riverside Seating Areas @Quais de Jussieu
Caravan Parks @Bois de Boulogne Indigo Campsite
Boat Restaurants @Port de Suffren
Tourist Attractions @Pont de Bir-Hakeim
Mobile Bar engages with different river edges and conditions along River Seine
Admin Office
Quai Franรงois Mitterrand (Street Level)
Bus Stop Indoor Seating
Lift
+1.3m
+1.3m
Toilets Roof Terrace
+1.0m
Pier + Bar Seating Area
Quai Franรงois Mitterrand (Street Level)
Outdoor Seating
+0.7m +0.3m +0m
Seine River
+0.3m +0.7m
V.I.P
+0m
Float-In Bar
1- Pier + Bar Seating Area obstructs existing circulation
2- Pier terraced to receive boats of different heights Splitting seating area to maintain circulation
3- Creating vertical connection to street level
Section across Pier
Pier as Gallery + Community Space + River Taxi Stop
Pier accommodating annual Paris Plage event
Pier as Dining Area
Pier adapting to future rising water levels
Multi-use of Pier + Bar Seating Area
Propossed Slaughterhouse Process Temple Grandin ‘s Cattle Corral Design
Gr
Slaughtered In Melbourne
2nd Place Vienna Richard Rogers Blue Award 2014 Top 10 Finalist Australia National Colourbond Steel Award 2014 Honourable Mention DesignBoom Asia Awards 2013
Cattle Hotel + Abattoir Cattle consumption has always been considered unsustainable due to the green house gases they release. But with proper treatment and animal handling, this lifestyle can not only become sustainable, but also benefits our environment. Located within the city of Melbourne, the Wagyu tower challenges social impacts through adopting different strategies, raising awareness of cattle being a part of our community. Combining an abattoir with a cattle hotel consisting of a high-end restaurant where one will be able to bid and invest on their own cattle. The design proposition respects cattle through the architectural notion of nature is cruel but we do not have to be. Focusing on the significant agenda by responding to animals’ behaviour, symbolising their importance and demonstration of proper humane animal handling. For years, ways of rearing cattle has not changed but technology has. The automated conveyor hanger system collects and delivers packed meals in parcels for the cattle throughout the tower. The architectural outcome is a celebration of putting the pieces together and a symbol of importance within the Melbourne CBD in recognition of cattle being a part of our community.
Temple Grandin’s Cattle Corrals Design
Temple Gradin’s Cattle Handling Ramp
PowerPlant
84%
Methane
Cattle Hotel
8%
Restaurant
Slaughterhouse
New Existing
8%
Reuse Carpark Ramp as Slaughterhouse + New Cattle Hotel
CarPark
Existing Multi-Storey Carpark
Cattle as part of our community
“With proper treatment of waste and animal handling, cattle consumption can become sustainable”
Given that: Site Area per floor- 1250m2 1 Cow (700g) require 12.25 12.25m2 Housing Area 102
3750
per floor
37 floors
TOWER ENERGY PRODUCTION Given that
: produces
produces
1
700kg per cattle
100kg
1kg
per year METHANE
METHANE
Therefore
20kwh
:
3750
produces
37500kg
37 floors
METHANE
TOWER ENERGY CONSUMPTION Given that
produces
7,500,000kwh
consume
:
25 1kg
requires 0.2kwh
CARCASS
Therefore
slaughtered per day
:
1,277,500kwh Abbattoir Energy Consumption
produce 6x it consumes
9125
slaughtered per year
Wagyu Tower will consume 1,277,500kwh per year. Wagyu Tower will produce 7,500,000kwh per year.
Sustainable cattle consumption calculations diagram
Cattle Hotel
Dining Hall/ Bull Ring Slaughterhouse Cattle Handling Public Mark et S
tree
t
t
tree
rs S
e Flind
Site Program
Typical Elongated Farm
Exhibiting Animal Handling Process
Stacking Vertical Farm
Brutalist Slaughterhouse clad with steel mesh to prevent overlooking
Continuous Vertical Farm
Site Approach
Creating a Vertical Farm
Cattle Unloading
Summer Sun 75째 Precast Thermomass Wall
Winter Sun 29째
Exhaust chute Feedlot
Underfloor manure drainage system Manure floor cleaning system
Curtain wall system
Grain Slios
Structural cross- bracing
Cattle cubicles Feedlot
Typical First Class Cattle Housing
Typical Economy Cattle Housing
Elevated service walkway
Wine Slios Food Production Hall
Manure chute Feedlot conveyor system
Facade and Building Systems Studies
Long Section across Abattoir
Temple Grandin ‘s Cattle Corral Design
Grooved Flooring
Temple Grandin’s Cattle Corrals Design
Temple Gradin’s Cattle Handling Ramp
Slaughterhouse First Floor Plan
Corral ramp to promote proper animal handling process
Cattle Clinic
Business Class Pen
Slaughterhouse
Wagyu Tower
Daytime Market
Grevillea
Eremorphila
Goodenia Banksia
Billardiera
Kangaroo Paw
Acacia
Calytrix
Scaevola
Orchid
Alyogyne Port Phillip Bay
Melaleuca
Hibiscus
Urban Built-Up Areas
Green Wedges
Invisible City
Top 10 Finalist Australia National Colourbond Steel Award 2014 Honourable Mention International Architecture Thesis Award 2013
Defining Growth Territories with Smell The invisible city investigates the idea of creating territories without the reliance on physical visible elements. Alternatively, smell becomes the primary sense used to give identity and shape this new territory. Essential oils are extracted from the proposed native flower belt and released into the air via backyard sprinklers in an annual celebration for 30 glorious minutes. Using Melbourne as a test area, the flower belt runs along the periphery of urban built up areas, protecting the green wedges from future urban sprawl. It promotes environmental and social sustainability by becoming an infrastructure that helps connect rural suburbs and various attractions currently divided by highways and rivers, encouraging walking and cycling as an alternative form of transport. Embracing the landscape and weaving between the green wedges and built-up areas, this new infrastructure also works as a firebreak during a bush fire attack.
Invisible City Masterplan
“The belt never ends as the cycle repeats itself forever like a wheel” Flower Belt Embraces Victoria’s Green Wedges The continuous flower belt connects the disjointed rural suburbs cut off by highways and rivers.It weaves through all sorts of terrains and brings people across the beautiful landscapes and attractions across Victoria. Its width expands and contract depending on the size of the suburb it passes by. Upon reaching the tip of the Mornington Peninsular, near the gateway of Port Phillip Bay, an ark would ferry people across the waters to Greater Geelong. Flowers bloom at different months and it would take a year for the farmers to complete the harvesting cycle along the entire belt.
Flower Belt Cycle
Flower Belt Gateway and Distillation Factory
Smell distillation factories and stables are located on gateways next to ovals and parks also provides a place for the farmers and their horses to rest. People get to rent horses to travel and visit other attractions and suburbs connected by the flower belt. The extensive yellow Hibiscus belt stretches across the Mornington Peninsular and snakes between the residents and forested areas.
Stables
Turf
Distillation factory
Spectators stand
Oval
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Flower Bloom Cycle
= 10 Hectares Flower Belt Plantation
= 70 Kg Flowers
= 1kg Essential Oil
= 1.1L Essential Oil
= 11000L Floral Water
458.3 Household Backyards
Amount of Flowers Required
Invisible City Emerges . Sowing . Pruning . Irrigation . Weeding . Harvesting
Flower Belt as Firebreak
The Melaleuca belt starts to contract as it comes to meet the Hibiscus belt at the exchange point. The flower belt is being sacrificed as a firebreak during a bushfire attack. People and wildlife rush to safety across the belt as firemen armed with flamethrowers prepare to light up the plants.
Green Wedges
Rest area
Loading bay
Main Road
Swimmers swim offshore to experience the Underwater Aquariums
Flower Festival suddenly makes the Industrial Area smell so good
Float-in ‘4D’ Theatre
Shopping fight to dock first on Boxing Day
Floating Chinatown Restaurants along Brighton Beach
Casinos, Hotels, Carnival Rides and Sand Pits form a resort in the middle of the sea
Imagining the Temporary Floating Cities
Floating Cities
4th Place IS Arch Peter Cook Award 2014 RMIT Nomination Australia Institute of Architects Graduate Prize
Port Phillip Mobile Float-in Communal Facility The floating city is a temporary mobile float-in communal facility to help facilitate suburbs along the Port Phillip Bay. Buildings on barges can come and go whenever required. The project focuses on designing the local stations to build and receive the barge facilities, proposing different strategies which can be replicated for different sites. The master port in Melbourne docklands is where barges are stored, built, repaired and maintained. It aims to promote a mix of industrial areas within the CBD to achieve a working city, by creating an environment where industrial docks share its flexible spaces with the public. Barges are stored alongside the newly designed waterfront, and may float in the sea when they are not on a mission, like an archipelago of floating cities. Hence, the juxtaposition of different programs creates new experiences and exuberance as the new CBD extension. In conclusion, the project explores the possibilities and advantages of flexibility and temporariness to help accommodate Melbourne’s future growth, questioning whether we are building too much, as in the case of the current docklands.
Melbourne CBD (Main Pier)
Port Phillip Bay
Archipelago of Floating Cities
Storage for boats and also cars on floating carparks
Boarding platform floats away to form islands for private events
New building typologies with float-in facilities
Steps on water edges transforms into spectator stand for float-in concert
Sports facilities pier pile up to form temporary sporting events
Large open spaces for float-in seasonal big events
Public Industrial Mixed-Use
Existing Conditions
Existing Industrial Area
7.
14.
13.
1. Cargo unloading +Fishing Pier 2. Lighthouse 3. Public Steps 4. Toilets 5. Boarding Area + Additional Workshop Space 6. Admin Building + Library 7. Vertical Boat Stroage 8. School Carpark + Basketball Court 9. Boat Building Trade School 10. Boat Release Ramp 11. Docks + Boat Testing Area 12. Cargo Storage Area 13. Cargo Pick-Up 14. Existing Factory
6.
5.
8.
11.
9.
Proposed
4.
3.
2. 1.
12.
10.
Existing Residential Community
North Geelong Pleasure Pier Plan
Typical Dangerous Dry Docks
Long Section Circulation
Elevated Services
The storage tower adopts a central suspended superstructure to accommodate the central sorting area and pallet storage system along the facade to maximise efficiency.
Creating public accessible Dry Dock The proposed Dry Docks references Louis Kahn’s idea of Served and Servant spaces and applies it in section of the front docks by raising an exoskeleton superstructure to support dangerous moving services on the exterior so to free up the ground for public access.
The Mothership
9. Public Industrial Mixed-Use
8.
CBD 1. 6.
7. 5.
4.
3.
Victoria Harbour
2.
Long Section Circulation 1. Workshops 2. Public Pier + Additional Workshop Space 3. Dry Docks + Canoe Polo Pool 4. Assembly Area 5. Loading bay 6. Lift Core 7. Public Thoroughfare 8. Storage Tower 9. Headquaters
Port as New City Extension
Studio Hong Kong
with
Double Densities, RMIT Architecture Design Studio 2014 Hong Kong is the second densest city in the world (6500/km2). Strategies and tactics are developed to understand this phenomenon and further densify / intensify it. Contemporary urbanists are now looking to Asian cities for models that can be applied to the west: how to deal with growing populations, rapid change, urban sprawl, congestion, the public and private realms – and as models of social and environmental sustainability. The site in the Chai Wan district in northeast Hong Kong Island radiates from a cargo handling basin ringed by light industrial buildings and social housing. We attempt to avoid the clichés about the Asian city – ad hoc, chaotic, unplanned – by close observation of the site to discover the multiple systems and networks that exist and by representing
them critically so we can respond with appropriate design tactics and strategies. This urbanism is generated from thet bottom-up and challenges the notion of the tabula rasa. Density in spatial studies is usually defined as ratio of occupation of a given area, a quantitative approach. In this studio, doubling the density is not a mathematical exercise; we posit that density can be understood from a qualitative approach with a more serious consideration of the human dimension. Here, the idea of INTENSITY as a measure could allow a more sensitive approach to the definition of DENSITY in urban design. 6-day
Studio Hong Kong centred around a collaborative workshop between (16)
RMIT University students and (22) Masters of Urban Environments from Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
All other works + research, please visit www.issuu.com/alanlau
AlanLau86@hotmail.com +852 6092 8755