Caroline Chao Portfolio - 2017

CAROLINE CHAO SELECTED WORKS Master of Architecture I | Harvard Graduate School of Desgn cchao@gsd.harvard.edu | (510)-463-7942

wo r k s FACADE TOWER L I B RARY OF L IGHT garden from within continuous typograph Harvard Graduate School of Design

g a r d e n l a b o r ato r i e s i n c o m pat i bl e p l a n s

University of Pennsylvania

fac a d e fa b r i c competition

Professional Experience

d e ta i l s + d i ag r a m s

FACADE TOWER Harvard Graduate School of Design | Fall 2016 | Core III Nominated for Platform 10 “Façade Tower” rethinks the concept of a tower as a façade system in and of itself. In the context of Doha, Qatar, walls, rooms, and programs create buffers and layers between themselves and the extreme outside environment. The number and thickness of façade “layers” differs by orientation to the sun – the south and west become deeper, with thicker layers, while in the north, the outermost layer is a more traditional façade system. Each layer comprises of rooms, programs, and structure, all acting collectively and in concert with one another to protect from the sun and heat. The relative “opaqueness” of program defines itself as a buffer to other more porous programs that they may protect. This opaqueness and porosity register themselves externally on the façade and internally in plan. They work both functionally and climatically, as well as experientially. Within the tower, various user types have diverse experiences of the façade’s opacity and porosity based on program.

TYPICAL PLANS

L I B R A RY O F L I G HT Harvard Graduate School of Design | Spring 2016 | Core II Nominated for publication in GSD Platform 9 The Library of LIght proposes a rare books library adjacent to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts along the Boston Fenway. The Library of Light has two main goals: first, to create interior atmospheres and reading rooms, and second, to protect the rare books from external factors such as light, circulation, and foot traffic. The library’s plan diagram uses itself - the periphery “walls” to protect or contain the rare books located in the center. In this design, the bleed of interior and exterior walls of the facade peel inside to become interior partitions. This filleted plan allows for the nesting of program within program, or a controlled interact between diverse programs.

PERSPECTIVE FROM PARK: ERODED

SECTIONAL MODEL

PERSPECTIVE TO BOSTON MFA: MONUMENTAL

GARDEN FROM WITHIN Harvard Graduate School of Design | Fall 2015 | Core I The design of a Botanical Club in the heart of Bay Village in Boston proposes a romantic garden within a terraced sixstory building. The concept is based on the inherent dichotomy of the experience of a botanical garden and the art and study of botany. While we often expect botanical gardens to be varied, romantic, and eclectic, the study of botany and collection of plants requries hyper-organization, and can begin to catalogue or even arrange the world. This Botanical Club houses a varied, open, and romantic garden, as well as a more compressed, cellular series of spaces to house aspects of the art and study of botany.

FLOOR PLANS 1-2, 4

This project also includes programmatic and experiential “atmospheres� - terrarium spaces that let the users experience different botanical environments, including polar, tropical, and desert atmospheres.

THIRD FLOOR PLAN

The placement and orientation of the building is strategically placed in order to connect to surrounding green spaces within the Bay Village neighborhood. The main entrance takes advantage of a nearby plaza and serves as an extension of the park into an exterior, and finally interior garden within the building.

CONTINUOUS TYPOGRAPH Harvard Graduate School of Design | Fall 2015 | Core I The design of the student dormitory building draws its logic and spatial planning from the concept of “nodes.” Each “node,” located at each of the four corners of the building, represents a spatial and organizational center of the project. These nodes forms centers of densely packed rooms, as well as atrium common spaces that open up to floor levels above and/or below. In exploring the formal possibilities of representing various nodal configurations, I explored typography and letterform as a method of departure. The final form is based on the layering of three rotated “A’s” and uses the typographical form to connect each circular node with linear connectors.

TOP FLOOR PLAN

Visible in section, each node is connected to another with a series of passageway ramps the building’s nodes remain constant, with four floors consistently stacked within each corner.

The ramped passageways transition between them, creating slippage in terms of density and height variation. This collection of ramps also creates an organizational language for the dorm rooms; each room steps up sectionally as the user ascends the circulation ramps.

The circulation passageways form a continuous loop throughout the entire building. This continuous circulation allows users to access all floors of the building from a single ramp.

G A R D E N L A B O R ATO R I E S Harvard Graduate School of Design | Fall 2015 | Core I This project studies the effect of air movement on both the interior and exterior of a series of connected laboratories, seeking to answer several questions. If air movement is a crucial factor of a building’s function, how can we design to maximize its functionality, in addition to physically representing exactly how air movement affects both the interior and exterior of the building? Furthermore, can this air ventilation functionality drive how we experience a space, design the indoor-outdoor relationship, or spatially plan the interior? With concerns such as contamination, odors, and ventilation in the design of a laboratory, air movement must be critically addressed within the design. These laboratories are comprised of combinations of three modular components, whose shapes are based on a particular air function: exhaust, intake, or neutral.

When combined, these modules form the building.

This project questions, as well as presents alternate possibilities for designing systems beyond the conventional louver. Here, the “louver” becomes both a physical architecturalization of air movement, as well as a method of funneling and controlling air directionality. This 3-dimensionalization produces an expressive and experiential component to the air intake and exhaust mechanism. These “louvers” also have spatial implications: they not only become a part of the interior space, but they define its boundaries.

STATE A SITE PLAN

STATE B SITE PLAN

In addition to addressing the effects of air movement on the building interior, we must also consider and design toward the consequences of air intake and exhaust on the building exterior. Set in a garden, these labs introduce the possibility of designing the landscape in a way that mitigates the adverse effects of intake and exhaust in traditional HVAC systems.

I N C O M PAT I B L E P L A N S Harvard Graduate School of Design | Fall 2015 | Core I: 2 Week Project In order to reconcile the apparent and numerous incompatibilities within two given plans, this project proposes a monumental central “mixing space” as a transitional and highly connective area for congregation and circulation of the building’s users. This building is also designed to isolate two circulation paths through the building: a fast path (indicated by the dark wood material in the model), and a slower, meandering path (indicated by the white cutouts through the building). These two path types meet at the central “mixing space,” which provides access to each of the opposite paths. Parts of the building exterior are stripped away, exposing the interior organization and fast vs. slow circulation paths.

PLANS; RESPECTIVE FLOORS 1-5

LONGITUDINAL BUILDING SECTIONS

FAC A D E FA B R I C University of Pennsylvania | Fall 2012 Extracting the weaving patterns of a specific fabric, I drew from the qualities of layering, depth variation, and scale shift of pattern to develop the design of a small sunscreen. Using basswood and essentially no adhesive, the sunscreen design abstracts the concept of weaving as a method of construction, drawing its strength from intersecting members of varying depths. This sunscreen later became the seed for the design of a facade.

Plain-weave scale shifts in selected fabric

Study of plain-weave composition

Sketch showing extracted weave intersection lines

14” x 14” sunscreen model, basswood

Combining my analysis of the fabric and sunscreen with new analysis of site and program, I designed a facade for a five-story building in Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia. Using a generic module influenced by the sunscreen design, I developed four module types based on program, comfort, and viewing needs. Together, like a patchwork quilt, these modules form the composition of the facade.

COMPETITION 280 Freeway Competition - San Francisco, CA | Handel Architects Role included design input, presentation graphics, diagrams The Mission Estuary proposal developed from and expands on the diverse types of transportation infrastructure. By consolidating existing infrastructure such as the Bay Area Rapid Transit trains, freeway, and street traffic, the design proposal allows for other types of transportation to occur, such as bicycling, walking, and boating in order to transform and revitalize a historically underdeveloped part of San Francisco.

Above renderings by ATChain

DETA ILS+DI AGR A MS 706 Mission Residences - San Francisco, CA Exterior wall air intake diagrams and details were necessary to both solve the stringent air intake requirements in San Francisco and convey the method of intake to the client, team, consultants, and contractors.

Left: Renderings of 706 Mission; Above: Diagram of air intake; Right: Section detail of exterior wall air intake

T H A N K YO U CONTACT INFORMATION 38 Ivaloo Street Apt. B Somerville, MA 02143 cchao@gsd.harvard.edu (510)-463-7942