Portfolio
Statement During the summer of 2015, I visited many cities in Europe, such as Rome, Venice and Florence as part of the study trip offered by the school. I was stunned by how sacred architecture could touch upon one’s heart. Occupying city centers, churches and cathedrals become part of people’s daily life. They provide serenity, guidance and authority to one’s life. Among all, the majestic Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence inspired me the most. The monumental scale of the architecture sets contrastingly within framework of streets. Limited extent of the urban vistas brings the scale of god down to the scale of human, creating a sense of omnipresence of supremacy, which co-exists with people rather than to oppress. Its power and beauty is conveyed through varied proportion in ascent, lateral symmetry, abstracted sculptures and vivid colored geometrical patterns. In John Ruskin’s book The Seven Lamps of Architecture, he included a sketch of the bell tower’s tracery and described the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore as the finest piece of architecture, at the same time condemning the technical innovation of industrial revolution, which has sublimed the spiritual content in architecture and sapped its vitality. The idea John Ruskin opposed, programmatic driven and untruthful architecture still appears nowadays in form of modern and postmodern architecture. Reflecting upon the materialistic nature of Hong Kong, seldom does architecture step into ones inner heart and answer to one’s spiritual needs. On the contrary, capitalism endeavors to define the architecture in Hong Kong. Winston Churchill once said, “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” It is urgent to re-address architecture
programmatically and politically, as well as to approach it in form of a language, but with the sensibility of a poem. Subsequently, I selected sacred architecture as a research direction for my capstone research project. By understanding the syntax of sacred architecture, I conducted a thorough investigation on sacred architecture in the Central District of Hong Kong. My final year design project set out to create a speculative architecture that has the programme to unite people through a secular belief along with its related spatial language. Upon graduation, I was awarded a travelling scholarship to study sacred architectures in China. The research focused on exploring the philosophical ideas associated with Chinese architecture. For my next step, I wish to imply such thinking into tackling architectural issues of relevance to the social, civic and political. I take inspirations from masters such as Palladio, Ledoux and Ruskin. They all innovate by reviving knowledge of the past. I am looking forward to put that into practice. I embrace the humanistic qualities in design. I believe that my objection towards modernism and post-modernism allows me to break free from any modern preconceived notion of space. From that, I could reexamine architecture as the art that so disposes and adorns the edifices erected by man, which would contribute to mental health, power and pleasure as asserted by Ruskin.
Carson Leung Ka Shut Personal Details
Nationality: Hong Kong Date of Birth: 22/08/1994 Locations: Hong Kong . London
Contact
T: +852 9817 0527 E: ksleungcarson@gmail.com linkedin.com/in/carson-leung-027a5596
Education
Professional Experience
Architectural Association School of Architecture
Oval Partnership
AA Diploma 09/2017 London, United Kingdom
Architectural Assistant, Year-out 01/2017 - Present Hong Kong Working with the BIM team on detail development and 3d modelling.
Ecoles d’Art Américaines de Fontainebleau École des Beaux-Arts, Architecture summer school 05 - 06/2016 Fontainebleau/Paris, France Two month program explored conceptualizing architecture, urbanism, and installation within traditional media.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University BA (Hons) Environment and Interior Design 2012 - 2016 Hong Kong
Urban Environments Lab, POLYU Student Helper (Research) 05 - 06/2016 Hong Kong
Researching, visualising and diagramming urban typologies and circulations of the Hunghom District as part of a larger project, a green deck atop the tunnel toll booths.
James Law Cybertecture Architectural intern 06/2015 - 08/2015 Hong Kong
Conceptual and schematic design for a cinema, worked with architects on digital modelling and presentation materials. Assisted in building a physical model of a bamboo structure pavilion.
Wah Yan College, Kowloon HKDSE 2006 - 2012 Hong Kong
Rocco Design Studio Assistant Designer 05/2014 - 08/2014 Hong Kong
Schematic design for a hotel in Hong Kong. Digital modelling and rendering with Rhino, touched up with Adobe Photoshop. Detail drawings for interior fittings.
Language
Chinese Cantonese ( native ) Mandarin ( fluent ) English ( IELTS 8.0/9.0 )
Work Flow
Read Sketch Model/Fabrication Draft 3D Model Post Production Presentation
Hand crafting, Laser cutting, CNC, 3D Printing AutoCAD Revit, Rhino, SketchUp Podium Renderer, V-Ray, Photoshop, Illustrator Indesign, PowerPoint
Honours
Other Experience
Steve Leung Travelling Scholarship
Cybertecture Academy
05 - 06/2016 Hong Kong Researching on the topic, Chinese Architecture: the correlation of sacred sites and mountain-scape.
Ecoles d’Art AmÊricaines de Fontainebleau Scholarship 2016 Fontainebleau/Paris, France Merit Based scholarship, funded up to 3/4 of the tuition fee of the summer school programme.
Annual Show, POLYU School of Design Best of Show Award 2016 Hong Kong
One of the six undergraduate final year projects selected as Best of Show.
Nippon Paint Young Designer Award 2014 Gold Award 2014 Hong Kong
Selected as the winner for a studio based competition. The project represented Hong Kong to compete with entries from Japan, Singapore and Indonesia.
Tutor 2015 Hong Kong
Tutor of an architecture design programme for secondary school students.
NPYDA Osaka Learning Workshop Participant 2015 Osaka, Japan
As part of the Nippon Paint Young Designer Award 2014. Attend lectures and symposiums by renowned architects and interior designers around Asia. Visited various architectures by Tadao Ando, Hiroshi Hara etc. around the Osaka area.
Public Space of Hanoi Participant 2013 Hanoi, Vietnam
Documenting pocket spaces, street sides and parks through sketches. Re-examining the relationship of public space and human activity, and created an installation to intervene.
City (News) Hall, Morphology Between Form and Space Capstone Design Project Spring Semester, 2016
Gilles Vanderstocken gilles.vanderstocken@gmail.com
The Project rethinks on belief systems in a society and its manifestation in architecture. While sacred architecture is associated with religion, the “modern sacred” architecture refers to space dedicated to culture, arts or literature. City (News) Hall speculates spoken news as a new belief. It responds to the morphology of the Zeitgeist of different eras. Completed in 1962, the City Hall represented a striking addition to the Central waterfront. In their attempt to emphasize the city’s postwar dynamism and cultural cosmopolitanism, architects Alan Fitch and Ron Phillips manifested the Modern Movement’s founding aesthetic principles, which critics lament the building’s failure to engage with Hong Kong’s cultural identity. This project experiments on replacing culture with spoken news as the civic activity at the city hall. Based on Hagel’s suggestion of news becoming our central source of guidance and touchstone on authority in a modern society, the City (News) Hall weaves the city together with programmes arranged to prompt spoken news. Spoken news has the ability to create a social sense --- a sense of belonging and identification --- in a society. Along with the architectural language, this project aims to recreate the City Hall into a genuine city centre for Hong Kong.
Research The research looked at the relationship of the Zeitgeist of the society and it related architecture. From Taoism to Anglicanism, and from the world war to culture and arts. The morphology of the architectures were analysed according to it position in the urban Central District, with account of the distortion brought by reclamation.
Religion for the secular Philosopher Hegal suggested society becomes modern when news replaces religion as our central source of guidance. In respond to the secularization of religion’s replacement, Culture (art, music, literature) according to Nietzsche.
Spoken News Spoken news is the fundamental form of news transmission. The quest for news and the urgency to tell answers to ones psychological needs. Exaggeration and rumour ensures the news to be interesting and could reach out to a larger group of audience. Such transmission occurs in 3 levels - meet, chat and proclaim. From unidirectional to interaction, and to broadcast, it is the action of listening and telling occurring in different scale, density and direction.
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Hong Kong City Hall Completed in 1962, the City Hall represented a striking addition to the Central waterfront. It attempted to emphasize the city’s postwar dynamism and cultural cosmopolitanism. As the centre piece of architecture responding to modern Zeitgeist, it is to be morphed into the sacred architecture for the speculated spoken news. Such action recycles and preserves the qualities of the existing city hall while adapting to the next new spirit of the society.
Field of Space Analysis “Colonnades are nothing but a perforated wall,� - Leon Battista Alberti Different spatial fields on the plans were produced by varying vertical elements. I schematise here the genesis of a space defined by indicators to explore the gradation from implicit to explicit. This shows the potential of more or less virtual planes that the observer re-establishes between concrete markers.
Cataloguing space
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4 Morphology
1/ Extracting plan information from the existing City Hall 2/ Deconstructing the plan, analyses on field of space, selection of units to form a gradient 3/ Arranging selected plan units into proportional grid 4/ rearranging plan units with their relative proportion, trimmed and rescaled to form sacred geometry
Collaging the Plan
Sacred Principles
Axiality
Sacred Geometry
Proportional Grid
The composition of the form represents a deep and abstract meaning. Axiality was inherited from the existing city hall. The main axis was offset to form two associating axis on both sides. Following, the sacred geometry confines the dimensions on plan and on section. It is developed from the Le Corbusier’s Modular theory. Lastly, Another layer of propositional grid suggesting the transition in scale was laid for the redrawing process.
Extrude From the extruded proportional grid, the quality of mass, implicitness and explicitness is observed and visualised with the massing model. The white material represents the mass, the dark color material represents the implicit plan elements and the void represents the explicit plan elements.
Mass, Implicitness and Explicitness
Trace and Redraw Referencing the mass, Implicit and explicit model, and the overlaid propositional grid, I redrew the collaged plan. Plan elements were extended, trimmed and repositioned to align. Such action connects the plan units together. At the same time the function of the spaces were imagined and it shaped some of the decisions to distort the original plan elements.
Study Model Combining the plan information and the massing model, the space is further explored on the topic of scale, gradient, implicitness and explicitness with the plan elements as a tool. Detail adjustments were made by imagining moments that would happen in the space.
building plan 1:500 building plan 1:500
Gradient in Space The gradation of implicitness and explicitness was arranged along 3 main axis, but from the process of the morphology, multiple types of gradient emerged.
site axonometric / site map 1:1500
1/ The gradient of columns: flow to stillness, unidirectional to bidirectional 2/ The gradient of walls: thinness to thickness, heavy to light
INHERITED AXIS
Context It is situated at a paradoxical location, the periphery of the urbanscape and the centre of the city. It sits on top of the original axis of the site running through the urban area to the Victoria Harbour. The gradation of implicit and explicit space creates a monolithic facade facing the city, while the building opens up towards the harbour. The steps extends into the water.
Morphed City Hall
The Courtyard The implicitly positioned vertical elements suggested no urgency but it provokes ones psychological restlessness. One feels negligible and uncertain in the Courtyard. It also act as the ground for largest scale of proclamation to happen.
Progression of relative scale The relative scale of human and the architecture morphs through the gradient of space.
Colonnade
Hall of Proclamation
Information Sanctuary
The Colonnade integrates a heterogeneous set of form and function. It suggests a perpendicular circulation and the moderates between the Hall of Proclamation and the stairs towards the sea. It is the semi open space for the City (News) Hall that invites groups for people to interact informally.
The transition of densely positioned columns to monolithic walls. Amid the elevating step is a stage that allows proclamation to happen in form of a performance, lecture.
A space for communication to happen within oneself. The intimacy is suggest by the density of columns, spatial variation and information. One will receive and create new knowledge that will answer to their own curiosity.
The Mass Located on both sides of the City News Hall , programmes are embedded along the mass. It resembles a mass that protects the sacred space in the centre. The density of the space is higher that the Path in the centre. It foreshortens the focus of the eye and acts as a partition to the internal space. Moderating between the exterior and the interior, the Colonnade acts as a entrance to the Courtyard. More towards the Information Sanctuary, the verticality breaks up and gradient of space happened in horizontal direction.
Pylon
Hypostyle
Labyrinth
A wide yet confine experience upon entering the building. Amid the elevating step is a stage that allows proclamation to happen in form of a performance, lecture.
The roof may be constructed of with bridging lintels of stone, wood or other rigid material such as cast iron, steel or reinforced concrete. There may be a ceiling.
Considering labyrinths are intermediaries between reality and oniric fields, and they are so close to the idea of motion and universality. Once inside them, rational conscious orientation is disturbed, the initiate temporarily loses his way in confusion to enter in the Nature dimension.
The Path This part of the building is the sacred pathway. Atop the axis of the site, it links to spiritual orientation, wholeness, and transcendence. It specialised the quality of spoken news, correlating the implicitness and explicitness, to the scale of news transmission. One ascends through the Pylon, up to the hypostyle. After experiencing rapid shrink in scale, one will pass through a long hall way. Upon reaching the labyrinth, the space turns from clear and understandable, to intimate and unpredictable. Exiting the labryinth is the courtyard.
Extruded Colonnade
Partitioning
Column as Connector
2 Rows of columns leading to the grandiose staircase. Bays between columns aligns with colonnade on one side while opens up towards the main courtyard space.
Escalating midway up the staircase, a firm divides the circulation into two ways. One leading to the information sanctuary and one to the labyrinth.
At the end of the grand stairs, the segments merges. Parallel to the wall in the middle is a row of columns that loosens up the formation of a wall.
The Threshold The Threshold space is composed of a grand stairs leading from the openness of the architecture to the intimate spaces. On the diagonal axis, it connects the Mass and the Path. The width of the space is constant while the vertical narrows down. Walls and columns are arrange arbitrarily and reinterpreted. It forms a sequence of space, unidirectional, forward motion, separation, fade and merge.
Cooperative Project Fall Semester, 2015
Shermen Chant sherman008@gmail.com
An academic project commissioned by Red Cross. The brief asked for an educational and experiential space on the topic People in an earthquake Disaster. The project explores the despair and trauma of being within the disaster. Such quality is expressed through creating an uncomfortable arrangement of artefacts and space. The metaphysical aspect of the disaster is expressed with abstract architectural forms, while the perception of reality is simulated, and exaggerated. A first person narrative is created to arrange 4 different scenes into a linear circulation. Throughout the storyline, the quality of despair is manipulated to create dynamics in the prologue, chapters and ending.
“IT’S IMPORTANT NOT TO REPRESS THE TRAUMA, IT’S IMPORTANT TO EXPRESS IT AND SOMETIMES THE BUILDING IS NOT SOMETHING COMFORTING,” Daniel Libeskind
ABSTRACTION
SIMULATTION
Red Cross Humanitarian Education Centre: People in Disaster
Narrative 4/ Abyss of desperation, burring under the collapsed debris. 5/ Escaped, visual impact of the chaos and death 6/ Desperate in search of safely, love ones, stability 7/ The crave for resource, the struggle to live.
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Controlling Despair in scenes
Simulating the Perception
RESURRECTION The motive to escape from burial is visualised with the narrow opening. Light streams through and creates sense of resurrection. Whilst such narrowness is situated in the middle of the space in a way to emphasis the unexpected and unpredictability of the environment.
Death s treet
RESTLESSNESS The chaotic scenery contradicts the urban landscape. The paradox of deriving informality from formality is expressed by the 3 levelled arrangement of beams.
1:10 0
OMNIPRESENCE Searching from something means encountering a lot of unrelated yet similar things. This gives a sense of omnipresence of visual or hearing impact. Yet it is never arranged in order.
STILL MOMENT Falling wall, captured in a moment. Expressing the long living uncertainty that appears as a still form of a falling wall. The scene is the crave for resource under such uncertainly.
Abstraction of Form
GROTTOES Grotto was set as an inspiration that would inform the design. Grottos, historically, have been known as natural or artificial caves that are embedded deep behind the curvature of streams, and thus discovered by those who would take the time to explore.
FORCED PERSPECTIVE The need to employ optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. It manipulates the visual perception through the use of scaled objects and the correlation between them and the vantage point of the spectator. The idea is to expand the perspective outwards.
CIRCULARITY The relationship of mass and void is vague in such arrangement. The intangible forms the inner core while the outer loop is suggested by the walls.
CROSS The multi-directional and the diagonal hierarchy. Inspired by the Palladian style, the interpretation here offers one more layer of understanding.
Prologue : The Escape Simulating the escape from the unknown situation after earthquake.
belongings
layers of fallen beams
Chapter 1 : Road of Desperation Abstracting the chaos and visual impact and simulating the experience after the escape. Traces of the lost of life interlaced in the debris, forcing people to look down and walk.
Chapter 2 : Loop of Despair To look for loved ones and meaning of life, one must go through the ordeal of searching. The outer loop simulates the notes of people searching, while the inner loop recreates the anxiety by hearing. A wall of speakers playing individual voices, one need to over come its anxiety and approach individual speakers to listen to one voice.
Space of Transition A Stage set- like scene behind the Road of Desperation and the exit. When people circulates across the space for the first time, they will experience an stack of boxes and an collapsing wall, creating tension and urgency. For the next time they re-enter the space, it will be transformed into a road to the exit.
The Bio City
E. Coil
Studio V Spring Semester , 2015 Michael Chan michael.c.chan@polyu.edu.hk Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter, briefly the size of Yau Ma Tei and Jordan is located at the periphery of Kowloon. The site has multiple layer of history, which the once a retreat of the general public to entertain and watersteads of thousands of families, now lies to be a water space that was not well utilised. It one day will face reclamation in light of the under-supplied land in Hong Kong. Rather than looking into revitalizing the existing site, the project takes advantage of the unique water quality in the shelter and suggests a new way of making the space. By mimicrying the growth of corals, chemical process are used to make calcium carbonate as a part of the construction. The metabolic city blurs the modern conception of time, space and dwell. The structure grows according to the demand of space in the city, and also in accord to the nature making process of the structure itself. Space is never conceived as a unit but as a whole.
Biomimicry: The Growth of Coral
Water Pollution is significant at the typhoon shelter area. The indented seashore accumulated high level of bacteria, including E.coil in the soil. It is a form of potential energy that will power the process of building CaCo3.
CaCO3 CaCO3
CACO3 CACO3 extraction by electrolysis test2 by elec CACO3 CACO3 extraction CACO3 e CACO3 extraction by by electrolysis test2 electr by electrolysis test2 by ele
CACO3 extraction by electrolysis test1
hydrogen released hydrogen released
m ak t thhe e ma k i inng g oof f
hydrogen released hydrogen released
CaC0 3
oxygen released oxygen released
appearance of some acid appearance of some acid p re l i m i n a r y t e s t appearance of some acid prevented in the second test p re l i m i n a r y t e s t prevented in the second test by using qualitied metal as the prevented in the second test anode by using qualitied metal as the pre l i mi nary t e st
by using qualitied metal as the anode anode
exploring the feasibility of Calcium Carbonate agglomeration
pre l i mi nary t e st
oxygen released oxygen released
exploring the feasibility of Calcium Carbonate agglomeration
CACO3 extraction by electrolysis test2
released
experimenting on time and the rate of agglomeration
experimenting on time and experimenting on time and 0 hr 7 hrsof agglomeration the rate the rate of agglomeration 2 hrs
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p re l i m i n a r y t e s t p re l i m i n a r y t e s t
appearance of some acid prevented in the second test by using qualitied metal as the anode p relim in ary t e st
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experimenting on time and the rate of agglomeration
appearance of some acid prevented in the second test by using qualitied metal as the anode m innar ppre re l li imi a r yy t teests t
experimenting on time and the rate of agglomeration
0 hr
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Pattern of Growth
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1/ Exploring the pattern of growth and relative positions of different components 2/ Possible ways of arranging the cores and units 3/ Structural development of the core 4/ System inside the core, adapting the process of electrolysis into the mega structure. 5/ Sketch on the structure, deriving aesthetics from the details
Metabolic Structure
Year 0
the structure is speculated to grow, both structurally and spatially. The spatial growth happens according to the rate of expansion of the city.
\ Year 0, the cores will be planted into the sea bed. The Metabolic system starts to generate CaCo3. \ Year 40, layers of X frames are installed and the growth of CaCo3 on the reinforces the structure. Now the structures are like separate cities. \ Year 100, the expansion of individual core structures will meet, Interlacing into a expansive district.
Year 40
Year 100
X-Frame
Construction Diagram
The Tube The tube is the Anode while the inside the water pipe, a Cathode stick reacts with it and creates the electrolysis process. The Water pipe is perforated to allow condensed sea water to flow around the tube structural at a very slow rate. CaCo3 will then form around the steel frames tube.
Growth The Paraboloid Steel Frame is light weight and rigid. The skeleton like structure provides only a framework of the biological process to take place.
The hypothesis of expansion is growth by layer. The Calcium Carbonate mass expands outwards while new layers forms beneath.
Moving Pictures: Juxtaposing the Formality of a race track & the Informality of a Chinese Garden
5000 m
Non - Architecture Competition Entry, 2016 The Brief asked for an alternative typology for training and I was interested in rethinking the existing form of a IAAF 400m race track. The formality of the race track accommodates the informality of training. From the various events to the way of training, it has no set rules. The language of Chinese garden visualises the informality of the race track. Following the way of garden making, walls were first established by extending the lines on the race track (start/finish line, split line), while mass and elements of the garden are inserted within. 4 scenes are created according to 4 different chinese garden theory for dynamic experience. Runners connect the visual experience of landscape with their muscle memory and mentality. Calmness beside pond, focus towards framed picturesque, acceleration along trees lying abreast. Practicing in such a space, is to save the landscape deep down in one’s mind. If garden once brought you calmness, calmness would recall you garden, wherever you go for race.
1500 m
informality
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Model development 200 m
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race track
formality
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creating scenes
Mediating nature and the built
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Bridge of Birds Entry to the Think Design MAKE Bridge Design Competition, 2015
Birds signify reunion in Chinese culture. A mythical story portrays a couple of long separated god and goddess reuniting on a bridge formed by tens of thousands of sparrows across a valley. A reunion is currently on going between Hong Kong and China after a century long colonization by the British. The proposed bridge spans from the urban periphery of Hong Kong to the urbanized riverbank in Shenzhen across the shrimp ponds in the Mai Po area, which will create a place weaving people from both Hong Kong and Shenzhen through admiration of birds and the nature. The form of the bridge draws concept from the shrimp pond levees and by smoothening the angle and lines, it became a set of curved labyrinth pathways. The labyrinth is pushed up, similar to a gridshell structure, deriving its strength from its double curvature. This avoids columns, and at the sometime enhances efficiency of the structure. People will build up their emotional connections not only with the people, but also with the birds and the landscape. This will be the biggest force to opposite development on the very precious wetland areas. The Bridge of Birds is therefore a humble proposal to connect Hong Kong and China through a humanistic way, to preserve the nature landscape and ultimate to knock down the high walls inside people’s heart of Hong Kong and China.
Spatial Poetry, the Lightest Form of a Log 1:1 Prototyping Fall Semester, 2016
Kuo Jze Yi kuo@kjyao.com
Slice the trunks, pick the part. Start with a heavy context and subtle curve. The former is what we expect to transform whereas the latter is the character to remain. Deformation and de-materialization are conducted with the disordering manners of slicing and slitting. Trunk became scattered stripes and we try to reorder. Pattern and system are realised while the application of Tensegrity form as a way to express the lightness in context and inherit the curvy character.
Future is the Next Second CLOCKENFLAP Call for Arts Submissions Proposal, 2016 We begin our design by questioning the concept of “FUTURE� is it a concept or a fact? Normally people will come up with imaginations when it comes to the topic future, however we think these kinds of imaginations are afterall, imaginations, or skeptics of guessing of the future based on own expectation or worries. After our discussion, we think that the REAL future is literally the NEXT STEP that we take - every decision, every step, every action - is the genuine future. The proposed scheme is an experimental installation, a space filled with rotation, perplexion and reflection of light. Visitors will have to PUSH in order to engage and experience our installation. The spatial scale and lighting effect change with every steps that our visitors take in our installation, which is coherent to our concept - the future is your next step.
Action 1
When one enters our installation, one will experience a transforming space. Alongside with the rotating sparkles, one will feel the urgency.
Action 2
Action 3
North Point Hotel Rocco Design Studio
Summer , 2014
North Point Hotel is located in the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. The design thus aims at intimidating the high efficiency of the city. Functional space and relaxing space make up a hotel room. Functions are never being used at the same time, therefore, by overlapping, stacking, offsetting, all functions were fitted into a particular space. Space to relax shall never be lacking in this way of arrangement. Further trimming off the top and the bottom of the partition between the washroom and the living area increases the spacial connectivity, but at the same time, privacy was protected. A sense of stability and warmth is reflected in the wooden wall panels, grey linen headboard and sofa. Black transparent glass and black aluminium panel gives the coolness and blurness for the exterior of the washroom. The sense of darkness from outside the toilet contrast with the inside, which grey sandstone tile and wood color marble were used similar to the living area.
MARBLE
GLASS
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WOOD
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FABRIC 1
650
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GLASS
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SIDE TABLE 300x300
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2
3353
WALL
1
1380
1390
1375
1830
1115
FABRIC
500
300
1865
300
FURNITURE
FURNITURE
1
1
485
780
150
1830
300 1665 485
271
50
FABRIC 1
WOOD
915
889
950
600
915
889
950
600
1115
1465
1115
615
500
300
1865
300
615
500
300
1865
300
485
780
150
485
780
150
300
1
300
WOOD
1
1 300
SECTIONAL ELEVATION
METAL
1830
615
300
600
1115
2100
1830
950
1465
1115
200
50 200 2100
889
250
1665 485
2
2
915
1465
FABRIC
WALL
1115
1115
300
300
250 271
1
950 2100
1
300
950 2100
1465
200
2 1115
GLASS
SECTIONAL ELEVATION 1:40
200
50
200
271
50
A
485
485
1:40 271
A
SECTIONAL ELEVATION
1
950
B
3967
3353
30
2
200
150
3
1665
4
250
1:40
855
2 855
B
DOOR
SECTIONAL ELEVATION
915
950
600
SECTIONAL ELEVATION
615
METAL
WOOD
1
1
1:40
500
300
1865
300
FURNITURE
FURNITURE
1
1
485
780
150
WOOD 1
A
SECTIONAL ELEVATION 1:40
870
553
170
170
870
170
870
553
LIGHT
2199
170
870
553
FABRIC LIGHT
553
2199
1
1 1
D 810
2050
2
810
2199
2199
2050
FABRIC
HEADBOARD / BED / SIDETABLE
1
2
1:40
WOOD
WOOD
1
1
WOOD
WOOD
1
1
HEADBOARD / BED / SIDETABLE 1:40
D 2050
700
HEADBOARD / BED / SIDETABLE
2
1:40 570
570
570
570
1:40 570
570
570
570
1:40
30
600
280 130
855
125 280
FABRIC
1
1
WOOD
FABRIC
1
1
130
1
SOFA / MINIBAR
WOOD
600
260 30
SOFA / MINIBAR
125
1:40
50 2230
600
30
855
1115
1
125
1
70
FABRIC
600
260 30
70 330
2230
330
280
1
130
1
SOFA / MINIBAR
1:40
1115
WOOD
600
260 30
1
855
1115
50 1265 485
125
1
600
280 130
855
FABRIC
600
30
600
70
600
260 30
70 330
2230
330
600
700
700 600 50 1265 485
1115
SOFA / MINIBAR
485
810
HEADBOARD / BED / SIDETABLE
1265
1265
2
810
485
700
2050
50
A
889
WOOD
2230
1
1:40
30
600
China’s Sacred Sites: Correlation of Architecture and Mountain-scape Steve Leung Travelling Scholarship, 2016
UNDERSTANDING CHINESE ARCHITECTURE
MORTALITY OF CHINESE SACRED ARCHITECTURE
Architecture is often regarded as a physical manifestation of culture. Comparing western and Chinese architecture, we see lots of differences, which are fundamentally due to cultural dissimilarity. To understand Chinese architecture thoroughly, one must take the Chinese culture into account. The ideology of Chinese culture is marked in both philosophy and art. Philosophical wise, it reveals the national characteristics of Chinese people. It gives clues to how Chinese people approach architecture, be it the building itself or its relationship with the city. For art, Chinese Shanshui (landscape) paintings impart the vision. It tells about how Chinese people perceive the relationship of nature, architecture and human.
The oldest functioning piece of architecture in China is the Nanchan Temple, Shanxi Province, China. Built in the 782 AD, it was discovered by Liang Sicheng in the 1937. It was not to be recognized as the oldest until Liang Sicheng ran an inclusive research on Song Dynasty architecture by that time. This has a direct relationship to how Chinese people approach architecture.
Tangibility and intangibility formed the framework for the research process. It is developed from the Yin Yang, which describes how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. The tangible aspect represents the study of the substantiality of architecture. The intangibles deal with the exploration of ideas related to the mountains and perception. STRUCTURAL ASPECT The journey went from metropolis to rural. One thing in common is the tectonics of Chinese architecture. Although style and construction method varied in different eras, the basic unit never changed. Chinese architecture complies with a practical logic within the creative process. “Line” as a fundamental element, regulating both the structural and spatial aspect. Rod (a line conceptually) is a basic construction unit. Organizing numbers of rod in vertical and lateral position forms a shed. At this point, the rods are referred as columns and beams in architectural terms, but what makes Chinese columns and beams different from other civilizations’, is its preservation of simplicity. Throughout western history, the simple act of arranging rods to form sheds has evolved. From woodwork to and stonework, or also the invention of concrete. Pursue of immortality in architecture has turned it into a form of art. In contrast, Chinese architecture was never considered a form of art. It is instead a tool to accommodate the social structure. SPATIAL ASPECT The feudal fēngjiàn system has dominated much of the times in ancient Chinese society. Hierarchy within families and societies are reflected on the spatial aspect. It is arranged on the logic of axiality. The courtyard house is one of the typologies that reflect such value in the scale of a family. Some also describe the Forbidden City in Beijing as an enormous and complex courtyard house. Apart from the ornamental paintings and sculptures, it’s the size and scale that distinguish the royal house from ordinary family complex. This show the importance of building according to rules prescribed by the social order. In the creative process, the axis can be seen as a route of circulation, or an imaginary line that suggests the composition of masses that act or react with it. It might also offset parallel lines that are supplementary to the main axis. The usage of different spatial arrangement is related to the era of its construction. For example, the Hōryū-ji in Nara has odd numbered columns, which the middle column sits on the axis. This suggests that use of the axis as an imaginary line as the column diverts the circulation. It was a popular construction method before the Han Dynasty. Another example is the great mosque of Xian. It has three parallel axis running through the whole site, while some buildings sits on the line some are located on both sides of the axis. In the context of the mountains, the axis is still visible, but very much distorted. The distorted axis was to be found on Ewei Mountain, Mount Qingcheng and Mount Hua. Three of the mountains are regarded as the sacred mountain for Buddhism and Taoism. They shared similarities in the spatial experience. The distorted axis is the path that goes all the way to the summit while temples are scattered along the winding road. The path runs through every temple. For some cases the path or the architecture will take advantage of the natural landscape. On the west summit of the Mount Hua, a temple is situated on top of a large rock. When one passes the temple, the path continues on top of a ridge, with the staircase engraved into the rock.
In the west, buildings are often given a very high priority with in a society. Construction period of important structures would last for hundreds of years, out living those who decided to erect the building. The initiative of it is mainly of spiritual reasons. Constructing a building that would be in use for the next generation reflects their vision into the future. The choice of stone as a predominant material in western architecture also reflects the immortality spirit. While architecture is always regarded non-permanent and metabolic, it explains why architecture was never a main focus or even concerned is of the rejection of immortality in Chinese architecture. SACRED ARCHITECTURE IN CHINA Sacred architecture refers to temples and monasteries, an establishment that is dedicated to any kinds of Buddhism, Taoism or other eclectic folk religion. Taoism is the first major religion that spread across China. It is more of a primitive religion that subscribes to a philosophical thinking. Gradually, Taoism expanded by including spiritualizing historical figures and stories. The eclectic spirit makes Taoism more approachable by the literate general public in the ancient times. Buddhism was introduced to China hundreds later. When the monks arrived at the city of Luoyang, which was the capital of Qin Dynasty, they were given a nobles house to set up the temple. Such action influenced the form of the development of Buddhist temples in history. The architecture of temples is obliged by the formation of a city as religion was to be seen as part of the hierarchical structure of society. Later in history, we see mosques were also merged into the social structure; no religion of any kinds excels the feudal fēngjiàn system. This is one of the reasons why Chinese architecture was never developed to become a form of art. In another way, creativity was more to be seen away from city. Apart from tradition Chinese architectural forms, architectural forms from India influenced the Maijishan Grottoes and the Longmen Grottoes. Building by subtraction, the grottoes dig into cliffs and mountains while sculptures are carved on the rocks. The best Buddhist sculptures in China were engraved into the grottoes. The concept of sculpture was also introduced to China along with the grottoes. Three-dimensional sculpting was not a usual practice in Chinese culture. Architecture was metabolic throughout the years. Apart from the process of building and rebuilding, it was very much shaped by weathering. Weathering shaped much of the current form of the grottoes. There are traces of columns and beams that were originally cantilevered from the mountain walls. From that one could imagine and to redraw the original state of the establishment.
2017