Catherine Tang | Portfolio

3 4 5 LOS ANGELES 10

CHICAGO 1

KANSAS

BOSTON DETROIT 2 NEW YORK

TOKYO KYOTO MEXICO CITY

BOGOTA

8

CARTAGENA

7

MELBOURNE

catherine tang

a graphic collection of where I’ve been and what I’ve done

All work in this book was created by Catherine Tang unless otherwise noted. (c) Catherine Tang 2012

Project Inventory CHICAGO, IL River Neighborhoods Harvard Graduate School of Design

1

NEW YORK, NY United Nations Ecological Campus Harvard Graduate School of Design

2

LOS ANGELES, CA Wildwood School Koning Eizenberg Architecture

3

LOS ANGELES, CA Children’s Institute Koning Eizenberg Architecture

4

LOS ANGELES, CA (un)everyday infrastructure USC School of Architecture

5

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA Design Cambodia USC School of Architecture

6

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA University of Melbourne Koning Eizenberg Architecture

7

CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA unfold-retract-extend USC School of Architecture

8

ROME, ITALY Off-Center, On-Line Koning Eizenberg Architecture

9

LOS ANGELES, CA Downtown LA Pocket Parks USC School of Architecture

10

River Neighborhoods

Chicago, IL | FALL 2011 HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF DESIGN Professor: Phil Enquist Role: Individual Studio Project This studio sought to rethink what the Chicago River means to the city of Chicago, specifically confronting the under-utilized and under-appreciated South Branch portion of the River. Access to the river is barred by heavy infrastructures. Large thoroughfares, old rail lines, vacant land, gates and fences deter people from its edges. In consolidating redundant infrastructures and reworking the river’s edge, however, it is possible to bring city to river and vice versa to create a vibrant environment where residents and visitors alike can enjoy the river from multiple perspectives: live, work, learn, and play. Focusing on major vacant lands and buildings, a lack of open space and a public realm, and a deteriorating water quality and habitat, the studio challenged the river’s already tight and highly engineered corridor that is neither pedestrian friendly, civic in nature, or environmentally sustainable.

To do so, “river neighborhoods” are tucked along the river’s edge and integrated into systems of bio-swales, wetlands, and cluster parks centered on civic uses, sports and recreational facilities, and strong retail frontages needed to bring critical mass, activity, and urban vibrancy to a once dilapidated vacant rail yard site. And with the introduction of a new consolidated Orange/Red Line Transit Station along 18th Street, residents from both Chinatown and the growing South Loop District have easier access to the river than ever before.

4 | Catherine Melissa Tang

River Neighborhoods | 5

1/2-MILE DIAMETER

1-MILE DIAMETER

Consolidation of underutilized rail lines frees up land to be used for biofiltration wetlands and riverwalk.

6 | Catherine Melissa Tang

Riverwalk hovers over biofiltration wetlands and river which allows pedestrian access to the west side of river.

Biofiltration river islands cleanse both river water (as it flows southward) and storm water runoff (as it flows eastward from rail yards).

Terraced outdoor performance event space acts as a rainwater retention basin during heavy storms.

Biofiltration wetlands cleanse stormwater runoff from adjacent neighborhoods.

Extension of Well Street and Wentworth Ave into a low-key commercial corridor brings a much needed critical mass of people to the river.

Residential cluster parks and stormwater swales weave through entire neighborhoods as one continuous “backyard.�

Underground Rail River Neighborhoods | 7

Master Site Plan

1 Private Marina 2 River Island/Biofiltration Wetlands 3 River Island/Performing Arts 4 Residential Clusters 5 River Island/Public Boat House 6 St. Charles Airline Bridge 7 Pocket Parks and Swales 8 Ping Tom Park 2 9 Recreational fields 10 Orange/Red Line Station

8 | Catherine Melissa Tang

W ROOSEVELT AVE

1

1/2-MILE DIAMETER

1-MILE DIAMETER

2

3 4

5 7

6

8 9 w 18th Street

10

River Neighborhoods | 9

10 | Catherine Melissa Tang

overlooking pocket parks and swales

Water Traffic Industrial and recreational Active Commercial Extension of Wells Street and Wentworth Ave create an active street life for adjacent neighborhoods Riverwalk Primary and secondary

Water Systems River islands, swales, wetlands, cluster parks

Stormwater Management Terraced gardens direct stormwater into shared park swales

Active Corridor Extension of Wells St and Wentworth Ave as connective street

Street Extension Main and tributary roads extended to river’s edged

Civic/Recreational Facilities Neighborhood clusters share open park space and recreation fields Infrastructure Orange/Red line station, depression of Metra rail line, existing rail depot

River Neighborhoods | 11

12 | Catherine Melissa Tang

kayaking underneath the riverwalk

River Neighborhoods | 13

United Nations Ecological Campus

New York, NY | FALL 2010 HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF DESIGN Professor: Felipe Correa In collaboration with Steven Y.N. Chen In a time where ecology and sustainability are the religions of the 21st century, how may one integrate sustainable ecologies within the city? Similar to the ways that the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fair exhibited global technological innovations at the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, a new 21st century interpretation of such types of expositions could do the same at Sunnyside Yards. The site is currently a derelict, neglected, and heavily trafficked industrial train depot. Yet with the coupling of a new development, it presents an advantageous opportunity for a new urban framework of simultaneously intersecting programs.

As the UN looks to expand, it may look to Sunnyside Yards as the site for its new Headquarters Research Campus to house all UN organizations relating to sustainable research. The UN lacks one central location for the complete collaboration and share of facilities and resources in order to be the “catalyst, advocator, educator, and facilitator to promote for the wise use and sustainable development of the global environment.” Sunnyside Yards, with its relation to its local, regional, and international context , is therefore an opportune location to serve as the mediating laboratory grounds for the progressive development inherent in all UN organizations.

14 | Catherine Melissa Tang

overlooking remediation fields

United Nations Ecological Campus | 15

16 | Catherine Melissa Tang

1/2-MILE DIAMETER

1-MILE DIAMETER

existing site conditions

United Nations Ecological Campus | 17

   

 

   

 

   

  

18 | Catherine Melissa Tang



      





           

   

     

 

 

  

existing site conditions

United Nations Ecological Campus | 19

Waste Management

compost/recycling drop-off and pick-up research laboratories

Water Management

treatment/recycling water landscapes research laboratories

Multimodal Station

Amtrak Long Island Railroad (LIRR) subways

20 | Catherine Melissa Tang

Food Production

agriculture fields/gardens multifamily housing recreational fields/facilities research laboratories

United Nations HQ

convention center auditoriums libraries offices classrooms research laboratories

Masterplan 0’

400’

800’

United Nations Ecological Campus | 21

MTA subway overlooks water landscapes water terrace gardens and laboratories below

recycled water canal redistributes water to on-site facilities water treatment holding tanks

22 | Catherine Melissa Tang

Amtrak passengers overlook landscapes while travelling

bioretention basin holds excess rain water during heavy seasons

Sunnyside Yards train depot

leasable office and retail space

multi-modal station servicing Amtrak, LIRR, and subways

United Nations Ecological Campus | 23

24 | Catherine Melissa Tang

overlooking public pools from the 7-subway

United Nations Ecological Campus | 25

26 | Catherine Melissa Tang

overlooking private rooftop gardens

private roof gardens accessible from single- and multi-family housing units below south-facing terraced community gardens

terraced community gardens neighborhood composting and recycling center with easy access to major residential streets

public recreation strip provides through-access connecting northern and southern neighborhoods

south-facing terraced urban agriculture fields

United Nations Ecological Campus | 27

Wildwood School

Los Angeles, CA | Summer 2010 Koning Eizenberg Architecture Role: Project Manager Phase: Design Development, Construction Documents and Administration Wildwood School (and independent, private K-12 school on two separate campuses) sought to evaluate its long term masterplan options that would allow for the expansion of their upper/middle school program and augment athletic and performance facilities. Working with staff, a facilities planning committee, and the Board, Koning Eizenberg Architecture was hired to develop a detailed program and examine various site acquisition options in West Los Angeles. As the school continued to investigate their site opportunities (feasibility studies that I participated in and contributed to), Koning Eizenberg Architecture assisted with tenant improvements to their existing facilities. As the project manager, I facilitated in the redesign and construction of the school’s basement library and new science laboratory classrooms (approximately 6,500 square feet in total). Working with the school’s principal, faculty, and students, the design was tailored to introduce new teaching technologies, more natural sunlight, and a fun vibrancy into the classroom that was previously lacking. I directed weekly onsite construction meetings; coordinated with the client, consultants, and the City of Los Angeles; and ensured that all design and construction issues were resolved for construction completion. The project was completed on time and within budget of $1.1 million.

28 | Catherine Melissa Tang

renovated science laboratories photo by Eric Staudenmaier

Wildwood School | 29

With special thanks to the entire project team:

1-MILE DIAMETER

MEP: Shamim Engineering General Contractor: Benchmark Contractors Lighting: Lighting Design Alliance Furniture: Pacific Office Interiors Photography: Eric Staudenmaier

30 | Catherine Melissa Tang

1/2-MILE DIAMETER

Wildwood School | 31

32 | Catherine Melissa Tang

renovated classrooms photo by Eric Staudenmaier

renovated library photo by Eric Staudenmaier

Wildwood School | 33

Children’s Institute

Los Angeles, CA | Summer 2010 Koning Eizenberg Architecture Role: Assisting Project Manager Phase: Construction Administration Children’s Institute, Inc. is a non-profit organization that assists children and families exposed to violence. Koning Eizenberg Architecture was hired to provide design and construction administration services for the adaptive reuse/rehabilitation of three industrial buildings (48,000 sf) in a gritty innercity Los Angeles neighborhood. On a tight budget ($10.5 million), the design deinstitutionalizes the sensitive social functions of the organization through a combination of innovative programming and the limited insertion of simple but, creative, new, and sustainable architectural systems within the existing building shell. The program includes a pre-school, therapy rooms, administrative offices, a family learning center and large multi-purpose spaces for community programs. The new campus will be one of the first LEED certified facilities constructed by a children’s service organization in Los Angeles. As the lead project manager’s “right-hand man,” I assisted throughout the construction administration phase. I contributed to weekly on-site construction meetings; coordinated with clients, consultants, and the City of Los Angeles; and ensured that all construction and design issues were resolved for construction completion in February 2011. The project was completed on time and within budget and has won numerous awards including the 2012 AIA National Honor Award for Interior Architecture and the 2011 AIA National Honor Award for Housing.

34 | Catherine Melissa Tang

entry at Buliding A photo by Eric Staudenmaier

Children’s Institute | 35

With special thanks to the entire project team: Accoustical: VSA N Associates Engineers: John A. Martin & Associates, Inc.; KMA Consulting; KPFF Consulting Engineers Environmental Graphics: Newsom Design General Contractor: Swinerton Geotechnical: Geotechnologies, Inc. Hardware: Finish Hardware Technology Landscaping: Nancy Goslee Power & Associates Lighting: Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design LEED: AECOM Photography: Eric Staudenmaier Signage: Newsom Design Specifications: Specifications West, LLC Waterproofing: IRC Waterproofing

36 | Catherine Melissa Tang

1-MILE DIAMETER

EEW AY

ST

1/2-MILE DIAMETER

TEM P

DO

FR

LE S T

ALV AR A

101

Children’s Institute | 37

38 | Catherine Melissa Tang

terrace at Building A entry photo by Eric Staudenmaier

Workplace Wellness Program Community Spaces

Temple Street

parking lot above

existing building

Lake Street

Ground Floor Plan 0’

10’

20’

Children’s Institute | 39

40 | Catherine Melissa Tang

reception desk at Building A entry photo by Eric Staudenmaier

play yard at Buliding B photo by Eric Staudenmaier

Children’s Institute | 41

42 | Catherine Melissa Tang

children’s center at Buliding B photo by Eric Staudenmaier

elevator shaft at Building B photo by Koning Eizeneberg Architecture

Children’s Institute | 43

(un)everyday infrastructure Los Angeles, CA | Spring 2009 USC SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE Professor: Warren Techentin Role: Individual Studio Project

The success and resilience of urban cities are heavily dependent upon the physical infrastructures that allow them to function effectively. Transportation systems, communication networks, power grids, and sewer and water lines, for example, provide the infrastructural backbone and organizing blueprint for all modern-day metropolitan cities. Yet, all infrastructures, transportation in more particular, are dependent upon the human necessities for interaction, exchange, and movement.

In an ever-progressing society where mobility is crucial to the propagation of functionality, transportation infrastructure remains as a key component in the way people move about and live in their environments. Since the early days of horsedrawn carriages and with the later advent of the train, automobile, and airplane, cities are continuously forced to reorganize themselves to accommodate for new and various modes of transportation.

Consequently, its infrastructure, typically inclusive of roads, bridges, tunnels, train lines, and highways, are not stand-alone by-products but belong to a greater metropolitan paradigm that affect the economic vitality, efficiency of systems, fluidity of movement, social coherence, and, most importantly, the formal planning strategies of urban, and now suburban, cities.

44 | Catherine Melissa Tang

(10.9 miles)

(7.3 miles)

‘EVE schools RYD hospita AY’ ls chu FIGU rches ERO parks A

food

fast-

lof t

s

apa

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SO c on

ent

s

PAR r tm

K

par

t li fe

TN W es n ON igh of f ic

DOW LA L IVE

ks

ER dos

FIG U lof t s /c o n

(1.8 miles)

WAS H

hous

INGT ing ON B

(0.5 miles) c om

MET m erc

RO B

LVD.

ial

LUE LINE par k

RED

s T ODs

EVE

LOP M ENT

(un)everyday infrastructure | 45

46 | Catherine Melissa Tang 1/2-MILE DIAMETER

1-MILE DIAMETER

(un)everyday infrastructure | 47

Thus far, the most dominant factor in such infrastructure urban paradigms continues to be the automobile. The late 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed the beginnings of a Fordist society and economy, pushing for the mass production and mass consumerism of automobiles. With it, came the social obsession with the construction of transportation infrastructure to sustain the fluid and growing capacities of vehicles in American cities. Accordingly, transportation infrastructure was given upmost priority with the passing of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1956 Federal Highway Act, which resulted in the construction of over 41,000 miles of roadways across the nation. The Act ensured the beginnings and a continued proliferation of an American urban society which would ultimately be run by cars. As a result, roads and highways would thereon form the connective tissues tying all major cities together into an elaborate eco-systemic network from which Americans would thrive on for life. Yet 50 years later, we view these systems in afterthought. In Los Angeles especially, the massive concrete structures, lopping cloverfields, and rivers of steel machinery are taken for granted and very much detested by their users.

What if we reinvisioned these highways other than something that just carries cars atop an isolated moving world? What if the highway network became a network (moreso, a real infrastructure) for the human on a relative scale? - to satisfy the demanding economic needs of today but also provide simple pleasures and amenities to the human individual.

48 | Catherine Melissa Tang

underside of 10 Freeway

(un)everyday infrastructure | 49

green roof instead of a conventional ‘big box’ roof helps to dissipate heat

parking level 4 accessible from spiral ramping The term “infrastructure” can no longer simply denote roads, bridges, sewers, and highways, but must start to include a greater multiplicity of social necessities and desires for thriving urban environments. level 4 ‘big box’ store

transportation

+

parkscape

+

parking level 3 accessible from 10-freeway off-ramp, both west and east

big box store

+

housing

+ parking level 2 accessible from 10-freeway off-ramp, both west and east

=!

connective recreational parkscape with integrated running track

ground floor ‘big box’ grocery store accessible from Figueroa Blvd.

50 | Catherine Melissa Tang

ground floor ‘everyday’ conveniences helps to activate Figueroa Blvd from a pedestrian perspective. (un)everyday infrastructure | 51

Polycarbonate skin attaches to off-ramps and rotating fins propel against the wind creating the illusion that drivers are activating the amorphous skin facade.

Each off-ramp provides unique vehicular access to whatever particular level of retail drivers desire.

52 | Catherine Melissa Tang

Vehicular circulation is pushed to the perimeter of the building in a spiral ramping fashion.

Its location, adjacent to the automated parking tower, provides an interesting visual dichotomy that celebrates the vehicle in both is mobile and parked stages.

Drivers can choose to self park or use the automated parking tower, which reduces wasted time trying to find parking, car exhaust, and the maximized square footage dedicated to surface parking.

‘Big Box’ retail space expands in and out of parking levels in a spiral ramping fashion allow for a more maximized and conveniently accessible retail space.

Expansive asphalt parking typical of ‘big box’ stores is not found here.

Instead, parking is integrated into the shopping experience as retail and parking levels alternate per floor.

Polycarbonate skin acts as retail signage and harnesses kinetic energy from rotating fins during windy days to redistribute energy back into the city grid.

‘Big Box’ roofs should not be gone to waste. Here, the roof structure provides support for an overhead parkscape that connects retail with housing and recreational facilities.

The running track provides an interesting dichotomy between the fast moving pace of people running to the frequent, but slow bumper to bumper traffic occurring on the freeway below.

Outdoor parkscape eventually slips into adjoining recreational gym facility.

The 10-Freeway runs through the development as an integral part to the entire system.

Neglected under freeway space is included in the overall design and reutilized for ‘big box’ retail.

Section A-A 0’

32’

64’

(un)everyday infrastructure | 53

Shopping Carts

Self Parking

Pedestrian Entry

Vehicular Off-Ramp from 10-Freeway

Robotic Parking Tower

Open To Below

Ramp Down to Retail

Vehicular Entry from 1-Freeway

Ramp Up to Parkscape

54 | Catherine Melissa Tang

10-Freeway

Freeway Continuation to Downtown

Freeway Continuation to Housing

0

32’

64’

Typical Parking Plan 0’

32’

64’

(un)everyday infrastructure | 55

The building facade, or wrapper, consists of flapping 5�x 5� polycarbonate squares. A series of flappers sit on rotating stainless steel rods that spin as wind passes through them. Although the wind carried by passing automobiles may not be enough to move these flappers at a high speed, it still gives passerbys the illusion that the speed of their cars is making the facade move.

On windy days, when winds are at their maximum, the skin harnesses whatever minimal energy to redistribute energy back into the city grid. In addition, the flaps can be used as signage providing box box retailers an enormous opportunity for advertising (in this case, Target). From a distance, the facade appears alive and gives off an illuminous view as you enter into Downtown Los Angeles via Figueroa Blvd.

56 | Catherine Melissa Tang

(un)everyday infrastructure | 57

Design Cambodia

Siem Reap, Cambodia | SUMMER 2007 USC SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE Professor: James Steele In collaboration with Fafa Aseena Kin Krabei Riel is a small town just 8 miles off course from the city center of Siem Riep, Cambodia. Here, children must walk at most 2km to attend Krabei Riel school, the only servicing educational facility for 40 neighboring villages in the area. The school itself, however, lacks the ability to properly provide a comfortable educational environment for its children: Because of the lack of classroom space, three to four children share a single desk to maximize the number of children per classroom. The children barely have any books, papers, or pencils at hand because neither the faculty nor the families could afford any. The classrooms are hot and uncomfortable with little or no natural sunlight or air ventilation. To alleviate for these intolerable conditions, school staff have the children take multiple breaks during the day to go outside and cool off, thus minimizing learning time. For the children that cannot be accommodated inside one of the two classroom buildings, an impromptu straw hut stands as a temporary, yet permanent, classroom outside. There is no running water - only two ground water pumps from which the children drink out of, and small latrines as restrooms and there is no electricity. It quickly became obvious that the school was facing major problems of overcrowding and lack of facility space to provide their students with a proper educational environment. Our task was to help.

58 | Catherine Melissa Tang

Design Cambodia | 59

1/2-MILE DIAMETER

1-MILE DIAMETER

60 | Catherine Melissa Tang

Our team of 20 USC Architecture students and University of Malaysia counterparts made it an inherent goal for each of our designs to propagate sustainable, vernacular, and economic solutions for the children of Krabei Riel: • enough classroom space to accommodate 2,000 children • large and operable windows for maximum natural ventilation • use of cheap and local materials • vernacular building methods and aesthetically familiar styles • maintain all existing trees and rice fields for maximum site cooling • use of sustainable systems for water harvesting and recycling • maintain w/in budget of $30,000

a typical unpaved street in Seam Reap

My partner and I focused on a design that worked with the existing context of the site. All existing trees were maintained in the design and were used as reference points to create various communal courtyard spaces for the children. The proposal incorporated a concrete folded plate structure, which would catch and distribute cool air into classrooms while harnessing rainwater for communal gardens and toilets.

These simple yet efficient roof pieces recalled the vernacular of Cambodian roof structures. Overall, the design layout celebrated open courtyard spaces, which allowed both for children to gather and heat to dissipate.

Design Cambodia | 61

Folded plate valley collects rain water and directs it to harvesting pods or shared gardens.

We explored various ideas of roof systems that would allow light and air to enter inside the space. Large operable openings were also important to our design investigation, as we saw them as opportunities for traversing winds to enter and cool the space inside. A good portion of our studies dealt with operable roof pieces that would open and close to allow natural light and air to pass through. The folded plate roof structure was our most liked because it could simultaneously act as both a wind and rain catcher. In addition, the folded plate roof structure is an excellent way to span long lengths with minimal column supports allowing classrooms to become bigger or smaller depending on their use and time of day.

62 | Catherine Melissa Tang

Operable bamboo screen wall partitions allow transverse winds to enter the classroom.

High ceiling concrete folded plate roof structure traps heat above and dissipates it through shutter openings.

Partial E-W Section 0

2m

4m

8m

Design Cambodia | 63

Papercrete is an affordable building material that is made from repulped or recycled fiber mixed with portland cement.

Cured papercrete absorbs rainwater and releases moisture through evaporation. It is highly insulating, structural, lightweight, and resists infestation.

64 | Catherine Melissa Tang

Poured earth is easy to make and can be made locally by mixing local soil and water with portland cement as the binder.

Bamboo is readily abundant throughout the forests of Southeast Asia and can be harvested sustainably on a continual basis. It is easy to cut, handle, repair, and maintain.

Partial E-W Elevation 0

2m

4m

8m

Design Cambodia | 65

66 | Catherine Melissa Tang

second floor operable bamboo walls

Design Cambodia | 67

University of Melbourne

Melbourne, Australia | Summer 2009 KONING EIZENBERG Role: Designer Phase: Schematic Design Koning Eizenberg was invited as a selected finalist for the second phase of designing the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning (ABP) building at the University of Melbourne in Australia. The competition attracted 133 submissions from more than 15 countries around the world. Our team, led by architects Koning Eizenberg and including William J. Mitchell with Gehry Technologies, collaboratively worked through the schematic design process for 3 months. The brief called for a responsive design process that would provoke discourse about values, would expand technical knowledge and would deliver an inspiring architectural paradigm for creative academic environments. Our goal was to propose a building that would be not only functional and livable, but would embody sound principles of sustainability, and be socially and culturally appropriate to function as a living laboratory. This would be accomplished by providing comprehensive, fine-grained electronic sensing and networking, together with associated data analysis capabilities. It would provide a sophisticated foundation for managing the building’s technical systems, by providing the basis for ongoing adjustment and modification of the building over its lifetime and functioning as a unique research and educational resource.

68 | Catherine Melissa Tang

University of Melbourne | 69

Building around people is key and our team’s focus was to deliver strong social backdrops to support community and colgiality within the student body at ABP. Such would be achieved through 6 major ideas: Idea 1/Outdoor Rooms Extend the historic quadrangles-andlanes fabric of the campus to create two major new quadrangles that are activated by surrounding buildings, connected into a reorganized lane network, and provide a dramatic new campus entry from Swanston St.

70 | Catherine Melissa Tang

University of Melbourne | 71

Idea 2/Creative Communities Provide clearly defined homes for the intellectual sub-communities of the school in double-height, naturally lit and ventilated, flexible spaces. Each creative community space includes an open studio or research floor, associated academic offices, support space, and circulation space.

72 | Catherine Melissa Tang

University of Melbourne | 73

9 8

Idea 3/Network of Interaction Points Organize a flexible ecosystem of varied and wirelessly networked spaces around a network of interaction points. Create numerous opportunities for serendipitous encounters and intellectual cross-connections through the following program: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

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12.

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17.

18.

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design studios research studios RHDS studios informal space seminar room computer lab academic office (private) academic office (shared) meeting rooms core roof deck/laboratory roof top/plant articulated sun shades faculty office library japanese room library balcony 3d fabrication/model shop workshop back of house exhibition cafe foyer lecture hall immersive studio archive storage plant print room operable glass louvers

5

6

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G

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74 | Catherine Melissa Tang

1

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7

5 University of Melbourne | 75

Idea 4/Transparency Make the activities, work in progress, and design products of the School visible through transparency to provide glimpses of other activities that intrigue and inspire. Use this to encourage intellectual community and cross-disciplinary connections.

76 | Catherine Melissa Tang

University of Melbourne | 77

Idea 5/Digital Nervous System Make the building intelligently aware of changing interior and exterior conditions by providing a digital nervous system – sensors, ubiquitous networking, analysis and optimal control software, and digitally controlled actuators. Maintain comfortable interior conditions, while minimizing energy and carbon, through optimal management of the smart skin system, mechanical systems, and lighting.

78 | Catherine Melissa Tang

University of Melbourne | 79

Idea 6/Living Laboratory Combine the digital nervous system with a continually updated BIM model to support learning and research about form, fabrication and sustainability.

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University of Melbourne | 81

unfold-retract-extend Cartagena, Colombia | Fall 2008 USC SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE Professor: Erik Mar Role: Individual Studio Project

Over the past 3 decades, some 3 million people (about 45% of Colombia’s population) have been internally displaced by a bloody undeclared civil war forcing less fortunate residents out of their homes and into shanty towns of more populous cities such as Bogota, Medellin, Barranquilla, and Cartagena. Despite continuous and recent efforts for peace and almost 8 billion dollars in US military aid, Colombia, the center of the world cocaine trade, remains beset by violence and poverty. “Plan Colombia� hopes to fix all of this - end the war on cocaine and bring people back to their normal lives. But, will that be the end of it?

The United States estimates it will create another 10,000 refugees. Aid agencies believe there could be 10 times that.

The increasing number of IDPs (internally displaced people) coupled with limited capacity of the urban sector to absorb them have left these people at risk - inadequate housing options and poor access to public services such as water, food and sanitation.

Although thousands of paramilitaries have handed in their weapons under a recent peace deal and a large amount of guerrilla activity has subsided, violence and poverty remain imminent. As a Colombian myself, I would hope that eventually Colombia will wake up and reason peace amongst each other. And when this happens, there will be millions of demobilized guerrillas and paramilitaries, along with the already displaced populations, looking to go back to their normal lives.

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1/2-MILE DIAMETER

1-MILE DIAMETER

84 | Catherine Melissa Tang

typical favela/informal settlement photo by inaball.com

unfold-retract-extend | 85

Colombia’s war must end sometime. What if the country could start preparing for it now? What will happen when tens of thousands of militaries are demobilized?

Where will they go? What will they do?

Instead of relying on NGOs, the UN, or nations like the United States for aid, Colombia must learn to self-sustain. If it promoted a local bamboo growing industry and employed its people to harvest, manufacture and distribute prefabricated homes for the demobilized, it would be one-step closer against a dependency on foreign aid and one step closer towards healthy internal economic growth. Realistically, the war isn’t ending anytime soon. In the meantime, neighborhoods and villages can initiate a bamboo industry to help current IDPs who are left with nothing to sustain themselves. Locally manufactured, prefabricated bamboo building components would be self-built, promoting the rehabilitation of community and an appreciation for the ownership, maintenance, and care of one’s “home.” These prefab shelters are kind of like a folding beach chair, only better! These aluminum frame and bamboo panel infill components can be compactly stacked and transported on the back of a truck. Each frame can be manufactured at any of Colombia’s local aluminum factories, while the bamboo infill panels can be fabricated on site or at any local village.

Once on site, they are unfolded, retracted, and erected as walls, floors, and roof pieces. Each component frame allows the user the freedom to adjust heights and lengths for their home, and prepare expansions for the future. It’s simple and easy for anyone to put together!

86 | Catherine Melissa Tang

unload

stand upright

unfold

extend

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1 cast concrete pile foundation

2 set wall frames into piles

3

7 erect and attach roof frame to

8 inset bamboo panels into roof

9 future: as desired, attach chicken

wall frames

need a better visual? watch the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSu9WFkU-1c 88 | Catherine Melissa Tang

frames

lay and attach floor frame into wall frame

wire to frame and plaster over for more structure permanence.

4 inset bamboo panels into floor frames

5

erect and attach extension frame to wall frames

6 inset bamboo panels into

extension and roof frames

10 future: as desired, plant and

maintain bamboo garden and/ or retract expansion component to add more adjacent rooms.

unfold-retract-extend | 89

90 | Catherine Melissa Tang

shelter erected in a hillside

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exterior front porch

big or small. right now or later.

Providing the framework for a fresh start is a great thing. It provides an opportunity for ownership and responsibility to care for one’s own home. Once people erect the frames, they have the freedom to customize their homes through a variation in length and size of rooms and bamboo wall patterns. And because they ‘built’ it themselves, they are more likely to care for it for a longer time. As time progresses and people start to acquire stability, they can continue to expand on the framework already set up. The retractable frames give the freedom to expand to either add another bedroom, living space, or work/commercial space. This can be achieved either by adding on another frame for an entirely new space, or just lengthening the existing frames to add just a bit of space The outdoor personal bamboo garden serves as a nursery from which people can harvest renewable bamboo continue adding on to their homes or repair when older bamboo starts to deteriorate.

92 | Catherine Melissa Tang

service area temp. storage

main living space

regenerative bamboo garden

entry

exterior porch service area

1

Families can start off with a basic formation of 10’ x 10’ to house a reasonable sleeping arrangement for 3. This arrangement allows for covered exterior service and storage area as well as a space for a bamboo nursery.

+1 expansion bedroom

10’-6� max width extension of one floor frame

exterior service porch

entry

entry +1 expansion bedroom

potential reconfiguration to commercial space

+1 expansion bedroom

2 As time progresses, one of the expansion

frames can be extended to add on an additional bedroom for 3 more individuals, while still maintaining a covered exterior service area and bamboo nursery.

3 Ultimately, users can have the option

of using expansion frames for sleeping/living and reconfiguring the original living space into commercial space.

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4” diameter rotating bamboo member 2” x 6” aluminum tube frame

bamboo + aluminum + you add the rest Guadua bamboo is readily abundant in the deep forests of South America, more especially in Colombia. Because it can be harvested sustainably on a continual basis without fear of deforestation, it serves as an excellent renewable building material.

It can grow to mature height in as little as 3-4 months, making it readily available for construction and/or repairs. Its solid diaphragms across each joint prevent buckling, making bamboo an extremely earthquake resistant material, that can be used not only in compression but in tension as well. When paired together, bamboo and aluminum are lightweight making them easy to transport. Simple aluminum tubing can be easily produced in Colombia with the help of recycling used scrap metal. Together, bamboo and aluminum are sustain-able choices for shelter construction. Infill frames can be made on-site. Bamboo-tied panels offer significant strength when set into the pre-fabricated aluminum/bamboo frames.

Users have the choice of differentiating each infill panel by adjusting their porosity and/or patterns. Either way, they serve as sensible frameworks for future structured permanence.

94 | Catherine Melissa Tang

thatch roofing over 2” diameter bamboo infill paneling (provides shade to corrugated metal roofing below) corrugated metal roofing protects against rainfall and other debris 2” x 6” aluminum tube frame retractable opening provides shade and allows for natural ventilation 2” diameter bamboo infill paneling mud and thatch packed flooring over bamboo infill paneling and aluminum tube framing

two 2” x 6” aluminum tube component fastened together by bolts precasted steel slip (to accept aluminum member)

concrete pile foundations

example: 10’-6” extension of floor frame

Section Perspective unfold-retract-extend | 95

96 | Catherine Melissa Tang

shelter erected on beachside

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Off-Center, On-Line Rome, Italy| Spring 2008 KONING EIZENBERG Role: Designer Phase: Schematic Design

Uneternal City was an exhibited section for the 2008 La Biennale di Venezia in Italy dedicated to the city of Rome. Thirty years after the ‘Roma Interrotta,’ Aaron Betsky, curator, asked twelve Italian and international design studios, among them Koing Eizenberg Architecture, to re-imagine the Eternal City of Rome. Our studies, entitled Off-Center On-Line, looked at Rome in a new light, especially at the zones not so clearly defined by form, but those that are intermediate residual lands where unplanned and informal developments became the opportunistic voids within the urban fabric. This became our discussion on urban and suburban Rome.

The world relates to Rome as tourists and the weight of its romantic and historic center is a distraction. Everyday life mingles with myth and the pull of the idea of rome overwhelms the legitimacy of suburban life. The suburbs are not the center and don’t need to be. The suburban condition needs to be investigated on its own term. So, we set about unbundling the suburbs from the historic core. Rome’s encircling freeway, known as the GRA (or ring road), offers the closest suburban parallel to Nolli’s notion of continuous public space and is re-imagined as a freed datum. Cutting around concentrations of urbanization that hang from the 68.2 km of road, the freeway unfurls into a straight line that 98 | Catherine Melissa Tang

Off-Center, On-Line | 99

refigures and reorders the context. The unfurling spills out the dysfunctional with the beautiful; makeshift communities, roadside prostitution, garbage, public space subsumed by parking, crumbling infrastructure and extraordinary but dilapidated social housing; all set in haunting landscape once admired by Poussin and Claude Lorraine.

If unfurling the suburbs sets in motion a non hierarchical line of thinking that focuses on the suburban condition, pinning Rome back together generates unexpected points of confluence and interest on both sides of the GRA. Looping these points generates a freewheeling line to link disinvested communities with neglected countryside, antiquities and malls. It begs a more compelling means of connection than the sponsoring freeway.

Ironically, though newly expanded, the GRA can’t offer Joan Didion’s high-speed escapist ride of the 60’s, and possibly it never did. It’s a 20th century vision of a correlation between independence, exhilarating automobile mobility and suburban life has slowed to a crawl, and with it comes sure knowledge of our mutual interdependence. Having hinged the suburbs on the GRA, it becomes apparent that the freeway is an obstacle to imagining the future.

Rumored plans for a second (5 billion euro) 120k ring road is one possibility for propelling and organizing growth but hooks to an obsolete and unsustainable 100 | Catherine Melissa Tang

1

2

3

4

5

6

outcome. Envisage instead, a 120k train ride infused with Italian industrial design ingenuity traversing the GRA to cultivate missing and underappreciated public space as well as catalyze development.

Fast effective public transportation would eclipse the GRA’s plodding commuter experience with the thrill of a more evolved public-spirited suburban dream.

Off-center and on-line, we explore a vision for uneternal life connected by a heroic gesture of civility. It is documented in a series of film stills that track life in the future linked by an imagined green line with trains that shimmer and loop through representative suburban conditions to reshape suburban institutions, reinvest in urbanism and revalue the countryside.

Off-Center, On-Line | 101

Reshape/An exit is not a destination A new freeway exit at Porta di Roma leads to a circuitous road that serves a new mall.

It continues into an expansive garage illuminated by tiny green lights that indicate free parking spaces. The garage opens on to a meager triangular courtyard that leads to IKEA and other megastores.

The Mall is a busy and vibrant community place brutally isolated. Although invented for the car there is good reason to believe that suburban institutions, like the mall, will creatively adapt to address new frameworks. As a stop on the green line we imagine the mall evolved. Without compromising the retailing formula, stores would initiate a more active public interface to capitalize on the immediacy of their visibility.

Reinvest/It’s almost all there in remnants Tor Bella Monaca, the famous Corviale and even the EUR are examples of places with grand visions for community that were never completed or left to crumble - or both. Idealistic visions now host large areas of disinvested public space graced with graffiti (often beautiful) and parking opportunities rather than community amenity. One of only two City sponsored theaters located in the suburbs is located in Tor Bella Monaca. The theater offers a variety of cultural programs among mega blocks of social housing. It currently backs up onto a muscly but dilapidated bridge lined with shuttered businesses which in turn face onto underutilized land.

102 | Catherine Melissa Tang

The green line would connect the Teatro Tor Bella Monaca ( and its community) to Rome via the arterial rail line while initiating investment in local amenities and improvements - some as simple as playgrounds and paint-up /fix-up and some as grand as a large summer venue for music festivals and new infill buildings - there is plenty of room.

Revalue/Its so beautiful Casual juxtapositions create exquisite countryside scenes - rail lines run by fabled aquaducts and signboards streak across stands of stone pines. The countryside is a breathtaking resource that is hardly recognized or used. At the same time open space is fast ceding to development and it is obvious that its revived appreciation is essential to arrest the trend - underutlized real estate within already urbanized places is plentiful which should mean that countryside can remain just that.

Places like Aquducts Park are sublime.

They don’t need to be reinvented, just nurtured. Any landscape wedged between urban development, including this one, needs the trash collected and bathrooms provided. Fleeting glimpses and easier access courtesy of the rail loop would highlight the park’s value. Add trash cans, bathrooms, play equipment, and the occasional newsstand/espresso/gelato spot, with a few chairs and tables and more Romans might linger.

Off-Center, On-Line | 103

Downtown LA Pocket Parks Los Angeles, CA| Fall 2007 USC SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE Professor: Ying-Yu Hung Role: Individual Studio Project

Studies show that a greater proximity to “green” can effectively improve people’s sense of quality of life. How can open green spaces in the city significantly improve the quality of life Downtown?

As a means to attract visitors, businesses and residents to Downtown, it must be transformed into a liveable, desirable, and exciting place where one can live, work, play, and learn all in the same place.

Because there are more asphalt-covered parking lots than open green spaces in Downtown Los Angeles, this land can be reclaimed from the automobile and turned green. Superfluous parking lots and structures as well as abandoned or underutilized buildings can be converted into an open green space network of pocket parks and related amenities like outdoor movie parks, dedicated bus and bike lanes, sidewalk cafes, and homeless shelters. Weaving in and around the interstices of the city, the network of pocket parks provides users with a variety of programs and opportunities for leisure, physical activity, commerce, or shelter. In doing so, Downtown Los Angeles residents can reap the long-term advantages of its eco-friendly, human-friendly, and businessfriendly consequences.

104 | Catherine Melissa Tang

A

5TH STREET

B

B

LOS ANGELES STREET

MAIN STREET

SPRING STREET

A

6TH STREET Master Plan 0’

32’

64’

Downtown LA Pocket Parks | 105

1-MILE DIAMETER

106 | Catherine Melissa Tang

1/2-MILE DIAMETER

Downtown LA Pocket Parks | 107

Bringing Back Broadway The early days of Broadway are evidence of the great things that used to occur in Downtown Los Angeles. What if we can bring this all back -- the theaters, the activity, the glamour? Investment along Broadway can have a domino effect on adjacent development. Wider sidewalks and landscaped open spaces can activate the street by promoting greater pedestrian use, allowing vendors extended retail space, and enlivening the district for safety and local appreciation.

enjoy your meal outside

Broadway Street Wider sidewalks, extended vendor space, dedicated bus and bike lanes, and landscape can help to improve the desirability of the area.

108 | Catherine Melissa Tang

bikers encouraged

downtown fitness

Chinese Elm (Ulmus Parvifolia) Growing up to 40-60 feet, this graceful tree has a weeping shape as it matures. Varying from evergreen or deciduous, the tree requires low water maintenance.

enjoy the scenery

soak up the sun relax, read a book

Terraced Seating A combination between soft stone and grass will give visitors an easing comfort to stay without the harshness of asphalt or bare concrete.

Olive (Olea Europea) “Swan Hill�

Because it grows fast, this tree should be pruned to the desired shape early on. It requires moderate to low water maintenance.

Blue Jacaranda This tree grows well in California and has beautiful and long lasting blue flowers. It can grow up to 35 feet in height.

Section AA Downtown LA Pocket Parks | 109

Temporary Solution for the Homeless Buildings are specific and monumental demarcations of space, yet because most of them are privatized, access is limited to certain individuals. Public parks, however, enable all individuals to enjoy the amenities provided by the space. An estimated 3,386 homeless individuals sleep on the streets of Downtown every single night. Instead of banning them from public spaces, open asphalt parking lots can provide an alternative solution.

These spaces can be transformed into multi-functional and multi-user friendly parks such that it would not necessarily be a “homeless park� but a transitional and temporal space for all.

110 | Catherine Melissa Tang

have a picnic

downtown fitness

take a stroll

precast pavers

compacted gravel 8” concrete earth 4” thick galv. steel arms 14” long for setback arms 2” thick rubber padding compacted gravel

Section BB Downtown LA Pocket Parks | 111

9 ROME

SHANGHAI BEIJING SAIGON

6 SIEM REAP BANGKOK KULALA LUMPUR BALI

Path of travel (visited) Path of travel (not visited)