Education
University of Toronto
John H Daniels Faculty, Toronto, CA
Architectural Studies (BA)
2019 — Present
CGPA 3.83, Dean’s List 2020
American School Foundation of Monterrey
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, MX
USHS Diploma 2016 — 2019
Experience
Leaf Filter Gutter Protection
Toronto, Canada
Gutter Technician
Jun 2022 — Aug 2022
Republic of Korea Army
Cherwon-gun, South Korea
Rifleman, Administration, Interpretor
Nov 2020 — May 2022
KDDH Architects
Seoul, South Korea
Architectural Intern
Jul 2020 — Nov 2020
Skillset
Rhinoceros 3D
AutoCAD
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Indesign
V-Ray
Lumion
Drawing / Painting
Coffee Making
Languages
Korean (Native)
English (Fluent)
Spanish (Intermediate)
SPRAWL:
ADAPTATION
SEVERATION
Sprawl: Revitalization through Reconnection
90 Devonshire Place, Student Study Centre
ARC201: How to Design Almost Nothing Daniels Faculty, Fall 2022
Course Instructor: JENNIFER KUDLATS
Individual Work -
The prompt for this project was to choose a word and create a student study space that accommodates 7 different spaces on 90 Devonshire Place on UofT grounds. I chose the word “sprawl”, also used in my previous assignments.
The site is challenging due to tight urban thresholds and a topological lack of character and program. However, I noticed preexisting ecology that is constituted of common local species and the intricate network of alleys that connect the adjacent buildings. I decided to honour the urban ecology and alleys by extending and embedding them into my design.
The selection of points of interest was arbitrarily selected in previous assignments due to the absence of a site. In this assignment, the points are given significance in order to respond to the site context, as thresholds for my intervention. They are then connected, reflecting on the paths’ width.
They are then extruded as a canopy that covers the entire site to extend the walkways to minimize disturbance in circulation. Based on the connection of thresholds, the canopy forms a void that house the inhabitable volumes and mass that contain stairs, planting beds and railings.
The 5 inhabitable volumes are made of different typologies of spiraling vertical circulation based on their area. They are placed in a sunken plaza with monolithic facades to ensure privacy from the outside and encapsulate visitors in tranquil pods from the busy urban context. I wanted to revitalize the back alley not only as a transitory space but also as a destination. Since there were no public cafes in adjacent buildings, I chose my plus one program as a cafe, where the closest pod to the back alley was designated as a cafe bar to invite the visitors to the outdoor seating space underneath the canopy.
Due to the nature of doubly ruled surface, conventional planar modelling was not feasable. Thus, I used 3d starch printing to model my canopy. The base was constructed with cross laminated stacks of plywood to ensure rigidity. The masses were constructed boxed plywood that were beveled and smoothened with wood fillers. Plantings were modelled with dried flowers.
▲ Section Perspective
▼ V-Ray renders show the interiority; different typologies of spiraling geometries been used
Sprawl: Systematic Rejection In Response to the Nine Square Problem
ARC 201: How to Design Almost Nothing Daniels Faculty, Fall 2022 Course Instructor: JENNIFER KUDLATS Individual Work
The prompt for this project was to choose a word and create a space with 7 spaces made up of only vertical planes within a 16*16m grid made up of columns.
Inspired by the alley conditions of South Korea combined with my interest for prevehicular urban fabric, I chose the word “Sprawl.” I form my own grid based on 7 points of interests connecting to one another, out of the 16 columns. Using the intersections of my grid as control points, curved masses go up, The masses wrap around the columns if columns are adjacent to the masses, while if column is inside, masses form a void. The masses are then scaled by density to create alleyways, rejecting the rectilinear circulation made by the original grid.
While playing to the system that John Hejduk spread in numerous institutions since its conception, the design is not confined by the colonial rectilinear grid. Consequently, orthologal circulation is denied, forcing the user to traverse around, having no option but to traverse through the elastic series of thresholds. The columns are memorialized by allowing room, its square shape juxtaposing the fluid walls of the design.
Hence, the design in response to the Nine Square Problem evokes a discussion: how should one situate themselves in light of decolonial and post-neoliberalism, taught in our institutions?
03
Adaptation through Convergence
Vernacular Modular Cabin at the Georgian Bay
ARC/APS 112: Design + Engineering Daniels Faculty, Winter 2020
Course Instructor: JAY POOLEY AND JASON BAZYLAK
Teammates: Cassandra Santaguida, Liangyue Liu, Koby Lee, Wayne Ma, Yichen Mao
Role: CD; Research, Concept & Design Development, Drawing, Rendering* (all inserted Images are done by me) Group Work
The brief by our client Omar Gandhi Architects required for an affordable, vernacular, and modular cabin that could withstand the harsh condtiions of Georgian Bay, Ontario.
Inspired by the typology of tobacco kiln, unique to Southern Ontario, this design is a playful detachment to the repetetive and extra-ordinary living of city life.
Due to the challenging nature of the site where barges are the only feasable method to transport building materials, it was important to minimize transportation time and volume by using prefabricated modules. The team achieved this using a mix of structural insulated panels and traditional timber framing. To combat the wind and snow load, intervals were reduced to increase stiffness. The impact of footing was minimized by elevating the building away from the ground plane in compensation to the granite terrain.
Because pulling energy from the land is incredibly expensive, staying offgrid was another design goal too. The team proposed to construct a system using Tesla PowerWall, solar panels, compost toilet, and high efficiency fire place.
The interior consists of skipfloors which allow the residents to traverse through the spaces without interrupting the gorgeous view of Georgian Bay, and promotes interaction with friends and family, centred around the dining room at the first floor, facing the floor to ceiling wall.
Pandemic required the team for new modes of communication with clients; for in-person meetings were prohibited, Minecraft was proposed as a tool that could allow for intuitive interaction with clients albeit rejected by the course.
Smearing the Boundaries Hangdong Kium Centre
KDDH Architects
Seoul, Completed November 2020
Lead: DONGHEE KIM
Role: Head Designer; Concept & design development, client meeting, drafting, rendering Professional Work
With the increase of double-income households in Korea, Seoul has backed a community babysitting program named “Kium Centre” since 2018. Commissioned by the District of Guro-gu, I was given the opportunity to work on this project from start till the end at my internship at KDDH Architects from July 2020 to November 2020 by the principal architect, Donghee Kim.
The site was located at one of Seoul’s recently developing neighbourhood, Hangdong. Located on the second floor within a 8 story tall commercial building in midst of condo complexes, the brief required for a space where kids of age 6 to 12 could be taken care of that also serves as a study space after their regular school hours.
In objection to the stressful education system in Korea where kids from such a young age is subjected to hours of studying, making the space feel as fluid as possible without formal restrictions was the utmost priority in the design.
Zones of varying activeness were merged; where kids playing and chatting around the sleds could also interact with book readers from shelves that are proportionally divided to the frames of the windows. The modularized shelving system allowed for varying uses such as reading nook, and such modules been highlighted with tinted acrylic panels and painted interiors that make the light enter the building differently.
At the static space, a round wall has been conceived in order to not distract the playfulness of the active zone, while allowing the users to feel cocooned within as the walls hug them around. The wall caves in height in order to emphasize the open wall concept.
The teachers’s zone is positioned at the corner where they can supervise the students to ensure their safety, with a kitchen behind them to cook if necesary while avoiding hazardous events from kids’ access.
▲ Plan; measurement of the site done manually using laser measure, then transcribed to AutoCAD
▲ Stair design specifications; carefully considered the modulor of kids
▲ Shelf design specifications; note the window framing serving as the unit of design
▲ Exploded to enhance readability of specifications
▲ Coat check cabinet contains built-in appliances
Severation of Urban Fabric
How Do We to Treat the Wound?
ARC 200: Drawing and Representation II Daniels Faculty, Winter 2023
Course Instructor: FRANCESCO VALENTE-GORJUP
Teammates: Yuanting Han (all inserted Images are done by me) Group Work
The prompt for this project was to choose a site within Toronto and research, analyze, and illustrate using various visualization techniques in relation to streets. We chose Highway 401 and Allen Road Interchange as the site and street of interest.
Highway 401 and Allen Road Interchange is one of the biggest and most complex interchange in Canada. When it was first announced, boasting its cutting-edge turbine interchange of 27 ramps, it was the Canadian dream. However, looking back at it now, the damage that has been done to the urban fabric of Toronto is servere.
This neighbourhood was planned from the beginning together with the development of Yorkdale Mall, which lobbied the local government to build the Spadina Expressway in the 1950s, to which the public outlash to not complete makes it the incomplete thought of Allen Road today. However, the addition of Allen Road to the already vast Highway 401 was critical to the neighbourhood’s urban fabric.
As Toronto expanded, and with the decommissioning of Downsview Airfield, the present day 401-Allen area gained attention and development. Recent development of luxury condominiums in all four quadrants, namely Downsview Redevelopment by KPMB, Condominiums of 120 Varna Drive, and Tippet Park on Wilson allow for profitable use of otherwise undesirable awkward plots of land that has been left untouched as parkettes. In next 30 years, this area will increase in density to form a vastly different neighbourhood from what it is today, maybe even as impactful as the Yonge-Eglington development.
Carrying more than 500,000 vehicles a day, 401-Allen is one of the most important interchanges in Canada. Hence it is imperative now that we have learned more, gotten away from fetishization of the automobile of previous urban planning, to reconnect the scars of the fabric while spontaneously, sustaining the cause of the scar in the shape of highways that has become one of the most important interchanges in Canada, carrying the backbone of Canada’s economy.
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Building Height + Density Distribution
Zoning + Building Typologies
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email: hyunsu.kim@mail.utoronto.ca
North York, ON M3H 1T9
tel.: +1 (647)-614-0893