Architecture Portfolio WSA Year 2

digital portfolio

by Dan Liu Welsh School of Architecture Year 2

This portfolio is produced for an assignment of Digital Technology module in the second year of Architectural Studies course at Welsh School of Architecture at Cardiff University. The selection contains my digital works created for Architectural Design projects in the first Term.

Cover page: physical model of the individual dwelling Background image: final crit exhibition Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK Dan Liu

2011

#2

contents #1

Pontypridd: urban conditions

sustainable housing project

#3

digital sessions works

#1 sustainable housing project

site analysis

The site is situated at the edge of Grangetown beside Taff River, relatively close to central Cardiff, with major access points to transportation (bus and trains stations) maximum 15 minutes away. The graph on the left side shows the level of pollution and sources of biodiversity in the neighbourhood. The graph on the right sides is a Nolli plan indicating volumes and voids (built elements and empty spaces) around the site.

During the design process simple 3D computer modells were used to see the spatial relationship between the proposed scheme and the existing surrounding.

Media type: Google SketchUp

creating a common masterplan The first task was to create a common masterplan in groups of 4 which took 5 weeks out of 8.

Like a giant monolith smashed to pieces with a hammer, the arrangement of the four building blocks suggest the idea that they belong together but set apart in order to provide space and access.

The four buildings create a central courtyard sheltered from the outer world yet connected to the main routes of traffic and accessible by the public.

conceptual board

Media tools: Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator

Controlled Chaos Beauty lies in creating acute contrasts by stimulating unpredictability. It’s a perception of pleasure, satisfaction, but most importantly, an experience of difference. Differences between hectic rushing and tranquillity. Between verticality and horizontality. The new housing block enters the peaceful neighbourhood of Grangetown in an unpredicted way. Its cracked outlines break the monotony of the terrace houses but its internal rhythm reflects their essence.

The shattered fragments occupy the site inattentively, but the chaos is controlled by a delicate sense of balance and harmony which comes from a deep understanding of Nature.

orientation and solar considerations The height of the four blocks were designed so that the central courtyard gets as much sunlight as possible. The image on the top shows the shadows in the afternoon and the bottom one shows the morning.

tunnel toTaff

One of the main features of the masteplan is the gentle slope crossing the whole site and ends in a wide tunnel that attract people to the river.

the backyard of the site

Under the top end of the elevated platform a small cafĂŠ faces a junior sized basketball court.

designing the individual dwelling After the completion of the common masterplan an individual dwelling has to be chosen and to be worked out in details.

Media type: ArchiCAD PhotoRender Projection

The flat is located at the southern end of the northwestern block.

Media type: ArchiCAD PhotoRender Projection

exploded view

The exploded view is a really powerful representational tool in terms of showing the height of spaces and their relationship to each other.

Media tool: ArchiCAD 3D Document

live/work double space

The ground floor contains a double space accommodating a living-working multifunctional space. The mezzanine level can be extended and a small elevator can be inserted into the storage room so that an extra bedroom (for disabled person) can be created.

Wet area 15 x 0.167 = 2.500 m

1 2

1

3

2

5

4

7

6

9

6

8

11

10

3

4

5

13

12

1

3

2

5

4

14

15 x 0.167 = 2.500 m

13 x 0.192 = 2.500 m

Dining/Living

Lift F

Void Disabled bedroom

5 x 0.060 = 0.300 m

Ground floor 1:100

Mezzanine floor 1:100

East elevation 1:200

plans, sections, elevations

13 x 0.192 = 2.500 m

W

12

9

10

11

6

7

8

3

4

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1 2

DR

1

3

16 x 0.188 = 3.000 m

2

4

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7

Access to the roof

Lift F

Dining/Living

First floor 1:100

Second floor 1:100

Section 1:200

These plans, sections and elevations were created using ArchiCAD, which furthermore can render 3D models and produce exploded views.

dining/living space

Media tool: ArchiCAD PhotoRender Projection

#2 Pontypridd: urban conditions

historical layering

In a group of 3, the task was to collect architecturally relevant information (photographs, old maps, newspaper articles, text) about the development of Pontypridd and significant historical events.

Photographs: various pictures taken of the Old Bridge Background on previous page: map of Pontypridd from 1870; this page: map from 1960 Media tool used for the following posters: Adobe Illustrator

START OF COAL INDUSTRY 1850

1870 William Edwards the engineer and builder of the New Bridge The single span Old Bridge built in 1756 Paintings by two artists: The Old Bridge today

Waiting for the ‘Iron Horse’ 1840’s

Pontypridd Train Station today

Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the designer of the Great Eastern. The cables were manufactured by Brown Lenox & Co. Ltd., Pontypridd, 1856

Welsh National Anthem Memorial: ‘Old Land of My Fathers’, the national anthem of Wales was written by Evan James and composed by James James in 1856

Group 1A Historical Layering Frank/Will/Dan

Pontypridd in 1870

Metropolitan Police put on a show of strength in Taff Street during the December 1910 trial

Gelliwastad Road Today

Rail disaster at Hopkinstown, January 1911

The same part of Taff Street today

Gelliwastad Road Late 19th century

1890

1910 Market Place 1905

The opening of electric tramways in 1905

Pontypridd Station 1907

Market Place today

The Old Bridge and the Victoria Bridge completed in 1897 in a photo taken in 1899 and in a contemporary picture

Pontypridd Train Station today

Group 1A Historical Layering Frank/Will/Dan

Pontypridd in 1910

The Old Bridge and the Victoria Bridge in 1950’s

Wartime posters urging everyone to grow more vegetables. These posters greeted you at all railway station booking halls and platforms.

‘A’ Company, 2nd Battalion Home Guard from Pontypridd, 17 May 1941 Special Constable Albert Hogart and his wife Nurse Hilda Hogart, who helped nurse some of the Dunkirk wounded treated at Pontypridd Cottage Hospital in 1940

American locomotives stockpiled on the line from Tonteg to the Graig in readiness for the D-Day invasion, 1944

THE GREAT WAR 1930

GREAT DEPRESSION

SECOND WORLD WAR 1960

Richard Street 1957

Electric trams during heavy floods in 1929

Same street today

Group 1A Historical Layering Frank/Will/Dan

Pontypridd in 1960

Group 1A Historical Layering Frank/Will/Dan

Change of vehicles: Taff street 100 years ago and nowadays

Pontypridd today and 100 years ago

The Monument, photographed in 1994, erected in memory of men of the 5th Battalion of The Welsh Regiment killed in the Great War

DECLINE OF COAL MINING

1980

2010

Pontypridd today

#3 digital

sessions works

using 3D Studio Max By first modelling a simple room with windows and then applying various materials and finally creating light conditions, high quality rendered images can be produced.

3D modelling and transformationsWith the help of 3D Studio Max not only architectural forms can be modelled but any other shapes can also be created.

The 3D forms can be twisted, bent, merged together and transformed in hundreds of ways

Thank you for viewing

the end

This booklet was created by using Adobe InDesign Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff Dan Liu 2011