Ethan Chiang | Yale Architecture Portfolio 2022

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THE PATH 01

A Journey Towards Mental Health

Yale School of Architecture Core 3 Studio // Fall 2021

Critic:

David Eugin Moon

This project for a mental health center in New Haven, Connecticut was inspired by a notebook sketch from Lawrence Halprin. In his sketch, he described the path as an idea: as a connector between points, as a release, as exercise, as a series of events, and an experience for the senses.

Situated on 392 Crown Street, the site lies on a boundary condition that separates Yale from predominantly low income, African American and Latinx communities. Taking on the idea of the path, the design aspires to bridge the Town-Gown relationship between New Haven and Yale. The design hopes to inject movement into the site, to provide a connection to nature, and become a place where one can feel at ease. As a hybrid model for both mental health and community based activities, the center hopes to become accessible for all users - becoming a place where one can return to whenever they please.

“The Path as an Idea....as an Experience for the Senses” - Lawrence Halprin

03. Material Collages: The Site as Found

04. Site Plan Oblique: 392 Crown Street

04

05. Figure ground plan of New Haven 06. Mapping of Yale’s presence in New Haven 07. Race/Income/Education disparity analysis

10. 1:20 Scale Detail Sectional Model 11. 3rd Floor Plan

IDEAS FOR LIVING 02

HOUSING IN NEW YORK CITY

Yale School of Architecture Core 4 Studio // Spring 2022

Critic: Alicia Imperiale Studio Partner: Ying Luo

Houses, schools and gardens to connect the old and the young as alternative to Big Ideas Small Lots (BISL) Competition.

The 23 BISL odd-shaped lots are a fraction of city owned vacant land. We questioned how effective new construction on such sites could address housing needs in NYC, where the demand is large. NYC currently has many apartments and hotel rooms that sit vacant, but they are not affordable for people who need housing. On the other hand, many existing affordable housing needs maintenance and amenities to be quality housing. Vacancy also does not necessarily mean underuse. To infill a lot does not mean to fill the needs of a community. We argue that the solution to NYC housing crisis is not necessarily new construction. We hope to develop a project that fills the gaps in the needs of a community, that improves the quality of lives of residents of different incomes and ethnicities, and that is inclusive and sustainable. We re-evaluate the selection of sites and the programs by looking at the entirety of city owned lots and rezoning areas, and chose to study Long Island City, Queens.

01. Kit of Parts - Programatic Set

02. The Idea of a Home - Kitchen Collage

MUDDY WATERS

Center for Women and Children

Yale School of Architecture Core 1 Studio // Fall 2020

Critic: Nikole Bouchard

TF: Christina Zhang

Project 2 began by investigating a painting’s potential to create plans through lines, patterns and figures. The program was a 10,000 sq ft spiritual center and daycare; student’s could site their building anywhere in the world. I chose Homage à Verner Panton by Zaha Hadid, and situated my center for women and children in Dhaka, Bangladesh - a city that increasingly houses climate refugees. My project was interested in architecture of impermanence, the potentials of mud and bamboo construction, as well as a building’s relationship with land and fluctuating water levels. The idea was that mud - a material that naturally decays, and thus requires constant labor, could be a means for collectivity and participatory design. The center would be a place to empower women and children with knowledge to a build a sustainable future.

CONCEPT COLLAGE

Water floods through the canyon-like entrance during monsoon rains

Washpur is home to many climate refugees from South Bangladesh (most of whom are women and children). The chosen site engages the waterfront, and lies on the periphery of unplanned and informal settlements.

The Water Shall Come: Water becomes a part of everyday life. The community becomes well adept to handling the challenges of flooding

Lets Get Muddy: The resilient community participates in rebuilding the center every year

Embracing the Natural Elements: Children read and learn in open-air classrooms

The Show Must Go On: Despite the heavy monsoon rains and flooding, life prevails.

MATERIAL UTOPIA 04

Speculations on the Water Crisis

Yale School of Architecture Core 2 Studio // Spring 2021

Critic: Joeb Moore

Material Utopia is situated in a time where water has become deeply commodified, governed and distributed by powerful organizations. Water has become the most valuable resource on the planet, and has exceeded the value of petroleum and user data.

This project hypothesizes a postanthropocentric world where the inhabitants of our shared planet learn to harness and live with water - the world’s most abundant, and yet soon to be scarce resource.

The Farmington Canal has changed drastically in the last century. Originally purposed as a canal, it transformed into Connecticut’s longest rail network, before becoming obsolete. Today, the canal exists as an 84 mile trail that connects New Haven to Massachussets.

I proposed a decentralized, small-scale water infrastructure that would enable individual communities to control their own water. The infrastructure would mediate and move water in its different states above and below the ground plane. From the moisture in the air, to the water in the river, and finally returning it back to the aquifers in the ground.

01. The next global crisis - Water

02. Reviving the Farmington Canal

03-04: Speculations on the Farmington Canal: Towards a Decentralized Water Infrastructure

ENDLESS BOUNDS

Rowing Center in the Tropics

The Chinese University of Hong Kong U4 Studio // Spring 2017 Critic: Bruce Lonnman

Endless Bounds is a rowing center in the tropics of Batu Dam, Kuala Lumpur. The idea is a conceptual juxtaposition. It plays upon the drama between one floating structure contrasting with another bounded by earth. Timber and masonry embody this dynamic in material. The two structures are connected by an integrated landscape; working perpendicular to the site’s slope offers visual connections to the water at varying sectional heights.

Spaces are sequentially organized so one travels along the site’s central axis from high to low elevation. The roof responds to this axis by transforming in section from straight edge to a butterfly roof. Collected rainwater becomes a spectacle by flooding into the central courtyard, which is then stored and recycled in an underground cistern. Staircases are embedded into the earth and hidden from view. The training center floats dramatically on stilts - a reference to the vernacular ideas of traditional Malay Kampong houses. The rowing center offers a diversity of spatial experiences – from outdoor and semi-shaded to enclosed and underground. Rowers here strive to reach new heights - to reach Endless Bounds…

01. Detailed Section of Boathouse 02. View of Rowing Center from Batu Dam

Location Plan

Batu Dam, Kuala Lumpur 3.2° N, 101.6° E

The boathouse is orientated towards NorthEast and South-West prevailing winds. Served and servant spaces are separated into a thin and dispersed plan - a strategy to allow cool air to permeate the building. Meanwhile, the contrasting structures create an exciting dynamic between enclosed and open spaces.

Solid Void Cross Ventilation Green Spaces Rainwater Collection

Concept Sketch: Roof Form

The roof transforms along the site’s central axis to direct rainwater

Framing Model 1:200

Portal frames are regularly spaced to reinforce visual interest in structure

Primary Beams

Structural Model 1:200

An elongated structure increases the building’s exposure to prevailing

Overall Structure

Structural Axonometrics

Tapering beams allow for the curved roof to be constructed entirely from linear elements

Contextual Floor Plans

A dispersed plan separates the building into 3 main programs: boat storage, training center and service spaces.

THE VALE

Re-imagining A Community Market

The Chinese University of Hong Kong U6 Studio // Spring 2019

Critic: Sebastian Law

The Vale is a municipal building in Kowloon City, Hong Kong. Municipal buildings are of mixed use and typically include a market, sports hall, library and food court. However, these activities often operate in isolation. Markets such as the Markethall in Rotterdam predominantly serve locals but have become international icons. A municipal building in Hong Kong has the potential to do the same. The idea is to regenerate the site’s valley condition by tilting the market tower in section. Metaphorically, the sports hall is a bridge connecting the market with Lok Fu Mountain.

A green roof extends the landscape and forms a passageway for trail-walkers. This tower takes full advantage of Kowloon City views, standing tall amidst low-rise buildings. Designing the tower on stilts frees the entire grounds for a lively public space. Most importantly, the design re-uses an existing two-storey carpark structure and transforms it into an exciting public garden. A new timber grid is introduced to extend the grid across the entire site. Amidst increasing urbanisation, quality public space is rarely found in Hong Kong. This garden is one the community would treasure.

01. Massing Model Studies 02. The Vale: Axonometric Drawing

1:200 Building Model

Three inter-connected structures provide a continuous passageway to Lok Fu Mountain

Choreographing Spaces

Spaces are choreographed so that one experiences the garden and market before entering the sports hall

20 40m 10 0

Ground Floor Plan

The grid structures allow for flexible use of space. Indoor markets extend out into the open gardens.

Urban Farming

Hawker Center

7th Floor 5-6th Floor 4th Floor 3rd Floor 2nd Floor

Library/Amphitheatre Green Roof Market Gym Cafe Lounge Market Sports Hall Changing Rooms

Exploded Axonometrics

New programatic relationships are established and each space has a constant connection to the outdoors.

THE THIRD MEMBER

BAMBOO BENDING GRIDSHELL

The Chinese University of Hong Kong ARCH5231 // Fall 2018

Instead of form finding through physics and simulation, our strategy took the reverse approach by first designing the final form, and then implementing a structural system that would stiffen to achieve the desired performance. We utilized a structural system that would stiffen to any shape through triangulation. A typical grid involves only two directional members. However, this makes it difficult to accurately construct a complex, curved form due to deformation and shear stress. Triangulation makes it easier to construct doubl-curved shells and complex geometries.

Our investigation found that an equilateral triangular grid was best for strength and stability. Triangulated geometries greatly reduce deflections, even in relatively domed areas, in comparison to rectangular grid geometries. The design tackled issues of structural deflection by allowing for a threshold of construction inaccuracy. Designing the bamboo connection was integral for this step. My contributions to the project included 3D model development, final model production, 2D line drawings, photographing and editing final model images, as well as filming and editing the final process video.

Critic: Kristof Crolla Group Project (4) 01. Bamboo Grid Studies 02. 1:20 Scale Model Bamboo Grid Shell

HOUSING MEXICO

‘Housing’ The Constitutional Right

Yale School of Architecture

Mexico City Studio // Summer 2022

Critics: Tatiana Bilbao, Daisy Aimes

When you create a passageway, you create a series of experiences. When we extend time, we allow for moments of encounter to arise. Circulation has always been much more than getting from one place to another. However, ideas of “efficiency” have reduced circulation to a standard set of bare minimums. In doing so, we have also sacrificed moments for interaction. At its core, circulation - or how one meanders through space, is integral to social collectivity.

If architecture is a form of care, and the house is where the most important labor is done for us to exist, then this drawing asks us to consider which bodies specifically engage in those physical acts of care.

Labor of love - a collaged section of the house, recognizes the women who make the everyday life for many families possible, rendering visible their experiences within the home. They sacrifice time away from their own familes to better the lives of others.

01. Mexico City - Notebook Sketches

02. Mexico City - A Collective Collage

03. Labor of Love - Section of a Home 04. Mexico City: The City is the House

FRAGMENTS

Project 1A: An Image Object

Yale School of Architecture Core 1 Studio // Fall 2020

Critic: Nikole Bouchard

TF: Christina Zhang

Project 1A: Image Object was the first of 3 projects in the MArch I Core I studio. The exploration began by selecting an image from a pool of artists, analysing its visual qualities through drawing, then translating this into a 3D object by model making. I chose Construct A+A by Barbara Kasten (an 8 x 10 polaroid photo of staged objects) for its intruiging qualities of light, color and reflection.

Am I staring into an endless vista? Or is that visa reflecting back at me? It doesn’t make sense. Then again, it’s not supposed to. Confused? Good. Then my job here is done. Don’t trust your eyes. One can never really believe what one sees. This lens was crafted just for you, constructed to fit the naive, gullible and untrained eye. This is Barbara Kasten’s world, and you’re just living in it.

01. Construct A+A by Barbara Kasten 02. Image analysis [Above]

03. Image object final model [Opposite]: Foam core, reflective mylar, bristol paper

FORMAL ANALYSIS

CLOSE READING & ANALYSIS

Yale School of Architecture ARCH123a // Fall 2020

Professor: Peter Eisenman

TF: Hannah Mayer Baydoun

The course studied the object of architecture - canonical buildings in the history of architecture - not through the lens of reaction and nostalgia but through a filter of contemporary thought. The emphasis was on learning how to see and to think about architecture by a method that can be loosely called “formal analysis.” The analyses moved through history and concluded with examples of high modernism and postmodernism. Reading assignments and one formal analysis drawing were assigned each week.

Drawings included on this page include formal analyses of works by Borromini, Bernini, Rainaldi, Michaelangelo, and Palladio.

01. Borromini - San Carlo / Sant’ Ivo 02. Berninini/Rainaldi 03. Palladio - Il Rendentore / San Giorgio 04. Michaelangelo - Laurentian Library

Professional Work 11

Kengo Kuma & Associates

Kengo Kuma & Associates (Tokyo)

Professional Work // 2022 - Present

Since this summer, I was fortunate enough to work on the following projects at Kengo Kuma & Associates:

1) An Artists’ Residency (Individual Project)

2) Japanese Restaurant in Singapore

3) Tanglin Shopping Mall in Singapore

4) Hellinikon Club & Wine Bar in Greece

An Artists’ Residency was an individual project proposal to house artists of varying backgrounds. The structure would allow for a porosity of spaces, and an interactive facade that would engage a lively streetfront.

I worked primarily with Chief Project Manager (Aris Kafantaris) and 2 staff members to develop the Hellinikon Club & Wine Bar in Greece. My responsibilities included making site models, physical study models, Rhino 3D models and facade design options for Kengo Kuma and clients.

For the Japanese Restaurant in Singapore, I proposed facade design options, and refined the sectional design of the interior bamboo ceiling above the main dining room. I produced drawing sets for clients including Plans, Sections, RCPs, renderings and Rhino 3D models.

01-02: An Artists’ Residency - Individual Project (KKAA 12 Hour Design Challenge)