FLOW
THROUGH A MASS DESIGN DIARY FONG HEI CHANG BSC ARCHITECURE Y2
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THROUGH A MASS DESIGN DIARY FONG HEI CHANG BSC ARCHITECURE Y2
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Contents THINK ___________________________ 007 From Formfinding to Realisation on Site Formfinding DPM review Technical research Site Analysis Concept
TRIAL ___________________________ 047 Digital image processing Flows of site Parameters Technical illustration Development models
TRUTH ___________________________ 077 Praxis Tectonic realisation Masterplan model Facade model
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From Formfinding to Realisation on Site Formfinding Technical research Site Analysis Concept
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There was a desire to adapt the built environment to a new ecologic consciousness To transform the built environment Although humanity began as a small population in a vast world We are approaching the limit of what the planet can offer There is much to be learnt from biologic systems Evidence are that design can emulate natural systems and their emergent strategies Nature has been vetting material structures and formal processes for billions of years The forms we see in biologic systems now demonstrate the successful strategies of the “survivors”.
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FORMFINDING
BIOLOGIC SYSTEM - WIND EFFICIENT VENTILATION THROUGH WIND DYNAMICS SURVIVOR - ATTA VOLLENVOITERI LEAF CUTTING ANT NEST The nest carries away dangerous accumulations of heat and carbon dioxide via ventilation shafts.The outside of the nest is perforated by a series of vents or tubes converging on circumferential tubes giving rise to more elaborated vents.
The structure of these vents and tubes is so unique that they are often used for species identification. The vents run down from the inside to the outside, keeping dripping moisture out and draw cool air up and into the structure. Ventilation shafts bring cool fresh air in and carry warm stale air out.
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Air circulation system in a nest.
Structure of vent tubes.
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Ants
are ecosystem engineers. Their nest construction is comparable with the building of corridors and galleries. They mediate the chemical contents of soil to increase the nest’s porosity by shifting pH towards neutral. This process corresponds to the weather and temperature outside. Result is a breathing building skin.
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Within the large nest of an Atta leafcutter ant, circulation is controlled by natural movements of warm air from the nest’s perimeter to its center. A leafcutter ant nest may descend as deep as six meters. A mature colony of leafcutter ants could contain over eight million insects, divided into four castes-major, minor, media and minim-which dictate the functions they perform.
Could the ventilation and circulation principles of ant nest be applied to buildings? FONG | 13
PLASTER-CAST MODEL How a mass could be perforated by tubes in various ways replicating the ant nest. THINK | 14
The variety of mass blocks and tubes is generated based on several parameters. Size Shape Curvature Diameter Intersection Amount
Wooden blocks were drilled for testing, in search of the most efficient way for air to flow through a
mass.
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Experiment on how wind (smoke) flow through different wooden blocks. Wind channeled into 1 opening and branching out from 2 openings are found to be the most efficient (most laminar) THINK | 16
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An extract from the sketchbook. Mind map showing a search of the bridge connecting formfinding and the actual bulding
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Another extract from the sketchbook. The above diagram is an attempt at figuring out how spatial arrangements in an ant nest could fit into a housing programme.
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Exploration on how wind works in nature. THINK | 20
Air pressure and its influence on wind flow, ventilation in a building. FONG | 21
Wind scoop. THINK | 22
Wind tower. FONG | 23
Wind tower with a fixed fin.
Wind tower with a turnable fin.
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A more complex fin.
Wind tower without any fins.
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I’m dying to go and see the site, I would be scared otherwise. Afterall, someting is there that cannot be felt elsewhere.
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HOUSESCAPES IN CARDIFF CITY Location: Cardiff city centre, Wales Sovereign state: United Kingdom Area: 6.652 km2 (city) 140km2 (urban) Population: 324,800 Density: 4392/km2 Ethnicity: White: 91.57% Mixed: 1.99% Asian: 3.96% Black: 1.28% Chinese: 1.20%
The site has been deserted for two decades. Surrounded by all means of public transportation, buses, trains and waterbuses, there is no reason to leave it the way it is at the moment. Looking at the high speed human and traffic flow around the site, the initial thought was to have something iconic built on the site to ‘pause’ the flow and to grab attention. Typology wise, the site is surrounded by tall buildings at the north and low rise at the south, there was an intention to preserve the skyline of the north side. THINK | 28
North-west panaroma from site.
The site is on the edge of a dense city. The brief was to design an ecological and sustainable housing units including retail units. The challenge of the brief was to combine the splendors of the suburban backyard with the social intensity of urban density. North panaromic view from the barren site.
The challenge is then to build something iconic and at the same time, preserve the iconic skyline. FONG | 29
The site surrounded by ‘engines’ producing noise,
and filled with people all day long gave an impression of dense and compact living.
Perhaps inhabitants will get used to them, accepting them as the consequences of urban living.
The only sweet moment is the south glance toward the Glamorgan hill.
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Map of biotic and abiotic flow around site.
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THE CITY OF TO-MORROW AND ITS PLANNING -LE CORBUSIER
A BOOK I READ IN SEARCH OF HOW A CITY OPERATES AND HOW A BUILDING IS ABLE TO INFLUENCE AND IMPROVE THE CITY AS A WHOLE. Man walks in a straight line because he has a goal and knows where he is going; he has made up his mind to reach some particular place and he goes straight to it. Is there a way then to shape how a human walks? Or to provide him with the shortest connection possible to his destination?
THE PACK-DONKEY’S WAY AND MAN’S WAY By Le corbusier’s comparison between the Pack-Donkey’s Way city or Paris and the rectilinear cities of America, I came to conclusion that there was a need to implement an order to control human flow in terms of direction, density, speed and sequence.
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A fragment of MINNEAPOLIS - the Man’s Way city
A Pack-Donkey’s way Paris city has no arteries; it has only capillaries: further growth therefore, implies sickness or death.
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Man
, by reason of his
very nature, practices order; that his actions and his thoughts are dictated by the straight line and the right angle, that the straight line is instinctive in him and that his mind apprehends it as a lofty objective.
My conclusion was, the house, the street, the town, are points to which human energy is directed. These spaces were significant. There was a need to identified them in every site analysis and set up a set of order that they don’t counteract the fundamental ways which we move.
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The winding road is the PackDonkey’s Way, the straight road is man’s way. The winding road is the result of happy-go-lucky heedlessness, of loseness, lack of concentration and animality. The straight road is a reaction, an action, a positive deed, the result of self-masterty. It is sane and noble. A city is a centre of intense life and effort.
There must be an order to elements to make them work as a comprehensive whole. FONG | 35
INSPIRATION THE HIGHLINE, MANHATTAN
The High Line is a public park built on an historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side. A walkway that wraps around and penetrate through building.
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The street (highline) was treated as a performance space both day and night. Lights were concealed in the planking giving it a dim glow. The thought was, what kind of utopian living I wanted to create. FONG | 37
My intention was to introduce meadow greenery into the site, as to bring residents and public closer to nature. I wanted to explore how human flows interact and respond to level changes. THINK | 38
Multiple stacking of flows make each experience at every single point of the journey unique and memorable.
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Collective thoughts on how ant nests are ventilated and on the ecological theme (wind) led me into a concept:
FLOW
THROUGH A MASS The site was treated as a chunky mass with invisible tubes chiseled out for different flow to be channeled through.
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Nobody had been interested in the site because of the fuzziness and business around it. My approach was to draw ‘tubes’ (passages) into the site from the public roads in order to build a residence with well planned circulation.
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TRIAL
Digital image processing Flows of site Parameters Technical illustration Development models Material palette Precedent studies
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A photocollage depicting the first mental image of the iconic residential units and the central landscape that first appeared to me.
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FLOW
THROUGH A MASS
FLOW
Types of flow taken into consideration:
HUMAN FLOW TRAFFIC FLOW WIND FLOW LANDSCAPE (VIEW)
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FLOW
Parameters governing each type of flow:
SPEED DENSITY DIRECTION SEQUENCE
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TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATION Study process of morphology of the site mass. a.
a. The process started by treating the site as a whole mass.
b.
b. The primary flow, human flow and secondary traffic flow around the site was plotted joining 5 main ‘flow source’ identified in site analysis. c. Intersections and dense points were the entry points. Direction wise, the aim was to create the shortest route connecting ‘flow sources’. Speed wise, the funnel shape of the tube wider at the openings channelled people into the site.
c.
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d.
d. Two of the smaller mass became the retail blocks acting as buffer blocks to the large residential block from business of the city. For the completion, the largest block was chiseled to drive people (human flow) to the riverfront.
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WIND FLOW
The residential mass was futher explored based on the parameters. Direction wise, the prevailing south-west wind was channeled through the mass based on the most efficient form resulted from the formfinding process When the wind flow through narrow tubes, it increased in speed allowing a pressure difference to appear between tubes and masses. Hence lower pressure at the tube ‘pull out’ air from the residential units. This allowed a more efficient ventilation for sustainable living. Flowing sequence of wind created 3 seperate masses.
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SOLAR GAIN
Programmes were arranged in the resulted blocks based on size and height. The smallest being the 1 bedroom unit, followed by the 2 bedrooms and 3.
Heights of the blocks were adjusted to allow maximum solar gain for every units.
Varied height enabled view to flow into every living block.
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CIRCULATION
The hierarchical organisation of anthill influenced the decision on units arrangement. Residents started off at a single entry and branched off to their individual living units which is similar to that of anthill. Glazed viewing tube acted as the only platform that linked the 3 communities. Facilities such as gym, swimming pool and carparks were accessed through this platform.
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Apart from serving as a community space, the glazed platform was raised 5 meters above ground, high enough to provide a 360 degrees panaromic view of the city. As one walks in the tube, different perception of the city will become the backdrops for an everchanging play of people in the city. The planted courtyard at the inner ring provides greenery to heal the rugged cityscape.
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car park 3 bedrooms unit community
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Comparative board to summarise the design concept. FONG | 55
A 1:200 model was made with cardboards and corrugated cards to explore the change of levels and spaces in between building masses. The top right shot showed the realisation of glazed platform.
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MASTER PLAN 1:200 MODEL
Superimposition of the model on to site context. The iconic residence units soar above the retail units without competing with the massive millenium building on it’s right. TRIAL | 58
Model in relation to the millenium stadium and the river. It shows how the south carpark and underground carpark of the site are accessed via ramps.
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1 BEDROOM UNIT DRAFT
Mezzanine level floor plan.
Hand drawn ground level floor plan. TRIAL | 60
First intention was to have a massive north glazing overlooking the hills of Glamorgan.
Openings were based on specific function the space behind a wall held. FONG | 61
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TRUTH
Praxis Tectonic realisation Masterplan model Facade model
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A building itself needs to be site specific, as if it was grown out of the soil of the site. Put simply, the question is how to adapt the building to the ground. The manipulation called inflection is also aimed at adaptation. Inflection can mean both curvature and change in the way a word or phrase ends, and in both cases the aim is adaptation to circumstances. The cumulative effect of such manipulations is the emergence of a form suggestive of a biologic system. The aim of life for a homosapien is also to adapt to circumstances. Since failure to adapt can only lead to death, a similarity of form is inevitable as human progresses into the unknown future.
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TECTONIC REALISATION TECHNIQUE: FORMING Forming is the process of creating a 3D form from casting or stretching a material unto a mold. Forming usually involves the digital fabrication of the negative of the desired shape so that multiple parts can then be cast from pouring or stretching or slumping another material on it.
The negative space of the 1:500 massing model
was formed by stacking up laser cutted sections.
before casting plaster into the mould.
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TRUTH | 78
Carefully crafted 1:200 final masterplan model down to every details possible at this scale. A modular facade system was introduced which were carried on from submerged retail units up to residential blocks. Designs of platforms and stairs that lead public into the site were shown here. Even the trees were crafted using wire mesh in manifestation of the material of the surrounding buildings.
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snapshots of experiences and views as one pregresses into the site from public routes around.
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Intersection point of human flow and traffic flow above.
A view from the human walkway which led spectators from the train station to the millenium stadium.
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View of glazed walkway and how it interacted with the planted courtyard.
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Ramp of dual usage. It served both as seating areas and walkway.
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RESIDENTIAL UNIT Double height living room with the influx of amazing view through full height glazing. Mezzanine level bedroom.
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There has to be a monumental space in a house. Where sunset is just beyond ones’ reach. Where one sits after an exausting day, to settle down in the calmness to reflect his day to give account to the satisfaction of inner self until one is overwhelmed by the shimmering reflection of millenium stadium light on the river.
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Modular system made up of transparent (glass), semi-transparent (white frosted glass), and opaque (concrete and black plasterboard)
based on the function of spaces behind them. Semi-transparent and opaque module served as inner storage spaces.
Galvanised steel I-section beam expressed slab edge zone, spanned across the facade dividing it into equal halves.
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Interior of the unit is separated by a series of bespoke perforated metal screens. Together, the overlapping of the screens creates a type of moiré pattern, which constantly shifts and shimmers as you walk through the internal space.
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A calm living space elevated from the business of city ground.
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THE SITE IS IN THE BORDER BETWEEN THE CITY AND THE AREA WHERE THE CITY CHANGES INTO LOW RISE RESIDENTIAL AREA. THE MASTERPLAN TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THIS UNIQUE LOCATION AND GENERATES CONTINUITY WITH THE CITY AND THE LANDSCAPE, CONTRARY TO THE CONVENTIONAL HOUSING, WHICH IS OFTEN ISOLATED AND STOOD BY ITSELF. THE BUILDING IS MEANT TO FIND ITS OWN SPACE IN THIS METAPHYSICAL TERRITORY AND TO BE SEEN FROM AFAR LIKE AN ICON. AT NIGHT IT BECOMES A LANTERN FOR THE RIVERFRONT AND A LIGHTHOUSE FOR THE CITY. THE BUILDING WILL REMAIN LONG IN THE EYES OF THE PASSERBY AND DRIVER OF HIGH SPEED CARS.
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