LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN PORTFOLIO Y1S2 Over the past semester, we were made to acquire fundamental skills in design and communication while cultivating the appropriate mindset via the production of drawings and models with professional “precision” and “perfection”. In order to achieve this, one has to be able to handle to scale, dimension, and quantity appropriately and accurately, with a professional sense of carefulness and a quest for the ideal and perfection. The main goal of this semester was to produce “quality” drawings and models as the prime means of design and communication. The studio sessions are aimed at developing both graphical and crafting skills. There was three projects which specifically deal with 3 different scales: (1)City (2)Architecture (3)Human. In each of these projects, we have explored how to design and operate at different scales, addressing the appropriate functions and capacities for our built environment. “As in music education mastery of the basics must come before interpretation and only after this can students begin composition.” – Prof. Tay Kheng Soon
P1
THE MASS CUSTOMISED CITY City Scale, 1:500 Week 1 - 4
P2
SPACEWHEEL Architecture Scale, 1:50 Week 5 - 8
P3
CO-EXISTENCE ∙ BOX Human Scale, 1:1 Week 9 -12
P1 CITY A brief by Professor Tay Kheng Soon. The general meaning of the term “morphology” is the systematic description of shape and form. In biological usage, the comparative classification of the shape characteristics of an organism is called taxonomy. Morphology, when applied to urban architectural design, is about the specific characteristics of form, i.e. the height, the width, and the length of a building, and its footprint on the land. The comparative characteristics of different building morphologies are collectively referred to as “typology”. The purpose of this introductory studio on morphology is for us to gain, at an early stage of their architectural education, a grasp of the relationship between quantity and quality, or between form and concept (meaning). Urban architecture must understand the relationship between form and density. This kind of knowledge is important but too often neglected in architecture schools everywhere. Each studio will select a location in Singapore that they are familiar with. Thus we will generally know its quality, i.e. its density, appearance, openness or compactness etc. A 500 m circle will be demarcated around the target area. This is the “gross site” area. The total floor area is calculated by measuring the plan area of all the buildings within this site, then multiply this by the heights to get the total floor area. This will be multiplied by the average storey height (3.5 m) to obtain the total volume. The brief calls for a redesign of the layout with the same volume by making different layout models at 1:500 scale. Groups of three will do this by making strips of floor widths at 1:500 scale and deploying these within the 500 m site at 1:500 scale. There will be many different layouts and building morphologies within a studio group. These can then be compared and discussed as to their liveability and the quality of the public spaces.
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P1: CITY
PRECEDENCE STUDY We took precedence of several cities that was listed in Mercer’s Living Quality Survey such as Vienna, Paris and Prague. These are cities that have consistently ranked the top few over the past few years. We were interested in knowing what are some of the qualities of their built environment that allow these cities to rank so highly in the survey. We had calculated their (1) total land area (2) total buildable area (3) road area (4) unbuilt area (5) total GFA and (6) plot ratio.
PARIS, FRANCE Total Land Area: 196 349 m2 Buildable Area: 153 294 m2 Building Footprint: 169 445 m2 Road Area: 16 722 m2 Unbuilt Area: 4 645 m2 GFA: 1 320 485 m2 Plot Ratio: 6.68
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC Total Land Area: 196 349 m2 Buildable Area: 153 294 m2 Building Footprint: 86 896 m2 Road Area: 34 939 m2 Unbuilt Area: 45 143 m2 GFA: 396 766 m2 Plot Ratio: 2.02
VIENNA AUSTRIA EXISTING SITE: PUNGGOL Total Land Area: 196 349 m2 Buildable Area: 153 294 m2 Total GFA: 500 338 m2 Building Footprint: 59 925 m2 Max Height: 18 storeys Plot Ratio: 3.26
Total Land Area: 196 349 m2 Buildable Area: 153 294 m2 Building Footprint: 181 000 m2 Road Area: 10 000 m2 Unbuilt Area: 5 349 m2 GFA: 544 810 m2 Plot Ratio: 3.01
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P1: CITY
PROCESS P1
1
2
In A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, a correlation between community engagement and building height is implied back by research from the British Medicial Journal. People in highrise were more likely to experience feelings of isolation compared to residents in lowrise buildings. Low rise also contribute to more pedestrian friendly streets with greater views of the sky and openess and as a result improves the quality of life in the city. As such, in our exploration process we tried to keep to maximum of four storey per block.
First we broke down all existing gross floor area into rectangle pieces of 12 000 x 24 000 mm, to give us an overview what is the relation between the amount of area we need to built/provide with the ground area we have (500m diameter circle). In total, we have 17500 rectangle pieces (as depicted above)
3
As a result of our previous finding (step 2), we double the number of storey per block to eight. This is not to say that we stray away from idea of four storeys (as reference from Christopher Alexander). With this, it gives us ample amount of public spaces on ground level, spaces for roads and pavements and a relatively low building height.
Next, we put it in blocks of four storey only to find out that it is impossible. By doing so, there will be no roads, no public spaces and everything will be uniform (no legibility).
4
We went one step ahead to see how could we free up more ground spaces for public life. We ended up abutting two blocks together on its breadth. Now that we realise that only with a minimum of 8 storeys , we would have sufficient space for public activities and roads. The question then becomes how could we maintain 4 storeys maximum separation to street. We explored with blocks of four storeys, and how we could have a ‘second street level’ for the upper storeys so no apartments will be more than four storey away from the street level.
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
PROCESS P2
P1: CITY
We questioned what makes a cities more liveable, and we derived with the following factors (1) daylighting (2) natural ventilation (3) legibility (4) circulation (5) sky factor (6) community life. Upon deriving with these factors, we test it upon all the configuration we have. With a radar chart showing the results of the various liveability factor, we chose the design.
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P1: CITY
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P1: CITY
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P1: CITY
PURPOSE: TO CREATE AND APPLY A LOGICAL AND EMPIR ICAL METHOD BY COMBINING QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ASPECTS OF URBAN DESIGN TO CREATE A HIGHLY LIVEABLE CITY IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
DESIGN CONCEPT: TO DESIGN A FRAMEWORK FOR INHABITANTS TO CO-CREATE THEIR CITY USING MASS CUSTOMISATION FOR ORGANIC GROWTH AND HIGH LIVABILITY.
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P1: CITY
CO-CREATION - USERS AS DESIGNERS THE MASS CUSTOMISED CITY Total Land Area: 196 349 m2 Buildable Area: 153 274 m2 GFA: 511 488 m2 Building Footprint: 62 208 m2 Max Height: 8 storeys Plot Ratio: 3.33
The users need to be the designers of their own cities. How liveable a city is is dependent on individual needs and wants. Who else know ones needs and wants better themselves. However, saying so, we can’t eliminate the role of architects in this process. Architects are needed as they are more informed in the realm of design, and would be able to give critical advice to the users - the buuldability, the feasibility. The architect need to the mediator, the administrator and the person who executes the design.
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P1: CITY
MASS CUSTOMISATION
POSSIBILE OUTCOMES DIFFERENT MASSES/FORMS
DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS/PROGRAMS
DIFFERENT GREEN SPACES
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P1: CITY
SYSTEMS FOR ORGANIC GROWTH 1. CRANE SYSTEM
2. GANTRY SYSTEM
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P1: CITY 3. FLYING CRAFT: DRONE/BLIMP
ADVANCEMENT IN DRONE TECHNOLOGY
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P1: CITY
PHYSICAL MODEL 1:500 THE MASS CUSTOMISED CITY In our current built environment, need changes, people change but our buildings does not change. We need a built environment that morphs and evolves with the users, only then we are able to call our city liveable. A city that stays relevant. All in all, what we envision is that, in the near future, it will be the users who will be designing their city – a city they can call their own. To allow for the constant morphing and organic growth we came up with several bold ideas/ systems that could be put in place to make our concept
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P1: CITY
PHYSICAL MODEL 1:500
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P2 architecture A brief by Tomohisa Miyauchi, Senior Lecturer Each studio is given an urban site of 50 m x 50 m which needs to be subdivided into 8–10 lots with a street and public area. Each student will be allocated a lot and will be the owner/client of the lot. There is no limitation to the uses of the plot of land, and could be dictated by the studio. The site is flat and has no height limit, but underground structures are not allowed. Each student will take the roles of an Architect, the Builder and the Client. As the client (owner) of the lot, we are to draft a program of your “dream” building. We will then need to appoint one of our studio mate as our architect to design it and another of our studio mate to build the model. As the architect, we would need to consult the client to understand the program so we can meet his/her expectations/requirements by producing sketches and drawings (1:50) to communicate our design intent. On behalf of the client, we are to resolve any issues such as adjacency with neighbours. After the designing of the building with the basic agreement of the client, we would need to appoint yet another studio mate as the builder of our design. We are to prepare and produce drawings in 1:50 scale to communicate your design intent to the builder. The architect has to address any questions by the builder to ensure the quality of the building (model), and to keep track of the progress. As the builder, we are to build a building (model in 1:50 scale) according to the design by the architect. The builder is not allowed to talk to the client directly, and should direct any questions to the architect. The builder may suggest the use of materials. The building (model) is to be delivered to the client.
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P2: ARCHITECTURE
DESIGN BRIEF ∙ SITE The site is a plot of land of 50 by 50 metres. Divided equally into 8 plots of land with a 3m walkway in the middle, each plot of land is own by a venture capitalist. Every venture capitalist has a vision that they hope to benefited society in the future. Thus, they engaged architects that uses architectural solutions and technologies to help empower their vision. The architects uses the space to design a living lab whereby live+ work + play coexists for the client to test bed their technology.
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P2: ARCHITECTURE
BACKGROUND ∙ CLIENT Outer space has been in existence since the start of time. However, as cited from NASA, out of 7.4 billion human population only 536 person been to space. Space travel has always been limited by two things (1) Physical Space (2) Cost. My client eliminated this two factor by creating BA330. BA330 is a inflatable space habitat that increases the space of an existing ISS capsule by three times. In addtion, due to the material it uses to create BA330, it reduces the cost of construction of a space capsule to a fraction.
DESIGN CONCEPT TO EXPLORE HOW SPACE TECHNOLOGY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING IN SPACE INFORMS A NEW FORM OF ARCHITECTURE ON EARTH.
Characteristics of living in space - No notion of floors, due to zero gravity - Not limited to lateral movements, but vertical too.
BUBBLE DIAGRAM
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P2: ARCHITECTURE
DESIGN PROCESS
CIRCULATION
FUNCTIONS AND PROGRAMS
LIVING WHEEL
SERVICE WHEEL
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P2: ARCHITECTURE
PUBLIC VS PRIVATE
CONSTRUCTION DETAILS
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P2: ARCHITECTURE
EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P2: ARCHITECTURE
FLOORPLANS
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P2: ARCHITECTURE
SECTION
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P2: ARCHITECTURE
ELEVATION
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P2: ARCHITECTURE FAREAST SOHO - 1 200 m3 SPACEWHEEL - 800 m3
FUTURE OF DENSE URBAN LIVING
- Smaller building footprint - Multi-functional - Versatile - Efficient space use
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P2: ARCHITECTURE
CONSTRUCTION DRAWINGS
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P2: ARCHITECTURE
CONCEPTUAL MODELS
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P2: ARCHITECTURE
PHYSICAL MODEL 1:50
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P2: ARCHITECTURE
PHYSICAL MODEL 1:50
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P2: ARCHITECTURE
PHYSICAL MODEL 1:50
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3 human A brief by Assoc. Prof. Fong Hoo Cheong The brief is divided into two tasks. The end result, will be a 2 metre by 2 metre architectural box. Task A – Precedence study How did natural phenomena such as sound, light, air movement, colour, and surface manifest themselves in this piece of Architecture? How was it influenced by architectural elements such as surface, material, tectonic detail, solid/void composition, space/form distortions, proportion, geometry etc.? What was the operating strategy? In other words, how were the phenomena modulated by architectural elements, or how did the design modify the phenomena? We are to make precise sketches of these reflections and recapitulations. These sketches should be done carefully so that they are useful in our discussion with our studio master. This space and the way we describe it will be the precedent for Task B. Task B – An architectural box For Task B, the observations and understanding of a precedent in Task A are applied as a design exercise, during which a space/form construct of minimal size is designed by the individual. This is an important part of the exercise as it should demonstrate not only the ability to understand space/ form/phenomena, but also the ability to create space/form/phenomena that is directed by a precedent space. The solution should be executed via a set of operations that are as clear as the precedent architecture. “Elegance is the key for design.”
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
PRECEDENCE STUDY: CHURCH OF LIGHT, TADAO ANDO
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
PRECEDENCE STUDY: CHURCH OF LIGHT, TADAO ANDO
1. Using geometry and the contrast of solid and voids to define spaces and direct circulation 2. Changing materiality without changing physicality
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
DESIGN CONCEPT To create an experience for a user by creating a transition between two contrasting spaces 1. Light and Shaded / Solid and Void / Open and Enclosed 2. Expansion and Contraction of Space To challenge the planar quality of timber, using planar members/timber to create curves. The end result was a parabola, that act as the floor (at the entrance), and as a wall dividing the two spaces when the user is inside the box.
ENCLOSED DARK/SHADED PUBLIC CONTRACTION
OPEN LIGHT/LITTED PRIVATE EXPANSION
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
TRANSITION THROUGH SPACES The parabola dictates the posture and movement of the user. The parabola expands, the parabola contracts, these tells the user when to crawl down and when one could stretch and stand. One start by climbing, then crawling through the entrance, dropped into a dark space subsequently made to crawl under the parabola only to realise a larger space when the parabola fans out on the other side. When the user is transiting through all these different postures, he/she is moving from an enclosed space to an open space, from a dark space to a litted space, from a space that contracts to a space that expands. The experience starts when one sees the box. From a distance. one would be able to see the activities in the box. As the entrance is not a typical door opening, it draws on ones curiosity to discover how to get into the box. They would soon discover a step up into a ‘tunnel’ later to realise it is a ‘hole’ that they need to drop in.
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
THE PARABOLA The floor, the wall, the fascade, the experience.
FRONT ELEVATION
TOP ELEVATION
BOTTOM ELEVATION
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
THE CONSTRUCTION Extra attention was given to the heirachy of structural elements. Larger timber was chosen for the main structural element (75mm), for the secondary structural element (25mm, 50mm) smaller timber was used. This does not only answer for the functional aspect - the loading, it adds to the overall aesthethic of the structure. For the joineries, we used metal joints extensively. (bolts, buts, L-brackets). We exposed these joints intentionally. We also used wooden dowels to joint members together, as some of the joints were too cluttered. For the foundation of the structure, concrete plinths was used to mediate the slope and to provide for addtional structure stability.
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
PHYSICAL MODEL 1: 20
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
JOINERIES SKETCHES
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
JOINERIES SKETCHES
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
PROCUREMENT PROCESS
UNDERSTANDING THE SITE
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
MAKING MEASUREMENTS AND MARKINGS
RESOLVING JOINERIES
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
PREPARATION OF MATERIALS: VARNISHING, CUTTING AND DRILLING
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
FOUNDATION WORKS
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
OFF-SITE PREPARATION
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
ROOF WORKS
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
INSTALLING THE PARABOLA
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
INSTALLING PLYWOOD PANELS
INSTALLING FLOOR JOIST
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
THE EXPERIENCE
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
THE EXPERIENCE
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
THE PARABOLA
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
THE FACADE
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
THE DETAILS
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
P3: HUMAN
LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO
READY FOR MY NEXT ADVENTURE Y2S1 LOW BENG WEE, GAVIN | Y1S2 PORTFOLIO