GSD Core Portfolio 17-19

XIANMING S A N G 2 0 1 7 - 2 0 1 9

HARVARD GSD MARCH 1 21’

CORE PORTFOLIO

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[IM]PERFECT HOMES Affordable Housing Project in Somerville, MA GSD MArch Core IV 2019 Spring Team Work | with Sharon Deng Instructor | Oana Stanescu

“We don’t believe in perfect homes. We believe in homes that are a perfect refelection of the people who live inside.” - IKEA This project attempts to address the diverse and ever-evolving lifestyles of nowadays, and developed a scheme that could evolve with the poeople live inside.

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SAME TRIPLE DECKER

SOMERVILLE, MA

DIFFERENT NEEDS

CAN ARCHITECTURE ADAPT TO DIVERSE AND EVER-EVOLVING LIFESTYLES ?

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XXS

XS

S

M

L

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XL

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LOW-DENSITY

MEDIUM-DENSITY

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HIGH-DENSITY

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LOW-DENSITY

MEDIUM-DENSITY

HIGH-DENSITY

M+L

M+L

M+L

XXS+XL

XXS+XL

XXS+XL

XS+S

XS+S

XS+S

M+L

M+L M+L

M+L

XXS+XL

XXS+XL XXS+XL

XXS+XL

XS+S

XS+S XS+S

XS+S

2F PLAN

2F PLAN

2F PLAN

2F PLAN

2F PLAN

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2F 2F PLAN PLAN

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2F 2F PLAN PLAN

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2F 2F PLAN PLAN

2F PLAN

1F PLAN

1F PLAN

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1F 1F PLAN PLAN

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1F PLAN PLAN 1F

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1F PLAN PLAN 1F

1F PLAN

SECTION

SECTION

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SECTION SECTION

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Low-density

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Medium-density

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High-density

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SITE PLAN 1”=256’

M+L M+L XS+S Commercial XXS+XL XXS+XL XS+S Commercial SITE PLAN Low Density Low Density High DensityHigh Density Medium Density Medium Density 1”=256’

SITE PLAN 1”=256’

Pedestrian Path Public SpacesPublic Spaces Pedestrian Path SITE PLAN 1”=256’

Pedestrian Path

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Public Spaces

UndergroundUnderground UndergroundUnderground Vehicle Access Vehicle Access Loading Parking Loading + Parking Passage PedestrianPassage Path Public+Spaces M+L XS+S Commercial XXS+XL Low Density High Density Medium Density

Vehicle Access

Underground Passage

Underground Loading + Parking

M+L Low Density

XXS+XL Medium Density

XS+S Commercial High Density

Vehicle Access

Underground Passage

Underground Loading + Parking

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BLURRED THRESHOLDS A Sleeping Club in Boston

GSD MArch Core II 2018 Spring Individual Work Instructor | Elizabeth Christoforetti

The project deals with thresholds and askes the question how a threshold can be dissolved to bring people together at urban, building and personal scale. There is a tension between the civic-minded millennials’ desire to stay connected and the demand to sleep well. The Sleeping Club invites citizens to congregate and establish closer relationship in a relaxed unrestrained setting. Club members will sleep together in a collective space, which transforms sleeping into a more intimate way to socialize, with personal space properly respected.

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Buidling As An Urban Threshold On one side, the solid faรงade with slits buffers the highway while allowing lights in.

On the other side, thinner rooms aggregated to create another soft threshold at a larger scale, which differentiates urban space with the central courtyard.

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FICTIVE HYBRID DRAWING

Figure-ground Relation & Thickened Threshold

HRESHOLD CONDTIONS

PRECEDENT STUDY Soane House London, + PROGRAMS CIRCULATION Sir John Soan SOFT LIGHTING CONDITIONS

ROOM TYPE

d Threshold

Thickened Threshold Created by Overlapping

BLURRED THRESHOLDS THRESHOLD CONDTIONS Definitive Threshold

Neutral

Blurred Threshold

Overlapping rooms

Controlled Lighting Figure becomes ambiguous

Functionality

Section Drawing

Privacy

Simplified Section

Direct Light Thick and ambiguous thresholds

Central (Stasis)

Figure-ground Relation Indirect Light& Thickened Threshold

ongregation

Interaction

Thickened Threshold Created by Overlapping Individual rooms merge into a larger one

Separate rooms

Dim Light

Personal Bubble

Section Drawing

By overlapping rooms in different ways, an ambiguous threshold is created between two rooms. In the interstitial space, body belongs to both space. By overlapping more, spaces begin to merge together to form a larger one, in which case the threshold no longer separates spaces but still Figure-ground being able to define territory.

Relation & Thickened Threshold

BLURRED THRESHOLDS

ULATION + PROGRAMS

ROOM TYPE SOFT LIGHTING CONDITIONS

CIRCULATION + PROGRAMS THRESHOLD CONDTIONS

Overlapping rooms

Definitive Threshold Linear (Movement)

Blurred Threshold

Neutral

Controlled Lighting

HTING CONDITIONS

Figure becomes ambiguous THRESHOLD CONDTIONS

Definitive Threshold

View Axis

PRECEDENT STUDY Soane House London, Sir John Soan

Blurred Threshold

Thick and ambiguousPrivacy thresholds Functionality

Dialogue Direct Light

Section Drawing Central (Stasis)

Indirect Light

Individual rooms merge into a larger one

Separate rooms

By overlapping rooms in different ways, an ambiguous threshold is created between two rooms. In the interstitial space, body belongs to both space. By overlapping more, spaces begin to merge together to form a larger one, in which case the threshold no longer separates spaces but still being able to define territory.

Section Drawing

Simplified Section

Dim Light Celebration

Separate rooms

Congregation

Interaction

Personal Bubble

ROOM TYPE

Linear (Movement)

Figure-ground Relation & Thickened Threshold

ThickenedCIRCULATION Threshold + PROGRAMS Created by Overlapping

Neutral

BLURRED THRESHOLDS

CIRCULATION + PROGRAMS

ROOM TYPE

Overlapping rooms

Neutral

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unctionality

Figure-ground Relati r & ThickenedIndividual Thresh into

View Axis

Functionality

Dialogue

Privacy

Figure becomes ambiguous

Central (Stasis) Privacy

Thick and ambiguous thresholds

l )

nteraction

Separate rooms

Celebration

Congregation

Interaction

Personal Bubble

Separate rooms

Personal Bubble

Individual rooms merge into a larger one

By overlapping rooms in different ways, an ambiguous threshold is created between two rooms. In the interstitial space, body belongs to both space. By overlapping more, spaces begin to merge together to form a larger one, in which case the threshold no longer separates spaces but still being able to define territory.

Personal Threshold To promote interaction between members while maintaining individual privacy, rooms adjacent to each other are overlapped to create thick thresholds. In such a way, the boundary defining each space is blurred, allowing simultaneously a sense of territory and interconnection. As club members travelling from top to bottom, the scale of spaces becomes more and more intimate, more overlapping between rooms happens, the threshold becomes more and more ambiguous, encouraging dissolving personal boundary. Finally, in the most extreme case, all the individual sleeping pods (which are half spheres) overlap each other and unite to create a large collective space. But at the same time each individual’s territory is defined by the shape of ceiling and columns, hence achieved interaction as well as privacy.

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Soft Light The geometries of rooms allow different lighting conditions when aggregated together, including direct light, diffused light and the dim light. The lighting conditions combining with programs to create a choreographed circulation spiraling down that leads club members to calm down and finally fall asleep in the sleeping space underground.

SOFT LIGHTING CONDITIONS

THRESHOLD CONDTIONS Definitive Threshold

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Blurred Threshold

Controlled Lighting

Direct Light Section Drawing

Indirect Light Figure-ground Relation & Thickened Threshold

Dim Light

ROOM TYPE

Linear (Movement)

Neutral

CIRCULATION + PROGRAMS

BLUR

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PLAN 5F Gathering Hall 1'=1/8"

DN

Back of House

Gathering Hall

DN

Medium Hall

Sleep

PLAN 1F

Entrance And Plaza 1'=1/8"

Common Room

Restroom

Coat Room Reception

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From Awake to Asleep

PLAN 3F

Meeting And Talking 1'=1/8"

The lighting conditions combining with programs to create a choreographed circulation spiraling down that leads club members to calm down and finally fall asleep in the sleeping space underground.

As club members travelling from top to bottom, the scale of spaces becomes more and more intimate, more overlapping between rooms happens, the threshold becomes more and more ambiguous, encouraging dissolving personal boundary.

Sleep

DN

Meeting

DN

DN Sleep

Lounge

DN

Bar

PLAN B1

Sleeping And Lodge 1'=1/8"

Sleeping

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PRIVATE CARS, SHARED HOMES A Hotel on Top of A Parking Garage in New Haven GSD MArch Core III 2018 Fall Individual Work Instructor | Belinda Tato

Half a century ago, Paul Rudolph designed the Temple Street Garage as a monument for vehicles, celebrating private ownership. Half a century later, a hotel is designed on top of the garage as an anti-monument, promoting shared public life and human-centered experience of its public spaces.

The microsurgery of the existing garage maintains its functionality while brings public life back into the currently inactive neighborhood.

The ground floor is excavated to create a sunken plaza that attracts street activities. The concentrated energy at the bottom is sent to the rooftop by six communication cores, which also lift the new addition structurally. Before entering the hotel, an interstitial stratum with natural landscape and five ethereal light wells overhead prepares visitors for the utopia above. The light wells with spiral staircase around it not only carry daylight down but also serve as circulatory cores that connect and organize all the floors. Rooms are arranged around the light wells like ripples originated from these cores, and finally form terraces that invite nature and activities into the community.

So, by integrating multiple layers of public spaces into the residential complex, a hotel experienced like shared homes is created on top of the existing garage of private cars.

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New Haven city center is suffering from poverty and high crime rate, which might be the cause or result of its inactive street life. Paul Rudolph’s brutalist parking garage, with its powerful and unfriendly presence, even worsen this situation in its surroundings. The garage is supposed to be a monument for vehicles, so it’s not welcoming people and pedestrian at all. Yet today vehicles are no longer celebrated, with more emphasis on greener means of transportation and the booming sharing economy such as Uber and Zipcar. What’s left in the garage today is only its concrete skeleton.

The garage is dead, and should be put in a museum display box.

A MUSEUM OF DEAD BUILDINGS

Why more and more people prefer Airbnb over conventional hotels? It’s not only because of price.

Airbnb offers an imagination of living at home and an opportunity to live a local lifestyle.

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A conventional urban hotel is silent amid noise.

Entering a hotel, we’re isolated, suspended and feeling unsettled. I want a new type of hotel that is grounded within the local life, that makes people feel connected and peaceful.

I proposed an architecture that both preserves the old garage and allows individuality. I was thinking, can we create a neighborhood up in the air?

[AIR]BNB

I want a new type of hotel in the era of sharing economy that is grounded within the local life, rather than suspended. Links between guests and locals are established both through formal approaches and programing strategies. In this way, guests situated within city life feel connected, at home and peaceful.

Formally, the hotel rooms reach down to the ground through six conmunication cores to connect with street life. A new layer of public space is inserted between the garage and the hotel. Communal terraces connecting hotel rooms are created to accommodate communal life within the hotel.

ITERATIVE MASSING MODELS

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To have hotel guests grounded within the locals, the program will be shifting between a hotel and a student apartment. During spring and fall, when students are in campus and the hotel occupancy rate is low, more rooms are rented out as long-term apartments for students. In the summer, when student residents decrease and tourists coming for the events in town increase, more rooms will serve as guest rooms.

The majority of rooms are designed as apartments or suites, since in the summer most guests come as families or groups, in which case an apartment can satisfy the demand for living spaces. This is also to differentiate from the Omni Hotel as a business hotel across the street.

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8F PLAN

A

B

C

SECTION A

SECTION B

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SECTION C

By inserting and creating different layers of public spaces to the parking garage, the microsurgery of Paul Rudolph’s existing monument resulted in an anti-monument that focuses solely on the experience of public spaces.

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ARTIFICIAL NATURE A Film Studio Under Natural Landscape GSD MArch Core II 2018 Spring Individual Work Instructor | Elizabeth Christoforetti

The Film Studio requires an assembly of heterogeneous space and program, on a grey field site with degrees of flexibility. The given program comprises generic human activities including gathering, working and performance, which are transient from outdoors-in and at various scales. The given site requires the student to understand both the apparent fixity of the city and its temporality, which are both related to use. The project thus requires confrontation with known human activity and architectural precedent condensed into type and rethought once again.

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Artificial Nature The site situated in the east coast of South Boston, a reclaimed land from the sea, an industrial grey field, a landscape for machine and vehicles, asserts human’s power over the nature. Today we only rely on an artificial environment to remain connected with the nature.

This project is an irony of the contemporary trends of bringing human back to nature. Beneath the exterior natural scene, is a totally artificial and industrial interior.

The landscape ascends gradually to become the roof, hidden underneath which are small human-scale spaces. Large box-like sound stages have their corner partially popping out from the landscape, read as artificial objects floating in the sea of nature. A semi-underground vehicle path cuts into the middle of the site, unveiling the reality of the building: everything, including the green landscape, is actually artificial.

The structure consists of two parts – solid concrete mass and thin tensile structure roof. Concrete trabeated wall system is used to accommodate small spaces, which also acts as piers for the long-span timber roof. The roof spans between the concrete piers to accommodate sound stages. The

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interior of the solid mass has a uniform orthogonal grid, while the inserted sound stages are misaligned with the grid, leaving small gaps in-between to maintain their clear figural reading.

Each sound stage is designed specifically for a type of movie, and each of them incorporates different structural schemes according to its function.

While the stages have distinct characters, the solid mass with a uniform orthogonal grid unifies all of them.

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1. A natural landscape disguises everything.

1. Disguise 1. Disguise

2. Artificial objects in the landscape are

encountered.

2. Encounter

2. Encounter 2. Encounter

3. The reality is unveiled when visitor entered the building.

3. Unveal

3. Unvea

SECTION

SECTIONSECT S

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PLAN 1F

The Encounter The landscape ascends gradually to become the roof, hidden underneath which are small human-scale spaces. Large box-like sound stages have their corner partially popping out from the landscape, read as artificial objects floating in the sea of nature. The other side towards the water is a massive facade that recveals the boxes inside the landscape.

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PLAN 2F

In-between Courtyards The timber roof spans between the concrete piers to accommodate sound stages. Each sound stage incorporates different structural schemes according to its function.

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MISALIGNED

A Structural Bay Family Aggregated GSD MArch Core II 2018 Spring Individual Work Instructor | Elizabeth Christoforetti

This project uses a finite but evolving structural bay family to explore the possibilities of a shifting spatial experience, and to manipulate the figure-ground reading of the space.

Each folded plate bay opens to create circulation at its center, and to generate larger occupiable spaces through bay aggregation. The bay system migrates between grids to magnify spatial transformation from closed to open, and from grand hypostyle hall to mundane cellular room aggregation.

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SECTION

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The Drama of Space From the most confined and enclosed areas to the open areas, the bay with a cross in the middle gradually opens the space at its center and splits it into four parts; at this moment in the bay family transformation, each module becomes dependent on its neighbor, resulting in enclosed and conditioned space. In areas that are most open, the bay structures are no longer perceived as independent figures as folded columns.

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Entering the site by a boat, a field of independent column objects defines diagonal axes in the open space. As one goes deep into the space, the columns becomes higher, squeezing towards each other to merge into an aggregated structural system; the space becomes cellular, dark, and confined. Making the most of the column objects, the space inside the stones becomes occupiable. As one debarks, the columns merge to form a network of rooms. In the final sequence, the visitor emerges into an open and bright space, equally defined by landscape and bay aggregation. The experiential sequence, traveling from light to dark and reentering the light, completes here.

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JUMP CUT

From Incompatible Sections to An Architectural Form GSD MArch Core I 2017 Fall Individual Work Instructor | Zeina Koreitem

Jump cut refers to a technique in film editing where there is an abrupt transition in the film that makes the subject appear to jump from one spot to the other, without continuity. The two given sections are jump cuts. They appear incompatible with respect to geometry, axes, structure, location of circulation, and volume distribution, but finally merged in one architecture through formal manipulations.

SECTION A

SCALE: 1/16” = 1’-0”

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SECTION B

SCALE: 1/16” = 1’-0”

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64 My approach is to extract horizontal and vertical volumes in the sections and string them together using continuous folding surfaces.

A horizontally folded surface connects all horizontal elements, and a vertical one connects all vertical elements. Then the two surfaces are trimed and assembled to become a form with two halves.

The horizontal half consists of open floor plans scattered with small vertical walls, and the vertical half is a vertical space with several horizontal platforms. The two halves with distinct characters coexist and suplement each other both in terms of structure and circulation.

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HIDDEN ROOM Choreographed Spatial Perception GSD MArch Core I 2017 Fall Individual Work Instructor | Zeina Koreitem

This project involves designing a group of five rooms, one of which seems to be hidden from the other four.

In my project, the hidden room is always changing, dependent on which room the viewing subject is in. As a viewing subject, one always considers “the other” that cannot be seen as hidden. We frame the other things into our modes of thinking and understanding, and when the other cannot be conceptualized, it is hidden from us. But simultaneously, “the other” might be also a viewing subject that looks back at us, so in a way we can be also hidden from “the other”.

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My device is an inaccessible lightwell with all 5 rooms arranged around it. When you are inside one of the rooms looking into the lightwell through a window, on the opposite side there will be one room hidden behind the wall of the lightwell.

I achieved this illusion by optical strategies. The viewer’s projecting visual rays framed by the window puncture the exterior building envelope and create an opening on the envelope. So that the viewer sees through the room into the exterior without registering the room behind the window.

When you move from one room to another, the hidden room changes according to which window you are looking out from. Thus, a room could be either where the viewing subject situates or the object hidden from other viewers. In this sense there is a doubling of hiddenness.

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ROOM X (Last Hidden Room)

ROOM 4

ROOM 3 (First Hidden Room)

ROOM 2

ROOM 1

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OUTSIDE

XIANMING S A N G 2 0 1 7 - 2 0 1 9