ARCHI TECT URE
/
ZHANG
JINGYUAN
PORT FOLIO AR 18/19 NUS Y1S1
LIANG LIT HOW STUDIO
C O
Ethics, Wellbeing, and Community
Ethics in Environmental Design Elements of Architecture Community Kitchen
N
T E N T S
Culture, Tradition, and Identity
Sense of Scale Constructing the Intangible City
Resource, Sustainability and Tropical Climate
Possibility of Material Tropical Paradigm Geometry and Composition
Ethics in Environmental Design
UNLUCKY PLAZA Prologue: Ethics concerns a crucial category of design that is reducible neither to aesthetics nor technology. However, ethics precedes the judgment of beauty and the question of ‘how to do’ (or know-how)—only if because ethics is first necessary to define our position and approach to any design problem. For example, regarding the problem of homelessness, a designer can propose a shelter as the solution, or frame this as the challenge of creating pockets of spaces in the city for these homeless individuals. To select one, the designer first has to know where he or she stands on the issue of homelessness—and this position neither presumes the aesthetic nor the technological. And to know where to stand on this issue then requires the designer to be morally sensitive,and able to reason ethically. In design, we would call these considerations knowledge of ‘design ethics’.
Assignment: To become more aware of design ethics, we start off by observing artefacts of design and asking ourselves the following questions: (i) What was the (design) problem? (ii) What was the likely ethical position behind the way the design solved the problem? (iii) What are the solution’s benefits, and what harm did/could it cause? (iv) How can we design better if we change the original ethical position?
OVERVIEW location pavement outside lucky plaza
ethi
Irreverent placement of d in the conglomeration spatial quality and user
by the fact that food k
closely to each other, c
ratings
on
eth
individuality vs confo
tradition vs innovatio need to consume vs
single use vs multiple honesty of material
quality after human i attitude of caring
aesthetics vs function
cal
issue
dustbins near food vendors results of smokers, which undermines experience. This is compounded
kiosks and shops are aligned too
compromising barrier-free access.
PROPOSED SOLUTION
hics
ormity
on need to conserve
e use
intervention
n
1/5 1/5 1/5 2/5 4/5 0/5 1/5 3/5
CONCEPT As smoking is most often linked to detrimental health effects, we came up with a concept of a smoking point resembling the internal structure of the lungs. Functionality wise, the building material will be perforated metal panels filled with activated charcoal - an effective natural air purifier that absorbs the pollutant particles.
DESIGN INTENTION
Designing the smoking point in the shape of the lungs seemed too literal, so we decided to focus on the mechanism of the lungs instead - how alveoli (countless permeable sacs for gas exchange) enable us to breathe. The
key
Hence,
is we
its
substantial
decided
on
area
a
to
volume
multi-faceted
ratio.
geometric
structure that will increase area to volume ratio, thus the
amount
improving
of the
activated efficiency
charcoal of
usable,
pollutant
thereby removal.
side
top
back
Elements in Architecture
THE CLOUD Prologue: A building is composed of various elements. In the past, architectural thinkers tried to explain the origin of architecture by identifying the fundamental elements of architecture. MarcAntoine Laugier’s famous drawing, the primitive hut, represents vertical trees, horizontal beams, and roof trusses as the essentials, which correspond to the column, the entablature, and the pediment of classic architecture. Gottfried Semper used a Caribbean hut as a theoretical model for his “four elements of architecture”: the hearth, the roof, the th th enclosure, and the mound. Elementalism became the backdrop of the modern paradigm of functionalism. Claiming that “a house is a machine for living in”, Le Corbusier tried to update architectural elements as if they were mechanical parts.
Assignment: Field Study and Analysis: Each group will select one of the 107 hawker centres in Singapore from Observe the hawker centre in terms of elements of architecture and come an analysis and learning points in architectural elements, climate, and
existing the list the four up with terms of culture.
Design Charrette: Design a new type of hawker centre based on the group’s observation. The location can be anywhere but the focus should be more on the design of the architectural elements. The size of the hawker centre should be 20 m x 20 m. It must be square in plan, but there are no height restrictions.
Through the analysis of nine square grid, the hierarchy of central space + peripheral spaces becomes apparent. The hawker centre is thus, our experimental process of arranging architectural elements in a grid organisation, to develop a sensible order of form and space that simultaneously caters to the context of tropical climate.
The “cloud� is essentially a tensile roof draped over the hawker centre, acting as a functional shelter. Our design intention was also to achieve a unique form through the exaggeration of one element - roof.
table and chairs for diners
arrangement of columns, stairs and floor panels
Community Kitchen
ENABLING VILLAGE
Prologue: To design a good building, the architect has to hear and understand the real needs of its potential users. Architecture is more than a piece of art; it has social values that it uses to serve the people. So, first, the capacity of the architect should start with empathy, a sense that the architect will feel for the needs of users and aspire to make the world a better place than before. With empathy, architects can start to define the real issues and come up with the right questions to be addressed. What if our design process were more empathetic, with designers and users collaborating to define the real issues for a meaningful design outcome? How do we engage the users in our design process?
Assignment: This week, the studio will explore the idea and process of participatory design. The goal is not the final design/product of the community kitchen, but to design a process whereby architects are able to listen to the needs of users to define the design challenges. The main task is to design a “process� to orchestrate user participation. None of us will be experts in kitchen design, but we can be experts in involving and facilitating people to define the design challenges.
ENABLING VILLAGE @REDHILL
AEIOU ANALYSIS Activities: various training programmes for the disabled and senior citizens Environment: disabled-friendly and curated to facilitate social interactions Interaction: social interactions among caretakers, volunteers and the disabled Objects: various facilities that help the disabled develop new skills Users: the disabled, caretakers, volunteers, visitors and family members
BUSINESS ORIGAMI Business Origami forms a geospatial map that places personas (disabled, caretakers, volunteers, visitors and family members) in the context of Enabling Village and the lines intersect where social interactions happen the most frequently.
Instead of traditional long tables and linear arrangement which limits communication, we came up with the concept of a circular kitchen. selecting Users can arrange the trapezoid cabinets in different layouts and heights according to their preferences and fill them up with dispensers/ingredient baskets. preparing Users can slide the kitchen counters of different functions and heights along the designated circular tracks. cooking users can arrange the triangular stove-tops within the hexagonal frame to piece together a central cooking station that accomodattes all users.
A Sense of Scale
K u a l a Te r e n g g a n u Prologue: A sense of scale is indispensable in understanding architecture and drawing. When we say a space is ‘tight’, ‘cosy’, or ‘oversized’ or overwhelming for a particular purpose, we are referring to a sense of ‘human scale’ or the measure of space required for human activity. The fine-scale measure of space and form for bodily movements for various tasks requires familiarity with the domain of study named anthropometry. An awareness of the human body’s dimensions also serves as a measure for estimation. A sense for proportion refers to dimensions of parts in relation to the whole and is essential in visual estimation when documenting what you see. Familiarity with dif erent scales and the required level of details of construction is also fundamental to architectural drawing.
Assignment: (a) understand the morphology of the old city (overview provided during walking orientation tour) and be able to discern neighbourhoods as socio-morphological units (combining both a socio-cultural and physical, architectural-morphological perspective) (b) document and learn about building typology from the field, so as to understand model variations (c) document and learn about anthropometry from the field, in street activities and culture of the sidewalk and five-foot-way (public/private thresholds, economic activity, street life)
C I T Y K U A L A T E R E N G G A N U
N B H D C H I N A T O W N
Chinese-Baroque style carving inside the arch
Motif on glazed ceramic tiles
shophouse facade, Kampung Cina
Teck Soon Heritage Museum, isometric
five-foot way, Kampung Cina The walkway along Chinatown in Kuala Terengganu not only serves a passageway to different shophouses, but also functions as a multi-use public space for the residents. For instance, many locals utilise the space for landscaping and social interactions.
Sketches
floating mosque
crystal mosque
Terengganu state museum
residence @fishing village
fishing boats
THE
Prologue:
Architecture is an art and synthesis of all those capacities. To become architects with such myriad capacities, it is essential that we be able to observe, feel with deep sincerity, and be empathetic to the people whom we serve as designers of their home and city. Only with such strong foundations and values can architects deploy their skill and technology for the betterment of our built environment. This week, studio will explore our capacities to be expressed via an artistic process called collage and collagraphy, collaboration with Singapore Tyler Print Institute.
CUBE
Assignment: Art and Architecture: Students will have an introduction to the artworks and exhibition at STPI, to cultivate an understanding of how artists conceptualize their artworks and carefully put together their ideas and processes when crafting their works. Collage and City: Students will understand the notion of collage and bricolage in relationship to the formation and morphology of urban space and city. Collagraphy, Embossing, Frottage: Based on the understanding of the techniques from the demonstration on Monday, each team will explore how to deploy the techniques in architectural model, drawing and documentation.
M A R G I N A L I S A T I O N is epitomised by the unconque
The tesseract, a four-dimensional analogue of the cube, rep
The marginalised are represented by the peripheral “slum� p
erable abyss between dimensions.
presents a higher dimension that we are incapable of comprehending.
prints, who can only grasp the shadow of the light shone upon them by the higher. transcendent dimension.
Possibility of Material
WA S + E B R I C K Prologue: This week “Exploring the Possibility of Material” gives the participants the possibility to develop and test alternative construction materials made from renewable resources. In this workshop we will search for 3 basic material properties in alternative material resources: A binder that acts as a glue, a filler that acts as compressive member, and a tensile element. The students will learn that alternative resources can fulfill one or many of these attributes. The lecturer will introduce the concept of resource scarcity, life-cycle assessment and alternative construction materials. The problem of sustainable use of resources in construction as well as in all other industries is not isolated nor restricted to one material: energy, space, time, human capital, eco-system services etc. can all be considered resources and in a circular economy where nothing would go to waste.
Assignment: Identify a scarce resource (natural, artificial, energetic, waste product, space, etc.) describe the pressure this resource exercises on an ecosystem, describe the consequences of a ‘conventional’ continuous resource exploitation or waste accumulation. - Speculate on the potential of your resource and identify the gap in perception: Why it has not been activated so far? Explain your approach to activate it and describe the external parameters necessary to make this approach viable. - Apply a transformation technique (a concept explained by the lecturer) to the resource and produce an object that could be considered a building material. Develop and document this technique or tool.
ENVISIONED APPLICATION OF WAS+EBRICK AS CONSTURCTION MATERIAL FOR SELF-ASSEMBLED SHELTERS IN REFUGEE CAMPS
IDENTIFY & ACTIVATE
T R A N S F O R M
Prologue: “Are those involved aware that they have perhaps unwittingly legitimised the primacy of the cube and the surface plane as the language of form and space applied to the problem of tropical aesthetics notwithstanding the physics of tropical design?” Tay Kheng Soon “‘Neo-tropical’ had the motive not only to restore but also to challenge the current status of topicality. We are, in no way, claiming higher or a totally new ground. However, it is timely to challenge certain comfortable notions of the all-important issue of identity usually tied to the vernacular. What is Singapore’s vernacular anyway?” Chan Soo Khian As prospective architects educated and trained in the tropical region, how would you weave the threads of the language of form and space to define architecture that is deeply rooted in the climate, culture, and context of Singapore?
TROPICA PA
Assignment: Tropical Paradigm: Each team is to compose their own statement defining tropicality in architecture and city. Tropical Architecture: Based on the statement, create an envelope that encloses a square void of 600 mm x 600 mm, or a circle of 600 mm diameter.
AL RADIGM
Spider lily is a plant commonly found in the Tropics, particularly in Singapore. Its unique form inspired us to create a tropical paradigm with two overlapping overhangs, with an internal skeletal structure similar to the form of its petals.
The diagrams above analyse Sun’s path as seen in Singapore (at the Equator), which show that sunlight at noon deviates the most from the vertical during summer and winter solstice (23.5 degrees), and sunshading is a major design concern for local architecture. We decided to make our tropical paradigm face the North-South direction due to this concern.
“Tropical architecture nature and artifice meaningful relationsh
The two overlapping shelters constitute louvered walls slanted at a desirable angle so that ventilation is guaranteed, while sunshading and rainproofing are not compromised.
e is a mediator between to create a new and hip between the two.�
Geometry and Composition
Bridge and Dome
Prologue:
Assignment:
“Everything man is doing in architecture is to try to go against nature. Of course, we have to understand nature to know how far we have to go against nature. The secret, I think, of the future is not doing too much. All architects have the tendency to do too much.” Frei Otto
Each team will design two types of structure: Span(bridge) + Dome (Roof)
“I don’t want to undress architecture. I want to enrich it and add layers to it. Basically like in a Gothic cathedral, where the ornament and the structure form an alliance.” Cecil Balmond
a. bridge a gap between two parallel edges 600mm apart. (Span)
Architects and structural engineers work hand in hand to come to artistic solutions and innovations that reconcile humanity and nature, aesthetics and function, material usage and multiple usages of spaces. With these considerations in mind, how can we generate a unique structure and envelope that suits people, nature, and the environment in the tropics?
By
limiting the absolute linear dimension of each form to no more than 100mm the following:
b. enclose a square void of 400mm X400mm (Dome) The minimum rise of the span is to be no less than 50mm. The load at mid-point as a point load shall be two full coke cans in weight. Gluing is not allowed.
R E S E A
R
Meridional forces are compressive and only increase towards the base Hoop forces are compressive in the upper zone and tensile in the lower zone Transition from compressive hoop forces to tensile hoop forces occurs at angle of from 45 to 60
C
degrees from the vertical axis
H
Ring beams are usually employed to provide lateral thrust constraint
The bridge is a three-hinged, parabolic arch
A direct, vertical force acting from the top (D) will cause the arch to expand outwards at the bottom to th e same extent on both sides. Abutments (A) are usually employed to prevent this
phenomenon
from
occurring.
M O D
I
U
D
L
E
E
Rectangular module with slits
Join
A T I O N
Angled module (150 degrees) with slits
nery between rectangular and angled modules
Joinery between angled modules
Ability to form lateral bracing allows for a structure that can withstand torsion better Structure withstands vertical compression well due to consistent and good beam depth
B R I D G
E
S
lig
b
pre
c
Co
stru
Single layer allows for
ghtness in structure to
be achieved while still
eserving adequate and
consistent beam deoth
onsistent lateral bracing throughout ensures
uctural stability against torsion
Maximum load: 4.2 kg Self-weight of span: 0.15 kg Live load to dead load ratio: 32:1
E L E V A T I O N
P L A N
D O
Org
re
M E
Ade
of do
struc
ganised tessellation
esults in lightness of structure
equate beam depth
ome arches increases
ctural stability against deformation
Maximum load: 6.5 kg Self-weight of span: 0.13 kg Live load to dead load ratio: 50:1
E L E V A T I O N
P L A N
Special thanks to Liang, Audris, Ann, Himani, Gwen, Cheryl, Nabila, LX, Ryan, George, Zhef and Zhi Ha
ao