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SKY CAVITY
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THE PACKING PUZZLE
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BIG "URBAN" BOX
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INSTITUTIONAL CRITIQUE
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REGENERATION
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DOWNTOWN ATHLETIC CLUB 2.0
Skyscraper Fall 2010 Fourth Year Studio-"Megaplexity", B.S.Arch, UVa Penn Station, New York City, NY, USA 250,000 sqft Instructor: Michael Beaman
SKY CAVITY 02
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his is a parametric studio investigating formal strategies in the design of high rise tower in a congested urban condition. The site is right across the street from Penn Station, on top of the existing USPS building. Whether to commemorate the glorious past of the Penn Station or to completely
fig 1.1
Top: New York Skyline in vision.
fig 1.2
Opposite: Concept Sketch.
ignore it is left to personal discretion. Grasshopper on rhino is employed as the main tool of investigation and is itself explored as a design technique.
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fig 1.3
Top: Design Process Diagrams.
There were two general characters of existing towers that the design set out to address: 1. Cave-like interior corridors that cut out views from the internal public spaces. 2. Spaces are generally confined to floors and in lack of floor-to-floor interaction. 04
fig 1.4
Opposite: Sectional perspective showing programmatic relationships.
In one word towers don’t feel like towers from the inside. This led the project to focus primarily on circulation and public spaces: how to open up and expose them without sacrificing rentable area with city views for offices and other purpose.
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fig 1.6
Top: Parametric logic diagrams.
fig 1.7
Opposite top: Interior view in the "Sky Cavity" looking down.
fig 1.8
Opposite bottom: Interior view in the "Sky Cavity" looking down.
The design intended to bring public views and solar exposure to core circulation without sacrifice rentable areas’ benefit. Sky cavities not only bring external but also internal exposure to the inside of the tower which are usually not exciting place to be. The final form intended to construct a monolithic form with obvious fragmented parts. The tower is 06
divided into several functional groups with regard to their respective views and their height above the ground and is connected to the train station from underground, therefore creating a modern high density transportation hub.
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Urban Design Spring 2012 Third Year Core Studio-"URBAN CODE", MArch I AP, GSD Queen, New York City, NY, USA 5000,000 sqft Instructor: Michael Piper Teammates: Alex Watchman, Lulu Li, Kelly Motly
THE PACKING PROBLEM 08
fig 2.1
Top: Site map, Queens, New York.
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ithin a 1,000 x 5,000 urban slice in Queen New York, to imagine and justify a system of URBAN CODES upon which a complete group of blocks will be developed from street layout to zoning and eventually individual buildings.
encouraged to be treated this way. The intention is to encourage bold visions for block types and street grids plus other features that are not necessarily present in the adjacent site or anywhere in the world.
The site is right beneath the "iron triangle", framed by the railway and the subway, the two stadium, and two highway bridges. The nonexistence of infrastructure and the strong boundaries making the site technically contextless, and it is
It is early on expressed by the instructor that the studio will strive towards a realistic approach which will include but not limited to realistic housing development. 09
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fig 2.2
Opposite top: Triangular grid’s potential with regard to intersection, grouping, block shape and traffic patterns.
fig 2.3
Opposite bottom: "Packing Puzzle" and its interpretations. The results of different types of play.
fig 2.4
Top" Grid layout studies.
The team started out with two main focus in mind:
formal implications.
1. the importance of the formation of well designed open public spaces which are properly represented in NYC and is crucial to dynamic street life.
One thing that we struggled through and which we thought could be exploited towards our advantage is the leftover spaces as the result of inserting standard building types into triangular blocks.
2. the reasons behind the nonexistence of triangular grid and its potentials We also took a look at precedent cities with oblique layout, existing zoning codes and its respective building types, based on which we start to develop our own urban codes and test out their
Rather than considering it as a setback, we think of it as the disposition anticipated by our system to "enforce" the emergence of public open spaces. We call it the "Packing Puzzle" and the process the "Triangular Play" 11
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fig 2.5
Opposite: Site/Zones formation process diagrams.
fig 2.6
Below: Site plan.
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Big Box Retail Spring 2012 Third Year Core Studio-”URBAN CODE”, MArch I AP, GSD Queen, New York City, NY, USA 150,000 sqft Instructor: Michael Piper
BIG "URBAN" BOX 14
fig 3.1
Built upon the premise of "The Packing Problem" scheme, this part of project is set out to engage highway and larger-size blocks by strategically deploying big box retails, the premise being: only using rectangular building to fill in triangular blocks, during which process triangular open spaces will naturally emerge. Conditions that I expect to address in this project are three key features of big box retails.:
Diagram documenting the entire design process.
1. Automobile oriented. 2. Massive presence. 3. Non-pedestrian-friendly street fronts. And the main idea is to urbanize the big box, vitalize the urban spaces around it, and incorporate it into the larger urban system we already designed. 15
fig 3.2
North Elevation.
fig 3.4
Cross section through one instance of the parking towers.
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fig 3.3
Site map.
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fig 3.5
Perspective looking from the street at one entrance.
fig 3.6
Perspective looking from the highway.
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The final design answers the three conditions laid out in the beginning of the project in three respective aspects: 1. Parking tower situated at the top to free up the street front for pedestrian activities and formally celebrate automobiles as the essence of big box retail. One will drive into the store and up to the very top and then walk down into the shopping space. 2. The massive formal presence looking right over highway on one end publicize the store to its targeting audience 3. Right next the first floor entrance ramp rises up to the roof to made otherwise inaccessible surface occupiable to pedestrian without making it visually open. 19
Public Museum Spring 2011 Fourth Year Studio, B.S.Arch, UVa W 30 St/10 Ave, New York City, NY, USA 125,000 sqft Instructor: Nana Last
INSTITUTIONAL CRITIQUE 20
T
he studio started with basic readings of conceptual art history and a warm-up "index" project, and then dived into building a institutional building of one’s choice at the north end of 2nd phase Highline. The project called for the understanding of the definition of institution and institutional buildings and their roles in a modern society. The instructor encouraged an attitude towards design that considered the process of architectural design
fig 4.1
Top: Formal vocabulary study in 3D.
fig 4.2
Opposite: Concept sketch exploring applications of the form.
a conceptual art piece, in my own opinion very similar to what Herzog de Meuron described as the architecture that "creates its own reality outside the state of built or unbuilt and is comparable to the autonomous reality of a painting and a sculpture"1. 1
Ursprung, Philip. Herzog & de Meuron: Natural History. Lars Muller Publishers, 2005. 35. 21
fig 4.3
Top: Diagram showing the rationality behind the development of the formal element.
fig 4.4
Opposite: Diagram showing the democratic museum system, in which the values of art work fluctuate like a stock market controlled by grassroots evaluations.
Institutional critique as seen in the art field owes its large part to Louis Althusser’s work on ideological apparatus and Derrida and his poststructuralist colleague’s effort to decentralize the standard value system. Museums are being criticized for driven by political agendas instead of artistic neutrality and should not monopolize the spaces of artistic exhibition. In this project it is intended to explore new ways of imagining a museum where institutionalized power system doesn’t exist, while still understanding museums as iconic presence in the city. 22
This project is trying to recreate the institutionalized process by neutralize all existing institutionalized power in a "democratic" exhibit space that invites everyone’s work. By tying the "art works" to a "stock market" system, the exhibit visualized what would otherwise be invisible process of institution of art: the process of it rising in the favor of the public, endorsed by certain organizations, and eventually inherit its power from the society that recognizes it. 23
fig 4.5
Top: Site context.
fig 4.6
Opposite: Process diagram.
The final design responded the studio brief in two aspects: 1. Programmatically the proposed museum deconstruct institutionalized hierarchy but at the same time visualize the institutionalized process in the long run, serving in this sense as an institutional critique. 24
2. The self-referential form resulted in a process that asks for chaotic yet rational geometry will contribute to the iconic image of this institution, while questioning it at the same time. On the other hand being a exhibit space without curators, the architecture becomes pure circulation space that maximize display surface with the zigzag shape.
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Athletic Club Fall 2009 Third Year Studio, UVa SOHO, New York City, NY, USA 5,000 sqft Instructor: Jose Atienza
DOWNTOWN ATHLETIC CLUB 2.0 26
fig 5.1
Bottom: Concept Sketch.
fig 5.2
Opposite top: Interior view of the central atrium.
fig 5.3
Opposite bottom: Exterior view looking at the facade.
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fig 5.4
Top: Programmatic diagrams.
fig 5.5
Opposite: Details and construction diagrams.
T
he studio asked the question: what can Architecture contribute to a local community? The site has a mixed demographics of students and local residence, and is situated on a hill that would otherwise be the gap between the two groups of people. It is encouraged to bring the two group together and come up with a program that would allow the architecture to enable the community in some ways. With constant technological development, it becomes really easy to heal the body, what is not so easily healed however, is the “soul�. It takes huge courage and effort for one to accept and embrace his or her new condition. Therefore when designing a handicapped rehab center, it is important to forge an social community that encourage peer to peer communication, and use sports to serve as moral support that will encourage a positive spirit. 29
Athletic Club Fall 2009 Third Year Studio, UVa SOHO, New York City, NY, USA 5,000 sqft Instructor: Jose Atienza
DOWNTOWN ATHLETIC CLUB 2.0 30
fig 6.1
Bottom: Concept Sketch.
fig 6.2
Opposite: Perspective from one intersection.
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fig 6.3
Opposite top: Design parti rationale.
fig 6.4
Opposite bottom: Ergonomic Research of exercise equipment.
A
fter reading Delirious New York by Koolhaas and a studio trip to Downtown SOHO New York, the studio studies Downtown Athletic Club from the book as a case study and started our own design based on those ideas described in the book. The chosen site is confined in a about 20x100 street corner and it is intended to encourage sectional qualities in design. The project started with researching genesis of the American Athletic culture and its fetish of the body. The research revealed that just like fashion,
fig 6.5
Top: Aerial view.
a well developed body is linked with self-identity and self-image the significance of which was constructed in historical athletic movement in the United States. Therefore the project started with the concept of designing the SOHO athletic club as a fashion shop and to visualize the hidden mind set through sectional manipulations. The intended effect was for the building to eventually become a programmatic diagram of the psychological dynamic carried out simply through the collective individual decision of the users. 33
DISPLAY BOX GLAZE SYSTEM
CONTINUOUS CIRCULATION RIBBON
SELF-EXPOSURE
HYPER-FASHION BODY
SWIMMING POOL/SPA INDIVIDUAL
SELF-PERFECTION
SAUNA CHANGING CAFE/BAR
SOCIAL
CLOTH FASHION
CHANGING ROOM
CAFE/BAR + SAUNA/CHANGING ROOMS DUALITY OF VIEWING/VIEWED
AUDIENCE
DISPLAY WINDOW
PLUG IN
RELAXATION
STAGE GROUP EXERCISE/SHOW ROOM DEVELOPING CIRCULATION DEVELOPED
INDIVIDUAL FITNESS
VISUAL TENSION
INDIVIDUALITY THROUGH REPETITION
“DOUBLE” SPACE MAINTAINING FLOWING
CONCEPT
TYPICAL CONDITION
PROPOSED PROTOTYPE
HYBRID
ELEMENTS
ASSEMBLED FORM
FASHION ANALOGY
CHANGING VS. DISPLAY
DIAGRAMMATIC EXPLOITATION
PROGRAMMATIC DEVELOPMENT
FINALIZED EVENTS
PROGRAMS/CIRCULATION/FACADE
fig 6.6
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Diagrams showing the arriving of the final form through different paths.
fig 6.7
The design eventually includes several key ideas that concerns athletic consumers. 1. Glazed and hovering over the intersection to self exhibit. 2. Continuous floor ribbon from public to private programs ideal for a smooth shopping circulation path.
Long section.`
3. Sectionally differentiated practice bays to juxtapose different levels of customers. More confident customer will naturally tends to choose the front bay where they suddenly becomes the models in display window and "Role Models" for the less confident ones behind them on the higher bay.
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