Megan Cheung's Portfolio of Selected Works

megan cheung UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

M.ARCH’14 B.S. ARCH’11

01. MAXIMALISM 02. MORR

the museum of reimagined realities

03. FAME TOWER

the haus of gaga

04. 435 W50TH

the new art deco

05. FAX-IST

01

composition

Maximalism manifests itself in the figure as a composition of accumulated objects.

01.1 Overall Perspective of the proposed integrated F1 test track and headquarters from the North East

01.

MAXIMALISM location Ferrari Headquarters [Maranello, Italy]

programme

F1 test track + Headquarters

mission

Maximalism, for us, is the idea that a figure, or whole, is a composition of accumulated objects. However, there were two things, by which we were wary of being trapped.

At one extreme, we wanted to be careful about focusing too heavily on the discrete objects and then merely relying on local relationships to begin to define the composition. This would result in a figure that lacked an overall coherency as there would be no overall compositional strategy.

At the other extreme, we also wanted to be careful about putting too much weight on the figure and relying on a subdivisional logic to create the constituent objects, inevitably result in a rather predictable subdivision of the figure.

Rather than avoid either of these two extremes, we chose hyperbolize them.

To create these extremes of the multiple readings of the composition, we maximized the use of the seam from its play on the surface and how it can imply a surficial panelization but also the moments when it deepens to a crack, perhaps an opening and eventually into a volumetric void that inverses the inherent reading of the spaces from the exterior. By maximizing the extremes, the in between becomes the moment of interest where the two extremes coalesce. Qualities bridge these seams or run parallel. Material bridges seams where one would expect a material change. As seams densify and accumulate, a pattern emerges from the accumulation of seams, material changes and apertures.

[done in collaboration with Andrew Gardner]

01. extremes The extremes are utilized to maximize the possibilities in between as the seams transition from crack to void and ultimately when it inverses and creates space within.

01.2 Site Plan Render

01. densify As the seams proliferate and densify, there is a pattern that emerges from the transition from a surficial seam to those that deepen and accumulate.

01.3 East Building's transition of seam use

01. pattern The accumulation of seams begin to form a larger pattern of aperature openings, material changes and transitions between indexing and nonindexical readings of the buildings.

01.4 North Building's emergent pattern

02

bioluminescence

Bioluminescent creatures in their native environments have an unquestionable otherworldly affect, and yet we understand that they exist.

This believable otherworldliness is what intrigues us and what makes them perfect for science fiction.

We understand the existence of bioluminescence in the wild and we can believe that at some point in the future, humanity will find a way to harness and even engineer this unique biological process.

02.1 Kent Avenue + S. 3rd Street corner entrance

02.

MoRR

the museum of reimagined realities

location Kent Avenue + S. 3rd Street [Williamsburg, NYC]

programme

science fiction museum

mission Science fiction often alters the role of perception between human and machine through the evolution of technology. MoRR celebrates the spectacle, creating the unforeseen, reversing the traditional role of who or perhaps what is viewing and who or what is being viewed and ultimately, how they are viewed. Perception drives the formal language within our design, producing moments where viewers are viewed by others or the building, unnoticed.

As an unique genre for film as that it relies on otherworldly affects to catch the attention of the audiance and scientific realities. To captivate an audience in an immersive experience, science fiction must make the audience believe that these speculative realities are not just speculations, but realities.

The goal of MoRR is to investigate the bioengineering and harnessing of bioluminescent algae to act as a set of architectural systems that are highly integrated with the overall formal qualities of the design. Just as science fiction relies on a balance of science and fiction, the flows of algae throughout the museum strive to adopt a hybridized visual language that can be both highly organic and highly artificial.

published on suckerPUNCH [done in collaboration with Andrew Gardner + Yi-Ju Tseng]

02. system or effect The algae system is not only for its bioluminescent effects but also to define the formal qualities of the rest of the building systems on the interior as well as the exterior.

02.2 Courtyard + its entrance on the east side

02. inhabitable facade Formed Resin, the facade takes a plastic form that morphs from wall to seating to recessed screens.

02.1 2/F Corridor Exhibition and Screening

02

topological surface

The building skin and the facade wraps not only itself but with each other, creating nested spaces.

M1

3D PRINT MODEL

S1

SECTION PERSP

SCALE : 1’ = 1/16”

SCALE : NTS

03

parti

The FAME tower is a pivotal link between the Highline and 10th Avenue, redefining what is considered as the front face of the building. Its

03.1 FAMEtower's unit users and lifestyles

03.2

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Cluster concept organization

03.

FAME tower

the haus of gaga

location 23rd Street & 10th Avenue, NYC [the highline]

programme residential

clients

Lady Gaga & her monsters

user groups Nicola Formichetti (designer) Chloé Grey (aspiring) Christian Lee (monster)

mission The HAUS of Gaga pushes the boundaries of design and music production, learning and collaboration with different disciplines, especially the business world. Centered around the design innovations of Lady Gaga’s creative team, there will be visiting inspirations, aspiring artists and observers who simply want to experience the creative happenings in person.

Young working people, creative or otherwise (such as I-bankers), often spend most of their time outside of their home, whether it be work or just out and about. They use their home merely as a place to sleep and store their things. The Residences within the Haus will have sleeping spaces with shared ‘living room’ spaces that residents can use during their downtime. The house nests private and public spaces around the open circulation with visual connections to different programs throughout.

published in PRESSING MATTERS 2

03. residential exhibition The FAMEtower’s concept of interlocking and visual connections is applied in the micro - scale within the residences.

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View from the open bathroom and bedroom that is visible from the main entrance as visitors are escorted below to the entertainment area. See but don’t touch.

03. street face

10TH AVENUE

HIGHLINE

The FAMEtower fronts on both 10th Avenue and the Highline and with the drastic difference of use and programmes to both, different attitudes and faces are required.

03.4 View from 23rd Street and 10th Avenue

03.5 Typical Four Unit Cluster Residential Plans (opposite page)

03. street face The variety of interactive programmes stem off the main trajectory connecting the Highline lobby and the 10th Avenue lobby where the unforseen meetings and happenings occur at the most unexpected moments.

03.6 Composite drawing from Highline elevation to the 10th Avenue lobby section

FAME

tower

04. the living block The Living Block define the units and creates rhythm throughout the system of unit aggregations

04.1 option 2 axon render (right)

04.2 interior elevation render (below)

04.3 option 1 - 3 physical model (opposite page)

04.

435 w50th

the new art deco

location 435 W. 50th Street NY, NY 10019

firm manifold architecture studio

programme

luxury loft living

competition first place

mission There is a wealth of opportunity offered through the combination of its distinctive location and its architectural heritage, evaluated through the lens of 21st century living. Manifold would like to position 435 as a well-crafted, quality living unprecedented in Clinton and undeniably New York.

05. BOSTAN Istanbul has experienced incredible growth over the last 50 years, tripling in its population. As a result of this massive influx of people, land resources have grown increasingly scarce.

Bostans, the traditional community farms, have become the latest victims in the search for developable land within the city. In addition, the importation of food products, made possible through growing pressures of globalisation, have made bostans increasingly difficult to sustain. The destruction of these bostans do not simply represent the loss of arable land for the city; their losses also have negative cultural and social impacts on their neighborhoods.

05.1 Southern Perspective of the vertical bostans indexed by the blooming photovoltaics.

05.

FAX-IST location Istanbul, Turkey

programme Mixed Vertical Bostan, Residential and Commercial

mission This speculative prototype for a new approach to urbanization in Istanbul layers these bostans back into the city. Given the ecological, cultural, and social influences of the bostans, the designing of a building layered with them must itself be layered into the ecological, cultural, and social contexts of the city. This means layering bostans into both public and private programs. This means layering in and designing integrated renewable resources into the architecture.

This even means layering the building’s formal presence within the landscape into the existing geographic and infrastructural contexts. This excessive layering of highly specialized programs, performative systems, and architectural forms gives rise to an aesthetic defined by an excessive expression of layered formal qualities.

FAX-IST will not simply revitalise the bostans in Istanbul, it will also contemporise them, bringing back their cultural and social benefits within the context of a contemporary, vertically-organized urban fabric.

[done in collaboration with Andrew Gardner]

05. SITE CONNECTIVITY FAX-IST interfaces with the site at two elevations allowing vehicular access and pedestrian access. It also interfaces with the land and water, emerging from the landscape.

05.2 South Western Perspective of the tower's multpile access points and its emergence from the landscape.

05. MULTIPLICITY OF SCALES The multiplicity of scales within the forms of hydroponic planters allow for a range of food to be grown.

05.7 - 05.9 Section 3D Print of a single module within the Bostans on the residential floors. The blooming photovoltaic indexes the bostans within.

05. VERTICAL GENERATION A new generation of residents will be reintroduced to a farm to mouth concept, understanding how food is grown.

05.10 Bostans, reintroduced in a contemporized manner, cohabitates within a residential tower instead of being demolished for continued building.

thank you, megan cheung 2-01 50th AVENUE APT 25F CHEUNGMYT@GMAIL.COM

NY NY 11101 781 . 363 . 6800

megan cheung 2-01 50th AVENUE APT 25F CHEUNGMYT@GMAIL.COM

NY NY 11101 781 363 6800