Metinee Ding Online Portfolio by Metinee Ding

METINEE p

DING o

CONTENTS Curriculum Vitae 01 Tripartite 03 Vault 15 Urban Waters 27 Piney Woods 35 Sequence 43

CV NAME / Nuoxi (Metinee) Ding

CONTACT / 713.775.0027 Metinee.Ding@rice.edu 6360 Main Street Houston, TX 77005

EDUCATION EXPERIENCE

RICE UNIVERSITY August 2015-present | Bachelor of Architecture | Houston, TX MOODY CENTER FOR THE ARTS February 2017 - Present | Houston, TX • • Docent

QUINTRIX ARCHITECTS June 2016 - July 2016 | Bangkok, Thailand • • Architectural Intern

QUINTRIX ARCHITECTS June 2014 | Bangkok, Thailand • • Architectural Intern

ARCHITECTS 49 June 2013 | Bangkok, Thailand • • Architectural Intern

LEADERSHIP

DIRECTOR February 2018 - Present | Rice Architecture Mentorship MENTORSHIP COORDINATOR February 2017 - February 2018 | Rice Architecture Mentorship CRUISE DIRECTOR March 2016 - March 2017 | Rice Architecture Society CO-CHAIR, TRADITIONS COMMITTEE March 2016 - March 2017 | Rice Program Council (RPC)

SKILLS

TRIPARTITE an artist colony Studio Fall 2016 Professor Michelle Chang Tripartite is a study of the relationship between inside and outside, and the way in which the spaces produced negotiate the site condition of being situated within the Menil Campus in Houston, Texas. It is also a meditation on the nature of the art colony as a program. The project utilizes the tapering of surfaces, both in plan and in elevation, to create spaces on either sides of the tapered planes. Within the project, there are three distinct bars throughout which the programmatic elements are dispersed, separated by semi-enclosed courtyards. The project is a largely introverted one, and distinguishes itself from other buildings in the immediate vicinity of the site through a lack of orthogonality in its form. Tripartite explores the nuanced relation-

ship between solitude and community by creating spaces that promote varying degrees of privacy: from the completely isolated artists residences in the eastern band to the completely public exhibition spaces in the western band to the transparent artist studios in the central band. These spaces give the artists the option of conecting with both the creative community and the public, all while remaining within the creative bubble of the art colony. Prismatic spaces within three buildings act as a tool to break up the otherwise linear spaces, and promote a sense of community through creating visual connections between the three buildings. The folding glass faรงades create spaces both below and above them, creating circulation and breakout spaces that further encourages a sense of community within the project.

Central staircase visualization

A’

B’

Ground Floor Plan

First Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

Section A - A'

Section B - B'

Detailed Model Photo

Elevations

Full Model Photo

Model Detail Photo

Courtyard visualization

Interior visualization

VAULT a boathouse Studio Fall 2017 Professor David Costanza Vault explores the materiality of thin-shell concrete and the utilization of its strengths and limitations to create a structure on the banks of the Buffalo Bayou River in Houston, Texas. The boathouse serves as a starting point for the annual Houston Regatta, as well as providing a location for boat storage, training facilities, and other recreational activities year-round. Through the aggregation of five different shells, the project produces a series of interconnected vaulting spaces that aprovide a direct path from the street down to the Bayou. Beginning with a basic tent geometry, the form of the shells underwent a series of deformations involving the shifting of 6 control points in space. The resulting forms are of varying geometries, with the central shell acting as the inverse condition of the four peripheral shells, which in turn act as structural support for the central shell. While structure is ultimately thin-shell con-

crete, the project investigates alternative methods of creating formwork on which to cast the concrete. Vault utilizes a tensile membrane structure as the formwork to create the long-spanning, vaulted forms, and spray-on concrete to create the concrete shells. The technique allows for easy assembly of a temporary structure, as well as a greater degree of efficiency than traditional wooden scaffolding. Through the negotiation of the ground plane and shifting it with the topography of the site, the project looks to a sectional variation to create degrees of privacy within the program, while maintaining the vast, uninterrupted beauty of the vaults. The openness of the shells allows for both uninterrupted views through the programs and down to the bayou from any point in the project, as well as oblique views that reveal the vaulted conditions within the project.

Interior view visualization

Site Plan

B’

C’

A’

Plan

Section A - A'

Section B - B'

Section C - C'

Formal Diagrams

Structural Detail

Formal Diagram

Interior view of cafe visualization

Interior view of multipurpose space visualization

Exterior view of kayak storage visualization

Model photo

URBAN WATERS an ecology center Studio Spring 2017 Professor Gordon Wittenberg The Urban Waters Ecology Center is a project aimed at revitalizing an area of the Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas, that remains relatively undeveloped. It seeks to promote porosity across the site through a series of walkways that intersect across the site, connecting the major streets to the Riverwalk. The ecology center also further functions as a location for community to gather and educate themselves regarding the importance of water in one of Texas’ largest cities.

resulting in two main pathways that lead to views of or direct access to the river - a common theme in most buildings adjacent to the Riverwalk. The interior hallways create distinctions between the various programmatic aspects, while simultaneously creating a system of circulation throughout the project. Their open nature allows for natural light to reach each room, through skylights and interior windows, including those situated in the core of the building that would otherwise rely on electrical lighting.

As the largest tourist attraction in the city, the Riverwalk plays a large part in San Antonio’s economy, in addition to being a reminder of the city’s roots in agriculture. Its reliance on water has only increased over the years, due to the increasing demand from the growing population. As such, the connection to the Riverwalk is an especially important one in this project,

With the more public programs situated at the street level or Riverwalk levels of the building, the degree of fenestration both on the façades and in the interior vary as the user moves vertically through the project. More public programs utilize larger openings to create a greater degree of transparency, whereas more private programs adopt smaller, intermittent openings.

Riverwalk view visualization

Formal Diagram

First Floor Plan

Ground Floor Plan

Section A - A'

Section B - B'

Interior hallway view visualization

Exterior street view visualization

PINEY WOODS an ecology center Studio Spring 2017 Professor Gordon Wittenberg Piney Woods is an ecology center located in the Sam Houston National Forest, Texas that allows visitors to engage in an immersive experience in the forest through a series of slipped volumes that cascade down the slope of the site. The focus of the studio invovled creating a research facility and visitor center that focuses on an aspect of the site’s ecosystem. Centered on the preservation of the longleaf pine tree, the ecology center contains spaces designed for research, education, and leisure. The subtlety of the slipped volumes allows for minimal distraction from the forest around it; as a project that focuses on the trees around it, there is a desire to become one with the forest to allow visitors to truly appreciate the magnificence of the trees. Through the slippage of the forms, the user is guided across the site through through visual connections, and

lack thereof. The arrangement of more public programs towards the right side of the project and more private programs on the left create enclosed courtyards, in which a user circulating through the public areas has a direct path towards the next programmatic element, curating their experience. As one reaches the end of the project, it opens up into the forest. The façades help to further provide degrees of publicity and privacy through the creation or destruction of visual connections from one volume to another. Within the project, there are five types of façade articulations: the curtain wall, the wooden slab, the intermittent fenestration, the thin screen, and the dense screen. These varying façade types curate the user’s experience by drawing attention to certain moments in the project, or piquing curiosity with a slight preview of what’s to come.

Materiality Diagram

Exterior view

Site Plan

Section view

Southeast Elevation

Full model photo

Model photo from end

Model photo from entrance

SEQUENCE an private residence Studio Spring 2016 Professor Andrew Colopy Sequence utilizes a formal approach to create a private residence situated in the Montrose District of Houston, Texas. The studio investigated the use of simple deformation principles to create a form into which programmatic elements were inserted. The project features a series of cuts, both planometrically and in section that result in the deformation of the original square and, consequently, the division of space. The programmatic strategy of the project is somewhat unconventional, with the quite public dining and kitchen areas situated on the upper level of the residence. This was the result of a desire for a linear sequence of publicity to privacy throughout the project, utilizing the partitions created through the form as well as the thresholds of level change as a tool to separate private from public. The bedrooms, situated at the end of the linear sequence of movement that

can be mapped through the residence, is situated at the most private point in the residence, despite being directly adjacent to the main living and entry areas. As the form of the residence leads the user down a prescribed path that turns at various moments, each turn reveals a change in program. This in turn allows for yet another degree of separation between programs, as well as a degree of privacy offered to areas such as the study and the bedrooms, which cannot be seen unless a turn is made or a stair is descended. The fenestration technique attempts to adhere with the varying horizontality or verticality associated with the of the faรงade it occupies, as the geometry of the project results in the division of the various faces of the elevation itself. An underlying grid is imposed to ensure a degree of uniformity .

Exploded Axonometric

Formal Diagram

DN DN

First Floor Plan

B’ D’

UP UP

C’

A’

Ground Floor Plan

Section A - A'

Section B - B'

Section C - C'

Section D - D'

North Elevation

East Elevation

West Elevation

South Elevation

Spatial Typology Diagram

Sight Diagram

Thank you for your time!

Metinee.Ding@rice.edu 713.775.0027 6360 Main Street Houston, TX 77005