Soh Ming Lun Architecture Portfolio 2021 by Ming Lun

Selected works [2017-2021] from B.A. Architecture (Hons.) & Master of Architecture concurrent degree programme, National University of Singapore

SOH MING LUN Singaporean

Rivervale Crescent, Singapore

archi.sohml@gmail.com

+65 9188 9025

linkedin.com/in/ming-lun-soh

issuu.com/minglunsoh

EXPERIENCE RichardHO Architects Jan 2020 - Jun 2020 • Concept Design of Landed Residential Projects - Assisted Architect with concept design of a semi-detached home from start to approval - Assisted Architect in site meetings - Produced drawings for presentation to client (3D Modelling & Rendering) - Designed & produced detail drawings of furniture & fittings (Screens, carpentry)

EDUCATION Master of Architecture, NUS Aug 2020 - Jun 2021 (CAP 4.3)

SKILLS CAD & 3D Design AutoCAD Rhinoceros 3D SketchUp

Rendering & Presentation Enscape Adobe Illustrator Adobe Photoshop Adobe InDesign

BIM Software

• 2021 M.Arch Grad Show Committee - Assisted in website design for the Virtual Grad Show

ArchiCAD

Bachelor of Arts in Architecture (Hons.), NUS Aug 2016 - Jun 2020 (CAP 4.26 - Distinction)

QGIS

• 2017-2019 CityEx Exhibition 4 projects exhibited • 2017 NUS AKIID Camp Head of Admin Committee • BCA-Industry Built Environment Undergraduate Sponsorship (2017-2021)

GCE ‘A’ Levels Qualification, Victoria Junior College 2012 - 2013 (83.75RP / H2 Maths, Econs, Art, Physics) • Active Citizenry Leader - Organize Service Leadership Venture to HCA Hospice Care • iremembermySchoolDays Newspaper Design Competition (National) - 1st Prize, team of 4 • Art Club Senior Member Catholic High School 2008 - 2011 • Student Council Member

Data Analytics RStudio

Languages English Chinese

PERSONAL INTERESTS • Coding/ Web Dev HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ruby, C, R • Pixel Art Aseprite, Photoshop • Calligraphy (Self-taught) Copperplate, Gothic, Spencerian, Uncial, Modern • Others Metal, Shoegaze, Video games, Mahjong

Isolate Together Year 5 / Master’s Thesis Asst. Prof. Yuan Chao (Dr.)

Columbarium Gardens

Year 4 / Semester 1 Prof. in Practice Richard Ho

Furniture Vending Machine Year 3 / Semester 2 Studio Chu Lik Ren CityEx 2019

Bamboo Centre

Year 2 / Semester 2 Studio Looi Chee Kin CityEx 2018

Backstreet Backpackers Year 2 / Sem 2 Prof. in Practice Tan Teck Kiam CityEx 2019

Palimpsest Year 2 / Sem 1 Studio Yong Sy Lyng

Twist Year 2 / Sem 1 Group Project CityEx 2018

Isolate Together Year 5 | Master’s Thesis

ISOLATE TOGETHER

A post-pandemic housing design that provides opportunities for distanced social interaction - with innovative space planning on spaces such as the balcony, staircase and sky garden.

(HALF BLOCK)

There is a sudden need for homes to serve multiple functions with the closure of most workplaces, gyms, schools, playgrounds and shops. Government regulations such as social distancing and stay home notice measures further restrict mobility and access to parks and recreational facilities, shrinking our worlds into our homes and their immediate vicinity. Consequently, increased social isolation causes profound mental stress and poorer well-being, which are compounded by the limitations of current housing design in supporting the new lifestyle. This presents an opportunity for an examination of the current housing design for living in pandemic-stricken vertical cities.

Isolate Together proposes an alternative public housing design for the ‘new normal’ that provides more opportunities for distanced social interaction within a housing block. The design explores the potential of sky gardens and balconies in evolving the public housing design, while addressing the need for social distancing in communal spaces within the housing block. The vital need for well-ventilated spaces is another key issue that informs the design. Modularity in design is also essential for the public housing typology which will be exemplified in the overall design language. The thesis ultimately presents a new way of residential living with the division of the building into three scales: unit, cluster and block enabling the building to adapt to different pandemic phases as our boundaries change over the pandemic phases, allowing access to green spaces and distanced social interaction at every phase.

ISOLATE TOGETHER

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted our lifestyles and reshaped our boundaries and territories, forcing us to retreat into our homes to live, work, play, learn, exercise and shop, all within the limited space.

Unit Layout: Between Two Zones

The 4-room unit is chosen for the final prototype, as it is the most common household unit size in Singapore.

external via the balcony while crossing zones, turning the unit inside-out while still retaining privacy in the private zones.

The unit is split into two main zones, private (bedrooms) and communal (living room, dining area, kitchen) and a threshold zone is inserted between the two, with the incorporation of essential balcony spaces as an intermediate space that is part of the interior circulation between the two zones. This threshold zone allows the resident to experience the outside with views to the

Two balconies connect the interior to the exterior - a recessed balcony facing outwards for external views and an internal social balcony, adjacent to the living room, that enables social interaction and promotes neighbourly interactions within the cluster. A mudroom is also included at the entrance for sanitary purposes as well as an additional transition buffer space between the outdoors and the indoors.

Private & Communal Spaces ● Increased Privacy with more time spent at home ● Quarantine: Sick can be isolated in private zone

Balcony Spaces in Threshold & Communal Spaces ● Incorporated as part of interior circulation between two zones ● Turning unit inside-out with gap between zones: Increased ventilation to ﬂush indoor air out ● Views to external recessed balcony + Internal social balcony

3. Zoning Utility

Private

Threshold/ Balcony

Mudroom/ Entrance

Communal/ Balcony

COMMUNAL

THRESHOLD

PRIVATE

ISOLATE TOGETHER

4-ROOM UNIT MODULE 100 sqm

Cluster Configuration: Between Two Zones The unit module is aggregated into clusters that together form a clustergroup module, that can be further aggregated into the housing block. Social balconies link 4 units to a cluster and connecting them to common corridors and shared pocket garden spaces that are interspersed between the units. With 4 clusters in a cluster group, each module is 7 storeys (23m) high, including the sky terrace above every module. The social balconies are connected with a staircase arrangement that is inspired by

indian stepwells, in three axes. Units are connected to others in the same cluster vertically, forming a clear spatial division, as opposed to being directly adjacent. This reduces physical interaction while maintaining social connection and proximity. The resulting green corridors are lined with railings with attached planters that enables small-scale gardening and communal gardening, contrasting with the typical utilitarian corridors and stairs of current public housing.

➊ Spacing between units for Cluster-level ventilation

➋ Terracing storeys to create cluster-group level shared space (sky terrace) & green social balconies

➌ Oﬀseting units in opposite axis to create pocket gardens (cluster-level shared spaces)

➍ Connecting Social Balconies into a communal corridor for small-scale gardening

ISOLATE TOGETHER 08

Cluster-group Module Elevation

Clustering of Units (4 per cluster) by linking Social Balconies & connecting to pocket garden spaces between units

Cluster-level Shared Space: Social Balconies & Pocket Gardens Replacing utilitarian corridors & staircases with de-densified communal green spaces

Block-level Shared Space: Sky Terrace

ISOLATE TOGETHER

Use of mobile distancing pods allows the space to be reconfigurable & adaptable

Block Configuration

57TH STOREY +184m

ROOFTOP GARDEN

50TH STOREY +161m

SOCIAL BALCONIES

DISTANCED VISUAL COMMUNAL INTERACTION SMALL-SCALE GARDENING

RECESSED BALCONY EXTERNAL VIEWS & VISUAL CONNECTION TO SKY TERRACE 36TH STOREY +115m

ISOLATE TOGETHER

43RD STOREY +138m

ISOLATED LIFT LOBBY

INDIVIDUAL UNIQUE VERTICAL CIRCULATION PATHS & VISUAL CONNECTION TO SKY TERRACE

SKY TERRACE 29TH STOREY +92m

22ND STOREY +69m

INTERMEDIATE GREEN COMMUNAL SPACES SERVING EACH CLUSTER, ADAPTABLE CONFIGURATION WITH PODS

DISTANCING PODS

ADAPTABLE & TRANSFORMABLE PUBLIC FURNITURE PROTOTYPE

CLUSTER-GROUP 4 X CLUSTERS

15TH STOREY +46m

8TH STOREY +23m

1ST STOREY +0.0

SKY BRIDGE

Columbarium Gardens Year 4/ Sem 1

COLUMBARIUM GARDENS

Personalizing death with the arts & craft: a bespoke funeral experience that forges meaningful memories, while beautifying and de-stigmatizing death.

The injection of the arts to personalize, beautify and de-stigmatize death involves an array of four arts programmes:

Urn crafting, funeral paraphernalia crafts, portraiture painting and flower arrangement. These programmes enables a more bespoke, unique and meaningful funeral experience. The planting of flowers become the main element for the architecture and spatial experiences, beautifying a terrace garden nursey that connects the arts and death spheres: art studios, art plaza, columbarium and funeral parlours.

COLUMBARIUM GARDENS

Funerals are for the living, to mourn the dead, to cope with grief and loss, to remember the deceased, and to share unique memories. With the site situated in a thriving arts district (former Goodman Arts Centre), this project explores the symbiotic relationship between the arts and funeral processions, through personalizing how we experience funeral and columbariums.

Linear arrangement of halls to maximise views towards river

Stacking halls to two storeys, exploration of terrace massing

Connecting halls to garden nursery and punctuating plane to bring light into columbarium

Resolving circulation up the terrace gardens and defining art spaces

K PAR

NEC

N CO

TOR

CIRCULATION FLOW Climb perpendicular to the Terraces with scenic view and fragrance of ﬂowers attracts park connector users up and into the garden nursery, art studios and columbarium. The funeral halls are also connected to the Terraces via bridges. S

SER

COLUMBARIUM GARDENS

DEATH SPHERES Funeral Halls are stacked to two-storey high and spans along the river to maximise views. Columbarium niches are positioned below the terracing gardens, naturally ventilated. Glass niches placed in the middle circle that showcases the customized urns.

ARTS SPHERE Pop-up art shops and studios facing the river initiate contact and engage the public. The activities taking place in the studios peeks out and visually engages park connector users. The Arts Plaza provides a space for spontaneous events to occur. A new node in the PCN is created.

COLUMBARIUM GARDENS

SECOND STOREY PLAN

PORTRAITURE STUDIO

FLORAL STUDIO

CERAMICS (MEZZ)

PARAPHERNALIA

LOBBY

FUNERAL PARLOUR

LOBBY

FUNERAL PARLOUR

M F

FAMILY ROOM

FUNERAL PARLOUR

LOBBY

FUNERAL PARLOUR

M F

FAMILY ROOM

FUNERAL PARLOUR

LOBBY

M F

FAMILY ROOM

CASKET TRANSFER LANE

STORE & SERVICES

CARPARK

THIRD STOREY PLAN

TO TERRACES BELOW

LOBBY

FUNERAL PARLOUR

LOBBY

FUNERAL PARLOUR

LOBBY

FUNERAL PARLOUR

M M F

FAMILY ROOM

FUNERAL PARLOUR

LOBBY

M F

FAMILY ROOM

CASKET TRANSFER LANE

STORE & SERVICES

COLUMBARIUM GARDENS

TO TERRACES BELOW

BASEMENT STOREY PLAN

COLD STORAGE

FROM 1ST STOREY

ENCOFFINMENT

EMBALMING & WASHING

ENCOFFINMENT

EMBALMING & WASHING

ENCOFFINMENT

EMBALMING & WASHING

ENCOFFINMENT

EMBALMING & WASHING

Furniture Vending Machine Year 3 / Sem 2 | CityEx 2019

FURNITURE VENDING MACHINE

Re-inventing the secondhand furniture store in the automation & information age for ease & efficiency.

Project Title (Year / Sem) | CityEx Synopsis

The brick and mortar retail experience is simplified and condensed into the borders of our digital screens, and with just a few clicks, we are able to get our goods shipped to our homes. How should a second-hand furniture shop stay relevant in the Information Age? It requires us to re-think a new typology that is most representative of the time while responding to the changing users’ needs and preferences. Unlike digital retail, a physical retail store can provide a more tactile and curated experience, and it follows that a second-hand furniture store has its own unique attributes and problems to solve. My concept imagines a second-hand furniture store as a vending machine, with efficiency as the core design driver.

Furniture pieces are placed on pallets and racked on a shelf, where an automated stacker crane operating in parallel transports the furniture in both x and y axes. Customers can order pieces right off the shelf and the machine will send it to the warehouse below to be shipped. The storage and display shelf for the furniture pieces becomes the building’s main facade and fronts the main thoroughfare to advertise the furniture store to the pedestrians and train commuters. Behind the shelf lay curated common spaces such as a kitchen (café), a library and living room set ups. The inefficiency of these spaces that are more ‘humane’ juxtaposes the efficient processes of the machinery. All of the inner workings will be visible to the public, resulting in a captivating orchestrated experience of machine, man and goods.

FURNITURE VENDING MACHINE

The internet era has re-defined the way we shop, with the introduction of digital retail, bringing us convenience and ease of access.

FURNITURE VENDING MACHINE

Bamboo Centre Year 2 / Sem 2 | CityEx 2018

BAMBOO CENTRE

A Centre for Cities and Climate Change (C4) inspired by the symbiosis between Man and Nature. This symbiosis brought out through the architecture’s materiality.

Project Title (Year / Sem) | CityEx Synopsis

This project thus examines the role of architecture in this symbiosis. By studying the composition of manmade and natural elements, and the

building’s interface with the green and blue elements on-site, the architecture fosters meaningful relationships and connections between the users and the environment. Overall, the hydroponics programme embodies the essence of this symbiosis. The building is sited at the Kolam Ayer ABC Waterfront to take advantage of the existing spaces (i.e. waterfront pavilion, bridge, promenade, fishing deck) that already engage the residents with the river.

BAMBOO CENTRE

Inspired by the symbiotic relationship between Man and Nature, the architecture serves as a catalyst to engage man with the environment and unify the man-made, blue and green elements into a singular entity. A pavilion on-site, consisting of merely a bench under a tree was the initial inspiration for this project’s approach.

These diagrams synthesizes the design process. It begins with the concept of creating the 3 layers of experience where the building is on the ground, on the water plane, and underwater. The building then hugs a portion of the river and takes on a C-shaped form with the extension of the platform on the water plane, embracing the river to be part of the architecture as a water courtyard The underwater massing is then revised and replaced with a plane, due to practicality, costs and footprint incurred. The river bank is engaged as a potential space for the gallery, and the mass extends further onto the ground, interfacing with the existing trees on site.

The entire massing is revised and broken up, punctured with voids to engage the inner edges with the blue element. The result is a composition of an interweaving sequence of mass/void, creating interesting spaces.

BAMBOO CENTRE

iteration 1

iteration 2

iteration 3

The revised iteration forms a deeper connection to site as well as the blue and green elements. Upon entry, the existing trees pierces through the roof and the columns penetrates the floors into the river bank. With a hint of the river bank gallery, the user is subsequently directed into the lobby/reception. The sequence of spatial experience is as follows: hydroponics farm, deck/cafe, pool, gallery. The office spaces sit on the highest floor, separated from the main circulation.

It is then crucial to revise the screen strategy, for the porosity it offers suffers a disadvantage against strong winds and directional rain. Adjustable sliding glass panels are introduced in the office spaces to regulate the ventilation thus mitigating this problem with minimal disruption to the facade. The ramp connecting the lobby to the lower levels becomes an additional layer that protects the reception area from directional rain.

BAMBOO CENTRE

Backstreet Backpackers Year 3 / Sem 1 | CityEx 2019

BACKSTREET BACKPACKERS

Backstreet Backpackers is a capsule hostel for tourists, with a unique ‘street’ concept that transforms the shophouse typology into a commmunity living room.

These programmes distance the gap in the already detached and superficial relationship between the tourists and the local flavour of Little India. The architectural concept is formulated around the issue of a lack of authentic and meaningful interaction between the tourists and the local Indians. The architecture hence aims to serve as a platform to mediate this gap, transforming the shophouse typology into a street.

The street is a community living room that extends out to the back alley, activating wasted urban spaces (back alley and open car park) while forging a unique community of backpackers and local Indians. The street concept forms the ‘spine’ that connects all the living and communal spaces, through perforations in the existing party walls. The openings become arched gateways and windows that maintain visual and spatial connections between the street and the adjacent spaces. The street is a flexible space that transforms between a living room, a bazaar, and a market for the backpackers and locals with transforming furnitures: display shelves that can flip down into tables/benches

BACKSTREET BACKPACKERS

The prevalent shophouse typology defines the image of Little India, but the essence of the site is contained within the physical ‘shells’. The initial site analysis reveals that existing shophouses begin to assimilate programmes that are foreign to the site, i.e. bars, cafes and hipster barbers.

BACKSTREET BACKPACKERS

concept collage

design iterations

BACKSTREET BACKPACKERS

Palimpsest Year 2 / Sem 1

PALIMPSEST

This project is an eco-lodge situated in Dairy Farm Nature Park. The architectural intervention reveals the untapped potential of the historical artefacts for an enriching experience.

Project Title (Year / Sem) | CityEx Synopsis

Through an intricate reading of the site, the essence of the place is derived from the intersections between the ‘artificial’ and nature. At these intersections lie an ambiguous boundary, blurred by the overlapping of the two: with the growth of grass matter over concreate terrain and banyan trees

growing into and over the walls of an abandoned concrete hut. These intersections reveal a deeper reading of the site, as they occur only at the remains of the past dair y farm buildings. These ruins are neglected and unused, and the Wallace Education Centre failed to engage the ruins to provide a more meaningful educational experience for the park-goers. The project attempts to utilize the potential of the artefacts as a medium for an enriching experience, to engage users in appreciating the beauty of the ruins and relics, of what was once here.

PALIMPSEST

The Eco-Lodge sits in the Dairy Farm Nature Park, in front of the Wallace Education Center. It outlines the historical ruins and artefacts in an attempt to engage the users in a contemplative and enriching experience, while providing opportunities for communal gathering and moments in solitude.

construct

PALIMPSEST

floor plans level 1

PALIMPSEST

level 2

Twist

TWIST

3D-printed modular facade project

weather elements, particularly rain, and understand what kind of experiential value the facade can add to the architecture.

TWIST

Rain is a prevalent woe when it comes to tropical architecture. This project attempts to examine the interface between the building’s facade and

Other works (art/design) Logo / Graphic Design

“MONO” Deskmat (Graphic) 600+ copies sold worldwide | 2020

“IREZUMI” Logo Design Commissioned work | 2021

“Late Bloomer” Logo Design Commissioned work | 2021

“A-Z Calligram” (Gothic Script) Commissioned work | 2017

Digital Copperplate Calligraphy Commissioned work | 2020

“Yellow Potter Wasp” Personal work | 2020

“Penrose Skyscrapers” (animated) Personal work

Calligraphy

“Abeyance” (Gothic Script) Commissioned work | 2018

Pixel Art

“1-Bit Misobee” (animated) Personal work | 2020

I am detail-oriented and have a strong interest in design, art and craftsmanship. The works displayed here demonstrate the self-learned skills that I picked up during my own time outside of architecture school.

Soh Ming Lun archi.sohml@gmail.com +65 9188 9025 issuu.com/minglunsoh linkedin.com/in/ming-lun-soh Portfolio produced in July 2021

SOH MING LUN 2021