Portfolio
Nan Yen Chen
Summer 2014 Graduate Thesis Instructors: Elena Manferdini Award: 2014 SCI-Arc Merit Graduate Thesis
Hoarding Interiority This thesis investigates the role of materiality which is applied to the architectural interior. To manage the character of the interior surfaces was very important in architecture. From the fresco on the walls to the ornament articulating the structure, the perception of interior is not only driven by the form of a space or its functional meanings, but also by the substance that constitutes the interior.
Sir John Soane’s Museum
Looking at the historical precedent, Sir John Soane’s museum shows the effect of architectural hoarding by excessive collecting of art works and sculptures, and the interior is liberated from series of rooms and is reconstructed by everything within it. Fascinated with the thick walls and their accompanying figures, I “collect” medieval British castles, and uses the accumulated castle walls to create a contemporary public library. This approach is different from Piranesi’s collection of the Campo Marzio which is based on the reconstruction of ground plans. On the other hand, it focuses on the collecting a lot of walls and carving out space from them. By superimposing reading halls and book storage space within the castle walls, this thesis achieves incongruity of interior space that alludes to memories from different times in history. In contrast with the richness of interior, the exterior is mute and monolithic that only opens some part to show the inside.
British Castles Plan Diagram
In addition to castles’ stone walls, the interior is characterized by a textured surface which is constituted of delicate shades of white. The textured surface has the bas relief quality which shows the light and shadows between every piece. And I apply this textured surface on the interior to blends with the castle walls and create the transition from one to the other. I use very light colors to have subtle change on each piece of the surface. The color changes between spaces and sometimes fades out to become purely white. Through the textured surface in the space, this thesis reveals the richness of materiality and explores the architectural effect of excess.
Physical Model
Massing Diagram
Section
Interior Isometric Drawing
Interior Isometric Drawing
Spring 2013 Core Studio Instructor: Elena Manferdini Group Work: Nan Yen Chen, Hao Wu Exhibition: 2014 AIA LA 2x8: EVOLVE, A+D Museum 2013 2D3D-4: Quick and Dirty Exhibition, WUHO Gallery
The New Painterly The project engages painterly effect techniques of Chiaroscuro and Tenebrism into architectural space. In architectural drawing, Chiaroscuro makes use of light and shadow to represent form, whereas Tenebrism exaggerates the representation of light and shadow. Both techniques produce multiple readings of form that oscillate between pure abstraction and literal representation. “The New Painterly” explores various ways texture and fake shadows can be used to challenge the perception of a building’s volume, geometry, and openings. The outside of the building is colored with dots and stripes using the technique of planar mapping, projecting dots on the opposite surface, at times stretching the dots to stripes on the other two surfaces. So when we shear the geometry, the dots and stripes blend to confuse the actual shape of the geometry. Shadows are carefully painted on several building faces that constitute the massing of the theater. Once these “fake shadows” are impressed on the surface of the building, they soften the otherwise sharp edges of its volume. Fake shadows are also used around the openings in order to blur the distinction between interior and exterior to correspond to public areas. The program of this building is a Performing Arts Center located in the theater district of Los Angeles near Disney Concert Hall. The building contains one large hall and one small hall. The public space is sandwiched between the interior and exterior skins. We apply the same technique of texture and play with the real shadows and the painted shadow in this interstitial public space.
Elevation 1
Elevation 2
Section
Plan
Physical Model
Spring 2014 Vertical Design Studio Instructor: Tom Wiscombe Dutch Embassy. OMA
Berlin Philharmonic Hall Hans Scharoun
Cube form
Nest
Tight fit, loose fit
Cube + Crystal
Interstitial space
Rotate, push out
Tight fit & loose fit
Misfit Objects and Strange Coherencies
This studio focus on strange interfaces between radically different inner, outer, and adjacent objects and surprising forms of coherency that can be achieved through formal operations that gather, slice, or otherwise transform constellations of objects. Underwriting this work will be an interest in exploring contemporary permutations of the ‘sectional object’ problem, where ‘interior’ and ‘exterior’ objects can empathize with and engage one another in unexpected ways.
Physical Model
Fall 2013 Vertical Design Studio Instructor: Coy Howard
Rough & Feral Outsider of Art Museum
Material experiment with paper, paper tapes, and glue
The works of this studio are created base on the 5 qualities of interestingness: 1. Metaphor 2. Multiplicity 3. Composition 4. Mystery 5. Appropriateness. When moving from the first stage practice (drawing, material experiment, painting, and photography) to architecture, the character of these pracetices are transfer to the architectural language thus the scale become important. The material of the extruded wall is rammed earth. The horizontal texture responds to the massing, and the mixture of the earth and concrete give the wall a drawing quality.
Fall 2013 Applied Studies Seminar Instructors: Herwig Baumgartner, Tom Wiscombe Group Work: Austin Samson, Danny Karas, Jeff Halstead, Lung Chi Chang, Nan Yen Chen
Design Development This seminar explores a new way of project delivery drawing. Instead of the traditional way of design development drawing, we produce a 10’*10’ mega drawing to articulate the building systems. By chopping and peeling the architecture, we show the space relationship and the important joint. We also use macro and micro chunks to show the details.
HVAC System 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
8. chilled water pipes AHU 9. outside air return air duct supply air duct 10.exhaust fan 11.exhaust outlet flue air cooled chiller boiler heating hot wate pipes
Chunk A-1 Metal Panels
2 layer 1/2” GWB 4” Steel stud
Panel structure
Pipe D=100mm t=3mm (see A1-01)
Vertical Shaft
7.5m x 1.5m (include air supply, return ducts, plumbing pipes, see HVAC diagram)
Chunk B-1
Egg Crate Structure (see structure Axo) d=90cm~240cm t=30~45mm ASTM A992
Concert Hall Roof Truss
H-300x300x10x15(mm) H-200x200x8x12(mm)
Concert Hall Wall Frame
Box-300x300x10(mm) H-300x300x10x15(mm) H-200x200x8x12(mm)
Chunk C-1 Sphere to Cube Connection Ring
Build-Box 600x600x30(mm)
Floor and Outer Envelop Detail (see A2-01)
4’ x 4’ Acoustic Cealing (NRC of 0.90 up to 1.0, and SAA of 0.86)
2 layer 1/2” GWB 6” Steel Stud Acoustic Insulation 4’ x 4’ Acoustic panels (NRC of 0.90 up to 1.0, and SAA of 0.86)
2012 Professional Project, Tainan, Taiwan Position: Project Designer, Chiang Le Ching Architects
TNNUA Material Arts and Design Building 1st floor plan
Ground floor plan
The design seeks a new relationship of classrooms and exhibition space which is developed from the traditional Chinese courtyard house, and acheives good space quality from this housing type.
Section
Study physical model
2009 Professional Project, Miaoli, Taiwan Position: Project Designer, Chiang Le Ching Architects
University Library and Information Center
The projects we designed for National United University are Library and Information Center and several buildings of College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. These building stood on different height of a hill slope. The design intends to make lower floors look like horizontal walls erected from the earth, and the upper floors are light with rhythmic expression.
Ground floor plan