enfolded 02 unconventional housing at Holland Village
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angular waves 24 computationally designed shell-beam canopy through the looking glass 30 a tribute to Leonardo da Vinci’s obsession with geometry home cubby holes 42 a customizable walk-in for a warm welcome home bits & pieces 46 artwork
pamela chua
open house 16 privacy without partitions
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tensile landscape 10 a space suspended in mid-air
urban development
enfolded unconventional housing at holland village
ENFOLDED
year 2014 type urban development scale 25000 m2
H
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olland Village, situated about 15 minutes from Singapore’s city centre by public transport, is known well for its food, nightlife, and vibrant street activity. Families and daredevils alike stroll the roads alongside slow-moving cars, and visitors of every kind take to exposed sidewalks rather than walking under the shade of shop awnings even in the heat of noon. Nothing, it seems, can possibly exist in Holland Village without becoming a part of its street culture. But what happens when you add a 100-unit residential development to the mix? By default, a multi-storey social housing development seeks efficiency in lifts and staircores over long, meandering ramps, and seeks to save space by emphasizing verticality. This project, however, proposes an alternative solution: a twisting low-rise housing community built on a single ribbon of homes that not only continues the streets of Holland Village into the building, but gives back to the neighborhood by shading the streets and creating informal public space. Welcome to the new streetscape of houses that enfolds Holland Village.
urban development ENFOLDED physical model 1:200 shows facade and structure photo credit: Sze Kiat Koh, Oddinary Studios
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DIVISION BY RADIAL GRID
1. RADIAL GRID
COMMERCIAL CENTRE + LOOP
COMMERCIAL-RESIDENTIAL BRIDGE
RESIDENTIAL PATH AS SETBACK
INTERIOR ROADS TO KEEP
GUIDE FOR PROG
DERIVED FROM BUILDING LAYOUT
OPTION 1: BORDER BUILDING LAYOUT WITH CENTRAL “HILL” MARKETPLACE
OPTION 2: FINE-GRAIN BLOCKS CREATE INFORMAL, DISINTEGRATED PATHS
OPTION 3: CENTRAL “UMBRELLA” BUILDING SPINE CREATES COVE
09 - PROJECT 2_URBAN LIVING @ HOLLAND VILLAGE urban development
ANALYSIS
PROGRAM MASSING GENERAL MASSING
RESIDENTIAL CENTRE RESIDENCE + COMMERCIAL COMMERCIAL CENTRE
2. BRANCHING FROM MAIN AXIS DERIVED FROM PEDESTRIAN CIRCULATION
DIVISION BY RADIAL GRID
RID
COMMERCIAL CENTRE + LOOP
COMMERCIAL-RESIDENTIAL BRIDGE
RESIDENTIAL PATH AS SETBACK
INTERIOR ROADS TO KEEP
GUIDE FOR PROGRAM MASSING
ENFOLDED
ROM BUILDING LAYOUT
OPTION 1: BORDER BUILDING LAYOUT WITH CENTRAL “HILL” MARKETPLACE
OPTION 2: FINE-GRAIN BLOCKS CREATE INFORMAL, DISINTEGRATED PATHS
CIRCULATION CIRCULATION
PATH FROM BUONA VISTA HDBS
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OPTION 3: CENTRAL “UMBRELLA” BUILDING SPINE CREATES COVERED WALKWAY
CONCEPT SKETCH
MAIN ENTRANCE FROM MRT
NG FROM MAIN AXIS
ROM PEDESTRIAN CIRCULATION
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FROM A TO B... EXPLORE DETOURS IN EXTERNAL CIRCULATION
DETOUR 1: BUILT PATH BETWEEN SECTORS (COMMERCIAL <-> RESIDENTIAL)
DETOUR 2: NARROW ACCESSWAY BETWEEN CLUSTERS (RESIDENTIAL <-> COMMUNAL)
DETOUR 3: BUILDING SPACES BETWEEN UNITS (RESIDENTIAL <-> RESIDENTIAL)
opposite massing model 1:500 shows the development’s relationship with the site
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SCHEME BREAKDOWN
ULATION
FROM A TO B... PLORE DETOURS ERNAL CIRCULATION
CONCEPT SKETCH
MAIN ENTRANCE FROM MRT
CIRCULATION PATHS DETOUR 1: BUILT PATH BETWEEN SECTORS (COMMERCIAL <-> RESIDENTIAL)
COMMERCIAL BLOCKS DETOUR 2: NARROW ACCESSWAY BETWEEN CLUSTERS (RESIDENTIAL <-> COMMUNAL)
TYPICAL RESIDENTIAL DETOUR 3: BUILDING SPACES BETWEEN UNITS (RESIDENTIAL <-> RESIDENTIAL)
DOUBLE-FAMILY UNITS
THIS PAGE conceptual diagrams form developed to create a site-sensitive massing, a circulation of detours, and interlaced programs
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ENFOLDED
urban development
urban development ENFOLDED pamela chua
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schematic plan shows L3 apartment divisions and relation to ground floor
urban development
APARTMENT PLANS
ENFOLDED
detailing of one block, with 4 different apartment types
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Studio
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Typical Apt.
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Courtyard Apt.
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Building L3 Block L1
Building L4 Block L2
Building L5 Block L3
urban development ENFOLDED pamela chua
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structure central â&#x20AC;&#x153;spineâ&#x20AC;? multilevel truss that supports cantilevered floor trusses outwards with perpendicular cable structures
01 - 250 MM WIDTH X 50MM THICK WOOD PANELS
urban development
facade details slotted holes in the facade are made into usable folds for units as extra furniture or storage space
04 - PERMANENT WINDOWS (GLASS W/O OPAQUE PANEL LAYER) 05 - HINGED WOOD PANELS FOR INTERIOR USE (STORAGE/FURN.) 06 - SUPPORTING CABLES FOR FOLD-OUT HINGED WOOD PANELS
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ENFOLDED
02 - SLIDING GLASS PANELS W/ STEEL FRAMING & RAIL SYSTEM 03 - STEEL TRELLIS GRID (SUPPORT STRUCTURE FOR CLADDING)
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05 06
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cultural tensile landscape
tensile landscape a space suspended in mid-air year 2013 type cultural scale 300 m2
A building built in a building. A space that eats someone elseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s space. If some
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architecture of any sort were to be built in the central garden courtyard weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve dubbed the Oasis or our school, inevitably blocking out sunlight and air from the parts of the building that it covers, what could it be other than a parasite? This project was proposed with precisely that idea in mind: to design a structure that embraces rather than avoids this identity of a parasite, building itself up from existing structure and interfering with existing space and ciruclation. Using the concept of a tensile skin, this structure attaches itself to the busiest parts of the school and stretches across the Oasis to provide shortcuts through the school that existing circulation has failed to provide.
Meanwhile, at tightly pulled junctions between connections, larger spaces emerge into areas used by students and staff: a basin-shaped area converts into a performance venue, a large corridor easily becomes a gallery of studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work, and more spaces emerge as the parasite stretches to adapt to its host over time.
cultural tensile landscape physical model 1:100 tensile model made by casting chalky earth on fabric formwork stretched to connect access points on a site model
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cultural tensile landscape
anchors: 4 openings: 0
volumes: 0 position: west
anchors: 4 openings: 0
volumes: 0 position: -
anchors: 4 openings: 0
volumes: 1 position: west
anchors: 4 openings: 0
volumes: 1 position: ctr
anchors: 4 openings: 0
volumes: 1 position: east
anchors: 5 openings: 0
volumes: 2 position: east
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anchors: 4 openings: 2
volumes: 0 position: -
model explorations used to test various boundary consitions & execution methods of the tensile form
cultural tensile landscape
13 anchors: 3 openings: 0
volumes: 1 position: east
anchors: 3 openings: 0
volumes: 2 position: east
anchors: 4 openings: -
volumes: 0 position: east
anchors: 5 openings: 2
volumes: 0 position: east
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volumes: 2 position: east
anchors: 5 openings: 3
volumes: 0 position: east
anchors: 5 openings: 4
volumes: 0 position: east
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anchors: 4 openings: 0
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L3 plan shows main features of the tensile space: a performance area, connections to all floors, and a gallery corridor
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tensile landscape
cultural
residential
open house privacy without partitions
open house
year 2014 type residential scale 200 m2
W
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hen I first came to Singapore, I was surprised by the sheer size of a single HDB flat; how could this even be considered social housing, I wondered, when it measured a good 90-100 sqaure meters for one family alone? In the Philippines, social housing usually means about 20-30 square meters for a family of at least two generations, often three. Much later, I found an answer to this puzzle of how a Singaporean family could occupy so much space at minimum: the multitude of walls within a single flat. I was surprised that children in Singapore are given their own rooms; I myself slept with my parents and 3 brothers, in the same room, on a row of futons on the floor, until I was ten years old; and even after, we continued this tradition every Friday night. When I mentioned this to other Singaporeans, they were aghast at the lack of privacy I must have grown up with. This house proposes a system that maintains privacy while allowing for my childhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s free, easy interaction. It creates privacy without partitions.
residential open house physical model 1:25 shows how space is differentiated not through partitions but through subtle cues of height and split levels
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PLAN L1
(PUBLIC FOCUS)
open house
residential
DRAWINGS 1:50
A
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L1 plan shows focus on public area, here configured into a dining space that accommodates 30 people
PLAN PLAN L2 L1
(PRIVATE (PUBLIC FOCUS) FOCUS)
PLAN L1PLAN L1PLAN L1
A
a
A
open house
residential
(PUBLIC FOCUS) (PUBLIC FOCUS) (PUBLIC FOCUS)
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L2 plan
PLAN L2PLAN L2PLAN L2
(PRIVATE (PRIVATE FOCUS) FOCUS) shows focus on privacy provided by height / floor levels, allowing (PRIVATE FOCUS) people to be alone in the bedroom or study balcony
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A
residential
PLAN L2
open house
(PRIVATE FOCUS)
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SECTION AA long section
the differentiation of space w/o partitions allows one to enjoy privacy while remaining accessible to the rest of the family
residential open house shows how space is differentiated not through partitions but through subtle cues of height and split levels
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elevation physical model 1:25
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open house residential
residential open house this page interior views physical model 1:25 (clockwise from top left) views of: entrance to the suspended study balcony; 2nd-storey kitchen from top of staircase; bedroom area from L2 entrance
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view of living room with study balcony suspended above, providing a spatial and auditory connection while maintaining visual and physical privacy
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Opposite partial elevation physical model 1:25
shelter
angular waves computationally designed shell-beam canopy
angular waves
year 2015 type shelter scale 600m2 done with Amaryllis Seah, Xia Tian
W
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hat is a canopy but a roof? When one thinks of a canopy this way and is then asked to come up with a design that ensures the said canopyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s structural strength, thoughts might easily flow the way of domes or arches, commonly used and abused solutions to make a strong and efficient surface that stands under compression. This canopy was conceived in a rather different way, imagining a canopy as a mere surface attached to at least one support. Thus our group of three played with the idea of a canopy as we would a piece of paper: folding, slicing and trimming the sheet until we were satisfied that it would stand. From the finalized form we derived a way to generate it computationally by creating and systematically skewing a grid of points that would be traced with lines (to become beams) and eventually become folding points for the surface. The final design optimizes structure through frame density and material selection to highlight our design intent of a light, fragile canopy shelter.
shelter angular waves rendered view of canopy a lighweight structure with multimaterial panelling (aluminum & glass)
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the idea for the form was inspired by a study of 2D bending moments, leading to a series of tapered folds that combined to form a dual-cantilevering canopy system.
angular waves
shelter
concept
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two-sided support: reverse fold & mirror
Adding coverage: repeat folding system
Folding & tapering a simple cantilevered plane (with reference to the 2D bending moment curve) adds stiffness.
Allowing for a 2-sided support system (in the design brief), the fold is mirrored to add an opposite region of support...
... and this double fold can be repeated as an angular undulation to stretch over an arbitrary length.
code logic
angular waves
shelter
to build the geometry: create a grid of points, manipulate it into a more complex pattern, and then build a surface by connecting points into lines and lines into surfaces.
set grid size & resolution
separate alternate rows
move in z-gradient
resultING POINT GRID
edge frames
primary beams
intermediate trusses
panels within trusses
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move in x-axis
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shelter angular waves pamela chua
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OPTIMIZATION Galapagos in Grasshopper was used to run permutations of material and geometric conditions for the canopy, including frame density (shown above), material & cross-section, etc.
SIMPLY SUPPORTED NORMAL LOAD: 5 kN/m2 WIND LOAD: 0.5 kN/m2
MAXIMUM DEFLECTION 2.99 cm MAXIMUM STRESS 115.4 MPa
CLADDING 01 MATERIAL:
shelter
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
E = 6.5x1010 Pa v = 0.23 p = 2500 kg/m3 THICKNESS:
20mm
CLADDING 02 MATERIAL:
ALUMINUM
angular waves
GLASS
E = 7.5x1010 Pa v = 0.33 p = 2800 kg/m3 THICKNESS:
20mm
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BEAMS HIGH-STRENGTH STEEL E = 2.1x1011 Pa v = 0.29 p = 2700 kg/m3 CROSS-SECTION: INNER RADIUS: THICKNESS:
final design After many optimization iterations, the final design is constructed with beams merely 30-60mm in radius that support a pattern of glass and aluminum panels spanning 12x50m.
HOLLOW CIRCLE A=25mm; B=50mm A=10mm; B=20mm
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MATERIAL:
installation through the looking glass
through the looking glass a tribute to leonardo da vinci’s obsession with geometry year 2014 type art installation scale 15m2 done with WY-TO Architects
“Although human ingenuity may devise various inventions... it will never discover any
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inventions more beautiful, more simple, or more practical than those of nature.”
Much of Leonardo da Vinci’s design inspiration came from observing and reimagining nature’s mechanisms for man-made designs. Fundamental to his creative cycle was the idea of underlying order in nature; he sought to extract that order to bring natural and man-made design closer. Yet for all his genius he was still limited by the age he lived in. Unable to figure out how to completely merge the two, he left this unsolved question to haunt generations after him. Today, 500 years laters, modern technology has helped us find that much of natur’s underlying order can be understood through fractals. This artwork celebrates the continuation of da Vinci’s legacy through fractals: for, in the moment that you simultaeously see both natural and man-made fractal superimposed, you have stepped “Through the Looking Glass” into the vision da Vinci left as a legacy for the world.
through the looking glass
installation
-DIMENSIONAL PERCEPTION: MERGING NATURAL AND MAN-MADE DESIGN FRACTAL
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WY-TO PTE. LTD. ARCHITECTS@WY-TO.COM WWW.WY-TO.COM
ARTSCIENCE MUSEUM MS. JULIA VASKO JULIA.VASKO@MARINABAYSANDS.COM
THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS An innovative response to Leonardo Da Vinci’s legacy
phase
CPT site
ASM / SGP
date
30/06/2014 doc
scale -
VIN-140630-DA VINCI-ART INSTALLATION
installation
conceptual diagrams
through the looking glass
elements of a man-made fractal morph into a snowflake image through simple extrusions
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installation
reality (what we make) vs. Perception (what we see) REALITY
FRONT FACADE
ARCHITECTS@WY-TO.COM WWW.WY-TO.COM
PERCEPTION
ARCHITECTS@WY-TO.COM WWW.WY-TO.COM
WY-TO PTE. LTD. ARCHITECTS@WY-TO.COM WWW.WY-TO.COM
ARTSCIENCE MUSEUM MS. JULIA VASKO JULIA.VASKO@MARINABAYSANDS.COM
THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS An innovative response to Leonardo Da Vinci’s legacy
front elevation (perspective)
back elevation (perspective) BACK FACADE back elevation
(perspective) back elevation (axonometric) REALITY
ARTSCIENCE MUSEUM MS. JULIA VASKO JULIA.VASKO@MARINABAYSANDS.COM
ARTSCIENCE MUSEUM
MS. JULIA VASKO JULIA.VASKO@MARINABAYSANDS.COM
back elevation (persp
back elevation (axonometric)
BACK FACADE front elevation
front elevationPERCEPTION (axonometric)
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FRONT FACADE front elevation (perspective) back elevation (axonometric) PERCEPTION
front elevation (axonometric)
WY-TO PTE. LTD.
back elevation (axono
THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS An innovative response to Leonardo Da Vinci’s legacy THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS An innovative response to Leonardo Da Vinci’s legacy
PERCEPTION phase
CPT site phase
ASM / SGP CPT site
ASM / SGP
(perspective)
date
30/06/2014 scale
date
doc -
VIN-140630-DA VINCI-ART INSTALLATION
30/06/2014
doc
scale -
VIN-140630-DA VINCI-ART INSTALLATION
phase
CPT site
ASM / SGP
date
30/06/2014
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REALITY
WY-TO PTE. LTD.
front elevation (axonometric)
front elevationPERCEPTION (axonometric) REALITY
REALITY
through the looking glass
placing layered elements at different distances causes a pattern to emerge in perspective
doc
scale -
VIN-140630-DA
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PERCEPTION VS REALITY PERCEPTION VS REALITY
installation through the looking glass pamela chua
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detail design construction drawing for one complete facade
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detail design sample construction drawing for a composite module
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detail design sample construction drawing for facade module & beads
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detail design construction drawing for selected structural joints
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completed stringing of more than 1000 beads on some 600 strings
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shadows cast by beads
through the looking glass
installation
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view straight into the art installation
through the looking glass installation
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detail of beads suspended on string
through the looking glass
installation
furniture home cubby holes
home cubby holes a customizable walk-in for a warm welcome home year 2014 type furniture scale <1m2 / pc
It is perhaps only during the act of crossing the threshold between our homes
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and the outside world that we can truly appreciate what makes a home home: that which we hate to leave in the morning, and consequently keeps us coming back every night.
This array of cubby holes focuses on making that transition across the threshold easier by allowing any homemaker to shape the home’s entrance area into a warm, livable place that encapsulates the idea of a “welcome home”. Built on a single cuboid module, yet designed in a variety of shapes and depths that slot together with subtle interlocking ridges, the cubbies can be assembled into seats for those about to go out or just come in; to catch dropped bags and stow kickedoff shoes; or even as a hidey-hole for that occasional surprise gift. It’s the little things that count; and these little welcome blocks will surely shape your impression of the wonderful life that awaits you just past your doorstep, giving you one more reason everyday to hurry home.
furniture home cubby holes walk-in space the cubbies function as storage, seating, and much more, giving life to your home the moment you set foot inside
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furniture home cubby holes pamela chua
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how it works the cubbies are designed to invite and delight users with in a variety of shapes and sizes that all work together with ease, thanks to an inbuilt assembly system of subtle, snug ridges that enable them to slot together smoothly without extra jigs or fixtures.
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with their seamless slot-together system and modular shapes, these blocks allow you to build and rebuild your home space, again and again, keeping your surroundings fresh, inviting and customized to your needs.
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bits & pieces
artwork
bits & pieces
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selection of artwork from pdchua2.deviantart.com/gallery
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bits & pieces
artwork
About pamela chua
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about I was born in the Philippines, where I lived the first sixteen years of my life before shifting to Singapore to study architecture at the Singapore University of Technology and Design. I find joy in crafting experiences that evoke emotion and inspire thought. To design spaces that talk to peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; this is what I hope to do, everyday. contact pdchua2@gmail.com +65 8167 9361
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