AIHONG AVA ZHONG Harvard GSD M.Arch I AP & MLA I Applicant | Fall 2016 Portfolio 2013-2015
Architecture is...
Architecture for me is... a process of translating the creator’s intuitive and rational reasoning into a spatial experience. There is a continual dialog between the designer, environment, and its occupants, which are engaged in a tension of both push and pull effect. This portfolio is an exploration of the interaction between the intuitive and rational reasoning of architecture through process and product performed in mixed media.
Content
1 Tension & Compression Hudson River Bath House Studio 1 | Second Year Instructor: Alan Bruton
2 From the Inside Senior Housing Project Studio 4 | Third Year Instructor: Nick Chelko
3 Space Divide Space Brooklyn Community Center Studio 5 | Fourth Year Instructor: Benjamin Cadena
4 Between Facade & Texture John Cage Center for Housing Works Studio 6 | Fourth Year Instructor: Alan Bruton
5 Under the Land The Artist Bump Career Discovery | Summer 2015 Instructor: Sean Connelly
6
The Real-built Solar Decathlon 2015 School Group Project | Summer 2014
Wedding Atelier Office Group Project | Summer 2013
Hudson River Bathhouse
Hudson River Bathhouse PUAD 2000 | Studio 1 | Second Year Instructor: Alan Bruton In this project I specifically mapped out a scenario of a drunken person walking- vomiting and falling, to study the interaction between the human body and water. The sequence started with the water (alcohol) consumed inside the body, and later ejected out of the body. This research was used as a model for me to create a unique experience for the body within a bathhouse, with a site of 100’ x 30’.
Hudson River Bathhouse
Plan | Top view
Plan | 2nd floor
Plan | Ground floor Model 1’=1/8�
Study Models / Front View / Entrance View
I organized four types of water: still water, falling water, steamed water, and streaming water, and connect them with specific temperatures: warm, cold, hot, and tempered. I utilized two curves and an enclosed circle as the primary elements in the bathhouse. The top curve holds up the still water,
warmed up by the enclosed steam room in-between two curves, and the opening on the top curve creates cold water as warm water falls. The lower part of the curve extends from the land into the steaming river water. The temperature of the water will then vary according to the weather.
Section
Hudson River Bathhouse
Entrance / Steam Room (Hot Steam Water) / Top Pool (Warm Still Water)
Temperature
Actual: Hot - and Humind
Goal: Hot + and Dry
Water Types Collage
Concrete
Humidity
Steel Frame Vapor Barrier Insulation
1st Floor (Tempered Stream Water) / 2nd Floor (Cold Falling Water)
Steam Room Material & Structure Study
Senior Housing Project
Senior Housing Project PUAD 3001 | Studio 4 | Third Year Instructor: Nick Chelko “Study from neighborhood to building to unit and back, and from precedent to interpretation to manipulation and back. Moving between scales, media, and narratives, develop an architectural proposal as an argument, or more specifically, an intervention resulting in 40,000 net square feet of additional residential space within your assigned territory (or site).” I was assigned with an existing affordable housing project for seniors. The existing building was built for a small family with two types of units ( studio and one bedroom, and did not provide additional amenity for the senior’s living.
Senior Housing Project
Diagram: Existing Building Connected to Proposed Building
Existing Building Site, Elevations / Site Analysis: Fence Height and View
Double-level Unit: 2nd Floor Unit Plan / Unit Section
Shared Lounge / Second Floor / Interoir Window of Rooms
Senior Housing Project
Pedestrian Island and Building Site: Before / After
Site Rendering
Bridge
Senior Housing
A bridge is used to connect the top of the senior club and the extension. The new building is made up of a stack of duplex that promotes a lifestyle with shared lounge, cooking and dining facility. To preserve the integrity of stepped facade in existing building, the new units pivot around the elevator core to create stepped outdoor balconies on each level and bring the sight of the park into each unit
Senior Club
The existing building currently occupies the whole lot next to a set of small pedestrian islands, and is situated at the intersections of major avenues. I decided to group the pedestrian islands into a new site for the new extension of the residential building, and made the traffic flow smoother in the intersection. There are two strategies to this proposal: I replaced the empty parking lot under the existing building with a new set of programs specialized for senior residence; gyms, music, art and cooking club.
Existing Residential
Ground Plan
Section & Program
Brooklyn Community Center
Brooklyn Community Center PUAD 4001 | Studio 5 | Fourth Year Instructor: Benjamin Cadena This project is a process of redesigning an entirely new building to house the Cultural Community Center. Currently functions as an empty parking lot by the BAM Cultural District, the center is proposed to provide a state of the art community center for the community.
Scatter cubes and floor slabs
Rearrange cubes and floor slabs
Rotate cubes and floor slabs
Define indoor and outdoor boudary
DRAWINGS
WINGS
Building Elements
Brooklyn Community Center
Circulation Core
Info Desk
Exhibition A
Exhibition B Kids Reading
CAFE
Open Lobby
Structure Columns Site Heat Map
Info Desk
N GROUND FLOOR Exhibition A
Exhibition B
Large Meeting Room
Medium Meeting Room
CAFE
Kids Reading Informal Gathering Space
Staff Office
Room
Anchor Program Small Lounge
Mov
ie
Share Working Desks
Open Lobby DW
DW DW
Anchor Program Residential Living
3RD FLOOR
2ND FLOOR
Private Office
DW
Program Cubes
Open Quiet Zone
4TH FLOOR
5TH FLOOR
SHARED PROGRAMS DEVIDE PROGRAMS
M MEETING L MEETING
EXB1
STORAGE STUDIO EXB2
INFORMAL GAGHTERING
MEETING ROOMS
PRIVATE ROOMS
SHARE D 1
CA
FE
LOBBY
STAFF OFFICE
OPEN QUIET ZONE SHARE D 2
Building Envelope
ANCHOR/ LOUNGE COMMON KITCHEN
FOOD ATTRACTION
SMALL PRIVATE SPACE
HANGOUT SPACE
PRIVATE OFFICES
DIFFERENCE ZONES
SHARE ROOMS
Site Shadow Analysis
Floor Slabs
N
Site Existing Condition
GROUND FLOOR
Site Plan
Large Meeting Room Medium Meeting Room
Informal Gathering Space
Staff Office Anchor Program Small Lounge
Share Working Desks
om
ie
M
Ro
ov
DW
Open Quiet Zone
Private Office
DW DW
Program Placement
Circulation Core
3RD FLOOR
Public Access Programs
DW
Anchor Program Residential Living
2ND FLOOR
4TH FLOOR
Artist Work / Live
5TH FLOOR
Exterior/ Balcony
Brooklyn Community Center Large Meeting Room
Medium Meeting Room
Informal Gathering Space
Staff Office
om
Anchor Program Small Lounge
ov ie
Ro
Share Working Desks
M
N GROUND FLOOR Private Office
W D W D
W D
Open Quiet Zone
W D
Anchor Program Residential Living
3RD FLOOR
2ND FLOOR
4TH FLOOR
5TH FLOOR Large Meeting Room
Medium Meeting Room
Informal Gathering Space
Staff Office
om
Anchor Program Small Lounge
Mo vie
Ro
Share Working Desks
Private Office
DW DW
Anchor Program Residential Living
DW
DW
Open Quiet Zone
3RD FLOOR
2ND FLOOR
4TH FLOOR
5TH FLOOR
SHARED PROGRAMS DEVIDE PROGRAMS
STUDIO
EXB2
L MEETING
STORAGE STUDIO EXB2
FE
LOBBY
INFORMAL GAGHTERING
MEETING ROOMS
PRIVATE ROOMS
SHARE D 1
STAFF OFFICE
OPEN QUIET ZONE SHARE D 2 ANCHOR/ LOUNGE COMMON KITCHEN
FOOD ATTRACTION
SMALL PRIVATE SPACE
HANGOUT SPACE
PRIVATE OFFICES
DIFFERENCE ZONES
SHARE ROOMS
Program Diagram
INFORMAL GAGHTERING
MEETING ROOMS
PRIVATE ROOMS
SHARE D 1
CA
FE
LOBBY
M MEETING EXB1
CA
relationship, and to shift the plates or various floor The art community center will function as the heights. A flexible skin is introduced not only to neighborhood’s living room and accommodate different activities- team work, exhibition, SHARED PROGRAMS DEVIDE PROGRAMS connect the floors with various heights, but also to explore the flow of interior and exterior boundary. The performance space. A set of cubes (rooms) are scattered on the shifted fifth floor shifts in a specific angle to quietly touch the plates (floor) bounded by the flowing skin (facade). residential building next door, creating the entrance M MEETING The concept is to arrange the cubes in different from a public gathering space to a private lounge. L MEETING EXB1 areas on each floor to explore the figure and ground STORAGE
STAFF OFFICE
OPEN QUIET ZONE SHARE D 2 ANCHOR/ LOUNGE COMMON KITCHEN
FOOD ATTRACTION
SMALL PRIVATE SPACE
HANGOUT SPACE
DIFFERENCE ZONES
PRIVATE OFFICES
SHARE ROOMS
Site Massing Models / Building Models, Top Views
Brooklyn Community Center
Section
Brooklyn Community Center
View on 3rd Floor
Second Floor View Into Artist Studios
The building connection is designed for a program that invites international creative individuals to work in the community center while live in the building next door, for a certain period of time, allowing the international artist residence to exchange ideas with the local artist, and to activate the neighborhood at night. Ground Floor Community Lounge / 5th Floor View Into Ajunction Building
John Cage Center for Housing Works
John Cage Center for Housing Works PUAD 4003 | Studio 6 | Fourth Year Instructor: Alan Bruton Looking at the cross section of a tree trunk, I see the pattern of the growth rings as the perspective of space: a ring grows bigger around the center and a space appears bigger as it comes closer. As I listen to John Cage’s <In a Landscape >, I hear the depth of the space through the sound of echo and the rhythms of one’s walking through the changing landscape. Based the grid of perspective that derives from the tree study and the music notes, I translate the music into a drawing that shows “depth” and “speed”.
Tree Ring
Perspective
Rotated Perspective
Unfold
John Cage Center for Housing Works
Sketch Models
Site / Tree Analysis / Music Analysis
Add Programs
Add Building Envelope
Arrange Circulation and Skin
Threading Circulation and Skin
John Cage Center for Housing Works
Ground Plan / Section
The site is situated in Soho, a site of populated pedestrians are pushed on to the edge of the streets and limited public parks. The unfolded tree ring/ perspective creates a continuous circulation path around the building. It becomes a vertical landscape that invites the pedestrians to walk around and a
moving element of the building facade. Entrances to each level are intentionally designed for the traffic. The path not only connects the interior to the public, but also divides the interior from the public. Visitorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experience varies with the alternation of seasons
Site Massing Models / Building Models, Top Views
John Cage Center for Housing Works
View from Entrance
Circulation
Public Programs
Clinic
Commercial
Internet Book Store
John Cage Center for Housing Works
5F Clinic with Silhouettes
2F View into Book Store Cafe
-1F Internet Book Store
The Art Bump
The Artist Bump GSD Career Discovery | Summer 2015 Instructor: Sean Connelly We were assigned to take 180 Somervilles Ave as part of the 3-week urban design studio project at Harvard GSD Career Discovery program. This was to reinvigorate Union Square as the economic and cultural anchor of the City of New Somerville. The existing site assumes that the current tenant, Targe is demolished for a new development. The new design on site will set the precedent for all future redevelopment of the area.
The Art Bump
City scale analysis: land elevation and art museum locations
District scale analysis land serial sections (gray), Somerville Art District (green), Union Square District (dash) and artwork locations (gold)
The Art Bump
Dotted Grid based on the existing neighborhood
Existing Art Museums Comparison
The Somerville government proposes an art zone that mostly overlaps with Union Square area to promote art and creative industry. Artists are invited to create drawings on walls of buildings and to create sculptures in different scales placed in the art zone, together with studio programs in the area that helps the artists to make artworks. Analyzing the elevation change thought out greater Boston area and where the art museums locate, I propose to a new development that contains a series of art studios and exhibition space with landscape features that
Time / Program Diagram
Final Model
The Art Bump
Diagrams Based on the existing street patterns, I reorganize different elements of the area, building parcels, and pedestrian paths and roads, to improve the connections between the neighborhood. Continuing from the new parcels, a series of studios space are placed, linking the parcels from the southwest to southeast side.
Site Plan / Future Development Diagram Current the three parcels in the center are open space for out door sculpture installations. In different seasons it can be used differently. During spring, summer and fall they can be flee markets, camping site or a RV park. During winter time with snow, it can become a snow park.
As time goes, if the art bump fails, it can easily integrate back to the neighborhood. The gallery space will turn into commercial space, providing service for the residence in this area.
West-East Section
The Art Bump
Indoor Bridge This is an indoor bridge that connects the main gallery with the long gallery
Public Bridge This bridge at the busy intersection that connects the community lounge with the main gallery.
Stairs / Seats This is the open-air stairs with seats that face to the center of the art district. It is a complementary facility to support outdoor events.
Top of Art Bump This highest place of the bump provides a good view of the art bump and Somerville. It also provides access to the main gallery underneath.
Bridge Above Train Track This is a bridge that links the north and south side of the art bump above the train track. It also connects the ground-level galleries with the grass roof.
West Entrance This is the closest entrance ramp that connects the grass roof to ground level. It is the closest entrance to the future train station.
Accessible Grass Roof This is the west entrance ramp to the grass roof.
Community Lounge
West Info Center & Long Gallery
Main Gallery This is the largest building that provides spaces to store its permanent collection and workshops for the artists.
N
This is the Somerville Community Lounge that provides a gathering and co-working space.
North Info Center & Cafe
This is a continuous space that can be used as a long gallery and it also can be sectioned down into smaller galleries or artist studios.
This is the entrance that is closest to the Somerville commercial district. It is also a vehicle control gate way for the art district.
Program Diagram
The Art Bump
View from Center Plaza
View from the West Entry Ramp
Real-built
Initial Proposed Plan & Final Plan
Final Rendering
Solar Decathlon Proposal Competition | Summer 2014 | Completed in March 2015 Collaborators: Mark Rakhmanov (initial proposal) Solar Decathlon Team (final proposal) Instructor: Ed May The SURE HOUSE is designed for New York and New Jersey coastal cities and towns, especially those which experienced severe damage from Hurricane Sandy during the fall of 2012. The storm surge, high winds and flooding associated with Hurricane Sandy reshaped the landscape along the Atlantic coast and highlighted the vulnerability of shore neighborhoods. In addition to these physical changes, NY and NJ coastal towns have experienced dramatic changes as a result of economic and policy factors.
The SURE HOUSE will fulfill the need in these regions for durable, safe, and resilient sustainable homes. The inclusion of storm and flood resilience to this solarpowered home sets it apart from other homes and fulfills a critical need within the housing stock of this area, serving as a model for future resilient development and construction in storm- vulnerable environments. Final Section
Real-built
Seamtress Working Area
Fitting Rooms
Tr Dr uc es kS sW ho a w lk L Ru oo n p W ay
Storage
Wedding Atelier
Display / Fitting Area
Summer 2013 | Completed in Janurary 2014 Collaborators: Wid Chapman (Final Plan and Program) Wid Chapman Architects Team (Construction Drawing) Instructor: Wid Chapman This is a 5000-square-foot boutique which required a variety of areas where brides and their family could gather comfortably and view dresses. To maximize the ceiling height in the new design, we proposed hiding the columns with the display closets under the beams as well as hiding the mechanical system above the displays. The displays serve as acoustic soft divisions for the main fitting areas, easily convertible into sub-areas, to accommodate groups of different sizes. The main fitting areas are connected
Office
Machanical room
Storage
Staff Pentry Final Fitting
Final Payment Bathroom Front Desk
with the hallway which serves as runway when there is truck shows and events. The wide circulation became highly accessible for the staff and brides with â&#x20AC;&#x153;puffyâ&#x20AC;?dresses. The Offices and seamstress stations were arranged by the windows,allowing better light and air,while hidden behind the displays which also used as acoustical barrier. Other details were also carefully tailored. The displays were carefully dimensioned and lighted according to the nature of the wedding dress.
Reception Area
Closet / Locker
Plan & Program Diagram
Next...
Next... I have been exploring the balance of design expressed within the human condition, and eager to continue to learn more. This is a helmet of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;eyesâ&#x20AC;? to represent multiple perspectives. It reflects the connection between who I am internally, and the world.
AIHONG AVA ZHONG Harvard GSD M.Arch I AP & MLA I Applicant | Fall 2016 zhongava@gmail.com www.avazhong.com