Portfolio Selected Works | 2018-2021
Sara-Ann Yong
Contents
Shifting Voids
4
Jump Cut
16
Hidden Room
26
Window, Cornice, Profile
32
Nitobe Memorial Hall
42
Shifting Voids Fall 2020 Harvard GSD Core Studio 3 Instructor: Eric Höweler
Shifting Voids is a design proposal for a new headquarters and office building for the Municipal Arts Society (MAS) in New York City. Located on the corner of Waverly Place and MacDougal Street near Washington Square Park, the project explores the idea of spatial and visual connectivity by ‘bringing the public up’. On street level, grand stairs leading to the entrance on the corner of the building doubles as both public seating and serves as an urban gesture and extension of the park. Programatically, MAS offices and interim spaces for third party rentals are sandwiched in between public programs on the first three floors and the library at the top of the building. Shifting voids which form a moving atrium are woven into the center of these sandwiched floors, connecting the public.
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2 1 MAS office 2 Interim rental 3 Meeting room 4 Pantry 5 Public lounge area 6 Balcony
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8th Floor
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1 Entrance 2 Lecture hall 3 Cafe 4 Public lounge area 5 Exhibition hall 6 Circulation core 2nd Floor
Main Plan Types
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5th Floor
10th Floor
4th Floor
9th Floor
3rd Floor
7th Floor
Ground Floor
6th Floor
Interstitial Plans
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Long Section
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Short Section
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6th Floor
5th Floor
4th Floor
2nd Floor
Detailed Wall Section
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Structure & Truss System
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Jump Cut Fall 2019 Harvard GSD Core Studio 1 Instructor: Sean Canty
Jump Cut stitches together two seemingly incompatible building types and their corresponding sections while negotiating the notion of figure within figure. Formally, the two building types are representative of the raumplan, where the scaling and repetition of modular units are created by the subdivision through a 9-square, and the freeplan, where the rotation of a central space creates a nested quality. The idea of figure within figure is further mediated in the combined building by the center-perimeter relationship of its circulation systems. Stairs and a continuous ramp frequently switchback and move between the interior and perimeter of the building. While the stairs lead directly into rooms, the ramp, which switches between 1:12 and 1:20, activates more space - in the raumplan, this activates corner rooms while in the freeplan, this activates central space which then allows for sectional shifts. Spatially, the mediation between modularity and openness creates easy program speculation of an artists’ residency and gallery space, where the stair system supports individual areas like artists’ rooms and studios, while the ramp activates lounge and workshop spaces.
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Concept
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Plan 03
Plan 01
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Section A-A
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Section B-B
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Section C-C
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Hidden Room Fall 2019 Harvard GSD Core Studio 1 Instructor: Sean Canty
The project involves designing five rooms, one of which is hidden from the other four. The Hidden Room plays with human perception and physiology by utilizing the staircase as the main tool to deceive. Manipulation of the staircase through the number and heights of treads allows for the fifth room to be slipped into the building, where the discrepancy between the subjective perspective, what an occupant believes they are experiencing, and the objective reality, what they are actually experiencing, allows for the Hidden Room to be effectively concealed. On the facade, a scattering of punctured ‘constellation’ windows marks the proximity of each room in the building, simultaneously concealing yet indexing the Hidden Room. The open central light well core, while bringing natural light into the interior spaces, also allows the occupant to see the floor plates of the other rooms and becomes a datum for them to measure change and the discrepancies that occur, indicating that things may not be as they seem.
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Subjective perspective
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Objective reality
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Plan 01
Section A-A
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Plan 02
Section B-B
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Unrolled Elevation
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Window, Cornice, Profile Spring 2020 Harvard GSD Core Studio 2 Instructor: Sergio Lopez-Pineiro
The design for a graduate student meeting house began with an analysis of an as-found window system comprising of three distinct parts: the window itself, the undulating perimeter profile of the room which contains the window, and the cornice, which ‘completes’ the geometry of the system. The project explores how this window system is adapted to room and facade. In modifying the original system, the undulation from the original building perimeter is utilized in the transformation from window to room by creating 10 unique plan types. The spaces where the meeting house’s perimeter folds inwards is further defined by slatted windows which help with the natural flow of ventilation, whereas the rest of the faces aligned to the ‘correct’ geometry are defined with single pane windows to maximize light. On the facade, the undulation of the building’s profile creates stepping balconies that are occupiable by the building’s users. In the transformation from window to facade, the cornice, a traditional architectural component of the window - albeit not as prominent in current times - is reinvigorated in this project. Additionally, the cornice is ornamented with the bas-relief of the outlined profiles of each floor’s unique diagrammatic plan.
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Interior Elevation
Natural Light, Controlled Ventilation Natural Ventilation, Controlled Light
Exterior Elevation
Original Window
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1st Floor
2nd & 3rd Floor
4th Floor
5th Floor
6th Floor
7th Floor
8th Floor
9th Floor
10th Floor
11th Floor
Window to Room
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Window to Facade
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5th Floor Plan
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Section A-A | Light
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Section B-B | Ventilation
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Nitobe Memorial Hall Spring 2018 Senior Capstone Studio / Undergraduate Thesis Instructor: Naomi Darling
Japan’s architecture is deeply rooted in its history and religion. The proposal for the Nitobe Memorial Hall explores two ways in which Japan’s traditions, religion, and reverence for nature can be presented within architecture. First, through the incorporation of traditional Japanese architectural elements like an exteriorized corridor called engawa or shoji screens that create flow between interior and exterior spaces, mirroring the close relationship between man and nature. Second, through the incorporation of traditional Japanese construction and carpentry, particularly traditional wood joinery, in the structural construction of the building.
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1 Genkan entrance 2 Lobby + reception area 3 Nitobe information center 4 Classrooms + offices 5 Kitchen + dining room 6 Roji 7 Tea house Ground Floor
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8 Large classroom 9 Exhibition hall 10 Outdoor vegetable garden 11 Outdoor dining area
2nd Floor
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Short Section
Long Section
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Exploded Axon of Structure
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Thank You
saraannyong@gmail.com
© Sara-Ann Yong, 2021