Architecture Portfolio 2021

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.

4

5

4 3

5

1

2 1 MAS office 2 Interim rental 3 Meeting room 4 Pantry 5 Public lounge area 6 Balcony

3 4

6

8th Floor

6 5 2

4

3 1

6

1 Entrance 2 Lecture hall 3 Cafe 4 Public lounge area 5 Exhibition hall 6 Circulation core 2nd Floor

Main Plan Types

6

5th Floor

10th Floor

4th Floor

9th Floor

3rd Floor

7th Floor

Ground Floor

6th Floor

Interstitial Plans

7

8

9

10

Long Section

11

Short Section

12

6th Floor

5th Floor

4th Floor

2nd Floor

Detailed Wall Section

13

Structure & Truss System

14

15

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.

16

17

Concept

18

Plan 03

Plan 01

19

Section A-A

20

Section B-B

21

22

Section C-C

23

24

25

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.

26

2 1

4 3

1

Subjective perspective

4 5 1

2

5 3

Objective reality

27

Plan 01

Section A-A

28

Plan 02

Section B-B

29

30

Unrolled Elevation

31

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.

32

Interior Elevation

Natural Light, Controlled Ventilation Natural Ventilation, Controlled Light

Exterior Elevation

Original Window

33

1st Floor

2nd & 3rd Floor

4th Floor

5th Floor

6th Floor

7th Floor

8th Floor

9th Floor

10th Floor

11th Floor

Window to Room

34

Window to Facade

35

5th Floor Plan

36

37

Section A-A | Light

38

Section B-B | Ventilation

39

40

41

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.

42

43

5

7 4 6

3

2 1

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

44

11

10

9 8

8 Large classroom 9 Exhibition hall 10 Outdoor vegetable garden 11 Outdoor dining area

2nd Floor

45

46

Short Section

Long Section

47

Exploded Axon of Structure

48

49

50

51

Thank You

saraannyong@gmail.com

© Sara-Ann Yong, 2021