See Jia Ho by See Jia Ho

Portfolio Harvard University | Graduate School of Design Master in Architecture (MArch I) | 2015 See Jia Ho

C o n t e n t s 1. Highrise...........................Fall 2015 (Thesis advised by Mack Scogin)...........................p.2 2. Field of Windows...........................Spring 2014 (Ciro Najle Studio)...........................p.24

3. Elements of Architecture........................Fall 2013 (OMA Rotterdam)..........................p.34

4. Urban Fiction...........................Spring 2013 (Danielle Etzler Studio)...........................p.36

5. Vertical Campus...........................Fall 2012 (Vincent Bandy Studio)...........................p.44

6. Greenhouses at Wellesley..................Spring 2012 (John Hong Studio).......................p.48

Brookline

Athletic

Center.................Spring

2012

(John

Hong

Studio)...................p.54

Hidden

Room............................Fall

2011

(Cameron

Studio)...........................p.56

Gate

Building..............................Fall

2011

(Cameron

Studio)...........................p.58

The

Gatekeeper........................................A

short

story.............................................p.60

Fall 2015 | Thesis advised by Mack Scogin

Highrise be said that the city dweller’s world is the urban context. It is here where one experiences the city, the cars, people, signage, noises and all the paraphernalia of the city.

The following is an extract from my thesis book “World(floor): Do Highrises Dream of Technicolor Floors?” available on blurb.com:

In Delirious New York, Rem Koolhaas presented the ‘1909 theorem’, a Life Magazine cartoon, as the prototype of the skyscraper with fractured floors. Each of these artificial levels is treated as a virgin site, as if the others did not exist, to establish a strictly private realm [and] create at each elevator stop a different lifestyle and thus an implied ideology...The “life” inside the building is correspondingly fractured.... Incidents on the floors are so brutally disjointed that they cannot conceivably be part of a single scenario. - Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York

This is a thesis project about a residential highrise building in Singapore. I never liked highrises, and I didn’t know exactly why. It could be that I thought they were arrogant because of the unmistakable verticality that rises from a flat ground and the obviousness of human effort that erected such tall structures, but I also thought there was yet something else that bothered me about highrises. Far more than aesthetic appearances and questions of style it seemed to me that there is something limiting about the world they imply, contain and purport to be.

Vertical Continuity

Does this city extend upwards with the skyscraper? In A Pattern Language, Christopher Alexander talks about how after the fourth story a highrise inhabitant is no longer able to connect to the ground floor city context. Above four stories these connections break down. The visual detail is lost; people speak of the scene below as if it were a game, from which they are completely detached. The connection to the ground and to the fabric of the town becomes tenuous; the building becomes a world of its own... - Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language

World - Definition 1

I started by approaching this question architecturally (or physically.) If the world is what we perceive with our physical senses (Definition 1: World as physical experience), then it can p.2

If we agree that the four storey limit applies, then the highrise after the fourth storey disengages from the urban context and “becomes a world of its own”.

Fracture

The elevator enabled the addition of more and more floors in the sky, in that way it is the generating mechanism of the skyscraper. This mechanism works by way of a box that travels vertically, carrying passengers to each floor of the highrise. The elevator is the only thing that moves; the passengers are stationary. With the modern push-button smoothtravelling elevator, it can be said that the fractured floors of Theorem 1909 are expressed faithfully, each floor of a highrise is a different world to be

entered into from the elevator portal. Each world is distinct from any other world in the building, they cannot be experienced as a single world.

Downtown Athletic Club where each floor is tethered to the ground floor urban context by the elevator.

but not the sky. On the other hand, Le Corbusier’s Contemporary City for Three Million Inhabitants ignores ground replication. All movement and urban context is limited to the ground level, as it is in most cases today. Floors in the Contemporary City’s highrise towers are not complete worlds (Definition 2): lacking the urban context each is only an observation deck tethered to the ground floor. However, the important component “sky” that is missing in the each of the sci-fi city’s broken worlds (Definition 2) can be experienced here. Because Le Corbusier did not bother to replicate the ground plane, he had no need to replicate the sky either - one sky is enough for one world.

Observation Deck

World: Floor

Replication

Then, as such, a highrise building cannot exist as a world to be experienced as a whole; the experienced world is limited to the floor of the highrise, one at a time. The famous scenario of the naked oyster-eating boxers in the Downtown Athletic Club at first glance seems to illustrate the strangeness and excitement of the mashing together of worlds that could happen in a skyscraper, but I was somewhat disappointed by the realization that this is only the result of a single floor. The oyster bar, the locker room and the boxing ring are all on the 9th floor; architecturally, this does not require a highrise - the same scenario can take place in a one-floor building... But this is a good example of fractured world-floors, predicted in Theorem 1909. What then am I disappointed with? Why does the original cartoon hold so much more promise and imagination than the Downtown Athletic Club section?

This replication of the urban context in the sky is illustrated with great power in many science fiction movie backdrops (such as The Fifth Element) and in sci-fi futuristic art. These artworks are usually densely populated with moving vehicles, inhabitants, bridges and sky traffic systems that imply a great density of life and complex social interactions (congestion is desirable.) At every vertical strata, a great amount of activity is taking place, in effect the city exists at all levels. The ground floor has finally lost its status - in fact, there is no ground floor.

Sky

Take my love, take my land Take me where I cannot stand I don’t care, I’m still free You can’t take the sky from me. -Opening theme, Firefly TV series “Light is a powerful substance. We have a primal connection to it.” -James Turrell “We are born of light. The seasons are felt through light. We only know the world as it is evoked by light.” -Louis Kahn “The history of architecture is the history of the struggle for light.” -Le Corbusier

World - Definition 3 world (Definition 3:

The worlds discussed so far are physical. There is also a non-physical World as experienced in the mind.)

World - Definition 2

Theorem 1909 seems to give the promise of a satisfying slice of world at each floor (Definition 2: World as a set of components - ground, sky, air, scenery, habitation, URBAN CONTEXT.)

Each floor is not treated as a floor in a building but as an entire landscape, or its own (sub)urban context. We see this actually illustrated in the cartoon that comes right after Theorem 1909 in Delirious New York, titled ‘Cosmopolis of the Future’. This is a more faithful development of Theorem 1909: the urban context is replicated in the air by the elevated and air-borne traffic systems. This is very different from the

The necessity of “sky” (and with it sun and daylight) as a component of the world (Definition 2) cannot be understated. Sci-fi futuristic art is usually dark. The sun cannot be seen, the sky is glimpsed through gaps between infrastructure and the air is a perpetual fog. The level of daylighting in The Fifth Element cityscape cannot be achieved naturally. Worlds (Definition 2) in the dense sci-fi art are broken: the ground can be replicated

My first story had to do with a dog who imagined that the garbagemen who came every Friday morning were stealing valuable food which the family had carefully stored away in a safe metal container. Every day, members of the family carried out paper sacks of nice ripe food, stuffed them into the metal container, shut the lid tightly — and when the container was full, these dreadful-looking creatures came and stole everything but the can. Finally, in the story, the dog begins to imagine that someday the garbagemen will eat the people in the house, as well as stealing their food. Of course, the dog is wrong about this. We all know that garbagemen do not eat people. But the dog’s extrapolation was in a sense logical — given the facts at his disposal. The story was about a real dog, and I used to watch him and try to get inside his head and imagine how he saw the world. Certainly, I decided, that dog sees the world quite differently than I do, or any humans do. And then I began to think, Maybe each human being lives in a unique world, a private world, a world different from those inhabited and experienced by all other humans. And that led me wonder, If reality p.3

p.4

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p.7

p.8

p.9

differs from person to person, can we speak of reality singular, or shouldn’t we really be talking about plural realities? -Philip K Dick, How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later

Many science fiction novels and movies have been made regarding the multiplicity of worlds as experienced by individuals. Architecture has very little to do with this last type of world. A man with a book in a prison cell could have a larger world (Definition 3) than a man in a palace with nothing - how does one measure this world? Is it the necessities that make a sufficient world? If there is a supermarket down the street, does this make a world? Or, one can live in a room with a computer and the internet without ever having to leave, is that a world? But, all things being equal, architecture could influence a Definition 3 world. If one man lives in a windowless basement while another in a light-filled apartment (assuming all other things equal including a preference for sunlight), we can assume that the second man’s world is better. In this case, architecture defined a Definition 2 world (with sky as a component) which affected the Definition 1 world (physically sensed world) which in turn influenced the Definition 3 world (world in the mind). All definitions considered, it is a mistake to think that architecture cannot change the world.

written as “World(floor)” or the world which is the floor. The floor is defined as the inhabitable and predominantly horizontal plane, the result of the horizontality of man’s movement (“the world is what you walk on”) and sight (“the world is what you see”), both related to the notion of ownership and possession.

fractured, hermetic worlds, and does not attempt to subvert the condition. He designed each world to be different and unrelated. Jussieu Library, 1992, OMA In this project, ramps and escalators are used prolifically to create a continuous ground plane in the building (method 1 & 2). As opposed to accepting hermetic worlds, it sought to puncture and melt the worlds together. Guggenheim Museum, 1959, Frank Lloyd Wright A continous spiral as ground plane (method 1) attempts to create a building with just one world(floor.) In other words, Guggenheim can be said to function as a world(building). The void in the center of the building also functions as the atrium in John Portman’s hotels (method 2), discussed in the next example. Hotel Atriums, John Portman Rather than trying to make connected (inter-walkable) worlds, the atriums of John Portman’s buildings bore holes through the world(floors) for purely visual connection; inhabitants of one world(floor) can see into another one (method 2). The staggering stacks of worlds that exist in a building are exposed. The glass elevators also make visible the mechanism of travel; it is no longer teleportation, but like a railway train there are windows and passing scenery. Unité d’Habitation, 1952, Le Corbusier The Unité has a shopping street located about halfway up the building, which is a floor stretched vertically to about two to three stories tall (method 1). The urban context is missing from this world (see “World: Definition 2”) at mid-building: there is no traffic in or passing through to create business for the shopping street, which remained

World(floor) HiGHriSe

in tHe

The world(floor) concept is applicable universally beginning from “flat earth”, but it becomes particularly prominent in the case of the highrise building where the mechanism of the elevator creates a distinct and unique world(floor) at each elevator stop. In a highrise building, each floor is its own world; there are worlds stacked upon worlds, and these do not interact or add up into a bigger world. In the existence of parallel worlds, our experience is limited to one.

expandinG tHe World(floor) Expanding the floor height vertically or the walkable floor expanse horizontally. Providing visual accessibility between floors. I sought a few examples of various architects addressing the issue: ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, 1992, OMA methoD 2 methoD 1

World:

floor

- definition

Man’s physical constitution, and also his sense of orientation, is geared to predominantly horizontal movement. His life unfolds in horizontal expanse, and thus it is in conflict with the vertical dynamics of all substance. - Heino Engel, Structure Systems

(The building) is composed of discontinuous and differentiated plans. Inside the rather cubic building, plans punctuated with the vertical struts of six-meter-deep Vierendeel trusses alternate with column-free plans to produce a stack of spaces that, like an architectural montage, evoke a series of radically different architectural types, or the architectural equivalent of time travel. - Preston Scott Cohen, Successive Architecture

“World: floor” is an expression of “World as floor” - the world experienced as a floor; alternatively p.10

The first example is not at all about expanding the world(floor). Rem Koolhaas’ design for Karlsruhe accepts that floors in a building are

Site plan

East-west section with underground carpark p.11

mostly deserted. Habitat, 1967, Moshe Safdie Safdie wanted every home to have a garden in a high-density housing complex: ‘garden’ is here part of the (sub)urban context of the Definition 2 world which is replicated. In the sense that from one vertical strata other floors are visible (terrace scenario), it can be said to be a Method 2, together with open circulation stairways as Method 1. Linked Hybrid, 2009, Steven Holl Holl used skybridges to expand the world(floors) at certain stratas, linking isolated islands into a bigger walkable world(floor), creating a new ground plane condition in the air (method 1). The city context is however not replicated; there is simply not enough density, activity and players. Renewal of Tsukiji District, Tokyo, 1966, Kenzo Tange Kenzo Tange and the Metabolists wanted to save Tokyo which was becoming increasingly congested in the 60s. The Metabolists were concerned about moving things quickly and efficiently; in a predigital age, communication (the life-blood of the city) was strongly dependent on physical transport. In short, the Metabolist city is about a superefficient traffic system. Their bridges in the sky (unlike Holl’s bridges) are built for megacity density and movement - if realized, it will be a type of true replication of the urban context. (Method 1 can be seen here on a large scale.) Hexahedron Arcology, 1966, Paolo Soleri In Paolo Soleri’s Arcology, urban sectioning takes the place of urban planning. “Public”, “City Center”, “Commercial”, “Residential” and other zones are laid out vertically, occupying different stratas of this p.12

world in a terrace condition (method 1 & 2). Because the context permeates every level, there are no observation decks here.

City scale

The city gradually transforms.

Hyper Towers

Soleri’s Arcology leads into a discussion of the so-called “Hyper Towers”, massive structures such as Sky City 1000 and X-Seed 4000 in Tokyo, or Friedrich St. Florian’s Vertical City - usually an entire city is contained within a building frame. If the city context is replicated at every major vertical strata (for instance, ever 4 or 5 storeys), the outcome approaches the scale of the Metabolist cities or the Hyper Towers. The monumental scale of the massive framework is inseparable from an image of power, which is very antithesis to the spirit of this age that resonates with individual freedom and choice. Other than that, there is also the question of material consumption and cost of construction.

The Anti-Hyper Tower

The anti-Hyper Tower expands horizontally as much as it expands vertically. Building scale

At the scale of the building, each floor is expanded vertically (see “expanding the world(floor), method 1”, p.59); each floor contains a world (see “3 definitions”, p.20). Town scale

The Case Cathedral

the

Gothic

At the scale of the town, bridges link each world(floor) to adjacent existing buildings at the same strata to create an extended world(floor) (see “expanding the world(floor), method 1”). At a further point in time, new buildings are built with a similar concept. As with existing buildings, bridges link each floor to create an extended world(floor).

Written in a rambling style, carelessly: Before I ever was an architect, I loved Gothic cathedrals. Not so much other things like Greek, Renaissance or Romanesque structures. For instance, I didn’t feel much for the Pantheon. (Not to mention modern architecture, which I found inexcusably boring.) But I liked Baroque a lot, and even more so Rococo. In short, I was a lay person. I never let go of the fact that I was educated to appreciate modern architecture. It didn’t make much sense to me, that something as

North-south section with subway stations

Program diagram showing carpark, childcare center, food center, covenience store, residence center, open spaces and green space

Site plans showing extended bridges linking elevator towers at different levels p.13

universal as architecture becomes an exclusive type of academic pursuit and acquired taste... at the worst moments I wondered if architects are content to just design for the appreciation of other architects; what about all the rest of the people? Is it worth a thought? It seems that in recent times more architects have given that a thought. We see the proliferation of ornamented facades - digital displays, lace, hexagonal structure, etc. Building form, massing and silhouette are also articulated to become a sort of ornament (if ornament is defined as that which is not structurally required but something for the eyes, for ‘affect’). Farshid Moussavi and Michael Kubo’s The Function of Ornament lays out many examples of such. But this treatment of ornament didn’t seem satisfying, as much for the masses as I think architecture should be, using ornament as a sort of aesthetic wrapper seems condescending. It is a type of marketing in general (the issue of packaging versus the actual goods...) Very old-fashioned-ly, I thought it is the best to be good both inside and out, but if there had to be a choice between the two, I would buy an ugly box of really good chocolates rather than a beautiful box of really bad ones. As non-consequential as this sounds, it had been a topic of debate for centuries in diverse arenas and fields (significantly in the literary and oratorical arts.) ...men began to hunt more after words than matter; and more after the choiceness of the phrase, and the round and clean composition of the sentence, and the sweet falling of the clauses, and the varying and illustration of their works with tropes and figures, than after the weight of matter, worth of subject, soundness of argument, life of invention, or depth of judgment. - Francis Bacon, On the Vanity of Words without Matter (16th c.) He should also avoid, so to speak, cementing his words together too smoothly, for the hiatus and the clash of vowels has something p.14

agreeable about it and shows a not unpleasant carelessness on the part of a man who is paying more attention to thought than to words. But his very freedom from periodic structure and cementing his words together will make it necessary for him to look to the other requisites. For the short and concise clauses must not be handled carelessly, but there is such a thing even as a careful negligence. - Cicero, Orator (46 B.C.)

And pushing exactly at those limits of good taste were the decorated sheds of Venturi and Scott Brown. But here, Venturi’s observations from the point of view of contrasting scales and layered openings shed a certain angle of light on the power and mystery of the Gothic facade: ...the complex super-adjacencies in the cloister facades at Tomar compose a wall validly containing spaces within itself. The multiple layers of columns - engaged and disengaged, large and small, directly and indirectly superimposed - and the profusion of superimposed openings, architraves, and horizontal and diagonal balustrades create contrasts and contradictions in scale, direction, size, and shape. They make a wall containing spaces inside itself. ...the Gothic traceries of the cathedral at Strasbourg, or the interior of the choir at Notre Dame, Paris...are all disengaged and superimposed on contrasting window patterns. The big public-scale and the rigid order outside contrast vividly with the small private-scale patterns required within. This play of layers of openings... - Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction (1966)

Here, Ernst Gombrich talks about ornament and decorum. Once again there is an obvious transition from the conviction that the charms of ornament can be used for a base purpose, to the suspicion that a profusion of such charms is likely to conceal a base purpose. The old proverb that ‘a good wine needs no bush’ has its correlate in what advertisers call ‘sales resistance’ to conspicuous bushes. In the history of Greek rhetorical theory such ‘sales resistance’ developed into an aesthetic prejudice on the part of the purists against the artifice of so-called Asiatic oratory with its rhythmic cadences and its far-fetched imagery. Their cult of the plain and simple threatened indeed to subvert the whole tradition of rhetoric with its panoply of tricks and devices. It was for this reason that Cicero expended much energy...in countering their arguments while conceding the limited validity of their case. Briefly, he acknowledged the force and value of the plain or Attic style where such a style was appropriate. But he urged that there were also occasions to which more solemn and artificial diction was appropriate. This is the influential doctrine of decorum, which lays down the conditions under which display is admissible and even necessary, while appealing to good taste to set it limits and to be aware of its pitfalls. - Ernst Gombrich, The Sense of Order (1979)

The Amiens Flipbook

Cathedral

On the right page in this chapter is a flipbook of the facade of Amiens Cathedral. It strips away the ornament a little at a time - first the filigree (including all surface detail such as brick work) and small sculptural elements, then removing the depth of the openings by uniform shading, and

72nd Floor Pizza Place

If the world at the 72nd floor is complete, man does not have to go down to the ground floor. If the world at the ground floor is complete, man does not have to go up to the 72nd floor. There are fractured worlds in a high-rise but each world is not a vacuum. If you live on pizza on the 72nd floor for the rest of your life, someone would have to deliver it to your door from the ground floor, human or android. If the pizza place is on the 72nd floor someone would have to deliver the ingredients from the ground floor. If the ingredients are on the 72nd floor someone would have to grow the wheat somewhere in the world on the ground floor. If the wheat field is on the 72nd floor then we have a whole new world.

Axonometric of a portion of the linked towers

Tower elevation

Tower section

Sequence showing the possible stages of interior construction after a young couple moves into an apartment.

p.15

finally removing even the idenitity and hierarchy of the openings and the building silhouette, forming a uniform field of windows that become subdivided further. The end result is a stock image of an office building.

Filigree

Looking at the original image of the cathedral facade on paper, it can be argued that all detail is filigree. Filigree is a predominantly two-dimensional surface ornamental treatment with no depth. If at first glance it is all filigree, the shadows lead us to think there is depth. The existence of depth then leads to the next thought: the existence of spaces. Then, spaces lead to life, life leads to activity, activity leads to interaction - all these that make up the urban context or the desire to live in the city. A relative of the filigree is the French toile. Although physically even flatter than the filigree (it being a canvas print), the toile presents a deeper and bigger world (Definition 3). The toile plays not only with repeating pattern, but also with hierarchy: the scenes themselves are most emphasized, then smaller objects (like the hot air balloon in the above example) and finally foliage that fills in the gaps. When looking at a toile, our eyes zoom in to check out the details of the scenes, and they find human figures, horses, romance... These are the ingredients of a story. The Amiens facade is a story-telling facade. The most obvious being the sculptures and reliefs that tell stories from the bible, but the hierarchy of the portals also tells of grandeur and order and places of entry, and the existence of spaces in the layered wall system tells of spaces where life could be contained. Because so many ingredients are in this story, the eye p.16

is occupied and the mind wanders to form a conclusion; compare this with the final image of the office building - even though a degree of filigree is achieved, there is no element of toile; there is no deepness of world nor ingredients of a story. We can understand one window and understand the entire facade, or we can understand nothing and the facade is as a black hole of meaning.

- Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York (1978)

Inside

Toile

The facade of the Amiens Cathedral is not to serve the those who are inside the cathedral. The facade’s service is to the city outside that looks upon the cathedral building which occupies, as a tall building, a prominent visual space in the city. Inside, it is a different agenda. The sculptures and narrative of the facade cannot be read inside. Here, stained glass windows and soaring arches: all strive to be as tall and as high as possible. It is hardly about the view out; it is about the light coming in. In Delirious New York, Koolhaas presented the complete disconnection between the inside and the outside of a skyscraper (the ‘lobotomy.’) Buildings have both an interior and an exterior. In Western architecture there has been the humanistic assumption that it is desirable to establish a moral relationship between the two, whereby the exterior makes certain revelations about the intenor that the interior corroborates. The “honest” facade speaks about the activities it conceals. But mathematically, the interior volume of three-dimensional objects increases in cubed leaps and the containing envelope only by squared increments: less and less surface has to represent more and more interior activity. Beyond a certain critical mass the relationship is stressed beyond the breaking point; this “break” is the symptom of Automonumentality. In the deliberate discrepancy between container and contained New York’s makers discover an area of unprecedented freedom.... The architectural equivalent [of surgical lobotomy] separates exterior and interior architecture. In this way the Monolith spares the outside world the agonies of the continuous changes raging inside it. It hides everyday life.

versus

Outside

The outside of the Downtown Athletic Club hides the life that takes place inside it; there is no story to tell when looking at its facade or its massing. However, all the devices that are at play in the narrative facade of the Amiens Cathedral is multiplied at a megascale in a proliferate amount of varied details when one looks not only at the Club building but at its surroundings - the Manhattan cityscape.

Manhattan

The reason for the powerful visual attraction of Manhattan when seen as a whole (in panoramic bird-eye shots or when standing in the middle of a major street) lies in the fact that at that scale, all the individual buildings and their facades become the filigree and the toile. In the case of the Amiens, it was built as the single high structure in a medieval city - lacking the backdrop that the Manhattan building has, the cathedral had to be the filigree and the toile all by itself.

vs.

Amiens

The Filigree

Is it necessary for a city to be like a story-telling toile? If every facade in Manhattan was the same, it would not have the power seen in the aerial shots. A city like this is rarely seen, but can be approximated by some housing block landscapes (p.108). The filigree by itself cannot imagine life, but is the first step at suggesting spaces for life - this can be seen even in the same housing block landscape; almost every city approaches a toile to some extent. In the design of a new highrise structure, the design of the exterior facade, form and massing is in effect an exercise in completing the toile or inserting a new element into the toile. It can be said that the design of the outside is more like painting and graphic art.

vs. the

Toile

Death of the High-Rise

The high-rise is dead, and no one is mourning. Conceived and birthed by a young urban context, it was murdered by the elevator in its infancy. Its carcass was cloned and piled up, sometimes with earnestness, sometimes with callous indifference, sometimes with swiss precision, nonetheless like pancakes. The elevator that murdered the high-rise did it over and over again, placing the carcasses on display like an obsessive serial killer with a penchant for arrangement and artistic expression - masterpieces wrapped in shiny material as if to hide the ultimate lifelessness and futility of the effort; like a rain soaked cigarette butt on the pavement it is no longer able to invent any future. The elevator has one quest: height. It is a psychopath unable to deal with emotions, sympathy or context. Lacking the ability to dream of anything other than height, it created taller and taller pancake towers, sometimes constructing gymnastically impressive pancake towers. Its accomplice and hustler is the square foot price. Prestige and status are its ancient lovers and patrons.

Below: plan showing five apartments on one major floor of one tower. Above: second to fourth storeys of each apartment constitutes an empty space without floor slabs at the beginning of occupation.

Plan of housing complex with 41 towers (26 are visible at this level.)

The Elevator

There is no high-rise building. The only thing that rises is the elevator, skewering through stacks of single-storey worlds. Each floor is lifted from the ground like a baby with its umbilical cord still attached. The elevator has always suffered from an inferiority complex - it is the underachieving sibling of the teleport machine. The reigning king of worlds survives on cables and maintenance men and can hardly yet deviate from the straight line, but it does its job. It does not matter that the floors are stacked vertically: if the 3rd floor is in Antarctica and the 72nd floor is on Venus, we are in still in a high-rise, unless our eyes (these days we can trick them) tell us that we have moved a hundred million kilometers between two worlds. p.17

Two Interior Worlds 1. James Turrell: Sky Without Context

Light is a powerful defining ingredient of a space, and the sky with its light is the most important component of a world (definition 2). The gothic cathedral demonstrates this in the interior. By the late 1960s, he was also experimenting with outdoor light. He painted the windows of the hotel and scratched lines in the paint, allowing narrow slits of light to enter the room. He found that he could create patterns and illusions, much as he had with the projector. He called the series “Mendota Stoppages,” and he felt they had at least one advantage over the projection series: Because the light came from outside, there was no machinery in the room. He had created a gallery in which the art was made entirely of light. By the early 1970s, Turrell was exploring another phenomenon with natural light. Instead of scratching paint on the windows, he cut large holes in the walls and ceiling of the old hotel to create a view of the open sky. With the right size of opening and the right vantage and some careful finish work, he found that it was possible to eliminate the sense of depth, so the sky appeared to be painted directly on the ceiling. Then he pointed electric lights at the hole, marveling at the dissonance between the light coming in and going out. He discovered that when he changed the color of the electric lights, he could change the apparent color of the sky. He called the series “Skyspaces.” - On James Turrell, New York Times article (2013)

mysterious atmosphere, it is not what would be called humane architecture. Besides the lack of toilets, plumbing, waste disposal system and water supply, most apartments apart from the outermost have no source of daylight. “An informal network of staircases and passageways also formed on upper levels, which was so extensive that one could travel north to south through the entire City without ever touching solid ground”.

While they are steeped in context, the interior worlds have no sky. While the imaginative power of the maze that is the Kowloon Walled City continues to inspire and is referenced by designers who wish to create an intensity of context (e.g. video game designers), the physical City cannot conceivably be rebuilt the way it was; is there meaning in creating a Kowloon Walled City that is humane? Not only this, but is it possible at all, at what point does it stop having the spirit of Kowloon Walled City? And not only that, but what is that spirit, and is it desirable? On the other hand, Skyspaces would make a really poor video game setting with no context and no plot, but here is the difference between life and game. Skyscraper and Cathedral

Development (MND) and in consultation with the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA), organised an International Architectural Design Competition for a high density and very highrise public housing development at Duxton Plain in the Central Area of Singapore. In view of the historical significance of the site as the place where the first public housing blocks were built by HDB (Housing Development Board) in the area in 1963/4, the development is envisaged to be a landmark housing development.... ...To meet the Concept Plan 2001 objectives, the density and height for the Duxton Plain site will be increased to between 7.4 and 8.4 plot ratio and up to 50 storeys. The new development will therefore be a landmark: the tallest public housing in Singapore. This public housing scheme, which will provide up to 1,800 new homes, will be built by the HDB...”

Design Brief and Technical Requirements Historical Significance

“In view of its historical significance as the site of the first public housing built by HDB in the Tanjong Pagar area, the Competition called for the proposals to be innovatively and meaningfully designed to capture the memory of the existing two housing blocks, and re-site and integrate the plaques commemorating the laying of the foundation stone, on 15th March 1963, and the opening ceremony, on 10th April 1964, which were officiated by the then Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, now the Senior Minister.” Tanjong Pagar Community Club

Turrell’s “Mendota Stoppages” can be compared with the detailed windows of a cathedral (art ‘made entirely of light’ from the outside). His Skyspaces can be seen as worlds (definition 2) because the weightier component of “sky” is present, trumping the lack of context. 2. Kowloon Walled City: Context without Sky

The highrises of today are more like Turrell’s Skyspaces than they are like Kowloon Walled City. Each floor is all sky with no context. The Cathedral, on the other hand, is more like the City than like the Skyspace: an interior full of context but without a view of the sky.

Kowloon Walled City is the opposite of Turrell’s Skyspaces. Admired by outsiders for its density, chaos and p.18

Duxton Plain Public Housing: International Design Competition “In 2001/2 the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), on behalf of the Ministry of National

“The Competition also required the design proposal to relate to the adjacent Community Club, which was built by the People’s Association in 1960 as part of the first batch of community centres, so that it formed part of the housing community and incorporate a 25m wide view corridor to increase the visibility of the building from Cantonment Road.” Duxton Plain Park and Landscaping Strategy

“Competitors were also required to

HIGHR I S E {The world as floor} Table of Contents Chapter...............................................................Page No. 1. Highrise 13 21 51 59

Vertical Continuity does this city extend upwards with the skyscraper? In A Pattern Language, Christopher Alexander talks about how after the fourth story a highrise inhabitant is no longer able to connect to the ground floor city context (p.24-29).

“Worlds” World - Denition 1 I started by approaching this question architecturally (or physically.) If the world is what we perceive with our physical senses (Definition 1: WorlD as physical experithen it can be said that the city dweller’s world is the urban context.

Above four stories these connections break down. The visual detail is lost; people speak of the scene below as if it were a game, from which they are completely detached. The connection to the ground and to the fabric of the town becomes tenuous; the building becomes a world of its own... - Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language

Hacking the World(oor) Man’s physical constitution, and also his sense of orientation, is geared to predominantly horizontal movement. His life unfolds in horizontal expanse, and thus it is in conflict with the vertical dynamics of all substance. - Heino Engel, Structure Systems

larly prominent in the case of the highrise building where the mechanism of the elevator creates a distinct and unique world(floor) at each elevator stop. In a highrise building, each floor is its own world; there are worlds stacked upon worlds, and these do not interact or add up into a bigger world. In the existence of parallel worlds, our experience is limited to one.

cepts that floors in a building are fractured, hermetic worlds, and does not attempt to subvert the condition. He designed each world to be different and unrelated.

guggenheim Museum, 1959, frank Lloyd wright A continous spiral as ground plane (methoD 1) attempts to create a building with just one world(floor.) In other words, guggenheim can be said to function as a world(building). The void in the center of the building also functions as the atrium in John Portman’s hotels (methoD 2), discussed in the next example.

Expanding the World(oor) methoD 1

ence),

If we agree that the four storey limit applies, then the highrise after the fourth storey disengages from the urban context and “becomes a world of its own”.

Expanding the floor height vertically or the walkable floor expanse horizontally. methoD 2

Karlsruhe (oor plans)

Providing visual accessibility between floors. I sought a few examples of various architects addressing the issue: ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, 1992, oMA (The building) is composed of discontinuous and differentiated plans. Inside the rather cubic building, plans punctuated with the vertical struts of six-meter-deep Vierendeel trusses alternate with column-free plans to produce a stack of spaces that, like an architectural montage, evoke a series of radically different architectural types, or the architectural equivalent of time travel. - Preston Scott Cohen, Successive Architecture

World: oor - Denition “world: floor” is an expression of “world as floor” - the world experienced as a floor; alternatively written as “world(floor)” or the world which is the floor. the floor is defined as the inhabitable and predominantly horizontal plane, the result of the horizontality of man’s movement (“the world is what you walk on”) and sight (“the world is what you see”), both related to the notion of ownership and possession (p.54).

1 & 2). As

Jussieu Library, 1992, oMA In this project, ramps and escalators are used prolifically to create a continuous ground plane in the building (methoD opposed to accepting hermetic worlds, it sought to puncture and melt the worlds together.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

World: Urban Context

World: Building

It is here where one experiences the city, the cars, people, signage, noises and all the paraphernalia of the city.

World(oor) in the Highrise At every vertical strata, the sci- futuristic city is full of activity and movement: the city exists at all levels.

The world(floor) concept is applicable universally beginning from “flat earth” (p.52), but it becomes particu-

the first example is not at all about expanding the world(floor). rem Koolhaas’ design for Karlsruhe ac-

Jussieu Library

Fracture in Delirious New York, rem Koolhaas presented the ‘1909 theorem’ (p.33), a Life Magazine cartoon, as the prototype of the skyscraper with fractured floors. Each of these artificial levels is treated as a virgin site, as if the others did not exist, to establish a strictly private realm [and] create at each elevator stop a different lifestyle and thus an implied ideology...The “life” inside the building is correspondingly fractured....Incidents on the floors are so brutally disjointed that they cannot conceivably be part of a single scenario. - rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York

World: Floor

WORLD : FLOOR do high-rises dream of technicolor floors?

2. World: 3 Deﬁnitions 3. World: floor (Insert) 4. World: floor (World as ﬂoor)

5. filigree and Toile: Amiens Cathedral ﬂipbook 81 6. do highrises dream of technicolor floors? 7. Singapore Highrise 8. World: floor (Proposal) 129 139 155

Afterword

180

Appendix

189

World: f l o o r 53

The elevator enabled the addition of more and more floors in the sky, in that way it is the generating mechanism of the skyscraper. This mechanism works by way of a box that travels vertically, carrying passengers to each floor of the highrise. The elevator is the only thing that moves; the passengers are stationary. with the modern push-button smooth-travelling elevator, it can be said that the fractured floors of Theorem 1909 are expressed faithfully, each floor of a highrise is a different world to be entered into from the elevator portal. Each world is distinct from any other world in the building, they cannot be experienced as a single world.

The famous scenario of the naked oyster-eating boxers (p.37) in the downtown Athletic Club at first glance seems to illustrate the strangeness and excitement of the mashing together of worlds that could happen in a skyscraper, but I was somewhat disappointed by the realization that this is only the result of a single floor. The oyster bar, the locker room and the boxing ring are all on the 9th floor; architecturally, this does not require a highrise - the same scenario can take place in a one-floor building... But this is a good example of fractured world-floors, predicted in Theorem 1909. what then am I disappointed with? why does the original cartoon hold so much more promise and imagination than the downtown Athletic Club section?

Hotel Atriums, John Portman rather than trying to make connected (inter-walkable) worlds, the atriums of John Portman’s buildings bore holes through the world(floors) for purely visual connection; inhabitants of one world(floor) can see into another one (methoD 2). The staggering stacks of worlds that exist in a building are exposed. The glass elevators also make visible the mechanism of travel; it is no longer teleportation, but like a railway train there are windows and passing scenery.

two to three stories tall (methoD 1). The urban context is missing from this world (see “world: definition 2”, p.31) at mid-building: there is no traffic in or passing through to create business for the shopping street, which remained mostly deserted.

Habitat, 1967, Moshe Safdie Safdie wanted every home to have a garden in a high-density housing complex: ‘garden’ is here part of the (sub)urban context of the definition 2 world which is replicated. In the sense that from one vertical strata other floors are visible (terrace scenario), it can be said to be a Method 2, together with open circulation stairways as Method 1. Linked Hybrid

renewal of Tsukiji district, Tokyo, 1966, Kenzo Tange Kenzo Tange and the Metabolists wanted to save Tokyo which was becoming increasingly congested in the 60s. The Metabolists were concerned about moving things quickly and efficiently; in a pre-digital age, communication (the life-blood of the city) was strongly dependent on physical transport. In short, the Metabolist city is about a superefficient traffic system. Their bridges in the sky

Habitat ‘67

World: Floor Then, as such, a highrise building cannot exist as a world to be experienced as a whole; the experienced world is limited to the floor of the highrise, one at a time.

World - Denition 2 Theorem 1909 seems to give the promise of a satisfying slice of world at each floor (Definition 2: WorlD as a set of components - grounD, sky, air, scenery, habitation, urban context.)

Hyatt Regency San Francisco, 1973

Each floor is not treated as a floor in a

Unité d’Habitation, 1952, Le Corbusier The Unité has a shopping street located about halfway up the building, which is a floor stretched vertically to about

Unité d’Habitation, Marseille

Linked Hybrid, 2009, Steven Holl Holl used skybridges to expand the world(floors) at certain stratas, linking isolated islands into a bigger walkable world(floor), creating a new ground plane condition in the air (methoD 1). The city context is however not replicated; there is simply not enough density, activity and players.

Renewal of Tsukiji District

52 sky

(unlike Holl’s bridges) are built for megacity density and movement - if realized, it will be a type of true replication of the urban context. (methoD 1 can be seen here on a large scale.)

+120 feet

Hexahedron Arcology, 1966, Paolo Soleri In Paolo Soleri’s Arcology, urban sectioning takes the place of urban planning. “Public”, “City Center”, “Commercial”, “residential” and other zones are laid out vertically, occupying different stratas of this world in a terrace condition (methoD 1 & 2). Because the context permeates every level, there are no observation decks here.

world

The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it round earth

+80 feet

+40 feet

to you and to your descendants forever. (Genesis 15:13-14) +0 feet

Hexahedron Arcology

Your world is what you see.

World:Floor World:floor is a world read as a continuous stack of floor planes without any gaps in between each plane. Conventionally, world:floor is simplified to the visualization of only major stratas, set at every 40 feet. 72

Renewal of Tsukiji District (model)

The world is a floor.

+120 feet

Hyper Towers Soleri’s Arcology leads into a discussion of the so-called “Hyper Towers”, massive structures such as Sky City 1000 and X-Seed 4000 in Tokyo, or friedrich St. florian’s Vertical City - usually an entire city is contained within a building frame.

sky

+80 feet

"Arise, walk about the land through its length and world

breadth; for I will give it to you." +40 feet (Genesis 15:17) Friedrich Saint Florian, The Vertical City (1964)

flat earth

+0 feet

T h e

E x o d u s

T h e

R u i n s

In the year 200-009-x-78-fx-6-1, the floor made its great escape via plutonic anti-gravity soil simulator.

In the year 200-009-y-78-fy-6-1, the post-sea-level-crisis network of raised transportation finally replaced the ground floor, where silt, debris soil, mud and trash archaelogized the first four stories of the original world.

The world is a floor.

Your world is what you walk on.

Major Floor High-rises create ripples in each major floor. X-Seed 4000 appearing like a mountain in the background. (1995)

Amiens Cathedral Flipbook {Filigree & Toile} 20 38 39 40 82

The Case of the Gothic Cathedral Written in a rambling style, carelessly: Before I ever was an architect, I loved gothic cathedrals. not so much other things like greek, renaissance or romanesque structures. for instance, I didn’t feel much for the Pantheon. (not to mention modern architecture, which I found inexcusably boring.) But I liked Baroque a lot, and even more so rococo. In short, I was a lay person.

I never let go of the fact that I was educated to appreciate modern architecture. It didn’t make much sense to me, that something as universal as architecture becomes an exclusive type of academic pursuit and acquired taste... at the worst moments I wondered if architects are content to just design for the appreciation of other architects; what about all the rest of the people? Is it worth a thought? It seems that in recent times more architects have given that a thought. we see the proliferation of ornamented facades - digital displays, lace, hexagonal structure, etc. Building form, massing and silhouette are also articulated to become a sort of ornament (if ornament is defined as that which is not structurally required but something for the eyes, for ‘affect’). farshid Moussavi and Michael Kubo’s The Function of Ornament lays out many examples of such. But this treatment of ornament didn’t seem satisfying, as much for the masses as I think architecture should be, using ornament as a sort of aesthetic wrapper seems condescending. It is a type of marketing in general (the issue of packaging versus the actual goods...) Very oldfashioned-ly, I thought it is the best to be good both inside and out, but if there had to be a choice between the two, I would buy an ugly box of really good chocolates rather than a beautiful box of really bad ones. As non-consequential as this sounds, it had been a topic of debate for centuries in diverse arenas and fields (significantly in the literary and oratorical arts.)

...men began to hunt more after words than matter; and more after the choiceness of the phrase, and the round and clean composition of the sentence, and the sweet falling of the clauses, and the varying and illustration of their works with tropes and figures, than after the weight of matter, worth of subject, soundness of argument, life of invention, or depth of judgment. - francis Bacon, On the Vanity of Words without Matter (16th c.) He should also avoid, so to speak, cementing his words together too smoothly, for the hiatus and the clash of vowels has something agreeable about it and shows a not unpleasant carelessness on the part of a man who is paying more attention to thought than to words. But his very freedom from periodic structure and cementing his words together will make it necessary for him to look to the other requisites. for the short and concise clauses must not be handled carelessly, but there is such a thing even as a careful negligence. - Cicero, Orator (46 B.C.)

necessary, while appealing to good taste to set it limits and to be aware of its pitfalls. - Ernst gombrich, The Sense of Order (1979)

openings and the building silhouette, forming a uniform field of windows that become subdivided further. The end result is a stock image of an office building.

physically even flatter than the filigree (it being a canvas print), the toile presents a deeper and bigger world (Definition 3).

And pushing exactly at those limits of good taste were the decorated sheds of Venturi and Scott Brown. But here, Venturi’s observations from the point of view of contrasting scales and layered openings shed a certain angle of light on the power and mystery of the gothic facade: ...the complex super-adjacencies in the cloister facades at Tomar compose a wall validly containing spaces within itself. The multiple layers of columns - engaged and disengaged, large and small, directly and indirectly superimposed - and the profusion of superimposed openings, architraves, and horizontal and diagonal balustrades create contrasts and contradictions in scale, direction, size, and shape. They make a wall containing spaces inside itself. ...the gothic traceries of the cathedral at Strasbourg, or the interior of the choir at notre dame, Paris...are all disengaged and superimposed on contrasting window patterns. The big publicscale and the rigid order outside contrast vividly with the small private-scale patterns required within. This play of layers of openings... - robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction (1966)

Filigree Looking at the original image of the cathedral facade on paper (p.83), it can be argued that all detail is filigree. filigree is a predominantly two-dimensional surface ornamental treatment with no depth.

Here, Ernst gombrich talks about ornament and decorum. once again there is an obvious transition from the conviction that the charms of ornament can be used for a base purpose, to the suspicion that a profusion of such charms is likely to conceal a base purpose. The old proverb that ‘a good wine needs no bush’ has its correlate in what advertisers call ‘sales resistance’ to conspicuous bushes. In the history of greek rhetorical theory such ‘sales resistance’ developed into an aesthetic prejudice on the part of the purists against the artifice of so-called Asiatic oratory with its rhythmic cadences and its far-fetched imagery. Their cult of the plain and simple threatened indeed to subvert the whole tradition of rhetoric with its panoply of tricks and devices. It was for this reason that Cicero expended much energy...in countering their arguments while conceding the limited validity of their case. Briefly, he acknowledged the force and value of the plain or Attic style where such a style was appropriate. But he urged that there were also occasions to which more solemn and artificial diction was appropriate. This is the influential doctrine of decorum, which lays down the conditions under which display is admissible and even

Filigree: Ornamental work especially of ne wire of gold, silver, or copper applied chiey to gold and silver surfaces (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

“Toile de Jouy”, sometimes abbreviated to simply “toile”, is a type of decorating pattern...depicting a fairly complex scene, generally of a pastoral theme such as a couple having a picnic by a lake or an arrangement of owers. (Wikipedia)

The Amiens Cathedral Flipbook on the right page in this chapter is a flipbook of the facade of Amiens Cathedral. It strips away the ornament a little at a time - first the filigree (including all surface detail such as brick work) and small sculptural elements, then removing the depth of the openings by uniform shading, and finally removing even the idenitity and hierarchy of the

if at first glance it is all filigree, the shadows lead us to think there is depth. The existence of depth then leads to the next thought: the existence of spaces. Then, spaces lead to life, life leads to activity, activity leads to interaction - all these that make up the urban context or the desire to live in the city.

Toile A relative of the filigree is the french toile. Although

The toile plays not only with repeating pattern, but also with hierarchy: the scenes themselves are most emphasized, then smaller objects (like the hot air balloon in the above example) and finally foliage that fills in the gaps. when looking at a toile, our eyes zoom in to check out the details of the scenes, and they find human figures, horses, romance... These are the ingredients of a story. The Amiens facade is a story-telling facade. The most obvious being the sculptures and reliefs that tell sto-

This is a thesis project about a residential highrise building in Singapore. I never liked highrises, and I didn’t know exactly why. It could be that I thought they were arrogant because of the unmistakable verticality that rises from a flat ground and the obviousness of human effort that erected such tall structures, but I also thought there was yet something else that bothered me about highrises. far more than aesthetic appearances and questions of style it seems to me that there is something limiting about the world they imply, contain and purport to be.

W o r l d { T h r e e Definit i o n s } World {3 Definitions}

building but as an entire landscape, or its own (sub)urban context. we see this actually illustrated in the cartoon that comes right after Theorem 1909 in delirious new York, titled ‘Cosmopolis of the future’ (p.34). This is a more faithful development of Theorem 1909: the urban context is replicated in the air by the elevated and air-borne traffic systems. This is very different from the downtown Athletic Club where each floor is tethered to the ground floor urban context by the elevator.

“Light is a powerful substance. we have a primal connection to it.” (James Turrell) “we are born of light. The seasons are felt through light. we only know the world as it is evoked by light.” (Louis Kahn) “The history of architecture is the history of the struggle for light.” (Le Corbusier)

World - Denition 3 The worlds discussed so far are physical. There is also a non-physical world (Definition 3: WorlD as experienceD in the minD.) My first story had to do with a dog who imagined that the garbagemen who came every friday morning were stealing valuable food which the family had carefully stored away in a safe metal container. Every day, members of the family carried out paper sacks of nice ripe food, stuffed them into the metal container, shut the lid tightly — and when the container was full, these dreadful-looking creatures came and stole everything but the can. finally, in the story, the dog begins to imagine that someday the garbagemen will eat the people in the house, as well as stealing their food. of course, the dog is wrong about this. we all know that garbagemen do not eat people. But the dog’s extrapolation was in a sense logical — given the facts at his disposal. The story was about a real dog, and I used to watch him and try to get inside his head and imagine how he saw the world. Certainly, I decided, that dog sees the world quite differently than I do, or any humans do. And then I began to think, Maybe each human being lives in a unique world, a private world, a world different from those inhabited and experienced by all other humans. And that led me wonder, If reality differs from person to person, can we speak of reality singular, or shouldn’t we really be talking about plural realities? -Philip K dick, How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later

Replication This replication of the urban context in the sky is illustrated with great power in many science fiction movie backdrops (such as The Fifth Element) and in sci-fi futuristic art. These artworks are usually densely populated with moving vehicles, inhabitants, bridges and sky traffic systems that imply a great density of life and complex social interactions (congestion is desirable.) At every vertical strata, a great amount of activity is taking place, in effect the city exists at all levels. The ground floor has finally lost its status - in fact, there is no ground floor (p.42-45).

1: World Experience

Physical

The necessity of “sky” (and with it sun and daylight) as a component of the world (Definition 2) cannot be understated. Sci-fi futuristic art is usually dark. The sun cannot be seen, the sky is glimpsed through gaps between infrastructure and the air is a perpetual fog. The level of daylighting in The Fifth Element cityscape cannot be achieved naturally. worlds (Definition 2) in the dense sci-fi art are broken: the ground can be replicated but not the sky.

Is it the necessities that make a sufficient world? If there is a supermarket down the street, does this make a world? or, one can live in a room with a computer and the internet without ever having to leave, is that a world? But, all things being equal, architecture could influence a definition 3 world. If one man lives in a windowless basement while another in a light-filled apartment (assuming all other things equal including a preference for sunlight), we can assume that the second man’s world is better. In this case, architecture defined a Definition 2 world (with sky as a component) which affected the definition 1 world (physically sensed world) which in turn influenced the definition 3 world (world in the mind). all definitions considered, it is a mistake to think that architecture cannot change the world.

Observation Deck on the other hand, Le Corbusier’s Contemporary City for Three Million Inhabitants (p.46-49) ignores ground replication. All movement and urban context is limited to the ground level, as it is in most cases today. floors in the Contemporary City’s highrise towers are not complete worlds (Definition 2): lacking the urban context each is only an observation deck tethered to the ground floor. However, the important component “sky” that is missing in the each of the sci-fi city’s broken worlds (Definition 2) can be experienced here. Because Le Corbusier did not bother to replicate the ground plane, he had no need to replicate the sky either - one sky is enough for one world.

The Case of the Gothic Cathedral

2: World as Set of Components - Ground, Sky, Air, Scenery, Habitation, Urban Context

Written in a rambling style, carelessly: Before I ever was an architect, I loved gothic cathedrals. not so much other things like greek, renaissance or romanesque structures. for instance, I didn’t feel much for the Pantheon. (not to mention modern architecture, which I found inexcusably boring.) But I liked Baroque a lot, and even more so rococo. In short, I was a lay person.

Sky Take my love, take my land Take me where I cannot stand I don’t care, I’m still free You can’t take the sky from me. (opening theme, Fireﬂy TV series)

necessary, while appealing to good taste to set it limits and to be aware of its pitfalls. - Ernst gombrich, The Sense of Order (1979)

openings and the building silhouette, forming a uniform field of windows that become subdivided further. The end result is a stock image of an office building.

physically even flatter than the filigree (it being a canvas print), the toile presents a deeper and bigger world (Definition 3).

And pushing exactly at those limits of good taste were the decorated sheds of Venturi and Scott Brown. But here, Venturi’s observations from the point of view of contrasting scales and layered openings shed a certain angle of light on the power and mystery of the gothic facade: ...the complex super-adjacencies in the cloister facades at Tomar compose a wall validly containing spaces within itself. The multiple layers of columns - engaged and disengaged, large and small, directly and indirectly superimposed - and the profusion of superimposed openings, architraves, and horizontal and diagonal balustrades create contrasts and contradictions in scale, direction, size, and shape. They make a wall containing spaces inside itself. ...the gothic traceries of the cathedral at Strasbourg, or the interior of the choir at notre dame, Paris...are all disengaged and superimposed on contrasting window patterns. The big publicscale and the rigid order outside contrast vividly with the small private-scale patterns required within. This play of layers of openings... - robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction (1966)

ries from the bible, but the hierarchy of the portals also tells of grandeur and order and places of entry, and the existence of spaces in the layered wall system tells of spaces where life could be contained. Because so many ingredients are in this story, the eye is occupied and the mind wanders to form a conclusion; compare this with the final image of the office building (p.127) - even though a degree of filigree is achieved, there is no element of toile; there is no deepness of world nor ingredients of a story. we can understand one window and understand the entire facade, or we can understand nothing and the facade is as a black hole of meaning.

Inside versus Outside “Toile de Jouy”, sometimes abbreviated to simply “toile”, is a type of decorating pattern...depicting a fairly complex scene, generally of a pastoral theme such as a couple having a picnic by a lake or an arrangement of owers. (Wikipedia)

Filigree: Ornamental work especially of ne wire of gold, silver, or copper applied chiey to gold and silver surfaces (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Toile A relative of the filigree is the french toile. Although

3: World as Experienced in the Mind

78 city scale

148

149 Shophouses Shophouses Shophouses Shophouses

The city gradually transforms.

dUs; Additional lots for supporting uses construction cost: S$125/sq ft (maximum) of internal floor space of the dUs

Site grain Site

Map of Singapore Site Chinatown Downtown Core Gardens by the Bay

Site “Tanjong Pagar is a historic district located within the Central Business District in Singapore, straddling the Outram Planning Area and the Downtown Core under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s urban planning zones.” when Singapore was founded in 1819 as a British trading port, the Tanjong Pagar area served as an enclave for Chinese and Indian migrant dock workers. Colonial era shophouses were the predominant type of architecture. with modernization, modern highrise office buildings were erected along with the deterioration of the shophouses. In the mid-1980s, Tanjong Pagar became the first area in Singapore to be gazetted under the government’s conservation plan, and the remaining enclaves of shophouses were restored to their original appearance.

Site context Container Port

130

131

150 The grain of the shophouses is small and uid (compared with the grain of the highrises.)

151

H gh s e s D eam o Techn co o F oo s?

Death of the High-Rise The high-rise is dead, and no one is mourning. Conceived and birthed by a young urban context, it was murdered by the elevator in its infancy. Its carcass was cloned and piled up, sometimes with earnestness, sometimes with callous indifference, sometimes with swiss precision, nonetheless like pancakes. The elevator that murdered the high-rise did it over and over again, placing the carcasses on display like an obsessive serial killer with a penchant for arrangement and artistic expression - masterpieces wrapped in shiny material as if to hide the ultimate lifelessness and futility of the effort; like a rain soaked cigarette butt on the pavement it is no longer able to invent any future. The elevator has one quest: height. It is a psychopath unable to deal with emotions, sympathy or context. Lacking the ability to dream of anything other than height, it created taller and taller pancake towers, sometimes constructing gymnastically impressive pancake towers. Its accomplice and hustler is the square foot price. Prestige and status are its ancient lovers and patrons.

The Elevator There is no high-rise building. The only thing that rises is the elevator, skewering through stacks of single-storey worlds. Each floor is lifted from the ground like a baby with its umbilical cord still attached. The elevator has always suffered from an inferiority complex - it is the underachieving sibling of the teleport machine. The reigning king of worlds survives on cables and maintenance men and can hardly yet deviate from the straight line, but it does its job. It does not matter that the floors are stacked vertically: if the 3rd floor is in Antarctica and the 72nd floor is on Venus, we are in still in a high-rise, unless our eyes (these days we can trick them) tell us that we have moved a hundred million kilometers between two worlds.

SITE

132

134

135

154

156

157

tion, but movies and television show us possible (albeit extreme) extrapolations of strands of reality. The entire show business industry thrives on creating, describing, articulating, filling with details, live-actioning and visualizing dreams of a better (or at least more interesting) world

The winning entry Pinnacle@duxton (p.141, 153), built and completed in 2009, is a group of seven highrise towers linked mid-level and roof-level by bridges that serve as parks in the sky. The strength of this building lies in the set of ‘plug-in’ components (bay windows, planters, balcony, etc) that are randomized to form a pattern which renders an otherwise plain and repetitive facade with a visual complexity (they can be said to act like filigree.) The combinations of plug-ins created numerous slightly differing apartment configurations which were marketed as unique, increasing interest and sense of ownership. But otherwise, it is a conventional high-rise (stacked floors with doubled-loaded corridors). In the next chapter, I will be using the background, program, site and guidelines of duxton Plain housing design competition as a basis to propose an alternative building based on the investigations of the highrise as laid out in this book, including the world(floor), the anti-hyper tower, the filigree and the toile. I understand that my proposal cannot be said to be complete, lacking the elaboration of factors such as cost feasibility and structural resolution, but it is an ongoing investigation of the high-rise in a country filled with and building more highrises (see “Afterword”, p.180).

72nd Floor Pizza Place : A whole new world if the world at the 72nd floor is complete, man does not have to go down to the ground floor. if the world at the ground floor is complete, man does not have to go up to the 72nd floor. There are fractured worlds in a high-rise but each world is not a vacuum. If you live on pizza on the 72nd floor for the rest of your life, someone would have to deliver it to your door from the ground floor, human or android. If the pizza place is on the 72nd floor someone would have to deliver the ingredients from the ground floor. If the ingredients are on the 72nd floor someone would have to grow the wheat somewhere in the world on the ground floor. if the wheat field is on the 72nd floor then we have a whole new world.

Changing Worlds Certainly, I decided, that a dog sees the world quite differently than I do, or any humans do. And then I began to think, Maybe each human being lives in a unique world, a private world, a world different from those inhabited and experienced by all other humans. And that led me to wonder, if reality differs from person to person, can we speak of reality singular, or shouldn’t we really be talking about plural realities? (How to How to Build a Universe That doesn’t fall Apart Two days Later, Philip K. dick)

for a humanity that feeds on hopes and dreams: Strange days without the touching.

Salvation It is argued that human beings cannot fly. This is a serious hindrance to the resurrection of the highrise, post elevator. There is a need for human beings to live in highrises where the demand for land exceeds the supply. (where there is no need, there is no argument - like a copycat murder the motive is only an attempt to achieve the original’s fame.) The limited physical potential of human beings with regards to stair-climbing created the ancient scenario of servant attics and wealthy ground floor parlors. no sooner had the poor hailed the elevator as a new saving power that destroyed the ‘airy graves’, it revealed itself to be a false messiah came only to lift the rich above the clouds. But even for them it is a spurious salvation; there are no worlds up there, only observation decks.

d o o Tower

World: oor Proposal

World: floor {Proposal}

Using the idea of the anti-Hyper Tower (p.76), this proposal for duxton Plain Public Housing is made of 41 towers (each either 40 or 80 stories tall) linked by bridges every five stories.

what is a world? In Strange days (1995), one man’s mundane and desperate existence is another man’s technicolor. People pay big bucks to procure black market ‘experience tapes’, living the moments of

S ngapo e h gh se Perspective drawings of one tower: 40 stories, 8 world(oors), 40 apartments. b B

There are 41 towers (16 towers are 40 stories tall, the rest are 80 stories tall). Each tower has a 50’ by 50’ foot print that contains the floor plan of five apartments (p.159). This plan is replicated in each tower every five storeys.

Apartment Each apartment is a four-storey tall interior with only one floor (see Section a-a, p.159) and a default configuration of kitchen and bathroom (see Level +3, p.159). The idea is that when young families move in, they might only need

142

143

158

new development will therefore be a landmark: the tallest public housing in Singapore. This public housing scheme, which will provide up to 1,800 new homes, will be built by the HDB...”

to live on one floor; when the family expands, additional floors and stairs can be added inside the apartment envelope. Anticipating this, windows openings are provided for the future 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors. This gives an unlimited amount of choice to apartment owners for interior configuration. Each apartment sits on a world(floor) level, with its front door opening into a walkway (like the five-foot-way of shophouses) that is shared by all five apartments of one tower in one world(floor). The 41 towers link to one another by bridges on world(floor) levels.

Duxton Plain Public Housing : International Design Competition

a A Level +53

a A

Design Brief and Technical Requirements historical significance

“In view of its historical significance as the site of the first public housing built by HdB in the Tanjong Pagar area, the Competition called for the proposals to be innovatively and meaningfully designed to capture the memory of

Building stage 1 - filigree

“In 2001/2 the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), on behalf of the Ministry of National Development (MND) and in consultation with the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA), organised an International Architectural Design Competition for a high density and very highrise public housing development at Duxton Plain in the Central Area of Singapore. In view of the historical signiﬁcance of the site as the place where the ﬁrst public housing blocks were built by HDB (Housing Development Board) in the area in 1963/4, the development is envisaged to be a landmark housing development.... ...To meet the Concept Plan 2001 objectives, the density and height for the Duxton Plain site will be increased to between 7.4 and 8.4 plot ratio and up to 50 storeys. The

the existing two housing blocks, and re-site and integrate the plaques commemorating the laying of the foundation stone, on 15th March 1963, and the opening ceremony, on 10th April 1964, which were officiated by the then Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, now the Senior Minister.” tanJong pagar community club

The highrise building complex is made up of the 41 towers on site, laid out in a grid following the grain of the adjacent shophouses (p.161-62) and duxton Plain Park (p.164). They are laid out in a density that satisfies the required number of apartments and the stated maximum height of 500 feet. There is a degree of filigree caused by the sheer number of apartments, their windows, the space containing facade (five-foot way and balconies), the vertical gaps between towers and the horizontal gaps between world(floors). A first sign of toile is present in the ground floor adjacent to duxton Plain Park, where blocks are removed to create a continuation of the park (p.166). A-A Elevation 1/16”=1’ a-a Section 1/16”=1’ +53 Level +33

The Competition also required the design proposal to relate to the adjacent Community Club, which was built by the People’s Association in 1960 as part of the first batch of community centres, so that it formed part of the housing community and incorporate a 25m wide view corridor to increase the visibility of the building from Cantonment road.

+33

+3 Level +3

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facades become the filigree and the toile. In the case of the Amiens, it was built as the single high structure in a medieval city - lacking the backdrop that the Manhattan building has, the cathedral had to be the filigree and the toile all by itself.

this in the interior. By the late 1960s, he was also experimenting with outdoor light. He painted the windows of the hotel and scratched lines in the paint, allowing narrow slits of light to enter the room. He found that he could create patterns and illusions, much as he had with the projector. He called the series “Mendota Stoppages,” and he felt they had at least one advantage over the projection series: Because the light came from outside, there was no machinery in the room. He had created a gallery in which the art was made entirely of light. By the early 1970s, Turrell was exploring another phenomenon with natural light. Instead of scratching paint on the windows, he cut large holes in the walls and ceiling of the old hotel to create a view of the open sky. with the right size of opening and the right vantage and some careful finish work, he found that it was possible to eliminate the sense of depth, so the sky appeared to be painted directly on the ceiling. Then he pointed electric lights at the hole, marveling at the dissonance between the light coming in and going out. He discovered that when he changed the color of the electric lights, he could change the apparent color of the sky. He called the series “Skyspaces.” - on James Turrell, New York Times article (2013)

The Filigree vs. the Toile Is it necessary for a city to be like a story-telling toile? If every facade in Manhattan was the same, it would not have the power seen in the aerial shots. A city like this is rarely seen, but can be approximated by some housing block landscapes (p.108). The filigree by itself cannot imagine life, but is the first step at suggesting spaces for life - this can be seen even in the same housing block landscape; almost every city approaches a toile to some extent. In the design of a new highrise structure, the design of the exterior facade, form and massing is in effect an exercise in completing the toile or inserting a new element into the toile. It can be said that the design of the outside is more like painting and graphic art.

Inside versus Outside The facade of the Amiens Cathedral is not to serve the those who are inside the cathedral. The facade’s service is to the city outside that looks upon the cathedral building which occupies, as a tall building, a prominent visual space in the city. Inside, it is a different agenda. The sculptures and narrative of the facade cannot be read inside. Here, stained glass windows and soaring arches: all strive to be as tall and as high as possible. It is hardly about the view out; it is about the light coming in. In delirious new York, Koolhaas presented the complete disconnection between the inside and the outside of a skyscraper (the ‘lobotomy.’) Buildings have both an interior and an exterior. In western

O n O na men

Turrell’s “Mendota Stoppages” can be compared with the detailed windows of a cathedral (art ‘made entirely of light’ from the outside). His Skyspaces (p.114) can be seen as worlds (Definition 2) because the weightier component of “sky” is present, trumping the lack of context.

Two Interior Worlds 1. James turrell: sky Without context

2. koWloon WalleD city: context Without sky

Light is a powerful defining ingredient of a space, and the sky with its light is the most important component of a world (Definition 2). The gothic cathedral demonstrates

Kowloon walled City (p.116,8) is the opposite of Turrell’s Skyspaces. Admired by outsiders for its density, chaos and mysterious atmosphere, it is not what would be called humane architecture. Besides the lack of toilets, plumbing,

Pages rom hes s book “Wor d ﬂoor Do H ghr ses Dream o Techn co or F oors?” The book exp ores many under y ng concep s and n eres s ha shaped he fina proposed des gn o he hous ng comp ex nc ud ng he dea o he fi gree and he o e n he ca hedra acade and he concep o “Wor d floor” p 19

put forward landscaping strategies that seamlessly extended the adjacent Duxton Plain Park horizontally and vertically into the development and incorporated roof top and high level sky gardens. The mature trees around the perimeter of the site, together with the Jambu Ayer and Nutmeg trees planted by the then Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, now Senior Minister, in November 1984 and 1989, respectively, were also required to be retained and integrated into the landscaped areas.” Urban Design Strategy and Cost

“A strong urban design strategy was also required to create a landmark to the surroundings that contributed to the city skyline, yet related meaningfully to the adjacent context. Environmentally appropriate forms and buildings were to be proposed, capable of creating a strong sense of ownership and community. As a subsidised form of housing, proposals were also to be cost-effective, providing the best public housing available within the budget.” Technical Requirements

(max) Gross Floor Area (GFA): 2.0 to 2.3 million sq ft Allowable Building Height: Approx. 500 ft Building Setback: 25 ft from Duxton Plain Park; 10 ft from common boundary with adjacent developments Size and Proportion of Dwelling Units (DUs): 2/3rds Type S1 = 860 to 1,080 sq ft (net internal floor area); 1/3rd Type S2 =1,090 to 1,190 sq ft (net internal floor area) Accommodation: Living / dining room, 3 bedrooms, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, household shelter, service balcony Social / Communal / Commercial Facilities: Inter-Precinct Open Space: 16,150 sq ft; Childcare Centre: 3,770 to 4,300 sq ft; Resident Committee Centre: 1,720 sq ft; Cafeteria / Foodshop: 2,150 to 2,690 sq ft; Convenience Shop: 1,080 to 1,610 sq ft; Covered Space for Future Social / Communal Activities: 3,230 to 4,300 sq ft Car Parking: Type S1 =1 lot / 1.8 DUs; Type S2 =1 lot / 1.3 DUs; Additional lots for supporting uses Construction Cost: S$125/sq ft (maximum) of internal floor space of the DUs Site

“To give Competitors greater freedom and flexibility to introduce new & innovative solutions, the Design Brief and Technical Requirements were specifically drawn up to include only the minimum, mandatory requirements pertinent to the site context, cost considerations, or public housing in the local context. Many of the standard HDB design requirements, including site coverage, building setback, interbuilding spacing, floor to floor heights, minimum room sizes and dimensions, and flat typologies, were all omitted. There was also no control on number of units to be provided and a range of dwelling units and layouts were allowed within two broad size types given.” Key Planning Parameters

“Tanjong Pagar is a historic district located within the Central Business District in Singapore, straddling the Outram Planning Area and the Downtown Core under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s urban planning zones.”

Site Area: 6.2 acres / 270,174 sq ft Gross Plot Ratio (GPR): 7.4 (min) to 8.4 p.20

When Singapore was founded in 1819 as a British trading port, the Tanjong Pagar area served as an enclave for Chinese and Indian migrant dock workers. Colonial era shophouses were the predominant type of architecture. With modernization, modern highrise office buildings were erected along with the deterioration of the shophouses. In the mid-1980s, Tanjong Pagar became the first area in Singapore to be gazetted under the government’s conservation plan, and the remaining enclaves of shophouses were restored to their original appearance. The winning entry Pinnacle@ Duxton built and completed in 2009, is a group of seven highrise towers linked mid-level and roof-level by bridges that serve as parks in the sky. The strength of this building lies in

the set of ‘plug-in’ components (bay windows, planters, balcony, etc) that are randomized to form a pattern which renders an otherwise plain and repetitive facade with a visual complexity (they can be said to act like filigree.) The combinations of plug-ins created numerous slightly differing apartment configurations which were marketed as unique, increasing interest and sense of ownership. But otherwise, it is a conventional highrise (stacked floors with doubledloaded corridors). In the next chapter, I will be using the background, program, site and guidelines of Duxton Plain housing design competition as a basis to propose an alternative building based on the investigations of the highrise as laid out in this book, including the world(floor), the anti-hyper tower, the filigree and the toile. I understand that my proposal cannot be said to be complete, lacking the elaboration of factors such as cost feasibility and structural resolution, but it is an ongoing investigation of the high-rise in a country filled with and building more highrises (see “Afterword”, p.180).

World: floor Proposal

Using the idea of the anti-Hyper Tower (p.76), this proposal for Duxton Plain Public Housing is made of 41 towers (each either 40 or 80 stories tall) linked by bridges every five stories. Tower

There are 41 towers (16 towers are 40 stories tall, the rest are 80 stories tall). Each tower has a 50’ by 50’ foot print that contains the floor plan of five apartments. This plan is replicated in each tower every five storeys. Apartment

Each apartment is a four-storey tall interior with only one floor and a

default configuration of kitchen and bathroom. The idea is that when young families move in, they might only need to live on one floor; when the family expands, additional floors and stairs can be added inside the apartment envelope. Anticipating this, windows openings are provided for the future 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors. This gives an unlimited amount of choice to apartment owners for interior configuration. Each apartment sits on a world(floor) level, with its front door opening into a walkway (like the five-foot-way of shophouses) that is shared by all five apartments of one tower in one world(floor). The 41 towers link to one another by bridges on world(floor) levels. Building Stage 1 - filigree

A major portion of the building is removed to expose more apartments to light. Stage 4 - Further Subtraction

nodes situated at every subway station (the transportation backbone in Singapore.) The entry from the subway into the city is no longer monopolized by the ground floor.

Holes are cut through the building to further expose more apartments to light. There is now an element of toile where the larger holes are noticed before the smaller building gaps. Stage 5 - Elevator towers

(Non)Conclusion

The highrise building complex is made up of the 41 towers on site, laid out in a grid following the grain of the adjacent shophouses and Duxton Plain Park. They are laid out in a density that satisfies the required number of apartments and the stated maximum height of 500 feet. There is a degree of filigree caused by the sheer number of apartments, their windows, the space containing facade (five-foot way and balconies), the vertical gaps between towers and the horizontal gaps between world(floors). A first sign of toile is present in the ground floor adjacent to Duxton Plain Park, where blocks are removed to create a continuation of the park. Stage 2 - Doubling the Building Height

The building is not served by embedded elevators, but elevator towers are inserted at four points. Elevator A and C are situated at the two nearest subway stations, Outram Park MRT and Tanjong Pagar MRT. Bridges from these elevator towers then bridge into the apartment complex at every two world(floor) levels. From the entry world(floor), residents can then use the stairs within the complex. Elevator D is situated at an existing carpark which will be extended underground for the new apartmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lots. Elevator B is close to the south tip of the complex and can be used by residents who wish to travel only within the complex and its adjacent ground floor context.

When asked what the most shocking thing he saw was, the photographer says it was a beautiful Cathay Pacific air hostess, in full uniform, wheeling her suitcase through the filthy streets. - An internet magazine interview, 2014 (hongkong.coconuts.co)

Greg Girard, the famed photographer of Kowloon Walled City, never forgot the air stewardess he saw more than two decades ago. A shining light in a dark city - a pristine uniform in dirty streets: it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the dirt or the darkness that we admire when we dream about the Walled City, and ultimately it is not even the incomprehensible maze of internal streets... it is the human in the architecture.

The Anti-Teleportation Elevator

In Stage 1, any subtraction operation on the building (for light, etc.) is impossible as it would not have enough apartments. The building doubles itself in height. Stage 3 - subtraction

The elevators here counter the teleportation syndrome caused by traditional elevators in two ways: First, at the subway station, users emerge in transparent elevators that provide views outside: they are aware of the vertical passing of scenery. Second, extended away from the building they serve, the threshold between elevator portal and world(floor) is increased from the null of traditional elevators to a whole city context.

World(floor) Entry Point

The elevator towers are the beginnings of a future city-scale World(floor) system, acting as entry p.21

afterWord In the Fall semester before I entered my thesis preparation, I thought about what I wanted to do. Throughout my undergraduate architectual studies in Singapore, the predominant so-called problem was ‘what is a Singapore architecture?’ The kind of problem that troubled American architects in earlier times. The more I think about the idea of a “Singapore style,” the more distasteful and empty the proposition. There are two issues: Singapore is too young a country for any historical architectural precedent. Singapore is a mixture of cultures that originated in China, India and Southeast Asia. Any attempt to discover a Singapore architecture leads to either a climatic design (tropical response, sun shades, etc) or an ethno-cultural influenced design (Chinese, Indian, Malay, etc.) I had thought that all these are ok; if it is a contrived architecture, then that is the Singapore style. If the problem is the lack of a style, one need not worry, for that by itself is also a style. The problem is that these are not good enough for Singapore. Suffering

from a paranoid attitude of being too small and weak in a big world, it had been constantly trying to be good at everything. Singapore is too small. It is what I thought for a long time. Too small for what? Its economy is doing well for the most part. In terms of governance, the small size is an advantage. Crime rate is low. Employment rate is decent. Home ownership is the pride of the country. Too small for what? Too small for dreams. The smallness of the land is the most apparent (it is half the size of Los Angeles, two thirds the size of New York City, half the size of London, two thirds the size of Hong Kong and one third the size of Tokyo.) It is an island with no hinterland. In a large country, if one travels for a long time, one would arrive at an entirely different place eventually. Not so here. You reach the seaTo go anywhere further, one needs a passport - there is no middle ground between staying and going. There is a sense of loss that only a person from a

small place can comprehend. “Tie him! What a queer idea!” “But if you don’t tie him,” I said, “he will wander off somewhere, and get lost.” My friend broke into another peal of laughter: “But where do you think he would go?” “Anywhere. Straight ahead of him.” Then the little prince said, earnestly: “That doesn’t matter. Where I live, everything is so small!” And, with perhaps a hint of sadness, he added: “Straight ahead of him, nobody can go very far. . . ” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

The dominant typology in Singapore is the highrise. Almost 70% of the people live in government-built public housing blocks ranging from four to fifty stories. Taller skyscrapers are found in the central business district. If there is anywhere to start making Singapore into a place where dreams could live (a bigger world?) it is the highrise.

p.22

148

149 Shophouses Shophouses Shophouses Shophouses

166

166 Stage 1 Stage 1

167 Stage 2

dUs; Additional lots for supporting uses construction cost:

S$125/sq ft (maximum) of internal floor space of the dUs

Site grain Site

Map of Singapore Site Chinatown Downtown Core Gardens by the Bay

Site context Container Port

160

161

168

168 Stage 3 Stage 3

169 Stage 4

Site Plan

Grid of Towers

162

163

Community Center

170 Stage 5

171 stage 2 - Doubling the builDing height

In Stage 1, any subtraction operation on the building (for light, etc.) is impossible as it would not have enough apartments. The building doubles itself in height. Site Grain Community Center (Existing)

stage 3 - subtraction

A major portion of the building is removed to expose more apartments to light. 164 165

Duxton Plain Park

stage 4 - further subtraction Pages from thesis book showing Holes are cut through the building to further expose more the site context and grid apartments to light. There is now an element of toile where the larger holes are noticed before the smaller building placement, and the sequence gaps. of stages in the creation of the 5 - ELEVATor TowErS massingSTAgE and voids.

The building is not served by embedded elevators, but elevator towers are inserted at four points. Elevator A and A D C

B Duxton Plain Park (Existing) Duxton Plain Park (Expanded)

p.23

Field of Windows Spring 2014 | Ciro Najle Studio Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun

In this project, I constructed the baldachino window of Borromini’s San Carlo alle Quatro Fontane in Grasshopper using imagined parameters and rules gathered from drawings and theoretical writings, and then used the window as the generating element of a public library set in Bryant Park in New York City. This project questions the idea of public-ness and privateness and the diffferentiation between different groups of users of a public space. It is an architecture that is found by light. Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun

Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun

Opened by Light This grasshopper sequence creates from a single origin point the baldacchino window on the facade of Borromini’s San Carlo alle QuaƩro Fontane, and its semicircle entrance apse. The origin and the window create a sun, which shines its light through the window and cuts an opening in the entrance apse.

Geometry

04 Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun

67 Harvard University Graduate School of Design BorrominaƟons, or the AuraƟc Dome Professors: Ciro Najle and Hanif Kara Assistant: Peter Zuroweste Student: See Jia Ho Spring 2014 Opened by Light The Origin, the Window, the Apse and the Sun

Opened by Light OperaƟve Sequence

A00 AnalyƟcal Tool

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p.24 C02 Geometry 57

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Above: Pages from the project book recording the stages of development of the window in Grasshopper. Facing page: Light studies on site and iterations of floor plans generated by light C04 C05 C05 C06 C06 Conclusion Geometry Geometry AnalyƟcal Tool Geometry AnalyƟcal Tool Geometry 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67

p.25

Floor plan at library level showing furniture placement creating program differentiation

p.26

Floor plan at Bryant Park level showing the field of windows

p.27

Library furniture plan

p.28

Library furniture plan showing areas of program overlap

p.29

Program outlines

p.30

Program overlaps

p.31

Interior renders

p.32

Library furniture groups creating differentiated public space for different profiles of users

p.33

Elements of Architecture Fall 2013 | Study Abroad Studio @ OMA Rotterdam Along with twelve other GSD students, I was part of the research team for the 2014 Venice Biennale at the OMA Rotterdam office. We worked with Rem Koolhaas, the AMO editorial team, guest editors, and book designer Irma Boom to create the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Elements of Architectureâ&#x20AC;? book published alongside the exhibition. The main topic of my research was the elevator. It was a valuable experience almost like a newsroom: gathering of information and tracking sources was a regular task, and the putting together of a coherent yet unconventional story was an exercise in journalism.

p.34

Various process graphics

Pages from the process of ELEVATOR making the ‘elevator’ book showing different concepts of chapter division and timeline representation

ELEVATOR

PAGE 3

ELEVATOR

PAGE 11

A. O. I. I.I. I.II. I.III. I.IV. I.V. II. II.I. II.II. II.III. II.IV. II.V. II.VI. II.VII. II.VIII. II.IX. III. III.I. III.II. III.III. III.IV. III.V. III.VI. III.VII. III.VIII. III.IX. III.X. III.XI. III.XII. III.XIII. III.XIV. III.XV. IV. IV.I. IV.II. IV.III. IV.IV. IV.V. IV.VI. IV.VII. IV.VIII. IV.IX. V. V.I. V.II. VI. VI.I. VI.II. VI.III. VI.IV.

ELEVATOR Feed Rope Timeline of the vertical Evolution Fear of rope: mining accidents (pre-1854) All safe, gentlemen: propaganda/illustrations (1854-1887) Safety patents: Timeline Motor Man Steam Hydraulic Electric Drum vs. traction systems Governors Breaks Typology Battle for the low-rise: war of the hydraulic and MRL traction Core Typical Plan Evolution of the core: conversation with core expert Stair core Theatrical core Scenographic core Slanted core Stacked core Horizontal core: conversation with core expert Anti-core: emergence of the atrium Invisible core Office core: mobile architecture Art core: mobile architecture Car core Observation core Re-core: elevator retrofit and upgrades Cab Bespoke cab Pre-fab cab: cab design and construction Cab interiors: Schindler archive of interiors Pressurized cab Strange proximity Cab psychology Death by elevator: six ways to die based on real accounts Trapped: a timeline of the 41 hours Nicholas White was trapped in an elevator Things heard in the elevator do not stay in the elevator Display Floor indicators Destination dispatch: end of floor indicators Control System Pre-button: life (and death) without the elevator (operator) Pre-button: Elevator training manual for operators Beginning of automation Button

A. I. I.I. I.II. I.III. II. II.I. II.II. II.III. III. III.I. IV. IV.I. IV.II. IV.III. V. V.I. V.III. V.IV. V.V. V.VI VI. VI.I. VI.II. VI.III. VI.IV. VII. VII.I. VII.II. VII.III. VII.IV. VII.V. VIII.

ELEVATOR : Raising The Abyss Introduction: The Tower and the Abyss Timeline: vertical travel from Laurion to Burj Khalifa Etymology: the human desire to go up Taxonomy: elevators and architecture Going Down Subterrapolis: rst visage of elevator technology in prehistoric mining From the depths: water raising and mining technology Life and death in the mine: safety patents and birth of the passenger elevator Spectacle Theatre: elevator, the stage, and scenography Going Up Before automation: New York in the grip of elevator operators Battle for the low-rise: war of the hydraulic and the machine-room-less traction elevators Efciency imperative: destination dispatch and eradication of passenger control Behind The Scenes Elevator World©: A hidden publishing empire Anatomy of a traction elevator: graphical explanation C-LAB: Elevator technology and cultural difference (why Japan demands the smoothest ride and other stories of global specicity)

Neufert through the ages: changing shape of the human body and its effect on elevator standards Claustrophobia: elevator disasters, gossip and movie scenes Return To Spectacle Core: the elevator and the evolution of the Core Anti-core: emergence of the atrium and the exposed elevator Future: elevator and spectacle Back under: the elevator and the bunker address safety and climate concerns Alternative Histories Tale of two Otises: Elisha Otis & the forgotten Otis Tufts Paternoster: the (almost) extinct elevator Is the grain elevator an elevator? Leap of faith: medieval elevators of the Metéora monasteries A short story of a Singapore elevator in the ‘90s Appendix

ELEVATOR

PAGE 15

NEOLITHIC C

BIBLICAL

PAGE 8

ELEVATOR

CLASSICAL C LASSICAL ANTIQUITY

BRONZE AGE E

2013 World’s ten tallest buildings (height to architectural top), Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

Rope type: Rope length:

2010 Burj Khalifa Dubai

800 m

~2500 BC B Typical dwelling. 3m 3rd Millenium BC Tower of Babel

~300 BC Temple of Apollo at Didyma Didim, Turkey

15 m ~2500 BC Grime’s Graves (Flint mines) Norfolk, Britain.

1853 Latting Observatory New York

100 m

20 m 1556 Chemnitz, Germany. (as observed by Georgius Agricola)

-100 m

3rd Millenium BC Biblical mines

~2000 BC Typical dwelling.

~300 BC Laurion silver mines Athens, Greece. 3m

Job 28:1-12 1 There is a mine for silver and a place where gold is rened. 2 Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore. 3 Mortals put an end to the darkness; they search out the farthest recesses for ore in the blackest darkness. 4 Far from human dwellings they cut a shaft, in places untouched by human feet; far from other people they dangle and sway. 5 The earth, from which food comes, is transformed below as by re; 6 lapis lazuli comes from its rocks, and its dust contains nuggets of gold. 7 No bird of prey knows that hidden path, no falcon’s eye has seen it. 8 Proud beasts do not set foot on it, and no lion prowls there. 9 People assault the inty rock with their hands and lay bare the roots of the mountains. 10 They tunnel through the rock; their eyes see all its treasures. 11 They search the sources of the rivers and bring hidden things to light. 12 But where can wisdom be found? Book of Job 28:1-12. Holy Bible: Old Testament. New Living Translation (NLT), 2011.

~2000 BC Great Orme (Copper Mines) Wales, Britain. 70 m

Hauling machines are of varied and diverse forms, some of them being made with great skill, and if I am not mistaken, they were unknown to the Ancients. They have been invented in order that water may be drawn from the depths of the earth to which no tunnels reach, and also the excavated material from shafts which are likewise not connected with a tunnel, or if so, only with very long ones. Since shafts are not all of the same depth, there is a great variety among these hauling machines. 1556: Georgius Agricola, De re metallica (Latin: On the Nature of Metals). Translated by Herbert Clark Hoover & Lou Henry Hoover, 1950.

2010 San José Mine Copiapó ,Chile

-700 m

... miners go down into mines not only by the steps of ladders, but they are also lowered into them while sitting on a stick or a wicker basket, fastened to the rope of [the] drawing machine. 1556: Georgius Agricola, De re metallica (Latin: On the Nature of Metals). Translated by Herbert Clark Hoover & Lou Henry Hoover, 1950.

1962 Tautona Mine South Africa 1962 Mponeng Mine South Africa

p.35

p.36 ELEVATOR PAGE 23 November 25, 1842. Cornwall Royal Gazette. The wire rope, rst appearing ten years ago, was being increasingly favoured by the mining industry. January 1, 1845. Taunton Courier Accident caused by snapping of iron nut in wheel drum. Although unrelated to the accident, also mentioned is the wire chain that was in use before the wire rope became the standard. (Chainlinks made the wire chain susceptible to sudden failure.) The article noted that “pit accidents are numerous in this part of the country, and do not cause so much surprise” August 30, 1851. Leeds Intelligencer Fatal accident caused by rope breaking. Article laments the state of coal mine safety. October 27, 1849. Northern Star. The prevention of mine accidents was an important topic and much attention was paid to technology to obviate risks. In this article of the Northern Star, a “patent apparatus invented by Mr. Foudrinier” was mentioned, the description of which matches the safety apparatus demonstrated by Elisha Otis in New York ve years later in method and result. March 17, 1849. Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury Statistical data of deaths in British mines in the year 1848. Breaking of ropes was the second most common cause of death, after explosions. The article also mentions the prevalence of rope and cable accidents which resulted in the deaths of eighty-nine miners (counting only nine counties of England) in the previous year. October 3, 1855. London Standard Fatal accident caused by rope breaking.

PAGE 22

ELEVATOR

LIFE AND DEATH IN THE MINE: beginning of elevator safety

May 1815 (facsimile 1838) : Seventeen-year-old coal miner William Thew’s last words to his mother engraved on candle box with nail, after being trapped in an inundated mine in Heaton Colliery, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. “Fret not, dear Mother, for we were singing while we had time, and praising God. Mother, follow God more than ever I did” On reverse, dictated by his father: “If Johnny is saved, be a good lad to God, and thy mother. JOHN THEW.”

19th century: dangers faced by coal miners in Europe The pumps used to clear the ooding in Heaton Colliery took nine months to complete the job, leaving no chance of survivors. Although this tragedy was not cable-related, it was one of the many accidents which troubled the coal mines that powered the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. The dangers of coal mining were well known by the general populace in Europe, among which were accidents caused by cable breakage. Hemp cables used before the wire cable was invented in 1831 by a German mining engineer was susceptible to breaking, and miners were not allowed to descend into shafts by cable - instead, it was the usual practice to descend using ladders and ladder-like devices (the “man-engine”), and the use of cable was limited to raising loads. When the depth of mines reached levels where descent by ladders became impractical, excessive safety precautions were put in place. Not only did the eld of mining contribute to the beginning of hoisting technology in antiquity, it continued to inuence the path toward the passenger elevator by continued interest and investment in safety devices.

December 12, 1835. Newcastle Journal “There is not any subject of greater importance to the interests of humanity than the application of men of science to discover if by any possible means further security can be obtained for the miners of Great Britain, a class of men of the very rst degree of usefulness.”

British Newspaper Archive 1800-1860 Coal mining was an important industry in Europe and especially Britain. On the following pages: clippings of newspapers over the country reporting on mining accidents and safety breakthroughs in the half century around and before the time Elisha Otis performed the safety demonstration at New York.

August 3, 1844. Northern Star Long report of a court trial where coal miners were dismissed for refusing to work due to doubts about the reliability of the wire ropes used to transport them. Report mentions an engineer key witness stating that the wire rope being used in the shaft was “much inferior to ‘a bit of good hempen rope’”, and one of the mine owners in his defense describing the wire-rope as “labouring under prejudice which often attached to new improvements - just as chain cables were stigmatized when rst proposed for use instead of hempen cables.”

Research of elevator news in old newspaper archives

ELEVATOR

PAGE 99

218 BC - 400 AD : Roman Mines Deep shafts of up to 200 meters have been found in Roman Hispania. Freight Hoists Deep shafts of up to 200 meters have been found in Roman Hispania.

Electric Deep shafts of up to 200 meters have been found in Roman Hispania.

Microchip Deep shafts of up to 200 meters have been found in Roman Hispania.

A very long time ago : Tower of Babel Early humans attempted to build a tower to reach unto heaven. It is not known if they conceived of mechanical means of vertical transport. The tower was aborted after the confusion of languages. 1787 : Watt’s Patent Rotative Steam Engine

18-19th c. : Belt-driven Machines Machines in a factory were driven by ‘endless belts’ - belts looped and connected to pulleys, in turn connected to shafts driven by a central steam-powered engine. As the pulleys turned, the belts were driven and used to power machines throughout the factory. Direction was reversed by switching ‘open’ and ‘crossed’ belts between engaged and free pulleys. This system was used to drive the rst elevators.

At El Centenillo the ancients shafts are as much as 650 feet (200 meters) deep ... In the deepest of the Roman workings were found several Archimedean

1854 : Elisha Otis and the New York Crystal Palace Exhibition Deep shafts of up to 200 meters have been found in Roman Hispania.

Inversion of Vertical Hierarchy Deep shafts of up to 200 meters have been found in Roman Hispania.

At El Centenillo the ancients shafts are as much as 650 feet (200 meters) deep ... In the deepest of the Roman workings were found several Archimedean

New Innovations Deep shafts of up to 200 meters have been found in Roman Hispania.

At El Centenillo the ancients shafts are as much as 650 feet (200 meters) deep ... In the deepest of the Roman workings were found several Archimedean 1908 : Girl operating beltdriven machine in Catawba Cotton Mills, Newton, N.C.

Automation - Relay Deep shafts of up to 200 meters have been found in Roman Hispania.

1803: Teagle WIlliam Strutt, an English textile mill owner, invented a hoisting crane (which later came to be known as the teagle) to transport workers between the ve oors of the mill. It was a belt driven device, similar to the other machines in the mill.

Hydraulic Deep shafts of up to 200 meters have been found in Roman Hispania.

At El Centenillo the ancients shafts are as much as 650 feet (200 meters) deep ... In the deepest of the Roman workings were found several Archimedean At El Centenillo the ancients shafts are as much as 650 feet (200 meters) deep ... In the deepest of the Roman workings were found several Archimedean 1812 : William Strutt’s Crane. (A History of the Passenger Elevator in the 19th Century, Lee E. Gray.)

Future Deep shafts of up to 200 meters have been found in Roman Hispania.

At El Centenillo the ancients shafts are as much as 650 feet (200 meters) deep ... In the deepest of the Roman workings were found The word for ‘elevator’ several Archimedean screws, used for raising in all languages derive from roots of a common water to the adit. “The Mining of the Romans theme: going up, in Spain”, T. A. Rickard. The despite the fact that Journal of Roman Studies, the earliest elevatorVol. 18 (1928), pp. 129-143 like conveyances likely brought people down Deep shaft mining into mines. contributed to the evolution of hoisting techniques (used for getting material out of the mines), and the desire for safety eventually led to the invention of the wire cable by a German mining engineer in 1831 - an essential component of the modern elevator. In another way, the need to drain mines led to The Confusion of Tongues, the invention of water Gustave Dore, 1865. pumps and contributed to hydraulics. 5000 BC Wells : Shaft and Vertical Conveyance Water is essential to human life - we do not know when the rst well was dug, but archaelogical ndings conrm that wood-lined wells were in existence ~100 AD: Looking up A in the Linear Pottery Roman Shaft. Pot Shaft, culture of the European Alderley Edge mines in Neolithic (5500-4500 Cheshire, UK. BC). These wells extend up to 7 meters below ground: a method for 17-19 c. - Steam Power bringing up the water In 1606, the rst steam must be conceived, powered pump was most probably a simple patented by Spanish rope and bucket - the inventor Jerónimo de beginning of ‘raising’ Ayanz to drain mines. mechanism. In 1698, Thomas Savery invented a steam vacuum pump for drawing water from wells. In 1712, Thomas Newcomen improved the Savery machine to drain mines from deeper depths of over 50 meters. In 1776, James Watt’s improved steam engine went ~5100 BC : Well at Eythra. “Early Neolithic Water Wells into production and powered the factories Reveal the World’s Oldest Wood Architecture”, Tegel of the industrial et al, 2012. revolution.

At El Centenillo the ancients shafts are as much as 650 feet (200 meters) deep ... In the deepest of the Roman workings were found several Archimedean

Short piece on the childhood memory of an elevator

Incomplete alternative history

p.37

Urban Fiction Spring 2013 | Danielle Etzler Studio

Sector Six

Using the idea of a city hidden in a city (referencing the Dolphin Hotel in Haruki Murakami’s novel Dance, Dance, Dance) led to the creation of the story of “Sector Six”, a mysterious hidden sector in a fictitious city in Brooklyn with five known sectors. The city was created from seed buildings, formed through compliance with building codes that disallow any view of the Gowanus canal. Through time, the origin of the building code fades and nobody remembers the existence of the canal, except for the inhabitants of Sector Six. (Collaboration with Amy Atzmon, Drew Seyl and Christina Yang) I. URBAN 3. MONUMENT I. URBAN 2. SEED I. URBAN 2. SEED

NORTH RETAIL RETAIL

MARKET 15’ MARKET MARKET SEED BUILDING MARKET

9 8 7 9 10

MARKET

1,500,000 sq ft 4 3 2 1

6 5 1 2 3

7 8

700,000 sq ft x.x. Retail only occurs in seed buildings and floors facing marketplaces. x.x. Retail stores must have direct street access for deliveries, trash removal, and employee access.

x.x. x.x. Where fenestration is prohibited for an entire floor, an interior light well must be provided where a person will be present for more than 4 hours per day.

Where fenestration is prohibited for an entire floor, an interior light well must be provided where a person will be present for more than 4 hours per day.

Where there is no provision for daylight, these programs are permitted: Programs where no one person will be present for more than 4 hours per day Factory Storage facilities Parking Mechanical / infrastructural Cinema For all other programs, there must be provision for daylight.

x.x.

Marketplaces will be 15 feet below street level.

SOUTH 2.2.4 Open space not bounded by buildings will be evenly divided among the residential buildings of the sector.

2.4

Buildings must be constructed from the seed buildings with back doors in sequence until the canal is entirely enclosed. When this condition is reached, Phase One is complete, and the enclosed area becomes Sector 6.

x.x.

The area bounded by The area bounded by each block is a marketplace each block is a marketplace.

Marketplaces will be 15 feet below street level.

Retail only occurs in seed buildings and floors facing marketplaces.

Retail stores must have direct street access for deliveries, trash removal, and employee access.

3.1

No changes will be made to the boundaries of the existing park at the south end of the site.

At least 700,000 square feet (but not more than 1.5 million square feet) at the south end of the site will be park. The park will be bounded by roads.

Open space not bounded by buildings will be evenly divided 25 among the residential buildings of the sector.

20 x.x.

The area bounded by The area bounded by each block is a marketplace each block is a marketplace.

The park, where it covers the canal, will have a well. HIGH LOW

Visitor Consciousness Level

HIGH Resident Access Level

LOW

Sector Six Office Retail Market Factory / Storage / Parking / Mechanical / Infrastructural / Cinema ‘Backyard’ Market Park

COMMERCIAL

OPEN SPACE

p.38

Diagrams showing the different codes used to achieve zoning

I. URBAN 1. SECTOR a/2

I. URBAN 1. SECTOR

II. BUILDING 1. ENVELOPE

II. BUILDING 2. PROGRAM

a/2

PHASE ONE

PART I URBAN CODE T FLOO BUIL R AREA SEC TOR

a/2 b

PART II BUILDING CODE 3 4 5 or 2 Programs where person will bemore present than for more Programs where no one person will no beone present for 4 than hours per day Factory FACTORY | STORAGE FACILITY | PARKING | MECHANICAL/INFRASTRUCTURAL Storage facilities Parking Also Mechanical / infrastructural Cinema For all other programs, there must be provision for daylight. 4 hours per day x.x. Where there is no provision for daylight, these programs are permitted:

S AREA

Sect or 1

Programs where no one person will be present for more than 4 hours per day

Programs where person will bemore present than for more Programs where no one person will no beone present for 4 than hours per day Factory FACTORY | STORAGE FACILITY | PARKING | MECHANICAL/INFRASTRUCTURAL Storage facilities Parking Also Mechanical / infrastructural Cinema For all other programs, there must be provision for daylight. 4 hours per day

x.x.

Where there is no provision for daylight, these programs are permitted:

FACTORY | STORAGE FACILITY | PARKING | MECHANICAL/INFRASTRUCTURAL Also

Sect

CINEMA

1.1

The site will be divided into 5 sectors, each containing 20% of the surface area of the canal. 4

1.3

Upon completion of Phase Two, each sector will contain floor area equivalent to 50% of the total land area of the largest sector in no fewer than 50 buildings. 8

1.1

Fenestration must never occur where it would allow view of the canal.

2.1 2.1.1 38

Where there is inadequate provision for daylight (cases described in part II, sections 1.1 and 1.2), these above listed programs are permitted. For all other programs, there must be adequate provision for daylight. 43

2.2 2.2.1

Where a building receives more than 6 hours of direct southern sunlight on faces with fenestration at the winter solstice, it must be residential. Where it does not, it must not be residential. 44

2.1 2.1.1

ADJACENT

WITHIN

I. URBAN 2. SEED

I. URBAN 2. SEED I. URBAN 2. SEED

II. BUILDING 3. EASEMENT

I. URBAN 1. SECTOR

II. BUILDING 3. EASEMENT

Buildings must provide an easement adjacent to or within vertical circulation cores, providing space for the adjacent building’s vertical circulation. Vertical Buildings provide an circulationmust routes cannot be easement to or shared by adjacent multiple buildings. within vertical circulation cores, providing space for the adjacent building’s vertical circulation. Vertical circulation routes cannot be shared by multiple buildings.

ADJACENT

WITHIN

II. BUILDING 2. PROGRAM

II. BUILDING 3. EASEMENT

Retail stores must have street access for deliveries, trash removal, and employee access. Buildings must provide street front doors with direct and exclusive connections to the Retail stores must have street retail level. access for deliveries, trash removal, and employee access. Buildings must provide street front doors with direct and exclusive connections to the retail level.

PHASE TWO

2.1

Each sector will retain between 1 and 5 existing buildings. These buildings are designated seed buildings. The number of retained buildings is proportional to the areas of the sectors. 13

2.2

Any new building must adjoin exactly 1 existing building.*

2.2.2 2.2.3

Buildings must extend to at least 2 property lines. Lot size and shape is determined prior to construction of each building and the land is purchased from the city. Upon platting, a street will be continued along one edge of the lot. Each building must be accessible from the street.

3.1

Seed buildings must allow for public passage from front door to back door 24 hours per day. 46

1.1

The site will be divided into 5 sectors, each containing 20% of the surface area of the canal. 4

1.1

The site consists of 5 sectors.

3.1

Seed buildings must allow for public passage from front door to back door 24 hours per day. 46

Buildings must provide at least 10 feet of unobstructed paved area abutting retail storefronts and connecting to corresponding easements on either side. Buildings must provide at least 10 feet of unobstructed paved area abutting retail storefronts and connecting to corresponding easements on either side.

2.3

Retail is required in floors at marketplace level and original sections of marketplace seed buildings and is not permitted elsewhere. Retail floors will be owned separately from the buildings that contain them. The retail property will include a dedicated passage to the street level face of the building. Retail stores must have street access for deliveries, waste removal, and employee PROPERTY access. Buildings must provide streetfront doors with direct and exclusive connections to the retail level.

*When a building is completing a block, it may adjoin 2 existing buildings.

16 17

3.1

AND EASEMENT 36

PROPERTY AND EASEMENT

I. URBAN 2. SEED I. URBAN 2. SEED

I. URBAN 2. SEED

I. URBAN 3. MONUMENT

I. URBAN 1. SECTOR a/2 a/2

I. URBAN 1. SECTOR

I. URBAN 2. SEED

NORTH

FRON

II. BUILDING 1. ENVELOPE a/2 a/2 a/2 b FLOO LT LT BUIL R AREA SEC TOR S AREA a

a/2

I. URBAN 2. SEED c d e 15’ 4 5 MARKET 3 Sect or 2

T d e a/2 4 5 R AREA SEC TOR a b

BACK

1,500,000 sq ft

3 700,000 sq ft Sect or 1 Sect or 2

T FLOO BUIL

S AREA

Sect

or 1

SOUTH

2.3 2.3.1

Up to three seed buildings in each sector will have a back door. These seed buildings become property of the city and are used for municipal purposes.

2.4

2.5 2.6

Buildings must not have any doors or windows on the back side and no windows on shared walls. The rooftops of buildings must be unoccupiable. 26

2.7

Buildings must be structurally capable of supporting 150% of their built heights.

3.1

At least 700,000 square feet (but not more than 1.5 million square feet) at the south end of the site will be park. 30

3.2

The park, where it covers the canal, will have a well.

1.3

Upon completion of Phase Two, each sector will contain floor area equivalent to 50% of the total land area of the largest sector in no fewer than 50 buildings. 8

1.3

Sectors will be developed concurrently until each sector contains a built floor area equivalent to 50 percent of the total land area of the largest sector in no fewer than 50 buildings. When this condition is reached, a new target may be set. 8

2.4

2.2 2.2.1

Buildings must be built to enclose blocks. The area bounded by each complete block is designated “marketplace.” 17

2.2.2

Marketplaces will be 15 feet below street level.

Building codes used to create the fictitious city

SEED

1.1

Fenestration must never occur where it would allow view of the canal.

2.4

? The footprint and extent of Sector Six.

x.x.x.

Each block must form a full enclosure.

Site plan with Sector Six colored orange p.39

Sections through the city showing the hidden Sector Six and its Gowanus Canal (above) and graffiti (below.) 1” = 20’

SECTIONS

B: SECTION LOOKING WEST

p.40 ARCHITECTURE AND THE URBAN CONTRACT

p.41

SUPERhome

Building on a city created by another group in the studio, we designed SUPERhome, a supermaket suburbia where streets serve as shopping lanes. (Collaboration with Annie Wang)

SUPERhome house + supermarket = SUPERhome site supermarket single family (x50) drive-thru TacoBell parking 600,000 s.f. 45, 000 s.f. 115, 000 s.f. 5, 000 s.f. 45, 000 s.f.

PRODUCE STREET x 10

POULTRY LANE x 78

MEAT STREET x 10

BOUTIQUE LANE

GENERAL LANE x 10

wallpaper display

leading to the beach ----> x 15

LOCATION OF SUPERhome IN CLOUD CITY 1” = 100’

Graphics and plan of SUPERhome p.42

supermarket

is a

self-service

shop offering a wide variety of food and household

products

, organized into

aisles

TRADITIONAL SUPERMARKET

shelves storage room loading

boutique corners

recognition device UNDER ONE ROOF

check-out counters

parking

STORAGE

: storage room shelves

FRAGMENTED

DISPLAY

: shelves meat / produce display

PURCHASE

: check-out counters

FRAGMENTED & DISTRIBUTED parking

wallpaper display

boutique corners

recognition device CONSISTENT ELEMENT color material shape signage

The generation of SUPERhome p.43

Vertical campus Fall 2012 | Vincent Bandy Studio This is a first experiment in a new type of highrise, a thought and interest that continued into my thesis project two years later.

proGram

like the traditional campus typology, this project seeks to address the question of verticality - how to make verticality meaningful and interesting as opposed to the conventional wrapped core and experience of the elevator trip.

rise, and is the perfect opportunity to explore architecture that critically addresses the typology of the highrise building and its relationship to the site and to the human scale.

Jazz School Art Gallery Student Dormitories

Site Section

campuS

By creating ground planes in the air and breaking the building into blocks

To the East, the High Spine of Boston can be seen with its towering skyscrapers. To the West, only lowrise buildings. The site is at a junction of mitigation between high and low-

Site section showing the procession from highrise to lowrise

p.44

(1,1) -2- layout4.indd 12/6/2012 6:59:55 PM (1,1) -2- layout4.indd 12/6/2012 6:58:40 PM

Floor plans and sections

TECH INSTRUMENT STORAGE SMALL REHEARSAL MECHANICAL OFFICE CONTROL ROOM MECHANICAL OFFICE

REHEARSAL

WATER TOWER OFFICE

MECHANICAL

ROOF GARDEN

RECORDING STUDIOS / CLASSROOMS

WC WC

GALLERY GALLERY

GALLERY

GALLERY LOBBY GALLERY GALLERY

17th 2nd floor plan 1/16” 1/16”= =1’ 1’

Roof planplan 7th floor 1/16” 1/16”= =1’ 1’

SSL TRASH SHOP WC WC

STAGE STORAGE & INSTRUMENT STORAGE SSL COFFEE / SNACKS

COAT CHECK

LOBBY

CARGO LIFT CASHIER

CAFE LOADING DOCK LOADING DOCK BOX OFFICE

WC WC GALLERY

GALLERY

16th floorplan plan 1st floor 1/16” 1/16”= =1’ 1’ (1,1) -2- layout4.indd 12/6/2012 7:00:42 PM

18th floorplan plan 6th floor BLACK BOX / PUB (NIGHT)

1/16” 1/16”= =1’ 1’ (1,1) -2- layout4.indd 12/6/2012 7:01:40 PM

R: Roof garden & Gallery Entrance

18: Dorm Rooms 17: Dorm: Bathrooms 16: Dorm: Open Kitchens

7: Offices & Studios / Classrooms 6: Retail (Music & Art Books)

2: Rehearsal 1: Theater / Landscape

Section looking south 1/16” = 1’

Section looking east 1/16” = 1’

L: Black box / pub

p.45

p.46

p.47

Greenhouses at Wellesley Spring 2012 | John Hong Studio Wellesley college grounds hold a rich history and cultural heritage, with memories embedded in the topography of the land. To respect the existing site and the beautiful views, the new greenhouses are sited on a ridge overlooking and framing a wet low meadow leading to Lake Waban. The brickwork buildings act and respond to the existing topography as retaining walls, becoming perforated and transparent at points where the earth is not exerting pressure. They channel the topography and carve out spaces for the domed greenhouses.

Section and axonometic of the greenhouses as situated in the contours of the site p.48

p.49

p.50

p.51

Section, render and site plan with contours (red contours denote tension with the building.)

p.52

-17 -14

-21

-5

-5 -21

-17 -10 -5 -10 -10 -14 -14

-21

-5

p.53

Brookline Athletic Center Spring 2012 | John Hong Studio

Site

The site, located in Brookline Village, Cambridge, MA, borders two major streets that are skewed to each other in plan and located on different levels in section. A bank building with a roof oculus sits adjacent to the site.

balance

The design concept is one of balance – 3 side ‘columns’ are in tension, in fact they are not columns but cables, preventing the hovering volume from falling onto the bank building.

facade

The facade openings are laid out on a 1’ by 1’ grid, decreasing in size gradually as they approach the structure behind.

p.54

Basketball court

Viewing gallery

Underneath the pool

Floor plans from basement (bottom) to roof (top)

WEIG HTS ROO M

SQU ASH CO URT S Q U A SPEC SH ARE TATOR A POO L ABO VE

SQU ASH COU R T

ADM IN O FFIC E RES T AR EA

SUN DECK POOL

SUN DECK

REST AREA

RES T AR EA

ADMIN OFFICE

POOL ABOVE SQUASH COURT

Zoomed plan of pool level POO L MEC H ARE ANICAL A

SQUASH SPECTATOR AREA

POOL MECHANICAL AREA

MEDITATION

SQUASH COURT

YOGA CLASS

REST AREA

WEIGHTS ROOM

YOG A CLAS S

LOCKER ROOMS / BATHROOMS

WELLNESS CENTER

MED ITAT ION

SPECTATOR GALLERY

CAFE

BASKETBALL COURT

Elevation

BOWLING ALLEY

Section p.55

Hidden Room Fall 2011 | Cameron Wu Studio This project involves designing a group of five rooms, one of which seems to be hidden from the other four. The program requires providing a means of access to the hidden room while controlling the degree to which the room becomes vulnerable to disclosure. The design is one of geometrical transformation. The visitor expects to end up in the smallest room by the central garden at the end of the progression, but a slip at the end conveys him/her to another room which is removed from the garden and he/she is ejected into the landscape forecourt with no way to enter the garden. The smallest room by the garden then becomes the ‘hidden’ room of the progression. The smallest room also forms a unit in the landscape pattern of the forecourt (which can be read as the largest ‘room’ in the progression when seen from a higher level.) A door in the first and largest ‘true’ room opens to a ramp in the direction opposite of the progression, and leads the audience through a short-circuit route back to the end (or beginning) –the smallest room– through the central garden. The garden then becomes the representation of the moment in time where the shift in the progression occurs.

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Gate Building Fall 2011 | Cameron Wu Studio The site is based on the study of one of the western gates of the three locks located between Boston’s North End and Charlestown. The design of the building is based on a rotary to linear movement mechanism: a rotor moves the top half of the building which also displaces vertically by way of a diagonal section cut. “This project is a study of movement in architecture. It is not only about bodily passage, formal transformation, or implied structural forces, but also movement in time and space, actualized mechanically. It is a project in which architecture becomes the geometric inscription of a series of actions and positions.”

Section of state 1 (closed) and state 2 (opened)

Site plan

p.58 Concept model showing mechanism

State 1: Closed

State 2: Opened

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The Gatekeeper A short story | See Jia Ho

Gate]

The gatekeeper is not the sort that one would expect to be a gatekeeper. For one, he looks relatively youthful. People tend to think of gatekeepers as ancient men, hair whitened with time and skin folded with age. But the gatekeeper in this instance looks no more than twenty five years old. Are all gatekeepers youthful? One cannot venture to extrapolate an answer from a sample size of one, but one could form a theory by observing the gatekeeper and his daily activities. Our gatekeeper is dressed in simple white linen, and the gate that he is keeping sits over a channel of water flowing north to south. The channel is twenty feet wide. At certain fixed intervals, he moves a rectangular block which sits on the east bank over the water channel whereby the block forms a bridge. When this happens, we understand that the gate is “closed”. For whom and for what purpose the gate is closed we are not informed of at this moment. We zoom in on the rectangular block in question and note its perfect edges, and surmise that the gatekeeper, though youthful, has a skilled and mature hand. The rectangular block is 241 feet long, 135 feet wide and 36 feet deep. The edges have been cut clean and the right angles are sharp and accurate. For how many days and nights had the gatekeeper been filing down and polishing the edges? It speaks of dedication and a certain fixated obsession with perfection.

Flower]

What the naked eye cannot see is another work of the gatekeeper inside this euclidean solid, if one imagines putting the whole block p.60

under an x-ray machine, are the outlines of the inside of the solid. How he had managed to carve out the inside is a wonder that adds to our admiration of this young gatekeeper. Did he, at a certain early point in the making of the block, actually cut two blocks each eighteen feet deep, out of which he then carved the insides in such a precise and accurate way that when the one was turned over and laid upon the other and bound with a resin so effectively and with such skill, that we at the present time perceive the block as having been one from the beginning? As these questions form in our minds, the gatekeeper grew larger in our perception of him. Then we begin to notice, are not those hands slightly calloused? Are they not bruised by the pressure of hand tools? Is that not a swelling we see at the side of that thumb? But now, back to the inside of the block. There are two things we notice as of particular interest. One of the them is so outstanding, so strange in form and so alien in nature that it is the first thing which catches the eye as we peer inside. It is a three-pronged flower. Our gatekeeper is also a gardener. Those hands that we see calloused had nurtured the flower into being. He had grown this flower from a single point, called the (0,0,0) or the origin point. If one has the acquaintance of a few gatekeepers, one would hear varying opinions about the origin point. Certain gatekeepers would be of the view that the origin is overstated, and that one can start from any random point and the result would not be any different. Those are the ones that usually end up with tangled wires of all sorts, as even non-gatekeepers are conscious of the

fact that someone who is fastidious in a little thing is fastidious in larger things. Our gatekeeper is the purist sort, as we had already suspected from the seamless block exterior and perfect angles, and he had made the decision from the beginning to grow the flower from (0,0,0). From that one point he grew a circle of radius 4.5 feet, on which he then made special cuts at each third of the circumference. From each cut a stalk-like leaf emerged, three in all, each sixty feet long. Unlike the orthogonal surrounding of the interior block, the flower had not been carved into being, but was grown. That in a hard place a soft thing is born, one could talk about that for centuries - but we move on to the second thing that we had noticed. At the north side and south sides of the interior are strips of steel embedded in niches. The gatekeeper calls these the “catches.” To understand how the catches work, one must also realize that the flower moves. To be exact, the flower rotates. To be even more precise, the gatekeeper rotates the flower about the origin point in the clockwise direction. When the tip of one leaf of the flower touches the north catch, the block moves to the east as if it were being pushed by the leaf. That a strong thing is moved by a weak thing, one could also dwell on that for a long time.

Movement]

The tip of the leaf draws an arc as the flower rotates, and for a certain time the tip will stay in contact with the north catch. This time is determined by the time it takes for the flower to rotate 60 degrees, out of 360. At this point, it is good for us to realize that the gatekeeper had done a certain

thing before he had even begun to make the block, he had cut grooves into the ground underneath and inlaid it with steel channels running east to west. He had then made the underside of the block to fit on these channels, such that the block would move in a straight line in the east-west axis when force is applied. He had cut a narrow opening in the underside of the block running east to west, centered about the origin, so that the flower could remain rooted to the origin as the block moves. The catches in the interior block are made to run in the northsouth axis, and as the tip of one leaf leaves the north catch, the tip of the second leaf comes into contact with the south catch and moves it in the opposite direction to the west. When the second leaf leaves the south catch, the third leaf immediately comes into contact at that very moment with the north catch, reversing the direction of the block. When the third leaf loses contact at the north catch the first leaf comes into contact at the south catch. This goes on for as long as the flower rotates. When one looks from the outside, one could see only the euclidean solid block moving east, and then in a sudden moment reversing its track and moving west, and so on. Now, we have deduced all these from observing the gate. At this point, we have not yet seen the gatekeeper at his remarkable work. We have not seen him wield his tools, or water the flower, or snip the circle, or oil the catches.

Flesh]

Instrumental]

How the gatekeeper did it we do not know. We see the long steel tool in his hand but we do not comprehend how in a stroke he had cut the block into two. A sharp pain pierces our hearts and we condemn him for mutilating the the perfectly made block, yet we forget that he had made the block in the first place.

The block has been split exactly in half before our eyes, in a curious manner - not a straight cut halfway between the top and the bottom faces, nor a straight cut between the east and the west or the north and the south faces. The gatekeeper has sliced the block in a diagonal stroke from the top of the west face to the bottom of the east face with a tool that resembled a salmon knife. The block is now a top half and a bottom half. We say they are equal, but if we consult the gatekeeper, he would say that the top half was born from the bottom half - the flesh of its flesh and the bone of its bones. One does not argue with the poetic inclinations of a gatekeeper. There is an authority about him, for he knew how the block was made, and he had grown the flower that is in the block. When the gatekeeper cut the block, the flower was not harmed, for it had been lower than the midpoint of the diagonal cut. Now, the gatekeeper tends to the flower. From the origin point another circle is grown. He lifts it higher than the original circle and makes three cuts in its circumference at points that lie exactly between the first three cuts from which the leaflike stalks had emerged. In a moment, we see three graceful petals emerging from the new cuts, softer and more graceful than the leaf-like stalks that now lie beneath it. Where the leaf-like stalk touches the north catch of the lower half block and moves it eastward, the petal touches the south catch of the upper half block and moves it westward, and vice versa. When the flower rotates about the origin, what we see from without is the lower half block moving east as the upper half block moves west, and then the two blocks switching direction. An interesting phenomenon we notice is that as the upper block moves west, it rises. It is lifted as it goes up the ramp of the diagonal cut, for it is resting by gravity upon the lower block. By the

same logic, the upper block is lowered when it moves east. This is why the gatekeeper maintains that the lower block is the original - it neither rises nor is lowered, but moves in the same trajectory as the block before the cut.

Non-linear]

The development of the blocks and the flower brings about a new set of gate logic. When either of the half blocks have moved to the west over the water channel, the gate is closed. When the upper block is in the west and the lower block is in the east, the gate is closed. When the upper block is in the east and the lower block is in the west, the gate is closed. The only moment when the gate is fully open is when the upper block and the lower block are in between east and west, above the origin. When that happens, the two, for a moment, form again the appearance of a single block, for the upper block is aligned perfectly above the lower block. One would then deduce that if by rotating the flower sixty degrees the single block completes an east to west move, then by rotating the flower thirty degrees the two half blocks would be halfway between their east-west moves and would lie perfectly one above the other. This is however a flawed logic that the gatekeeper had realized early in his career. For by using the circular motion of the flower to move the blocks in a linear track, the movement is no longer subject to a linear relationship. The gatekeeper knows the degree number that would bring the two halves together, but he is unable to communicate that number to us, in the way we are unable to record the full number of pi. Somewhere between 25.128 degrees and 25.129 degrees, the two become one. And then they part. (Excerpt from a short story titled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Origin Pointâ&#x20AC;? written for a creative writing workshop in Harvard College in Spring 2014.) p.61

Contact

Name: See Jia Ho Email: seejia.ho@gmail.com Phone: +1 (617) 359-1520 Mail: 34 Irving St, Apt 42, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

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