Master of Architecture Application
ACADEMIC RE: [LIVE-WORK-PLAY] Sound Illumination Living Art Factory
EXTRAS Solar Pendulum Hand Drawings Canopy
ELGIN
CHICAGO
RE: [LIVE, WORK, PLAY] SPRING 2016 individual mixed-used tower ACSA steel-building competition entry Instead of a typical mixed-use tower with distinct vertical stacking of public, commercial, and residential programs respectively, this project aims at overlapping programs of play, work, and live in a manner fitting for a small and intimate town such as Elgin, IL, where not one program is elevated above the rest, and all exists around the central atrium and circulation core, encouraging different users to rub shoulders and inhabit the space in a balanced manner.
LEVEL 7-19 RESIDENTIAL 1,2,3 BEDROOM
LEVEL 5+6 STUDIO 1,2 BEDROOM
LEVEL 4 OPEN OFFICE LEVEL 3 CONFERENCE + RESTAURANT
LEVEL 2 CINEMAPLEX + RETAIL LEVEL 1 RETAIL + CAFE+
ELGIN, IL
residential
commercial
SITE
ENTRANCE AND ACCESS informed by culmination of street axes and pedestrian access to the riverwalk
VIEWS towards the River, Casino, and north towards the heart of Elgin
TOWER location determined by views, human scale, and massing of surrounding buildings
civic
CORE + PROGRAM
ATRIUM FOR CONNECTIVITY
PROGRAM SLIDING
TERRACE
TWIN CORE
DIAGRID
ATRIUM
STRUCTURE Double-Skin System Double-glazed Low-E Panels with 1/2” air space Metal Screen Spandrel Panel Adjustable aluminum horizontal louvres Painted steel catwalk grating 50% open 4” Rigid insulation Intermediate ventilated cavity
Diagrid Structure 8” x 12” Welded Steel Tubes 8” x 18” Beams in Shear connection to staggered nodes of the diagrid 24” x 24” Steel HSS columns
Inner Curtain Wall System Lightweight steel framing with 4” thick rigid insulation Double-glazed Low-E curtain wall with 1/2” air space Operable windows at 1’6” and 9’ heights Interior painted gypsum board finish
Floor System
10” thick precast hollow concrete core, 6’ wide Finished wood veneer 3’ Drop radiant ceiling panel
SOUND ILLUMINATION FALL 2016 individual performing arts center addition This project introduces a new typology of concert hall in Chicago, a city known for its rich and diverse architectural styles. However, amongst its buffet of opera houses, theaters, and performance halls, the vineyard-style concert hall is yet to be realized. MERIT school of music, located just west of the loop, offers an opportunity for this new concert typology in Chicago. As our mock-client, MERIT is asking for an addition to their facility that consists of a new rehearsal and performance hall to showcase the talent of their high-school musicians. The current facility is used to its fullest by a charter school by day and for music lessons and conservatory in the evenings and on weekends. The nature of the multi-faceted user group that the building has to facilitate breaks through its physical enclosure, illuminating the city block.
In a vineyard hall, performer and viewer are allowed for more intimate relationship due to the nature of the surround seating. Taking advantage of the multiple wall surfaces, arrival and circulation for the hall becomes distributed. The challenge of the vineyard shaped hall was to provide for even sound reverberation in multiple directions. The hall aims at breaking conventional treatment of the roof to truly reflect how the acoustic ceiling panels are intentionally shaped and placed to allow for multi-directional sound reflection, as well as opportunities for natural light illumination through the roof glazing into the hall when unoccupied.
traditional shoe-box
centralize stage
surround
expand
deflect
uplift with program
formal response
SCALE
STRUCTURE
OLD+NEW
WALLS + COLUMNS
SLAB
CIRCULATION
ROOF STRUCTURE
SKIN
LIVING ART FACTORY LIVING ART FACTORY SPRING 2015 individual adaptive reuse Prague study abroad Holešovice, a zone in Prague 8 is one of the city’s largest undeveloped area due to its classification as a brownfield. The study abroad studio at the Architectural Institute of Prague aims at taking a building block that is part of a local firm’s re-development plan and proposing a program to revitalize its surrounding community. The train depot, due to its industrial and modular language, is transformed into a living art factory where artists reside, create, and exhibit art to the rest of the city.
Public Entry Courtyard
Open Exhibition Space
Artists are one of the most versatile group capable of reigniting the culture of a place. This abandoned brownfield of Prague is in desperate need of revitalization, and it is through the repurposing of existing frameworks that the culture of place can be brought back to the community. In order to do this, a fluid engagement and interaction between artists and the public has to take place. The blurring of programmatic boundaries from material gathering and living, to the process of art-making and exhibiting invites the public to engage and enjoy the re-cultivation of art in Prague 8.
27 4 1 1 1 1 1
LOFTS ART STUDIOS MATERIAL LOADING WOOD SHOP METAL FABRICATION CAFE GALLERY SPACE
SOLAR PENDULUM FALL 2016 group project Lake|Flato PARK(ing) Day Best Design Award As a critique of city’s VIA bus stations that provide little useful shade for most of the day, this year’s PARK(ing) Day team decided to design a prototype of a user-operable bench and shade structure that responds to the sun angles throughout the day and year. The design consists of a steel and fabric shade structure that pivots on a pin connection at two steel columns. The 8-foot long bench on four casters serve as a counterweight and mechanism that help operate the structure for appropriate shade throughout the day.
ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS VLTAVA RIVER, PRAGUE Spring 2016 [11”x17”x4] RED FORT, OLD DELHI Spring 2016 [3”x3”] NEUE KIRCHE, BERLIN Summer 2015 [4”x6”] EISENMANN MEMORIAL, BERLIN Summer 2015 [6”x4”]
4’ X 4’ DIVIDED INTO 14
SCORE + STIFFEN
FASTENER + CONNECTION
CANOPY FALL 2015 individual material+structure exploration Starting with a sheet of 4’ x 4’ walnut veneer sheet, the task was to create a canopy that has a footprint of at least 8 square feet and reaches at least 1‘ above the ground plane. The challenge was to find a way to connect the modules without glue as well as create a stiff enough structural system to support the inherent weight of the material. The arc scored at varying depths help stiffen the veneer material, while counter hooks help hold the form in place. Each of the 14 pieces cut from the veneer sheet rests on one another, giving the canopy the resulting height and rhythm.
Serena Ching 224.209.3600 serena.ching1@gmail.com serenacsy