Sharne Sulaiman - Architectural Portfolio

Sharne Sulaiman

PORTFOLIO

Copyright Š 2020 by Sharne Sulaiman All rights reserved. Published in Singapore by shiraz by Sharne Sulaiman.

Printed in the Republic of Singapore.

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A l l m y Tu t o r s C J L i m , S h i n ya O k u d a , C h i n K e a n Ko k , H o w a r d D av i e s , C h a w C h i h W e n , L o o i C h e e K i n , M e l a n i e F r a n c i s , S a n s o n N g

Current Projects 12 Jalan Shaer CLB SkyTimber Book Bridge Completed Projects Kampung Admiralty Windflower Florists Research NUS-BFH SkyTimber Workshop T2 Lab Mass Engineered Timber SkyForest SDE 2 V2.0

Portfolio

Narratives Kitchen of Cultures Tower Gallery Tectonics little green dot M R K T P L C Theatre House for Noel Gay Totem Ancestor Explorations Sense of Scale: Chinatown and Space Asia Hub Man: Pavilion Functional Landscape: Bioretention Basin Geometry and Composition: Arch and Dome Ancillary Exhibitions Publications Outreach Art & Photography

Client brief was a large, sellable detached tropical house with zero maintenance aspirations.

C L B S k yTi m b e r Book Bridge

CURR ENT

1 2 Ja l a n S h a e r

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Designed and detailed world’s longest bookshelf; constructed with MET. Coordinated between various stakeholders.

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DETAIL: INFILL PIECE ASSEMBLY

DETAIL: STIFFENER

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ELEVATION

NOTE:

ONLY FIGURED DIMENSIONS ARE TO BE WORKED FROM. DISCREPANCIES MUST BE REPORTED IMMEDIATELY TO THE ARCHITECT BEFORE PROCEEDING.

NOTE:

ONLY FIGURED DIMENSIONS ARE TO BE WORKED FROM. DISCREPANCIES MUST BE REPORTED IMMEDIATELY TO THE ARCHITECT BEFORE PROCEEDING.

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PROJECT:

NUS CENTRAL LIBRARY - SKY TIMBER: TROPICAL MASS ENGINEERED TIMBER (MET) BOOKSHELF

DRAWING TITLE:

DETAIL: VERTICAL MEMBER JOINT

SECTION A

RARE BOOK GALLERY (H-H-H OPTION) SCHEMATIC DESIGN PROPOSAL PLANS, ELEVATIONS, AND SECTION LAND TENURE:

PROJECT DIRECTOR

SCALE:

PROJECT NO.

DATE:

02/10/2019

FILE NAME:

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DIRECTOR IN-CHARGE

DC REF/BP NO.:

DRAWING TITLE:

DETAIL: END COLUMN ASSEMBLY

PROJECT ARCHITECT

CHECKED BY:

DRAWING NO.

A801

PROJECT:

NUS CENTRAL LIBRARY - SKY TIMBER: TROPICAL MASS ENGINEERED TIMBER (MET) BOOKSHE

DRAWN BY:

SS

REVISION

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RARE BOOK GALLERY (H-H-H OPTION) SCHEMATIC DESIGN PROPOSAL DETAILS LAND TENURE:

DIRECTOR IN-CHARGE

DC REF/BP NO.:

PROJECT DIRECTOR

SCALE:

PROJECT NO.

DATE:

02/10/2019

FILE NAME:

PROJECT ARCHITECT

CHECKED BY:

DRAWING NO.

A802

DRAWN BY

SS

REVISION

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Kampung A d m i r a lt y

Designed new signages and reconfigured existing ones to fit the as-built. Coordinated installation.

Wi n d f low e r Florists

Client brief was to design a florist shop that enable workshops and encouraged walkins. Client also requested custom worktop.

CO M PLET E D 3

R E SEAR CH

NUS-BFH S k yTi m b e r Wo r k s h o p

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A workshop that brought together minds of NUS and Bern University pioneered one of the world’s first tropical MET façades and slab components. The prototypes were developed and fabricated from rubber and sengon wood by a team of 11 NUS MArch students and 6 BFH students.

A slab spanning 4 metres was developed to minimise material use while easily installed with M&E services. The facade prototypes were installed prominently on the SDE 4 test bed facade.

Research by both design and quantitative analysis studied the benefits of the MET slab prototype. Rudimentary loading tests were applied to the slab, while MC measurements were taken of the facades to understand its drying behaviour. The tectonics suggest exciting ways to deal with tropical MET in tropical climates.

T2 Lab

Part of the lab focuses on tropical timber as a building material. By dealing with tropical timber tectonically, more desirable outcomes can result in the timber such as quick drying, low UV degradation, and patination by weathering.

Research on the patination is conducted by spectrometers which measure the difference in colour change of the untreated balau timber facade. These measurements are conducted longitudinally over a course of more than a year.

The results show that patination by weathering (rain and sun) occurs very quickly immediately after installation, while after several months, patination no longer affects the timber.

R E SEAR CH

T2 Lab was founded in 2016 with the sponsorship of CDL to research interests relevant to architecture and building in the tropics. The research objectives are directed towards developing passive and active building technologies appropriate to Singapore and other equatorial regions in order to achieve low/zero carbon and sustainable buildings.

The timber goes from a warm brown to a grey tone which resembles stone, and is able to more harmoniously dialogue with industrial materials such as steel and concrete.

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Th e s i s : SkyForest

M ET

Urbanisation will place more than two-thirds of the global population in urban areas by the mid-21st Century. This global trend demands massive urban development. Cities grow ever denser and larger, their existing problems compounding almost uncontrollably.

There are multiple issues faced in high density urbanism, especially in the tropical context. Existing modes of urbanism employ large amounts of finite, energyintensive, and environmentally destructive materials. The large carbon footprint serves against contemporary urbanisation’s intentions of resilience by climate change. Moreover, poor land use practices have threatened the essential biotope of forests with demise from replacement by the built environment.

In the hopes of securing a sustainable solution to this situation, this thesis hopes to discover a future standard by which cities live symbiotically with nature, employing new technologies as an augmentation toward this goal.

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*this project is currently in progress

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SDE 2 V2.0 U n i f i e d Te r r a c e i n M E T A new architecture is envisioned to break cleanly from a typical factory-like building typology so prevalent in the National University of Singapore (NUS). Returning local architecture to its tropical reality and efficient stewardship of material, a building of Mass Engineered Timber (MET) hybridised with concrete and steel will house a campus room that functions as a giant mixer to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and ideas.

This is achieved by uniting all programmes with a single long-span roof, an almost triple-volume atrium to which all programmes are connected.

The entire plan is further centred on a partially covered Construction Plaza fronting the public 8

Kent Ridge Crescent where large prototypes can be built and celebrated. A large Workshop takes the lower ground level, having vehicular access for loading and unloading. Above that sits an open plan Interdisciplinary Studio.

Terraced yet above are research labs and faculty facilities, all culminating in an expansive Canopy Terrace which overlooks the majestic crowns of surrounding raintrees. Movement between these programmatic strata are formed as a circulatory spine, with dual purpose as the Material Library, encouraging continual learning and chance encounters.

*this project attained a grade of A+ and will be featured at CityEx 2019

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N A R RAT I V E

Kitchen of C u lt u r e s

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A C u lt u r a l C e n t r e B e n e at h Infrastructure Kitchen of Cultures investigates the relationship between a working foreign population and local food security, an issue for an island nation like Singapore that cannot depend on itself for manpower and food.

It looks at how the production, processing, and cooking of food can be an indispensable part of social life - a metaphor to champion the wealth of diverse cultures and contributions in Singapore.

Kitchen of Cultures is a new typology of cultural centre that brings together various nationalities of foreign workers (be it expat or labourer). It situates itself around the metro viaducts of Jurong East, using the common language of food to bring a celebration of humanity to the indomitable power of transit infrastructure and the banal quotidian.

The space houses a theatre, concert hall, discotheque, restaurant, library, and gallery near the ground plane, while relying on urban farms and biodigesters above the viaducts for sustainable food and energy production. The jovial nature of the design and its programmes encourages visitors to participate in the global food culture as a celebration of humanity. Here, sustainability and equality are defined by inclusion of diversity.

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To w e r G a l l e r y A flurry of development on site in the short span of 5 years has resulted in the architecture seen at the site today. What is present is an accumulation of divergent aspirations wishing to impose their versions of social and capitalist ideals. This is evidently felt in the clashing gridlines that occupy the site.

Through narrative development and scenario play (in order for the architecture to make sense of the incomprehensible delirium), a community art museum is programmatically divided at historical sites of communal action, and linked with a relationship to survive in the site’s hostile and undeniably taller future. A visual relationship between the three indulges in a little game: Imagine as the taller, newer developments rise up replacing what exists on site, the museum towers grow upwards in response to that, reestablishing their relationship of separated programs when one tower may not function without another.

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N A R RAT I V E

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little green dot M R K T P L C

T ECTON IC S

O n l i n e S t o r e i n B u i lt F o r m

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A new brick-and-mortar typology that reflects eco-friendly online retail is sought to best fit this new era of internet transactions. Paralleling Little Green Dot Marketplace’s operation of accessibility to multiple brands, stores, and products, their retail centre is imagined as a tubular building suspended above an open marketplace on the ground plane.

The experience at the heart of the market place is amplified by strong programmatic expressions surrounding it- cafes, workshops, galleries, farms, storage etc. The circle is able to signify a place of gathering, a centre of intense activity, consolidating the central

programme of a market place in a logical and legible manner. Opportunities for direct relationships between its interior surfaces and the market occur continuously.

Functioning like a massive vending machine, the building transports goods from automated pallet storage quickly down through vertical circulation cores with its inner workings visible to the user at its centre. This is a captivating orchestration of goods, robot, and man.

*this project was featured at CityEx 2018

GOODS CONSUMER

Roof

CURATING A DIRECT RELATIONSHIP

AUGMENTING THE RELATIONSHIP FORMALLY

CYLINDER

ELEVATED

TRANSPARENCY

PROGRAMMATIC TECTONICS

SITE RESPONSE

+55500

PROGRAMMATIC ADJUSTMENT

GROUND FLOOR MARKETPLACE

CARS 10th Storey

+38000

PASSENGERS

AUTOMATED PALLET STORAGE

GOODS

STT TAI SENG 1

9th Storey +35500 SPECIFIC CORES

8th Storey +33000

AUTOMATED CAR PARK Summer Solstice Sunpath

7th Storey +30500

6th Storey +28000

STRUCTURAL FRAMING ISO

scale 1:500 5th Storey +25500

TAI SENG STREET

RE & S BUILDING

ORGANIC FARM

SERVANT SPACE AS STRUCTURE

4th Storey +17700

SKY PLAYGROUND

EXHIBITION HALL ADMIN OFFICE

Pedestrian/Bicycle Traffic

3rd Storey +12600

LEARNING GALLERY PROGRAMME IN PROXIMITY

KITCHEN Vehicular Traffic

2nd Storey +7500

AIRPORT ROAD MARKET PLACE

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KPE M&E ISOMETRIC VIEW

Car/Taxi Pick Up/Drop Off

SECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

scale 1:150

scale 1:200

SITE PLAN

scale 1:500

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Th e at r e H o u s e f o r N o e l G ay M u s i c a l Th e at r e a s S p e c ta c l e The intervention attempts to take the persona of Noel Gay to the extreme. Since he created his character, Noel Gay, perhaps his life could be imagined as spectacle. Gay becomes the theatre to be observed.

The scaenae frons was interpreted as Gay’s dwelling- a residence of glass boxes within which his life can be closely observed and consumed as entertainment.

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*this project attained a grade of A+ and was featured at CityEx 2017

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To t e m Ancestor From Music to Architecture

John Cage’s Totem Ancestor (1942) for the prepared piano was first addressed musically; an in-depth analysis was conducted for its frequency, harmony, structure, etc.

It was also examined intuitively, examining tonal quality in dynamics, colour, texture, and tension. The piece of music could be seen as continuous whole, a free form aural journey of a singular line. Superstring was used to explore

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this concept, inspired by the Superstring Theory that attempts to explain all particles and fundamental forces as vibrations of tiny strings.

The suggested grid of the 9X9 cube was respected, and the philosophy of continuous play and composition was adopted to most faithfully translate Totem Ancestor into spatial terms.

The discovery of the incomplete cube allowed this spatial parallel to occur. The incomplete cube is a line created by cubic edges, giving the notion of a cube despite the nonexistence of one. This mirrors the free form yet structural strictness seen in Totem Ancestor. Rules were set up to control the pathway required to be formed by ensuring that the pieces were connected systematically and rigorously. *this project attained a grade of A+

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Dwelling The house was designed with nuances and sensitivity to axes. Internal spaces draw attention to external ones where intentional pockets were created to connect with, and appreciate, the site.

Dematerialisation of the form was done through use of material in order for the language of the incomplete cube to be read against greenery as musical architecture.

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TECTON I C S 21

E X P LO RAT I O N S 22

Sense of Scale: C h i n at o w n a n d Space Asia Hub

M a n : Pav i l i o n A local building, the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, was chosen as the precedent study for the project. A long flight of stairs was chosen as a unique feature of the building’s architecture.

The perspective view of the staircase was distilled to its most distinct shapes and lines.

It was further abstracted to create a drawing of surprising simplicity. This drawing would be the progenitor of its architectural product. As a tropical pavilion, a programme of a communal bar was discovered from the lines. This bar would serve mainly two persons in different postures- one sitting and one standing. The space was arranged interactively such that the two individuals had a sense and ease of movement, communication, and connection.

Further inclusive connection to people outside the pavilion was done via three portals and numerous perforations in the envelope. All this was achieved while ensuring elemental shelter for occupants.

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Functional Landscape: Bioretention Basin The proposed design intervention converts an existing drain to a bioretention basin by “slicing” the ground in a series of gashes. The drain’s function is enhanced by its conversion.

The quality of space is also improved as the ground, water, biodiversity, and the temporality of elements are exploited. The area has increased use as a congregation of nature.

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E X P LO RAT I O N S

Geometry and Composition: Arch and Dome

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Exhibitions

A N CILLA RY

CityEx 2019

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P u b l i c at i o n s CityEx 2017

M C M XC I V

Ou t r e ac h Architours

Art & Photography Pa r k i n g D ay

ANCILLA RY

H o w To A r c h i t e c t u r e

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Sharne Sulaiman 27 Hazel Park Terrace #16-01 Singapore 678949 +65 9857 0208 sharne_sulaiman@u.nus.edu 28