ARCHITECTURAL PORTFOLIO 2019-2022

LOST IN CHONGQING

Self-directed Conceptual Design

MARC6000 Architectural Thesis Studio/ Autumn 2022

Directed by Sebastian Tsang/ In collaboration with Dixin Wei

HEALING THE WOUND

Botany Lab and Gallery Design

MARC5020 Architectural Studio 2/ Autumn 2021

Directed by Dr Arianna Brambilla/ In collaboration with Yushi Yang and Hongyuan Wu

FLOATING CITY

Rescuing and Teaching Center Design

MARC4002 Architectural Thesis Studio/ Spring 2020

Directed by Dr Jennifer Ferng

ORGANZA TIGAE

Air Purifying Façade Design

MARC5101 Advanced Technologies 2/ Spring 2020

Directed by Dr Arianna Brambilla/ In collaboration with Yushi Yang, Hongyuan Wu and Yifang Xia

ADDITION AND RENOVATION

DA Project

BDES3025 Architectural Professional Practice/ Spring 2019

Directed by Matt Markham-Lee

Lost in Chongqing

MARC6000 Architectural Thesis Studio/ Autumn 2022

Directed by Sebastian Tsang/ In collaboration with Dixin Wei

There was once a time in China when street hawkers were considered a part of the traditional culture and a symbol of the prosperity of cities. However, this soon changed as a result of China’s revitalization and urbanization. As dilapidated houses and neighborhoods are demolished, these hawkers progressively disappear. Every city’s ultimate objective is orderliness and consistency. Thus, the existence of hawkers became inappropriate in some way. In certain cities, such as Chongqing, night markets were formed to serve as gathering areas for hawkers. In most cases, however, hawkers are excluded from broader urban planning.

It appears that these street workers cannot coexist with modern cities, making them the opposite of modern civilization. Nonetheless, as a result of the deportation of hawkers, Chinese cities gradually lost their identity and uniqueness, resulting in a decline in culture and vitality.

Therefore, the proposed project, located in one of the most special and prosperous cities - Chongqing, explores the possibility of reconstructing the current hawker system and filling the vacant spaces in Chinese cities in a practical way. The design is inspired by hawkers’ footprints within the city, their movements during their work, and the daily activities of citizens in Chongqing. We believe that architecture should tell the story of the city and the people, from the past to the present.

Hence, the project provides a possible solution for combining the new and the old, the modern and the past. It aims to celebrate the nomadic nature of street hawkers and their ability to shape and influence their surroundings and urban structures.

* Conceptual video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPbgO4S44To

The special landform of Chongqing not only allows it to develop its own culture and lifestyle, such as street hawkers and night markets, but also features a unique transportation system - cable cars. These cable cars can typically be found around old town areas. However, with the ongoing urban renewal in Chongqing, these elements are gradually disappearing alongside the demolition of urban villages.

The design aims to combine street hawkers with cable cars, creating a large urban hawker cable car system that can serve the entire city. The main cable car station will be located at Hongyadong, which has been transformed from a large urban village into a modern commercial building.

Footprint of the Street Hawker the Terrain of Chongqing

The mobility of street hawkers allows them to encounter and integrate with various groups of people in different places throughout the day. They come and go, subtly shaping and altering the spaces as they move.

High Flexibility Street Hawker Hawkers' Gestures

Every part of the hawker carts is highly flexible; they can transform into different shapes or forms as needed.

A detailed study of hawkers’ gestures and movements has also been conducted for the design of cable carts.

Citizens' Daily Activities

Spatial Connections and Arrangements

Movements

Hawker's City

The tower’s functions are determined based on the citizens’ daily activities.

Similarly to the design of the cable carts, the tower was shaped and formed according to people’s movements and gestures.

02

Healing the Wound

MARC5020 Architectural Studio 2/ Autumn 2021

Directed by Arianna Brambilla

In collaboration with Yushi Yang and Hongyuan Wu

The proposed project is located in Broken Hill, one of the longest-established mining towns in Australia. The town of Broken Hill has a fragile ecosystem and suffers from the health of residents long being damaged and impaired, and more and more people are leaving their hometowns.

The current design is an attempt at regenerative practice, aiming to bring architecture, humans and the surrounding environment into a close relationship as an organic whole. We believe that the starting point of positive changes and co-evolution of humans and nature lies in people’s emotional connectedness to nature. And we believe that architecture is an indispensable part of the whole system that can serve to provide opportunities for people to experience, engage with, and contribute to the surrounding natural environment.

The fearsome and irregular forms of nature can evoke the great aesthetic quality of the sublime, which could be more shocking and influential on the inner heart of the viewers. Therefore, we choose to leave the huge wound in the land prominent to the public instead of restoring or disgusting it, in the belief that this will be a more effective way to increase people’s emotional affinity with nature and encourage their behavioural commitment to protect the natural environment.

Through circulation design, spatial arrangement, and landscaping, we intend to provide visitors with a journey to achieve an enhanced experience of the subliminal view of the large open wound. In terms of sustainable architectural design, passive strategies have been adopted in the spatial configuration to create a comfortable and flexible thermal environment for the occupants throughout the seasons. In terms of materials, local stones are used as the main building materials, owing to their environmental friendliness, high durability and the unique topographical and geological culture they carry. We hope that this design will last for centuries and become a living monument for future generations, strengthening the connection to their homeland and co-evolving with nature in an involuntary way.

Line of Lode was discovered British mine was opened, workers flew into the town Broken Hill council was established, more infrastratures were developed

Train line was built and more mines were opened Town fully developed, prime phase of mining industry

Mining operations began to close

Mining History of Broken Hill

Landscape Design

Layout of the Lab and Gallery

Floating City

MARC4002 Architectural Thesis Studio/ Spring 2020

Directed by Dr Jennifer Ferng

Flooding has long been an issue in South-East Asia. Residents there have already learned to deal with it and have found ways to live in peace with it. However, with global warming affecting the world, it brings about such rapid changes that people are struggling to adapt. The damage and loss of life caused by floods are getting worse every year. Meanwhile, alongside other problems such as ocean pollution, it only exacerbates people’s living conditions.

Given the current situation, the proposed project is set in Bangkok in the year 2050 to discuss the potential of how architecture can help people embrace the upcoming challenges they are facing.

The design utilizes local materials as well as waste plastic bottles, providing maximum flexibility to easily adapt to the changing environment. At the same time, it also takes on social responsibility by teaching local residents to create their own life-saving equipment. In a way, the current design aims to form a systematic shelter network that not only acts as an emergency safe station but also serves as an education center that teaches people self-preservation.

River Branches

Flooding Zones

Main River

River Lines

Flooding Maps - 2020

CHAOPHRAYARIVER

Due to the frequent flooding in Bangkok, some of their houses and transport systems are elevated above the ground. Alternatively, they simply use boats or ferrys as their means of travel.

after Flooding

There are multiple river lines running across Bangkok, which makes the city even more vulnerable when facing global warming. During flooding times, the city has been fragmented into small islands. Therefore, the floating shelter system serves as a bridge connecting all the islands, helping residents adapt to the future changes.

Different from commercial buildings, residential houses tend to be low-rise, with two to three levels, and the ground level is generally used for small shops. When floods occur, residents will move their belongings and live upstairs.

As floods worsen each year, some houses even have additional shelters on the top floor for residents to use during emergencies.

Spring/ Autumn Solar study

Equinox: 20th March/ 22nd September Time: 9am, Sun Angle:43.5

Summer Solar study

Solstice:21st June

Time:9am, Sun Angle:46.4

Winter Solar study

Solstice:21st December

Time:9am, Sun Angle:32.4

According to the research, Bangkok is sinking 1-2 cm every year due to human activities occurring above ground, while the sea level is rising by 1-2 mm because of global warming.

Meanwhile, plastic pollution in the ocean is also a serious issue that needs to be resolved, or it will become an even more significant problem by 2050.

Hence, the design of the shelter will consider both of these problems.

The operable windows allow cross ventilation to flow through the shelter.

Steel roofing and straw panels provide insulation to block intense heat, and plastic bottles stored inside the roof add an additional insulation layer.

Passive Study

The operable louvers provide good airflow during hot summers and help block strong winds on windy days.

Plastic bottles are stored between the roof panels and the main timber structures, providing an extra insulation layer to prevent heat during the summer.

All the buildings are located next to rivers, primarily used as educational shelters for children during normal days. Local residents can store plastic bottles here, as well as learn how to turn all the bottles into floating bridges or boats for use during flooding.

Timber modules with plastic bottles inside can be taken out for teaching purposes or used to make boats or floating pathways.

During flooding, the hanging stairs will be folded up, and the shelter’s height can be adjusted as the water flows.

Nearly 5,000 plastic bottles have been used as the floating devices for the shelter, stored in porous wooden modules that were installed under the floor structure. With the use of hollow sliding steel pipes and fixed concrete footings, it gives the shelter flexibility to change as the water rises while staying stable and safe for people to use.

Shelter is able to move as water flows, allows residents to utilize the building at any time during the flood.

Fixed concrete footings with adjustable hollow steel supports allow the building to float during flooding times.

By engaging in craftwork, residents can create their own pathways and boats, which can greatly improve their living conditions during floods.

High-strength springy polyethylene ropes that tied to steel anchors to stabilize the floating pathway with the base structure (timber bridge system and concrete footings).

The floating pathway is formed from a fabric bridge cover and timber boxes with plastic bottles.

04

Organza Tigae

MARC5101 Advanced Technologies 2/ Spring 2020

Directed by Dr Arianna Brambilla

In collaboration with Yushi Yang, Hongyuan Wu and Yifang Xia

Air pollution is considered as the biggest threat to the environment and people’ life in the world. Apart from daily industrial and mobile pollution sources, the raging outbreak of the Australian bushfires have significantly raised people’s awareness of the worsening of air quality, and we human beings have to confine ourselves within the shelter of buildings when there is heavy pollution. However, the study believes that buildings can contribute to the achievement of a favourable environment. An extra function of the building façade is therefore expected, namely, the function of air purification to improve the surrounding environment. Based on the problem, the design aims to create a façade system that can purify polluted air under various environmental conditions.

The project engages with current purification methods and applications on architectural façade design through precedent studies. Data on major effective air-purifying methods using titanium dioxide and microalgae were systematically collected and analysed critically. The design was then developed into three main iterative stages. It started with an initial concept and basic form, and the detailed configuration of the system was inspired by a cross-disciplinary achievement and was tested through experiments. The last stage focused on further technicaland detail solutions and was built on critical reflections. The final design features a modular system which desirably augments the buildings with a purification capacity against the polluted air.

The major finding of the design is that it has a universal value which provides an efficient way for an existing building, and even a cluster of buildings to purify the polluted air in the surrounding environment by retrofitting the module onto the existing building façades. It contributes to the improvement of air quality, thus enhancing thenatural environment for people to live and work.

Endow Building with the Capacity to Purify the Air in the Surroudning Context

Purify Process

Design and Assembled Process Purify Process

I. Polluted Air Approaches the Profile and Creates Turbulence

II. Air Enters From the Openings on Top

III. Air Flows Through the Inlet Pipe

IV. Air Reaches the Microalgae Chamber for Reaction

V. Purified Air Flows Out Through the Outlet Pipe Air Inlet From Side to Top

Aluminium Frame Base Nano TIO2 Microalgae Units

Prefabricated Polycarbonate Chamber Infilling Microalgae SolutionFilled Microalgae Chamber

1. Aluminium Base Plate Welded to Aluminium Beam

3. Aluminium Bracket

5.Wedge anchors

7.Polycarbonate tubing

9.Polycarbonate square tube as container of microalgae

2. Neoprene bearing pad

4. Aluminium hollow section

6. Aluminium ‘L’ shape bracket

8.Aluminium frame combe. inner structure of SCHUCO Living 82 MD

Addition and Renovation

BDES3025 Architectural Professional Practice/ Spring 2019

Directed by Matt Markham-Lee

This project required renovating an existing building in Ashfield, Sydney, transforming the house from a typical one-level detached dwelling to a more comfortable living space for a family of four under current council regulations and presented through a set of DA drawings and reports.

Proposed Ground Floor Plan

Proposed First Floor Plan

Proposed Roof Plan

Proposed Neighbour Side Elevation

Proposed Front & Back Elevations

Proposed Long Section

Proposed Landscape Areas