metaphorically speaking

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METAPHORICALLY SPEAKING PORTFOLIO OF SHUYEN PHOON

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PREFACE: How metaphorical concepts assist in architectural production.

An idea is scaleless, it may manifest in both small scale object to large scale buildings. Architectural briefs are mostly simple straightforward brief driven by function. More often than not, this leaves a broad array of aesthetical directions, various strategies, and endless decision making; thus, leaving the design process in mixed bag of solutions. The designer in a state of indecision. The end product a mongrel breed of different ideas.

By utilizing a metaphorical perspective, the process is driven in a single trajectory and the product is of a unanimous theme.

Inspirations can come from familiar everyday objects. When a product is inspired by the familiar, the user relates to the object more - it evokes a memory - the experience heightened by knowledge of its predecessor. Metaphors provide a poetic manner to convey a personal understanding onto the product and bridge the connection between designer and user.

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PROJECT A: Office Tower.

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INSPIRATION: Swiss Army Knife.

Spatial Economy | Operable parts

STRATEGY: SCALE EXPLORATION Small.

Individual workplace

Glazed front (view out), slot of skylight (minimal light)

Faces move apart

Faces rearrange

Slot window front (minimal view out), full skylight (maximum light)

Faces move apart

Faces rearrange

STRATEGY: SCALE EXPLORATION Medium.

Pod workspace & structural rig to elevate pod

Solid front (no view out), slot skylight (minimal light)

Deck folds out (outdoor working space)

desired workspace - pod in tower

cross ventiliation dynamic facade

dynamic facade

space gained

cross ventiliation

Individual space Group space space gained

Typical Floor Plates - Dynamic pods that puncture out to facade act as individual workspaces with large break out zones as group meeting spaces

operable louvres

STRATEGY: SCALE EXPLORATION Large.

Office Tower with typical floor plate

void - stores fold up flat pack furniture

Section of individual pod - wheels on track to enable easy mobility, flat pack furniture to store beneath pod & to be assembled & activated when pod is extracted outside to facade. Louvred door flaps upwards to provide overhead sun shading to pod.

OUTCOME: Office Tower with user interactive pods.

The dynamic abilities of pods enable multiple user control over the workspace environment.

Exterior View - The exoskeleton provides structure for wheel tracks to slide pods in & out of facade. Louvred panels flap upwards to provide overhead sun shading to pod.

Pod View - The pods allow users to control light, temperature, and ambiece of each workspace. This provides a sustainable solution to workplace enviroment ergonomics as the preferences of each individual varies from one to another.

Even in offices with optimal thermostats, studies have shown that some employees will still be unhappy. “If you take the average office environment and you interview people, you’ll find about 80 percent of people in a ‘comfort range’ are comfortable” - Laura Morsch, http://www.careerbuilder.co.uk/Article/CB-19-Workplace-Issues-Why-Youre-Always-Cold-or-Hot-at-Work/, Last Updated: 24/09/2007 - 3:50 PM

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REFLECTION: Creative Process.

The exploration in scale proved to be a useful strategy when designing a large office space; it is very easy to forget the “individual” scheme of things when focusing on a tower/floor plate design. By starting from a small scale, all problems on the individual level is given a solution first - before tackling the problems of a larger scale, and as these design solutions unfold, the scale can gradually increase with resolution. It results in a slow but steady design development.

However, when scales increase/decrease, a different problem occurs; the context is ever changing. In Project A, the pods are somewhat developed on an “individual” level before being placed side by side in a typical floor plan, then stacked in a tower. While the pods address the sustainability of individually controlled environments, there is a lack of communal interaction between the pods. It disregards the possibilities of connection and somewhat isolates each environment.

In terms of metaphorical design, this step-by-step scalar exploration can diverge the designer away from its original inspiration as each new scale presents new problems to solve.

In the next project, the focus is designing for a community; connection and context is of priority. This large scale surf and life saving club allows the metaphor to influence every aspect of architecture, from landscaping to interiors, from massing to facade system.

This strategy strives to tie in each design decision into one single trajectory - all for the metaphorical expression.

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PROJECT B: Surf & Life-saving Club.

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INSPIRATION: Erosion & Rock Formations.

A process of formation local to Half Moon Bay in Sandringham.

STRATEGY: Siting.

Extension of existing landscape

STRATEGY: Massing.

Refers to the naturall eroding process of a cape

fractures

blocks break along fractures

rock shelters form on both sides of ridge

erosion cuts through ridge to form arch

leisure pool

male change rooms

void

lap pool leisure pool

leisure pool female change rooms

A

reception and office

consultant suite 1

waiting room consultant suite 3 consultant suite 2

disabled change room

B gym store gym secure garden

female toilet

external cafe seating

program foyer

community meeting room

kiosk male toilet

program room

servery/ preparation

disabled toilet

A

community meeting room

ancillary admin spaces

program room program room

ancillary admin spaces

male toilet

community meeting room

disabled toilet female toilet

B

observation and radio area

first aid

male toilets equipment store female changed room

pool plant

kitchen female toilets cafe seating

boat storage

storage

male changed room

store

Organic extensions of landscape

B

STRATEGY: Form.

disabled toilets

A

meeting and community room

youth and community room

STRATEGY: Spatial experience.

Cave-like interiors

Cafe

Lounge pool

Lap pool

Youth club

STRATEGY: Facade system.

Mimicking the stratiďŹ cation of local red bluff rock

OUTCOME: Monumental architecture celebrating sea and shore

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PRECEDENTS: Architectural projects of Ashton Raggat McDougall.

Their creative process: The principal of imitation

Similar to the creative process of works displayed in this portfolio (in terms of the design process), most of Ashton Raggat Mcdougall’s [ARM] work conforms to their longstanding regard for the principle of imitation.

It often starts with looking at the cultural context that the brief implies on the design, sometimes from the analysation of the brief a source inspiration is found. That becomes a conceptual aspect, which sometimes is extended to drive pragmatic moves.

In the 2008 Melbourne Theater Company building [MTC], it involved imitation of the internal mechanical forms, as well as paintings by Al Held, an American modern artist whose works stimulated the beholder’s alternating perceptions of three-dimensional geometric figures and two-dimensional patterns. This has been celebrated externally in aesthetic forms, which extends into the interiors and aesthetically merge with the metal frames backstage that function as scaffolds for performance sets.

The MTC nspired in part by the paintings of American Abstract Expressionist Al Held.

Exterior View - Melbourne Theatre Company, VIC

“White polystyrene is the cradle of the fragile, of the precious – a perfectly engineered embrace.”

Exterior View - Melbourne Recital Hall, VIC

Aboriginal art - The museum looks to represent the nation’s cultural identity

Aerial drawing - National Museum of Australia, ACT

The Melbourne Recital Centre’s source of imitation is a white polystyrene packing device that, set within a cardboard box, cradles a precious consumer item. By imitating the polystyrene packing device, the building’s facade and foyer are richly configured entities. These take into account a beholder, who may feel an affinity with human-like forms, to also reflect on the significance of musical performances.ARM also turned the polystyrene object around and, by attending to its voids, generate the building’s foyers and other circulation areas. These are moulded and accord with the movement of human beings. When approaching the building at night, this could be encapsulated in the view through the window, where the illuminated foyers are brought to life by participants in a special event.

Completed in 2001, The National Museum of Australia in Canberra is rich in metaphors and symbolism. The aim of the building and its contents was to anchor its society which continually questions, explores, and reinvents itself. The building was to use abstract and literal metaphors to create an emotionally engaging dialogue with the subject matter. This building is a social history museum, and it’s duty is to tell the stories of the nation and express the nation’s cultural identity through the three broad themes of land, nation, and people. Joseph Quigley, a visitor at the museum says of the project “Here at last is a building that combines utility with beauty and inventiveness. It sits on the Acton Peninsula like an inviting playground for the mind and the memory... It has an overall unity, whose core is the giant welcoming hall. It’s very much a metaphor for Australia, really.”

What results from this methodology is an abstract representation of their source inspiration and a generative architecture that strives to address the brief. ARM’s projects are known for their “architectural outspokenness” .

While its tastefulness is subjective, many would agree that their experimental nature does breathe life into its surrounding context and generate fascinating experiences for the beholder.

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KEY PROJECT: Residence & Workspace of a Traditional Chinese Doctor.

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INSPIRATION: Herb Cupboard & Containment.

Acknowledgement of the Chinese heritage in Castlemaine during the Gold Rush period

STRATEGY: Key walls to evoke the experience of containment.

Original site

Ruins on site as a starting point

After excavation

STRATEGY: Landscaping.

Site has a 15m drop from the top of site to the bottom

Existing ruins

STRATEGY: Massing.

To create contained negative space

STRATEGY: Programming.

Customers are provided a direct entrance to the workspace (clinic) & segregated from the private residency; meanwhile residents enter to the main living area away from the workspace

Axis 2 Axis 3

STRATEGY: Viewing axes.

Axis 1

customers

To direct and contain vistas

residents

STRATEGY: Wall system/Facade Series of cupboards with stackable drawers

Outcome: Plans.

Lower Ground Floor

Ground Floor

Outcome: Sections.

A B

Section A

Section B

Outcome: Containment.

View from courtyard

Outcome: Containment.

Site Model

OUTCOME: Detailed exploration & Technical development of work/living space.

Long Section & Cross Section

Work/Living space volume

COOL AIR

HOT AIR

SOLAR HEAT

Cross section

Long section

ROOF GARDEN (Kangaroo grass)

REINFORCED CONCRETE RETAINING WALL EZZA A MEZZANINE LEVEL (Bamboo ямБnish)

R GROUND LEVEL (Bamboo on concrete slab) DRAWERS/STACKABLE FURNITURE

CUSTOM STUD WALL/SHELVES HERB CABINET GLAZING + MULLIONS PIVOT DOOR

CONCRETE STRUCTURE

Outcome: Kit of Parts.

Exploded axonometric

SUNSHADES (Steel Fins)

Outcome: Containment.

Model of work space & living space

MODEL WORK SPACE/L

Outcome: Controlled vistas.

Threshold views

Outcome: Sustainability.

Light Studies - Living space

Outcome: Ephemerality.

Light Studies - Living space 1600

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Winter Solstice

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Summer Solstice

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