VALARIE VALARIE
valariezeee@gmail.com
YAP YAP
DESIGN DESIGN +65 97702999
PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO linkedin.com/in/valarieyap/
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TABLE OF CONTENTS CURRICULUM VITAE
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M.ARCH THESIS // AUG 2020 - APR 2021 > The Material Field: Recycling Infrastructure for Indeterminate and Emergent Material Practices
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YEAR 4 SEMESTER 2 // JAN - APR 2020 > Makers’ Valley > Makers’ Hub
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YEAR 3 SEMESTER 2 // JAN - APR 2019 > The Slow Furniture Mall
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YEAR 3 SEMESTER 1 // AUG - NOV 2018 > Waterloo Artist Village
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YEAR 2 SEMESTER 1 // AUG - NOV 2017 > Dairy Farm Eco-Lodge
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NOTE Y4S1 and Y2S2 projects are not included in the portfolio as I was on internship and exchange respectively (sensitive intellectual property).
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CURRICULUM VITAE FULL NAME
Valarie Yap Tze Ling
NATIONALITY Singaporean HP NUMBER
+65 9770 2999
EMAIL valariezeee@gmail.com LINKEDIN
linkedin.com/in/valarieyap
EDUCATION
WORK EXPERIENCE
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE (NUS) Aug 16 - Jul 21
MKPL ARCHITECTS PTE LTD Jun 19 - Nov 19
- Board of Architects Prize AY 2018/2019 & 2019/2020 - Designed various wards and facilities in a nursing home development - Lee Kip Lin Medal and Prize for Best Graduating Student in Department compliant with different authority requirements and exemptions of Architecture AY2019/2020 - Produced tender drawings and renders, as well as calculations for - NUS-JTC i3 Centre Innovation Medal and Prize (Design) different authority submissions, related to the nursing home and other - Master of Architecture & Bachelor of Arts in Architecture w/ Honours projects - Dean’s List and Valedictorian for 2020/21 Commencement ceremony - Assisted with various design competition graphics TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT MÜNCHEN, STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMME Apr 18 - Jul 18
AVVERY RESOURCES PTE LTD Jun 17 - Jul 17
- Revamped an SME in the construction industry by building a mobile - Engaged in a 4-month architectural and urban investigation in Munich application that improved its operational efficiency and membership - Collaborated to produce the world’s first precise drawing documentation outreach, and animated corporate videos explaining their operations of rare living root bridges in India, an ancient engineering marvel - Reorganized documentation for past operational transactions 4
EXHIBITIONS CENTRE FOR LIVEABLE CITIES (MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT) Dec 15 - Apr 16 - Undertook sustainability research work aimed at identifying Car Lite initiatives in Helsinki, London and Seoul, to harness for Singapore’s Car Lite objectives - Designed infographics as part of an Urban Systems research publication on the evolution of Singapore’s land administration and management framework - Prototyped and developed a role-playing card game for Capability Development, to understand Singapore’s model of urban land governance and policy dilemmas CHIA-THOMAS LAW CHAMBERS LLC Nov 14 - Interned under the 6th SAL Junior College Law Programme
CITYEX 2017 & 2019; ARCHIVAL 2020 - Nominated to be exhibited in various annual events that showcased selected works of students from the NUS Department of Architecture at the Urban Redevelopment Authority Centre, and on campus
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION - Proficient in Sketchup, Lumion, AutoCAD, ArchiCAD, Photoshop and InDesign - Competent with animating in 3DSMax - Fluent in English and Mandarin (both spoken and written) - Areas of interest: theology, postmodern philosophy, assemblage theory, object-oriented ontology, Mortal Kombat, sushi and hotpot 5
M.ARCH
THESIS
THE MATERIAL FIELD
RECYCLING INFRASTRUCTURE FOR INDETERMINATE AND EMERGENT MATERIAL PRACTICES This thesis originated from an investigation of assemblages in informal cardboard collecting and culminated in the study of how such material assemblages gradually reconstituted themselves across different and larger scales. Expressed architecturally as a recycling centre, the thesis seeks new emancipatory findings and possibilities for man, architecture and work through object-oriented perspectives. Specifically, studying how these objects exist, aggregate and affect the body across different scales yields new understandings and approaches to architecture as a mediator between body and object. It suggests a direction 6
to look at architecture from the material itself first, rather than asking first how it serves us. How we manouevre the space quickly becomes a question of how the material conditions the body, and how the body responds to preserve itself. And, beyond architecture, we could reimagine work - to be as undefined and recombinant as the material assemblages studied. Through an appropriate mode of field conditions that embraces its indeterminacy and flexibility, a liberating, bottom-up reconstitution of work and space can be produced, culminating in a productive and emergent landscape of opportunity for recyclers.
AUG2020-APR2021
M.ARCH
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021
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M.ARCH
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021 RESEARCH
ASSEMBLAGE 01
INITIAL RESEARCH: MATERIAL CULTURE STUDIES The initial research approach adopted was a close observation and drawing study of material assemblages found in the lowincome landscape of Toa Payoh (where I live and where I have found cardboard collectors’ carts scattered around). This material landscape is deeply entangled with the assemblages of other human actors as well - such as the street homeless, rental flat occupants, and hoarders. The vulnerable nature of these subjects ultimately benefit from the privacy and obscuration of personal details afforded by the object-oriented approach. These studies firstly reveal that the different facets of the low-income demographic are intrinsically intertwined, and the 8
blurred boundaries are manifest in the material culture of their objects. They tell of a set of personal belongings for living and working that are all found in the public sphere, forming a “diaspora” of objects in the low-income landscape that are constantly deterritorialized and re-territorialized, never truly belonging anywhere. Even for rental flat dwellers, their assemblages are pushed out, due to lack of space or hoarding behaviours (see Assemblage 24-26; 36; 40). Therefore, such public space contestations are vividly revealed. By conforming the chaos of objects in the environment to the operational method of the isometric grid, these seemingly
random and disordered assemblages begin to reveal a hidden logic and intelligence with a very methodical processing of various materials found in urban space, and telling of various inner workings of their psyche. These include fundamental instincts to protect or defend their things, or new perspectives on the use or value of certain materials not conventionally held by others. Ultimately, the objective realities observed paint a bigger picture of the more intangible social realities, such as prevalent theft, conflicts and competition, especially among informal cardboard collectors.
APPROACH
15/8/20 7.19PM
Found: In the open
Drawing sheet #: 1
“SELL”
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
“SALVAGE”
PROTOTYPICAL CART 1 Salvaged bags and ropes (behind) for securing large cardboard stacks (in front)
Component types: 5
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
ASSEMBLAGE 02 15/8/20 7.31PM
Found: Hidden among bikes
Drawing sheet #: 1
“PROTECT” “FLIP” “REPURPOSE”
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
BICYCLE LOT OFFICE
Component types: 7
A makeshift workstation formed from flipping a plastic crate on two bollards
M.ARCH
THESIS RESEARCH
APPROACH
THE
MATERIAL
AUG2020-APR2021 FIELD
RESEARCH
APPROACH
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
ASSEMBLAGE 03
ASSEMBLAGE 04
ASSEMBLAGE 05
ASSEMBLAGE 06
15/8/20 7.56PM
15/8/20 8.02PM
15/8/20 8.03PM
15/8/20 8.03PM
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
Found: In the open
Found: Hidden in back alley corner
Drawing sheet #: 1
Found: Hidden below carpark
Drawing sheet #: 2
“???”
Found: Hidden below carpark
Drawing sheet #: 2
“FLIP”
“SALVAGE”
“PROTECT”
“SELL”
FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
“SALVAGE”
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
Drawing sheet #: 2
“PROTECT”
“DEFEND” MOVABLE STRUCTURE
“SALVAGE”
MOVABLE STRUCTURE “DEFEND” FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
Component types: 5
“EAT”
PROTOTYPICAL CART 2
DURIAN SHELL-MOBILE
CARPARK CART 1
CARPARK CART 2
Highly similar in composition and parts to prototypical cart 1 (generic typology)
Odd collection of empty durian shells, plasticprotected, wheeled by a gas tank trolley
Highly fortified: locked, hidden in deepest corner, protected with various “cover” objects
Similarly fortified, but with a mango tied to it. Maybe emergency food?
RESEARCH
APPROACH
Component types: 3
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
Component types: 6
RESEARCH
APPROACH
Component types: 4
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
ASSEMBLAGE 07
ASSEMBLAGE 08
ASSEMBLAGE 09
ASSEMBLAGE 10
15/8/20 8.09PM
15/8/20 8.08PM
15/8/20 8.08PM
15/8/20 10.22PM
Found: Hidden in back alley corner
Drawing sheet #: 3
Found: Hidden below carpark
Drawing sheet #: 3
Found: Hidden below carpark
“DEFEND” “SELL”
Drawing sheet #: 4
Found: In the open
Drawing sheet #: 4
“SALVAGE”
“SALVAGE”
“PROTECT”
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
Component types: 5
“PROTECT”
“SALVAGE”
“PROTECT”
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
“SALVAGE”
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
YELLOW JACKET CART
BACK-TO-BACK CART
PLASTIC TREASURE
DUSTBIN 1
First instance of extending carts with boards for larger stacking surface area
In the absence of fixed structures for fortification, two carts defend each other
Extremely hidden as if it were valuable treasure, protected by what it protects
Devoid of intentionality, as a raw resource pool assembled by multiple unwitting authors
Component types: 6
Component types: 2
Component types: 3
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M.ARCH
THESIS
RESEARCH
APPROACH
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
AUG2020-APR2021 RESEARCH
APPROACH
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
ASSEMBLAGE 11
ASSEMBLAGE 12
ASSEMBLAGE 13
ASSEMBLAGE 14
Date and time undisclosed
15/8/20 10.12PM
Date and time undisclosed
Date and time undisclosed
Location undisclosed
Drawing sheet #: 5
Found: In the open
Location undisclosed
Drawing sheet #: 5
“REPURPOSE + DEFEND”
“SALVAGE”
Location undisclosed
Drawing sheet #: 6
Drawing sheet #: 6
FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
“PROTECT” “SALVAGE”
“REPURPOSE”
“REPURPOSE” + MOVABLE STRUCTURE
“REPURPOSE”
“DEFEND”
FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
Component types: 3
FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
URBAN HOME 1
DUSTBIN 2
Cardboard salvaged as a bed, and bag defended while being a pillow
Similarly devoid of intentionality, yet already it seems to undergo superficial waste sorting
RESEARCH
APPROACH
Component types: 3
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
Component types: 5
“SALVAGE”
URBAN HOME 2
URBAN HOME 3
Cardboard salvaged as a bed, bags defended with body, umbrella blocking streetlights
Another makeshift workstation, this time with a plastic trolley and public bench
RESEARCH
APPROACH
Component types: 4
THE
MATERIAL
ASSEMBLAGE 15
ASSEMBLAGE 16
ASSEMBLAGE 17
ASSEMBLAGE 18
21/8/20 10.08PM
19/8/20 11.50PM
19/8/20 11.51PM
19/8/20 11.48PM
Found: In the open
Drawing sheet #: 7
“FLIP”
Found: In the open
Drawing sheet #: 7
Found: In the open
“PROTECT”
Drawing sheet #: 7
Found: In the open
Drawing sheet #: 8
“PROTECT” “???”
“PROTECT” “TIE”
“SELL” “FLIP” “TIE”
“SALVAGE”
“SALVAGE”
“TIE”
“TIE”
“SELL”
“SALVAGE”
“PROTECT” MOVABLE STRUCTURE
“EXTEND” MOVABLE STRUCTURE
Component types: 7
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FIELD
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
“DEFEND”
CHAIRFLIP CART
TARPAULIN CART 1
TARPAULIN CART 2
Balanced with great finesse, the chair is both a protective cover and hanger
A series of tarpaulincovered carts found mysteriously lying by traffic lights unattended
An odd urban camouflage is formed with falling branches, pots and tarpaulin
Component types: 9
Component types: 6
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
Component types: 9
TARPAULIN CART 3 Precariously balanced and packed onto the small cart surface area, requiring finesse
M.ARCH
THESIS
RESEARCH
APPROACH
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
AUG2020-APR2021 RESEARCH
APPROACH
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
ASSEMBLAGE 19
ASSEMBLAGE 20
ASSEMBLAGE 21
ASSEMBLAGE 22
19/8/20 11.48PM
19/8/20 11.47PM
21/8/20 4.30PM
21/8/20 4.36PM
Found: In the open
Drawing sheet #: 8
Found: In the open
Drawing sheet #: 8
Found: In a corner
Drawing sheet #: 9
“FLIP”
Found: In the open
“PROTECT”
Drawing sheet #: 9
“SELL”
“PROTECT”
“SALVAGE”
“SALVAGE”
“SALVAGE” “SALVAGE” “EXTEND”
“PROTECT”
“SELL”
“EXTEND” “REPURPOSE” MOVABLE STRUCTURE
Component types: ?
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
TARPAULIN CART 4
MAKESHIFT HANDLE 1
TROPHY CART
DEJA VU CART
So thoroughly covered that its components are a mystery (beyond scrap metal)
The first of a series of carts with makeshift handles, usually seatbelts
A collection of shiny silver objects like a trophy, fan, oil can, wires
The torn plastic bag behind is for storage, as seen again later
RESEARCH
APPROACH
Component types: 6
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
Component types: 5
RESEARCH
APPROACH
Component types: 6
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
ASSEMBLAGE 23
ASSEMBLAGE 24
ASSEMBLAGE 25
ASSEMBLAGE 26
21/8/20 4.41PM
21/8/20 4.48PM
21/8/20 4.48PM
21/8/20 4.46PM
Found: In the open
Drawing sheet #: 9
Found: In the open
Drawing sheet #: 10
Found: In the open
Drawing sheet #: 10
Found: In the open
Drawing sheet #: 10
“PROTECT”
“SELL”
FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT) “DEFEND x 2”
“REPURPOSE” “GROW”
FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT) “SALVAGE”
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
Component types: 4
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
“SALVAGE”
“SALVAGE” FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
OFF-DUTY CART
AMBIGUOUS MASS
STYROFOAM PLANTER
AL FRESCO DINING
Parked at rental flats’ clothesdrying pole, though its owner may not live there
Limited space in rental flats forces personal belongings to live on the streets
Demonstrates the versatility of salvaged carton boxes beyond its use in shipping goods
Space originally intended for clothes-drying is quickly subverted due to space constraints
Component types: 5
Component types: 3
Component types: 3
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M.ARCH
THESIS
RESEARCH
APPROACH
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
AUG2020-APR2021 RESEARCH
APPROACH
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
ASSEMBLAGE 27
ASSEMBLAGE 28
ASSEMBLAGE 29
ASSEMBLAGE 30
Date and time undisclosed
Date and time undisclosed
Date and time undisclosed
Date and time undisclosed
“BEAUTIFY” Location undisclosed
Location undisclosed
Drawing sheet #: 11
“DEPLOY”
Location undisclosed
Drawing sheet #: 12
Location undisclosed
Drawing sheet #: 12
“SELL”
Drawing sheet #: 13
“PROTECT” “SALVAGE” “SELL”
“BEAUTIFY” “TIE”
“DEFEND”
“BEAUTIFY”
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
“DEFEND”
Component types: ?
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
“DEFEND”
FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
“DEPLOY”
“SLEEP”
“REPURPOSE”
MEGASTRUCTURE 1
PATRIOTIC CART
MAKESHIFT HANDLE 2
URBAN HOME 4
Beautified to accumulate cardboard from friends/ strangers before picking it up with motorcycle
Proudly bearing a large Singapore flag behind and a smaller one in front
A deployable cart with makeshift string/rope handles... and a jovial demeanor
Sunbed locked to a sheltered pavilion someone probably sleeps here at night
RESEARCH
APPROACH
Component types: 3
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
Component types: 5
RESEARCH
APPROACH
Component types: 3
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
ASSEMBLAGE 31
ASSEMBLAGE 32
ASSEMBLAGE 33
ASSEMBLAGE 34
Date and time undisclosed
Date and time undisclosed
Date and time undisclosed
Date and time undisclosed
“REPURPOSE” Location undisclosed
Drawing sheet #: 13
Location undisclosed
“PROTECT”
Drawing sheet #: 13
Location undisclosed
Drawing sheet #: 14
Location undisclosed
FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
Drawing sheet #: 14
“DEFEND x 3” “FLIP”
“SELL”
“FLIP”
“TIE” “DEFEND”
FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
“DEFEND”
FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
“DEFEND”
PRECIOUS THRONE 1
Component types: 4
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Chairs ridiculously secured to fixed ramp structure - one tied thrice, another locked
Component types: 4
FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
PRECIOUS THRONE 2
HIGH FIVE BIN
PILLAR PARKING
This widespread locking prompts a reconsideration of what we assume is “valuable”
A dishwasher’s break time spot for drying gloves take on anthropomorphic qualities
Closer inspection reveals this defense is ironically lacking in protecting most objects here
Component types: 4
Component types: 5
M.ARCH
THESIS
RESEARCH
APPROACH
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
AUG2020-APR2021 RESEARCH
APPROACH
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
ASSEMBLAGE 35
ASSEMBLAGE 36
ASSEMBLAGE 37
ASSEMBLAGE 38
Date and time undisclosed
27/8/20 5.05PM
27/8/20 4.48PM
27/8/20 4.52PM
“FLIP” “REPURPOSE”
Location undisclosed
Drawing sheet #: 14
Found: In the open
Drawing sheet #: 15
Found: In the open
Drawing sheet #: 16
Found: In the open
Drawing sheet #: 16
“PROTECT” “HOARD” FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
“SELL” “FLIP”
FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
“TIE”
“DEFEND” “SALVAGE”
“EAT”
“TIE”
“DEFEND”
“SALVAGE”
“FLIP”
“FLIP” MOVABLE STRUCTURE
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
Component types: 4
MAXIMUM UTILITY
HOARDER’S CART
TARPAULIN CART 5
Every feature and space for storage is utilized in this rental flat corridor
Similar to the back-toback cart in affixing two carts together for defensive immobilization
Could have been previously encountered tarpaulin cart, but too well-covered to identify
RESEARCH
APPROACH
THE
MATERIAL
FIELD
Component types: 5
“SALVAGE”
“EXTEND”
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
Component types: ?
“DEFEND” “TIE”
RESEARCH
APPROACH
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
The plastic bag epiphany led to realizing the cart was previously encountered
Component types: ?
THE
DEJA VU CART
MATERIAL
FIELD
ASSEMBLAGE 39
ASSEMBLAGE 40
ASSEMBLAGE 41
ASSEMBLAGE 42
Date and time undisclosed
27/8/20 5.10PM
Date and time undisclosed
Date and time undisclosed
“PROTECT” Location undisclosed
Drawing sheet #: 16
Found: In the open
“REPURPOSE”
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
Drawing sheet #: 17
“SELL”
“SELL”
“EXTEND”
Drawing sheet #: 18
Location undisclosed
Drawing sheet #: 18
“TIE” “HOARD”
“PROTECT”
“DEPLOY”
Location undisclosed
FIXED STRUCTURE (ENVIRONMENT)
“SALVAGE”
“DRINK”
“SALVAGE” “BEAUTIFY”
“PROTECT” “TIE”
“EXTEND”
“SALVAGE” “SALVAGE”
“PEST CONTROL”
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
“DEFEND” MOVABLE STRUCTURE
Component types: 6
MOVABLE STRUCTURE
MAKESHIFT HANDLE 3 Noteworthy: deployable cart made from a seatbelt and carton + table legs extension
Component types: ?
SHOPFRONT
MEGASTRUCTURE 2
VERTICAL EXTENSION
The biggest question: how the IKEA trolley travelled from Alexandra to Toa Payoh
Prior instances of extending surfaces were lateral, which makes this vertical instance unique
Component types: 4
MOVABLE STRUCTURE Component types: ?
ICE-CREAM BIKE With a DIY-looking roof messily built from steel sections and decorated with tape
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M.ARCH
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021
This next part consists of drawing experiments based on the notion that the earlier research drawings deal with small-scale assemblages, and that its manifestations across increasingly larger scales are worthy of further study - in order to understand how the materials exist, aggregate and affect the body across different scales (the research focus).
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M.ARCH
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021
This medium-scale assemblage drawing experiment revolves around the premise that the earlier sketches are “dried sponges” that can be “rehydrated” - analyzed for architectural opportunities and expanded. The subsequent pages show L-scale experimental drawings which explore the phases and limits of material aggregation and its affect on us.
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M.ARCH
16
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021
M.ARCH
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021
17
M.ARCH
18
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021
M.ARCH
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021
19
M.ARCH
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021
ARCHITECTURAL TRANSLATION This is the context in which I wished to culminate my research into an architectural design approach: conceiving of recycling infrastructure as a big “field “ where all kinds of recycling activities and assemblages could be generated - in their own heterogeneous, pluralistic, and potentially self-organizing ways; living assemblages nested in a larger assemblage of the “field”. The recycling activities and assemblages are left indeterminate to be directed by and emerging from the rich material culture of recyclers and recycling, as shown in the research. Empty workshop plots would be allocated to craftsmen working with different materials at different scales. Hence, each workshop space would be uniquely formed out of their needs and the material flows supplied to them through 20
a large cylinder holding area, where they can pick their desired materials. It would be brought up to them through UFO claws and a conveyor belt circulating the entire building (see overall building diagram on these 2 pages). The “field” , primarily understood as material practices, becomes the site of extrinsic relations, where the problem and end is not defined from the beginning: these activities and spaces develop over time and construct themselves when human actors like informal recyclers enter, enjoy the space and engage with the nonhuman, material actors circulating the cylinder and conveyor system. The improvisational spirit of the earlier assemblages studied is thus captured in the recombinant flexibility this proposed infrastructure provides.
M.ARCH
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021
Beyond that, the angle from that sense, the transformation of which it seeks to position itself as architecture could occur as such: a contribution to the architectural discipline is this: by countering the “ [ A r c h i t e c t u r e ’s ] anthropocentric gaze in design to instrumentality can be embrace the rich, independent reconceived... as the site of (and codependent) workings of architecture’s contact with extrinsic material relationships the complexity of the real. By found in our surroundings, one immersing architecture in the is suggested to first look at world of things, it becomes architecture from the perspective possible to produce... of the material itself, rather than a ‘volatile, unordered, asking first how it could serve us. unpoliceable communication How we manouevre the space that will always outwit the quickly becomes a question judicial domination of of how the material conditions language.’” (Evans, 1995, the body, and how the body discussed in Allen, 1999, p.52) responds to preserve itself. This is evidenced in the dance that has to be taught and learnt in order to navigate the workshop bay areas, as the body is forced to negotiate itself with the changing landscape of materials running along the conveyor and the workshops. In
This dangerous waltz between man and object forms the ultimate violent confrontation of the human being and the extrinsic world of objects, of which this architecture seeks to pioneer a stage for.
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M.ARCH
22
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021
M.ARCH
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021
23
M.ARCH
24
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021
M.ARCH
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021
25
M.ARCH
26
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021
M.ARCH
THESIS
AUG2020-APR2021
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SITE PLAN
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GROUND FLOOR PLAN
TYPICAL WORKSHOP FLOOR PLAN
LABANOTATION FOR 1 BAY
29
YEAR4
MAKERS’ VALLEY + MAKERS’ HUB
GROUP URBAN + INDIVIDUAL ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN The rising amount of Makers (SME startups who take on innovation through readily-accessible professional knowledge and tools) will become a dominant group of players in future industrial practice. Kallang Bahru Industrial Estate was chosen as a site to be a fertile testbed for future co-working and co-living spaces built upon intensive maker growth. An eco-system of sustainable urban manufacturing is cultivated to address existing environmental concerns, and generate innovative resilience to industry disruptions in the age of automation. Based on existing Harvard research with MIT Building 20 as a case study, mere adjacencies and proximities between diverse innovators have a direct impact in improving the quality of their research. This phenomena of knowledge spillovers can be re-enacted through the provision of a flexible spatial and programmatic framework, where young start-ups and makers from different industries can be strategically located near each other and beside mature industries. Key innovators with strong corporate social responsibility are also targeted to help resituate a low-tech labour force displaced in the age of automation, and bring the spotlight back into sunset industries and traditional manufacturing through strategic connections among residential, commercial and manufacturing functions.
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SEM2
JAN-APR2020
YEAR4
SEM2
JAN-APR2020
31
SITE ANALYSIS EXISTING DISTRIBUTION OF INDUSTRIES
EXISTING DOMINANT INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES
EXISTING GROUND FLOOR LOGISTIC PROVISION
EXISTING PROGRAMMATIC DISTRIBUTION
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URBAN DESIGN STRATEGY & RATIONALE STEP-BY-STEP BREAKDOWN
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URBAN DESIGN FRAMEWORK PROGRAMMATIC DISTRIBUTION
OPEN SPACE NETWORK
BUILDING CLUSTERS
ACTIVE MOBILITY NETWORK
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ILLUSTRATIVE URBAN DESIGN PLAN
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ILLUSTRATIVE URBAN DESIGN SECTIONS
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KEY TYPOLOGIES
MAKERS’ HUB (REFURBISHED PROTAGONIST BUILDING)
MAKERS’ HUB (NEW PROTAGONIST BUILDING)
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KEY TYPOLOGIES
COMMON COWORKING FLOOR (REFURBISHED PERIPHERAL BUILDING)
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PHARMA-MEDICAL HUB (NEW PERIPHERAL BUILDING)
YEAR4
SEM2
JAN-APR2020
ILLUSTRATIVE RENDER
SELECTED SITES FOR INDIVIDUAL ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN (I chose to develop #2)
PHYSICAL MODEL
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YEAR4
SEM2
MAKERS’ HUB
INDIVIDUAL ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN In the wake of Industry 4.0 disruptions, the city will witness transformations on a social, economic and spatial level. Emancipatory solutions are required on urban and architectural scales. This proposal for a Makers’ Hub within a Makers’ Valley adopts a flexible and playful modular approach as a solution. The hub is designed to adapt to shifting demands in the future working and living model, and scale itself accordingly with the evolving community of makers and innovators. Functioning as a hybrid typology of retail, coworking and coliving, a necessary mediation occurs between the public and private, and between the neighbourhood, workers and residents, through a rhetoric of an “urban living room”. Playful passerelles and shared spaces link the different programmes and communities together, intentionally coaxing commonalities and chance encounters for a diverse interchange of ideas, or what Jane Jacobs calls “knowledge spillovers”. The notion of an “urban living room” assumes the analogy of a home, reframing the return of industry activities within an urban residential context through a lens of familial relations. It ultimately posits an inevitable shift in notions of kinship and community as Industry 4.0 transforms our model of working and living.
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JAN-APR2020
YEAR4
SEM2
JAN-APR2020
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YEAR4
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RESEARCH Precedent studies have been conducted on spaces that allow for a diverse interchange of ideas (what Jane Jacobs calls “knowledge spillovers”). These include the haphazard and diverse labs in MIT Building 20, the bonding opportunities of residential balconies in Bauhaus, and the pastoral campus modelled in Raphael’s “School of Athens”. The LocHal Public Library is the most modern precedent. The blending of public and private spheres, and urban and architectural scale into an “urban living room” cultivated diverse and effective shared learning environments.
BUILDING CONCEPT DIAGRAMS SML FACILITIES
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As outlined in the strategic urban design guidelines, the protagonism of the Makers’ Hub necessitates the provision of a variety of innovation facilities. These range at different scales, accommodating small startups to medium-sized companies and research labs, and a large-scale smart warehouse that serves the different stakeholders through a common collection point on the ground floor.
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PROGRAMMATIC DISTRIBUTION
ROOF SYSTEM
CIRCULATION
From back to front: A coliving block is located at the back, with the smart warehouse on the ground floor. The front part of the building houses a modular and adaptable system of suspended modules for Business 1 and Retail use. Retail modules are distributed on the ground floor, leaving the spaces above for Business 1 modules that may change with industry demand over time, and merge with each other to form bigger spaces for larger companies.
The roof system is a cascading terrain of localized tensile and green roofs. The non-accessible spaces are covered in tensile roofs and accessible spaces are indicated by green roofs with tree cover.
The different programs and communities are linked together by a playful network of passerelles.
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1:300 GROUND FLOOR PLAN
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1:500 COLIVING BLOCK PLANS
COLIVING - SHARED FACILITIES The shared facilities for the coliving block come in 2 forms: the first are common buffer spaces between the private dwellings that may also form private coworking spaces, and are scattered on each floor towards the front as they are more qualitative and celebrated. The second would be more practical spaces such as kitchen, dining, toilet, shower and laundry - which are clustered at the back of each floor for greater efficiency and concealment of services such as sewerage and drainage. COLIVING - PRIVATE DWELLINGS Each floor features a unique distribution of private dwelling spaces that form a solid-void volumetric composition in the building massing. The voids also form a unique distribution of green roofs on each floor, some of which may be made accessible to the public.
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1:250 COWORKING MODULE TYPICAL PLANS
A SPACE FOR EVERY SIZE Different scenarios are imagined for companies of different capacities, playing with 3.5m and 5m modules. The 5m modules are able to house mezzanine floors and bathroom facilities, while the 3.5m modules feature garden discussion spaces. 1:500 PHYSICAL MODEL
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1:250 SECTION
POROSITY TOWARDS THE FRONT AND UPWARDS The massing consists of a modular composition that increases in porosity towards the front of the building and as it goes upwards, with the ground floor being the most filled and activated space as it critically interfaces the public.
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MODULAR ADAPTABILITY FOR INDUSTRY DEMANDS
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INCREASING INTERSECTION OF WORKING & LIVING
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MEDIATION OF AN “URBAN LIVING ROOM”
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3D ISOMETRIC MODULAR SHOJI FACADE A standardized and modular unit assembly system is adopted for the facade, that serves its intention of flexibility and adaptibility in the Industry 4.0 context. Using a simple, efficient and lightweight system of Shoji screens derived from traditional Japanese architecture, it can serve multiple functions as door, wall and room divider. They are assembled and disassembled from simple tracks and can be fixed or made to slide open. Adapted to the modern context, these Shoji screens are made of an aluminium frame as opposed to its traditional wooden counterpart. The traditional use of washi paper is retained to diffuse and light up interior spaces beautifully, but reinforced with modern glass panels for greater durability against wind and rain. PROGRAMMATIC DISTRIBUTION
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THE SLOW FURNITURE MALL
INDIVIDUAL ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN The negative connotations involved with the notion of “slow” is subverted in the context of this project. A “slow furniture mall” hawking “slow goods” becomes a celebrated term, linked to the slow movement; a cultural revolution against current conventions of the disposable nature of mass production. An emphasis is made on the usage of craftspeople and collaborating with a smaller, local supply and partners, resulting in greater diversity, sustainability and social engagement.
pavilions are for remaking, repairing and reupholstering used furniture, after which the furniture are displayed in the surrounding townsquare or bazaar-like retail space.
These spaces come together to function like a mini village of reuse. The villagers consist not just of the craftsmen, but also involves others. This happens when the spatial logic allows for people to see the craftsmen at work. Then a multi-phase transformation occurs, slowly roping in the interest Espousing the ethos of such a and involvement of different commovement, the building’s spatial munities. organization is motivated by the desire to celebrate the different furniture reuse workshops as distinct pavilions. The workshop 54
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MULTI -PHASE STRATEGY Firstly, creatives and artists are the first to be drawn to inhabit the workshops: the building functions as a literal blank canvas and space for creativity, with exposure to different crafts, like a guild.
The second phase of transformation occurs among the furniture craftsmen or restorers themselves, where they gain a new audience and perspective on their craft: what they thought of as a seemingly mundane job The building is described as a is now charged with meaning - a blank canvas because the pavilions gateway to a new lifestyle of ecoadopt a diagrid structural system, innovation and transforming waste where each diagrid module is to resource. adapted, through the detailing, to allow for a do-it-yourself cladding Following which, non-creatives but system. Thus the structure informs ethical and sustainable-minded the formal expression of how people are hooked in. They these distinct workshops can be realize that furniture they make celebrated, becoming an attractive or repair can be for a good cause tabula rasa to develop the identity like providing public playgrounds. of each pavilion and its community Their works from waste are also of crafters. appreciated by others, sold and rented.
Eventually, the growth of the community gains traction among the mainstream public, especially the business district across the road. The office crowd from the business parks and the hipsters are drawn in. And perhaps it even reaches the surrounding neighbourhood itself, as a result of new public amenities that appeared. The community could join in, having the same traits to begin with - the old temple and car mall had been practicing tactical urbanism for years with unwanted furniture. This goes on with every new demographic. Anyone who encounters it is transformed, or at least properly introduced, to the new age of the circular economy. 57
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GROUND FLOOR PLAN
2ND FLOOR PLAN
3RD FLOOR PLAN
ROOF PLAN
ELEVATION
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SECTION & DETAIL
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EARLY DETAILING
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MEP SYSTEMS DESIGN
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WATERLOO ARTIST VILLAGE
INDIVIDUAL ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN This project was conceived as a village of opportunistic adaptations, where the architect designs the rules of engagement, structuring it as a participatory game, and artists act as agents filling in the gaps to complete these spaces. Sited at the lower section of Waterloo Street, 4 different artistic institutions are involved: Centre 42, Singapore Calligraphy Centre, The Theatre Practice and Dance Ensemble.
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the resident artistic community into a coherent group identity. This project thus seeks to coax a bottom-up identity construction for the resident artistic community.
Embodying dual roles of transit and placemaking, the project is designed to be a 1- or 15-minute area, depending on whether the user chooses efficiency or to transgress and meander. In the meandering path, lines of sight would be obscured and revealed The site firstly functions as an by curves in a sequential revelation urban intervention to address of architectural moments/frames. the dual nature of the location as a place with high potential Thus the reading of the entire for efficient transit, and a place architectural space would not that would greatly benefit from depend merely on a single frame organic placemaking. It has but a succession of frames or witnessed a history of failed top- spaces. This dynamic conception down attempts to consolidate of architecture incorporates
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the inhabitant or intruder into architecture - their movements, transgressions, and events. Each of these frames are designed by the architect based on a set of rules of engagement with specific architectural moments on-site (specifically: plane, boundary, void, roof and corridor). As a result, a unique space is carved into each institutional compound, that they have never had before, that aims to change the way they perceive and engage their art forms. This would be done with the larger end-goal of encouraging a naturally-occurring crossdisciplinary interaction, by creating spaces that neighbouring institutions would want to covet as well. Ultimately the realities of participation would determine the outcome and greatly shape the project, involving the real-life politics of artistic and territorial negotiation and collaboration.
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CINEMATIC SERIAL VISION
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1. BOUNDARY
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2. VOID
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3. ROOF
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4. CORRIDOR
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YEAR2
DAIRY FARM ECO-LODGE
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INDIVIDUAL ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN This eco-lodge seeks to associate visits to Dairy Farm with being a child once more, and returning to the primordial embrace of nature. It consists of a lightweight structure that dips in and out of the trees, creating new planes of traversal that are light, thin and near-invisible. It also causes less damage to the environment by minimizing points of contact to the ground.
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Our bodily motions are subverted in traversal, enabled or disabled by a net system. This net system is designed to discourage people from hiding in their bedrooms. Instead, it nudges them to socialize and stay outdoors, where the gradient of the climb intentionally gets more challenging from social gathering spaces to bedrooms. This is when a whimsical effect occurs - the hindrance of steep
AUG-NOV2017 nets are designed for short term stay campers, while a seasoned long term user such as the caretaker will potentially adapt his movements and evolve into something like a primate’s. It even becomes a mimicry or mockery of the hierarchical pecking order system of the animal world, where the alpha has greater access and dominance of the space.
The ground is no longer stable, the roof can be stepped and sat on, the caretaker has inhuman movements, and the city-dwelling camper suddenly seems humbled and belittled, placed in a foreign social setting and hierarchy.
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SITE EXPLORATION: MARSHMALLOW FRAME An informal attempt at representing and understanding the temperature of the site on a micro scale - a space frame was constructed out of marshmallows on-site to show how the sun’s heat would affect it. Every marshmallow that was melted would deform the space frame at a certain position, creating a larger composition of “data points”. The end result was an undulating alien structure that was paradoxically a form derived from the environment. 74
PROTOTYPE MODELS
Flight altitude graph of migratory birds
The original vision was an ambitious and grand landscape of nets that was undulating and adjustable, spanning across a forest at different levels to reach nature at different scales: the tallest trees, the migratory flight altitudes of different birds, the hilly terrain...
An iconographic representation of a house was chosen to delineate this subversion of the roof and ground, and it ended up with a system where the openings and heights of the modules are rationally linked to the programmatic use of the space.
It was scaled down to a smaller size and an idea was formed from the increased mobility afforded by nets - subversion can occur in the way we inhabit the space. This subversion is of the roof and ground, as well as our bodily motions in traversal. 75
MODULAR SYSTEM OF ICONOGRAPHIC HOUSE
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SITE PLAN
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ELEVAT IO N 78
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P ROGRAM
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CO N S TR U C T ION DE TAILS
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PH YSI C AL M ODE L S
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Valarie Yap Tze Ling +65 9770 2999 valariezeee@gmail.com linkedin.com/in/valarieyap Portfolio produced in May 2021 84
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