Portfolio 2018

ARCHITECTURE

P O R T F O L I O Zhai Siyu [M.Arch] Selected Works 2 0 1 6 - 2 0 1 8

+ 6 5 9 7 2 7 3 6 2 1 z h a i s i y u1@ g m a i l .c om https://issuu.com/zhaisiyu1

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Contents page

About Me / page 4 2018 House of Alliestheisa / page 7 2017 Singavore / page 22 2016 The Insatiable / page 34 2016 Coalesced / page 40 2015 Pop-up Health Screening Centre / page 50 2016 St John’s Hospice / page 63

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ZHAI SIYU #14-252 Jurong West St 61 BLK 650B, 642650 zhaisiyu1@gmail.com +65 97273621 https://issuu.com/zhaisiyu1 EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND 2017 - 2018

Master Of Architecture, RIBA II School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore

2016 - 2017

Student Exchange Program School of Architecture, Czech Technical University in Prague

2013 - 2017

Bachelor of Arts in Architecture Honors, RIBA I School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore

2011 - 2012

General Certificate of Education Advanced Level Anglo-Chinese Junior College

2006 - 2010

General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level Hua Yi Secondary School

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2018

Teaching Assistant for AR3721 Environmental Systems and Construction Dr Eddie Lau, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore

2017

Architectural Intern Kengo Kuma and Associates, Beijing

2016

Architectural Intern Aamer Architects, Singapore

2012

CEO Personal Assistant Pacific Media Corp, Vancouver Canada

ACTIVITY AND AWARDS 2016

Team Member for SIA: St John’s Hospital Design Competition Winning Entry Aamer Architects, Singapore

2016

CityEX 2016 Selected Exhibition Design Entry Urban Redevelopment Authority, Singapore

2013

BCA-Industry Built Environment Scholarship Building and Construction Authority, Singapore

2014

Team Captain Table Tennis Team, School of Design and Environment NUS

2014

Sets Head and Float Designer SG50@Marina Bay Floating Platform Rag and Flag, Raffles Hall NUS

2014

Magazine Editor Pheonix Press Magazine, Raffles Hall NUS

2014

Graphic Designer Art and Graphics, Raffles Hall NUS

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS 3D Modelling Graphics and Design Visualisation Design Simulation

Sketchup, Revit, Rhino, Grasshopper, 3DS Max, ArchiCad AutoCad, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Indesign, Adobe Illustrator, V-Ray, Lumion, CorelDraw, Microsoft Office Ecotect Analysis 2011, LadyBug and HoneyBee, CFD

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House of Alliestheisa

Master of Architecture, Dr Chang Jiat Hwee

In the age of air-conditioning, the problem of over-cooled and monotonous thermal spaces arises. This project seeks to rethink the relationship between temperature, physiological experiences and the built environment through the lense of thermal exchanges in buildings.

By challenging the notion of servant-and-served spaces, mechanical spaces that are usually marginalised could become a source for alternative thermal experiences. This is an opportunity for the ‘servant’ to be re-designed to become thermally more intriguing and enjoyable than the ‘served’.

The proposed thermal refuge offers a contrasting thermal experiences for those who constantly dewell in air-conditioned spaces. By utilising the different kinds of environmental conditions existing in the NUS University Town District Cooling Plant, the residual thermal energy from the air-conditioning process is captured to create a reliefing and delightful experiences for those who stays in buildings that the very smae mechanical system is maintaining.

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Like sight, smell, touch and sound, our

excludes the qualitative components and dimensions of thermal experience important to produce a productive and fulfilling environment for the performance of individual and social life. The need for air-conditioning is therefore not a natural

perceptions of temperature can be an important quality that shape spaces. Spatial experiences, programmatic distinctions and human behaviors can be defined and affected by manipulating temperature resulting in different quantity and quality of warmth, coolness, humidity, radiance and coziness of a space. Temperature to a certain extent represents the social relations within a space.

consequence of the human condition. It is instead the outcome of a sequence of events through which a particular model of comfort has been reified, naturalized and reproduced. With these prescribed conditions, architects are accustomed to adopting straightforward design solutions based on static indoor temperatures resulting in environments of thermal monotony.

We are living in the age of conditioned environments. The presence of Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in buildings is an inescapable reality. Our society’s addiction to mechanically conditioned environment has led to the evolution of architecture in their forms and how they function to what they are today. As HVAC systems becoming more and more sophisticated, they must be taken care by engineers with specialised knowledge. Architects are forced to pass the responsibility of building performance to service engineers who are largely trained to see comfort as the product, designed using simplistic models. Povl Ole Fanger is widely recognized as the most influential figure in providing the rational scientific basis for the establishment of thermal comfort conditions. Comfort, as he has defined, is the condition of mind which expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment. Results of his research, to designed to determine the universal parameters and properties of thermal comfort, have become embodied in technical codes and standards such as those produced by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

In Rayner Benham’s ‘’Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment”, he argued that the building is the amalgamation of both the structural and energy-powered solutions of environmental control. Architecture is used to be treated as a thermal system in the pre-air-conditioner era.

Things that used to be part of the form and aesthetic of the architecture, are relegated to groups of machines concealed in the false ceiling and hidden out of sight in the backroom of the building. The disconnection between the designers of the structural and power-operated solutions renders the objective of these two groups are no longer in sync with each other. As a result, thermal conditions in modern buildings are often much being neglected and designed independent of the concept. Thermal environment has the potential for sensory experiences, cultural roles and linked to the way social-technical relation are organized, it’s diversity should not be designed out of existence in the name of providing a thermally neutral comfort environment in the age of HVAC. It is definite that the world tomorrow will be a thermally conditioned, how can architects claim back the control of environmental design in a thermally conditioned built environment?

Building designers and engineers around the world consequently rely on standard as such to produce optimal thermal environments in precise specification, the reliable reproduction of which almost always requires some form of mechanical control.

This attempt to precisely define comfort

Concept Collage: Thermal Monotony

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HVAC system as the source of the conundrum, is an opportunity. Looking the system as an energy cycle, the current configuration of the system defines one end of the loop as beneficial and the other as undesirable. The system should not be only seen as a system of dichotomy, the intermediate environments and processes are valuable design opportunities as well. The system could be reconfigured to create a thermally diverse environment resulting in new socio-spatial relations by tapping into the different energy embodied in different parts of the mechanical system. The environmental diversity of the architecture and its spatial organization hence lie in the invisibles created by the mechanical parts. The heat, coldness, humidity, dryness and sound can be used to produce microclimatic condition unique to its position. The different physical and sensory experiences then construe the space within their sphere of influence. The air flow in the built environment and in its surrounding, could also hint the social relations within that space. This requires thinking about the current HVAC system through architectural lenses, in which how the current spatial arrangement of the mechanical part could be challenged and reinvented.

This thesis will challenge the relation between the building and the current way HVAC system is configured to re-establish the connection between the thermal experiences with spatial design. Questions such as ‘’what if the cooling tower is placed inside the lobby?’’ and ‘’what if the returned hot water pipe is exposed to the occupant in proximity?’’ are then defined.

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Moisture and wind Room The pods at the side provide a place for people to enjoy the movement of hot air. As people moves up to the second storey, the room is small and do not allow for ventilation. It provides a space for people to experience the same air but in a more stagant and stale humid way.

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Spa Pod The pod use of concrete structure for the material’s high thermal mass. The exhaust is channel through the walls heating up the envelope from within constantly. The center corridor is enclosed from the pools, where users are able to feel the warm-air-blow-over-wet-skin stimulation as part of the spa experince.

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Hot Yoga Pod This is a place where people could indulging in hot yoga to exercise and detoxification. Through combining cold air with the huimid fan exhaust, the space is partioned by the fog in varying degress privacy and the tiered arrangment gives rise to temperature in different areas due to the movement of air.

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Cold Room This room provide the user with a cooling experience derived from the nearby cold water tank.

Cooled water is being constantly washed down the walls cooling the surface and the air. The gathering area is sunken allowing the cool air to accumulat at that spot. A small sky light illuminate the dark interior providing a ideal experience for contemplation and meditation

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Steam Pod Through the combination of vapor from boilers and the relative cooler fan exhaust, the steam is cooled and send up to the pod where people get to experience a sauna like warm humid environment. This helps to warm the over-cooled body and re-hydrate the skin.

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SINGAVORE

Year 4 Semester 2, Mr Richard Ho

On the edge of the new Jurong East Master plan, an urban farming cooperative rises. It envisions the amalgaration of residential units with vertical farming spaces as the solution to Singapore’s food source dependence problem.

Farming, in this case not only contribute to the food production of our island nation, it also acts as the catalyst to generate social cohesion and promote the formation of commnity.

The cooperative also involves differnt type of units to suit different user groups in the area. Through the common program of farming, the residents enjoys a collective living experience from the sharing of facilities at different privacy levels. , establishing a common sense of purpose binding residents of all ages, from all walks of lives.

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An urban farming cooperative

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Design Strategies

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Unit Types

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Floor Plan

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Farming System

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Herbs

Sunlight

BASIL CILANTRO CHIVES ONION OREGANO MINT PARSLEY

Fruit

Root

TOMATO PEPPERS

POTATO CARROT

Leafy Green

CABBAGE

Leafy Green

Partial shade

SPINACH XIAO BA CAI NAI BAI KAI LAN KANG KONG Fungus

Shaded

CHANTERELLES MOREL WHITE CAP PORTOBELLO OYSTER MUSHROOM PIOPPINO SHIITAKE

Herbs

GARLIC LEEK

Fruit

LONG BEANS

Micro-green

BEAN SPROUT ALFAFA WHEAT GRASS PEA SHOOTS

Crop Study

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Site Pan

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Ground Level Plan

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Farming Frames and Roof Top Gardens

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Sky Garden and Community Market

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The Insatiable

Year 4 Semester 1, Mr Vladmir Sitta

The excess production of waste is an indication of overconsumption and inefficient use of material. The capacity of the natural environment to absorb and process these waste is under unprecedented stress. Valuable resources in the forms of matter and energy are lost during waste disposal. We can no longer turn a blind eye to the sheer volume of waste being produced, we have to rethink how we deal with them in an innovative way.

This building is an icon. It stands on top of the Dablice landfill beside the major traffic artery coming into the city of prague.

This building a machine, it consumes the trash and turning it into building material. The building house trash economy suchs as recyling, upcycling and downcycling businesses. The building grows taller as more trash are being feed into the site. The growth of the building comes hand in hand with our the level of consumption of the city and it eventually reach an limit which the size of it endangers it own survival. It is a statement of our insatiable and sustainable way of society.

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Region: Central Bohemia, Czech Republic City: Prague Town: Dáblice Projected capacity: 3 137 187 m³ Coordinate: 50°9’20.95”N, 14°28’56.68”E

“Nothing is intrinsically dirty, waste is not an internally quality of an object’’ Mary Douglas

Trash Study and Site plan

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Trash Economy

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The architecture acts like a beast that respond to the change landscpe of the land fill. crepes forward as the landfill grows. The landfill settles as time passes due to the composting process. The architecture moves in search for stable land to sit and let out trash.

It always move towards to the edge of the fresh landfill. This is where the land is the most stable.

As the trash are being taken into the machine, they are process and the unusable and post-process residues are being let out from the other end of the machines and dropped into the land fill.

The building’s size grows as production of the trash envourages the growth of the conomy within. Biodegradeble trash are process by the plant inside and turned into building materials for the continual growth of the sturcture.

They are then assembled and hoisted to the top.

If the demand decreases, the rooms can then be dismentled and dropped into the land fill for decomposition

Life cycle of a Living Machine

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Coalesced

Year 3 Semester 2, Mr Neo Sei Hwa

Singapore is the the Electronic Arts’ Asia Paciific regional hub.

The game studio focuses on localisation of EA’s product and software development for games dedicated for South East Asia.

EA Game’s operations largely depends on tow departments, the game developers and business managements. Business imperatives and creative demands of the two department oftern creates tensions and fricions leading to ineffectiveness in its operation. .

This project seeks to provide office space that reconciliates the the tensions and conflicts between the departments. The mediation is done through creating colascing functional spaces and using visual connections to foster understanding and cooperation between the departments and the game users.

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Construction Sequence

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Floor Plans

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The office sit on a land that has a 10 year lease. This calls for innovation in building methods that allows building to be built relatively cheap and has the ability to be reassembled else where.

The building is designed in a modular way, which the building can be assemble and disassemled quickly with its timber components. All componets specifically design to be able to transport in a standard sized container truck.

Elevation

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Exploded Axonometric

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Sectional Persective

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Pop-up Health Screening Centre Year 3 Semester 1, Mr Chin Kean Kok

From a community perspective, notwithstanding the intent behind such transient deployment of spatial intervention as an agent of change, the instantaneous transformation of an urban space is worthy of investigation in our appreciation of urban nomadism in the information age. This attitude underlies the challenge of this project: how a deployable structure embedded with a certain public function can help to activate a place and to foster community ties, albeit, as briefly as it is opportunistic.

Here, the functional programme for activating such a flash! community is a public health screening station offering free preventive healthcare checks and education to residents of a locale. It is envisaged that the modus operandi of this public health service is a roving roadshow in order to bring maximum benefits to as many residents as possible by delivering health screening at their doorsteps. Hence the need for an optimally deployable design that engenders flexibility and adaptability within a reasonable timeframe to setup, operate, dismantle and relocate on a rolling basis.

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Urban nomadic lifestyles exert a certain spatial-temporal energy on a place that is near impossible to contrive or to elicit from the physical environment alone. The vibrancy of a town or neighbourhood isdue as much to its transient character as it is to its spatial setting.

This dynamic buzz that we so admire of organically developed human settlements, particularly in traditional fine-grained living patterns of old towns and cities. On such occasions, the local community’s confluence is not dissimilar to contemporary flash! action popculture where a surge of social bonds are forged instantaneously upon chance encounters.

The design will be readily deployable to different locations through the simple construction technique - scaffolding. It expresses the temporal quality of the facility, provides opportunities for different architecural elements to be intergrated into the scaffolding system and at the sametime allowes the buidling to evolve when visitors work their art on the architecure itself from place to place.

With the flexiblity of the modular component of the structure. The building is able to be reconfigured to suit for different site conditions. As show in the plans, the different sites of Paya Labar, Bishan and Choa Chua Kang area have different appoach and entrance to the site. The building is able to adapt through modifying the layout to cater for the different direction of the human traffic flow and terrain challenges.

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Crafting Activities

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Structural Exploded Axometric

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Section and Elevations

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Construction Detail

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The main space, where crafting lessons and gathering take place. A community foci for those participating in the health screening process and those just visiting here for lessons.

Main Space Render

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St John’s Hospice Internship at Aamer Architects

The new St John’s Home for the elderly is not about the conventional notion of occupying spaces. Rather, it crafts an ambience that one seeks which is conducive to the mind, body and soul; a new Home. A new home that exudes all the familiarities of the key aspects of communal living through various levels of interaction, be it with one another or with the crafted spaces. From the intimate spaces within the ward itself to the bigger common areas, conducive environment laced with lush greenery were created to cater for the development of self-esteem.

A competition organised by Singapore Insititue of Architects.

This project was done during my internship in Aameer Architects and the scheme came as the winner of the competition.

The design was done together in a team of 5, consisting of 2 seniors and 2 interns. I was involved in the design development, rendering, and preparation of the panel and model for submission.

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Desgin Concept

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Programmatic Relation and Balcony Rendering

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Ground Floor Plans

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Floor Plans

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Residents’ Room Cutaway Perspective

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Cluster Plan

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Corridor and Rooftop

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Chapel aand Entrance

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Prefabracted Prefinished Volumetric Construction

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Prefabracted Prefinished Volumetric Construction

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