Fall 2022 Integrative Studio | Boson

FU DI DONG TIAN

Virginia Tech Project Oasis Series

aoism. Taking inspiration from the Water Curtain Cave that appeared in the novel Journey to the West for our architectural form, we convey the concept of FUDI DONGTIAN to give people a pleasant journey toward a breathing space isolated from the busy and compacted Chinatown.

We want to provide wellness by creating a sustainable healthy environment within limited space, and encouraging interaction among people of different ages, thereby alleviating population loss and generation gaps, contributing to the overall wellness of the Chinatown community.

In order to bring the community together, the programs include an educational institute, urgent care clinic, and public space filled with nature to encourage interaction between different age groups and contribute to physical and mental health.

Tianmen ( 天门 ) MountainShuilian ( 水帘 ) Cave Taiji ( 太极） Cluster

Architecture Precedent Research for Form

CODE/ZONING RESIDENTS' AGE DISTRIBUTION

According to ACS data, the Chinatown population is dominated by elders. Even though Chinatown is densely populated and has much traffic, there are not many trees, making the air and space quality in Chinatown even lower, unable to provide people with better comfort or wellness, which is even more demanding for the dominating population, the elder.

Occupancy Classification and Use Group B Group E

Fire Protection and Ratings

Frame: 2 HR

Bearing Walls: 2 HR Floor: 2 HR

NFPA 13 Sprinkler System

Egress

Zoning District Historic Chinatown Protection Area

Maximum Height / FAR 65'/80'

THE LONG TERM ISSUES

The fact that many early Asian immigrants came to the United States to work instead of to live; not many people get the time or chance to receive proper education, and they may not even speak English well. When they grow older, it limits them to stay in Chinatown for convenience and avoid the language barrier, while the younger generation desire to leave for the reasons mentioned in the previous slides. If the younger generation continues leaving Chinatown, it will be hard to maintain the culture and heritage after the older generation passes away.

Nowadays, because of housing prices, the environment, developers, and other reasons, Chinatown has lost its local residential population.

THE VISIONS

Provide wellness by creating a sustainable healthy environment within this limited space and encourage interaction among people of different ages, thereby alleviating population loss and generation gaps, contributing to the overall wellness of the Chinatown community.

THE IDEAS

To What Extent can Architecture Provide a Quality Space that Resolves Global Social Issues while Reflecting the Local Residents' Culture?

Create an environment people can call Oasis, a place people can rest their feet on. Furthermore, this place should relate to the site, Chinatown, celebrating the traditional Chinese culture or philosophy, reminding the locals of their ancestor's homeland.

THE STRATEGIES

While the urgent care clinic contributes to physical wellness, another major program, the educational center, provides a place for people to gather and expand their knowledge to become mentally stronger. At last, a public space filled with nature encourages interaction among people and provides peace within people's hearts in this busy neighborhood.

FU DI DONGTIAN The Oasis

The direct translation of FUDI DONGTIAN is "blessed land" and "grottoheaven". It is a very conceptual and philosophical term originating from the native Chinese religion Taoism. Due to their vasty, the tall and beautiful mountains are often considered powerful and mysterious. In Taoism, Gods live in the sky but often rest their feet and live in the sacred mountains when visiting the mortal world. The opening toward the sky of these sacred mountains' caves is considered the path toward the blessed land or heaven. Such landscapes, caves, and openings are widely known as FUDI DONGTIAN

Taoism and FUDI DONGTIAN connect to the Chinese natural landscape a lot. China has many unique landscapes; many are huge and powerful but not overwhelming. They are humble, and everything is connected, becoming a whole. Many creators took inspiration from such unique landscapes.

One of the landscapes, the Water Curtain Cave, has appeared in one of the four famous Chinese classical novels Journey to the West, as the entrance to the home of the Monkey King at HuaGuo Mountain (mountain of flowers and fruits)

A couplet that describes the Water Curtain Cave is 花果山福地，水帘洞 洞天, "Flower Fruit Mountain is a blessed land" and "Water Curtain Cave is a grotto-heaven". It basically means HuaGuo mountain is a place of wealth, fortune, and happiness; there is a world beyond the Water Curtain Cave, or the opening of the grotto will lead you to heaven. The most important words in this couplet, the last phrase of each part join together is exactly our concept FUDI DONGTIAN 福地洞天 .

We took inspiration from a research paper that illustrates the Water Curtain Cave, a landscape that our concept applies directly, as our architectural form. Under the concept of FUDI DONGTIAN, we create a pure-form design resulting from a landscape with a boundary defined by the surrounding human-made urban environment. It is a uniform and wholeness design with an inner world supported by the skylight, plants, and water coming into the center core.

0 60 120 180 (ft) 0 120 240 360 (ft)

1. Maximize Available Space

Due to limited space, the design uses a subtractive design strategy to ensure a comfortable shelter for people, applying the concept of “Fudi Dongtian” (Another World Lie Beyond) and the idea of uniformity.

2. Bi-directional Pedestrian Access

Retain the original parking lot’s two-way entrance that is familiar and convenient to the public while ensuring equal access to the design for people on both sides of the street.

3. Center Open Atrium

Taking from the idea of “Dongtian” (Grotto Heavens), a centralized opened space is created to introduce sunlight as the core of the design that serves public resting and gathering, forming an “internal world”.

4. The Organic Shape

The straight and pure geometric atrium is reshaped to represent the grotto’s formation, in which the movement of natural factors such as wind, rain, and snow creates erosion to form voids inside.

5. Inviting Curve

A soft edge curving invert at the entrance increases the sense of welcomeness, while the soft curve at the top opening represents the idea of the sun and the water flowing down through the open central core.

6. Dynamic Roofscape

The rooftop imitates the mountain landscape by creating a natural terrain to enhance the naturalistic nature of the concept and increase the dynamics and vitality of this pure-form design.

7. Horizontal Façade

Horizontal fin facades are added to improve the performance of the building based on its current form and allow stronger continuity of the roofscape and the rest of the exterior finishing.

8. The Cutted Landscape

The four sides of the building maintain as a rectangle with different densities of facades to imitate the layering characteristics and laccolith of a natural landscape cut by the surrounding urban context

HORIZONTAL FINS FACADE Exploded Building Elements

FUDI ( 福地) and DONGTIAN ( 洞天 ), two phrases join together as one concept. Two programs join together to become a place for wellness. As we emphasize this center core, the open atrium, letting it drive the design, we design an elliptical double helix staircase that leads through each floor. The two programs, the urgent care clinic and the educational center, start as separate buildings and eventually join as one.

The two programs eventually merge on the top floor. The library on the top floor is a comfortable space shared by people from both programs where they can read, write, and rest. Since there is a roofscape on top, we want the library to reflect part of it, a transitional space that connects the flat floor and the organic roof, creating a harmonious balance.

DOUBLE HELIX STAIRS

FLOORS STRUCTURE

The open atrium at the center, to which both sides of the street have equal access, is a place people can rest their feet on, a place that can provide wellness to the public. The ground is th FUDI ( 福地 ), the blessed land, and the opening skylight is DONGTIAN ( 洞天 ), the grotto heaven. It is the heart of the site that drives the performance of our design.

On the top floor, we create an indoor terrace at the northwest corner where the tallest ceiling is located. It can also be a sitting area where people can gather and enjoy the natural light.

Educational Institute

1.Consulting Room

2.Lecture Classrooms

3.Seminar Classrooms.

4.Restroom 5.Mechanical Shaft

All the rooms' programs orientate around the most important space of our design, the central open atrium. The double helix staircase and other public spaces are next to this atrium to strengthen our concept. All the energy and the more dynamic movement are allocated along the center core. Meanwhile, you can also see how the organic shape shifts, rotates, and reflects on the corridor from the floor plans.

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20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50' 141.00' 70.50'

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20.50' 15.00' 15.00' 20.00' 20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50' 141.00'

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20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50' 141.00' 70.50'

20.50' 15.00' 15.00' 20.00' 20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50' 141.00'

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20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50' 141.00' 70.50'

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20.50' 15.00' 15.00' 20.00' 20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50' 141.00'

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20.50' 20.00'

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20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50' 70.50' 15.00'

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20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50'

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A B C D E F G H

20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50' 141.00' 70.50'

1 2 3 4 5

20.50' 15.00' 15.00' 20.00' 20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50' 141.00' A B C D E F G H

20.50' 20.00'

15.00' 15.00' 70.50'

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A B C D E F G H 0 6 12 18 24 30 (ft)

1 2 3 4 5

20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50' 141.00' 70.50'

20.50' 15.00' 15.00' 20.00' 20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 141.00'

20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' A B C D E F G H

1 2 3 4 5

20.50' 20.00'

15.00' 15.00' 70.50'

A B C D E F G H

20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50' 141.00' 70.50'

1 2 3 4 5

20.50' 15.00' 15.00' 20.00' 20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50' 141.00'

A B C D E F G H

20.50' 20.00'

15.00' 15.00' 70.50'

1 2 3 4 5

A B C D E F G H 0 6 12 18 24 30 (ft)

1 2 3 4 5

A B C D E F G H

20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50' 141.00' 70.50'

20.50' 15.00' 15.00' 20.00' 20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 141.00'

A B C D E F G H

1 2 3 4 5

20.50' 20.00'

15.00' 15.00' 70.50'

A B C D E F G H

20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50' 141.00' 70.50'

1 2 3 4 5

20.50' 15.00' 15.00' 20.00' 20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 20.50' 141.00'

20.50' 20.00'

15.00' 15.00' 70.50'

1 2 3 4 5

20.50' 20.00' 20.00' 20.00' 0 6 12 18 24 30 (ft)

A B C D E F G H

Horizontal Facade Iterations and Inspiration

Perspective Section and Solar Analysis

Typical Wall Section Sans Sun Shading

Wall Section with Horizontal Fins

Double glazed window unit

Laminated aluminum sheet

Laminated aluminum sheet

Growing Medium

Filter Membrane

0.3’

Drainage Layer

Support Panel

Operable window

Double glazed window unit

Double glazed window unit 1.5’ 2’’ 5’’

0.6’

Double glazed window unit

1.5’ 2’’ 5’’

Horizonta facade's fins constitute a daylight redirection device that generates deeper daylight penetration

Inside horizontal facade's fins have more depth that allow climbing plants with short roots to grow

Floor Plenum for Air Distribution

Structural Steel Beam at Edge of Slab

Sprayed-on Fireproofing at Beams

Clear Low Emissivity Glass

Besides imitating the cut landscape, the different densities of the horizontal facade's fins also try to embed a connection with the adjacent buildings to harmonize its contemporary form and the surrounding's traditional aged facilities.

Glass and aluminum are the primary materials used in the facade of the building in order to provide a lightweight structure that strengthens the concept of having an inner world different from the surrounding heavy urban context. The horizontal fins deflect the direction of sunlight and redirect daylight while the glass panes are coated to further reduced heat load to the interior.

Wide Smooth Vinyl Flooring

Spandrel Panel

Concrete Floor Slab

Metal Decking Spandrel Panel

Solar Screen Roll

Acoustic Insulation

Concrete Slab Foundational Wall

Rigid Exterior Insulation

Water Control Layer

Air Control Layer

Vapor Control Layer

Gypsum Board

Interior Wall Finishing

Mechanical Room

The two 1'-1/16" physical models show the exterior's horizontal facade and the interior's organic shape, respectively. All the physical models (including the process model) were built under the methodology of 3D printing and material singularity to convey the ideas of uniformity, purity, and wholeness, which connect to the Chinese natural landscape, an extent of the concept.

With the use of transparent material such as acrylic board, the physical model reinforces the idea of purity and can show the organic central atrium created under the notion of the grotto's erosion caused by natural forces such as snow, rain, and wind. Each thinner layer represents the horizontal fins facade.

Physical Model Elevation with Site Context

Physical Model Perspective View with Site Context

Physical Model Elevation with Site

Spatial Experience - Entering the Site

Ashaboglu, Selin. “Exhibition Plaza.” Architect, 16 July 2015, https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/exhibition-plaza_o.

Chen, Collin. “Green Hill / Tjad Original Design Studio.” ArchDaily, ArchDaily, 2 Mar. 2020, https://www.archdaily.com/934511/not-ready-greenhill-tjad-original-design-studio.

Santos, Sabrina. “This Copenhagen Diabetes Center Connects Patients to Nature.” ArchDaily, ArchDaily, 12 Jan. 2017, https://www.archdaily. com/803283/this-copenhagen-diabetes-center-connects-patients-to-nature.

“Shijiazhuang Sunac City.” La-Zscape, Sunac, 2019, http://la-zscape.com/archives/projects/shijiazhuang-sunac-city-2.

Wang, Jian. “Chinese Art, Asian Antique Landscape, Chinese Paintings, Mountains, Wang Jian FINE ART PRINT, Asian Art Prints, Wall Art Posters, Home Decor.” Chinese Art Asian Antique Landscape Chinese Paintings - Etsy Australia, Etsy, https://www.etsy.com/au/ listing/609036602/chinese-art-asian-antique-landscape.

Warmann, Catherine. “Tek by Big.” Dezeen, 4 Feb. 2011, https://www.dezeen.com/2011/02/04/tek-by-big/.

Wu, Cheng'en, and Anthony C. Yu. The Journey to the West. Revised Edition ed., vol. 1 4, The University of Chicago Press, 2012.

30 Mar. 2020, https://k.sina.com.cn/art

In addition, a special thanks to our professor Kevin B. Sullivan and mentor Ching-Hua Ho, for spending their time communicating with our team and offering valuable advice.

A picture of us finishing the 1'0"-1'0" mock-up for our horizontal fin facade piece.

"In the end, we want to thank Payette for this impressive studio experience and constant comprehensive supports."

------ Diana Fernandez-Borunda and Chutian (Lance ) Liang

Photography Credit: Parke MacDowell