Portfolio | Art & Arch

p o r t fo l i o

Raymond Tang

r ay t a n g 9 0 5 @ g m a i l .c o m + 3 1 6 2 5 4 96 8 9 0 H e n d r i k To l l e n s s t r a a t 1 24 26 24 BJ , D e l f t Zuid-Holland, NL

Mrs. Bread Visits the Red Thread An animated film for The Berlage collective project “Fashion House”.

Script, drawings, animation, & editing by Raymond Tang[US. Pre-production in collaboration with Xiaoyu Ding[CN], Sandra Garcia[ES], Inés Garcia-Lezana [ES], and Takuma Johnson[US]. vimeo.com/846639451

“A childhood aspiration is finally fulfilled in unexpected ways, all within a slower, reshored,

digital drawings via Adobe Fresco

and circular fashion industry. Follow Mrs. Bread around the Red Thread, as she learns just

assembled in Adobe Premiere Pro

how much it takes for her dream dress to become a reality.”

narration via Audacity

This film subjectively transposes many collective architectural design and world-building decisions by twenty-two students and their tutors - decisions that originated from and were largely substantiated through research of empirical data. What is a vision of the world we developed together? Perhaps, as above, “garment drop-off kiosks” and “hair banks” as quotidian as your local doner kebab.

How does a center for textiles blockprinting somewhere on the Mediterranean coast manifest architecturally? Some answers to this question were already decided elsewhere by a colleague for her own architectural contribution, but the film also had to take into account other peoples’ spatial ideas. Below, this center sports sheer, translucent facade cladding inspired by the blockprinted textiles within.

A.S.H.E.S. Base Lenasia: Private Military Action & Extraction-related Conflicts in Africa The more the world changes, the more war stays the same. As

In the face of our extractive trends, the South African state

the nations of the world continue to seek and exploit new sites of

stands to gain from an intersection of its long extractive history, and

extractive resources at home and abroad, the corporatocratic state,

storied private military and arms production legacy.

replete with corporate stakeholders and corporate interests, has

This speculative architectural project proposes just that:

become increasingly comfortable with contracting out private military

a private military company command and training complex on a

companies and freelance mercenaries to do the dirty work that

sprawling disused South African military base that can both train and

national armed forces both cannot be seen, nor are capable of doing.

advise other national militaries on how to militarily handle extraction-

This is nothing new, and will simply continue.

related conflicts, and also outright send forces out to finish the job if

During apartheid, South African mercenary forces were

need be.

renowned for their skill and professionalism. Even after a 2006 South

In a sense, it is a pessimistic, negative project;

African legislative ban on civilian involvement with foreign conflicts,

as a South African friend and colleague told me, however, “it’s real”.

and a gradual reduction in arms research and production, South African mercenaries can still be found worldwide, and the domestic

Academic project for The Berlage seminar “Project Global: Ground”

military arms and equipment industry is still strong.

led by Sanne van den Breemer, Filip Geerts, & Ilmar Hurkxkens.

Staging area of personnel and equipment for upcoming security deployments.

Personnel and equipment from completed security deployments are off-loaded and processed.

Potential clients and dignitaries are flown-in from around the world to this Bond-esque reception area.

Much of the base is subterranean, masking the true operational extent and capacity of ASHES.

ASHES Base Lenasia Central Command & Control The ASHES Base Lenasia is not only an airbase, but also the hub of all ASHES operations worldwide. The bulk of assets are stored and maintained here. Potential clients are flown-in and given a tour of the facilities and assets. The runway can accomodate the take-off and landing requirements for the largest of planes, and the aprons can support hundreds of parked aircraft.

The subterranean nature of much of the base facilities means that ASHES can keep much of its operations hidden away from multiple forms of surveillance, as well as minimize its visual profile within the surrounding context.

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Railyards Military Training Area

Agricultural Military Training Area Quarries & Farms

A.S.H.E.S. Centre Central Command & Control

Dense Suburban Military Training Area Mining Tailings Military Training Area

Oil Fields & Refinery Military Training Area

Ivan J. Barlof Ordnance Proving Grounds

ASHES Grounds Lenasia, Johannesburg The grounds of the former 21 South African Infantry Battalion military base are expanded and transformed into a 120 km2 installation for the South African private military company Africa-South Holistic Extraction Security.

Onsite facilities include a central command & control centre, a large airbase, multiple military training areas covering different types of potential combat scenarios, ordnance proving grounds, and more.

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Staging area of personnel and equipment for upcoming security deployments.

Personnel and equipment from completed security deployments are off-loaded and processed.

“Do not break formation.

Maintain the line, and don’t get drawn out.”

“We’ll entrench here and engage that armor down the central corridor.”

Potential clients and dignitaries are flown-in from around the world to this Bond-esque reception area.

Much of the base is subterranean, masking the true operational extent and capacity of ASHES.

“Up and over!”

“Exercise restraint.

Hold your fire until ordered.”

Legend

Infantry

Infantry

Infantry - Motorized

Infantry - Motorized

Infantry - Mechanized

Infantry - Mechanized

Armor

Armor

Aircraft - Rotary

Aircraft - Rotary

Aircraft - Fixed-Wing

Aircraft - Fixed-Wing

HQ

HQ

Mining Tailings

ASHES Base Lenasia

Military Training Area

Central Command & Control

For when striking miners or insurgents get ahold of arms and occupy the tops of mining tailings.

As with any of the other military training areas, ASHES personnel play both “blue” and “red” forces, meaning that everyone gets the opportunity not only to attack, but also to defend. That is the reality of the profession.

The ASHES Base Lenasia is not only an airbase, but also the hub of all ASHES operations worldwide. The bulk of assets are stored and maintained here. Potential clients are flown-in and given a tour of the facilities and assets. The runway can accomodate the take-off and landing requirements for the largest of planes, and the aprons can support hundreds of parked aircraft.

The subterranean nature of much of the base facilities means that ASHES can keep much of its operations hidden away from multiple forms of surveillance, as well as minimize its visual profile within the surrounding context.

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“We’ll be plenty exposed once we’re outta this maize, so keep a low profile.”

“Cat 01, Cat 01.

Put guns on thoset targets to the north. You’re cleared hot.”

“Link up with Bravo 1-2 once they’ve cleared the first descent. Until then, provide cover fire.”

<< Copy, Cat 01.

Low pass, short guns, south to north.

Coming in hot. >>

Farms & Quarries

Oil Fields & Refinery

Military Training Area Legend

Infantry

Infantry

Infantry - Motorized

Infantry - Motorized

Infantry - Mechanized

Infantry - Mechanized

Military Training Area

For when striking miners or insurgents get ahold of arms and occupy the bottoms of mining quarries.

As with any of the other military training areas, ASHES personnel play both “blue” and “red” forces, meaning that everyone gets the opportunity not only to attack, but also to defend. That is the reality of the profession.

Legend

Infantry

Infantry

Infantry - Motorized

Infantry - Motorized

Infantry - Mechanized

Infantry - Mechanized

Armor

Armor

Armor

Armor

Aircraft - Rotary

Aircraft - Rotary

Aircraft - Rotary

Aircraft - Rotary

Aircraft - Fixed-Wing

Aircraft - Fixed-Wing

Aircraft - Fixed-Wing

Aircraft - Fixed-Wing

HQ

HQ

HQ

HQ

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For when striking oil workers or insurgents get ahold of arms and occupy oil production facilities, including refineries and fields.

As with any of the other military training areas, ASHES personnel play both “blue” and “red” forces, meaning that everyone gets the opportunity not only to attack, but also to defend. That is the reality of the profession.

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Study on a Hostel for Maidens & Childless Couples As part of a lecture & analysis seminar led by Olaf Gipser on notable architectural communal living developments throughout history from 1859 to 2021.

This project necessitated the delving-into of foreign archives, old books, low resolution images, and the world of speculation in order to form a hopefully-faithful complete picture of the building in question.

Hans Scharoun’s contribution to the 1929 Breslau (Wrocław) Wohnungs- und Werkraumausstellung, within a large urban park. The “limbs” orient them-

selves to visitors, echoing the functional organisism of friend Hugo Häring.

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Scharoun eschewed the main vertical stairwell in favor of making all public areas “mandatory” parts of your journey, from hostel room, to foyer, to game room, to cantine. This made social encounters part of “daily life”.

the “door-to-door” to and from a private unit, down the various game rooms and foyer, out the door to the park.

“AZ Factory Show Fashion” Case Study A spatial analysis of the 2020 fashion show “AZ Factory Show Fashion” presented by fashion designer Alber Elbaz for AZ Factory.

In collaboration with Preradon Pimpakan[TH] The late fashion designer Alber Elbaz (1961-2021) returned into the spotlight from his hiatus with a clear statement: fashion should be about helping people express themselves, but the way the industry is run dehumanizes every individual involved, from designer, to model, to customer, to factory worker, and more. Elbaz wanted to shake things up with his new AZ Factory brand, and have some fun.

His “show fashion” is a reversal of the typical fashion show, both metaphorically and spatially. The video starts backstage, with models and staff preparing to perform in a variety of vignettes, but the irony is that the show has already begun. This revealing and reversal of layers - backstage becoming frontstage, and vice-versa - repeats several times.

This case study directly references the AZ Factory Show Fashion and uses additional contextual research to speculatively draw, represent, and frame several notable scenes from the video, or for conditions surrounding the production of the video, in order to convey that dance between frontstage and backstage.

the video begins with a top-hung camera slowly descending into the backstage dressing room... ...only for it to be revealed as the center of the whole set!

the whole of the Show Fashion is presented to us as a set of sets, with the audience given full transparency to the behind-the-scenes.

Alber Elbaz’s desk is presented to us as a place he actually works at rather than merely a piece of stage decoration.

Crumpled up fashion drawings litter the desk and wastebin.

the stage construction of several sets is shown to the audience, a reminder of the “vignette” nature of the Show Fashion.

as opposed to the “frontstage backstage”

the Show Fashion was filmed and released

seen at the beginning of the video,

during the height of COVID-19 measures in

this is the “true backstage” we never see.

France. Here, medical professionals wait onsite.

Museum for Science Fiction Academic project in Washington, D.C., US. Led by Margaret Kirk at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Science fiction is not about the future, or technology, or anything like that at all; it is full of anxieties, hopes, fears, and dreams about where we are going, where we’d like to go, and perhaps, in the end, where we should look back upon to learn about the our next selves...

...to that end, may this museum try its best to remember where this nation has come from, in the city always stuck in the past.

The museum is a physical memory of what feels like a great eruption that originated from the center of Banneker Park. models of David ver. Children of Men [1][3], X-Wing [2], RX-78-2 Gundam [2], and A-Wing [1] from online repositories

the site, Benjamin Banneker Park,

the border between the National Mall

a mysterious force

in honor of the city’s surveyor

and the new southwest waterfront

impacts right at the center of the park!

the museum establishes itself

lift up to allow a direct passage

the mysterious force

to protect the center of the force!

between old and new D.C.

again reveals itself at the center!

Hangar 1776,

On the bridge. Left is the National Mall;

The Tear gallery space,

a bustling entry space.

right is the future of D.C.

a violent rip through the museum.

: 100

A

ein Ort zum Denken A house for someone who needs to think, in the countryside of Memmingen, Bayern, DE. Led by Dipl.-Ing. Jörg Aldinger at the Hochschule Biberach. model of tree from online repositories

Erdgeschoss - 1 : 100

das Schlafzimmer, wo Sie anfangen und enden. das Badezimmer, das privateste von allen Orten. die Küche, der Herd des Hauses. die Innenhöfe, die sogenannten Luftschleusen. washup & eat

wakeup

ascend

think

This house lies at the edge of one of the last patches of forest near

The circulation & sightlines encourages the isolation of The Thinker

Memmingen. Indeed, the first floor area faces toward the center of

within the house, until she finally ascends those stairs to the top,

the historic town center, several kilometers removed.

or leaves the house entirely.

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B

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A

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Sie anfangen und enden. privateste von allen Orten.

A

Erdgeschoss - 1 : 100

das Schlafzimmer, wo Sie anfangen und enden. das Badezimmer, das privateste von allen Orten.

Obergeschoss - 1 : 100

der Ort des Denkens, der hoffentlich kein Elfenbeinturm ist

Obergeschoss - 1 : 100

der Ort des Denkens, der hoffentlich kein Elfenbeinturm ist

Herz-Jezu-Kirche by Allman-Sattler-Wappner Architekten Case study 3D model of a contemporary church in the suburbs of München, Bayern, DE. Seminar led by Ansgar Killing at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

In collaboration with Allegra Strauss.

only on holidays & special religious days the two massive front doors open up

this is the standard configuration for Sunday services

ENERGY COLLECTION SOLAR + WIND

WIND + SOLAR AXIS

STRUCTURE AVIAN + AEROSPACE 2.0

HORIZONTAL CIRCULATION THE LOOP

FULLY ENCLOSED SPACE FABRICATION + OFFICE

VERTICAL CIRCULATION GOING UP!

Morro Bay Climate Research Center Academic project in Morro EXTENSION 2nd LVL Bay, California, US. OFFICE + BRIDGE ACCESS

STACK 3rd LVL FABRICATION

EXTENSION 1st LVL OFFICE + LOBBY + FOOD

STACK 4th LVL MAINTENANCE

Led by Margaret Pedone at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

1” = 64 ‘ - 0”

FREIG H T LO AD IN G ZO N E

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Aporia The fashion atelier trains professionals and disseminates multidisciplinary artisanal knowledge, revitalizing regional handicrafts.

Aporia is the individual architectural contribution to the Berlage collective project “Fashion House”, in which twenty-three students speculate on an alternative, slower future for the fashion industry. This contribution proposes a fashion atelier that occupies the 13,000 square-meter, thirteen-story-tall Haus D of the former East German government Haus der Statistik complex in Berlin.

This atelier, directly adjoining Fashion House Berlin, offers a generalized curriculum—fundamentally, a curriculum that teaches skills competency in multiple disciplines. Atelier learners undergo training in at least five of forty-four Red Thread fashion artisan disciplines, from wool fiber artistry and needle lacing, to couture patternmaking and embroidery. These forty-four disciplines occupy enfilade studios that facilitate interdisciplinary knowledge transfer.

Rooftop Refuge

Mensa Fashion House Berlin Library Lounge Spaces

Atelier Studios Machine Rooms Evaluative Spaces Equipment Storage

Streetside Alteration Studio Atelier Loading Bay Public Entrance

Lounging spaces, the central stair, and evaluative spaces always intersect each other in a consistent trifecta. The pedagogical objective is to get as many eyes on atelier work as possible, and to invite passersby to comment and critique.

Atelier Studio Floor

“Learners within generalist educational institutions avoid the imposed conflation of knowledge with growth and its associated psychological impairment, all propagated by Taylorist ideals emblematic of the fast fashion paradigm.”

Proposition One

“The Machine Room” is one larger space dedicated to all heavy, mechanized machinery necessary for the forty-four different artisanal disciplines. The stair leads to more Machine Rooms, each one outfitted differently to the next. Workers will probably need to traverse multiple floors to reach the machine they need.

The enfilade nature of the atelier studio floors entails passing not through corridors, but through rooms, to get from one point to the next. For a worker, this means passing through the rooms of other studios, or spaces with other moments of knowledge transfer. Will that worker stop for a chat?

Nine upper floors host forty-four individual studios, each a single room with an instructor tutoring learners through a particular craft, and outfitted with appropriate furnishings and equipment, but minimal machinery.

This machinery is instead centralized at the south of each studio floor, in one larger, uninterrupted space. Certain machines are shared between disciplines, such as textile cutting machines, or various types of the ubiquitous sewing machine. Others are specialized per discipline, from various types of fabric tumblers and spinners, to jewelry ventilated forges and refineries.

Here, and as opposed to the individual studios, atelier learners and instructors work alongside each other, sometimes together in single or multiple studio units for tutorials, and other times, as individuals, passively or actively exchanging knowledge to their neighbors. Some necessary machinery may be found on other floors.

Within the streetside alteration studio, a meeting of atelier workers from several different discipline studios to figure out “how are we going to fix this thing up?”

Atelier Streetside Alteration Studio Loading Bay & Public Entrance

“Professionally-autonomous generalists, rather than Taylorized specialist workers, uphold geographically- and organizationally-decentralized manufacturing required for the future regionalized fashion industry.”

Proposition Two

There is no physical barrier between the atelier streetside spaces and the Fashion House wood workshop, other than some lines on the floor. Fashion House employees, public members making use of the workshop, and atelier workers toil alongside each other in one larger space.

Floor demarcations separate production spaces with active equipment and machinery, and where increased caution must be taken, to the publically accessible, low-risk areas.

The atelier ground floor hosts a combined streetside alteration studio and public entrance, and an alleyway atelier worker entrance and loading zone.

In this streetside alteration studio, atelier instructors and learners from different studios must collaboratively share and combine their interdisciplinary skillsets to take on complex public garment and accessories alteration requests, all in the public eye.

“My friend is doing a bad job of communicating her intentions, but the instructor can’t seem to pick up on her psychological barrier. This is unfortunate.”

An atelier worker operates a sewing machine as a member of the public walks by on the street. She feels “on-display” as a result of sitting in that tiny space all by herself, conscious of her relationship to other people both within and without.

As one ascends the foot of the central stair, atelier workers from multiple disciplines deliberate over how to tackle their current alteration job.

Atelier Streetside Alteration Studio Loading Bay & Public Entrance

“Generalized-curriculum fashion ateliers form the foundation of the regionalized fashion industry as centralized sites of education and knowledge-exchange, revitalizing and disseminating handicrafts knowledge.”

Proposition Three

“How did you do that?! Your seam comes out almost invisible!!!”

“Come hither.”

“Wow, they unloaded a lot of wool. I thought we only had, like, five studios which dealed with it.”

“You’re right, but more people are getting interested in it and experimenting. I think everytime there’s a wool piece evaluation, the whole floor goes to watch.”

Finally, learners can find refuge on the originally unused yet always accessible rooftop, and vent their interdisciplinary frustrations to each other, before returning below to disseminate their findings. These learners will hopefully go on to help shoulder the future regionalized fashion industry, as professionally autonomous generalist artisans.

This continuous commons and eating space offers spatial respite from the enfilade studio rooms above and below.

Atelier Mensa and Lounges & Fashion House Material Library

“A couture atelier with spatially proximate and interconnected departments of skills and knowledge confronts learners with the emancipatory position that knowledge and mastery of a single craft is merely a means, not an end.”

Proposition Four

The Fashion House material library exists one half in the atelier, and one half in the rest of the House of Statistics. Atelier workers and Fashion House employees cross the threshold between Haus D and C all the time to get what they need. Maybe they say “hi!” to each other in the process.

Apart from these enfilade studios, canteens, lounge spaces, and the Fashion House Berlin material library extension bisect the atelier across two open floors and offer spatial respite.

Angsty graffiti from disgrunted atelier workers.

“Ewige Wiederkunft”

”...and he didn’t even notice the double-weaving I did

Chairs and tables from down below.

on the back. I spent, like, nine hours on that stupid weave, and it didn’t even show up on his final comments!”

“Maybe it’s what you do, but don’t tell anyone else, which matters the most. But seriously, talk to him again about it and mention it. There’s no use bottling these complaints all up.”

Rooftop Refuge

“A school with minimized spatial and organizational hierarchies, and transparent spaces of work and evaluation, can encourage learners towards laying-bare and appropriately valuing their knowledge.”

Proposition Five

Angsty graffiti from disgrunted atelier workers.

“Wir sind alles Fleisch”

Finally, learners can find refuge on the originally unused yet always accessible rooftop, and vent their interdisciplinary frustrations to each other, before returning below to disseminate their findings. These learners will hopefully go on to help shoulder the future regionalized fashion industry, as professionally autonomous generalist artisans.

typical pyramidal atelier organizational hierarchy & “Marxist alienation” through specialization

typical atelier spatial hierarchy via “frontstage & backstage”

pyramidal fashion industry hierarchy from trainee to conglomerate, ft. Yves Saint-Laurent

On Self-Deception: excerpts from “House of Fashion” by Jess Berry, 2018

spatial & curricular analysis of notable fashion-related schools, ateliers, & hybrids throughout history

On Self-Deception: excerpts from “Stages on Life’s Way” by Søren Kierkegaard, 1845

engagement & importance of the passing public in Socratic dialectic & learning

On Self-Deception: excerpts from “Being & Nothingness” by Jean-Paul Sartre, 1943

transfer of knowledge within a fifteenth-century guild of sculptors

the relationship between dialectic & rhetoric, to the concept of truth as an objective

thanks for reading!