KuanTingChen_2021 portfolio

KuanTing Chen 2021 Portfolio

Resiliant Hub

Interactive Facade

2021 / U.S. Dept of Energy Solar Decathlon

2019 / Harvard GSD Optimizable Facade project

2017 / NCKU thesis design

Plugged In

Block By Block

Beyond The Walls

2017-2018 / Building project

2018 / YAC International competition

- Solar Decathlon Office Design

- Modification of Existing Street Houses 2016 / Fifth year design studio

- Computational Design of Street house Facade

- Transforming housing of DaMaoPu

Mind The Gap

- The Redefinition of Elementary School

- Reforming Forte di Santa Caterina

Site Content Studies

Project Data

Future Clim

Boston, MA, USA | Climate zone 5A • Plot size: 21,000 ft2 (0.5 acres) • Gross floor area: 230,000 ft2 • Source EUI: 44.2 kBtu/ft2 | Site EUI: 15.8 kBtu/ft2 • Utility cost: $ 18,617 / month • Total cost: $ 210 million • Average daylight autonomy: 65% • HVAC: VRF heat pump system with closed-loop water-to-water ground source heat pump, COP of 1.2-4.2 • Lighting: Ceiling-recessed LED, 29.0 W, 0.13 W/ft2, 100 lx • Renewable energy generation: 875,400 kBtu / year

Flood Resilie

Resiliant Hub - Summer Street Office Building Solar Decathlon 2020

Advisor : Holly Samuleson Partner : Lara Tomholt, Sihui Chen, Kritika Kharbanda, Andrew Gibbs Contribution : Energy calculation, Design, HVAC, Material LCA, Detail Drawings, Illustrations, CFD Used Software : DesignBuilder / FloVent / Rhino / Ladybug (grasshopper plugin) / Enscape(Rendering) / Adobe Series / Althena Awards : 2021 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon - Office Building Design Challange / 3rd Place 2021 GSD Plimpton-Proorvu Design Prize / Finalist

In this era of An of our cities. Th building that m

The proposed b a diverse range changes, and fu water. The inno changes.

mate Adaptation

ETFE Facade

ence Public Plaza

nthropocene, buildings will be subjected to rising temperatures and increased risk of natural disasters. In addition, a growing population and strong urbanization trend will increase the density These environmental changes will have a considerable effect on future building performance. ResilientHub, situated in the Seaport District of Boston, Massachusetts, USA, is a future-ready maintains the highest energy efficiency and occupant comfort level possible throughout its lifetime.

building design accommodates thirteen floors office space, in addition to retail, restaurants, a daycare center, and three levels of underground parking. The office floors are expected to cater to of corporate users from the life sciences, technology and financial sector. Adaptable ETFE pillow façades optimize solar heat gain and daylight access in response to daily and seasonal weather uture global warming and urbanization. Situated in a flood zone, the building employs building and landscape-integrated strategies to mitigate flood levels and delay, resist and discharge flood ovative, high-performance design solutions ResilientHub employs are directly applicable to the vast majority of the future global building stock that will be affected by the same environmental

Building Deatails (Nor

SUSTAINABLE BUILDING SYSTEM In order to reduce embodied carbon, a complex hybrid cross laminated timber and steel structure was vital in creating the most efficient and sustainable structural solution for the design. The steel frame combined with CLT walls and floor slabs greatly reduce the life cycle assessment up to 55% compared to typical office buildings in the region. Alongside with the hybrid structure, a grey water system is established to cover the wanted water for flushing toilets and irrigation. On-site rainwater will be collected and filtered before entering the underground grey water cistern. The plumbing system is divided into multiple zones to cooperate with isolated water pumps and tanks to avoid water hammer effect and provide constant water pressure. The grey water will be pumped to individual semi water tanks that could provide steady water supply for each zone which could save up to 15-20% of the total water usage.

rth-faced Facade & Atrium Balcony)

Modular Flexible Indoor Greenery

FLEXIBLE GREEN OFFICE ENVIRONMENT The main design feature enhancing occupant experience is the series of south-facing indoor atria. The size and shape of the atria were optimized to meet a sufficient daylight autonomy in the work spaces. Atria inside the building provide a flexible space for breaks, informal collaboration, and lectures. On the other hand, a movable furniture-scale prototype design reinventing the conventional glass partition walls is assembled to achieve a flexable interior adaptability. Each module is made of an aluminium frame and wooden panels, A similar demountable structural system with the building’s structures. Each module contains planters to provide a spatial separation, provide some privacy and enhance employee well-being by adding nature to the office space. The working space can be shifted extremely from an open office to enclosed rooms with varying numbers and sizes. In all different scenarios, the new divider helps to create a low-carbon green working environment working for both building performance and local working experience.

SOLAR CHIMNEY & HVAC SYSTEM Considering the large occupancy of office and the increased need of cooling load in the future, we developed a hybrid buoyancy driven ventilation system with a supporting ariable refrigerant flow (VRF) heat pump system. A large solar chimney is designed to improve ventilation rates and reduce reliance on wind driven ventilation. A 30 degree slope roof is designed to capture the maximum solar radiation and ensure there is enough heat gain to enhance the buoyancy driven airflow. The solar chimney is designed to function without the support of direct wind. The atrium space surrounding the solar chimney provide a better interior lighting environment and prevent backflow. One the other hand, the combination of the atrium and solar chimney zoning also balances the pressure between each level to ensure each level could have sufficient and equal supporting airflows.

To get the full annual functionality of the solar chimney, a hybrid system of natural ventilation and heating/cooling modes are designed for the building. Along with the solar chimney, around 60 geothermal wells are buried under the public plaza beside the building. For cooling during the summer period, the hot air from the office space is cooled by indoor VRF units supported by geothermal well and further exhausted through the solar chimney; exhaust fans are also installed to ensure the stability of the airflow. When heating is desired during the winter period, beside the heat gathered from the ground source heat pump, the solar chimney also helps to heat up the exhausted air. The dampers on top of the chimney could be closed to prohibit the waste of warm exhaust air and further retrieves the heat by an enthalpy wheel which will circulate back into the VRF heating system. The advantage of using VRF is to provide precise comfort control to buildings with multiple zones by moving refrigerant through piping to the zone to be cooled or heated. Considering the flexibility of the office layout, the VRF indoor unit can ensure the temperature in each zone is well controlled without wasting energy.

[ Urban Heatspot ]

Interactive Facade

Computational design of Street House Facade Program / Housing Public Balcony Site / Taichung, Taiwan

Advisor : Andrea Love (GSD course / Optimizing Facade Performance)

Jose Garcia del Castillo Lopez (GSD course / Introduction to Computational Design) Partner : Yun-Ting Tsai Contribution : Primitive Design, Coding, Environment Simulation Used Software : Grasshopper (C#) / DIVA (Rhino plugin) / Ladybug (grasshopper plugin)

/ Adobe Flowdesign / Adobe Aftereffect

[ The n

This is based on elders and child ometry transfor when it comes t structurally con faced façade sin for a more com

Weather Data

Summer Time Wind Rose

Using Ladybug (grasshopper component), we are able to analyze the weather data of Taichung and decide the time period for the simulation.

Since the average temperature and humidity in Taiwan are usually high throughout the year. We focus our analysis time period on the temperature peak which is July to August and further establish our design around natural ventilation and shading components to avoid the hot outdoor temperature. According to the psychrometric chat, with the right amount of wind speed, we could achieve comfort satisfaction for users to enjoy.

Annual Temperature Analysis

Psychrometic Chat in Summer Period

Annual Temperature Confort Zone Analysis

[ The Street Houses ]

new Facade System in the Original Design]

n one of my past projects that focuses on the modification of old street houses base on its original RC structure system. Redesigning the façade and create a new layer of public space for dren to enjoy. In this project, we focus on combining daylight simulation and computational design to create a new flexible facade system. The new facade could adjust through simple germation that reacts to the surroundings such as daylight radiation, temperature and wind. Avoiding sun radiation and increase natural indoor ventilation have always been a major concern to green building design in Taiwan. Our major concept remains the same, which is to design a new public balcony that connected all the street houses. Since most of the street houses were nnected, it provided an opportunity to modify parts of the street houses, creating continuously open spaces. After analyzing the weather data, we decided to focus our simulation on the westnce it has the highest sun radiation exposure time compared to others, especially during the hottest hour of the day. By using ladybug, DIVA and Flow design we are able to adjust our design fortable environment.

Street House Modification

Grasshopper Components Daylight Analysis

Ma

[ Weather Data Parametric]

[ EPW file]

[De [Time Period] Radiation on street level and building facade

(If the simulation result didn’t satisfy the environmental requirment

Evironment Requirments & CFD Simulation

Children

Time : July 15 4:00 pm Activities : Playing Group activities Reading Illuminance : 300-450 lux

Elders

Time : July 15 9:00 am Activities : Chatting Playing chess Exercising Illuminance : 200-400 lux

Daylight simulation in winter (Dec 17th 14:00)

Daylight simulation in Summer (Jul 17th 14:00)

NEW FACADE The new facade system not only provided continuously public spaces, but also enhanced the social environment of the neighborhood, including a better communication platform, a greener environment, and safer activity spaces. As the simulation outcome shows, the west-side glaze will receive a large amount of radiation during the afternoon period. Therefore, My design focus on designing a shading device that could work with my new facade system that acts as a protective layer that prevent interior heat observation from the sunlight and also have enough opening to provide natural ventilation for indoor spaces. One of the important parts of the renewal of the staircase since most street houses contains a staircase in the middle of the building. We used it as an opportunity to bring sunlight into the center of the house, lighting up the deeper areas of the building, and also create a wind tunnel that could bring more airflow through the spaces.

Staircase Daylight Simulation

Balcony and Indoor Daylight Simulation Output

Daylight Simulation (15th of each month at 14:00) JAN

I

FEB

I

MAR

I

APR

I

MAY

I

JUN

I

JUL

I

AUG

I

SEP

I

OCT

I

NOV

aterial

[ Frame]

[ Facade output]

eformation] [ Coding Parametric]

ts)

DEC

After analyzing the weather data, we decided to focus our simulation on the west-faced façade since it has the highest sun radiation exposure time compared to others, especially during the hottest hour of the day. By using ladybug, DIVA and Flow design we are able to adjust our design for a more comfortable environment. We started by deciding the metallic grid system which provides the structure capacity for the facade and also avoiding blocking the view from the balcony. There are three basic transformations for the facade: The first is the depth of the shade which is mainly influenced by the sun position and temperature. Secondly, the facade is formed with two layers of grids, we changed the scale of the inner grid based on the temperature and season. The scale of the inner grid will be larger in the winter period compared to summer since we need more sunlight for interior space. The last transformation aspect of the facade is rotation, which is influenced by wind. However, we also input the sun position as another factor to avoid receiving too much radiation while nature ventilation reaches the indoor area. With the strength of computational design, we are able to establish a flexible interactive facade prototype combining the input of sun position, temperature and wind.

The Main Pla Place)

This is the entranc residential area, th connect both sides and served as the area of Da Mao Pu

Central High

The new campus c between the reside Da Jia River, creati friendly interface t environment.

[ The New Campus For DaMaoPu ]

Classroom ar Residentual Area

Temple Orchard

Guardian Temple

Market

The classroom area the water plaza, no good education env also provided a flex the community and activities.

The Slope Pla

Central Highway

The slope plaza is t of the main avenue large open spaces f and a pedestrian fri river.

New Campus Orchard Riverbank Path Main Avenue

New Landscape

New Residentual Area

[ Redesign Daily Life of DaMaoPu ]

MIND THE GAP

The Redefinition of Elementary School Program / Elementary School Elder Care Center Kindergarten Church Site / DaMaoPu, Taiwan

Advisor : Yu-Lin Chen Awards : 2017 National Golden Award of Architecture / First place 2017 NCKU Thesis Design Award / First place 2017 Cross-Straits Architecture Competition / Second place 2017 Taiwan 20 IEAGD / honerable mentions

Located in the m had always stoo river have to fac

Since I started tegrational plan same system, wh communicate. A with nature, and

Path Under the Highway

Combined with the underground water system, not only created a dramatic crossing experience, but also a unique activity space.

A

[ Social Crisis of DaMAoPu ]

aza (Market

ce to the he sunken plaza s of the highway main commercial u.

hway

closed the gap ential area and the ing a pedestrian toward the nature

rea

a combined with ot only creates a vironment, but xible space for d extracurricular

A

aza

the elongation e, which provided for weekend events iendly path to the

[ Master Plan ]

mountains of Taichung district, the history of DaMaoPu was full of ups and downs. From the early harsh reclamation of immigrants in the 1800s, to the 921earthquake in 1999, the village od strong against all odds. However, with the economic downfall after the earthquake, and the boundary that caused by the highway development, the small town on the riverbank of DaJia ce various social crises due to urbanism and aging population since 1999.

the research on DaMaoPu, I have noticed that the influence of architectural method was not enough to respond to the complexity of social issues. The crisis needed a larger scale of innning and the involvement of public orders. As a result I designed a new type of school that can merge with the community, and brought the public usage and education function into the hich made the region flexible and capable to be used for multiple functions. The goal is to design a good educational environment for children, and a better platform for residents to learn and As a boundary between civilization and nature, I shifted the landfill to isolate the traffic of the highway from the pedestrians, creating a new landscape which will provide a friendly relationship d a new circulation to bring a new type of living image to the community.

[ The Connection Stratagy ]

[ New Hybrid Campus ]

Fixed Path

Isolated Campus

Green Outdo Seperated Activity Space

Activity Track Duplicated Classrooms

Residents Activity Space

Traditional School Type Flows and activities were blocked off by the walls, hence an independent and isolated environment.

Organic Path Nature

Campus

Village

Connected Activity Spaces Merged Campus

Flexible Classrooms New School Type Both the school and the community were enlivened mutually by tearing down the walls and rearranged the circulation.

Central Cross-Land Highway The intersection of the highway and campu be pedestrian friendly, for better connectio between both sides of the highway.

THE CATALYST I designed a new type of school that can merge with the community, and brought the public usage and education function into the same system, which made the region flexible and capable to be used for multiple functions. The goal is to design a good educational environment for children, and a better platform for residents to learn and communicate. As a boundary between civilization and nature, I shifted the landfill to isolate the traffic of the highway from the pedestrians, creating a new landscape which will provide a friendly relationship with nature, and a new circulation to bring a new type of living image to the community.

I believed a good education environment have to be deeply connected with our daily lives. The strategy of my project was to move the elementary school which was 300 meters away from the village, placing it back to the village. The movement not only solved the danger for kids walking to school but also allow the children to study and play in the community.

[ Education Space ] Primary Grades

oor Space

us will on

[ Campus Systems ]

Campus Space

( Age: 6-8 )

Creating Circulation The new circulation will connect various activitiy spaces and merge the gap between different people.

Mid Grades

( Age: 8-10 )

Merged Spaces

High Grades

( Age: 10-12 )

[ Section A ]

The reason behind the move was based on the strong public characteristic of the school, and I wanted to use it as a catalyst to restore the vitality of the community. On the other hand, by placing the campus on both sides of the highway, helped to merge the gap between the village and the riverbank, which was caused by the intervention of the Central highway, and further strengthen the connection between the community and natural environment.

The new campus not only focused on the integration of the community and school, but also the fundamental infrastructures. Traditional classrooms didn't have the flexibility to adjust to the modern education system. Therefore, I designed a series of adjustable learning spaces for children during different stages in elementary school, which are also capable to deal with various situations for different lectures and activities. In addition to the classroom, the sections showed the multiple functions and considerations for different generations in the region; providing elder-friendly spaces and a better learning environment for the children.

[ The New Community Center ]

[ The Main Section]

PLUGGED IN

Modification of Existing Street Houses Program / Community Center Care Center Public Balcony Site / DaMaoPu, Taiwan

Advisor : Yao-Shian Tsai (SEED environment studio) Simulation Software : Flowdesign / DIVA (Rhino plugin) / Ladybug (grasshopper plugin)

After the 921 ea to low space oc modification of

The community structure system of environment of the commun

arthquake, DaMaoPu suffered a massive degradation on its economy and population. On the other hand, the crisis of urbanism left behind a lot of self-living elders in the village, which leaded ccupation issues in the residential areas. Therefore, beside from taking a regional planning approach, this project took a more moderate response to the social problems, which focused on the f existing buildings. The main avenue was once the center of the residents’ daily life. Unfortunately, after the earthquake, new concrete street houses had replaced the old traditional architecture.

y center is designed to be the new landmark for DaMaoPu, which located at the central crossroad of the avenue, provided a bigger public space for larger activities. The wood components of the m have an easy construct and environment-friendly characteristic. In order to provide a good environment and save more energy, the community center design progress was based on a series tal simulation. The simulation contributed the climate information for adjustment, including temperature, indoor illuminance, and wind flow. The diagram (Right) shows the design progress nity center. By combining the results I was able to design a space which was environment-friendly and suited the needs for different users..

BLOCK BY BLOCK

Transforming Housing of DaMaoPu Client : The Luo Family Partner / Advisors : Local construction teams Contribution : General Design, Supervisor, Coordinator, Construction Drawings, 3D Drawings Site / DaMaoPu, Taiwan

There was alway families to adju different combin surrounding lan

Unfortunately, t creased the diffi on limited budg family members

ays a discussion through the progress of finding the solution for the social problems in DaMaoPu “If the public order is out of our control, as an architect, what could we do for individual ust for the upcoming crisis?” As a result, this adaptive housing project focused on two major aspects: First, considering urbanism was a one-way progress, architecture have to be adaptive to nations of family members and events through time, and also provide enough supports for the family to rely on. Secondly, while the buildings in the village were unmovable, the expansion of nds plays a crucial role in this project.

the surrounding lands were separated by irrigation water system, which influences the distribution of ownership. With the lands being narrow and long, and the surrounding narrow paths, infficulty for construction. With the negotiation with local farmers, I was fortunate to work with the local construction team to build a prototype house based on my design. The project depended get and time, which influenced the options of materials and construction method. The new adaptive house has different details and functions at different stages, which suited the needs of the s.

CURCULATION SYSTEM & CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS One of the main goals is to design an energy-saving and environment-friendly living environment. With the consideration of the need for organic farming and limited budget, a circulation system was designed for the family. The circulation system was based on the shape and the aqueducts of the land, including an orchard, an organic farm, an animal hut, and an environmentally friendly water system that provided higher water reuse efficiency. The circulation is based on the forgotten irrigation system that supported the village throughout history and put back to life in this project. The new system not only supply the family’s basic need but also have the flexibility to adjust with the future building expansions. The idea is to demonstrate how future lands could be used and further establish a self beneficial economic system that could reduce the economic crisis of the elder village.

The main concept of the project is to design a house that could grow with the family through time. As a result, we took future construction with careful consideration into each stage of the building process. The structure connection detail between each stage is designed to provide easy expansion constructions and avoid instability or water leaking in the future.

Since the paths were too narrow for cement truck and crane to work, the construction was designed based on the steel frames and metal components. The components are unitized and pre-manufactured in factories. The decision gave us the advantage of faster construction that could avoid causing problems to the family through the process. Considering the hot temperature in Taiwan, a few layers of concrete were used on the walls and the roof. Compared with reinforced concrete, which was widely used in Taiwan; this method was more suitable for the separated construction stages, and also provided faster construction progress. A layer of waterproof paint was applied to the surface after the walls were established and a final Cermanic tile will be installed on the exterior surface which is commonly used in Taiwan buildings, that could protect the building from the hot and humid tropical climate of Taiwan.

[ The Art Prison ]

[A

[ Image of the New Wall ]

BEYOND THE WALLS

Reforming Forte di Santa Caterina Competittion : YAC International competition - Art Prison Partner : Yun-Ting Tsai Contribution : Primitive Design, Programmatic Concept, 3D Modeling, Rendering Site / Favignana, Italy

Even the dange starts with the a and the commu

Our project’s go come one of the wildness projec and cherish the island.

[ Section of the Art-Scape Hotel (Room) ]

Art-Scape Hotel Details Diagram ]

[ Diagrammatic Programs ]

[ Section of the Art-Scape Hotel ]

[ The Open Air Gallery ]

[ The Bath House ]

[ Section of the Art Lobby ]

erous geology and the fragile structure cannot overshadow the beauty of Forte di Santa Caterina, an abandoned prison which stands as a vital landmark of the island Favignana. Our design ancient wall which surrounded the prison. As an existent division of the fortress and the surrounding area, the ancient wall indicates the prisons’ history. Although it separates the criminals unity in the past, we design a new wall which represented with galleries and hotels that merged into the natural environment to eradicate the gap between the community and the fortress.

oal is let the surrounding tell its story. The metal façade of our new wall reflects the gorgeous landscape owning the landscape with a view of the sea and the works of arts. This place will bee most desirable destinations for visitors and residents alike. On the other hand, the alumni facade serves as a new landmark and a huge mirror where the horizontal skyline and surrounded ct their magnificence on. With the composition of harmonies between nature and the artifacts, we hope our project brings energy to the community, reminding every visitor to appreciate e gift that Favignana brought for us. The circulation not merely gives visitors access to the gallery and the fortress but also creates a variety of space sequences to experience the beauty of the

[ Stage 2 : Lan

[ Motion Capture ]

[ Stage 1: Path Visialization ] GrassHopper Componment

Different Path Geometry

Field Interaction

Interactive Landscape Computational design project

Advisor : Jose Garcia del Castillo Lopez (GSD course / Introduction to Computational Design) Partner : Yun-Ting Tsai Contribution : Design development, Coding Used Software : Motion capture / Grasshopper (C#) / Adobe Aftereffect

Our project sta interaction flyin pass of time, we

Moreover, we c position of the p imagined it as a adjusted the gro

ndscape Generating ] Wind Pressure Simulation:

Generate the shortest Distances:

[ Stage 3 : Generating Vegetation ] Terrain Data Visialization

Fertilization Analysis:

Surface Transformation:

Generating Vegetation

Curvature Visialization:

Final Landscape Output

Vegetation Growth Parametric:

arted by simulating the interaction between two flying birds. We want to capture the flying path and the distance of the two birds. Even though the path is unpredictable, we create various ng paths by combining our observation from video clips and images. Using the motion capture we are able to simulate different flying sequences. To demonstrate the flying distance and the e build a surface-based one of the motion-captured points that follow the path of the two birds' path while also slowly disappear while time goes by.

created an environment that interacts with geometry. As a result, we build two different effects that interact directly with the position of the points. The first interacting surface follows the points and extends its height when the points are close to the surface. Secondly, we generate a surface based on the density and distance of different paths. After generating the new surface we a new landscape that could have various vegetation on it. Therefore, we came out with a generating function based on the slope and height of each point on the surface. On the other hand, it owing speed of the trees according to the path from the previous stage. We aimed to simulate the influence of wind that could change the growth pattern of the vegetation.

OSPACE Architecture Studio

WHATARCHITECTURE

Taichung,Taiwan 2014 Directors : Hung-Hsuan Shen / Cheng-Hsuan Wu Projects : Collective Double-Wall Houses, 3 Houses with Patio Position : Intern

London, United Kingdom 2015 Director: Anthony Hoete Projects : Architectural Exhibition in Barcelona, Research bo Position : Intern

Contribution :

- Involve in the development of the project through model making and drawing AutoCad layouts.

- Discuss building materials and research references for facade design.

- Drawing construction details and sections.

- Model making.

Contribution :

- Leading the physical modeling team for the Barcelon

- Organizing and constructing the Barcelona exhibitio

- 3D modeling, Rendering, SD & DD Drawings for mu

- Organizing old projects and edit illustrations in the

ook(Game of architecture), glasses design

na exhibition preparation. on’s facilities. ultiple projects. office research book.

HU-MEI Construction Company Taichung,Taiwan 2016 Chairman : Yue-Feng Luo Projects : multiple construction site Position : Assistant Site Director Contribution :

- Leading construction team and organizing construction schedule.

- Organizing construction documents and meeting government departments.

- Check construction details and progress requirements on site.

Fuguach Architecture Location : Taichung, Taiwan 2019 Directors : Michael Lin Projects : Renewal of National Art Museum: Children learning center, Museum office, Furniture design, Exhibition space, Entrance landscape design Position : Architect Designer Contribution :

- 3D modeling, Rendering, SD & DD & CD Drawing for multiple projects.

- Meeting and communication with contractors and government committees.

- Art Museum landscape design proposal.

- Green building material and budget calculation.