Daisy Chen Selected Work 2025 by Daisy Chen

01 SHADOW PUPPET CENTER 3-20

NEXUS:STEM DISTRICT 02 21-34 COLORADO MARKETPLACE 03 35-50

FILM LIBRARY 04 51-58

01 SHADOW PUPPET CENTER

Design Studio 5 Led by Brian Mcgrath

The Shadow Puppet Center is an institution program located in Sweet Potato Hill, a block that demonstrates Tainan’s rich history and culture. Shadow puppetry is a traditional performance art introduced to the block during the Qing Dynasty as entertainment for locals. Nowadays, the significance of this art has been lost over time. The center aims to revive artistic traditions for a broader audience by incorporating art into a contemporary architectural framework.

The key feature of this project is the shadow puppet interaction panels on the facades, it immerses its visitors into the play through silhouette projections, a technique used in shadow puppetry performances. The lighting layering with various human activities honors the artistic aspects of shadow puppetry while transforming the block into a stage, telling its story to the entire city.

The center’s tangible forms are a metaphor for revealing the historic building’s shadows and narratives by building on top of the existing. The center portrays shadow puppetry with a contemporary architectural lens through the layering of materials, modularity, structure, and circulations.It is a silent narrator of shadow puppetry that ensures its stories can be comprehended by a wider audience

SITE

No. 46, Lane 64, Section 2, Minquan Rd, West Central District, Tainan City, Taiwan 700

This culture was brought to Taiwan during the Qing Dynasty for entertainment. Combining Storytelling, music, and intricate puppets, these performance gain popularity in temple festivals. HISTORY

once accessible on small carts, is now only seen during festivals. The Shadow Puppet Theater aims to revive this lost art, bringing its culture back to the block and city.

HISTORIAL EVOLUTION OF GRIDS

MAKING

Artisans handcarve leather or wood, paint vibrant designs, and manipulate puppets behind lit screens, creating vivid silhouettes that bring traditional stories to life.

Japanese started the rigid grid system Block forms donut-shape with intersecting roads harmonious, courtyard-based organization

Incense burner for temple located at the North East Corner

Layered siheyuan grid balances history and modernity

Integrate tradition with contemporary massing design

CURRENT

RIVER

QING DYNASTY RIVER + QING

Sweet Potato Hill’s grid shaped by ancient river Qing Dynasty brought shadow puppetry entertainment Qing Dynasty made Taiwan a trade port

SWEET POTATO HILL

JAPAN

SIHEYUEN

SITE + SIHEYUEN

TEMPLE CORNER

SHADOW PUPPET CENTER

Lightweight structures produce reduced inertia forces during seismic events, thereby alleviating stress on the foundation and decreasing the likelihood of structural failure. This aspect is especially critical in Tainan, a region prone to frequent earthquakes. The prefabricated building system and paneling are equipped with predrilled holes, slots, and connectors, which facilitate a quicker and more efficient installation of wood panels. This approach not only minimizes construction duration and labor expenses but also guarantees a robust and lasting connection.

ROOF CIRCULATION

The rooftop stairs, inspired by Tainan’s billboard culture, offers an experimental cityscape walk as an advertising feature for the shadow puppet center.

EXTERNAL CIRCULATION

The primary circulation connects programs via outdoor stairs leading to the central courtyard, with platforms for watching shadow puppet shows.

INTERIOR CIRCULATION ACCESSIBILITY CIRCULATION

The fast route circulation is designed to efficiently move workers and visitors between floors within the program.

The elevator serving the institutional programs ensures inclusive access for all visitors.

02 NEXUS: STEM DISTRICT

Design Studio 4 Led by Hayes Slade & Greg Bencivengo

Spring 2024

Listed as the highest crime rate city in the state, Poughkeepsie faces significant social and economic challenges including high crime rates, low education rate, and elevated poverty rate. The Nexus STEM District aims to address these concerns by transforming the city into the next technology hub for New York State by integrating various programs the city requires for economic development.

The robotic museum is an attraction program that showcases various types of robots including service, medical, humanoid, and most importantly industrial. The material reuse center located within the museum focuses on sustainability by using industrial robots to repurpose construction waste while being exhibited for visitors to witness the process. The Kids STEM Center is an after-school program that provides science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses for children from low-income households for a better education. Lastly, the worker’s lounge is the administration space for the district that hires locals with compatible backgrounds.

The four different types of programs aim to boost the city’s economic growth through providing job opportunities, addressing poverty through educational programs, and workforce development. Thus, reducing the crime rates in the long run. The district positions Poughkeepsie as the new technology hub, connecting innovations with social impacts to ensure a brighter future for the city.

SITE

303-305 Grand Ave, Hot Sulphur Springs, CO 80451

PROGRAM ANALYSIS

NEXUS

Extrude massing for publicfacing programs

Adjust to fit dome of circulation and courtyard

Subtract from topography

Extrude massing for private intitutional program

Subtract for tilted roof to better observe the dome

Robotic Museum

Robotic Museum

Material Reuse Center

Worker’s Lounge

Kids STEM Center

1/16” = 1’-0”

PHYSICAL SECTION MODEL

ROBOTIC MUSEUM

COLORADO MARKETPLACE

Hot Sulphur Springs is a tiny community of 900 people and is experiencing a scarcity of crucial amenities such as hospitals, grocery shops, and gas stations. To address this concern, we propose a mixed-used community marketplace with part-time residences that serves as a pit stop for tourists and opportunities for locals.

Many visitors drive past the town because it lacks attraction amenities. The marketplace aims to alter this by offering five living units and 13 vendor shops for locals to sell their products. The vendors will change based on the season, thus, creating a lively community for both locals and visitors to interact with the town’s culture.

The design blends residential and commercial areas with a center community space perpendicular to semi-private courtyards specialized for the residents. The program features sustainable architectural elements such as ramps, skylights, enclosed facades, and especially the design of the roof. The slanted roof is designed to collect snow and rain runoffs by routing it underground for reuse. This marketplace aims to make Hot Sulphur Springs an accessible and dynamic destination that celebrates community spirits.

SITE

303-305 Grand Ave, Hot Sulphur Springs, CO 80451

Design Studio 3 Led by Sonya Falkovskaia

Partner Project With Aviela Berk Fall 2023

PATHWAYS

Creating small paths that are connected to the main roads

LANDSCAPE

Private gardens and shared community courtyards

CIRCULATION COMMERCIAL

ROOF

Multiple entrances for different groups of people

Slope direction is designed to guide snow away from Visitors

For vendor shops, dining and gathering two ADA and three loft units for short-term residents

04 FILM LIBRARY

Design Studio 1 Led by Jeremy Barbour

The Film Archive Library, located in the heart of New York City’s Soho area, is a cultural institution devoted to preserving and exhibiting archive filmworks. While New York has always been a center of film culture, the digital era has witnessed a fall in public interest in conventional film viewing and learning. The library aims to revive this connection by providing a unique spatial experience that connects old films to present urban living.

The library is defined by two main architectural systems: screening vessels and storage fins, which are joined by a supporting viewing platforms. The viewing vessels are adaptable screening spaces made by folding, twisting, and connecting flat projection screens to create various-sized rooms for dfferent cinema experiences. It is integrated into the facade of the building, allowing pedestrians a glimpse into the library. The geometrical form of the vessels symbolizes the collision of film history and urban landscape, portraying the domination of digital media over historical narratives.

The storage fins as the vertical component that houses the entire film collection and structure for the library. The projection device is placed where the two components intersect, allowing an immersive storytelling atmosphere. The library’s form is an artistic expression of history being pushed to the edge in a digitalized world while highlighting the timeline of film culture through various spatial dynamics.

SITE

15 Prince St, New York, NY 10012

United States

CONNECTIONS

The vessels are connected on each point on the fins. These connection point are also where the projector and lighting are stored

STORAGE FINS

The purpose is to store old films and insert vessels in between. The gap inbetween allows visitors natural different lighting experience.

SCREENING VESSELS

Acts as a screen to project film onto and provide private viewing space for the visitors. The size differences of each cell gives private and semi-private space.