Daniel Joseph NUS B.A. (Arch) Year 3 2025 Portfolio
PORTFOLIO ‘25
DANIEL JOSEPH
DANIEL JOSEPH
B.A. Architecture Year 3 | National University of Singapore
Contact d.britelitjoseph@gmail.com
@DanielBJoseph (tele)
The works presented here encapsulate a deeply personal curation of my developement during my studies in architecture. Each piece reflects the culmination of persistent explorations and methodical design processes, serving as a testament to my deepening engagement with this intricate craft. In sharing these creations, I hope to convey the passion and excitement that fuel my connection to this beautiful yet challenging discipline. I firmly believe that extending one’s embrace of this vocation, under the guidance of seasoned masters and mentors, has the transformative power to bring enduring beauty into our world.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
April ‘22 - June ‘22
QUEN Architects
Internship and job shadow
Aug ‘23
Jul ‘23 - Jul ‘24
May ‘24 - Jul ‘24
Aug ’24 - Jan ‘25
NUS-UCSI Muar Workshop
Overseas Collaborative Design Workshop
YAL Mentorship Programme
Mentee under Zeeson Teoh, Redbean Architects
Arc Studio Architecture & Urbanism
Internship
NUS Student Exchange Programme
Barcelona, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
VOLUNTEERING AND ENGAGEMENTS
Jan ‘20 - Dec ‘22
Catholic Youth Ministry
Jan ‘23 - April ‘23
April ‘23
Jan ‘23 - Jan ‘24
COMPETITIONS
AND SHOWCASES
May ‘23
May ‘23 - Aug ‘23
Jul ‘23, ‘24
NUS-BOA Accredition Exhibit
Showcase of Y1S2 works
International Building Design Competition
Fifth Place From 40 Teams
NUS Archival 2023 & 2024 Exhibitions
Showcase of Y1S1, Y1S2, Y2S1 & Y2S2 works
PROFICIENCIES
President Rhino Grasshopper SketchUp
CAPT In Silence
Year-long programme, engaging with the deaf community
CAPT-SFI Indochina Exchange
Engagements with Indochinese NGOs
ACE Homes
Year-long programme, engaging with the homeless community
Autocad
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe InDesign
Enscape & Twinmotion
THE XINMIN SOCIAL FOREGROUND IN FRAME
INSIDE OUT FLOATOPIA
THE XINMIN SOCIAL
CLIMATE, ENVELOPE & SOCIABILITY
The Xinmin Social goes beyond questioning what makes a space and climate comfortable— it delves into climatic conditions, specifically lux levels, and proposes a kinetic façade tailored to the unique context of Xinmin Secondary School, Singapore. Beyond climate, the project boldly addresses the evolving social dynamics in secondary schools, where rising social anxiety underscores the need for carefully designed spaces that accommodate both group interactions and solitude.
This projects if a joint effort between myself and my partner, Bi Hongying. We pivoted our scheme towards a communtiy-centric A&A project, engaging our stakeholders firsthand, conducting rigourous analytical research and designing systems that were both functional and fun.
THE SOCIAL CONTEXT
Through comprehensive site surveys in both Xinmin Secondary and NUS, we can extrapolate relationships in how social as well as insular spaces are generated and supported. A thorough site study also allows us to understand the opportunities and constraints presented on site.
HYPOTHESIS
The Xinmin Social aims to introduce a dynamic framework within educational institutions that prioritises adaptability in light via careful manipulation of type, intensity, and colour, as well as programmatic conditions. We seek to create facade typologies that are strategically designed to encourage positive social engagement through adaptability in climate and programme.
From the Operative Diagram, we can identify the existing score of a zone before adding any interventions. Scoring within a zone might change depending on zone area and location.
Climatic interventions are added to either support, enhance or change he incumbant scores of the zones. Interventions are chosen from the other four parent types and manipulated accordingly.
Utilising our programmatic trigger, how can we use visual and physical barriers to manipulate the score of a space? Can we allow some level of user interaction in manipulation?
Can further manipulation of both horizontal and vertical displacement from primary paths serve to compensate for a lack of lux and vice versa?
FAMILY OF TYPES
PROPERTIES
FACADE RELATIONSHIPS
INTERFACE OF TYPES
FINAL SCHEME
Sectional Perspective
ISOLATED ZONES & INTERVENTIONS
In isolation, each zone reveals the procedure of operations, from the addition of climatic interventions to programmatic changes in terracing and partitioning. The dynamic and interactive nature of some of the facade types are presented in explosions below each zone.
Zoning & Vignettes
L1 Clusters
L2 Clusters
L3 Clusters
COMMUNAL AGGREGATE DWELLINGS
The study of film in architecture is not a novel exploration. Surgei Eisenstein’s soviet montage theory to Bernard Tschumi’s diagramatic explorations all seek to utilise the tools that motion picture lends to the design world.Foreground in Frame aims to understand, codify and adopt the devices that films present as a means of architectural production.
The film in question, Wong Kar Wai’s seminal piece, In the Mood for Love, a gripping tale of secret love and what could have been. The exploration acknowledges that films present narratives differently from architecture. While films are visual, architecture is spatial. As such, how might one adapt the devices of motion picture to an architectural scenario, avoiding the oculocentric while affecting space, scale and atmosphere?
FOREGROUND IN FRAME 02.
IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
Wong Kar Wai showcases his mastery of cinematography. Foreground elements cut across the frame in the form of lines and planes, obscuring scenes or focusing the viewer’s eye to a target. This device was analysed through twelve stills at key moments in the movie, revealing its consistency of use. The analysis is conducted on a matrix, avoiding the binary assumptions of focused/obstructed, private/public, open/close.
Study of framing elements in film
Initial aggregation explorations
AGGREGATE EXPLORATIONS
Developing a system for architectural production implies the creation of habitable, functional spaces. The difficulty was balancing the desire to explore and challenge convention while still presenting a conceivable and acceptable space for high-density aggregate living.
Combining the modular dwellings with an ergonomics study links the conceptual with the programmatic. Spaces can be defined based on the relationship between accessibility, permeability and function, creating a spectrum of communal, open, private and intimate spaces within the scheme.
SEEKING SPECTRUMS
Tangential explorations within the design process allows one to break out of creative blocks, furthering the variety of investigations and probing new speculations. This study of spectrums seeks to provide a clear separation between the computationally-driven design process thus far while providing new perspectives into field-based aggregations.
The procedure for experimentation began as a controlled creation of spectrums, overlaying charcoal shadings. The resulting effects were further analyzed, abstracting the concentration of critical points, spectral boundaries, and interactions. Further liberating the process from control, ink blotting was studied. The inorganic and explosive forms provided greater clarity on the compression and domination of spectrums over one another. Hence, the logic extrapolated allows a viable method of aggregation using spectrums.
Alcohol ink on bristol
Charcoal on paper
SPECTRAL COORDINATION
In the iterative process of design, we probed how might spectrums be used as a device for aggregation. The busy Tanjong Pagar site was surrounded on all sides by noisy skyscrapers, bustling alleyways and busy roads. These sounds were seen as an opportunity, conceiving these noise sources as spectrums that dissipated and attenuated with distance.
The system of aggregation was applied to site, utilising the spectrums as a method of coordination. The site boundary was seperated into nine levels, each with a different reaction to the combination of noise sources. The aforementioned spectrum studies granted insight into the nature of spectral interactions, of compression and domination.
The position of dwellings, thus, reflected these relationships, creating varying types and degrees of reaction to each noise.
CONSTRUCT / DECONSTRUCT
Diagrams inspired by Bernard Tshumi’s explorations seek to convey the habitability of the scheme. Each vignette is deconstructed, weaving a circulation pathway through points of significance and recreating each view through the underlying system of production. Here, the apparent architectural experience is encountered, moving from bustling communal corridors to private and intimate dwellings.
SECTIONAL INTERPLAY
Section drawings and models have the capacity to transcend the mere technicalities of conveying spatial dimensions. Far beyond their utilitarian purpose of elucidating the interior and exterior structure of a building, sections become a mode of creative exploration. These visual narratives, akin to a dissected manuscript, unveil the layers of a structure not only to communicate the practical aspects of a building’s construction but to evoke a sense of emotion, narrative, and the profound interplay of light and shadow within a space.
INSIDE OUT
STRUCTURE AND TECTONICS
This exercise delved into the fundamentals of architectural structural systems, exploring construction methods and their connection to the design of architectural spaces, acquiring comprehensive general knowledge about structural principles in architecture. Here, “tectonics” encompasses technologies essential for constructing buildings, including structures, construction methods, materials, and details, while bridging the sensorial and intellectual nature of architecturally designed spaces.
The creation of a detailed sectional perspective tested our capacity to bridge the structural systems in place with the intended architectural ideas. Further familiarity with materials and common structural components were gained thorugh this process. Moreover, enlarged detail drawings were attempted and proposed to push the reality of our scheme, accounting for weather, climate and atmosphere.
ITERATION IN DETAIL
The scheme proposed began as a series of staggered platforms that spiralled about a set of solids. An exploration on solid-void relationships and the capacity to float seamingly heavy solids were a curiosity for the team. As the project progressed, a steel rigid structural system was adopted to carry the weight of platforms which serve as activity spaces. The resulting effect is that of a forest of columns governed by a varied grid system.
Upon cladding, the solid-void dynamic is reinforced, splitting the volume at both the horizontal and vertical axis. Here, iterations in design, although apparently different from one another, were key in resolving important structural and architectural challenges.
EXPERIENCE IN STRUCTURE
The final porposal presents a curated architectural experience, reinforced by a directed promenade created by the spiral circulation. The stereotomic volumes dominate the spiral, enveloping the user as they circulate through a forest of columns. Though random at first, the position of the columns reveal themselves to follow a discrete system of grids presented by the unique arrangement of girders beneath each platform. the flat roof appears to float above the solid masses, held by four pinpoint column systems hidden within each mass.
The final scheme presents itself as a meandering movement through solid and void, probing a curiosity with the architects’ intent while encountering a myriad of structural systems.
Spatial-structural relationships
FLOATOPIA
INTERNATIONAL BUILDING DESIGN COMPETITION
Awarded 5th Place out of 40
Land Scarcity has always been a major limiting factor in the growth of our island nation, Singapore. This was observed as far back as two centuries ago when Sir Stamford Raffles ordered the first ever land reclamation project in Temasek. To date, a staggering 22% of Modern Singapore is built on reclaimed land.
Paired with the questionable sources of sand imported into Singapore, which has sparked much international controversy, and the ecological destruction that sand dredging has on marine ecosystems, we ask the question: why don’t we build on the water? Floatopia aims to eliminate the reliance of land reclamation to provide housing for our friends and family
Team Contributions | Chooi En Yu (Team Leader, Design Development, Rendering), Daniel Joseph (Design Development, Researcher, Rendering, Computation), Jeramie Lim (Design Development, Researcher), Justin Ho (Design Development, Researcher)
Traditional Vietnamese Kelong Study
VERNACULAR AS PRECEDENCE
Part of our research included a visit to a traditional Kelong home, where housing on the water has been successfully implemented. The family of six could live comfortably on the water, where agriculture, fish farming and even animal rearing provided for a completely subsistent lifestyle with little need to return to land. Using this sustainable model as a case study, we started development of our key concepts.
The urban model of the villages were also analysed, granting insight into the voronoi urban grid system. This model, studied by Frei Otto amongst many others has been found to improve urban connectivity and community cohesion.
Understanding the need for high density housing, pre-fabriated block aggregation was proposed, utilising a system of hexagonal cells distributed using evolutionary simulations to achieve optimised building energy performance.
A CLOSED-LOOP
The system aims to be as self-sustaining as possible, where the resources generated from natural sources can be reused by other parts of the structure. The entire system is a closed loop with minimal wastage and could ideally function on its own to generate water, electricity, food and proper waste management. There are two sources of energy, solar and wave energy which are environmentally friendly, with close to zero carbon footprint. As such, Floatopia is able to achieve eight of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, namely Zero Hunger, Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, Industry Innovation and Infrastructure, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action as well as Life Below Water.
COMMUNITY PLACEMAKING
The creation of three major regions, interwoven with arterial pathways, follow the thematic structure proposed in the HDB Town Design Guide at the neighborhood layer.
Factors such as community needs, marine-related activities, and commercial enterprises are considered to ensure a balanced and sustainable development plan. Experiments in optimised town planning through a voronoi grid system promotes connectivity despite the aggregated mass of housing. In doing so, the marine community might find peace of home on the water.