EoYS21_MArch_16

thom chiu

Design Studio Work Samples ‘18 - ’21 www.thomchiu.com Hong Yu Thomas Chiu thomchiu@outlook.com 347 651 8776

Thom Chiu is a New York-based architectural designer and exhibit designer interested in adaptive transformations of environmental, cultural, and historical conditions. In his current academic work, Thom speculates different modes of architectural confrontations to understand what is at stake and tease out ways to respond to unique contexts.

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Transforming Digital Capital

Transforming Historic Heritage

Relamation of Schulze Baking Co. Building Columbia University, GSAPP Spring 2021 Ife Vanable + Amanda Williams

Jay Heritage Center Interpretive Exhibit Hall Columbia University, GSAPP Fall 2020 Mark Rakatansky + Jorge Otero-Pailos

Transforming Wildlife and Technology

Transforming Residential Privacy

Habitat for Autonomous Vehicle Columbia University, GSAPP Spring 2020 Phu Hoang

Invisible Dwelling Columbia University, GSAPP Fall 2019 Daisy Ames

Transforming Urban Recreations

Transforming Urban Barriers

The Line Library Columbia University, GSAPP Spring 2019 Gordon Kipping

Broadway Barrier Columbia University, GSAPP Fall 2018 Amina Blacksher

Reclaiming Schulze Baking Co. Building M.Arch Advance Studio V Columbia University, GSAPP New York Spring 2021 Studio Critic Ife Vanable + Amanda Williams

A historic factory built in 1914 Southside of Chicago, The Schulze Baking Company Factory is currently destined to be renovated and retrofitted into a data center housing countless server racks and serving a commercial tenant. This project is an architectural negotiation of owner ship and access to the building, which confronts the exploitative nature of such development.

With an invasive approach to capital-oriented development, the project’s goal is to trouble and disassemble the established condition and restore community vibrancy rather than restoring the objective architecture.

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Restoration Through Reclamation

Architectural State As A Reflection of Neighborhood State

My approach to the intervention is through a series of cuts reclaiming portions of the building and proclaiming a community presence on the site. It is critical for the project to have an inseparable presence in the historically valued building and the data center.

The site as a data center needs to serve the immediate surroundings as much as the far away entities detached from the neighborhood. Who this building serves will determine and reflect the state of the community. As of now, the state of the building is reflecting the empty lots scattered throughout the Washington Park neighborhood.

If we look at how a typical low occupancy data center would occupy the building, what does it say about the neighborhood’s future?

IDENTIFIED BUILDING ZONES FOR RECLAIMATION

1914

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

2017

2025

Reclamation of Programatic Thickness

RECORDING STUDIO

DATA RACKS

DIGITAL MEDIA WALL

For the historically valued portion of the building, the barrier between the data center and the exterior envelop is widened to house a digital billboard for social media streaming. The preservation of this historical facade is an acknowledgment of the scarcity of historic buildings in the neighborhood.

Looking at the building zones that the intervention reclaims. The thickness that barricades the core of the mechanical zones will be deepened and allocated for community use.

MEDIA LAB

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Programs of Proclamation

Negotiation Through Envelope Thickness The clay tile block and face brick envelope is a historically specific material with cavities that allows the design to play with the porosity of the facade. A parametrically generated pattern was designed to suggest a non-uniform texture and opacity of a new envelope built by the community.

Using this language, I propose a phased negotiation between the community and the data center to reconstruct and reclaim the building’s envelope. Varying in scale, the negotiation ranges from one corner to a half section of the building.

The reclamation can also thicken inward to the data center and outward to the surrounding of the building.

Clay Tile Blocks

Existing Envelope

Reconstructed Envelope thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Jay Heritage Center M.Arch Advance Studio V Columbia University, GSAPP New York Fall 2020 Studio Critic Mark Rakatansky + Jorge Otero-Pailos

Located in the property of Jay Heritage Center (JHC) at Rye, NY, The proposed structure will be home to three exhibits that explore the legacy of John Jay, the New York Manumission Society, and New York African Free School in the early 19th century. The project aims to re-establish JHC’s historical narrative through the critical reconstruction of John Jay’s contradictory legacy to address pressing issues of social injustice in the past, present and future.

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

m an si o

n

Confronting Legacies

to

jay

The United States’ first Chief of Justice, John Jay, was controversially both an abolitionist and a slave owner in the late 18th Century. However, the nuance lies in the contextual understanding of his period and the consequential movements rooted in his efforts.

monument to 1st rhode island regient

jack peterson mem.

westchester county

chappaqua friends mtg. house

m

fro

foster memorial AME zion church

on st

bo po st

vila lewaro

tr

y

. rd

en

jay heritage center philipse manor hall

st. paul’s church

pa

rk in g

ella fitzgerald statue

Proposed Interpretive Center

JHC is about African American heritage as much as the life of John Jay. JHC is also an integral part of the Westchester African American Trail, which traces historical sites of black labor, religion, arts, and patriotism within Westchester county.

revolution to abolition

Adapting to Colonial Style This project architecturally examines and reconstruct the language of early colonial architecture and transforms it into a new language that is rooted in the past, yet projects into the future through a reinvestigation Following cues from the Carriage House, the building’s massing began with projections of the pitched roof joint by an envelope. The site and features of the Carriage House (i.e., clock tower, dormer, low sill windows) show traces of the labor and social hierarchy involved in maintaining the estate.

Curatorial and Massing Stratergy

West Facade thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Prelude to Freedom Upon entry, the hall features an exhibit that guides the visitor through the history of the Revolutionary War in New York during the late 18th century. The story began with the Great Fire of New York in 1776. During this period enslaved African Americans were recruited by the British to fight against revolutionaries with a promise of freedom. It was under this climate, that John Jay founded the New York Manumission Society with an aim to gradually emancipate slavery and to build leadership in the freed African American community.

The hall is defined by a reversed dormer space and a partial pitched roof creating an intimate environment within the large double story space.

Axis of Heritage thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

New York Manumission Society The second part of the exhibit touches on the debatable intentions of the NYMS. Meeting minutes from 1785, which talks about fostering “good moral characters,” indicates that the NYMS held a certain prejudice and moral high ground on the freed African Americans. This perspective is further manifested by The Five Points, a painting derogatorily depicts the urban life of African American in Manhattan.

Interpretation of The New York Manumission Society thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

From Laborer to Leader However controversial, NYMS established the New York African Free School, which fostered a roster of abolitionist leaders.

The exhibit tells the story of notable alumni across fields of arts, science, business, and politics.

The exhibit features notable students like Ira Aldridge (an only actor with African heritage honored by Shakespear Memorial Theater ), Dr. James Smith (a pioneer in medicine), George Downing (a notable restauranteur), and Henry Highland Garnet (A minister who delivered the sermon during the passage of 13th amendment).

Abolitionists From The African Free School thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Habitat for Autonomous Vehicle M.Arch Advance Studio IV Columbia University, GSAPP New York Spring 2020

The Non-Human Habitat investigates the future of a low-density rural typology where vehicles and wildlife intertwine and outnumber human habitants.

Studio Critic Phu Hoang

Designed for the far future of wildlife habitat restoration and shared autonomous vehicle storage, the architecture is built for the mobilization of robotic arms that service both a shared autonomous vehicle fleet and a tree nursery. Understanding that this far future of machine-oriented autonomy is gradual yet inevitable, this project focus on the process of transformation in the near future where human fosters and inhabit the structure as a form of a learning center for autonomous vehicle and wildlife restoration.

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

State Regulated Freshwater Wetlands (Red Maple-Hardwood Swamp)

Hudson Valley Ecology

Future of Car Use

The project site situates at the intersection of a high-voltage electricity corridor and the i-87 Interstate. both of which cuts through the scarce natural habitat for local wild life.

Envisioned for a future of full adaptation of shared autonomous vehicles, the proposed building is a servicing station for a fleet of 480 autonomous vehicles that serve the 14,500 residents within the 10mile radius of the site, including the City of Newburgh and Beacon.

At the ecological scale, the proposed project acts as an infrastructure which stiches the fragmented forests in the form a continuous path along the electricity corridor.

1/2 mile zone

The architectural design reflects the two primary axes (electricity corridor & interstate highway) by creating a perpendicular structure that stitches the existing separation. The two-axis is connected by a third “human” axis that joins the car and wildlife axis.

i-

87

project site (plattekill plaza)

idor

corr y t i c

tri

high

ec e el g a t a

r

o id

rr

vol

ty

co

i ic

tr

i-87

project site

c le

(plattekill travel plaza)

e

chadwick lake

av servicing & storage wildlife & forest restoration visitor center

orange lake wetlands thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

(atlantic flyway) disrupted by forest fragmentation

Stitching Wildlife and Autonomous Vehicle Services electricity corridor trail

autonomous vehicle moral test track

The continuous ribbon weaves between the machine and nature habitat and transforms in both section and plan to adapt to different scenarios. By elevating the ribbon, the building mitigates between the existing hilly landscape and the ground level movements. It also allows efficient vehicle movement between the two typology.

Elevated Habitats

servicing center

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

visitor center

To utilize the ribbon form, which allows for connections between the wildlife and vehicular landscape, the width of the ribbon varies through out the stretch to house different programs for the three habitants of the structure. Perforations of the line allows courtyards or double story interior gathering spaces.

av servicing

highway

wildlife

trail

Adaptation of Automomy

Hybrid Habitat

The adaptation of shared autonomous vehicle is the primary function of the building. While envisioning a far future where automated robots will be servicing the 480 units fleet of shared autonomous vehicle, the building is designed for the near future where people needs to become familiar with the future of mobility.

Closer to the hill and the forest dividing electricity corridor, the building form minimizes the disruption of existing ecology by keeping the ground clear and impliments cottonwood trees of the forest into the building to foster the integration of the machine and wildlife.

This interim program is an visitor experience station, where vistors will board the autonomous vehicle to go for a test drive within the premise of the building and in real life sitiuations.

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Direct contact between vistors and wildlife is controlled by using downward tiled glazing and aviary netting to minimize the chances of birds hitting the building facade.

Dual Future The adaptability of the building is best manifested in the future servicing station, which will act as an autonomous vehicle boarding area for visitors to get accustomed to the technology in the near future. In the far future, the area will become the primary servicing zone for robotic arms.

far future - autonomous servicing station

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

near future - vechicle boarding station

Invisible Dwelling M.Arch Core Studio III Columbia University, GSAPP New York Fall 2019 Project Partner Dan Kim Studio Critic Daisy Ames

The Invisible Housing explores the idea of visibility in defining public and private spaces in a residential building complex.

In this project, we used different levels of visual exposure to respond to urban contexts and internal relationships between spatial programs. This allows us to create spaces with relevant architectural qualities.

Through this project, we thoroughly approached the project from both the urban, architecture, and interior unit scale to understand the complexity of a building complex.

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Site Conditions

Residential Buildings with Windows Facing Project Site

Located in South Bronx, our project site is surrounded by tenement buildings, NYCHA housings, and a school. Upon site visit, we noticed that most windows exposed to other windows on the opposite side have closed blinds. Meanwhile, windows at upper levels have their blinds open. This got us to think about building orientation in terms of visibility within the urban context.

2 RE LO SIDE O K NT ING IAL I NT B L O S DG .

ITE

1

Apart from the windows, we have also noticed scattered patches of vacant lots used as semi-public gardens. Although these spaces are not accessible by the public, they provide breathing spaces within the dense urban environment.

1 398 E. 152 St. 6 Floors 81 Units

2 NYCHA Housing 11 Floors 91 Units

3 263 Courtlandt Ave. 6 Floors 23 Units

BL

Green Patches Around Project Site

D

TO G.

D BE

EM

IS OL

HE

D

6

ST. 2 5 E. 1

IS EX

TI N

R GG

EE

CH AT P N

3 4

PR

O

5

4 Bronx Documentary Center thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

5 Community Garden (Locked)

6 Vacant Residential Lot

T. 1S 5 1 E.

C JE

TB

O

RY DA N U

Design Strategy Starting from the understanding of the urban context, we massed our buildings based on the site’s exposure to residential construction.

We faced all windows inward and circulation outward to expose semi-private spaces and conceal private spaces.

typical apartment window orientation

proposed apartment window orientation

To connect the green patches located around the site, we designed a continuous green landscape sandwiched between the residential space and commercial/public programs.

To address issues of visual exposure in residential units, we pulled the units apart and reoriented them to create front porches within the building.

low privacy interior space visible to each other

high privacy interior space invisible to each other

private public semi-accessible accessible

typical apartment block

continuous parkscape

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

building perforation

unit orientation by visbility

E 152nd

COMMERCIAL SPACES

SENIOR CENTER & CLINIC

Ground Level

COURTLANDT

Public Programs

YOUTH CENTER Ground Level Public Greenscape. thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

E 151st

DAYCARE

Based on a WHEDco survey of the Melrose neighborhood, the local community desires more small businesses, clinics, daycare, and youth centers. Our project responds by strategically placing these programs at the ground level and tied these programs by the landscape.

Residential Level Private & Semi-Private Space Residential units are strategically oriented based on their respective window orientation. To prevent visual exposure between the units, we created front yard gaps between units to create wall-facing window conditions. This preserves both outdoor exposure and privacy.

Units with Wall Facing Windows UNITS

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

OUTDOOR PORCH

UNIT ENTRY

WINDOW ORIENTATION

Section Showing Porosity of Front Yard Integration

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Line Library M.Arch Core Studio I Columbia University, GSAPP New York Spring 2019 Studio Critic Gordon Kipping

Library today serves more than just an archive of literature. It is an accessible public space that houses a mixture of supplemental programs to enhance the library program.

The Line Library is a building that weaves library programs together with an existing park program. Through the unraveling of spaces of a library and spreading them across the site, this project aims to create unusual situations, where events between two types of public spaces.

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Site Conditions Our site locates in The Sara D. Roosevelt Park, which is situated in the border shared by four neighborhood. Divided by six streets, each with distinctive characteristics, every node of the park has its audiences.

Collage of Programs

1.

Using collage as a technique to stitch programs together, I started with three programs from each type of public space.

1. Basketball Court x Stacks 2. Memorial x Reading Room 3. Lecture Hall x Playground

2.

3.

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Unroll & Deploy

Folding The Envelope

To address the linearity of the site, I unrolled the library program and arrayed them according to their relative access frequency. Then, I paired them with their opposite counterpart in the park program to create maximum “conjunction.”

The library signifies key features of the building through the manipulation of the envelope. These gestures emphasize the weave between the library program and the park program.

This method of unroll-and-deploy led to a series of small scale interior spaces that are accessible throughout the site and exposes the core of the library programs to the park.

Conventional Library

Unfold lift

Extend

Extrude Study Model

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

fold

stand

2/f

STUDY PLAYGROUND

LOADING

AUDITORIUM BASKETBALL

WORKING RM

ACTIVITY RM. SOCCER

FAB LAB PLAYGROUND

SOCCER

CAFE

STACKS

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

READING RM

MEMORIAL GARDEN

MONUMENT

With a majority of communityoriented spaces made accessible at the ground level, function-oriented are placed at the second level to tie the ground level together and maintain practicality.

OFFICE

Adapting to Site Conditions

1/f

Section Through Auditorium and Basketball Court. thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Reading Room Looking At Playground thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Reading Room And Monument

Broadway Barrier M.Arch Core Studio I Columbia University, GSAPP New York Fall 2018 Studio Critic Amina Blacksher

Broadway is one of the longest stretches of road that spans the entire length of manhattan.

From iconic time square and Colombus circle, and from the upper west to west Harlem, the whole spectrum of the “melting pot” is demonstrated through this section.

Out of a variety of sections that the broadway cuts through, the 125th st intersection represents one of the more politically loaded cross-section that the broadway ave encounters.

With the expansion of Columbia University in Manhattanville colliding with the most prosperous axis of Harlem, The urban condition of this intersection reflects the division between the two demographics thorough the materiality This project uses urban architectural intervention to challenge the urban convention and attempt to break the barriers with the reprogramming of urban public space.

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Breaking The Broadway Barrier

Intervention Through Accessible Public Spaces

Due to the changing elevation of north manhattan, The 125th 1-Line station is positioned high above the intersection on broadway. The five-story high steel bridge creates a literal barrier between the Manhattanville camps and the West Harlem neighborhood. This barrier divides the demographics of the highly educated population of Columbia and the lower-income population in the public housing complex. Furthermore, the newly built west Harlem pier park, which is desired by all community is made inaccessible by the inapproachable architecture of Manhattanville.

Through the mapping of surrounding open public spaces and their desired access points, I identified the 125th st and Broadway intersection as the the primary threshold of the community barrier.

Extended Zone of Intervention

With the barrier identified, my intervention aims to break up The architecture of the 125th station to create a more accessible urban environment.

Identified Public Spaces

Streamlined Bike Path

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Section Looking East - Showing Suspended Playground & Open Square

Improved Pedestrian Access

Diverted Traffic

Section Looking West - Showing Suspended Playground & Open Market

Outdoor Market

Playground

Train Station

Public Square

Climbing the Building Facade

Ramping from side of Buidling

Adapting to Site Conditions The complex condition of the intersection poses a variety of challenges to the placement and identification of available spaces for the intervention.

Through Stacking, Suspending, Climbing, and Ramping, the intervention spills over the nooks and crevices of the site.

Stacking Above Single Story Building

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Ramping from the side of Building

Suspending from Train Station

Spreading in Public Park

Unit Elevation + Circulation Studies Invisible Dwellings Studio Ames Fall 2019

Stitching Through Sara D. Roosevelt Park

Process Drawings Studio Research Drawings Columbia University, GSAPP New York

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com

Line Library Studio Kipping Spring 2019

Suburban Commercial Traffic and Time Study

Parametric Clay Tile Facade Study

Habitat for Autonomous Vehicles Studio Hoang Spring 2020

Reclaiming Schulze Baking Co. Studio Vanable + Williams Spring 2021

Historic Operable Threshold Studies Jay Heritage Center Studio Rakatansky + Otero-Pailos Fall 2020

thom chiu | www.thomchiu.com | 347-651-8776 | thomchiu@outlook.com