UCL Portfolio

Porous Inhabitation Isabel Li Yidong Portfolio

Meanings are granted to spaces through inhabitation and interactions. This portfolio discusses human involvement in architecture.

Contents

Super-Saturated Landscape Blackjack

Native American Sweat Lodge Resort

Porous Engawa Future Fashion Instittute

Adapt-lisation UABB Exhibition

Super-Saturated Landscape Blackjack

Third Year Project 1 2016.10-2016.12 Individual Project Tutors: Ana Monrabal Cook Luke Pearson

Engaging with people’s psychological and gestural behavior during gamble, this project used the game of Blackjack as a testing ground for possible gambleencouraging activity that can be carried out by casinos. On the surface, vibrant and seemingly innocuous appearance seduce people to join the game. On the other side of the table, interactive mechanisms respond to people’s behavior in order to make people lose more money: visual diversions can be created in order to secretly sneak away gambler’s chips; special effects which can only be trigger by the place of chips; and comforting table shapes designed according to human body and choreography during the game encourages people to stay longer.

Together, the design of this table comments on the temptation of gambling and the atmosphere of betting more for pride through an ironic table design that aims at encouraging irrational gamble.

Behaviour

Interface

Interaction

Interactive Mechanism Deve

Hands on table and joined game

Shapes designed according to human mechanism connected to

2. Chips on table

Platform for chips

Angled flatform for placing chips which can s

3. Choose amount to bet

Felt responding to hesitation gesture

Wavering felt controlled by pushing circ

4. Chips in bet ring

Mechanical ring

Exaggerated shapes changes responding

1. Hands on table and joined game

5. Placing card

Angled platform for cards

Angled flatform for placing cards interfering play

6. Decided Action

Shapes responding to decision gesture

Buttom helps demonstrating decision, which m more accessible for amateurs.

7. Double Down

Effects responding to double down

Exggerated expression when double down

elopment

Artifact

Exploded table design

body forms with o it.

secretly eat the chips.

cling buttom.

g to placing chips.

yer’s rational considerations.

makes the game .

n.

Artifecturalized Behaviour The project initiated with close study of each step of action during the game of blackjack, which are translated into interactive feature using unique characteristic of each action.

1. Movements during a Blackjack game.

2. Extracted Choreography from motions.

3. Areas that are out of reach transformed to visual attractions.

4. Areas of direct contact developed into wood, enhancing sense of touch.

5. Waving felt placed at where gestures of decision are performed.

6. Area closest to player designed as port for chips.

7. The ring and path to the ring emphasized.

Overall mechanism distribution.

Choreographed Whole Individual mechanisms are formed into area of a player’s reach according to the player’s motions, areas of contact and areas of

Overall Forms and mechanisms.

visual focus. Not only satisfying basic needs for the game to function, they acts collectively in prolonging a player’s time on the table.

Mechanism-lized Underside Under the table, a complete network of mechanism was designed ensuring the functionality of effects, while secrete drawers are placed for casino staff to collect sneaked chips. All mechanisms are driven by player’s actions when engaged in the game, thus, as players gets interested and drawn to the visual and physical effects, they lose money in the process.

Landscape blackjack makes things like placing chips on the table intersting

It also provide mechanism for the boring thinking and waiting time

It visualies activity of betting, encouraging people to put more chips in

It simplifies the decision making process, avoiding the part most amateur find difficult.

Landscape of for cards makes looking at cards more interesting.

It visualises the Double down, to encourages people

Blackjack vs Landscape Blackjack Landscape blackjack for five investigate pressure posed by neighboring players and the audience. Although casino itself can conduct some act of encouraging gambling, competing pride and pressure from audiences can still be important cause for irrational gambling. Through language of designed mechanisms, this table discusses other possible incentives for which cause lies within player themselves.

Interrelated Game of Five

a. This gentleman is fitting his chip while looking at the motion prod the lady sitting next to him.

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e b

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b. This lady is trying to figure out chips to bet with her hand motio while observing the landscape pro of the man on her left.

e

ps into the table duced on felt by

t the amount of on on the wheel oduced by chips

c. Weight of this gentlemen’s chips has created a landscape. However, decision of the person next to him has triggered the felt ballooms to rise up which is now disrupting his decision. d. The deal has lay cards for this gentlemen.

He has decided to double down as the total of his cards is eleven. It is also because

he has seen the effect that double down produces and he would like to try it himself. Therefore he is pressing the double down buttom, and is observing the balloon. e. Dealer revealed cards and it turns out that dealer is closer to 21 than this gentleman. Therefore he is losing all his bet chips and double down chips. He is watching the dealer taking his chip away.

Native American Sweat Lodge Resort Engaging with the Native American culture of Nevada, the project transcribes the landscapes from a number of reservations across the state into an architecture that is cut into the surrounding site. Taking in Native American concepts of the sky and the ground, the building sits as part of their cosmic sphere, connecting to above through views and to the ground through materiality.

Third Year Project 2 2017.01-2017.05 Individual Project Tutors: Ana Monrabal Cook Luke Pearson

A series of sweat lodges and other vernacular spaces are woven into the building, where gentle transitions in materiality and climate democrat the move from one landscape to another.

Together, these become a microcosm of the indigenous lands that responds to the overbearing cultural appropriation of the Las Vegas strip by proposing an architectural counterpoint that draws from the spirit of its sources rather than becoming a parody of it.

1966- Aladdin 1989- Mirage 1993- Luxor 1993- Treasure Island Post colonial Themed 1998- Bellagio

1999- Mandalay Bay 1999- Venetian 1999- Paris European Themed Luxury 2005- Wynn

Luxury

Record of Las Vegas -An counter point The Las Vegas strip with long famous for its variety of themed resorts, which many are bases on foreign cultures. Through a trip to Las Vegas, I discover a tendency which interpretations of these “borrowed� culture remained superficially, which was apparent in hotels built in earlier year. These hotels tend to use foreign culture as selling points, duplicated some famous attractions in that country, and portraited pieces of culture as flat and superficial images.

As a response and comment to this tendency of resorts in Las Vegas, a counter point to this tendency was proposed

1. Overall Scale Learning from Native American culture of aligning its architecture with axis, the orientation of the resort references to a few important surrounding sites.

2. Architectural Scale A few past territories of the South Paiute tribe are referenced to and arranged alone a main spine according to their distances to the site, forming overall shape of the resort.

3. Spaial Scale Internal spatial experiences are informed by the South Paiute tribe’s past territories’ environment. As these territories each have distinctive geographical qualities, they each themed the rooms in unique ways.

4. Human Scale The way of entering the resort is designed specifically according to the way of entering a tribe territory.

Without invisible boundary, this space introduces a gentle transition into the resort.

Main Path as Spine

Landscapes informing Rooms

Forms sits into the site

Overall Architectural Scale – Reconstructed cosmos Overall formation of the building follows a hierarchy constructed through the understanding of the South Paiute Tribe. A main path cutting through the architecture acts an architectural compass, navigating the cosmos of South Paiute Tribe. Landscapes which was once the tribe’s territories, informed the rooms’ atmosphere, relative orientation and its locations within the building.

To Sloane Canyon

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Water 3

Main Path – cosmos experience The main path acts as the main spine of the building, with shared facilities for all rooms sitting upon the path. These facilities are each informed by an specific aspect of the Native American culture.

1. Three layers of Threshold 2. Sinox tipi opening 3. Three layer communal swimming pool 4. Eating Landscape 5. Tower of Mt Charleston 6. White Path

Landscapes – Aligned Orientations Each landscape informs the atmosphere of two rooms. The way rooms are entered and arranged are designed with respect to the landscapes being referenced.

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5 Views

1 To Las Vegas

Mt. Charleston Red Rock Canyon

Lake Mead

Red Rock Canyon

Mojave Desert

The Strip

Mojave Desert Lake Mead

Site

Location, orientation and distance of landscapes with respect to the site and Las Vegas Strip.

Mt. Charleston

Landscapes of Past Territories -Atmospheric reading of a culture South Paiute tribe’s territory in the past ranges from four different landscapes each with distinctive geographical qualities.

Rather than giving an duplication of Native American architecture’s vernacular form, their living environment is referred to through learning from their past territories.

Diagrams on the right shows of rooms informed by the

distribution landscapes.

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B

Lake Mead -Sacred Water

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Design of this room attempted to discuss the sense of sacredness during sweat lodge ritual through exploring water flow between spaces.

This flow of water while connects the spaces, also wishes to

D

establish subtle transformation between different climates and spatial experiences.

Fig.A & B, Room:Humid Lake of Pond Fig. C, Cold water pond and sweat lodge Fig. D, Movement of water through spaces.

Valley of Fire – Coloured exploration Colours from the original landscape was explored through casting concrete with sand and stone from the original site. This design then employed forms which aims at celebrating varsity of colours to the best extended. By choosing a few most representative colours from the experiment shown in Fig.A and employing them with forms informed by the landscape itself, this design wishes to reflect vivid layers of interlaced colours in the valley of red rock.

B

1. Dealing with colour vertically, creating a vertical gradient.

2. Dealing with colour as lines, creating a hatch of colours.

3. Dealing with colour as Plain, creating layers 4. Dealing with colour as blocks, creating a solid form Fig.A, Set of coloured concrete casted with sand and stone from the site.

Fig. B, Layers of Colour and forms.

A

1. Threshold of Nature The threshold of nature is defined as a giant wall cutting path off, and a river that people pass over.

While the tiny door in giant wall gives the feeling of being inside landscapes, the river adds the sense of crossing a boundary.

2. Threshold of Village The threshold of village is located on the side of water, refering to how some camping site are located beside water. Thin and short walls are added on the side, inspired by formation of the tribe’s tent circle.

3. Threshold of Tent

Entering Tribe Territory -Three Layers of Threshold It is found that the experience of entering South Paiute territory consists of crossing series invisible boundaries, which are translated into reception space for the resort.

The threshold of tent is defined by two layers of smal openings and layers of staircase. This aim to achieve the feeling of passing through tight opening in the tent and the sudden change of atmosphere.

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Ground Floor Plan

1. Carpark 2. Watch Tower 3. Threshold of Nature 4. Traces of man-made in Nature 5. Threshold of Village 6. Reception desk 7. Lake Mead 8. Colorado River 9. Seating area in the landscape for waiting 10. Arbor of the tribe village 11. Spatialised opening of tipi 12. Path of Perception

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Inhabiting the spaces - Porous Experience Each room proposes a different way of engaging with the referenced landscape. The uniqueness of each room comments on the use of huge amount of identical rooms in the Las Vegas Strip. The only identical part inside these rooms are the sweat lodges, however, each room interacts with the sweat lodges in different way.

1. Path of Perception 2. Entrance of Deep Vallery of Red Rock 3. Mutifunctional Landscape space 4. Sleeping Space 5. Toliet 6. Nap Space 7. Experiencial Garden 8. Sweat Lodge 9. Back of house - environment control of sweat lodge 10. Humid Pond of Lake 11. Cold pool 12. Communal Swimming pool 13. Tunnel of communication 14. Water Collection from Sweat Lodge

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First Floor Plan

C. Room 3: Humid Lake

B. Room 1:Valley of Red Rock

A. Reception: Three layers of Threshold

Inspired from Lake Mead, this room utilises water to enhance sense of sacredness.

This room uses colours in different forms and shapes to respond to complicated geographical qualities of the Red Rock Canyon.

The reception area spatialised routine of entering into South Paiute Tribe.

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1. Carpark 2. Threshold of Nature 3. Threshold of Village 4. Lake Mead 5. Arbor of Tribal Village 6. Spatialised Threshold 7. Path of Perception 8. Deep Valley of Red Rock 9. Tunnel of Communication 10. Three Leveled Swimming Pool 11. Tower of Mt Charleston 12. High Peaks of Mt Charleston 13. White Path 14. Sweat Lodge 15. Plain of Mojave Arroyos

Cutting into the landscape - Surronding Cosmos In section, the design engages with Native American understandings of the cosmos. The architectural is cut into the site, responding to the current site geographies.

Site and Architecture 1. Foreign colour in site 2. Water and the site 3. Transition from the site

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Porous Engawa Future Fashion Instittute Engaging with the future possibilities of customisation in fashion industry through the employment of 3d printing technology, this project proposes a new typology of shopping and research complex. To discuss the relationship between designers and users, a ‘catwalk’ passes through the whole building, which weakens the distinction of identity between designers, users and models.

Second Year Project 2 2016.01-2016.05 Individual Project Tutors: Julia Backhaus Pedro Font Martin Tang

Porous: The way how visitors penetrate the building is a metaphor for the way users can penetrate the design process in future fashion industry.

Engawa: The interface between exterior and interior spaces, allowing transition and connection between the two extremes. This gap between two spaces forms an interchange of attention between two spaces, and therefore, acting as a Japanese form of catwalk.

A. Spatialised Engawa

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Units: Tatami Traditional units of tatami formed the framework of experiments over new technologies of 3D printing.

1. Traditional Japanese room 2. Extracted framework 3. Framework for possible tests for new materials.

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Interface: Engawa This spatialised engawa acts as main venue for interaction between visitors and designers.

Engawa: Model This space also allows a constantly varying role of models, as people’s focus move from one to another.

4, Traditional Japanese form of Engawa.

5, Spatialised Engawa, showing enlarged and vagued boundary between exterior and interior.

6, Inhabited engawa, showing studios, visitors and fabrics.

7, Traditional way of interaction in Engawa, showing interchange of focus.

8, Visitors acting as model as designers focus on them.

9, Designers acting as models as visitors focus on them.

Structure: Skin and Bones Structures, acting as bones, supports boxes, which provides inhabitable spaces. On the outside, a porous faรงade is applied to the structure, representing the skin and clothes.

Roof is then applied on top.

Catwalk: Spaces and Circulation 1. Catwalk takes people from the main streets through the building.

2. Shopping experience moments are located alone the catwalk.

3. Studios located on the other side of the catwalk. with entrance on another side.

4. Main square acts as a public space for surronding residential blocks, drawing people in from all sides.

Main path passing through the site connects residential blocks with commericial blocks on the otherside.

A. Exploded Diagram

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B.Ground floor as Public Space

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1. Body Scanning Modules 2. Projection of Body 3. Visitor designing her own ou 4. Catwalk 5. Studio Spaces 6. Cafe 7. Kichen for Cafe 8. Fabric Experimenting Groun 12 9

9. Material Experiencing Space 10. Stage 11. Furniture and lighting for sta 12. Visitors’ workshop 13. Showoff window 14. Seating area

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Section II

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Second Floor Plan

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First Floor Plan

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Ground Floor Plan

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Section I

New Typology: Shopping Procedure

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This multifunctional complex proposes a new shopping typology that is interweaved with 3d printing technology, customisation, communication with designers. This newly proposed shopping procedure is as follow:

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a, Visitors enter body scanning modules (1) and body shape data being collected. b, Projection of their own body shown (2), and visitors can start trying outfits onto the projection.

a, b, c

c, Visitors can develop their own design of patterns. (3) d, Visitors experience different 3d printed textures in material experience space (9) and choose their own. e, Visitors discuss design with designers. (4) f, Design gets custom-made by 3d printers in the studios.

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Other spaces are provided in support to this process. d

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Ground Floor Plan

First Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

1. Catwa 2. Mater 3. Recep 4. Tempo 5. Virtua 6. Above 7. Showi 8. Platfo 9. Studio 10. Kiche 11. Bridg 12. Seati 13. Seati 14. Supp

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First Floor Plan

alk entrance rial experience area ption orary Exhibition Space al clothes Trying Module e Hanging Chairs ing Off Shop Windows orm looking into Studio Space o en for Studio ge and Showroom ing Area ing Boxes ports for Stage

A journey through Catwalk C. Public space under the catwalk creates stopping point for people living and working A. Catwalk creates an inviting view for the nearby, drawing public attention into the main street. building.

B. Catwalk peeps into engawa space, D. End of catwalk, and visitors becomes bridging studios and visitors. audiences reviewing back at the site.

Adapt-lisation UABB Exhibition

Bi-city Biennale of Urban/ Architecture 2017.19-2017.12 Group Project Group Leader: Isabel Li Group members: Olliver Zhu Amy Wu Velvet Xiong Published on: http://www.gooood. hk/adapt-lization-from-urban-villages-tofuture-living-typology.htm

The urban village as a public space where convenience and potential dangers coexist will eventually enrich the available architectural typologies to a unified metropolitan sphere, which explains why we consider urban villages as an organic integration of urban development.

Using urban village as a starting point, our group of architects has constructed a unique architectural framework with a platform for spatial competition. In this new frame of living, the original institution of mechanisms that serves to the precepts will join into a more efficient application to the already finelydivided space, which avoids the disadvantages of additional construction in the most significant extent. In this fashion, our group of architects has examined the mutual influence of competitive precepts in the urban-village model and predicted the fundamental changes in the life of its residents.

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Self Adapting Living The above diagram shows the thinking process from research to design.

1. A typical corridor in urban village demonstrates expansion and competition in occupied public space.

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2. Sometimes, one inhabitants’ expansion can be useful to another inhabitant, as shown in the diagram, in which one inhabitant’s pile becomes another’s staircase.

3. Frequency of inhabited public space against personal space is analyzed and shown.

4. Learning from the above examples, mechanisms are developed to encourage certain freedom in forming ones own living space while avoiding disadvantage of fir hazard in urban villages.

Emulations In a few emulations of Urban villages’ development status, we developed required rules and mechanism needed to re-create the Adaptable environment. a. Studied the effect of special boundary in competitive modes. b. A more precise rule is applied, discussing ownership of spaces and interference of different ownerships.

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Frequency of Inhabitation A certain space in the structure is analyzed using grasshopper. It is divided in the 140 thousand blocks and the frequency of each block being occupied during change of ownership is calculated.

This model gives a general idea of most desirable space in a competitive public space, which can be used in the development of future projects. d. Different frequencies of occupied blocks f. Different frequencies in plan e. Physical model made from the data.

Form

Mechanism

Rule

Typology

Permanent 5×5 Permanent living space, with possibility of expanding.

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Alternate A

A+B B 5×5×5 A A+B B A+B A+D B+C Moving space, giving C+D 4× A+B inhabitant A+D B+C A+B A C+D Bchance to C+D D C 4× inhabit.

A+B A A+B B B+C D C+D C C+D 4× A+D A+B B+C C+D 4× A+D C+D D C

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A+B A+D C+D A B+C / B D / C+D C C+DA C

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Structure, Rules, Mechanism and Living Learning from ways of living in Urban villages, we developed a set of rules and mechanism to encourage the freedom of constructing their own living space in urban villages, while at the same time avoiding the

C+D

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C+D 4× A+D 15×15×5 Rotating motion regularly D C+D C renews surronding environment.

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Moving Community ?

15×15×5 Motion in larger scale gives more ?possibility to neighbourhood.

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15×15×5

Combined motion forms B+C interactive spaces in a larger scale.

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Medium Community 60×60×5 Four small community ? forms a complete large scale community.

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Combined Motion

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Vertical Rotation 5×10×15 Creates direct change in levels and vertical environment.

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Vertical movement 5×5×10 Renews living enivironment in vertical scale.

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Deconstruction 5×5×5 Changes ownership of each small scale space.

A A / B / C

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negative affects of such freedom. Together, this structure acts as a controlled machine of generation self-designed and constructed spaces.

Isabel Li Yidong Portfolio isabelebasi@163.com +86 13602647390