James Fan Design Portfolio

XIAOBIN JAMES FAN

PART 1 DESIGN PORTFOLIO

Sheffield School of Architecture

Selected works 2020-2021

SHOKUBUTSU (Plant)

Wellness Centre and Gardens, Tsukuda, Tokyo

A semi-public building situated in the heart of metropolitan Tokyo, seeking to destigmatise the topic of mental health and depolarise intergenerational societal norms, through the use of horticulture as a communal therapeutic activity.

With a grass-roots community gardening initiative at its foundations, my proposal aims to spark a conversation about mental health in Japan, reducing the engrained cultural stigma around seeking support.

Despite active government intervention, Japan still holds one of the highest suicide rates in the world, with it being the leading cause of death in men between the ages of 20-44 and women between the ages of 15 to 34. This is especially prevalent in Tokyo. For all its beauty, it is still a city whose normalisation of long working hours, lengthy commutes and a somewhat forced drinking culture contributes massively towards this.

This scheme will provide purpose-built spaces for both informal therapy, through community engagement and casual interaction, as well as formal therapy in the form of one-to-one counselling, group workshops and fellowship meeting scenarios.

LOCTATING THE SITE

Above:

Koto District Residential, new build, middle class, mid-rise Ginza District Commercial, tourist attraction, upper middle class, highrise Asakusa District - Cultural hub, caricature of ancient japanese aesthetic, tourist attraction

Below:

Tsukuda District Residential, somewhat untouched by Tokyo’s rapid urbanisation, low to mid-rise

Public Areas Parks and walkways Pedestrian Routes - paths and shared vehicular access Vehicular Access - Main flyover and shared pedestrian routes

Map Showing Contested Spaces Old and new

1984 saw the canalside fishermen’s homes sterilised and turned into the municiaplity’s vision of a ‘picturesque Tsukuda’, losing both it’s organic, living, breathing state, with deep connections to its historical importance which gave Tsukuda its identity and prominence.

RECLAIMING COMMUNITY SPACE

Existing Green Spaces

Despite the ubiquity of public green spaces throughout the city, there is little opportunity to be more than an observer of them. Their flaw lies in their perfection. Due to massively inflated land prices in Tokyo individual expression through horticulture exists in the negative spaces between buildings, nooks in kerbs and ridges or cracks on bare walls.

Urban Intervention Visualisation

The intervention would be completed through volunteer work from community members, starting with lifting up existing paving and ending with contributing flowers to the planters. A modular planting system will be at the heart of this intervention, whereby plants can be potted individually, but once placed together form a uniform bed, symbolic of an individual’s contribution to a community. Its completion will represent a recovery of community solidarity and pride in one’s locale, reclaiming space lost to municipality.

Native Japanese Plants and Their Seasonal Changes

In the spirit of guerrilla gardening, the intervention, and in turn the scheme, will celebrate transience and ephemerality, whereby the planters will be user defined. Plants can be taken and replaced depending on the seasons, respecting the natural cycle of growth and decay, whilst actively rebelling against the manicured permanence of traditional Japanese gardens.

MASSING DIAGRAMS / SITE CONSIDERATIONS

Creating green alcoves

Cutting into the building mass making negative spaces to create organic opportunities for guerrilla gardening to occur.

Pushing down roof heights

Lower roof heights to denote more intimate domestic style spaces.

Continuation of existing boardwalk motif

Using its recognisability current use as a circulation route as an invitation into the garden space for both users and curious visitors.

Maintaining viewpoints to the bridge

Ensuring that the scheme is not intrusive and that views towards the bridge remain unobstructed and natural.

Providing space for anglers

A nod to Tsukuda’s fishing village roots, the boardwalk extension will provide more space for the existing angling community which frequent the canal.

Reflecting the existing roofscape topography

The building acts as a transition between the low point of the canal and the roofscape of the structures surrounding it.

Framing the view to the bridge

The roof pitches in the scheme lean away from the bridge, drawing the eye towards it and forming an almost trianular composition in combination with the building opposite.

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INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR VIEWS

Interior perspective of the opening growing space

Aerial perspective of the scheme within its canal-side context

Eye-level perspective showing the schemes feature window and connection to existing pier

Interior perspective of the communal living area

DRAUGHT (Draw)

Graphic Novel Library, Cowgate, Edinburgh

Situated in the centre of Edinburgh’s Old Town, this building will become the UK’s first public library dedicated to graphic illustration. This scheme reimagines the tucked-away comic book section of a local library to create a pilgrimage site for lovers of comics, graphic novels and graphic illustration, through the celebration of the artform’s Scottish roots.

The building’s design takes inspiration from the larger than life stories which take place in the world of graphic novels and are reflected by the grandiose architecture that can be found all across the city of Edinburgh. The building will hint towards the framed moments that make up the pages of a comic, which are paralleled by the framed thresholds and narrow back-alleys which define the Cowgate area.

The scheme will accomodate four main environments; a permanent archival exhibition space displaying the original prints of the first printed comics, a dynamic exhibition space showcasing new artists, a lending library with reading spaces and a seminar/screening space . This division of programme creates a clear transition of inolvement, facilitating universal accessibility and the evolution from a complete novice to regular reader.

LOCATING THE SITE

‘History of a Coat’ The Northern Looking Glass

Published in 1825, The Northern Looking Glass is accredited as the first printed publication to use a series of framed illustrations to tell a story, what we now call a comic strip. The illustrations depicted impossible and larger than life moments condensing sattire and nuance into a single print.

Within the monumental and history steeped streets of Edinburgh, this scheme will celebrate the Scottish origins of graphic novels, as well as the journey the artform has taken since it’s inception.

Map showing the Cowgate area

Map showing thresholds and bridges into the Cowgate area, creating framed moments telling Edinburgh’s story

C - Edinburgh Waverley Station

CONCEPT / MASSING

Monolith

Cavernous, imposing and grandiose structures can be seen throughout Edinurgh. Neo-Gothic Churches attempted to revitalise a waning church presence in Victorian life through sparking awe through their architecture.

The cartoonist Scott McCloud theorises that the stripping down of distinguising elements can create a sense of universality. Simplifying the Neo-Gothic Church typology to an expressed central form with set-back flanks retains its sense of civic openness and hints to a programme of assembly without the religious symbolism

Light

The site is enclosed on three of its planes and surrounding building heights average at 24m tall, with the building to the south reaching 32m. Combined with low northern sun angles, this means that for much of the year the site’s floor area remains shaded.

A top lit approach using ambient and reflected light is needed to maximise natural lighting to the enclosed portions of the site. Stepping the building away from its Northern and Southern planes at each level creates openings to better make use of low angle sun and top lights.

The natural light which does make it into the scheme should be celebrated and made the focal point of the space, similarly to church windows. This creates a node from which the rest of the building can be navigated around

Sketch Render Using natural light to create a centre piece around the monolithic atirum space

perspective exploring relationship between compressed circulation spaces and expansive atrium space

SECTION - NORTH / SOUTH

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REPAIR

Situated in Stockport’s historic centre, this building aims to provide small scale rehabilitation to the town’s once booming productive capacity through the celebration of its industrial heritage. This will be achieved through providing a space for and the proliferation of knowledge surrounding piano repair, production and performance.

Whilst technological advances allowed the electronic keyboard make pianism more accessible, they also disrupted the somewhat cyclical lifespan of ageing pianos. With the average piano being playable for 30-50 years, regular servicing would allow it to pass through the ownership of at least 2 households. However, the digital piano’s cheaper price and zero maintenance costs threatens to make this sustainable cycle obsolete.

This scheme hopes to keep this cycle competitive, by producing repair technicians through apprenticeship schemes and stoking excitement towards acoustic pianos through live performances and community practice rooms. This building will therefore function like a productive machine, outputting pianos, knowledge and experiences. Each aspect of its program will feed and support the next.

Piano Repair Workshop and Concert Hall, Stockport, Manchester

LOCATING THE SITE

Cultural Institutions and Sources of Civic Pride

The site lies in close proximity to many of Stockport’s cultural institutions and structures of historic value. Many of these lie as reminders of the town’s rich history as pinoneers or domestic leaders in industry

Music as a Universal Language

Visual representation of my favourite piano piece ‘Sometimes I’m Happy’ performed by Oscar Peterson

This concept derives from the belief that music can be interpreted by all and trascends social boundaries, making it the perfect progammatic focus of an inclusive community space

Old Industry

The map above shows the historic importance of industry to Stockport Following this the photographs shows the effect that industry had on the verticality of Stockport’s skyline in the 1900’s.

Movement on a Grid

The building will take inspiration from the mechanical nature of pianos, notably the relationship between parts in suspension and tension. Users and objects moving through the building will provide dynamism to the grid like notes on sheet music.

Map showing the site in relationship to extents of Stockport’s Old Town Diagram showing public thresholds around the site

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EXTERIOR PERSPECTIVES

VENTILATING SOUND

As well as the passive ventilation provided by the solar chimneys the ducts are also used to transmit sound from the concert space throughout the building using technology similar to speaking tubes/ voice pipes found in old submarine ships.

To broaden the building’s reach and civic presence, the sound ventilation system is expanded into the wider context in pedestrianised zones

PERFORMANCE SPACE

In line with the building’s celebration of Stockport’s history, the acoustic design of the concert space revolves heavily around the use of suspended silk baffles, as a nod to the town’s history in silk production.