Lai See Long Portfolio

THE BARTLETT, FACULTY OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Family Name: LAI___________________________________________________________________ Forename: See Long______________________________________________________________ UCL Student ID number: 24183011_____________________________________________________________ Programme applied for: MArch Architecture [TMHARCSING09] (ARB/RIBA PT2)

Any other programmes you have applied for at UCL:

N/A___________________________________________________________________ Qualification, Subject, Grade (e.g. Bachelor degree in Architecture 2:1): Bachelor of Arts (Architectural Studies) ________________________________________ Have you completed work experience (taken after your degree)?

Completed Internship (May 2022 - Aug 2022), Ongoing (Aug 2023 - )_________________ __

If an English Language certificate is required please let us know if you have one or will be taking a test?

Test will be taken__________________________________________________________ Link to your online portfolio (Preferably on ISSUU): https://issuu.com/laichristopher/docs/portfolio_seelong_lai_bartlett

PORTFOLIO PERCEIVING AND MAKING

LAI SEE LONG, CHRISTOPHER

Application to Bartlett MArch (ARB/RIBA Part II) Education & Student Experience Team, Bartlett Faculty Office, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT

Resume / Table of Content

Lai See Long Christopher Education 2019-2023 2013-2019

Work Experience Aug~

2023

May-Aug 2022 Aug

2018

Phone: 29044762 Mobile: 53733804 Email: clai4501@connect.hku.hk

Bachalor of Architectural Studies, University of Hong Kong St. Joseph’s College Architectural Assistant, LWK & Partners Ltd.

Currently working in HK residential project team in handling site coordination, publishing sales materials, consolidating presentation and drawings for submission.

Design Intern, MLKK Studio

Worked at iterating interior retail project designs in HK and South East Asia. Also worked on a research project on molding bioplastic from recycled expanded polystyrene.

Mentorship Intern, R&D Team, Paul Y. Engineering Group

Worked as a mentee under an R&D team architect. Aided in gathering information and graphic designs for a BIM presentation.

Extra-curricular, Services Aug

2021 2018 2018

Awards

2023

Competitions Apr Jan

2022 2021

Proficiencies

Communal Voids

9

Civic Cabinet

12

Social Dissection

14

Eternal Cascade

16

Real, Unreal, Surreal

17

Fourth Year Studio Project II

Fourth Year Studio Project I

Third Year Studio Project II

Third Year Studio Research

Honourable Mention – Pandemic Memorial Competition Entry

Research Project – Digital and Fabrication

Parametric and Visualization

18

Team Leader, Hang Lung Young Architects Program

Structural Studies

19

YOHO West

20

Worked as the chief designer for the Students’ Union, led the team in stage and exhibition design for Internal Talent Quest and Open Day. Also participated in publication designs.

Led a team of four and participated in architectural workshops, guided tour and a design competition on a community installation.

Nominated – RIBA President’s Medal 2023 (Bronze Medal for Part 1 Student) Honourable Mention – Pandemic Memorial: A Tribute to Frontline Workers Bauhaus Campus 2021 Competition Weather Casting, Curatorial Assistant Image Recycling, Research Participant

Adobe Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Premiere Pro, Lightroom) Rhino Enscape Lumion AutoCAD

2

3

Vice Chairperson of Organizing Committee, Architectural Students’ Association Orientation 2021 Club Director, St. Joseph’s College 143th Students’ Union

Research & Exhibition

Jun-Jul 2022 Feb-Mar 2022

Vertical Boulevard

Essentials

Revit Fusion 360 Blender SketchUp Vray DaVinci Resolve

Third Year Visual Communication Project

Second Year Building Technology Project

Practice Experience Project

Vertical Boulevard / Fourth Year Studio Project II

Vertical Boulevard Outdoor Living in the Skies One in Hong Kong nowadays could only imagine sharing parts of their living with one another, it was a long forgotten experience talking with their neighbours and living in the same space.

It was the ambition of this project to liberate the living amenities from the unit, and share it with one another, fostering a special kind of neighbourhood.

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Vertical Boulevard / Fourth Year Studio Project II

Collage Exercise The 5m by 18m Tong Lau site was tested by collaging from a created catalogue of geometries, colours was introduced gradually to define functions and spatial conditions.

Massing Studies The collaged floor plans were extruded and iterated to consider connections and spatiality between floors.

Week 1

Catalogue was formulated from tracing found plans, collages aims to create tight rooms.

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Week 2

Programmes are defined in the expanded catalogue, private living space are imagined as pods.

Week 2

Pink added in catalogue to define outdoor space, shared space are imagined as an indoor chambers connect with balconies.

Week 3

Defining all shared space as outdoor spaces.

The above plans works in tandem to create a void.

Vertical Boulevard / Fourth Year Studio Project II

Garden

Garden Garden

Living Quarter Family

Living Quarter Family Living Quarter Family

Extraordinary Amenities

Playground

Playground Playground Living Quarter Mixed

Living Quarter Mixed Living Quarter Mixed Gym

Continuous Landscape

Continuous Landscape

Each living clusters are now connected vertically with stairs along the walkways, Corridor can be recessed to create double height living space.

Gym Gym Living Quarter Individual

Living Quarter Individual Living Quarter Individual

Extraordinary Amenities Intermediate floors between the three living clusters holds programmes all residents would meet, i.e. Gym, Playground, Karaoke.

Contains larger units for 2-4 residents, with indoor living space in the middle.

Karaoke Living Room Bedroom

Karaoke Self Storage Karaoke

Bath Kitchen DiningRoom Living

Mixed Cluster Contains units for 1-4 residents, with indoor living space in the middle.

Living Room Working Bedroom

Tall Lobby

Tall Lobby

North Facade Corridor as Streets

Family Cluster

A large tall void in the lobby welcome the residents and nearby neighbours to use the community facilities, i.e. Karaoke, self storage, parcel lockers.

Self Storage Self Storage

Bedroom Bath

Bath Bath/Kitchen Kitchen Kitchen Dining Dining Working Working

South Facade Programmatic Distribution

Individual Cluster Contains only units for 1 resident, with indoor living space in the middle.

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Vertical Boulevard / Fourth Year Studio Project II

Family Cluster Family Cluster has smaller outdoor area in front of their unit to give more privacy. Units are not directly visible from the outdoor living space.

Mixed Cluster Mixed Cluster has the most diversed outdoor living spaces, outdoor living space are concentrated on the floor with the most individual users.

Individual Cluster Individual cluster promotes interactions between users, outdoor living space are large and directly in front of the units.

Cluster Conditions 6

Dissecting the Living Cluster

Vertical Boulevard / Fourth Year Studio Project II

Cluster Section Each of the clusters is connected by the stairs in the outdoor corridors, providing pockets for communal living and access to public amenities.

Outdoor Pockets The outdoor pockets are livable spaces that includes vegetations and encourage interaction between the residents through chance encounter.

Cluster Section

Outdoor Pockets

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Vertical Boulevard / Fourth Year Studio Project II

Cluster Construction and Interior 8

Communal Voids / Fourth Year Studio Project I

The Six, Los Angeles Brooks + Scarpa 2016

Communal Voids Convergence and Division The Six is a monolithic housing from the outside, while internally organized into small communities by corridors and gathered around a large atrium.

The studio focuses on renovating the above housing project to accommodate an extra 30% of residents.

Encased in the Block The Six is located in the blocks of Westlake South.

The housing is encased within the block by shops and services.

There are no visual connection with the street, leading to the low visual identity of the housing.

Division by Corridors Block Diagram

Despite the monolithic appearance, The Six could be divided into smaller communities by the corridors.

The chance encounter of the communities are low on the upper level as they do not share circulation.

The only gathering space is the atrium.

Convergance at the Void The Atrium as the focal point of the housing, interacts with the units in different communities differently.

The existing void is not very effective in providing communal ground despite the luxurious void volume.

Bird-eye Drawing – Convergence at Atrium Drawing in collaboration with Robert Wang

Division Diagram

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Communal Voids / Fourth Year Studio Project I

Communal Voids / Fourth Year Studio Project I

1

VOID = 10913m³

MASS = 16868m³

Dissection and Rearrangement of Void The final renovation is based on dissecting and rearranging the existing void. The total void volume is unchanged while new masses are created to form the void.

8

6 4

4

The dissection would result in smaller voids with more total interfaces with the mass, effectively increasing the contact in the housing while better utilizing the void volume.

Original Mass and Void VOID:MASS = 4:6

VOID:MASS = 4:6

2

VOID:MASS = 4:8

A

a2

Community Formation

C

a1

A

c1 c2

B

B

The formed mass could be broken down into communities with different intimacy, defined by the void.

C

Existing units are modified to interact differently to their respective void. Some units are morphed into larger units to house bigger families that will inhabit in the housing.

b2 b1

VOID = 10913m³

3

New Mass and Rearranged Void

Each community include units of different size so that the communities are not segregated by class.

Dissected Void

a

a1

c

a2

D

C1

c1 c2

b

A1

b2 b1

VOID = 10913m³ MASS = 16868m³

10913m³ 30755m³ (+ >30%)

A2

4

B1 E

Communities formed around Rearranged Voids 10

Dissected Community

Communal Voids / Fourth Year Studio Project I

Construction The actual addition to the housing blends thoroughly with the existing design.

Additions follows the structural system of stacked assembled wooden units with new facade treatment using corrugated metal.

11

Civic Cabinet / Third Year Studio Project II

Civic Cabinet The Municiple Service Building (MSB) The MSB is a type of civic service building in Hong Kong, usually composed of a cooked food centre, a library, a market and sports center. Local residents often depends on the district MSB for their daily necessities.

The Library

The Market

Speculative Cabinet Model The MSB was imagined as a cabinet in which programmes were compartments that were disassembled and scattered across the Ap Lei Chau Main Street, where the programmes once were before the construction of a MSB. Teammates: Wang Ziyuan, Angus Hong, Pak Hei Nam Duties: Model making, Filming and editing 12

The Sports Ground

Civic Cabinet / Third Year Studio Project II

Carvable MSB The Lei Yue Mun site is a district populated by seafood restaurants due to the shellfish content in the harbour, when redesigning the district MSB, food waste of shellfish and remains washed on the shore is recycled to produce a bioplastic with gelatin as the aggregate.

Breaking Apart The bioplastic hardens on the surface after being exposed to air.

Sharp tools can be used to break through the surface layer, exposing the gel-like internal strucutre of the food composite, the softened wall can then be easily modified physically.

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1

3 4

5

LEGEND 1. COWORKING SPACE / LIBRARY 2. COMMUNITY CENTER 3. PIAZZA 4. FLEA MARKET 5. LEI YUE MUN HARBOUR 1

5

10

20M

Concept Model

Site Model

Reconfiguring Interior

Breaking the Bioplastic 13

Social Dissection / Third Year Studio Research

Social Dissection Harnessing and Incubating Atmosphere Wah Fu Estate was designed to harness the transference of air using stack effect to drive drought into flats. Doors were often opened to keep air flow through flats. This defined how people inhabit the tower housing, shaping the community.

The permeability of flats sets a stage for the transference of atmosphere, while sound, smell and light would be transmitted without much insulation. Boundary between public and private is very blur.

“Everyone just opened their door and windows and there wasn’t even a need to turn on the fans on regular days.”

“As most people open their doors all the time, you could easily hear the conversation next door, we could also smell the dishes from the next flat.”

“The estate was suffcient for most activities for a student like me, without the need of leaving the estate” Mr. Lai, former resident of Wah Cheong House All works collaborated with Nicola Chau

Wah Cheong House, circa 1975

Wah Cheong House, present

Wah Cheong House, circa 1975

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Social Dissection / Third Year Studio Research

Evolving Atmosphere In its lifetime of being inhabited, the way of living in Wah Fu changed as it was adapted. The generations evolve of inhabitants have been replenished while the structure of the building deteriorates.

The introduction of air conditioners and adaptations of balconies had also move the way of living in Wah Fu beyond its past and intended form.

“Actually they do not want to move, but they understand that redevelopment is inevitable,” Au Lap-sing, the Southern District Councilor

“I’ve been living here for 16 years, there are fresh air and quiet environment” “But to be frank, I support the rebuild, after all it’s been 40 years. New public housing would provide better equipment and support.”

A man doing exercise in the park

“I think it is enough if the memories can be kept in the world in another form. Redevelopment of an old estate is just like life and death.”

Francis Ng Chor-kee, Boyhood resident

All works collaborated with Nicola Chau

Wah Cheong House, present

15

Eternal Cascade / Pandemic Memorial Competition Entry

The Eternal Cascade The Eternity Cascade aims to honour the commitment of frontline workers against COVID-19 pandemic.

We make use of the existing terrace landscape.

The gesture of excavating a central walkway separates the upper level into two platforms, which represents the regards of the living ones and the deceased respectively. Stepping stones of different orientations provide paths for circulation.

Site

Site

Segregation

Path Extrusion

Segregation

Circulation

Path Extrusion

Water Flow

Extruded Topography

Circulation

Water Flow

Extruded Topography

The Eternity Cascade

Teammates: Anson Tam, Boris Li Duties: Design Coordination, Rendering

The Eternity Cascade aims to honour the commitment of frontline workers against COVID-19 pandemic.

We make use of the existing terrace landscape.

The gesture of excavating a central walkway separates the upper level into two platforms, which represents the regards of the living ones and the deceased respectively. Stepping stones of different orientations provide paths for circulation.

Site

Segregation

Path Extrusion

Circulation

Water Flow

Extruded Topography

The TheEternity EternityCascade Cascade

TheThe Eternity Eternity Cascade Cascade aimsaims to honour to honour the the commitcommitment ment of frontline of frontline workers workers against against COVID-19 COVID-19 pandemic. pandemic.

Water from both sides flow along the waterfall and converge at the pool. The visual linkage from the pool to the sea conveys a poetic message, symbolising the spirit of frontline workers and the public, prospering social cohesion and strengthening the will of the community to fight this ongoing battle.

The TheEternity EternityCascade Cascade TheThe Eternity Eternity Cascade Cascade aimsaims to honour to honour the the commitcommitment ment of frontline of frontline workers workers against against COVID-19 COVID-19 pandemic. pandemic.

The TheEternity EternityCascade Cascade TheThe Eternity Eternity Cascade Cascade aimsaims to honour to honour the the commitcommitment ment of frontline of frontline workers workers against against COVID-19 COVID-19 pandemic. pandemic.

16 16

Water from both sides flow along the waterfall and converge at the pool. The visual linkage from the pool to the sea conveys a poetic message, symbolising the spirit of frontline workers and the public, prospering social cohesion and strengthening the will of the community to fight this ongoing battle.

We We make make use use of the of the existing existing terrace terrace landscape. landscape.

TheThe gesture gesture of excavating of excavating a central a central walkway walkway sep-separates arates the the upper upper levellevel intointo two two platforms, platforms, which which represents represents the the regards regards of the of the living living onesones andand the the

We We make make use use of the of the existing existing terrace terrace landscape. landscape.

TheThe gesture gesture of excavating of excavating a central a central walkway walkway sep-separates arates the the upper upper levellevel intointo two two platforms, platforms, which which represents represents the the regards regards of the of the living living onesones andand the the deceased deceased respectively. respectively.

Stepping Stepping stones stones of of dif- different ferent orientations orientations provide provide paths paths for for circulation. circulation.

Water Water fromfrom bothboth sides sides flowflow along along the the waterfall waterfall andand converge converge at the at the pool.pool.

TheThe visual visual linkage linkage fromfrom the the poolpool to the to sea the sea conveys conveys a poetic a poetic message, message, symbolising symbolising the the of frontline of frontline workers workers andand theSegregation the public, public, prospering prospering SiteSitespiritspirit Segregation social social cohesion cohesion andand strengthening strengthening the will the will of the of comthe community munity to fight to fight this this ongoing ongoing battle. battle.

We We make make use use of the of the existing existing terrace terrace landscape. landscape.

TheThe gesture gesture of excavating of excavating a central a central walkway walkway sep-separates arates the the upper upper levellevel intointo two two platforms, platforms, which which represents represents the the regards regards of the of the living living onesones andand the the deceased deceased respectively. respectively.

Stepping Stepping stones stones of of dif- different ferent orientations orientations provide provide paths paths for for circulation. circulation.

Water Water fromfrom bothboth sides sides flowflow along along the the waterfall waterfall andand converge converge at the at the pool.pool.

TheThe visual visual linkage linkage fromfrom the the poolpool to the to sea the sea conveys conveys a poetic a poetic message, message, symbolising symbolising the the of frontline of frontline workers workers and and the the public, public, prospering prospering SiteSite spiritspirit Segregation Segregation social social cohesion cohesion andand strengthening strengthening the will the will of the of comthe community munity to fight to fight this this ongoing ongoing battle. battle.

PathPath Extrusion Extrusion

Circulation Circulation

SiteSite

PathPath Extrusion Extrusion

Water Water Flow Flow

Segregation Segregation

Circulation Circulation

Extruded Extruded Topography Topography

Real, Unreal, Surreal / Research Project

Real, Unreal, Surreal.

The research project explore the confusion between and reality and computer generated imagery.

The physcial and digital realms generated frictions on the definition of reality, shifting our attention back and forth between real, unreal, realistic, and surreal.

Prefabrication with 3D printing and the organic form of oyster shells were commonly regarded as contradictory.

The oyster brick was prototyped as a statement to integrate the organic shells as a building component.

In collaboration with: Jason Chan, Boris Li, Priscilla Chick Coordinated by: Haotian Zhang, Lidia Ratoi Duties: Digital Simulation, 3D Print Fabrication

Path Extrusion

Circulation

Water Flow

Extruded Topography

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

REAL 1. Piled oyster shells in a photo booth 2. Crushed oyster shell in a photo booth

Water Flow

REALISTIC 3. 3D-printed model of a 3D scanned shell 4. Texture applied on model with a projector

Extruded Topography

UNREAL 5. 3D scanned oyster shells multiplied in Blender 6. Point clouds rendering of 3D scanned and shapeshifted oyster shells

Oyster Bricks

SURREAL 7. 3D scanned oyster shells inflated in Blender 8. 3D scanned oyster shells deflated in Blender 17

Parametric and Visualization / Third Year Visual Communication Project

Parametric and Visualization The project explored the generative properties of parametric design by experimenting with the Grasshopper plugin in Rhino 3D. The exposure to the parametric toolkit allowed me to create and improvise forms by changing variables.

The final product combines the parametric form with a scene by digital staging, rendering and post-processing, blending the virtual and the physical.

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Structural Studies / Second Year Building Technology Project

Structural Studies Multi-Use Hall in Schorndorf-Oberberken In construction of the Multi-Purpose Hall in Schorndorf-Oberberken, wood was the main material to integrate the architecture into its urban context.

In the cable-supported system in the ceiling, instead of using wood solely, tension rods and steel frames are implemented such that the trusses can carry more load.

The roof structure consists of layers including roof tiles, roof battens and rafters etc. This facilitates ventilation and reinforce the whole structure.

All works collaborated with Lincoln Chan

SECTION

PLAN

ELEVATION

ELEVATION

SECTION

MULTI-USE HALL IN SCHORNDORF-OBERBERKEN

SECTION

MULTI-USE HALL IN SCHORNDORF-OBERBERKEN PLAN

PLAN

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YOHO West / Work Experience

YOHO West Light Rail Tin Wing Station Housing Development The YOHO West development above the Tin Wing station is being developed into a private residential housing project by Sun Hung Kai Properties. The project is challenging as the podium levels interacts with an existing light rail station, constant coordination with the Mass Transit Railway Cooperation is required for the realization of the housing phases.

I was engaged in revising the Master Layout Plan and other sales materials and rectifying the details between sales materials, General Building Plan and site conditions.

Project by: LWK & Partners (Hong Kong) Ltd.

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