THE LANDSCAPE OF IMPOSSIBILITY
Kindness is the belief in the impossible in times of darkness.
Project Keywords: [Imagination, Impossibility, Hope]
Tutor: CJ Lim
TA: Edmund Tan
Individual project
Duration: 13 weeks
CRITICAL THINKING
The initial inspiration of the project comes from Tim Burton’s film Big Fish. In this film, the father - a fervent storytellerturns every incident of his life into a fantastic adventure. While the skeptic son investigates into these extravagant imaginations, he eventually comes to understand the genuineness and power of father’s fantasies. By the end of the film, the real and the fantasy interwines and the terminally-illed father turns into a big fish.
I came to realize the power of imagination. The belief in the impossible is what leads us through times of darkness. The building project then starts from the critique on how our current built environment is designed based on practicality and rules of capitalism. My project envisions a way of designing that goes against the grain of science and logic, using imagination to build spaces for hope and healing.
PROJECT SYNOPSIS
Context
The Chinese countryside is the cradle of stories, legends, and the Chinese civilization. But the environmental deterioration and the rapid economic development in cities are killing the countryside. The site is in one of the most threatened rural communities in north-western China, an inner Mongolian tribe, called the Alxa League. People of the Alxa League lives on the edge of china’s fastest growing desert - the Tengger Desert - one of the most arid and inhospitable land for human inhabitation.
Protagonist
The destructive forces of sand, sunlight and wind are the main protagonists, together with Altandol, a 12-year-old Mongolian girl whose family’s livelihood are threatened by the deteriorating climate. Reminiscent of the nomadic lifestyle, Altandol leads a travelling circus into the landscape. Through “acts of impossibilities” – combining the most advanced technologies with the most long-lived traditions –she tries to continue the story for the dying storyteller.
Site Context: Merging Deserts
Failure of the Great Green Wall
Resettling the Ecological Refugees
TURNING SAND INTO SOIL
ACTS
HARVESTING ICE FROM SKY
TURNING PLANTS INTO GOLD BREATHING LIFE INTO THE DESERT
CREATING FUN IN THE SHADOWS
TRANSFORMING DESERT INTO OASIS
OF IMPOSSIBILITIES
THE TRAVELLING CIRCUS ELEVATION
The Alchemist: Soil-Making Station
The Floating Ice Cube: Water Harvesting Station
The Floating Ice Forest (on Ground): Water Harvesting Station with Stone Well
The Bloom: Seeding Device
The Glider: Carrier / Flying Market Sheep Farm
THE TRAVELLING CIRCUS PLAN
Landscape Legend
Market Route
- ACT 1 -
“TURNING
SAND INTO SOIL”
The leading character of the circus is the alchemist, a walking fish, a symbol of impossibility in the barren desert. The alchemist spreads paste made of plant cellulose to bind sand particles together and turn them into soil. it travels on sandboard and is led into the barren desert by flocks of sheep. As it walks, it leaves a trail of fertile land, as if creating a river.
DRIED BRANCHES
- ACT 1 -
“TURNING
SAND INTO SOIL”
The legs of the alchemist are the drying racks for the pruned branches. Everyday my family and I will take the fish lift to hang the newly harvested branches and collected the dried ones for chipping. The fish lift will take me to the paste-making workshop on the top level, where we mix and create the cellulose paste.
Inspiration
Anglepoise Lamp
Joinery
Fixed point
Centre of rotation
Direction of forces
Direction of forces extended
Stretching of spring
Direction of movement
Joints of Alchemist’s legs leverage on the spring mechanism to maintain stability. Tension of the adjacent spring ensures that the joint will not collapse when bent under the weight of the top structure.
- ACT 2 -
“HARVESTING
ICE FROM SKY”
When the groundwork is laid, water stations are placed around the route which extracts icy water from the sky for drinking and agriculture. The floating ice forest are solar kites that utilize both solar and wind energy to condense water from desert air. Harvested water is channelled into the stone well - like the stone temple that we often go to pray for rain. Now it becomes a real water station! Isn’t it magical?
- ACT 3 -
“BREATHING
LIFE INO THE DESERT”
Farming in huge barren deserts might be laborious and daunting. In this act, the bloom, a symbol of growth and a device for seeding will be carried by eagle-like gliders to spread the seeds. Instead of digging in the ground with a spade, we use our skill of archery to farm. The bloom brings back our long-lost hunting traditions and transforms them into new rituals of growth.
- ACT 4 -
“TURNING
PLANTS INTO GOLD”
In the season of harvest, the circus will become a market in a most unlikely form. The flying market travels a different route from the alchemist’s, connecting the existing villages in the desert. Harvested produce are carried by gliders and the sheep on the ground, enticed by the hanging fruits and vegetable, gather under the glider wing to form spaces. As the produce are sold out, the sheep walk away and the market disappears.
- ACT 4 -
“TURNING
PLANTS INTO GOLD”
The bamboo frames of the glider wing shifts up and down so it can stand on the ground and form clusters of market stalls. The huge shadows casted by the glider wings and the flocks of sheep gathering around define a shaded and warm space. The flying market, with a dreamlike transient quality, provides a space to re-connect the people and re-build the communities.
THE FLYING MARKET
Turning Plants into Gold
MONGOLIAN HERDING PRACTICE
HERB DRYING
LOCAL HERBS
Sea Buckthorn
Cistanche
Cynomorium
Licorice
- ACT 5 -
“CREATING
FUN IN THE SHADOWS”
SCENE 1
BOTANY CLASS
In august each year, to celebrate harvest, the circus turns into a green palace, using its shadows to create spaces for different activities. Each morning from 9 to 10am, a botany class is held at the bloom, shadowed by the alchemist. Sheep gather in the shadowed area to form a warm enclosure for the children.
- ACT 5 -
“CREATING FUN IN THE SHADOWS”
SCENE 2
SHARTAR CHESS GAME
At 12pm, when the noon time sun casts shadow of the workshop grid onto the ground, we use it as a giant chessboard. We make sand chess pieces using the paste and play Mongolian Shartar chess together. Next year when we tour back, these chesspieces will become huge green topiary! I can’t wait to see it!
- ACT 5 -
“CREATING FUN IN THE SHADOWS”
SCENE
3 WRESTLING CONTEST
At 2pm, the weather becomes unbearably hot, the alchemist sits down and the salt water pouch turns into giant cooling beds. What a perfect stage for a wrestling competition! We love to watch the game from the fish lifts and cheer for the wrestlers.
- ACT 5 -
“CREATING FUN IN THE SHADOWS”
SCENE 4 HORSE RACING
At 7pm, the setting sun stretches the shadow of the alchemist into a horse racing track. The alchemist itself becomes the starting gate of the race. The riders compete with each other to chase the end of the shadow. The green palace, using shadows, sheep, and imagination, brings people together and creates new rituals of celebration.
- ACT 6 -
“TURNING DESERT INTO OASIS”
Throughout the year, plants start to grow out from the fish prints on the ground and the paste-made chess pieces. The sheep take over the farmer’s job for crop thinning and pruning. As the travelling circus tours around the land year after year, it leaves behind trails of greenery and slowly revives the land.
- ACT 6 -
“TURNING DESERT INTO OASIS”
The barren desert is gradually transformed into a landscape of lush vegetation. A landscape of impossibilities.
ANTHROPOMETRY | MATERIAL
MICRO-CAPSULE
TUTOR: LEE MAY ANNE
INDIVIDUAL PROJECT
DURATION: 3 WEEKS
SIZE: 8SQM, MAX HT 6M
SITE: ARMILLA (FICTIONAL SITE FROM ITALO CALVINO'S INVISIBLE CITIES)
BRIEF
The project focuses on the design of a micro-capsule for individual occupation. Key aspects include:
• study on anthropometry (modules and dimensions)
• micro-spatial composition and formal composition
• tectonic articulation (materials, construction with site context)
CONCEPT
The concept is to translate a motion into a physical structure, so as to create a novel experience for the chosen action. Anthropometry analysis is conducted in the action of reading. Movements and dimensions are documented. A panel framework is then used to convert the data into spatial composition. Necessary fittings (eg. Bookshelves) are inserted at various points for practical needs. Material and construction techniques are decided based on the site context.
Upper panel from the top of a raised arm to navel
The action in focus is reading. A set of possible movements involved while reading is documented and traced. Dimensions are recorded to construct the frames.
Lower panel from navel to feet
Side walls share the same width as the body
DWELLING | CLIENT | PRECEDENCE
THE OASIS
TUTOR: LEE MAY ANNE
INDIVIDUAL PROJECT
DURATION: 8 WEEKS
SIZE: 48SQM, MAX HT 9M
SITE: CORNER OF JALAN PINANG AND NORTH BRIDGE ROAD
BRIEF
The design of a dwelling with the following parameters: Designing for a client Exploration of precedence in design
CONCEPT
Inspiration from the design comes from two aspects, the client and the precedent. The client expressed interest in nature, change, privacy and connection. The precedent study on Villa Muller taught me the concept of Ramplan, an unrestricted internal circulation.
The design creates an oasis within the bustling city context, excluded yet connected to the outside. The stratified and undulating concrete layers evokes a imaginary journey in a cave, a desert, or a terraced field. The internal physical and visual environment is constantly morphed by changing sunlight and rain - the external weather conditions. Spatial composition is fluid, without restrictions of rigid walls and floor plates.
CLIENT'S BRIEF
“Amidst the bustle of the street the house stands unassuming, Entering it would be like finding an oasis”
“Despite its privacy, I feel connected to the outside and beyond. With vantage points that conjure images that inspire me. With soft natural light pervading and crafting the level of privacy”
PRECEDENT STUDY VILLA MULLER BY ADOLF LOOS
RAUMPLAN - OPEN PLAN
Avoid separated floors
Structure the spaces in a sequence of stepped areas
Differentiate ceiling height
DESIGN EXPLORATIONS
Design iterations starts from the placement, floor height, ceiling height of internal spaces according to the client's daily routine and the external light and sound conditions. Details of the form are then morphed to create the desired atmospheric experiences.
The living room is the largest space in the house, a public space suitable for gatherings. The horizontality of the stratum and the varying visions of the undulating form is emphasized to create a sense of vastness. Part of the side wall is open to sky to capture natural lighting. Whenever there is a rainfall, water will flow down this side to create a vision of cascade.
Th dining place and kitchen. Slits has been created on this side of the wall so that in the evening, sunlight will shine through the space and create a enjoyable atmosphere for dinners.
The study room at the upper level is a private area situated in one of the quieter spots in the site. The space is open to the sky with a dome that mimic the rock structure The dome allows light to shine through and create a ripple of light, giving a calm and solitary ambience. Rain could flow down to form a water curtain. The bookshelves are built into the staircase, the user will climb up and down to access the books. Sitting area and shelves are combine together.
At the back of house there is a series of meditative spaces. One part is above the ground with little platforms protruding from the wall. The user can sit on these platforms, viewing sunlight or rainwater flow down from the above. After rain, the floor will be flooded and will reflect the sky, giving the space a very meditative atmosphere. The semi underground space with a glass ceiling and huge glass windows is for rainy days, when rainwater flowing down the windows blurs the vision outside and creates privacy. Ripples of water at the ceiling, from the flooded area above, create a dreamy light effect.
