Yin Menghua | NUS BA (Arch) | 2017-19

ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO

YIN MENGHUA DECEMBER | 2019 SELECTED WORKS

|

NUS BA (ARCH)

|

2017-2019

A NT H R O P O ME T RY | M AT E R IA L

D W E L L I NG | C L I E NT | P R E C E D E NC E

STRUCTURE | CONSTRUCTION

SITE | PROGRAMME

E N V I R O N M E N T | CL I MAT E | EN VEL O P E

MICRO-CAPSULE

THE O A SI S

R ES ET

FR AC T UR ED S PAC E

SYMBIOSIS

T U T O R : L E E M AY A N N E

T U T O R : L E E M AY A NNE

TUTOR: IRIS YEO

TUTOR: IRIS YEO

T U T O R : CH UM JI A X I N

INDIVIDUAL PROJECT

I ND I V I D U AL P R O J E C T

PA I R W O R K

INDIVIDUAL PROJECT

I N D I V I DUAL P RO JECT

D UR AT I O N : 3 W E E K S

D U R AT I O N: 8 W E E K S

D U R AT I O N : 5 W E E K S

D U R AT I O N : 8 W E E K S

D U R AT I ON : 1 3 WEEK S

ANTHROPOMETRY | MATERIAL

MICRO-CAPSULE

SITE:

TUTOR: LEE MAY ANNE INDIVIDUAL PROJECT DURATION: 3 WEEKS SIZE: 8SQM, MAX HT 6M ARMILLA (FICTIONAL SITE FROM CALVINO'S INVISIBLE CITIES)

ITALO

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.

DESIGN METHODOLOGY

Upper panel from the top of a raised arm to navel

Lower panel from navel to feet

Side walls share the same width as the body

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.

The methodology is to use frames with panel modules to record the dimensions of the space occupied by human body during an action. The upper panel documents movement of the head, with its lowest point aligned to level A ( top of the head plus length of a raised arm to compensate for the shank length truncated ). The lower panel documents movement of the knee, with its highest point aligned to level D ( knee height ).

DRAWINGS

ELEVATION

ELEVATION

FLOOR PLAN

FLOOR PLAN

SECTION A

SECTION B

MATERIAL & CONSTRUCTION

Context in Armilla: “No walls, no ceilings, no floors “ “A forest of pipes that end in taps, showers, spouts, overflows” “In the sun, the threads of water fanning from the showers glisten” Glass is chosen as the material to fit in to the context of Armilla. The structure is almost invisible, with a glimpse of the reflection of sunlight at the edges. Anti-slip treatment is applied to the floor panels.

Ceiling planes and walls are connected to the vertical walls via steel joints

18MM GLASS

Frosted treatment of ceiling planes and walls at the reading area

0.78MM PVB INTERLAYER FILM

18MM GLASS

LAMINATED GLASS

STEEL JOINT

Floor planes are attached to vertical walls with steel joints

Vertical panels fixed into the base via 200mm deep steel U channel

Staircase supported by steel joints

Anti-slip treatment of all floor planes

MODEL

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.

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

CLIENT'S BRIEF

PRECEDENT STUDY VILLA MULLER BY ADOLF LOOS

DESIGN EXPLORATIONS

“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” ............

“My architecture is not conceived by drawings, but by spaces….There are only interconnected continual spaces, rooms, halls, terraces… Each space needs a different height… These spaces are connected so that ascent and descent are not only unnoticeable, but at the same time functional” - A.Loos

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.

RAUMPLAN - OPEN PLAN Avoid separated floors Structure the spaces in a sequence of stepped areas Differentiate ceiling height

SECTIONS

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.

PLANS & SECTIONS

ROOF PLAN

FLOOR PLAN 2

FLOOR PLAN 1

SECTION

STRUCTURE | MATERIAL | CONSTRUCTION

RESET

TUTOR: IRIS YEO PAIRWORK PROJECT (PARTNER: ANNA CAO) DURATION: 5 WEEKS SIZE: 20SQM, MAX HT 9M

BRIEF To design a prefabricated DIY timber pavilion with components that can be delivered in a flat pack, and assembled together by reading the instructions manual. Think of the equivalent of an IKEA knock down furniture pack. It is of a modular design with the whole formed by parts.

CONCEPT Timbre in its most primordial state exudes an almost contradictory kind of beauty -- wildness. The trees used to harvest timbre appear to grow in a chaotic manner. However, there seems to be a sense of logic, a kind of controlled randomness, associated with the growth of trees. We hope to capture this wild spirit of trees by re-interpreting the tree’s interactions with its surrounding through human interactions instead. As individuals explore around the pavilion and start shifting the movable furniture, the pavilion will start morphing, mimicking the growth process of a tree from regular to wild.

The light-weighted character of timber also creates possibility of self-assembly and self-modification, giving the structure great flexibilty to fit in the changing urban context. The structure can easily morph between two states, one allowing maximum porosity and circulation, another creating various niches for occupation.

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

START STATE

FINAL STATE

ZONING ANALYSIS

INDIVIDUAL STUDY AREA WHICH ACCOMMODATES UP TO 6 PERSONS PER MODULE

GROUP DISCUSSION AREA WHICH ACCOMMODATES UP TO 8 PERSONS

SECTION A - GROUP AREA

N

IO

T EC

B

S

FOLDABLE STUDY TABLES

FOLDABLE SEATS

STAIRS FOR CIRCULATION

SE

CT

IO

N

A

SECTION B - INDIVIDUAL AREA

STRUCTURE & JOINERY

8MM DIAMETER STEEL ROD

25MM STEEL SPACER

0.25MM STEEL WASHER

5MM STEEL PLATE

PANEL TO PANEL JOINT

PANEL TO FLOOR JOINT

FLOOR DECK TO BASE JOINT

FLEXIBLE JOINT

FIXED JOINTS

ASSEMBLY PROCESS

FLAT PACK STRUCTURES FOR CONSTRUCTION:

BASE BEAM * 56

1. ASSEMBLE BASE BEAMS TO VERTICAL SUPPORTS. SCREW TIGHTLY.

2. ATTACH HORIZONTAL BEAMS.

3. FIX THE TOP OF THE SUPPORTS.

4. SLOT THE FLOOR DECK ONTO THE BASE.

5. SLOT THE BASE PANELS INTO THE FLOOR DECK. FIX BY METAL PLATES.

6. BUILDING UP VERTICAL PANELS VIA METAL RODS.

FLOOR DECK * 4 PANEL #3 * 52 BASE SUPPORT * 24 SETS

BASE SUPPORT * 24 PAIRS

PANEL #2 * 142

PANEL #1 * 30

7. USE 2 RODS FOR FIXED JOINTS AND 1 ROD FOR FLEXIBLE JOINTS.

8. REPEAT STEP 1-7 FOR THE REST OF THE MODULES.

DRAWINGS & MODEL

ELEVATION | START STATE

ELEVATION |END STATE

ROOF PLAN

FLOOR PLAN

SITE | PROGRAMME

FRACTURED SPACE TUTOR: IRIS YEO INDIVIDUAL PROJECT DURATION: 8 WEEKS SIZE: 900 M2 SITE: BUKIT BATOK TOWN PARK (LITTLE GUILIN)

BRIEF Design a visitor/information or educational center at the site chosen. A visitor/ information or educational centre introduces visitors to the site and its surrounding, and promote and educate visitors on what the site and its surrounding have to offer.

The programme of the building should be in response to the site context.

CONCEPT The good building is not one that hurts the landscape, but one which makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before the building was built. ‐ Frank Lloyd Wright Little guilin is a site of geology importance. Previous quarry activities expose the natural rock surfaces and offers opportunities of close reading. A geology learning centre with exhibition halls and a small library is created for users to study and appreciate the rock formations. Inspired by fractures in rocks, the spaces are splitted to create dramatic transitions that evoke curiosity and desire to explore.

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

Granite dyke in norite bedrock.

Oblique-slip fault

Dip-slip fault.

Strong rock joints.

GEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

SKETCH MODELS

CONCEPT DIAGRAM Existing site conditions (trees, difference in ground level) become forces of fracture in the architecture.

Fractures are also created at points of entry and exit.

A

B

PLANS & SECTIONS

C

SECTION A SCALE 1:200

PLAN 1

1:250

SECTION B

PLAN 2

1:250

1:200

SECTION C

1:200

ELEVATION

1:200

MATERIAL & CONSTRUCTION

DETAIL 1: WALL TO FLOOR CONNECTION 100MM CONCRETE FLOOR STAINLESS STEEL PIER WITH MIRROR FINISH CORTEN STEEL

BASE PLATE ANCHOR BOLT

PILE CAP

STAINLESS STEEL WITH MIRROR FINISH

STAINLESS STEEL PILE WITH WELDED CONNECTION

DETAIL 2: FOUNDATION TO FLOOR CONNECTION 10MM STEEL WALL L SHAPE STEEL PLATE BOLT ANCHOR BOLT

Main gallery space is constructed with corten steel, which ages with a beautiful rust-like experience. The weathering process echoes the natural marks and traces formed on exposed rock surfaces.

The ancillary spaces are constructed with stainless steel with mirror finish to blend into and reflect the natural environment.

100MM CONCRETE FLOOR

VISUALISATION

ENTRANCE

LOBBY

EXHIBITION HALL

EXHIBITION HALL - FRAMING VIEWS TO OTHER PATHS

LIBRARY

COURTYARD

ENVIRONMENT | CLIMATE | ENVELOPE

SYMBIOSIS TUTOR: CHUM JIA XIN INDIVIDUAL PROJECT DURATION: 13 WEEKS SIZE: 1500 SQM SITE: LABRADOR PARK NATURE RESERVE

BRIEF Labrador Park with its multiple environments and climatic specificities (temperature, moisture, rainfall, heat, humidity, dampness, wind, sun, breezes, sunrise and sunset, light) will generate the primary architectural focus of this project – the architectural envelope – manifested and developed through the programmatic vehicle of a nature-culture related facility for tropical habitat research and field work studies.

CONCEPT Humans are constantly struggling with the natural environment, to create a suitable living environment within the often undesirable weather conditions. Labrador Park is a historical repository of relics, a bird watchers’ hotspot, a jungle with rich biodiversity and somewhere to watch the sun rise and set. It is idyllic but currently lacking necessary infrastructure ideal for us to appreciate its beauty. How can architecture react to such a situation? Is intervention possible without the compromise of loss?

This project reconsiders the relationship between human consumption and natural regeneration, trying to integrate the two in urban public spaces to challenge our normal conceptions of infrastructure.

The target site is at an unsheltered, unshaded, and seldom used area in the middle of Labrador Park. The proposed architectural envelope is a site of production, reacting to the external conditions and supporting the internal consumption. It is a dynamic membrane regulating the flow of energy and matter between the inside and the outside. It is both skin and structure. Made of steel trusses and transparent ETFE membranes filled with algae culture, these green skins utilize sunlight and rainwater to photosynthesize, so as to provide shade, and produce nutrients and energy for human users. By bringing production into a public park, there is an aim of establishing a different form of communication with the end user. Instead of wondering where a product comes from, consumers could watch it grow. The growth of the algae will depend on sunlight and temperature. The more sun, the more the algae will grow and darken the skin, establishing a dynamic relationship between the users and the surrounding environment.

SITE PLAN 1:500

CONCEPT DIAGRAMS

A GROUP OF PHOTOSYNTHETIC ORGANISMS. OPTIMAL LIGHT INTENSITY FOR GROWTH ~ 100,000 TO 140,000 LUX OPTIMAL TEMPERATURE FOR GROWTH ~ 34-36 DEGREES

CULTURE PREPARATION LAB

PUBLIC GALLERY

WATER FILTRATION

POWER GENERATION

PHOTOBIOREACTOR

HARVESTING STATION

FLOW OF ENERGY AND MATTER

PRODUCT SYNTHESIS LAB

PUBLIC GALLERY

CAFETERIA

MEMBRANE & SUPPORT

Exploration of the integration of bio-reactors and structural elements of the envelope. Closed-loop photo-bioreactors have three common geometries: a) flat plate reactor, b) bubble reactor, c) tubular reactor. Among the three types, flat plate reactors proved to be the most efficient in environments with sufficient sunlight coverage. Structure studies done through model-making to analyze different ways in integrating reactors into the architecture envelope.

SURFACE & DEPTH

Exploration of the integration of skin and program done through model-making. The focus is on the depth of the skin - creating in-between spaces where the laboratory meets the public gallery, the site of production meets the site of consumption

FLOOR PLANS

CONSTRUCTION DETAILS

A

B

ENVELOPE DETAIL 1:5 ROOF CONDITION

ENVELOPE DETAIL 1:5 WALL CONDITION

DIA. 60MM STEEL TUBE DIA. 100MM STEEL TUBE DIA. 30MM ALGAE CULTURE SUPPLY TUBE / AIR OUTLET TUBE ALUMINUM CLAMPING STRIP

DIA. 60MM STEEL TUBE DIA. 30MM ALGAE CULTURE OUTLET TUBE / AIR SUPPLY TUBE ALGAE CULTURE OUTLET / AIR INLET

ALGAE CULTURE INLET / AIR OUTLET

TRANSPARENT ETFE MEMBRANE

1:2 DETAIL A

1:2 DETAIL B

VISUALISATION

ROOF PLAN 7-9 AM

ROOF PLAN 9-11 AM

ROOF PLAN 11 AM -1 PM

ROOF PLAN 1-3 PM

ROOF PLAN 3-5 PM

ROOF PLAN 5-7 PM ALGAE HARVESTED.