NUS DoA M.ARCH1 OPTIONS STUDIO - DIRTY ARCHITECTS

YEAR 4 OPTIONS STUDIO COMPILATION OF SAMPLES

M.ARCH 1, STUDIO ONG KER-SHING

DIRTY ARCHITECTS

IMAGE CREDIT: FAYYAADH FADZIL

MASTERS DESIGN PROJECTS

INTERESTS

PROJECT ATTRIBUTES

Masters Design Projects include those explored in two Options Design Research Studios (M.Arch 1), the Advanced Architecture Studio and the Thesis project in M.Arch 2. All studios may explore issues relevant to the interests of the Research Clusters, adjunct teachers and professors in practice. Students are encouraged to capitalise on faculty expertise in widening the scope of investigations which collectively strengthen the Thesis Project in M.Arch 2.

A good Masters project is one where:

Essential and Elective modules are useful in underpinning your Masters studio investigations. Although Options Design Research studios may be varied in content and method, students are advised to be selective and to use them as ‘learning runways’ to identify a Thesis topic and to apply accumulated knowledge there. The Advanced Architecture Studio preceding the Thesis may be used to explore thesis drivers in greater detail and focus.

It is expected that the Thesis project will be the most comprehensive and extensive study of all the Masters Design Projects. _______________________________________________________________________________________

• the research process informs design strategy which can be followed through a coherent sequential process of explorations or iterations • the research generates an underlying order giving rise to a number of architectural or urban propositions • the research or issues engaged with, give rise to new solutions through design, some of which are singular, permutable or recombinant • it addresses the contextual specificities of site, material, spatial, culture and program and all of the above are communicated through architectural drawings, well-crafted models and annotations which curate a design process and outcome(s) that can be understood without a verbal presentation by the author Beyond a commitment to individual academic portfolios, Masters projects play an important role in characterising the discursive ethos of a design school. It is important that you do your best.

DESIGN AS INQUIRY Masters projects can be research investigations where design forms a principal mode of inquiry.

Methods can be heuristic or empirical or in mixed modes of inquiry.

There are a number of research methods in design investigations leading to different outcomes but they are by no means exhaustive: • textual/graphic analysis of theoretical concepts with investigations drawn from critical discourse using text references, works of art/representation • quantitative analysis to verify qualitative hypotheses with simulation, physical experiment, prototype testing and mixed methods • scenario-driven speculative design to suggest solutions to emergent need. The process in itself is a new way of seeing/thinking which generates many solutions. One version of a solution may be articulated spatially and in full materiality • new research knowledge is interpreted in architecture as a new way of thinking/making/experiencing • existing practices, processes or existing technologies are applied to design and which produce ‘unprecedented’ outcomes

_______________________________________________________________________________________

MASTERS DESIGN PROJECTS

INTERESTS

PROJECT ATTRIBUTES

Masters Design Projects include those explored in two Options Design Research Studios (M.Arch 1), the Advanced Architecture Studio and the Thesis project in M.Arch 2. All studios may explore issues relevant to the interests of the Research Clusters, adjunct teachers and professors in practice. Students are encouraged to capitalise on faculty expertise in widening the scope of investigations which collectively strengthen the Thesis Project in M.Arch 2.

A good Masters project is one where:

Essential and Elective modules are useful in underpinning your Masters studio investigations. Although Options Design Research studios may be varied in content and method, students are advised to be selective and to use them as ‘learning runways’ to identify a Thesis topic and to apply accumulated knowledge there. The Advanced Architecture Studio preceding the Thesis may be used to explore thesis drivers in greater detail and focus.

It is expected that the Thesis project will be the most comprehensive and extensive study of all the Masters Design Projects. _______________________________________________________________________________________

• the research process informs design strategy which can be followed through a coherent sequential process of explorations or iterations • the research generates an underlying order giving rise to a number of architectural or urban propositions • the research or issues engaged with, give rise to new solutions through design, some of which are singular, permutable or recombinant • it addresses the contextual specificities of site, material, spatial, culture and program and all of the above are communicated through architectural drawings, well-crafted models and annotations which curate a design process and outcome(s) that can be understood without a verbal presentation by the author Beyond a commitment to individual academic portfolios, Masters projects play an important role in characterising the discursive ethos of a design school. It is important that you do your best.

DESIGN AS INQUIRY Masters projects can be research investigations where design forms a principal mode of inquiry.

Methods can be heuristic or empirical or in mixed modes of inquiry.

There are a number of research methods in design investigations leading to different outcomes but they are by no means exhaustive: • textual/graphic analysis of theoretical concepts with investigations drawn from critical discourse using text references, works of art/representation • quantitative analysis to verify qualitative hypotheses with simulation, physical experiment, prototype testing and mixed methods • scenario-driven speculative design to suggest solutions to emergent need. The process in itself is a new way of seeing/thinking which generates many solutions. One version of a solution may be articulated spatially and in full materiality • new research knowledge is interpreted in architecture as a new way of thinking/making/experiencing • existing practices, processes or existing technologies are applied to design and which produce ‘unprecedented’ outcomes

_______________________________________________________________________________________

RESEARCH CLUSTERS

ASIA RESEARCH FOCUS

III. TECHNOLOGIES

The Department positions itself as a design and research think-tank for architectural and urban development issues emerging in South Asia and SE Asia contexts. Graduate coursework in design engages with key challenges in population growth, industry, infrastructure, housing and environment, climate change and rapid economic change with disruptive technologies. In engaging with trans-boundary economies and technological change, the Department addresses concerns with the environmental impact of new settlements and cities on the natural environment in the light of climate change and on the threat to heritage and cultural presentation. MArch studios anticipate planning solutions through design explorations at various scales of intervention. The Master’s coursework are thus aligned to a core of five teaching groups viz. History Theory Criticism, Research by Design, Design Technologies, Urbanism and Landscape Studies. _______________________________________________________________________________________

The Technologies cluster investigates environmentally performative/sustainable building forms and systems,and generative-evaluative processes for designing liveable environments. Its research employs traditional and emerging technologies contributing to a new understanding of the human ecosystem, and emerging computational methods and techniques for discovering the relationships between form and performance. It researches on the relationship between human and natural landscapes, at every scale, from the building component scale to the urban scale.

Special emphasis is placed on the context of high density Asian cities and the context of the Tropics.

I. HISTORY THEORY CRITICISM The History Theory Criticism cluster develops critical capacities to examine questions of architectural production, representation and agency within historical and contemporary milieu. Taking architecture and urbanism in Asia as its primary focus, members work in interdisciplinary and transnational modes. We explore a range of topics relating to colonial/postcolonial and modern/ postmodern Asian cities; aesthetics and technopolitics of tropical climate and the built environment; affective media including film, contemporary art and exhibitionary modes; heritage politics and emergent conservation practices. We develop discursive fronts through a variety of media and scales. The cluster research encompasses scholarly, creative and advocacy activities. Output includes monographs, edited volumes, research papers, architectural reviews in professional journals, curatorial practice, conservation work, film and photography, object-making, and policy-influencing advocacy work.

II. RESEARCH BY DESIGN The Research by Design cluster performs translational research through the practices of making as research rather than through traditional forms academic research. It links the importance of creating, drawing, and building with rigor, originality, and significance to produce innovative and creative designs that shape the built environment. Located strategically between the NorthSouth axis of rapidly urbanizing Asia and the East -West line of the tropical equator, the Research

by Design cluster performs research through practice in three main themes: • Novel aesthetics of climatic calibration and performance; • Contemporary architectonics of fabrication, material, and resources contingent on South East Asia; and • Emergent spaces of inhabitation and production surrounding the equator.

IV. URBANISM With a comprehensive understanding of the complexity and distinctive characters of emerging urbanism in Asia, the vision is to develop sustainable models and innovative urban strategies to cope with various environmental, social, economic and technological challenges that Asian cities face today and in the future. Emergent urban issues related to community & participation, conservation & regeneration, ageing & healthcare, built form, modelling & big data, and resilience & informality are investigated from multiple perspectives and inter- and transdisciplinary collaborations to question conventional norms and conceptions and establish new visions for a sustainable urban future.

V. LANDSCAPE STUDIES The Landscape Studies cluster undertakes research to generate new knowledge of landscapes as socio-ecological systems and promotes the use of knowledge in governance systems and landscape design that improve the well-being of humans and the ecological integrity of the environment. The geographic focus is primarily high-density urban regions in Asia, but members of cluster also work in the transitional zones within the rural-urban continuum, where urban regions are expanding at a rapid rate into rural landscapes. The overall research approach is both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary — we are concerned with not just advancing theoretical concepts and knowledge, but also applying the knowledge in practice and public policy to shape the environment. Our research areas cover a wide spectrum of socio-ecological dimensions of landscape, from landscape science, landscape management, to design research and socio-behavioural studies.

RESEARCH CLUSTERS

ASIA RESEARCH FOCUS

III. TECHNOLOGIES

The Department positions itself as a design and research think-tank for architectural and urban development issues emerging in South Asia and SE Asia contexts. Graduate coursework in design engages with key challenges in population growth, industry, infrastructure, housing and environment, climate change and rapid economic change with disruptive technologies. In engaging with trans-boundary economies and technological change, the Department addresses concerns with the environmental impact of new settlements and cities on the natural environment in the light of climate change and on the threat to heritage and cultural presentation. MArch studios anticipate planning solutions through design explorations at various scales of intervention. The Master’s coursework are thus aligned to a core of five teaching groups viz. History Theory Criticism, Research by Design, Design Technologies, Urbanism and Landscape Studies. _______________________________________________________________________________________

The Technologies cluster investigates environmentally performative/sustainable building forms and systems,and generative-evaluative processes for designing liveable environments. Its research employs traditional and emerging technologies contributing to a new understanding of the human ecosystem, and emerging computational methods and techniques for discovering the relationships between form and performance. It researches on the relationship between human and natural landscapes, at every scale, from the building component scale to the urban scale.

Special emphasis is placed on the context of high density Asian cities and the context of the Tropics.

I. HISTORY THEORY CRITICISM The History Theory Criticism cluster develops critical capacities to examine questions of architectural production, representation and agency within historical and contemporary milieu. Taking architecture and urbanism in Asia as its primary focus, members work in interdisciplinary and transnational modes. We explore a range of topics relating to colonial/postcolonial and modern/ postmodern Asian cities; aesthetics and technopolitics of tropical climate and the built environment; affective media including film, contemporary art and exhibitionary modes; heritage politics and emergent conservation practices. We develop discursive fronts through a variety of media and scales. The cluster research encompasses scholarly, creative and advocacy activities. Output includes monographs, edited volumes, research papers, architectural reviews in professional journals, curatorial practice, conservation work, film and photography, object-making, and policy-influencing advocacy work.

II. RESEARCH BY DESIGN The Research by Design cluster performs translational research through the practices of making as research rather than through traditional forms academic research. It links the importance of creating, drawing, and building with rigor, originality, and significance to produce innovative and creative designs that shape the built environment. Located strategically between the NorthSouth axis of rapidly urbanizing Asia and the East -West line of the tropical equator, the Research

by Design cluster performs research through practice in three main themes: • Novel aesthetics of climatic calibration and performance; • Contemporary architectonics of fabrication, material, and resources contingent on South East Asia; and • Emergent spaces of inhabitation and production surrounding the equator.

IV. URBANISM With a comprehensive understanding of the complexity and distinctive characters of emerging urbanism in Asia, the vision is to develop sustainable models and innovative urban strategies to cope with various environmental, social, economic and technological challenges that Asian cities face today and in the future. Emergent urban issues related to community & participation, conservation & regeneration, ageing & healthcare, built form, modelling & big data, and resilience & informality are investigated from multiple perspectives and inter- and transdisciplinary collaborations to question conventional norms and conceptions and establish new visions for a sustainable urban future.

V. LANDSCAPE STUDIES The Landscape Studies cluster undertakes research to generate new knowledge of landscapes as socio-ecological systems and promotes the use of knowledge in governance systems and landscape design that improve the well-being of humans and the ecological integrity of the environment. The geographic focus is primarily high-density urban regions in Asia, but members of cluster also work in the transitional zones within the rural-urban continuum, where urban regions are expanding at a rapid rate into rural landscapes. The overall research approach is both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary — we are concerned with not just advancing theoretical concepts and knowledge, but also applying the knowledge in practice and public policy to shape the environment. Our research areas cover a wide spectrum of socio-ecological dimensions of landscape, from landscape science, landscape management, to design research and socio-behavioural studies.

Dirty Architects Post-ecologies Part 1

Content Foreword Outline of studio Acknowledgements

6 7 15

Site Analysis

16

Part A: Investigations of Dirt

Fallen Leaf - Architecture - Human

by Emma Lau Si Ying

Soil and Foliage

by Fayyaadh Fadzil

24 30

Algae

by Felyncia Ng

34

38

Inside - Outside

by Kirk Yiling

Weedy Architecture

by Loh Ying Ying

42

46

Frequency & Touch

by Sim Su Zan

Matisse Drawings

by Tan Yi-Ern, Samuel

52

Lichen Research

by Ye Xiaofan

56

Part B: Translation into Architecture

House of Fallen Leaves

by Emma Lau Si Ying

62

The Leaky House

by Fayyaadh Fadzil

72

Algae in Space

by Felyncia Ng

80

Osmosis

by Kirk Yiling

88

Weedy House

by Loh Ying Ying

96

Healthy Contact

by Sim Su Zan

106

Matisse House

by Tan Yi-Ern, Samuel

114

Biofiltration House

by Varanukulsak Phatchanon

128

Lichen House

by Ye Xiaofan

134

Foreword

by Ong Ker-Shing, Associate Professor in Practice “Dirt is good.” – Jack Gilbert Singapore is famously known as a “clean” city. It is a germophobic utopia, in which the best class of buildings are made of glass and metal—inert materials that will not stain or weather or submit in any way to the penetrations of climate. Interestingly, this occurs in a climate that quickly accumulates layers of other matter, through the intense energies of its global position. Patinas and molds are driven by solar gain and moisture. At the same time, surfaces are dirtied via the contemporary escalation of oxidation, carbon dioxide, aerosols and acidic rainfall.

This attempt to construct a resilient cleanliness occurs against a public health crisis of inflammatory diseases—one which seems to be due, ironically, to the eradication of dirt from our everyday lives. Medical research increasingly argues that the increase in inflammatory “modern” diseases, from cancer to autism and autoimmune misfunction, is directly related to the rise of antibacterial cleaners and pesticides which remove much of the organic micro-biome of both soil and the built environment. The rise of heavy-duty detergents and agents such as RoundUp presages a world of 2050 in which, by some estimates, half of children will be born with autism and 115 million people will live with dementia1.

This studio proposes to imagine an architecture which embraces forms of dirtiness as a matter of urgent public necessity. We will imagine, in the Singapore context, a reversal of the tendencies and values of modern architecture (and particularly Tropical Modernism) leading to a strategic and designed uncleanliness. Solutions will expand upon historical modes of interaction between buildings and types of “dirt,” from pre-modern building practices, to modern ventilation systems, to domestic animals and other micro-biotic vectors. These will attempt to restore, in part, a type and degree of organic waste in the spaces, surfaces, and systems of the building that will create—in essence—an architecture that is as hospitable at the micro-biotic scale as it is at the human one.

This course will be twinned with a Masters elective in the research of architectural cleanliness throughout history, and in the microbiome of the built environment as a source of health or disease. It is an architectural course that explores, in part, the interface with landscape. It is not a landscape architecture course; nor is it a “sustainable” design course in the traditional sense.

Post-ecologies is a multi-part studio and thesis series exploring possible interactions between architecture and anthropogenic natures. Recent human interferences in natural systems have created fractured links, fragmented systems and energies—a multi-scalar context for new alignments and interactions. In this series, we will explore how new typologies and material systems may restore or invent new modes of production that combine the architect’s intentions with the input of non-human collaborators; these shift from biome to micro-biome, between building and body and public. https://www.prb.org/global-dementia/

1

6

Dirty Architects

Phases of the studio Week 1 – 2 Preliminary research of chosen dirt Week 3 – 6 Further research and exploration of architectural potential of dirt Week 4 Site analysis, client write-ups and initial parti models Week 6 Interim review Week 11 Presentation Mock-up Week 15 Final review

Dirty Architects

7

Week 1: Fieldwork Assignment Brief Dirty Architects Fieldwork assignment Week 1: assignment given Thursday 15 August 2019 Week 2: pin-up and discussion: images, ideas

Week 3: final pin-up with original analytical drawings

The imperative in this studio is to EXPLORE FORMS OF DIRTINESS AS A MATTER OF URGENT PUBLIC NECESSITY. To this end, you will go and explore the built

environment and search for forms of dirtiness. These could be phenomena that you

construe as “dirty,” that make you feel uncomfortable, that are records of nature and biodiversity fighting back against the cleanliness of the man-made. These could be examples of:

1. Cleanliness 2. Dirt 3. Germs 4. Stains 5. Patina 6. The wild/ the unkempt 7. A living surface 8. Ecological interface/ exchange 9. Accretions 10. Pets, Pests and commensal species (rats, cockroaches, …)

11. Holes or hidden voids…

This is not an exhaustive list. You can add your own. Check with me if you are unsure.

Find something that you observe to be ubiquitous and that you find interesting. Study it more. Figure out how it comes about. Why does this happen? What is the mechanism by which it comes about?

The final goal is to document this and to make representational and—more importantly—analytical drawings* to understand how those “dirty” elements come to be, or infect what’s around them. How does the impact the architectural? The way that we might make things? Or the way that we try to keep things in a homeostatic state?

Should we? Could we not? Can we harness this to make a more biodiverse, macrobiotically rich environment?

Sharpen your senses. Notice. Observe. Ask yourself questions. Make inferences. You may not have enough data but that should not stop you. Make reasoned extrapolations of principles of how whatever it is, e.g. microbiota operate/ move etc into a spatial setting.

Speculate how these move into and affect the built environment. Where does the built environment limit or enable?

8

Dirty Architects

Look at the shadow spaces of human environments and figure them out.

*we will talk more about your drawings in Week 2 but you need to come to studio with an idea of what you are trying to show. I will not accept collages, or unadulterated photographs as satisfying the requirement for “analytical drawings.”

Ultimately, this is to serve as an ignition point in thinking about how to embrace forms

of dirtiness as an urgent public necessity, and to therefore create a new way of thinking

about how to make architecture.

Perhaps we will look to restore a type and degree of organic waste in the spaces, surfaces and systems of the building….

Perhaps to make visible, and affecting, those processes and systems on the land, on the processes of living, that have been divorced from our buildings? (e.g. air flows, soil & dirt, animals, water), that have been fractured…

Perhaps to use new typologies or material systems to invent new modes of production to combine the architect’s intentions with the input of non-human collaborators?

Dirty Architects

9

Week 3: Studio Brief Dirty Architects Studio Brief Week 3:

Week 6: Week 13:

Week 14:

Studio Brief given out Thursday 29 August 2019 Interim Crit

Your project parti, site model, design drawings and models, etc.

Production, no studio

Thurs 21/11 Submission & pin up Studio Space @ SDE 4 level 6 Fri 21/11 FINAL REVIEW 830am to 1pm

SEMESTER STRUCTURE Notice (Weeks 1-3)

At the end of the Fieldwork Assignment, you should now have a specific knowledge about a form of dirtiness in our built environment, and an understanding about the mechanism by which it comes about.

Question (Weeks 3-6)

Drawing upon your Fieldwork Assignment, decide on an interest and how it relates to

architecture. It can be about corners and their opportunities, or about breaks in specific systems or about all the different kinds of pipes we lay in our walls, and what happens to them over the course of living in a house.

Propose a parti that will guide your project. This can be at whatever scale suits your

interest. By the end of this phase (i.e. by Interim Review), you should have at least a first pass at designing the whole building, showing how this idea might be carried through the entire design and how it causes trouble, causes us to question our assumptions about what architecture needs to do/ needs to be.

Re-imagine (Weeks 7-14) Develop your parti and its first few iterations into a full project that fulfils the brief,

explores the limits of your exploration of a form of dirtiness, to create a project that re-

10

Dirty Architects

imagines architecture so that it expands upon historical modes of interaction between buildings and types of “dirt” or varied forms of “dirtiness.”

Where does the built environment limit or enable this? Think of the spaces, surfaces and systems of the building, and also of its environment.

We are not pitting nature against architecture, an un-checked nostalgia for a prehistoric relationship with the land, or an agrarian past. This is a call to arms to first notice, then

question, and lastly rethink and re-imagine what we take as architectural norms. In the

integrity of the building envelope, the relationship of inside floor to the outside ground, of what the roof is supposed to shelter us from, in material choices: how is this a

landscape material, but that an architectural? Why is this acceptable, but that not?

What are the tendencies and values inherent in the modern architecture we make that

have led to a strategic and designed uncleanliness and in what ways can and should we

shake those up?

Each of you should find your own interest in what constitutes dirtiness in architecture, and until the Interim Review, relentlessly pursue what this might be. Be polemical, but

(being controversial here) within the guiding requirement that you are making a house, not a work of Art. THE PROJECT Site:

A quite typical narrow-frontage Detached House plot on Jervois Road. Surrounded by condominiums. The Alexandra Canal and a greened-over pipeline run nearby.

(Surveyed plan supplied, to be kept confidential and not to be shared or used outside of

this studio.)

Site area: approximately 525m2 Total build-up: max 735m2

Dirty Architects

11

Program:

A multi-generational home with rooms for sleeping for: Minimally 1 grandparent 2 parents

2 young children 1 helper A dog

Rooms for doing things together such as: Living, Dining, other activity spaces

Rooms for doing things alone such as: Study, meditation room

Rooms for necessities such as: Laundry

Bathroom(s) Kitchen Stores

Outdoor spaces for doing things together such as: A terrace A garden

A pool/ waterbody Carporch for 2 cars Other programme spaces you propose which serve your parti and your particular “dirt” interest.

12

Dirty Architects

Week 4 requirements: 1. Site Analysis to be done as a studio group, with additional individual personal analyses done by each student, presented as minimum A3-sized documents.

2. Decision on extents (and scale) of site model (actual model to be made for Interim Review), with reasons justified through site analysis.

3. Proposal and decision about scale of site plan and main plans/ sections for project documentation to come in following weeks.

4. For each student: a parti model that describes a process of dirtiness that you are interested in. This is a parti, i.e. describes the BIG IDEA, GUIDING PRINCIPLE,

DEPARTURE POINT, ORGANISING THOUGHT for your project. You can do more than one. It is easier for you if you build this from your Fieldwork Assignment

from Weeks 1-3, but if you feel strongly you want to depart from this, you can.

5. For each student: a short story (250 words) about the family for whom you are designing, which should include a motivating factor for their interest in your

(with your specific approach to this project i.e. your parti) designing it for them.

General documentation/ record keeping

Maintain an A3 process folder. All drawings, sketches, printed material to be filed here

in chronological order. Printed photos of models/ experiments etc to be included here.

Bring folder to studio each week.

Dirty Architects

13

14

Dirty Architects

Tutors and guest critics Ong Ker-Shing, Associate Professor in Practice, NUS (Studio Tutor) Joshua Adam Comaroff, Asst. Prof, Yale-NUS (Guest Reviewer, Interim Review) Ronald Lim, Architect (Guest Reviewer, Presentation Mock-up) Jacqueline Yeo, Co-founder, Plystudio Architects (Guest Reviewer, Final Review) Razvan Ghilic-Micu, Associate, Hassell (Guest Reviewer, Final Review) Kenneth Tracy, Asst. Prof, SUTD (Guest Reviewer, Final Review) Christine Yogiaman, Asst. Prof, SUTD (Guest Reviewer, Final Review)

Dirty Architects

15

62

Dirty Architects

HOUSE OF FALLEN LEAVES EMMA LAU SI YING

OBSERVATION OF RATE OF DECAY OF FALLEN LEACES

24

Dirty Architects

Fallen Leaf - Architecture - Human

by Emma Lau Si Ying

My intrigue with decaying leaves began when I noticed how they inhabit our built environment in great abundance, creeping into holes and gaps, climbing levels and gathering on slopes and edges. If uncleared, these leaves would then disappear slowly within our spaces, as they decompose into the stuff of ‘dirt’. The ability of fallen leaves to occupy the built environment in unique ways, and then change in colour, shape and consistency over time (due to the processes of unseen micro-organisms) gives itself spatio-temporal qualities that could be explored. Fallen leaves are also highly sensorial and exist in vibrant variations, creating potential for evocative and beautiful spaces.

Plant Species Fern (Native)

Bolbitis heteroclita(C. Presl) Ching

Active Users

Direction, Frequency, Previous Areas Travelled

Object

in direct contact

Wind Direction South

Plant Species Rain Tree

(Native) Samanea saman (Jacq.) Merr.

Rain Direction Coverage by building

Plant Dimensions Nearby Growths Stains, Mold, Active/Quiescent Bacteria

0

5

Diameter of Crown Width Age Height of Crown

Plant Species Fern (Native)

Microsorum punctatum(L.) Copel.

cm 10

A HOLE IN BETWEEN AND UNDER THE TILES

Illustration of the factors of a leaf in a gap in the stair (Week 1)

OF A STAIRCASE AT YIH, NUS

Decomposition of leaves in the mortar

Dirty Architects

25

OBSERVATION OF FALLEN LEAVES

26

Dirty Architects

OBSERVATION OF FALLEN LEAVES

Dirty Architects

27

1

2

4

5

3

10

6 8

9

7 TREE SPECIES 1- Xanthostemon Chrysanthus (Golden Penda) 2 - Terminalia Catappa (Sea Almond) 3 - Xanthostemon Chrysanthus (Golden Penda) 4 - Tabebuia Rosea (Trumpet Tree) 5 - Tabebuia Rosea (Trumpet Tree) 6 - Peltophorum Pterocarpum (Yellow Flame Tree) 7 - Mangifera Indica (Mango) 8 - Ficus Benjamina (Weeping Fig) 9 - Khaya Senegalensis 10 - Khaya Senegalensis

UNDERSTANDING VOLUME OF FALLEN LEAVES ON SITE 7 - Mangifera Indica Drops approx. 36 leaves in a year.

In a year

6 - Peltophorum Pterocapum Drops more leaves within the month and flowers for a few days.

In a day

In a month

2 - Termialia Catappa Leaves turn red and sheds its leaves in a month.

In a day

In a month

RATE OF FALLING LEAVES ON SITE

28

Dirty Architects

4/5 - Tabebuia Rosea Drops more leaves within the month and flowers for a few days.

In a day

In a month

OBSERVATIONS OF A FAMILY GROWING APART FEB

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPT

OCT

NOV

DEC

DAUGHTER

MOTHER

FATHER

GRANDMA

JAN

SON

I modelled the family I am designing for based on my own. I noticed that as the children grow up and become more indepedent, the family membes begin to lead increasingly separate lives and spend share less time and space with each other. What this means is that although all members stay in the same house and use the same spaces, their daily cycles do not overlap, and as such these few spaces are not used at the same time.

“How do we fill the gaps in between as they grow in different directions?

ANNUAL CYCLE Celebratory State

Neutral State

Dormant State

Neutral State (School Holidays)

How do we rethink the space at home that is often unfilled throughout the day?

Annual cycle of celebrations, holidays and everydays.

(Week 14)

How do we emphasis the time and space that overlap?”

- Prompt questions from Week 4

0100

0200

Private Room

Private Study

Private Bathroom

0300

0400

0500

Central Kitchen

Heavy Kitchen

0600

0700

0800

0900

1000

1100

1200

1300

1400

1500

1600

1700

1800

1900

2000

2100

2200

2300

LEGEND

SON

DAUGHTER

MOTHER

FATHER

GRANDMA

0000

Garden Space

Laundry Space

Sitting Space

Eating Space

Study Space

BBQ Space

Open Air Laundry Space

Theatre Space

Banquet Space

WEEKDAY CYCLE

Weekday cycle of each family member, observing overlaps (Week 5)

From my studies of my family, I observed that all members occupy the same few communal spaces (often alone)and spend the most time in their personal spaces (bedrooms).

However, once in a while, the family would gather for special events and celebrations, and the remaining spaces that are not frequently used are then activated.

Tracking where the family members go and what they do (Week 5)

Dirty Architects

29

House of Fallen Leaves

by Emma Lau Si Ying

My house is a physical register of the life within, challenging the norm of a house as a static vessel while the family it contains is constantly changing. As the family grows up, they no longer spend as much time together: within the house, members all carrying out similar routines in the same spaces, but at different times of the day. My house attempts to capture the presence of each family member through the introduction of fallen and decaying leaves into the living spaces, using the processes of grating, accumulation and staining.

My house is a translation of four main components in my research of leaves: Movement and gathering of leaves, Rate of decomposition of leaves, Study of leaves on site, Cycles of the family.

Iterations were made in attempt to design the role and (physical) position of the decaying leaf within the living space of this specific family, and the articulation of the relationship between leaves, architecture and human users. The final project is one that enables the family members to attach meaning to the decaying leaves via physical processes carried out on the leaves using architecture, working alongside the natural biological processes of decomposition (grating). Another approach is to design the architecture so as to create new relationships between humans’ use of space and fallen leaves that create spatial changes (accumulation). Lastly, the house acts as a device that articulates the passing of time by capturing the effects of natural cyclical phenomena (staining), alluding to the cycles of the family.

CONCEPT MODELS (WEEK 3)

64

Dirty Architects

Detail of leaves-architecture interaction

boundary line

boundary line

Iteration 21 Long Section (Week 9)

Neutral

Parents

Neutral

Balcony

Neutral

Grandma

SECTION 1:50

Iteration 1, Short Section (Week 8)

Neutral

Parents

Neutral

Neutral

Daughter

Daughter

Neutral

Son

Neutral Neutral

Son

Grandma

Activated

Banquet Space

Neutral

Neutral

Central Kitchen

Back Kitchen

Expanded

BBQ Pit

Neutral

Dinner Space

Neutral

Heavy Kitchen

Expanded

Eating Space Neutral

Neutral

Light Kitchen

Chilling Space

Activated

BBQ Space

Neutral

Eating Space

Neutral

Central Kitchen Expanded

Outdoor Laundry

Expanded

Socialising Space

Neutral

Activated

Laundry Space

Expanded

Theatre Space

Theatre Space Neutral

Neutral

Laundry Space

Sitting Space

Iteration 3, Plans (Week 9)

Iteration 4, Plans (Week 10)

PAST ITERATIONS

Dirty Architects

65

0

1

2

4

8

m

legend

10 - daughter’s room 11 - son’s room

PRIVATE LEVEL 0

66

1

2

4

Dirty Architects

8

m

neutral state second floor plan

legend

1- banquet space 2 - dining space 3 - central kitchen 4 - back kitchen 5 - bbq space 6 - laundry space 7 - study space 8 - theatre space 9 - chilling space

COMMUNAL LEVEL

neutral state first floor plan

legend

12 - father’s and mother’s room 13 - grandma’s room 14 - balcony

PRIVATE LEVEL

neutral state third floor plan

Dirty Architects

67

Grating:

Accumulation:

This process hinges on the observation that the amount of time each person spends at home changes as they enter new phases of their lives. As each member utilises their private spaces, whole leaves are grated and fall onto the earth below, contrasting with the whole leaves. The more time a person spends at home, the larger their pile of grated leaves is. Hence, at one moment in time, the house measures the amount of time each person spends at home relative to each other by comparing everyone’s pile. However, when the ground-scape changes (due to a change in size of grated leaf pile), the house captures a shift in the life of a member.

My house captures three states: the Everyday, the Celebratory and the Dormant through the accumulation of leaves. Spaces that are commonly used are elevated and clear of leaves, joined by pathways that have been formed through the repetitive act of walking. When the family gathers for special celebrations or family dinners, spaces that usually lie dormant are activated and cleaned, leaving imprints of the wet leaves on the decks. When the family goes abroad, these leaves accumulate and causes the house to shrink.

68

Dirty Architects

MECHANISMS OF LEAVES

long section

1:100

Staining:

m 0

1

2

4

8

The house ages over time, its surfaces stained as rainwater and leaves interact with each other. While the exterior of the house is unstained, the interior surfaces are washed with matted leaves and natural pigment.

Dirty Architects

69

70

Dirty Architects

Iteration 1 (Week 7)

Iteration 2 (Week 9)

Iteration 3 (Week 9)

Iteration 4 (Week 10)

Iteration 5 (Week 13)

ITERATION MODELS

Final Design

Dirty Architects

71

MATISSE HOUSE TAN YI-ERN SAMUEL

MATISSE HOUSE TAN YI-ERN SAMUEL

subject: kuro Kuro - Dog designation: dog condition: overweight; arthritic; used to like running; scared of open risers behaviour: barks until let in; barks at passersby from the front garden; likes to lean against walls and corners. domains: garden; patio sliding doors; food area; living room; dining room; kitchen, bedrooms analysis: mostly free reign of movement across ground floor; open riser staircases are opaque; spendes a lot of time in the area around children’s bedrooms and back garden; brings dirt all around the house, especially to bedrooms; prone to wandering.

52

Dirty Architects

Matisse Drawings

by Tan Yi-Ern Samuel

The dirt I studied was that which appeared in my own home. For years, it has puzzled me as to why my own room door (leading to the garden) had begun to rot and decay, whilst my brother’s kept pristine. Positioning this as the prompt and warrant for my investigation of dirt, I concluded that the presence and absence of such a form of microbial dirt was one facilitated by the movement of my dogs throughout the house; my dogs had developed a habit of visiting my room very often, leaning against the door as they awaited my return home, depositing material gathered from all over the garden. More aptly then, this movement is not one characterised simply by circulatory notions of vector and architecture, but one of territorial dimensions, where individual inhabitants of a dwelling colonised and marked spheres of influences within which they would commonly operate.

Representing this, thus, is the Matisse Drawing, a form of representation that seeks to make visible this territorialisation within the dwelling. Areas of white indicate where an agent might typically dwell, while the areas black are considered literally opaque to that individual agent. In other words, the Matisse Drawing is a reading of the house that establishes an architecture individual to each inhabitant, formalised as loops that render the original form of the house obscured. While these inhabitants all traverse the same physical building, its floors, walls, roofs, the true architecture that is the life force projected by the individual onto and through the building, is unique to each inhabitant. The overlaying of these drawings reveals typologies of territories, derived from phenomena occuring in the overlapping and exclusion of territories by factors of time, space, and activity. Loops might be adjacent, sharing many common territories, or they might be distant, meeting only incidentally. In this way, what the Matisse Drawing offers is an alternative reading of the house that eschews programme, function, and even rooms, representing instead an intense domestic territorialisation.

(Below) Top left: My room door Bottom left: Brother’s room door Right: Hershey (behind) and Kuro (front)

Dirty Architects

53

54

Dirty Architects

(Opposite page) Left-right, top-down: Hershey - Dog; Sumi - Maid || Me; Nat - Brother || Father; Yien - Basement Auntie (Above) Clockwise from top left: 19 Sunset Place; Kuro / Father || Hershey / Sumi; Me / Nat

Dirty Architects

55

114 Dirty Architects

Dirty Architects 115

Matisse House

by Tan Yi-Ern Samuel

(Below) Left: Street study plan drawing depicting oscillation Top right: Street study section drawing depicting thresholds Bottom right: Horizontal and vertical tension (Opposite page) Left-right, top-down: Fabric models - Week 5; Week 6 (v1) || Week 6 (v2); Week 7 (v1) || Week 7 (v2); Parti models - Week 7 (interim iteration) || Week 7; Week 8

Predicated upon the mythical benefits of microbial dirt, the house establishes a system of dirt conducted by its nine human and non-human inhabitants (interchangeably denoted agents or vectors), seeking to constantly renew dirt that would otherwise sediment as decay and degradation. Such an architecture then would be determined not by rooms and programmes, static forms of organisation, but by movement and loops, intertwined and intersecting affording dynamism to the system. More importantly, these loops are not confined to the boundaries of the dwelling, but extend to the loops that venture out into the macro-ecology, returning with dirt that feeds the micro-ecology.

But this system is not entirely smooth, and while rooms can be forgone, territories cannot be. Common territories: simple overlaps of loops where people gather in shared spaces; exclusory territories: points upon the loop that are private and not shared; adversarial territories: spaces that cannot overlap with each other, and where the transmission of dirt from within or without cannot be allowed. The tension between these territories forces a calibration of their positions upon their respective loops, allowing dirt into as many spaces as possible whilst avoiding where it cannot go.

The architecture then, is a manifestation of both this calibration of territories upon the agents’ loops and the contiguity of these loops between the system within the dwelling, and the world beyond it. The result is a dwelling that defies the archetypal typology of a ‘house’, an architectural idea to enable the movement and even agency of dirt.

A

A’

thresholds street study / section 1:50

A

A’

oscillation street study / plan 1:100

116 Dirty Architects

rooms

Dirty Architects 117

(Above) Level 1 Plan 118 Dirty Architects

(Above) Level 2 Plan Dirty Architects 119

(Above) Longitudinal Section 120 Dirty Architects

(Above) From previous spread: Unfurled Oblique Projection Drawing Dirty Architects 121

122 Dirty Architects

Dirty Architects 123

(Previous spread left leaf) Left-right, top-down: Younger brother; Older brother || Grandfather; Grandmother || Mother; Father || Greyhound; Collie || Maid; Combined (Previous spread right leaf) Top-down: Mother / Father || Grandfather / Collie || Grandmother / Older Brother 124 Dirty Architects

(Opposite page) Top: Sectional model - outside in, cutting childrens’ bedrooms, gallery, and mould room Bottom: Sectional model - inside out, cutting dining room, study, and reading room (Below) Top: Living room Bottom: Study and dining room

Dirty Architects 125

(Above) Top: Model, plan view Bottom: Entrance of Matisse House, masterbedroom and carporch pictured 126 Dirty Architects

(Opposite page) Top left: Model, view from back, grandparents suite pictured Top right: Entanglement of loops, masterbedroom pictured Bottom: Layering of loops, mould room and bedroom pictured

Dirty Architects 127

YEAR 4 OPTIONS STUDIO COMPILATION OF SAMPLES

M.ARCH 1, STUDIO ONG KER-SHING

IMAGE CREDIT: FELYNCIA NG

FLOW OF ALGAE

Flow of Algae