05 Project Collection Extract 2008 - 2014

PROJECT COLLECTION EXTRACT 2008 - 2014 Pak Lun, Leung

2009

Regulation of projecting signboard established

SIGN RIGHTS

argues that the development of space/form-reading mobile device will bring sign and streetscape into a new era. Instead of replacement, signs will transform into space and structure that brings variation to the street-form.

New signs that create the form of street will become an important data carrier that communicate with future mobile device.

A new regulation for signs is proposed to Hong Kong (Sign Rights, see Appendix), from a new perspective of treating sign as properties instead of two-dimensional shape. Similar to Air Rights in the USA, the new regulation Sign Rights proposes redistribution of developable air space for signs, allowing signs vary in form, material and function with respect to the future street form. This thesis will demonstrate how the new regulation changes the streetscape brought by the interaction between digital mobile devices and new signs.

Early 1930s

Late 1930s

1960s

1st Generation Shophouse

2nd Generation Shophouse

3rd Generation Shophouse

Traditional Signboard vs Future Sign

Context: Message: Contact: Code:

Interior Space (Addresser)

Context: Official Identity of Interior Space e.g. Name, Location, Program /Virtual Shop/Ratings /Photos of Products, Service or Interior Space /Current Activities (or Schedule) Message: “Come!”

“Buy!” “Judge if this is good.”

Contact: Screen Code: Linguistics/Symbols/Photos/Diagrams

???

“Run the Script” Sign (Physical) Optical Data e.g. Barcode/QR Code/Image

Mobile Device (Addresser/Addressee)

Context: ???

Message: “Come!”

“Cool?”

Contact: Sign (Physical) Code: Linguistics/Form /Light/Graphics?

Context: Identity of Interior Space e.g. Name, Location, Program Messagea: “Come!”

Contact: Sign/Light Code: Linguistics

Late 1960s

1970s

4th Generation Shophouse

5th Generation Podium + Tower

Pedestrian (Addressee)

HK Reader Bookstore 序言書室 Room B, 1/F 66-68 Sai Yeung Choi Street South

Total Volume of Developable Sign Rights Space = 31.9

0m 1m

5m

10m

/ 75.6m3

L'OCCITANE en Provence G/F, Foo Tai Building, 24-26 Soy Street

Total Volume of Developable Sign Rights Space = 30.2

0m 1m

5m

10m

/ 75.6m3

INTEGRATED DESIGN - SQUASH CENTER Emerging street squash culture in New York and Newark area has been changing the lifestyle of the neighborhood. In addition to flooding issue brought by the attack of hurricane Sandy in 2012, the project investigated an integrated design with architectural, environmental, structural and material logics with respect to existing building strategy.

BOWERY RE-IMAGINED : EMAZON.CO co-operated with Phi V Phan

Emerging digital technologies and platforms are at the verge of rendering some physical spaces obsolete. This is a proposal to narrowly reverse that trend in the sphere of retail and commerce.

Traditional retail relies heavily on display models. This is characterized by the static display of products and a robust back-ofhouse operation. Surprisingly, digital retail platforms also operate on this old paradigm; though they have replaced pedestals with thumbnails and vastly improved storage, they are still fundamentally tied to the object as a display. Instead of continuing in this trajectory, we propose the development of a platform—a physical one—that offers what the display model cannot: tactility, spontaneity, sound, smell, light, interaction. In other words, an activity model of retail. We refer to this platform as Emazon, a digital entity with the means and desire to rigorously engage physical space and its qualities.

Display Display (Existing retail model) model) (Existing retail

Activity Activity retail model) (Proposed(Proposed retail model)

front of house + back of house

only front of house

front of house + back of house idledisplay display of items idle of items time scale of months or years

time scale of months or years

only front of house supported by by items activityactivity supported items time scale of minutes or hours

time scale of minutes or hours

Utilizing existing physical and digital infrastructure, Emazon’s 14 newly purchased storefront properties in NYC’s Bowery neighborhood can be dedicated completely to front-of-house operation. To heighten the intensity of experience, density and layering is employed to transform those storefronts into 42 distinct spaces. Each is dedicated to a touch, light, and/or sound experiences associated with or extracted from specific products for sale. As these spaces are purely front-of-house, they are available for rent by the hour instead of on multi-year leases, which is particularly beneficial for small businesses with modest budgets.

Emazon was invited by the New Museum to demonstrate its proposed retail model. A music store was designed and built at the storefront of the New Museum. Instead of displaying albums on racks in a traditional store, the new retail space provided haptic and acoustic experience to visitors.

REPRODUCING PROFILE : WEAVING A furniture captures profile of human body and its movements.

Production of a furniture is a re-production of that profile. The project is a preliminary analysis of complicated profile. Bamboo strips were used to build the physical wireframe.