The premise of this project focuses on the in depth research of Mies van der Rohe’s architecture, particularly the New National Gallery in Berlin (NNG). As an extension to the existing NNG, the task was to create an annex museum directly across it on an empty site.
Prior to the start of the actual design, tenkei workshops were conducted as spatial studies, particularly on concepts such as ‘public and semi-public spaces’, ‘box in a box (space within a space)’, and ‘space one can go, space one cannot go’.
The main concept of the project deals with the idea of overlapping spaces. The museum consists of 3 volumes, where the main gallery (universal space) is intersected with 2 other volumes, a sunken pavilion and an enclosed elevated platform. These intersected volumes then create new transitional spaces. The Annex museum is placed diagonally on site to provide vantage points towards important landmarks on its facades. Its diagonal grid is also an extension of the original NNG grid.
The spaces that one cannot go are defined as the management spaces that are inaccessible to visitors. The idea is also displayed through the vertical relationship of the museum levels: Ground Level as gallery space (space one can go), and second storey as storage and management spaces (space one cannot go).
Berlin Site
The Parasol
by ChooQingYuan
My project aims to re-explore the concept and the atmosphere of a secondhand market in its own primitive form - flea markets that originate along road sides. In Singapore, the most prominent flea market is likely the Sungei Road thieves market, and its main distinctive and attractive part of the market is that vendors are able to colonise the road and set up their own stalls. The format of the stall is simple: A parasol, and a mat on the ground to display their secondhand goods.
My project seeks to explore how to recreate the atmosphere of open-air flea market in the setting of a building compound, such that the experience of the outdoor and community spirit is not lost but enhanced, and at the same time provide a space for the community to come together for some exchange of secondhand goods.
In my scheme, I have adapted the idea of a individual stall from the flea market, which comes from the simple idea of setting up a parasol to indicate their presence. The main structure consists of a canvas canopy that is retractable for different environmental or atmospheric conditions. In the day, the canvas can be partially extended to provide some shading and at the same time allow the plants within the building to absorb enough sunlight. Whereas at night, the canvas can then be fully retracted to reveal the night sky, such that users are able to stargaze and enjoy the atmosphere of an open night market.
The building also caters to users that come at different times of the day. In the daytime, the reuse furniture showroom will be open to the public for showcase. The showroom, much like the other parts of the building, is kept open and porous. Back-of-house spaces are congregated on one side of the building to minimise the disruption of the human circulation among the spaces.
In the evening, the space will then transform into a festive night market to cater to people returning from work, and that is also when the indoor furniture can be restocked and rearranged for next day’s business.
Spatially, the furniture are categorised based on their sizes and the nature of each item, as well as the way the goods are exchanged or sold. The central foyer is sunken marketplace where vendors can set up their individual stalls. Kiosk shelves are also available for the exchange of secondhand items. Large furniture are displayed in the showroom in 2nd storey. The rooftop garden is a space where not only allows users to rest, but also showcases reuse outdoor furniture. To acknowledge the road that the main entrance faces, there are two projected volumes for display of key furniture, which can be interpreted like treehouses as a nod to the dense greenery at the surrounding.
As for materials and building system, the building is constructed with a column and slab system, where a secondary material, canvas, will be the element which allows for disassembly and prefabrication. Each piece of canvas are produced of standard dimensions. Canvas is also used for building envelope, for both shelter and facade. The facade, in coherence with overall design language, operates like an accordion, which opens up the space much like how the canopy retracts to provide an open-air atmosphere to the space. The flexibility of the envelope system therefore blurs the boundary of indoor vs outdoor, as well as private and public space.
Section A-A
RETRACTABLE CANVAS CANOPY
DETAIL OF CONNECTING JOINTS OF SUPPORTING COLUMNS FULLY COVERED CANOPY
Juxtaposition
AY 2017/18 Semester 1
AR2101 Design 3
Juxtaposition
Year 2 Semester 1
My visit to the Dairy Farm Quarry was a journey of arduous trekking in and out of the forest, up and down the muddy mountain biking trail.Yet, I was intrigued by the constant interchange between entering and exiting an enclosed forest path from the open field, and vice versa. This fascinating juxtaposition of the enclosed and the vast then became the main driving force behind my project.
Leaving any contextual knowledge of the site behind, the project started off with the exploration of modular aggregations using just two materials - greyboard and wax. To maximise the permutations of tessellation, each module comprised a L-shaped wax component, where they were then aggregated through interfacing the wax surfaces in different orientations. Architecturally, the material properties of the wax and greyboard were then translated into concrete and cross-laminated timber (CLT) respectively. The cast-in-situ concrete acts as a interconnected structural support system, which would then facilitate the construction of the CLT panels to accommodate for sleeping, cleaning and communal spaces.
Interestingly, the challenge of dealing with the contrasting materialities of wax and greyboard has provided an unexpected relationship between the model, eventually the architecture, and the site. Wax and concrete, as volumetric materials, can be carved to create spaces and openings, much like the act of quarry excavation. On the other hand, the planar properties of greyboard and CLT allow for the creation of enclosed spaces through joining the edges of planes, resembling the natural formation of enclosed paths within the site’s forest.
Located at the southwest region of the quarry, the eco-lodge overlooks the vast open field and enjoys optimum climate conditions, but it does not simply exclude itself from the surrounding environment. The erection of this man-made structure onto an empty field inevitably forces a newfound disparity between the “natural” and the artificial, reminiscing the existing form of the site as a result of human intervention. Its proximity to the west entrance also indicates an obvious invitation to the lodge.
In relation to site contexts and activities, my probe into the juxtaposition of the open and the enclosed was achieved through three levels of formal porosity. On an environmental scale, the two separate units of lodge forms a negative space of a snake-patterned trail, which encourages the integration of mountain biking into the program of the lodge. Pockets of open spaces were also introduced to accommodate outdoor communal activities. On the architectural scale, stack and cross ventilation is optimised through the carving of the concrete structure to create air gaps and openings. On a human scale, the open concept of each building unit allows increased accessibility across the entire site through entering and exiting the units, thereby allowing users to experience the transition between the indoor and the outdoor space.
LEGEND:
CLT: CROSS-LAMINATED TIMBER
1. CAST-ON-SITU CONCRETE
2. PRIMARY CLT ROOF
3. SECONDARY CLT ROOF (REPLACABLE)
4. TIMBER RAFTERS
5. CLT LOAD-BEARING WALLS
6. CONCRETE DRAINAGE SYSTEM
7. WATERPROOFING MEMBRANE
8. CLT MEZZANINE PLATFORM
9. GRAVEL
10. EARTH
AY 2018/19 Semester 1
AR3223 Introduction to Urbanism
AY 2018/19 Semester 1
AR3101 Design 5
Accommodation for the Urban Nomads
by ChooQingYuan
The project aims to explore on the concept of rest in an urban setting. As a form of temporary accommodation, the architecture will serve as a rest stop for different groups of urban nomads in the city. Whether it is individualist backpackers, users in need of working space, or even migrant workers, the urban intervention aim to provide quality rest space and accommodate different rhythms of human activities without exclusions.
Situated at what used to be an underused carpark along Dickson Road, the urban project is surrounded by the most bustling streets of Little India. Across the site, there is a park with cow installations that transforms into a gathering venue for the migrant workers on the weekends. However, as with the existing urban landscape of little india, the project aims to provide quality resting space rather than take away the scarce remaining open green spaces among the densely built shophouses.
By inserting the intervention across the cow park, it will also create an unique relationship between the spaces and reactivate the park in the weekdays. As a continuation of the physical landscape, the architectural form follows the grid and arrangement of the surrounding shophouses. The result hence generated a series of blocks separated by quality alley spaces that also help link up the main road with the back alleys, increasing human circulation and activities across the site.
AY 2017/18 Semester 1
AR2101 Design 3
A Tropical Roof
Tengah C8 Residential Planning
Housing&DevelopmentBoard(HDB)
This internship was an opportunity to be involved first-hand in the planning and designing of a new public housing estate in Tengah, Singapore. My work scope included master planning of the residential blocks, designing and visualising a new mixed-use typology of Multi-Storey Carpark (MSCP), and research explorations on the implementation of Centralised District Cooling System in the residential blocks.
(All images & drawings belong to HDB)
Tengah C8 & C9
Masterplan of Tengah C8 Precinct
MSCP Facade Design
Ground Floor Social Hub (MSCP)
Senior Gym Corner
Childcare Centre
Drop-off Area
3D Construction Printing Design Explorations (Childcare Centre)
Integration of planters in walls and urban furniture through 3D construction printing
This internship has allowed me to gain exposure to overseas development and large- scale master-planning projects. Located in Yingde, Guangzhou (China), the project was a mixed-use development with a hotel, shopping mall and 3 residential blocks. The scope of my involvement in the project included designing the shopping mall facade cover for air-conditioning units, mall entrance, and visualising the entire masterplan through 3D remodelling.
(All images & drawings belong to New Space Architects)
