Year 2 Semester 2 Architecture Portfolio

Choo Qing Yuan

AY 2017/18 Year 2 Semester 2

Container

by Choo Qing Yuan A thorough site visit and around the neighbourhoods along the Kallang River brought about my attention to the need to take action for a neglected environmental concern, recycling, which severely lacks in community involvement. The existing recycling programme within the HDBs, which consists only of one commingled recycling bin per block has led to gradual ignorance among the residents. Given such convenient dumping grounds, most residents are in fact unaware of the exact recyclable materials. Instead, little items in the recycling bins ended up being recycled.

Hence, rather than relying on the government and industries to take over their responsibilities, individuals and the community ought to step in and play a greater role in the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), and understand the consequences and severity of their actions to the environment. Besides the 3Rs, the concept of upcycling should also be promoted in order to work towards a minimal-waste lifestyle.

The proposed C4, a centre for recycling and upcycling, will include two community-managed sorting facilities, where materials from the neighbourhood recycling bins will be transported to and sorted by the residents themselves, and visitors will also get to learn more about the process of recycling. To provide a creative perspective on upcycling, an artist studio will be introduced where interested artists are free to participate in creating recycled art and installation around the site. The artists will also be given the opportunity to collaborate with skilled senior citizens to conduct upcycling workshops as a program for the visitors. To promote community interaction, a flea market will be set up such that nearby residents can trade in their used household items for secondhand goods which are of greater use to them.

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In line with the centre’s program, recycled shipping containers have been chosen as the main material for the building to minimise the building carbon footprint.

Each shipping container (40ft High Cube Container) serves as a module, where they would be aggregated and stacked to create overhang walkways, corridors and roof decks. To increase the porosity across the structure, parts of the containers’ corrugated steel walls will be cut out to create double volume and ventilation spaces. These excess materials are then re-utilised for additional structural support on other parts of the architecture to reduce the amount of waste generated.

To optimise shade and ventilation, the structure is carefully composed and oriented within the site, which is framed by robust trees with large canopies. On the building scale, north-south facing façades are designed as large openings to allow natural ventilation through the north-south prevailing winds. Within the building, additional stack ventilation can be achieved through the use of double volume spaces that facilitates the cooling of the indoor environment.

On the envelope scale, excess cut-outs of the containers are reutilised to create brise soleil and shelters for open spaces. At the entrance, the corrugated structure at the reception area is replaced with glass façades, therefore excessive solar exposure is mitigated by the use of double volume louvre structure that reduces heat gain and also allow light to penetrate. The windows facing the east-west orientation are treated with long and narrow openings, creating rhythmic shadow patterns consistent with the language of the louvres.

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40 FT HIGH CUBE CONTAINER

2.68M

12M

2.35M

TYPES OF SPACES COMMUNITY WORKSHOP SORTING FACILITY

FINAL BUILDING FORM

ARTIST STUDIO ART GALLERY CAFE FLEA MARKET

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1:200 2m

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0

2m

4m

6m

8m

10m

PAPER/ CARDBOARD

PLASTICS

WOOD SCRAPS

GLASS BOTTLES

METAL/ E-WASTE

SORTING FACILITY RECEPTION

SORTING FACILITY (BULKY ITEMS) USED FABRICS

METAL CANS REPAIR CENTRE

FLEA MARKET

LEVEL 1

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INFORMATION CENTRE & EXHIBITION

TOOLS WORKSHOP

CAFE

OUTDOOR CAFE SPACE

LEVEL 2

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OUTDOOR UPCYCLING WORKSHOP SPACE

ARTIST STUDIO/ UPCYCLING WORKSHOP

OUTDOOR ART STUDIO SPACE

ART GALLERY

OUTDOOR ART GALLERY

LEVEL 3

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