Stephanie Siy Cha Portfolio

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STEPHANIE SIY CHA

about me

My interest in design has been prevalent long before I was introduced to Architecture and Interior Design. Throughout my teenage years I found myself being drawn to creative outlets, whether it be having multiple do-it-yourself projects, or watching videos and TV shows on Interior Design and Decorating. As I started my higher education, I found myself being more passionate about the building industry, always questioning how buildings are made and being even more curious about its interiors.

I am passionate in a human-centred approach to Interior Design that is innovative and inclusive to as many types of people as possible. I believe in designing with the people, for the people to create a truly sustainable and inclusive space. Interior Design has the power to evoke emotions from a user, and I believe that design should allow users to feel at peace, comfortable, and welcomed at all times.

My education in Architecture and Interior Design as well as having internship experiences has helped me understand design from the concepts, theories, to real life implications. While I have certainly learned a lot throughout my years of studies, I am always learning, and am always eager to learn new skills and experiences.

SHEPPARTON COMMUNITY CENTRE HAVEN CONTOURS WORLDINGS

shepparton community centre

In collaboration with Ananya Garg, Yining Zhang, & Fangying Yan

The Shepparton Community Centre is a women’s centre that is open to all women in all walks of life, which aims to support and empower women by providing physical, mental, social, and security support. We aim to support women’s wellness and wellbeing by providing them with a safe and comfortable environment to participate, communicate and engage with their peers.

The vision for this women’s centre is to provide emotional, social, technical, and safety support to women experiencing different stages and levels of difficulty in their lives. The aim of the project is to create a centre for women in Shepparton that is respectful and empathetic of different backgrounds, inclusive, and supportive of all types of women.

The Shepparton Community Centre follows the concept of a “mask.” It camouflages the real objective of the centre by having parts of the centre open to the general public. This also helps reduce the shame women might feel when asking for help. More importantly, the mask helps achieve the goal of providing a hidden sanctuary for women so that they will be in control of how they use the space.

PUBLIC PRIVATE

COURTYARD, CHILDCARE, CAFE

The whole space is open to the community and people are welcome to freely choose spaces of different sizes and atmospheres according to their needs. But at the same time, the distribution of the different private spaces provides a place for women who are facing difficulties and seeking help. Private places in public spaces reduce the shame and isolation women feel when seeking help, and they have the opportunity to gradually integrate into more collective activities and develop social relationships. This allows people to feel at ease in this space and to feel mentally relaxed and emotionally at peace. Ultimately to support the spiritual and emotional well-being of women.w

DAY TIME

NIGHT TIME

BAR

WATER

WOMEN’S CENTRE

As the underlying theme of this project has been to hide the women’s centre so as to not make people too curious of all the activities taking place inside, the entrance follows the same idea. It is kept nondescript on purpose so as to avoid glances from people who don’t already know of it’s existence. This provides vulnerable women the privacy to come into the space without any suspicion. The greenery, not only provides a screen between the inside and the outside but also brings in calmness and closeness to nature.

COUNSELLING AREAS

The counselling spaces and the healing garden are designed to break the stereotype of the institutionalised mental health clinics. The goal is to create a relazed and comfortable atmosphere of diverse conversation spaces with different levels of privacy to give the users the power to choose how they want to navigate through their mental health, thus reducing the psychological shame of seeking help.

Physical intervention is also utilised to enable people to relax and be at peace during counselling sessions. People are encouraged to be self-expressive, communicate positively, and become away of their intrinsic value.

FIRST FLOOR

FIRST FLOOR

ENTRANCE

WOMEN’S LOUNGE

The purpose of the women’s lounge is to create a space where women can travel through the public space into the private spaces without the general public knowing. Moreover, the women’s lounge aims to create a safe and comfortable space for any woman who may need to use the facilities.

The women’s lounge, more than just the women’s shower, toilet, and breastfeeding and changing suite, has an affordance of an exclusive transition for women into the first floor women’s centre. It increases their security in that the general public will not think twice about the main objectives of the women’s lounge.

BREASTFEEDING AND CHANGING SUITE

BREASTFEEDING AND CHANGING SUITE

EMERGENCY SHELTER

The emergency shelter provides women and their families to have a safe space to stay if they need to escape their abusive homes. It is a temporary accommodation that is available to them as they work with the centre’s partner organisations to find a more permanent accommodation.

The emergency shelter is located at the back of the building to provide maximum security and privacy for women and their families. The aim of the shelter is to create a space that will make the users feel as safe and comfortable as possible in order to ease their mental state. The space also has a private indoor garden to give the women and their families a choice to stay secluded without feeling suffocated in an enclosed space. The objective of the emergency shelter is to make the users feel as welcomed as possible. It challenges the institutionalised homeless shelter by using materials that look and feel luxurious. This will make the users feel as if they are well thought of when they are in the space.

Endless Worlding is the interconnectedness of experiences. Every interaction we have with people, things, and spaces lead to both new and old experiences. As long as we are living, every memories we create and every experience we have interwine with each other.

carlton’s haven

Located at the heart of Carlton, Carlton’s Haven is a proposed Community Healthcare Centre that provides family support servics for low income families. The goal of the proposed healthcare centre is to make families feel a sense of peace and tranquility and eradicate the feeling of anxiety when seeking for help regarding their physical and mental health.

FRONT VIEW

REAR VIEW

The healthcentre is broken down into 3 groups, where the interaction spaces acts as a glue, binding the wellness and knowledge spaces together, creating cross-programmed spaces within each groups. Moreover, the goal is to have a strong visual and physical axis along the centre in order to have a connection with the site that already has a strong axis.

THIRD FLOOR

KNOWLEDGE

The third and fourth floors are knowledge areas, public and the fourth floor is closed

KNOWLEDGE

areas, where the third floor can be opened to the closed for the employees of the CHC. FLOOR

GROUND FLOOR

INTERACTION

Facilities with the highest interaction are located in the ground floor, acting as the main hub for the interaction group.

The first and second

SECOND FLOOR

WELLNESS second floor plan are the wellness areas, with the first floor focusing on the body and the second floor focusing on the mind.

LONG SECTION SECTION

Twisting Contours Pavilion is a proposal for the MPavilion in Victoria Gardens, Melbourne that can accommodate a musical quartet and some audience.The pavlion creates a juxtaposition between a structured art installation that can be viewed from afar and the natural feel that one can sense when inside the pavilion.

stephaniesiycha@gmail.com