Sue Yan portfolio

CONTENT

About Sue

School Projects

- Polling Station (Master Final Year Project)

- Sunset Strip Pier (Master Final Year Project)

- Can Fun be the criteria for a healthy streetscape through the introduction of intergenerational “funscape”? (Master First Year Project)

Work Projects

- TaiKwun 101 Exhibition (Exhibition)

- Co-creating Wellbeing School Space (with engagement) (Interior)

- #Apartogether (Installation/ Public Furniture)

- Qian Hai Zette Brigde (Architecture)

- Hong Kong Sheung Shui Primary School Meditation Hub (Extendion)

Other Projects

WORK EXPERIENCE

One Bite Design Studio @Hong Kong

Architectural Assistant

09.2016 - 06.2021

Role: Designing, Managing Teams, Coordinating Projects with clients and contractors, Planning, Hosting and Participating in community engagement programmes.

Types of Work:

Architectural Design (Qian Hai Zetta)

Museum & Exhibition Design

(Hong Kong Museum of Art, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, 2018 Hong Kong Macao Visual Art Biennale)

Placemaking interventions as a public exhibition

(Design District Hong Kong)

Interior Design

(Clinic, Elderly Center, School Co-working Space, School meditation space)

Public Furniture Design (Park, Well-being)

EDUCATION

Hong Kong Design Institue

Architectural Design / Higher Diploma

University of Lincoln

BA(hons) Architecture / Bachelor Degree

Oxford Brookes University

Master of Architectural Design

OTHER EXPERIENCE

Recycled Bamboo Crutch Design

One Look Bamboo Designer

Project HK-UK Design, Artistry and Craftmanship

Furniture Design Programme

Furniture Designer

(Final Product Exhibited in Milian Design Week 2022)

SKILLS

Advanced Good Intermediate

Autocad

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe InDesign

Adobe Photoshop

Rhinoceros

Adobe Premiere Pro

Physical Model Making

Microsoft office

Revit Blender

PO(L)LING STATION

Design Studio - Resilient by Design (First Semester)

Location : Blackpool

As part of the council’s incentive to turn Blackpool into a family-friendly resort town, they began tightening sexual entertainment venue (SEV) policies, putting the existing adult entertainment industry out of business in the following year.

From the research and the understanding of resilience, the decision to close down all SEVs in Blackpool is one that will have a negative overall impact. With the next policy review not until 2026, the Polling station will be an intervention to question how adult entertainment and family-friendly activities can co-exist; as well as to challenge the sexual entertainment stigma by attracting public attention and involvement in active conversation on the topic.

The polling station is a pavilion that provides activation throughout the day. During day time, it creates a non-intrusive point of interest along the promenade which is a playground for all ages, while at night, the glowing spaces enveloped by the fabric will transform into an adult entertainment area like the pole dance performance or dance pool. It not only creates a spectacle but also enhance public space safety through the gaze of the on-lookers of the otherwise dimly illuminated public space.

Aside from engaging the public through organised events, the polling station as a dedicated intervention provides the opportunity to conduct passive data collection. Working in tangent with food trucks such as an ice-cream van and a kebab van, free food is used as an incentive to collect more personal information. Key data to collect would be the age, gender, and occupation of the users of the intervention, this will play an important role in rebutting the stigma of people who enjoy adult entertainment.

SUNSET STRIP PIER

Design Studio - Resilient by Design (Second Semester)

Location : Blackpool

Design Brief: To create a fictional, yet research-derived, possibilist future of Blackpool and respond through resilience architectural design intervention.

The Blackpool council has set up an invited design competition for the centrepiece of the Blackpool central development masterplan in order to (1) Increase family friendly & overnight tourists which have decreased because of the rising sea levels and (2)relocated sex workers that can bring back the seafront to the public as the crown jewel for Blackpool’s new identity as the destination for family-friendly entertainment.

Our response and proposal is the Sunset Strip Pier, a resort that combines family-friendly and adult entertainment. The design proposal serves as a theoretical one to prompt the council to rethink its strategic approach to the future, particularly on the abolition of all adult entertainment.

Co-existing Dichotomies

Throughout the preparation of the brief and the development of the design, multiple dichotomies have been identified within the context of this project and its relationship with the wider architecture discourse.

(1) Family friendly vs Adult entertainment - Should sex be mentioned?

(2) Classism between People

(3) is there working-class vs upper-class architecture?

One of the aims of the project will be to allow for these dichotomies to co-exist spatially, whether it is for them to juxtapose with each other or for the space to adapt to these dichotomies through a cycle of time.

To highlight these different dichotomies identified and applied, a series of collages were done to illustrate what they are and how they can be interpreted programmatically, architecturally and within the post-modernism discourse, symbolically, as geometries, colours, textures, spatial, materials, etc.

Some of these questions are raised to be uncomfortable, but also precisely the reason why they should be raised instead of sidestepped.

In response to the historical context of the north and central pier, which were traditionally designed for different demographics, we introduced programmes that fit families with any budget, where the functions, materials and atmospheres will be totally different. The function of the central area will change thought the day and night time, responding to different entertainment desired by the audience throughout the day.

Pub (Showing Football Matches)

Wine Lounge (Screening Live Rugby Games)

Entrance

Resort

The Golden Ball (Fine Dinning)

FUNSCAPE

Research-led Design Studio -

Can Fun be the criteria for a healthy streetscape through the introduction of intergenerational “funscape”? (Master First Year Project)

Location : Westway, London

During the pandemic, people had been tormented by an endless cycle of lockdown, sickness and the passing of family and friends, which is affecting our mental health. Since our lives have finally gone back to normal, streets have again become the place that people pass through every day, and the objective of this paper is to study whether a changed focus on the design of streetscape can improve people’s mental well-being.

Inspired by the book Happy by Design and Happy city, the idea of happiness and joy in the city has triggered the concept of “fun’scape” design. The concept of “fun’scape” does not appear in the existing streetscape design guidelines, but instead can be commonly seen in children-friendly design guidance, which brings the question of why adults or the elderly cannot have fun on street as well?

This research analysed five types of fun through studying different streetscapes, playgrounds and follies architecture around the world, with these findings being applied to different types of London streetscapes to investigate their feasibility in their corresponding street conditions.

The site is in Westway, an area with a combination of different streetscape characteristics to serve the various groups of users. At the moment, there is a lack of quality public open space and there is still a lingering sense of sadness and nervousness in the atmosphere, perhaps from the aftermaths of the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the COVID impacts. From the different sites, four of the most common street types and the bus stop have been looked into for enhancement in order to bring maximum effectiveness in the creation of fun’scape’.

Boost Station

Streetscape Hunt

Streetscape Sound Museum

QIAN HAI ZETTE BRIDGE

Qian Hai Zetta serves as a bridge for Hong Kong and other overseas partners to engage with the creative industry in Mainland China. This innovative space, which includes a multi-functional hall, market, and four blocks of co-working space, was opened in August 2018 after being designed in 2016.

Considering its proximity to QianHai Park, the primary focus of the design was to establish a similar ambiance on the site. light timber, white metal panels, and perforated panels were incorporated into the market block, along with partially open terraces that offer visitors optimal views of the park. In the co-working area, balconies were introduced at various levels, providing designers with bar tables for relaxation and socializing.

Location : Qian Hai, China

Team: Alan Cheung, Luana Kwok, Melody Siu, Sarah Mui, Sherene Ng, Sue Yan

SCHOOL MEDITATION HUB

Location : Sheung Shui, Hong Kong

Mental health concerns among students have been increasingly prevalent in Hong Kong. In light of this, HHCKLA Buddhist Chan Shi Wan Primary School has taken the initiative to address these concerns by repurposing their old storeroom and Parent-Teacher Association quarter into a meditation room accessible to students, teachers, and even neighbors.

The central idea behind the meditation room is to create a sense of wholeness, symbolized by the concept of “completing the circle.” which is reflected in everything from the signage at the front door to the partitions inside the room. The goal is to guide users on a journey of self-discovery and to encourage them to value the present moment. The exterior design features a clean white box with timber accents, fostering a welcoming and peaceful atmosphere in the surrounding area. The entrance door is adorned with a timber deck and bamboo, providing a soothing transition for individuals before they enter the meditation space. Additionally, an operable timber fins system has been incorporated into the design, allowing for the opening of the main facade to invite natural light and ventilation into the room.

Team: Alan Cheung, Lung Mak, Sarah Mui, Sue Yan

TAIKWUN 101 EXHIBITION

Objects are the wellspring of stories. Tai Kwun 101 is an exhibition interweaving 101 objects related to the Central Police Station Compound in Hong Kong with a new interactive journey. Curated to chronicle a variety of stories about work and life in these historic buildings over time, the design of the exhibition uses colours and connected elements to formulate multiple paths, juxtaposition of geometrical representations, and indoor-outdoor exploration. Celebrating the 1st anniversary of the former Police Headquarters compound, Tai Kwun 101 showcases a seamless thread connecting the hidden traces of people in the history of Tai Kwun and the exhibition.

The exhibition spans across indoor and outdoor locations, including the Duplex Studio inside the Central Police Station block. Deviating from other static exhibitions, the 101 number of objects are designed not to mimic an old scenario, but in an abstract and re-interpreted journey that encourages communications and encounters. The exhibition design ditches the standard grey and old tone for these historic objects and makes up a colourful series of architectonic to represent the 5 types of daily users in the former compound. Each colour representing an identity and the weaving of colours in the exhibition guides the audience the routes and significant objects related to the identity accordingly. The whole exhibition consists of 5 routes that separates, interlocks and sees each other.

Team: Alan Cheung, Luana Kwok, Sarah Mui, Sherene Ng, Suet Yan

CO-CREATING WELLBEING SCHOOLS SPACE

This is a renovation project of three primary schools and one secondary school to realise spaces that would promote well-being. The design proposal for these spaces was developed through a series of design thinking workshops, involving school teachers and students. Furthermore, the school population was actively engaged in the process to determine the final design.

TWGH Tang Shiu Kin Primary School - Pause and Be Present

Team: Alan Cheung, April Kwok, Sarah Mui, Sinji Lau, Suet Yan,Venus Cheung

TWGH Tang Shiu Kin Primary School - Pause and Be Present

TWGH Sin Chu Wan Primary School - Follow me on a Tube Adventure!

#APARTTOGETHER

#APARTOGETHER, is a creative response to how public facilities could adapt to social distancing measures during the waves of Covid-19 pandemics. Each module enabled public space users to rest and hang out “together” while keeping “apart”.

The centrepiece of our series of nine pavilion-style outdoor furniture pieces is The Lead”, which we have the privilege to conceptualise and realise with the Tai Hang Residents’ Welfare Association, incorporating elements of their world-famous Tai Hang Fire Dragon to bring good health and blessing to the city and all visitors.

The other eight furniture pieces are designed to allow visitors to enjoy a quiet sunset moment alone to having a solo ride on a merry-go-round.

Each of the furniture pieces is thoughtfully designed so that visitors can enjoy these public facilities at a safe distance from other visitors. The names of these eight pieces all start with #One and end with Together, such as #One in #Rhythm Together and #One in #Balance Together. There is also a sphere made of rattan topping these eight structures. Done in collaboration with Breakthrough Art Studio, this emphasised thr sense of figurative and visual connection between structures, allowing visitors to enjoy #metime alone but not feel lonely.

By creating an installation that seemingly keep people apart but are actually connecting them together by communal activities, onebite hopes the installation will dispel the perception of loneliness and isolation during Covid-19, and improve everyone’s mental health by providing a refreshing space for contemplation, romance, and fun in the new normal.

Team: Alan Cheung, Garrick Chan, Sarah Mui, Suet Yan

Design Distract Hong Kong 2018

Ting Ting - Sound Mirror

Recycle Bamboo Multi-function Crutch

Play To Engage

Hong Kong Macau Visual Art Biennale St. James’ Settlement Elderly Center Exhibition

Public Furniture Exhibition Exhibition Interior

Gadget for City Sleepers

JP Clinic

PMQ Cheerful April 11 Skies Hong Kong Zone

HKHM Ceramic Exhibition Wellness Pod City Experiment Interior Design Installation Interior

Exhibition Public Furiture