BA Architecture Portfolio - Adrian Lee Tsz Hei

ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO Adrian Lee Tsz Hei BA(Hons) Architecture - Part 1 Architectural Assistant

//DIRECTORY OF PROJECTS

//BA3/PICCADILLY CULTURE AND COMMUNITY GARDENS A open-program building housing lush gardens, communal spaces for the nurturing of local talent, acting as a cultural hub for the city of Manchester.

//BA2/WYTHENSHAWE VISITOR’S CENTER Visitor’s Centre bridging the schism between Wythenshawe’s inhabitants and its iconic local park, located in Wythenshawe, Manchester

//BA3/TIMBER OFFICE BUILDING IN RIYADH Office building design in the hot and humid financial center of Saudi Arabia, utilizing facade design for optimal environmental performance.

//IN PRACTICE/SUSPENDED GYM OF CLUBHOUSE Suspended glass gym for a clubhouse of a residential development in Kowloon, Hong Kong

BA 3//PICCADILLY CULTURE & COMMUNITY GARDENS Manchester, UK Atelier: QED Instructor: Matt Ault & Matt Pilling

01// NARRATIVE The Abandonment of Civic Architecture Manchester Piccadilly’s annual passenger usage has been on an upward trend in the past 5 years. Manchester’s busiest station saw 30 million passenger entries and exits within 2018/2019. The original building was designed as an extension to Manchester Piccadilly, specifically to supplement the existing platforms 13 and 14 to help meet the rising traffic of domestic passengers.

In 2020, the global pandemic of Covid-19 led to nation-wide lock downs, and railway travel between cities and towns was severely depleted. Britain’s largest train companies in Grand Central and Virgin Trains were in dire financial straits. Despite the government’s corona-virus support in a desperate attempt to salvage the heart of the nation’s railway infrastructure, they eventually went into administration.

For many years, train stations throughout Britain were left empty and abandoned as the pandemic remained and the world struggled to develop a working vaccine. Structures began to deteriorate as time began to take its toll.

As the pandemic wore on and wearing a mask became a part of daily life, people flocked to the countryside for fresh air and an escape from the crowded, virus-ridden cities. A Green Movement began to arise, with many plots of land originally planned for urban development converted into parks and landscapes. Old buildings were renovated into open communal spaces for entertainment and activity, while keeping interiors open and spacious for ease of social distancing.

The Piccadilly Culture and Community Gardens is designed to revive the old building, bringing gardens for landscaping, exhibition spaces for local artists and designers, and vast communal spaces for the public to mingle and socialize. Only the primary structural columns and timber framework were preserved; the rest of the building was demolished and renovated.

Extensions included external staircases, locally sourced timber features, steel and glass balustrades, two extensive terraces spanning the length of the building, and the feature rooftop garden encapsulated by inverted timber arches that echoed the old building’s signature timber portal frames.

02//SITE

02//TECTONICS

Lack of Greenery in the City Center

Iterative Design Studies of Spatial Tectonics

Manchester Piccadilly is in the heart of the city of Manchester and one of the busiest train stations in the entirety of the United Kingdom. Analysis concludes a lack of parks and green spaces in Manchester’s crowded city center.Without wanting to further reduce the green plot ratio, the purpose of this project is to bring parks and green plots into the existing site, while also taking into account the bustling traffic of Piccadilly station.

AIR POLLUTION

Rooftop

Structure

Ground

Underground

Rooftop Plateau

Timber Portal Frame

Central Runway + Terrace

Platform

Rooftop Plateau

Timber Portal Frame

Shift Runway to Side Extend Footbridges Optimize Sunlight Access

Additional Terrace Deepen Atrium

Dual Rooftop Runway

Timber Portal Frame

Reduce Runway Width Enlarge Terraces

Reduce Runway Width Enlarge Terraces

NODE OF THE NORTH

NOISE POLLUTION LOCATION

TRANSPORT NODE

LACK OF GREENERY

03//PROGRAM/ARRANGEMENT Explicit Thresholds accessing Communal Green Spaces Explicit thresholds in the form of timber and steel footbridges links dynamic, flexible communal and green spaces together. The footbridge’s one dimensional function is clearly expressed in its simple form, juxtaposing the complex textures, forms, and detailing used to engrave spatial richness and depth into the communal spaces.

FLEXIBLE TERRACE

CIRCULATION PLATFORM CENTRAL RUNWAY

Wide platform for alfresco dining and picnics, offering pockets of space to linger and enjoy the outdoors, adjacent to the Terrace’s longitudinal circulation.

TERRACE

ACCESS VIA FOOTBRIDGES

SEATING Stepped Seating for resting, reading, conversation, or even a make-shift amphitheater for live street performances. The building’s vast program means resting spots are all the more important.

STEPS Stairs that allow access onto the platform from the Terrace’s main circulation link.

FRUIT STALLS

LOCAL ARTIST EXHIBITION

03//PROGRAM/INTERWEAVING POCKETS OF SPACE

Rooftop Gardens

Rooftop Gardens: An elevated garden brings a breath of fresh air to the center of Manchester, quenching the people’s thirst for communal green spaces. Long and winding footpaths penetrate lush greeneries and landscapes, with perimeter decks offering panoramic views of the cityscape and beyond.

Platform 13 & 14 Existing railway viaduct and platform of Manchester Piccadilly Station

Public Street Terrace Gardens

Courtyard Gardens

Central Runway

Footbridges

Courtyard Gardens A courtyard garden fills the building with fresh air, lush greenery, and natural light, bringing the beautiful perks of the outdoors into the subterranean floors.

Terrace Gardens

Sunken Gardens Atrium

Cantilevered terraces extend from the building, overlooking the sunken gardens below with the monolithic brick wall of the existing viaduct as a textured backdrop.

Sunken Gardens Shielded by the building’s imposing mass, the sunken garden is a safe haven from the noise, pollution, and trauma of the city.

04//SPACE/CENTRAL RUNWAY Main Artery for Circulation

04//SPACE/APPOSING ENTITIES Monolithic Steel, Militant Timber

The modular nature of the building’s design compliments the militant discipline of the structural grid, empowering the rhythmic intervals of the architecture. On either side of the atrium, thin and lengthy timber baffles juxtaposes the opposing monolithic steel structures.

04//SPACE/ELEVATED GARDENS Bringing Tranquil Green Spaces into the Heart of the City

The terraces are supported by delicate steel fins directly connected to monolithic steel mullions.

Keeping all structural systems aligned is an integral part of the logic behind the design to control solid obstruction and maximize views towards the lush green landscapes on either side of the building.

INVERTED TIMBER ARCHES The inverted timber arches is part of the new extension, designed to echo the existing timber portal frame below. It provides the rooftop garden with acoustic relief from noise pollution, while its sparseness still allows access to breathtaking views.

FAMILY 1

EXISTING TIMBER FRAMEWORK

Most common family, includes 5 steel frame modules, 2 floor slabs, 2 terrace slabs, interlinking footbridges, and 1 external staircase prototype.

The signature timber portal frames of the existing building is preserved and reused, but only used at the modules including the primary concrete columns and external staircases.

EXTERNAL CORE STAIRCASES Core staircases are positioned at intervals, wrapping itself around the main columns. By moving the staircases outdoors, the interior program and circulation is kept pristine. The staircase also has clear views of the courtyard gardens below.

FAMILY 11 Special module, includes 5 steel frame modules, 2 floor slabs, 2 terrace slabs, 1 external staircases prototype, central glass elevator shafts to access rooftop gardens, no footbridges to maintain spacious atrium.

05//SYSTEM/MODULARITY+ASSEMBLY Modular Design with Prefabricated Components

VERTICAL TIMBER FEATURE BRACKET FIXING

BOTTOM BRACKET ANCHOR FIXING

CROSS BRACING BRACKET FIXING TO FLOOR SLAB

The building is designed in modules, with each module consisting of a series of components. These components are manufactured and assembled into the different modules inside warehouses. These modules are then transported via lorries to the site for further installation, forming larger modules which are then erected on site.

CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE

Erect Primary Timber Columns

Install Secondary Steel Portal Frames

Erect Steel Columns

Erect Primary Timber Portal Frames

Install Level 1: Prefabricated Runway, Footbridges,Terrace

Inaugurate Timber Features

Install Level II: Prefabricated Runway, Footbridges,Terrace

Assemble Rooftop Runway Prefabricated Steel Structure

Introduce External Staircases

Complete Rooftop Concrete Slab for Gardens and Landscapes

06//VERDICT/A COLLISION OF SPATIAL TECTONICS Subtitle of page

07/FINALE/THE DUALITY OF A PUBLIC SPACE Enabling The People’s Expression and Impression

BA 2//WYTHENSHAWE PARK VISITOR’S CENTER Manchester, UK Instructor: Dominic Sagar

THE GENTLE GATEKEEPER A walk through the park

The Visitor’s Center is designed to act as a gateway in which visitors of the park would be encouraged to walk through. It is a gentle gatekeeper; its monolithic mass exudes a sentinel presence, yet its natural textures and simple forms is in harmony with its green surroundings.

The texture palette consists of timber, fair-faced concrete, polished concrete, plaster, and copper. These natural materials, combined with the monolithic masses and tectonic forms, establishes the building’s sculptural aesthetic.

01//THRESHOLDS/FRAMING VIEWS

CAFE

STAIRCASE

CENTRAL PATH

EXHIBITION SPACE

SECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

CAFE WITH A VIEW

STAIRWAY TO ROOF

CENTRAL PATH

Extensive glazing towards key views allows visitors that are in the cafe and exhibition spaces to enjoy beautiful views of the park, including landmarks such as the Oliver Cromwell statue and Wythenshawe Hall.

A simple concrete staircase leads the visitors up onto the communal spaces on the roof above, creating a vertical threshold between the indoor and outdoor program of the visitor’s center.

The existing park pathway runs through the middle of the building, with the building’s program distributed on either side.

02//PROGRAM/SPATIAL PURPOSE

TIMBER ROOF SLAB

Sat upon durable, load bearing concrete walls, the sweeping timber roof curves upwards to add a light finishing touch to the heavy structures below.The roof is thicker towards the mid-section to allow sufficient insulation, and is supported by timber beams and joists.

BAR COUNTER

PUBLIC SQUARE

The roof accomodates dynamic communal spaces for public activities such as picnics, busking, ice-breaking etc. while also having sweeping views of Wythenshawe park.

CONCRETE STAIRCASE

ROOFTOP COMMUNAL SPACES

GLASS ELEVATOR

CENTRAL PATH PUBLIC RAMP

VERTICAL THRESHOLDS HORIZONTAL THRESHOLDS

PUBLIC PAVILION

PUBLIC SQUARE

//BA3/OFFICE BUILDING IN RIYADH My design aims to reduce direct solar penetration and solar radiation gain, while allowing penetration of daylight and unobstructed views. Solar shading panels reflect direct sunlight, but allows diffused light to light up the interior. Facade modules are protected by an extruded structure made of timber panels and clad with a timber rain-screen.

BREATHING, DOUBLE SKIN ENVELOPE

Considering an alternative way to ventilate my building other than natural ventilation due to high pollution levels, the extruded structure also acts as a ‘chimney’ and extracts warm, stale and polluted air from the interior office spaces.

CROSS LAMINATED TIMBER PANEL: Load bearing, supported by extended floor slab cantilever on the first floor.

TIMBER BATTENS TRIPLE GLAZED CURTAIN WALL SYSTEM Triple glazed curtain wall glass panels for optimal insulation for reducing cooling load to combat Riyadh’s sweltering heat.

TIMBER RAIN-SCREEN Fixed to timber battens, has ventilated and drained cavity to effectively reduce heat buildup.

STEEL BRACKET Used to support the exterior chimney wall, fixed to structural floor slab HVAC VENT

SOLAR SHADING ALUMINUM LOUVERS

RAISED FLOOR 50 MM TIMBER RAISERS 100 MM TIMBER FLOOR SLAB 200 MM TIMBER STRUCTURAL BEAMS 100 X 195 MM

HVAC DUCTWORK (1:50 DETAIL) SUSPENDED CEILING 50 MM

EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC LOAD-BEARING TIMBER COLUMNS 200 MM

EXTERNAL DOUBLE SKIN Timber rain-screen cladding 20 mm Ventilated and drained cavity 20 mm CLT structural panel 100 mm Ventilation cavity 550 mm CLT panel 20 mm Vapor control/watertight membrane 5 mm Insulated wood fiber sheathing 50 mm Flexible fiber insulation 50 mm CLT structural panel 75 mm Gypsum board 20 mm SOLAR CHIMNEYS

BREATHING FACADE

VENTILATION STRATEGY

Solar chimneys assists the extraction of stale warm air from the workspace with natural ventilation.

Teal highlights fresh air being brought in, preconditioned within the two main atria, then distributed within the workspaces. Red demarcates the system of vents which extract the warm stale air from the workspace, carrying it to the solar chimney which expels it outside, keeping the interior air consistently fresh and conditioned.

Without the luxury of surplus floor area to sacrifice for an atrium, the two solar chimneys are also utilized into the make-shift atria. Fresh air brought in is conditioned before it’s distributed throughout the building’s workspaces.

Instructor: Matt Ault