Vanessa Chew - Portfolio by Vanessa Chew

VANESSA . CHEW

ARCHITECTURE + COMPUTATION PORTFOLIO

BARTLETT SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE van.chew0207@gmail.com

+44 7367505665

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-elizabeth-chew/

00 THE CONTENTS

What does my portoflio contain?

Alfred Place Flex Plus Design and Access Statement

THE INTERGENERATIONAL OFFICE

- Designing an Architectural Office for all ages for cooperative design -

- Designing a cultural hub for local people to preserve their local activities -

- A stage 4 to 5 office refurbishment project set in Central London -

THE OPEN CITADEL

ALFRED PLACE - BEN ADAMS ARCHITECTS

Alfred Place

SELF-SHADING FACADES

- By using computational methods within LLMs, Sign Distance Field & 3D Printing Techniques -

AGENT LAYOUTS

- Architectural Layout Generation using computational methods -

THESIS : AGENT MODELS TO PREDICT CRIME

- Investigating the validity & application of the ‘Theory of Visual Access & Exposure’ in Theft Spot identification using multiple agents - IN PROGRESS-

01 THE INTERGENERATIONAL OFFICE

Designing an Architectural Office for all ages for cooperative design

Today, architecture firms in general are seen as the ‘gifted few that design for the whole’ and are usually designed by firms consisting of similar ages. Children and the elderly are the minority and are often unheard in the design world. The project aims to combine the minds of children and elderly, which can benefit and dispel the need for ‘homogonous practices’.

OFFICES

DRAWING/MODELLING ROOMS

KITCHEN

GARDENING

LIBRARY

DINING ROOM

LIVING SPACES

OUTDOOR COMMUNAL SPACES THE SOCIAL

The project explores how an architectural practice can create spaces that improves the interactions between architects, children and the elderly. The programme flowers into a playful landscape which utilises colour theory, landscaping and natural materials to enhance the user experience and intergenerational interaction within the practice. This approach creates a series of spaces that encourage architects to engage with the building and its other occupants, which in turn allow architects make more meaningful and well thought out projects for children and elderly.

THE DRAWING ROOM

- The central hub for all age groups to colaborate & design together. Uses colour to induce certain behaviours throughout the day

THE LANDSCAPE

-The scheme consists of a gradual landscape which integrates flora to surround users with different color tones, moods and levels of privacy. On one half, is predominately meant for children’s classrooms. The other half is for office workers. The Drawing Room sits in the middle to allow both users to collaborate together on design and meal times -

Diffused Yellow Light for MORNING Happy Morning mood

COLOURED PANEL FOR NOON LIGHT

At lunch time, red light suggests users to leave the room to eat

Diffused Light

- Children & Adults can see each other on the same eye level -

CLASSROOMS

THE DRAWING ROOM

KITCHEN

VIEW LINE

THE DRAWING ROOM IN MORNING

THE DINING ROOM IN AFTERNOON

OUTSIDE THE DRAWING ROOM AT NOON

OUTSIDE AT SUNSET

02 THE OPEN CITADEL

- Designing a cultural hub for local people to preserve their local activities -

Hong Kong has rapidly grown into an urban city over the past 100 years; however, this rapid urbanisation threatens the existence of cultural sites. As a response to the theme ‘Citadel’, the project aims to protect cultural sites from gentrification by preserving the site’s identity. This project explores how architecture can perverse cultural activities and raise awareness of the importance of heritage sites.

The site is located in Nim shue wan, Hong Kong – a small village which sits next to urban development. The programme is called an ‘Open Citadel’. It consists of a series of structures that aim to celebrate and house cultural and agricultural activities that are unique to the site – outdoor cooking, dining, farming, recycling and fishing. The facilities will mainly be used by locals, but it also provides services to passing tourists and charity workers.

The buildings are designed to fit into the landscape while also being aware of its lifespan. These structures are temporary. Overtime, they can be stripped away, leaving only its footprints

THINKING THROUGH MODELING & SKETCHES:

An abstract model showcasing the arrangement of activities.

Nim Shue Wan is comprised of networks which fuel their activities and create their identity. Many of these activities are agricultural such as fishing, cooking and farming crops.

OUTDOOR + INDOOR STALLS

OUTDOOR KITCHENS

MOUNTAIN

FISHING

- The central hub for the residents of the local village to cook meals and sell their produce to passing hikers. The long gradual slope from sea to forest highlights the village’s activites being tied to both areas -

INITIAL CONCEPTS

PRIVATE KITCHEN - FOR LOCALS

PLAZA FOR GATHERING

PRIVATE KITCHEN - FOR CHARITIES

SEMI-PRIVATE KITCHENS + STALLS FOR LOCALS

RAIN FALLS IN BETWEEN ROOF LAYERS

- Users can feel a closer connection with the elements. Blurring the indoors and outdoors -

CONSTRUCTION IN SITE

SECTION OF THE CENTRE’S DOCKS

- Structures overhang the sea for a gradual descent. Doors to the sea are accessible by boat -

PAPER

MODEL OF KITCHEN CENTRE

- A 3D model was created alongside the plan drawing to replicate the process of hand made construction of the locals -

APARTMENTS

THE KITCHEN CENTRE THE VILLAGE

FISHING DOCKS

FARMING CENTRE

03 ALFRED PLACE - BEN ADAMS ARCHITECTS

An office refurbishment project set in the heart of Bloomsbury

PROJECT BRIEF:

Located in the heart of Bloomsbury, Alfred Place was a project that aimed to transform an existing office into a high end and sustainably accredited scheme. The project consisted on 7 floors, including the basement and a new roof extension to replace the empty roof.

Following a previous refurbishment in 2016, the project aims to update the building to meet the requirements of Great Portland Estates.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES :

Developing construction details for mainly interior bespoke designs

Coordinating roof arrangements and sections with structural engineers / external consultants

Producing presentations for Design Team Meetings for smooth communication and documentation

Executed layout designs for all floor in conjunction with RCPs ( reflected ceiling plans)

Tottenham Court Road

04 SELF-SHADING FACADES

By using computational methods within LLMs, Sign Distance Fields & 3D Printing techniques

This project was created from the perspective of Architectural Computation. Therefore this project focuses on finding optimal shapes to reduce thermal exposure in facade bricks using a technique called ‘Sign-Distance Field’. In collaboration with two other members, a unique workflow was tried and tested. This workflow challenged itself to use Large Language Models to create the base shapes, where this

information was fed into the Sign-Distance Field algorithm to create a 3D proposal. Finally, the shape produced was 3D printed in a simulated environment and tested using LadyBug (Grasshopper) to ascertain if the design performed better than regular bricks. Although, this portfolio showcases only my contribution to the workflow - finding optimal facade shapes for different orientations.

SIGN - DISTANCE - FIELD :

- A signed distance function/field (SDF) as a 3D shape description is one of the most effective approaches to represent 3D geometry for rendering and reconstruction. The method consists of two planes (top & bottom) where a simple set of lines drawn by a user can create complex 3D contoured shapes

3D BLENDED MODEL

SDF FIELD – TOP FIELD

CONTOUR LINE ON 2D PLANE

SDF FIELD – BOTTOM FIELD

SOUTH EAST & SOUTH FACADE DESIGNS :

- These two orientations were chosen to focus on as they recieve the most intensive lighting during the day. The results below showcase the percentage of shading per block. Hence, the higher the score, the better

DESIGN DECISIONS BASED ON SIMULATION TESTING :

- Based from simulation testing from multiple parameters such as height, angle and thickness (more on previous page), the best performing parameters where selected and combined together to create the ‘optimal self-shading facade block

RESULTS :

AREAS

UNSHADED AREAS

05 AGENT LAYOUTS

Architectural Layout Generation using computational methods

This project explored the idea of using ‘Agent-Based Modeling’ to create unique floorplans based on preferences from users. The initial brief of the project was an office located in central London. Initially, a general shape was produced by a user, and the project wanted to work out how the arrangement of different plans changed based on view and sun qualities.

Next, a custom made plugin was created to calculate the thermal hotspots and view quality within the floorplan in which this analysis informed the rules of the agents. Such agents were assigned a ‘target’ to find, whether it would be a cold, visually less appealing areas for toilets or warmer, visually stunning areas for meeting rooms.

SITE

IN CENTRAL LONDON

surrounding greenary and buildings affected view quality -

- using isovists to calculate visual performance -

INTERSECTIONS WITH GREEN PARKS

INITIAL ASSIGNED SCORE INITIAL ASSIGNED SCORE

INTERSECTIONS WITH BUILDINGS

+30 INDIVIDUAL CELL SCORE

- using isovists to calculate thermal performance- percentage of window space - VIEW ANALYSIS - - percentage of outdoor green space - THERMAL ANALYSIS- percentage of window space - VIEW ANALYSIS - - percentage of site space - THERMAL ANALYSIS -

ITERATIVE RESULTS BY PARAMETERS

HIGHER THE WARMER

- using agents to find certain thermal / visual parametersTARGET SCORE SELECTION REMAP TARGET

REMAP THE SCORES TO A 0.0 – 1.0 BRIGHTNESS VALUE.

APPLY THIS VALUE TO AGENT’S BEHAVIOR

ITERATIVE OUTCOMES

user may choose this floor plan as ther visual score is high, meaning this plan provides the most nice views

user may choose this floor plan as ther thermal score is close to 0, meaning it is not too hot or too cold

user may choose this floor plan as ther thermal score is close to 0, meaning it is not

or too cold

THE CREATION OF A BUILDING ON A SITE

06 THESIS : AGENT MODELS TO PREDICT CRIME

Investigating the validity & application of the ‘Theory of Visual Access & Exposure’ in Theft Spot identification using multiple agents - IN PROGRESS

Many studies of theft crime have been addressed for several years. Still to this day, the main challenge has been understanding fully the movements of offenders when considering their next victims. Recent research has included a focus on ‘hot spot/street detection’ where there has been a surge in interest in gaining a higher precision of where theft occurs. In doing so, law enforcement could better organize their resources for a higher payoff.

Agent-based modeling has been one method in destecting theft and it has been used in many crime prediction studies. The methodology used in computer simulation that concentrates on individual-level behaviors and is ideally suited to modelling crime. This is particularly true of crimes, such as burglary or street crime, which are heavily influenced by environmental factors and by the behavior of individual people.

When looking into the realm of space and criminal behavior, one key study has theorized and tested how offenders behave in enclosed spaces. John C. Archea (an architecture professor at State University of New York) theorized the concept of ‘Visual Access & Exposure’, arguing and proving that offenders in enclosed spaces position themselves to have maximum access and minimum exposure. The study was conducted in bank lobbies and by interviewing/simulating the movements of ex-robbers.

Although such studies have rarely implemented this specific theory on a larger scale, outside of an enclosed area such as a bank lobby or a small group of apartment blocks. Therefore, there are opportunities to investigate how Archea’s theory hold up in a larger urban environment. In doing so, the study would draw up the effectiveness and validity of the theory, providing any insight of any gaps in the theory if necessary.

Also as of now, Archea’s theory does not explicitly mention the role of bystanders/other pedestrians as guardians and variables in visual access & exposure.