portfolio (march 2015)

enfolded

tensile landscape

open house

angular waves

through the looking glass

home cubby holes

bits & pieces

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unconventional housing at Holland Village

a space suspended in mid-air

privacy without partitions

computationally designed shell-beam canopy

a tribute to Leonardo da Vinci’s obsession with geometry

a customizable walk-in for a warm welcome home

artwork

table of contents

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2014 urban development25000 m2

Holland Village, situated about 15 minutes from Singapore’s city centre by public transport, is known well for its food, nightlife, and vibrant street activ-ity. Families and daredevils alike stroll the roads alongside slow-moving cars,

and visitors of every kind take to exposed sidewalks rather than walking under the shade of shop awnings even in the heat of noon. Nothing, it seems, can pos-

sibly exist in Holland Village without becoming a part of its street culture.

But what happens when you add a 100-unit residential development to the mix? By default, a multi-storey social housing development seeks efficiency in

lifts and staircores over long, meandering ramps, and seeks to save space by em-phasizing verticality. This project, however, proposes an alternative solution: a twisting low-rise housing community built on a single ribbon of homes that not only continues the streets of Holland Village into the building, but gives back to the neighborhood by shading the streets and creating informal public space.

Welcome to the new streetscape of houses that enfolds Holland Village.

unconventional housing at holland village

enFOLded

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physical model 1:200shows facade and structure

photo credit: Sze Kiat Koh, Oddinary Studios

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1. RADIAL GRID DERIVED FROM BUILDING LAYOUT

OPTION 1: BORDER BUILDING LAYOUT WITH CENTRAL “HILL” MARKETPLACE OPTION 2: FINE-GRAIN BLOCKS CREATE INFORMAL, DISINTEGRATED PATHS OPTION 3: CENTRAL “UMBRELLA” BUILDING SPINE CREATES COVERED WALKWAY

2. BRANCHING FROM MAIN AXIS DERIVED FROM PEDESTRIAN CIRCULATION

GRID ANALYSIS

DIVISION BY RADIAL GRID

FROM A TO B... EXPLORE DETOURS

IN EXTERNAL CIRCULATION

DETOUR 1: BUILT PATH BETWEEN SECTORS

(COMMERCIAL <-> RESIDENTIAL)

DETOUR 2: NARROW ACCESSWAY BETWEEN CLUSTERS

(RESIDENTIAL <-> COMMUNAL)

DETOUR 3: BUILDING SPACES BETWEEN UNITS

(RESIDENTIAL <-> RESIDENTIAL)

COMMERCIAL CENTRE + LOOP COMMERCIAL-RESIDENTIAL BRIDGE RESIDENTIAL PATH AS SETBACK INTERIOR ROADS TO KEEP GUIDE FOR PROGRAM MASSING

COMMERCIAL CENTRE

RESIDENCE + COMMERCIAL

RESIDENTIAL CENTREPROGRAM MASSING

CIRCULATION CONCEPT SKETCH

20.009 - PROJECT 2_URBAN LIVING @ HOLLAND VILLAGE

MAIN ENTRANCE FROM MRT

PATH FROM BUONA VISTA HDBS

?




GRID ANALYSIS











COMMERCIAL CENTRE







?




GRID ANALYSIS











COMMERCIAL CENTRE







?

GENERAL MASSING

CIRCULATION

SCHEME BREAKDOWN

THIS PAGEconceptual diagrams

oPPoSITEmassing model 1:500

form developed to create a site-sensitive massing, a circulation of detours, and interlaced programs

shows the development’s relationship with the site

CIrCuLatIon patHS doubLe-FamILY unItStYpICaL reSIdentIaLCommerCIaL bLoCKS

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schematic planshows L3 apartment divisions

and relation to ground floor

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apaRtment plansdetailing of one block, with 4 different apartment types

building l3block l1

01 Studio

02 typical apt.

03 courtyard apt.

building l4block l2

building l5block l3

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structurecentral “spine” multilevel truss that supports

cantilevered floor trusses outwards with perpendicular cable structures

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5288528869646964 5288

0102

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facade detailsslotted holes in the facade are made into usable folds for units as extra furniture or

storage space

01 - 250 mm WIdtH X 50mm tHICK Wood paneLS

03 - SteeL treLLIS grId (Support StruCture For CLaddIng)

04 - permanent WIndoWS (gLaSS W/o opaQue paneL LaYer)

05 - HInged Wood paneLS For InterIor uSe (Storage/Furn.)

06 - SupportIng CabLeS For FoLd-out HInged Wood paneLS

02 - SLIdIng gLaSS paneLS W/ SteeL FramIng & raIL SYStem

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2013 cultural300 m2

A building built in a building. A space that eats someone else’s space. If some architecture of any sort were to be built in the central garden courtyard we’ve dubbed the Oasis or our school, inevitably blocking out sunlight and air from the parts of the building that it covers, what could it be other than a parasite?

This project was proposed with precisely that idea in mind: to design a structure that embraces rather than avoids this identity of a parasite, building

itself up from existing structure and interfering with existing space and ciruclation. Using the concept of a tensile skin, this structure attaches itself to the busiest parts of the school and stretches across the Oasis to provide shortcuts through the school that existing circulation has failed to provide.

Meanwhile, at tightly pulled junctions between connections, larger spaces emerge into areas used by students and staff: a basin-shaped area converts into a performance venue, a large corridor easily becomes a gallery of students’ work, and more spaces emerge as the parasite stretches to adapt to its host over time.

a space suspended in mid-air

TensILe LandscaPe

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physical model 1:100tensile model made by casting chalky earth on fabric formwork

stretched to connect access points on a site model

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model explorationsused to test various boundary

consitions & execution methods of the tensile form

openings: 2 openings: 0

openings: 0 openings: 0 openings: 0 openings: 0

openings: 0volumes: 0 volumes: 0

volumes: 0 volumes: 1 volumes: 1 volumes: 1

volumes: 2position: - position: -

position: west position: west position: ctr position: east

position: eastanchors: 4 anchors: 4

anchors: 4 anchors: 4 anchors: 4 anchors: 4

anchors: 5

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openings: 0 openings: 0

openings: -

openings: 0

openings: 2 openings: 3 openings: 4

volumes: 2 volumes: 1

volumes: 0

volumes: 2

volumes: 0 volumes: 0 volumes: 0

position: east position: east

position: east

position: east

position: east position: east position: east

anchors: 4 anchors: 3

anchors: 4

anchors: 3

anchors: 5 anchors: 5 anchors: 5

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l3 plan

shows main features of the tensile space: a performance area, connections to all

floors, and a gallery corridor

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2014 residential200 m2

When I first came to Singapore, I was surprised by the sheer size of a single HDB flat; how could this even be considered social housing, I wondered, when

it measured a good 90-100 sqaure meters for one family alone? In the Philip-pines, social housing usually means about 20-30 square meters for a family of at

least two generations, often three.

Much later, I found an answer to this puzzle of how a Singaporean family could occupy so much space at minimum: the multitude of walls within a single flat. I was surprised that children in Singapore are given their own rooms; I myself slept with my parents and 3 brothers, in the same room, on a row of futons on the floor, until I was ten years old; and even after, we continued this tradition every Friday night. When I mentioned this to other Singaporeans, they were

aghast at the lack of privacy I must have grown up with.

This house proposes a system that maintains privacy while allowing for my childhood’s free, easy interaction. It creates privacy without partitions.

privacy without partitions

OPen hOuse

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physical model 1:25shows how space is differentiated not through partitions but

through subtle cues of height and split levels

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welcome homeTARGET GROUP: FAMILY DRAWINGS 1:50

HOW DOES THE CLASSIC HDB FUNCTION AS A FAMILY HOME?CLEARLY PARTITIONED SPACES WITH WALLS AND DOORS --- EXCESSIVE PRIVACY.

1. WELCOME WITHIN RESIDING FAMILY2. WELCOME FROM NUCLEAR TO EXTENDED FAMILY

OPEN VOLUME CREATES VISUAL/AUDIBLE CONNECTION.

PRIVACY BY LOCATION VS. PRIVACY BY PARTITION.

EXPANSION/CONTRACTION OF HOME FOR PUBLIC/PRIVATE FLEXIBILITY.

QUALITY OF SPACE (AS A SINGLE MASS)WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE TAKE AWAY THE WALLS?

PLAN L1(PUBLIC FOCUS)

PLAN L2(PRIVATE FOCUS)

A

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SECTION AA

PRIVATE PUBLIC

TRANSITION

CONCEPT: A WELCOMING HOME










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SECTION AA

PRIVATE PUBLIC

TRANSITION


l1 planshows focus on public area, here configured into a dining space that

accommodates 30 people

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A

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TRANSITION











A

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SECTION AA

PRIVATE PUBLIC

TRANSITION











A

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PRIVATE PUBLIC

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l2 plan

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shows focus on privacy provided by height / floor levels, allowing people to be alone in the bedroom or study balcony

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A

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PRIVATE PUBLIC

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long sectionthe differentiation of space w/o partitions allows one to enjoy

privacy while remaining accessible to the rest of the family

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elevationphysical model 1:25

shows how space is differentiated not through partitions but through subtle cues of height and split levels

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oPPoSITEpartial elevation

physical model 1:25

THIS PAGEinterior views

physical model 1:25

view of living room with study balcony suspended above, providing a spatial and auditory connection while maintaining visual

and physical privacy

(clockwise from top left)views of: entrance to the suspended study balcony; 2nd-storey kitchen from top of staircase; bedroom

area from L2 entrance

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done with

2015 shelter600m2

amaryllis Seah, Xia tian

What is a canopy but a roof? When one thinks of a canopy this way and is then asked to come up with a design that ensures the said canopy’s structural strength, thoughts might easily flow the way of domes or arches, commonly used and abused solutions to make a strong and efficient surface that stands

under compression.

This canopy was conceived in a rather different way, imagining a canopy as a mere surface attached to at least one support. Thus our group of three played with the idea of a canopy as we would a piece of paper: folding, slicing and

trimming the sheet until we were satisfied that it would stand. From the finalized form we derived a way to generate it computationally by creating and

systematically skewing a grid of points that would be traced with lines (to become beams) and eventually become folding points for the surface.

The final design optimizes structure through frame density and material selec-tion to highlight our design intent of a light, fragile canopy shelter.

computationally designed shell-beam canopy

anguLaR waves

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rendered view of canopya lighweight structure with multimaterial panelling (aluminum & glass)

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Folding & tapering a simple cantilevered plane (with

reference to the 2D bending moment curve) adds stiffness.

Allowing for a 2-sided support system (in the design brief),

the fold is mirrored to add an opposite region of support...

... and this double fold can be repeated as an angular

undulation to stretch over an arbitrary length.

one-sided support: fold & taper

two-sided support: reverse fold & mirror

adding coverage: repeat folding system

conceptthe idea for the form was inspired by a study of 2D bending

moments, leading to a series of tapered folds that combined to form a dual-cantilevering canopy system.

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move in z-gradientSet grid Size & reSolution

move in x-axiS

Separate alternate rowS

reSulting point grid edge frameS

primary beamS intermediate truSSeS panelS within truSSeS

code logicto build the geometry: create a grid of points, manipulate it into a more complex pattern, and then build a surface by connecting

points into lines and lines into surfaces.

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optimiZationGalapagos in Grasshopper was used to run permutations of

material and geometric conditions for the canopy, including frame density (shown above), material & cross-section, etc.

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final designAfter many optimization iterations, the final design is constructed with beams merely 30-60mm in radius that support a pattern of

glass and aluminum panels spanning 12x50m.

MATERIAL: HIGH-STRENGTH STEEL

CROSS-SECTION: HOLLOW CIRCLEINNER RADIUS: A=25mm; B=50mmTHICKNESS: A=10mm; B=20mm

BEAMS

E = 2.1x1011 Pav = 0.29p = 2700 kg/m3

MATERIAL: ALUMINUM

THICKNESS: 20mm

MATERIAL: GLASS

THICKNESS: 20mm

CLADDING 02

CLADDING 01

BOUNDARY CONDITIONS MAXIMUM DEFLECTION

MAXIMUM STRESSSIMPLY SUPPORTEDNORMAL LOAD: 5 kN/m2

WIND LOAD: 0.5 kN/m2

2.99 cm

115.4 MPa

E = 7.5x1010 Pav = 0.33p = 2800 kg/m3

E = 6.5x1010 Pav = 0.23p = 2500 kg/m3

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year type

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2014 art installation15m2

WY-to architects

“Although human ingenuity may devise various inventions... it will never discover any inventions more beautiful, more simple, or more practical than those of nature.”

Much of Leonardo da Vinci’s design inspiration came from observing and reimagining nature’s mechanisms for man-made designs. Fundamental to his

creative cycle was the idea of underlying order in nature; he sought to extract that order to bring natural and man-made design closer. Yet for all his genius he was still limited by the age he lived in. Unable to figure out how to completely

merge the two, he left this unsolved question to haunt generations after him.

Today, 500 years laters, modern technology has helped us find that much of natur’s underlying order can be understood through fractals. This artwork

celebrates the continuation of da Vinci’s legacy through fractals: for, in the moment that you simultaeously see both natural and man-made fractal

superimposed, you have stepped “Through the Looking Glass” into the vision da Vinci left as a legacy for the world.

a tribute to leonardo da vinci’s obsession with geometry

ThROugh The LOOkIng gLass

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phase date

site docMS. JULIA [email protected]

scale-

WY-TO PTE. [email protected]

WWW.WY-TO.COM

ARTSCIENCE MUSEUMCPT 30/06/2014

ASM / SGP VIN-140630-DA VINCI-ART INSTALLATION

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASSAn innovative response to Leonardo Da Vinci’s legacy

3-DIMENSIONAL PERCEPTION: MERGING NATURAL AND MAN-MADE DESIGN FRACTAL

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conceptual diagramselements of a man-made fractal morph into a snowflake image through simple extrusions

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WWW.WY-TO.COM




front elevation (axonometric) back elevation (axonometric)

front elevation (perspective) back elevation (perspective)

REALITY

PERCEPTION

PERCEPTION VS REALITY

phase date


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WWW.WY-TO.COM






REALITY

PERCEPTION


phase date


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WWW.WY-TO.COM






REALITY

PERCEPTION


phase date


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WWW.WY-TO.COM






REALITY

PERCEPTION


reality (what we make) vs. perception (what we see)

Front FaCadereality

Front FaCadeperception

baCK FaCadereality

baCK FaCadeperception

placing layered elements at different distances causes a pattern to emerge in perspective

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detail designconstruction drawing for one complete facade

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detail designsample construction drawing for a composite module

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detail designsample construction drawing for facade module & beads

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detail designconstruction drawing for selected structural joints

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completed stringing of more than 1000 beads on some 600 strings

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shadows cast by beads

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view straight into the art installation

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detail of beads suspended on string

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2014 furniture<1m2 / pc

It is perhaps only during the act of crossing the threshold between our homes and the outside world that we can truly appreciate what makes a home home: that which we hate to leave in the morning, and consequently keeps us coming

back every night.

This array of cubby holes focuses on making that transition across the threshold easier by allowing any homemaker to shape the home’s entrance area into a warm, livable place that encapsulates the idea of a “welcome home”. Built on a single cuboid module, yet designed in a variety of shapes and depths that slot together with subtle interlocking ridges, the cubbies can be assembled into seats for those about to go out or just come in; to catch dropped bags and stow kicked-

off shoes; or even as a hidey-hole for that occasional surprise gift.

It’s the little things that count; and these little welcome blocks will surely shape your impression of the wonderful life that awaits you just past your doorstep,

giving you one more reason everyday to hurry home.

a customizable walk-in for a warm welcome home

home cubby holes

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walk-in spacethe cubbies function as storage, seating, and much more, giving life to your home the moment you set foot inside

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how it works

the cubbies are designed to invite and delight users with in a variety of shapes and sizes that all work together with ease, thanks to an inbuilt assembly system of subtle, snug

ridges that enable them to slot together smoothly without extra jigs or fixtures.

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configurations

with their seamless slot-together system and modular shapes, these blocks allow you to build and rebuild your home space, again and again, keeping your surroundings fresh,

inviting and customized to your needs.

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selection of artwork from pdchua2.deviantart.com/gallery

bITs & PIeces

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bits

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http://pdchua2.deviantart.com/gallery

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about

contact

i was born in the Philippines, where I lived the first sixteen years of my life before shifting to Singapore to study architecture at the Singapore university of technology and Design.

I find joy in crafting experiences that evoke emotion and inspire thought. to design spaces that talk to people—this is what i hope to do, everyday.

[email protected]+65 8167 9361

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thank you for reading

end

portfolio (march 2015)

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