Porfolio 2013

in application for the AA spring semester programme 2014

joel lauselected work

Experience

Architecture Intern, DCA Architects , 2013

Ling Hao Architects, 2013

Urban Redevlopment Authority Singapore, 2012

National University of Singapore - Student Editor, 2012

Teaching Assistant for AR2723 Sustainable Architecture, 2012

National University of Singapore - Research Assistant , 2011

Singapore Institute of Architects - Architour guide, 2010 -11

Signal Officer in the Army, 2009

BUILDING UP

In a country where 84% of the population owns homes in the form of government subsidised public housing, staying tens of floors above the ground in blocks el-evated on pilotis is a common thing. Public amenities abound, and such apartments can cost up to USD 500,000 per 100m2 flat. When public housing becomes the next investment vehicle for capital gain surely it must take on new forms.

Other things bother me too. How have the planners who drew the spaces decades ago produced spatially unjust outcomes that people must deal with today? And how can I -- not just as a designer, but as an oc-cupant take over the architecture and ameliorate them.

I am terribly curious to study the Microrayons and see how others approach such space. I am a product of Singaporean public housing; I wonder how others from elsewhwere think.

joel lau mun fai t. +65 90404405 e. [email protected]

Y04 CLOUDSPACE

Contents

Y03 TO CATCH THE TREES

Y02 URBAN (KINDER)GARDEN

Y01 ABSTRACT. FIBONACCI TOWER

O UM-NUS SHOPHOUSE CONSERVATION

THE WOMAN

CHOICES.

AR CHAIR

The Essence of Landed Property Transposed

CLOUDSPACE

Ong Wee Jin, Gwendolyn Wong, Joel LauTutor: Associate Professor Tan Teck Kiam

Year 04 Sem 2, Singapore

\ Planting Verge

\ Width

\ Human Scale \ Environment

\ Continuous Street

27.2

27.2m

* 2 pax per unit

70 % Developable x Floor Area Per Lot

30 % Green area setback

Average Singaporean

Residential Development Guideline

2

50 DU per hectare

house for a young bachelor

house for a young couple

Ratio based on average Singaporean

no. of pax in a unit

L1 L2 L Floor tofloor height

3 planararea

planararea

planararea

devfirst floor

t % of f dthird floor

evt % of

devt % osecondfloor

ed total

purchasvolume

develop-ablearea sqm3

2 2 1 + 80 80 0 3.5 0.7 0.7 0 560 112

2 1 1 + 160 0 0 3.5 0.7 0.7 0 560 112

3 2 2 + 80 160 0 3.5 0.7 0.7 0 840 168

3 2 2 + 160 80 0 3.5 0.7 0.7 0 840 168

3 3 2 + 80 80 80 3.5 0.7 0.7 0.7 840 168

4 2 2 + 2 160 160 0 3.5 0.7 0.7 0 1120 112

4 3 2 + 2 160 80 80 3.5 0.7 0.7 0.7 1120 224

4 3 2 + 2 80 80 160 3.5 0.7 0.7 0.7 1120 224

4 3 2 + 2 80 160 80 3.5 0.7 0.7 0.7 1120 168

6 3 2 + 2 + 1 160 160 160 3.5 0.7 0.7 0.7 1680 336

Unit Type

80m2 saleable units are purchased incrementally to suit the future needs of a family

mber ofnufloors

umberof lots

N

As hunger for real estate grows and 6.9 million Singa-poreans begin to aspire towards owning private hous-ing, a new typology bridging the condominium and the terrace house emerges.

Examining how the spatial characteristics of the latter can be transposed onto the former in high-rise, me-dium density residences, Cloudspace questions how the third dimension - height - can become a meas-urement by which residential units are sold in. Vari-

-ric, with residents, amenities and space tied together by a street that wraps itself around and through the building.

Y4

Y3

Y2

Y1

O

L5

L4

L3

L2

48 765

11

9 10 123

4 8765

1191

0123

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UP

UPUP

UP

UP

UP

UP

1:300

27.2

27.2m

* 2 pax per unit

70 % Developable x Floor Area Per Lot

30 % Green area setback

Average Singaporean

Residential Development Guideline

2

50 DU per hectare

house for a young bachelor

house for a young couple

Ratio based on average Singaporean

no. of pax in a unit

L1 L2 L Floor tofloor height

3 planararea

planararea

planararea

devfirst floor

t % of f dthird floor

evt % of

devt % osecondfloor

ed total

purchasvolume

develop-ablearea sqm3

2 2 1 + 80 80 0 3.5 0.7 0.7 0 560 112

2 1 1 + 160 0 0 3.5 0.7 0.7 0 560 112

3 2 2 + 80 160 0 3.5 0.7 0.7 0 840 168

3 2 2 + 160 80 0 3.5 0.7 0.7 0 840 168

3 3 2 + 80 80 80 3.5 0.7 0.7 0.7 840 168

4 2 2 + 2 160 160 0 3.5 0.7 0.7 0 1120 112

4 3 2 + 2 160 80 80 3.5 0.7 0.7 0.7 1120 224

4 3 2 + 2 80 80 160 3.5 0.7 0.7 0.7 1120 224

4 3 2 + 2 80 160 80 3.5 0.7 0.7 0.7 1120 168

6 3 2 + 2 + 1 160 160 160 3.5 0.7 0.7 0.7 1680 336

Unit Type

80m2 saleable units are purchased incrementally to suit the future needs of a family

mber ofnufloors

umberof lots

N

2 unit small family loft 3 unit small family loft 4 unit multi generational

2 unit convertible bachelors pad 3 unit small family home 3 or 4 unit multi-generational

Y4

Y3

Y2

Y1

O

4 unit young couples

6 unit multi-generational three family home

4 unit multi generational

4 unit family home3 or 4 unit multi-generational

1:500

Hidden amidst the foliage, the classrooms in the woods spend their days catching the movement of the trees. As the canopy rustles in the wind and the scent of freshly formed leaf litter wafts through the school grounds, their shadows leap playfully along the walls.

During fall and winter soft shadows enter along with the warm, welcomed presence of the sun, and during summer, large overhangs protect its users from scorching solar rays. Nature has en-tered the classroom.

With an overhanging roof that serves as a public deck, the community is given the chance to en-joy the trees as well, close by but separated from the activity of the school. Paths open to all lead from existing trails, and wind above classrooms to other trails. The school has become part of the trail, and the trail flows through it.

Through spatial planning the school is intertwined with the public trails of the park, whilst sitting as a private, safe space.

TO CATCH TREES

1080

1045

1045

1: 1/64

Tutor: Kelly BrooksYEAR 03 SEM 1 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1:2000

L1

B1

B2

B3

1:500

1:1500

Y3

Y4

Y2

Y1

O

Y4

June 21 (Summer Solstice)

March 21, Sept 21 (Equinox)

Dec 21 (Winter Solstice)23deg

23.5deg

47 deg

Scale 1: 1/16

Catch a Tree

Classroom OrganisationCatching a Tree

Solar Shadow Study

Public Space

Public Access

School

Classrooms01 Path that leads existing trails through the school - the school becomes part of the trail, and the trail flows through it. 02 Classrooms open both into the safety of the school, and directly out to the adventure of the natural environment. 03 Public roof decks amidst the foliage involves the community in environmental education. 04 Large windows that catch the shadows of the trees on the wall during fall, and overhangs that protect from the scorching summer sunshine. 05 Integrated kinder garden on the roof tended to by the children.

03

04 0501

02

site.

Yeary 02 Sem 1, Macpherson Public Housing Estate Community Design Studio, Singapore

Tutors: Adj Prof Tay Kheng Soon Tan Beng Kiang

URBAN (KINDER)GARDEN

As part of the community design process the stu-dio interviewed members of the community living at Macpherson Public Housing Estate at Aljunied in Singapore. Their were thoughts documented during a rigorous 5 week period. The kinder tree-house is an urban insertion that enhances an ex-isting neighbourhood kindergarden, carving out actual garden space for whilst providing residents enhanced facilities for use in the evenings - after school hours.

Whilst traditional first floor Void Deck kinder-gartens are limited by column placement and block size, the Kinder Tree House challenges the typology. Expanding outwards into the surround-ing garden space, security is maintained and resi-dent circulation goes undisturbed as teachers and students access the new extension via a loft.

The project was featured in a publication entitled Macpherson: 21st Century Estate.

L1, 1:1000

Loft

Y2

Y4

Y3

Y1

O

Y4

Generated by rule-based extrusion and compo-sition, the fibonacci rock-climbing tower is an au-tonomous mathematical explration that brings the user through various harmonic exercises.

After ascending to the top of the tower by rotating the sphere, enthusiasts find themselves descend-ing through human-proportioned fibonacci se-quences. A foothold, a railing, a seat... Proportions emerge as users navigate through the volumes.

ABSTRACT 1101

FIBONACCI TOWER

The processes of abstraction, transformation and creation through the diagram are generative modes of production. Expressed in toilet paper, cardboard, charcoal, foam and clay.

Tutor: Assistant Professor Johannes Widodo

Tutor: Florian Schaetz

Y1 Sem 1

Y1 Sem 2

1:4

Y1

Y4

Y3

Y2

O

Y4

1:200 1:150

Jalan Tamin