Yeh Yin Lin, -

Architect No#5587, Taiwan

M. S. in advanced architectural design, GSAPP, Columbia

M. Arch. National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan

Tel:646-492-9396

charimanyeh@gmail.com

Studio Projects in GSAPP, Columbia1. Urban Filtration

2. The Screen

3. Ways to Do Vibrancy

Urban FiltrationAcademic project in GSAPP ColumbiaStudio Critic: Kate OrffSite Location: Jamaica Bay, New York

Urban FiltrationAcademic project in GSAPP ColumbiaStudio Critic: Kate OrffSite Location: Jamaica Bay, New York

This project is a combination of a series of eco-restoration projects and asecondary water treatment system. Located in Brooklyn and Jamaica Bay, thisproject aims to restore parts of eco system into both the city and the bay byre-introducing several habitat-building species, while cleaning the water ofthe bay, softening the hard, unaccessible water front and arouse publicconcern toward the bay.

This project tries to deal several problems in Jamaica bay:

To improve the bay, this project is introducing a additional water treatment

system performed by a series of eco-restoration projects:

1. Excess nitrogen level.2. The untreated waste water from combined sewage overflow during storms3. The Damaged eco-system in the bay4. Erosion of the land-fills around the bay

1. Fresh-water marshes2. Salt marshes3. Oyster reefs

Issues:

Excess Nitrogen LevelRestoration of ecosystem

Storm surge / sea level rising

Prior Researches:

Water Quality, Water Shed and Sewage ShedOysters, Salt Marshes and Fresh Water Marshes

Storm Surge and Sea Level Rising

Strategies:

Restore water-filtering eco-infrastructure into the Bay and urban areaIntroduce semi-artificial wet lands into the bay and urban area to:Accelerate natural wet-land-forming mechanismDecrease possible damage by storms/floodsReform traditional image of urban parks

Function Programs

A local water treatment system devoted to treat:

Artificial wet lands and a semi-artificial wet-land-forming mechanismA series of urban parks and water piazzas

Rainwater, storm water and gray waterOut flows from water pollution control plant and combined sewage overflow.

Benefits:

Cleaner waterHealthier ecosystemLower risk of major floodsDiverse shore line condition

Positive side affects:

Arouse local concerns toward the bayRecreational/educational valuesHelp release pressures of current infrastructure:Water treatmentWater supplySewage systemStorm damage control

Technical means:

Community rain/storm water reservoirRain water recycling systemSeparated rain/gray water treatment systemSemi-artificial salt/freah marches as:

Artificial oyster reefs as:

Carbon sinkNitrogen filterHeavy metal catcherNatural habitant

Nitrogen filterWater current damperSediment catcher

Location:The project is located near the water pollution control plant

in ward 26, Brooklyn. It starts from Linden Blvd. and will be

stretched into the periphery of Jamaica Bay. The site is full

of different conditions such as urban areas, a canal, 2

landfills, a water pollution control plant, a combined

sewage outflow and the bay area.

Land Use:Residential

Mix Use

Commercial

Industrial

Traffic

Public Facilities

Parks

Vacant Lands

Water shed in the Bay

Surface Current (out) Sewage Shed / Water Pollution Control Plants

Water QualityExcess nitrogen

storm

in water is now considered one of the most

serious problems in the Bay. Citizen Groups are now reaching

legal statements with NYC to :

1.Sewage treatment upgrade

2.Marsh restoration

3.Enforceable limit on nitrogen pollution

The United States Environmental Protection Agency now

considers pollution from all sources, include urban

water pollution, to be the most important source of

contamination in our natural waters. More impervious

surfaces mean more urban storm-water runoff, which

causes increases in water quality impairment

From Water Shed to Sewage ShedInstead of natural water shed, the water goes into the bay now fellow the

man made , which, is weak against strong storms, does

serious damage to the eco system and increases the contamination

problem.

“sewage shed”

SITE

LAND FILL

LAND FILL

RESIDENTIAL

INDUSTRIAL

RESIDENTIAL

RESIDENTIAL

COMMERCIAL

COMMERCIAL

INDUSTRIAL

SHOPPING MALL

BELT PARKWAY

CSO (COMBINED SEWAGE OUT-

FOLW) & WWTP (Waste Water

Treatment Plant) OUTFLOW

WATER TREATMENT PLANT

MAIN STREET

URBAN AREAFeel the Bay in urban life: rain

gray water freshwater marsh

filtration

infiltration

rain water and gray water

storm

eco-passages

Introduce and

ponds with

plants, in-land vegetation, sand bed

and layers to reserve, treat and

recycle . The system

also increase efficiency of current water

treatment system, reduce damage and

forms a net work of in urban

area. The system also serves as parks, plazas

and parking spaces.

WATER PARK

A working landscape marsh bed units

CSO (Combined Sewage Outflow) WWTP

(Waste Water Treatment plant)

two days reservoirs

CSO water for three continuous day

: Deploy into

the channel while creating an artificial estuary to

treat and

outflow. This area

has a capacity to keep WWTP outflow in the site

for and have additional able to

accommodate

of average thunder storm so the water will be

treated before leaving the site. The landscape

serves as a park during ordinary days.

OPEN WATERpreformed by

: Oysters can work as efficient

. The idea is to deploy oyster reefs in the bay

according to the direction of ordinary

to , give further

and to and help

in shallow water. The salt marsh

restoration project also help the hard edge at

water front, reduce the natural of landfills

and

A salt marsh forming mechanism

oyster reefs nitrogen

filter

current going

out the bay slow down the water

treatment catch sediments forming

wetland habitats

soften

erosion

thereby improve water quality.

Water Current:The form of “Urban Filtration” project is representingthe way water flow from the city to the Bay.

Over-all Strategy:The over-all strategy of this project can be broken down into 3 parts:

1. Urban area: Integrate existing park, streets and parking spaces into a rain water recycling and gray water

treating system using fresh-water plants to treat water and restore the eco-system in urban area.

2. Estuary: A working water park that treats CSO & WWTP out flow while works as storm water reservoir as wel

3. In the bay: Restore oyster reefs into the bay that filter nitrogen and help forming new salt marshes.

RAIN WATER SYSTEM

GRAY WATER SYSTEM

CSO & WWTP OUTFLOW

WATER TREATMENT FACILITIES

CLEAN DIRTY

CLEAN DIRTY

RELEASED INTO CHANNEL

ADDITIONAL CSO RESERVOIR DURING STORMS

SECTION

RAIN WATERGRAY WATER

CSO & WWTP OUTFLOW

PARK ENTRANCE

ELEVATED ROADSBELT PARKWAY

MARSH PLANTSOYSTER REEFS

LAND FILL

The vertical scale in this drawing is 10 times larger than the horizontal scale

A Water Treatment SystemThis project is basically, an additional water treatment system in addition

to current sewage system. This system treat and recycle rain water and gray

water, and, give further treatment to outflows from existing water plant

(WWPT) and sewage (CSO).

The vertical scale in te section below is 10 times larger than the horizontal

scale. This section shows the different slope between rain water and gray

water system.

CSO & WWTP OutflowThe black water, after going through water plant,

will be further treated by the freshwater marsh,

the oyster reefs and the salt marsh of my project.

And, during string storm, this project buffers the

direct damage of “urban flush” from sewage out-

flow (CSO) and provide basic eco-treatment for

all kinds of waste water before they go into the

bay

Gray WaterGray water system is a series of unaccessible

pounds of fresh water plants which also work

as habitats in urban area

Rain WaterThe rain water system are ponds, infiltration

layers, filtration sand beds and freshwater

marshes which also work as parks, passages,

parking spaces and plazas.

Most of these units are under ground and

have to gather, treat

and recycle rain water.

functions other than

Function Programs and Eco-Restoration Projects“Urban Filtration” is a project composed by four different eco-restorationprojects and has many other function programs Besides water treatmentsystem.

Function Programs

Eco-Restoration Projects“

rain water

rain water can be recycled without further treatment

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over flow into the Bay

infiltration

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ap

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recycle

gray water system forms a network of undisturbed habitants

over flow into the Bay

marsh plant

oyster reefs

GRAY WATER SYSTEM

Sewage System

Water Treatment

Plants

gray water ponds unaccessible to public

filt

ra

tio

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ma

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h p

lan

ts

gray water ponds increase in size and have better accessibility when water get cleaner

over flow within gray water system

RAIN WATER SYSTEM

slow the water current down

and help the forming of wetlands

oyster reefs

newly formed salt marsh

over flow within rain water system

over flow within rain water system

infiltration layers serve as passages or parking spaces

rain water ponds serve as parkssurface water

rain water

infiltration

minimum water level

CSO & WWTP OUTFLOW TREATMENT

RAIN WATER PONDS

GRAY WATER PONDS

FRESH MARSH PLANTS

OYSTER REEFS

SALT MARSH PLANTS

re

cy

cle

recycle

Morphology:

This diagram represents the shapes of this project. Thewater treatment eco-units: in-land, intertidal or underwater,are changing shapes from land to sea. The gray water unitsget larger when the water get cleaner. The rain water units,in order to fit themselves in the over developed urbansituation, are rectangular in shape at first, and then changeinto more organic shapes. The morphology of these units,is an architectural representation of the city gradually blendinto the bay ans different kinds of water gradually mixes witheach other and goes into the sea.

System Break Down:

This diagram shows how differentkinds of water goes through thesystem and get treated by etherrain water units, gray water unitsor oyster reefs.

The Urban Area:The rain water and gray water system has many differentfunctions in the urban area. It create green public spaces,utilize parking spaces as underground reservoirs, andcreate habitats for small creatures.Through the rain and gray water system, people in theurban area can feel the bay even without seeing it, and,have more concern about our eco system.

The Urban Area:A typical view of a rain water pound in urban area

Gray water channel hidden behind the trees

Filtration sand bed beneath parking spaces

Rain water pound, accessible for public

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tree

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visitor center

administration

Streets are lifted from the groundso both citizens and animals can

go across the streets safely.

SECTION

always accessibleunaccessible only during severe stormsaccessibility varies with daily water quality monitering

The Water Park:At the estuary, the outflows of rain water system goes intoa large recreational park. Right next to this park is the placewhere the treated gray water and the WWTP out flow beingreleased into the channel.This water park is a working landscape where people canhave fun with the treated rain water, and watch the marshplants treating the rest of their waste water.

Accessibility:Accessibility of the parks and the ponds differs fromcleanness of the water in order to avoid citizens fromexposed to contaminated ponds. Basically, rain waterponds are always accessible, while gray water pondsare not.

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ed &

pla

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gray water pound

passage

storm reservoir / recreational area

Spring in the Park

Winter in the Park

The Water Park:

1

2

3

4

AB

ordinary water route

storm days water route

During the Storms:Normally, out-flows from gray water system and WWTP goesthrough pond 1~4 and get cleaner and cleaner before releasedinto the channel. Pond 1~4 have a combined capacity 2 timeslarger then daily WWTP out-flow (maximum depth 1.5~2 m).During the storm days, pond A and underground reservoir Bwill be used to help keeping the CSO water in site so that nountreated water will go into the bay. Pons 1~4 and A, B have acapacity to withstand three continuous days of averagethunder storm without letting untreated water into the channel.

Bay Area:In the bay area are oyster reefs restorationproject that helps forming wetlands.Considering the constant lost of wet landsin the Bay, I basically developed a “U” shapeartificial oyster reefs to slow down the out-going flows. By the method the oysters andthe marsh will have more time to clean thewater, and, the suspended particles caughtby the reefs are helpful in our course torestore the losing wet lands within the Bay.

surface current going out the Baywaterfront platform for big eventswater quality monitoring facilityartificial oyster reefsferry channelnewly formed wetlandmarina

Surface Current (out)

Live Oysters

Recycled Oyster Shells

Rocks/pebbles

Metal Cages

Piles

High Tide

Low Tide

CURRENT(OUT)

The growing direction of the reef

The Oyster Reefs

The ScreenAcademic project in GSAPP Columbia

Studio Critic: Frederic Levrat

Site Location: Amman, Jordan

The ScreenAcademic project in GSAPP Columbia

Studio Critic: Frederic Levrat

Site Location: Amman, Jordan

This project is an MOVING, INTERACTIVE SCREEN

that works as a REAL-WORLD DIGITAL AGORA and

a shaded park. Also, this project is designed to

host the annual JORDAN SHORT FILM FESTIVAL

and accommodate permanent structures such as

office and projection rooms for the film festival.

Inspired by the ARAB SPRING movement, this

project discusses the relationship between public

spaces, social network and interactive media.

Also, to explore the possibility of having a truly

interactive structure that brings the issue of

information sharing into another scale, and, how

that possible future may have its impact to our

cities

“The Screen” is:

And, it is about:

An agora and a public spaceA real-world cyber spaceA social network at a specific locationA film festival curated by the audience

Form, space and screenSocial networks and physical backgroundEvents, hosts and participantsImages, audiences and points of viewsPublic spaces, urban contexts and landscapeAugmented Reality

Internet, Traditional Media, Public Spaces and the Screen

After being fed up with TV and newspaper, people start to search for information on the

internet and go to public spaces to witness important events.

However, neither the mass media, the internet nor our public spaces can work alone as

an ideal information platform because they all have problems such as censorship on T.V.,

irresponsible information providers and flood of junk information on the internet, and,

difficulty to collect relevant information in all kinds of public spaces.

As in cases such as Arab Spring or Occupying Wall Street, we can see that exchanging

information between the internet and public spaces create a reciprocation that brings

some balance back to both internet and the public spaces. I came up with the idea of

having that kind of interaction built in to the information platform itself.

“The Screen” is a more direct approach: a combination of a digital agora and a public

space. It’s a real-world cyber-spaces where issues coordinate and compete with each

other for the right to be displayed toward the public. This project brings “sharing

information” into a different scale, thereby, addresses the issue of “who has the right to

be heard”, and arouse dialogs between the city, the public and digital information.

Internet

Traditional media

Public spaces

The screen

Source

Mostly locals

Unknown

Authority

Locals

Very limited

Hours

24-7

Daily

Scheduled

Unknown

Content

All

Digital

Digital

Vocal

Physical

Subjects

Local/not censored

Miscellaneous

Censored

Local

Who have the right to

provide information

Registered hosts with

a reasonable crowd

Everybody

Authorities

Locals

Responsibilities of

information providers

Some

Almost none

Huge

A little

Public Concern

By issues

By issues

Huge

By issues

Flood of irresponsible information

Addictive

Pleasure of being noticed

Pleasure of being anonymous

Censorship,

fixed time table

Difficult to find specific information

Very limited sources

Unpredictable times and contents

Internet

Traditional media

Public spaces

The screen

This Diagram shows the differences between

existing daily information sources of ours.

The Screen is trying to combine the

advantages of a public space and the internet

to create a new type of media the belongs to

neither governments nor major companies,

which runs as a public spaces of information,

images and sounds.

A real-world Digital Agora:In order to combine the functions of a digital agora

and a public space, the physical space must have

some ability to define the domains of each issues

physically, thereby, to coordinate between

subjects being shared and discussed within the

space. Luckily, modern computers can easily

simply by a well-programed camera.

I’m imagining the an interactive screen that

recognizes its audience in terms of events, hosts,

locations, types, scales and gestures of each

person, and, according to these dat, provides

digital contents to each event such as images,

sounds and texts.

Any host of an issue or an event should register to

the screen in order to be recognized as an event,

and, the screen will respond in real time according

to the geometrical type and size of the events.

When events move, the spatial settings move with

them.

recognizes people and modes of different

gatherings

This is a space recognizes events, hosts and scales

of events using cameras. This space responds to

events and give additional support such as larger

space, images or sounds. Authorized hosts can

move freely in this space and their spatial setting

shall follow them.

Through some setting, the events can be arranged

in orderly fashions such as multi-centered events

or deformed events.

Different types of events:Other then just another citizen, possible hosts

might include artists, merchant, protesters,

commercial, public welfare, religious, … as long

as they register to the space, and, have a smart

phone.

The space will also recognize different gestures

to better understand the flow, the direction and

condition of the crowd.

In Jordan Short Film Festival, the screen can

create a now type of viewing experiences of a

self-curated outdoor IMAX, Curators as Event

Hosts ; Audiences as Participants.

The way projectors assigned

to different events (films)

The use of Hyper Sonic Speakers

can avoid different sound tracks

from interfere with each other.

The physical scape of the audience can further

determine the space in detail.

In more complicated settings, the physical

scape can even suggest the center points, the

flow and the viewing angles of events.

Using half-transparent screens can bring in the

possibility of augmented reality, also, by having

the possibility of projecting outward it creates

a whole new dialog between events inside the

screen and the rest of the city.

And, by lowering the default position of the

screen, it is possible to create unaccessible

boundaries for events.

Structural Experiment of a Moving Screen:After some experiments, I found that I don’t necessarily

need a mega-structure that runs above everything.

Actually, if I control the angles of all cables that pull up

the screen with enough supporting points , the screen

will still have almost the same ability of transforming

and moving as I wanted.

View from the Mosque

View from the Citadel

The SiteThe site is located in the historical center of downtown

Amman, right next to the “first circle.” With a little help

from the hilly topography of Amman, this is a spot that can

be seen by most parts of downtown Amman. The site is

basically a slope as steep as 25~45 degrees -a good shape

of outdoor theaters, and, with a rich urban context. The

religious center of nearby area, an important mosque, is

located right below the site. Surrounding the mosque is a

very busy street and a market. Also, the most famous

tourist spots, the citadel and a roman theater, are also

within walking distance.

The Screen, the Audience and the LandscapeBasically, this project is composed by these three parts.

The screen bares most the digital information, the

landscape represents the situation of our physical world,

and, the audience sandwiches between these two to

plays the role of a public space combined with digital

agora.

The ScreenA moving tent structure supported by

20 mega-columns. The screen displays

digital contents, interact with its

viewers and provide suitable physical

forms for all issues(events) on display.

The AudienceThe Audience is a series of seats, stairs,

slopes and platforms that designed for

different kinds of events and viewing

experiences. A still, man-made structure

between the land scape and the moving

screen.

The LandscapeInside the small pockets between the

landscape and the audience are some

permanent structures such as the office,

a indoor projection room and some

service spaces.

The Screen

The Audience

The Landscape

The Audience: The Physical Scape of the AgoraPrograms, types of seats, circulation and viewing angles

Programs and Types of Seats

Viewing Angles

The Screen and Its ShapesThe screen is a moving, half transparent

tent structure that displays images. The

screen is hung evenly from cables

attached to 20 columns, and, because

all cables are controlled by computer,

the screen can change into various

shapes and interact with what ever

events beneath it.

Because the screen changes its shape by

being pulled up by cables, there will be a

lowest position for every points on the

screen. In order to determine that

default position, the diagram at the

right color coded the minimum heights

required by each area on the audience.

By that height study, we have the default

position (the lowest position) of the

screen.

The heart of the digital agora, in which

all people will be recognized by cameras

and activate the screen.

Each events or issues being displayed

onto the screen, should have at least one

host. This person should register to the

screen with a smart phone to control the

digital contents being displayed. The

screen will evaluate the scales and types

of events, recognize the center points

and change its shape.

Default Position

Sensing area:

The Event Hosts:

Minimum Heights

At some points, the default

height is lower than 1 meter

so that the I can create

unaccessible(private) boxes

by programing the screen

shape.

Default Position

Sensing Areas and Event Hosts

The “Ideological” ShapeAccording to ths crowd and the hosts

shown in this diagram, the “Ideal”

shape of the screen is like this: each

events has a dome of various size, the

rest of the screen is on default position.

How ever, this shape is relatively not

realistic for a tent structure. The tent

is pulled up evenly all over the screen,

but, is pulled down only in a few places

in order to keep the integrity of the

space under the screen.(The yellow

dots in this diagram)

Considering the structural issues and

tension of the tent structure, the “ideal”

shape is modified into this realistic

shape, and, this is hoe the screen is

going to look like.

The Structural Issue:

The Shape of the Screen

A Changing (Programable) ShapeAs the crowd moves, the screen changes its shape accordingly. Looking from a distance, the

project glows with different issues being displayed on the screen(01). Also, when one of the

issue gets hotter and hotter, the screen changes its shape and forms a more dramatic space

for that issue. (02) As in rendering 02, one of the issues have reaches the maximum height

the structure system allows, it forms a huge dome looks like a majestic mosque.

Besides the ordinary ways of form changing, the management can also release the shape

controlling program of the screen as an open resource so that the screen can have a specific

form as needed in some special events. The rendering 03 is one example of those shapes that

is designed to be seen form the rest of the city.

01

02 03

During the Day:Because of the lighting condition during the days, the screen basically provides texts and

line drawn contents during the days. Displayed in front of the view of real Amman, these

digital content can work as a piece of augmented reality. Beside the display of augmented

reality contents, the project also work as a park that provide green spaces to Amman..

During the Days01

02.

03.

.The Augmented reality in the digital agora. Displaying realtime news, guiding information of the city and shared text.

The scene below the audience, I created small pockets under the audiences to accommodate spaces like the café,

the service spaces, the shaded pedestrian streets and the office. All these spaces will be quite breezy comparing with

the rest of Amman because the screen will be moving.

In order to create a dialog between the screen, the audience and the landscape, there are holes on both the screen

and the audience. This move preserves existing trees on site and create chances for visitors to look at the scene above

the screen.

01

02 03

During the Nights (Digital Agora):During the nights, the project mainly works as a digital agora. People can

bring whatever subject to the site to be displayed, and, the crowd will

decide their volumes. There could be political discussions, digital arts,

commercials, and so on. And, when an issue start to get over-heated, it

grows and occupy the entire screen.

Jordan Short Film FestivalBesides the ordinary digital agora, the screen also hosts

the Jordan Short Film Festival. Unlike the scheduled film

festivals, this is a film festival curated by its audiences

and worked like a scene park. Curators, or the “event

hosts” register to the screen, pick a film from the list and

find a quiet corner, sit down and watch the film, and,

the screen will create an ideal out door IMAX screen for

each of them. (Using hyper sonic speakers to provide

sound tracks that will never interfere with each other).

The rest of the viewers, can walk around the site and join

any film as they like, or, go and register themselves as

curaters.

Occupying the Screen:Because the screen is half transparent, the projectors can project

images both inward and out ward. In case of a really important

issue, the crowd can go occupy the screen and make their

statement seen by half of Amman.

Coordinate Between EventsBecause the ideal location of the site, and the size of this project,

the screen can be used to coordinate different events in the city

such as new year parties, call-for-prayer, political gathering, and

so on.

Ways to do VibrancyAcademic project in GSAPP Columbia

Studio Critic: Markus Dochantschi

Site Location: Istanbul, Turkey

Collaborated with Tin-Yu Kao

Section Rendering

Ways to do VibrancyAcademic project in GSAPP Columbia

Collaborated with Tin-Yu Kao

Studio Critic: Markus Dochantschi

Site Location: Istanbul, Turkey

This project is an experimental method trying

to integrate the entire workflow from URBAN

PLANNING to ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN in order

to create true, well-programed vibrancy in

STREETS and PUBLIC SPACES.

“Ways to do Vibrancy” is a project which is

unique in its street-oriented planning method

and its experimental zoning-on-the-facades

technique. The combination of these two

methods creates STREETS and BUILDINGS

unlike any existing city, something totally new

and never be seen before.

One of our section model

Vibrancy on the Street:STREET VIBRANCY means that people are actually

using and to some degree, living in the streets.

VIBRANT, HIGH QUALITY STREETS are our best chance

to improve, to UTILIZE and to give IDENTITIES to our

over-crowded, globalized cities. The word ”Streets”

here refers to all streets, roads, plazas, parks and all

accessible public spaces.

All vibrant, but different:

All streets, no matter how similar with each other, are different.

Being the key to create truly vibrant street, these differences are

the source of IDENTITIES, of SENSE of BELONGING that make people

willing to spend time outside their doors, willing to USE, to maintain

and more important, to DESIGN and to IMPROVE the streets.

To create high-function, well-programed streets, one could not

have the energy to design every details on all streets, therefore,

in order to do so, one must start with a method that creates variety

and yet have a certain degree of control of it. In other words, the

streets must be zoned and programed.

Hierarchies, Connections and Distances of Streets

Street types, guidelines of generating the streets and test on the site.

Programs and Zonings of Streets

Types, widths, mix-used streets and green areas.

Massing and Zonings of Buildings

Heights, set-backs and the “zoning-on-facade” method

Public Spaces and Infrastructures

Locations and densities

Design of the Streets and Buildings

What would our city looks like

Our method in this project:In this project, we are testing an experimental approach as

illustrated above. An integrated work flow from URBAN PLANNING

to ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN.

What we did is basically transfer our thoughts into design guidelines,

test them on site and analysis the out-come while revise the design

guidelines if necessary.

Hierarchy, Accessibility and

Characters of StreetsHierarchy creates difference of accessibility, which

create sense of belonging and thereby gives identities

to all streets, encourages people to use them, and,

creates vibrancy.

In this project, we defined 3 types of streets by their

accessibility (as shown in the diagram on the left) as

the start point.

Guideline #01-1:

Types & Connections#01-1 describes street TYPES,

rules of CONNECTIONS and basic

CHARACTERS of each types of

Streets.

Basically, “A” streets connect to

“B” streets, “B” streets connect

to “C” streets and “C streets” do

NOT connect to “A” streets.

And, for the distances, You can’t

have an “A” street goes without

any joints or intersections for

more than 400m. Can’t have a

“B” goes for more than 200m and

can’t have a “C” goes more than

100m.

The characters of all 3 kinds of

streets are as the diagram at the

previous page. Being more

specific, “A” streets have more of

their width dedicated to

transportation.

A Class Roads

B Class Roads

C Class Roads

Tra

ns

po

rta

tio

n

Stre

et

Liv

es

Se

ns

e o

f B

elo

nin

g

Ac

ce

ss

ibilit

y

Re

sid

en

ce

s

Pu

blic

/ Re

gio

na

l

Street types and accessibility in Istanbul

SITE

Important Distances

Around the SiteAfter having the types of streets,

we started to research for the

right distances to help build our

grid system.

Our site, is an abandoned navy

ship yard located in an industrial

district near on the other bank of

Istanbul’s historical center.

Looking into average distances

between public TRANSPORTATION

stops and community MOSQUES,

we came up with two numbers:

400M for public transportation

and 200M for community forming.

Distance of Public Transportation: 400M

400M

Distance of Community Forming: 200M

A_R B_R C_RA_R_Start

A_R_End

B_R_Start

B_R_End

C_R_Start

C_R_End

A_Road B_Road C_Road

A_R_S

A_R_E

B_R_S

B_R_E

C_R_S

C_R_E

A_Joint B_Joint C_Joint

Site Boundry

VT > 8m

Maximum distances <400m

*VT= Net width used for vehicles or transportation*Maximum distance: Maximum distance without any joints or intersections

4m > VT

Maximum distances <100m

8m > VT > 4m

Maximum distances <200m

20

0m

40

0m

10

0m

Ty

pe

s

All

po

ssib

le c

on

ne

cti

on

s

De

sc

riptio

ns

Example #01-1Following #01-1's descriptions of street TYPES,

CONNECTIONS and Distances, there the streets

should form a network as shown as the right.

#01-1 does not control the form or shape of the

street system, therefore, there can be geometric

forms or organic forms, but, these street system

will still have the characters, the hierarchy system

and the similar density as described before.

Testing #01-1-01 ~ #01-1-09:After having guideline#01-1, we tested it on

site, first we identify the entrance points of

the site, and, step by step, we added

knowledge into our grid system such as

TOPOGRAPHY, PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT,

SCALES of DEVELOPMENT, TRANSPORTATION,

and so on. After running these tests, we have

our finalized grid system.

Access Points

Topo

Wind Corridor

Watershed

Urban Fabric

#01-4: Minimum Block Sizes

Creating reasonable block shapes fordevelopment.

#01-1: Free

#01-2: Looping C-streets

Looping C-streets can increases the flowof all C-streets and prevent dead ends.

#01-3: Efficient block-divisions

Getting rid of redundant small alleys.

#01-5: Topography:

Having more efficiency in transportation andarranging building sites.

#01-6:

Having fresh air on streets and make it easierto arrange the sewage/water supply system.

Wind and Water

#01-7:

Make connection to existing urban fabric.Improve the existing disconnected water frontsituation.

Urban Fabric

Twisted Grid

Sun Exposure

Views on Streets

#01-8: Twisted Grid

Use this twisted grid to simplify the geometryof the road system and have more a efficientshape.

#01-9

Make sure enough of our streets have sunshineand view.

Sun Exposure and View

Our Finalized Grid:After running all these tests,

1. Hierarchies

2. Transportation

3. Forming of communities

4. Site conditions

we have considered

these in our road system:

: Type , and

:

.

.

:

.

.

.

:

.

.

.

.

A

400-200m distance of public transportation

B C

Access Points

200-100m distance of neighborhoods

Minimum block sizes

Efficient way to divide blocks

Topography

Exist urban fabric

5. Physical environment

Wind corridor / Water shed

Sun exposure / View

Streets Need to be Zoned:

Street Programs:

After having the shape of the grid, our

streets still need to be programed and

zoned in order to be designed and

everybody can profit from it.

After studying the programs and their

portions of the streets in Istanbul, we

identified 6 different groups of street

programs as listed.

Tra

ns

po

rta

tio

n Pe

de

stria

n

Mix

ed

Pe

de

stria

n

Gre

en M

ixe

d G

re

en

Tra

ns

it

GovernmentGet investment on building streets

Get help on maintaining and managing streets

Rent income

Users / VisitorsUse the streets

Developers / OwnersHave a chance to control the quality of streets

Have a chance to own the streets

Streets in IstanbulStreet Programs

Guidelines #02-1: Street ProgramsAfter the studies of street programs, we start writing guidelines to control

the syntax in which we assemble street programs. We drew two diagrams to

explain some basic rules of street programs such as PEDESTRIANs should not

be sandwiched between two TRANSPORTATIONs, TRANSITs must have direct

connections to both TRANSPORTATION and PEDESTRIAN... and so on.

Testing #02-1

Guideline #02-2: Zoning the Streets:

And, we drew a series of streets, vertical

streets and intersections to test our design

guidelines, and, to find a way to ZONE THE

STREETS efficiently. We came up with Guide

line #02-2: “All streets should be zoned in 4

different characters: TYPE of street, WIDTH,

percentage of MIX-USED programs and

percentage of GREEN area.

All streets should be zoned by:

1. which refers to the and types we

talked about in guideline #01

2. The minimum total width of street, including

double-deckers or vertical streets.

3. programs:

programs refers to and

in guideline #02-1.

4. refers to

and in guideline

#02-1

( & )

TYPES, “A,”

MIX-USED

MIXED PEDESTRIAN

“B” “C”

WIDTH:

Percentage of MIX-USED

”MP”

MIXED

GREEN “MG”

Percentage of GREEN AREA: GREEN AREA

MIXED GREEN ( & “MG”)GREEN ”G”

Testing #02-2: Trying to Zone the Streets on SiteAccording to our guideline #02-2, all streets should be zoned by their TYPES, WIDTHS,

MIX-USED programs and GREEN area.

Because the street types (which we already have) are trying to give characters to streets,

the widths should further enhance these characters. A-streets are more about traffics,

therefore, a simple analysis of traffic flow can determine the proper width of all A-

streets. While, C-streets are more for those who live in the neighborhoods, so the widths

of C-streets should reflect the size and population of each blocks.

Testing #02-2-01: Street Width

Traffic / VisitorsLocal Street Lives

AccessibilityBlock Size

“A” Roads“C” RoadsB Roads: mediating between A and C

A-Streets: Flow and Street WidthBy Investigating into the site’s access points,

possible public transportation and traffic flow

around the site, we quickly drew this diagram

and use it to guide our width of all A-streets.

C-Streets: Block SizesWidths of our C-streets are determined by block

sizes, service ranges and anticipated population.

B-Streets: FlexibleWe use the B-street to mediate between “A” and

“C” to allow some flexibility of design and planning.

Testing #02-2-02: Green AreaAll streets are Zoned by minimum amount of GREEN or MIXED GREEN programs

(the and programs in guideline #02-1)“G” “MG”

Existing Green Area

Existing Green Area

Forming the eco-connection

between land and waterfront

These streets, as studied in Test

#01-1, have a considerable degree

of sun exposure, fresh air and view

of the river, and, are more suitable

for recreational uses and green

areas.

Percentage:

The percentage shown here controls

the minimum area of that part of

streets covered by GREEN or MIXED

GREEN programs.

Actual G+MG Area

Minimum Street Width

And, for 50% is a rather large

portion, our zoning force many

streets into double-deckers.

x100%

Testing #02-2-03: Mix-Used ProgramsAll streets are Zoned by minimum amount of MIXED

PEDESTRIAN or MIXED GREEN programs (the

and programs in guideline #02-1). In this testing,

we are generating another zoning map which controls

the minimum area of all MIX-USED programs on the

streets.

In order to do so, we started with a study of distances

and connections between HYPOTHETICAL ATTRACTION

POINTS which locate at all CORNERS and the WATER

FRONT.

The result of this connection study is a network that

get denser at potentially busy or important locations.

By the out come of our connection study, we drew a

zoning map of MIX-USED programs.

Study of Potential Connections

“MP”

“MG”

Connections, 000m~050m

Connections, 050m~100m

Connections, 100m~150m

Connections, 150m~200m

Connections, All

Zoning Map of Mix-Used ProgramsLike the green area zoning, the zoning of MIX-

USED programs is presented by a series of

percentages which controls the minimum

amount of MIX-USED programs according to

the minimum width of that street.

Actual MP+MG Area

Minimum Street Widthx100%

From Streets to Buildings: Massing and ZoningStreets need buildings. In most cases, buildings have more power to define a

street than the street itself. Therefore, we must have control of the buildings to

support the street vibrancy we are trying to create here. To support diverse life-

styles we create on the streets, the massing and zoning of buildings should be

determined accordingly by the characters of the street in front of it. We decided

to do the zoning on the building facades, because, FACADES ARE THE INTERFACE

BETWEEN STREETS AND BUILDINGS.

Guideline #03-1: How to Guide the Zoning of the

Buildings According to the Street Zoning

Street TYPES

Percentage of GREEN

Percentage of MIXED-USE

determines

determines

determines

Building Heights

Set-backs / Programs on the Top

Programs on the Street Level

Street Types Determines the Buildings’ Heights:

The GREEN Zoning Determines the Set-backs and

Programs on Top of Buildings:

Types of the streets (the A, B and C types in #01-1) refers to accessibility

and transportation. Generally, A-streets are capable to serve a greater

population and with their advantage of conveniences in transportation,

they are more likely to become business of commercial streets and have

greater density of buildings.

The heights at the corner are combined number with all roads intersect

at that corner, therefore, an intersection of two A roads generate a 50m-

high façade,… etc.

The GREEN zoning is more about physical environment, sun, wind, air,

water, view and is about out-door, healthy, eco-friendly, recreational

atmospheres. Therefore THE GREEN ZONING is a perfect guide of

building set-back.

The skyline of a city is, another chance we have to create green area for

the environment’s sake, for recreational use or for delightful city scape.

In this project, we also use the GREEN ZONING of the streets to guide

our upper part of city, for we find it’s quite relevant.

What in here is a specific mixture of programs we called “THE

PROPORTION ABOVE”, which is a certain proportion of mixtures of

different programs designed to have more open space, better air

circulation, better lighting condition and less dense. Such as larger

residential units, open spaces, recreational and cultural uses along with

small units of restaurants, retails and service.

A Roads generate 30m-high façades along them

B Roads generate 20m-high facades alone them

C Roads generate 10m-hifh facades alone them

G + MG on Street

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

Set-back Angles

+30 degrees

+20 degrees

+10 degrees

+-0 degrees

-10 degrees

Programs on Top

50% of total height

40%

30%

20%

10%

50%

40%

40%

The MIXED-USE Percentage Determines the Building’s

Program on the Street Level:Again, PROPORTION STREET-LEVEL is a certain proportion of mixtures of

different programs designed to have more vibrancy, more diversity and

more dense while considering the concept of different time during a days.

And, the rest of the buildings are zoned as “PROPORTION MIDDLE”, which

designed to accommodate required residences and offices.

MP + MG on Street

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

Proportion Street-Level

50% of total height

40%

30%

20%

10%

About Our Programs in Buildings:As said above, all our programs are mix-used proportions fo different characters, and, to further create

vibrancy, we did a simple study about the vibrant hours of different land uses. According to that study,

we designated programs into the 3 different mixtures of zoning,

Commercial: 5%

Residential: 30%

Open Spaces / Void: 60%

Office: 5%

Proportion: Above

Proportion: Middle

Residential: 50%

Open Spaces / Void: 40%

Office: 11%

Proportion: Street LevelCommercial: 45%

Residential: 30%

Open Spaces / Void: 20%

Office: 5%

50%

Commercial: 5%

Residential: 30%

Open Spaces / Void: 60%

Office: 5%

Proportion: Above

Proportion: Middle

Residential: 50%

Open Spaces / Void: 40%

Office: 11%

Proportion: Street LevelCommercial: 45%

Residential: 30%

Open Spaces / Void: 20%

Office: 5%

WEEK DAYSHOURS OF VIBRANCY EVENINGS

COMMERCIAL

HOLIDAYS NO EFFECT

RESTAURANTS

RETAILS

DAILY SERVICES

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

OFFICE OFFICE

ENTERTAINMENT

RESIDENTTIAL STUDIOS

SMALL UNITS

MID-SIZE UNITS

LARGE UNITS

PUBLIC/OPEN GREEN

EVENTS

CULTURAL

GROUP 01: VIBRANT ALL-TIME

GROUP 02: EVENING/HOLIDAYS

GROUP 03: NO EFFECT

GROUP 04: DEAD AT NIGHT

And, besides the ZONING-ON-THE-FACADE method,we also took some other strategies to create vibrancy.1. Force some of the GROUP 04 programs combine with

GROUP 02 programs to avoid these area to becomeoverly-quiet during evenings and holidays.

2. Force all GROUP 04 programs to leave the street level.

Testing #03, Massing and Zoning of BuildingsSo, We tested our massing and zoning tools on site and thereby,

we got our first version of our master plan.

The Massing of our BuildingsThis massing model DOES NOT MEAN THE ACTUAL FORM of our

design, so, it should not be regarded as our master plan. It is,

more like a REGULATION thing, a 3D model that controls the

maximum volume of this project.

Building Heights by

Street TypesWe calculated heights at every

corners. As seen in this diagram,

the highest point of our project

is located at the center of our site,

where we have 3 A-streets run

into each other and created a

nearly 100-meters high massing.

Set-Back Angles by GREEN Zoning

The Zoning of our BuildingsThis model shows how we were trying to apply our zoning-on-facade

method on to our massing model. The RED, GREEN and ORANGE colors

refer to the different proportions of programs we talked about in the

last page (guideline #03). And, some other colors in this rendering

show the different types of infrastructures and public spaces we will

talk about later in guideline #04.

How the RED on facade reflect the RED on streets

How the buildings open-up accordingly to the GREEN zoning on streets

Guideline #04-1, Public Spaces and InfrastructuresAlso, It is quite handy to use the STREET ZONING to guide the design and location

of infrastructures, In this project, we put all infrastructures into 3 categories:

1. Public facilities that need specific locations such as schools or hospitals

2 Infrastructures which should be integrated into networks and work together.

3. Infrastructures that need to be evenly distributed in site with a certain density.

.

SCHOOL

HOSPITAL

CULTURAL CENTER WATER FRONT

A Joints At least *1

B Streets At least *1

C Streets

MP <30%

A Joints At least *1

A Streets At least *2

WATER FRONT

WATER FRONT

MP <30%

MP <30%

C Streets

A Joints At least *1

A Streets At least *2

C Streets

MP >30% G+MG >30%

MP >30% G+MG >30%

Group 01,School, Hospital and Cultural Center

Facilities need to be located somewhere

Schools:Schools don’t need to be at the water front because the waterfront, is supposed to

be a vibrant and noisy place by setting. And, a schools should br next to at least an

so that it’ll have public transportation. And, the school should be next to a

which’s is less then 30%, therefore, the school will have

a street quiet enough to place its classrooms. Schools should not next to

because do not have enough capacity to handle the traffic in rush hours.

A-joint

MIX-USED ZONINGB-street

C-streets

C-streets

HospitalsHospital need quiet for emergency reasonsA-streets

Cultural Center:Cultural center need vibrancy, therefore, the water front is quite

suitable. with more than 30% of both

and can support Cultural Centers quite well in terms

of traffic, vibrancy and high quality open spaces.

A-STREETS MIX-USED ZONING

GREEN ZONING

PUBLIC SERVICES

BUS ROUTES

Transportation

Come with Bus Stops A Joints At least*13 (½ of all)

Stop at all PUBLIC SERVICE STATIONS A Joints At least*16 (2/3 of all)

Come with Bus Stops A Joints At least*6 (½ of AJs on boundery)

Group 02:Public Services, Bus Routes and Tronsportation*PUBLIC SERVICES here refers to police, post offices, fire service and so on....

Relationship with each other

What kind of streets do they need

What density do they need

PARKS LARGE

MID-SIZE

SMALL

EMERGENCY

A Streets B Streets

C Streets

MP >30% G+MG >30%or

B Joints

C Joints

At least*2 (½ of all)

At least*4 (½ of all)

1

C Joints All of them Must connect to A Streets

Group 03:Parks and Emergency

What kind of streets do they need

What density do they need

Additional Requirements

Emergency:“EMERGENCY” here refers to operation spaces of fire

trucks and ambulances, which should be located at all

because a means a dead end of a

so, there will be an EMERGENCY space at all C-joints which

connected to a nearest

C-Joints C-joint C-street

A-street.

School

Hospital

Park (Large)

Cultural Center

Transportation

Transportation / Public Service

Transportation / Public Service

Park

Emergency

#04-2, Water Front Conditions and Street ZoningIn #04-2, we tried to make deign decisions on the water front according to

our street zoning. The basic idea is the guides the softness

of the edge and the guides the areas that allow human

activities and possible temporary structures.

GREEN ZONING

MIX-USED ZONING

The width of wetlands and soft edges are guidedby the on the river-side street.GREEN ZONING

Wetlands, inter-tidal areas or soft edges

The range of human activities and the areas that allowtemporary or floating structures are determined by the

on the riverside street.MIX-USED ZONING

Area of possible human activities.

From Zoning to Architectural DesignAfter all the planning and zoning, we start imagining the architectural scale on site.

After a quick testing, we found that our zoning method have great influence to our

buildings in 3 major ways:

01. Buildings Sculptured by Zoning ModelThe diagrams on the right show hoe the zoning model sculptures

the buildings into diverse and dynamic forms.

02. A 3-dimensional Network of Public and Semi-publc SpacesBecause of our strategy of three different mixtures pf programs (PROPORTION ABOVE, STREET-LEVEL and MIDDLE in guideline #03),this

project forms a three dimensional network of public and semi-public spaces in the intermediate levels between different programs.

03 Buildings Dialog with each Other Across Streets.We zoned our buildings on the facades, and, according to the streets these facades are facing.

Therefore, all the buildings have to dialog with the one across the street in terms of both form

and function.

Commercial: 5%

Residential: 30%

Open Spaces / Void: 60%

Office: 5%

Proportion: Above

Proportion: Middle

Residential: 50%

Open Spaces / Void: 40%

Office: 11%

Proportion: Street LevelCommercial: 45%

Residential: 30%

Open Spaces / Void: 20%

Office: 5%

WEEK DAYSHOURS OF VIBRANCY EVENINGS

COMMERCIAL

HOLIDAYS NO EFFECT

RESTAURANTS

RETAILS

DAILY SERVICES

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

OFFICE OFFICE

ENTERTAINMEN

RESIDENTTIAL STUDIOS

SMALL UNITS

MID-SIZE

LARGE UNITS

PUBLIC/OPEN GREEN

EVENTS

CULTURAL

GROUP 01: VIBRANT ALL-TIME

GROUP 02: EVENING/HOLIDAYS

GROUP 03: NO EFFECT

GROUP 04: DEAD AT NIGHT

And, besides the ZONING-ON-THE-FACADE method,we also took some other strategies to create vibrancy.1. Force some of the GROUP 04 programs combine with

GROUP 02 programs to avoid these area to becomeoverly-quiet during evenings and holidays.

2. Force all GROUP 04 programs to leave the street level.

Guideline #05, How to Mix Programs in BuildingsAs in GUIDELINE #03 and the diagram derived from #03 (above), all our programs in buildings are

mixtures of different proportions with specific considerations. These guidelines will control the

total density of the project and will define the overall strategies briefly. However, we still need

more detailed instructions to finish this project in architectural scale, therefore, we did GUIDE

LINE #05 to explain how the programs mix in our buildings.

Reminder of Guideline #03:At the end of GUIDELINE #03, we talked about how to

mix all programs in buildings to create maximum

vibrancy while still have control to the over-all density

of the site.

Can’t have residential units above this unit in a certain heightExceptions of the no-housing regulation

At least (1,2,3...) sides of this unit should connect to the streets

At least (1,2,3...) sides of this unit should face the streetsAt least (1,2,3...) sides of this unit should face green or void areas

Explainations

An Example Mixture of Guideline #05

Testing #05, How to Mix Programs in BuildingsWe’ve selected a few blocks to exam GUIDELINE #05. By adding programs

by programs as shown at the left, we did these blocks by carrying out all

guidelines without any modification to see the direct result of our methods.

Commercial

Residential, Small

Office

Residential, large

Circulation and Public

Commercial

Office

Residential, Small

Residentical, Large

Results and AnalysisAfter the design was done, we started to draw some analysis drawings to

further understand the potential and weakness of our method.

Vibrancy Chart

Green Areas

Programs

The red areas marked in these renderings represent

programs that generate vibrancy in the buildings or on the

streets. For example, the in Guideline #02 and

in Guideline #05

Besides the red colors, we managed to estimate vibrancy

at particular locations such as every corners.

The green color in these drawings show programs that

provide green areas to the city, public or private. These

programs include the in guideline #02,

and in Guideline #04, units

in Guideline #05

And in some drawings, we color coded all interior or

exterior programs to understand how our buildings and

public spaces work.

MP,

commercials

MG

Large Residential

G and MG Parks

Emergencies

EVENTS

INFRASTRUCTURE

OPEN SPACE

BUILDING PROGRAM

STREET PROGRAM

TRANSPORTATION

DENSITY

OFFICE

RESIDENTIAL LARGE

RESIDENTIAL MID-SIZE

CULTURAL

COMMERCIAL/RENTALSCHOOL

GREEN

PUBLIC SERVICE

CULTURAL CENTER

MIXED/COMMERCIAL

TRANSIT

BUS ROUTE

Results and AnalysisAfter the design was done, we started

to draw some analysis drawings to

further understand the potential and

weakness of our method.

Building Zoning #03

EV

EN

TS

INF

RA

ST

RU

CT

UR

E

OP

EN

SP

AC

E

BU

ILD

ING

PR

OG

RA

M

ST

RE

ET

PR

OG

RA

M

TR

AN

SP

OR

TA

TIO

N F

LO

W

DE

NS

ITY

SCHOOL

GREEN

PUBLIC SERVICE

CULTURAL CENTER

MIXED/COMMERCIAL

TRANSIT

BUS ROUTE

STREET TYPE

GREEN AREA

MIXED AREA

B

40%

50%

STREET TYPE

GREEN AREA

MIXED AREA

A

50%

50%

STREET TYPE

GREEN AREA

MIXED AREA

A

40%

40%

STREET TYPE

GREEN AREA

MIXED AREA

A

40%

30%

STREET TYPE

GREEN AREA

MIXED AREA

A

40%

50%

Proportion Above

Proportion Middle

Proportion Street Level

Street Zoning by #02

Vibrancy Study by #03 & #05

Street Programs by #02 & #03

Some Other Sections

and Renderings

Street Programs from another Angle

A Section Through the Park (Street programs and Public Spaces)

Sequence Study of the Long Section

Visualizations and Fabrications in ColumbiaMax and Vray: Company Cafeteria in Ditzingen

Parametric Modeling by Revit: Origami Facade

Stainless Steal Mockup: Acupuncture

CNC Router and Master Cam X: Stretch Shelf

Grasshopper and 3ds Max: The Seed Cathedral

Company Cafeteria in DitzingenSome of my at GSAPP Columbia

Modeling: Rhino, 3ds Max

Rendering: Vray for Max

Post Production: Photoshop, After Effect

renderings

Renderings Using 3ds Max and VrayModeling: Rhino, 3ds Max

Rendering: Vray for Max

Post Production: Photoshop, After Effect

Project: Company Cafeteria in Ditzingen

Render 01: Foggy Forest

Render 03: Interior Noon Render 04: Interior Sunset

Render 05: Exterior Night Render 06: Sunrise Roof

OrigamiAn academic project in GSAPP Columbia

Exploring the possibility of Revit as parametric modeler

Simulating the pattern of a folding paper

Origami“Origami” is a project try to represent the pattern of a

folding paper. Using Revit as primary tool, the project

explores the way to materialize origami pattern into

building facade while exploring the possibility of using

Revit for parametric design. The digital model we develop

not only represents the origami pattern convincingly, it

also respond to changes such as size and shape.

The family unit and the whole model was developed in

Revit with parameters (formulas) represent the pattern

of a folding paper. The project model built by Revit, has

parameters that fit the origami pattern into all free form

surfaces. The physical model was made by a 3D printed

frame and a real folding paper.

OrigamiOur study of the pattern of a folding paper

The project model in revit

The Family

The Project

The Physical Mode

The family shows the smallest unit of this

Origami Facade. To represent the folding

pattern, this family model contents a series

of formulas that control the over all thickness

of the folded surface. There are 4 highest

points located on the 4 edges of the unit,

the height of these points are controlled

by the length of the edge, therefore, when

the unit get smaller, these points get higher,

just like the folded papers. The rest of this

family will form a space truss.

After applying the family model we

developed onto any surface, that surface

will become a representation of the origami

paper. By controlling the shape of the

surface and the ways that surface being

divided, we can have all kinds of our

“Origami facade.” The elevation at the left

shows how the individual units change

their shapes when the over-all facade

changes.

This model was made by a 3D-printed

space frame a and a real folded paper.

Acupuncture

Academic project, GSAPP Columbia

1:1 mockup using stainless steal

A Collaborated Work with Richard Phan / Prathyusha Viddam

Image: Lighting Test on a 1/4 Scale Prototype, Noon Panel

12PM Panel

10AM Panel

04PM Panel

Winter

Summer

4P

M

10

AM

Acupuncture, 2011, NYCwhen I was in GSAPP Columbia

Acupuncture is an alternative medicine treats patients by manipulating needles in human bodies.

This project, “Acupuncture,” is an add-on screen system on an existing building facade that

represents the idea of acupuncture where the interior is treated as the body and the sunlight as

needles in the right positions.

Using , we designed “Acupuncture” sun screen panels with the focus on the

redirection and manipulation of light, the intent is to create a screen that is perceived as both an

ornamental light screen from the street level and functional light texture on the interior. Through

the treatment of the building as a body and the screen as the skin, sunlight is punctured the screen

at strategic relief point to control light within the space. The redirected light from the punctures

will then serve as display lighting for products displayed.

Stainless Steal

A Collaborated Work with Richard Phan / Prathyusha Viddam

Noon Panel

10AM Panel

04PM Panel

Mockups and Lighting TestsIn order to make sure the structure and the lighting effects

works as we wanted, we made a full size mockup and put it

on a window very much like the angle on the site and tested

the lighting effects at different times

This photo was took around 10am in a cloudy day, when our

10am panel and our noon panel were catching light from

exterior and our 4pm panel was blocking all the daylight.

Stretch ShelfA Collaborated Work with: Fei Hu / YooJin Jang / Xiaoming Zhan

Academic project in GSAPP Columbia

.

Changing Shapes:The Stretch Shelf changes its shape according to

the ways in which it is deployed or loaded.

Modeling

Fabrication, Assembly and Connection Details

Stretch Shelf, 2011A Collaborated Work with: Fei Hu / YooJin Jang / Xiaoming Zhang

This is a shelf that stretches to adapt itself into all kinds of space,

to have different shapes and to visualize the weights of whatever

objects being put on it. Made by plywood and elastic connections,

this shelf could be deployed quickly and easily for everyday uses.

Rendering of the Seed Cathedral3ds Max / Rhino / Grasshopper

Rendering: The Seed Cathedral3ds Max / Rhino / Grasshopper

Projects Before Columbia:Built Projects: Wenshan Dist. Apartment

Built Projects: Huangxi St Residents / Bali Apartment

2nd International Architectural Biennale Rotterdam: Ocean of TW -from NoWhere to NowHere

Taiwan New Landscape Movement Exhibition:

Under Graduate Design Thesis: The School of A Hundred Thoughts

Shezi Isle Water Community

Wenshan Dist. ApartmentBuilt Project, Taipei, Taiwan, 2007

Height: 35.35m (11 floors above / 4 floors under ground)

Total Floor Area: 10158.31

Structure Type RC

Program: Residence, 50units

㎡

:

We

nsh

an

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t. Ap

artm

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E

The school that was canceled

The residential area that is too steep

to be developed

The market place that is actually a cliff

The roads which can’t be built

The remote corner where no business could survive

Residential area

How the original urban plan fails in this area

<According to the combination of all the laws

and codes, the maximum volume should be in

the shape very much like a roughly sliced cake.

Still 20% short in required FAR, and, there

would be no chance we can create reasonable

living units plan in that shape.

After two years of struggle, We came to an >

agreement with a 11 stories apartment.

<Our proposal to the committee of control of urban design: to loosen the

in the regional codes of urban design, so we can build a

14 stories apartment with much better physical environment

The volume & the restrictions

21m height limit

Preserved area for sidewalk, local urban plan

Insulation zone of disasters, codes

of urban design in mountain

areas, Taipei City

Height limit from primary road, central

law of construction, Taiwan

Height limit from secondary road, municipal law, Taipei

21m height limit, regional

codes of urban design

out-of-

date urban plan

Unfortunately, they didn’t notice the gradient of local topography

A reckless urban plan

The extra high FAR and extra strict regulation

The site has the highest FAR in this region.

because, according to this

, it’s the only place that allows commercial use in the entire

area. -That is, ironically, exactly why this neighborhood is so quiet. The original

thought of the government is simple: they put an elementary school, a market

place and some commercial together to create the center of this area.

, so, it ends

up that the school, the market and even the roads were canceled because the

land is too steep, and, the commercial spot, our site, becomes the most remote

corner of the region that no business can survive there.

As above mentioned, the site has extra high FAR then, However, it also locates in

announced mountain region and as the result, we were forced to apply a set of

extra strict regulations of hill-top residential in into our design. Unfortunately,

under that kind of restriction, it is impossible to meet the maximum FAR which

our client demanded. To increase the volume of the project, we put the case

onto the asked for an

alternative solution, and, after two years of struggle, the committee remit us

from the height control.

Naturally, the client demand the

maximum volume, which, is no easy task,

Committee of Consideration & Control of Urban Design,

To coordinate the roof style with the height of the building.The regional codes of urban design demands all roofs in the neighborhood must be slopes at with a uniform

ratio between 2 ~ ½. This won’t be a problem for other buildings because most of them are no more than 5

stories high, but, since we are designing a 35m high apartment, the proportion of the elevation might be a

little awkward with a roof like that. To coordinate with the height, we decided to merge the style of gambrel

roof and mansard roof.

Wenshan Dist. ApartmentTaipei, Taiwan, 2007

its a real estate project located in the suburban

area of Taipei City. It is an

Height: 35.35m (11 floors above / 4 floors under ground)Total Floor Area: 10158.31Structure Type RCProgram: Residence, 50units

Wenshan Dist Apt is a built project I took charge of in myprevious job.

award winning project (Outstandingdesign and planning, Chinese Golden Stone Award, 2008),and, it is a certified “green building.” (Certification NO.CGB1702, Taiwan Architecture & Building Center, 2007,for: 1.Energy saving. 2.Water saving. 3.Wastes processing.4.Greening)

My position in this project: Project Leader

What I did: Schematic design / Design development /Architecture permit application / Green building codeevaluation / Detail design / Design drawings /Working drawings,... etc.,

㎡

:

A Giant House:To mix in to the landscape of green hills and suburban residences,

we decided that all features of high rise buildings must be

neutralized. Therefore, we came up with the idea of the giant

house. Through carefully adjusted geometric proportion, the

apartment looks more like a huge house.

Looks smaller from front(from the road):The hill in front of the site is

steep. To avoid uncomfortable feeling created by the height of the

building, the eastern part of the building is smaller.

art of the building is a story lower.

Section A A

A’

A

Detail designs at the car entrance, 1/200

Detail designs alone side walk, 1/200

Details on the roofs, walls,

and penthouse,

This project require lots of detail design,especially at the roofs, Although Most of theobjects are unified, the contractors had to buildthese parts in wet construction RC structure andthe unified objects can’t save them much effort.

Considering the quality of the construction, wewere afraid about the water-proof layer might fail,and, we gave up some details of the roof.Therefore, the actual building will be a little bitdifferent from the drawings here.

Details of gazebo,

7th floor.

Details at main entrance

Some Other Built Projects:Some more projects that I was temporarily in charge in my previous job.

Huangxi St. Residences

Bali Apartment

Huangxi St. ResidencesA 9 stories residential building for 17 units, 2007, Taipei City, Taiwan

My position in this project: Project leader, Sep-Nov 2007

My contribution in this project: Development of architecture planes /

architectural code consultant / architecture permit application

Some Other Built Projects:Some more projects that I was temporarily in charge in my previous job. Bali Apartment

A 26 stories apartment, Bail Township, Taipei County, Taiwan, 2007 ~ still in progress

Award Winning Project (Chinese Golden Stone Award for Architecture -for out standing

design and planning, 2008, Taiwan)

My position in the project: Project Leader, Mar-May 2007

My contribution in this project: Development of the plan and types of units

Ocean of Taiwan: From NoWhere to NowHere

A government funded researchproject that went to the

in yearA and an

Guest Curator:My contribution of the project: I ledthe student research team andwrote the first Chinese version of allessays in this project.

2nd

International Architectural

Biennale Rotterdam 2005,

publication interactive

installation.

J.M. Lin Architect.

Ocean of Taiwan: From NoWhere to NowHereThe project was originally a studio directed by J.M. Lin Architect, a guest instructors in the Institute ofArchitecture, NCTU., and . After Lin was

, he also brought our project toand eventually, “The Ocean of TW” became a government

funded research project executed by Lin himself, a PM from Lin’s office and a team of 8 graduatestudents, and,

“The Ocean of TW” is a research project trying to give a full diagnose ofaround Taiwan and the possible behind the strange

phenomena. It is really weird that Taiwanese residents treat their coast line that way: Beaches areisolated from towns and full of garbage; Fishing ports are empty with neither boats nor fishes;Nuclear reactors, incinerators, high-ways, military stations, dams and highly polluting factories areall around Taiwanese coast line despite the fact that Taiwan is an island highly dependant on theocean. unlike other Islanders around the world, Taiwanese treats their ocean like it is ugly and no onewants to go there.

To inquiry into the details of these bizarre phenomena and their cultural cause, we designed. After these two subjects were

independently developed and came to their own conclusion, we emerged the result and therebyformed our opinion toward the coastal spaces of Taiwan.

I was in his class along with 7 other students invited to

2nd International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam in 2005

Taiwanese Council of Cultural Affairs

I was the team leader of the students.

disrespectfully treated

coastal spaces spiritual/cultural background

a

research process begins from both spacial and spiritual aspects

A government funded researchproject that went to the

in yearA and an

Guest Curator:My contribution of the project: I ledthe student research team andwrote the first Chinese version of allessays in this project.

2nd

International Architectural

Biennale Rotterdam 2005,

publication interactive

installation.

J.M. Lin Architect.

To observe and documentthe coastline of Taiwan, wetook a set of photos every3km on the coastline andgathered a data base ofphotos and thereby startour research and analysis

The study of Taiwanese spiritual

attitude toward the ocean

A Key Word helped us to fucus:

“the Mazu goddess”

Information about hundreds of

different subjectsSearch from the internet

Induce

Four Taiwanese characteristicsabout the ocean

Three Taiwanese attitudestoward ocean

A diagram as our conclusionof the Taiwanese attitudestoward the ocean that causedthe problems of our coastalspaces.

The documenting of Taiwanese

coastal spaces

documenting in the field

We took a set of photo every

3km on the coast line

Images of about 200 different

locations on the coast line

Our conclusion of Taiwanese

spacial phenomena at the coast :

The diverse crossings

over the line of obstruction

organizationbuilt the possible relations between placesidentify special phenomena

13 full stories to explain our

point of view

A diagram as our diagnose ofTaiwanese coastal spaces

some on-going projects which

may make difference about our

current problems

Materials shown at the site of 2nd IABR, 2005

Exhibition Site

Structure of Our ResearchIn order to document the spatial characters ofTaiwanese coastline, the phenomenon ofdetached, isolated, misused, deserted orunrespectfully treated waterfront, and find out,the cultural and social reasons behind these scenes, we designed the structure shown atthe right: A research starts from both the field(spatial quality) and the internet (social andcultural back ground).

Documenting the Coastline

The study of Taiwanese spiritual

attitude toward the ocean

A Key Word helped us to fucus:

“the Mazu goddess”

Information about hundreds of

different subjectsSearch from the internet

Four Taiwanese characteristicsabout the ocean

Three Taiwanese attitudestoward ocean

Seeking for a low-sensitivity objectiveness”"

We usually can’t keep an objective attitude in judging our own land. Emotional feelings oftenlead us into over-sensitive issues ether too complicated to be dealt or irrelevant to ourconcern. Therefore, we wished to start our search with an low-sensitive eye to avoid thelimits that present idea may give us, and hoped that, we should find an interesting start ofthe research.The illustration above is a 17th-century European engraving: “The Temple of the MazuGoddess.” Except the Mazu herself, the scene is no different from any other Westernpantheon -This just can’t bethe truth. Such an image is a perfect example of “low-seneitivityobjectiveness” we were looking for -a subject being foregrounded by the eyes have notlived on this land before, the very start of all differences between Taiwan and Europe, thekeyword from which we should begin our research.

Immigrants with a

continental character

Original alienation from the ocean

Searching for temporary

stability

Discontent with the status quo(the desire of expansion toward the sea

but still view it as a substitute of land)

A“c

on

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aiw

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a

over-sea immigration

The policies of obstructiontoward the sea

Agricultural use of the sea

Diverse crossing over the

lines of obstruction

Move

toenviro

nm

ents

oth

er th

en

Taiw

an

Possibility to turn intoanother character

Unique phenomenafound only in Taiwan

Urge to escapeform a small island

re-th

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no

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t ion o

r co

mp

orm

ise

Th

e fu

ture

A Key word helps us to focus on relevant information

If you try to search the world wide web for information within the intersection of “Taiwan” and “Ocean,” you will find enormous amount of data. To focuson Taiwanese spiritual attitudes toward the ocean, we can’t just use keywords as “Taiwan, spiritual, attitude, ocean,...etc.,” for the outcomes will beether too much or irrelevant. And, as we failed to find any research on this subject, we need the right keyword as a filter of information, a keyword thatcan perfectly reflect the Taiwanese spiritual attitudes toward the ocean, and, this perfect word shall be: “Mazu.”

“Mazu,” sometimes known as “The Mother Buddha,” is the most worshiped god in Taiwan who known as the goddess of ocean, voyage, weather,protection and salvage. In our culture, her feminine image represent her love to all her people like a mother to her children and that extends her care ofus to almost every aspect of our life. Anyway, “Mazu” is the perfect keyword of our research for it is totally spiritual, it’s mostly about the ocean, and it’sdeeply involved in our everyday lives.

1.Thr worship of “Mazu” has a hidden cultural signification. The majority of Taiwanese were Chinese immigrants, and, as old descriptions of thecasualties of migration from China to Taiwan: “seven arrive, two die and one returns among ten,” the ocean was dreadful to our ancestors, as a result,Mazu, who

During our research, we read/analyzed a huge amount of data about “Mazu” and came up with several facts:

was originally a fisherman’s daughter who saved her own family and many others from shipwrecks, became the most important idol amongthe migrants. The fears of the sea passed down through generations and so did the worship of Mazu.

2. Successive political regimes’ attitudes towards Mazu cult and manners of dealing with it have mostly been respectful, which can, grab the people andtake advantage of the social structure and human resources already set up by the cult. These regimes viewed Taiwan mostly as their colony, refuge oroutpost and have the correct knowledge about how unwilling Taiwanese people would be to change their lifestyle. Centuries of uncertainty in politicsevoked unique desire of stability among people, and, eventually, cultivated a relatively conservative society. Unlike most islanders around the world,our ancestors had less interest in voyaging, trading and exploring.

4. The belief of Mazu expended across Taiwan in an interesting pattern -the temples are related with each others as mothers and daughters. Ttracingthe “family trees” of Mazu temples we managed to understand the pattern in which early immigrants developed their communities. Instead of growingalone the sea like other cultures might prefer, almost all Chinese immigrants went directly into land. Apparently, villages at the water front were justtemporary stops rather than destinations to them. These people were farmers, the wanted land far more then sea.

5. Mazu’s transformation from “goddess for going out to sea” to “Goddess for crossing the ocean” to “main deity” and even on to “goddess for protectingthe realms”, “goddess of agriculture”, “goddess of getting into school” reflects the reality of social changes and different needs of people. People slowlyfreed themselves from the primal fears and began the search of further stability.

After inducing the facts that were mentioned above(and many other information thatweren’t shown here),we came up with a conclusion of four main characteristics:

Four main Taiwanese characteristics and three attitudes toward the sea:

3. Several times in the history, Taiwan experienced different levels of blockage policies intended to keep the people from the ocean. Even till mid 20thcentury, the Taiwanese government still keep most of its coast line under strict military regulations in order to prevent possible attacks from China.

1.Original alienation from the ocean2.Inclination of Searching for temporary stability3.Discontent with the status quo (the desire of expansion toward the sea but still view it as a substitute of land)

Other these four characteristics, Taiwanese also have three unique attitudes about ocean:1.The policies of obstruction toward the sea.2.Agricultural use of the sea

(See the next page for further explanation.)

4.A “continental oceanic character” is our best description of present Taiwanese attitude toward sea

3.Diverse crossing over the lines of obstruction, which, is the most important spacial phenomenon at the coast line.

The diagram at the right is our diagnose of Taiwanese “continental oceanic character”and how this character evolved through time.

The past

The Taiwanese Attitude Toward the Ocean

The Diverse crossing over the lines of obstruction

continental character

Original alienation

from the ocean

Searching for

temporary stability

Discontent with

the status quo

A “continental

oceanic character”over-sea immigration

The policies of

obstruction

toward the sea

Agricultural

use of the sea

Diverse crossing

over the lines of

obstruction

The documenting of Taiwanese coastal spacesFor full and further understanding, we randomly took images along sea shore every 3km, after that, we organized these pictures, builtconnections among them, identified strange phenomena and inquired into possible reasons and subtle patterns behind these phenomena.Following are some examples of our work, the images were 3 in a set at one location, many of them provided us some clue about our diagnoseof Taiwanese coastal space.

01

03

02

01

03

02

01

03

02

01 0203

01 0203

01

0203

0102 03

Illegal oyster breeding farm

Embankment of the industrial park

A roughly built passage

The government planned a industrial park to promote local economy butno industry ever came. The empty park became a huge obstacle betweenlocal residents and the shore. However, someone managed to create anillegal oyster farm outside the embarkment of the industrial park.

This area was full of salt pans and people are kept away from shore byinconvenience. After the salt pans are no longer required, they tried tointroduce salt-industrial tourism into the area. Facilities were built. Thebusiness of tourism is not quite successful but people from near-byfinally start doing low budget recreations here.

old salt pans, museum of salt producing industry

oyster-breeding industrial tour boats

The study of Taiwanese spiritual

attitude toward the ocean

A Key Word helped us to fucus:

“the Mazu goddess”

Information about hundreds of

different subjectsSearch from the internet

Induce

Four Taiwanese characteristicsabout the ocean

Three Taiwanese attitudestoward ocean

The documenting of Taiwanese

coastal spaces

documenting in the field

We took a set of photo every

3km on the coast line

Actual scene of our work

Images of about 200 different

locations on the coast line

Our conclusion of Taiwanese

spacial phenomena at the coast :

The diverse crossings

over the line of

obstruction

organizationbuilt the possible relations between placesidentify special phenomena

13 full stories to explain our

point of view

This area is a massive lagoon once used as a military airport ofhydroplanes that no civilians were allowed to go near. After the airportwas abandoned, the locals found that it’s a perfect place of aquaculture- a massive lagoon with nobody around. The aquaculture here was soprosper that it seriously pollute the area and even formed a island ofwastes. Now even the aquaculture business was gone. The governmenttried to change the lagoon into a tourist attraction for both the originalbeauty of the lagoon and the unique scene of the island of wastes. Thevisitors are few.

Tourism deck built by local government - a gooddesign without visitors

02,03: The government set up fences and wires to keep people fromthe shore, but a surfing club ignores the fences, cut the wire and isrunning business of surfing lessons

01

03

02The island of wastes

Agricultural use of the sea:Industries along the coastline include notonly dynamic industry like fishing, but alsostatic industry such as salt field and fishfarms, which make use of the coastline andwhich’s production depends on the amountof area involved.

The original Coastline

The line of obstruction:The line of obstruction is a generalphenomena we found everywherein Taiwan. It refers to a series ofobjects the keep people from thereal coastline, physically ormentally such as embankments,high ways that are difficult to cross,military bases, and so on. Becauseof these objects, people can’t reallyfeel the ocean as an existence intheir lives. So, this line ofobstruction is more like the realborder of Taiwan.

However, people have foundvarious ways to go across this “lineof obstruction”. With cheapestpossible means, legally or not,these “crossing” satisfy differentneeds. Thus, gave Taiwanesecoastal space its unique feather.

Here is the diagram we producedas the most common pattern ofTaiwanese coastal spaces. Wecalled the pattern: “The diverscrossing over the lines ofobstruction”.

Tourism:Taiwanese people have a interesting thought about tourism: to use it asa promotion of local industry, to make their products sold better, or tobring fortune to local people. Most of these tourism are poorly planedand ends up fail because the “tourist attractions” are hardly attractiveand the scenes are not delightful at all. The attitude of treating the sea as“nowhere” for decades has seriously damaged the possibilities for thesespots to develop into a tourist site.

Aquaculture

Fish port :We have a lot fish ports and many of them are empty.politics liked to build fish ports as their achievementof their career, so.....

Industrial

Tourism

Tourism/aqua culture

Tourism/fish port

Tourism

Tourism

Tourism/fish port

Tourism

Induatrial

Aquaculture

Images of about 200 different

locations on the coast line

Our conclusion of Taiwanese

spacial phenomena at the coast :

The diverse crossings

over the line of

obstruction

organizationbuilt the possible relations between placesidentify special phenomena

13 full stories to explain our

point of view

some on-going projects which

may make difference about our

current problems

Materials shown at the site of 2nd IABR, 2005

001

003

002

00423N 120E

Industrial zone of No.6 Naphtha Plant: The government sold the 9km

coastline for 25,000,000,000NT$/per year

Industrial zone No.6 NCP. reclaimed land from sea. For the inhabitants,9km of coast, where they used to fish along, was gone, and, for thegovernment, tax revenue increases NTD 25 billion every year. Localfishermen protested hard against the industrial zone, and, the NCPpromised to build tourism facilities to increase income for local fishermen,however, no visitor ever came. Eventually, the fishermen have to findsomewhere else to make there living.

Industrial ZoneBamboo rafts

Fishing port Industrial park

Temporaryfishing

portTourism ??

Temporaryfishing

port

001

004

002

005

003

006

A B C D E

C CD DB BA AE ED DC CD

Profitable industrieswith overspentnatural resources

Irrepairable environmentaldamages that also causedindustries to shrink

The environment wasironically protected byunsuccessful development

Full of undevelopednatural resources

The profit and the damageit caused is coming to adangerous balance

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Natural resource

Industrial profit

Fighting for water against the earth

Dong-shi township excessively pumped the groundwater foraquaculture and caused ground subsidence. In the yearly typhoonseason, the sea water flowed back ward and washed away greatamount of soil. The water break needed to be heighten every year.The inhabitants sit in their sinking homes and keep pumping wateras their only way to make their living. The problem is not yet solved.

The diagrams at the right shows how land subsidence got worseby marking the areas in red circles.

A diagram as our diagnose ofTaiwanese coastal spaces

The contour of Taiwan defined

Industrial profits and natural

resources:After our research, we found explanationsof the strange phenomena around Taiwan suchas “the diverse crossing over the line ofobstruction”, “agricultural use of the sea”,“special ideas of tourism”, “empty fish ports”,and so on.

Also, we studied the cultural backgroundof Taiwanese attitudes toward oceanand concluded that it is acontinental oceanic character

At the end of our research,we came up with a fulldiagnose of Taiwanesecoastal spaces,sorted the issuesinto 5 differenttypes accordingto the most evidentconflict thatcaused most theproblems -theconflict betweenprofit and naturalenvironment.

Hopefully, we wishthis diagram cansimplify our problemsin Taiwan and helpus to fix ourcoastal spaces in thefuture.

Interactive media installation:

The photo is from the site of “2005 2ndinternational architectural biennale,Rotterdam”: We had over 200 panels atthe site, each includes an exact locationand its high resolution panorama image.

For further details and our analysis abouta certain location, the visitors can take anyof the specially marked panels to ourinteractive area, and, the sensors willidentify the panel and the animes of thatcertain location will be projected on topof the showcase.

Shezi Isle Water CommunityAcademic project I led for an international workshop in Taiwan New Landscape Movement Exhibition (2004).

Taipei

Keelung river Shezi Isle Danshui river Erchung floodway

Shezi Isle Water CommunityThis is an academic project I led for an international workshop in Taiwan

New Landscape Movement Exhibition (2004).

This project was inspired by a serious flood in Taipei months before

“Taiwan New Landscape Movement Exhibition”. According to the subject

of the workshop, our main issue is to generate new thinking about how

Taipei City should face its problems with the flood. The site of the project

is Shezi Isle, the lowest spot of Taipei, which of course, suffers the most

from frequent flood.

As marked green in the image above, Taipei was once a giant lake. After

lake water found its way out of Taipei Basin, DanShui River and Keelung

River took their shape. Shezi Isle is located at the joint place of these two

rivers and a artificial flood way. Since our site has an embarkment lower

then any other place in Taipei, apparently, the Taipei City views Shezi Isle

as a buffer zone to decrease water level during serious floods. Now very

few people live or work in Shezi Isle because only low density industrial

use can survive there.

The subject and site of the project:

Brain storming:

To bring up bold, unprecedented and experimental design to

Shezi Isle, I asked my two team members for unusual ideas:

anything about water, without any boundary, as long as it is

wild. Here are 11 of these ideas.

Taipei juice:

When you have apples in water, it

could be just apples in water, or

apple juice.

When you have Taipei in water, it

could be just Taipei in water, or

Taipei juice.

Men in pipes and

water in buildings

Citizens walk, live,

work and play happily

on water surface

City

River

We share volume with

water not coverage.,

We can surrender our

city to flood whenever

it comes. All we need

are emergency exits.

Simply keep the flood

out of our waterproof

buildings. We may also

have lovely lake views

that way.

Use water as an important

element in our architecture.

Protect our safety by high

rise buildings, waterproof

cubes and pipes.

Use porous underwater

structures to keep

everything safe and

pleasant above the surface.

Pump the flood to higher

ground and we will have

plenty supply of all water

we need.

Build the entire city a few

meters above the ground

using mega-structures.

Secure important

infrastructures with

waterproof pipes.

Create more spacein which people mayhave fun with water

Keep water resourcewithin the city insteadof in distant reservoirs

Share cubage in a 3Dmanner with river.

Secure supply andtraffic systems inwaterproof pipes

What are there about “JUICE”..Something for FUN

Something for how we itDRINK

Something we with waterMIXED

Something for SAFETY

Issues:Make people close to water

Solve the problem of water supply

Create more space for both river and people

Secure our supply and traffic system

1.

Drawing the “family tree of ideas”0.

2. Outlining important feathers of our future design

Sim

ple

(Ea

rl ier)

Co

mp

lica

ted

(La

ter)

Water’s Position Citizens’ Position

The Family tree of ideas

1

2 2

2

2 3

3.

4.

5.

3

4

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. Tracing down the “family tree”for proper concept for our design.

.Identifying key elements and transforming them into architectural thoughts

Our basic proposal of Shezi Isle

Cubes, Pipes and high rise buildings that hold water

Cubes:

We can build our city withdifferent kinds of cubes:waterproof boxes, permeableand semi-permeablestructures, floating decksand others. Thereby, we cancreate interesting spacesinteracting with water.

objects uncontrollable bymen but affected by water

objects operated by menthat help controlling water

floating deck

open space

waterproof hyaloid box

waterproof box

permeable

solid

Pipes: Pipes ensure the safety of the traffic and supplying systems, protect

important buildings and any other things can’t be secured by waterproof boxes.

Towers, landscapes and main streets

High rise buildings stand out fromsurface, huge pipes connect to otherareas of the city, Living spaces at lowerlevels mix with water.

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pipes Cubes

The Family Tree of IdeasHowever, we can’t develop our design before all these ideas been discussed,

reviewed and integrated. So, we decided to start with the most origin and

abstract one - . Start with “The Taipei Juice”,The Taipei Juice we sorted all 11

out by how sophisticated they are, how much they represent our interest as

citizens, and how simple ideas help in developing of more sophisticated ones.

At the next page you can see “the family tree of ideas”showing how we faced

the issue of this workshop and how we selected our initial concept

of our design.

rationally

Airport

Train station

Old Taipei

About Shezi Isle,

Our visions of the site:

After a quick calculation,

our project is able to:

Shezi Isle is where all the floodgoes in Taipei. There are manytourism attractions about wateraround Taipei, and, it is convenientto go these places from Shezi Isle.

ollect and connect the snippetsinto a complete experience of water.

The reservoir Fei-Tsui has a capacityof 327,000,000(m3), support3,280,000(m3)/day of water to Taipei.Our project can produce 250,000(m3)/day

The total area of the rivers in Taipeiis 45,662,600(m2); The alarm heightof water level is 6.7(m). Total amountof the flood is 305,939,420(m3) Afterour project built, it is going to containup to 19,804,085(m3) of flood, lowerTaipei’s water level up to 0.4~1(m)during the flood.

Water and People live here happilyforever after……

Drawn form the previous page:

Reserving water recourse:

Controlling flood

Create a water community for

inhabitation, commercial use and

recreation.

Create more space in which peoplemay have fun with water.

Keep water resource within the cityinstead of in distant reservoirs.

Share cubage in a 3D manner withriver.

Secure supply and traffic systemsin waterproof pipes.

Control the water level of Taipei Cityduring floods.

C

Drawn from facts mentioned above:

Commercial:

and perhaps

We are doing water as a fashion in the site. It and support the town financially.

To create amazing land marks, new and divided from old Water-cities like Venice

We recommend visitors to to try .

Water sport is something you can hardly found in north Taiwan.

Town center:

Parking:

Water sports:

encourage people consume for the Water-style

fresh impression

park here and walk through the town Boating

The Water Tower: Hotel & Indoor

Water-Enjoyment CenterLocated at the town center as a land mark, thisbuilding can be defined as a water towerconstructed by a service core witch covered invertical pipe and water-proofed cubic units. Insidethe building consumers can enjoy different kindsof water form quiet pools to wild cataracts by thedifference of height and water presser… Thelower floor the wilder.

Programs

Town Center: The Water Tower

Pipe system:Drive ways, metro systems,walking passages, parking spacesand boats can be arranged in thepipe system.

Residential Area:This is how we picture the inhabitation area outside the town center.By the water, open to the water, and changes when the tides go up and down.

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RecreationalAt the outer area of the site, the pipes will be reconstructed with the remains of old Shezi embarkment andform a new kind of landscape. Most of the open spaces will be preserved as everglades, only minimumactivities allowed.

A Hundred Schools of ThoughtsRemodeling Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall

My design thesis in undergraduate

A Hundred Schools of ThoughtsRemodeling Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall

“A Hundred Schools of Thoughts” was my design thesis in college, which, is a project

determines to do architecture as an art form and tests its limit in representing philosophic

thoughts. besides transforming different thoughts in philosophy into forms and patterns,

the project is also an exploration into architectural paradigms in ancient Chinese.

“A Hundred Schools if Thoughts” refers to a special period of time in China approximately

from 770~221(B.C.) when the entire China was involved in a non-stop war for over 500 years.

However, despite the political chaos, the era gave birth to almost each and every important

philosophies in China. These philosophies still effect lifestyles in eastern Asia deeply.

According to Chinese history, the thoughts created in this era can be classified into ten

categories includes: 1. Confucianism, 2.Taoism, 3.Mohist Theory, 4.Legalists’ Thoughts,

5.The Art of War, 6.Dialecticians’ Thoughts, 7. Agriculturists’ Thoughts, 8.Naturalists’

Thoughts, 9.Strategists’ Thoughts, 10.Others. In this project, I tried to generate forms and

patterns in representations of these ten thoughts.

I chose to remodel the CKS Memorial Hall in Taipei City for its current layout and building

style is a perfect example of a combination of Confucianism and Legalists’ Thoughts. The

building complex of CKS memorial hall is relatively boring, however, it has this huge piazza at

the center of Taipei where all kinds of debates and protests take place. It’s the perfect site for

this practice.

The Site:

Confucianism

Legalists’

Strategists’

Philosophic Taoism

The Art of WarMohists’

Agriculturists’

Naturalists’

Dialecticians’CKS Memorial Hall

Feng-Shui

Opera House

To Taipei main stationTo presidential palace

Mohists’ layout:

Mohists are strict socialists, ascetics and rationalists. The are against allhierarchy in the society, and, they also hate music, social protocols andrituals.In Mohists’ layout, they eliminate the axis pointing to presidential palace andturn the building to face Taipei main station -the true center of Taipei.Also the CKS Memorial Hall will be gone for sure along with the opera houseand the concert hall -Mohists don’t need those. They might remodel theminto more pragmatic uses.

Legalists’ layout:

Legalists are people developing efficient ways foremperors to control their people and strengthen thetheir empires. They managed three was to controlpeople: 1.laws and punishments / 2.techniques ofusing political power / 3. threatening prestige.These are perfect monument builders.

Basically, they would agree with Confucianists’monument because the hierarchy behind the ordersand forms of confucianists’ monuments remindpeople the political power of the government.

How ever, there are other ways to control the hugepiazza around a threatening monuments such as1.colonnades (like those in Vatican,) / 2.patterns instrict orders, / 3.messive towers at corners andentrances, / 4.sunken squares.

Legalists like all proper layouts as long as theyhave the affect legalists want on the public, and,big is good, huge is better.

The Art of War:

These are people who study military strategies hoping to end the war. Theirthoughts have been proved useful at all kinds of wars: military, business,international issues, ...etc.. Although it is not about architecture, I derived aconcept of “use as little volume as possible to control the site and effect thesurrounding as well.”In my thought, the most important spot of the site is the traffic circle at theleft -it controls the road from presidential palace and train station. Havingcontrol of that ring first and two other traffic rings next to it equal to havecontrol of the heart of Taipei.After that, secure the traffic within these rings and build a outpost to supportthese spots, and, thereby control the whole site and the heart of Taipei aswell.

All together:All together, and, it will look like this.to coordinate, I parallel the layouts of different thoughts to theancient relationship of the philosophers whenever to solve theconflict:1. Confucianism never yielded to Taoism2. Confucianists and Moists never compromised to each other.3. Confucianists worked with Legalists4. Confucianism never yielded to military strategies.5. Taoism never bothered arguing with anybody.6. All philosophers respect (or learn from) Taoism.7. Moists never yielded to Legalists.8. Moists fought at battle fields against military commanders.9. Legalists respect and learn from the art of war.10 Military commanders took advantage from all philosophers.11.Dialecticians caused no effect on anybody.12.Agriculturists worked with Moists.13.Stratagists observed and used anything available.14.Stratagists tried hard to get notice.After adjusting the layouts by above mentioned principals, Idid the master plane of all ten thoughts as shown in previouspage.

layouts:Before doing the individual buildings, I’ll have to start with aproper layout to coordinate all ten thoughts within one site. Todo that, I tried to do layouts of different thoughts.

Current layout:

It is a classic layout of Chinesepalaces combining Confucinismand Legalists’. It has an axispointing to the presidentialpalace; on the far side of theaxis lies the major building.Other buildings are putsymmetrically on both sides ofthe axis when buildings nearerto the main hall and buildingsat the left (viewing from themain hall) be considered asmore important. Confucinism

have a hierarchyfor not only people, but alsobuildings and the specific formthey are allowed to use,

and Legalists

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Confucianism:

At the left is the classic layoutof “She-Ji”, the place emperorsoffer sacrifices to ancestors,and the order of buildings.The “perfect” number ofChinese cities and palaces is3, 9 and the squares ormultiplications of thesenumbers. The diagram of an”ideal” city of Confucianism isshown bellow.

Taoism:

(Philosophic Taoism,not Religious Taoism)

People believe in Taoismobserve and follow Tao,the way in which theuniverse create and runitself. Taoists will neverlike the idea of massivememorial buildings,although they won’t fighthard against them.

The only right way to doTaoism memorial is to donothing at all and let thecity grow in its ownreasonable way.

And, the alternative waysare: 1.patch works of citycontext. / 2.somethingsubtle implies theexistence of Tao.

Confucianism

Legalists’

Strategists’

Philosophic Taoism

The Art of WarMohists’

Agriculturists’

Naturalists’

Dialecticians’CKS Memorial Hall

Feng-Shui

Opera House

Buildings of Individual Thoughts:After the over all lay-out, I looked into spatial precedents in the historyand start to discuss and develop different forms of individual buildingsthat represent each philosophy.

Confucianism: To represent Confucianism in architectural design, I applied two of the most important features in traditionalarchitecture in Confucianism: 1. the perfect form in Confucianism. / 2.the hierarchy of spaces.1. The perfect form:

left are classical planes of “Ming-Tang”, the mainhall in which emperors met their ministers and generals. These planes suggest the second-best form should be a square with4 smaller squares at its corners. The CKS Memorial Hall is also using the same shape.

In Confucianism, the perfect form is circle, which, can only used in honoring the heaven itself. Even godsand emperors can’t use round shaped buildings. Instead of circles, The lower

The hierarchy system: In Chinese palaces they verified the sizes of gates and the depth/height of scenes behind the gates according to thehierarchy system of Confucianism. The visitors can feel the importance of particular buildings by sense of scale without further information.

In temples of Confucius there areusually walls blocking the main gatewhich imply the world will have tocross a huge obstacle to reachConfucius’s wisdom. Although this isnot necessary in other Confucianismbuildings, I still decided to have thiswall here in honor of Confucius.

Moists’:

Since Mohists arestrict socialists,ascetics andrationalists. Whoare interested intechnologies,mechanics and all“useful”knowledge, I madean assumptionthat their buildingsmight be producedin mass productionin factories usingrecycled materialsand can easily bedisassembled, andrelocated.

The Confucianism Building

The Moists’ Building

Confucianism

Legalists’

Strategists’

Philosophic Taoism

The Art of WarMohists’

Agriculturists’

Naturalists’

Dialecticians’CKS Memorial Hall

Feng-Shui

Opera House

Taoism:

To represent the Taoism observation of ouruniverse and the concept of Tao, I started withthe places considered by Taoism priests as thebest place to observe Tao: caves and islands.In the famous icon of Yin-Yang, there is blackspot at the center of white and a white spot atthe center of black. This is where the conceptof caves and islands came from -a tiny pieceof Yin within Yang, and a tiny piece of Yangwithin Yin. As a representation of the shape ofTao, my design have to be also representingIsland and cave within a mixture of a mysticform.

“The Valley Spirit never dies. It is called themystic female. The door of the mystic femaleis the root of heaven and earth. Beinginterminable and seeming to endure, It can beused with toil”“There is a thing formed in chaos existingbefore Heaven and Earth. Silent and solitary,it stands alone, unchanging. It goes aroundwithout peril. It may be the Mother of the world.Not knowing its name, I can only style it ‘Tao.’With reluctance, I would call it ‘Great.’ Greatmeans out-going. Out-going means far-reaching. Far-reaching means returning.Therefore, Tao is great. Heaven is great.Earth is great. Mankind is great. There arefour greats in the universe and men are one ofthem. Man abides by earth, earth abides byheaven, heaven abides by Tao, and, Tao goesas its nature.” -Lao Tzu.

The Cave The Island

The North Star

World Mountain (Kun-Lun)

The axis of universe

The ladder to heaven

The Cave

The Island

The Gate of the Mystic Female

First, the Heaven

Then, the Earth

Finally, the world we live in

To speculate the shape of Tao, I first studied the Taoism model of universe :

The Taoism model of universe came from ancient folk religions in China, which, were religions based on the worship ofthe North Star. In general belief, there is a world mountain surrounded by sea which is located directly under the NorthStar -at the axis of universe. The world in which we live itself is an Island.

Considering the obvious preference about depth, profundity, vacancy and circulation, the true spirit of Taoism shouldlies in the solidity. The cave under the world mountain is the holy place of Taoism.

Therefore, I decided that the shape represent the way in which Tao runs itself is somehow like a torus or a bagel asdemonstrated at the left.

vacancy instead

The island

The interior The cave / the axis of universe

The shape representing Tao

The Taoism Building

Confucianism

Legalists’

Strategists’

Philosophic Taoism

The Art of WarMohists’

Agriculturists’

Naturalists’

Dialecticians’CKS Memorial Hall

Feng-Shui

Opera House

The Legalists’:

My design of the Legalists’ buildings is a combination of representation of: 1.laws, regulations andorders / 2.techniques of using political power / 3. threatening prestige.At the ground level of the main hall, I tried to create fearsome space with scale, lighting and stairs.At the upper part of the building, I designed a crooked passage to demonstrate the crooked sides in theuse of political power.

At the colonnade, I used the triangular columns to create difference angles of sight so that the peopleinside can see a wilder range than those from out side.

At other areas I experimented the effects of differences height levels, viewing angles, scales and lightings.

The agriculturists’:

Since the agriculturists worked withMoists and share same views aboutart and architecture, I designed theagriculturists’ building the same wayof Moists’.

The Art of War :

(The military commanders’)

The Strategists’:

The Art of War was basically Taoismpractice on battle field, which, eventuallydeveloped its own theories such as itsunique explanation about “regularstrategies” and “odd strategies.”The “odd” and “regular” relates to eachother like both sides on a Mobius Strip:one comes to existence when the othergoes beyond its reach.I designed the building of MilitaryCommanders by rapidly changing shapesand blur the boundary between itsinterior and exterior.

The strategists were people sellingstrategies to political powers. Theybasically worked like the militarycommanders.I designed the Strategists’ building thesame style as Military Commanders’.Only at the most noticeable spot in site.

The Naturalists’

The Naturalists were originatedfrom Taoism and are believed asteachers of many importantmilitary commanders andstrategists. The knowledge ofNaturalists are broad and hereI only chose to represent thefamous theory of five basicelements that formed theuniverse: metal, wood, water,fire and earth.

The differentviewing angleproduced bydifferentheight andthe shape ofthe interface.

The Legalists’ Building