Y1 - DSGN 02
05 March 2013
For the past two months, K. Hong has been living with
his friend and long time roommate, C. Letto, in a 5.25
square meter room. C recently graduated from C.U.I
with a Master’s of Science in Mediation and is now a
practicing mediation case worker for The City.
Project 3
Design Two
Semester 02 (January-May 2013)
Studio Faculty: Bunnag, Gritzka-Del Villar, Hellberg,
Klieopatinon, Lesmes, La Mar, Patera, Wong
Billennium Dwelling
Backstory
To say that the city is overflowing with people is an
understatement. The population is rising exponentially
as the government incentivizes procreation, the
formerly sprawling metro-area has been reigned in, and
the last few farmers are replaced by automated
machines and relocated to The City. Only the oldest
members of the population can recall the brief moment
of time in their childhood when people still lived in
single family homes. They had space. It seems absurd
and utopian to even consider that amount of space for
any modern city dweller. Those times and the luxuries
of space are now only a form of collective nostalgia…
dreams.
Speaking of dreamers — K. Hong is a graduate student
studying architecture “global spatial performance” at the
City University International (C.U.I). K’s research, not
unlike most of his peers and professors, revolves around
spatial optimization and the studies of social
interactions resulting from optimizations. Any
discipline at CUI that deals with the space, the design of,
use of, theory of, and laws of; are subject to rigorous
governmental approval. In K’s notebook he has noted
some of the hottest approved topics of study at C.U.I, an
Figure One: Horst Kiechle, “Translucent Billboard,” 2011, available at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/archisculpture/6098946935/
abbreviated sample from the list is as follows: material
thickness reduction theory and application; rigidity and
freedom, agency and adjacency; stacking, packing,
hoarding, and storing – collection habits for transient
urban populations; hot air – acoustics and ventilation
for humans and machines; voluminous and valuable
vistas – anamorphic projection for healthy living…
Nearing the end of his graduate study, K is beginning to
realize that he has been pigeonholed by his academic
advisers into writing a very technical thesis on the
history of thickness reduction for laminate composite
partitions and their potential for spatial optimization
and benefit for The City. K is disenchanted about this
direction of study, and finds that his personal politics
are increasingly in conflict with the strict spatial laws
enforced by the City Government. He has
contemplated leaving the program on several occasions.
But he is certainly not alone in this internal conflict.
Ironically, K’s studies on spatial optimization have
required him to accumulate a large number of books,
material samples, testing equipment, loose documents,
data sheets, journal articles, legal proceedings, and
interview data, images, and videos stored on digital
drives. He has been attempting to digitize this
information, but it is no use, it accumulates faster than
he can process the information. The amount of material
has accumulated to the point where K can no longer
move around his apartment without a careful
choreography of materials and human contortions. K
often wakes up in the morning with impressions of
paper and ink from laser-reproduced texts on his skin.
C, in an act of domestic mediation, has taped a line
through the center of the room that (he hopes) serves as
an invisible partition and reminder of the incident that
got them evicted from their last room.
Yesterday, the City Inspector was making rounds for
routine fire inspections in K & C’s district. More than
one hundred infractions of The City code! How could
that be, was it the hoarding of paper, the subtle
outward tilts in partition walls? According to the
Inspector, there were two options: move out
immediately, or pay for all violations. Paying was not
an option, ethically, financially, or otherwise. So, K & C
were out again. Piles of intricately collated paper and
documents were furiously yanked from their locations
and crammed into a large black duffle bag.
It is here, at this moment of cramming and crumpling
that K has a flash of inspiration (Perhaps the physical
1 of 5
|
| International Program in Design + Architecture | Room 409, Architecture Building. Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University. Phyathai Road, Bangkok 10330 THAILAND |
Y1 - DSGN 02
05 March 2013
burden of paperwork and internal conflict has finally
provoked action). K reaches into the duffel bag and
yanks out two already crumpled pieces of paper and
shakes them excitedly in C’s face and exclaims in an
excited yell-whisper:
Look at this!
— Space —
Could it be true?
Site
Armed with their discovery, the two set off around the
block to put their worldly belongings into a minutemetered storage lockup and grab a bite to eat. The two
don’t talk about the discovery in the paperwork, rather
they eat in silence and share written notes and small
drawings. They have to work fast, minute-metered is in
high demand and therefore very expensive.
Looking at the drawings, one can barely make out a
narrow space, approximately 3 meters in width,
sandwiched and stranded between a CUI Building that
belongs to the Faculty of Mediation, and a tall billboard
that is perched atop a municipal building. Where did
these drawings come from?
The municipal building belongs to the Department of Air
Transfer (DoAT). It is a low rise factory building with a
sawtooth roof. Inside are what appear to be a a bunch of
massive machines dutifully working away without
human supervision. A mess of ductwork, pipes, wires,
condensing units, air scrubbers, and exchange valves
that forms a tall tower, rising up from the side of the
DoAT building closest to the CUI building.
The air exchange infrastructure is largely covered or
disguised as a billboard. The billboard image seems to
change on a regular basis — about four times a year —
but always maintains a similar theme of landscapes. It
is not entirely clear who finances or selects the images,
but from preliminary research K & C believe the
Department of Air Transfer are the responsible party.
What is the role of these large scale two dimensional
images of landscapes?
K & C exit the café and go to check out the space.
C is very familiar with the area as it is where one of the
Faculty of Mediation (FoM) buildings is located. He
used to have mediation simulations in this building.
The simulations would occur in small laboratory
settings where observers would watch through one way
glass partitions and take notes on the mediation
sessions. C also recalls having lunch between the CUI
FoM building and the DoAT building in a small alleyway
between the two buildings amidst the whirring of the
air exchange tubes.
There are food vendors that set up carts and hook into
the air transfer infrastructure. You can stand and eat,
or get food and follow the masses through the alleyway
to the other side of the block. It is dark in the alleyway
but that does not seem to discourage the masses from
trickling into and moving through every possible open
space.
Looking up while in the alleyway one can only see a
continuation of the billboard material between the two
buildings.
How to get in?
There seems to be only one way to access this space.
The two enter the CUI FoM. Luckily all CUI buildings
are considered public domain, and are open to all, at
least the narrow corridors that is. Looking at their
documentation, the two navigate floor by floor
searching for the end of the building that is closest to
the space. All corridors lead to laboratories or shared
faculty offices that seem to be in use/operation around
the clock. Exploring a corridor on the sixth floor they
find a unisex bathroom. Beside the bathroom are a
series of doors that seem to be located in the wall facing
the municipal building. Two of the doors are labeled
“storage” and are locked, and the third door is unlabeled
but also locked.
K is beginning to doubt his findings on paper. And the
two meander back to the main staircase located in the
center of the CUI FoM. The FoM square spiraling
central staircase was once a large and grand void in the
center of the building. This stairway is capped by a large
dome. Light once poured in to the stairway through the
lantern in the dome. Now the area stairway contains a
strange stacked mixture of cubicle dormitory rooms,
shared faculty offices, and seminar rooms near the top
of what used to be the interior of the dome. The dome
is now effectively sealed off by the density of stacked
cubicles. Discouraged, C suggests that they should go
up to have a look through the glass lantern at the top of
the dome on the ninth floor.
The ceilings are low on the ninth floor. Both have to tilt
their heads to the side as they move through the
corridor. Hair brushing and adding to the well worn
grease spots on the centerline of the coffered ceiling.
The floor is made from cubicle room roofs and steps up
to fill in space, approximating the curvature of the
dome. When they reach the lantern, they can finally
stand up straight and have a look out through the dusty
glass panels. More condensing units, chillers, water
2 of 5
|
| International Program in Design + Architecture | Room 409, Architecture Building. Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University. Phyathai Road, Bangkok 10330 THAILAND |
Y1 - DSGN 02
05 March 2013
tanks, and shrouded machines criss crossing and filling
the space like a mangrove forest.
Part One:
So, what exactly are we working with?
Looking down the interior surface of the dome from the
lantern is a strange experience. And this is where C
spots potential — an irregularity in the surface. A
strange shadow on the surface behind the entablature
where the dome springs from the building. The two
hoist themselves up the entablature using the recesses
of the carved letter F as footholds, and lower themselves
down, gently behind the entablature. The irregularity in
the surface is produced by a loose piece of the coffered
ceiling. K yanks on the coffer and beyond it is an
extremely thin cavity that separates the two surfaces of
the dome.
The two return to the café, full of excitement ready to
get their things and
move in immediately.
Not so fast. This is
not going to be easy.
If this is going to
work, they are going
to need to know
more about the
space, properly
document it, and
figure out how to
make it work.
The two climb through the metal structure that
separates the two surfaces and follow pipes that run
into the ceiling above the ninth floor. The pipes form a
narrow gangplank through the ceiling space where the
two walk half crouched towards the municipal building.
They reach a brick wall and a vent where the pipes leave
the building. Peering out the vent, what they see is
mostly darkness accompanied by the sound of
ventilation infrastructure wheezing away.
K pulls a coin from his pocket and uses it to slowly
remove the screws fixing the vent grille to the FoM wall.
The vent hole is large enough to crouch-walk through,
but requires some contortions to get by the pipes. K is
used to this, from his paper maze in their old room.
With the vent grill off K ventures out. K holds his arm
out and drops the coin. And waits, counting… 1… 2…
3… 4…. 5… K turns back to C dusty with an excited grin:
All they have to
shreds of
found and their
with the space.
to make
space. And
drawings they
need before
on how they
space, how
their
into the
they will
go on is the few
documents they
brief encounter
The two set out
drawings of the
make a list of
think they will
they can decide
will occupy the
they can move
belongings
space, how
coexist.
Figure Two: Alex Schweder &
Ward Shelley, “Counterweight
Roommate,” 2011, Scope Basel
[Image modified by author]
Given
One incomplete top view diagram of the space
between the CUI FoM building and the DoAT
building.
One incomplete front view diagram of the space
between the CUI FoM building and the DoAT
building.
Notes on their exploration of the space.
Constraints
Complete documentation of the space using only
drawings
Deliverables
1. Process drawings and sketches
2. 3 plans of the space (Minimum)
3. 3 sections of the space (Minimum)
4. 1 axon of the space (Minimum)
5. 2 perspectives (Minimum)
Scale and types of drawings to be determined. The
space is quite tall and narrow, therefore, the scale will
have to be resolved creatively.
Tips & Notes
You will be filling in the gaps based on your
interpretation of the reading.
You should think of the short story Billennium,
written by JG Ballard, as the world within which this
project and narrative is set. You are encouraged to
use Ballard’s story to fill in environmental details
that are not addressed in this project text.
The drawings you make will serve as the site for part
two of this project.
This is it!
— Space —
Now we need a plan.
3 of 5
|
| International Program in Design + Architecture | Room 409, Architecture Building. Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University. Phyathai Road, Bangkok 10330 THAILAND |
Y1 - DSGN 02
05 March 2013
Schedule
Midterm Review
Project 3: Part 1
Project 3: Part 1
Project 3: Part 1
8
9
9
10
W
M
W
M
Feb 27, 2013
Mar 4, 2013
Mar 6, 2013
Mar 11, 2013
Project 2: Midterm Review
Project Introduction: Read Brief and Read Billenium (J.G. Ballard)
Desk Critique: Sketches, plans, sections of site based on existing documentation
Desk Critique: Measured drawings and revisions of drawings
10
W
Mar 13, 2013 Project 3: Part 1
Part 1: Pin-Up
11
M
Mar 18, 2013 Project 3: Part 2
Desk Critique: Initial Design Strategies
11
W
Mar 20, 2013 Project 3: Part 2
Desk Critique: Initial Design Strategies + Drawings
12
M
Mar 25, 2013 Project 3: Part 2
Desk Critique: Initial Design Strategies + Drawings
12
W
Mar 27, 2013 Project 3: Part 2
Pin-Up
13
M
Apr 1, 2013
Project 3: Part 2
Desk Critique: Design Development
13
W
Apr 3, 2013
Project 3: Part 2
Desk Critique: Design Development
14
M
Apr 8, 2013
Chakri Memorial Day: No Class
14
W
Apr 10, 2013
Project 3.2
15
M
Apr 15, 2013
Songkran Festival: No Class
15
W
Apr 17, 2013
Project 3.2
Desk Critique: Final Design, Layout, Presentation, Deliverables, Etc.
16
M
Apr 22, 2013
Project 3.2
Final Production
16
*
W
Su
Apr 24, 2013
Apr 28, 2013
Project 3.2
Early Submission
Final Production of Drawings, Presentation, and Pin-Up to check presentation format
All works to be presented at the final review must be submitted (Time/Location TBA).
17
M
Apr 29, 2013
Final Review
Project 3: Final Review
Pin-Up
Recommended Reading & Films
Films: Visions of Future Urbanism
Metropolis (1927)- Fritz Lang
Planet of Slums (2006) - Mike Davis
Brazil (1985) - Terry Gilliam
Blade Runner (1982) - Ridley Scott
Films:Visions of Technology's Role in Transforming Life:
Black Mirror (Series 1) Suggested Additional Readings:
Brave New World (1932) - Aldous Huxley
The Illustrated Man (1951), Ray Bradbury
Lexicon
Incentivize: a rather modern form of the word
“incentive” – which is typically used to describe a thing
that motivates someone. To incentivize is to provide
motivation for a behavior or action.
Optimization: the most effective use of a resource,
situation, or opportunity (Spatial Optimization in this
narrative - would describe a study of most effective use
of space, from a very functional point of view, to use the
least amount of space to do the most.)
Agency: action or intervention to produce an effect. Not
to be confused with agency in the sense of a business
operation like a travel agency.
Adjacency: to be right next to or adjoined to something
else. In the mathematical sense this would mean
sharing a common side and vertex.
Transient: lasting for only a short period of time or
staying or working in a place for only a short period of
time.
Coffered: a sunken panel in a ceiling, vault, dome, or
surface that is geometrically shaped — square,
rectangle, or octagon — where the pattern is usually
repetitive. On the surface of a dome, coffers decrease in
size not only to accommodate the decreasing surface
area, but also as a visual method to emphasize the
height of the vault or dome.
Acoustics: the properties or qualities of a space that
determine how sound is transmitted within that space.
Lantern: not to be confused with a lantern that one uses
to hold a candle. In architectural terminology this is a
small construction placed at the peak of a dome or peak
of a roof in order to allow light to enter the space or for
smoke to escape (see ventilation).
Voluminous: occupying a large amount of space, large in
volume. While this refers to space primarily it can also
be used to discuss writing – a lengthly text (like this
project brief) can be described as voluminous. Or a
Ventilation: the supply of fresh air to a building, room,
or volume. Ventilation in the medical sense is the
supply of air to the lungs by mechanical means. Less
commonly, but still interesting, is the sense of this
word for public discussion or debate.
4 of 5
|
| International Program in Design + Architecture | Room 409, Architecture Building. Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University. Phyathai Road, Bangkok 10330 THAILAND |
Y1 - DSGN 02
05 March 2013
writer who has written produced many books can be
described as a voluminous writer.
Vista: a pleasing view, esp. one seen through a long,
narrow opening.
Pigeonholed: a category, typically an overly restrictive
one, to which someone or something is assigned.
Laminate: a process of manufacture where a material is
built up layer by layer. Such as plywood.
Composite: made up of many elements. Plywood is a
composite as it is made of laminated wood and glue.
Disenchanted: free (someone) from illusion; disappoint
Mediation: intervention in a dispute in order to resolve
it; intervention in a process or relationship;
intercession.
Evict (Evicted past tense): expel (someone) from a
property, esp. with the support of the law. Kick out.
Contortions: twist or bend out of its normal shape
Hoarding: a stock or store of money or valued objects,
typically one that is secret or carefully guarded; an
amassed store of useful information or facts, retained
for future use. Basically, this means to keep a lot of
stuff, without necessity to ever use it but the belief that
perhaps you may need to use it.
and face away from the sun. So, in the northern
hemisphere the window would face northwards, to
receive indirect light so that workers could operate
machines and the space would not get overly hot from
direct sunlight.
Infrastructure: the basic physical and organizational
structures and facilities (e.g., buildings, roads, and
power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or
enterprise.
Meander: a winding curve when describing an object or
thing, or a seemingly aimless or random movement
when describing the movement of a human.
Gangplank: a moveable platform or plank that is used to
get on and off a ship from the shore. This is also used to
describe movable metal platforms that are like bridges
above a stage used by stagehands.
Entablature: refers to the superstructure of moldings
and bands which lie horizontally above a column.
Typically composed of cornice, frieze, and architrave.
Best to see this as a drawing.
Billennium: the second period of one thousand years in
the Common Era (i.e. 2000 Years). Also the title of J.G.
Ballard’s short story written in 1962.
Ducts (ductwork): Tubes or passageways for moving air,
liquid, cables, wires, etc.
Sawtooth roof: A roof comprising a series of ridges with
dual pitches either side. The steeper surfaces are glazed
5 of 5
|
| International Program in Design + Architecture | Room 409, Architecture Building. Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University. Phyathai Road, Bangkok 10330 THAILAND |
BILLBOARD
FACULTY OF MEDIATION
3 M.
DEPARTMENT OF AIR TRANSFER
24 M.
TOP VIEW
NOT TO SCALE
BILLBOARD
25 M.
FACULTY OF MEDIATION
ALLEY
WAY
3 M.
DEPARTMENT OF AIR TRANSFER
FRONT ELEVATION
NOT TO SCALE