Thesis Design Development II from Nicholas Ng on Vimeo.

It has been a long while since my last post, but I think the project has come a pretty long way from beginning of thesis prep to design development. There’s still some last few touches that needs to be done and should get me through the final review.

Update: Sept-7-2009

I really cannot believe how fast August flew by. Semester starts tomorrow. Right now I’m working in bits and pieces, so hopefully I’ll be able to put them together in one piece at the end. Attached below is a study for the living units facade.

Haven’t decided on which option to go with yet. Like the idea of the outdoor stage, but not sure how practical that is.

As for the adjacent buildings, rather than creating a single block, the building have been sliced into smaller pieces for better adaptability.

Can’t believe it’s August! Taking advantage of the warm days, thus, things will be much slower this month. But whilst hanging out at a local Starbucks today, I couldn’t help but started sketching on new development for my thesis. However, at some point, the hand went off tangent on the subject of infrastructure and its role in future city development. The idea of infrastructure is not new, Sant’Elia has been creating that vision in the early 20th century, but the sketch above depicts a suggestion of attaching buildings next to our highway, transit system, power and water management and communication system in the city, becoming a single element. And such, everything is enclosed within this tubular like shell. A rough vision but perhaps one that’s related to a scene in a science-fiction movie.

Schematic Design Review II from Nicholas Ng on Vimeo.

Above is the slideshow and plans presented on Monday. There were some issues raised on the design, such as the yard behind the living boxes should be more thought through as there are quite a lot of land left within the lot. Suggestions of a commercial or office spaces were proposed. Another issue was the link between each unit. Rather than simply sharing the same wall, ideas on visual connections between the two units were suggested. But overall, the reactions to the design were positive.

The next step will lead to the design development phase. Materials, details and the mechanics of building design will be explored.

X: For a larger view of the sections and plans, head over to - My Architecture Thesis Flickr Set

Update: More prepping for Monday’s review.

Updated: 2nd Diagram.

Draft-Schematic Part II from Nicholas Ng on Vimeo.

Preparing for an upcoming review session on the 13th of July. Posted above is a draft presentation of the keynote.

Still working on the details for the dwelling units as I’m not exactly happy with the plans for the duplex units yet. But one of the main component of the project is to create a link between the park strip and the dwelling units. My initial idea was just a catwalk/bridge, (top diagram) but that didn’t really do anything much other than bridging the two elements together physically. It does allow the public closer to the units, but other than that, there’s no secondary connection between the units and the park strip. The second approach below is a different take on the idea of the “bridge”. Creating a seating area allows the spectator to participate with the units and vice versa.

Don’t have the design of the facade yet, but I’m thinking maybe a series of horizontal openings - like so.

Updates: Did some changes on the ground floor unit.