caleb ong

Full Ground Zero A1 Drawing

“Ground Zero is a future urban space, which is a dimension inserted in between a floating city and underground infrastructure

Ground Zero is apolitical

Ground Zero is shared by all human beings and animals

Ground Zero is boundaryless

Ground Zero has neither vehicle nor controlled movement

Ground Zero only provides ultimate publicness”

-write up and sketches by Lee Cherng Yih

-Disjunctions and Cospacing for Coworking

The world is experiencing a shifting work-life paradigm with the rise of coworking spaces and the number of creative class who choose to work in them. The coworker community operates as decentralized workforce rather than following a hierarchical organization, with a certain degree of disjunction presented and desired between the events, space and movement and the readings of undefined coworking spaces. No-sentral, a coworking project proposed across Nu Sentral amidst the dilapidated shophouses of Brickfields as an extension of working network across Jalan Tun Sambanthan away from the 24 office and residential tower blocks of Central Business District KL Sentral. The site is surrounded with 24/7 amenities and great accessibility to public transportation and working opportunity.

In references from theories devised from Tschumi’s architectural disjunctions, real and fictional architectural elements of events, space and movement with a varying level of Visibility and Accessibility are disjointed and alternatingly distributed across the building without a main central point and a clear hierarchy of space; to reflect the organizational hierarchy of the community. It encourages and allows the workers and visitors to move and hot desking around different part of the building in different time of the day to either have a ‘fresh start’ or have a clearer view and be familiarized with the surrounding, thus creating unintended encounter and dynamic interaction within the coworker community. The building established itself as a game of snake and ladders, with its unending circulation filled with alternating program, alternating accessibility, varying space conditions, multiple entry/exit point that provides coworker a game of choice towards an undetermined daily routine and events.

The thesis investigates the limit of Tschumi’s architectural disjunction in providing a multiplicity of readings in fictional and reality to create dynamic movement and interaction in the contingent of coworking community that drives change, embraces organised chaos, uncertainty, and has a high demand for humans’ interaction amidst the diurnal and nocturnal coworking community of sharing.

Order among Disorder
-every slanted element shown in elevation is a sign indicating the presence of a staircase

-slanted element in elevation and section improves multiplicity of reading (unpredictability/un-determineability) as its positioning “moves” across different planes. (refer to the sections and floor plans below) The configuration of stairs is configured to have the highest unpredictability/un-determineability, maximum varying level of privacy and ‘choices’, and are oriented towards either one of the most logical and workable axis.

-to have alternative entry/exit point, open staircase and fire staircase is stacked above each other and alternate accordingly

-it is either is fully covered in fire protected corridor, or open to outdoors or open courtyard

-just as how much railway/road/transit intersection presented on the site of central business district kuala lumpur, the signs of accessibility sometime do not entirely indicate high accessibility.

The presence of these sign of accessibility at times actually indicates otherwise; the lack of accessibility of the place itself, as it overly suggests moving, and do not necessarily encourage pauses and people to stay, disrupting the local node of traffic.

-these signs of accessibility plays a big part into providing a “sense of play” on the static workplace, as its presence itself created a fictional mental construct of high accessibility among the community and spaces. All the circulation in the building is intentionally designed to ‘force’ the user to join the ‘play’, and as part of the show as they traverse across multiple spaces and coworker’s sight lines, similarly to the game “snake and ladders”.

-the large continuous open stairs have high visibility across multiple alternating spaces built upon T3:Perceptual Reading frame 4/5 up for people to derive meaning upon the type of traffic and event happening upon it.

Disorder among Order

-the building is certainly not for everyone and anyone, it is for the community of people who wish to have varying daily routine and have varying desires to have control on the level of privacy, engagement and environment on a hourly basis.

-the architectural planes (wall) is arranged in a way that provides the attributes of T1:Free Reading frame 4/5, and T2:Functional Reading frame 3, so that there is not a central space for the building, reduced hierachy of spaces and every spaces having varying condition/opening for its own meaning, program to be created by the user.

-existing coworking places usually have an open plan with spaces that are easily understood, you either get a sense of belonging to the place or you don’t, and once you do not feel belongs or get discriminated, you have no where to escape within the place. This scheme provides many optional alternative spaces and encourages changing of hot-desking location on an hourly basis every day.

-the planes were also arranged in a way to have well distributed conditions of space (opening, void, opacity) to have equally distributed and alternating space suitable for fixed desk area, hot desk area with varying proximity to facility space, utility space, common space and event space. (as types of program is suggested/restricted by the space condition. But who knows, maybe someone would like to have event on a narrow hot-desking corridor? have facility scattered across corner next to fixed desk area? or hot-desking zone occupying the common area?)

derived from ADT1 (first half of the thesis)

Apart from having spaces in equal proportion (outcome from ADT1), is there any other way to achieve the same outcome and objective

Design Objective:

-To have no clear hierarchy of space
-Impossible for a clear view of spaces
-Alternative circulation and accessibility
-Inter-referential architectural elements
-unpredictable overlapping of spaces and circulation

Expanding on design sketch 1, design sketch 2 explores through an isometric view, being drawn onto site. Design logic started to be developed that corresponds to the site and the program, with similar strategies and intentions presented in design phase 1.

All design sketches are explored with the intention to connect with the monorail station and a hotel adjacent to the site.

*the adjacent Monorail Station marks the start and the end of the Monorail line. Thus, the disturbance and noise/sound of the monorail traveling isn’t the highest it could get. The sound of highly congested vehicular traffic around the site instead produced a background ‘music’ consisting various busy city-work sounds at its time of the day, providing hints of external reading to the coworker. (refer to contextual exploration sketch below)

The exploration continues as the strategies applied in design sketch 2 is visualized and explored in sectional drawings, with the type of spaces, section cuts, and constraints on site responding to the site to be slowly defined and identified.

The main priority on this design stage is to create spaces with highly varying space conditions and views around the places to encourages coworker to hot-desking around the different part of the building, thus improving the dynamism of the movement and the interaction between the coworkers. It also compliments the need for “fresh start”, the need to alternate to radically different environment to work anew at different time within the same day/week that provided varying possibility for certain events to happen within the building.

What are the contextual elements that could be referenced from the site surrounding onto the design and spaces?

Phase 2 design has been heavily influenced by this contextual exploration and was later dropped from consideration as it is far too restricting on the design and is rarely relevant on providing actual user experience beside superficially associating with the contexts.

It complicates the structural systems (having far too many axis) and making the design outcomes heavily hindered and restricted. Void within the building would be reduced along with overwhelming disorder to the building. (phase 2 design)

This sketch is an effort to established workable axis unique to the context in order to be referenced within the building to provide multiple axis, orientation and readings to the spaces.

It has later dropped out from the design due to it providing minimal relevance to user experience and was reduced to only the most logical and practical axis, however superficially it is, in order to achieve the design objectives.

capturing and referencing axis of:

1) Palimsest of the site boundaries (demolished shoplots)
2) North-South Axis
3) East-West Axis
4) Qibla: association for resting/praying area

The axis not only functions to provide multiplicity of meaning and an ease of construction for its beams and wall for the scheme, it also provides multiplicity of axis for movable partition wall to be moved/installed on a daily basis that further increase the types of space conditions.

The multiple entry/axis and circulation allows different segment of the spaces with varying space condition within the same levels to be isolated, rented and utilized for any event, further improves the multiplicity of reading and unpredictability/un-determineability of daily routine for coworker.

Strategies revolving around incorporation of various axis is of response to T3:Perceptual Reading frame 3 and T4:Undefined Reading frame 1,2 and 3.

Another order among the disorder is on the equal distance(spacing) between the column on the structural grid and the floor to floor height of the building, as it is one of the strong architectural element (and also a creative constraint) of the surrounding shop-lots.

-The following are a series of sections showing the multiplicity of readings and quality of differences/changes/unpredictability/un-determineability within the building indicated by the various alternating configuration of space-volume (in height and length), across multiple cutting point on the structural grid.

-Thick big black wall indicates a diagonal wall being cut. (the thicker it is, the more tilted it is towards the viewer)

-single/double/triple storey volume
dots, short lines, long lines
short wall, tall wall
arranged as alternating as it could be, along with the various type of circulation and event suggestible/anticipated by the spaces.

-and once again, any slanted element seen in elevation/section is a sign indicating the presence of straight flight staircase. (a pattern to navigate for vertical des/ascension)

Three themes and massing studies "Fun, Cowork, Park/Romance" has been proposed based on the data collected from several survey and research conducted to the target user group (Youth/Gen Y Generation). The preference-based design is aligned with the value provided by the structural and unit layout concept of "Divergent Dwelling Design (D3)" as it features flexibility and a controlled freedom of the buyers over the life cycle of the development.

showing the site context of the development (as it is located beside SJCC, its stacked core atrium is facing outward to the Federal Highway so that:

-Unit/facility floor have a better view out.
-Units are further away from the road for reduced noise and air pollution.
-Better visibility of the facilities from all angle as there are plenty air space (above highway) as shown in the drawing.
-The facilities floor are stacked so that it became part of the facade of the development as well, in which its exposure is appreciated by some young people.

-to determine the suitable unit sizes for the typical floorplan in relation to its flexibility of unit layout towards various kind of users and the structural dimension to carpark space efficiency. (eg: in Dual Key or single key, to young family, investor, workers or duplex)

-to illustrate the flexibility of the columnless D3 unit layout concept.

From D3 unit layout concept translating the same idea to D3 massing concept as a whole identity, branding and marketing strategy of the development.

In unit layout, it is column free to allow flexible interior design and layout for the unit.

In typical floor layout, it is designed to accommodate the maximum amount of carpark; allowing certain flexibility on the stacked facilities in the inner atrium; and not having any transfer slab in the project to reduce the construction cost. (shear wall all the way to ground)

-vertical facilities floor at the inner atrium area.

-having shear wall going all the way to basement without having transfer slab.

The world is experiencing a shifting work-life paradigm with the rise of coworking spaces and the number of creative class who choose to work in them. The disjunction between program, time and spaces in the definition and readings of office and undefined coworking spaces showed a new architectural possibility of mobile working spaces as working could be done anywhere and anytime.

NO-SENTRAL, a coworking project proposed across Nu Sentral amidst the dilapidated shophouses of Brickfields is an extension of the working network across Jalan Tun Sambanthan away from the 24 office and residential tower blocks of central business district KL Sentral. Central business district KL Sentral provides 24/7 amenities and accessibility to public transportation and working opportunity that feeds on the obsession of progression and a hedonistically tireless lifestyle.

The thesis investigates the limit of Tschumi's architectural disjunction in providing a multiplicity of readings to create dynamic movement and interaction in the contingent of coworking community that embraces organized chaos, constant changes, multiplicity, uncertainty and demands for humans’ interaction between the diurnal and nocturnal coworking community of sharing.

"...where events and movement (includes eye movement) are seen in parts to encourage dynamic movement and interaction within the coworking spaces..."

A scheme of which the architecture: 
-have no origin and no ends
-have no hierarchy and clear orders
-could only be viewed in parts
-composed of architectural signs/symbols and strategic visual coding as program/wayfinding
-with multiple entries/exits, ascension/descension points
-with undefined elements
-with multiple inter-referencing architectural elements in plan and section, within the various scale and element of contexts

To provide a multiplicity of readings to the occupants in encouraging dynamic movement and interaction within the coworking spaces.

"...where one has "excuse" or motivation to walk through the spaces in creating interaction by chance and mix around the community and to move/pause/work in different part within the spaces..."

Territorial jungle of co-working spaces that reveal only a glimpse of what's within from the street. It creates and encourage the formulation of questions and conversations while it teases, invites and motivates curious mobile workers and visitors to come within, move around and interact with the coworking community.

Every different route and travel experience within the spaces will be different every single time as it allows various multiciplicity of readings to coexist in the same spaces; to create a constant and dynamic interaction in the formation and development of the coworking community. 

The first testing in physical model as a representation for the scheme.

View down into the representation of the schematic proposal.

Overall view of the site model and the schematic physical representation of the compiled design strategies.

The work-in-progress of the Thesis's first-half has been simplified, organized and diagrammed as the representation and guiding tool of the storytelling.

The methodology is inspired by the drawings represented in "The Manhattan Transcript", a wonderful book from architect Bernard Tschumi where the content are framed in similar sizes with notation that depicts event, space, movement, orders, dialogues and puts the limit of architectural drawings on paper.

The methodology introduces disjunction in between subjects, allows users to swap/reference the framed objects and read them in several sequences, while also creates an element of subjective arbitariness in the readings, thus improving the drawing's multiplicity of readings.

The search for applicable strategies and theories for rational/practical/contextual usages interpretated from the theoretical writings and built projects by Deconstruction Advocates: Peter Eisenman and Bernard Tschumi.

To be further developed in part 2 of 2 in providing multiplicity of event, space and movement within the diurnal and nocturnal coworking community.

The study to investigate the limit of multiplicity in the readings between program and space.

Design Statement

"In What Way Temporality Embraces Klang Open cultural Plaza?"

The urban proposal creates a unique cultural plaza between the 3 historical religious buildings (Masjid India Klang, Sri Nagara Thandayuthapani Temple, and St.Barnabas Church) that seeks to improve the urban linkages of Klang Town and enhances the identity of the site as an event space for youth and sports. The green corridors and water plaza integrates with the pedestrian pathway and improves the walkability of the site. It provides safe and pleasurable experiences while exploring and traversing within Klang Town. The number 1 issue currently on site is the lack of car parking spaces, bad traffic and walkability.

In response to the urban proposal, the proposed urban design is a Temporal Building and Carpark erected on the basement pile cap foundation. The project responds to the many temporal needs of the site while not taking away the potential of the site being developed further into an apartment, office or mall in the future. The project houses many flexible space usages that accommodate the local needs of the site such as Event Stage, Classroom, Lecture Theatre, Lodging, Cafes and the Mobile Stall Markets, many which could be employed and move around the plaza in different arrangement in different event.

Part of the buildings could be displaced and modified as structural support for the many activities carried out at the Sports Plaza and the Cultural Plaza around the building. By being temporal and non-permanent it creates easier acceptance of the locals towards the existence of the marginalized and displaced communities in Klang and encourage a mutualistic relationship between them within and around the building.

The building appearance when there is no event: as the scaffolding is recollected and stored by being attached to the lower portion of the building envelope.

"...Temporary ramps, bridge and circulation pathway that frames Sri Nagara Thandayuthapani Temple..."

with only the proposed project highlighted.

The various scaffolding and mobile architectural elements that could be transported around the cultural plaza Klang to accommodate various arrangement and events in the various time of the year, week and day. 

A temporal issue which could be strategically incorporated to gain assistance from the local community and the existing religious groups to propose a building on the site. The project is to be at this point in time a school of refugee and it would be further developed into apartments, offices in the future as a win-win situation for the locals and refugees. At the same time, the project provides the much-needed car parking spaces to the site.

...with scaffolding wall that function as book shelves at the lower level and landscaping at the upper level.

The K-Langit Sky  Park proposal creates a unique cultural plaza between the 3 historical religious buildings (Masjid India Klang, Sri Nagara Thandayuthapani Temple, and St.Barnabas Church) that seeks to improve the urban linkages of Klang Town and enhances the identity of the site as an event space for youth and sports.

The green corridors and water plaza integrates with the pedestrian pathway and improves the walkability of the site. It provides safer and pleasurable experiences while exploring and traversing within Klang Town

The masterplan is done Injunction with ThinkCity and KCCCI in "Klang City Rejuvenation" Project.

Project exhibition at Klang Heritage Festival, Jalan Station, Klang on 6th May 2017 supported by ThinkCity.

Project exhibited at Jalan Hang Kasturi, KL in ThinkCity Urban Design Ideas Exhibition on 20th July 2017. 

Crit Day 27th July 2017

Design Statement

“In what way can wordplay and mariner associations configure semantic architecture? “

Place names are anchors of language on the land.  Over the year the Chinese community has named the Kampung Cina as 唐人坡 (Chinese Slope/Hill) instead of using 唐人街 (Chinatown)or 唐人村(Kampung Cina). The Chinese name of the place 登嘉樓 (deng1jia1lou2) are derived from the Melayu sound pronunciation of the place name Tereng-ga-nu, whereby the Chinese word 登嘉樓 suggested the meaning of ascending into an auspicious building. Various Architectural elements related to slope and ascension are studied and incorporated into the project to fill in the gap of the place Chinese name meaning and identity which are created by the Chinese community and belongs to the Chinese community.

The Arrival of Admiral Zheng He has huge significance to the place. He played an important role in developing the relations and trade businesses between china and Terengganu while also brought numerous Chinese people into the town. The gallery, orientation and circulation of the building are influenced by the main axis from Nanjing (Departure Point of Zheng He’s fleet crew) towards Kampung Cina to recalls this significant historical event to strengthen the identity and origin of the place.

The Project explores slanted architectural element directed towards the aspect of origination while corresponding to the heritage site context.

Design Statement

The project serves as a spotlight featuring KL Tower (Kuala Lumpur Tower; the strong identity of Malaysia and landmark presence) as part of the performance or performance poster and seeks to amplify the identity and love towards Malaysian by leaving its impression ingrained in the mind of the visitor, local/ global performer, audience.

The project presented a synergy of play and interaction in between the performance lighting and KL Tower Lighting, while also serving as a territorial beacon that indicates the presence/absence of performance within VPAC with lights visible throughout the night around the area to tease and attract the viewer to participate in the act of event. 

The performance main stage opens up to KL Tower where people on the observatory decking and within the revolving restaurant would become a part of the audience overlooking the performance with assisting tools such as binoculars, allowing two-way communication and interaction between KL Tower and VPAC.

VPAC, a simple slanted gesture to connect the people and event from the riverfront to KL Tower.

* The Kuala Lumpur Tower is a communications tower located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia completed on 1 March 1995. It features an antenna that increases its height to 421 meters (1,381 feet) and is the national landmark of Malaysia (along with Petronas Twin Towers). The observatory decking of KL Tower is the highest viewpoint in Kuala Lumpur that is open to the public and it contains a revolving restaurant that provides diners with a panoramic view of the city. 

"...The project serves as a spotlight featuring KL Tower (Kuala Lumpur Tower; the strong identity of Malaysia and landmark presence) as part of the performance and seeks to amplify the identity and love towards Malaysian by leaving its impression ingrained in the mind of the visitor, local/ global performer, audience and performance poster..."

The flexibility of the theatre to be fully enclosed, or having the lightings of VPAC and KLTower synchronized and choreographed for the indoor performance; engaging in a one-of-a-kind territorial dialogue. 

"...The project presented a possibility of synergy of play and interaction in between the performance lighting and KL Tower Lighting, while also serving as an territorial beacon that indicates the presence/absence of performance within VPAC with lights visible throughout the night around the area to tease and attract viewer to participate in the act of event..."

Site Context

The performance main stage opens up to KL Tower where people on the observatory decking and within the revolving restaurant would become a part of the audience overlooking the performance with assisting tools such as binoculars, allowing two-way communication and interaction between KL Tower and VPAC.

Walking from Capsquare Development to VPAC, with KL Tower Framed.

Angled gesture of the building suggest a depressing ground plane into the Klang River, introducing a stopping point for the water taxi that collaborates with the River of Life river beautification project.

Retractable roofing could be installed along the slanted structure above to provide shading for the arrival of the people.

A hint of the base of KL Tower upon arrival and the KL Tower is to slowly reveal itself upon ascending the steps. The users are accompanied with art pieces attached with the surrounding structure in the ascension and decension.   

Visitor is welcomed by the KL Tower with a sense of arrival to VPAC.

The continuous framing of KL Tower in the process of ascending to the theatre.

Protruding structure with ample distancing from adjacent building for easy identification of VPAC as a destination.

A proposed projector screen to be placed on the carpark podium of the Capsquare Residence across VPAC to create an shaded outdoor theatre.

Main flight of stairs aligned with the center point of KL Tower over the backdrop. The KL Tower is to be revealed progressively from the foot to the crown by the act of ascending the flight of stairs.

At all key design areas, KL Tower is to be framed as the backdrop. Part of the building which frames KL Tower are:
Art Gallery on the Lower Ground, Arrival of the people into the main lobby at the Ground floor, Learning Studios at the First Floor, the Performing Theater at the 2nd Floor and every ascending of the vertical circulation in the building.

Sub-Basement: Underground Art Gallery, Water Taxi Stop, Storage/Services

Ground Floor: Main Lobby, Outdoor seating, Shops, Box Ticket Counter, Display Walls, Bar/Cafe Al fresco Dining 

First Floor: 2 Classrooms, Skybridge, Staff/Artist Accomodation, Dining, Office, Guest Welcoming Area, Projection Room/Event Control Room, Pre-function Area

Second Floor: Performance Stage, Merchandise and Pre-function Area, Performance Green Room, Rooftop Viewing Balcony

Featuring VPAC in an architecture exhibition in 2015.

The first conceptual sketch produced within the first week of design stage.