ARCH5110/6210G
Advanced Architectural Design Studio I & II: FRAGMENTS – Structural (Re)Assemblage
Target Students MArch1, MArch2
Course Term 1 & 2
Course Type Studio
Venue Studio
Teacher(s) Wang, Shuaizhong
Structures as physical objects embody manifold possibilities for human interaction, which are systematically overlooked in our building conventions separating architectural and structural design. Among the mass-produced ordinary buildings, structures are usually inert systems devised solely for load-bearing, reduced to the background or even the hindrance of spatial expression. It is the current call for sustainable development that brings such ordinary structures to the foreground. As the bearers of massive embodied carbon, they become the protagonists in stock renewal and circular construction. Dissociating structures with prescribed functions and compositions casts new light on their formal character and their potential perceptual impact. Through the conceptual and actual fragmentation of given structural systems, it is possible to reimagine and recreate relations between basic structural elements and human behaviours.
Starting from the physical existence of structures, structural reassemblage can range from more conventional adaptive reuse to more avant-garde component reuse. For example, can we single out a column from the repetition of the grid and turn it into a symbolic centre? Can we build horizontal layers over columns like nests? Or, more radically, can we remove the columns from this building and rebuild a dream house with a completely different appearance and space character? In this studio, students will explore multiple potentials of structural elements and dig into the structural principles and tectonic details that make them possible.
This studio is the first of a trilogy exploring structures’ potential roles in three basic human activities – living, working, and playing. Hong Kong is always struggling for decent living. Transforming existing structures for living is both a problematic social reality (in the case of subdivided units) and a direction for future development (in the case of transitional housing). Under the title Reassemblage for Living, we invite students to explore the possibilities for living offered by existing structures in Hong Kong.
