The structural frame for the White Block Gallery has recently been completed.  Matt Johnson of SGH helped us design a ‘wall-umn’ system (wall + column) so that the interior spaces are free of columnar obstructions giving the curators more spatial opportunities to display art and media.  Distributing the load to many smaller columns rather than a few large ones paradoxically allows a higher level of visual connection between inside and outside.

SsD was selected to design and exhibit recent work in the BAC gallery on Newbury Street in Boston as well as teach a cross-discplinary studio as Distinguished Visiting Critics.  Funded by the Hideo Sasaki Foundation, the work revolved around the notion of  'socio-structural' – how structural solutions can converge with ideas of shaping social space.   Large scale models that tested the principles  at a human scale became the center of the exhibit.  Translucent panels lit from within exhibiting additional project images  modulated the view from the active storefront into the gallery space.

PROJECT CREDITS:

design and construction
Jinhee Park AIA (principal in charge), John Hong AIA/LEED (collaborating principal), Catarina Marques, Chris Ryan, Leehong Kim, Frederick Peter Ortner, Nathan Fash

RELATED PROJECTS:

acc	czech library	boston harbor	conflux

The act of encircling has both literal and metaphorical meanings: In an urban environment like Gwangju, encircling implies both the demarcation of a special precinct within the city's existing fabric as well as the creation of a new public common ground. Providing a porous, non-hierarchical edge to the urban surrounds, our encircling form expands the democratic territory of the existing Gwangju Fountain into a cultural complex and park on an urban scale. Through the use of a new socio-structural concept in the continuous deflected arch, continuities and reciprocal relationships between the diverse cultural programs within the building are enabled.

SOCIO-STRUCTURAL CONCEPT1. A flat slab proves inefficient in spanning long distances.   2. Deflection causes the flat slab to fail. 3. A deflected slab in conjunction with an arched slab creates an efficient long-span structure that allows interweaving of programs

UNFOLDED ELEVATION
A continuous undulating walkway becomes a linear public amenity: public spectacles and performances interweave with the building program.

The deflected structure allows the theater program to extend onto the green roof.

FIVE ELEMENTS PLAZAS
To aid orientation as well as to tie current material culture to more ancient asian notions of nature, five plazas symbolizing the essential forces of nature mark the site entry points.

As well as create a space for existing historical buildings and fountain, the project creates an urban scale terminus for the city's major artery.

SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES
The undulating form allows cross ventilation of the site while the tower harnesses wind currents channeled from the adjacent mountains.   A fully planted green roof across the entire building roof along with a new porous park contains all the stormwater onsite.  Geothermal loops augment the building's mechanical systems.

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PROJECT CREDITS:

architect
Jinhee Park AIA (principal in charge), John Hong AIA/LEED, Yongjoo Kim (Cambridge 7 Associates, Inc.), Anne Levallois, Erik Carlson, Hyeyoung Kim

structural engineer
Jaeseoung Lee (Weidlinger Associates Inc.)

RELATED PROJECTS:

bac sasaki	czech library	boston harbor

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It is the reciprocal edge between water and land that makes an island an extraordinary natural resource and public amenity. As an urban gateway to the Boston Harbor Islands, the structural roof-form or this design becomes a literal/metaphorical reference to this junction of water and land. Where the 'actual' site above the Central Artery prohibits excavation, the curvilinear roof-form is reflected onto a polished terrazzo map of the harbor islands implying the shoreline topography. This roof also collects runoff for reuse in the building and landscape while its downspouts become part of a demonstration water/land garden.

Miesian space to figural space:   The transformation of the roof planes from horizontal to vertical creates a transition from continuous public openness to figural private enclosure.

Structural concept:  like a flat sheet, a flat slab of concrete will deflect and fail (left).  Folding this sheet greatly increases its strength.

The section of the building transforms from folded to flat – open public space containing ticketing and exhibition areas to private interior space containing restrooms and wash areas.

A singular shape performs in multiple ways.

In the evening, the pavilion becomes part of the linear eventscape illuminating the new greenway.

PROJECT CREDITS:

architect
Jinhee Park AIA (principal in charge), John Hong AIA/LEED (collaborating principal), Sadmir Ovcina, Frederick Peter Ortner, Erik Carlson, Hyeyoung Kim

structural engineer
Jaeseoung Lee, Weidlinger Associates Inc.

RELATED PROJECTS:

mass art	boston city hall	bac sasaki	acc	white stadium

As both a secure repository of books and a symbolic civic building, a national library must negotiate the spatial dichotomy between storage and display. Through a strategy of 'light monumentality' the book stacks are formed into a curved two-way truss that protects and defines a public winter-garden below it. During the day, its specular surface reflects the surrounding cityscape, while at night an internal illumination reveals the massive amount of books and knowledge within. The curved form itself organizes a system of ramped stacks and reading rooms that allow new interactive relationships between books and their viewers.-

books can be seen as a surface (left).  This surface becomes volumetric as stacks are organized along a continuously sloping ramp (right).

During the day, the interior curved skin reflects the urban surrounds while protecting the collections from sunlight.  During the night, the interior of the book stacks is revealed.

View of model (left).  Structural diagram (right).

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From the interior, the rear of the stacks become an organizing apparatus: the user can quickly identify the destinatiion

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From the ground level, the sloping floor of the open stacks allows views into them: the contents of the library become shared cultural property.

view of back elevation

Sustainability strategies: The refractive geometry of the exterior structure/skin in conjunction with the curved interior glass skin allows diffuse natural light to enter deep into the building. The winter garden combined with the curved volume is used to bring cool air from lower levels and vent rising hot air.  Rain water is filtered and reused for secondary uses including building mechanical systems and toilets.

PROJECT CREDITS:

architect
Jinhee Park AIA, John Hong AIA/LEED (principals in charge), Catarina Marques, Chris Minor, Nathan Fash, Ann Ha, Behrang Behin, Erik Carlson

structural engineer
Jaeseoung Lee (Weidlinger Associates Inc.)

RELATED PROJECTS:

acc	boston city hall	hbny

SsD was included in a gobal selection of 100 architects curated by Ai WeiWei and Herzog and deMeuron.  The abstraction of the desert site is taken as an opportunity to develop new prototypical relationships between program and efficient energy use.  Each of the 8 towers contains a separate and distinct program: entry, living, food, exercise, sleeping, and bathing. Through the distortion of each tower’s geometry, the volumes join or separate creating strategic connections and segregations so that only occupied portions of the building need to consume energy.  The organization also creates experiential differences between rooms that are necessarily similar in size, while creating a high level of both porosity and privacy.  Finally, the strategy heightens the identity and iconography of each program promoting an intensity of accidental or intentional relationships between differing activities.

Different zones of the home are used at different times of day. dynamically adapting building systems to these patterns of use allows for greater energy-efficiency.

Separating the program into separate towers forms new spatial relationships while maximizing light and air to all rooms.

The towers rise out of the desert – clay pots are integrated into the landscape design to manage runoff during flash rain storms (above).  Although the  towers are in dense proximity to form an advantageous microclimate, the angled walls allow clear views to the sky (right).

structural diagram: towers are able to lean by keeping the centroids of volumes within foundation line

PROJECT CREDITS:

architect
Jinhee Park AIA, John Hong AIA/LEED (principals in charge), Brett Albert, Frederick Peter Ortner, Matthew Allen, Caroline Lang, Clara Wong, Bao Wei

structural engineer
Paul Kassabian, SGH

RELATED PROJECTS:

hbny	soft lofts	braver house

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