Samuel Wong
(Bachelor of Architecture, University of Technology Malaysia 2006.)
Following from an intense experience at Singapore's RT+Q Architects, Samuel joined Aedas Shanghai for a short stint before spending five years as a Design Manager for CapitaLand's Raffles City in Hangzhou, China.
Samuel witnessed the Chinese government's effort in embracing sustainable and higher-quality development, the rise of entrepreneurship and the emergence of Chinese architecture voices in this rapid economic growth. In the coming lecture, He is going to share his experiences and observations during his seven years in China, and his involvement in building one of the most ambitious landmarks for Hangzhou skyline.
Being a design manager, you are naturally involved in numerous matters but he mainly focuses on the construction for it is one of the area where it contributes his stress and the erection of the building.
This project took 4 years to thought thru and it was ready for construction in 2012. During the construction, there were many tests and issues which hindered its development. With the grits of the design team, the strucutre was successfully constructed and completed in 2017.
One of the crucial issue of the building was the curved columns. According to his sharing, it took several tests, with the visible cracks in them. 'Rhino' was a curcial software for the design team for in was the crucial part of the building and with the software, it helped designers to detect the obvious problem and come up with better solutions. With Rhino, it helped to reduce the time of the obstacle.
From the image, it was described by him that the blue colored part indicated the “safe zone” within the column design. Red, being the critical part of the design needed to be amended so it may work.From the image, it was described by him that the blue colored part indicated the “safe zone” within the column design. Red, being the critical part of the design needed to be amended so it may work.
Raffles City was based of the Statue of David from the use of 'Urban Contrapossto'. It is the study of body based on the statue. The building's exterior has a abnormal twist in form.
He then proceeds in explaining and share what was the intent of the building. It was aimed to be a convenient hub within the area. It was desing to include everything in a building. The mall was design with a sustainable approach and he had hope that the building will receive a LEED Gold certification, UNStudio has implemented a 'green' approach as aprt of their design philosophy.
The twist effect to the mall exterior, you have your usual space layout with an interesting twist to the layout; having voids going diagonally upwards with a central atrium connecting to all parts of the mall. The diagonal voids were a way for humans to virtually experience the movement of human traffic within the building.
He made an impact with the entrance, even if it seems basic. A relfective surface atop the shade, making it a more lively communal space. The idea of the design was focus on the movement of traffic. The relfective surfaces has been implemented to show the continuous movement of the community.
The building programs were combined in one seamless flow, accommodating the retail, restaurant, leisure facilities and parking and also connect to the underground to the metro. The mixed-use not only functions to provide the users and residents a positive environment to architecture, but also actively makes the movement of human flow around the clock creating a safe and lively interaction for all.
To conclude his sharing, he encourages us to go beyond in architectural practice and grab the opportunity that's offered to us. Designing is important, but the hustle was the construction and what a joy to see your desing come to life.
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