thomas lin

design portfolio

architectural work

inverse honeycombgrassblock- 1st place for Student Unit Design Competition (school-wide)and invited to NCMA Midyear Meeting (Aug 2011)

objective

to design a customized and practical concrete masonry unit for mass production and commercial use as a building block or paver system. this concrete masonry unit design exercise would help give perspective to real-world applications of design ideas at the mi-cro scale of building assembly and the technical aspects of design

overview

in order to ensure that the concrete block could be practically manufactured, the design had to create multiple units within a 24” x 16” x 8” dropbox. the units needed to be designed so that when cast, the mold would press down and extrude vertically, thus limit-ing certain lateral design possibilities. efficient use of material and ease of design were also important design features to the block as this process was considered a practical exploration of the cre-ation of concrete masonry units, as it was recommended to use the majority of the dropbox to carve out the design. perhaps the most important design incentive was to treat the project as a real-istic attempt to introduce a new breed of concrete masonry units that could be mass produced, easily made, and create intrigu-ing designs. as such, the assignment required a refined sense of practicality and design rigidity in order create a successful con-crete masonry unit acting as a building block or paving system.

design

in order to create a more interesting form and system for the CMU design, the design was organized into a hexagonal honeycomb-like system to act as a grassblock. this would allow the system to tesselate easily while being easily created, thus creating a uniquely different paver system. to utilize the entire creation space in the dropbox, two different units were created. the first and bigger unit was a conglomeration of six hexagonal parts that formed a large hexagon. voids were punched in to reduce weight and cre-ate more solid-void relationships. the second unit would take an inverse approach by having smaller hexagons acting as stubs pro-tuding from a half-hexagon. these two units could then be tesse-lated, rotated, and placed in any order to create countless number of paver designs exhibiting very interesting concrete-grass patterns

main hexgaonal unit

secondary arm unit

dropbox model

grass block paver system possibilities

construction layers section cut

existing bedrockgeotextile

sub-base

top soil

drainage blanket

objective

to explore the usage of various materials and their form, shape, size, texture, application, color, etc. and utilize their inherent properties to create a structurally sound and aesthetically interesting bench. the con-stant experimentation of these materials will open the door to new de-sign opportunities that can be effectively used for real-life applications

overview

spray-on expansive foam is used primarily for plumbing purposes, most exclusively for filling up small cracks in water pipes and other plumb-ing. while in liquid form when applied from the can, the foam expands and hardens within eight hours of application, leaving a tough exterior skin with a softer inside to ultimately have a sturdy and textured feel.

clear plastic tubes used for lighting storage, when oriented verti-cally, provide robust structural integrity. the translucency of the plastic allows for the tubes to generate a staggered effect that eventually turns opaque from the depth of constant stacking.

with the utilization of both of these unrelated materials, the mar-riage of the two would ultimately result in the final bench design.

foam tubebench

design

in using the unique materials of spray-on foam and plastic tubing, a more definite design methodology developed: using the plastic tubes vertically to generate the structural integrity while spraying the foam on for connection and comfort purposes. by spraying the foam on to the vertically oriented tubes, the bench would be able to develop a cohesively sturdy and interactive design strategy.

in order to save material while keeping structural integrity, a layout of hexagonal honeycombs was utilized for the placement of the plas-tic tubes. the unitized honeycombs would generate a larger batch of honycombs of tubes that would be duplicated mullple times to create the groundwork for the bench. the plastic tubes would be cut at various heights (from 1.5’ up to 2.5’) in order to generate the curves of the bench. the primary curve would allow the bench to cre-ate a natural “laying down” posture for the user. the spray on foam would then be sprayed on both the bottom and top ends in order to join the plastic tubes together and provide comfort for the sit-ters. because the interior of the foam proved much softer, the foam could easly be sanded/shaved off to create an even soft surface.

as such, the ultimate combination of the two materials result-ed in an effective bench that beautifully took advantage of the materials’ strength and characteristics. the foam was easily ma-nipulable to suit the vertical plastic tubes’ structural strength.

construction process

spray-on foamvoluminous _ flexible _ opaque

plastic tubinglinear _ fixed _ transparent

original construction layout

the use of color helps to denote the various heights of the tubes needed to produce the curvature of the bench, resulting in a rich construction diagram

final layout

- 448 total tube segments- 15 total cans of spray-on foam - 5 cans for bottom - 10 cans for top

6’ - 2 1/4”

1’ - 7 11/16 ”

objective

to use standard concrete masonry units (CMU) in a creative and efficient manner in order to achieve an architectural solution. the ultimate goal was to use the design philoso-phy from the various explorations of the CMU and their possibilities and design a warehouse. designed in school-wide competition hosted by national concrete masonry association (NCMA) for best design and hardscape design.

overview

concrete masonry units, traditionally used for structur-al purposes, can be easily applied for architectural de-sign. this exercise demanded a strategy that would meet the four primary judging criteria for the competition:aesthetic concept, innovative use of CMU, functional use of CMU, and constructability of the CMU as whole. as such it was vital to explore CMU and its unique building traits.

the location of the warehouse would be in marfa, texas. program required a 200’ x 200’ building footprint, a stag-ing field of paved surface 200’ x 200’ in front of the build-ing, an office, and a restroom within the warehouse. in general, the utilization of the CMU brick to create the warehouse was the overall defining design objective.

cmuwarehouse- 3rd place for best design in NCMA sponsored school contest

design

a stacking method was employed in using the CMU. stacked orthogonally, systemized units were developed from two standard CMU (16” x 8” x 8”). using this simple unit, a hori-zontal expansion of the units easily created walls. these walls produced interesting lighting effects with cast shadows and light in zig-zag formation. within the horizontal wall, half CMU blocks and independent CMU were placed to create a column grid within the wall. this column grid would run throughout the walls and establish the structure for the ware-house. the standard CMU were simply stacked every other row to create a clerestory to create lighting for the warehouse.

the orthogonally stacked unit would find itself further used in the stepped pyramid wall. once again repeated to create the staggered effect, the CMU stepped wall was oriented to be the building’s entrance. this intriguing stepped pattern would continue to generate a similar light-shadow contrast in the wall. the staggered wall allowed natural rainfall to cas-cade down the building in almost a waterfall-like fashion and be drained at the bottom. adding this triangular mass also provided exterior protection from the desert winds of Marfa.

because of the general storage nature of the entire ware-house complex, the circulation was considered to allow easy access for moving trucks. the two loading docks were angled at a 45o angle to make it easier to back up into the structure. the office was located in the center of the stepped wall, acting as the hierarchical core of the entire facility with its location at the heart of the structure and its circulation.

circulation

program grid

roof drainage

clerestory light

construction process

field effect

plan

south elevation

east elevation

objective

to utilize the site’s conditions of location, topography, urban con-text, demographics, and other various site features to develop a design strategy to meet the programmatic and spatial demands of a new educational art center located in the heart of los ange-les’s famed hollywood. more specifically, the project calls for the ultimate examination of the site and its various conditions and how to adapt the design process to meet these site conditions.

overview

slanguage is an artist group located within the los angeles region consisting of many various artists creating art through all differ-ent types of mediums. slanguage primarily focuses on art educa-tion, community involvement, and interactive exhibitions. their work have included many multimedia presentations, public per-formances, dance chereographies, and art workshops. with its creative exploits, slanguage hopes to educate the community about the cultural and intrinstic value of the performing arts.

the site for the proposed art center is located on the famous sun-set boulevard near echo park. it is an unusual site, having a small hill that slopes steeply from the site boundary of the street to the end of the site. the program for the space requires a pub-lic gallery, storage, cafe, library, administration, three classrooms/workshops, fifteen studio spaces, and an outdoor workspace in addition to any necessary circullation spaces and bathrooms.

art centerslanguage

2223 sunset blvd.los angeles, ca 90026

sunset blvd.

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design

in order to meet the uniqueness of slanguage and the demands of the site on a small “hill” facing the most sunset boulevard of the los angeles area, a “stepping” technique was employed to begin the design process.

this stepping process resulted in the placement of individual studios. these studios would be architecturally more interesting compared to other programatic spaces, having curved walls to serve as “light scoops” to take in the norther light. lined up with the classrooms, the entire studio section was also separated from the more public sec-tors of the project (library, cafe, etc.) in order to split up private and public spaces. finally, the gallery is oriented with the axis of sunset blvd to address the street and the public. by jutting out from the rest of the program, the gallery is both a stand-alone feature and an invitation to the public to see slanguage’s work.

public vs. private

program

circulation stepping

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thank you.