ANH TANG ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO
The site is part of old oakland and is characterized by the restaurant and retail businesses and the historical facades of the buildings. Many of the people working on this site are service workers and as service workers they often find roommates or move in with their parents to afford the high living costs. While it is becoming more common for people to have many roomates, the majority of housing is still being designed for people to live independently or as the typical nuclear family. How can the apartment unit be reimangined as a flexible space to accomodate a broader definition of “family” and foster a community that can share their resources and support one another.
Dogon settlements consist of multiple compounds and each compound can include fixed elements such as a house with a hearth, various granaries for storage and additional dwellings for relatives grouped around a courtyard. The stone walls are used to define the boundaries and connect the fixed elements forming the courtyard where people work and eat together. They lived sharing their resources and responsibilities, allowing work and life to co exist in the same space comfortably.
To reconceptualize this relation of permanent and adjustable elements in response to the variety of needs of the people living there for an urban context, this project proposes to organize pairs of dwellings on a grid with an offset central core and two strips housing the kitchen and storage on either side making up the permanent elements. Offsetting the core allows for a variety of unit arrangements and with the addition of operable walls, the rooms can be joined together or closed off to facilitate different programs with varying levels of privacy.
The repition and relatively small size of the elements that make up the grid system for the units can be prefabricated as CLT panels to streamline the assembly of units.
The core is simultaneously used as a utility core, structural core, and the spatial organization for the pairs of units.
The project is situated in Richmond’s Alvarado Park where the urban conditions of the city meet the natural conditions of the park forming a wildland-urban interface zone. The project adresses the complexities of joining a fire station and community center while considering the risks of wild fires.
This project derives its formal and material strategy by responding to the site conditions and programmatic needs resulting in a radial organization. This radial strategy unifies the program of the fire house and community center, their respective massing and the overall structural organization. The sculpted massing comes as a reaction the the site’s urban and natural conditions creating a stronger curve to accomodate the fire house using the fire truck turning radius as a guide and a gentler curve to accomodate the community center facing the natural setting using the site contours as a guide. The curves are reconciled structurally and programmaticaly by following a radial grid that allows the geometry of the circular courtyard to speak to the curvature of the south and north facades. The materiality of the building is considering the fire house as the fortress protecting the more delicate community center and therefore creating this protective concrete shell around the channel glass facade.
To produce healthier environments that are more condusive to learning and education, the Open Air School addresses how the classroom can be moved outdoors.
The stacking and rotating of the indoor and outdoor classrooms create a porous volume that allows light and air to permeate.
The vertical circulation elements create an environment of compression that enhances the open and porous experience of the classrooms.
The school in orsonnens had a unique shingle pattern that references the barn typology which we depicted in the physical model along with the diagran to the right as a way to understand the tectonics of the building.
A. The site is excavated with sloping sides in preparation for construction of plinth foundation.
A. The site is excavated with sloping sides in preparation for construction of plinth foundation.
B. Form work is then constructed for the the reinforced concrete basement walls.
B. Form work is then constructed for the the reinforced concrete basement walls.
C. The ground floor slab is poured after the foundation walls and a base for the central columns are also formed in this stage.
C. The ground floor slab is poured after the foundation walls and a base for the central columns are also formed in this stage.
D. Reinforced concrete cores are constructed next.
D. Reinforced concrete cores are constructed next.
E. Wood posts and laminated beams are used to construct the main structure above ground, referencing traditional barn construction methods. The wood structure is left naturally finished to highlight the material used in barn construction.
E. Wood posts and laminated beams are used to construct the main structure above ground, referencing traditional barn construction methods. The wood structure is left naturally finished to highlight the material used in barn construction.
F. The structure also informs the spational partitioning of the programs such as the central void for social gathering and the rotating orientation of the classrooms around the central void.
F. The structure also informs the spational partitioning of the programs such as the central void for social gathering and the rotating orientation of the classrooms around the central void.
G. Joists are slotted into pre-notched beams as part of the composite concrete and wood floor.
G. Joists are slotted into pre-notched beams as part of the composite concrete and wood floor.
L. The concrete basement wall above ground is cladded with concrete panels that have precasted patterns.
L. The concrete basement wall above ground is cladded with concrete panels that have precasted patterns.
H. Cantilever floor slabs occuring within the central void are heavily reinforced.
H. Cantilever floor slabs occuring within the central void are heavily reinforced.
M. Wood shingles are installed between laminated wood frames.
M. Wood shingles are installed between laminated wood frames.
I. The central “tree” made up of 4 branching columns are bolted together and help support the skylight opening.
I. The central “tree” made up of 4 branching columns are bolted together and help support the skylight opening.
N. Copper shingles are used as an accent material and ties the facade back to the roof finish.
N. Copper shingles are used as an accent material and ties the facade back to the roof finish.
J. The hip beams are rested on top of main roof beams that have a ledge to receive them.
J. The hip beams are rested on top of main roof beams that have a ledge to receive them.
O. The roof is finished in copper sheet roofing, which is very appropriate for snowy climates.
O. The roof is finished in copper sheet roofing, which is very appropriate for snowy climates.
K. The roof rafters are installed next with wood sheathing on top.
K. The roof rafters are installed next with wood sheathing on top.
The bath house will be situated on a valley site facing the ocean. To better understand the site, these drawings help to clarify the morphology of the surrounding context and the various possibilities for views and site orientation.
