Photo

Department of

Architecture
Victor
Name Leung

First Year, BA (Arch Studies)

hku
2008/2009
 Table of Contents

Project 1 ... House Analysis

12th January - 19th February

Project 2 ... Field Trip and Presentation

23rd February - 12th March (Trip during 2nd March - 7th March)

Project 3 ... Design in Constraints

13th March - 23rd April

Table of Contents
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Project 1
House Analysis
Müller House
Adolf Loos
Prague, Czech Republic
1930

First project of this semester continues the architectural

analysis of a constructed object: a Modern Private House. The
chosen building - Müller House was studied and analyzed in
plan, section, elevation, photography, and as well as descrip-
tive and critical text. Along with a precise analysis of the form
of the building, the relationship between the formal structure
of the house and the relationship to its site is presented.

The study includes the following issues:

CONTEXT
Background History, Site Relationship
PROGRAM
Formal Composition, Spatial Sequence
CONSTRUCTION
Structural System, Material Design, Construction Method
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 Project 1 - House Analysis

Descriptive foam model.

This foam model omitted the facade of Villa Muller to show the interior floor slabs and partitions. It clearly shows the floor level and
spatial change, circulation and visual connection between rooms.
The obsession to Loos’ Raumplan starts from the observation of this model.
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 Project 1 - House Analysis

Block model
Spatial quality is complex due to Raumplan thinking. This block model rendered the void space into solid blocks in an accurate
manner. Windows are rendered as an extrusion of the room. The slightest difference in volume and height can be read from this
model. We can appreciate the change in spatial quality across rooms created by Loos in attempt to create a dramatic experience.
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Entrance, Anteroom, Cloakroom

Project 1 - House Analysis

Porch connecting to Hall

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Hall, Dining Room and Kitchen

Main circulation - provide access from other rooms to the dinning room; meet the service core which is beside the kitchen.
Project 1 - House Analysis

Windows are extruded from the blocks

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 Project 1 - House Analysis

Façade model
This model is the imagination of cutting away the middle of the house and exposes the façade with relation to the floor slabs and
walls. This model revealed the contrast between the simple external appearance and the complicated level changes. Inconsistent
floor slabs thicknesses are results from a set of rules which govern the space design. The language of extrusion and carve out can
be seen. Level changes of the floor constantly create a tension between the aligning and symmetrical windows.
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 Project 1 - House Analysis

South-West Piece
Including the Entrance side, showing windows arranged symmetrically and the Boudoir side. According to Loos: the programme
does not show hierarchy in bedroom level which results in little change of floor levels.
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Stairs from Hall to Boudoir

 Project 1 - House Analysis

North East Piece

North Side is the Hall and the Master Bedroom, both have larger ceiling height. The dining room side showed the dining room
extruded through the wall to create extra volume. Level does not change between Dining Room and Kitchen, favoring the circula-
tion.
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Master Badroom Balcony

Hall with and connection towards a Terrace
 Project 1 - House Analysis

Vertically exaggerated model

Floor slabs and their corresponding partitions are vertically exaggerated two times its height. Clearly showing level change in an
explicit manner. Multiple programmes of the house can be reviewed by different approach. Circulation are closely related to room
sequence and function; Room hierarchy are expressed in terms of floor height, volume, window size and the sequence along the
circulation; Double circulation for the servants and the served, meaningfully combined and interconnected across levels. Structural
columns arranged in a distorted square pattern hide within thick load bearing walls and the elevator shaft.
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Entrance and Cloakroom

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Project 1 - House Analysis

Circulation block model

This block model represents the double circulation in a continuous series of blocks. We can read the complexity of the path which
solved the connection problem between the 13 different levels resulting from the idea of Raumplan. Servants core are repetitive and
modular yet matches all levels which needs a connection. Main circulation is elegant and dramatic but without sacrificing practical
needs. The two cores join in areas where a practical connection is necessary.
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 Project 2
Field Trip and
PresentationThe field trip to Suzhou is focused on one of her renowned
Chinese classical garden - Lingering Garden. Gardens in
Suzhou were built according to the style of Chinese Paintings.
Every view in the Lingering Garden can be seen as a piece
of Chinese Painting and the whole garden is a huge piece of
Chinese Paintings. The architecture of the garden consists of
pavilions for various purposes, walkways, and outer and inner
walls. The walls have doorways and windows which framed
the small hills and lakes and other buildings and created layers
which consistently change while experiencing the garden.

Project 2 - Field Trip and Presentation

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Project 2 - Field Trip and Presentation

Floor plan of Lingering Garden, Suzhou

Showing points on which a photo analysis is taken. Two person shooting at each other, trying to frame the partner in a complex layer
while taking turns to change position.
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 Project 3
Design in
ConstraintsThis project is to design a house on a site in Central Hong
Kong based on the modernist precedent - Müller House -
analyzed at the start of the term. The design of the house is
informed by the analysis performed on that precedent. The
internal program, structural system, spatial order, material
selection, and all other aspects of the design of the house
was taken from the precedent study and adapted according
to the site, surrounding environment, modern requirement,
and practical needs.
The process of adaptation is to be understood as a process
of design within constraints. The result is not a pure personal
expression, but a carefully calculated exploration of a modernist
idea — with consistent and logics and clear expressions—
worked out within a set of new constraints.

Project 3 - Design in Constraints

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Project 3 - Design in Constraints

Block Model during the design process

The first block model is attempting to explore the possibilities of the site, the wedged-shape site can form a very sharp edged
building, which creates a visual illusion of a volume-less flat surface and pose a challenge to the geometry of a actual building . The
interlocking model is an attempt of diagramming a space that leads to a combination of two programme interlocking; such concept
derived from the Servant and Served programme in the Villa Muller.
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 Project 3 - Design in Constraints

Conceptual Models
These models deal with the organization of spaces, circulation and visual connection in different approach. Major attempt in these
models are to recreate a hierarchy of rooms through varying spatial quality.
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Project 3 - Design in Constraints

Simple Parti Models

These models arrived from sketches in different design stages, they contribute to the final design in forms and in concepts. The
idea of level changes are exaggerated progressively in the process. The concept of transforming the load bearing wall to situate in
the middle arises, which makes the design more challenging and interesting.
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 Project 3 - Design in Constraints

Detailed Parti Models

More Parti Models are create in order to refine the details and articulations. The model above with a diagonal articulation is being
critiqued as fake articulation and was marked as bad attempt. The model with long vertical windows leads to the idea of using
windows as an element which reviews the contradiction of levels in the final design,
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 Project 3 - Design in Constraints

Model of Final Design

The brief of the project is to design a urban house in the given sloping location, by transforming the Muller House into the site. I
picked the distinctive load bearing wall and transformed its original behaviour, locating the wall in the middle of the house. The wall
now become an element that splits the thin site into two, working with explicit level change across the wall and floor mismatch, pose
a challenge but also tension between the two thinner spaces. The dominant West side fits the major programme and the circula-
tion. The Living Room and Dining Room both extrude and push through the wall to the East side, constantly struggling to express
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its significance. The wall act as both a separation and a connection between the spaces, and maintaining the carving language
from the original house.
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Project 3 - Design in Constraints

Means of pushing and pulling the centre wall creates different space possibilities; a struggle between maintaining the integrity of the
wall and creating connections for spaces can be seen. Openings on the wall are placed meaningful to one room but across floor
slabs on other side of the wall revealing the difference in levels.
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Axonometric Drawing of the Final Design

(0.56:1 from original drawing)
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 Project 3 - Design in Constraints

Above: the fore-living room has a double height space which visually connects to the dining room above, the main living room
expands across both side of the wall.
Below: Showing the Attic, Daughter’s Bedroom and the Library. The Daughter’s Bedroom has a horizontal window which opens to
her playroom.
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Project 3 - Design in Constraints

Spatial Model of the Design

Rendered in diagrammatic blocks. This model visualizes the difference in spatial quality in different rooms.
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Back: Basement levels for service and storage
Front: The entrance above at road level and the cloak room

Project 3 - Design in Constraints

Living room area (viewed from behind). Dinning room area locates above (Not shown here).
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Bedroom Porch
Bedrooms and Attic. The porch (pulled out piece) in the middle of the bedrooms connects to: The Living rooms below; The Guest
Room, The Daughter’s Bedroom; The Master Bedroom; The Playroom, The Attic.
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 Project 3 - Design in Constraints

Axonometric Diagram of the Circulation

(0.59:1 from original drawing)
The circulation design sticks to the principle of being practical but dramatic as in Villa Muller. Entrance of the building locates at the
South side, connecting to the raised Porch which leads to Cloakroom. The raised Porch linked to a semi open space at the opposite
side of the wall. A long but progressive narrowing stairs lead the way to the Living areas. The main Living room is slightly raised from
the fore-Living room and a zigzag stairway connects up to the Dining Room. The stairway continues but goes through the wall to
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the other side which is a balcony, looking back down on the Dining room before reaching the Library. Continuing up is the Bedroom
Porch where the room-to-room connection splits to a star-shape topology for the Bedrooms, Playroom and the Attic above.