train station.Scale

The Shanghai Nan (上海南） train station is a seating area under a glazed dome; a glorified spot of shade and shelter. There are rings of pavilions and waiting spaces that provide order and sequence for ticketing, waiting, and boarding.

The station is on the third level. The outermost ring is the entrance, information and security checkpoint. Past that is a ring of shops each within its own pavilion. The majority of the travellers enter the center to wait. As the trains are below, passengers board through one of the eight gates that surround the center.

The dome is held up by a network of beams held up by an outer ring of 36 and inner ring of 18 pillars. At the center there are a compression and a tension ring that culminate in an oculus. The herringbone glazed framing for the dome is patterned so that it seems to lift off the structure, making the dome seem higher (and therefore lighter) that it really is.

金沙江路站 (test)

The intersection at jinsha elevated rail station is busy as ever.

a shower is a shower

After getting home from a loong flight, I was looking forward to a nice shower and night sleep. I had already had dinner and met everyone, and was headed to the shower. I realized as soon as I stepped into the shower were that there was no water pressure. And I couldn't get the spray nozzle to. So instead I used a small basin and towel-washed my body in the freezing tub. Oh, I already miss my shower head and the torrents of hot massaging water.

airport.Scale

Normally, airport hub, transport hub, and other public spaces seem extravagant in their spatial layout. I have reasoned it is because the spaces are scaled according to a crowd, most likely a moving one. Instead of using dimensions related to the human proportions, large public spaces are designed according to the speeds and vectors of circulation. This is to say we relate to spaces by moving through them.

To be specific, we move with both our bodies and our eyes (other senses less so). Patterns of movement are suggested by physical and visual boundaries created by static and dynamic interferences. Thus, by using architecture to design physical and visual boundaries within space, I can manipulate how users circulate and experience the space.

everyone is going home (回家)...

At the Atlanta airport, amongst a throng of people, I felt a pang of loneliness. I had just walked past the arrival lobby bustling with locals all eagerly awaiting their family members. At the luggage claim, I recognized the relieved faces on those returning to their family. Atlanta is their destination; it is only a stop for me.

Then again, I am also going home. 家 is more than just the place where I eat, sleep, play and work, it is where my family is, I am from, and who I am. Even though I've just left my parents in the US, Shanghai is where my extended family live.

After all, it is the holidays, and everyone is going home.

Who am I?

I am an architectural student in my thesis year (B.Arch Candidate). My thesis topic is a Migrant Education/ Employment facility in Shenzhen, China. I believe this thesis addresses an appropriate and pertinent topic: this facility will provide much needed education and resources to these migrants.

I will start with an exploration both into the migrant's stories and the current cultural fabric of Shenzhen. Then, I will map these soft relations against Shenzhen's development to articulate my issues on education and resources. Ultimately, I plan to weave these ideas into an architectural proposal addressing the transformation of outside migrants into Shenzhen citizens.

This blog is conceived as an accessible archive of my thoughts and thesis work. Hopefully, this will become a compilation of my process and I will use it to evaluate my progress throughout the semester.