Algorithmic Symbiosis
|
Final Thesis Statement My thesis research attempts to address the social tensions as brought on by the IVS visitors through physical form. This design opportunity allows for a new type of civic architecture to be crossprogrammed with the hotel/hostel through symbiotic strategies. With both of the existing typologies proven to be inadequate as individual buildings, I would like to combine these two typologies into one, aiming that the sum of the two would be larger than the individual parts. Analyze how they could both benefit each other through the hybridization of these architectural typologies. The set of relationship initiated through looking at the metaphor of the symbiotic link between two species in biology. An often long term interaction between two or more biological species. These could commonly be categorized into either mutualistic or parasitic interaction; mutual beneficial / leeching relationship. Whilst currently the visitors to Hong Kong is often seen as being a parasitic end as the locals do not see the direct gains and contribution the visitors have impacted towards Hong Kong’s society. To preserve the cultural identity of Hong Kong, it is essential to re-image the model of the Hong Kong Municipal Building; a system where spaces would regenerate according to the needs of a society. Local stores that occupy the architecture would redevelop spatially according to change; a continuous loop of architecture that collapses rebuilds and grows through the anticipation towards future projections. Textual and Visual Material of Research This social tension originated through the desperate attempt to draw more tourists in following the SARS outbreak in 2002 to revive Hong Kong’s economy. As a result, the Hong Kong Government began to introduce the Individual visiting Scheme in the timeframe of July 2003 to January 2007; allowing various cities in China vacate in Hong Kong without a visa. The success of the scheme was unparalleled.; and in the first half of 2013 alone, more than 10,430,000 visitors have visited Hong Kong from the Guangdong Provence. With this trend steadily increasing per annum, by 2017, it is projected that more than 70 million IVS visitors would visit Hong Kong. This brings us to a problematic situation, since even though this scheme has proven to be a significant positive impact towards our economy, the public only perceives the vast amount of tourists draining Hong Kong’s public resources and disrupting the law and order of the region. As a solution, I propose to disrupt from the current indirect economic model where the native residents do not see the positive impact the IVS visitors brings forth. And instead, through architecture, create a more cohesive system, where the structure plays the role of assembling the two listed social groups under the same roof through mutualistic symbiotic strategies.
What are symbiotic strategies? Symbiosis is the long term interaction between two different species. In nature, this relationship could be seen in display in the fungus-tree relationship. Sets of interactions could often be portrayed as Mutualistic or Parasitic. A Mutualistic Relationship is exhibited in the coexistence of Fungal and Algae relationship, where the Fungus gains nutrients from the algae through photosynthesis whilst the fungus provides a rooted structural protection for the Algae. On the contrary, the Hookworm-Mammal relationship is parasitic as the Hookworm resides within the mammal as a suitable environment, whilst offering nothing in return. Metaphorically, this describes the current social situation in Hong Kong. This graph demonstrates the symbiotic association between the residents and the tourists. The X axis symbolizes the local benefit and harm, whilst the Y axis represents the wellbeing of the tourists. The residents currently perceive the tourists as parasitic as they only are exposed to the negative behaviors as displayed by the tourists, but they do not exposed to the positives,
Hence, as a design strategy, my architecture will attempt to shift the equilibrium from a parasitic relationship to a mutualistic co-existence through maximum exposure and hybridizing.
Project Description Apart from the political and the cultural discourses between these two parties, a fundamental problem identified in this relationship is the over exploitation of the limited resources the tourist has over the locals. As a result, the space for infrastructure and spaces usually reserved for locals are over congested in the city center. Moreover, as visitors are usually over concentrated in a singular area, public transports and infrastructure are insufficient to support the needs, leaving the locals with no public space (as shown in the diagram mapping the flickr uploads per location). However, tourists directly and indirectly contribute towards to the majority of Hong Kong’s GDP. As visitors spend money towards Hong Kong’s touristic venues, the Government collects the taxes from those industries and spending back to the local. But this process is too indirect and hardly noticed by the locals. Seeking a shift in the relationship set; from parasitic relationship to a mutualistic one. Architecturally I attempted to reveal the process of towards the public and to introduce two distinct building typologies that best represents the two parties; Hotel for the tourist and Municipal Service Building for the locals into one. The Municipal Service Building An inbuilt characteristic of the Municipal Architecture that boosts its attractiveness lies in its location. Located in the heart of each district, the municipal architecture has the potential to spread and emphasize the characters of the district through its crafts and goods; reviving the purpose of the municipal architecture.
Moreover, each of the network of the civic architecture are well interconnected; a potential trait that could bridge districts together and providing a platform for all to communicate and debate in an orderly fashion.
By imagining the prototype of the municipal building, I intend to redefine the genotype of a specific model; such model could then be varied within the confines of individual districts. Following similar rules and parameters of the new definition, phenotypes would then be introduced for site specificity. By providing such framework, pattern formations between stores would be explored on how the intelligent system could react to existing conditions to create self-organizing structures. As a result, I propose to challenge and transform the conventional space within a municipal service building, through the convergence of embedded computation and kinetics in architectural form with the intention to involve human and environmental responses. As time plays an intricate role in the development of a district, investigate how architecture changes and responds to the desire of the user. Manufacture a building-sized transformable machine that addresses social and political issues in Hong Kong that go far beyond the typical bounds of architecture. Ultimately through this process of redefining the building typology, resolve the underlying issues of social conflict and growth within the society and use this form of public space as an urban generator in diversifying the community. Hotel An autonomies building , segregated with the public realm. Does not show any signs with integration with public programmatically or through circulation. Hybridize By looking at the program of the hotel and municipal. Interestingly, except for the hotel rooms. All the program on the podium of the hotel is very similar to those in the municipal building; F&B versus cooked food center. Function rooms vs city hall swimming pool, gym and retail. So my assumption would be could we redistribute the tourists into 18 districts of Hong Kong to ease the over congestion of city center by having new typology of building on prime location of existing site of municipal service building. The district’s economy and facilities could be directly beneficial through a hybridized building. Textual and Visual Material of Design Process System I am looking for a system to construct the building through an algorithm which could be universally apply to the existing site of the municipal service building in each of the district forming a network of vertical infrastructure. Learning form the symbiotic reciprocal relationship. What I design is a genotype of 2 systems, hotel and municipal service building. Both of them are mutually exist and responds specifically to the external parameters collected from the district and morph into different unique phenotypes in each of the district with their own identity As you can see from this panel here, multiple sites of the in Hong Kong is selected as the input of the algorithm. So this process is collecting the macro parameters from an urban scale to the building which include urban nodes and adjacent building massing and the quantity of the tourist to redistribute into the district to determine the building height. And then there is a series of computational process that makes decision on the size and orientation of the municipal service program massing towards urban node unobstructed at different levels. And then based on municipal area being defined, profile of the hotel will be determined and response to the view analysis of the district as you can see the visualization of the data from here. As a result, a unique free form surface is generated as a response to the adjacent urban fabric. So in this step, the overall framework, the setting out, the massing of the building is determined as a response to the city fabric. So As a result, the tower basically is a vertical master planning strategy of the new civic center based on the parameters collected from the district that performs symbiotically For the next step, the building is undergoing some fine adjustment of the generative form according to the micro parameters collected. The building is mainly consist of 3 systems In Municipal service component, the volume is defined by 4 mega columns as framework for hanging those orthogonal compartmentalized program with long span structure, like sports Hall and theater that could be determine specifically according to the preference of each of the district. In the Hotel component, the free form surface of the is undergoing a series of subdivision to forming the hotel rooms where their orientation and density are respond to both the view to the adjacent urban fabric and also the position of the municipal massing. As you can see in the 2 diagram. The porosity of the internal and external facade The third component which is how these 2 systems come together, not only forming the structure of the tower and but also a central atrium providing a visual connection and a vertical landscape in-between that not only connect 2 systems and as a buffering zone that providing a certain privacy to the hotel part The combination of the three components creates a singular system as shown in the model here. Between systems marks the phasing and growth, as multiple systems are required to provide the needs of the growing district. Between systems, sky plazas are located as the primary platform for mutual interaction. Symbiotic Circulation System The circulatory system could be categorized into three steps. The primary circulation is where both of the parties enter the system through a central core, they are both elevated to the sky plazas as the primary mixing chamber where informal event spaces occur. The tourists and the locals enters their own set of secondary circulation to arrive at the hotel rooms and the civic programs respectively. Between these two programs lies the tertiary circulation system where the sky gardens blurs the boundaries between both parties. In this system, the hotel portion provides an opportunity for the monetary operation of the facilities to be visualized by the locals, whilst the tourists directly interact with the locals as they share the facilities achieving a mutualistic symbiotic relationship. As an example, at the sky plaza one party is hosting a Cantonese opera festival, whilst at another level, the locals are hosting the Sunday market. As a result it provides a settings for social activities to occur, allowing the tourists to take part in experiencing the “true” hong kong culture.
Conclusion In conclusion, the whole tower instead of defining it as a building I would like to say it’s a vertical masterplaning of a infrastructure network over hong kong and as a result, Skyline of Hong Kong is no longer dominated by the residential can commercial towers. But a vertical civic center as a manifesto at the center of each of the district.
Bibliography
|