Manifold Masses
UCLA 2010, Professor: Georgina Huljich, Team: Harlen Miller
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Program: International Port Terminal
Location: Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Size: 54,000 SM
The investigation into formal internal orders of architecture, specifically a universal network of saddle polyhedra and its formal potential for generating intensive massing and figural interstices is the basis for this studio. The initial studies look at the potential of saddle polyhedra to aggregate and generate figural primitives with features beyond strict surface conditions. The latter part of the research looks at the instantiation and hybridization of these systems into new massing orders such as figural and or figureless voids, figural and or figureless masses, and featureless mass.
The strict formal agenda and tectonic catalogue of instances will be applied in the design of the Kaohsiung Port Terminal. Formal and tectonic systems developed in the early stages of research are deployed in direct response to problems associated with the singular atmosphere and technical constraints of the program. Issues such as figural; figureless; mass and interstice are important aspects guiding the evolution of the architectural form. The concept for the Port Terminal is to internalize two voids within the solid volume of program. The voids serve not only to differentiate departure and arrival circulation, but allow retail and restaurant space to vertically communicate.
