静思-SIMPLICITY

“..There is no level of complexity that cannot be expressed through clarity of simplicity without simplification..”, written by Vittorio Gregotti.

This quote fascinates me the most and provokes my thinking on the terms, “simplicity” and “complexity” again.There is no right or wrong on your judgement or opinions towards a building, the personal who understands the building the most is the architect.

The product of my design studio 3 project, which is a proposal of a museum at Seri Kembangan, Selangor to reminisce and resuscitate the history of the Chinese New Village in Malaysia. Creating a picturesqueness structure which harmonise with the site, I brought in complexity into simplicity. Looking from the exterior, the spaces are seemed to be simply created by a few cuboids.

“..A building is not simple not because its shapes conform to the elementary geometry, not because all of it is immediately visible..” again written by Vittorio Gregotti.

Simple=difficult

Thoughts are applied on every single elements and spaces of the building. Having “静思 (providing serenity for reminiscence)” as my design intention and space quality as my primary concern in the project.

“..The simplicity of a building, moreover, has to do with silence..”, quoted by Vittorio Gregotti.

Making the gallery as the hierarchy of the spaces, special design features are applied. Column, a vertical structure to sustain load from the roof, floor slab, could also plays the role as an architectural design element at the same time. Instead of having bare columns standing in the gallery spaces, the columns are brought in to be used as exhibition elements. The columns support the glass panels / exhibition panels, and the columns’ position are where natural lighting are brought in and rainwater which act as the background screening to the exhibition panels, is allowed to flow through the voids. Besides from being a structural or exhibition feature, it is also a green feature, where cool air evaporated from the water feature at the lower ground floor is directed to the gallery, to cool down the internal spaces, which is aided by the natural stack effect. Refer to the sectional details on the left to further understand how does this feature works.

“..A simple building can also have an interior whose functions, spaces, uses, and distributions are complex; an interior rich in interrelations rather than in form, for which simplicity is, above all, a triangulation of the experimental field..” quoted from Philosophical Text, by Vittorio Gregotti, on simplicity. This quote best represents my design philosophy.

“Experiencing architecture“, visitors who visit the museum will experience differently at different levels and different spaces. For instance, the cafe could be a more happening or noisy area, and in contrary, the gallery and the library at the lower ground floor is purposely isolated to create serene and calm environment. In space planning, the functional spaces indirectly and spontaneously create human circulation flow.