Auditorium/ Lecture theatre (Environmental Science and Control in Architecture)

In essence this project required us to design an auditorium to facilitate the recent growth of students within the Victoria School of architecture and design. The design had to demonstrate clear principles of acoustic and lighting design as well as of sustainability. Appropriate use of natural lighting, heating and ventilation was an integral part of the design scheme. These would reflect the climate, culture and context relating to the facility. Adaptability could be a bonus to encourage flexibility of use now and in the future. Minimal maintenance and easy to manage and operate are factors to be considered.

It was very rewarding in the way that it challenged me to think deeply about how it was to perform acoustically, its lighting levels (maintenance of specific and consistent lux levels in important locations like the stage/ platform), sight lines from seating arrangement, passage flow, egress, fire safety etc. This project has been quite enjoyable contrasting with previous ones as often in the earlier stages of my course it has very much been about the aesthetic appearance, the emotive experiences, and building form that was of primary importance. It was great trying to find solutions to more pragmatic problems; concentrating a little more on the building function.

Surf Club - Lyall Bay

A project that required us to analyse the site (Lyall Bay, Wellington) and its context in preparation for designing with respect to climate and existing environmental conditions. This project comprised of 3 phases:

1. Site and Context Analysis – Done in a groups of 12 to address:
- The historical development of Lyall Bay.
- The social, economic context.
- The landforms, site boundaries, and building conditions.
- The cadastral plans and planning regulations.
- The design data for establishing and assessing environmental performance targets (weather data, tidal movements, solar access, sund paths, etc.).
- The target environmental design conditions (temperature, lighting levels, solar access, ventilation rates etc.)

2. Concept design – Done in pairs to basically churn out design concepts and explore the various possibilities.. sure there may be specific problems to solve but there are a countless number of design solutions that address those problems!

3. Final Design Development – An Individual phase to bring together all the analysis and conceptual work done to produce a holistic and unique design.


In terms of preparing us as students for the marketplace, this project has definitely been the most complete by the fact that we were given such a realistic situation to design for. A real site with building code restrictions, extreme weather conditions and environmental analysis done to address these problems, as well as social, economic, historical, topographical, and sustainable issues to be considered.

I have learned a great deal in terms of the importance of incorporating solid analysis and research in our designs. We all want workable buildings that performs its function; huge wind speeds blowing into a BBQ area just doesn’t make it usable, sun that directly shines into your eyes as you are eating in a cafe just doesn’t make that place usable, a changing room placed in an area un-accessible to those who need to change just doesn’t serve its purpose either! This is my attempt to address such a wide range problems, weighing out and prioritising solutions that are most important to create a coherent and holistic surf club for the Lyall bay community.

Solar Memorial

As I understand it the aim of this project was to provide us students with the opportunity to familiarise ourselves with computer modelling software and the three-dimensional characteristics of the interaction between architectural space and the sun's path relative to a specific location. Other aims include exploring the effects of environmental context, climate, culture and materiality in architecture. We were asked to both model an existing building (Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier) in attempt to learn how to use Revit as well as design a solar memorial for a specific time of the year. The solar memorial was a design avenue in which we could use sunlight to create a somewhat spiritual and emotive space in a special moment of time (once a year).

The ability to communicate how a space is experienced is something I am very passionate about. I have sacrificed weeks and weeks of my holidays committed to learn programs like these. This is my first work with Revit and 3ds Max and I’m very proud that I was able to communicate such emotive qualities of the space. Man.. it was extremely hard and frustrating as I came across loads of technical problems but yeah God definitely pulled me through this one.. Its so true that as we trust in God with all our heart, and lean not on our own understanding, He will always guide our path.! God is where I find my strength to persevere, my inspiration to design, and my peace and confidence that I am able!

This was a collaborative effort between Daniel Po, Bohan Lin and myself. We were asked to help redevelop the construction and design methods that the well known ‘Habitat for Humanity’ development scheme uses. It was the attempt to think of ways in which we could bring a greater sense of architecture in support programmes like these, as opposed to just meeting the basic physical and functional needs of less fortunate people. It is all good to make the statement that architecture is not only for the rich and more fortunate; but it is how we can implement such a statement in reality that brings it meaning.


Through having modular structural frames and offering variety and complexity through prefabricated wall components; our design offers maximum customisability, affordability, sustainability, serviceability and desirability.

The transformable living spaces (thus multi functional) allows for maximised living within minimal space, achieved through condensing the furniture within the wall components. This minimised usage of space reduces materials required for construction and consequently reduces overall cost. In other words the furniture is built into the wall; another cost reducing factor. Deconstructable wall elements allow for the merging of small spaces to create single, larger spaces; permitting greater space usage flexibility.

Prefabricated components also mean zero wastage; everything is made to fit. Material costs are reduced, labour costs decreased, building expertise required kept minimal. Services are also integrated into the components, providing ease of access for repairs and replacements when required. Time is money, and with the ease of constructing a house with modular frames and prefabricated parts, completion time would be kept to a minimum. The modular structural frames provide adaptability to different sized or shaped sites; by offering a catalogue of frames and components to our clients, building forms can be generated according to their preference, suiting to the site accordingly. Building code NZ 3604 compliant construction methods are well implemented into the frames and components, assuring stability and safety on the built land.

In essence, we provide the tools, our clients decide the design.

First All Nighter!!

My first All-NIGHTER!!! Gosh I’ve broken my vow not to do a single all-nighter for the whole of my architecture course, but hey.. looks like I was able to get quite a bit done.! Though I’m very proud of myself for not having to do any in my first year; I just believe that managing my time and consistently working hard but not over the top is a much more effective way of working. This helps me avoid the times when I become absolutely unmotivated after an adrenaline spurt like that (after every high there’s a low) and am able to work more effectively through consistency.

Anyways, this project is quite self explanatory. It is a real-life residential/commercial development project that we were asked to design, off of Cuba Street. This project as opposed to the last brings to the table much more reality and practicality to what we do in architecture. There was a specific criterion of the number of bedrooms, client interest and aesthetic preference, buildable area, floor use, and so on.

Expressing Personality in Design

This was the model design of an interior wall between two different apartments (or dwellings in general) that had to express the personality of the users of each dwelling. This one was quite philosophical, and in a way helped make us think about the poetic nature of design. We had to establish some sort of relationship between the two facades and think deeply about what ways would be most effective in expressing ones character in the built form.

We were allowed to pick two personalities to inhabit each side of the facade, with each personality having a specific profession. Of the various professions I chose the ‘corsetiere’ and the ‘boursier’. My main theme I wanted to get across to my viewers was the central idea that ‘the boursier sees beauty on a surface level with what is on the body whereas the corsetiere sees beauty with what is under (the corset)’. We then had to interpret our assumptions and theme in an architectural sense; so I decided to have a play with flamboyant ornamental superfluous surfaces for the boursier and for the corsetiere I expressed its beauty through its architectural form.

Courtiers Apartment (construction)

Hmm.. One of the toughest deadlines we were given (for the amount of work expected for the given time). This was part of a construction paper early on in the Year. It was intended to basically get us to familiarise with the building-code of New Zealand (NZ3604) and implement it into our designs. Things like keeping the joist or stud span consistent with the building code, which is affected by factors like loading, wind zones, building height, whether at 600 or 400 centres and so on.

Apologies for only including some of my detail technical drawings, as I don’t have digital copies of my plans, sections, elevations etc.

In essence this is a buildable apartment in New Zealand that should definitely get building consent. All our designs were to be placed side by side with each other so communicating with neighbouring designers was pretty vital. My model is to scale with every joist, beam, stud, lintel... .. to the right scale, dimension and length. Specifications of the materials used for cladding, interior finishes, insulation and joinery were also mentioned in the detail drawings.

Procedure: The hardest thing about it was that the model was that IT WAS ALL MADE OUT OF A PLANK OF CEDAR WOOD. I decided to use cedar as opposed to generic balsa as it had a much richer tone and finish to it. EVERY ELEMENT HAD TO BE PAINSTAKINGLY SAWN TO THE RIGHT DIMENSION. So that was one of the hardest parts of the project I recon. All in all it took about 80 plus hours at least.