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Chi Hung Leung

Chi Hung Leung

New York, NY, US

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Final Physical Model Front View
Final Physical Model Front View

Thesis - Ambiguous Legibility

Most projects are often categorized as different types of building typology and whether it’s a single or a multiple building project. The projects are very clear in a way that people can categorize them easily. Unlike the legible qualities as seen in OMA’s CCTV project nor ambiguity as found in Peter Eisenman’s Max Reinhardt Haus Project, the thesis seeks to create a state between legibility and the ambiguity within the high-rise, mid-rise, low-rise, single and multiple building typology. The work attempts to amplify the monolithic qualities of an architectural mass and create different degrees of ambiguity and legibility of architectural elements through a combination of ground to tower to bridge relationships. From different elevations, the building appears to be one, two or three towers. The project is sited in downtown Los Angeles. The portion of the building adjacent to the freeway takes on a horizontal posture as a reflection and instantiation of the lateral circulation of the freeway. From Olympic Blvd, the project appears to be two discrete towers while the building appears to be one tower from James M Wood Blvd. The array of voids and separations between the exterior and interior of the building that diversify programmatic distribution and circulation. For instance, the vertical atrium located inside the center portion of the tower defines the residential spaces around luxury hotel. The horizontal atrium located inside the horizontal barlike portion of the building defines museum spaces and retail spaces. The bending of the building creates ambiguity as it blurs the relationship between ground, tower and bridge destabilizing their fixed identities. The continuous operation which is the bending of a bar shape was worked through in a succession from one end of the building to the other end of the building. This challenges both the horizontal succession of the urban block structure as well as the vertical succession of the tower typology.

 
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Status: School Project
Location: Los Angeles, CA, US
My Role: Individual Project