Completed for professor Thom Mayne, A Tale of Two Cities was a collaborative effort that addresses the dichotomy between “live” and “work”. A mock competition submission to Tencent for their new headquarters in Shenzhen, China, A Tale of Two Cities is designed on Tencent’s new 316 acre site and contains approximately 2.6 million sqft of office and residential space.
This project believes in separating “live” and “work”. The northern end of the site is the “City ”, categorized by a grid-dominated environment that contains 90% of Tencent’s Research & Development needs. On the southern end is the “Island”, which is where all the residential and recreational programming exists. On the Island, the grid is overpowered by buildings and landscape, speaking to a programmatic and physical differentiation between the two areas. A green link joins the site to Shenzhen through James Corner’s Field Operations’ project, which is currently under construction, and represents Shenzhen’s growing prioritization of reclaiming the water’s edge.
A Tale of Two Cities located in Shenzhen, China on a 316 acre site.
Site Plan
City Side
Green Link
Island Side
Worms eye and axonometric of the “City” side. Shenzhen has a large port and was historically a fishing town. The “grid” is comprised of waterways so each block is accessible by boat, and the buildings form a series of grottoes in the water.
While designed as a gallery for Damien Hirst, Zeppelin is intended to serve as art itself, on display in the open plaza across from the Flatiron Building in New York City. The design was inspired by Hirst’s The Fate of a Banished Man from his Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable collection. Seen not only as a gallery but also as an installation, Zeppelin uses aircraft fuselage nuts and bolts assembly to attach and detach components of the building efficiently.
Designed as a self-sufficient structure for refugees, Cocoon is a large residential structure with an aeroponic farming system at its core. The farming system, as well as the corn field on the roof, grows enough food to feed the residents of the building. Attempting to serve as a “home away from home” for many of these families, Cocoon embraces community-style living. Each floor plate is uniquely designed to create a staggering of spaces within the vertical volume, which facilitates inter-floor communication. Additionally, the kitchen and dining areas are every other floor, promoting further interaction between the residents.
Intended as an ephemeral structure, the Parkside Bridge is intended to connect residents of Parkside to the historic Fairmount Park through an interactive and educational experience. The bridge, only 12’ wide but 60’ tall, brings a plethora of different programs to the community. Offering a series of interactive spaces such as community gardens, reading spaces, a small community library, as well as playgrounds for children, the bridge brings new amenities Parkside is currently without. Additionally, designed to resemble a scaffolding structure, the bridge can be taken down and reassembled to grow with the changing needs of the community.
Designed as a museum for Russel Wright, Ore is an homage to his life’s work located in the quarry that is adjacent to his house in Manitoga, and created from one of his most famous artifacts, the fruit bowl. Through careful analysis of the euclidean geometry of Wright’s work, Ore was derived. The undulating walls play with the light to both protect and reveal the work within. Additionally, the large skylights on the roof of the structure have a layer of water on top of them, to represent Wright’s decision to fill the quarry with water, which would be removed to create this structure.
