Land Disclamation
–noun
the act of disclaiming; renunciation; disavowal.
Origin:
1585–95; < Medieval Latindisclamāt( us ) (past participle ofdisclamāre to disclaim, probably < Anglo-Frenchdisclaimer) + -ion
The project departs from the "in-vitro" lab stage where methods of fabrication where researched and developed based around concrete formwork that responded to technologies of mass customization. My group developed a "pixel" based modular formwork system as a criticism to projects like Gramazio and Kohler's programmed wall. This was extrapolated and pushed to breaking points both digitally and physically. The breaking points where then exploited as modulators of porosity and fragmentation of a surface, pushing it from being a mere pixelated wall to a spatial entity with many facets/openings/sides.
The "in-vivo" stage targeted the deployment of a system that challenges modes of organizing material, space and program within the context of housing in Hong Kong. The site is shared with the current West Kowloon Cultural District development, which was up for competition until recently. As a response to the production of tabulae rasae by the use of land reclamation purely for investment and consumption a series of water based shear wall structures are proposed. The series of meandering shear walls are not envisioned as deterministic linear cities, pre-programmed for growth as the Metabolists imagined, instead they are a framework for mixing, separating, and clashing program together through the varying states between the two sides. The tension from this spatial arrangement allows space to be appropriated formally and informally, short term and long term, with the potential for unexpected growth both vertically and longitudinally.