BDES1020 'Continuous City' - <Leong Xin Yong>

Abstract

The emergence of Siestaurant in Madrid is a product of collective consciousness - As crucial are delicacies to satisfy Spaniards’ palates as is siesta to pacify their strained physicals, the building is contextual to accommodating quintessential Spanish lifestyles and providing a comfort zone in the midst of urban restlessness. The very organic form of the building is derived from its wing-shaped floor plans, which are intended to separate the restaurant from the siesta centre. The in-between area serves as a primary circulation, connecting the public to private area. Translucency is central to the design of the cladding and structuring alike. The rationale is to preserve the surrounding context (historical heritage) on the site, both externally and internally. It is also consistent with the secondary nature of the building, which is humble in term of its function and size. The employment of blue polycarbonate tubes in sleeping capsules is justified by their excellent abilities in regulating internal temperature and filtering UV lights, while to some extent allowing the penetration of external lights. The walls of the restaurant and foyer are translucent concretes, which serve to exude the translucency and neutrality of the building. Throughout the semester I was encouraged to explore the themes of transformations and appropriations inherent in architectural designs; one such instance was the studies of precedent buildings. In the process, the essence and uniqueness of the precedent buildings were extracted and incorporated into my design brief. The precedents which I chose include Capsule hotel in Tokyo and Soumaya Art Museum in Mexico. The intriguing feature of the former is the use of small fibreglass pods to provide places for resting, while the latter is justified by the use of translucent materials which exudes the intended transparency and organic form. Through the precedent studies I attempted to explore how materials and forms are manipulated in designing processes.