Arch within Arch

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Arch within Arch (GB1610384.8) (2013-16): A telescopic structure (1a, 1b and 1c) operates on a sliding mechanism (2) and moves to expose the overlaying arch viaduct (3) and permit periodic servicing – addressing a legal requirement that restricts ixtures within the arch. The structure is mobile and formed of sandwiching construction for acoustic and thermal insulation (4). This structure is isolated on vibration pads (5) and loats off the ground to absorb the vibration from passing trains. A solar reflective foil (6) works with sun paths to collect, reflect and amplify daylight and naturally illuminate the dark interior spaces. © Undercurrent Architects

Glass for A Blind Child

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This is the last competition we participated and lost in 2015. The competition has been sponsored by a glass company for the past decades, many topics therefore were closely connected with glass. This year is the 50 year anniversary, they made a anniversary-feeling topic — “the glass”, asking participants rethink the role of glass in architecture.

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Bach Shop

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We met Bach when we were about to leave Milan in October last year. We were selling our no-need-anymore stuffs. She came to our place to take a tent in a morning. We talked a little while and agreed to arrange another time to talk longer. She then went on her one day trip to somewhere. We soon left Milan, into the mountain.

Several months later, we were told that she had got a place in Corso Porta Ticinese in Milan, an undoubted popular spot pretty near city center. It was a great step forward for Bach from running online business to having a real shop in such a place. We were quite happy when she asked us to be her consultants on interior design. Moreover, Mi, who studied industrial design in school and works in a famous Milanese styling company joined us.

Composed by Bach (interactive design), Bach’s boyfriend Yuan (automobile design), Mi (product & styling design) and we two (architecture), a multi-disciplined team was formed.

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Temp Space & Time-plot Ratio

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homeshop, 2009

Elaine W. Ho went to Hong Kong for two weeks and left the work-live space of HomeShop on Xiaojingchang Hutong to Tao. As an exchange, Tao was asked to make the residency term a means “to finish a project here”. His architecture internship at the firm Limited Design consisted of working from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays including the commute, which meant that only sleeping hours were spent at HomeShop. As it happened, this project was inspired by just such a relationship between time and space.

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Emergency Shelter

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In con­sid­er­ing easier and faster con­struc­tion dur­ing emer­gency period, we tried to min­i­mize an individual’s  pri­vate space into two insulated boxes, one ver­ti­cal and one hor­i­zon­tal — it is like something in between tent and sleep­ing bag. Boxes could be arranged in various combinations, hosting fam­ily in different sizes. Public spaces are naturally created.

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A Morning Greeting

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a morning greeting | 2012 | In this project, we tried to create a private living space in urban area by managing the balance between a friendly gesture to city and a peaceful personal life: The deeper you walk in, the more you feel the existing of a “host”. This environment does not say “welcome” as a good place, but only say “hello” as a kind man.