Jia-Ying Chiu

About

Jia-Ying is a Taiwanese architectural designer. She graduated with honourable mention from the Bachelor of Architecture degree at Tamkang University in Taiwan. Her undergraduate design thesis also won the competition of International Exhibition of Architecture Graduation Design (Taiwan 20) and was exhibited with architecture graduates from Sendai Design League, the University of Hong Kong, and the National University of Singapore in 2013. She has contributed mainly to old building renovation, residential design, and public scale projects for different public organisations.

Contact

Degree Details

Statement

‘What is the new habitation prototype for people in a city?’

‘What if our living space was composed of ambiguous and elastic spaces - how would the living style merge into the dynamic urban context and how would people inhabit the building?’

Jia-Ying’s project at the Royal College of Art this year is fascinated with exploring the future inhabitation of the city. Swelling populations and mass migration will occur in the biggest cities around the world in the next decades - in fact it is already happening - and it will have a huge shift on our inhabitation of the city. ‘Trailing: An Alternative Inhabitation for Urban Nomads’, is attempting to seek a potential residential alternative for urban living in the future. Our generation needs to actively tackle more issues of conserving our context and reusing natural resources for the next stage of architectural design.

Jia-Ying’s graduate project is based on her research around camping. The configuration of the campsite consists of tents, gadgets, as well as the natural conditions, such as trees, rocks, and terrain. Generally, there is no static pathway between the tents. Simple forms and materials are utilised to define one’s territory without establishing any fixed programmatic intention. The investigation of camping evokes the possibility to reconsider the essential elements of ‘the living space’ and the necessity of an ambiguous space, like that of the campsite.

Trailing: An Alternative Inhabitation for Urban Nomads

Trailing: An Alternative Inhabitation for Urban Nomads
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‘Trailing: An Alternative Inhabitation for Urban Nomads’ is driven by the connectivity and blurriness of space and circulation connected by slabs, read as steps as well. Two areas of circulation as the main walkways are created in the building to bring a ceaseless experience. Therefore, residents can interact with each other spatially through these blended gaps and platforms between inhabited units. The walkways convert to become a series of rooms, blurring walkways, flexible spaces through scaling up those conventional architectural elements, allowing more activities to regenerate a new living quality.

The simple structural skeleton frames a flexible and uninterrupted space. The stepping platforms elegantly integrate green and community activities into the building, promoting more welcoming spaces and neighbourly environments in the city. As for travelling between interconnecting platforms, more communal areas are generated for people gathering on continuous terraces. Raised platforms have replaced the partitions to maintain the purity of terraced space in an open plan. The sense of transparency in the apartment also brings the atmosphere outside-in and creates exceptional living conditions. The temporary separations, continuous openings and terraced slabs shape a new spatial language and the flexibility of urban living. ‘An Alternative Inhabitation for Urban Nomads’ enriches the spatial hierarchy and spatial needs, leading to a vibrant and meaningful urban life.

Medium: Film, Render

Living in the Terraced High-rise

Camping Research
Camping Research — There is no static pathway between the tents. Simple forms and materials are utilised to define one’s territory without establishing any fixed programmatic intention. The investigation of camping evokes the possibility to reconsider the essential elements of ‘the living space’ and the necessity of an ambiguous space, like that of the campsite.
Raised Steps Instead of Walls as a Flexible Home
Raised Steps Instead of Walls as a Flexible Home — The ‘wall’ or ‘partition’ is one of the architectural elements needed for separation, privacy, and management. However, the concept of the project is removing walls to create an open plan in the public and the individual room. The configuration of the open plan allows urban nomads to modify and design their individual room particularly according to the needs of their short-term stay.
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... — In order to maintain the purity of terraced space in the open plan, the columns and stepping platforms replaced the partitions to separate the functionalities of the living spaces. The sense of transparency in the apartment brings the atmosphere outside-in the living quality.
Series of Rooms
Series of Rooms
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... — The glazed generous openings are aligned with the concrete steps. It provides more natural daylight inside and ventilation into the interior space, while preserving the privacy of tenants by using curtains in certain places. The temporary separations, continuous openings and stepping slabs shape a new spatial language in order to keep the flexibility and the privacy of space.
A New Urban Living
A New Urban Living
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... — Compared to standardised housing, these alternative concepts of urban living upgrade the quality of the tenant's life. The big glazed openings offer spectacular views of the City of London to create exceptional living conditions.
Typical Floor Plan
Typical Floor Plan

Medium: Drawing, Interior Render, photo

Stepping Space for the Community

Less Connections and More Spaces
Less Connections and More Spaces
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... — The outdoor and community activities flow into the building from the street by two blurring walkways, to create a welcoming and flexible public space.
Standing on the Urban Landscape
Standing on the Urban Landscape
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... — The exposed columns that sit delicately on the landscape mimic the concept of tree trunks dotted along the ground.
Interlaced Platforms
Interlaced Platforms
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... — The communal area is generated by the two circulating ‘ramps’ meeting one another in the middle, creating a transition spot for people to cross paths, and also allows one to change their direction of circulation. , Here, tenants or visitors can sit and gather on the steps. As for travelling between interconnecting platforms, the height difference of the slabs forms a table area, which can be used as a lunch gathering spot. Likewise, the lower slabs create a seating terrace.
Ground Floor Plan
Ground Floor Plan
Section
Section — Some of the circulation is connected to multiple levels, allowing shortcuts in accessing the various public spaces, which enrich the spatial hierarchy and spatial speeds throughout the building.

Medium: Drawing, Interior Render

1:20 High-rise Model

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The project was inspired by the initial 1:20 physical model making and camping research.

The model is built up with two continuous staircases that wrap upwards, gently placing the plaster pieces across the slim columns to imagine a new potential for urban living. The simple and lightweight aluminium skeleton clearly stands exposed on the ground to support the floating slabs. The negative space through the building changes in size both vertically and horizontally when viewed from different angles.

Medium: Aluminium Channel, Plaster, MDF

Size: 44x120x210 cm