Merwehaven New Ferry Station

Abstract

The Hyperbody graduation studio is set to be an endeavor to integrate research with the final design product. The “computational” nature of the whole process serves as both an opportunity and challenge to develop a design methodology out of analyzing the complexity of current social and climatic context and using these presets as “intrigues” to drive the form-finding process, as well as the performance of the project. This personal project is located in a somehow “extreme” situation: the fact that the surrounding urban context will no longer be existed provides a tricky setup for context research. Moreover, the multi-functional requirements, especially the restricted ones regarding ferry operation, are in the other way around of significant research importance. Consequently, the research process focuses on “creating” an urban context and “illustrating” the inner programme relationship. Computational tools are in crucial status at this stage. It is fair to say this project, at research level, indicates what the Hyperbody graduation studio is searching for in the sense of producing a research outcome to guide the afterwards design, in both urban and architectural level. In practical or social level, this project is definitely an experimental one. However, the purpose of this kind of academic projects is to develop future possibilities of built environment, and research projects could reflect the certain social trend at that time as well as vertically inheriting past wisdoms throughout the history of architecture. If we would call this project “a mat building in digital age”, which exactly indicates the current emerging technology to be influencing the architectural occupation and the whole urban development, meantime referring to the old ideals of integrating urban and architectural scale by designing horizontally spanned building network, we are actually revealing the relationship between this project and wider social context.HyperbodyArchitectureArchitecture and The Built Environmen