01-How would you introduce yourself / Team /Firm? (50-100 word)
Temporary Office is a multidisciplinary design collective. The founders Yee Foo and Douglas, sometimes in collaboration with their friends and colleagues, have worked on several projects crossing the boundaries of architecture, public space and preservation. The Water house team is made up of Yee Foo (Architectural Designer), Chengcheng (UI/UX Designer), Jessica (UI/UX Designer) and serving as advisory member is Douglas (Architectural Designer). With a strong focus on historic research and precedence, the collaborative seeks to constructively respond to the ever-changing needs of our environment in a rational yet playful way.
02-Give us brief information of your previous projects/ works/ research/achievements?
Our collaborative worked on high density residential projects, small dwellings, speculative public infrastructures, cultural follies. One of the collaborative on-going project is 'common-sky', a revitalisation housing system for public housing. It has won multiple awards such as 2021 A+D Museum Award, Finalist for AZ award. We were also invited to Basel to present and engage in a symposium organized by the Swiss Architecture Museum. Just recently, we have won the Forge Prize 2022, a steel architecture competition, with the Harlem housing revitalization project.
03-What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture vision competitions?
Look at it as an opportunity to exercise your interest on a topic that deeply resonates with you. It is a testing bed to refine your ideas without biases. In addition to that, it also helps to push your big ideas to maturity. Therefore, deadlines are an important driver to motivate a project forward. The competition's timeframe is one of those drivers to bring our ideas to the world.
04-What were the challenges you faced while designing for such architectural space?
It's very interesting, we did not focus on trying to pack as much program or function into the micro space. Instead, the challenge is to find a central concept that speaks to the idea of healing. During our research, we wanted to test the possibility of extracting the quality of water sonically, visually and thermally to give out the sense of healing. The ironic inclusion of creating space of programmatic inefficiency such as flowing water within a tight space is what makes this project a worthy pursuit.
05-What was your thought process while designing for the Nano House Architecture Competition?
We started with intensive precedent research on spaces of healing. We did not fixate on the element of water from the beginning. Elements such as light and air have the potential to provide healing qualities to our body as well. Ultimately, we choose water because of its unlimited quality to affect and manipulate the sense of sound, sight and smell to sculpt a distinctive spatial experience. So we decided to place the water feature in the center of the space. The space gravitates towards the water as an engine to create a multitude of atmosphere.
06-What attracted you to this competition?
We are interested in exploring how to design for grand concepts within the restrictions of small space
07-Where does your interest in design come from?
We generally love observing and poking our nose into everything we find interesting in everyday life. We love to contemplate on designs that are provocative.Our inclination to travel broadly also heightens our curiosity and interest to design
08- What design fundamentals do you believe in?
The innate quality of our earth elements to bring the quality of healing to us
09-What were your references/ inspiration?
Most of Tadao Ando water projects; Peter Zumthor Bruder Klaus Field Chapel'; trickling sound of water falling in nature parks
10-Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
The proportion of skylight opening and interior space to optimize natural daylighting in the space and the water cycle system
11-What according to you is the key to making your design a success?
Be bold. Design Competition serves as a chance to think out of the box and so we did. As we try to do something unconventional, we are able to find ways to rationalize the design and spatial experience.
12-Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
We started initially with a lot of sketching and paper models. It helps to generate ideas quickly by prioritizing intuition over practicality. We also tap into books and articles that discuss the psychology of healing and what it means to spatial design.
13. How was your experience with Volume Zero Competitions?
We were very glad to see the acceptance of many experimental entries on the volume zero competition platform. This encourages many future participants to dream big. And also, the competition brief is set up in a way that provides plenty of room for creativity under certain constraints.
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