Born and raised in Saigon (Vietnam), I am particularly interested in contemporary architecture and its relationship with the varying societal classes often found in developing countries. Other hobbies include live music, maps and flat whites made just right.
REV I VAL
brief
Throughout human history man has had a constant struggle to subdue nature, often working to maintain a precarious balance between built spaces and the encroachment of the natural environment. The idea of REVIVAL accounts for this by providing built spaces that leave room for the incorporation of the natural world’s desire to reclaim spaces that have previously been controlled.
project
Through the two phases of research into the rich background of White Bay Power Station, the things that stood out most were first the natural landscape that had begun to take over the dormant site, and second the evolutionary nature of its form and construction in operational times. Throughout human history man has had a constant struggle to subdue nature, often working to maintain a precarious balance between built spaces and the encroachment of the natural environment. The idea of renewal accounts for this by providing built spaces that leave room for the incorporation of the natural world’s desire to reclaim spaces that have previously been controlled.
At the same time, while identifying structural compositions and analysing scale changes have proven fruitful in understanding its operational DNA, plans and sections have their limitations in storytelling. Studies of circulatory patterns and surface materiality in an attempt to understand the years lived within WBPS has turned out to reveal more questions than answers. In fact, even if the building had been perfectly preserved, it appears one could only make educated guesses at the hundreds of lives that have walked through it by catching a glimpse at remaining murals, or physically making their way through remnants of machinery that had once powered Sydney city.
In that way, REVIVAL offers a humble pathway through White Bay Power Station. More than the revitalisation of former industrial buildings into creative and recreational spaces, it is renewal through the injection of the natural world into built spaces which directs focus to the balance mentioned and demonstrates the ongoing struggle that exists in the world at large.
