#will hulbert

[y4s2-20192020]

Pegu Club, gallery space

Rangoon's Pegu Club was the rambling teak clubhouse where soldiers, petty and major bureaucrats, writers, journalists, and soldiers of fortune gathered, gossiped, plotted, acted snooty, despised the locals, and drank (mostly the latter). At its peak, the Pegu was one of the most famous gentlemen's clubs in Asia. This went along with Burma, in its peak, being one of the Empire's richest colonies, with immense resources of oil, timber, minerals, and agricultural products.

My site is Pegu Club in Yangon. But before talking about the building, i will talk about British colonial in Burma first, which is the important background of this building. 

British colonial in Burma started in the 19th century, the British moved into Burma from India and viewed Burma as another Indian state. The invasion was marked by savagery, with troops burning down villages by starting from the North part.

Rangoon (or Yangon as it is now) in the period 1850 to 1940 was a busy port city trading and exporting Burma’s resources and importing materials and provisions for the construction of Britain’s colonial expansion for example Teak, rubies, crops and other minerals. Colonial-era city society comprised army officers, British government officials, private business people; Sikh/Indian, Armenian, Jewish, Chinese all involved in the plundering of Burma’s wealth-generating resources. The British deposed the last Burmese monarchy King in 1885, British government and the British Army in rural areas. Rangoon was created as a city in a short period of time and indigenous Burmese were displaced by these new migrants.

The Pegu Club was the rambling teak clubhouse where soldiers, writers, journalists,  business people, and British government officials, use this place to gossip, plotted, and drank. Onec, the Pegu was one of the most famous gentlemen's clubs in Asia. a private membership club exclusively for Rangoon’s affluent, influential and connected British migrants.

Example series of existing building picture 

Constructed in 1882 the teak-wood structure in tropical design merged with British architecture elements. an approach with ventilated double roofs and long eaves overhangs. Additions were added in the following years with the last addition the Prince of Wales hall added in advance of a visit by POW  in 1992.

During  WWII the Japanese occupied Myanmar and the Pegu Club was used by Japanese army officers as a brothel with comfort women. Following Independence, in 1948 and the military coup in 1962 the club was used by high ranking officers in the military junta. And in 2005, Myanmar moved the capital city from Yangon to Nepedor so, the Pegu Club was abandoned until now. 

The Pegu Club is clearly of historical significance in the conventional sense and worthy of preservation for the architecture and materials used. However, for my project, I’m not try  to glorify the building but to consider interventions that would deconstruct parts of the buildings and cause visitors to see the building from new perspectives and reflect on its history and past associations. 

The associations of the building with Colonialism occupy a dark corner of human history and I feel should not be ignored, but demand a radical response in the form of a new architectural and programmatic intervention that disrupts the existing order of the building. I propose a series of gallery spaces over multiple levels that can stage exhibitions. 

Entrance to the building is along the existing arrival axis from the south but instead of entering the ground floor, the approach dives below the existing building into a series of excavated spaces.

Visitors can look up through openings in the floor and observe the spaces of the existing teak structure above that housed bars, smoking rooms and lounges in their colonial heyday.

 At the North end of the building visitors emerge into the new intervention that rises upwards and around a courtyard space taking in gallery spaces and framed views to landmarks outside the site. 

The new addition concludes in a new volume that in part intrudes into the 10m high on top of Prince of Wales hall

The program also includes a café above the Prince of Wales hall and a bookshop and administration offices organized at lower ground level around a sunken courtyard. The existing building is proposed to be stabilized in its present stage of dilapidation, and decayed fabric replaced like-for-like and structural elements made safe.

Transition from new intervention get back to 2nd floor of Pegu Club

and then walk along walk gallery space at the 2nd floor

use existing stair at the end of 2nd floor to get back to exhibitions spaces on 1st floor

Exhibition space on 1st floor

Or back down to underground to bookstore or toilet

Bookstore and souvenir store

end up with exhibition space in Prince of Wales hall

Plan

Structure diagram

[y4s2-20192020]

AN ARCHITECTURE OF ABSTINENCE

-KYAIKKASAN TURF CLUB

If the monument has a certain value to us, should it be seen as what it is... a ruin and left to the rule of nature or should it be treated in another way in order to make its longevity expand?

Modern day Yangon has a plethora of buildings of conventional heritage value constructed in the British Colonial era between 1850 and 1948 and now decaying after many years of disuse and neglect by the post-independence military regime.

Link to High Resolution

Yangon has a lot of heritage building to offer, Undergoing gentrification the action must be taken immediately, Here comes to revive Kyaikkasan grounds, an abandoned polo race course during the British colonies which once was a finest Yangon turf club that serves to elite society for observing horse race from 

above,

Link to High Resolution

After the independence led by upheaval military takeover, the same structure was occupied by the Socialist party and it was used as their base and detention center for anyone who is against them. Living under fear, Yangon entered their dark period.

Link to High Resolution

In 1960s National beloved diplomat, U Thant's dead body placed dishonorably around the turf club by military orders, The public was unrest and followed by a march of military opposite that break in the Kyaikkasan ground and snatch the body, It was critical ground between the military regime and the rebels, that represent the birth of democratization of Myanmar.

In the present, Yangon treasure have turned into an abandoned monument that speak out its unfortunate event.

The Kyaikkasan turf club is a prominent symbol of sovereignty and modern society that has now inversely become a monument of democratization. The architecture will engage the public in the deepest issue of suspension of civil rights and civic power.

It was my intention to preserve some element of the building rather than cleansing the whole structure with its historical value, to be a reminder of what they fought for and how the path could be with wrong political authority.

My intervention offers a program to raise political awareness which is an open mic discussion stage to exchange their wisdom and philosophy,inverted stand open up to two side discussion and disclosed media that provided for whistleblowers which are vulnerable in Yangon’s society that emphasized democracy is a two-way process of speaking and listening.

The new facade’s openness and transparency pushes through the opacity and rigidity of the existing building just as Myanmar democracy pushed aside the military authoritarian past.

The top deck that once represented superior was demolished and replaced by a mouthpiece shaped roof that provokes nothing but the truth.

The basement, the forum that was once a hidden detention center makes way for printing media that is open for the public illustrates the freedom of the press as a pillar of democracy.

But also to conserve what it used be originated for a turf club memorial that provokes the forgotten sport.

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[y4s2-20192020]

Gandhi Memorial Hall // The Embassy

The Gandhi Memorial Hall, based in Yangon, is at face-value, unattractive and not an obvious candidate for observation. Linked to its namesake, Gandhi and the building played a large role in the Independence of India and Burma. A diplomatic use for the building was adopted to honor the associated political acts. In the 21st century, what is an embassy? In the global context of power and shifting values, diplomatic premises are heavily questioned. This is my “critical-restoration” approach: playing with territories, memories, and aesthetic contrast, while introducing new structures and program organization.

Yangon is a city with its history largely intact. Recently, however, most of its heritage buildings are being left behind due to rapid urban development. The Gandhi Memorial Hall, sits away from the louder heritage sites and sitting in the middle of the Indian community.  

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Linked to its namesake, Gandhi had frequently visited Burma in between 1900 and 1930, and met with leaders of the Indian community in this building. In 1930 there were over 1 million Indian nationals living in Rangoon, supporting the British colonial enterprise, as Myanmar was governed by the British from Delhi. Gandhi saw the Indians of Burma as a source of significant support for his Indian Independence movement. His preachings later influenced San Suu Kyi’s fight for democracy, also associating this building with modern politics.

A diplomatic use for this building was adopted to honor the associated political acts - something that could support political, cultural, and economic associations between India and Myanmar. Part of preserving the intangible attributes such as emotional ties, it is intrinsically related to the past, and crucial to the future. 

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There are some concerns about embassies in the 21st century. In the global context of power, populism, shifting values and new mediums, overseas diplomatic premises and embassies are heavily questioned. Although connoted with being outdated, inefficient, and replaceable in the digital age, in my opinion, there is still no substitute for the various uses and benefits, such as on-ground connections or building trust and familiarity. Hard to achieve with constant absence or remote methods, these can only be nurtured with physical presence, in person. 

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Existing structures include a grid structural system, ornamented cast iron columns from England, and a unique facade with accumulated algae on it. The architect and conservationist Roberto Pane advanced the idea of Critical Restoration, and felt that aesthetic contrast was the only honest way to give meaning to the original object. Preservation should be creatively staged within aesthetic conventions understandable by everyone as belonging to the present. I have tried to take forward this approach of responding to a damaged object with a projected model for its completion. 

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My Indian Embassy is a building that opens towards the host country - a building that follows the non-assertive teachings of Gandhi. While the embassy sits on the land of the host country, it is protected by inviolability, where people (host or others) can’t enter without the home nation’s permission. In response, my project employs a deep excavation of the land to create a public space - a common ground - a place of shared use by people. This plays with territorialities. The memory of the existing building, specifically the accumulated ‘patina’ of city dust and pollution made from the environment and years of neglect is also kept, which shows records of many regime and socio-economic changes. To draw an aesthetic contrast with this, selected bays of the existing facade have been pulled forward and replicated in starkly new cast stone panels. Internally, these bays also mark special spaces within the embassy program. In addition to the excavated space, other public uses such as an exhibition area and auditorium have been introduced in a new volume inserted above the existing building. This may give back to the community as the surrounding areas have been stripped of street life in place of development. A unifying terracotta veil, a tribute to Indian jali screens, cloak the new vertical additions. This shades the facades exposed to the sun, whilst being permeable to seasonal breezes at the upper parts of the building. 

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Program has been divided into public and public uses, where the private is sandwiched between two public programs to physicalize the metaphorical distance. Internally, the program is organized around one main, always visible, flight of steps that weave through the existing and new additions. Some floors have been divided into elevated mezzanines in order to express transparency and emphasize connection. These elements may allow more openness, whilst maintaining security. 

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Plans show each floor’s specific activities, with loosely divided spaces to create more flexible working environments. Sections will further express the continuity of spaces. 

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In order to make this scheme work, indicated are the removed areas of the existing buildings. As mentioned, some bays are removed, parts of floors, window frames replaced, and some columns to make way for a new core. 

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The existing grid system has been used as a basis for the new independent structure introduced. A truss system locks to the grid, and beams are then placed accordingly at the intersection between the truss and floor slabs. This system also influenced the ways the floors are cut and the circulation was planned as described earlier. 

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Renders show some spatial uses, visual and spatial connectivity, as well as light conditions through the facade. Each view represents each floor and their main target activities, including the public gatherings, exhibition and events, consulate/business, working stations, official receptions for VIPs and ambassador’s office, more working stations, co-working stations and an auditorium.

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Embassies should represent the home country, and give a sense of hope and optimism. In recent years, embassies have become more and more fortified and isolated, but in reality it should be the inverse; it’s more of an opposite now to what it set out to achieve in the beginning. This is my approach to creatively staging preservation under aesthetic contrast, with a damaged product (physically and programatically) to a projected model. It mediates the past and present together by its relationship to people and bonds, and hopefully the entirety of it is showcasing how embassies can change. 

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[y4s2-20192020]

Theyingi market is Myanmars foremost textile market and an important national retail and wholesale outlet for acheik textiles. Located between the quarters of the City historically inhabited by Indian and Chinese migrants the market has also traded fabrics from these countries since it’s construction in 1905. Market traders rent stalls still fitted with the original teak joinery fabric shelves and cupboards.

My preservation project looks to illuminate this historic textile market as a living heritage. A cultural practice that captures a body of knowledge and provides continuity, dynamism, and meaning of social life to generations of individuals, social groups, and community. A bridge between traditional and contemporary cultural values as defined by UNESCO.

Earlier, I was influenced by the writings of the architect and preservationist Evgenii Mikhailovskii who wrote of the ephemerality of preservation and that the aim of preservation aesthetics was not to change monuments but rather to change the viewer’s understanding of them, And that’s pretty much of what I intend do. My preservation project looks to enhance a historic textile market as a living heritage, seeing it as a new bridge between traditional and contemporary cultural values. 

Myanmar has a long history of making yarn, fabric and garment. However there are threats to the markets which they have been traditionally traded. Handmade fabrics are often expensive and raw materials for the yarns are in declining availability. 

It is essential that Such traditional cultural practices need to be sustained through greater global visibility and commercialization and not rely on tourism and nostalgia. Therefore, I propose to augment the existing market activities with a college of textile design, aiming to attract and give the younger generations a shout to the creative possibilities of yarns and weaving techniques. 

Site Analysis

As you may know, the studio site is based in Yangon Myanmar. And the particular site I’m looking at is a market called Theingyi Zay. Theingyi Zay or Theingyi market is Yangon’s biggest textile trade hub for more than a century. This atmospheric shows the building with its existing surroundings.

These 5 blocks of markets lay in between the indian and chinese community, offering a very unique atmosphere as it vividly represents the life and diversity of downtown Yangon in such a very dense space.

As Yangon can be regarded as a melting pot, the downtown area of Yangon is spatially characterized by ethnic groups and religious. However,Theingyi Zay assembles a mixture of this diversity as the market is operated and used by people with Burmese, Indian and Chinese ancestry as well as people with different religious backgrounds. This diagram shows the different religious buildings around the site. As you can see there are buddhist, Chinese, and Hindu temples as well as mosque and churches.

There are 5 distinct blocks named alphabetically from A to E . Each block sells different types of commodities. But This project will focus only on The building B, which is an important national retail and wholesale outlet for textiles.

Building Analysis

Located between the quarters of the City historically inhabited by Indian and Chinese migrants the market has also traded fabrics from these countries since its construction in 1905. Market traders rent stalls still fitted with the original teak joinery, fabric shelves, and cupboards.

The existing market is organized as a front building to the South - that accommodates some shops at ground level and market administrative offices at the upper level. Two tall parallel market halls extending back northwards either side of a central circulation spine which has a raised roof and clerestory windows.

There are 544 shops in total. Each shop block is divided by a lane that connects to the entrance door. I was especially interested in the long side elevations to the market halls which conceal a 2-layered façade inhabited with peripheral shops, cafes and small businesses that support activities in the market halls. Also significant are the original braced teak trusses that span the tall market halls. 

Established by an indian building company, the indian architectural elements such as Jali screen, symmetrical proportion, and ornament  is clearly visible on all its exterior facade.

Plans

For the Preservation plan, In many instances, I’ve felt that  Heritage preservation in Yangon focuses mainly on tangible heritage which tries to protect the old, aesthetic and important buildings. Yet, there is no specific regulation to protect the intangible aspects of it. So In this project, I want to preserve beyond the physical elements of the building, considering  the new intervention that will not only maintain the life and characteristics within the building but also introduce the new program that can still fulfil its historical purpose.

As mentioned before, I’m doing this textile college on top of the existing Market. Additional mezzanine floor levels will be inserted in places of the tall existing market halls to provide space for the new college.

The current issue is the existing roof covering and clerestory glazing is dila-pidated and leaking in places. Building B is one of the only 2 original buildings that still remains. The new intervention also offers an opportunity to renovate the impaired part of the building that has not been maintained properly. 

 So here’s a diagram showing what to keep, add, and remove.

And this is the overall concept diagram of the project. The purpose is not to preserve the building the way it is but more like to supplement its original intention for a contemporary audience.

The physical preservation including the skin and structure of the building.  The skin consists of all sides of the facade and Jali screen on the secondary wall. Also the structural elements including column, beams, and the most importantly, teak roof structure. 

The impaired roof will be removed and replaced with the new one, and the Additional mezzanine floor levels will be inserted above the market.

The new mezzanines are not continuous but multi-level with cutouts and breaks to give cross views to the textile market activities below. The intention is to allow the sights and sounds of the market intrude into and define the open work spaces of the college, drawing direct connections between design, prototyping and commercial trading.

Construction and Technical Plan

The new mezzanines will be inserted in 3 phases in order to try to keep the market running during construction. The new mezzanines are to be constructed on large steel beams fixed to and spanning between existing reinforced concrete piers in the perimeter walls and the reinforced concrete portals of the central spine. By reducing alteration to the existing fabric the new intervention has a suggested temporality, and reversibility - in the event that the intervention ceases to be meaningful to a future audience.

Phase1

Phase2

Phase3

A new roof covering will be placed on top of the retained existing trusses and introduces new rooflights that modulate the level and quality of light entering the college spaces and market halls below. It also brings a new roof line to the urban landscape and provides stack-effect natural ventilation through the floor levels.

Spacing and Program

The college incorporates studio spaces and specialist weaving, printing and dyeing workshops that will combine traditional equipment as well as state-of-the-art digital looms and silk screen printers. Toward the front building escalators bring students and the public up to an information centre dis-seminating knowledge about traditional and innovative emerging textile design and manufacture techniques. The openness of the college is intended to retain the linear flow of the existing market halls. The workshop area is An area of co-working space which intends to encourage entrepreneurial students to channel some of their creative energies towards commercial opportunities for spin-off businesses.

The circulation will mainly happen at the central spine of the building connecting the left and right wings together by ramps and steps due to the difference of floor levels. The fourth extra floor is introduced on top of the spine. This full length glazing offers maximum sunlight to get in the room. These two extra floors can be entered from behind the staff office and the center back staircase.  And there’s an elevator to ship the material up to the storage room at the back end

[y4s2-20192020]

YOUNG WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION - YANGON

Numbers of young single mothers and single women are increasing in Myanmar. Young single mothers and separated single women (sometimes escaping domestic violence) are often stigmatized and ostracized from familial backgrounds and communities and have the added stress of financial concerns about supporting themselves and in the case of mothers, their children. Focused on the fundamental needs of survival and maternal care, dreams and opportunities for further education and advancement are often lost.

The Young Women’s Christian Association, or YWCA is a global women’s rights movement founded in 1855 with the aim to elevate the role of women in society, it advances the belief that when women rise to leadership they can transform power structures and policies around human rights, gender equality, peace, and justice in a way that male protagonists cannot. The Yangon YWCA was established in 1990 in the buildings in Bogalay Zay street that they still occupy today. The most urgent need in 1900 was for a hostel for young women who were beginning to leave the seclusion of their homes to come to what was then Rangoon in search of further education or gainful employment.  

Women in Myanmar have unwanted pregnancies for many reasons common to other Asian countries; unwanted pregnancies in informal relationships (where the partner shuns responsibility), relationships with married men and underage sex and sometimes rape. Women who are not pregnant also find themselves ostracized where they have been in a marriage and are rejected if they are unable to have a baby, or want to escape situations of domestic violence or abuse by their husband and his family. Also women refusing arranged marriages can find themselves rejected by their own families.

Today the YWCA Yangon transforms the lives of single mothers and single women through safety, healing, and empowerment, regardless of gender, race, or religious affiliation. The organization helps women improve their employment skills and unlock their potential so they can reach their life goals. At the YWCA, women can take high school equivalency classes, improve English, enhance computer skills, learn a skilled trade and reconnect with their interests, skills, and abilities.

The existing buildings in Bogalay Street are unsuited for the various functional and emotional needs of a modern home for single women and single mothers and their children. Originally planned as cellular bedrooms, there is little private living space for women with young children and the buildings lack suitable collective play and nursery areas for young children. The building also lacks the interconnected social infrastructure spaces expected of a modern collective living building.

In my approach to the preservation of the YWCA works on Bogalay Zay Street I was interested in the work of the preservationist Evgenii Mikhailovsky who talks about revalorization of historic buildings and trying to return the aesthetic function and intention to past buildings of significance – so that they become actively engaged in the structure of the contemporary city and urban landscape. Mikhailovsky distinguished the aesthetic from the artistic as producing sublime or simply pleasant feelings in the individual.

I am using my preservation project to recast the Bogalay Zay buildings as a modern, multifunctional safe place of refuge, support and education - a transition home and training center that integrates both social programs and supporting services to help improve the lives of women and children in need.

The buildings will combine private home spaces with play spaces, collective living spaces and training/workshop spaces that can introduce and inspire women to further education and foster independence, provide safety, and give hope for a brighter future.

I was particularly influenced by Aldo Van Eyck’s Hubertushuis unmarried mothers home which created an open home for single parents and their children. The Hubertushuis is open and permeable with many cross views but also offers places of seclusion and intimacy and a focus on children’s stimulation and welfare.

For me the most interesting building is the 1921 addition to the South constructed by United Engineers Limited who played a pivotal role in the buildings of colonial expansion across southeast Asia. This has much more façade modelling around openings than the original building and the proportions are more elegant and it also uses an imported steel frame stone as a cladding material

My project has the appearance of a new linear structure inserted behind the retained existing facades and extruded over an existing garden space to connect with a tall solitaire building adjoining the site to the south.

The 1st floor is retained throughout as well as all the floors in the 1921 addition. Floors above 1st floor in the original 1902 building are replaced to allow the insertion of an additional 2 floors of apartments and bedrooms for single women.   New floors are pulled away from the façade to avoid uncomfortable window junctions and create a small linear atrium connecting the bedrooms facing the street. The uppermost floors of both buildings allow duplex apartments within the roof form with their own internal stairs giving the sense of a small home for a single parent family.

At the south end children’s play spaces are drawn out over the existing garden space creating an open section cut of the building that makes visible the internal circulation spaces. On the first floor worship spaces are also drawn out over the garden. These are not planned in the sense of traditional worship spaces but quiet places for solitary contemplation, meditation and spiritual guidance. Some may be used for classes in mindfulness or yoga.

The more private upper floors are planned as secure clusters of bedrooms and small apartments around collective living areas in the centre of the building next to circulation stairs. Small atria cut through all the floors forming visual and sound connections between the community across the floors.

The ground floor is where the YWCA community connects with the neighbourhood with a café, creche and nursery that can also be used by nearby families and training rooms and workshops that can host different skills courses. The existing garden to the south is re-landscaped as the main public entrance to the building. Women that live in the building will be able to use the existing entrance between the 1921 and 1902 buildings.

The proposition is for a secure community where member families can be alone with themselves or socialize as part of a smaller or larger group and can access educational opportunities comforted in the knowledge of support at each step.

[y4s2-20192020]

Yangon is the site that has the highest concentration of colonial buildings in the world. It is a place with unique colonial and historical architecture in an urban core that is remarkably intact.

At the heart of Yangon downtown, Sule Pagoda, one of the oldest Pagoda located there. Sule Pagoda was built almost 2,600 years ago to enshrine the hair of Buddha.

The typography around them changes during time. In 1760, the pagoda was surrounded around the river, while in 1910 the Sule Pagoda became a nucleus of the grid pattern for the Yangon city. Basically, it is an urban grid designed by the British in 1850 and this is how it looks in the present.

Nowadays in 2020, the city of Yangon has developed , as well as the environment around the pagoda which lead to many doubtful criticisms whether the pagoda nowadays is still the sacred place of Buddhist worship or not. Since the circular building had been built, it obstructs the beauty of the pagoda, and it is now a well-known centre of unorganised stalls and fortune telling businesses.  

As a result, the aim of this design is to preserve the past context of Sule Pagoda as a stand-alone monument and associated clearer forms of Buddhist worship. Upon the studies throughout the city, the suggestion of this project is to renovate ‘The Former Tourist Burma Building’ and to bring out the charm of the past context of Sule Pagoda.

The Former Tourist Burma Building or Fytche Square Building located opposite to Sule Pagoda at almost 45 degree across the street, has many historical memorable narrative to Myanmar people. It was completed in 1905 as a colonial design by British Architects named Thomas Swales, whose architecture was owned by Indian Merchant. In 1908, the building transformed to be the first Burmese department store. While in 1920, the program was changed to be a film hub or studio. Unfortunately, the building was damaged by a severe bomb during WWII. Also the government uses the building as a distribution centre.  After the suffering damage, the building was given to the Trade Corporation and occupied as a Tourist Burma Office. Then in 1992, it was established as a Ministry of Hotels and Tourism till 2005 when the Ministry moved to Nay Pyi Taw or a capital city of Myanmar, which made the building to be abandoned till now. 

With the characteristics of the Former Tourist Burma Building; strategic location, colonial design, and unoccupied, make the building becomes an attractive building to be renovated.The Former Tourist Building will be renovated to be a hub of Yangon to facilitate the local and attract the tourists. The circular building around Sule Pagoda will be demolished, and the businesses will be relocated into this building instead. With its own attractive Colonial design and strategic location of downtown of Yangon, area for exhibition and events spaces will be created, cafes will be opened, and souvenir shops will be run, which will bring lots of traffic: both locals and tourists will use this building.

Next I will build an extension of the Former Tourist Building for all 4 stories at the end corner of the building closest to Sule Pagoda. The facade will be in bronze colour to imitate Sule Pagoda. The locals believe that getting closest to the pagoda means getting closer to the core of religion. As a result, more people will use this facility as a key to Buddha worship. Moreover, with a strategic location and attractive design, tourists will be able to observe the pagoda clearer from different elevations according to four different stories.Underground walkway will be a path to connect the Former Tourist Building and Sule Pagoda. The historic flyover staircase, symbolising bad memories of Yangon people in many political events, will be demolished. However, the stories of the staircase will be told along the pathway instead. This will get rid of bad memories of the people and bring out the beauty of Sule Pagoda clearer. Moreover, the underground walkway will bring new excitement to the tourists with its designs. At the end of the walkway reaching to the pagoda, at the lookup view, there will be a transparent ceiling to be able to see the pagoda from an underground. Also, the walkway will be inclining as the path reaches the pagoda. Psychologically, people will feel pacified and calm like walking up to heaven.

These are some rituals that people do nowadays in the Pagoda. Basically, Sule Pagoda is for enshrined buddha hair but people come to worship many other things like: 

1. Sule Nat or a spirit that protects pagoda.

2. People always buy oblation stuff like umbrella paper, fruit, flowers and bells for worship. 

3. Then Merit 8 figures of Buddha that represent days of the weeks.

4. Ring a bell to reclaim to god that they already come and pay respect.

5. Also in this place they have Hintha bird (swan) to let people send wishes by pulleying (they believe that god will hear their wish more clearly and faster).  

6. Around the Pagoda you can release or feed birds as well.

Beside demolishing the circular building around Sule pagoda, the construction of the monument will be preserved the most and bring out the religious ritual. The pagoda has 4 metres base high with numbers of buddha images on its base. As a result, relocating buddha images down from ‘on’ the base to ‘next to’ the base will make the pagoda standout more, and it is easier for people to worship the Buddha images. Building a 4 metres wall around the pagoda, with the same height as the base, will help noise cancelling from the traffic outside. Moreover, adding bells along the walls will facilitate Buddhists worshiping the pagoda as well as louden the bell sound which makes the place become more sacred. Lastly, creating a circular well around the pagoda will create shades and cool. Also, will avoid people standing above the Buddha images according to their beliefs.

Yangon is an enchanting city where Sule Pagoda is located at the heart of the city. It will definitely be more charming when the pagoda monument stands out and portrays its ritual as the form of Buddhist worship just by renovating the Former Tourist Building, removing the circular building and flyover staircase, and constructing some elements inside Sule Pagoda such as circular well and 4 metres wall. This design will not only promote the religion, but also increase local living standards by attracting more tourists to this place and spend more time in the area suggested.

[y4s2-20192020]

The Balthazar’s Building

  Blood red Burmese rubies are the most sought after, rubies in the world and have been worn over the centuries as a symbol of opulence and status. But can also be seen as a representation of greed and inhumane oppression of those involved in their mining and processing. 

This project illuminates - through the preservation of the British colonial Balthazar trading building - the processes of ruby processing and trading that are often clandestine and concealed from consumers. I have exposed and expressed the structural frame as an object of preservation and used this frame as a ‘carrier’   for a collage of volumes that accommodate the various production and trading processes.

[y4s2-20192020]

YWCA YANGON - REVIVAL

1.00 Building Evolution

The building was built in 1902 on Bogalay Zay Street.  1921, the United Engineers Ltd was commissioned to build an extension to the premises.

Received a blue plaque sign - permanent sign installed at a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or landmark—serving as a kind of historical marker.

Originally, YWCA was a former hostel for young women who searched for their education and employment.

2.00 Critical Position and Approach to Preservation.

My approach is to enhance the existing programs for the community and integrate with the current issues associated with them. The issue of single moms is urgent since many women  were stigmatized by the community and forced them to move to Yangon. Therefore, these forces encourage YWCA to offer workshops, training programs as well as a transitional house before leaving.

The idea of the design was classified into 2 main aspects from the original context of YWCA first, is to create more housing to support the women and second is an approach to religion as it is an important part of the association.

The improvement of accessibility to the public at the left wing of the building, while offering more private to the residence at the left.