Organised by PAMSC as part of the key events for PDF2024, the UNIVERSITY BEST PROJECT COMPETITION serves as an invaluable platform for architectural students to showcase their best university projects and talents. It offers a unique opportunity for students to interact with experienced professionals, enhancing their visibility and creating potential career opportunities, such as internships, mentorships, or job offers, by impressing a panel of esteemed architects.

From Bars to Boroughs

Kelvin Lee Win Yang
PAMSC Design Festival 2024 | Honourable Mention
Taylor’s University

This thesis explores the concept of assemblage, which views architecture not merely as a static object or a simple collection of parts, but as an intricate interplay of socio-spatial flows and intersections among its constituent elements, from which identities and functions emerge.

Architecture, as both process and form, reflects diverse desires; for instance, disciplinary institutions are designed to control bodily actions and enforce conformity through power (Foucault, 1977).

Following Deleuze and Guattari (1988), it rejects rigid spatial configurations that can significantly constrain our perception and thinking: 'Walls do not make prison, what imprisons you is your mind or imagination'. This thesis advocates for a shift in the design of disciplinary institutions—from rigid, control-focused structures to community-centred, rehabilitative spaces that prioritise creativity and critical thinking over social conformity.

In this design thesis, the design process is reduced to its most basic elements: the study of individual microcosms (cells) and the re-establishment of connections between these microcosms (cells).

To address this ever-evolving landscape, the thesis adopts a modular approach, wherein the design components are conceived as flexible and interchangeable modules. In line with this thinking, the architecture embodies a fluidity of identity and boundaries, existing in a state of continuous change and metamorphosis (constant reshaping of spatial contexts), aligning with the concepts of deterritorialisation and reterritorialisation.