Lester Yao Portfolio 2010

LOUIE LESTER YAO bachelor of applied science in architecture

design build: PNG

Design Build : PNG brought together Australian and Papua New Guinean architecture students in the Papua New Guinean village of Labu-Tale, Morobe Province. They Con-tributed to master planning a new village, and together with the Labu-tale community they design and constructed an aid post, a community training hall, a public laundry, ventilated pit toilets, and safe drinking water collection facilities and a new main road.

Rural development is a critical issue in Papua New Guinea. Across the world we have seen the disastrous effects of mass migration to city squatter settlements. Basic services are needed in rural areas if Paua New Guinea’s larger rural popu-lation to create a safe, healthy village away from flooding caused by rising sea levels and storms which affects the cur-rent village.

Design Build: PNG was initiated and organised by Kate Fergu-son and Rosemary Korawali.

above: view of the aide post viewing the medicine garden

left: the project site at the very beginning

community materials construction

exterior interior

“What I have taken from Papua New Guinea I will never forget

The beauty and calmness’ of the rainforest

The experience of the collaborative design and build process

The knowledge that you are helping to make a better future

Most of all I have made lifelong friends”

LAKE BURLEY GRIFFININTERPRETATION CENTRE

“The interpretation centre is located near Scrivener Dam which created the man made lake of Canberra, Lake Burley Griffin.

The creation of the lake brought many opportunities for the local wild life as well as the many activities such as fishing, kayaking, running and biking around the lake.

I had wanted to celebrate the union of the lake and the land by partially having the building overhang-ing into the lake. The roof fluctuates as it dips where the land dips into the lake and rises as it hovers over the lake. This gives it a dynamic look as well as providing a shade and passive light through the opening through the roof. This building houses the exhibition spaces and a conference room.

In the less dynamic structure of the complex, houses the administration, storage and cafeteria. I felt that the structure needed to be more grounded and not to over compete with the other structure as that is the main event.”

east elevation

west elevation

plan

11 10 7

8

9

6

4

3

441

2

1 Permenant gallery2 temporary gellery3 Meeting room4 Wash rooms5 Deck6 Cafeteria7 Kitchen8 Lobby9 Sales booth10 Administration11 Storage

2009 Australian / New Zealand student architecture congress ‘RE:HAB’

The fundamental idea of RE:HAB is that to create change you (the individual) must be proactive and disciplined in leading it. We have prepared an incredibly dense program of lectures as base material, however the real fabric of the Congress takes place away from the stage – in the in-timate workshops and tours, in the breaks between ses-sions and late into the night.

I was one of 4 original bidders for the Congress to come to Canberra. I had a myrid number of roles before and during the Congress, but perhaps my most notable role was that of General Manager of the Congress and had an extensive and critical leadership and coordination role.

Providing artistic direction for the Congress theme, logis-tics management for workshops, liasing students acco-modations and the Interventions competition.

left: group photo of the entire congress

right: local aboriginal performer in the open-ning of the Congress

Wendy Lewin and Glenn Murcut in the Design X50 workshop

At the end of the weeklong event students and speakers alike were able to let it all go in the ‘Boule Rouge’ ball, ending the Congress with fun, celebration and most importantly in style!

Lunch breaks were much needed moments to recoup and discussed with other student what they had just learned

the rivelry between Australia and New Zealand has always been fierce and the soccer field is were it was settled

Students take to the streets learning what it is to be disa-bled in Wheel about workshop

Chris Bosse and Andrew Chan Reuse Workshop

Woodcarving workshop with Drew Heath

workshops interventions social networking

There is an old saying: “Give students an studio education and they will take a congress”. Well there should be. Given the looseness of most architectural courses there have always been renegade stu-dents who have taken control of their education in order to widen theirexperiences. Along with self-build buildings, volunteer social projects, and OS tours, the standout signature initiative has been the student conference or congress.

Over the last 40 years students have organised more than 20 of them. There have been several pan-anz student organizations in that time, AASA, ArchEd, ASUA and now SONA and SANNZ, in many cases focussed principally on getting a congress up (before the fi-nances run out). In the 70’s they brought out international speakers; in the 80’s, as the corporates created an ”international series”, the focus changed to the (previously poorly represented) home-grown architects; in the 90’s it moved to the edges of practice, (the unseen away from the mainstream). Now in the 00’s the tradition is wid-ened, driven in part by the increasing narrowness and declining di-versity of architectural education.

Congress is the highlight of a student’s year: a shot in the cer-ebellum, a new buzz and inspiration and, not least, the relieving schadenfreude that there are some students who suffer a worse course than yours. There have always been 2 kinds of architecture students: those who have congressed, and those with a major lacuna in their education. And in the ranks of the former are the medalled survivors who have organised one, an activity not unlike managing a major building project. Times ten. Certainly it is the best thing any-one can do prior to entry to the architectural profession, as it may mark out a better direction for us all.

Tone Wheeler

Top:Tone Wheeler officially openning the Congress at the Gallery of Australian Design

SUPERSTUDIO 07

SuperStudio is a design competi-tion that values and fosters studio culture; networking and support between students of different uni-versities and years of study; con-cept thinking; critique and analysis of important social issues; and in-teration between the architecture profession and the community.

I was involved with the organisa-tion of the SuperStudio 07 event and was given the responsibility of logistics and catoring, as well as providing design direction assist-ance for the event and photogra-phy.

SONA representative 07

In 2007, I was appointed by SONA (Student Organised Network for Archi-tecture) as the University of Canber-ra’s Student Representative. This role required me to communicate between local students and the profession’s in-stitutional bodies such as SONA and the Australian Insitute od Architects. As a student entity, SONA primarily host educational initiatives designed to benefit noth the local and national student body. Our objective is to pro-vide resources, conntacts and links and specific student related events and ac-tivities to assist in all their educational pursuits.

As the University of Canberra SONA rep, I was appointed as an ACT Chap-ter Councillor, where i represented the University and SONA body at monthly meetings run by the Austrlalian Institue of Architects.

RAIA National Conference Critical Vision 08, Form and Function ‘The Dandi Lion’

I was part of the constuction and development of the “Dandelion”. The author of the project is William Eastlake.

A construct made out of Bamboo and calico sails and elevated above the ground by four bamboo cranes.

The inspairation for the construct came from the dandelian flower. There are nine hexegons connected together like the point of a dande-lian flower. each of these hexegons are made into pods and have calico sails woven into them creating the feel that the pods may be blown away.

Bondi Sculptures by the Sea 2009 ‘The Dandi Lion’

The Dandi Lion was again on show and was redesigned and improved.

It was improved inthe design of the pods from the first dandi lion. We used a veriaety of bamboo species including Phyllostachys nigra Black Bamboo. Improved joining techniques using all natural materails for joints and lashing.

Univeristy of Canberra Wood-fired pizza oven Mk II

We had just finished second semester design presentation and some one asked if anyone can help make a pizza oven...

Mk II was the second pizza oven after the first one imploded when it was first fired. I had to do some research on how to make a pizza oven and learn the fundimentals of dome shapes , exhust and opening size to dome ratio.

The construction of the oven had been a really interesting les-son of trial and error of design and construction.

This was a completely student initiated project which was en-joyed by both students and staff alike, with good gourme filled bellies.

Cosmo’s Lounge Portal -at the Front Cafe

I was encouraged by a local artist DJ to create an installation for the side entrance of the Front Cafe in Canberra.

I was experimenting with carbon fi-bre rods which had lights emitting from LED at the end of the rods and changes colour through the length of the rod

thank you for your time