Three teams of Master of Architecture students from the Weitzman School of Design were awarded top honors in the 2022 HOK Futures Competition.
First Place: "Jumbled Synergies" by David Perrine (MArch'23) and Kyle Troyer (MArch'23)
Second Place: "Frizzante" by Rachel Seto (MArch'24) and Sharlene Yulita (MArch'24)
Third Place: "The Leaf on the Bank" by Chen Su (March'24) and Yuhang Tao (MArch'24)
Now in its sixth year, and its second year vitually, HOK Futures invites Philadelphia-area architecture students to participate in the competition. Read project descriptions for each team below.
First Place: "Jumbled Synergies" by David Perrine (MArch'23) and Kyle Troyer (MArch'23)
The project, Jumbled Synergies, refers to a delicate, yet untidy mixed aggregation of programmatic and spatial synergies. Each of these synergies alone speak to an interaction or cooperation of various experiential parameters, and when jumbled, form a subtle interrelationship of spatial novelties.
The Winery itself gets nestled in a loose composition of decking and playful public space providing an intermingling of the sophisticated and the youth. From the landscape into the building, layers of spaces are formed to create central destinations shared between the urban winery and incubator space.
Unpredictable relationships in a jumbled landscape question the original model of the winery, offering a synergy between making, entrepreneurship, and community.
Second Place: "Frizzante" by Rachel Seto (MArch'24) and Sharlene Yulita (MArch'24)
Faced with the imminent threat of flooding due to climate change, Frizzante marks a new era that both laments and embraces the physical and societal challenges within Manayunk’s ongoing development. This urban winery and incubator space act as a catalyst for social connection, creating an ecosystem that bridges Manayunk’s past, present, and future: the glass facade uncovers the winemaking process that is most often hidden away, paralleled by the exposed “human machine” coworking space on the west side, and the two are bridged by a social core within the central “dip”. The continuity of the perforated metal creates a fluid transition between three main circulation paths that also evokes a sense of lightness even during flooding. Harking to the architectural language of Manayunk, the perforated metal is paired with perforated brick facade on the lower core that is built resilient to flooding, becoming a homage to Philadelphia’s architectural past and the harrowing threat of oblivion whilst embracing the challenges of the future.
Third Place: "The Leaf on the Bank" by Chen Su (March'24) and Yuhang Tao (MArch'24)
Manayunk is historically known for its textile industry, but it has been slowly submerged in the history of development. In recent decades, the former factory area has become a petri dish for the development of restaurants and small businesses of all shapes and sizes. With the help of the Kurskill River, the once declining street has shown signs of revival and has taken on a new life of its own. As a bridge between the past and the future, this project should serve as an engine to promote the development of local small and medium-sized enterprises, to energize them, and also to contribute to the cultural development of the area, combining people's lives with industrialization.
Therefore, this design adopts a metaphorical design approach, introducing the two intentions of green leaves and eggshells, which symbolize the vitality of life, into the public building. By transforming the image of a leaf falling into the site into the relationship between the roof and the main body of the building, and by using an egg-shaped form to express the intention of a small business incubator, the two abstract concepts are simply interned so that the vitality of the site can be visualized. While focusing on the abstract concept to be expressed concretely, the building can also be elevated to a certain extent to reduce the damage caused by the flood season, taking into account the actual situation of the site. This adds to the groundedness of the project. At the same time, we have adopted a form of self-production from growing rice to brewing the whole process.
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