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Quartz by Michael Khoo

Quartz by Michael Khoo

Design Ideas
July 1, 2015
6 Comments

Quartz by Michael Khoo is a thesis project for his architectural studies in RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. His project Quartz exemplifies great architecture with a purpose. Read on to know more about his amazing creation.

Motivation/Inspiration: Re-thinking agriculture
The proposal sets forth to approach the vertical farming typology in a whole new perspective. I wanted to do something different compared to most other vertical farm precedents and proposals. I believe that vertical farming can be something more than just a stacked up farming typology.

The Key Proposal
The Quartz attempts to create a totally transparent vertical farming process and exposing it to the public, turning the unnecessary private realm into a new form of public attraction, which indirectly educates the general public about the next generation of food production. On the other hand,I foresee that open green space in the future will be close to non-existent as most of them will be shrunk to make space for development.This master-plan hybridizes the farm and park typologies to form a new kind of educative, mutually beneficial public avenue.
-Michael Khoo

sketch panel FINAL smalle

Design and Form Generation
I wanted the ground area to be as inviting as possible and openness is the concept behind it. Circulation and spatial connectivity were adjusted in a way to provide the general public with a better user experience. The massing blocks were then being adjusted and positioned to prioritize street level comfort at the same time capturing surrounding views. The towers were sculpted under constraints such as day lighting, wind energy, shadow casting and also to program needs. Using conventional form finding techniques, such as extrusion, twisting , and tapering, the result is a series of highly efficient diamond-like towers which breaks free from its surrounding high-rise neighbors to create its own identity yet still respecting the rectilinearity of Melbourne skyline.
-Michael Khoo

promenade perspective

The scheme aims to become a dense node of activity by creating a whole new unique relationship between public and private spaces, hybridizing agriculture, education, and commercial typologies together. The exposure of the overall process becomes an informative feature that educates the onsite audience to better understand that vertical farming is indeed the eventual replacement to conventional farming.

In my vision towards the future of city evolution, transparency leads to literacy. Agriculture and green space coexist to become the new public typology, serving as a powerhouse to the city which is essentially, the urban oasis.
-Michael Khoo

About Michael Khoo

Michael Khoo, originally from Malaysia recently completed his postgraduate architectural studies at the RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. He's particularly interested in the field of architecture visualizations which kind of explains why most of his works were conveyed through visual heavy presentations. He believes in the idea of convincing and inspiring others by storytelling through diagrams and visualizations. See more of his work at Behance.

6 comments on “Quartz by Michael Khoo”

  1. Really cool design and yes, I want vertically placed farms! It would be a lot better for humanity to build 8 farms on one spot of land instead of 8 farms on 8 spots of land.
    You made my minecraft dream come true!

  2. It is like a giant city within a building, which is something that I think we are gravitating towards these days. Neat concept and even cooler design!

  3. Mind blowing concept of architectural design. It is like I was watching 3d plan of any skyscraper in Dubai. Hi Michael, can you please tell me which tools and device you used to create such nice concept. I really inspired from your work.

    1. Hey Neeraj, good to hear that i gave u some inspiration =)
      I used sketchup and a lil 3dsmax for the model, photoshop for most part of the rendering touchups.

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