Nien-Hsun Huang

Nien Hsun is an architectural researcher and designer who is currently in London. His interests include finding the balance between architecture, landscape, and sea.

He graduated in 2019 from Tung-Hai University with an MA Arch degree. He worked as a designer in ARTECH in Taipei and an internship in MVRDV. He collaborated on projects for office buildings, a competition for a Museum in China, and the design of a local market in Tainan.

In his first year at RCA with ADS3, his research discusses the impact of ocean noise from the offshore wind farm and ships on the West coast of Taiwan, looking into the noises that alter the cortisol in milkfish reducing reproduction. His research proposal was to construct buoys on the sea with recycled materials to detect if the noises in the area exceed certain decibels; the wind turbines must stop, and the ships must detour. The strategy tends to repair the ocean's ecosystem by deploying the buoys.

In his second year, Nien Hsun focused his research on the migrant fishermen in a fishing town called Nanfangao on the east-north coast of Taiwan. He tends to construct a floating bamboo platform, which is neither a land nor a sea, as a celebration space for the migrants and Taiwanese to enjoy the horizon and forget about the precarity of the town.

Life Afloat is a piece of architecture that is neither a land nor a sea. The building is a 300 meters long and 50 meters wide floating bamboo field composed of smaller rafts on the edge of a fishing village called Nanfangao on the east-north coast of Taiwan. The surface provides the people of Nanfangao and the migrant fishermen to come and celebrate after their hard days of work. They can sing out loud, drink, and enjoy the ocean's horizon.

Today, Nanfanao's population is around 9,000 people, and one-third of them are migrant fishermen. The majority of the migrants are from Indonesia and The Philippines. They are economic migrants who come to earn money to support their families back home. They live and work on boats and alter them into their homes. They eat, drink, shower, cook, and work in one space. The boat is no longer a boat but a fusion of life and work.

During the daytime, they gather under the trees at the town's main entrance. Sleep on the balcony of the Nanfangao tourist center because the inside of the ship is too hot. They trace the shade in the city to root. Play badminton on the coast. Sell fish in front of the fire station. They stay in one place for three to four hours and shift to another place. Throughout the study, the migrants open other opportunities to inhabit the boat and the city in their own ways. It challenges the Taiwanese city's space hierarchy through this flexible way of living. The project adopts the unusual appropriation and flexibility as a core to designing a floating platform.

People of the town and the migrant fishermen come here to celebrate and forget about the precarity, even for one night. Enjoy the horizon, the moonlight, and the breeze.

Life on the Deck - Perspective – The deck is a fusion of washroom, kitchen, dining room, laundry room, living room, and working. They use this height difference to redefine the usage of space. The gap is where they shower. Water buckets are all over the place for their daily wash. The stoves hiding behind the sideboard is their kitchen. The wood panel on the ground is their dining table, and the fishing nets are hanging behind as their wardrobe. The deck for them is a multi-functional space. (800mm x 400mm)

Life on the Deck - Plan/Items – When they land, the migrants' activities expand to the city. They are sitting on the concrete blocks of the pier to cut their hair without a roof. The pier becomes their barbershop. They fix and dry nets beside the boat. They gather and drink on the pier as it is in their living room. The pier is no longer a pier. It is an open platform where their life unfolds. (800mm x 400mm)

Raft Patterns - High/Low Tides – The rafts will change with the tide to form the various landscapes. (800mm x 400mm)

Context - Tide Direction – The orientation of the platform is perpendicular to the direction of the tide, so it can react to the water's direction. The project is a linear building without a roof. It is a thin surface that floats on the water with 1152 bamboo rafts tied to a fixed path. The fishing nets are draping from the sky hanging on the tip of bamboo pillars. The pillars and the raft float with the tide to create an unusual sense. (800mm x 400mm)

The Rafts with Terrains – There are 19 types of rafts. Each raft has four layers. The bottom has bundles of bamboo tied together as pontoons to increase buoyancy for the raft. The second layer is a flat surface to stabilize the structure. The third layer has small columns and curvy beams to support the terrain for the top layer. The larger raft with a flat surface can form larger activities such as singing karaoke or performing. The linear rafts with terrain allow people to sit on them, and sell their goods. (800mm x 400mm)

Tides/Activities Plans – From time to time, the rafts act like small floating karaoke. People are singing on a higher platform raft while other people are listening to it on distanced rafts. Here, people are doing barbeque as a circle because of the terrains surrounding them. The smokes puff into the dark night, blowing to the city. The scent of the barbeque extrudes the entire surface. They eat, drink and play games. The foreign lyrics echo in the air, mixing with laughs and cheers. (800mm x 400mm)

Tides/Activities Plans – During the full tide, the rafts will expand to create a more scattered landscape for smaller groups. In low tide, the raft will be pushed together to form more solid ground for larger activities. The combination of 19 types of bamboo rafts generates various scenarios by the people, allowing them to move freely on the surface. (800mm x 400mm)

Partial Top View Plan – At the bottom, there is a fixed path with bamboo columns sticking out into the sky. People will walk from the path and go down a bamboo stair to arrive at the rafts. The rafts form a new land for the people to inhabit in their own way. Here, people are free. Here, some people are relaxing and sleeping on the edge of the flat raft with a guitar right next to them. (1600mm x 800mm)

Perspective Section – When it is low tide, the buoy will be pushed towards the fixed pathway, so the net will drape more to separate the space. At high tide, the buoy will be pushed further away, and the nets will be expanded to form larger spaces. The nets are overlapping each other to blur the visibilities. Some people are singing behind this side of the net. Some people are barbecuing right next to it. (800mm x 400mm)

Long Elevation – (800mm x 400mm)

Perspectives – (1600mm x 400mm)

Nien-Hsun Huang

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Royal College of Art