(c) Leo Wing Lok Lui. All rights reserved.
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Volume in drive W has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 0329-2002
Directory of W:\Users\Leo
04/27/2023 12:42 PM <PRJ> Shadow City: SSP2
05/07/2024 12:50 PM <PRJ> Para-Site Room
12/24/2024 12:21 PM <CON> Data Democracy: The Memory Center
09/23/2025 04:30 PM <EXE> ?Stair
10/24/2025 04:15 PM <EXE> Two-Cut Hall
12/08/2025 03:17 PM <EXE> Departure Corridor
11/06/2024 12:09 PM <COL> BEAM Society Limited: Office Renovation Proposal
12/17/2025 11:31 AM <COL> the DRAWING, the DRAWN, and the WITH_DRAWN
00/00/0000 00:00 PM <ARC> Unsorted
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W:\Users\Leo>“Departure Corridor”
W:\Users\Leo\Departure Corridor>projectinfo
PRJ Version: 01.14.2026 IAP Edit
Original PRJ Date: 10/30/2024, 4:08:32 PM
PRJ Author: Leo Lui
PRJ Collaborator: Instructor - Simon Lesina-Debiasi
Registered Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
PRJ Build Type: Short Exercise - 4.151 Architecture Design Core Studio l
Riddle: A building that is a part and stands apart.
In 2026, the MIT SA+P will migrate to establish its new home in the Metropolitan Warehouse (bottom left corner of the site plan). In parallel with this move, the project is to design a building that will act as a mid-campus beacon to project the impact of past, current, and future work of MIT SA+P faculty and students to the broader MIT community and to the public.
MIT buildings are corridors with rooms on both sides. The project follows the same logic but with the 1. turning, 2. lifting, 3. biting, and 4. peeking gestures in volume. The turning and lifting is to differentiate usage of the building as an archive and museum. The peeking is to provide the visual connection to the public towards the Charles River, Harvard Bridge, and the Metropolitan Warehouse. It also provides an open view for the top floor, which is an event space and visitor center.
The massing is mainly driven by site context to establish the connection to the surroundings and response to the riddle. The approach is considered as polite and impolite, shy and bold. It is generative and opened up the discussion on the two grids—old and new.
//Grid Game
The lifting and turning gesture suggests a new grid. The building is planned and designed around the old and new grids, both in plan and section (elevation).
The switching of the grid system indicates the changes of zones: new grid=public area; old grid=private.
This project intends to materialize the grid into spaces that could be experienced instead of an architect’s game on paper. It also registered the conflict, transition, and connection between the adjacent building and the new one.
Other than the stairs and elevator, the vertical circulation is mainly provided by the ramps that direct to the higher floor. The opening at the side of the building allows access to the same floor of the connected building and the way to the next departing ramp. Eventually, people will circulate around the atrium and the exhibition spaces near the ramps and reach the top floor of the building.
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