Rising Masses
2007/2008
© Max Kahlen

This project, about verticality and the madness of repetition, features a residential high-rise building, floating within the regimented grid of Singapore’s office district. Writing form mathematically defines the basic concept, using the notation of functions and equations to confront both the abstract development of a syntax of form and the concept of ‘automatic writing’, where form is driven purely from industrial performance ratios. The scheme proposes two 6m-thick building slabs, each 180m high by 40m long. On their external faces the slabs reflect the monotony of the neighbouring buildings, while on their inside this monotony dissolves as the facades deform into vertical folds. These folds stabilise and connect both slabs as well as providing external vertical circulation.