Jiaying FengCrescent
Crescent’s educational journey has been marked by diverse global experiences, shaping her aspirations as an emerging architect. Her academic focus is on NCSS, Nature, Culture, and Sustainability, reflecting her commitment to integrating ecological principles with cultural awareness in architectural design.
She is presently enrolled in the Master of Science in Advanced Architecture Design program at the University of Hong Kong, anticipating graduation in 2025.
Email: fengcrescent@gmail.com
Mobile: +852 6546 5088
08
LITTLE BOXES ALL THE SAMEStudio
2022 SPRING ADVANCED STUDIO
AM I YOUR TYPE
Instructor: Malcolm Rio
Collaborative Work
Our research journey began with an exploration of the "American Dream" and the anticipated shifts in domestic structures due to climate change. Focusing on the influence of postwar American suburban homes, we delved into their role in shaping norms related to class, consumerism, domesticity, and materialism. Our collaborative team of three closely crafted each drawing in this triptych project.
We delved into architectural plans of prefabricated homes dating back to the 1950s and 1990s, sourced from archival catalogs. Through the collage, we documented not only the middle-class suburban architectural trends of each decade but broader social issues. The drawings showed a story of a middle-class white American family. Our arguments have been centered around a 'woman.' The living room becomes a canvas illustrating the evolution of family values and the changing role of women within the family structure. Meanwhile, the kitchen serves as a stage for the progression of women's domestic responsibilities. In the bedroom, we trace the metamorphosis of a woman's sense of self, and in the bathroom, we explore themes of privacy, cleanliness, and the unfolding narrative of sexual liberation for women.
We explored broader societal problems including the evolution of domestic work, family values, and female independence in addition to the architectural styles of each period. The Evolutionary Drawings depict how domestic goods and class goals have changed from the 1950s to the 2150s. From bigger to smaller scales, the objects are categorized into urbanism, power, interior home spaces, food, technology, and health.
The three-time periods can be categorized as Consumption (1950s), Reduction (2050s), and Survival (2150). Across all three drawings, we trace the changes in the environment (plants, wildlife, water access), technology, transportation (private cars, shared self-driving electric cars, shared walkable tunnels), and kitchen (moving from a small gendered space to an open-space non-gendered kitchen with connection to small-scale agriculture, to the shared large compound kitchen with the deficit of the resources). Throughout all periods, the kitchen acts as a panopticon that enables control and view of the entire household.