THE T CENTER
Work by Yuanyuan Chen - Arch 410 Design Studio
This project explores the architectural potential of boundaries—not as edges or enclosures, but as thresholds that invite movement, exchange, and transformation. Titled Boundless, the community art center reimagines how cultural spaces can foster deeper connection by dissolving the lines between seeing, making, and belonging.
The notational mapping process served as a critical bridge between research and design, transforming abstract observations into a tangible architectural framework. Through a close reading of the site's historical layering and its evolving relationship with the larger urban context, specific patterns of movement, settlement, and spatial usage were extracted. These patterns were distilled into a system of graphic notation—lines, densities, and spatial rhythms—that captured the essence of human interaction with the site over time. Rather than acting as literal representations, these notations functioned as generative tools, allowing the project’s architectural language to emerge organically from the accumulated narratives of the place. In this way, the mapping process did not merely document the past, but actively shaped the conceptual and formal strategies of the design.
The design challenges traditional notions of museums and galleries as static containers for observation. Instead, it proposes a spatial experience defined by openness and fluidity. Planes—rather than walls—are used to organize space. These planes separate programmatic areas, such as galleries, workshops, and gathering spaces, but they also merge them, creating moments of visual and spatial overlap. As users move through the building, they pass not through doors or corridors, but across shifting thresholds that blur distinctions between inside and outside, artist and audience, process and product.
The result is a highly interactive cultural space that emphasizes participation over passive viewing. Community workshops are embedded within gallery spaces, encouraging visitors to engage directly with artistic processes. Local art is not simply displayed—it is created, discussed, and lived. The architecture supports this ethos by minimizing hierarchy between programs and inviting multiple forms of encounter throughout the building.
Rooted in the belief that cultural expression should be inclusive and accessible, Boundless transforms the experience of the museum into a shared cultural landscape—one where boundaries are not barriers, but bridges between perspectives, communities, and creative acts.
