PORTFOLIO OF TAO XU
SELECTED WORKS FROM 2017-2022
E-mail: xutaodt@hotmail.com Phone: +1 (445)-208-4827 MSD-AAD University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design
EDUCATION University of Pennsylvania / Philadelphia, PA
2020.09 - 2022.05
Taiyuan University of Technology / Taiyuan, China
2015.09 - 2020.07
Master of Science in Design - Advanced Architectural Design Bachelor of Architecture
DESIGN EXPERIENCE Archi-Union Architects
Shanghai, China / Intern Architect
2021.06 - 2021.07
Interior design / Renderings / Detail drawings / Digital models Materials and design references / Grasshopper scripts
Taiyuan Juchuan Architectural Design Office Taiyuan, China / Intern Architect
2019.09 - 2019.12
Conceptual diagrams / Digital models / Drawings Presentation materials / Renderings
Gu Yu Cup National College Students Sustainable Architectural Design Competition / Team leader 2018 Hope Cup Competition Workshop / Team member 2017 ‘Golden Lotus’ International Design Competition for Students / Individual work for interior design competition
2018.05 - 2018.07 2018.02 2017.07 - 2017.09
SELECTED HONORS Excellence award,
2017.11 - 2018.03
Honorable mention,
2021.08 - 2022.01
2018 National Green Building Design Competition / Team leader 2021 The Architerrax Portfolio Competition
SKILLS Software
Adobe Creative Suite (PS, AI, ID), Rhino, Sketchup, Autodesk Maya, AutoCAD, Vray, Keyshot, Enscape, Autodesk Revit, Grasshopper, Microsoft Office
Languages
Mandarin, English
CONTENTS 01 Architecture | 15 Minutes and Counting Andy Warhol Museum Design Integrate pop art features into museum design
02 Architecture | Logistics System
UPS Logistics Hub Design Hybrid of human spaces with logistics system in New York
03 Architecture | Immersive Algae Garden Horticulture Center Design Facade and space design with algae cultivation
04 Architecture | Inheritance and Rebirth Residential Complex Design Community retains the traditional hutong life experience
05 Architecture | Inbetween the Weaving Arch
Shelter Design Shelter designed for left-behind children and local culture
06 Urban Design | Through the Vibrant Neighborhood City Block Activation Block revival design in Taiyuan
| Other Works
01
15 Minutes and Counting
Andy Warhol Museum Design Location: Tokyo, Japan Academic | Group Work Instructor: Hina Jamelle TA: Caleb White Teammate: Zheyuan Fu 01/2021-05/2021 Our work aims to study and evaluate artistic techniques of paint drips in Takashi Murakami's artwork Infinity (02). In this Murakami's work high contrast is achieved through techniques of the physical drip on the canvas, which we studied through diagrams and machine learning. In the new museum we aim to develop cultural consequences of the geometry of the drip itself. The drip is developed into a transformational device spatially through overlap, depression, nesting and other techniques. The drip itself is seen in a different context away from the painting itself through a subversion- and is a transformational device. The background now becomes figural. The boundary between art and reality is blurred, and the building itself becomes the content depicted in the painting. Color in our building emphasizes contrast and intensifies through warm and cold colors. Pink and blue have different personalities of enthusiasm and calmness. They respectively imply Western and Eastern pop art. Materially the drip is soft, puddled in areas and unexpected. Different colors define the exhibition of eastern and western pop art, but their borders are blurred. Their nesting implies the integration of Eastern and Western Pop Art.
05
Design Research Model
This model reflects the evolution of our design ideas: on the façade of the model, the left side is 2D painting, which gradually transforms to 2.5D, becoming small window holes, and on the far right side, it becomes the 3D space composition. While on the top surface, the 2D diagram gradually becomes larger planar scales, then different arcs are nested with each other to form a plane organization.
Design Concept The work expresses the relationship between man and nature through different colors and graphics. We abstract and extract on this basis, sum up several different colors and three techniques, and use this as the basis of our diagram. Our ideas come from three rules extracted from the original painting, including hue, brightness and dripping. We develop one single drawing for each rule, then we combine these drawings into one diagram. Character Warm color
Cool color
Elements
Infinity (02) - Takashi Murakami
Circle Circlegrid grid
Drip Drip
Points Points
Rule1: Hue
0
0 0°
360 360° 0 – 90° ° 360
90 – 180° 180 – 270° 270 – 360°
°
Rule2: Brightness
0
100% 100% 0 – 25%
00
100%
25 – 50%
50 – 75% 75 – 100%
Rule3: Dripping
Diagram
Small drips
Middl e drips
Large drips
Small drips Middle drips Large drips
Small drips
Middl e drips
Large drips
Color Research
C o l o r i s o n e o f o u r i m p o r ta nt research objects, so we first separate the black, white and color parts of the original painting, combing machine learning and our diagram to generate new patterns. Then we use techniques such as overlap, sunk, nesting and gradient to generate interesting space fragments based on these patterns and use these fragments to form a new assembled model for subsequent building facades and interiors study.
Geometric Vocabulary Overlap Overlap
Sunk Sunk
Nesting Nesting
Gradient Gradient
Section
2
3
2
2
2
1
4
0
1
3
6
12M
1. Storage 3. Office
2. Gallery 4. Lobby
Drip Pieces Analysis
2D Geometry
Color Nesting
3D Pieces
Surfaces Nesting
Art Installation
Volumes Nesting
Interior View
Site View
First Floor Plan 4
2 6 5
1
2
1
2
2
2
3
3
Ground Floor Plan
5
2 2 1
2
4
N 0 1
3
6
12M
1. Storage 2. Gallery 3. Cafe 4. Shop 5. Workshop 6. Media Room
Short Elevation
02
Logistics System
UPS Logistics Hub Design Location: New York, USA Academic | Group Work Instructor: Ali Rahim, Na Wei TA: Grace He Teammate: Jingyi Chen 09/2020-12/2020
In our envision, in the future, with the development of science and technology, the gap between machinery and labor, nonhuman and human will gradually be narrow. When it reflects on the architecture or the relationship between public office and logistics system, they will no longer be completely separated. In our project, we use spiral structures to insert into the building volume to bring the exterior space into the interior, to blur the boundary between the inside and outside. Then we introduce the ring beams, they not only assume the role of structure, but also serve as a traffic corridor for logistics transportation as well as people corridor. These ring beams travel through the logistics system and office space, creating a new relationship between the two spaces. Also, it travels between the facades, blurring the boundary of exterior and interior of the building. Floors are aimed to connect the spirals and the ring beams, creating an experience in different locations and different spaces. So, in our imagination, human and nonhuman have no strict boundaries and become individuals that will affect each other.
17
First Floor Plan 1
5
6
3
2
7 7 4 4
7
7 2 1 5
N 013 6
12M
1. Storage 2. Meeting Room 4. Rest Area 5. Visiting Cloister 7. Logistics Delivery Spiral Area
3. Office 6. Restroom
Physical Model Different spirals are inserted into the building as the transportation system, as well as to blur the boundary between inside and outside, human and non-human. The ring beams are designed as the structure for bounding the spirals, also serve as a traffic corridor for visiting of people. They travel between the facades, bring the exterior space into the building. The vertical structures on both sides of the spirals are used to hold the spirals and provide vertical support like columns.
Chunk Model
Shape Generation
Short Section
Elevation
Long Section
03
Immersive Algae Garden
Horticulture Center Design Location: Philadelphia, USA Academic | Group Work Instructor: Nate Hume TA: White Matthew Teammate: Jingyi Chen 09/2021-01/2022
Our idea starts from Kahn’s plan, extracting several interesting points including stepping, inlay, telescope and oblique connection of indoor and outdoor spaces, and use these strategies to create our new graphic drawings. Combining with the study of agricultural technology, nutrition and gas such as CO2 will be added to water and provided through pipes for plants. Then the water and biomass will be collected and transported back to the processor through these pipes. According to the technology above, we design a double-layer wall that contains two different systems which can cooperate together. One system is the planter. The figures of planters are extracted from castle drawings and contains soil to grow plants. Then these planters will composite together and fix on both outer and inner wall by metal joints. The second system is recycling tube, set on both building elevation and inner spaces. These tubes can provide nutrition and water for plants and can also become the container to cultivate algae. On the elevation, several pieces of planters will be densely composited together to form a kind of pattern. Between the space of planter patterns are algae pipes, which are inspired by the castle drawings as well as the different infill line types in them.
25
Graphical Studies
Base drawing
Inverted figure
TELESCOPING
STEPPING BASE DRAWING
Extracted profiles Hook
OBLIQUE CONNECTION
INVERTED DRAWING
MIRROR
Composite drawing
The main research purpose is to use clay to print planters by using a robotic arm, with pockets spaces as containers for soil, as well as with transition from one circle to multiple circles for the figuration. In the color research, we use two transition colors and embellish them with crystal pigments.
Tunnel
Inlay
Ground Floor Plan
4
6 5 4 1 5
3
7
2
5
1
4
8
N
01 3
6
12M
1. Entrance 4. Rest Area 7. Storage
2. Meeting Room 5. Visiting Gallery 8. Cafe
3. Office 6. Restroom 9. Workshop
Section
Long Section
1. Water Proof 3. Water Pump Device 5. Planter 7. Steel Supporting 9. Insulation Layer 11. CO2 Added Pipe
2. Rain Water Collector 4. Algea Tubes 6. Glass Curtain Wall 8. Timber Frame 10. Water Processor 12. Nutrition Added Pipe
In our building, we have two wall systems. While the outer wall system consists of the planters, recycling pipes with different figures, and we use glass for the hanging material for the planters. In the inner wall system, it only has planters hanged on it, but we use barbed wire as the hanging material, to create a transparent visual experience with the interior space.
Mockup Physical Model
The mockup physical model shows part of our wall system in actual scale. We suspend planters on the façade, considering adding nutrients and gas to the liquid to supply soil and plants through pipes based on our previous research on agricultural techniques. Therefore, combining with the graphics we extract from the Kahn's plan, two sets of piping systems are designed. The first set is to use the negative shape between the planters to design complementary pipes, such as the green pipes in the mockup model. The second set is the transparent pipes that shuttle between the planters, and the pipes are fixed by means of hollow balls designed on the surface of the planters when the robotic arm prints the planters. The two sets of piping systems work together to form an important part of the wall systems.
Elevation
Planters are hung on the façade as cultivation containers for plants, enriching the layers of the façade. There are several different figures of planters, all extracted from the previous graphic study, which can be nested and combined with each other to form new graphics. At the same time, transparent tubes are used to shuttle between the planters and we use spherical structures on the planter surface to hold the tubes. The green tubes are designed as part of the façade figures which can be nested with the figures formed by the planters, enriching the façade pattern. Both transparent tubes and green tubes can be used to deliver nutrients to the plants. The purpose of the whole system design is to provide visitors with an experience of being in nature, creating an organic garden space, and at the same time subverting the design idea of the traditional single-story facade, making the facade a new kind of thick, usable space.
Site Plan
Elevation Unit Exploded Drawing
Elevation Detail
Glass Panels
Wood Frames
Recycling Pipes
Planters
Transparent Pipes
04
Inheritance and Rebirth
Residential Complex Design Location: Beijing, China Academic | Individual Work Instructor: Zhiwen Zhang 05/2018-08/2018
Beijing has a large number of courtyards, which are connected by small-scale streets in all directions. These streets are called Hutong. The hutong connects every household, the neighbors have a close relationship through the hutong, and communication has become a daily routine. However, this living style is now facing a crisis of disappearance. On the one hand, the traditional courtyard has become a miscellaneous courtyard, losing the original spatial experience; on the other hand, under the influence of urbanization, the younger generation is unwilling to live in hutong. In my project, I hope to integrate the activities in the hutong while maintaining a high residential density. Therefore, I rotate the plan of courtyards into a section of the building, the inner space of courtyards become the public space in the building, and the hutong becomes an aerial corridor connecting different units. There are rest spaces of different scales between the units and the interior corridor, the purpose is to preserve the original indirect connection between the courtyard and the hutong.
33
Site Analysis Collage Students
Workers
Scholars
Disabled
Parents With Children
Senior Citizens
Teenagers Tourists
Description of Site Site is in Beijing, China where there are a lot of courtyards and they are organicly connected by streets and alleyways. Within the public realm of the hutong, residents broke the barrier that existed within traditional co-living clusters and social vitality was visible at every corner. However, these communities, which are embodiment of memories from several generations, are facing the risk of being demolished. Many of the traditional “hutong” courtyards have now become overcrowded and poorly maintained with multiple families living in one hutong and the common spaces serve as random storage. Despite its history, hutong courtyards are almost becoming forbidden. On the other hand, during the process of globalization, more and more people desire to live in modern buildings and work in big city, only the elderly and children are now living in hutong, which means it is no possibility to develop again. But the activities in hutong deserve us to explore.
Description of Design My concept re-envisions the courtyards in plan into a vertical situation, where the plan arrangement becomes the elevation design of the building. The individual units are linked by an aerial connector, similar to how the hutong is connected. The aerial connector allows residents in different units to reach public spaces and enjoy a variety of functions and activities. The arrangement maximizes the benefits of hutong.
Sing
Chat
Cafe
Chess
Breakfast
Movie
Axonometric
Shape Generation
1
2
5
6
3
4
7
8
Public Spaces
Vegetable Garden
Cafe
Restaurant
Theater
Chat
Bar
Library
Square
Gym
Housing Units Plan Studio
Studio
Single
Couple
1b1b
Loft
Single
Couple
1b1b
Loft
Couple
Couple+1
2b2b
2b2b
Couple+1
Couple+2
2F Plan
+3.000
+0.450
+0.450
+3.000
+0.450
N
01 3
6
12M
Theater
Gym
Library
Square
Cafe
Chat
Restaurant
A Traditional Experience Through the Aisle
43
05
Inbetween the Weaving Arch
Shelter Design Location: Sanmenxia, China Academic | Individual Work Instructor: Gang Shen 11/2017-03/2018
In Sanmenxia of China, the ground pits are disappearing due to urbanization despite its ecological advantages: First is about the low-cost construction, the ancestors living on the loess plateau around the middle reaches of the Yellow River were quite poor. There is a lack of coal resources and forest resources, so it is very difficult to build houses. However, the ground pit has a simple structure, uses less building materials and low construction costs. It only requires one's own labor to dig during the slack time, and it will be able to build a yard in half a year. At the same time, because the loess here is thick and the groundwater level is low, which makes the ground pit has good shock resistance and thermal adjustment. It is also a symbolic manifestation of traditional culture, a microcosm of the harmony of heaven and earth, a philosophical response to the ancient Chinese philosophy of "the harmony between man and nature". There are also a lot of homeless Left-behind Children of migrant workers in there. They need a shelter, which can not only meet their functional needs, but also provide spiritual comfort, arouse their hometown feelings in their hearts, and give them spiritual sustenance.
45
Site
Development of the ground pit People lived by hunting and gathering, kept moving, so it was hard to begin settlement
Paleolithic
Neolithic
People started agriculture and manufacturing, to form original settlement and lived in caves
Agricultural Stage
Industrialization Stage
Agriculture promoted advanced living pattern, various cave dwelling showed up
The number of housing units increased and the demand for underground space increased
Ground Pit Explosion
Storage Residence Kitchen
Residence
Toilet Residence
A ground pit contains main cave and secondary caves which are always half cave size. And the sequence from ground to the cave is public, semipublic, semi-private, private
Arch Typology Array
Nest
Stack
Shear
Explosion
Corridor Space
Performance Space
Worship Space
Meditation Space
Meeting Space
06
Through the Vibrant Neighborhood
City Block Activation Location: Taiyuan, China Academic | Individual Work Instructor: Qiang Xu 09/2018-03/2019
In this site, many blocks are disorganized and disconnected by two highways, to a considerable extent weakening the functions of these blocks and bringing inconvenience to local residents. However, different blocks have unique functions, such as parks, gym, school and etc. They should be connected thus enhance the vitality of these blocks. In my project, I choose six nodes for design, including library, parking space, market, theater, office space, etc., and connect them with aerial walkway. The purpose is to respond to the original geographical attributes of the site, facilitate citizens' lives, and stimulate the vitality of the area.
55
Site
Problem
Strategy
an aisle to the parkwith no interest
place in building
a crowded road in front of the school
place in vertical traffic
disorderly market
place in orderly market
unused historical museum
reform and add traffic
unused open space
place in co-working space
an inconvenient stadium
place in a convenient entrance
Architectural Node
Library
Market
Gym
Bicycle Ramp
Office
Theater
Office Explosion
In the office node, the basic office space is arranged around the atrium. The atrium space is formed by the superposition of three boxes. The three boxes are used as meeting space, coffee space and seminar space from top to bottom. They are staggered and connected by stairs and also use the height difference to create a rich outdoor rest platform space to stimulate the vitality of the entire office space.
Market Explosion
In the market node, as a main transportation hub, it connects the three main transportation systems of subway station, bicycle path and pedestrian bridge, using modular composition mode to create a building that is transparent and rich in spatial experience.
OTHER WORKS
OTHER WORKS
OTHER WORKS
OTHER WORKS
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Tao Xu xutaodt@hotmail.com +1 (445)-208-4827