MArch Architectural Design Portfolio for the Bartlett UCL

REFORM 01 BLANK MOUNTAIN — Mount Qingcheng Station 02 Metabolism of Suzhou Gardens —Revival of Tradition 03 Valet，Gardener， Water Collector — Intelligent Community Core Green Tower

04 Central Field —Rural Reconstruction for Dengsan village 2018~2019 Selected Works

GUO RONG

01 BLANK MOUNTAIN — MOUNT QINGCHENG STATION ( INDIVIDUAL WORK 2018) This project is from my curriculum design of senior year. The topic is about the redesign of Mount Qingcheng station.The original station has adopted the side-station form and has a platform of 5 meters high. In my modification plan, I retain these characteristics.

During the on-the-spot investigation, I was deeply impressed by the distant scenery of Qingcheng Mountain. However,I noticed that the railway and the original station shed spatially and visually destroy the integrity of the site. Aiming at it, I try to link two plots, which are divided by the railway and the platform with ladder to increase the connectivity. At the same time, I think morphological simulationy should be a nice strategy. So I use curves to control the shape of the building as much as possible in order to make the architectural form match the shape of the mountain from various perspectives.

Finally, the long ladder provides another way to pass through the platform for the pedestrian. A viewing platform is placed on the path of the stairs to maximize the use of scenery. A new ‘mountain’, looking at another mountain from afar.

It is worth mentioning that this is the first time in my undergraduate career that I have used rhino to design .The modeling process is very difficult but very enjoyable. I have to admit it is a extremely naive attempt with so many flaws. For example,the space of the building is too difficult to divide, and I directly ignore the pillars. Anyway, at least it looks pretty good. So I put this project in the first place, to commemorate the great software rhino. I hope that when I have the ability, I can further improve this project.

Mount Qingcheng

Platform(original)

Station shed(original)

Structure of Original Station

Occlusion of visual field

Create a viewing platform

Occlusion of streamline

Cross the station

Destruction of morphology

Simulation of morphology

Transformation Strategy

Elevation A

First Floor Plan 1.ENTRANCE LOBBY

6.TICKET BARRIER

11.SHOP

16.FIRE CONTROL

2.TICKET HALL

7.WATER CLOSET

12.OFFICE

17.STORAGE

3.SELF-HELP AREA

8.SPECIAL WAITING

13.MEETING ROOM

4.WAITING HALL

9.VIP ROOM

14.GUARD ROOM

5.EXISTING HALL

10.RESTAURANT

15.POWER ROOM

Platform Plan

General Plan

Elevation B

Elevation C

Section A-A

Pedestrian Bridge The nearby pedestrian passage that can pass through the platform is one kilometer away from the station .So a pedestrain bridge is made to link two plots with long steps, increasing the connectivity .

Entrance and Exit The main entrance is placed on the east . The station exit and staff entrance are separated on both sides

Platform Waiting Area The waiting area is 220 meters long and suitable for trains with 8 carriages.( The station is in a remote area with limited rail passenger flow in Chengdu.)

Viewing Platform A viewing platform is arranged on the roof of the station . People can peer into the distance and enjoy the mountain scenery on the 23 meter high platform.

Exploded Views

02 METABOLISM OF SUZHOU GARDENS — REVIVAL OF TRADITION ( INDIVIDUAL WORK 2018) （THIS PROJECT IS BASED ON MY 2018 UIA COMPETITION DESIGN. THE COMPETITION IS A TEAM WORK, BUT ALL THE CONTENTS IN THIS PROJECT ARE MADE BY MYSELF）

The competition topic ： ARCHITECTURE IN TRANSFORMATION URBAN CO-LIVING: CUSTOMIZING MODULES FOR COMMUNITY The competition requirement: the task is to identify a central urban site in one of China’s 1st or 2nd tier cities and propose a coliving cluster with small units. These units should be designed as prefabricated modules. Endless repetition of identical units is to be avoided. Various species of units need to be invented, varied, and perhaps hybridized. The next aspect to be considered are the aggregation patterns that these modules allow for. The varied patters of voids and inbetween spaces should make space for social communication.

Nowadays Suzhou Classical Garden was selected as a World Cultural Heritage protected by the Chinese government. Despite of the good protection, Suzhou Classical Garden become a beautiful monument of Chinese culture and no more used in our modern architecture and I realize nowadays in China there is a big gap between history and now.

I consideration is how to occupied tradition thinking in our modern architecture and how to let the Chinese Classical Garden coexist with our modern city. In this competition I decide to use “The Metabolism of Chinese Classical Garden ”as the main concept. In order to establish a new connection between old and new, I aim to create a metabolism system in Suzhou’s old residential area.I immediately thought of the traditional houses.They usually conform to the modular system of ancient Chinese architecture, which make them quite suitable for modular transformationt. They are precious cultural heritage, but they are too old for the modern city life. Take the old residential area in Suzhou's old city centre as an example, ,the owner adds a lot of the illegal buildings by themselves in order to enlarge living and storage space. In this way, old urban fabric was largely destroyed, and compared to the past, the living system in our site is completely changed.

In this project, on the basis of field research, a lot of reference was made to Mr. Chen Congzhou’s book "Old Residences in Suzhou". I studied the structure of traditional houses and came up with some transformation strategies. At the larger level, there is an urgent need for a new community system.I try to use traditional way such as Landscaping, Borrowing, Framing, and contrasting in our living space. In addition, i transformed old residential area from Introvert to open with high fixable space which can be easily renewed by Modular construction element. I believe this Metabolism system can build a new relationship between old and new and also bring new vitality into our modern city.

Historical Background Suzhou classical garden is an art system of landscape architecture formed by the organic combination of garden art and literature art and freehand theory. It originated in the spring and Autumn period, developed in Jin, Tang and Five Dynasties, flourished in Song Dynasty and peaked in Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Faced Challenges The government set up a special plan for conservation and restoration, and gradually opened the private gardens to the public. In 1997, Suzhou gardens were included in the world cultural heritage.Despite of the good protection, Suzhou Classical Garden become a beautiful monument of Chinese culture and no more used in our modern architecture nowadays.

Selection of Land It is forbidden to reform gardens under state protection.In order to establish a new connection between past and present, i decided to focus on the old residential houses inSuzhou’s old downtown area.To a certain extent ,transformation is allowed .There are several suitable residential areas in the picture,surrounded by ancient buildings and gardens.respectively; they represent a fascinating mix of tradition and modernity

Community Status Take Qingzhou community as an example .Most houses in the communitiy are too old and no longer adapted to the modern city life .They affect the regional vitality due to the poor living conditions. Also,some unordered reconstructions were over modernized which have an adverse effect on vcultural features.

Displacement of the Center In view of the whole city ,the focus of urban construction is moving eastward.If the status quo is maintained, th region's most dynamic area will gradually lose its competitiveness

Concept drawing

Application of Customizing Modules Post and lintel construction as well as the column and tie construction is used in the Suzhou's residential buildings .The wooden construction follow the modulus rule,which allow them to be suitable for modular transformation.At the same time,the scale of module is very close to the comptition requirements . What I need to do is to design the new modules and apply it to a single house that was already modular two thousand years ago, and then extend it to the entire community

Application of Customizing Modules The space utilization ratio of Chinese ancient architecture is lower than that of contemporary ones .I need to increase the area of living space by means of modularization, and at the same time, put the shared space and work space inside the community. I designed two different modules strategies at last.Opening up space above seems to be the only option.Various systems should be combined at different heights,making room for greening and landscape.

1

Initial form

2 Remove the rafters

3 Remove the architraves/ cushion boards /eave purlins

4 Assemble the customized mold

5

Insert the Mortise-Tenon structure

6

Fit up the room

7 Install top rafters

1 Remove the rafters

2 Remove the architraves/ cushion boards /eave purlins

3 Assemble the customized

5

6 Connecting three floors

7 Install top rafters and

mold

8

Connect to the outdoor platform

Residential Module Installation

insert the Mortise-Tenon structure

4

insert the internal block

Fit up the room

8

Connect to the outdoor platform

Shared Spaces Module Installation

Installation details

Steel framework

Component nesting

bay width A:B=4:5

Steel framework

Component nesting

Optional interior window

Mortise-Tenon components

Mortise-Tenon Connection

Pipeline layout

Mortise-Tenon components

Mortise-Tenon Connection

Extra steel column support

Application of Customizing Modules Residential modules are suitable for single or double layer medium-sized houses. According to the number of bays, one house can accommodate three to five residential modules.The size of the module is determined by the width of the bay. Mudules above the primary bay are for the couples and those above the secondary bay are for the singles Spared space modules have more stringent requirements on the size ,especially the height of the original houses. They are the shared facilities that compensate for the spatial constraints of the individual units: kitchens, eating areas, lounging/living areas, café/bar areas, co-working areas etc.

The data is for reference only.

Module internal design

office space

dining space

Multi Purpose Shared Space

overall appearance

Element extraction

tourist

artist

garden

temple

commercial Street

resident

performance

waterscape

exhibition

pedlar

Site Elements Living Modules

Overprint and Complementary

Shared Space

building courtyard corridor center line

First floor plan

Second floor plan

Function carding

Original Status (Tieping alley)

Courtyard Space Break the borders of different blocks

Change the flow lines inside the blocks through revolving walls

Transformation Strategy

Reconstructed Community Plan

First -floor Street

03 Valet，Gardener， Water Collector — INTELLIGENT COMMUNITY CORE GREEN TOWER ( INDIVIDUAL WORK 2019) （THIS PROJECT IS BASED ON MY EVOLO COMPETITION DESIGN） The competition requirement: The participants should take into consideration the advances in technology, the exploration of sustainable systems, and the establishment of new urban and architectural methods to solve economic, social, and cultural problems of the contemporary city including the scarcity of natural resources and infrastructure and the exponential increase of inhabitants, pollution, economic division, and unplanned urban sprawl.

I did a survey on the shortage of parking spaces in several local communities in Xindu district for curriculum design in 2018. I found that the building density was high and the design of production and living in the community scale was unreasonable, which lead to the closure of the community, the shortage of green space and the parking space. Parking difficulties ,an inevitable social problem in Chengdu ,have become a chronic disease in the old communities. Only by solving the practical problems such as parking difficulties, limited green space and unreasonable design scale, can we further activate the vitality of the community and create a livable space suitable for people's production and life.

I was just about to participate in the evolo competition. I thought maybe i could design a special building to solve all the local problems at the same time. I could use a sci-fi way to present the future architecture in my vision, which integrates multiple functions,Including community parks, automated parking systems, automated ecological wall maintenance systems. This is the origin of this project.

The green park is relatively easy to design. I introduced a circular aerial ramp with the green tower as the center to connect the scattered communities around.Regarding the automatic parking system, it has already been used in China nowadays. The intensive development of construction land in China will certainly bring the huge demand of stereo garage, and high-end, intelligent garage will be the general trend. With the development of energy technology and Internet of things in the future, the Internet and intelligent electric vehicles may be popularized as a mobile information terminal. Regarding the automated green wall system, I hope to take advantage of the high humidity in Chengdu by applying the theory of "water intake in the air ".The tower itself may be able to produce enough water to cover the demand and also regulate local humidity.

Combine various ideas, I try to build smart parking towers in the community center to adjust the density distribution of parking spaces in the area and free up a large part of the land for greening. The parking lot will be centrally managed as a daily service facility for the community. It provides parking spaces and huge charging piles for electric vehicles. At the same time, residents use vehicles on a daily basis to bring potential customers to the surrounding business districts, thus stimulating the vitality of the community. The green tower and the green park at the bottom will bring a better community environment and provide a better living and social space for surrounding residents.

The total area of Xinguidong is about 150000 square meters. The district was built in the 1980s and 1990s. There are Xindu sub branch of the people's Bank of China, Xinxin market and other enterprises and institutions as well as family homes.

It is a vivid miniature of the urban development and evolution process of the main urban area of Xindu district in recent decades.

community distribution

road grade

business size

public transportation

age of buildings in this district

age of buildings in this district

green coverage (from google earth)

green coverage

road grade

building density

Population Analysis

Community Group1

Community Group4

Transformation Strategy The new Guidong community group was built in the last century, and its supporting facilities, hardware and space can not follow the development of the times. High population density, mixed use of land and fragmentation of public space are difficult problems for the area reconstruction.while traffic congestion and poor environmental features are the basic features here.

Old markets (temporary structure)

Turn those old buildings into green park

Integrate the gaps into green spaces

Connect communities with loops in the air

Parking towers in original market position

Site Reconstruction Xinxin market is a piece of land with the lowest height in this area, and covers a large area. Most of the existing buildings are temporary buildings, which are suitable for reconstruction

Parking Function Analysis

App Simulation

parking robot

on line

standby

04 Central Field —RURAL RECONSTRUCTION FOR DENGSAN VILLAGE (TEAM WORK OF A GROUP OF THREE 2019)

Dengsan village is a small village in Doumen District, Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, China. It is located at the southwest end of the Pearl River Delta and at the intersection of Zhuhai, Zhongshan and Jiangmen. Adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao, it is located in the core circle of close cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

It connects with Macao by land and Hong Kong by sea. In the process of urbanization, the traditional villages of Zhuhai are still in the process of rapid urbanization.

This project studies the geographical location and cultural characteristics of Dengsan village, and replans the layout of the village in combination with the characteristic industry of local aquatic product breeding, and puts forward the comprehensive township planning based on the strategies of "agricultural experience", "characteristic homestay", "villager center", "industrial chain" and "waterfront belt". While retaining the characteristics of Dengsan village, the project aims to enhance the attraction of the village and make it a good place for folk culture and customs experience and ecotourism.

Location and Climate Analysis

Road Network Analysis

River Network Analysis Dengsan village is adjacent to Xijiang River. There are many rivers around . Ships can sail to Caotang Bay and Modao Estuary and enter the Yellow Sea, or go to Macao through the malauzhou waterway.

The original village layout, especially the distribution of bridges, limited water transportation.After redesign, I think carriage by water will become more attractive.

Village map

Water network

Road network

Residential area

Traffic node（bridges）

Village Composition Dengsan village, centered on the cross river, is divided into four plots, and the main residential and commercial buildings are distributed along the river.The road network is parallel to the river channel. In the village, there are mainly six bridges that can be opened to traffic. Outside the highway are scattered a number of farmland, the rest are large and small fish ponds, as well as water channels connected with the Xijiang River system

Village composition First interface

Interface between production land and main road（residential buildings and a small number of idle）

industry

commerce

Second interface

Interface between main road and sideway（residential and commercial buildings）

The third interface

Interface between sideway and river channel（ residential buildings and a small number of industrial buildings）

habitancy

road

cultivated land fish pond

Local products and folk-custom culture

Bird's-eye view of the fish ponds

Local Folk-custom Culture Analysis Dengsan village is located on the coast of the South China Sea. It is the national agricultural industrialization demonstration base.Dengsan village has natural brackish water resources with a concentration of 3-4 thousandth, which is very suitable for the cultivation of sea bass and other aquatic products. In the village, 80% of the farmers are engaged in aquaculture, while a small number of rural land utilization rate is low, lack of systematic agricultural planting.

Doumen district is speeding up to become an advanced equipment manufacturing demonstration base on the West Bank of the Pearl River, a leisure tourism destination of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and a riverside pastoral ecological new city and a popular place for cultural folk custom and ecological tourism.

Reconstructed village 1:4500

Villager activity center

Waterfront landscape system

Green health care industry

Fresh logistics industry

1

Structural division

2 Streamline reorganization

3 Center reconstruction

Structural division

Accommodation division

Center division

4 Community reconstruction

Community division

5

Connection

Community division

6

Connection

Factory division

Interface and guidance

1

Interface 1

Step change of building interface

2

Interface 2

C-shaped plane to enhance the guidance of intersection

3

Interface 3

The high-rise buildings along the river change step by step to enhance the guidance of the intersection

4

Interface 4

Section of river channel

1

2 3

1.----Roof of villager Center

2.----Inner courtyard of villager Center

5

3.----Bird's-eye view of the village center

4

6

4.----View from the village center from the rooftop farmland 5.----Villager Center

6.----view from the roof walk to the fresh food factory

1

2 3

1.----Bird's-eye view of health care group

2.---- Landscape footpath

5

3.---- Street corner

4

6

4.---- Leisure steps

5.---- Homestay Street

6.---- Homestay group

Pencil sketch

Realistic hand-paintied work

Charcoal hand-painted work