Xiangji Li | Architecture Portfolio for Bartlett, UCL | 2023

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xiangji li

MArch Architectural Design

PLANTING

Peanuts and sugarcane are the major cash crops

HARVEST IN FISHING VILLAGE

Instructors:Manrong Liang

Individual Work

Location:Zhanjiang, CHINA

Fall 2022

Haibian Village in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, has an unbalanced industrial structure. Located at the southernmost tip of Chinese Mainland, the villagers of Haibian Village live on the sea, supplemented by the most common crop economy in the countryside. However, the annual fishing moratorium of more than three months makes villagers have a huge economic void period. The barren economic benefits of other forms cannot fill such a big gap.

The consequence of the inharmonious industrial structure is the serious loss of rural personnel. The rural aging and the increase of left behind children have become the current trend, and the rural vitality is losing. The rural landscape needs to be renovated and the industrial structure needs to be improved. A new rural symbol needs to be created and a new order needs to be established.

The service industry is relatively weak here

Some dilapidated houses are facing demolition

LUMBERING

The plank factory is the only industrial facility here

FISHERY

Local residents mainly live by fishing 渔

BACKGROUND

Zhanjiang, a coastal city in the west of Guangdong Province, was once one of the coastal open cities with superior geographical and strategic position. However, the policy of focusing on agricultural development by the municipal leadership in the 1980s made Zhanjiang lag behind other cities with the same status at that time that developed handicrafts and manufacturing.

The proportion of agriculture in China's GDP has increased from 30% in the 1980s to 7% today.

PERSONA

Rural revitalization is a priority strategy in our country at present However, the resources of cultivated land and forest land are also limited. In order to achieve sustainable development, rural construction should make rational use of land resources.

Guangdong is a major economic province in China, which makes its fortune by manufacturing and foreign trade.

SUGARCANE

1 corp per year(3 months)

PEANUT FISHERY

SERVICE

The wrong industrial decision decades ago made Zhanjiang's economy lag behind.

The elderly and children of our family are staying in the countryside. But the income from fishing is not rich enough, and the cultivated land is limited.If we can earn enough money at home, we would rather stay than leave home to work in other places.

Haibian villagers live mainly through agriculture, especially fishery. Many people go to work far away. The village lacks vitality.

Compared with traveling far for fresh seafood, if I can go to a popular celebrity resort to spend the holiday, experience the local customs and taste the special food at the same time, then why not?

Products with local characteristics are always fovoured by many people. Today's advanced Internet can make it easier for products from small places to be sold to distant places.

MERCHANTS

Stable but low yield

Service industry fluctuates with holidays

MODULES BASED ON DAILY LIFE BASIC MODULES

Compared with urban apartments, rural people prefer to own a separate house. Based on this habit and the production activities of each family, a series of distinctive two storey modular houses are formed.

Roof selection shall be based on local climate and residents' living needs

The daily life of rural people is relatively simple, the life modules are used to meet their basic life needs.

The second floor is the living area of residents.

The layout of the first floor needs to meet the needs of residents' productive activities.

The pitched roof has good heat insulation and ventilation effect, and is suitable for rainy weather in coastal areas of Guangdong.

Seafood is difficult to preserve in hot and humid climate. People are used to salting it and drying it in the sun for better preservation.

Peanuts are pressed by machines in the oil mill. Wholesale peanut oil needs to be preserved in a dark and cool environment.

Sugarcane is pressed by machines in workshops. Wholesale sugarcane juice needs to be stored in a dark and cool environment.

Fishermen's productive activities are basically completed on ships. In DAN FAMILY customs, people even live on ships.

Home stay economy is the main part of tourism. Local landlords will provide considerate service to the guests.

Restaurants mainly cook fresh seafood and local specialties. Delicious food can attract many tourists to come and taste.

1st floor

2nd floor

Roof

Fish Drying

Juice Press Oil Press

MAIN STRUCTURE GENERATION

Fishing net is a sign of fishermen's harvest,as well as a reliable structural form. Inspired by this, we can get a structural frame for support, in which many modules can be placed.

Two sets of intersecting hyperboloid lines can be combined together as an external framework. Points of intersection at the same horizontal height can determine a plane, which forms floor slab. At the edge of the plane, villagers' living-producting modules are placed in the gap position. At the center, the core tube running through the upper and lower parts simultaneously acts as a load-bearing structure and a traffic system. The opening of the floor slab is enlarged, and form a more natural space with the ventilated external structure. Overlay the units of the same form, control the number of modules in each unit and define the style of different public spaces to create four theme communities with different characteristics.

MOVABLE FISHING MODULE DESIGN

When the fishing boat docks at the dock, the productive activities of fishermen may produce waste and pollute the marine environment. In order to protect the environment, the core barrel will be designed as a transportation hub to transport fishing boats. When fishing is off, fishing modules will return to the main structure.

I don't need to go to the market to know whether the seafood stall has the seafood I want that day.

I can be clear about the market situation according to the evaluation provided by customers.

We have an online store. Customers can choose their favorite furniture on the app, and we provide free delivery service.

There are many interesting shops and high-quality wood products. Both adults and children can have fun here.

The local home stay landlord knows the local food and scenic spots very well, and we can enjoy more enthusiastic services.

Customers can communicate with us about catering directly on the software

I don't know which restaurant here to choose. I can choose the most suitable restaurant according to the evaluation.

I can know the daily checkin situation according to the date table, so that I can better plan the affairs of the day.

The revitalization of local industries needs to be assisted by positive cultural publicity. At the end day of the fishing-off period, a fishing culture festival will be held. On this day, the fishing modules will come down from the tower one after another and go to the sea along the river to catch fish. Visitors will come from the city to participate in this lively event, watch this spectacular scene, and enjoy the freshest seafood!

FOREST IN THE CONCRETE JUNGLE

Instructors:Lifeng Lin

Individual Work

Location: Shenzhen, CHINA

Fall 2022

Focusing on the needs of places for elderly people, teenagers, office workers and young artists in Shenzhen, we try to create a place where people can rest, talk, walk, entertain and display themselves in the big city, and put forward the need for a landmark building that can feel the natural atmosphere in the concrete jungle.

According to the site conditions and the needs of specific materials, the design innovatively uses the tensile properties of wood to develop a structural type that uses reticulated concrete beams to bear the load and suspends the floor through wooden strips, and adjusts the traffic mode and plane layout of the building to form a place suitable for different people.

FOREST IN THE CONCRETE JUNGLE

The metropolis is full of airtight concrete buildings. People are eager to find nature in the concrete jungle. Wooden structure has comparatively characteristics of light weight, environmental protection during construction, convenient installation and disassembly, and strong recyclability. Although it cannot be used in large quantities, it can be seen as a symbol in the city. As a rest place with good air circulation and lighting, it brings people with natural atmosphere, and makes them get out of the busy city for a moment of rest.

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF WOODEN MATERIALS

The conventional wooden structure has a relatively small span, which cannot meet the requirements of opening to traffic on the ground floor.

GENERATION

It has good tensile properties along the longitudinal direction of the wood. Inspired by this, the load of the floor can be transferred to the grid beam system by the wooden strips, that is, the structure can be "hung up" by the beam system. VERTICAL TRAFFIC SYSTEM SUSPENSION

The bold artistic ideas of the younger generation need to be expressed in the street.

The old people who moved in to take care of children for young office workers lack social contact.

The office workers need a place where they can stop and rest to release the pressure of working in big cities.

Students also need a place outside the campus to study and communicate after class.

Multi-storey Building Pedestrian Bridge Characteristic Park

WOODEN FLOOR SLABS AND CONCRETE BEAMS SYSTEM

Floorslabs Diagonal

LOAD TRANSIMISSION SYSTEM BEAMS SYSTEM DIAGONAL

BRACES

WOODEN FRAMES

FLOOR SLABS

FLOOR OPENING GENTLE SLOPE

In order to make it more comfortable for the elderly, the vertical traffic mode has been designed as a gentle slope with a gradient of less than 10%.

COLUMNS

DISPLAY SPACE FOR ARTISTS

FUN PLACE FOR TEENAGERS

ACTIVITY PARK FOR THE ELDERLY

PRESSURE-RELEASE PLACE FOR OFFICE WORKERS

VARIABLE LAYOUT

The hanging system of the structure plays a role through the tensile performance of the wooden strips. The continuity of the strips determines that as it moves from top to bottom, the strips used for hanging on each floor will gradually decrease, which means an increasingly wide space pattern will be formed from top to bottom. According to the characteristics of this type of structure, the plane layouts are adjusted to form to suit for different people. Unlike ordinary structural types, the top reticulated beam system bears most of the load, so the strength of steel-wood joints is particularly important.

concrete beam

VARIATION TREND

20mm Steel Bars @160mm Stirrups

d=16mm Extended bolts

200mm Rectangular section wooden strip

B-B SECTION

t=12mm X-section steel Reinforced connection

STEEL-WOOD CONNECTION JOINT (A-A SECTION)

4TH FLOOR

3RD FLOOR

PLAN 2ND FLOOR

RECONSTRUCTION OF MULHOLLAND NIGHTMARE

Instructors:Manrong Liang

Individual Work

Fall 2022

The film Mulholland Drive tells the story of Diane, an actress who pursued her dream in Hollywood, hired a murderer to kill because of emotional disputes and committed suicide because of guilt and pain after a long dream. In the film, director David Lynch depicts a real dream with non-linear film techniques based on psychologist Freud's dream interpretation theory. In the following, the narrative line of the film will be re structured, and the plot of the film will be divided into six chapters, which will be translated through architectural methods to create a dream experience hall, so that visitors can feel Diane's emotional changes during the tour.

PLOT ANALYSIS

The main part of the film is divided into two parts, which are the dream and actual experience of Diane, the heroine. The main plot of the story mainly revolves around Diane, Camilla and Adam (as Betty, Rita and Adam respectively in the dream), in which scenes of other secondary characters are interspersed to highlight the emotional conflict of the three main people.

RELATIONSHIP ANALYSIS

The humiliation of Rita and Adam made Diane buy murders in anger. After receiving the news of Camilla's death, she regretted and was afraid. She fell asleep in a daze. In her dream, Diane's subconscious beautifies her image, belittles Rita and Adam, which she hates, and covers up the truth of her murder. In her dream, she escapes from reality, and everything is moving towards her ideal direction.

ACTUAL TIMELINE

DIANE'S SUBCONCIOUS

ROUTE PLANNIG THEORETICAL BASIS OF TRASLATION

MOOD VARIATION

REGRETFUL

FRIGHTENED

Director David Lynch built a dream based on psychologist Freud's dream interpretation theory. According to Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams, dreams are the fulfillment of wishes.And based on this, Diane's dream will be reconstructed by means of architecture. The narrative subject in the film is Diane's experience from reality to dream and then to reality. Visitors will experience the same emotional changes from the translated architecture.

PROTOTYPE

ENDANGER

SPIRAL OPENINGS SINGLE LIGHT SOURCE

ENEGETIC

EXCITED

SYMMETRICAL FORM

ARC ELEMENTS

BRIGHT LAYOUT

CONFIDENT

SURPRISED

PUNCHING FACADE EYE-CATCHING OPENINGS CONSPICUOUS SHAPE

CURIOUS

CONFUSED

In the film, a blue box contains the truth of Camilla's death, which is the main clue throughout the film. This concept will be referred to in the design, and the 12 m * 12 m * 12 m cube will be used as the basic shape to create different types of spaces.

BLOCKED WALLS

CIRCUITOUS PASSAGE

UNDULATING STAIRS

AFRAID

DISILLUSIONED

SPACE AND ENTITY

UNREASONABLE STAIRS

COMPARATIVE VOLUMNS

GUILTY

UNBEARABLE

RANDOMLY COMBINED WALLS

WATER BODY

GUIDED LAYOUT

LOW STOREY HEIGHT

According to the Diane's experience and mood variation, the film plot has been reasonably rearranged into six chapters: ENDANGER, HOPE, SPOTLIGHT, CONCEAL, LIMEN AND EXPIATION

ENDANGER HOPE SPOTLIGHT

Related plot: Diane felt regret and fear when she received the message that Camilla was killed by the killer she hired. In order to escape from reality, she fell into sleep and had a very long dream.

Related plot: In the dream, Diane became Betty. Betty came to Los Angeles ,she has a rich aunt who can support her Hollywood Dream.Betty moved in a big villa and has a hopeful future.

Related plot: Betty came to the interview to show her acting skills. Her beautiful appearance and superb performance drew cheers from the producers and directors on the scene. She felt flattered. She is a rising star.

The low and dark passage makes people feel cramped. With the spirally going up, the opening of the floor gradually enlarged from bottom to top enhances the visual impact of the height, which is frightening.

After escaping from the terrible environment, everything here, including the open and symmetrical space, the Spanish style courtyard, the arched elements, and the vibrant plants, makes people feel comfortable.

The towering and dazzling stage is the only way which must be passed. Different types of openings lead the line of sight and light to the stage, and all people passing by will experience the feeling of great attention.

CONCEAL LIMEN EXPIATION

Related plot: A man was frightened by the devil behind the wall; a clumsy killer fled hurriedly; everything is strange and familiar... As if a truth is hidden, and the things in front were blocking the way to explore the truth.

Related plot: The female corpse in the apartment brought shock. The performance at the late night theater was thrilling. Betty was at the junction of the virtual and the real, the truth was about to be revealed

Related plot: When Diane woke up, she found that the cruel reality was unavoidable. Guilt turned into her dead relatives and drove her crazy. She could only get rid of it by ending her life.This was her expiation.

The stairs that go up and down constantly, circuitous corridors, and the walls that block the steps make the path long and distant, as if at the end of the road, the truth was deliberately hidden.

This space is composed of reduced and highlighted blocks, as well as intricate staircases in different directions. Visitors seem to be at the boundary of reality and emptiness. Awakening is coming.

Between the messy walls, a wading road is the only way to the exit. After a short escape, accepting the reality and facing the truth is the only method that works.

PARLOUS TUNNEL REASSURING COURTYARD CONSPICUOUS STAGE CIRCUITOUS TERRITORY LIMINAL DILEMMA REPENTANT LAND

"Don't say I am deceiving myself. Nobody is deceiving himself. If the soul can be true, why can't the dream be true. Dream and reality, night and day, what is true or false? They are the poles of time. In this pole, I pushed you into hell. In the other pole, let's stay together forever."

SLEEP MAZE

Instructors: Xiaoyang Fang

Individual Work Location: Tokyo, JAPAN

Fall 2021

In order to solve the problem of insomnia caused by excessive pressure in large cities, we try to explore a way other than drugs, alcohol and other common means, that is, focus on the place where insomnia occurs, take the design of the residence as a way to improve sleep, and try to improve people's sleep through rich spatial experience. The design provides different paths to visit, different sleeping places and different space atmosphere, creating an interesting residence

CONCEPT SECTION INSOMNIA IN MEGACITY

Tokyo is the most populous city in the world. The fast-paced life in the central area, taking the Minato City as an example, makes office workers suffer from insomnia. In Tokyo, where every inch of land is precious, Toshima City is a relatively reasonable place for real estate prices. It has a large area of residential areas and a relatively slow pace of life. It is a livable place. Here, people can temporarily relieve the pressure and sleep in peace.

People today tend to use different methods to deal with insomnia.As the carrier of sleep and the place where insomnia occurs, a house will be designed to provide people who have insomnia problems with ways to improve their sleep from three different angles:

1. Diversity of tour routes;

2. Diversity of sleeping places;

3. Diversity of room atmosphere.

LIGHT DETERMINES SPACE

The square box room needs to be reconstructed. The shaping of different spatial shapes can bring different spatial feelings to the sleepers, thus affecting insomnia. The space forms of different floors correspond to different sleeping positions, which form the shape of the building from the outside and create a unique sense of space inside.

THIRD STOREY

DIFFERENT SPACE EXPERIENCE

SECOND STOREY

FIRST STOREY

Spatial variation of bottom channel brings people a feeling of treasure exploiting.

The tunnel connects the three floors with different characters vertically, and also acts as a special sleep space.The gradual light also reflects the form logic of the house.

VARIOUS SLEEPING PLACES PLAN

Every place on the tour route is provided with furnitures for sleeping. When people feel sleepy on the tour but can't return to the bedroom immediately, they can sleep anytime and anywhere, so they don't have to worry about the problem that sleepiness will disappear later. On the main living floor, different rooms are

arranged around a core space and the design of "one room with multiple doors" is used, which increases the intercommunity between spaces, offers more possibilities for user's tour routes, and forms a small maze.Outdoor stairs and indoor vertical passages beside the bedroom also provide users with more choices to go upstairs or downstairs.

Compared with staring at the blank ceiling, looking up at the bright starry sky and contacting nature is undoubtedly a better way to realx the tense nerves and make people fall asleep.

Oh, another sleepless night......I want to change this situation.I don't want to toss and turn restlessly in this bed anymore. There are three doors,which one should I choose to go out for a walk?

After wandering for a while,I have begun to feel sleepy,but it’s too far to go back to my bedroom...Eh?It seems like a good place to take a nap.

Sleeping needs a good atmosphere. Nothing compares to a dim light,a glass of charming red wine and a beautiful melody at this moment

This place is located in the center of the whole house, and the sleeper can feel integrated with it.Being surrounded by high walls and the sinking steps may enhance the sense of ritual.

There are tatamis where you can sleep on everywhere, as well as round and soft space.This is the best bed.

It's very private, like the end of the house. Like exploring a treasure,I came here to find a precious place to sleep.

"From the traveller, whose sack of provisions is empty before the voyage is ended, whose garment is torn and dustladen, whose strength is exhausted, remove shame and poverty, and renew his life like a flower under the cover of thy kindly night."

SLEEPING "WELL"

HORIZON

THE CORE

TATAMI ROOM