WENNA DAI Selected works 2012-2018 M.S Advanced Architectural Design, Univeristy of Pennsylvania
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Wenna Dai daiwenna@alumni.upenn.edu / + 267 250 0343 / 905 E 2ND St, Apt 528, Los Angeles,CA,90012
Education University of Pennsylvania, School of Design, Philadelphia, PA Master of Science in Design with a concentration in Advanced Architectural Design
08.2017-12.2018
Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU), Chengdu, China Bachelor of Architecture
09.2012-06.2017
Professional Experience Rios Clementi Hale Studios, Los Angeles Intern Architect Project 1 (SD) | 250 Acres | Orange County -Rhino modeling, Lumion renderings. Urban Pattern -Drew diagram for Los Angeles Music Center & Christ Catholic Cathedral CAZA (Carlos Arnaiz Architects), Brooklyn, New York Intern Architect Memphis Mission Hospital (DD) | 4000 Sq m I Victorias City, Philippines -Drew analytical drawings, floor plans, RCP plans, sections, elevations, interior renderings Kuantown Architectural Engineering Design Co., Ltd, Chengdu, China Intern Architect -Carried out site research and analyzed, drew diagram, made physical models
05.2019-08.2019
06.2018-08.2018
06.2016-08.2016
Competition and Workshop 2016 eVolo Skyscraper Design Competition Held by eVolo Magazine project name: Ice age -Collaborated with teammates, refined digital modeling, drew diagrams
01.2016
Design and Build Workshop: The Rebirth of Foam Held by Architectural Association School of Architecture, iBox Creative Base in Chengdu -Collaborated with teammates, built a contemporary structure
10.2015
2014 Revit Cup National Design Competition of Architecture Students Held by Autodesk Software Co., Ltd. Project: Rent and Return -Collaborated with teammates, did site survey, drew diagram, designed details of facade
06.2014
Research Cuture of Comfort: Strategies to survive and thrive in extreme heat -Collected strategies, drew Diagram
07.2019
Analysis of column grid in Le Corbusier 's Works -Compared with ancient Chinese temples column grid -Drew various analytical diagrams of column grid systems of 10 Le Corbusier’s works -Analyzed plan’s relationship between Dom-ino House and villa Savoye -Compared the column grid systems in Le Corbusier’s works with those in ancient Chinese temples
04.2015
Extracurricular Activities Internship Program with the ADOPT A GRANNY Project in Kenya -Taught children Chinese, assisted in the AIDS Care Center & Disabled Center
08.2014
Needle Pen Radio Station in School of Architecture -Founders, radio broadcaster, post-producer
06.2014
Skills Maya / Rhino / AutoCAD / Adobe Suite( Photoshop, Illustrator, Audition, Premiere, InDesign) / Sketchup / Revit / Grasshopper / Vray
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Contents Academic Works
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1. [Distant Haze] Non-Human Agency Design
2. [Informal Park] 14
College Student Activity Center Design
3. [NYC Gateway] Passenger and Cargo Terminal Design
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4. [Element] Folklore Museum Design 32
Professional Work 38
5. [Memphis Mission Hospital Design]
6. [Project 1]
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7. [Urban Pattern]
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Other Works Monumental Cemetery Design Boutique Hotel Design 2014 Revit Competiton Block Campus Design Computer Animation The Function of Fashion in Architecture
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1. [Distant Haze] UPENN 2018 Fall Advanced Studio: Montreal, Sensate and Augmented Non-Human Agency Design Collaborator: Mikyung Lee Instructor: Simon Kim Architecture of a city as a proposition or a form of intellectual investigation is tethered to a built, shared environment. Its implicit and explicit meanings and affects are to be developed in material and also in behavior over time. To do this, we will imbue architecture and urbanism with duration, with its own agency and self-governance in the location of Montreal. Our role as designers and as inhabitants is to coordinate and live in this new city and new nature as a shared endeavor. The premise of the work will be to accelerate the urban growth with a new model of synthetic nature,augmented architecture, and compound beings so that there is no sense of a critical distance. This polemic denies a separation of environment and occupant to be encompassing and immersive. We will develop behaviors and duration in architecture and ground, and apply it to a new model of Synthetic Nature and Augmented Architecture.
[ Precedents]
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Valley Curtain, 1970 Fujiko Nakaya, London Fog, 2017 R&Sie, Dusty Relief, 2002
Water is political. Because water can change the state. More precisely, water can change the states and interact with other beings. (Gas,solid, liquid). Water states' transition attracts the attention of many artists and architects. Now, if we bring this personality to architecture and use it to interact with the city and people, what kind of architecture will be formed? What if the architecture learns those transition of water by itself and uses it on its own to influence our society? What’s the state of the water that most strongly reflects the social issue? The most representative example of the form is fog, which can interfere with outside world and hide its existence. The fog crosses world as a gentleman. It may have the characters of mystery and disturbance, but it has a sense of peace and safety for those who want to hide. This personality has been used as a media to encourage many artists to recall the relationship between nature and the agency. In terms of the obstruction, the material which has the meaning of the disturbance is fog, hair, and fabric.
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[Section]
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At first, we are coming up with an idea with the ship as our agency. The ship is floating on the water, which means, it must resist and accept water at the same time. Therefore, the structure of the ship should be lighter and have higher durability than existing construction. This personality is the same as the waterlily which relies on water as the base of life. We want to study the essence of these plants and design cross sections. In the center, we have water pipes that can accept water, and then we organize the section that has a system that accepts water and distributes it to various rooms.
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We already know the existential meaning of a single ship in the section, we now want to extend that relationship to the city. If the city is settled and the city's system is known and actively used, what kind of changes can we observe? What would happen if the city began to learn from the ship’s character, for example,hiding. We would like to find out the answer about this change
[Axonometric Drawing (B&W)]
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We divide our world into three stages from the bottom to the top. At first, it's our original ship, which connects with the city with those water pipes physically. At second stage, the city is combined with those pipes and the landscape is influenced by the ship, which means the city is learning. At the final stage, the city learns all of characters and can even hide itself. The original agency, the ship even can travel to everywhere and interact with outside world
[Axonometric Drawing (Color)
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[Material Research fabric casting]
This medium of design is open to discovery and influence of matter to the design. Accidents and conflicts from the material become equal authors in showing divergent but equally powerful design space. Material and matter we choose to work with is fully formed and forming. The way it secretes or binds is full-scale and cannot be representational or a model of something else.
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[Material Research fog, fur]
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[Experimental World Building ] World Building requires a consistency or coherence such that ecology, climate, economy, social forces are wrapped within a stable scenari. This World is sectional and shows enough to provide a sustained discussion of Character, its Ground, and the City. The City can be re-imagined. Surrounding buildings and infrastructure can be transformed. Now the city is within the influence of our agents. These influences are complementary, the mediator influences the character of the city, and the city has the opposite effect. This interaction provides an opportunity to make promotion about the relationship between city and non-human agency.
If these influences are more powerful than we anticipate, what kind of being can these mediators compare to? This can be compared to a celebrity who has a huge quantity of fandom. We know the power of the culture they produced. This cultural force has more power than we can imagine. In addition, the message they convey affects many people's values. This relationship can be assigned to the process in which our agent relates to the city.
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2. [Informal Park] Architecture 2015 Fall Studio II College Student Activity Center Chengdu, China Collaborator: Jiangtao Li Instructor: Yuanyou Zhu Landscape Urbanism regards architecture and infrastructure as a continuation of the landscape or as a surface uplift. Landscape is not only a green landscape or natural space, but also a continuous surface structure, a thickening of the ground, which as a city support structure can accommodate a variety of natural processes as the leading ecological infrastructure, from building objects and The ground-based urban model is transformed into a landscape "field" that links the building to its surroundings, and it can compile the dynamic relationships among the various systems involved in the city.
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[Strategy] Adjacent
For the unique site condition, which is adjacent to the giant viaduct. This project strives to be organic in the university campus and urban environment. By the idea of landscape urbanism, we’d like to appreciate more open space between campus and the city. So the activity center is not only used by the students but also the local residents as well. We want to re-create an organic interactive “informal park” between city and students.
Inner
Extend
Involved
Mixed
On the one hand, we want to use students’ activities and events as the starting point, and then gather their needs to create functional spaces in different scales, which make students find their own space easier under an open building and can relax freely with less interference from outside. On the other hand, from the relationship between the city and society, university campus facilities should not be just a closed resource. They should be the public resources of the society, like stadium, and public library. The College Activity Center needs to be more Inclusive.
1.Analysis of the main flow gathering points
2.A flexible boundary is formed according to the degree of opening
3.Open space between the public and the school
4.Different people gather points to place different functions
[Siteplan]
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The overall plan is designed flexibly by the flow of people, so it generally no longer needs a fixed room. Instead, the glass and grilles can transform space from private to public easily. To clarified, the building’s function can be adjusted flexibly depending on the daily schedule, different customers.
[Structure] For the structure,a group of ribbed beams and shear walls composited the self-sustaining large-span structure. We try to reduce the columns indoors, leaving more open activity space. Thus give people the opportunity to enjoy the “Informal Park”.
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[1st floor plan] 1.Entrance Hall 2.Rest Zone for theater 1 3.Theater1 4.Prop Shop 5.Powder Room 6.Equippment 7.Equippemnt 8.Open Air theater 9.Plaza For students 10.Paze For citizens. 11.Theater2 12.Front Side spot 13.Projection Room 14.Sound Control room 15.Waiting Zone 16.Dressing Rooms 17.Pool 18.Landing Platform 19.Restaurant 20.Kitchen 21.Rest Zone scope 22.Coffee 23.open class 24.Studio 25.Discussion Zone 26.Vocal Music classroom 27.Roof Stage 28.Activities Room
[2nd floor plan]
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[Facade]
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[Entrance View Rendering]
[2nd Floor Rendering]
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[Theater Section DetailDrawing]
[Theater Plan DetailDrawing]
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[Theater Interior Rendering]
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3. [NYC Gateway] UPENN MSD 2017 Fall Studio Passenger and Cargo Terminal, John Fitzgerald Kennedy Airport Queens, New York Collaborator: Bowen Qin Instructor: Ali Rahim, Nathan Hume This studio speculates that a new airport typology can help sustain New York City’s financial global leadership in the world. To maintain its leadership, export opportunities to and in developing economies are more likely to fuel growth. In addition there are new opportunities driven by technology and growth opportunities in the emerging markets. At the same time the rise of a technologically driven retail giants such as Amazon uses distribution networks that channel materials and goods to remote locations. The airport terminal that deals with passengers and cargo will contribute towards reducing the disparity between cities vying for financial global leadership and New York City. The new terminal will increase the relevance of JFK as a business and logistics hub making a stronger connection to global centers and strengthening development locally.
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[Long Span Structure Research] As we re think the typology of the airport we will also explore the four types of long span structures that use tensile and compressive forces. Our group choosed the Vector which includea multi-dimensional splitting structures. In the same manner we will investigate the long span typology to form the basis of our understanding to invent new structural and spatial typologies that are appropriate for the new typology of the Gateway.
Choisey Axonometric(structural System) Santa Caterial Market
We started our design research by analyzing "Santa Caterina Market" designed by Enrique Miralles. Though the general understanding of this building is the undulated roofscape with its unique palette of coloration, our focus was the way in which the structure members for the roof are carried to the exterior column to touch the ground. Unlike a typical column, the vertical element of this building consists of a series of pipes that irregularly gather into one point and spread above to support the primary structure of the roof. Through this analysis, we discovered the fact that the structural member can be even bent to form both a dynamic structure and space in between.
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1.Cargo Zone 2.Control Zone 3.Cargo circulation 4.Second floor public space 5.Entertainment Zone - Theater 6.Central Control ZOne 7.Waiting Lounge 8.Waiting Lounge
[2nd FLoor Plan]
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TO T GA E
At the same time, our view to form the new airport hub is not to serve passengers, but rather to think of a new way of circulating cargo. Generally, the logistics are either located on the ground floor or sandwiched between departure and arrival floors, segregated from the circulations for the passengers. This is because it creates an efficient circulation and separation of the airport programs.
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[Short Section]
[Facade]
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[ Axonometric]
[Axonometric (detail)]
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Our proposal, on the other hand, is to minimize the user-friendly experience and to visualize the flow of the cargo within and on the airport. This visual distribution establishes the direct communication between the visitors and cargo, where people can even buy the packages from the storage. Not only does this offer a commercial capacity to the airport, it provides a unique situation where people will be circulating under the effect of the movement of packages - people will be able to feel the domination of the logistics everywhere. With this unique affect, our airport becomes not just a piece of a new shape, but a project that sets an argument to rethink the relationship between people and capital objects in the future but rather as the iterative, non-linear and speculative process with the ability to reassess and shift our disciplinary discourse.
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4. [Element] Architecture 2015 Fall Studio I Folkfore museum design in Wenshu district Chengdu, China Personal work Instructor: Kai Wang The project is located in Wenshufang within the ancient building blocks. Wenshufang is a typical traditional residential district in Western Sichuan,China. My design is aimed at creating a visiting sequence based on the traditional order. So combining the traditional and modern elements generates a new business model - courtyard neighborhood. The design of introducing sunlight inside plays a role as the element to guide tourists circulation.
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Node
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Site
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1.Wenshu Gateway 2.Wenshu Temple 3.Entrance Street 4.Entrance of Wenshu Fang 5.Tea House Hall 6.Tea House Yard 7.Square 8.JinMa Street 9.JinMa street 10.Dongfu Street 11.Dongfu Street NO.2 12.Zhubao Street 13.Residential House 14.Residential Zone
Street
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[view of Wenshu Temple] [view of Resdiental Zone]
People begin visiting this historical district will follow the entrance street, which D/H is 1.2. The people will feel this space is open
Yard
After walking in the open street, the visitors can choose go inside a teahouse. The D/H is 0.65, which makes tourists feel suitable.
The next people flow is visiting some shops and this alley’s D/H is 2.2， which makes people feel a little stressed. Those change of space provides people with different feelings.
Follow the sequence, the open square’s D/H is 0.6
Alley
House
1.Street 2.Node 3.House 4.Yard 5.Node 6.Alley 7.Shop 8.Alley 9.Street 10.House
[Space Sequence]
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aixs of holes
traditional form pentagonal shapes
link the people flow
distribute the space
adjust the texture
The linear flow sequence of Wenshufang district is dynamic, which is formed by traditional linear space. For example, the reverse symbols changes from open to closed in elevations same as traditional district’s grid. By Introducing a pentagonal element, the design is in harmony with surrounding and fits well in the district. Tourists who follow the series of sequence can have a unique experience in visiting the museum.
The modern facade and plan logic both follow the traditional sequence in Wenshu District. The two central glass columns maximize the possibility of interior lighting. The window and wall's holes are specially designed for being coherent with the surroundings culture. Associate the queues
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[1st Floor plan]
[2nd Floor plan]
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[Materials] The materials in the museum all use local materials, including recyclable bricks and woods. The bricks are unique produced from local environment. This bricks are also functioned as the “breathing brick�. The bricks can prevent heat from outside Iin the summer and keep warm in the winter. In addition to recyclable brick deisgn, the big hole can hole upward for roof planting, and hole outward for ventilation. Small holes bricks can be used for vertical greening.
brick wall
roof garden
[Alley rendering]
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The shape of those holes all follow the sequence in surroundings
The two central lighting columns are made by supporting glass. As the viewpoint changes around the artwork, the reflection of the light creates constant yet random. Tourists in different space can have specially experiences in particular time.
The traditional alley is introduced into this design. The “gap� between outer wall and inner wall plays a role as the alley.
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5. [Professional Work] CAZA Architects ,Brooklyn,New York 2018.6-9 architecture intern modeling,drawings ,interior renderings Project: Memphis Mission Hospital. Location: Victorias City, Philippines Status: Design Development The Memphis Mission Hospital is the first groundup charity mission hospital in the Philippines. It is located 3 kilometers from the center of Victorias City in Negros Occidental and pays homage to the rich tropical landscape of the region. The hospital is divided into 4 inter-connected architectural volumes that in their distinctly semi-open arrangement offer sweeping vistas of a different garden from every window. Upon arrival to the hospital, a large curved roof welcomes visitors to an openair plaza with a large banyan tree at its center that serves as a kind of new community center for Victorias City. Under this shimmering light blue metallic roof one finds a library, a health-focused restaurant, consultation rooms and a registration area for patients. Large monumental steps lead to the operating rooms contained in a simple single-pitch structure clad in natural stone and bounded by a vegetable garden to the north. The doctor & nurse’s private dormitory is raised on a stone plinth to ensure privacy and enveloped in an aluminum rain screen that resembles the bamboo curtains of vernacular Filipino homes. Each bedroom faces a flower garden of swirling paths while morning light cascades down from a series of clearstory windows that sweep upwards to the sky. At the eastern edge of the Memphis Mission Hospital are two extraordinary public spaces: the artist studio and chapel.
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[CAD Drawing-floor Plan-Zone2]
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[CAD Drawing-floor Plan-Zone1]
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[Interior Rendering-Chapel]
[Interior Rendering-Art Studio]
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6. [Professional Work] Rios Clementi Hale Studios, Los Angeles 2019.7 architecture intern lumion modeling,plans Project: Project1 Location: Orange Country Status: Schematic Development This project comprises approximately 250-acres of land and water area on orange county. Program elements include marinas,yacht and beach clubs,parks and plazas;hotels,restaurant and retail. An extensive promenade and trail network linking to surrounding open space.
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7. [Professional Work] Rios Clementi Hale Studios, Los Angeles 2019.7 architecture intern diagrams Project: Urban Pattern Location: Los Angeles As the fabric of our city evolves over time, our cultural venues and places of worship sit as landmark of public memory which anchor and provide continuity for our communities. Maintaining this progression may require periodic recalibration of thresholds and visual indicator that mark these districts of public space and community gathering. Two recently completed projects ,the Music Center Plaza renovation and the Christ Catholic Cathedral Renovation , address this re-framing through the use of urban scale graphic patterning to indicate procession and arrival to places of public gathering and community introspection.
[Christ Catholic Cathedral Renovation]
[Music Center Plaza Renovation]
1. EXISTING
350ft
62ft 84ft
COURT OF CATECHUMENS
MARIAN COURT
FESTAL
PILGRIM'S
COURT
COURT
2. TUNE DOWN THE SCALE
350ft
62ft
12ft 12ft
3. PATTERN LAYER
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[Other Works] Monumental Cemetery Design 2016.10 Personal work "Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another." -Ernest Hemingway
Individual
Life of Circle
the relationship in people
resemble of disord life
In the universe the only certain thing is death. Life is uncertain and unjustifiable. No matter how hard we try, we can't escape the cycle of life and death. This continuing loop of life, death, and rebirth is at the heart of everyday living. Death in general can be said to lead to new life, just as life in general ends in death. Life, in general, goes on, though we may not. Life could not be what it is if it were not for the anticipation of death. Without death in its broadest sense, life would be static, transparent, predictable and tedious. Death does not inhibit or subvert life, but stimulates and drives it, making it more intense and poignant. So the process between life and death is chaotic. All things have their unique characteristics. The Philosophy of life is sophisticated. The design follows the basic order of life, starts in the chaotic order and lead people to the same order. Both plans and sections all follow the sequence.
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"Essence "Boutique Hotel Design Architecture 2017 Fall Studio Changimai, Thailand Collaborator: Bowen Liu Today's brand of boutique hotel is largely characterized by its smaller size, personalized service and local personality, which can vary dramatically depending on where the property is located. Our site is located in Changimai, Thailand, we want to design a boutique hotel which highlight local culture and environment and lay more emphasis on customers’ living experience
pital in the Philippines. It is located 3 kilometers from the center of Victorias City in Negros Occidental and pays homage to the rich tropical
[Night View Rendering]
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Room 1 With flexible space in restroom
Room 2 With attractive scenery when enjoy bathing
[Interior Rendering-Dining]
[Interior Rendering-Spa]
[Interior Rendering-Bar]
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2014 Revit Cup National Design Competition Spring 2014 Collaborator: Zijia Chen, Liang Zhong Instructor: Yi Li The project is the renovation of one old city district in southwest China based on local architectural culture. In order to stimulate the vitality of this district, we introduce multiple activities inside of it. This building is not only functions as an activity center, but also plays a role as culture broadcaster. The building is designed to be the sustainable construction which helps reserve local resources and reduce pollution.
[Sustainable System]
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Block Campus- Urban Design Architecture 2016 Fall Studio Chengdu, Sichuan,China Collaborator: Xueying Zhang Instructor: Jingsong Shi
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The Hotel
Positive Zone for Citizens
One Block District for both Students and Citizens
The center of the block
Creativity District for Students
In order to break the boundaries of old campus, a new model "BLOCK CAMPUS" come up. The current condition of this campus is negative while the south part is positive, which causes the uneven distribution in campus vitality. So combing the north’s order and south’s function is necessary. This large scale renovation is aimed at mixing the functions in the large scale while keep the order sequences in the small scale.
Computer Animation 2018 Fall Course: FNAR 267/567 Instructor: Joshua Mosley modeling,renderings,lighting Project: Future city link: https://youtu.be/QtKyEtuuDls This course will focus on 3D computer animation. Emphasis is placed on time-based design and storytelling by developing new sensitivities to movement, cinematography, editing, sound, color, and lighting. Compositing software covered in the course will be used to combine 2D graphics, 3D animation, and sound.
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The Function of Fashion in Architecture 2018 Spring Course: ARCH 743 Instructor: Danielle Willems
The Function of Fashion in Architecture seminar will survey the history of fashion in parallel to architecture starting from Ancient Civilization to Present. The focus will be on the relevance of garment design, methods and techniques and their potential to redefine current architectural elements such as envelope, structure, seams, tectonics and details. Current fashion design and couture methods are converging with architectural digital technicals. This is an opportunity that provides fertile ground for architects to re-examine the ‘digital’ in a variety of scales in relation to the human body.
Draping is the process of transforming a 2D clothing texture into a 3D form. So based on this technique, we start our simple piece design in a 2d flat texture, which can easily be folded to 3d. Then we put the 3d print pieces combined with the carbon fiber to develop our garment.
For the architecture details, we developed our garment pieces into the structures, which have the same function of locking. This element can shape the facade and also the basic structure.
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