Houyanyang portfolio for m.arch 1 14fall

PORTFOLIO HOU YANYANG

Candidate of B.Eng. Civil Engineering of Tongji University Apply for Master of Architecture of Washington University in St. Louis

c

rush

on stairs

The portfolio is about stairs.

My first crush comes from the cover of Mazzy Star’s music album “she hangs brightly” which displays an elegant spiral stairs.

The stairs ignites my love and curiosity towards architecture.

I believe the very primitive stair originates from people’s demand for bigger usable space and opened up a new page.

However, stairs sometimes tends to make people curious about the space over or below and ignore the stairs itself.

So I want to design some stairs to turn people’s attention back to stairs and express my own unique thoughts about the space.

String stairs

Exotic stairs

on

Skeleton stairs Galaxy st

c

ontents

n

y 999 tairs

Twisted stairs Dimension stairs

Hol low stairs

S tring stairs

It is an individual academic work 2013,fall The string stairs is designed specifically for atrium spaces.

Curvature is out of straight line Although there is no curve in the string stairs, a sense of curved surfaces created by the straight strings can also be felt. As one moves to different angles, he will feel different bending illusions of the strings. Straight strings which are used frequently in the string stairs intend to demonstrate that lines sometimes can produce illusions of curves while curves can never become straight. That’s why I always regard straught lines as sharper and purer than curves.

Moreover, the strings that enclose the stairs are able to build a space which can hold people inside. When people enter the special stair space, they may feel like being swallowed by a mechanical monster.

STRUCTURE OF THE STRING STAIRS

string

stringer The gap on the tread can not only save the material but also enrich the vision when people look down upon the steps. screw

connect the stringer and tread

The main components of the main structure system are the stringer and strings. Load is eventually transported to floor slabs through the stringers which are embedded underneath the steps. The exposed structure created by the combination of those components can somehow remind people of certain kinds of rigs in their daily lives and thus leave them to a strong sense of mechanics.

E xotic stairs

It is a teamwork project cooperated with Li Jialin from UCLAďźŒ2013 fall.

The structure of exotic stairs is an inserted platforms and prestressed cable structural system. Treads inside are no longer supported by stringers or risers but a net work of tension cables caged in a bigger cubical framework.

A single platform is inserted in physical model and cable in tension deforms in various shapes responding to the location that the platform is being placed.

Shape of tread is originally designed to be rectangle.

The stairs is finally decided to have a steel plate slope that is suspended to the cables. The slope is hollowed out to set the treads.

physical model of the exotic stairs

The physical model has tested the feasibility of exotic stairs successfully.

Wood sticks make up the main structure while the rubber bands refer to the cables inside. Some balls and small rectangular plastic sheets are supported by the tension differentiation of the cables around them.

In this stairs, I intend to create a somewhat club style sense and put it into some electronic music show. The color of handrail is inspired by the house band Daft Punk’s helmet which has a very cool L.E.D light blue.

The stairs is planned to set in the dark environment so I also add some light sources to the treads and bearing pillars.

s

keleton stairs It is an individual academic work, 2013 September The skeleton stairs is inspired by a skeleton of dinosaur seen in a museum. Supporting structure of the stairs is just like skeleton while the glass which covers the skeleton is the transparent skin.

structure of skeleton stairs

skin and skeleton

skeleton sticks into the wall

Main supporting system of the stairs is the spiral skeleton.

Treads are inset on the skeleton which then sticks into the wall to transfer load to it. The glass that holds the whole structure serves like skin for protection.Besides, the transparent material enables sunlight to enter inside and give people broad views.

skeleton

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alaxy 999 stairs

It is an individual work, 2013 September The galaxy 999 stairs is enlightened by an animation named GALAXIE EXPRESS 999 which illustrates a train that can travel around the planets in the universe.

The fantasy stairs is built from earth to different planets just like modern Babel.

TOP VIEW There are several layers of stairs inside the whole structure. When the first layer stairs reach the top, it makes an U-turn and begins the second layer. Getting to the bottom, the second layer makes an U-turn and begins the third layer and so on.

Twisted stairs It is an individual work, 2013 August The twisted stairs is a combination of spiral stairs and straight flight stairs. It looks like two stairs interwining in the middle.

bottom

top

Twisted Stairs bottom

top TOP VIEW

SIDE VIEW

The stairs takes advantages of both kinds of stairs. With the help of the two-way spiral stairs, it can be used in the limited space and change passer-by’s walking directions.

Dimension stairs It is an individual academic work, 2013 October The dimension stairs intends to create a 2-D space sense in the practical 3-D world. The decorations attached to the steps can provide different 2-D visual effects at different angles just like some modern geometric paintings. The effects enable people to experience the uniqueness aroused by the mixture of dimension space.

stairs

This side is inserted into the wall to support the structure and the space left can be used for people to sit The string can not only hang up the stairs but also serve as rail to ensure safety.

This side can be used for placing things.

H ollow stairs ItIt〠〠is an individual work, 2013 October The hollow stairs is designed for interior space.

In this stairs, I want to make the best of space and let the stairs serve more purpose instead of just allowing people go from one level from the building to another. You can place things on or below the stairs and even sit yourself on it.

O

ther

Works

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INK

I am keen on ink. I love the way that ink permeates the paper.When I painted Chinese paintings I noticed that ink will “grow” on the painting. That’s to say ink can stretch its way gradually until it’s dried. I appreciate such automation so I play the ink and do this project.

At first, I drip some drops of ink on the paper and shape them to some words.Then I observe the ink grow on its own and find out the proper time to photograph the best profiles of them. To make words white, I use the transparent tape which can be regarded as waterproof to make up the words and then put ink around the words randomly. When the time is perfect, I tear off the tape,the work is done.

ay

use the wire to bind the newspaper

tie to the structure

Big tear the newspaper

Cooperated with Xu

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decomposition of the newspaper

With the development of lost in the explosion of info our modern society. More channels are tended to be information carrier , news degree gradually replaced virtual cloud which can s numerous spots. Our work traditional media and the r bang era.

remove the newspaper

expose the structure of wire

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Jiahua, 2013, December

Bang

technology, people nowadays are ormation. It is a new big bang for eover, the accessible information e diversification.Traditional paper spaper for example, is to some by some other new media like store information and spread to intends to show the declination of rise of new technology in this big

adjust the shape of wire

put some cotton into the wire structure

Neon

crayon paintings by Hou Yanyang

C ity

Blossom Flowers

2012, June

Although being addicted to western modern music and arts, I still love our own traditional culture, Chinese painting, for example, is the one that I have loved for years.

Hou Yanyang Tongji University Xi Nan Building 12, 67 Chifeng Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai, P.R. China oceanhyyscott@126.com +86-13524594689

China Academy of Building Research Co Engineer Intern 03/2013-04/2013

Trip for Folk Song Collection in Sinan Town Held by Guizhou Musicians Association

Structure Innovation Competition of Tongji University 07/2011

Tongji University, Shanghai, China Concentration: civil engineering

09/2010-06/2014

07/2012

Washington University in St. Louis Master of Architecture

2014 ?

Chengdu Railway Bureau Guiyang Construction Headquarter Summer Intern Urban Sculpture and Landscape Forum Held by Guizhou Institute of Sculpture

o., Ltd, Guizhou Branch n

08/2013

08/2013-09/2013