Di Chen's Portfolio

Design of Balance Chen Di's Portfolio winddancer_cd@msn.com

Integration

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In&out, Tradition&Modernity

Courtyard House

Nanjing, China Personal/Academic/Independent 2012.8 - 2012.10

Relationship Between Past and Present

Interaction Between House and Yard

Construction

Furniture Design as Architecture

Interaction

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with Site

Biological Research Center

Nanjing, China Academic/Independent Supervisor: Luo Jianli/seupd@126.com 2010.9 - 2010.11/Year 3,1st Semester

Interaction With The Site

Tree Portrait

Yard

Transition

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from Bench to Sofa

Elderly Caring Housing&District Center Barcelona, Spain Academic/Independent/Final Project Supervisor: Bao Li/101004575@seu.edu.cn 2013.2 - 2013.6/Year 5, 2nd Semester

From City To Building

Ramp Between Public and Private

Apartments

Inner Street

Revitalization

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Mount&Water in City

Urban Design

Nanjing, China Academic/Groupwork teammate: Xiong Weiting/My Role: concept, modelling, group leader Supervisor: Yang Jianqiang/yjqseuud@126.com 2012.3-2012.6/Year 4, 2nd Semester

Other Works

City

Water

Mountain

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A courtyard is like a guest room, not only inviting friends and families, but also the sunshine, wind, raindrops and snowflakes to the heart of home.

Integration

In&out, Tradition&Modernity

House&Yard

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PAST & PRESENT main room

yard

service

main room traditional house in Nanjing plan

main room

yard

main room

section

This project aims to achieve the integration with interior and exterior

traditional house in the south Nanjing old city

and balance between tradition and modernity.

Traditional Chinese residential buildings have strong complex in achieving harmony between nature and artifacts. Unlike western architecture, Chinese houses usually regard courtyards as essential composition, rather than simple decoration for the building.

In Nanjing, the traditional house possesses a concise form. There are two rows of rooms, between which there is a small yard.

This yard is just like a guset room, not only inviting family and friends, but also sunshine, wind, raindrops and snowflakes into the heart of home.

I wish to design a courtyard house based on this traditional form in order to find a new form of living architecture and to evoke people's memory of the harmony between the nature and our ancestors.

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INTERACTION BRTWEEN HOUSE & YARD

Insert a yard between the two rows of rooms.

Courtyard in Chinese architecture is surrounded by rooms unlike the garden of western house, which surrouds the room.

By removing volume, two yards acquire visual connection.

In Chinese building , space is continuous. Even if the place is unable to reach, some visual or spatial connection will be created.

A corridor connects the two rows and divides the yard into two smaller yards.

Corridor in the Classical Garden of Suzhou serves as a soft boundary through which vision, air and space can go.

Two narrow gardens link the yards together so the all the yards may unite as one.

These narrow paths in Chinese architecture bring people some dramatic feeling of space.

washroom main room

bedroom living room

video dining room

yard

service

studio main room

M o ve t h e e a st vo l u m e northwards in order to create one more yard.

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There are usually more than one yard in a Chinese building and in some rooms people may feel that they are surrounded by the nature.

The most important rooms are placed near the main yard and the others are on one side.

The main rooms face directly to the yard and those service rooms are on the short end of the yard.

Taiji, a concise form expressing the great wisdom of ancient Chinese, can represent the core spirit of all aspects of Chinese culture, including architecture, in which such spirit is expressed as the intertwined interior and exterior space. The house is surrounded by the yards while at the same time, the yards can be viewed since they are located among rooms. In this way, integration between exterior and interior is achieved.

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All these yards have direct or indirect connection with each other. People may wander from one to another. Therefore, the space become continuous.

Moreover, in some special positions, people may perceive the existance of at most three yards during the same time. Such feeling might make people believe that the house looks larger than its real size. This kind of design method can be often seen in the Classical Garden of China.

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I use timber which distinguishes from concrete on the ground so that a wander lane in this house can be illustrated. As long as people follow the lane, they may reach all the places and all the views in this house.

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bar living room WC

section 1

section 2

dining room kitchen studio

1st floor

meeting

section 3

section 4

bedroom

WC

entertaining

2nd floor 10

CONSTRUCTION

1. tile 2. waterproof layer 3. insulation layer 4. 100mm wooden ceiling 5. 150mm wooden ribbon

6. steel cap 7. gutter

tile waterproof layer insulation layer

100mm wooden ceiling

8. 300mm reinforced concrete

9. glass window

150mm wooden ribbon 10. sliding glass door

While the main structure of the house is made of concrete, I want to use wood in roof structure to evoke people's memory of the traditional house of China. Those wood beams are just like a kind of pretty decoration on the celling.

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wooden beam

supporting structure

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FURNITURE DESIGN AS ARCHITECTURE

Derived from the traditional Chinese shelf, I design a new shelf which is connected with the stair. It is not only a shelf, but also has the function as a soft bondary to divide space and to let vision go through.

I transform a traditional Chinese pattern called "yunleiwen", a pattern of clouds and thunder, into the structure of sofa. This elements can be found in the base, back and armrest.

This pattern can be designed as the armrest of the sofa. phase 1: wooden stairs

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phase 2: vertical bars attached to each tread

phase 3: horizontal bars filling the gaps

It can also be used to support the cushion or function as the division in the shelf on the back.

phase 4: forms different sizes of shelves

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Would you like to make a portrait of a beautiful tree?

Interaction with Site

Biological Research Center

parking

Wenzheng building

Meian Garden

institution of architecture design

auditorium

Liuyuan Hotel

large trees on site

library

library

pedestrian vehicle

school of architecture architecture studio

100-year-old factory building

This project lies in the north part of the capus of Southeast University, Nanjing. This area possesses a quiet atmosphere with beautiful landscape and several historical buildings. How to create the

interaction

with site and reach the balance between the special campus environment and the newly built biological research center is the key to this design.

The research centre to be built contains major functions that include: ˙6 common laborotaries with corresponding dressing rooms, preparation rooms and other facility ˙ 2 sterile laboroties witn corresponding dressing rooms, preparation rooms and other facility ˙ 1 lecture room and several discusion rooms ˙ a public area including coffee, library and etc Total area: 3600 sqm

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INTERACTION WITH THE SITE

A big volume in the east of the site is coordinated with the two large buildings and corresponds to the parking lot.

A slim and long volume parallels with the old building in the south and is embraced by the trees.

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By cutting off volume from the middle of the west wing, a platform can provide people who enter from the gateway of the historical building with access to the inner yard.

The L-shaped plan creates exterior space with various views and atmosphere, which also has visual and spatial connection with the small park in the west.

These elegant trees within the site impress me a lot as they play the role of a beautiful and quiet background for thinking and researching, and thus an image of using vertical window as frame to form a portrait of the trees occurs to me. The best place to see these trees is on west part of the second floor and will attract researchers everywhere in this building. On the one hand, the easy access to the pretty view of the yard contributes to the relaxation from long time working; on the other hand, the trees stimulate people's gathering and discussion ispiring them with new ideas.

A void space goes through the building, functioning as transportation and illumination.

Facing the main yard, this void space becomes the best place to see the view of the trees and yard.

Two small patios are inserted in the east part.

The facade of the west wing is open to the yard, blurring the boundary of interior and exterior.

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All the stairs point to the tree in the center of the courtyard. Therefore no matter which stair people walk on, they will find that the beautiful tree lies at the end of their short trip. Besides, the wooden stairs stand out the concrete brick wall, becoming visual focus of the void space.

TREE PORTRAIT

section1-1

section2-2

section3-3

section4-4

section5-5

section6-6

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mechanical

Two ste r i l e l a b s w i t h t h e i r corresponding dressing rooms,preparation rooms and document rooms unites as two blocks located on the first floor.

The six common labs are on higher floors and there are two types of them. Two of the labs along with their corresponding rooms consisted as two blocks float above the discussion area(common lab2). The other four(common lab1) seperate into two blocks occupying the east part of the building. Every two labs share one small garden on the second floor.

WC

waste storage

office

preparation

sterile lab

Second floor plan

Third floor plan mechanical

common lab preparation

discussion

common lab preparation

document balcony research

reception preparation

lecture hall

sterile lab

common lab1 document & research

First floor plan

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document balcony research

mechanical

preparation common lab

document & research

document & research

common lab2

sterile lab

The garden and the rest area could become an informal public space for researchers in these two labs. The visual and spatial connections would stimulate spantaneous meeting and discussion, which are benefitial for research affairs.

common lab preparation

WC

common lab preparation

document research

common lab preparation

reading

document & research

cafa

WC

document research

YARD

The floating corridor provides another angle to view the yards.

Along the west wing, people perceive the exterior space from different level.

1. view of the main yard

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2

2. view from the cafe and library to see the landscape of Meian 25

The sunk main yard makes the large tree as the visual and spatial focus of the yard, which could even become the stage background for outdoor lectures or other activities. Facades towards the yard are transparant, allowing the most access to the exterior space. The garden on the west is lifted to a higher elevation, transforming the space from an inwards atmosphere to an extention to the larger campus context. On the east, two balconies are faced with parking lot, which offers the labs green views.

A piece of wall prevent the space between the newly built research center and the historical building from turning to a lifeless linear space.

It divide the in-between space into two relatively independent space while still indirectly connected. The west part might lead people to reach the platform thus to enter the inner yard, while the east part functions as the entrance plaza to the building.

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Along gently rising slope, you return home from city.

Transition

from Bench to Sofa

Elderly Caring Housing&District Center

This project is on the intersection of PereIV and Badajoz in the Cerda Grid, Barcelona. A complex building containing a district center and an elderly apartments will be built on this site. As part of the "22@" master plan, which aims to revive this old district, the new building will play an essential role of

transition from urban bench to personal sofa, that is, to reach the balance

oz

aj

d Ba

Site

Pe re

IV

between public and private space.

The distrct center part contains major functions that include: ˙ library ˙ lecture hall ˙ cafe ` exhibition ` studios and classrooms The elderly caring housing part contains: ` 10 single rooms and 10 double rooms ` public area including activity room and cafeteria ` administration including offices, medical rooms and etc.

Total area: 4500 sqm

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FROM CITY

RAMP BETWEEN PUBILC AND PRIVATE

TO BUILDING

Ramp research

existing shortcuts

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cut through and create answering exterior space

volume with continuous urban facade

PereIV had existed before the Cerda Planning. At that time, fields were along either side of the road and there were small paths pepanticular to it, some of which still exist today and function as shortcuts through blocks. However, most shortcuts are lifeless, and in this site, it is even blocked. Thus, I wish to revive the inner street, in order to transmit urban life into inner block as well as to evoke citzen's memory or the argriculture traces.

residential residential

final project: From Bench To Sofa

I have gathered many cases of elderly housing and find out that most of them use stairs to join the different floors, which is inconvenient for elderly people. The best way is to put all the apartments on the ground, but there is not enough space and it contradicts the living habit in Cerda Grid since the ground floor is for public use. Considering all the analysis above, I use ramp to join all the levels. Along the gently rising slope, the space is continuous from the ground to the top floor.

Apart from that, ramp is able to serve as the transition between public and private. In this project, the ramp on the one hand could be regarded as the extention of urban space to the interior, while on the other hand the ramp plays a role of public space, like cafeteria or activity room, inside a building.

public 32

elderly sheltered housing: 1.apartments 2.cafeteria 3.activity room district center: 4.cafe 5.lecture hall 6.classroom 7.research room 8.community library 9.exhibition

district center

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book shelf

6

library

4 5

1 3 2

1

elderly sheltered housing

Unlike the district center, the most users in elderly sheltered housing are old people. So the ramp is only used in the public space like cafeteria and activity room.

exhibition

exhibition wall cafeteria and activity room

salon

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Ramp space has the inclination of movement, which is hard for activities and conversation to occour. Thus, the space is negative. In order to compensate for the deficiency, I add some platform to the ramp to hold activities. In this manner, when people walking by, they can feel the lively atmosphere around them and might take chance to join the various activities.

People will not simply pass by, but experience an interesting trip.

The frame structure can best convey the continuity of ramp space. I use steel columns and beams in order to minimize the visual influence.

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To answer the ramp, the ceiling appears in a waving form, deriving f ro m t h e m o nta i ny te r ra i o n o f Barcelona.

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formation of shelf and ceiling

400mm steel beam

wooden relection panel

light

steel cap 50mm insulation layer white painting layer

waterproof layer 50mm insulation layer 400mm steel beam

metal frame window wooden panel wooden ceiling

W h e n t h e l i g h t i s o n , i t fo r m s gleaming belts along the ceiling, strengthening the orientaion of the space.

light wooden relection panel 37

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balcony

APARTMENT

living room

living room

balcony

bedroom

bedroom

dining

dining

washroom

washroom transition space single room

living room

living room

bedroom

bedroom

bedroom

bedroom dining

washroom view of the yard

dining kitchen

kitchen transition space

washroom

double room

In Barcelona, residential buildings prefer to have patios within them, adapted to local climate and citzen's favor with outdoor life. Considering that it is difficult for some old people to leave the building to reach city plaza in a relatively long distance, I insert patios into the two apartment blocks, offering these elderly residences easy access to fresh air and abundant sunshine. They just need to walk out of their apartments, then push the wooden door open, and can easily reach the quiet and comfortable yard. These wood doors can be fully opened for the interior to embrace the nature when it is a good sunny day, or be shut to shelter people from the cold rain and snow when the weather is bad.

Every two apartments share one small transitional space before their entrance. Conversation between neighbors could take place here, or people might stay in this place for a while when walking around the yard. view of the transition space

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small garden for elderly housing

INNER STREET

plaza for district center

wood panel flower bed cement pavement

strip light

concrete brick

2

1

3 base

the small garden for the apartments answers to the existing yard.

the plaza is larger, which allows more people to gather and provides space for the lecture hall to hold outdoor speeches.

Lights on the ground and benches mark the orientation of the street and the garden as well as the plaza.

N

0

3

9

18m

Different materials on the ground mark the different function of the space of the inner street: the cement pavement for moving, the wooden floor for staying activity and the earth for plants to grow.

1.west entrance of the inner street 41

2.small garden for elderly housing

3.plaza for district center 42

We will enjoy a better metropolitan life with mounts and water in the heart of city.

Revitalization

Mount&Water in City

Urban Design

Adajacent to Nanjing's most renowned toursist spots, stimulated by one of the most active commercial districts in this city and containing abundant natural and cultural resourse within the site, this project could embrace many possibilities. I try to achieve the revitalization of mountains and

Site Hunan Road

Xuanwu Lake

Purple-golden Mountain

Xinjiekou

Fuzimiao

water to gain the balance between nature and artificial environment and also between history and future.

The site locates in the north part of the old city of Nanjing, near Hunan Road commercial district, the second largest one of Nanjing, only smaller than the Xinjiekou CBD. On the south part of the site, a new skyscraper will be built, which will bring the whole district to a higher level. In the near future, there will be two subway lanes around the site, so people will get here more easily and commercial activities will become more prosperous.

Nanjing Industry University lies in the north of this site. In Nanjing's master plan, this university will become part of the hi-tech and creative industry district. Also, there are many old buildings constructed in the period of Republic of China in this site. Thus, cultural program could be well developed.

Not far from the site is the Xuanwu Lake, one of the most famous tourist sights in Nanjing. People may get a view of Purplegolden Mountain, another celebrated spot of the city, on the high-rise building in this site. Besides, Jinchuan River flows across this site, reaching the city plaza on the south. All these elements could provide the cultural and commercial activities with a beautiful background.

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1950'S

a

Therefore in the long-term, the nearby blocks will be replaced with commercial buildings, as the land price goes higher due to the newly built complex.

With the university moved to its new campus, the adjacent dormitory block will be available for the research industry's future development.

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6

1920'S

2.Hotel This area can accomondate travellers from Xuanwu Lake and Purple-golden Mountain.

1.Research The original campus will become a research and design institution.

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nd

i ch ar se re

2

try us

b 1

1

3

a 2

6 3 8

2

b 5

4

3

5

7

9

III 9 10

4 m co

existing park

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8

tm la

cia er m

I 4

II

ph

os e er

I

10

2000'S II

Now here is campus for Nanjing Industry University along with its dormitory block.

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This area includes many historical buildings, two of which are hotels, and the other are residential.

This region is under d e m o l i s h m e n t fo r a n e w shopping mall and a skyscrper, make commercial activity sprawl northwards.

3.Culture Those historical buildings can be turned into museums.

Along with the existing cultural buildings, this area can be used for exhibition and show.

4.Park B et we e n co m m e rc i a l a n d cultural area, the park will become a good place for rest.

5.Commerce After the new complex is c o n s t r u c t e d , c o m m e rc i a l activities will expand.

In this site, there are buildings constructed in different period during the past century. From them, a timeline of architecture and urban development can be drawn.

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11

III

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Urban water system has been destroyed.

Due to the rapid urban development, many ponds and rivers have been wiped out from city, which turns the city into a lifeless concrete forest. The Jinchuan River flowing across the site is heavily polluted and part of the channel has even been blocked.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Jinchuan River was digged as a channel to link the Yangtze River.

In the period of Republic of China, the eastern channel was digged.

Unfortunately, both channels are blocked upstream so the water get worse and worse.

The Jinchuan River within the site has been seriously pulluted. Its river bank also lacks of design and planning, resulting in few activities.

The rivers and the pool have no contact with one another.

To link the river and pool together in order to create a coherent water system.

Along the water side, pedestrian lane will allow people to see waterfront scenery when walking to different blocks.

The water system acts as a chain to bring all the different programs together.

Ugly skyscrapers undermine urban image.

Whether skycrapers are necessary for city development have been a controdictary topic for decades. Despite the debate, if a skyscraper is built, it becomes a key composition in urban skyline. Throughout China, all we get are such featureless urban images due to ill-designed towers, including our site.

How to make it better?

There are many mounts and hills in Nanjing city, and the highest one in Nanjing, the Purple-golden Mountain, can be seen from the site.

Therefore it is a good choice to have some man-made mounts in this site, serving as a unique lankmark for the whole region.

If the water of Jinchuan River can be cleaned like what the government once did for the Qinhuai River, this area will become more glamorous. The first step is to link all the isolated water together so that the water system may work as an axis to combine with different parts of various functions.

The facade of the mount building is dirived from the Chinese landscape paintings.

the Qinhuai River

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The mountains and the water system intertwine with each other, forming an attractive and continuous urban space, corresponding to the scene in classical Chinese painting urban life in mountains and water.

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WATER

The bank of the Jinchuan River is too high from water surface for people's access to the river.

winter

summer

The water level changes in different seasons, so the platforms on different elevations create a safe and interesting atmosphere.

I want to design some green slopes along platforms on different levels. So when people walk along the river bank, they may feel that they are wandering in the nature. Moreover, the slopes help to link the different platforms so that people can walk freely on them without noticing the change of height. In this way, we can gain a continuous riverside pedestrian space.

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MOUNTAIN

low-rise mount

continuous space under the curved roof

pedestrian bridge

mount tower

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room type3

room type1

room type1

hotel sky club company3

company3

hotel sky lobby

hotel guest room house type2

company1

mechanical&refuge

room type2 public area

house type3

typical hotel plan

retail

company2 house type1

house type1 hotel guest room

typical residential plan public area

public area mechanical&refuge

typical office plan bookstore

residential

retail

mechanical&refuge

retail

office

retail exhibition F&B

exhibition

F&B restuaraunt of hotel

garden garden

mount plan retail

exhibition

retail

retail

mount section 0 55

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18

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I nf l u e n c e d by we ste r n architecture, buildings of 1920's have their yards around the main houses.

CITY

shop

hotel

exhibition

shop

restuaruant

room

museum

special exhibition gallery

Buildings of 1950's may have relationship with the inner courtyard.

To g e t h e r w i t h t h e p l a z a , buildings of 2000's are able to create the feeling of the classical garden of Suzhou,which is a special kind of yard.

The space organization of the house built in the p e r i o d o f Re p u b l i c o f China is that the main building is surrounded by smaller auxiliary ones. It can be applied in museum, hotel and shops. Public functions will be put in the central building and the others will be placed in the outer ring.

The campus of Nanjing Industry University reflects the building of 1950's. It consists of several courtyards. So the new buildings in this area will pepetuate this context. Because this place will be used for research and design, the courtyards will create an quiet atomsphere and will provide people who work here with space for discussion and conservation.

A faceless conrete box is not environmental friendly. To add a roof on it could not only create a new activity space, but also help to proof sunheat, rainfalls and also increase ventilation.

A faceless conrete box is too cold and lifeless for people to contact with. The corridors attached to the building will invite people to walk on.

PAST

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1920'S

1950'S

space abstraction

2000'S

FUTURE

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Urban Complex Personal/Groupwork/2011 Future Architecture Competition, Hornarable Mention Teammate: Qian Feng/My Role: Plan, Section, Program, Diagram 2011.6 - 2011.7

ground floor plan

Near the famous Lion hill of Nanjing and adjacent to the ancient city wall, this complex must answer to the historical context and revive the public urban space by join the hill in the north and park in the south. We make the building appear in a reversed mount form, having resonance with the context while still show its own personality. People from the park are able to reach the platform on the second floor to get the best view of the hill.

section

Other Work

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Context Oriented Residential Block Planning

Fine Art

Academic/Independent Tutor: Wu Xiao 2010.11 - 2011.1

Handdrawing/Photographing 2008-2012

This block is built on the ruins of the traditional residential district in the Southern part of Nanjing old city. The main inner streets of the block are based on the traces of the old streets emerged in Qing Dynasty, over 100 years ago, so as to evoke people's memoey of what took place on this site and what we have lost. Most of the houses derive from the traditional form of the old dwellings in this city, and appear in a modern form in order to perpetuate Chinese architecture spirit in the future.

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