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POR TFO LI CHENGXI

Selected Architecture Work 2021-2025

Curriculum Vitae

SKILLS AND INTERESTS

Li, Chengxi (Hilary)

Email: lchengxi@upenn.edu chengxili24@gmail.com

Tel.: +1-2676706506, +86-13451878818

2025

Graduate

University of Pennsylvania

Master of Architecture

Integrated Product Design Certificate

2018 2021 2022

University of California, Santa Barbara

Bachelor of Art

Art; History of Art and Architecture

Jinling High School | Nanjing, China

Computer: Rhino; SketchUp; AutoCAD; Revit; ZBrush; Maya Adobe Photoshop; Adobe Illustrator; Adobe InDesign; Adobe Premiere Pro; Keyshot; Enscape; V-Ray

Language: Chinese (Native); English (Proficient, TOEFL iBT: 102); Japanese (JLPT N1); Korean (Intermediate); Italian (Basic)

Other: Physical Model; Nail Arts; Oil Painting; Travel; Bamboo Flute

INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE

Design Intern | HDR Architecture | Los Angeles, CA | Jun-Aug. 2024

Architecture Intern | OPEN Architecture | Beijing, China | May-Aug. 2023

Architecture Intern | Architects & Engineers Co. Ltd. Of Southeast University | Nanjing, China| Oct. 2020-Jul. 2021

Planning Intern| Nanjing Yihe Historical Buildings Preservation and Utilization Co., Ltd. | Nanjing, China| Jun.-Aug. 2020

Artist Assistant | University of California, Santa Barbara, Art Major | Santa Barbara, CA | Jan.-Mar. 2020

AWARDS

Nomination of Weitzman Pressing Matters (Spring 24' / Fall 24')

University of Pennsylvania annual publication of student works

Project: Ethereal Lumina / Matter Value

Yancheng Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, Nanjing | Nanjing, Jiangsu | Jul. 2023

Project: Application of VR and AR in Historical Architecture Restoration | Third Prize

Dean’s Honors | University of California, Santa Barbara | Apr.-Jun. 2021

ACTIVITIES

Founder, Director, and Principal Bamboo Flute | Jasmine Echo, Traditional Chinese Music Ensemble in University of California, Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara, CA | Nov. 2018-May. 2022

Principal Bamboo Flute | The Protagonists (Music Band)| Philadelphia, PA | Feb.2024-Present

Exhibition Staff | Hoyoverse at New York Comic Con (NYCC) | New York, NY | Oct. 2023

Member of Art Group, Publicity Department | University of California, Santa Barbara, Chinese Students and Scholars Association (UCSB CSSA) | Santa Barbara, CA | Sept. 2018-Jun. 2019

01. ETHEREAL LUMINA

Library Design

Jan. - May. 2024

New York, NY

Crit: Lane Rick

Team Member: Yuxiang Hao

Role: Concept Design, Graphic(Sections, Elevation, Diagram, Circulation, Post-Rendering), Physical Model

This library project redefines architectural boundaries through the innovative use of a cantilever system and space truss framework, creating a sense of levitation and seamless spatial transitions. The design strategically places the core to facilitate a natural flow, integrating public spaces filled with greenery that guide visitors upward beyond conventional floor limits.

The facade combines translucent fiberglass and aluminum to filter natural light effectively while pre-senting a visually engaging appearance. Inspired by local soundscapes, the design incorporates a unique grid pattern that echoes the library’s purpose and harmonizes with the environment. We aim for the building to not only serve as a functional space but also as an interactive beacon within the com-munity, with plans to integrate dynamic lighting that reacts to environmental conditions. This project is a testament to our commitment to innovative, sensory-rich, and environmentally responsive architecture.

Program Design Strategy

In traditional libraries there is often only a wall between the spaces of different functions. By analyzing the common functions of libraries, we found that the different functions are easily affected by each other, so we want to separate the different spaces.

On this basis, books become the thread connecting different spaces, linking this library building into a whole. The design emphasizes both indoor and outdoor volumes, and the entire box-like building can be seen as an intersection of the two volumes. We viewed each architectural function as a box, placing it in front of the heavy concrete core behind it with a cantilevered structure, while books related to nearby functions were arranged on top of each box.

BOOK

PROGRAM

Facade Design +

We obtained the sound spectrum on the right by analyzing street sounds in southern Manhattan, where the library is located.

We then abstracted the library's main furniture component, the bookshelves, to get a suspended façade as an outer layer, shading and some degree of isolation from street noise.

This façade design has three layers, the aluminum frame, the glass curtain wall, the truss system supported by the heavy concrete structure behind it.

Aluminum Frame

Glass Curtain Wall

Truss

Circulation

02. MATTER VALUE

Urban Dynamic Transformation Design

Sep. - Dec. 2024

Seoul, Korea

Crit: Barry Wark

Team Member: Yuxiang Hao

Role: Concept Design, Graphic(Plans, Section, Diagram), Physical Model

This project transforms Donuimun Museum Village in Seoul as a dense, irregular urban area into a cultural landmark—a gallery space that bridges history ines the site through reorganized transparency and flipped spatial relationships, creating a dynamic dialogue between past and present. Inspired by Seoul’s historical grid influenced by Confucian planning principles, the design introduces north-south pathways linking Palace Park with the street and optimize site organization. Salvaged bricks from these structures are reused to construct the northern façade, showcasing weathered textures and honoring The gallery’s design contrasts traditional and modern elements. Recycled bricks form textured exteriors that embody history, while clean, white interiors wall channels rainwater onto the northern façade, deepening the connection between architecture and nature. Strategically organized façades enhance functionality and visibility. A transparent southern façade reveals gallery activity, while a second-floor elevated walkway supports exhibitions and community engagement, with a welcoming atrium and dynamic circulation paths linking major areas. By integrating sustainability, fostering interaction while preserving its historical essence.

history and modernity. By addressing urban connectivity, material reuse, and innovative spatial design, it reimagstreet and east-west trails to enhance circulation. Select buildings are deconstructed to establish transparency honoring the site’s heritage while minimizing environmental impact. serve as a canvas for natural weathering, emphasizing the passage of time. A newly added metal parapet walkway provides unique perspectives of the site and surrounding urban fabric. Programmatically, the space sustainability, urban connectivity, and innovative design, the project revitalizes the site as a social and cultural hub,

Urban Strategy

The design process began with analyzing Seoul’s historical grid, influenced by Beijing's city planning. In Donuimun Museum Village, the narrow paths were reorganized into a clear grid of north-south and east-west connections. Deconstructed buildings enhanced transparency, while salvaged bricks were repurposed to reflect the site’s history, achieving sustainability and creating a dynamic interplay of past and present.

We eliminate transportation costs for materials and grounds for the respect history of its site. To achieve one of the key components of the project, sustainability, the design reuses the materials from the demolished bricks. Bricks salvaged from demolished structures are repurposed to construct the northern façade, showcasing the beauty of weathered textures and the passage of time.

After deconstruction, the site can be divided into several simple blocks, and we have combined the houses that remain in the same block to form a new arrangement.

The arrangement of the site is crowded, and in these narrow paths, it is difficult to know where one is, or the function of the buildings around one, with brick walls as far as the eye can see.

We introduced two north-south pathways to connect Palace Park to the north with the street to the south. Then add three east-west trails, improving circulation and accessibility across the site.

The grid system enables different façade strategies that respond to orientation.

Deconstructed the buildings along the way to create a sense of transparency.

In addition,

second-floor circulation path directly connects the street with the park. This elevated walkway offers visitors a unique perspective of the site, creating dynamic interactions.

Beijing

Seoul

Original Block

Demolish

Reuse Brick

Chunk Render

Escalator added for the upper level circulation

Glass opening on the parapet wall for the upper level view the roof as a part of the exhibition

Curtain wall on the south side for transparency

Old brick walls play as a part of the gallery exhibition

Upper level connected the street to the north park

Parapet walls collect rainwater, draining on the north side

White clean exterior and old weathered interior flip the tradition

Lower Level Plan

03. MINGLING

Urban Housing Design

Sep. - Dec. 2023

Philadelphia, PA

Individual Work

Crit: Brain Phillips

Nestled between Chinatown and the Avenue of the Arts, the gateway district is imagined as a cultural bridge, merging diverse communities of Philadelphia. Housing in this hybrid space represents a confluence of Chinatown’s rich heritage and Philadelphia’s broader community. As the second destination for new arrivals, people with different background, especially folk musicians arrive in Philadelphia. Drawing inspiration from the various performing art centers along Broad Street, the project serves the function of cultural communication, especially through music, a global language without boundary. The project promises to enliven both the street and its neighboring areas. MINGLING would become the new façade of Chinatown, and at the same time, will be an extension of Broad Street performing arts culture. The gateway district aspires to be more than just a space; it seeks to be a living witness to Philadelphia’s multicultural evolution.

Design Aim

Philadelphia, as a major city in the United States, a country of immigrants, has a variety of immigrant neighborhoods. At the same time, as a city with a long history of music, it also has many music practitioners, including outsider musicians, street artists, professional ensembles, and music students. Different groups of people need different architectural spaces, and I hope that Center City and Chinatown can serve as the collision center of Philadelphia's immigrant culture and music culture.

Old Boundary of Chinatown

Potential Expansion "Avenue of the Arts"

Current Boundary of Chinatown

New Boundary of Chinatown

Broad Street "Avenue of the Arts"

New Expansion "Avenue of the Arts"

WELCOMING

HOUSING

WELCOMING

04. REBIRTH

Cemetery Defamiliarization Design

Jan. 2023

Philadelphia, PA

Group Member: Nicholas Wong, Peehu Sinha

Role: Concept Design, Graphic(Interior Model and Render, Exterior Post-Render Graphics)

Rebirth challenges society’s view on death and cemeteries, which have been considered taboo and often kept away from cities. This contrast with the hope for an afterlife prompts the question of how death can play an active role in our society. Rebirth proposes integrating cemeteries back into the city by using natural organic reduction to convert human remains into fertile soil in self-contained capsules.

As Viktor Shklovsky states in Art as Technique (1917), perceptions are exchanged from era to era, and in the same vein, the general public’s perceptions of death have largely remained unchanged over time. Inversely, the meaning of death has evolved in recent history, and traditional after-death care has been called into question as technology and biology have advanced. So, the question arises: How can death play an active role in our society, and ease the dissonance that exists between our perception of death-care and our idea of an afterlife?

The capsules are arranged in a vertical pattern that contrasts with traditional ground-based cemeteries. This process is more environmentally friendly than cremation and burial, and the soil generated by the departed can be used for memorial purposes or environmental restoration efforts. Rather than placing burial plots outside the city, Rebirth harmonizes death and nature within the urban landscape of Philadelphia. This provides an alternative grieving method and offers a solution to urban land distribution issues.

Original Site

Material Defamiliarization with MidJourny

Philadelphia’s urban landscape is saturated with brick, a result of clay abundantly present in the region. Historically, brick construction follows a strictly modular form and regimented methods of construction. Rebirth derives its altered configuration from AI-generated imagery, and utilizes its exterior interventions to symbolize the organic processes of the after-death care program. By suffusing the exterior with organic sculptural forms, the cladding seeks to defamiliarize our perceptions tied to traditional and industrial brick buildings.

Currently, Central Philadelphia primarily houses cemeteries that are associated to religious places of worship; for example, Christ Church in Society Hill and Mikveh Israel Cemetery in Washington Square. Due to rising land values and societal perceptions of death, all non-denominational cemeteries have long been exiled to the outskirts. With the use of a vertical model, Rebirth proposes a reintegration of cemeteries into the city fabric and offers a sustainable option of natural organic reduction. This approach defamiliarizes the perception of death; and imbues the space with a symbolic notion of afterlife. Counter to traditional cemeteries, often considered an inefficient use of urban space, Rebirth offers a dynamic and compact alternative through its methods of organization and natural processes embedded within it.

Interior Design

05. CROSSING TIME

Historical Preservation and Renovation Design

Mar. -Sep. 2021

Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

Individual Work

Crit: Tiancheng Zhang

In a modern city with a long historical background, like Nanjing, the balance between restoring historical-cultural heritage and urbanization could be a fundamental problem. The government needs to consider the historical value and the commercial value of historical architecture simultaneously.

Pingshi Street Area is one of the relict of the Qing Dynasty in Nanjing, and the Naning government assigned the mission of the restoration and renovation to AESEU. This project, No.31 Lingzhuang Valley, is where I worked as an internship project in AESEU. My job is to make the modern elements into historical domestic architecture.

Site Analysis

I divided the buildings based on two standards---build time and current situation---to choose the study case in this area. The deeper color represents the older and more excellent sites. Among all these buildings, we choose No.31 Lingzhuang Valley as our project, built during the middle Qing dynasty, and has remained its structure till now. The site is in the center of the old cloth market in Nanjing, and named with cloth materials like Pishi (Market of Leather) Street, Lingzhuang (House of Brocade Silk) Valley , Rongzhuang (House of Corduroy) Valley, Chuaibu (Strech Fabric) Fang.

Since 2002, Hanfu Movement has started in China mainland to promote traditional Han culture as a social movement. In 2006, the first Hanfu store was established, and since then, more and more Chinese started to be interested in Hanfu as a fashion tendency. Since our site is in the center of the old cloth market in Nanjing, it is suitable to do a traditional workshop here.