Chu Li's Selected Works from GSAPP, Columbia University

PORTFOLIO OF CHU LI Master of Science, Architecture and Urban Design GSAPP Columbia University

PREFACE

I joined GSAPP’s Urban Design program in Summer 2016 as it was a perfectly fit for my desire for exploration. It interweaves rigorous theoretical training with intense studio experience, and emphasizes on combining larger systems strategies and built form with interventions that integrate culturally with human scale spaces.

During my year in GSAPP, I experienced a whole new way of designing, I began to see the deficiencies in my old planning thinking and start to realize the emotional part of every project is the essence of the design and is what relates your proposal to everyone else.

In the theoretical learning aspect , I gained a better insight into the notion of “heterotopia”. Through professor David Shane’s book, I realized that the urban design projects I have the most interest in falls within his categories of the heterotopias of crisis, deviance and illusion. Either it’s the enclave hospital campuses in Poughkeepsie, ot the ethnic cluster settlements in New York, or even the spiritual spaces I wish bring back to Haidian Island, they are all heterotopias, of one kind or another. As professor Shane opines “Urban heterotopias are specials parches, acting as test beds for change.”. It is only through actively engaging in heterotopias that I can care for the marginal urban space and its people and hence progress on my pursuit of “urban inclusion”.

I see this program as a milestone in what I intend to be a lifelong urban research journey, and I wish to make a positive difference in the lives of those who feel lost in the urban cultural abyss.

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CONTENTS

URBAN RESEARCH P65

DESIGN STUDIO P5

CINEMATOGRAPHY P91

PHTOGRAPHY P83 3

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DESIGN STUDIO

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HEALTHWAY | HEALWAY Therapeutical Interfaces for Poughkeepsie

GSAPP Urban Design Core Studio 2 Sep 2016- Dec 2016, Poughkeepsie, NY Urban Design & Urban Planning Project Instructors: Lee Altman, Chris Kroner, Micheal Murphy, Justin G. Moore, David Smiley, Pipa Brashear, Sandro Marpillero Team members: Ge Zhao, Yuting Pan, Fu Wang Role in Team: Social, economic research; Data visualization; Marco-scale planning; Micro-scale designing; Digital Modeling; Graphics representation; Video representation

Project Brief The project HealthwayHealway seeks to address the imbalance between healthcare system economic insecurity in the city of Poughkeepsie by proposing distributed healthcare infrastructure and therapeutical landscapes across the neighborhood. The new heath care network intends to make Poughkeepsie a health destination and thus have systemic impact at regional scale.

By dispersing the healthcare related programs, we are also trying to address the psychological perspective of user groups. In hope of alleviating negative connotations of centralized the hospitals, we propose designs that can improvise the medical user experience and increase the interaction with the community.

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REGIONAL ANALYSIS

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CITY-SCALE ANALYSIS

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MASTER PLAN

vassr broth

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hers medical center

eye care center

soccer exercise field

skate park parking lot

running track meditation garden

multigeneration playground

SENIOR NEIGHBORHOOD

outdoor cafe

dinning

Intervention Site #1: Healthy Lifestyle Center

CENTRAL CITY

LITTLE ITALY

HISTORICAL NEIGHBORHOOD

Intervention Site #2: Substance Abuse Therapy Center

occupational therapeutic workshop therapeutical horticulture healing ponds

assisted living facility

nursing home

department of community health

assisted housing

Intervention Site #3: Aquatic Therapy Center

inning hall

LOW-INCOME NEIGHBORHOOD

HUDSON RIVER

MARIST COLLEGE

facility

mid-hudson regional hospital

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STREET INTERVENTION TYPOLOGIES

Street Fitness Pop-Up Yoga Mural

STREET FINESS PATH

WALL MURAL BY KIDS

Playground

Mile Marker Bike Lane

AUGMENTED BIKE LANES

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RENOVATED PLAYGROUND

Push-up Bars Performing Stage

Body Matrix Running Track

BODY MATRIX & TRACKS

Sitting Stairs

AMPHITHEATER

Mobile Healthcare Truck Pop-up Plaza

Pocket Parking

Corner Plaza

MOBILE HEALTHCARE SERVICE

RECLAIMED PEDESTRIAN SPACE

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STREET AXON VIEW

STREET FITNESS PATH

BIKE LANE

CORNER PLAZA

CROSS-SECTION DESIGN LANDSCAPE RENOVATION

EDGE BENCH

CITY PLAZA

SHUTTLE BUS

RENOVATED BUS STOP

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STREET AXON STREET RENDER

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SITE 1 AXON VIEW

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FIRST AI

PARKING LOT

EXER

CAFE & FOOD TRUCK AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM

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MULTI-GENERATION PROGRAM

PEDIATRIC CENTER

ID

CAFE

THERAPY FOR SENOIRS

CHECK-UP CENTER

SPORTS THERAPY

THERAPEUTIC GARDEN

RCISE PARK

MEDITATION GARDEN

BASEBALL FIELD

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SITE 1 RENDERING

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SITE 2 AXON VIEW

MEDITATION SPACE BEDROOMS

LIBRARY DINNING HALL

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IN MA ST RE ET URGENT CARE

HEALING GARDEN

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SITE 2 RENDERING

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SITE 3 AXON VIEW

THERAPEUTIC SPA

HEALING PON

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

THERAP THERAPEUTIC HORTICULTURE

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SWIMMING POOL

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PEUTIC HORTICULTURE RAMP

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SITE 3 RENDERING

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32°F ARMATURE Water Urbanism in Post-Colonial Kolkata

GSAPP Urban Design Core Studio 3 Jan 2017- May 2017, Kolkata, India Urban Design & Urban Planning Project Instructors: Kate Orff, Geeta Mehta, Dilip Da Cunha, Julia Watson Team members: Paul Xiaopu Wang, Huaxia Wu Role in Team: Social, economic research; Data visualization; Marco-scale planning; Micro-scale designing; Digital Modeling; Graphics representation; Video representation

Project Brief 32ÂşF Armature reshapes current floriculture and pisciculture practices in Kolkata by literally changing the state of water. It is a sustainable hydro-morphology design project that counters the pressure of urbanization on rural Kolkata and accommodates the growth of grassroots industries benefiting the underprivileged.

Our proposal extends ice-making into the process of sewage treatment through the East Kolkata Wetlands and beyond. By making ice of varied qualities of water (black, grey and clean) in this process, our project caters to different needs of environmental cooling, fish/flower transportation and human consumption as well as different programs of human settlement.

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FISH FLOWER & ICE Pisciculture and floriculture play a vital role in Kolkata. The former fulfills the average resident’s need for food; the latter supplies flowers for social and religious practices. Currently, the wetlands east of Kolkata supply 13,000 tons of fish to the city annually while treating 60% of its sewage water. Yet pisciculture is losing people to other industries as fishermen struggle to make a profit as a result of the shallowing up of ponds caused by city pollution. The floriculture industry, on the other hand, which supplies Kolkata with up to 1,500 tons of fresh-cut flowers comes from areas that are 12 travel-hours away. By the time they reach Malik Ghat Market from where they are distributed to retailers and temples, a large portion of flowers are withered and thus wasted.

We propose to solve these problems through ice and ice-making. Despite ice-making being a long-existing tradition in Kolkata, the scarcity of ice today constrains the fish and flower industry by limiting the distance they can be transported and the time they can be stored.

REGIONAL CONDITION

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ICE MAEKING FROM THEN TO NOW

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

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FLORICULTURE OVERVIEW

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PISCICULTURE OVERVIEW 35

MASTER PLAN

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SITE 1 FRAMEWORK

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BLACK ICE COOPERATIVE

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SITE 1 RENDERING

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SITE 2 FRAMEWORK

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GREY ICE COOPERATIVE

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SITE 2 RENDERING

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SITE 3 FRAMEWORK

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EDIBLE ICE COOPERATIVE

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SITE 3 RENDERING

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CONNECTING STAPLETON Waterfront Design for Staten Island

GSAPP Urban Design Core Studio 1 Jun 2016- Aug 2016, Staten Island, NY Urban Design & Urban Planning Project Instructors: Ellen Neises, Kaja KĂźhl, James Khamsi, Brian Baldor, David Brown, Thad Pawlowski, Ben Brady Team members: Sreyash Dasgupta, Jiahong Lu, Lavin Zhao Role in Team: Social, economic research; Data visualization; Macro-scale planning; Micro-scale designing; Digital Modeling; Graphics representation; Video representation

Project Brief Apart from the problems related with gentrification and rising rents, the Stapleton waterfront today stands at a risk of getting privatized and disconnected from the existing neighborhood.

The Stapleton Water Link is a project that analyses three aspects of the neighborhood of Stapleton in Staten Island: natural processes, social characters and economic situation, and aims to create a revitalized connection from the hill to a more resilient, re-activated and multicultural waterfront, by creating specific design goals and strategies.

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SECTIONAL STRATEGIES HIGH LAND RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

IND SHOPS

26FT

22FT

14FT

10FT

RAILWAY BAY STREET

HIGHLIAND RESIDENTIAL

FRONT STREET

HURRICANE SANDY FLOODED AR

STORM WATER STORAGE

INNER WETLAND

NEW RESIDENTIAL 26FT 22FT

14FT

3FT

14FT

RAILWAY

NEW FRONT STREET

BAY STREET

HIGHLIAND RESIDENTIAL 54

INNER WETLAND

DUSTRIAL BUILDING

12FT (HURRICANE SANDY)

REA

COAST LINE

WETLAND RESTORATION URBY

NEW PUBLIC FACILITY

ABSORPTIVE EDGE TIDAL WETLAND

NEW WATERFRONT DEVELOPMENT

COAST LINE 55

MASTER PLAN

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SCENARIO SIMULATIONS

Low Tide at 0ft

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Mean High Tide at 6ft

Hurricane Sandy Level at 11.5ft

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DRY SEASON VIEW

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WET SEASON VIEW

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URBAN RESEARCH

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GRADIENT KOLKATA Research on the East Kolkata Wetlands

GSAPP Urban Design Core Studio 3 Jan 2016- Feb 2016, Kolkata, India Urban Research Project Instructors: Kate Orff, Geeta Mehta, Dilip Da Cunha, Julia Watson Team members: Huaxia Wu, Xuanchen Zhang Role in Team: Social, economic research; Data visualization; Graphics representation; Video representation

Project Brief During our site visit in India, we mainly focused on three sites. A typical rural wetland village, A cooperative society in the peri urban area, and salt lake city which was an infill of the wetland.

Fascinated by how the three sites differ from each other in terms of their relationships towards the water bodies, we continued our research and further extended our scope towards the sundarbans.

After identifying the connections on this transection we established, we found that the possibilities are endless, and we as urban designers should contribute to this gradient along the transection that is able to thrive on all levels.

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REGIONAL CONNECTION

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INDIVIDUAL ANALYSIS

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05

BELONGINGNESS Research on Fabrics and Typology

GSAPP Urban Seminar Sep 2016- Dec 2016, Hainan, China Urban Research Project Instructors: Richard Plunz Team members: Yuting Pan Role in Team: Social, economic research; Data visualization; Graphics representation; Modeling; Mapping

Project Brief The Haidian Island in Haikou witnessed a rich history of culture heritage, eradication and gentrification.

With the gentrified development in 2009, this entire piece of unique fabric was eradicated. Albeit more density and economic benefit is achieved through the current model, one can barely find any trace of the once rarefied village patterns.

Our proposal aims at reclaiming the residue of the traditional pattern but at the same time catering the need of density for a more modern community.

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HISTORICAL IMMIGRATION MAP BOBAI Guangxi

Tang Dynasty

Guangdong

7,000

First under governance

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HO

IZ TA

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HO

SUZ

HAIKANG North Sea

10,000

XUWEN South Sea LINGAO HAIKOU

ZHANCHENG

UT H

QIONGHAI

EA

BAISHA

ST

AS IA

CHANGJIANG

SO

DONGFANG

TR

IES

SANYA CO IC AB AR

ARA

BIC

CO

UN

UN

TRIE

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LINSHUI

The Haidian Island in Haikou witnessed a rich history of culture Song Dynasty heritage, eradication and gentriAD1040-1044 Song- Xia war fication.

Separated from the main terrain of China by the Qiongzhou Strait, the tipping Yuan Dynasty point of Hainan Island has always been 17,000 AD1253 An’nan war an ideal place for immigration in periods of war and chaos. Ever since the Qing 47,000 Dynasty, people Ming Dynastyfrom different areas of China settledAD1368-1389 in HaidianMing Island. war Upon their arrival, they resided in clusters and built temples and shrines of their own re217,000 ligion. This kind of religious public space Qing Dynasty tightened the connections between peoAD1840 Opium war ple and provided a spiritual support for 100,000 the neighborhood. Thus the dwellings 1950s on Haidian Island.

FABRIC ERADICATION SINCE 2007 With the gentrified development in 2009, this entire piece of unique fabric was eradicated. Albeit more density and economic benefit is achieved through the current model, one can barely find any trace of the once rarefied village patterns.

URBAN FABRIC IN 2007

Our proposal aims at reclaiming the residue of the traditional pattern but at the same time catering the need of density for a more modern community. We scrutinized the layout of the traditional village, and analyzed its dimensions and functions, and reaching the conclusion that while the dimensions of the traditional are human scale, the functions of old housing types are much outdated. Thus we extracted the dimensions of the traditional housing

URBAN FABRIC IN 2009

and retrofitted into new patterns that bear modern functions. The auxiliary units for each house hold can be shared and enlarged in the contemporary setting, creating more useable and semi-public spaces. The height and the layout of the housing patterns are all centered around an old temple, targeting at bringing back the spiritual space and support that was once and still should be very important to the neighborhood.

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URBAN FABRIC IN 2015

EXISITING FABRIC IN 2007

EXISITING FABRIC IN 2015

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NEW FABRIC DESIGN PRINCIPLES

IMPORTANCE OF RITUAL SPACES IN MODERN COMMUNITY

IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC/SEMI-PUBLIC SPACE

IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN SCALE DESIGN

CUBICAL BUILDING MASS

DIVERSIFYING HEIGHTS 74

DIVIDING BASED ON HUMAN SCALE

ADDITIONAL TOP TERRACES

PROPOSED URBAN FABRIC TYPOLOGY

SPIRITUAL SPACE

TEMPLE

SPIRITUAL SPACE

ORIGINAL VILLAGE TYPOLOGY

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS

SHARED TERRACE

PROPOSED TRANSFORMATION

PUBLIC SPACE

COMMERCIAL SPACE

SPIRITUAL SPACE

PUBLIC SPACE COMMERCIAL SPACE

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THE EXPANDING GAP Research on Boston & the Gateway Cities

GSAPP Urban Design Core Studio 2 Sep 2016- Oct 2016, Boston, MA Urban Research Project Instructors: Lee Altman, Chris Kroner, Micheal Murphy, Justin G. Moore, David Smiley, Pipa Brashear, Sandro Marpillero Team members: Sreyash Dasgupta, Shuman Wu, HuaiKuan Chung Role in Team: Social, economic research; Data visualization; Graphics representation; Mapping

Project Brief The economic gap between the Gateway cities and Boston is ever increasing even though the Gateway city formation policy in 2007 was to bridge this gap between Boston and the Gateway cities.

What are Gateway Cities?

Massachusetts Gateway cities are midsize urban centers that anchor regional economies around the state. For generations, these communities were home to industries that offered its people good jobs and a “gateway� to the American dream. Over the past several decades, manufacturing jobs slowly disappeared. Lacking resources and capacity to rebuild and reposition, Gateway Cities have been slow to draw new economic investment.

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PHOTOGRAPHY

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CITY OF HETEROTOPIAS Selected Photography Works

GSAPP Architecture Photography Elective Sep 2016- Dec 2016, New York, NY Architecture and Landscape Photography Instructor: Chenriette Attali

Project Brief Michel Foucault first coined the term “heterotopia” to illustrate that spaces have multiple layers of meaning and relationships to other places beyond an apparent understanding. Heterotopia was a term derived from medicine, where it originally meant a cell or a group of cells co-existing within a distinct host cell or tissue. By analogize and extending the medical concept, Foucault argues the possibility of this coexistence as heterotopia comprises multiple compartments that are both contradictory and complementary spaces. In succinct, a heterotopia is a “single real place made up of several spaces, several sites that that are themselves in compatible.”

New York, with its unraveled complexity of the city’s various autonomous systems, is simply the one of the best examples for postmodern urban hybridization, the city of heterotopias.

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THE HIGH LINE

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THE WHITNEY MUSEUM

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THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM

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THE GRACE FARMS

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CINEMATOGRAPHY

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24 HOUR KOREAN TOWN Video Story Telling on Places New York

GSAPP Reading New York Urbanism Jun 2016- Aug 2016, New York, NY Video Shooting & Animation Project Instructors: Cassim C Shepard, Nans Voron, Grace Mills Team members: Grace Ng, Xuanchen Zhang Role in Team: Footage Shooting, Animation, Screening

Project Brief Koreatown is an ethic enclave located in Midtown Manhattan of New York City, centered on West 32nd Street and Fifth Avenue.

The unique intersection of k-town’s spatiality and temporality has given rise to its urban density and perpetual bustle. Our neighborhood portrait is set against backdrop of iconic anthem (“Gee” by Girls Generation) with round-the-clock time-lapse footage presented in parallel with the permanently upbeat k-pop rhythm. We hope to capture the vibrancy and more importantly, diversity of commercial activities located within the space of a single street that never sleeps; that has grown to become a landmark destination for Asian entertainment.

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STORY BOARD

OPENING SCE STREET SCAPE

6:00-10:00AM

FOOD PREPARATION

12:00-1:00PM KOREAN CUSINE

INTERVIEWEE 2

KOREAN CULTURE

EL

2:00-3:00PM INTERVIEWEE 3

KOREAN BEAUTY SALO

7:00PM-12:00AM FOOD COURT

1:00-4:00AM AFTER CLUBBING SNACK 94

ENE

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SHOPS OPENING

INTERVIEWEE 1

LEVATED COMMERCIAL SPACE

ON

KOREAN KARAOKE

4:00-6:00PM NIGHT FALLS UPON KTOWN

ASIAN CLUBBING

ANOTHER DAY BEGINS....

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cl3503@columbia.edu (347)727-9337 521 W 112, APT. 4A New York City NY 10025 http://www.chu-li.me