ZIXUAN ELLEN
Experience
Mentee and Architecture Intern Perkins & Will
zixuanliu33@outlook.com (540)394-1518
www.linkedin.com/in/zixuan-liu-41485b1a5/ issuu.com/ellen-malu/docs/zixuan_liu_ project_specialist
Education
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA Aug 2018 - May 2024
Bachelor of Architecture
Skills
Revit
Rhino 8 AutoCAD
Enscape
Lumion
V-Ray
Adobe Suite Microsoft Suite Touch Design
QGIS
Python
Lasercam
3D printing
Watercolor
Film and Digital Photography
Darkroom Printing
CNC Machine
Language Mandarin | Native English | Full Professional Proficiency
Reference
Aki Ishida, AIA, LEED AP, Director, WashU Sam Fox School a.ishida@wustl.edu
Chip von Weise, Principal, Visiting Associate Professor of Practice chip@vonweiseassociateds.com
Hilary Bryon, Associate Professor Hbryon@vt.edu
Jan 2023 - May 2023
Chicago, IL
• Collaborated on a mixed-use complex, including a philharmonic auditorium, daycare, and 60 affordable housing units, under the guidance of a mentor firm.
• Provided weekly reports with architecture, urban design team at mentor firm and structure engineering consultant.
• Completed a three-week internship focused on graphic design for the facade of a high-end residential project using Revit.
Intern MADA s.p.a.m.
July 2023 - Aug 2023
Xi’an, China
• Involved in liquor factory project related to site analysis, model making, client engagement, and construction site visits in SD phase using Rhino and Enscape.
• Independently completed graphic representations and illustrations to the client for a mixed-use hotel and retail commercial project.
• Gained knowledge of how detailed drawings and building construction are carried out on-site through multiple site visits.
Interior Intern HOS Design
June 2023
Shanghai, China
• Produced working drawings for towers in the CD phase, including detailed drawings and sections of hospital materials by AutoCAD.
• Facilitated comprehensive presentations on lighting design and material selections for the children’s healthcare interiors.
Internship ZhuLi Studio at Central South University
Dec 2019 - Jan 2020
Changsha, China
• Independently finished diagram research for a hotel project in the predesign phase.
Construction Team VT FutureHAUS
Jan 2020 - May 2020
• On-site reconstruction of the award-winning FutureHAUS, a technically-oriented design/build project by VT displayed at Dubai World Expo 2020
Usher/ Gallery Attendant VT Moss Art Center
Blacksburg, VA May 2021 - May 2024
Blacksburg, VA
• Provided customer service for patrons through auditorium shows and art gallery visits.
Awards
1st Place, Third Year Architecture Competition Fall 2021
• Designed a human habitat residence in one week out of 150+ submission.
• Design has been used as baseline for the building systems class BC 3014.
Honorable Mention, Second Year Architecture Competition Fall 2020
Dean’s List
Fall 2018 - Spring 2024
The Merit Award, VT Spring 2020
• First-year undergraduate student who demonstrates excellent sketch.
School of Architecture + Design Director’s Award, VT Spring 2020
CONTENTS
I THE FOREST
Affordable Housing Project + Philharmonic Center
II LOCKING CONNECTION
Apartment + Music Store + Café Mixed-Use Complex
III UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Community Center
Other Works
IV HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
Single Resident
V Professional Work
Chicago, IL
Blacksburg, VA
Lechee, Navajo Nation, AZ
Christianburg, VA
I THE FOREST
Group Project with Daniella Noronha
Role : Digital and Physical Model, Render, Master Plan, Material Analysis
Chicago, IL
61,400 sq ft
Mentor : Perkins & Will
Affardable housing + Chicago Philharmonic Center
How can designing better meets the needs of single parents families, and by extension all residents in the neighborhood?
Description:
59 units of Affardable housing with 4 ADA housing typologies and new Chicago Philharmonic Center.
Site Contexy:
Located in South Shore, a residential neighborhood in south of Chicago, United States. The large number of single parent families in this community and the lack of safe outdoor spaces triggered the most fundamental design considerations, communication and an open playground.
Chip Von Weise Spring 2023
Courtyard Render
Apartment Blocks Surrounded by the Forest
New Green Pedestrian Path
New Bike Lane
PHILHARMONIC ENTRANCE
The entrance to the philharmonic extends from the central courtyard to the ground, and the roof on the right is gradually raised, linking the three spaces in the way roots tend to overlap each other.
Black Box Teater Render
CLT RESIDENCTIAL
10 Feets single loaded corridor provide the oppotunity as public space for each unit. The roof garden with pergola provides a better environment for plants to grow, while also providing shading for the residents’ public space.
How could residential-commercial mixed-use be in a college town?
Concept
The cafeteria and the music store form an open space between the apartment and the farmers market, serving as a formal and functional connection that binds residential users to the community. The rotation of the two cuboids makes them separate yet closely linked, providing a more welcoming gesture for the public area.
Site Context:
The site is adjacent to an open farmers market in Blacksburg, a college town. The farmers market is the town’s most common weekend gathering place for nearby residents as well as college students.
Individual Project Hunter Pittman
2022
INVITE THE ENERGY IN
The building’s volumetric design responds to the dynamic context of a bustling farmer’s market, attracting the town’s diverse populace on weekends. Embracing inclusivity and openness, the architecture integrates the lively exterior ambiance into the interior, creating a seamless interaction between the two.
Ground Floor Plan
Duplex Accessibility Units
Studio Accessibility Units
SITE
FARMERS MARKET
/
An open space between the two volumes is connected by an external staircase, suggesting a connection between them. However, the separate ground floor of the residential block provides privacy for the residents.
Second floor of the Book Store
Cafe View
Book store View
PUBLIC
PRIVATE
Sixth Floor Third Floor
Fifth Floor Second Floor
WATER WELL, WATER PIPE, WATER RIGHT
Thesis Abstract
Against the backdrop of water rights issues in the Navajo Nation and Arizona, the proposal suggests establishing a new outdoor flea market, community center, and archive museum near Page, Arizona. This site, controversial due to the presence of the Glen Canyon Dam and the Navajo Power Plant, highlights significant disparities in per capita water consumption. Given the incomplete state of health infrastructure, the proposal aims to spark new discussions and consider the impacts of nature, land, community, and the built environment.
The question raised by this thesis is how we identify the threshold of the larger embedded urban context and how basic infrastructure has the potential to remind us of the relationship between humans, the non-human, and its surrounding environment.
Individual Thesis Thesis Adviser: Aki Ishida Fall 2023
Lechee, AZ
Community Center
THE BEGIN AND DEATH OF WATER WELL
An ethnographic study shows how water wor shiping ethnic minority villages in southern China established social order and religion on water wells. The invisible reservoir makes them easily forget their environment and where the water comes from.
WATER WELL IN DIFFERENT CULTURE
Before modern technology intervened, cultures around the world had their own way of obtaining water. In early urban planning at Rome, India, and China, the positioning of water sources and urban texture influenced and promoted each other.
Site Master Analysis
One of the most iconic of these infrastructures, the Navajo Nation Power Plant, was scheduled for demolition in 2020. The project plans to reuse the original building materials along with indigenous materials to construct a community center and archive.
RESHAPE THE POWER PLANTS
Navajo power plant demolished 2020
Chimney model 1:96 scale
Entrance of Archive
Court House Projection model on exbition 1:150 scale
Underground floor plan
View from West South Corner
View under the Chimney
THE CHIMNEY
Burning, water, earth, sky, where does this watchtower look?
THE MARKET
The divided land, the defined flow of water, the defined role of people, could communication arise from here?
THE AQUEDUCT
Where the water flows, the sounds you hear, the colors you see, where will the water end up?
THE ARCHIVE
Broken cement, neglected history, traces of the underground are a record of the past.
THE COURT HOUSE
How could unjust distribution be discussed in the context of sky and earth?
Flea market model 1: 48 scale
IV HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
to Right
Residencial First floor plan
V PROFESSIONAL WORKS
Firm: Project: Type:
Location:
Gross site area:
Stage: Task:
MADA s.p.a.m. - Architecture Intern Lhasa Industrial Park of Ala Jiabao Winery Brewery Factory Industrial Tibet, China
71,767 sq meter
Concept Phase, Schemetic Design Model, Render, Diagram analysis, Presentation Preparation, Documentation ( Rhino, Enscape)
Firm:
Project:
Type:
Location:
Gross site area:
Stage: Task:
MADA s.p.a.m. - Architecture Intern Tai Yuan Pu Run Twin Towers Hotel, Commercial Office Taiyuan, China
71000 sq meter
Concept Phase, Schemetic Design Diagram, Presentation Preparation, Research, Site Analysis, Documentation ( CAD, Photoshop)
Firm: Project: Type:
Location:
Gross site area: Stage: Task:
Perkins & Will - Architecture Intern Project A2
Residencial Dubai 3350 sq ft Schemetic Design Presentation Preparation, Facade Analysis, Visioning (Revit, Enscape, Photoshop)
Firm: Project:
Type:
Location:
Gross site area: Stage: Task:
HOS Design - Interior Intern Er Kang Child Clinic Healthcare Shanghai, China 1460 sq meter
Construction Document Diagram, Presentation Preparation, Documentation ( CAD, Photoshop)
CONTACT
5403941518
zixuanliu33@outlook.com