Ailun Shi Portfolio
UCLA AUD M.Arch I ellen0753@g.ucla.edu
Oasis of the Soul
Jangala Dunhuang Luxury Hotel
Hotel Jangala Dunhuang, situated in Gansu China, has earned its place in Small Luxury Hotels of the World™ collection since 2021. Crafted as a serene escape from urban chaos, our design respects indegenous culture, echoing vernacular patterns in both massing and detailing. Inspired by the Mogao cave, truncated pyramid ceilings grace the hotel's public spaces, evoking cultural richness and orchestrating dynamic daylight. This not only enhances spatial aesthetics but also offers an immersive retreat experience, fostering a sense of indigenous belonging.
Awards:
The Bund D.E.S.I.G.N. Hotel Awards, 2023 Golden Scale Award for Jangala Hotel, 2022
Practical Project Design Partner, Zhiran Architecture Office
Mogao cave, known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes, were first constructed in the 4th century AD and were used as a site of Buddhist worship and pilgrimage. The Mogao Caves is a system of 500 temples 25 km (16 mi) southeast of the center of Dunhuang, where an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road.
The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 2,000 years, over 400,000 square feet of frescoes and sculptures, making them one of the largest repositories of Buddhist art in the world.
Cultural Treasure in the World
Typical Mogao Geometry
Mogao Caves
Contemporary Vernacular Exploration Spatial
Sequence
Due to height restrictions, the hotel primarily occupies the ground floor, with partial basement and second-floor areas. The total building area is 44,100 sq ft. It encompasses accommodation, dining, a bar, an outdoor theater, botanical chambers, and meditation spaces.
The circulation in the public areas emphasize truncated pyramid ceilings in multiple scales. The dynamic daylight in spatial order is presented well through skylights and windows.
Entrance Pavilion -
Public Circulation
- Lobby - Restaurant - green pavilion - water theather - menditation room
The Jangala Hotel is nestled within a village with over 4,000 acres of vineyards, just 1.5 miles from the desert. The hotel features a total of 25 guest rooms, categorized into three main types: Courtyard Rooms A, Courtyard Each room maximizes the magnificent natural landscape, with the primary views for the three categories
Additionally, each Courtyard Room includes a private courtyard and a separate bathtub area for guests to Standard Rooms feature balconies, allowing guests to enjoy breathtaking views from the comfort of their
desert.
Courtyard Rooms B, and Standard Rooms C. featuring the starry sky, sand dunes, and vineyards, respectively. to unwind. accommodations.
Temporal Junction
EARTHY MATERIAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
In Santa Monica, LA, an aging concrete plant is slated for transformation into a blend of public leisure spaces and a sustainable materials research institute. This architectural initiative delves into the interplay between the historical and contemporary industrial elements within the same location. The historical industrial factory buildings prioritized functionality and efficiency, whereas contemporary industrial architecture reflects broader societal shifts by considering factors such as environmental awareness and the well-being of occupants.
In response to the sense of place, the project reverses the existing central shed space inside out, changing the interior into an open-air courtyard, attracting occupants from the orderly Northern institution and the dynamic southern public spaces. Overall, the design aims to create a harmonious synthesis of contrasting and engaging experiences for both professionals and the public.
Academic Project, 2023
Instructor: Max Kuo, UCLA
ANATOMICAL AXONOMETRIC DRAWING
With a total area of 27,600 square feet, the building preserves the original shed's walls to maintain a sense of place, and distinct circulations are designated for researchers and visitors.
North Elevation
South Elevation
This building has two main areas: the north section is dedicated to professional use, hosting research functionality in its interior layout. Conversely, the south side is more open and designed with a flexible visitors through transformed industrial silos, encouraging exploration of panoramic views of the building
research labs and offices. It prioritizes open discussion, efficiency, and flexible plan for exhibitions and public events. External ramps guide building landscape and the city of LA.
N-S Section Drawing
Divergent Facade
To create dynamic daylighting, the building’s façade incorporates a hanging veil on its south and west sides, constructed using terra cotta units. Each unit is strategically angled during installation, resulting in a large-scale repetition of patterns that form a pixel pattern. Simultaneously, the folded hanging installation method adds depth to the façade, enhancing the richness of light and shadow interactions.
The four exterior faces exhibit varying levels of transparency to articulate their distinct functions and personalities. The northern side presents a more solid appearance, while the southern side embraces translucent, reflecting a shift in spatial openness towards the public.
Perceiving Melody
Architectural Resonance Inspired by Music
This project draws inspiration from music and its cover version, seeking to express and amplify spatial emotion through its building structure while uncovering architectural self-identification.
The study focus on two levels of musical understanding, articulated through physical models by analyzing Bob Dylan’s song “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”, and comparing his version with Kesha’s. One involves immediate musical sensations, and another explores the relationship between musical structure and emotional delivery.
Building upon the song’s analysis, a diagram serves as the driving force behind the architectural design, employing varied structural forms to amplify characteristics and evoke compelling spatial belonging.
Academic Project, 2024
Instructor: Oana Stanescu, UCLA
INSTANT MUSIC SPATIAL TRANSFORMATION
At the first level, two physical models spatially depict the real-time feelings evoked by different versions of the song. Dylan's rendition conveys a sense of resignation and acceptance, while Kesha's version appears unstable and vulnerable.
DYNAMIC MUSICAL STRUCTURE ANALYSIS
Moving to the second level, the focus of analysis is musical structure, especially timbre analysis. The dynamics of the song are dictated by the singers’vocal delivery and instrument playing. Both singers utilized distinct timbres, notably in their vocal timbre, to amplify their intended emotions. Dylan employs a talk-singing style, whereas Kesha opts for a crying tone. Building upon these observations, a diagram illustrates the pivotal shifts in musical structure that drive emotional amplification.
Bob Dylan's Kesha's
Ground Floor Plan
Combining Musical Structure with the Case Study House #4
Second Floor
The diagram serves as the driving force behind the architectural design, employing varied structural forms to amplify characteristics and evoke compelling spatial belonging.
This project plans inspiration from the landscape ethos of the Greenbelt House, Case Study, each room is enveloped by verdant foliage, as discerned from the plan, promoting immersive engagement with nature for occupants. Informed by an extensive series of study models, the building comprises two floors, with selectively elevated sections enhancing interaction with the surrounding greenery, integrating a natural strategy in both plan and section views.
Inspired by music and its cover versions, this project seeks to translate and intensify spatial emotions within architectural structures, simultaneously exploring and unveiling the concept of architectural self-identity.
The house wrapper attempts to explore the indoor-outdoor delineation facilitated by the translucent fabric with diverse skylights. By reorganizing spatial functions and enclosures, the design generates dynamic facade expressions.
Homunculi 04
SYNTHETIC WORLDBUILDING IN CULINARY
This project synthesizes cuisine language and architectural language. Looking for the spatial transformation during the cooking process and the spatial organization above the table setting. Through this process of performative worldbuilding, architecture transcends its conventional human-centric focus, embracing compound beings and their intricate worlds encapsulated within larger contexts.
Design inspiration from alchemical traditions, the concept of homunculi is introduced. These are small, artificially created humanoid creatures embodying the limits of human understanding shaped by sensory and cognitive constraints.
In architectural discourse, “homunculi” metaphorically refers to small-scale models that serve as tools for creating worldbuilding within the built environment. These architectural homunculi symbolize and prototype key design elements, contributing to the visualization of concepts in the early stages of architectural development. Comparable to a compound being or a synthetic world, these miniature models enable the exploration of unconventional and novel forms, contingent upon the occupants shaping the space.
Academic Project, 2023
Instructor: Simon Kim, UCLA
Spatial Analysis in Fermentation
Fermentation is a culinary process that yields abundant gas bubbles within bread. In exploring homunculi, dough's internal space was intentionally manipulated, employing a 3D printing tube to investigate controlled spatial dynamics.
Room Temperature Fermentation Process
The elastic network of dough structure encases and stabilizes gas bubbles produced by yeast, and also supports the PLA tubes, puffing up the bread.
Baking Fermentation Process
During baking, the dough undergoes a secondary transformation in its internal space. The high temperature solidifies the protein structure, ensuring the bread maintains its shape. Meanwhile, the PLA tubes, softened by heat, adapt spatially as they respond to expanding gas bubbles.
The interaction between the fermentation process and 3D printing technology creates a dynamic and structured interplay, yielding bread with a distinctive texture and shape.
printing tube
dynamic space created in fermentation
Spatial Analysis in Table-setting
Table-setting serves as a culinary language delineating the organization of cuisine, and echoing architectural principles. In this project, homunculi elements are conceptualized as a set of Italian cuisine — antipasti, primi, secondi, contorni, dolce —meticulously arranged as a novel table setting, mirroring the sequential order of courses akin to a site layout.
Baked Synthetic Dumplings
Dipping Sauce
Miso Soup Black Tea
Grilled Synthetic Popcorn
This synthetic culinary world transcends the boundaries between the scale of a cuisine table setting and dynamic public space on a human scale. The undulating folds in the tablecloth, resembling topographical
and the architectural landscape. Extending its influence beyond the tabletop, it metamorphoses into a topographical features, catalyze an organic landscaping approach applicable to this design.
FROM PLATE TO PANORAMA_AXONOMETRIC DRAWING
The main program of buildings on site is related to the resources exhibition. By addressing the pervasive issue of food resources in our daily lives, the project engages in a discourse surrounding human needs and rights concerning food, emphasizing considerations of both quantity and quality in our dining experiences.
This dual exploration intertwines culinary and architectural principles, contributing to a synthetic worldbuilding of the intersections between the two disciplines and their impact on societal aspects.
Antipasti 1
Sectional Drawing
Tsingpu Tulou Retreat
Tsingpu Tulou Retreat is a luxury hotel that has been transformed from traditional rammed earth residential buildings. It offers a range of amenities including accommodation, dining, traditional cultural experiences, and art exhibitions.
This project focuses on the restoration and functional optimization of traditional historic buildings. While respecting and preserving the architectural charm of the historic structures, the aim is to enhance their functionality, addressing issues such as poor lighting, cramped interiors, and the lack of modern bathroom facilities. The goal is to improve comfort and privacy for modern living while maintaining respect for the historic context. The design approach is understated to seamlessly integrate with the rural mountain environment.
In this project, I was primarily involved in site surveying, development of renovation guidelines, hotel room design, and construction drawing production, and lighting design.
Practical Project (2016-2017)
Trace Architecture Office (TAO)
Supervisor: Hua Li
SITE
The Tulou retreat consists of six buildings, including three square earthen buildings with over a century of history, one individual earth building, and one three-story Qing Republican-era brick building with some ancillary structures.
The total area occupies 1740 square meters. After renovation, the total built-up area is 3700 square meters.
Site Model
Renovate
Previous walls
1) Yaodonglou
"Space follows structure"
The hotel maintains its traditional wooden structure.
After the renovation, the ground floor main hall area is opened up as a communal living room. It restores native customs and give hotel guest an opportunity to experience Tulou lifestyle.
On the upper floors, partition walls and ceilings are removed to expand the space while keeping the original wooden structure and roof intact, showcasing it to guests.
Daosunlou Physical Model 1:20
Lobby
Dongfanghong Restaurant
Yaodong Lou
Wenxuan Lou
Daosun Lou
Heyuan Lou
Huiyuan Lou
Self-cooking Room
creamy-white texture coating
moistrue proof primer
108 glue solution
waterproof putty 7mm blockboard 10mm
wood joist 30x50
old ramed earth wall
conduit laminate flooring 20mm blockboard 10mm
vapor barrier
wood joist 50x50 with fiberglass
wool 50mm original pine floor
Adaptations:
1) To provide a comfortable physical environment, existing wood-frame floors are added moisture-proof layer, floor heating system, electrical system upgrades, and other optimizations.
2) Thermal insulation is applied to the existing roof and the wall to increase interior comfortability.
3) Existing windows are enlarged to allow more sunlight into the space.
Socket Chock
F.F. water pipe
Detail A Detail B preheating coil
Raised floor
The hotel corridors are merged into guestrooms, and partition walls are rebuilt to improve insulation. After removing traditional ceiling, roof tiles are shown and more daylight are brought into the guestroom by enlarged window.
