My first document

FEI XIONG

CONTENT

1 - "Panopticon"

Fall 2022, Instructor : Elizabeth Kamell

2 - Urban Veil

Spring 2024, Instructor : Terrence Goode

Work with Pengfeiyu Chen

3 - Farming Depot City

Fall 2023, Instructor : Amber Bartosh and Vanessa Lastrucci

Work with Yifan Shen, Yue Zhuo

4 - The Wall

Fall 2021, Instructor : Gregory Corso

5 - A little bit of Syracuse

Spring 2023, Instructor : Han Li and Yan hu

Work with Zhirun Huang

DRAWING ARCHITECTURE STUDIO

01 - "Panopticon"

2022 FALL Site: New York

Instructor: Elizabeth Kamell

Program: International Court

Architecture is not just a physical structure but also an abstract representation of power relations in a particular period. From the perspective of architecture, the design, layout, and decoration of buildings respond to the social, political, economic, and cultural context. Throughout history, various architectural styles and types have reflected the authority and status of ruling classes in specific eras. For instance, the columned architecture of ancient Greece embodied the public spaces and collective decision-making of the democratic regime, while the grandiose bathhouses and arenas of the Roman Empire highlighted the opulence and authority of imperial rulers.

In this project, I attempt to explore the social power dynamics carried by the physical construction of architecture and, based on the theory of the panopticon, re-examine and uncover spatial power relations using symbolic methods. Rather than being merely a building, it is more akin to a schematic representation of power mechanisms reduced to an ideal form. It symbolizes a transparent society where the operation of power is clearly visible, and everyone, regardless of their status, can perceive this system. Their vision is unobstructed, allowing for public scrutiny and interaction of viewpoints.

PEOPLE POWER SYSTEM

Architecture can convey the will of humanity, carrying essential meanings like any more metaphysical (abstract) language system. From monuments symbolizing the will of the few for the many to observe, to containers aiding the few in containing and manipulating the many, it has historically been a case of the minority watching the majority. However, in this design construct, such a relationship is reversed, with the majority now watching the minority. The shift in the role of architecture profoundly reflects a transformation in certain social power dynamics.

The site is located in Long Island City, New York, directly across the river from the United Nations headquarters. Like it, this international court also bears the responsibility of promoting international cooperation, maintaining peace, and addressing global issues. This is a narrow plot of land located near the East River, offering unobstructed views of the Manhattan skyline. Surrounding the area are undeveloped plots, currently dominated by large parking lots and construction sites.

02 Urban Veil

2024 Spring Site: Seneca Fall, NY

Instructor: Terrence Goode

Collaborators: Pengfeiyu Chen

Program: Quilt Museum

In this design project, we particularly interested in investigating the role of museums.

We believe museums are places where people interact with objects rarely encountered in their daily lives. However, for most museums, this interaction is limited to visitors and lifeless "exhibits."

Through investigations, we found that the process from collecting to displaying quilts is lengthy and complex. We believe that dynamic process holds the same value as quilt itselves. Based on this, we attempted to present hidden process.

The building acts as a stage, the protagonist is not only the quilts, but also people who carrying quilts move up and down, people who do the conservation. Simultaneously, we want visitors to experience the local urban context while interacting with the museum. Based on this, we designed a unique tour pathway. This visitor path space neither belongs to the internal "stage" nor the external world; it's sandwiched in between. Urban scenery and internal exhibits guide visitors continuously moves forward until they reach the highest point of the building.

On the structural design front, we also aimed to embody a sense of layering . Layering for museum feels like protect. Firstly, Central floating blocks are supported by columns . This forest column are visible in the public or open space. But on other side The entire main exhibition "stage" space is column-free, ensuring transparency and purity within the space. The second layer consists of a massive huge truss structure enveloped in concrete, enclosing the internal space. Structurally, it's the cornerstone of the entire building, not only wrapping around the internally floating blocks and creating vast open spaces internally but also efficiently utilizing storage and exhibition spaces. At the same time the structural supports for the facade extend from the roof framework to supporting the surrounding facades

03 Collective Farming Depot

Instructor: Amber Bartosh and Vanessa Lastrucci

Collaborators: Yifan Shen, Yue Zhuo Program: Urabn farming

The Collective Urban Farming Depot is conceptualized as a radical solution and a contested urban fantasy. Through provocatively choreographing the food system and public participation on a limited site footprint, the project attempts to open up a discussion regarding London's food insecurity, machine production, and human relation to land.

The Farming Depot is an alternative system for the problematic urban food supply system, embodying our critique of the existing food system. It's also a post-industrial monument that nods to the industrial history of London. It is not considered a benevolent and utopian solution but rather an opportunity to radically reimagine the productive method for food, a basic necessity for human survival, in the context of technological advancements in the third decade of the 21st century.

2023 FALL Site: Highgate London

After vegetables are harvested, they undergo picking, initial processing, and packaging before being transported to their destination using various modes of transportation. Typically, vegetables are transported via trucks, freight trains, or refrigerated trucks as land transport vehicles to regional distribution centers or markets. At these distribution centers, they may undergo further sorting and packaging before being distributed to supermarket warehouses or directly delivered to supermarket stores using the same transportation methods. For vegetables imported from distant regions or internationally, sea or air transportation may be chosen. These transportation vehicles and methods ensure that vegetables maintain their freshness and quality during transit, ultimately presenting high-quality products to customers

South side street view

Valley view - between machine and plant

view - central axis

Specific planting module design

The Farming Depot mobilizes every citizen to become a “farmer” in their leisure time through digital tools and generous physical public planting space. Learning from the management of allotments, the Collective Farming Depot’s impact radiates to North London as it is accessible by Tube. To give an idea of the scale of the project, if distributed only in Highgate, each household in Highgate can receive ten sqm of allotment space. However, people from around London are encouraged to apply for membership to be a part of the farming collective. Spatially, the sectional diagram of the megastructure is radically simple. The growing valley, with massive depot shelves delineating its boundary, forms the monumental sacred space in the center. At the bottom of the valley is the area for human interaction with the plants. Behind the planting shelves are machines for processing food and composting.

The public’s relationship to farming practices in this proposal is virtual and physical. Contrary to the low-tech approach of conventional allotments, members of the farming collectives can manage their farming modules on an app. We designed multiple farming modules catering to different types of vegetables suitable for London, and users can select their planting combinations online. The planting modules are not bound to the depot shelves but can be moved around with cranes and conveyors. Members of the farming collective and the general public can schedule a farming appointment or spontaneously visit the farm to engage physically with their planting modules in the farming gallery and the market space at the bottom of the valley. Cranes will deliver the requested planting modules to the users for them to sow, water, and harvest.

With the capacity of the farming depot structure, the site becomes a landmark, just like the British Museum and the Guggenheim in Bilbao, attracting citizens and tourists across the city. Farming becomes a mass recreation activity alongside visiting art galleries, museums, and theatres.

The user interface of our designed software.

I often think that we've been too confined by the concept of "enclosed space" for too long, always requiring floors, walls, and ceilings. We should use these architectural languages more freely, rather than being controlled by fixed paradigms.

一点儿雪城

A Little Bit of Syracuse

2023 SPRING Instructor: Han Li, Yan Hu Collaborators: Zhirun Huang DRAWING ARCHITECTURE STUDIO

"We like Dumb Architecture. We dislike Clever Architecture. Dumb Architecture is about buildings. Dumb Architecture is not about ideas. It likes things. It makes drawings and models. It stares at you blankly in photos. It’s not about the cutting edge or the next big gizmo. And it’s obviously not about smartness, or whatever. It’s dumb, not stupid."-- MOS Architect

Drawing on the visual narrative techniques of Japanese graphic novels and traditional Chinese landscape painting, students in the Syracuse University School of Architecture developed A Little Bit of Syracuse, an artistic tableau of the city.

Those familiar with Syracuse will immediately recognize many, if not all, the building models—the Dunkin Donuts drive-through, CNY Jazz Central, the Byrne Dairy Deli and Convenience Store.

These and other familiar structures can also be identified in the Syracuse cityscape depicted in the eighty-foot scroll drawing, which stitches together each building into a visual story that is at once both realistic and abstract, familiar and unfamiliar.

1.The Palace Theatre, 2384 James St, Syracuse

2.No Name, 617 S West St, Syracuse

3.Sabatinos Pizza Deli & Grocery,1000 S Geddes St, Syracuse

4.Restaurant & House,1931 W Fayette St, Syracuse

5.Club, 443 Burnet Ave, Syracuse

6.Motor Hotel,514 State Fair Blvd, Syracuse

7.Syracuse Cultural Workers, 400 Lodi St, Syracuse

8.House, Hawthorne Street, Syracuse

MADE IN SYRACUSE

In our design school, we were taught a particular aesthetic system that emphasizes ambition, historical context, and formal theory. If we were to view the city through this lens, we would find it filled with numerous chaotic, seemingly "valueless," and "meaningless" designs. However, in this project, we stroll through Syracuse, forgetting the aesthetic norms imposed by the institution, and instead, seek out those buildings that grow wild within the city's soil. They may not be famous structures, but they reflect the most authentic essence of Syracuse.

It could be the exposed walls of abandoned houses at street corners, graffiti on the walls of a pizza shop far from downtown, the repeatedly patched pavement at the entrance of a community theater, or even a nondescript building painted in four different colors by various residents. These details make me realize the essence of architecture. Like a living organism, it emerges from the diverse and chaotic tapestry of people's lives, vibrant and multifaceted.

这是关于一座普通小城的故事熊飞黄之润癸卯年丙辰月

FEI XIONG

PORTFOLIO