Transforming Spaces: An Interior Architecture Portfolio

TALENTS' HOME

AUTISTIC CHILDREN'S SCOOL

PROJECT: Architecture design - Adaptive reuse Tsingtao city, China

YEAR:

2018 LOCATION:

The talent's home is a renovation project that reshape the traditional residential community buildings in Tsingtao city, China. The aim of this project is to transform it into a school suitable for autistic children. According to the four functions of accommodation, learning, social interaction and exhibition, closely linked to the habits of autistic children and can even become a transition zone between home and society.

In China, the number of special education schools accounts for 4% of the total number of schools, and there are 1984 schools. These schools mainly teach children with mental retardation, deaf mute children, supernormal children, etc. According to the survey, 10% of the children can fully recover through training, 20% of the children are not fully recovered, but they can take good care of themselves, 25% of the children can take care of themselves, 45% of the children can not take care of themselves.

Proportion of special schools

Recovery situations

Thinking logic and social mode comparison

Through the research on the collective building, I found that the people who use the building can be divided into three groups. Students who are mainly studying, young people who are mainly working and old people who are at home. Because of their social definition in the public space, they occupy the building in different places and for different times. Based on this, I conducted a more detailed behavioral and spatial study.

Added Building Parts

I interviewed several children with autism and recorded their daily behavior. Everyday basic needs guide the functioning of this children's community. For example, A boy says: I can't concentrate in class like other people. What's more, I can't help jumping onto the desk or lying in the hallway of the classroom just to attract others' attention. So I designed the classroom in a natural environment, wooden devices to bring comfort to children.

I divided the functions of the community into three categories: learning, living and socializing. The living area should include the basic private rest space and the space for contacting with nature and society. The study area focuses on the exploration and education of various art fields. The children's work can be opened to the city as an exhibition. Social areas focus on play Spaces and provide possibilities for children to interact with each other.

D-D SHOP

DECONSTRUCTION DESSERTS SHOP

PROJECT: Interior design

2018 LOCATION:

Hangzhou, China

YEAR: 02

in this project, I intend to from a deconstruction space and create an immersive dessert shop interior for customers to enjoy sweets and happiness.

The process of having desserts can be read as a deconstruction in an architectural way. So I recorded five people's action of eating/ deconstructing cakes and present these actions into logic meanings. As a result, people treat the cakes differently based on the shapes and the tools they used.

Here the interior space is designed as a series of movements. I integrated the four steps of food selection, cutlery selection, checkout and enjoyment into this space.

b

a) Entrance lobby

b) Tableware area

c) Food area

a

TEA HOUSE

PEACEFUL SPACES IN THE REEDS

PROJECT: Landscape Architecture design

2019 LOCATION:

Hangzhou, China

YEAR: 03

The project is about a group consisting a land building (medium), several f loating tea rooms (small), and a water corridor. It's a tea room space that full of experience combined with the site's original water f low, reeds and trees.

The site is selected from an island which lays in the central area of the Xiazhu Lake Wetlands in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. The terrain are wetlands and islands. This area is also a popular reed viewing scenic spot.

Here the form of reed and the energy-saving property as building materials are discovered and designed into the architecture. The shape of the main building is generated by twisting two blocks, while the small tea houses are generated on one basic blocks. They both have the arc of reed and their windows are designed with angle which can be used as biewfinder in reed marsh.

Site Research

Block Managment

Open-hole strategy

Visual Field Analysis

This landscape building is designed to be close to the local natural landscape. A number of "small viewfinders" emerge from water forming the landscape complex with the main building. Providing people an immersive enjoyment.

Green Strategy

Reed is not only the main facade material of buildings, but also a part of green energy strategy. Working as a local architectural material, reeds can reduce transformation cost. As the facade of roof and outer skin, reeds create a natural look.

"AIR"

ARTIST IN RESIDENCY PROJECT

PROJECT: Interior design - Adaptive reuse Providence, RI

2021 LOCATION:

YEAR: 04

The site is based on the renovation of the narrowest building in Providence, Rhode Island. I took three artists as my "clients" and design the interior for them. The artists came from different background (performance, fabrication analysis and visual art) which tend to multidisciplinary spacial need.

Visual artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan is an artist focuses on sound performance and the visualization of sound & objects. Performance artists Rashaun and Silas are dancers from NYC, devoting to provide immersive experience to audience and they do choreography. Fabrication artist Felecia Davis is a college teacher and she is dedicated to create installation that help people communicate.

The aim of this Adaptive reuse project is to design a studio for these artists gain inspiration from Providence. And in this building, artists can communicate and learn from each other with the common area.

Artist Background Research

Concept Model

For Lawrence's Studio

As a sound & performance artist, Lawrence's creation require room for store sound and objects. Based on that, I designed the space with shelves and moveable wall. They can change their position in different situation which help create both storage area and stage for performance.

For Rashaun and Silas's Studio

As dancers, Rashaun and Silas and their team need space to jump, run, lay down and stretch. And the most important element for this dance group is observation. They tend to read the environment and translate it using their bodies. So I designed a three-layer mirror that spread to the street inviting the stree tview inside.

MUSEUM THEATRE

INTERVENTION INTO AN EXISTING STRUCTURE

PROJECT: Interior design - Adaptive reuse Providence, RI

2021 LOCATION:

YEAR: 05

The site of this project is RISD Museum which located in the central area in Providence, working as one of the most aesthetic and educational museum in Rhode Island. This project is an intervention based on the existing RISD museum structure. I intended to use this space to light up the night of Providence.

During the day time the lobby of RISD Museum will be a Caffee area while during the night time, this area will turn into a theatre that open to the students and residents in the city.

When the Museum lobby turn into Theatre, the bottom of the table will become a pointlight. The spotlights from celling will project light to the performance area. With the rearrangement of the seats, the transformation is done.

a-a section

b-b section

Seats' Possibilities

CITY THEATRE

A THEATRE CREATED ON THE THEME OF URBAN RENEWAL

PROJECT: Theatre design

2019 LOCATION:

Hangzhou, China

YEAR: 06

The site is located in Fengshan new village, Hangzhou City, China. Under the soil of this small village, it is the imperial city of the Southern Song Dynasty which had a prosperous market thousands of years ago. Through the alternation of dynasties, generation after generation of people live in, until today's society. Today, this village has long been unable to see the prosperity of thousands of years ago. It has become the place where the poorest people live in Hangzhou, and is regarded as "village in the city".

The form "cloud" represents the expand of local residents' living spaces. Just as the clouds squeezing each other, the residents are constantly taking the public spaces as their won space, leading to the current situation that the public streets are occupied by residents.

This show is the last chapter of an immersive theatre which contains 7 chapters in total. I collected the images of audiences and projected them on the "cloud", emphasizing a combination between the past and present.

The Up and Down position of the curtain stand for different meaning of the urban gesture. When the curtain is lifted, a void space is created, allowing audiences to move in. When the curtains hang down, the room below is occupied, requiring audiences squeeze themselves into those "cloud", which can lead to the feeling of moving in between the gaps.

ROOTED TOGETHER

EXHIBITION DESIGN PROJECT

PROJECT: Exhibition design

LOCATION:

YEAR: 07

Providence, RI

2022

Plants connect people across all space and time.

Indigenous people of New England and those of West Africa have always had knowledge across many areas. As they came together across the sea, they combined knowledge, worked to retain it, and adapted to new environments and emergent challenges. We are choosing 3 categories to highlight: medicine, food, and textiles, and our goal is to demonstrate how the many botanical contributions from peoples of African and Indigenous descent have been integral to the overall development of the Atlantic World, although they haven’t always been correctly credited by the dominant culture. The exhibit is intended to be multi-sensory and participatory, with a strong focus on demonstrations, experiences, and hands-on learning. While there are multiple categories for the sake of organization, none of these exist in isolation, and all are connected to each other. Categories are also constantly moving, changing, adapting, and evolving; plants don’t stay in a static position, and neither do people.

WORMHOLE

DIGITAL DRAWING PROJECT

PROJECT: Digital Drawing

2021 LOCATION:

Providence, RI

YEAR: 08

In this Digital drawing project, I used Grasshopper (kangaroo) to simulate the formation of wormholes in the universe and extract their form after formation. I quoted Arata Isozaki's architectural drawing and re-created it with the concept of time travel.

OTHER WORKS

DRAWINGS

PROJECT: Sketches

LOCATION:

YEAR: 09

Providence, RI

2019-2022

In this Digital drawing project, I used Grasshopper (kangaroo) to simulate the formation of wormholes in the universe and extract their form after formation. I quoted Arata Isozaki's architectural drawing and re-created it with the concept of time travel.

Abstraction digital drawing from a bracelet - 2

Abstraction digital drawing from a bracelet -1

Drawings while traveling during 2019-2022