S24 Portfolio

PORTFOLIO

Jeffrey Li

01 // Upham’s Corner Library

Spring ‘23

Situated in a Boston suburb, the Upham’s Corner Library is an inviting space that welcomes everyone in the community. Its mass timber structure creates open community spaces that allow everyone to feel connected and at home. The unique structure helps to create large open spaces, but also create dynamic lighting conditions for all programs that the modern library is home to.

East-West Elevation

The form of the building is intended to pull visitors off from the edge of the street, guiding them to the entrance tucked in the corner. The spaces closest to the street are the community spaces, along with an additional engawa entrance to make those spaces accessible without needing to engage with the rest of the library. There is a focus on providing community gathering spaces, which is achieved with a double height lobby and a grand stair with seating. The structural system allows for clear spans across the entire width of the building, while still maintaining a cohesive feeling throughout the spaces.

Structural Chunk

The program organization reflects the circulation in the building. Visitors enter into a large double height lobby space, with a grand stair. The children’s section is placed farther from the lobby for sound, but also daylighting, as it is located towards the south end of the building. The teen space is also located on the mezzanine level for a similar purpose of providing privacy, as well as views. All of the service spaces are placed underneath the mezzanine level.

To keep with the concept of creating spaces for diverse communities and uses, there was a need for large clear spans. Rather than simply spanning deeper beams and girders, a series of interlocking roof members were used. These structural roof members have varying depths according to the roof surface above. These deeper members also allow for indirect daylighting of the spaces below.

The facade patterning was inspired by the roof structure. While the facade patterning is not structural, the fins on the glass serve as devices to help reduce glare into the spaces, while maintaining the views to the outdoors.

McKinley Park Environmental Center

Fall 2023

Situated on the steep slopes of Pittsburgh’s Beltzhoover neighborhood, the Mckinley Park Environmental Center is a place for the community to gather, learn, and celebrate. It acts as the starting point for the revitalization neighborhood, serving both visitors and locals. The environmental center acts as a gateway into the park, encouraging visitors to wander and discover nature.

in collaboration with Carleigh Cusick and Alexia Tan

In response to the steep slope of the site and existing park elements, Mckinley Park Environmental Center takes on a L-shaped configuration, creating a public and private wing. The building is sited to address the northwestern corner of the site, which is closest to nearby public transportation. In respose to the steep slope of the site, the building is stepped outwards, to minimize the amount of earth that needs to be moved for construction. The building mainly serves the public, and as such, the majority of the program is organized in the triple stack public wing to the east.

Visitors enter from Michigan Street, into a large public atrium. Visitors are able to either pass directly through to the park, or move down the public wing, exiting the building on level 1, with direct access to the existing paths within the park.

Currently on the site, there is an existing bioswale that leads to a rain garden, capturing all of the drainage on north of the building. The environmental center is adjacent to the bioswale, so as to not disturb what already exists, but also to act as a learning opportunity. An additional bioswale is constructed to the south of the building, leading to another rain garden. This will account for new drainage patterns created by the presence of the building.

EX. RAIN GARDEN

Starting from the mezzanine, visitors are able to get views into the park, as well as access the rooftop patio, which is shaded by a photovoltaic solar canopy. The exposed underside of the solar canopy is a learning opportunity for students to learn about sustainable energy production up close.

On level 3, visitors enter from Michigan street. The south wing is private, with office space, conference rooms, and other staff amenities. To the east, there is a public wing, with a triple height atrium that matches the stepping of the building. This triple heighted atrium opens up to three stacks of classrooms, each of which are oriented with large amounts of glazing facing east, in order to create a connection with nature for the students. Each classroom also has an outdoor space, to further emphasize the connection with the outdoors.

Moving down to level 1, visitors are able to exit the park and directly access park trails. It is also possible to access the park through the classroom on level 1.

As an environmental center, there was a focus in the design process on including as many sustainable design strategies as possible. The end result is a building that is net-zero, which is based on simulations and calculations. The structure of the building is mass timber post and beam construciton, to sequester as much carbon as possible. Furthermore, much of the roof is covered with solar panels. Based on calculations from PV Watts and simulations from ClimateStudio, the amount of energy created by the solar panels is enough to make the building net-zero.

Part of what allows the building to have such low energy consumption is the design of the building envelope, as well as its mechanical systems. The building envelope is designed to go beyond what is asked in the energy code. A high performance envelope helped to reduce the amount of thermal energy lost to the outside, helping to make the building net-zero.

In regards to the mechanical systems, the building uses a heat-pump exchange system, supplied by geothermal wells and spread through a radiant slab system. The building is zoned so that there can be precise control over the temperature and ventilation in each zone, so that no energy is wasted.

Finally, there is a focus on using passive conditioning to help control the climate inside the building. Shading devices are installed around the atriums to help control glare, but also promote the use of daylighting in the spaces. Simulations were done to ensure that daylight was sufficient and glare was controlled as much as possible. Operable windows also allow for cross-ventilation and the stack effect to help in cooling and conditioning the spaces.

Long Section, Passive Diagramming

EAST

SUMMER

WINTER

Envelope Chunk Structure Model

03 // Pittsburgh Symphony

Fall 2022

Pittsburgh Symphony uses sound as a driver for creating a generative necklace of interventions across the city of Pittsburgh. Spread across three sites, each building is designed through clustering physical forms that are generated from sounds recorded on site. Imagined as “sound containers”, each building is imagined as a combination of the qualities of sound that it came from.

in collaboration with Carleigh Cusick

What kinds of spaces create speci c qualities of sound?

• freight train driving

• standing under bridge

• standing by the docks

• walking near pa-28 highway

• herr’s island bridge

• expensive townhouses

• private boating

Washington’s Landing

• parking spots

• pa-28 highway

• allegheny river

• trees on both the river

• trees to the west pa-28 highway

• walking on the rivers heritage allegheny river

• walking through townhouses on waterfront drive

• herr’s island north

• acrisure statium gameday

• walking outside restaurant block

• stage ae during concert

• acrisure stadium

• stage ae

• tequila cowboy

• mcfadden’s

• parkway north

North Shore

Station Square

• ohio river

• grass around acrisure stadium

• greenery along river heritage

• walking by the

• walking through leaves by the road

• sitting near the docks on the river

• freight train driving

• fountain show

• hard rock cafe evening

• boat tour

• walking under smith eld street

• glasshouse

• hard rock cafe

• sheraton hotel

• highmark stadium

• fountain at bessemer court

• trees by the river

• trees around station square east parking

• mount washington greenery

• walking outside glasshouse

• inside of station mall on a weekend

• sheraton hotel

• walking through

the

clustering

Open

public plaza

Forming Architectural Experience

1. Amplify Natural Sound

Housing Infrastructure

shared garden spaces

community commons

apartment amenities

personal bedroom

Closed

To take the sounds of the space and increase their wavelengths, in turn increasing the volume of the sounds

2. Stop Transmission

To prevent the passing of soundwaves from one space to another, with a physical intervention

3. Quiet Generation

Space only allows for generation of very soft sounds, overall a quiet space

Event

Open

outdoor furniture plaza

indoor lobby

concert hall

reception space

artist residency

Closed

Forming Architectural Experience

1. Stop Echoes

Remove the possibility for any echo to form in a space

2. Resonate

Allow for echoes to become louder and stay for a long time even after the initial sound was made

3. Spread Distribute the passing of sound to various locations, but each location is speci ed

Open

outdoor eld

playground

outdoor music spaces

music classes

practice rooms

Closed

Forming Architectural Experience

1. Musical Generation

Space/objects allow for the creation of sound with a degree of control by the user, essentially musical instruments

2. Prevent Transmission

To prevent the passing of soundwaves from one space to another, with a physical intervention

3. Amplify Natural Sound

To take the sounds of the space and increase their wavelengths, in turn increasing the volume of the sounds

Three Site Generative Mapping

After recording and mapping the sounds from the 3 sites (North Shore, Washington’s Landing, Station Square), physical masses were extracted as an expression of what that sound might be like in a physical form. The generative mapping is a combined representation of the forms that the sounds took on the sites, as well as showing the important contexts that shaped the sounds. The resultant buildings are representations of how the sounds might come together to form a housing, infrastructure, and event project.

North Shore Plan

Washington’s Landing Plan

04 // Link N Library

Spring 2023

A mobile response library for natural disasters, Link N Library is based on a fixed grid system that allows it to be deployed in any context that is asked of it. The pieces of the library can be assembled and taken apart in any configuration of 4 squares, adapting to the unique situations it may be used in. This was completed as a submission for the EPIC Metals Competition at Carnegie Mellon University.

in collaboration with Akanksha Tayal

Assembly Process

05 // Gaeringshus

Fall 2021

Gaerginshus is a culinary institute inspired by renowned chef Rene Redzepi’s philosophy of fermentation. Fermentation is about intensifying the qualities of the ingredient. Gaeringshus reflects this simple process by allowing the curves of the river to guide the organization and massing of the forms across the site. The monolithic form draws people in from all corners of the site.

in collaboration with Suzie Liu

Starting with a singular mass, spaces are carved out based on the importance of the spaces. Two large circles guide the outdoor public spaces, focusing on its relationship to the street, but also the river. The most important program spaces are highlighting with large windows, to give a look in to what is going on within the school.

The fermentation centre is the focal point of the Gaeringshus, raised to create a public space underneath. The outdoor space underneath the fermentation centre allows access through the outdoor spaces of the building to the riverside.

Sequence Diagram