JIAJUN LI Work Sample 2015-2018
CONTENTS
One Floor Library
5
Academic Work 2018.4
Meme Museum Personal Work 2018.9
Sandwich Academic Work 2018.12
Fragment
17
33
43
Academic Work 2018.1
Leaves
49
Academic Work 2017.12
Other works Personal Work
54
-01One Floor Library
Individual Project 2018.4 Instructor: David Emmons
This project asked sdutents to a public library at Westloop in Chicago. It does not mean to be a library with only paper book collection, but an urban center that includes diverse media types (Internet, ExhibitiWon, Lecture, etc) to become a "Mediatheque", which means to incorporate all these different institutions together and bring the citizens a fully integrated information system. From my perspective, although a mediatheque should be a mixture of different media types, the paper book collection should still be the main part. Especially at such an age when the electronic medias seems to be dominant, I do believe there is necessity to recall the importance of paper book reading. A new spacial order different from the traditional library is needed to build a holistic infomation system. In my design, I questioned the usefulness of dom-ino house, an archtype of most of the modern architecture, and tried to find a new diagram for this particular project.
I 290
I 90
Middle-rise Apartment+Shops
Bar/Restaurant+house
High-rise Apartment+Market
Town-House
Buildings in Westloop are mostly residential apartments combined with small programs like restaurants, bars, supermarkets, etc. With such a high density of residential building, the lack of urban public space turns out to be a problem.
"A road of book"
The traditional space defines by fIat fIoors is not very efficient for a cooperative network, because the fIat, stacked fIoors actually block the cooperation between different programs. Here, I imagine the library like a small city. The other different medias are the "houses", and the paper book is the "road" that connects them. By doing this I create a continous public boulevard that connects all types of medias together and form a holistic system, and people can reach aWny program just by walking through the "road of book". Besides that, this new diagram also has its symbolic meaning. Here, the paper book is the fundamental element that connects all the medias together. At the moment when the eletronic medias seems to be dominant, I believe it is necessary to recall the importance of paper book reading.
"Books are the ladders of human progress."
"One" Floor Plan
This diagram shows the simple organization of the "one fIoor". It is Thisconsisted diagram shows the simple organization of the "one fIoor". It is consisted of of reservation, magazine, children reading and general reservation, magazine, children reading and general collection, plugged in with collection, plugged in with different types of medias. The programs different medias. Thepublic programs are noisy arranged whichtypes areofnoisy and arewhich arranged at and thepublic lowerare fIoors, while at the lower fIoors, while the programs which are quiet and private are arranged the programs which are quiet and private are arranged at the higher at the higher fIoors. fIoors.
S Morgan St.
W Madison St.
Another important issue in this project is that the site is located at a corner and facing a crossroad. It is necessary for the building to showcase its welcoming guesture and attract people not only from the community, but also from the downtown Chicago. The main entrance was set at the corner at which the sharp angle was cut. The W Madison St., one the main streets that connects downtown Chicago and the Westloop, decides the important position for the south facade. The book strip was manipulated to create a welcoming opening at the main entrance and form a dynamic flow that is clearly reflected on the south facade, from which people can easily understand the spatial organization.
-02Meme Museum
Individual Project 2018.9 Instructor: N.A
Shenzhen is one of the fastest developing cities in China. Thanks to the policy of opening up and economic reform, it tooks only 30 years for this young city to grow from a small fish village to a metropolis known for "technological innovation", and now it is ranked as the third city in hina, only behind Beijing and Shanghai. Although such a fast pace seems to be admirable, it actually brings a lot of aftereffects to people's life. In the times of infomation explosion, the young generation, who are energetic and willing to absorb new technology, can easily catch up the tides of time, while the elder generation can hardly understand the new technology and pop culture. Such a cognitive divergence actually brings huge difference of lifestyle between the young and the old. Particularly in Shenzhen, this problem is amplified due to the overspeed urbanization and technological development. This project will examine what kind of role architecture is playing in this current condition in Shenzhen and if it could be a possible tool to solve it.
over 45,000,000 40,000,000-30,000,000 30,000,000-20,000,000 20,000,000-10,000,000 less than 10,000,000
GDP of districts in Shenzhen
Coastal City Shopping M
High-Tech Company clus
Shenzhen University
Universide Statium
400m Skyscraper
Shenzhen Bay Park One Shenzhen bay Apartment
Coastal City shopping mall and Shenzhen Bay park are two of the most popular destinations for citizens to spend their leisure time in Houhai, the most prosperous district in this city. However, people active on these two sites are TOTALLY different. The Coastal City is full of the younger generation, such as college students and officers. A major reason from them(also for me) to go to the shopping mall is that it provides free wifi and air-conditioner. One can find young people gathering around and focusing on their electronic devices everywhere in Coastal City. On the other hand, at the Shenzhen Bay Park one can almost only find the elder generation, like middle-age parents with kids and seniors, having picnic or doing exercise.
Mall
ster
Young
V.S
Old
A divergence of lifestyle
In this particular scenario, I found tha divergence...it defines spaces by function inter On the contrary, could we solve th
t architecture actually encourages such that would capture people with different rests. his problem through architecture?
The answer is yes, but architecture alone can not solve this problem. The divergence of lifestyle is caused by the conflict of cognition. While the young is largely relying on the Infomation Technology, the old prefers a natural lifestyle and communication not based on Internet. Only by fusing the disagreement of cognition can we solve this problem. Here I chose Meme as a topic. Meme is a media used to chat on the Internet, but it is usually very abstract and can only be understood by the young people that are farmiliar with Internet Culture. So, instead of Meme, the old people prefer its predecessor: emoji and emoticon, because their meanings are much simpler.
Jacky Cheung
By displaying the development of Meme chronologically (emoticon, emoji, then meme). The museum provides the young and old a chance to fuse their cognitive conflict. The old will know better about the popular Internet culture, and the young will understand the value of simple and natural life that not based on the Internet and technology.
Hong Kong singer, actor His famous scene in the movie 《 As Tears Go By 》 is one of the most popular resources of meme and has become a culture symbol.
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m Me
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Ne ji o m
E le p m
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c oti
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Besides the main galler y displaying the pop culture, the museum includes programs of different activities for the young and old. For example, Internet Bar is specially for the young, and Senior Acticity Center is specially for the old. These activities are "exhibited" as a part of the collection which lively represents the different lifestyle for the young and old caused by the cognitive conflict.
Lobby
Brand Stores
Gallery 1
Internet Bar
Library
Gallery 2
Second Floor Plan
Library
Internet Bar
Senior Activity Center
Gallery 3
Third Floor Plan
Internet Bar
Library
Restaurant
Bar
Senior Activity Center (Exterior terrace)
Forth Floor Plan
Internet Bar
Lobb
Gallery 3: Emoticon
Gallery 2 : Emoji
by
Gallery 1: Meme
Bar Brand Store Vegetable Market
Restaurant
The meme museum is an idealistic project totally based on my personal interest. To me, architects are the people who solve problems. A question I am always interested in is that to what extent can architecture solve problems? Can architecture even change our society? Maybe the social problem in this case could be improved by this project, but it is not done by architecture alone. Also, there is little possibility for such a megastructure to be built in the real world. In conclusion, I might still have to say: architecture is not capable of everything.
-03Sandwich
Group Project Collaborator: Qingyuan Zhou, David Perrine Instructor: Alejandro Lapunzina, Nuria Sabate
Gracia is one of the smallest districts of the city of Barcelona. It is composed of cozy and intimated historical buildings, most of which are no more than six floors, with close-packed streets between them. In such a tiny urban scale, this project is asking us to design a six-floor residential building for the people living here, who are mainly artists and craftmans, and provide them with living units consists of living space and working space. In our design, we were inspired by the living and working pattern in old Gracia and tried to apply that in our designing strategy.
This project was asking us to design a residential building in a dense urban context with a long history. The old Gracia was owned by landowner who would sell their land to farmers. The land would be devided evenly by the landowners and the layout of the plan has a consistency. From the old plan of Gracia, it can be clear seen that the house and farmland were arranged as a unity. The front part facing the street were all the houses where the people lived, and the back part were all the farmlands where the people worked. There fore, people in such small community were living and working together as a unity. We were impressed by this co-working and co-living pattern and wanted to apply it in or design. We took the layer of working and living in the old plan of Gracia, fIip it and made it as our vertical layout. The six-fIoor building is divided into three co-living fIoor and two co-working fIoor, and each unit has two fIoors connected by private staircases. By doing this we can maximize the use of space and MED system, and encourage the residents to form a united community.
Study Model
FARMLAND
HOUSE FLIP!
PLUG IN UNITS
Concept Diagram: Co-working+Co-living
Massing Diagram
Working Public
V. S
Living Private
The co-living fIoor and co-working fIoor can be clearly discerned from the plan. While the space of living fIoor is mostly devoted to private living units, the space of working fIoor is very open and directly touches the nature. Such a co-living and co-working pattern would not only maximize the usage of private space and public space, but also encourage people to get along with each other and form a cohesive community.
Living space: private
Wokring spcae: public
Section A
Section B
Detailed Living Floor Plan A modulus grid is generated. 1m for the belcony, 3m for the bed room, and 2m for the kitchen and bathroom. An expression of collectivity and equality brought by the order. With two grid systems the problem of the sharp angle of the site could be solved and the courtyard could be opened to gain more natural light.
Axonometric Detail Drawing The building is designed to be steel structure painted in white to absorb heat during the hot summer in Barcelona. Besides that, a double skin facade is also used to block the heat. The outside layer is made of cables that can be operated by users, and the inside layer is glass window.
-04Fragment
Individual Project 2018.1 Instructor: David Emmons
Champaign is a very typical medium American city. Due to the lack of supporting industry, the urban development is slowing down and the downtown area is losing its energy. A huge amount of historical buildings were demolished and turned into parking lots to attract people back to downtown area, but such barren effort only made the urban fabric even more fragmentary. A i m i n g t o d e s i g n a s m a l l b o o k s t o re f o r t h e l o c a l community and to recall the vitality, this project started with a series of analysis includes collage of photography around the site. From the photography and observation, I can strongly detect a sense of nostalgic due to its historical context and stagnant urban development, and i wanted to show these f irst impression in my design. The site is a extremely long and narrow area facing a crossroad. With such a limitation to the form of building, its facade becomes the most important part to assert its identity as a c o m m u n i t y c e n t e r a n d b r i n g p e o p l e t o g e t h e r. To showcase the facade as its main attraction, I deconstructed the normal facade and composed it in a very artistic way to represent my impression. Panels, glass, walls and even tubes are arranged into an abstract composition that represents the fragmental urban context and sense of nostalgic.
Children Reading
Discussion Room
Cafe
To showcase the facade as its main attraction, I decon artistic way to represent my impression. Panels, glass composition that represents the fragment
nstructed the normal facade and composed it in a very s, walls and even tubes are arranged into an abstract tal urban context and sense of nostalgic.
-05Leaves
Individual Project 2017.12 Instructor: Andrew Weiss
The Arboretum of the University of Illinois is a beautiful public park with picturesque landscape. In this project we were asked to choose a site location within the Aboretum and design an Interpretive Center mainly used for exhibition. The park has an artificial pond at the center with a loop of pathway surrounded it. I choosed to place my building on a small island pointing to a nice view with further landscape and create a new axis for the visitors to reach the building.
The plan on the left shows the layout. The building is consisted of two "leaves", one for the served space(exhibition) and another for the servant space(restroom, office, etc). The building has two axis.The main axis leads the visitors to the exhibition space surrounded by great scenery, and the secondary axis will lead them to the exit connected by a bridge that already existed before.
The building occupies the central spot of the park with a humble but elegant guesture. Its dynamic form, inspired by the nature, perfectly fits into the picturesque landscape, and it is partially underground in order not to disturb the original view for people walking around the pond.
Other Works 2015-2018
"Climb Up"-2016.12
"Looking Out"-2017.3
"Champaign Farmer's Market"-2017.4
Teaching Building-College of Chemistry-2017.4
Haiyangwang Office Building-2018.7
"Between the gap"-2018.4
"Two Choices"-2017.10
"AMS"-2018.4
Jiajun Li Work Sample 2015-2018