PORTFOLIO
ACADEMIC WORK | SOLO PROJECTS
ACADEMIC EDGE | HEREFORD COLLEGE, UVA
This project is a meeting place of three organizational systems: the Lawn grid, topographical lines, and connections bridging Hereford College to and from Piedmont Faculty Housing. It attempts to create a place through the notion of the intersection or seam as a paradoxical condition. This proposition is about creating connections and place, both at a small detail-scale and a much larger world. Although small, the details as a system could become surprisingly important in impacting how an architectural element is constructed, which could influence human behavior within a space, which then impacts the activities outside of the space, and so on. As French theoreticians of the architecture parlante suggested, architectural details are analogous to "words composing a sentence."
DEVIATED PATHS | NEW ORLEANS, LA
This design explores the idea of deviated paths by providing a flux of physical and experiential paths through the project. The site is situated longitudinally along the Mississippi River and is directly adjacent to the flood wall. This allows the structures to mediate between the rigid fabric of the city and the dynamic energies of the river. The formal strategy responds to deviations from the main path of Chartres Street and also the filtration of the flowing movement in, through, and around the site. These paths of movement are comprised of a series of compressions and expansions, allowing for dialectic between movement and moments of stasis. Primary circulation paths flow across the site on the ground level while vertical connections occur at the overlaps between the lower and upper units. These paths are punctuated by multiheight spaces and atriums for interaction while secondary circulation for the upper elements occurs at the occupiable roofs of the lower elements. In elevation, the levels are derived from elevating the earth’s stratification. The resulting volumes become irregular boxes that begin to disassemble and elongate, shifting as one moves through the site. Vertical boundaries ranging from the diaphanous to opaque begin to slip and multiply from its originally singular existence to create moments of pause and deviation.
DISPLACED CONTINUITIES | NEW ORLEANS, LA
The project explores the notion of displaced continuities by elevating the inhabitants and then visually connecting them to their surroundings. The use of the promenade and emphasis on accessible verticality allows the public to engage the structure before arriving at the information counter. Visitors could then proceed to the top of the structure for elevated views of the city while the artist in residence retires to his/her dwelling via the same path. The tower sits adjacent to the intersection of 2 axes linking sites of historical and cultural significance: Jackson Square and the Jazz Museum in Louis Armstrong Park. Ramps suggest and direct movement from the tower to either the center of Congo Square or the Entry of the park on Rampart Street & St. Peters Street. The form originates with a sliver of displaced ground, or the concrete core, which also anchors the orthogonal structural grid. Through an additive process, a light box emerges and floats next to the core while 2 translucent elements envelope the life of the tower; the studio inhabited by the artist and the space above by the public. The structural skeleton and overall form evolves from an orthogonal structure to one that is pulled apart, twisted and transformed to evoke dynamic tension. Strategies for operating off the grid include elevated water collection tanks, solar collection on the southern sides of the structure, and wind turbines for energy conversion in the breezeway between the core and the curved shading device. Passive cooling techniques will also be used for the elevated studio loft.
CURRY SCHOOL + CULINARY INSTITUTE | UVA
The project's intention is to use the idea of the experiential promenade to provide the user with a range of paths to traverse through and within the campus. It also stitches , both in plan and elevation, two disparate sides adjacent to the linear site; the more urban (Curry School of Education) with the wild (the Dell). A series of light-filled structures are then strung together with a network of paths anchored longitudinally by complementary gathering spaces, one elevated into the tree canopy and the other sunken into the ground.
EMERGENT CITY | ROCHESTER, NY
Transportation infrastructures of declining postindustrial cities, such as Rochester, have the potential to inform and create emergent systems for urban regeneration. The study will comprise of three components: transportation connectivity, their intersections and their influence on larger urban patterns. This project will explore a new idea of a city by using the idea of emergence to explain and help engage processes that are more self-generating for Rochester. This restructuring is especially critical at a time of environmental and economic downturn, where more traditional means of top-down master-planning are no longer viable for the current state of decline. The use of parametric technology will illustrate and visualize the dynamic nature of changing urban patterns as well as the fluid and connective qualities of urban interactions among various transit networks. The potential of such methods to reveal unforeseen opportunities and iterative patterns is crucial to setting up the structure of this project’s investigations at the urban level. Since the turn of the 20th century, Rochester has undergone drastic shifts of transit infrastructural systems. The study of its transit connectivity and their intersections will be anchored by the city’s old Erie Canal bed and now abandoned subway tunnel. The proposition will consist of re-purposing the tunnel as a distribution spine that intersects with alternate transit networks. Interventions at these intersections would encourage a more fluid sense of mobility from one network to another, and also bring opportunities for gathering. Collectively, the intersections would provide a catalytic framework for a new civic life to Rochester’s downtown.
More information: http://www.wix.com/jeemer/emergent-city
These series of photographs and sketches were done during my travels in Turkey, Israel and Jordan.
PHOTOGRAPHY + SKETCHES
ACADEMIC WORK | COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
CLIMATIC FABRICS | IMAGINED + UVA
On an earth laid barren by the scorching sun, people wander in packs searching for water and food. Their need for shelter has changed. They can no longer rely on the thick walls of conventional buildings. A solution is found in an age-old technique for extending agricultural growing seasons. Shade fabrics are developed into portable modules that are assembled to variably mediate exposure to the elements. The modules have a reflective side that deflects radiation on hot days and captures it on frigid nights. They aggregate and snake across formerly abandoned roofscapes, and create temporary encampments in harsh expanses. This was a collaborative project by Jie Huang, Kurt Marsh, + Erin Root.
ALTERED GROUND | UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
This residential college project explores the notion of high density on the edge of University of Virginia's campus. It focuses on the dynamic experience of movement and the social interactions this promotes. It engages hydrologic systems to connect residents to larger processes and cycles that are in constant flux. This group project used the shaping of the ground to support the exploration of these interests to challenge conventional ways of building on a site. This was a collaborative project by Jie Huang + Aja BullaRichards.
JIE HUANG + KURT MARSH DIGITAL FABRICATION
This was a collaborative project by Jie Huang + Kurt Marsh.
JIE HUANG + KURT MARSH DIGITAL FABRICATION
JIE HUANG + KURT MARSH DIGITAL FABRICATION
OBSCURED PERCEPTIONS | UVA SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
This investigation began with a desire to use the parametric modeling program, Grasshopper, to create a gradated three-dimensional surface that might lend itself to fabrication using the school’s CNC Router. The Grasshopper software allowed us to develop a consistent geometric logic that could then be disrupted with an adjustable curve of influence to produce multiple iterations of the surface. Various methods of screening were then tested in attempts to create an effect that would change the viewer’s perception of the surface as they moved around it. This shifting perception is created by partially obscuring the surface and using light and shadow to enhance the irregular depths of the contours. The parallel striations were developed as a geometry that could create the desired effect while providing a simple means of joinery through splicing. These long contoured cuts were also relatively fast and easy for the CNC router to perform. Furthermore, it was important that these spliced joints be operable to produce the corrugated assembly method that allowed for stable vertical stacking. This also makes the installation adaptable to any number of locations or uses.
STRIATED PASSAGE | UVA SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
The project explored the potential for an architectural intervention to heighten multiple sensations. We are interested in transforming Campbell Hall's second floor gallery space into a gradient spatial experience, one that takes the viewer from the feeling of enclosure we experienced in the Campbell Hall basement, to the feeling of emerging openness felt as one climbs the abandoned weather station. The installation was constructed mainly from rope, marine shrink wrap, and cable ties. This was a collaborative project by Jie Huang + Kurt Marsh.
PROFESSIONAL WORK
NEBULA | ANTON'S SALON + SPA | PEWAUKEE, WI
The plan materializes while one travels through the space, juxtaposing variations of scale, luminosity and susuality. The 10,000 SF salon and spa create two separate, but complementary areas. I played a major role in this project as the lead designer, and was involved from programming to construction administration. The project was completed in 2007.
RESTAURANT | MCCORMICK PLACE | CHICAGO, IL
This 5,000 SF restaurant is situated on level two and overlooks the west and central concourses at the newest addition of McCormick Place Convention Center. It seats 360 people and has 2 private dining rooms. Like the food court, I was also the lead designer for this restaurant and was involved extensively in all phases of design. This project was completed in 2007.
FOOD COURT | MCCORMICK PLACE | CHICAGO, IL
This 20,000 SF food court is situated in the middle of a 250,000 SF of raw exhibition space in the newest addition of McCormick Place Convention Center. It seats 660 people and is divisible by two when the exhibition hall is divided into two separate halls. As the lead designer for this food court, I had a key role in all phases of its design, ranging from conceptual development to construction documents. This project was completed in 2007.
jie huang 3701 connecticut ave, nw, #816 washington, dc 20008 e | jiehuang01@gmail.com c | 703.332.8073 w | http://www.wix.com/jeemer/jh-lab