2011 M.Arch I Application Portfolio
Musical sound acts directly on the soul and finds an echo there because, though to varying extents, music is innate in man. --Wassily Kandinsky
Jing Han Tel : +86 13901151896 Email: jing.vivienne.han@gmail.com Add: 6-2-1902 Dongsihuan Beilu 88 Chaoyang, Beijing 100025 China
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The following contents include my school, professional and independent works. Illustrated with original music compositions.
JING HAN // SCHOOL WORK // UPENN
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ROTATING EXHIBIT
Studio: ARCH 402 | Date: 2010 Spring | Location: 355 Fairmount Ave., Philadelphia Project Duration: 8 Weeks | Team: Jing Han, Katherine Dailey and Vy Dinh This project experiments with mechanics that can be applied to architecture as both an innovative technology and a metaphor. We created a hybrid mechanism after studying the mechanic principals of three daily objects--scissors, candy wrapper and mechanic pen. Towards the given site, a vacant lot in Northern Philadelphia, I applied our hybrid mechanism to the design of a moving art gallery, relating it symbolically to the essential movement of the hybrid, which unfolds and collapses into one plane. The gallery is envisioned to enliven the neighborhood cultural life, as the wall panels shaping different configurations of the interior space for various exhibitional purposes. The Fibonnaci sequence regulates the proportion of the wall panels for both aesthetic and functional reasons. It balances with the uncertainty of configurations, as well as ensuring the order of folding/unfolding.
JING HAN // SCHOOL WORK // UPENN
Plan Configurations
A STUDY OF CHOPIN --The Unfolding of a Theme The music sketch describes how a melodic theme gradually unfolds in time, experiencing its culmination of drama and release of momentum. This idea finds its counterpart in architecture, described by Aldo Rossi as "the instrument which permits the unfolding of a thing."
JING HAN // SCHOOL WORK // UPENN
YEARNING FOR HOMELAND (ex.) --Moment of Resolution This excerpt of my composition portrays a moment of stress release, with all the individual parts come into concordant motion after a period of chaos, dissonance and a tough search for self identity. Designing landscape to me is similar in this way, seeing that it is a good balance of wishes.
Eastern State Penitentiary Enclosed, Centralized Plan
Natural Pool Park Centrifugal Plan that Reaches out for the Surrounding Community
Cafes and Restaurants Local Residents
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Tourists
NATURAL POOL COMPLEX
Studio: ARCH 401 | Date: 2009 Fall | Location: 355 Fairmount Ave., Philadelphia | Project Duration: 12 Weeks The design task of this project is to create a swimming complex (three various sized pools, along with a pool house) next to the Eastern State Penitentirary, the major tourist attraction of the locale. It is to be equipped with a natural filtering system, a series of eco-regeneration zones that spread around the pools. Therefore I see the opportunity of turning the purposefully ecological landscape into a community park that welcomes all types of visitors that occupy the site. I took the paths of swimmers, tourists and general local residents as different thematic materials, giving them each a textural character and interweaving them organically like compoposing a piece of music, with one form imitating, rubbing against and breaking into another. Harmony is met where the beautiful scenery is shared visually by all visitors alike while they might have entirely different physical access to the space.
JING HAN // SCHOOL WORK // UPENN
JING HAN // SCHOOL WORK // UPENN
POOL HOUSE
--Water Reflection
With the building being the threshold of the cascades, water, following a cursive path, flows from the rooftop and continues its running through the regeneration ponds. Its formal inspiration comes from the free flowing melodic lines of Chinese music. The old Chinese aesthetics fascinates me in that it emphasizes the organic aspect of living, which seeks for tuning with the harmony of nature. The musical phrase on the left is my reinvention of a Chinese melody that delineates the scenary of a swan wakening the pond with a gentle tap. The musical sound mimics the reflected sound and light. Borrowing from its form and metaphor, I assimilated the artistic conception of this music into my design for the roof.
Water Roof (Cascade Threshold) Regeneration Zones
JING HAN // SCHOOL WORK // UPENN
Entrance
Rooftop Garden
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CERAMIC STUDIO
Studio: ARCH 302 | Date: 2009 Spring | Location: Philadelphia | Project Duration: 12 Weeks The object of this project is to design an annex to the existing house of a ceramic artist as his working studio. The overall form symbolizes the whirling motion of ceramic making. A journey through the space starts from the descending steps that carve into the earth; as people move along inside the studio, they ascend through a rotational path until they reach the top level. The sculpturing of glass volume symbolizes the void, the poetic outcome of wheeling. The wall on the right side of the entrance is perforated for creating an exhibitional space that allow a preliminary view of products made at different stages. Green areas taken away from the existing garden are retrieved on the rooftop, which is connected to the living room of the artist's house.
WALTZ No. 4
-- the Art of Rotation Composed for piano, the music is based on four chords that are played cyclically on the left hand. Melody comes in after the chordal exposition, building renewing themes on top of the ostinato at each turn.
Exhibitional Space
JING HAN // SCHOOL WORK // UPENN
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HABIT SPACE
Studio: ARCH 301 | Date: 2008 Fall | Location: Philadelphia | Project Duration: 8 Weeks This project accomodates one of the daily habits, which, for me, is the obsession of rock kicking. I designed this playful space that transforms this trivial moment of life into a musical wonder. The floor is made of steel plates of various calculated lengths to enable different musical pitches while encountering the rock. The wall, as well as the ceiling, creates a mental shelter that not only allows for a moment of concentration on this event, but also collects the resonance of the music created by the flipping rock. The aluminum cylinders, in the guise of handrails, are in fact resonant pipes.
JING HAN // SCHOOL WORK // UPENN
SCALE 3
SCALE 1
SCALE 2
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MEASUREMENT
Studio: ARCH 201 | Date: 2007 Fall | Location: Charles Addams Hall, Philadelphia | Project Duration: 12 weeks These drawings are compositions of my study of Charles Addams Hall, recording its past, present and future. Similar to the synthetic effect of polyphonic music, elements that vary in scale and narratives are juxtaposed in display. The one on the left shows the interior space of the art gallery, proposing for an inplementation of pivoting walls that alter flexibly the exhibition/lounge space. The drawing below narrates the dialogue between the ephemeral and constant existence, recording the temporary construction structures outside the gallery along with the permanent building.
A DIALOGUE BETWEEN CELLO AND CLARINET --Imitation of Form and Motion This duet between Clarinet and Cello, displayed in concert pitch, breaks the tradition of composing with an acoustic sense. It instead gives musical notes a graphic form that can be perceived in synesthetic experience. Even though the themes sound abstract to the ear, the dialogue between the two instruments can be clearly identified, owing to the imitation of timbre between instruments and the shared melodic shapes(as highlighted in color).
JING HAN// SCHOOL WORK // UPENN
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FABRICATION
Studio: ARCH 202 | Date: 2008 Spring | Duration: 8 Weeks The design task is to fabricate an object that can : 1. be mounted on the body, 2. record a motion with an incremental device, 3. tell a passage of time and 4. contain a secret. A quasi-pedometer becomes one of the solutions, drawing from the simple motion of lining up the feet for distance estimation. An orchestration of materials, the object makes calibration of our understanding towards surrounding landscape, through the facility of body. The measuring mechanism transforms that of the old-fashioned cassette into a meter that provides a precise distance reading.
Cast of Left Foot
Oakwood, Acrylic, Aluminum, Nylon Body-sized
JING HAN // PROFESSIONAL WORK // OMA
Graphic Design
Facade Design
Massing Studies
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MAHANAKHON TOWER
Date: 2008 Summer | Location: Bangkok, Thailand | Internship Duration: 12 weeks | Office: OMA, Beijing During my internship at OMA, I helped with visual presentation, communication between the office and clients and making study models. MahaNakhon Tower is conceptualized as the future urban monolith in the city of Bangkok, being carved and pixelated into the surrounding community. Therefore my proposals for the facade design present a contrast in material expression, with the exterior facade being like a shell, or an enclosure, while the interior being crystal and transluscent. The graphic designs draw a playful parody of the movie 2001 Space Odyssey to advertise the monumentality of the tower, in both visual and symbolic ways.
Graphic Design
DISJUNCTIVE EXISTENCE -- a Contemplation of Urban Life This piano piece, inspired by the stylistic expressions of Debussy, creates a surrealist hearing that describes the loss of coherent being in urban space. Imagery of different visual language are brutally juxtaposed. The pentatonic melody that is simply stated in the opening reoccurs throughout the piece, symbolizing the unstated will for the comfort of assurance.
JING HAN // PROFESSIONAL WORK // MAD
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SEAPORT HOTEL
Date: 2009 Summer | Location: Tianjin, China | Internship Duration: 12 weeks | Office: MAD, Beijing | Team: Jing Han, Fleet Hower and Jtravis Russett During my internship at MAD, I participated in the conceptual design of a 140m tall hotel, drafting plans, sections and programming diagrams. The site, located in the newly burgeoning Binhai Business District, Tianjin, demonstrates a heating competition between architects, with buildings rising up at an unprecedented speed and height, being hardly congruent with each other. In our design we strove to find peace within this stylistic battle, while maintaining a strong visual character--a "view frame" is created that not stands as the landmark by the riverside alone but also brings in the serenity of nature towards the city.
MECHANICAL
PRESIDENT SUITES F&B
NATURE BALLROOM
HOTEL
+39.5
NATURE
LOUNGE POOL & SPA RETAIL ENTERTAINMENT LOBBY
CONFERENCE
PUBLIC SPACE
SERVICE FLOOR
F&B
PARKING
JING HAN // INDEPENDENT WORK //
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NEW RURALISM
Date: Summer 2010 | Location: Shidu, Beijing | Project Duration: 9Weeks | Office: Huajianbiao, Beijing The project serves for the compilation of construction books that are used by rural residents to build/readapt existing ones to energy-saving houses, as part of the government sponsored urbanization project in Shidu, Beijing. Due to its marvelous natural scenary, as well as abundance of historical relics, the place has gradually become one of the most popular holiday resorts for Beijing people. Program changes, therefore, take place in designing local residential houses. The design is an antithesis to the blind, monstrous reproduction of forms, a prevailing method of rural development. Aside from the technological part that experiments with new materials to reduce cost and carbon emission, my uttermost concern was to create an organic complex in harmony with the surrounding site. My design solution assimilated the conception of space exhibited by traditional Beijing houses--the courtyard and the flexibility of plan, combined with an overall modesty in tone--that stay in poise with nature. The design choices are foremost economic but aesthetic all the same. SONG FOR THE DRINKING (ex.) --Painting Musical Landscape Composed for Piano and Voice
Type A (Family Inn + Restaurant)
Single Houses
Type B (Family Inn + Speciality Shop)
Type C (Family Inn + Restaurant)
New Harmony
Flexibility of Plan that Enables Dynamic Interaction
Two Combined
Four Combined
JING HAN // INDEPENDENT WORK //
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JINGTAILAN (Enamel Art)
Date: Summer 2007 | Location: Beijing | Project Duration: 6 week | Office: Beijing Enamel Factory This is an independent work crafted towards the end of my internship at Beijing Enamel Factory. During the internship I helped in multiple phases of production--design drafting, wire shaping, coloring and firing. The design for this roundel is inspired by the line works and colors of Dunhuang mural paintings that demonstrate the culmination of artistic achievements of Tang dynasty.
飞夊 Flying Fairies Copper, Enamel Color 6 x 6 in