Through my design experiences, I have always been trying to demystify, logicalize and rationalize the fundemental elements of architecture such as light, sound, geometrical patterns, spatial orientation and structure, etc. Using parametric, computational and algorithmic design methods, I put my design works in different frameworks in which the parameters and outcomes of the system should match the system's inherent logic. But this is not to say that these are fully autonomous systems, instead, as we designers set the frame and rules, the system only reflect our design will and help us find more surprising or more logical outcomes through repetition, recursion and evolution, etc.
Zixiao Ji Phone: 646-671-3694 Email: zj2189@columbia.edu Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/zixiao-ji-886a94103 Website: www.zixiaoji.com
Contents
Housing Depot
1
The Scanwich
49
Green Incubator
67
Folding Agora
95
Mutation of Modern Residential
103
Urban Oasis
111
Happy Surprise
117
Housing Depot Factory design in Tuscon Building area : 404500 m2 2016.2 - 2016.5 Instructor: Benjamin Aranda This project aims for inventing a new mode of manufacturing prefabricated house and a new kind of shopping experience. The factory is like a IKEA for housing where the prefab houses are manufactured and displayed, and costumers drive through the factory to explore the space and find their favourite house. The continuous and curvilinear perception of the topology and space make the driving experience spatially rich and unique.
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There has been a long history of prefabricated house, which argues that houses could be manufactured and assembled in a factory like cars, which would be more efficient in terms of time and cost. And with technology like 3D printing, the efficiency could be improved dramatically. But this does not mean massive standardization, in fact with the latest 3D printing technology, any kind of form and structure could be produced in a timely manner.
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So what the project tried to achieve is a factory that manufacture prefab houses with a high level of customization and in the same time let customers explore the area. With technology like Internet of Things (IOT) and RFID tags, the level of customization could be achieved from design stage to fabrication stage with customers involving in the process. Most importantly, customers can drive through the factory, checking out other designer houses while enjoying the view.
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The prefab houses are displayed on different simulated subdivision situations once the manufacture is done, which would give customers a sense of how the houses would be felt like once they are shipped on site. All the different subdivision situations and the curvilinear roads add different level to the driving percption.
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To achieve the factory system, three elements are needed geometrically: the circulation, which is essentially curves, the house display area, which is essentially surfaces and the manufacturing space which is essentially volumes.
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The spiral manufacturing space contains two driving circulations for customers: one is interior driving circulation, where the 3D printing manufacturing process could be seen, and the other is exterior driving circulation, where the view of landscape could be appreciated. The first one is also the circulation for moving the prefab house by trucks.
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Once the house is produced, it would be shipped to the display area and being displayed on the concrete lots above the manufacturing space through the interior circulation and roads on the display area. Customers could drive to the display area through either the exterior or interior circulation and then drive around.
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In the other spiral manufacturing space in the same level, there is only interior driving circulation.
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Again, customers could drive to the display area, drive around or drive out of the area to another display area through different circulation system.
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Inside each manufacturing space there is cranes for 3D printer and concrete lots for prefab house being printed on.
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On second level, there is another series of manufacturing spaces which have both interior and exterior circulations.
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There is another display area on the top.
Manufacturing space
Display area
Display area
Display area and concrete lot
Landscape
Interconnected road
Side beams supporting the display areas
Trusses supporting the manufacturing spaces
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Columns supporting the beams and trusses
Beams beams supporting the roads and display areas
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Site plan
Ground level Plan
Second level Plan
The Scanwich Office design in New York Building area : 3600 m2 2015.6 - 2015.8 Instructor: Phu Hoang The project combines the programs of hotel and co-working office, using sound and furniture to reorganize the relationship between served and servant space. The hotel rooms and meeting rooms are seen as the servant of public space including co-working spaces, restaurants and bars. In a public space without walls, sound and furniture form the space and program.
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We experience sound everyday. I sort all the sounds into two categories, surroundingsounds and nearby sounds. I found that different conditions of sound can have effect on how we perceive a space, for example if the nearby sounds is stronger than surrounding sounds, than the space would likely to be compressed subjectively for the observer.
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Space being compressed subjectively Nearby sound dominating
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Space being extended subjectively Surrounding sound dominating
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In combining the program of working space and hotel vertically, we try to offer two ways of working: working in big and open workspace with co-workers or working individually in single rooms. But instead of seperating them in different floors, we place the single rooms along with the truss structure holding the open workspace without walls, thus forming communities of working environment. In this case, the single rooms, which can also serve as meeting rooms or other functions, perform as the servant space of the open workspace.
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The folded surfaces of ceiling comes from the idea of Origami. Based on the simulation in software environment, we found that the less sloped surfaces in less dense area of the ceiling tend to reflect sound which in turn amplify it, while it is the other way around in the dense area of the ceiling. This can be used to define different space atmosphere hence different programs in the open workspaces.. The spatial frame structure, furniture and interior landscaple all follow the same spatial pattern as the acoustical ceiling.
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Green Incubator Community center design in New York Building area : 7800 ㎡ 2015.9 - 2015.12 Instructor: Gordon Kipping The design proposal focuses on integrating sustainable strategies on facade and whole building scale, and creating open space for local residences and outsiders to learn, communicate and start their own business.
There is no energy crisis, only a crisis of ignorance. -- Buckminster Fuller

To generate the form that has as more sloped surfaces facing the sun as possible, sunrays poured on the building throughout a year are generated. The sloped surfaces perpendicular to the average sunrays would provide more direct solar heat gain and more solar energy absorption which would reduce heating energy input. The image above shows the sunrays generated on south facade.
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The sunrays are then projected on a flat surface perpendicular to the south facade. This is for getting the average sunrays through a year.

The surfaces are shaped based on the average sunrays.

Again sunrays on west facade are generated.

Sunrays are projected on a flat surface perpendicular to the west facade.
While generating sloped surfaces, I intend to keep the footprint intact.

For ventilation system, the south faç ade and roof air cavity is warmed by the sun thus forming the stack flow effect which drag the cool air coming from north air cavity all the way up to flow outside the building.
For heating and cooling system, with the technology of geothermal, the radiant pipes run through each concrete floor plates creating heat convection with interior space. In winter, warm water flow through the heat pump exchanging the heat to the cold water coming from the building, and the water goes up again heating the interior spaces.

The external louvers are covered with PV cells or reflective aluminum while the internal louvers are covered with phase-change thermal storage material.

Winter
To perform different functions, the louvers vary in angles. The angles of the louvers are designed to block more sunrays, which goes to PV cell and thermal storage material absorption in summer and let more penetrate which create direct solar energy gain in winter.
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Summer
Louvers performing different function are evenly distributed on the facade so that the facade can perform multiple functions simoutaneously.
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Folding Agora Library design in Beijing Building area : 4350 ㎡ 2012.9 - 2013.1 Instructor: Zhao Zhifeng The site is located in Panjiayuan, Beijing, China. This area is well-known for its antique market and may old residential communities. The design of the library hopes to provide an open public space for people around the communities and a natural, energy-saving space for them to enjoy reading.
Ground Floor Plan
2nd Floor Plan
3rd Floor Plan
4th Floor Plan
Mutation of Modern Residential Residential design in Beijing Building area : 3300 ㎡ 2014.3 - 2014.7 Instructor: Liu Gang As the city grows more and more dense vertically, people living in it are gradually getting alienated. Adding more public space to the high rise residential building, I hope to address the problem in an architectural way.
Urban Oasis Hotel design in Beijing Building area : 28340 ㎡ 2013.9 - 2014.1 Instructor: Fu Yuefeng The site is located in WangFuJing street, Beijing, China, which is famous for the big shopping malls and a church surrounding the area. The area is a mixture of cultural and visual signs and building functions, so the primary goal of our design is to blend in the environment and purify the interior space.
Facility Area
Garden
Core
Entertainment
Hotel Room
Logistics
Meeting Room,
Restaurant
Tea Room
Hall
Inner skin of glass
Plant
Outer skin of glass Plastic mesh
Happy Surprise The graphical vibrance of the work are results of codes that simulate sophisticated patterns that originate from simple initial conditions and rules. Building upon the algorithm of Celluar Automata, the codes have evolved to become self-regulating, emulating conditions similar to that of biological processes.
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