Kai Lu - Portfolio

WORKS 2015-2023

Education

University of California, Berkeley

2015 - 2018

Master of Architecture

SCI-Arc

2014

Summer Program, Making & Meaning

Sichuan University, China

2009 - 2013

Bachelor of Science, Biology

Skill

Kai Lu

LEED AP BD+C

(86)13834532375, kevin3913@gmail.com, www.linkedin.com/in/kailu3913

• 6 years of architectural design experience in domestic and international firms.

• Participated in 20+ projects including industrial parks, office towers, urban renewal, high-rise apartments, university teaching buildings, churches, high-end residences, etc.

• Deeply involved in all phases of design from SD, DD to CD, coordinated with consultants

• Create visualization representation using AIGC tools like Stable Diffusion, Controlnet, Animatediff, etc.

• Possess great enthusiasm and talent for design and be recognized.

• Proficient in using various design software; Fluent in English.

Work Experience

Architectural Designer

EID Architects, Shanghai

2021.5 - 2023.11

• Deeply involved in all phases of the design of Zhoupu Medical Industrial Park project.

• Generated concept diagrams, 3D models and renderings, and technical drawings of three buildings with a building area of more than 45,000m².

• Coordinated with LDI, consultants, and material suppliers on construction documentation, shop drawings, and material samples.

• Successfully responded to the urgent design changes caused by the clients’ budget reduction and met the deadline in a timely manner.

• Deeply involved in Shanghai Yuqingli urban renewal project.

• Interpreted zoning requirements and local regulations.

• Generated case studies, concept diagrams, 3D models and renderings, and final documents.

• Participated in 10+ projects including office towers, malls, and high-rise apartments.

Designer SIM Architects, San Francisco

2019.3 - 2021.1

• Participated in new construction and renovation projects at the SD phase and DD phase, including Our Lady of Lavand Church in San Jose, Hyatt Hotel in Fremont, and the teaching building of Northwestern Polytechnical University in Fremont.

• Used Rhino, Enscape, Adobe Suite, CAD, and other software to complete various design tasks and presentation documents.

• Communicated with vendors and consultants to achieve design goals.

Designer (Part-time)

ISO ideas, San Francisco

Language

2020.6 - 2021.4

• Generated Revit models and construction drawings for residences and nursing home projects.

• Participated in multiple competitions, among which the Chongqing Datian Bay Planning Project Competition won the first place.

Junior Designer

Cary Bernstein Architect, San Francisco

2018.6 - 2019.2

• Participated in high-end single-family projects and created architectural representations and technical drawings.

• Used Rhino and Grasshopper to conduct indoor daylight analysis for bidding documents.

• Communicated with authorities to confirm the zoning and planning regulations.

Others

• 1st Prize of Bakewell/Brown & Bakewell/Weihe Prize for the hand-drawings of the historical decorative detail, UC Berkeley.

• Translated and published: Alfred Adler’s “What Life Should Mean to You”, ISBN: 9787516810606; Arthur Schopenhauer’s “The Wisdom of Life”, ISBN: 9787516811023.

2018.4

2013.12

03.

01.

110 Franklin Street

Duration: 2017.9 - 2017.12

Instructor: Roddy Creedon

Location: San Francisco

"Walls make the serenity." - Luis Barragan

Just as Mark Rothko's works used solid color blocks to give a sense of calm, 110 Franklin Street will be a calming building. Located in the heart of San Francisco, California, it is a mixed-used building that contains an urban farm, commercial kitchens, a commercial meeting space, and an urban hall. It displays the entire process of California's local crops from growth to production and sales. While providing fresh agricultural products to surrounding residents, it also provides a place for holding various events.

With 7,700 homeless people, downtown San Francisco has one of the highest crime rates in the US. We hope that this building will be a spiritual refuge that is different from the fragmented, noisy, and restless urban environment. At the same time, as a landmark, it will give people a sense of security and emotional comfort.

We regard the "wall" as the solid color block, and as the main formal language of the architectural facade. We use the thick facade and pure material expression to introduce a sense of order and strength into this area. The "wall" can serve as both a dividing boundary and a calming visual element, contrasting with the chaotic visual environment and complex urban street facades in downtown San Francisco.

From the outside, the massing is simple and clear: the upper part is an urban farm for growing agricultural products, and the light is controlled through the grille, which is translucent; the middle part is kitchens and a multi-functional meeting space, and the exterior facade is made of white concrete panels, which is opaque; and the bottom is the glass urban hall, which is transparent. Two discreet cuts on the facade, one horizontal and one vertical, give it a sculptural quality.

From Siza's public buildings to Yungho Chang's residences, modernism shapes interior spaces that are distinct from the exterior urban environment through solid facades and spatial manipulations. In 110 Franklin, we used the semi-outdoor atrium to create a quiet, stretched, and relatively open interior space, giving users an internal experience that is completely different from the hustle and bustle of the streets, and activating this area, thereby improving their inherent impression of the region.

SITE

The site is only 500m away from the city hall and next to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. On the one hand, this area around the civic center has many public and private art institutions, including the Asian Art Museum. On the other hand, there are nearly 7,700 homeless people in the area, which has the highest rates of crime in San Francisco with a population of 800,000.

CONCEPT

We use the "wall" as the main formal language of the architectural facade. This is more common in residences and is used to define the private and the public. Tadao Ando's Sumiyoshi Longhouse uses extremely simplified walls without any decoration, defining completely different feelings between architectural openness and closure as the boundary between indoors and outdoors. In the design of Casa Luis Barragan, he used plain walls as boundaries to protect against the increasingly tense and unpredictable outside world. Most of Siza's works use a large number of pure white or red walls to shape the facades, giving people a sense of stability and shelter.

- Sumiyoshi Row House, Ando Tadao

Fig 1-6. Skylight And Kitchen

Fig 1-7. Lift Facade For Urban Space, SF Planing Code requirement

Fig 1-9. Insert Iconic Stairs In The Atrium

Fig 1-8. Add Skylight From The Back

Fig 1-10. Rotate Stairs To Create Entrance

Fig 1-1. Sunlight direction; the Urban Farm on the top

Fig 1-2. Courtyard With The Adjacent Building

Fig 1-4. Facade Enclosure

Fig 1-3. Core And Service Programs inserted, taking up the north courtyard

Fig 1-5. Light From Controlled Opening; placing meeting and double-height terrace

In Yungho Chang's vertical glass house, the modernist facade with horizontally transparent and open glasses is rotated 90 degrees to form a vertically transparent and open space with a horizontally closed facade. The floor and roof are transparent and open to the sky and the ground. We borrowed this approach and introduced outdoor light into the interior through various operations such as greenhouses, atriums, skylights, and wall reflections. The light-colored walls and floors strengthened the atmosphere of light and shadow, making every space a unique container of light, which also creates the quiet, stretched and open character of the interior space, giving users an experience that is completely different from the chaos of the streets.

TERRACE AND MEETING

MEETING AND ATRIUM FROM TERRACE

02.

Zhoupu Medical Industrial Park

Duration: 2021.12 - 2023.09

Architects: EID Architecture

Location: Shanghai Area: 231,134.3 m2

Zhoupu Medical Science and Technology Industrial Park is located on the west of Zhoupu Town, Shanghai, surrounded by multiple science and technology parks including Zhangjiang International Medical Park and Caohejing Pujiang Science and Technology Park. Zhangjiang Group hopes to build an industrial cluster on multiple plots, including our plot No. 39-01, together with the pharmaceutical industrial park to the east.

The planned area of all plots in the industrial park is 3.77 square kilometers. The 39-01 plot is the first phase project with a land area of 50,000 square meters, a FAR of 3, and an above-ground construction area of 150,000 square meters. The total project investment is 2 billion, including 100 million on the facade. Different from the high-end international medical parks, this park is positioned for customers with mature technology and medium company output value. It is mainly used as offices and production spaces of biomedical R&D.

The site and adjacent plots are surrounded by rivers, forming an "island". The west side of the plot is the Pumin ecological green belt, and the northwest corner is adjacent to the park. In order to respond to this surrounding ecology and create a comfortable and pleasant working environment, we extend the park's green space in the northwest corner into the center of the plot, and use the central green space as an ecological core to form a good microclimate and create an oasis-like environment.

From northwest to southeast along the green space, the heights of the buildings go from low to high. The volumes of the buildings on the north and south sides are horizontal and vertical respectively, arranged in a staggered manner. The sight lines and the landscapes inside and outside the park can penetrate each other, making the industrial park not a closed block. It becomes an "urban living room" and a "generator of future artistic life" together with the surrounding landscape and public squares. A landscaped pedestrian pathway connecting the north and the south is inserted into the plot to connect the plots on the south and north sides. The road surrounding the green core allows traffic circulation to better reach each building and meets the requirements for fire protection and unloading.

The exterior facade echoes the modernist facade of the International Medical Park to the east, and each building must be identifiable. Besides, the window sizes are restricted due to the budget. The exterior wall system is a window wall system using prefabricated concrete panels with exterior claddings of stone and aluminum panels. Few parts of full-height opening use the curtain walls.

At the same time, to maximize net assignable area, the thickness of the facade is controlled at 350mm. Through the differences in colors, materials, and fine-tuning of shapes, the style of the park is unified and each building has its characteristics.

The positioning of Zhoupu Industrial Park is mainly high-end medical devices and equipment, so it needs clean systems. The clear height of the technical ceiling needs to allow 3 layers of air ducts, about 2.2m to 2.5m high, plus the clear height of the clean area is 2.8m-3.0m. Therefore, the floor height needs to be between 4.8m and 5.2m. The floor-height design must meet the flexibility and practicality of R&D and manufacturing spaces to meet the diverse needs of customers.

Yuqingli Urban Renewal

Duration: 2021.9 - 2021.12

Architects: EID Architecture

Location: Shanghai

Area: 102,308 m2

Yuqingli Urban Renewal Project is located in the center of Shanghai, close to People's Square, with East Huaihai Road as its southern boundary and Yan'an Road as its northern boundary. The site includes East Jinling Road, which is famous for its arcade features, and South Yunnan Road, which is a traditional food street. The blocks like Yuqingli, Jinyifang, and Taiyuanfang were built in 1930, and the very distinctive historical building Deda Western Cuisine was built in 1890. From the international settlement to the modern metropolis, from the Rickshaw to the 3-highrise in Lujiazui, Shanghai has a diverse history, culture, and unique urban memories that should be retained in this renewal.

We recommend the approach that focuses on reconstruction supplemented by preservation. The overall principle is "shopping in the north and living in the south". In the north, Taiyuanfang plot will be planned with multi-functions such as art, commercial, and residence; Yuqingli plot will be transformed into a shopping district, adding sky corridors to enhance the shopping experience. Two residential high-rises will be erected to meet the needs of modern living styles on the south side of East Jinlin Road. In addition, some new iconic public spaces will be implanted at the corners of commercial plots; green areas will be increased in residential plots to improve the living experience. The rich business formats meet the diverse needs of modern urban neighborhood life.

Most of the buildings along the street are 2-3 stories brick structures. The ground floor is for retail, with residences above. The buildings within the plot are traditional Shikumen residences. In view of the original structural conditions, the illegal building additions, and the need to meet the utilization of the new underground space (adding basements and parking spaces), we recommend a conservation approach that focuses on reconstruction supplemented by preservation. The historical building Deda Western Cuisine is retained, and the historical building Jinyifang in the 60# plot is also retained but relocated. On the one hand, the approach meets the residents' needs for safety, comfort and convenience of the living conditions, and on the other hand, it restores and improves the original urban texture.

The types of the original building facade are categorized both into blocks and streets. Each street elevation in each block has its own characteristics. In order to avoid the one-size-fits-all results of many urban renewal projects, we keep and emphasize the original street facade features and protect the continuous street elevations, such as the arcades on East Jinling Road, while respecting the original urban texture.

金陵东路 EAST JINLING ROAD

锦衣坊 JINYI BLOCK

宁海东路 EAST NINGHAI ROAD

太原坊 TAIYUAN BLOCK

德大西菜社 DEDA RESTAURANT

余庆里 YUQINGLI

The principle of this renewal is "shopping in the north and living in the south". The high-valued South Yunnan Road will be increased to 20m high, and the 1st and 2nd floors will still be for retail, while the upper floors will be used as apartments. Buildings within the plot maintain the Shikumen residence. Taiyuanfang, adjacent to Yan'an Road in the north, will be developed into a multi-functional block including art, commercial and residential. Yuqingli will be transformed into a shopping district, adding sky corridors to enhance the shopping experience. Two residential high-rises will be erected to meet the needs of new styles of living on the south side of East Jinlin Road.

Reserved Historical Buildings 保留历史建筑 General Historical Buildings 一般历史建筑

In terms of architectural exterior and form, we restored the facade features of different building groups along the street: retaining the formal features such as dormer windows, balconies, and arcades, as well as the material features of plaster, roughcast, and grey-red bricks. At the same time, we adjust the use of internal space. The facade of the 1st and the 2nd floors along the street follows the concept of opening to the inside of the block, and creating penetration between the inside and the outside.

金陵东路 EAST JINLING ROAD

淮海东路 EAST HUAIHAI ROAD

余庆里南 SOUTH YUQINGLI

余庆里北 NORTH YUQINGLI

04.

Trinity House

Duration: 2015.11-2015.12

Instructor: Andrew Atwood

Location: Philadelphia

The Trinity House is a typical house type in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Based on the requirements of suburban planning, the plot size is limited to 20'x20' (6mx6m), and the height is limited to 44' (13m). It has four floors and each floor has one main program.

At the beginning of the concept design, the brief of the architecture was unrevealed. Students had to focus on the formal and spatial operations they were told to do each week. At first, each student had three sponges, and through cutting/folding/rotating/tying and other actions, new forms with spatial or architectural potential were created.

At the end of the semester, we were informed of the project background, project type and site location. The building was controlled in the 6mx6mx14m (20'x20'x44') box. We needed to explore the possibility of the form existing on the site through various possible approaches, such as deformation and scaling, and the programs should be reasonably arranged.

By directly cutting with the limiting box and reducing unnecessary openings, I could retain the spatial characteristics and geometric features that I found interesting as much as possible.

If the constraints of the site were external forces, the form of resistance to such forces would be extended to the interior of the space, thus directly forming internal space separation.

Without being informed of the background and function, the architectural form was generated through given procedural steps and personal intuitive preferences. The resulting architectural form was free from the constraints of the site and background to the form relatively. It also got beyond the rigid association between form and function, as a personal creative work. Through architectural representation, techniques, formal manipulation, etc., the possibilities of different variations of architectural forms were explored, and a traditional type of building was given new vitality.

During the process, we used the color of a painting by artist Josef Albers to create a color work, and projected it on the physical model to find possible facade forms, as well as possible positions for doors, windows and other architectural elements. The unrolled elevation suggests the cut-out parts of the original form.

Formal Foam

四层，卧室，卫生间，屋顶

4th Floor, Bedroom, Bathroom, Rooftop

三层，餐厅厨房

3rd Floor, Dining, Kitchen

二层，起居室，书房

2nd Floor, Living, Study

一层，门廊，储存，设备

1st Floor, Porch, Storage, Mech

东北侧剖面透视图 Northeast Sectional Perspective

05.

Our Lady of Lavang Church

Duration: 2019.09 - 2020.05

Architects: SIM Architects

Location: San Jose

Area: 18,000 sqf

The San Jose Our Lady of Lavang Church was built in San Jose, California in 1967 and had been serving the local Vietnamese community. Our Lady of Lavang is the Marian incarnation in Vietnam when Christianity was introduced to Southeast Asia. After the 21st century, many white people and new Spanish immigrants also went to worship. The original church was destroyed by fire in 2012. The following year, the 741-family parish raised funds and planned to rebuild. Parishioners are excited about having a new church that looks like the old one but has modern amenities. The church, as a sacred material building and human representation, plays a very important role in the development of sensibility. The purpose of building this new church is not only to establish a spiritual place for believers and laity, but also to create a Vietnamese cultural carrier that conveys the public image of the community and the city of San José.

9号北街

N 9TH STREET

圣帕特里克小学

ST. PATRICKS SCHOOL (E) 2-STORY BUILDING

服务区 SERVICE AREA

聚会区 GATHERING AREA

设备区 UTILITY

游乐区 PLAY AREA & OVERFLOW PARKING

现有学校停车场 (E) SCHOOL PARKING

现有停车场 (E) PARKING AREA

8号北街

N 8TH STREET

庭院 COURTYARD AREA

新建教堂 (N) CHURCH

拉旺圣母像OUR LADY LA VANG STATUE

入口广场 ENTRY PLAZA

E SANTA CLARA STREET

钟塔 THE BELL

The church is located on 8th Street in the civic center, close to San Jose State University and the San Jose Art Museum. The entrance faces Santa Clara Street to the east. The building area is 1,700 square meters (18,000 sqf), and the nave requires 1,000 seats.

The principle of creating the plan and elevation are "symmetry". We put a modern interpretation of the original church. The exterior echoes the symmetry of the old church with the high entrance and low sides. The plan is also a symmetrical circle. The nave is at the geometric center and a central axis is inserted, which expands in the east and west ends to form the narthex and the sanctury.

唱诗席 CHOIR

机械室 MECH.

礼拜堂 CHAPEL

准备室 VEST.

祭衣间 SACRISTY

忏悔室 CONFESS

家庭活动室 FAMILY ROOM

从圣坛看向入口（渲染）

教堂中殿（渲染）

For the interior, we refer to many modernist churches such as Ronchamp Church, and use natural materials such as stone and wood to create a austere and primitive sense of sanctity. There is an organic-shaped suspended ceiling as the indoor central axis, and skylights are added to let the light in. A whole piece of cedar wood is used as a statue of Christ on the altar. In addition, the image of the bamboo forest that represents the rainforests of Vietnam and Southeast Asia is used throughout the church, including the window decorations next to the Christ statue and at the entrance .

The overall white color of the church symbolizes the holiness, and the fin walls extend out of the facade like angel wings. Side entrances and windows are hidden behind fin walls and are only visible from a few specific angles, maintaining the purity of the overall shape. The Bell Tower Square on the left of the entrance is at the street corner and creates a public space for the community. The statue of Our Lady of Lavang is on the right. To the north of the plot is the landscaped lawn, which will be used for the second phase of the project.

教堂入口（实景）

教堂后部（实景）

GARDEN WANDERING

Duration: Duration: 2021.6 - 2021.7

Architects: EID Architecture

Location: Guangzhou Area: 1,600 m2

This project is the work from a competition organized by SUNAC Group “Revival of China-Chic”. It is a sales center with a building area of 1600 square meters, facing the street on the north and adjacent to the residential towers on the south. Besides the general functions of the sales center, the architecture must also consider the potential for future transformation as a community center.

Different from previous modern Chinese architecture using specific classical objects to create forms, we believe that the recurring historical classics should focus on the Chinese architectural philosophy or logic. We propose the mode of walking path of Chinese gardens as the starting point, namely Garden Wondering, to bring back the experience of Chinese classical gardens. It can be explained in one sentence: the dynamic view is a tour, and the magic lies in the change of the scenery; the static view is an appreciation, and the wonderfulness lies in the picturesque scenery.

The whole image of the garden will be in your eyes when you wander the garden alternately.

The metal grid on the exterior facade presents the building path to the street side indistinctly, and at the same time, highlights the demonstration area of the sales center. While in the courtyard we use a more solid facade, and through the fenestration and parametric geometry to allow the users to relives the experience of classical garden in the new space and landscape.

文徵明 《东园图》Huiming Wen, Painting of East Garden

07.

K. Wah Commercial Business Complex

Duration: 2023.07 - 2023.11

Architects: EID Architecture

Location: Shanghai

3C-10 Scientific Industrial Park

Duration: 2022.10 - 2023.02

Architects: EID Architecture

Location: Shanghaiai

09.

Xi‘an OCT Silkroad Skyline

Duration: 2021.10 - 2021.12

Architects: EID Architecture

Location: Xi'an

购物中心内景效果图

10.

Alibaba Xixi Industrial Park

Duration: 2021.07 - 2021.10

Architects: EID Architecture

Location: Hangzhou

Hand Drawings

平遥古城

晋祠