Yuchen Wu Portfolio for UCL MARCH Cinematic and Videogame Architecture

EXPRESSION AFTER FOCUS

WU YUCHEN'S PORTFOLIO

SELECTED WORKS 2019-2022

Tsinghua University & Beijing University of Technology Co-training plan

Beijing University of Technology B.A.

Application for UCL MArch Cinematic and Videogame Architecture

Application number: 23077443

E-mail: wuyuchen_2311@163.com Tel: 86-18811788676

WU YUCHEN

Address: 201, Unit 4, Building 10, Pingguoyuan Zone 1, Shijingshan Dist. Beijing

E-mail: wuyuchen_2311@163.com Tel: 86-18811788676

EDUCATION BACKGROUNG

Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China GPA: 3.69/4.0

Certificate of Attendance of Arts in Environmental Design

Core courses: Design Studio, Space and lntegrated Design in the E-era Materials and Design, Landscape Design, Architectural Design

College of Arts & Design, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China GPA: 3.83/4.0

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Environmental Design

Core courses: Graduation Design, Adaptive Reuse of Old Buildings, Landscape Design

09/2018-07/2021 09/2018-07/2022

ACADEMIC HONORS

Awarded the scholarship of the "Co-Training Plan", Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Awarded "Outstanding Graduate" Beijing Higher Education Institution for Cross-cultivation of High-level Talents, Class of 2018

College of Arts & Design, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China

INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE

Internship at China Tongxin Real Estate Co., LTD, Designer Assistant

06/2021 06/2022

DESIGN COMPETITIONS & EXHIBITIONS

2019 Distinctive Design Studio Projects Exhibition

Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, Fundamentals of Forming

Cooperation Work "VINE" was selected for 2019 Beijing Design Week

2019 Beijing Design Week Beijing Design Week-Expo-Dream for Future

Cooperation Work "SURGING" was awarded the " Ingenuity Construction Work" (Gold Prize)

2020 China Spatial Art and Construction Exhibition

Awarded "Innovator" and "Most Valuable Investment Award"

SDG Open Hack@ Tsinghua University in 2020

Digital Design coursework "∞CUBES" won the Certificate of Excellent Coursework Collection

Collected by the Academy of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

2020 Distinctive Design Studio Projects Exhibition

Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, Design Studio (4)

2021 Distinctive Design Studio Projects Exhibition

Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, Design Studio (6)

03/2019 10/2019 09/2020 11/2020 12/2020 12/2020 05/2021

Internship at G&B SPACE, Designer Assistant

Reviewed the design drawings completed by Party B and proposed modificationse Adaptive Reuse of Old Buildings

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Volunteer teaching at Zhongguancun Primary School, Haidian District, Beijing

Tutoring the students of grade three in painting creation

Member of Publicity Department of the Faculty Committee

Pushing layout and video editing of the school's WeChat account for internal activities

Wall Renovation for Primary School in Lingshou County, Shijiazhuang, Hebei

Wall renovation, designing and practicing wall painting content

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

06/2020-08/2020 06/2021-09/2020

09/2018 09/2018-09/2019 07/2020

Computer Skills: Photoshop, Rhino, Grasshopper, Sketchup, Vray, lnDesign, Premiere, Illustrator, Cinema 4D

Interests: Sketch, photography, swimming, Travel

CONTENTS

01 CONSUMER SOCIETY

The apocalyptic revelry of consumerism | Conceptual Design Focus on the relationship between urban garbage and consumerism

EXPRESSION AFTER FOCUS

In today’s China, the wild expansion of cities homogenizes individuals in an environment and the environment itself. Individuals blindly follow the trend amidst the urban waves and undermine sensitivity to their surroundings. Looking around, too many problems caused by the relentless expansion of cities impact the life and interests of individuals but attention to these problems is diverted by the general trend of urban development.

In this project, I endeavor to dissect all aspects of cities in gradual terms and put my focus on a certain problem or phenomenon. I also hope to mitigate such development issues by using space, or express my thoughts and feelings with the help of space as a language so that I won’t blindly follow the mainstream in the cities and can preserve my characteristics and thoughts as an individual. In brief, I plan to keep my independent thinking on the urban environment as an individual in this project.

02 Utopia of "Beijing Drifters"

Improve the quality of life for "Beijing Drifters" through old building adaptive reuse | Architectural Design Focus on the living environment of "Beijing Drifters"

03 Loki's Cabinet

What is a home without a mother? | Interior Design Focus on the individual's living environment

04 “Investigate Matters” Series

Mapping things and events through structures| Colecttion of Structures Focus on a kind of design thinking

05 Other Works

What

Consumer Society

Fall 2022, Academic Project Individual Work

Instructor: ChunWei Fang

Garbage is the byproduct of urbanization and the "scurf" of cities. In 2021, 2 billion tons of urban garbage were formed across the world, and garbage has become one of the major problems of mankind in the 21st century. A large number of cities have been faced with "Garbage Siege". The indisposed garbage is piled up on the outskirts of cities, gradually surrounding the cities. Beijing has the same problem.

In the 21st century, garbage production has increased rapidly. Apart from population growth, I think one of its main causes is the prevalence of consumerism. Consumption is the main means for capitalists to gain benefits today. It is undoubtedly a more modest and covert way to gain benefits by promoting consumption. With the prevalence of consumerism, consumers become vassals rather than possessors of goods. The financial capacity, aesthetic taste and social status of consumers are related to their consumption modes. This has led to consumers' crazy pursuit of commodities, gradually ignoring their real needs, and consumption has become a game of only chasing commodities. The upgrading of commodities as well as the generation of garbage is accelerated. New commodities will become garbage soon when they are no longer popular.

In Calvino's work "Invisible Cities" there was a city called "Leonia". The city kept renewing itself every day.

People there used new things every day: new sheets, new soap, new body wash, new cans. And things of yesterday, whether they could be used or not, were all regarded as garbage and discarded by people. In this city, the criterion to decide whether an item should be discarded was not its use value. It seemed that an object was produced to be discarded, which was its ultimate mission. This story contains an irony of capitalism and consumerism. It is also a discussion and prediction of the relationship between garbage and consumerism. Nowadays, it seems that all cities in the world are "Leonia". Under the coercion of consumerism, they have been constantly renewing themselves and producing garbage and waste. In 2008, Chinese director Wang Jiuliang filmed the documentary "Beijing Besieged by Waste" The documentary also pointed out that the prevalence of consumerism accelerated the generating of garbage.

This project mainly discussed the relationship between garbage and consumerism with "Garbage Siege" as the starting point of thinking. I tried to enrich the binary opposition relations between them and expressed my thoughts and ideas through the works. Influenced by films, TV dramas and literature works, I imagined a city faced with the "garbage apocalypse".

What are the main causes of "Garbage Siege"?

What is the spatial expression of "consumerism"?

is the last carnival of consumerism in the garbage apocalypse?

"Lujiashan" Waste Incineration Power Plant

Large scale waste treatment plant

Consumerism and Garbage

"Lujiashan" Waste Incineration Power Plant, with more than 2 billion yuan of government investment, is the largest waste incineration power generation project in Asia. It can process 3000 tons of garbage every day and 1 million tons of domestic garbage every year.

Medium scale waste treatment plant

Small scale waste treatment plant

"Asuwei" Garbage Landfill

Beijing "Asuwei" Garbage Landfill was built in 1986, covering an area of 0.26 square kilometers, and was planned to process 1200 tons of garbage every day. With the development of Beijing city, the landfill, which needed to deal with 3500 tons of garbage every day, had been far overloaded and out of operation in 2016.

"Liulitun"

Garbage Landfill

"Liulitun" Liulitun Garbage Landfill, covering an area of 0.465 square kilometers, is a largescale modern landfill in Beijing and the only harmless landfill facility in Haidian. District.

In 2010, Chinese director Wang Jiuliang released the documentary "Beijing Besieged by Waste"

Since August 2008, Wang Jiuliang spent two years visiting and investigating hundreds of garbage dumps of different sizes around Beijing, and finally showed people the serious situation of garbage besieging Beijing with pure films. These shocking films reminded people of the harm and threat of garbage to our living environment and daily life.

drew this map based on the locations of the waste dumps that Wang Jiuliang visited in the documentary. According to the map, garbage dumps of different sizes have gradually surrounded the city, forming the "seventh ring" of Beijing.

In the documentary "Beijing Besieged by Waste", Wang Jiuliang pointed out that consumerism was the direct reason for the sharp increase in the garbage in the 21st century, which I personally agree with. As a covert way to accumulate wealth for capitalists, consumerism has stimulated purchasing needs of consumers, leading consumers to ignore their actual needs, buy a large number of goods, and quickly discard them as garbage after the goods are no longer popular. This cycle has accelerated the generation of garbage.

Most people do not care about the final destination of the garbage, but are still immersed in the world of consumerism.

Image Collage in Mind

The project was based on my extended thinking about the relationship between consumerism and garbage, and a picture emerged in my mind: in the future, cities would be flooded by waste, while the remaining shelters will still be under the influence of consumerism, and the remaining human beings will enjoy "false prosperity" in the shelters, which constructs an absurd apocalyptic scene.

In my opinion, this project is a microcosm of the current relationship between consumerism and garbage.

—Is garbage forming the "seventh ring" of Beijing city?

—Mapping of the site—

—The Starting Point of the Project—

At present, garbage in the center of cities is sent to the suburbs, and garbage is processed there. Garbage will gradually surround cities.

I suppose that in the future, human beings will further ignore the problem of garbage, and the trend of "garbage siege" will be strengthened. What will human cities look like?

The super tall buildings around China World Trade Center were selected as the basis of the project, and the building block model was extracted.

Based on the above research and thinking, I had a completer setting of the project and further improved the supposition. The

Apocalyptic City on the Garbage Dump?

The project was planned to be located in the CBD of Chaoyang District, Beijing, where the highest buildings in Beijing gather, including the tallest building in Beijing, CITIC Tower (528 meters). As the central business district of Beijing, there are a large number of enterprises and shopping malls with a large number of commercial activities. It can be seen as the most obvious place of consumerism.

Besides, if the garbage really engulfed Beijing city, I assume that the super high-rise buildings in CBD would not be completely submerged, and the remaining buildings would stand on the garbage dump and become the last shelter of humankind.

A WORKER'S STORY

It simulated what the building block was like when the garbage was piled up to a height of 170 meters.

A Capitalists'S STORY

Residents far away from the downtown area will be engaged in garbage disposal. New resources extracted from waste will eventually be reinvested in consumerism.

life is not so different from the preapocalyptic state, it is still lavish! The elegant activities of the rich are only in the center of the shelter, and only we aristocrats are entitled to enjoy all things consumerism! Capitalists are the most faithful believers and practitioners of consumerism. They will monitor all processes of the shelter and enjoy the best resources.

CITIC Tower

Tonghui River Target buildings Other buildings

CCTV headquarters

—Strategy for Forming the Structure —

The project is mainly divided into two parts, the central business district and the grid-shaped residential area. The residential buildings are enclosed to form a grid-shaped building group. The garbage is gradually filtered from the external to the internal grid-shaped building group, and finally reaches the central business district, becoming available resources.

The individual living units are closely arranged, forming a huge wall.

The "walls" are combined together to form a building group with square grids for space division. Each grid has a corresponding function and is a "net" to filter garbage.

The grid-shaped buildings are placed on a 170m high garbage dump to form the basic building block with the building blocks in the CBD area of Beijing that are not submerged by waste.

—Plan Layout—

The buildings in the original CBD area have been transformed into a group of buildings affected by consumerism, which is the center of the whole project.

Garbage is blocked around by grid-shaped buildings, and the problem of "garbage siege" still exists in the project.

Garbage dumps

The Transition area of garbage processing

Welcome to the shelter!

I'm from the upper class! It's your honor that I can take the time to explain it to you!

Garbage has been isolated by us through strict grid-shaped buildings. The gridshaped buildings are full of pariahs, and garbage disposal is the task of those pariahs! Then let’s focus on the CBD!

The center of the shelter is the perfect combination of consumerism and buildings, which is also the result of various brand advertising competitions! The latest fashion goods are combined with the buildings exaggeratedly, which is the most powerful advertising at present! Of course, this is also the space for the upper class to operate consumerism.

Garbage is scattered around the city. Garbage is gradually transformed into resources through the purification of grid. Residents living in gridshaped buildings need to complete certain garbage disposal work. The people who live in the more peripheral place have heavier work and are more frequently exposed to garbage.

Housing Type of

Residents in

CBD

In the project, the distance between the living area to the CBD determines the social status and living environments of residents. An invisible boundary divides the living environment of residents into two states, one is lost in the trap of consumerism, the other is trapped in the slave of garbage disposal.

— ONE SPACE, TWO WORLDS —

House Type of Residents in Garbage Disposal Area

The residential units in the CBD are based on a 6600 * 6600 square space, which can meet the basic living needs of residents. The outdoor is dominated by the dazzling consumerist urban landscape, with perfect greenness.

The house type of the garbage disposal area is also based on the 6600 * 6600 square space. In order to maximize the accommodation of residents, one room can accommodate four people. The outdoor environment is full of garbage.

There are a lot of consumption activities in the CBD. The people at the bottom from the surrounding area enter the buildings to complete their work, and then spend their income on consumption. At the same time, the CBD is also a place for capitalists to live. They build luxurious residences in the "Tower of Hermes" and enjoy everything.

According to the profile, buildings in CBD are filled with exaggerated consumer images and are surrounded by garbage piles, as if a utopia meets all people's consumption needs is embedded in the garbage piles. At the same time, the profile also shows the remains of the original high buildings in Beijing CBD buried in the garbage dumps.

The residential area far from the CBD can only live with the garbage dump. They look for all the resources that can be used in the garbage dump, and their living environment is depressed. They will look up to the central buildings in their leisure time.

The garbage disposal area is mainly composed of the residences of people at the bottom. In this profile, we can see that the dense and narrow residential units are arranged together to form a "wall" to filter garbage. This place may be overwhelmed by garbage in the near future.

— SECTION OF CENTRAL BUSINESS

— SECTION OF GARBAGE DISPOSAL —

While pursuing consumerism, the capitalists cheat and paralyze everyone in the CBD, making people there forget about the garbage apocalypse. I regard Hermes as the spiritual symbol of consumerism, because Hermes is the god of commerce and thieves in ancient Greek mythology, and these two perfectly match the behaviors of capitalists in cities.

The bronze statue of Hermes is located in the center of the shelter and can be seen anywhere in the shelter. Hermes looks down on everything in the shelter, as if he was constantly monitoring people's every move. Capitalists also monitor everything in the shelter in the information center……

How to improve the quality of life for "Beijing Drifters"?

How to balance the "new" and "old" of the buildings?

What should the buildings exclusively for "Beijing Drifters" look like?

Utopia of "Beijing Drifters"

Beijing University of Technology Spring 2022, Graduation Design

Individual Work

Instructor:Xin Lv, ChunWei Fang

Beijing, the capital of China, is my hometown. Today, a large number of migrants work and live in this firsttier city, which is also a common phenomenon in other large cities. However, although these people find better jobs with higher salaries in Beijing, most of them could not afford the high housing prices and settle down there. This group of people is called "Beijing drifters", and most of them are young aged.

At present, most "Beijing drifters" choose to share rent with others in order to save on costs. However, landlords and housing agencies will do some tricks in order to obtain more benefits when leasing houses, which invisibly affects the quality and assurance of rental houses and decline the quality of life for the "Beijing Drifters". Most "Beijing Drifters" just rent a bedroom and share the living room, bathroom and kitchen with others. In addition, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people are more likely to work at home in the future. "Beijing Drifters" needs a more comfortable residence for various activities, rather than a single bedroom.

With careful observations, you will find the buildings in Beijing share some interesting features. The buildings are usually not high with a large number of old residential areas. This residential area is full of oldfashioned tube-shaped apartment buildings, and the rent is relatively low. Therefore, some "Beijing Drifters"

would rent in old residential areas to reduce rents further. Since these buildings were designed decades ago, more problems are increasingly exposed as times change and our society develops, and they cannot meet the needs of contemporary people any more. Sharing accommodation in such an environment further reduces the sense of belonging of "Beijing Drifters" and exacerbates their rental problems.

For the above phenomenon, I would like to renovate old buildings to improve the quality of life for "Beijing Drifters", and transform an apartment exclusively for them. This project has selected an old building in the Central Business District of Chaoyang District, Beijing, China. From the perspective of structural design, the old space layout was transformed and the new space system is built with retaining some features of the old residential buildings. After that, both functional design and formal design being taken into consideration, responding to the needs of young "Beijing Drifters", more shared spaces for social were added in the transforming process, and the spatial form inside and outside the building was also changed, which make the old buildings coexist harmoniously with modern buildings in Beijing CBD, and help "Beijing Drifters" better integrate into the life of Beijing.

On the weekend, Mr. Zhang is in his rental room......

Mapping of the site

The site is located in the Chaoyang District, Beijing, close to Beijing CBD. The overall economy of the region is developing rapidly, with developed transportation, high level of infrastructure, and a large number of business districts and office buildings, full of employment opportunities. Therefore, the region attracts a large number of "Beijing drifters". The gathering of "Beijing drifters" has increased the demand for renting in this area. At the same time, there are some problems with "Beijing drifters" renting at this stage.

Sharing Rents has become a trend

Population Change in Beijing from 2010 to 2020

From 2010 to 2020, the total population and rental population of Beijing grew slowly, but the rental population has accounted for about 30% of the total population. More and more "Beijing Drifters" choose to rent together, which has become the mainstream.

When renting becomes a common phenomenon in large cities, there will be problems.

Total Population of Beijing

Total Rental Population in Beijing

Total Rental Population of Shared Houses in Beijing

Common Problems When Sharing Rents

Unfamiliar Roommates

It is difficult for roommates to maintain similar daily routines for work and other reasons, so they rarely intersect with each other. Even 30% said that they did not know what the person who shared rooms with them looked like.

Landlords' practices exacerbate the problem

The

in the

illegally to

more tenants. The landlord increases income by reducing the quality of tenants' life, which aggravates the housing problem of "Beijing Drifters".

Plane layout

Project

Uses of Public Spaces

Tenants share the living room, kitchen and bathroom, resulting in poor use experience of public space. Tenants are prone to conflict in public spaces due to their different personal habits.

Collage of the site

The site of the project is an oldfashioned apartment in the CBD of Chaoyang District, Beijing. It was built in the 1980s. The space utilization rate is very low at present for its outdated design. At the same time, the facade of the apartment is not in harmony with the surrounding modern buildings, and may be demolished at any time in the CBD. There are a large number of "Beijing Drifters" tenants in the apartment.

Status Quo

Each

CCTV Headquarters SKP-S Mall

Wanda Plaza

This seems to be a naive concept. I hope to plant a seed in the old building to make breakthroughs in it with the "power of growth", and create new spaces.

Generation Logic in Gh Concept Model

The design concept of this project is "Growth", which means that the needs and desires of "Beijing Drifters" for public space inside the building. This concept can be understood as a process of substantiating their ideas.

The Idea of Spatial Transformation

My idea is to retain the four "old" features of the original building.

Take Wanda Plaza, SOHO Modern City, SKP Mall and SKP-s Mall, the four public buildings with the largest traffic flow around the old buildings as the growth direction of the seed.

Building Blocks Generation Process Function Layout

the existing basis, a convex window is designed for the new space. Convex edged windows not only mean the trend of outward growth, but also distinguish the "new" from the "old" of the building facade. "Old" red bricks collide with "new" steel and glass on the building facade.

The original floors and columns of the building were removed, leaving only its walls.

The seed grows toward four public buildings affected by the surrounding environment.

Grasshopper was used to simulate the root system of seed growth.

Extract the nodes of root growth.

Every 10 nodes form a cube. The cube dimensions are 3400 * 3400 * 3400, 1700 * 1700* 1700 and 850 * 850 * 850 respectively.

The newly formed block breaks through the facade of the existing building and forms a basic block position.

The newly formed block is layered, integrated and arranged for various functions. The public area is concentrated in the lower part of the building, while the residential area are the opposite.

The "new" and "old" of the building can be distinguished from the facade. The original architectural features are combined with the new space with modernist architectural features, which collides on the facade. In addition, the convex glass is refined.

Transparent glass is used in public spaces and unidirectional glass is used in living spaces.

Stairs are the main traffic channels of the building except elevators. The stair shape evolves according to the block formed above, and its form in each floor is different. Echoing the theme of "growth", after meeting the need of the traffic streamline, it will produce rich visual changes and increase the vitality of indoor space.

floor plan]

The first to third floors of the building are public spaces, while the fourth floor is a transitional space. The living space and public space exist at the same time, and the fifth to seventh floors are living spaces. The functional layout of the public space takes into account the principle of dynamic and static zoning, and the residential units are divided into three "L" type units according to the block.

In this project, regard the old building as a historical carrier. When the function of the old building gradually becomes invalid, it should not be completely demolished, but to stimulate the vitality of the building based on the juxtaposition of the "old" and the "new".

In the building, traces of the old building can be seen at any time. Elements such as red brick walls and old doors and Windows are the most representative features of the old building. When people living inside see these elements, they can recall the appearance of the site before.

Type A houses are the most common type of apartment in A building. It is set up to meet the basic needs of personal life, with extra space for other activities.

House type B

Compared with type A, type B has A larger area and can accommodate two people. It is suitable for couples or friends to rent together. While meeting the basic functions, it has larger public space and ensures the quality of life.

House type C

Type C is a two-bedroom apartment that can accommodate three people, which is suitable for two families to share. It is also the largest apartment type.

The model was made by laser cutting and 3D printing, and then assembled in layers so that the structure and layout of each layer can be seen. In terms of appearance, toner is used to represent cement material, and convex stickers are used to represent brick walls, reflecting the contrast of materials.

In 1980, Christian Noberg-Schulz mentioned the "Phenomenology of Architectural Design" in GENIUS LOCITowards a Phenomenology of Architecture , "Architecture means transforming a site into a place with specific character and meaning. Design is making the place. In other words, a place is a space with a clear identity, and one must experience the environment as being full of meaning."

In my opinion, in a big city with rapidly changing environment, "GENIUS LOCI" is particularly important. People need architecture as a carrier to record the history of the city and solve the problems of the current era, rather than completely demolishing and changing the architecture.

In this project, I regard the old building as a carrier of "Beijing drifters" and the city history. When the functions of the old building gradually fail, it should not be completely demolished, but should stimulate the vitality of the building on the basis of the coexisting of the "new" and "old".

In the building, you can see the traces of old buildings at any time. Brick walls, old doors and windows and other elements are the most representative features of old buildings. When people living inside see these elements, they can recall what the place looked like before.

What is Home without a Mother?

When a pair of glasses becomes the medium to access the space, how will it influence spatial cognition?

How can abstract feelings be translated into spatial language?

Loki's Cabinet

Tsinghua Spring 2021, Design Studio (5)

Individual Work

Instructor:Wen Liang

The Scarecrow (1920) started with two men in a small room. In the first third of the film, they used a series of mechanical and funny ways to operate the room. Each facility in the room is endowed with double attributes. The mirrored image of the shaver is an image that represents love. Just as interior design and its displays show - the living environment we build - as if it contained implications determined by gender, economy and class. Meanwhile, a home is the data aggregation, recording how we live and expressing” who we are”, and may also become the constraint to “the ideal version of oneself”. Meaningful and critical discussions about living shall fully concern family politics. And it is only through in-depth research of past and present discourses that one can understand the complex relationship between family and the society that creates families. The design task of this curriculum is making the interior design of an individual’s living environment and thus responding to the complicated content in the living space. And this project mainly constitutes three exercises:

Exercise 1: collecting

Exercise 2: curating

Exercise 3: reappropriation

The surveyed subject is me, a high myopia person. I strongly rely on my glasses and feel bewildered and scared when the pair of glasses gets taken off because I can only fetch objects by my senses. Thus, I develop a habit of wearing my glasses even when taking a shower or bath—and I focus my survey on this behavior. The state of taking on and off the glasses create completely different spatial feelings of “clear sight” and “invisibility“ respectively.

Starting from this phenomenon, I further explore the connection between this phenomenon and space. There are some hidden items that the house owner doesn’t want to display to others. On the contrary, there are some items that the owner hopes to display, such as furnishing articles, wall pictures, and sculptures, showing the hobby and taste of the owner. A pair of relations “hidden” and “visible” in two categories of items are correspondence with the“visibility”and“invisibility” brought by nearsightedness. Finally, I reappropriated the work of an Italian architect to finish this project.

Exercise1. Collecting Exercise2. Curating

…A bed is just a bed and a chair is just a chair; the two things won’t have relations with one another if they just serve the people as functional objects. If there is no relation, then there is no space. That is because, only through the relations of a group of items and their transcendence of functions in this new structure can one open, arouse, and mark the pace, expand the space, and enable the existence of space. From one perspective, space means the genuine freedom of objects and function only refers to its freedom of form.

—(Jean Baudrillard—Le Système des objets) (p.16).

In this curriculum, the relationship between humans and the environment in specific circumstances is observed. Thus, Exercise 1 refers to the processing of the curriculum condition (specific discussion object). Read Especes d espaces and Le Système des objets according to the topic one chooses and focus on the special moments of the chosen research subject. Exercise 1 actually reflects one’s understanding, attitude, and preferred further development directions toward the chosen subject. And we will start the curriculum research with “Collecting”.

Troubles with High Myopia

In the 2018 La Biennale di Venezia, Elizabeth Hatz displayed her thoughts on space by selecting and curating all kinds of images, among which the Mind-Space group picture includes works of S taffan Nihlén, Paolo Veronese, Superstudio, Florian Beigel, Philip Christou, and Gordon Matta-Clark The parallel display of these images generates delicate connections between images and establishes a mind-space imagery. Despite the fact that Elizabeth talked about architectural issues, the same approach can be used in interior space, with the sole difference in image selection.

In Exercise 2, establishing several interior space images with topics is the task, and intentional curation and operation of images are key tasks in Exercise 2.

When a pair of glasses become the medium to access the space

Exercise3. Reappropriation

Exercise 3 aims at clarifying and amplifying these directions and implementing them into the actual space through reappropriation.

Reappropriation in this exercise refers to rewriting cases (interior design, furniture, etc.) by learning and studying classic cases based on the concept of the plan. And means of amplification, deformation and grafting can be used to translate the elements one wants to use in original cases to basic spatial languages such as forms, patterns, and texture corresponding to one’s concept of the plan.

A set of furniture designed by an Italian architect Gae Aulenti in Italy: The New Domestic Landscape was chosen as the foundation of my reappropriation.

Gae Aulenti's Work

I myself serve as the research subject of this project. I have worn glasses since was 7 years old and am a high myopia person. Thus, rely heavily on glasses. Whenever I don’t have the glasses with me, I will be disoriented and develop a vague perception of the spatial dimensions. Since am not used to this state, even wear glasses during shower or bath and sleep.

Taking on and off my pair of glasses result in two different feelings of spatial recognition: When wearing my glasses, I have the clearest perception of space because can clearly see the details in space, while my space perception scope is narrowed when take off the glasses and the space becomes strange and mysterious. A pair of glasses is a medium for me to know about space. Based on this, have made in-depth surveys and attempted to build my home as a place with two spaces of different feelings; one is the public space to display my hobbies, honors and collections to others, and the other is a private space unable to be found by others and exclusively belonged to myself. Following this idea, I kept looking for objects corresponding to the space, and curated and formed spatial intentions. Some items demonstrate my personal information such as tastes and hobbies and become the important building blocks of the public space at home. Contrarily, some items are kept or hidden by me. My memories are hidden behind items as the vital building blocks of private space at home.

Employing this set of flexible closet furniture, the composition of space is redefined by Gae Aulenti This group of furniture can be seen as the wall in the space and enclosure defines the spatial functions, which matches my concepts as need to divide space through designs to build two different states for space at home.

Works by South African artist Philip Barlow

Collage about Myopia

Gae Aulenti's work, from Italy: The New Domestic Landscape.

STEP.3

In this project, the cabinet substitutes the function of the wall and forms a U-shaped corridor through the enclosure to show what I want to display. The other part of the space which contains the bedroom and bathroom is opened through the sliding secret door, and a storage room is reserved to store some precious items that need to be hidden and carry my memories. Behind the closet are secrets that I only know, as if I were playing the tricks of Loki, the God of Mischief.

—SECION 1—

—SECION 2—

The private place is mainly made up of the bedroom, bathroom, and storage room and has a completely different style from the display space. It is designed to let me quickly calm down and enjoy the moments of serenity after entertaining myself in the display space. The dusky style provides a proper atmosphere for me to recall the memories behind the old items on my own in the storage room.

Designed in a U shape, the display space showcases my personal collection and covers functions of the kitchen, living room and entertainment room. The floor is paved with red and white mosaics and the secret door is hidden in the cabinet. I am the only person who knows the route to my private space.

04

“Investigate Matters” Series

2019-2021

Exploration of spatial language

Thoughts provoked by objects, incidents and phenomena.

The application of“Investigate matters and acquire knowledge” in contemporary design

“Investigate matters and acquire knowledge” is an important cognitive theory in traditional Chinese culture. Investigating matters is a way to acquire knowledge through tireless investigation into matters. In my opinion, “investigation of matters” means a process of deep thinking, namely, focusing on minute daily things and recognizing the “way”behind things through layers of thoughts. Though “investigation of matters” originated from ancient times, I believe it can also be applied to contemporary design. “Investigation of matters”can be used as a method to identify starting points of the design so that the design concept has more supporting points and footholds and avoid popularized starting points of the design, demonstrating unique thoughts.

“Investigation of matters” is composed of 5 structures and these 5 works were completed through my undergraduate studies in which I and my schoolmates made several attempts and practices in building

structures through teamwork. These 5 implemented structure works of vivid characteristics witnessed our progress in developing more mature building techniques of structures, and our process of “investigating matters”. We often tend to start with things in mother nature, including the vine, sea wave, singular point and rose. These objects from nature seem to have no direct connections with design, but we can map things through structures and express our attitude toward related phenomena of the things and establish connections between things and structures.

In retrospect of this series, I find it is a fun process. Starting from a series of matters completely unrelated to design, we thought about expressing through structures. The “investigation of matters” series marked the attempts and practices of how “investigation of matters” is applied in contemporary design as well as the aggregation of our thinking process.

Selected structures from

Team Work

4.1 Singular Point - ∞ Cubes

Excellent course assignment of Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, 2019-2020 academic year

Collected by the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua

Tsinghua Fall 2020, Digital Design

Collaboration with Mingxuan Du, Shiyu Chen, Kexin Chen, Yizheng Ren, Weijin Yuan

Instructor:Yichen Lu, Xudong Huo

The singular point, which marks the infinite curve of space, is often believed by scientists as situated at the centre of the black hole…

Contour of each part

In this project, we try to find a single unit to construct a complex multivariate structure that expresses our understanding of the "singularity". After several attempts, the minimal surface is consistent with our design concept. Finally, the minimal surface whose analytical formula is cos(x)*sin(y)+cos(y)*sin(z)+cos(z)*sin(x) is used to carry out Boolean operation with the cube whose side length is 0.4m, and the morphology of the basic unit is obtained.

In terms of model making, the most ideal effect is to pour monomer, but considering the scale and cost, we finally used corrugated board slicing and spray painting to complete the model. Project derivation and production video can be scanned in Bilibili for viewing.

4.2 Surging

2020 China Spatial Art and Construction ExhibitionGold Award(Organized by the Environmental Design Committee of the Chinese Artists Association)

Tsinghua Fall 2020, 2020 China Spatial Art and Construction Exhibition

Collaboration with Zhengjie Wang, Jiapeng Sun, Zeyu Yang, Zeyu Su

Instructor:Shan Tu, Beiguang Liu

Farewell then, Sea! Henceforth in wonder Your regal grace will I rever; Long will your muffled twilit thunder Reverberate within my ear.

To woods and silent wildernesses

Will I translate your potent spells, Your cliffs, your coves, your shining tresses, Your shadows and your murmurous swells.

Components

There is an interesting phenomenon about the location of Beijing. Beijing is the only eastern city in China that is not coastal, which makes me especially like the sea since childhood. The sea has a special attraction for me. At the same time, some of the team members are from coastal cities, When they went to college in Beijing, they missed the sea of their hometown very much. Thus, the sea becomes the starting point for the project.

The structure has eight kinds of components. D1 Connects Part A to Part B, E1 Connects Part B to Part C. Behind the structure is the inland residents's yearning for the sea and the coastal residents's yearning for their hometown. (We should build this structure at Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts. However, due to the need of COVID-19 prevention and control, we did not go to the scene. Finally, the students of Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts helped to complete the construction. I would like to thank the teachers and students of Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts!)

Alexander sergeyevich pushkin's poem "To the Sea"

Construction process

4.3 Vine

Project was selected for 2019 Beijing Design Week Design EXPODream for future

Tsinghua Fall 2019, 2019 Beijing Design Week Design EXPO

Collaboration with Zhengjie Wang, Jiapeng Sun, Haogang Wu, Shiyu Chen, Yaqiang Zhai

Instructor:Shan Tu

Vine's growth is uncontrolled, in the spread of the moment, it has self-awareness, but also confused in the process. Each growth track of the vine intertwines and restricts each other, but in the end, it achieves harmony on the whole and walk in its own way.

The form of the structure diverges around the vine, The wood stick is used as the base element to express the interlaced growth of vines, forming a vault over the existing corridor of the site, creating a new spatial experience. At the same time, it is also a research and exploration on the joint of wooden structure.

Making process of joint

Other perspectives

Construction process

4.4 Wood & "Chicken feet"

This curriculum is themed under “leap and support” and the wood materials are used as provided. The final outcome is a space related to personal dimensions.

Our team selected the soldered iron bars as the connected nodes of wood materials. The shape of three soldered iron bars is similar to a chicken claw. Three specifications of the length of the wood and the soldering angle of the “chicken claw” were designed. And our work was finally completed through different combinations of the wood and the chicken claw.

As my first attempt at building a structure in my freshman year, despite some deficiencies, it was an impressive experience.

Tsinghua Spring 2019, Fundamentals of Forming (1)

Collaboration with Yini Hu, Jingwen Zhang Instructor:Shan Tu

Draft model Draft model of "Chicken feet"

Physical model of "Chicken feet" Three sizes of wood

2020 Distinctive Design Studio Projects Exhibition

Other perspective

Thoughts on the

“homogenized” phenomenon video Scene

4.5 Synthetic Objects

Project was selected for 2021 YOUTH DESIGN 100-Excellent works exhibition

Fall 2021, interactive design Collaboration with Zibo Wang, Jiaping Han, Ruoxi Li, Shuyuan Zheng

Instructor:Qi Ba

In this project, we noticed an interesting phenomenon. People’s aesthetics converge toward a limited area with the popularity of mass media. The herding behavior effect becomes increasingly conspicuous under the media effect and the goals of plastic surgeries are more convergent. Homogeneity reflects the solidification of certain stereotypes and individuals’ personalities are wiped out in the meantime.

Against this homogenized trend, some species lose their original characteristics under the “aesthetics homogeneity “of humanities. We take the rose as a representative as it has become one of the most commercialized flowers after being coupled with the terms such as“love”and “romance”. Most people develop a fixed image of the rose. However, the rose steam length is over 50 cm, covered with leaves and thorns.

Through the main integration of installation and video in this work, a stage shows for “rose” is built. Roses made of synthetic materials, coupled with a colorful atmosphere and videos will help the audience develop a sense of strangeness to the roses they are familiar with and reveal the effect of “homogeneity” on species. In terms of installation, the movable structure made by 3D printing assembles the roses and the motion effects are delivered through electric motors. In the video, the crude human reconstruction of a rose is shown as people fold and cut the rose into the shape they like with cruelty and put it into mass production. It is noted that the underlying reasons for homogeneity are not the focus of this project, rather, we highlight the effects of homogeneity on people or objects..

As old things gone

Fall 2021, "HOME" Competition

Collaboration with Zhengjie Wang Instructor:Wen Liang

As to Chinese people, home is not only the event they experience and the place they live in. More importantly, it serves as the cohesion for the individuals. In the span of bring born in our parents'home to our own one, the connection to home keeps growing as we do. Assuming that courtyard, door, table and chair, cabinet, these four types, will not disappear regardless of the physical relocation. Instead, they will gather in the future and evolve into a natural landscape-a spiritual symbol for generations to come.

1. A Lowland of Courtyards:The gathering pattern of large and mixed communities imagines a space where different courtyards find their own place and tell the story of their lives.

2. A Cave of Doors The door is the Prst impression of the home from the outside. The doors of each family form caves in different scales, creating memories waiting to be found by later generations.

3. A Plain of Tables and Chairs :Despite the different functions of tables and chairs, they are always the place for a family reunion.

4. A Cliffs of Cabinets :The cabinet holds our belongings and even secrets. Children would look for fragments of of life on the cliffs of various cabinets that have been in their homes.

The Spicy Community

Spring

2022, Food Geography

Collaboration with Zeyu Su

In this project, students will complete a "food travel" with the limited environment, space and resources around them, and make a series of food maps based on geography. Focus your trip on food, because food is not only a necessity for everyone's daily life, but also an important medium that connects people, people and nature. As Michael Pollan has said, "The way we eat represents our deepest connection to the natural world." Observe, appreciate, and study the landscapes we can acquire on our travels and create imaginative collages at the cellular scale xs, the body scale S, the room scale M, the community scale L, the urban scale XL, the Google Maps scale XXL, or the meta-cosmic scale XXXL.

We chose pepper as the starting point of the project, and completed the project by investigating the history of pepper and its impact on the human body. The buildings are designed at seven scales to form the spicy community with social class attributes.

Body-Game-Space

Tsinghua Fall 2019, Design Studio (1)

Individual Work

Instructor:Wen Liang

his course will refer to the phenomenological description of space, using the body as a starting point, centering on the topic of "body-play-space", discussing the dual properties of space concrete and phenomenon, physical and perceptual.

The task of this course is to design a 3m X 3m X 3m space game. Among them, "space game" refers to the organization and patchwork of different space elements (holes, steps, passages, etc.), to achieve the impact on the body, interference, and even oppression, to create a variety of specific relations between the body and space. The body completes a series of "movements" in space, which is the completion of the game.

The establishment of the relationship between the space game is based on the Body, It means Body Projecting. The project will focus on three exercises to help students complete the operation. The design logic of the exercise is to start from the body and gradually expand and extend to the outside

Tsinghua Spring 2021, Materials and Design

Individual Work

Instructor:Yichen Lu, Feng Han

The project of this course is designing an external wall of a building and completing the section of wall with a scale of 1:2. Its materials, stress structure, construction, ventilation, drainage and other factors were taken into consideration, and were fully shown on the section according to standard for architectural drawings. These effects were assisted by partial perspective drawing.

In this project, I chose concrete structure as the main structure, and bricks as the veneer of the wall. I supposed that part of the interior space of the building did not need electric lighting, but made use of daylighting tubes. At the same time, the position of the setting of daylighting tubes was in line with the angle changes of the wall, following the sun's movement track, so that there were enough lights in the room every day. In terms of drainage, learned from the Rain Screen principle and left gaps between the brick veneer and the concrete wall for drainage. The final wall height is 3400mm. I used 10 sheets of A0 paper to complete the section. It seemed that had built this wall by hand during the process of drawing, which gave me a deeper understanding of the design and building structure.

Tsinghua Fall 2020, Design Studio (3)

Collaboration with Zeyu Yang Instructor:Shan Tu

Tsinghua Spring 2021, Sculpture-making Practice (3)

Individual Work

Instructor:Zhenglong Xu

Shuyu Graden My song, Our song

Tsinghua Fall 2020, Design Studio (4) Collaboration with Kexin Chen, Weijin Yuan Instructor:You Wu

A Box that Blends into the Environment Chair 49 The Roots The Language of Architecture

Tsinghua Fall 2021, Furniture Design

Individual Work Instructor:Tiejun Liu

Tsinghua Spring 2021, Traditional Chinese Garden design Collaboration with Haogang Wu Instructor:Xiaofeng Fang

Selected photos 2019-2022 Individual Work

E-mail: wuyuchen_2311@163.com Tel: 86-18811788676