ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO KXZHOU by kxzhou

Personal Statement My undergraduate studies in Architecture at Wuhan University have driven me to take architecture design as my long-term career goal. Under the large-scale urbanization, the rapid urban development has led to a lot of low-quality buildings that brought out many problems, which stimulated me to absorb the latest architectural ideas to make contribution to China's urban development. Rather than the undergraduate programme that covers too many topics and aspects, the postgraduate programme, in my sense, will offer me a concentrated education with more enriched and updated theoretical knowledge and practical operation. Therefore, I have made my determination to pursue your MSc Architectural & Urban Design programme. After carefully reading your curricular setting, I have found it interesting and challenging of your programme full of the intensity and practicality. Under the guidance of your distinguished faculty and with the benefit of your research and experimentation techniques, I am sure I will be able to ground myself solidly in my chosen career to be engaged in architectural design, to bring my personal design style into urban planning, following rules without losing my vitality to set up an architectural firm with my own unique style. I wish my design can inspire people more thinking. Your program will provide me with many projects and field work to enable me with a deeper understanding of architecture and shape my own architectural thinking to improve people's living environment. I believe I will benefit greatly to improve practical skills and prepare for my future work. At Wuhan University, I have excelled in most of my modules particularly in those that require logical thinking, including Urban Design, and Architectural Design. The courses of Sketch, Watercolour and Sculpture have also improved my artistic accomplishment and aesthetic level. The course Integrated Architectural Design at Dundee University taught me advanced design thoughts. Those courses have laid a good theoretical architectural foundation to pursue your program. Apart from the academic study, I actively joined in projects. Taking the Urban Design Project for example, I proposed the Concept of Central Park, which was greatly appreciated by my professor. In the Living Beside Water Workshop jointly run by the University of Dundee, I cooperated with other 30 students to complete the design and make the presentation. From all those experiences I agree that my practical design skills have been enhanced, while communication is the lubricant to smooth every problem that can assure the project to be accomplished well. Meanwhile, I participated in architectural practices, such as visiting the famous architecture in Suzhou and Hangzhou, sketch learning in Jiangxi, watercolour painting in Heilongjiang and the internship in Enshi Ancient Survey and Mapping, which improved my abilities of observation and sketching of buildings, expression and colour perception. Based on the knowledge in architecture of the small-sized urban planning, as well as my proficiency in utilizing Photoshop, Rhino, Sketch-up and CAD, I have been more desired to pursue for my beloved orientation in architectural design.

Zhou Kaixiang Room 92-2-101, Jinheyuan Apartment, Jianyi South Road, Qingshan District, Wuhan, Hubei Province, P. R. China 466910919@qq.com | +86-18802725201

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

Wuhan University Major: Architecture 09/2015-06/2019 China GPA:3.02/4 Dundee University 09/2018-06/2019 UK

PROJECT EXPERIENCE ● October 2016 Research on Hakka Culture in Fujian October 2017 ● Research on School Soundscape inside Wuhan University May 2018 ● Observational Study on Wuhan Tiandi Historical Block July 2018 ● Joined the Dundee University “Living Beside Water” workshop

PRACTICES

July 2015 ● Participating in the architectural practice to visit the famous architecture in Suzhou and Hangzhou, to experience the unique space, improve and optimize the understanding of excellent architecture July 2016 ● Sketch learning in Jiangxi July 2017 ● Watercolour Painting in Heilongjiang

August 2017 INTERNSHIPS ● Enshi Ancient Survey and Mapping Institute COMPUTER SKILLS Proficient in Microsoft office, Photoshop, Sketchup, ID, AI, Rhino, CAD

CONTENTS

Iron World

04 - 13

Intel Cloud

14 - 23

Shold

24 - 29

Green Band

30 - 39

IRON WORLD Li Hongzhang

Han-yang Steel Factory was founded in 1890, which is the first and largest state-owned iron and steel corporation in modern China. The hands behind the establishment of the factory belong to Zhang Zhidong, famous high-ranking officer in the late Qing Dynasty. From the day on, the Chinese iron and steel industry got off to a stuttering start, which is also taken as the symbol of awakening of China in the eyes of western world.

Wen Xiang

History

Lin Zexu destroyed the opium at the Humen Port

The first AngloChinese War

The Westernization Faction started to introduce advanced technology of western world to save the regime of late Qing Dynasty.

Zhang Zhidong built Hanyang Steel Factory in Han Yang, Wuhan.

A f t e r t h e S e c o n d Wo r l d Wa r, because of the bad market, there were mountain of unmarketable steel and iron left in the factory, plus with debts to Japanese, Han-yang Steel Factory was forced to shut down.

In 1938, Japan invaded. Hanyang Steel Factory had to move to Chongqing to rebuild.

IRON WORLD

Nowadays most of the equipment in Han-yang Steel Factory was shipped to Chongqing, only a few numbers of workshops and mills keep running. Not too many people can be found there, and because of lack of certain facilities, the place is not friendly to visitors and residents living around. At present, there is a small museum in the factory, exhibiting iron and steel products the factory produced in the past, and its history too. But it’s a relatively simple exhibition, first it lacks of guiding boards to direct the visitors here and a unique appearance to attract attention; secondly, the exhibits are not under proper protection due to poor management and simple facilities. But the factory covers a large space, where I want to build a relic park on the basis of its history, allows all kinds of citizens to visit. I plan to reduce the proportion of deserted workshops, enrich the function of the useful ones, making the factory a place where visitors, students, city residents enjoy themselves, a place with vitality in the center of the city.

Site Analysis

IRON WORLD

We have the opportunity of forming out new city world into an imageable landscape: visible, coherent, and clear. It will require a new attitude on the part of the city dweller, and a physical reshaping of his domain into forms which entrance the eye, which organize themselves from level to level in time and space, which can stand as symbols for urban life. The present study yields some clues in this respect. Most objects which we are accustomed to call beautiful, such as a painting or a tree, are single-purpose things, in which, through long development or the impress of one will, there is an intimate, visible linkage from fine detail to total structure. A city is a multi-purpose, shifting organization, a tent for many functions, raised by many hands and with relative speed. Complete specialization, final meshing, is improbable and undesirable. The form must be somewhat noncommittal, plastic to the purposes and perceptions of its citizens. Yet there are fundamental functions of which the city forms may be expressive: circulation, major land-uses, key focal points. The common hopes and pleasures, the sense of community may be made flesh. Above all, if the environment is visibly organized and sharply identified, then the citizen can inform it with his own meanings and connections. Then it will become a true place, remarkable and unmistakable.

—— Kevin Lynch. The image of the city

Kevin Lynch pointed out that creating and strengthening the image of the city can deepen people's understanding of the city, and one of the ways to strengthen the image of the city is to repeat and emphasize its unique elements. For the Han-yang Steel Factory, retain and strengthen its steel element is an important way to enhance its cognition degree. There are many smokes, workshops and various steel structures in the steel mill. Therefore, the focus of the design is on how to recover the steel ruins and retain the steel culture of the steel factory. I hope that the existing workshops will be transformed and reconstructed, but to retain the original structure and to give it new functions.

IRON WORLD

Several workshops and mills are retained. The large-span plant only keeps the structural part, so that there are more possibilities of renovation and utilization for the interior space. The chimney can be retained as a landmark in the park.

A two-tier traffic flow line has been added to the center of the plant. It connects the second floor of each building and has a railway station. It also provides a shelter for the bottom surface.

Add new buildings on the important nodes, like maintenance station, shops, and service area, to perfect the function.

Use railways to connect the parts in the park, which will echo to the theme of the iron factory based park.

The key part in renovation of relics is to build natural landscape. I plan to connect all the areas with a water pool and pedestrian lane in a shape of circle, which would also provide leisure and recreational environment for the citizens.

I add theatre in the large-span plant to meet the needs of catering and entertainment. Also, the large-span plant is perfect place to run large-scale exhibitions, which will give the visitors better experience.

I keep some of the workshops and mills in the Han-yang Steel Factory, to maintain its original architecture features and operation methods. I want to open the safer areas to the public to show them how a real iron factory is running. Also, it would make some cash for the factory.

The whole factory would be a large museum, its structure and frames will be parts of the exhibits. I want to connect the exhibition hall with theatre, restaurant and amusement facilities, and put exhibits all around the park, allowing people to experience the culture of the iron factory while enjoying them. Moreover, some large-span exhibition hall could accommodate big-size machines, and visitors could join in the work in mills and workshops to experience the production process in real.

I plan to reform the natural landscape thoroughly, first to expand the plantation area, move the pedestrian lane to the second floor, where people would have much opener view. This could enrich the space types of the ground landscape too, also it could create halfopen space for activities and meet the needs of different people.

I will add series of affixes, mainly business buildings, to change the income source of the area. It will lead the area shift to more cultural, entertaining and leisure direction and create more job opportunities.

IRON WORLD

INTEL CLOUD

INTEL CLOUD The site is located in a prosperous area near Shahu Lake, Wuhan. The owner hopes to design a shopping mall, a landmark building combining office building and school of art design. From the user's point of view, the art and design college needs more flexible and less formal communication space, while the office area needs more serious and fixed space. Therefore, the integration and contrast of “flexible space” and “fixed space” is the focus of the design. Flexible space is also a variety of spatial forms, active spaces, which may be media centers, lecture halls, or outdoor platforms. These spaces can stimulate a variety of exchanges, to stimulate a variety of inspirations and ideas. The combination of the "flexible space" and the Shahu lake landscape axis, sunshine occlusion effects creates a “flexible space” form of the INTELLIGENCE CLOUD on the East Lake-Shahu Lake axis. At the same time, this is also a direct reflection of the program. The fixed space between the college and the office building is sandwiched between flexible spaces of different shapes. The central part of the Cloud connects the two towers in certain places, thus enhancing the communication between the design practitioners and the students. The structure of the fixed space is based on the modular idea, with four layers as one unit, and the three modules in the unit space are nested with each other, forming the entire tower like a molecular structure. There is some small double-height space inside the unit as a small communication space in the tower.

INTEL CLOUD

SHOLD

SHOLD Drowning always takes large proportion in accidental deaths. In China, about 60,000 to 70,000 people die each year from drowning accidents, among which young people account for the vast majority. Many drowning accidents occur in open waters such as rivers. These places are complex and lacking necessary life-saving resources, are high-risk areas of dangerous accidents Wuhan is hot in summer and therefore swimming is very attractive to the public. There is a swimming pool that has existed for decades in the East Lake. The place was where the swimming class of Wuhan University took place but is now abandoned, but there are still a large number of students and ordinary citizens swimming here every summer. Because of the aged facilities and lack of management, accidents happen frequently, so I hope that through the design of this waterside facility I could improve the safety of swimming, while enriching the content of water entertainment, people can enjoy swimming in summer in a safer environment.

SHOLD

There are many factors that cause drowning, and the main ones include falling into the water, swimming in a dangerous area where swimming is prohibited, sudden illness while swimming, and doing highly dangerous movements while swimming, fatigue caused by convulsions in the water and longtime swimming, etc. Some of these problems can be avoided, but it is difficult for people to save themselves when they encounter some accidents in the water. At this time, other people's help is needed, but in the event of a drowning accident, people can barely reach out to the surface of water to ensure breathing. Although their limbs are struggling in the water but the people on the shore are hard to notice.

We can find that people like to gather to the shore in larger pools or river, where are seen as safer place. If accident happens, people could be easily saved there. These places have more people gathered so it would be easier to be noticed and saved. There are less people further from the shore. Good swimmers like to swim far from the shore, but it’s easier to have accident back to the shore if one got fatigue. And because there are few people, it’s harder to get help.

SHOLD

The swimming site located at the food of Moshan mountain, in the north side of the East Lake, adjacent to Wuhan University. There is a trestle remained there but no safe-ensuring facilities. Even the trestle itself is too narrow for two people to stand side by side. Still, people love to come here to swim, which is very risky.

People should stay in safe distance that they could help each other when accident happens.

The installations are put in the lake so people can get to it easily, in case of accident, it reduces the risk of getting back to the shore with long distance.

Install small devices evenly in the pool, so that people can scatter in the water. Install lifesaving appliances in the pool, people are near them when accidents happen so they could save themselves.

Install entertaining facilities to rich people’s leisure time.

SHOLD

Ensure the lighting during the night

Power up the installations

In order to reduce the contact area of the device and leave larger room for people, I use suspension cable.

Wood board with light weight.

Buried in the ground, so it will not topple over.

Make the device to rotate with the sun and gather more solar energy, and provide shade for people.

SHOLD

It’s entertainment facility, people could rest here, gather here and enjoy the view here.

It provides simple meals and resting area, give people unique dining experience.

It has all kinds of lifesaving measures, make sure people can get help when accident happens.

There is a small stage where activities and ceremony can be held.

GREEN BAND

Climate Analysis

GREEN BAND

Dundee City has a large number of green spaces but they are too scattered, I plan to connect these green spaces through the landscape belt to make them a whole piece. At the same time, to perfect the bicycle system, the pedestrian lane system and the internal facilities of the park, to attract more citizens to participate in outdoor activities, so that the original idle areas can be fully utilized to improve people's living environment.

GREEN BAND

To install metal frames underwater for weeds and scallops to grow on, reducing the impact human activities do to the ocean ecology.

The climate in Dundee is windy, especially at the seaside. So I will grow some strong trees to resist the wind.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME KAIXIANG ZHOU 2019