+43 66565786054
zishenliu@outlook.com
ZISHEN LIU
Application for Part II Architectural Assistant
Zishen Liu (04.02.1994)
Master of Architecture (MArch)
zishenliu@outlook.com
+43 66565786054
Dresdner Strasse 107/134, 1200, Wien
Zishen Liu graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing (2012-2017) and received his Master of Architecture (MArch) from the University of Applied Arts Vienna (2018-2022) with the Recognition Award for the Excellent Graduates from the City of Vienna (Anerkennungspreis für ausgezeichnete Absolvent der Stadt Wien).
Currently, Zishen Liu is an architect and currently occupies a position at a Viennese architectural practice, where he applies skills in research, design and representation. Parallel to his work with conceptual clarity and architectural visualization, he also engages in personal investigations that explore the interrelationships between architecture, sociology, anthropology, and politics.
EDUCATION
2019.10 - 2022.03
2018.10 - 2019.07
2016.03 - 2016.04
2012.09 - 2017.07
University of Applied Arts Vienna | Studio díazmoreno garcíagrinda Master of Architecture, Graduated with Distinction
University of Applied Arts Vienna | Studio Kazuyo Sejima Master of Architecture
University of Westminster | Faculty of Architecture & the Built Environment Exchange Student
Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) | School of Architecture Bachelor of Architecture, Graduated with Honour
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2022.07 - 2023.05
the next ENTERprise Architects | Vienna | Junior Architect Oberösterreich Haus Wien | Design Development & Detailed Design DOMUS Micro Apartment | Concept Design Wachtberg Weissman Haus | Concept Design Geh - Und RadwegbrÜcke Murfeld - Feldkirchen | Competition Zentrum Hart bei Graz | Competition El Lissitzky: The Self-Portrait as the Kestner Gesellschaft | Exhibition Architecture Design
2020.08 - 2020.10
StudioVlayStreeruwitz | Vienna | Architecture Intern Die Grosse Chance | Competition Das Städtchen Neu-Leo | Competition
2019.08 - 2019.10
AZL Architects | Nanjing | Architecture Intern Tangshan Future Garden | Competition Jiangsu Garden Exposition Main Entrance | 3D Modeling in Construction Phase
2017.11 - 2018.03
2017.10 - 2017.11
2017.08 - 2017.10
2016.06 - 2016.09
YGD Group | Beijing | Assistant Architect Lijiang Mayland Planning Project | Concept Design & Design Development
URBANUS | Beijing | Architecture Intern The Grand Canal Creative Center | Concept Design
Tao Lei Architect Studio | Beijing | Architecture Intern CAFA Shandong Art Education Center | Concept Design
OPEN Architecture | Beijing | Architecture Intern Chengdu Luxelake A3 Complex Project | Concept Design Tsinghua Ocean Center | Graphic Design and Publishing
ACADEMIC HONORS
2022.07
Recognition Award for the Excellent Graduates from the City of Vienna Anerkennungspreis für ausgezeichnete Absolvent der Stadt Wien Award Winner
2022.02
2020.03
2017.12
2017.06
IoA Diploma Master Thesis Distinction
Die Angewandte @ Biennale d’Architettura di Venezia 2020 First Prize
China National Advanced Institute of Fine Arts Student Work Exhibition Excellent Design Award
Central Academy of Fine Arts Graduation Design Thesis Award Third Prize
Contents
ACADEMIC WORKS
Ghost in the Ruins
An Alternative Urbanism in Guangzhou Urban Village
Embracing Toxicity
Reconstructing the Landfill Against Environmental and Spatial Rasicm in Pata Rât
Traces of Machland Rethinking Danube Rural Landscape
Another Nature
Educational Landscape Architecture Interacting with Water
The Ink Factory
Production and Reproduction in Rural Areas of Southern Anhui
Vertical Street
Social Housing for A Transitory Community in East London
PROFESSIONAL WORKS
Oberösterreich Haus Wien
El Lissitzky: The Self-Portrait as the Kestner Gesellschaft
Glanzstoff Areal Micro-Apartments
Geh- und Radwegbrücke Murfeld - Feldkirchen
Zentrum Hart bei Graz
Die Grosse Chance
Das Städtchen Neuleo
Tangshan Future Garden
The Grand Canal Creative Center
CAFA Shandong Art Education Center
Lakeshore Peaks
Ghost in the Ruins
An Alternative Urbansim in Guangzhou Urban Village
The New Civic Studio díazmoreno garcíagrinda, 2021-2022
Individual Work
Professor: Cristina Díaz Moreno & Efrén García Grinda (amid.cero9)
Teaching Assistant: Anna Gulińska, Lorenzo Peri, Zsuzsa Péter, Hannes Traupmann
Jury: Matthias Boeckl, Jennifer Bonner, Mario Carpo, Brian Cody, Greg Lynn, Wolf Mangelsdorf, Baerbel Mueller, Karin Raith, Hani Rashid, Wolfgang Tschapeller, Bernd Vlay
IoA Distinction Diploma Master Thesis
Recognition Award for the Excellent Graduates from the City of Vienna
https://www.architektur-aktuell.at/news/ghost-in-the-ruins-an-alternativeurbanism-in-xian-village https://www.dieangewandte.at/en/press/presse_detail?presse_ id=1642059776728
https://issuu.com/leozshen/docs/zishen_liu_11743223_historyofarchitectureintegrati
In the past two decades, urban villages were constantly facing the threat of demolition and blind regeneration. The government in collusion with developers implemented a top-down development mode which resulted in the static conventions of central planning for a formal city. This process has become a typical paradigm of China’s urbanization, leading to many problems such as identity, cultural loss, displacement, and gentrification. As a low-threshold entry point to the city, urban villages accommodate most of the poor and vulnerable rural migrant population and become the implicit foundation of the country’s economic growth by providing cheap urban living space for low-cost labour. The central planning did not make a plan for the rural migrant population. Without urban villages, rural migrants who flowed into cities have nowhere to refuge. As a particular case, in the last urban village of Guangzhou CBD, the villagers spontaneously carried out an occupation movement against the government’s forced demolition. The village became an anarchic rights-defending common, and the power of the grassroots stopped the demolition process for more than ten years.
Based on this context, the project proposes an alternative to the existing paradigm of China’s urbanization, through incremental occupation, gradually transforming the ruins into a self-sufficient urban enclave. Through the re-materialization of the debris in the site, enclosures are built on the destroyed houses of the original village, forming an archaeological landscape to reveal the violence done to the land and evoke collective memory. Different types of public spaces are inserted into the site. The reciprocal relationship between multiple actors develops an inclusive strategy that includes different social classes. The form of architecture is translated from the radical aesthetics of the working-class subcultural group Shamate. Bamboo scaffolding and translucent construction net form a bottom-up construction method, and the resistant form constitutes a ghost among the ruins.
The project provide free rights to this inch of golden land, making it a place for whoever comes to the city, to achieve it through solidarity movement instead of exploitation, and through sharing resources rather than accumulation of wealth.
The villagers held banquet for 1,000 people on the playground of the former site of primary school to celebrate the Lantern Festival. This gathering was initiated by the demolished households. The last Lantern Festival in the village is said to have been 61 years ago. The villagers will get the compensation of demolition with the same area as their own house, which means that most of them will get several apartments worth millions of yuan. The resettlement space is 33-storey luxury residential tower. The drawing shows the temporary assembly hall built during the resettlement ceremony, and the huge pro-resettlement banners hanging, saying ‘Be of one heart and one mind, we will go home as soon as possible.’ 12.08.2010 Forced Demolition of Collective Property Sit-in Protest under the Banyan Tree Forced Eviction The Xian village market, which belongs to the collective property of the villagers, was forced to demolish. Violent clashes occurred that night. More than 2,000 riot police surrounded the village, they used tear gas to expel the crowd. 16 excavators drove in and destroyed the iron shack of the market piece by piece. The largest market in this area was razed to the ground in one night. Villagers sat and protested under hundred-year-old banyan tree at the entrance of the village. Banyan tree is known as the guardian of village since long time ago. After the protests, the government imposed forced evictions. Water and electricity to houses were cut off, and police and machinery forced villagers to evict. Family Feast in Lantern Festival Resettlement Ceremony 13.08.2010 2010 - 2011 19.02.2013 25.01.2018
The project proposed an incremental occupation strategy. A wall, a market, gardens and playgrounds are constructed in a time sequence. In the first step, a wall is built at the original village boundary to enclose the entire site. Second, a linear market penetrates through the site, connecting two diagonal corners and opening the wall as the entrances. In the third step, gardens gradually grow from the market to the wall. Finally, a series of playgrounds are built.
1. Wall
2. Market
3. Garden
4. Garden
5. Garden 6. Playground
Embracing Toxicity
The Other NATOS
Studio díazmoreno garcíagrinda, 2019-2020 Team Work with Georgios Albanis
Professor: Cristina Díaz Moreno & Efrén García Grinda (amid.cero9), Teaching Assistant: Anna Gulińska, Gregorio S.Lubroth, Niklāvs Paegle, Lorenzo Peri, Zsuzsa Péter, Hannes Traupmann, Indrė Umbrasaitė Critics: Barbara Campbell-Lange, Juan Elvira, Tom Emerson, Jiminez Lai, John McMorroph, Baerbel Mueller, Lina Streeruwitz
Die Angewandte @ Biennale d’Architettura di Venezia 2020 Installation Competition: First Prize Studio Distinction
https://www.dezeen.com/2020/06/20/institute-of-architecture-vienna-vdf-school-shows/ https://www.diazmorenogarciagrinda.at https://www.ioacabinet.at
The Roma community in Cluj-Napoca has been subjected to eviction and forced to live in precarious conditions near the Pata Rat open-air landfill, where they face social and material discrimination and isolation. The project aims to challenge the status quo of this stigmatized community by improving the environment of the landfill, reshaping a new landscape, and providing Roma with daily collective living spaces. The toxicity of the landfill is transformed into floating inflatables, which seeks to revive the cultural heritage and crafts of the Roma community. The inflatables become a cheerful symbol of Roma culture that unites people and frames public platforms for inspiring better understanding and cooperation between communities.
Traces of Machland
River
Studio Kazuyo Sejima, 2018WS
Team Work with Merve Sahin, Ying Wang
Professor: Kazuyo Sejima (SANAA)
Teaching Assistant: Lucy Styles, Anna Gulińska, Gregorio S.Lubroth, Hannes Traupmann, Indrė Umbrasaitė
Critics: Cristina Díaz Moreno & Efrén García Grinda (amid.cero9), Tsuyoshi Tane
Studio Distinction
Machland, situated along the Danube river, is a floodplain region that has been frequently affected by floods, forcing settlements to relocate to the edges of the flood zone. Over time, human intervention and flood impacts have transformed the Danube from its natural state to a highly engineered waterway. Although the two sides of the river have been preserved as a biological nature reserve, the dominant artificial canal and human activities have obscured the history and memory of the region. To address this issue, the project proposes a territorial strategy that involves the intervention of a series of pointal elements into the flood area. These elements include wells, communal centers, observation towers, and birdhouses. They utilize water resources, provide functional spaces, and serve as markers for the local population, making the history of the region legible. By reconnecting the existing settlements with the Danube, these markers become traces of Machland, linking the unforgotten past, present, and future.
2006 1859 1715 1812 1829 1832
Another Nature
River
Studio Kazuyo Sejima, 2019SS
Team Work with Ying Wang
Professor: Kazuyo Sejima (SANAA)
Teaching Assistant: Lucy Styles, Anna Gulińska, Gregorio S.Lubroth, Hannes Traupmann, Indrė Umbrasaitė
Critics: Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA), Maki Onishi and Yuki Hyakuda (o+h)
How do we define nature? Machinery exploitation has transformed the earth, and nature has been completely replaced. In the fissures of the concrete forest, pieces of fragmented pseudo-natural space have become our respite, and the real nature has been forgotten by us. The project revisits the notion of nature and seeks the relationship between architecture and nature. It does not mean re-naturalization, but makes the logic behind it legible, and proposes an alternative form of nature in the future.
Based on the territorial strategy from the first semester, the project seeks to revisits the notion of nature and its architectural definition. One of the architectural strategies for the public space is an educational space that offers three different artificial natural spatial experiences, which at the same time interact closely with the water when floods come, forming a new nature. The boulder landscape on the ground floor supports the interior part of the building and at the same time serves as a shelter in the occasion of a flood. The building part is a concise concrete slab with different cave spaces carved out of it. The roof of the building is an undulating garden. Deriving from Gilles Clement’s concept of the third landscape, It is a testing ground where gardening is reduced and plants are allowed to grow wildly and uncontrollable, supporting biodiversity not found anywhere else.
The Ink Factory
The Return of the Poetics and the New Narratives of the Countryside
CAFA Architecture Studio 16, 2017
Individual Work
Instructor: Keren He, David Porter, Siyong Liu
Jury: Li Hua (TAO), Wenjing Huang (OPEN Architecture), Wei He, Sizheng Fan
CAFA Graduation Design Thesis Award: Third Prize
China National Advanced Institute of Fine Arts Student Work
Exhibition: Excellent Design Award
The project challenges the conventional approach to rural tourism in China by proposing a participatory and locally-oriented alternative. It aims to protect and preserve the cultural heritage of the area by introducing the production of traditional inksticks, a local handicraft that is at risk of disappearing. The production process is spatialized, creating a social tool that integrates work and living spaces. The factory-like space not only meets the needs of low-cost construction but also serves as an architectural prototype that can be applied to other villages facing similar challenges.
Vertical Street
CAFA London Exchange Program, 2016
Individual Work
Instructor: John Zhang, David Porter, Keren He
CAFA Exchange Student Work Exhibition: Excellent Work
North Woolwich is a deprived neighbourhood that was previously dominated by industry and infrastructure. Demographic changes to the local residents reflected its decline, although it remained quintessentially working class. The project aims to respond to this context by providing a transitory living and social space for the working class. The proposal focuses on unused land along the abandoned North Woolwich railway tracks. A linear volume is extending from the old railway station along the tracks. The housing units are connected through a long corridor and some temporary living boxes and gardens are inserted every few floors giving the permeability of architecture. This verticality of the block of flats versus the horizontalness of the linear street-like architecture, while the in-between garden shows the duality of building and nature.
Section Ground Floor Plan Section
Oberösterreich Haus Wien
the next ENTERprise Architects, 07.2022 - 04.2023
Site: Vienna, Austria
Team Work with Christoph Neuwirth, Alexander Holzmann, Inès Klausberger, Serdar Öztürk
Role in the Team: Design Development, 3D Modeling, Rendering
The New Man, The Announcer, The Constructor.
El Lissitzky: The Self-Portrait as the Kestner Gesellschaft
Exhibition Architecture Design
the next ENTERprise Architects, 05-07.2023
Site: Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover, Germany
Role in the Team: Concept Design, Technical Drawing, 3D Modeling, Presentation Document Preparation
https://kestnergesellschaft.de/en/exhibition/68
Glanzstoff Areal Micro-Apartments
the next ENTERprise Architects, 09-11.2023
Site: St. Pölten, Austria
Team Work with Lukas Kochendörfer, Conrad Dorninger
Role in the Team: Concept Design, Technical Drawing, 3D Modeling, Presentation Document Preparation
Geh- und Radwegbrücke Murfeld - Feldkirchen
Competition Murfeld Brücke Graz the next ENTERprise Architects, 02-03.2023
Site: Graz, Austria
Team Work with Lukas Kochendörfer, Christoph Neuwirth, Conrad Dorninger, Serdar Öztürk, Alexander Holzmann
Role in the Team: 3D Modeling and Rendering
Fourth Place Recognition Prize
Zentrum Hart bei Graz
Competition Gestaltung Ortszentrum Hart bei Graz the next ENTERprise Architects, 03-04.2023
Site: Graz, Austria
Team Work with Lukas Kochendörfer, Christoph Neuwirth, Conrad Dorninger, Serdar Öztürk
Role in the Team: 3D Modeling, Diagram, Perspectives
Die Grosse Chance
Competition Fernbus-Terminal + Anbindung An Stadion-Center
StudioVlayStreeruwitz, 08-09.2020
Site: Vienna, Austria
Team Work with Mariam AI Gorgi, Osama Almughanniinal
Role in the Team: Terminal Concept Design, 3D Modeling, Rendering and Competition Document Preparation
https://www.vlst.at/prj/die-grosse-chance-2/#1
Das Städtchen Neuleo
Competition Neu-Leopoldau
StudioVlayStreeruwitz, 09-10.2020
Site: Vienna, Austria
Team Work with Anna Billinger, Oscar Binder, Ruben Stadler
Role in the Team: 3D Modeling, Rendering, Perspectives
First Prize
https://www.vlst.at/prj/das-staedtchen-neuleo/#1
Tangshan Future Garden
International Design Competition of Jiangsu Garden Exposition
AZL Architects, 08-09.2019
Site: Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
Team Work with Haibo Jin, Siyao Hong, Ying Tang, Yongjie Pan
Role in the Team: Concept Design, Site Research & Analysis, 3D Modeling & Rendering, Hotel Technical Drawing
The Grand Canal Creative Center
URBANUS, 10-11.2017
Site: Tianjin, China
Team Work with Na Zheng, Xiang Yao, Xuecheng Liang
Role in the Team: 3D Modeling, Diagram, Perspectives
http://www.urbanus.com.cn/projects/the-grand-canal-creative-center/
CAFA Shandong Art Education Center
Tao Lei Architect Studio, 08-10.2020
Site: Jinan, Shandong, China
Team Work with Zhen Chen, Weixin Zhao, Ni Zhao, Muling ZhouYu, Renfang Man
Role in the Team: Concept Design, 3D Modeling, Rendering and Competition Document Preparation
http://www.i-taoa.com/projectinfo/123
Lakeshore Peaks
OPEN Architecture, 07-10.2016
Site: Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Team Work with Qing Ye, Boji Hu, Ren Luo, Bingjie Shi, Sai Ma, Vincent Lai
Role in the Team: Physical Model Making, Site Research, Competition Document Preparation
http://www.openarch.com/task/531
