ms folio

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URBANISM

ARCHITECTURE


1.

5th year thesis Instructor: Jerry Wells, Jenny Sabin

Potala Square

for Buddhism Learning

Pilgrims and tourists are the two opposite forces that constantly shape the socio-religious landscape of present day Lhasa. Although they share the same physical space, the two groups of people occupy and understand space drastically differently: pilgrims prostrate in space, whereas the others walk in space. As a response to bring together these two contradicting groups of people in the town-scape, a Buddhism mandala map is imagined on the center of Lhasa, the Potala Square. The mental mandala ďŹ eld unfolds itself physically on the landscape as one walks in it. The ďŹ eld essentially creates a space for Buddhism studies for everybody.


Typical Tibetan daily activities Traditionally, tibetans do not work. They devote their lives to increase their Karma.

Political use of the Plaza The Square is modelled on Beijing’s Tian’anmen Square, symbolizing the Party’s power here.

Site Study Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, is a city that is shaped by many contradicting factors: religious vs secular, autonomous vs Communism, holy vs commercial, and so forth. These elements exist simultaneously, but not harmoniously on this land. The challenge for this thesis is to propose an opportunity that would allow the most people to experience the true Tibet. view of the Palace from the Square

Boulevard entering ciry center

View of the Square from the Palace Tourists activities

Photo-shooting, shopping, wondering around, participate in worshipping rituals, etc.

View of commercial street in front of the Temple

Pilgrims activities

Pilgrims from outter area prostrate to Lhasa in every three steps they walk till Johkang Temple.

Tibetans who prostrate to enter Lhasa

On streets of Lhasa, pilgrims and tourists are the two biggest opposite forces that constantly negotiate on the socio-religious landscape of present day Lhasa. Although they share the same physical space, the two groups of people occupy and understand space drastically differently: pilgrims prostrate in space, whereas the others walk


Study of Prostration

a. the movement -study documenting how the head, shoulders, arms, legs, knees and feet work together to produce the movement

Tibetans prostrate to the ground in every three steps they walk. For most pilgrims, this means the journey to Lhasa can take several months to years, if the journey consists of crossing the ridges and valleys of the Himalayan Mountains. The challenge of overcoming such tremendous physical difďŹ culties is meaningful in Tibetan Buddhism philosophy: this ritualized

prostration custom is a self-denial of desire and enactments of struggle which will greatly increase their Karma towards Enlightenment, or Buddhahood, if sucessfully overcome. b. the space -the physical occupied space generated through the series moves of prostration

c. the soundscape -the space of sound and its amptitude generated through moves of prostra-



The mandala is basically a circle inscribed within a square. It is laid out by a ritual “squaring of the circle”, is centered, is square, and is strictly oriented in accordance with the directions of space.

Mandala

The lines of the mandal are lines fo Breath. The thread of attachment is the vertical axis, equivalent to the Cosmic Tree, Pillar, Ladder or Moutain. It strings the worlds together like beads upon a necklace, connecting them to each other and all to their common source. The structure of the cosmo.

breath-threads

Configuration

The knot of individual existance corresponds to the point of intersection of the threads of the net. The symbolism is ambivalent: for those who are still attched to samsara, the knot of indicidual exiastence is a good; its untying is death. From the essential viewpoint, however, the knot is a constraint, an entanglement. To untie the knot is to be liberated, from mortal to be immortal.

breath-knots

The square of the mandala is subdivided into smaller squares by a gridwork of lines, and within these squares Buddhas, Bodhisattaves and Gods are installed, arranged according to the structuring principles of a paradigmatic model that expresses the cosmic pattern of the universe in the image of a network of theophanies. This grid pattern of theophanic nodal points is rich in associations and symbolic correlations.

Similarly the net, which has a beneficent aspect when viewed as the pattern of order. It regulates the world and rules out chaos and confusion, and binds together the wolrd and the being. It is also a net of Death, a constraint and a constriction, that must be cut away if the transcendent realms of unresticted Freedom are to be attained.

breath-nets: 9 x 9 =81

1

1

3

5

7

9

3 5

D

C B

A

7 9

The myths associated with the mandala reitereate the theme of bounding; the laying out of mandala is a demarcation rite, a ritualistic definition of boundaries.

supportive-functional

in-out

Mandala charts a journey of excursion and return, an expansion from the center to the periphery, and a contraction from the periphery to the center, an alternating centrifugal and centripetal movement relates to rythms as the exhalation and inhalation of the breadth.

center-periphery

Study of Mandala As a response to bring together these two contradicting groups of people in the townscape, a Buddhism mandala map is imagined on the site. Because of the specific meanings and usage of a mandala, it would be a meaningful gesture to translate the cognitive existance into physical experience in space. Thus, the way one walks in the physical space would reinforce one’s mental tracing of a mandala; and the meditation on deities teachings would become a physically existed visual experience that could be shared with tourists and other non-Buddhists.



From cognitive to physical Mandala After a visitor passes the gate, he would enter the field and begin the of sinking down. At first, his head is still above the ground level while his body is submerged within the column field. As he moves forward, people from outside of the plaza would be able to see his head moving and eventually disappeared from the columns.

At the next stage, his entire body is below ground level. However, because of the deformation of the landscape topography, he still stands at a higher point than the people in front of him. Here, he would have a God-like perspective of viewing other people’s activities.

Continuously, he moves towards the denser area of the column forest where the columns are much wider and taller than himself. Here, he could stand in the center of the concentric moire pattern of the ground and view the scripture on columns around him. For the columns within the concentric rings all belong to one deity’s teaching. And the center he stands represents the seat for this specific deity.

Finally, he arrives at the center of the field. Here, the columns are at a more intimate scale to the visitor: they are shorter and smaller, almost at the same measurement of a human body. A visitor would feel the space above his head is suddenly opened up. He would look up into the sky and at the Potala Palace, which he is gradually approaching.

In the end, he arrives at the open section of the plaza where columns are sparsely arranged and are much shorter. This is the gathering place before one moves out of the gate and crosses street to the Potala Palace.



2.

ULI/Gerald D. Hines Urban Design Competition (2013) Instructor: H. Pike Oliver Pike Honorable Mention

LOOPolis

team:

architecture urban planning landscape real estate

role: concept design, architecuture design, diagramatic analysis (trafďŹ c, parking, landuse, activities), site research, visualization

LOOPolis is about completion, connectivity, and community. It’s about transforming an undeveloped expanse at the edge of downtown East Minneapolis into a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood; a sea of parking lots into a model of walkability and bikeability; a region with no identity into a lively community pulsing with young families, young professionals, and still-young retirees. It’s about honoring past visions for a complete downtown, for a continuous greenway circling the city, and for new centers of opportunity for families, businesses, and college graduates, while envisioning anew and closing the loop on what downtown Minneapolis could become.



CREATING

COMPLETING

year-round activities

streetlife

public transit oriented street redevelopment

green roof

work/live units

-weekly farmers' market -community events -movie night -picnic

-business lunch -grocery shopping -dog walking -strolling

Weekday

Weekend

-Superbowl -Music festival -Movie festival

Festival

COMMUNITY 5th Ave.

library

oor retail

cooling roof with vegetation cover

vibrant street life

Portland Ave.

restaurant/cafe

Light Rail station

central plaza

c corridor

movie theatre recreation center

Park Ave.

Chicago Ave. Section A-A

0

100

200 feet


3.

ADEPT Architects International Urban Design Competition for Shenzhen, China 23.7 square kilometers

Green River City Guanlan

role: Urban Design Research Analysis Final Production


Existing Condition

Concept

Design Aspects

1.boundary

industry develoment

green belt and open space

Current landuse can be roughly divided into three parts: residential and sporadic commercial on the south, heavy manufacture in the middle, and automobile factories and residentail on the north.

Green space of the site only accounts for 1.7 percent of total land area. The current urban ecology is fragile because most city parks or plazas are separated by buildings and roads. The green accessibility is poor.

The concept “Green Rivers City” attempts to link the district’s unique characteristics, the nature, leisure, industrial and culture by creating important connected public spaces for a new linear city. The Green Rivers City allows visitors to tour the special places in the various neighborhoods while creating a more diverse city for locals to live.

2. cross-river connection

Chicago model 3. distinct urban fabrics in each neighborhood

Hong Kong model

water system

existing road hierarchy

Existing rivers, ponds and lakes posess the possibility to form an urban water network. We sort to strengthen this natural attributes and allow residents to enjoy water activities conveniently.

Because of the poor transportation system, the north-south direction traffic constantly jams. It is caused by insufficient street branches from within urban fabrics to the external highways.

4. green axis connectivity Singapore model


Urban Design for Historic-Tourist Island

The Historic-tourist Island locates on the northern end of the River. It is currently occupied by various factories from automobile industry. In the center, surrounded by many warehouses, a historic old town is wellpreserved. The design scheme calls for re-position of the area: from industrial and urban village residential, to a leisure island with educational and touristic facilities. Trees and river branches circumscribe the site to create tis island position, and sift through the site along major paths to bring in green connectivity, linking both sides of the River. While maximally preserving the old town texture, new programs such as ofďŹ ces and watch towers, are incorporated within the old buildings to explore new uses. 1. urban grid

2. open space

3. paths sub divide urban grid

4. building outlines conform to paths

green axis sifting across historic-tourist island and across the river


4.

ADEPT Architects One Center One Garden competition for Guangzhou central axis

Connected Courtyard

Gardens within a Garden

role: Courtyard garden design Cultural research Renderings Sections


Schematic Design

Existing Condition

A. general rule

The planned scheme follows the city with rigidity, rationality, and order, while Haizhu Lake follows nature emphasizing flexibility, irrationality, and disorder. y

1. scale

2. transportation

3. landuse 1. base grid

2. fit the program

3. avoid straight axis to enhence connectivity

B. apply on site

The city of Guangzhou with both a fast urbanization and a rich cultural heritage faces a dilemma in choosing how to develop rapidly while maintaining it’s culture. In a few years, the planned Southern Green Central Axis will transform the nearby underdeveloped areas into a new city with skyscrapers and big commercial development. This project is an attempt to imbue the future city with culture by placing the project in the Haizhu Lake facing the future Green Central Axis.

4. open space

5. green land

6. nearby cultural resources

1. adapt to topography

2. main connections

3. connected courts that form gardens

4. fill to activate

In an effort to allow the city and nature to merge into each other, this scheme uses a new organic grid that can better connect with the surrounding city fabric. It also allows residents and visitors for more easy access. A new organic city is thus created.

C. 6 principles

Southern Chinese Garden Unlike Northern Chinese royal gardens, Southern Gardens are small private gardens constructed usually in different times and in isolated plots. Thus, a cluster of eight gardens is proposed. Northern Garden

1. sustainable transportation

Southern Garden

Wetland overlooking Haizhu Lake

2. various programs

3. various landscapes

4. various paths

5. above-ground connection

6. under-ground connection

Performance Plaza


one garden

east section

For the eight gardens, it is necessary to use an inherent principle to organize the gardens as one entity, and at the same time, to keep the feeling of eight unique solitudes for its cultural inheritability. activities within one garden

sub-divided activities and gardens

west section

Calligraphy Garden

Quyi Garden


5.

3rd year Instructor: Jim Williamson

Dharshan Manhattan





6.

2nd year Instructor: Andrea Simitch, Val Warke

A Rotating Wall House


rs oo td ou r we ho

bo

ok ch she l ai r f

section 1 position 1:all panels open activity: taking shower

bedroom

section 2 position 2: adjusting angle of walls based on body dimension activity: sleeping

e

bl

ng

ta

ni

di

slit

n

e ch

kit

ht

lig it

sl 3

light slit

light

section 3 position 3: ďŹ xed


7.

1st year Instructor: Vince Mulcahy Alex Mergold

Framing Hammonsport The Rock Museum is a frame for the landscape of Hammondsport. Postion and angles of two paths correspond with the mountain edges in the back ground. There are three components: a metal frame structure, two circulation paths, and an exhibition space wrapped with black marble that is only reective in the interior.



8. Wide Arm Chair

Creative Works

A Blind Kitchen Maid’s Table

Foldable Umbrella Stand

(Seipp Memorial Prize Competition- Honorable Mention)


Roman Holiday Scene #1

Roman Holiday Scene #2

Untitled Rome 2012 Spring


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