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WORK SAMPLE | 2012-2020
Mengru Wang Washington University in St. Louis mengruwang@wustl.edu 3142290956
Mengru Wang EDUCATION
WORKING EXPERIENCE
+1 (314) 229-0956 mengruwang@wustl.edu NYC
Washington University in St. Louis | Master of Architecture | U.S.A
2017-2019
Shenyang Jianzhu University | Bachelor of Architecture | China
2012-2017
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners | Junior Designer | NYC
2020.2 -7
Projects: Residential & Hotel (CD), Office & Headquarters (SD), Mixed-use Projects in Jerusalem Assisted revit modeling and DWG plan Managed enscape renderings and photomontage for perspectives, obliques and plans Paticipated in lobby interior design and residential plan
Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects [LOHA] | Architectural Intern | L.A
2019 Summer
Projects: Technology office (SD), Duplex (SD), Homeless Center Renovation (SD), Single Family (DD) Managed concept diagrams, presentation drawings, physical modeling, landscape programming Assisted schematic design options, facade design, code check, DWG plan, precedent research Implemented interior and facade rendering
Kengo Kuma & Associates | Architectural Intern | Tokyo
2018 Summer
Projects: Bug Museum (SD), Mixed-Use Development Developed schematic design options and presentation document Paticipated in physical modeling in different scales
Atelier Li Xinggang | Architectural Intern | Beijing
2016 Summer
Projects: Housing Development (CD), Tourist Center at Great Wall (SD) Developed facade details and elevation design Participated in schematic modeling and drawings
Teaching Assistant | WashU Graduate Core Studio AWARDS
SKILLS & INTERESTS
AIA Central States Region Student Design Competition | 1st Prize WashU Scholarships and Grants Guyu Cup National Design Competition | 2nd Prize Autodesk Revit Cup National Design Competition | 3rd Prize HYP Cup International Design Competition | Honor City Regeneration Competition in Architecture Design for Fushun | Top 30 Provincial Government Scholarship | Liaoning Provincial Department of Education Excellent Studio Design | Shenyang Jianzhu University Digital: Revit, Enscape, Rhino, AutoCAD, Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, V-ray, SketchUp Language: English, Chinese
2018 Fall
2017 2017-2019 2016 2015 2015 2015 2015 2014
DEPTH - FRAMING INFINITY
“Infinity is not the object of a cognition nor is it an immense object, exceeding the horizons of the look. It is the desire that measures the infinity of the infinite, for it is a measure through the very impossibility of measure.” -Nicholas Temple
Depth is the dimension that contemporaneously unites and separates, that is, although my here is “linked” to a there, I also see, at the same time, from here, that the there is a place in which I am not. If depth means distance from here, then it involves self-perception and is continuously changing as the observer moves. Depth is relative distances or the “thick” third dimension, is not directly or immediately visible. When we add depth to a primarily flat and static image produced by a twodimensional axis, the visible cues hints the hidden information beyond through the association of learned. The visible can be the implication of the invisible. “To perceive the persistences of surfaces that are out of sight is also to perceive their coexistence with those that are in sight”. The hidden surfaces beyond cannot be perceived, but can be conceived through our mind and by our body. The hidden dimension is projected as a gradient of the decreasing optical size (3D) and increasing optical density (2D) of the space. The reinterpretation of depth is a visible surface recession.
CONTENT
01 UNWIND PRIVACY Share House in L.A 02 FRAMING INFINITY Spa 03 THE LAND OF MANY PALACES Vertical Ecosystem in Ghost City 04 ONE MORE ROOM Collective Housing in Sandeigo de Compostela 05 LABYRINTH OF LIGHT Public Archive in Venice 06 UNFOLDING CITYSCAPE Levitation Research Center in Chicago 07 TIME FALL Tea House in Subsidence Area 08-11 PROFESSIONAL WORK 12 OTHER WORK
UNWIND PRIVACY For Sharing | Share House | L.A Domestic mutations in the age of sharing paradigm are attributed to advances in communication and information technologies with the advent of the World Wide Web. The sharing economy dissolutes conventional boundaries between the shared and the unshared to accommodate transient residents and their accompanying needs. Typology “Spiral” provides varying degrees of access as people move through the private and the public. At every turn of the spiral, the working, living, sleeping realms unfold – views are framed, materials softened, light is conditioned for different social and spatial scenarios. Within each unit, residents occupy their own unique program such as day-lit bathtub, garden view, independent entrance, or guest room. Outside of the sleeping core, co-housing communities overlap which create ambiguous thresholds for both interior and exterior spaces. There are 6 small units created by a series of spirals that formed layers of privacy.
FRAMING INFINITY For Sensation|Spa|St. Louis|Degree Project|Individual Project|Julie Bauer “Floating” on the edge between Mississippi river and north river front lake, the spa project merged within the forest with six different “organs” growingg to different views. These are the vessels for intertwining outer perception and inner sensation. Dynamic experience unfolded by continuous surfaces and distinctive spatial relationships with trees, water, sky and terrain. When flood comes, the swimming pool rise, the mud room submerged and the body position is constantly changing with the surroundings.
THE LAND OF MANY PALACES For Growing | Vertical Ecosystem | Ghost City in China Ordos, the biggest ghost city in China, possesses completed facilities and adequate local administration, but few people live there except for the local farmers. Lacking social connections and drivers of economy growth, Ordos became the sacrifice of greedy GDP demands. The vertical farm incorporates solar energy, wind power and network grids within the existing abandoned concrete towers to raise livestock and vegetation with new technologies. The vertical ecosystem acts as a prototype and in the next 50 years, more towers will be adapted for different uses to realize its industrial and culture transformation.
ONE MORE ROOM For Living | Collective Housing | Spain Santiago is one of the three main centers of Christian pilgrimage whose peregrination has become both culturally significant and a main tourist attraction in Spain. Due to the rising housing costs, most people live with their family for their whole life. To accommodate the needs of family members in different life periods, the flexibility of rooms and the thresholds between the dwelling interior, the neighbors and the city are increasingly important. Public realms overlap diagonally to extend views and to be experienced as a whole. While approaching to the private zone, in-between spaces create gradients of privacy by controlling the views and filtering the sound. There is no corridor, only undefined rooms for latent use. Sleeping, eating, working, and living spaces can be altered with different furniture layouts when the situation changes. Due to the harsh weather in Santiago, the enclosure intermediate between the exterior and interior working as wet room or double faรงade system.
LABYRINTH OF LIGHT For Reading | Public Archive | Venice Beginning with an idea about what the archive “desire[s] to be”(Kahn), project acts as a place of experience to archive, read and research in Arsenale area of Venice. The volumes of archive and reading interpenetrate each other and create the space for research. The lower part, archive, is anchored to the earth due to the heavy loads and strict light control for the rare book. The upper reading space frames the sky with different openings and ceiling heights for different light intensity and oriented views. The intersection, communication space, has qualities of both archive and reading space with direct access to each. Inspired by the maze-like fabric of Venice, the in-between spaces are designed as a series of layered “L-shaped” rooms where the volumes intertwine both vertically and horizontally from the reading to the archive spaces. The whole building lifts up one floor for the high tides, acqua alta, which is used as a temporary exhibition space open to the public.
UNFOLDING CITYSCAPE For Working | Levitation Research Center | Chicago Pioneer Court was a great civic space at the time of its development in 1965 and has hosted numerous art installations, performances, civic events, advertising events and festivals. On this site, the project aims to unfold urban context vertically by mixing with different programs: office, research center, gardens for both the staff and the city.
TIME FALL For Meditating | Tea House | Subsidence Area in China A large area in Fushun is sinking due to the extraction of coal under the city. Rather than using typical structures to protect building from sinking, the tea house creates an opportunity by marking time through the sinking condition. Expanded stairs anchored in ground stretching day by day enable people to come down to the bottom of the holes. Looking at the scar of excavation, people can reflect on the relationship between human activities and nature.
OTHER WORK
TRADITIONAL CHINESE PAINTING Rythm of Lotus Personal Work Painted in 2008 - middle school
AI Misreading Objects Through Machine Learning Ostagram Process + Physical Modeling Layers 2018 Spring Individual Work