[ Infrastructural Urbanism: Towards an Operable Built Environment ] Architecture Portfolio Selected works from 2010 - 2017
Fu-Hou Zhang
University of Virginia Master of Architecture, Class of 2017
Infrastructural Urbanism: Towards an Operable Built Environment Exploring architectural and urban design as tools of problemsolving and social innovation, my work seeks to uncover the latent urban forces, conflicts and opportunities in each specific urban context. I use spatial design thinking to reshape the social structure and relationships, provide more integrated solutions to each social condition, and construct visions towards the future. By questioning the logic, structure, form, and content of the contemporary urban development, my work addresses urban issues shared by cities across the world as well as unique to local environments. I attempted to formulate new modalities of integrating infrastructure with architecture and landscape projects so as to create more operable public realm that manifest people's rights to the city.
Table of Content 01 A Bridge of Daily Life Community library design 02 Spatial Menifestation of Informal Economy Mixed-use commercial space for middle and lower classes 03 Urban Patch Vitalization of the unplanned urban space; Urban design, concsisting of park, primary school and bus station 04 Micro-Urbanism for Repairing the Historic District Micro community centers in historic district 05 Poetics of Spatial Agency Urban design for previous wholesale market nominated as a finalist of 2017 Schindler Global Award international urban design competition 06 Adaptability of Architecture Nuttallburg Material Museum design, a seasonally adjstable structure in the wood
01 A Bridge of Daily Life Community library design (This work belongs to NODE Architecture; role: Junior designer, redid all the drawings and model solely)
[1] Communities separated by city highway
[2] Schools across the highways
As vehicles have dominated urban space and urban living, a lot of extremely wide highways caused great gaps in the city of Shenzhen. Communities are separated from each other and nearby public resources. The inhuman public space could not provide intimate social spaces for people, and as a result has created many visible and invisible barriers in the city. Located in the Xiangmihu Park, this project aims at providing an effective connection between the separated communities across the highway and the vast green space, and creating intimate public realm for local citizens. By integrating a community library with a bridge over the highway, this scheme proposed a hybrid urban infrastructure that allows citizens to operate. Daily lives will be brought onto this megastructure, together with better access to the schools, bus stops, knowledge, natural resources across the huge gap.
[3] A natural park in city
[4] A bridge over the jungle
[5] High flow rate spots
[6] The ideal path across the highway
1 exhibition 2 Coffee bar 3 office 4 Reading area 5 Lecture hall 6 Book sales 7 Children’s reading room 8 Plaza 9 Temporary exhibition & retail 10 Shortcut
02 Spatial Menifestation of Informal Economy Mixed-use commercial space for middle and lower classes
Nowadays shopping mall has become a very common form of commercial space in cities across the world. They usually have gigantic volumns, inhuman scales, and hard facades towards the city. Instead of providing intimate public realm as traditional commercial space does, they represent more of the power of capital. Their high purchasing level and hierarchical common space keep exluding the middle and lower classes out of the urban space which should have been open to all.
SITE
Situated at the periphery of Zhengzhou, China, this project seeks to design a dynamic shopping space and public realm for the middle and lower classes in the city. By bringing the urban infrastructure up onto this building, I hope to reshape the traditional shopping mall into a openboundary urban condition. The inside-out plan organization completely opens the common area of building to the city, and created continuous grounds that connect this commercial space with the surrounding urban environment. Various and even unexpected public activities could be brought onto this open urban stage. This scheme will enormously increase the accessibility, flow of energy, information, and social interactions on this building, which will eventually promote the commercial profits.
01 Low-income Residents on the City Prephery
SITE
02 Lost of Dynamic Urban Village
Pedestrian
Bus stops SITE Bus station Metro stops
03 A New Central Hub for Low-income People
Construction layers
By reversing the programs and inner circulations on each floor, this scheme creates a few groups of programs islands on multi-leveled comtinuous grounds. Instead of being a standalone building that functions within itself, this building provides an open territory that continuously interacts with its surroundings. People will come in and out the rooms, and go up and down the different floors at various corners on the building. Every program island will exhibit dynamic interaction with the common spaces around them. Looking from the outside, the facade dissolves into a collection of different social and commercial activities that open to and attract attentions from the city. Eventually this building itself will become a vertical community that generates huge amount of social, cultural and economic dynamics within the city.
03 Urban Patch Vitalization of the unplanned urban space; Urban design, concsisting of park, primary school and bus station
This project is one of the Recentering-Delhi series projects that revitalize the Yamuna River region in New Delhi. As the city's industries and economy are blooming in recent years, many urban territories got polluted and became the left over spaces for the uderprivilaged people to take up. This site, for example, is stuck in the middle of some important urban programs that are not designed for the poor, and could not provide them with enough accessibility to basic public resources. By looking into some unplanned territories in the central area of the city, this particular project aims to provide infrastructure, educational resource, and public realm to the local people, and relink this territory with the surrounding areas. A mix-used complex is proposed by hybriding a previous bus depot, a rooftop park, a middle school, and public sport facilities. As this project provides intimate public space and various resources to the city and connects the surrounding areas, it will become a new central hub that generates more social interactions among different social groups in New Delhi.
On the previous inviaible territory will grow an attractive public realm on top of the previous desolate bus depot. The rooftop park will give local people more access to natural resources, as well as connection to the surrounding public facilities, such as the exhibition area to the west, the sport facilities and new bus station on the site, and the metro station and green space to the east. Around the rooftop park, a new middle school and a student dormitory will become a new landmark in the area. As the site is adjecent to the exhibition area, the students here will benefit a lot from the surrounding educational resources and convenient public transportation systems. The rooftop park will also be a very healthy and dynamic playground for both students and the citizens around.
04 Micro-Urbanism for Repairing the Historic District Micro community centers in historic district This project explores using a micro-urbanism approach to renovate the historic district in Guangzhou, China. The historic districts and towns in China are facing two kinds of problems, that they are either overly exploited or overly protected. In the former situation, the commercial activities dominate the native culture, while in the latter one, people have less access to new public resources. So, it has become a dilemma to make changes or not for them. As it is equally important to preserve the native culture and to bring new energy into the old district, I seek to slightly modify a few poorconditioned buildings so as to shape a network of intimate public realm embedded into the area. By investigating into the existing negative spaces and proposing new typologies of public space, I infrastructuralized some of the residential buildings and embed a series of micro public spaces within the community. These micro centers will bring about accessibility to new public resources, connections and social dynamics to the area.
Analysis of Existing Urban Context The Arcade House is a very typical vernacular building in the south of China and southeast Asia. The long thin shop houses align neatly with each other along the street, with the ground level facade pushed back to create a continuous corridor as a intimate social space. Currently some of the existing spaces are not very comfortable as the continuity of the space is interrupted.
Typologies of Renovated Space The renovation of the existing buildings tried to formulate new modalities of insterting public space in the context, while following the original logic of the arcade house. These buildings will be either landmarks or spatial connections that redirect the latern urban forces on the site. As local people are using these public spaces, more social interactions are generated across the neighborhood.
As the historic district has a very high density of buildings, the scale of street and open space are very intimate for social interactions. However, as the infrastructure are getting old, and people's life pace is getting faster and wider, these street lives begin to seem crowded and separated from the outside. The new micro centers will bring about a new life style for the old community, and serve as spatial connections that channel the energy within the site.
Thansformation of Urban Systems Currently, public facilities in the area take up only a very small percentage of the whole area, and mainly gather along the major street. The inner streets do not have many active public spaces. As these small centers are inserted, the whole community will be more porous and interconnected. A new network of public facilites will bring more social dynamics to the community
05 Poetics of Spatial Agency
Urban Design, nominated as a finalist of 2017 Schindler Global Award international urban design competition
Manifestation of Spatial Agency Nowadays in Sao Paulo, issues such as increasing population growth, separation between rich and poor, traffic congestions, flooding, etc. are proving the traditional form of city incapable of providing sustainable and just space for people to live. This project seeked to create the spatial relations that manifest people’s right to the city and give them agency over their living environment. A flexible and operable structure was built, in which the vast population are not merely the participants or users of architects and urban planners’ design, but the subject that create, manage, and constantly modify the urban space. They will bring about enormous diversity, creativity, connections and accessibility, social dynamics, cultural and economic prosperities, and finally a new mode of governance and social structure to the city. I approached this project at multiple scales from regional urban fabric, to selfsufficient neighborhood units, to interconnected co-designed living complexes. Within this wide range of scales, I reframed and integrated various urban systems to respond to different urban issues. I set up basic rules for the flexible structure so that these urban units and living complexes could thrive by themselves in a healthy way.
Reframe the Urban Systems at City Scale A new pattern of waterways is proposed to collect rainwater on the site. After purification, the recycled water can be used for various purposes. The idea of sharing car will change the mode of mobility on the site, and more streets will e only open to the people to improve the social dynamics. On this structure, ach neighborhood will be a mostly self-sufficient urban unit which can meet people’s daily needs. Some programs unique to the neighborhoods will attract people from other parts of the city to come over.
Flexible Structure & Built Uncertainty This scheme proposes an inclusive and flexible structure, with a module of 6m*12m*3.6m block as a basic unit. People can take up one or a few of those units, and redefine the space. The reorganized spaces can be in various forms that manifest the program inside.
Multi-level Public Realm As the spaces up on the buildings are re-defined, multi-level public realms are created. It is not necessary that people get down to the traditional ground for fun. Since the upper spaces on the buildings are emancipated and brought to life, various public activities can happen on the multiple artifical grounds up in the air.
Accessibility & Connections Living streets are introduced up on the buildings, together with connections between different levels and across neighborhoods. People will have easier accessibility to various programs, public realms, natural resources etc. around their living space, and this will change the way people travel around in the city. This can even greatly change the overall traffic conditions in the city, as well as the climate conditions.
Nutual Resources & Urban Agriculture Urban farming and energ y production are introduced into people’s daily life. The traditional hard ground will be replaced with soft ground where the rainwater can penetrate the soil and join the big water recycling. Solar panels and wind turbines are installed on the buildings to produce energy for daily use in the neighborhoods.
Neighborhood Network & Local Economy As the upper spaces are set free and operable, people modify their space for various purposes. Different shops, workshops and offices can be embedded onto the buildings and are easily accessible. The driver of initiating different program will be the market itself, and implemented by the people.
06 Adaptability of Architecture Nuttallburg Material Museum design, a seasonally adjstable structure in the wood
This project explores the adapatability of architecture by designing an partially movable musuem in the Nuttallburg area in West Virginia. The Nuttallburg area used to be a coal mine complex from 1870s to 1950s, and was acquired by the National Park Service and incorporated into New River Gorge National River in 1998. Some of the old structures are preserved in the park and visited by tourists mostly in the summer every year. Since not many visitors come in the winter, this scheme attempts to designed an adjustable structure that people can operate according to different climate conditions.
White school
Coke house
Material Museum
Tipple loading area
White church
In summer, half of the building can stretch out on a concrete platform so as to create an extra semi-public space between the two parts of the building. This intimate public realm can be used by tourists for various purposes, such as temporary exhibition, open theatre, play ground, workshop space etc.. Interactions will be flowing between the inside and outside of the building to create natural, social, and cultural dynamics. In winter, when there are not many tourists in this area, the two parts will come together and become a compact box. The public play ground is removed out of the building, and the remaining part are mostly for the staff doing maintenance in this building. In such condition, the smaller shape will be beneficial to reduce energy lose in the winter.
Located on a gentle slope in the middle of the north side of the valley, this building faces a beautiful view of the river and the opposite side of valley. When the summer comes, the right part stretches out and creates a big openning towards the opposite side of the river. People will be able to enjoy the sun, fresh air, as well as the beautiful view across the river. As the site is adjacent to two existing foundations of the old houses, a conversation between the new structure and the old will be set up in the wonderful natural environment. People can follow the path up to the upper platforms to enjoy the backyard of the museum.
Ground Floor Plan (Winter)
Second Floor Plan (Winter)
The west part of the structure is fixed onto the platform, while the east part sits on wheels underneath the pillars. Riding on the rails embedded into the platform, the east part will be able to stretch back and forth seasonally. As most of the existing buildings around the site are covered with corten steel, this museum will use the same material to match with its environment.
FU-HOU ZHANG
fz9rd@virginia.edu; fuhou_zhang@163.com | 434-227-7212 | 752 A Madison Ave, Charlottesville, VA, 22903, USA
Education May 2017
University of Virginia (U.Va.) | Charlottesville, VA, USA Master of Architecture
July 2015
Zhengzhou University (ZZU) | Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China Bachelor of Architecture
Design Awards APR 2017
Travel Grant | 2017 Schindler Glabal Award | International Urban design Copetition | Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil (12 finalists out of total 150 entries) Jury: Kees Christiaanse (Architect and urban planner, Chair of Architecture and Urbanism in the Institute for Urban Design at the ETH in Zürich), Claudio Bernardes (Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Secovi São Paulo), Ciro Biderman (Economist, Professor of Public Administration and Government at Fundação Getúlio Vargas EASP), Jose Castillo (Architect and Urban Planner; Design Critic in Urban Planning and Design at Harvard University), Anna Dietzsch (Architect), Elisabete França (Architect), Hubert Klumpner (Architect, Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at ETH Zürich, Switzerland), Carlos Leite (Architect and Urbanist, Professor at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, São Paulo), Adriana Levisky (Architect and Urbanist), Fernando Mello de Franco (Architect, Municipal Secretary of Urban Development, City of São Paulo), Sandro Pincherle (Advisory of Secovi São Paulo and Director of FIABCI Brazil), Neil Runcieman (Communication Director, Schindler Group), Georgeen Theodore (Architect, Urban Designer, Director and Associate Professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA), Paola Viganò (Architect, Professor of Urban Theory and Urban Design at EPF Lausanne, Switzerland and Università IUAV of Venice, Italy)
SEP 2013
Honorable Mention | Sunrise Cup: Conservating, Inheriting, Co-melting | National Architecture Design competition | Kaifeng, Henan Province, China | Collaborated on conceptual design, 3D computer modeling, diagrams, rendering, technical drawings. Jury: Weimin Zhuang (Dean of School of Architecture at Tsinghua University), Hui Xu (Architect), Xin Qi (Architect), Kecheng Liu (Dean of Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology), Yuhang Kong (Associate Dean of School of Architecture at Tianjin University), Jiantao Zhang (Dean of School of Architecture at Zhengzhou University), Chunyu Wei (Dean of School of Architecture at Hunan University) etc.
Grants/Fellowships 2017 2015 - 2017 2011 - 2014
Graduate Student Research Grants | University of Virginia | Charlottesville, VA, USA ( $1000 for field research) Merit-based Scholarship | University of Virginia | Charlottesville, VA, USA ($4000 for the first year, $6000 for the second year) Second place Scholarship | Zhengzhou University | Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China | Awarded top 15% of 70 students, three times in total (1100 RMB/year)
Committees & Service JAN - FEB 2017
Graduate Admissions Committee | UVA Dept. of Architecture Faculty elected, collaborated on application documents review
Exhibitions & Publication APR 2017
2017 Schindler Global Award Publication | Publication of the finalist projects
MAY 2017
2017 Schindler Global Award | Exhibition of the finalist projects | Conjunto Nationial, Sao Paulo (May 01 - May 15); FAU-USP, Sao Paulo (May 16 - May 31) (peer-reviewed)
FEB - APR 2017
2016 Fall Design Research Studio, ARCH 8010: Infrastructure Urbanism of Architecture and Landscape | Student work exhibition | Dean’s Gallery, University of Virginia School of Architecture, Charlottesville, VA, US (peer-reviewed)
Professional Experience JAN - FEB 2017 JAN. 4th - 15th, 2016
October 2014
July 2014 - Sept. 2014
Graduate Admissions Committee | UVA Dept. of Architecture MASS Design Group | Boston, MA, USA | Intern Architect Galludate University Competition | Washington DC, USA Collaborated on conceptual design, technical drawings, 3D computer modeling, renderings, physical modeling. Research & Design of Arcade House Neighborhood | Guangzhou, China | Independent Research Conducted spatial and social environment research; completed concept design, conceptual development, 3D modeling & rendering, technical drawings, and analytical diagrams for historic district in Guangzhou independently. NODE Office | Shenzhen, China | Intern Architect Xiangmihu Architectural Design Competition | Shenzhen, China Coorperated on spatial and social environment research; managed library design, including conceptual design, conceptual development, 3D computer modeling, physical modeling, technical drawings, and graphic design. Contributed technical drawings for the other three buildings in the competition. Liuxiandong Building Complex Design Project, B 4 plot | Shenzhen, China Collaborated on graphic design, conceptual development, technical drawings, analytical diagrams, 3D computer modeling, physical modeling; Helped craft presentation file. Songshanhu Creative loft Design Project | Dongguan, China Accomplished technical drawings, helped establish public presentation file. Neighborhood Center Design Project | Zhengzhou, China Constructed technical drawings, 3D computer modeling; initiated public presentation file.
August 2012
Ancient Building Research for Houses of Zhou | Xingyang Henan, China Coorperated on physical and social environment research, including measurements, technical drawings, 3D computer modeling.
Skills Programes Physical Language
Rhinoceros | SketchUp | AutoCAD | V-ray | Maxwell | Adobe Creative Suite | Grasshopper | ArcGIS Lazer-cutting | Wood work | Casting Mandarin | English
Fu-Hou Zhang
University of Virginia Master of Architecture, Class of 2017 fz9rd@virginia.edu