Portfolio 2016

MICHAEL WU Architectural Portfolio Selected Works 2013 - 2016 M.Arch(Prof)

CURRICULUM VITAE My name is Michael Wu. I’m currently studying a Masters in Architecture(Prof) in my final year at the University of Auckland, and this is my portfolio of selected works spanning from 2013 to 2016. I also enjoy doing freelance graphic design in my spare time.

I’m fluent in both spoken/written English and Mandarin. Currently a NZ Permanent Resident. michw94@gmail.com (+64) 21 040 7829

You can email me at: or call me at:

Education

Personal Attributes

Auckland Grammar School

2007 - 2011

University of Auckland

Bachelor of Architectural Studies

Master of Architecture (Professional)

2012 - 2014 2015 - 2016

University of Darmstadt

Summer Research Program

2014

Other Achievements Top 100 ranked chess player in NZ at age 13 Australasian Interschool Chess Champion

2007 2009

Top in New Zealand at A-Level Graphic Design

2010

Eagerness to learn I am a fast and motivated learner, having taught myself all the tools I currently use for my work. I have an eagerness to pick up new skills and adapt to changing working processes, especially concerning digital tools and software.

Time Management Good at prioritizing tasks and working under pressure, due to years of making deadlines such as final crits, assignment hand-ins.

Teamwork Sociable and easy to work with in a team environment, and autonomous when working individually.

Was a part of a ten person team during an installation project for an architectural festival in 2013, coordinating day-to-day tasks and completion schedule.

Work Experience 2014 - 2015

National Institute of Studies (NZIoS) Graphic Designer In charge of producing promotional material to attract prospective students from around the world, including but not limited to: business cards, pamphlets, and posters.

2015

SwipeADeal UI/UX Designer

Skills Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator Adobe InDesign Adobe After Effects Rhino 5.0 V-Ray Sketchup Revit 3ds Max

Commissioned to create user interface and experience images for an iPhone/Android application, together with its corresponding web app.

2015 - 2016

Paradigm Group Architectural Designer Work included creating facade/form designs, floorplans, sections, and other architectural drawings required for council consent. This also included preparing design statements supplementary to the consent process.

Behance Portfolio: https://www.behance.net/michaelw94

10 years 9 years 5 years 2 years 5 years 5 years 5 years 3 years 2 years

C ONTENT S Part One (1-4): School Projects Part Two (5-7): Work Projects

2 Superintelligent City (2015)

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3

Masters Thesis: Tearing down the red fence (2016)

Synaptic Campus (2015)

5

7

Apartment in China (2016)

The Duke Apartments (2015)

4

6

Smooth and Striated (2014)

Bachelor Pad (2015)

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SCHOOL PROJECTS

1

TEARING DOWN THE RED FENCE: The rhizome as a parasite on bureacratic space in the City of Sails.

Thesis Project (2016)

Two major concepts from Deleuze & Guattari’s “A Thousand Plateaus”, is the Rhizome and the Tree. The rhizome is symbolic of horizontal growth, or a network proliferating from multiple nodal points. On the other hand, the Tree is exactly thatsymbolizing vertical growth, a network of branches from a singular trunk or core.

The rhizome creates a network of playgrounds in Downtown Auckland, burrowing through bureaucratic space- the typical highrise offices or transport structure, in an attempt to redefine the paradigm of the city into a transparent structure of exchange and connectivity. The Ferry Terminal Building redesign is a manifestation of this co-dependent relationship between the rhizome and the bureaucracy onto a physical site at water’s edge. above: quay street with traffic diverted underground left page: view of new ferry terminal from across the harbour

above: outdoor cinema on queen’s wharf left: pedestrian bridge over the new ferry terminal with scaffolding structures and pavilions

left: laneway through endeans building, 2 quay st right: concept drawing of laneway and quay street intersection

left: interior ‘zen garden’ within 152-154 quay st right: x-rayed diagram of internal composition of garden and laneway

2 SUPERINTELLIGENT CITY A self-building, self-sufficient city based on swarm intelligence.

4th Year Project (Semester Two 2015) It is the year 2100. Overcrowding, pollution, congestion these are all problems plaguing our urban environments.

We must reduce the city from an assemblage of parts to one highly efficient, intelligent machine. The island of Motutapu is a selected destination for a group of 30,000 looking to re-settle and re-build.

They make their landing on the shores in separate groups, carrying robotic agents which map out paths of movement, navigating the terrain of the island to reach other landing groups. This “swarm” algorithm, based off ant and other insect swarm behaviours, carves out pathways through the unexplored terrain. These pathways form the architecture, creating infrastructural pipes for water, other services, and public transport systems that wrap around the living and commercial towers.

above: a network city swarms over the contours of motutapu island left page: one ‘thread’ of the network with commercial towers and residential pods

above: outdoor cinema on queen’s wharf left: pedestrian bridge over the new ferry terminal with scaffolding structures and pavilions

above: outdoor cinema on queen’s wharf left: pedestrian bridge over the new ferry terminal with scaffolding structures and pavilions

3 SYNAPTIC CAMPUS University of Auckland Architecture Building Extension and Campus Masterplan 4th Year Project (Semester One 2015)

The concept of the faculty building I propose is a node in the urban matrix, fulfilling the purpose of a synapse which allows information to pass from one node to the next. Extending the metaphor, these information packets are in fact clusters of people, molding the form of the building, strengthening connections where there is a lot of thoroughfare.

The building is thereby fractured into three components: two sweeping, curvilinear masses, with a mixed-use atrium containing the crit, exhibition and gallery spaces. These traditionally static spaces are activated as the forefront of the building’s circulation, creating a transitional field holding information and experiences, offered to those who pass through the field; through the new architecture building in this synaptic campus.

above: quay street with traffic diverted underground left page: view of new ferry terminal from across the harbour

above: floor plans from basement through to level 4 // section through central atrium showing circulation through the building left page: site circulation and infrastructure diagrams // view of architecture building square opening up to grafton gully

4 SMOOTH AND STRIATED Building an urban centre at an intersection between the new and old in Taipa, Macau.

3rd Year Project (Semester One 2014) The topic brief was to create a multi-use cultural centre on a developing site in Taipa, Macau. The focus of this project revolved around two conditions of space.

Striated space: Defined as optical, linear experiences. Taipa’s new casino developments are an example of the striation of the urban environment, creating an ‘inverted city’.

Smooth space: Defined as dynamic, interactive, non-linear experiences.

Humans are instinctively nomadic, travelling from place to place. Circulation and flow becomes important as a way of allowing movement from one field to another. Architecture becomes a framework in which people are allowed to fill its crevices and dictate the function of the space.

above: masterplan with the cultural centre as an intersecting point between the local village(south) and more recent developments(north) left page: one ‘thread’ of the network with commercial towers and residential pods

above: visualization of central market area left page: cross section through building showing performance and atrium spaces

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W O R K PROJECTS

5 APARTMENT IN CHINA Commissioned Project (2016)

6 BACHELOR PAD Commissioned Project (2016)

7 THE DUKE APARTMENTS 60 Onehunga Mall, Onehunga, Auckland Development Proposal - Council Pending (July 2015) This 13-unit development proposal on an existing lot at the edge of Gloucester Park in Onehunga, is a project currently undergoing council consent process.

The facade reimagines the paddles of the 100-warrior canoe whose final voyage ended here in Gloucester Park as a series of vertical timber panels covering the facade. Alternating between solids and voids, the facade serves to provide privacy from the main road while granting views overlooking the motorway and the sea.

above: view from gloucester park left page: view from onehunga mall

M IC HAE L WU

M : +64 2 1 0 4 0 78 2 9 E : m i c h w 94 @ g m a i l .c o m