MICHELLE LI ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO 2019
Hello,
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My name is Michelle Li and I am a third year architecture student studying at the University of Waterloo. My design approach focuses on spatial exploration through materiality and light. I am interested in creating spaces that inspire play and learning of cultural narratives. The following collection of projects reflect my curiousity and joy for architecture and design. Thank you and enjoy!
m433li@edu.uwaterloo.ca +1 (647) 261 3891
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PROJECTS
ECHOES
01
PINEWOOD LIBRARY
02
KOMOREBI
03
TEMPORARY FOSSILS
04
YIN YU TANG
05
STUDIO V ARCHITECTURE
06
paintings / drawings
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the productive landscape
library and bike cooperative
the library of things
CASE STUDIES
installation on flooding of the Grand River
scaled model of a Huizhou courtyard house
INTERNSHIPS
New York City
PERSONAL WORK
01 ECHOES The floodplain collects the physical and cultural narratives of the river. The river leaves behind traces on where it has flowed from past to present.
The river is a pulse that swells and recedes in an annual cycle. As a dynamic and temporal force, the flow of water carves and sculpts the landscape. The topography and vegetation of the floodplain is an echo of the river. Similiar to physical marks left by the flood, the cultural history of the land is imprinted onto the site.
of learning through practice to preserve the traditions of the Six Nations and adapt to the flood cycle.
The Grand River runs through the land of the Six Nations - the Mohawk, Oneida, Onodaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora peoples.
These systems act in unison for flood mitigation and encourage both local peopel and visitors to participate in cultivating the land.
Major programs include: 1. seeding and harvesting Canadian wild rice 2. a wetland playscape 3. gardens for Indigenous planting
By drawing on the productive landscape, the park takes the idea
LOCATION // CHIEFSWOOD PARK, OHSWEKAN SUPERVISOR // JANE HUTTON COURSE // 2B DESIGN STUDIO
TOP: FLOODPLAIN DIAGRAM
RIGHT: SITE PLAN OF THE GRAND RIVER
forest
flood line
wetland
boathouse boat launch
rice terraces
A
gardens flood-resilient vegetation
B flood line
N 10
20
40M
CLADDING recycled plastic profiles + able to resist the impact of debris during flooding + permeable to the water flow
STRUCTURE
timber frame treated waterresistant coating
PROGRAMMED SPACE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Canoe and Equipment Storage Multipurpose Room Outdoor deck for rice harvesting (drying, hulling, winnowing) Seasonal Rice Storage Canoe Lauch Wild Rice Terraces Boardwalk through wetland
PLAN
+ raised above ground level to increase ground permeability + sloped to drain + openings to facilitate drying after a flood
7
6
4
2
3
1 5
N 5
TOP: FLOOD RESILIENT BUILDING DIAGRAM
10
20M
RIGHT: RIVER RICE HARVESTING AND BOATHOUSE
TOP: SECTION A // THROUGH WATER TERRACES AND WETLAND
BOTTOM: SECTION B // THROUGH GARDENS AND FOREST
SEEDING
GERMINATION
OCTOBER
HARVEST
SEEDING EMERGENCE
MARCH
KNOCKING THE RICE (THRESHING RICE STALKS)
TILLERING
FLOWERING
RIPENING
JULY
APRIL
DRYING/PARCHING
AUGUST
HULLING
WINNOWING
HARVEST SEPTEMBER
STORAGE
Canadian wild rice is traditionally harvested in canoes by threshing the stalks with sticks to knock the kernels directly into the boat. The dry, processed rice is then stored in birchbark containers to preserve the wild rice.
SPRING THAW FLOODING
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
TOP: WILD RICE GROWTH AND HARVEST CYCLE
BOTTOM: FLOODPLAIN OVER TIME
WATER FLOW UP OVER RICE TERRACES
WATER FLOW DOWN OVER RICE TERRACES
SUMMER LOW FLOW
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
2016 2018 2017 2015
ABOVE: GYLCERIN MODELS OF WATER FLOW DURING FLOODING AND DRAINAGE
02 KOMOREBI Komorebi - the interplay of light shining through trees An experience difficult to describe but a memory that is simple to imagine.
Inspired by three cinematic precedents, In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai), Nostalghia (Andrei Tarkovsky), and Persona (Ingmar Bergman). Komorebi expresses the emotional atmosphere of each sequence through materiality and light. The form and design of the museum developed from light and material exploration in a maquette.
SUPERVISOR // DERECK REVINGTON COURSE // 2A DESIGN STUDIO
TOP: FACADE AND FRAME PARTI DIAGRAM
The musuem is a library of things is called Komorebi, a Japanese word for the dappled sunlight filtering through a canopy of trees. It is an experience difficult to describe in words but a memory that can be easily brought to mind. The space exists behind a perforated facade made of corten steel. The screen creates stippled light with an amospheric quality similar to that of a forest during the day and a sky of stars during the night.
CINEMATIC PRECEDENTS
In the Mood for Love // Wong
Nostalghia // Tarkovsky
Persona // Bergman
This sequence unfolds into a montage of fleeting moments framed and obscured by architectonic space. Watching these two lovers has an intimacy and romantic wistfulness.
The presence of absence lingers in the dilapidated state of the room, expressing a painful melancholy and a sense of solitude in this space.
The sequence is composed of tonal extremities with a shifting array of grays and silhouettes to express an ethereality and serenity. A series of movements are made visible only by the transition between light and shadow.
ABOVE: INTERIOR VIEW
Komorebi encourages the discovery and study of artifacts. The oldest items are archaeological, including animal skeletons, fossils, and minerals recovered from the original site. The collection grows, like a garden, when visitors or donors contribute new cultural artifacts, found objects, and ready-made art. These are spaces that celebrates curiosity and eccentricity through the interaction of people and the museum itself.
The library of things is a collection of found objects nested inside a rock face. The perforated faรงade is illuminated internally by diffused light and externally by sunlight. The pattern of amber light created by a perforated screen of weathered steel evokes an amosphere of ethereality and reminiscence.
ABOVE: PHOTOGRAPHS OF MODEL
RIGHT: EXTERIOR NIGHT VIEW OF FACADE
03 PINEWOOD LIBRARY The modern library is becoming more than simply a space for books and research, the library is a place for discourse, solitude, and curiousity.
RESIDENTIAL COMMERCIAL
The library is connected to the larger context of the city. Situated among the storefronts of St. Clair West and bounded by suburbs, Pinewood Library merges the boundary between the residential and commercial communites. Two points of access are given, one from the businesses on St. Clair and the other from the local suburbia. By providing additional communal programs, including a bike repair shop and makerspace, the library
opens itself to the public realm. The main entrance is carved underground, creating a tiered outdoor reading zone to engage pedestrians; yet is it tucked away from the bustling streetscape. Hovering above the stairs is a multipurpose room that substitutes as an assembly hall, while more private carrels for studying are sheltered within the book stacks.
LOCATION // QUEEN STREET WEST, TORONTO SUPERVISOR // DONALD MACKAY COURSE // 1B DESIGN STUDIO
TOP: PARTI DIAGRAM
RIGTH: SITE AXONOMETRIC
PINEWOOD AVE
5 UP
8
7
4
6
UP
3
0m
-3.0m
1
2
ST CLAIR AVE W
0 1
2
5
10m
11 10 UP
- 3.0m
0m
12
2
14
UP
13
BASEMENT LEVEL
UP
15
17 16
UP
SECOND FLOOR
18 UP
19
UP
16
THIRD FLOOR
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Ground level and accessibility entrance Outdoor reading area and main entrance 1st floor lounge Children and young adult books Accessible washroom Bike racks Garage door/bike shop entrance Bike repair cooperative and workshop
LEFT: GROUND FLOOR PLAN
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Circulation/information desk Computer stations Adult Fiction New materials display Fireplace and lounge Multipurpose room/assembly hall Private study carrels Non-fiction Outdoor garden patio Reference stacks
0
1
2
5
10m
RIGHT: FLOOR PLANS
Pinewood Library invites visitors and residents from the surrounding community to come together in a common setting. The outdoor seating area creates an extended threshold into the library and provides a joint space for reading, conversation, and repose.
MAIN ENTRANCE AND OUTDOOR SEATING AREA
TOP: SECTION THROUGH MULTIPURPOSE ROOM
RIGHT: SECTION THROUGH BOOK STACKS
COLUMN GRID
CIRCULATION
OUTDOOR TERRACE
BOOKS STUDY CARRELS
MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM BIKE REPAIR COOPERATIVE
CIRCULATION DESK
PUBLIC PRIVATE
ENTRANCE OUTDOOR SEATING
LEFT: STRUCTURE AND PROGRAM DIAGRAM
RIGHT: STREET VIEW FROM ST. CLAIR
04 TEMPORARY FOSSILS
Temporary Fossils is an installation investigating the process of dynamic stratification of floodplain deposition. The study was based on Chiefswood Park in Ohsweken which is sited on a floodplain. Seasonal flooding deposits or washes away plants, shells, and sediments into the floodplain. These traces
accumulate in layers and the process of stratification repeats as the negative impressions are filled in. In response, the installation reintreprets this fluvial process through casting to express the impact of flooding on the surfaces.
STUDY OF FLUVIAL PROCESS ON THE GRAND RIVER SUPERVISOR // JANE HUTTON COURSE // 2B DESIGN STUDIO MATERIALS // PLASTER, GLYCERIN, PLANT MATTER COLLABORATION WITH LEELA KESHAV AND RUSHALI PATEL EXHIBITED IN BRIDGE GALLERY 2018
TOP: SOIL PHOTOGRAPHS OF FLOODPLAIN
BOTTOM: VEGETATION COLLECTED FROM FLOODPLAIN
WINTER
SPRING
SUMMER
FALL
Sediment and plant matter collected from the site were cast into plaster plates. The plaster records the physical imprints left by the flood. A positve cast of the plaster in gylcerin mirrors the process of the stratification as an accumulation of layers and temporary traces that are constantly replaced.
TOP: GYLCERIN CASTS (POSITIVES)
DEC
MAR
JUN
SEP
JAN
APR
JUL
OCT
FEB
MAY
AUG
NOV
WATER DEPTH 0m
4m
BOTTOM: PLASTER CASTS (NEGATIVES)
WATER DEPTH + 2-4m + 1-2m + 0.5-1m + 0-0.5m
Dynamic Stratification of Temporary Fossils
Mapping of flood levels by month and year at the Grand River at Brantford
TEMPORAL FLOOD MAPPING DIAGRAM
Flooding occurs during the spring thaw when melting ice cause water levels to rise. A scale of low and high impacts is recorded in the casts. Erosion and deposition affect the high impact areas that are constantly flooded. Areas that experience a lower impact are identified by greater vegetative growth and drier soil.
The glycerin replicates the nature of the temporary fossils that are recreated and replaced during annual flooding. Flooding is a cyclical process governs the landscape’s transformation. Patterns in the soil reveal the narrative (depth and frequency) of the flood.
05 YIN YU TANG
Yin Yu Tang is a merchant family residence built in 1800 by the 28th generation of the Huang family and inhabited by eight successive generations. Constructed during the late Qing dynasty, Yin Yu Tang typifies a traditional Huizhou Courtyard House.
The name of the house can be translated simply into Shade/Shelter (Yin), Abundance (Yu), and Hall (Tang); yet its poetic interpretation signifies that Yin Yu Tang was a haven to past ancestors and their living descendants, inviting in good fortune and prosperity.
LOCATION // HUI ZHOU, CHINA (1800-1997) SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS (1997-present) COURSE // 2B ICONOGRAPHY AND CULTURAL HISTORY SCALE // 1:50 MATERIALS // BASSWOOD, MUSEUM BOARD, WOOD COMPOSITE FILAMENT COLLABORATION WITH ABHISHEK AMBEKAR, SOPHIE FAN, SHELDON CHEN
ABOVE: SECTION THROUGH COURTYARD
TOP LEFT: ROOF BEAMS AND JOINT DETAIL TOP RIGHT:SCREEN DETAIL
MIDDLE LEFT: ROOF RAFTERS DETAIL MIDDLE RIGHT: COURTYARD VIEW BOTTOM: ILLUMINATED NIGHT VIEW
MODEL DETAILS
06 INTERNSHIPS STUDIO V ARCHITECTURE, NEW YORK CITY PROJECT // MID-RISE RESIDENTIAL BUILDING LOCATION // LONG ISLAND CITY, NY SOFTWARE // VRAY, ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
RENDERS OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDING FROM STREET
PROJECT // MIXED-USE RESIDENTIAL BUILDING LOCATION // JERSEY CITY, NJ SCALE // 1:16 MATERIALS // BASSWOOD AND MUSEUM BOARD
SCALED MODEL OF MID-RISE RESIDENTIAL BUILDING
06 PERSONAL WORK
LEFT: RAINY NIGHT SKETCH (2018)
RIGHT: WAREHOUSE SKETCH (2018)
URBAN DECAY (2016) // INK AND MARKER ON TERRASKIN
thank you m433li@edu.uwaterloo.ca +1 (647) 261 3891