Architectural Portfolio by Yao

Portfolio Selected Works 2014-2018 EMAIL: yw65@rice.edu TEL: 832 660 6015

YAO WANG

Yao Wang | Rice University | School of Architecture | MARCH

CONTENTS 01 TRANS-PROGRAMMING Campus High-rise NJU Core Studio | Nanjing, China

02 Growing Archipelagos Urban Design Rice Core Studio | Houston, US

03 MEANDERING NARRATIVE Art Gallery NJU Core Studio | Nanjing, CHina

04 CRISSCROSSED STREET

Community Center NJU Core Studio | Nanjing, China

05 DISSOLVED INTO FOREST Branch Library Rice Core Studio | Austin, US

01 TRANS-PROGRAMMING Nanjing University Core Studio / Highrise Design / Fall 2016 Tutor: Xiaoning Hua The layout of traditional Chinese campus is dramatically dominated by hierarchical system, which is strict and symbolized that both space and education are limited. Students always follow existing disciplines while buildings always follow the boring mode. In order to break this hierarchical system and enclosed space, this design deconstructs and rearranges the different spaces to create a more free and open campus. Hence, rebuilding the relationship between people in university. Furthermore, the building, which locating in the boundary of campus, can also act as a medium to interact with the city and present the new campus system to the city.

Traditional Campus Layout ------- Hiearchical System Gulou campus is a ypical traditional Chinese campus layout with a strict hierarchy. Buildings are symmetric around the central axis, the administration building is always the center of school, and the dormitory are often arranged in order, public spaces are divided from each other. Hence, spaces in campus are boring and homogenious.

Rethinking the Tradition ------- Deconstruct and Rearrange Deconstructing and rearranging the box is a new method to break the old institutionalized system. Spaced are mixed with each other and the hiearchical system would disappear.

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02 Growing Archipelagos Rice University Core Studio / Urban Design / Spring 2018 Tutor: Naomi Hanakata Houston sits just under 50 feet above sea level and is among the flattest major metropolitan areas in the U.S and subsequently, the city is under a high risk of flooding. My project proposes a constructed topography as a strategy to mitigate flooding, to create recreational and ecological resources, and accommodate Houston’s expected population density increase. Hills ranging from three to eight meters are situated in different locations of the site, providing a higher ground for houses and open spaces. Next to each hill, lower-lying lands serve as retention ponds for flood condition, and the excavated soil serves as materials to construct the elevated topography. With a widening of the bayou channel on terraces will also help to reduce flood damage and to restructure the site’s topography. The lower-lying lands and terraces serve as water run-off or overflow catchment areas during flooding while providing recreational amenities during normal weather conditions. All of the lower-lying lands are connected by ditches to drain the impoundment to the bayou.

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey of 2017 is tied with 2005’s Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cyclone on record, inflicting $125 billion in damage, primarily from catastrophic rainfall-triggered flooding in the Houston metropolitan area and Southeast Texas. In a four-day period, many areas received more than 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain as the system slowly meandered over eastern Texas and adjacent waters, causing unprecedented flooding. The resulting floods inundated hundreds of thousands of homes, which displaced more than 30,000 people and prompted more than 17,000 rescues.

Water Basins of North America The North American water system basins delineate edges and boundaries that sometimes define to and at other times disregard political borders.

To the South-East, Texas is defined by the Gulf of Mexico, to the South-West, by the the Rio Grande.

The scale and geometries of the water systems and the subdivision of their water sheds do not conform to orthogonal survey lines and grids, visible both on the local scale of Houston’s bayous, as well as the continental scale.

Topography of USA The topographic range of the United States spans from negative eighty-five meters below sea level in California’s Death Valley, to 6,150 meters at its highest peak at Alaska’s Denali. At an average elevation of twenty-four meters above sea level, Houston falls within the lowest elevation category, in both Texas and the United States.

Site Location Located at the junction of Brays Bayou and the 610 loop at one of Houston’s lowest elevation points, the site is positioned almost entirely within the hundred year floodplain (and if assessing by post-Harvey floodplain re-mapping, within the five hundred floodplain). Riverine and run-off flooding is thus the largest physical challenge this community faces.

Figure Ground Map Depicting the built structures on our site, this figure ground map accentuates the amount of unbuilt space in our residential suburban site. The amount of unbuilt spaces can be largely attributed to the prevalence of front and back yards on large lots as well as two shopping centers with large parking lots and a large wastewater treatment plant.

STRATEGY ANALYSIS

WEAKNESS ANALYSIS Imperviousness Percentage Analysis Different land cover has different capility to absorb water, the map shows that hardscape such as parking areas and freeway are the most impermeable area and it is terrible for flood condition.

OPPOTUNITY ANALYSIS

Market Value Analysis Factors that may contribute to plot value include but are not limited to: the quality of built property, location relative to environmental nuisance and commercial convenience, and school district boundaries. The plots adjacent to the train tracks appear to be of lower value than their neighboring plots further from the train.

THREAT ANALYSIS

Phase One: 2020

Phase Two: 2040

Phase Three: 2050+

City Strategy

Site Strategy

Probe Strategy

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Build Place Analysis :

Program :

Housing Analysis :

Flood Analysis :

DENSITY

PROGRAM

OPEN SPACE

BLUE INFRASTRACTURE

TRANSPORTATION

TOPOGRAPHY

SITE PLAN 2050+

FIGURE GROUND

Hills ranging from three to eight meters are situated in different locations of the site, providing a higher ground for houses and open spaces.

Next to each hill, lower-lying lands serve as retention ponds for flood condition, and the excavated soil serves as materials to construct the elevated topography. With a widening of the bayou channel on terraces will also help to reduce flood damage and to restructure the site’s topography. The lower-lying lands and terraces serve as water run-off or overflow catchment areas during flooding while providing recreational amenities during normal weather conditions. All of the lower-lying lands are connected by ditches to drain the impoundment to the bayou.

v

d

ravel

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03 Meandering Narrative Nanjing University Core Studio / Fu Baoshi Art Museum Design / Fall 2015 Tutor: Pingping Dou The museum follows a audience method in which architect is as participant instead of creator. It combine the form of traditional Chinese garden and the experience of seeing traditional Chinese landscape painting to create a narrative space. Just like variable perspectives in landscape painting can set up the ways of seeing, the clusters combined by the alley can attract visitor to participate in the visiting route and experience the layers of space.The circulation conflate the exhibition of Fu’s paintings and narrative space as a whole so that the space can be shared and perceived.

Concept: Combination of form and experience

Form: Adaptation and reference of form language in traditional chinese

garden

now

Qing dynasty

The site used to be the place of Suiyuan Garden, one of the most famous garden in China. Unfortunately, it is not preserved today. The design of the museum pick up some elements from the layout of it to express the memory of the past garden space.

Experience: Ways of seeing through paintings-view composition in traditional chinese painting Fu Baoshi (1904-1965)was a Chinese painter. He held many personal exhibitions in China and had won favorable comments. Fu’s reforms were followed by a group of artists in Nanjing where he then lived. The site of the design is just near where he lived in and the museum exhibits the artwork and introduces the life of Fu.

View from above

Up on the roof

View from inside

In the room

View from below

Under the eaves

Clusters

Visiting Route

Scenery

Second Floor Plan

Ground Floor Plan

South Elevation

North-South Section

04 Crisscrossed Street Nanjing University Core Studio / Community Center Design / Spring 2016 Tutor: Kai Wang The design aims to revitalize the community by building a path network in the community center. Spots are inserted into the intersections of the paths and characteristic space environment are created by this way. The vertical public promenade provide many communal space and shared space, where interesting conversation can be happened between building and its surrounding city and nature. Based on the analysis of human activity and building typology of the site, the community center provides the programs that are required by the resident and the active public space that can be utilized by people. Neighborhood relationship would be reshaped by this building in this closed district.

05 Dissolved into Forest Rice University Core Studio / Branch Library Design / Fall 2017 Tutor: Carlos Jimenez Tree is the departure point of this project. There are many oak trees in the north of the site and I hope the library can be an extension of the forest and dissolved into the environment. Thus, several extractions are created to bring north forest space and south city space into library. The curve shape being inspired by sprawling branches of the oak tree helps to create a fluid and connected space, while the rectangular boundary keep consistent to the surrounding context. As the growth of a tree, the ground floor contains the dynamic programs while static functions are located in the upper floor. The open access library is divided into large archive library and small reading areas just like the trunk and branches of a tree. The straight facades towards city view and the curve facades towards yard scenery provide an unique and changing experiences for users and visitors.

Site Location Located at the city center of Austin, Texas. It is surrounded by typical grid system urban fabric and not far away from downtown so high rise towers can be seen from the site.

The neibourhoods are not in high density and most of them are small or medium scale residential houses and community public buildings. In the northern side of the site, there is a cluster of big oak trees which provide a small forest atmosphere for our site.

Therefore, the site faces two different environments simultaneously, city fabric context and oak tree forest landscape.

Case Study: Usera Public Library, Abalos+Sentkiewicz

Case Study: Viipuri Library, Alvar Aalto

Concept Model

Graphic Concept

Street-view Analysis

Site Plan

Second Floor Plan

East-West Section

Elevation Collage

North-South Section

Yao Wang | Rice University | School of Architecture | MARCH