Xinran Ke Portfolio by Xinran Ke(Vannie)

XINRAN KE | PORTFOLIO

XINRAN KE Cell: (917)-561-5682 E-mail: xk33 @ cornell.edu

XINRAN KE | PORTFOLIO Cornell M. Arch 11 + Tongji B. Arch

CONTENT ACADEMIC WORK THICKET | Temporary Construction

a Sense of Comfor t and Lightness

PUBLI [ C ] ITY | Manhattan Waterfront Planning

the Potential of Regular Urban System

KAHN-CRETE CAMO | Forgery Museum Design

the Art of Knocking-off

Life is to infuse the reality with poetry. GRAVITATION | City Complex Design

So is architecture.

Detach or Attach

FLANEUR | Metro Station Reformation

Walk it , Observe it , Feel it

PROFESSIONAL WORK AVENUES - RDFZ | Elementary Learning Center

Internship @ Perkins Eastman

OTHER WORK Gradient - Cornell Digital Studio Room + Room - A Hotel for New York Exhibition - Comfort and Lightness Set Design - Oedipus at Colonus, Ghosts Artwork - Rural Life, Canoe

T H I C K E T 原野の竹林 " A Sense of Comfort and Lightness" 6th LIXIL International Competition, 2016.3-2016.5 Location: Taiki-Cho, Hokkaido Professor: Andrea Lee Simitch, Lorena de Rio Mainly Responsible for: fabric performance design, fabric connection detailed drawing, interior rendering,

HOKKAIDO LANDSCAPE

FLOOR PLAN 1:1000

Hilltop Trees

the Deck

Poles

Japan

Hokkaido

Taiki-cho

Site

THICKET achieves a sense of comfort and lightness not only through a lightweight bamboo and fabric structure, but also provides a physical experience of weightlessness through the light touch to the ground. A field of bamboo poles serves to structure a series of performative fabrics that provide energy, comfort, warmth, coolness and enclosure. Familiar references of Japanese domestic space, as structured layers of increasingly private spaces, are reimagined as layers of intelligent fabrics that create soft and flexible enclosures. The bamboo structure lifts occupants into a constructed canopy overlooking the Taikicho landscape, protecting its timeless beauty while nourishing a lush and productive garden below, and from which flowering vines and fruit trees work their way up into the elevated structure. From afar, THICKET promises the comfort and warmth of shelter as the fabrics glow in the frozen landscape.

06 04

01 Water Colletion Soil 03 Trampoline 05 Hard Surface

02 Ramp 04 Soft Surface 06 Courtyard 7

Elevation

Section 8

BAMBOO CONNECTION

PERFORMATIVE FABRIC Softness and Strengh

Bamboo poles with pre-attached brackets are driven into the earth and a series of unfolding operations bring stability to the primar y skeletal structure. A secondary framework is unfolded onto which fabrics and hammocks are stretched and hung. 10

SEASONAL TRANSFORM

CYCLE OF LIFE

THICKET transforms the spectacle of seasonal change into an evolving spatial landscape as its occupants finely tune its fabric enclosure. As a spring shower falls in the morning dew, a layer of water repellant fabric channels water to the garden below. As the warm sun rises on a summer afternoon, a light fabric screen is rotated into position offering cool shade. A thin skin of dense fabric is unrolled to deflect the cool autumn breezes. As the crisp winter night descends, a soft thermal layer warmed by the winter light is expanded into a cocoon.

This ‘Cycle of Life and Rebirth’ is fundamental to a resilient seasonal lifestyle that is practiced generation to generation. Referencing the primordial forests that cover almost 70 percent of Hokkaido, THICKET might expand or fragment into five clusters—as seeds dispersed throughout the local and distant landscapes, both urban and rural. As in a forest of trees competing for sunlight, water and nutrients, THICKET is a constantly evolving field. As in the game of Go, with its simple rules and subtle relationships and strategies, each iteration is a careful response to the context that has been placed before it. 13

P U B L I [C] I T Y "the Potential of Regular Urban System" Manhattan Waterfront Planning Graduate studio, 2015.6, Cornell University Location: East-manhattan, New York City Professor: Felipe Correa Partners: Ruofei Gao, Yue Gu, Sukjune Choi

Located in East-Manhattan riverside between E 38th street and E 41th street, our design proposes a hierarchy of privacy within open spaces. The deviation of building profiles enables greater visual interactions towards both the river and the city. Meanwhile, the regular layout at the bottom level helps maintain the original texture of Manhattan grid. The scenery potential and the latent hazard of water-level rise of the East River urges us to incorporate resilient landscape design into our block system, thus creating an experimental and sustainable paradigm for Manhattan Waterfront.

Preliminary Research: Hierarchy in Grid Systems Focusing on the geometry and morphology of the urban block as well as the intrinsic property of city grid, our original research attempted to unfold the role of regular grid systems in city planning. From the grid study of Chicago and Belo Horizonte, we were inspired by the intrinsic pattern and hierarchy embedded in the choreography of urban space.

The calibration of grid and block has been the primary driver which defines urban form without defining the specificity of its architectural elements. Abstract, yet dimensionally precise, these urban grids have an incredible ability to change over time and adapt to new urban programs and requirements. While defining key spatial layout and urban hierarchy, they also leave vast space for architectural experimentation. Using Manhattan as a laboratory, our design reflects the contemplation and exploration towards the architectural potential within regularized urban systems.

Footprint upon river

Urban texture

Height Distribution

Urban textrue

Megablock pattern

Public infrastructure

Hub and Axis

Megablock pattern

CHICAGO 16

BELO HORIZONTE 17

Prototyping

Vertical Connection

Visual Penetration

Ground Floor Plan

Masterplan A

100M

A-A Section 0

50M

Residential Apartment Overhanging Platform Underground Parking Roof Recreation Roof Fitness Center Waterfront Park Light Rail Pier Road

100

150m

Exploded Axon

Facade Strategy

Public Space

Hotel Residential Office tower

Private Core Public Core

Interior Render

Building Entrance

Urban Profile

Traffic Flow

KAHN-CRETE CAMO " the Art of Knocking-off " Forgery Museum Design Joint Studio (Tonji and RPI), 2014.3-2014.5 Location: North Bund, Shanghai, China Professor: Kyle Stover Partner: Joe Daniele(RPI) The forgery museum conveys our highest respect towards Kahn and Nature. Wandering in between those huge, concrete columns, one perceives a sense of sublime and tranquility, and the spirit of Kahn becomes palpable. Geometric slabs and lush vegetation are pieced together, creating a lively camouflage of Nature. The front of mountain blurs the boundary of real and un-real, while the back of mountain witnesses sharp contrast between nature and artifact, exposing all the structure and pipes. The forgery museum itself serves as a great knock-off of Nature.

Industrial pipes Gallery 1 Gallery 11 Artificial ecology

STEP 3 : DUPLICATING

Gallery 111 STEP 1: ORIGINATING

STEP 2 : INTERPRETING

Factory / Storage Visitors

Artist studio Lobby / Entrance Pedestrians

Interpretation Center

WHAT IS A FORGERY MUSEUM ? A forgery museum is a place to hold and exhibit forgeries. Distinguished from conventional sense of museum, our design abandoned the exhibiting stereotype in search of a new mode of displaying. The project is an urban complex that contains three programmatic parts: an assembly line for artists to produce forgeries, a factory that duplicates and houses forgeries, and an ecological territory for exchange and recreation. 24

Floor Section +14M

KNOCK OFF

40M

“ In principle, a work of art has always been reproducible.” -- Walter Benjamin

HURVA SYNAGOGUE

EXHIBITION VOLUME

+ 5M + 10M + 0.00

+ 5M

+4.3 M

+10M

CENTRE POMPIDOU

POETRY VS REALITY

+10 M

NATURE

CONCRETE CAMOFLAGE

+5M + 0.00

+ 4M

If you see a series of columns you can say that the choice of columns is a choice of light. The columns as solids frame the spaces of light. Now think of it just in reverse and think that the columns are hollow and much bigger and that their walls can themselves give light, then the voids are rooms, and the columns is the maker of light and can take on complex shapes and be the supporter of spaces and give light to spaces. I am working to develop the element to such an extent that it becomes a poetic entity which has its own beauty outside of its place in the composition.

INTERPRETATION CENTER

The interpretation center with an array of pinholes on its floor is located above water and surrounded by the terrace, reflecting the light outside in. The pinhole is small at top but large at the bottom, maximizing the light transmission while minimizing the danger to visitors. Spatial ritual arises between light and shadow, leading visitors to a dialogue with Kahn.

LIGHT VS SHADOW

FACTORY & POCHES

The final stage of duplication is carried out in one of the three fake mountains. Small poches are hidden behind the geometric mountain profiles. Forgeries are completed in those private poches. Visitors shuttle back and for th among the void, peeping into the wor king process. As a spacial extension of Kahn, the interior space triggers a dialogue with light and shadow, creating a divine and tranquil atmosphere. The nuance of light and scale transforms the circulation logic into an emotional spatial ritual.

SOLID VS VOID

+ 88M

20M

01 Lobby & Entrance 02 Back of House 03 Interpretation Center 04 Artist Studio 05 Storage 06 Elevator Core 07 Gallery & Gift Store 08 Gallery 1(Central Gallery) 09 Show Stage 10 Industrial facility 11 Duplication Factory 12 Gallery 11 13 Gallery 111

+ 50M + 40M + 34M

+ 28M 06

+ 22M

+ 10M 05

+0 M A-A Section

+ 88M 11

+ 64M + 54M 12

+ 46M

09 10

South Elevation

+ 17M

GRAVITATION " Detach ? Attach ! " City Complex Design Undergraduate studio, 2013.3-2013.5 Location: Yangpu District, Shanghai, China Professor: Guanglin Sun Individual Work

More often than not, the true phenomenon of social interation does not agree with what is readily apparent. Just as order lying beneath turbulance, separation promotes aggregation. The gap in the middle of the complex splits the mass volume into two parts, forming indented space on both sides. Serving as a bustling axis ,the gap triggers various visual contacts and unknown possibilities for mutual interactions. Instead of tearing the city complex into two separate parts, the seeming segregation engenders even intense social aggregation when allowing visual penetration towards the river.

Demand Analysis & Circulation With a famous hospital right opposite the site, the basic demand of the site lies in the daily requirements of eating and relaxing from users such as doctors, patients, office staffs and local residents. A round circulation at the ground floor facilitates the dining process of the hospital population and the bank staffs, relieving the stress of the extant restaurants. The two axis formed by the entrances enable better accessibility to the waterfront, both physical and visual.

China

Shanghai

Downtown

Yangpu District

Site

RESIDENTIAL Parent PRIMARY SCHOOL

RESIDENTIAL

Student Teacher

BAR

RESIDENTIAL METRO

Doctor

Shortcut for Dining

HOSPITAL

Nurse Relative Patient

BANK 36

Staff Citizen 37

Volume Generation

View & Circulation

4th Level +15.3M

PLATFORM

Decide the mass volume and set the location of 2 towers

Cut the volume and produce visual penetration towards the river from 2 directions, forming 3 corresponding entrances.

3rd Level +10.2M

Circulation Grid BRIDGE

Generate indented space on both sides of the gap so as to maximize commercial value and visual contact.

2nd Level +5.1M

Make space for platforms on both sides of the gap, triggering outdoor activities and social interaction.

Optical Grid ENTRANCE

Associate the two sides with various types of bridges, forming 3 outdoor atriums.

1st Level 0.0M

Views on bridges

SUNKEN PLAZA +

Sink the bottom and create 2 sunken plazas for exhibition, draw more attention from the bridges thus vivifying the gap.

Upper Level 38

Lower Level 39

01 Office building lobby 02 Leisure platform 03 Rooftop garden 04 Retail center 05 Sunken plaza 06 Suspended bridges 07 Department center 08 Department entrance 09 Movie theatre 10 Restaurants 11 Boutique hotel

+ 84.0M

+ 75.6M + 89.5M + 78.7M + 58.8M + 54.6M

+ 49.9M

+ 46.2M

+ 44.5M + 21.0M

+ 39.1M

+ 15.9M

+ 28.3M + 24.7M

+ 10.8M 02 10

06 01

Complex Section

FLANEUR " Walk it , Observe it , Feel it." Metro Station Reconstruction and Urban Reformation Fourth Year Undergraduate Studio, 2014.5-6 Location: Zhongshan Park, Shanghai,China Professor: Wei Wei, Hongtao Xu Partner: Xiaofei Wu 42

The focus of the renovation design is to probe into the interaction between city and architecture under the increasingly evolving lifestyles and advanced technology, abandoning the stereotype of architectural design in search of new possibilities to reconcile current urban contradictions. The renovation design of Zhongshan Park Metro station reflects our positive responses towards its surrounding environment. Aiming at reorganizing the population flow, offering safer alternatives for local pedestrians and vitalizing commercial ambience, we endeavor to uncover real life patterns of potential users. 43

As a large transportation hub, the Zhongshan Park Area enjoys great traffic volume and population flow. However, there are two existing problems lying in the region. 1. Weak connection between metro station and surrounding commercial. 2. Unsafe for pedestrians to cross the street. Accordingly, we developed an elevated urban corridor to connect the transportation station with the surrounding function, thus infusing the urban flow in to the commercial center nearby.

Dual System Dynamic system Residential layout

Express for Citizens Connection to commercials

Multi-rise Residential

High-rise Residential

Commercial+Plaza

Park+Gym

Green Space

Metro Station

Parking Lot

Public Transportation 45

The elevated bridge consists of two systems. One serves as a short-cut for the citizens who want to take the metro No.3, the path of this system is halfunder the railway. The other is connected to the surrounding commericial centers. Two axis intersect each other at the station crossroad. The N-S axis is parelled with metro No.3(elevated) and surrounding commercials, connecting each side of the street with a long overpass which facilitates the local pedestrians. The E-W axis is paralleled with metro No.2(underground) with several sunken plazas.

Urban Section 46

Exploded Axon Tension Compression Metro Pedestrians

Web with holes

Passengers

Concrete giant arch

Steel Ropes

Roof Terrace

Steel truss for load-bearing

Railway

Steel truss for connection

Metro Hall

Arch & Truss The whole metro station is suspended by a giant arch structure(approximate 100m long, 50m tall),with no other support in order to completely set free the ground floor urban space. We materialize this structure by using hexagonal concrete arch, steel ropes and steel truss. Regarding the metro station as a whole, we use steel topes to suspend the whole station. Among the truss system, the vertical ones are used to drag the bottom slab, which serves as the station hall. Those triangle ones are to connect the station hall with the railway platform. The truss system itself provides unique spatial experience. 49

01 10

08 03

07 07 05

04 11 06

Waiting area floor plan Station hall floor plan

The circulation of passengers and that of the local pedestrains are separated in the renovation design.A shor t-cut for passengers facilitates their process when taking the metro. Other par ts of the bridge, including the roof garden, are designed to trigger various possibilities for social interaction. Appreciating excellent landscape on the roof terrace, citizens enjoy their leisure time in the common space we arrange. 50

20M

01 Ticketing gate 02 Terrace 03 Indoor rest area 04 Ourdoor rest area 05 Accessible elevator 06 Elevator 07 Assisting room 08 Bathroom 09 Exit gate 10 Waiting area 11 Railway 51

AV E N U E S - R D F Z Internship @ Perkins Eastman, 2014.3-8 Elementary Learning Center Location: Beijing, China Instructor: Meiling Honson Mainly Responsible for: 3d-modeling, DD drawing, Interior Rendering

ELC Design Development Drawings 1: 500

GRADIENT

Cornell Digital Workshop, 2015.6 Professor: James Lowder Partner: Yue Gu, Junhan Zhao, Rohan Cherayil

A gradient is created between two sets of Erwin Hauer patterns, one with quadrilateral units, and the other hexagon units. In producing a gradual transition between the two types of pattern, we rotated and combined three quadrilateral units to fit into the hexagon grid thereby creating a third layer. To transform the Erwin Hauer pattern into 3 dimensional grid, we mirrored the minimal surface of the pattern units to enable connection through pattern edges. When it comes to an end for an edge to be linked, a cap with smooth border is attached directly to avoid further connection. This terminal strategy encounters geometric transformation under different circumstances.

Plan

Elevation

Pattern Typology

Terminal Strategy

A SENSE OF COMFORT AND LIGHTNESS

ROOM + ROOM —— A Meta-mosaic Hotel for New York

EXHIBITION —— A Sense of Comfort and Lightness

Cornell Graduate Studio, 2015.7 Professor: Dan Wood Collective Work

Bibliowicz Family Gallery, Milstein Hall, Cornell Cornell Department of Architecture Collective Work, 2016.5

a process

EXHIBITION, CRITIQUE AND DISCUSSION MAY 12, 2016 at 1:00 p.m BIBLIOWICZ FAMILY GALLERY, MILSTEIN HALL

Field

Possessions

Senses

Module

Primitive

Curtain

Inflatable

Hose

View

Field

Burn

Gradient

Hose

Labor

Models

Hose

Thicket

Radiant Slab

This exhibition a documentation of the many ideas, some embraced others discarded, (and several still earnestly waiting on the sidelines) that provided the foundation for the Department of Architecture Japan Studio’s final competition entry to the sixth LIXIL International University Architectural Competition in Hokkaido, Japan: Thicket. It is a categorization of the studio’s collective exploration of the themes of comfort and lightness, of ephemerality, softness, and mist, of inflatables, transformation, ethereality, movability, and flexibility, of the senses, seasonality, the number five, domesticity, and warmth. The amalgamation of many individual ideas into a handful of distinct projects favors not the singular but the process, and is so doing this exhibition reveals the good and the bad, the setbacks and the leaps forward, and recognizes the contributions that were made by the many. As a non-hierarchical display of the everything, whether it is a Bristol model, a final render or a full-scale bamboo detail, these are seen as complementary representations working toward the final project. The inspiration, the maybes, the “oh nothings”, the what-makes-up-the-thing, and finally this exhibition, all of this and more displayed here suggests another beginning, and perhaps for another time. It is a tangled endeavor and a thicket onto itself. Professor Andrea Simitch with Lorena del Rio and the students of the Department of Architecture Japan Studio Kam Chi Cheng, Christopher Chown, Brian Hong, Takuma Johnson, Alex Jopek, Xinran Ke, Laura Kimmel, John Lai, Daye Lee, Sophie Nichols, Daphany Shen, Danwei Wang, Xinyu Yi,Yutian Zhang EXHIBITION May 12 - 30, 2016 Bibliowicz Family Gallery, Milstein Hall LAUNCH May 12, 2016 at 5:00 p.m Bibliowicz Family Gallery, Milstein Hall MORE aap.cornell.edu/events

Poster design by Christopher Chown

with spectial thanks to Cornell AAP and the Department of Architecture, Roberto Bertoia, Iñaqui Carnicero, Patrick Charles, Adelheid Christian-Zechner, Timur Dogan, Dagur Eggertsson, Jack Elliott, Mikhail Grinwald, Juan Hinestroza, Kent Hubbell, Paul Laroque, Ángel Martinez Garcia-Posada, David Eugin Moon, Mark Morris, Caroline O’Donnell,Val Warke, Sasa Zivkovic

SET DESIGN PROJECTS

ARTWORK

Rural Life

Pen Sketch, 2011 Lishui, Zhejiang Province

Oedipus at Colonus Professor: Kent Goetz Individual Work, 2016.5

Ghosts Professor: Kent Goetz Individual Work, 2016.4

Canoe

Crayon Painting, 2012 Hong Cun, Anhui Province

XINRAN KE EDUCATION Cornell University Post-professional Master of Architecture

Ithaca, NY 06/2015-05/2016

Tongji University Bachelor of Architecture

Shanghai, China 09/2010-06/2015

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) + Tongji University (TJU) Undergraduate Joint Studio

Shanghai, China 03/2014-05/2014

WORK EXPERIENCE Intern Architect Pilot Project Design Collective LLC

New York, NY 06/2016-Present

Brand Designer Verdi Photography (Client: Ksenia Verdiyan)

Ithaca, New York 08/2015-10/2015

Intern Architect Perkins Eastman Architecture Design Consulting (Shanghai Branch)

Shanghai, China 03/2014-08/2014

Intern Architect Architectural Research Institute of Shanghai University

Shanghai, China 01/2013-02/2013

HONORS & AWARDS 2nd Price in Excellent Student Scholarship of Tongji University Exhibition of 2011 National Science and Art Exhibition, Shanghai Museum - Awarded to excellent art pieces nationally SOCIAL ACTIVITIES Member, Publicity Division, Chinese Student and Scholar Association, Cornell University Volunteer, CTBUH â&#x20AC;&#x153;Future Cityâ&#x20AC;? International Conference Member, Future Architects Association, Tongji University Director, Publicity Division, Tongji University Entrepreneur Association Panel Secretary, the 8th Challenge Cup National Business Plan Competition RESEARCH EXPERIENCE SITP College Students Innovative Research and Renovation - Natural lighting system in underground commercial space, China Mapping and Drawing of Chenghuang Temple in Shanghai, China

2014 2011

2015-2016 2014 2013-2015 2012-2013 2012

09/2013-05/2014 06/2013-07/2013

LANGUAGES English (Fluent), Chinese (Native), Korean (Beginner) SKILLS - Auto-CAD, Revit, Sketch-up, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Rhinoceros, 3D-MAX, Grasshopper, Maya, Visual Basic - Architecture model-making, freehand drawing and photography. - Piano (Shanghai Conservatory Level-10 Piano Certification, 2003) 64