For me, architecture is a process of constantly deconstructing and reshaping my view of reality. It is a collection of a series of concepts, a combination of form and thought, a poem composed of spatial vocabulary, and a concretization of the relationship between things.
Architecture should have no boundaries, it can start from a story imagination, a cultural interpretation, a social observation, a visualization of time, etc. in this portfolio, I take a variety of topics as the driving force of architectural design, and try to build diverse architectural worlds.
A Journey Through Materials
Fall 2024
Instructor: Aaron Forrest
Group Work with Yifei Chen
This project explores the transition of structural materials and their expanded functionality, responding to the unique climatic and environmental conditions of the Berkeley Marina. The column system transitions horizontally from stone-clad concrete in the southwest, where wind pressures are highest, to concrete and timber in the northeast, where forces are lighter. Vertically, columns decrease in size and load-bearing requirements, while material selection addresses exposure to moisture and sunlight for durability.
The design introduces a typology where columns evolve from load-bearing supports to hollow cores housing MEP systems, and finally to occupiable spaces for unique programming.
The site is in Berkeley Marina, where has strong wind and moisture in southwest. And this ferry terminal is a connection of Berkeley Marina and San Francisco.
The design introduces a typology where columns evolve from load-bearing supports to hollow cores housing MEP systems, and finally to occupiable spaces for unique programming.
2nd
To block harsh sunlight from the sides, we used fritted glass where the curtain wall doesn’t obstruct views. Meanwhile, cross-shaped skylights were added to bring more sunlight to the top floor.
Data Dwellings
Spring 2024
Instructor: Georgios Eftaxiopoulos
Individual Work
This is a combining data storage and housing. This combination concept is trying to challenge the traditional way of data storage and the ownership of data.
In data age everyone generate a great amount of data everyday , In the traditional way of data storage: the Internet company collect users data and sent data to data center and pay lots of money for it. But in this process, we Internet users lose the connection with our own data, and don't get any profit. So in this project the new proposal is the Internet company sent the data back to the apt where the Internet users living in And the company pay to the apt, so in this way , allowing residents to get the ownership and profit from the data they generate. And what's more the heat produced by data servers can be used to heat daily water for residents.
Decentralized Data Storage
The Internet company sent the data back to the apt where the Internet users living in And the company pay to the apt, so in this way , allowing residents to get the ownership and profit from the data they generate.
MEP systems are installed above the living areas, connected via the ceiling, ensuring that the mep system do not interfere with the daily lives and when people change the floor spatial types, the process will not influence the mep system .
Shared Living Units Plan
Private Living Units Plan
Shared MEP Roof Plan
Private MEP Roof Plan Data Servers MEP Roof Plan
This is like a system design about data storage, from energy supply to storage to the final use of heat. Creating profits for the entire community while also making it more active.
Shared Living Units
Shared Kitchen
Privated Living Units
Living Space of Shared Living Units
Bedroom of Private Living Units
Under The Wave
Site: Putian, China
Summer 2021
Instructor: Zhao Wen
Personal Work
This project is an exhibition center designed to commemorate the history of fishermen on Meizhou Island, China. Underwater space and resources are the basis for fishermen to survive for generations, due to which the history of fishermen does not only exist on the ground but also underwater. We need an exhibition center with symbolic significance as important as functional significance, which can narrate the stories above and below the waves in a realistic and fantasy way.
Starting from the imagination of underwater space, the project discusses three aspects of architectural design: the flowability of interior space, the shaping of the earth landscape, and the construction of light and darkness atmosphere.
Concept Story | Incarnate as A Fish
Although fishermen accompany the waves day and night and enjoy the gifts brought by the waves, few people care about what the world looks like under the waves. If we incarnate as a fish, we will have a deeper understanding of the waves on which fishermen depend. We are fish living on land.
Wave Shape Extraction
Site Analysis
Horizontal Flow
Vertical Flow
Earth landscape
Void and Solid
Section A-A
Section B-B
Section C-C
Section D-D
Section E-E
Five skylights are set on the roof of the project. The light from the skylights can be seen but not reached, attracting people to keep chasing the light like fish. At the same time, these five skylights also serve as guides in the east-west direction.
Ambiguous Light under The Waves
View in Exhibition Hall
Auditorium: Boolean
Site: Oakland, CA Spring 2023
Instructor: Alissa Chastain Personal Work
In this project,I start with three 3D shapes as a means to study the form(s) of the project. The largest will be a Box of fixed dimension that fills the buildable envelope. The other two will nest, intersect, overlap or otherwise occupy the middle of the first volume. The results of this exercise should be prompted by our the initial responses to site, program and circulation.
This project is an exercise in 3D Boolean design skill, aimed at reducing our reliance on twodimensional imagination and improving our understanding of the three-dimensional space of architecture.
The site is located on the intersection of Telegraph Ave and 22nd St in Oakland, at the corner of the street. There is a diagonal angle at the diagonal intersection of the site, which becomes a key factor in stimulating the design of the project
The void space and solid space were defined by using the Boolean of two cuboids. The void space is connected to the outside world and runs through the entire building, while the solid space serves as the main program,such as theater, commercial spaces, and more.
Open Market
Site: San Francisco, CA Spring 2023
Instructor: Alissa Chastain
Group Work with Amy Zhang
This project aims to enhance the ability of 2D plan design by introducing two different graphic systems to interweave with each other, generating interesting and functionally reasonable plan.
The project consists of two parts: a community service center and an open market. These two systems are independent yet interact with each other in terms of functionality and form, together forming this unique project.
The project is located in Dogpatch neighborhood in San Francisco. Surrounded by schools and apartments, thus there is a need for a open market and a community service center that integrates daycare, clinics, and offices,ect.
Circles are the main elements of plan, and are iteratively developed based on functional requirements: open and private. The open market stalls can rotate around columns, making plans of the open market more flexible.
Teahouse: Scroll
Site: Xiamen, China
Fall 2021
Instructor: Zhao When
Personal
Work
Located in Xiamen University, the project is a place for teachers and students to drink tea, visit and rest. I take the action of curling as the driving force of the whole project, extract and deconstruct the concepts of traditional Chinese landscape painting and traditional Chinese garden, and finally endow the project with the spatial characteristics of traditional culture by using modern design techniques so that the teahouse is not only a building but also a carrier of culture and metaphor.
This project also tries to combine Colin Rowe's Phenomenon Transparency theory with traditional Chinese garden design theory, to create a rich tour experience for people in a limited space and realize the integration of traditional culture and modern theory at the theoretical level.
Traditional Chinese landscape painting adopts the method of scattered point perspective. Due to the length of the scroll, visitors have to walk while viewing the painting. In this way, the person watching the painting seems to be in the scenery of the painting. If we roll up the painting and make holes in it, sceneries can be juxtaposed on one spot and we can enjoy them at the same time. In this case, we realize the superposition of information and atmosphere, which is called Phenomenon Transparency.
There are four types of forms of window holes, which can meet the tourists' space experience of peeping at the chink, root, crown, and whole and enrich visitors' visual experience.
The landscape counterpoint comes from the Chinese traditional garden. Make use of the opposite scenery, barrier scenery, and clamp scenery to enrich visitors' tour experience.
Peep at The Chink Peep at The Root Peep at The Crown Peep at The Whole
Opposite Scenery
Clamp Scenery Barrier Scenery
Curling Iteration
Hiding and Exposing
The roof is cut to provide ramps to connect the upper and lower platforms. The height relationship of the interior part of the wall is reversed to prevent the internal space of the building from being seen at a glance.
Field Breaking
By creating window holes, the courtyard and indoor space penetrate each other, blurring the boundary between indoor and outdoor. By adding terraces, we can further realize the mutual integration of architecture and nature.
Functional Partition
Courtyards Service Space Stairs Roof Ramp
The trapezoid is a shape that represents kinetic energy. One of the meanings of shaping the rooms in the teahouse into trapezoids is that the trapezoidal spatial form can create an invisible force, which urges tourists to visit from one room to another and from one landscape to another in the teahouse.
1: 125 Scale Model Photograph- West Facade
1 125 Scale Model Photograph- Aerial View of scenes
All rooms in the teahouse are connected in series by using a linear Route to complete a spatial narrative in the painting. The walls and space are elongated, and tourists become both observers and participants in the painting.
Layer : Wall Aseemblies
Fall 2024
Instructor: Maria Paz Gutierrez
Individual Work
Wall assemblages are layers, Layers unfold diverse performances, Performances evoke unique sensory experiences.
Wall assemblages are layers, Layers transform through materials, Materials emerge from the everyday.
What if We separate the layers of polyvalent wall apart, and consider them as single layer wall? In this case ,inside water proof wall you feel dry but without insulation, you feel cold and noisy. Inside insulation wall you feel warm but, you feel wet. They are not perfect, but provide sensory experience. or we plan them in a different way to have different human sensory experience inside one building.
And then I realize that if we want various sensory experiences, the assemblies matter, materials matter, we don’t need to use industrial products, like rigid insulation, vapor barrier that just served as single performance . We can use plants and something more environmental friendly. And the use of such unfamiliar building materials further intensifies the sensory experience.
Experiments between walls and in walls
Reinterpretation of precedents
Different Patterns and performances of the Plant Wall
Maggie's Center Bart
Fall 2023 Instructor: David Jaehning Group Work
This is a study on the construction of the magic's center, and we construct a detailed physical model of it. The scale of the model is 1/2” = 1’ – 0”.
3DPrint Shoe Design
Winter 2024 Individual Work
Glitch City
Fall 2023
Instructor: Ravee Choksombatchai
Personal Work
Our world is filled with glitches, and the reason we don't see these glitches is that we are immersed in them and consider them as normal things......
When glitches appeared in the city, no one knew what they were. They spread like viruses from buildings to blocks to the whole city. People tried to stop it but found it to be futile, because glitches are manifestations of the problem rather than the problem itself.
So what caused glitches? It’’'s aaActua///y.... c@ p¡†@l¡$℘’....
