Tangible Resonance is an interactive installation where sound transforms into energy and visual effects. Speaking into a microphone activates an electromagnet, pulling bells to create resonant sounds and generating ripples in magnetic soil. Enclosed within a Faraday cage, it explores “synthetic nature” by showcasing the interplay of sound, energy, and matter. Inspired by Tangible Resonance and the La Brea Tar Pits, Synergy Lab reimagines preserved energy through architectural experiences. Human actions like sound and movement are converted into energy within a Faraday cage that amplifies electromagnetic effects and blocks external signals, creating a tranquil, introspective space.
The design integrates Pavegen in the landscape, generating energy through walking to power building systems. Magnetic soil visually represents energy flow, linking human activity with physical effects. Inside, a spiraling staircase promotes meditative walking, while the Faraday cage facade shields external signals and supports wireless charging, fostering mental and physical rejuvenation. Synergy Lab features meditation rooms for inner peace and a dynamic performance space powered by the building’s energy. Visitors are immersed in a dialogue between nature and technology, experiencing energy transformation as a core expression of the site’s spirit.
Interactive Diagram
1. Bell Tower 2. Frame 3. Magnetic Soil
4. Electronic Magnet
5. Folding Envelop
6. Bread Board
7. Microphone
8. Wiring Board
9. Arduino Uno Board
Grid
The grid axis reacts to changes in the magnetic field as if the architectural gird shifted because of how it blends into the urban context.
Folding Module
Adapt to multiple uses
Farade Cage
Blocking the signals
Release Pulse
Context Awareness
Transformation Zen Garden
Pit
Walking Meditation
Faraday Cage
Piezoelectric Flooring
Wireless Charging
Auditorium Rendering
Auditorium Rendering
The kinetic facade system originates from an initial study on the folding envelope. Each modular unit transitions seamlessly between open and closed states, adapting to various activities. When fully unfolded, the facade transforms the atrium into a signal-free sanctuary, fostering present-moment engagement over digital distractions. A variety of signal-free spaces are designed to accommodate diverse needs.
The shifted grid guides area is defined by irregular Enclosed within a Faraday digital noise, it offers free
Meditation Tower Rendering
guides visitors toward the meditation space, a deliberate result of grid transformation with shielding. This central irregular three-dimensional axes, creating fragmented perspectives that enhance reflection and meditation. Faraday Cage, the space serves as a signal-free sanctuary for deep contemplation. While disconnected from free wireless charging—allowing visitors to recharge both their devices and themselves through meditation.
Exterior Rendering
Monolithic Sandy Hook
NOAA Laboratory
The existing and the inevitable future
35 Hartshorne Dr, Sandy Hook, NJ 07732
Instructor: Richard Garber|garberr@design.upenn.edu
Team Member: Qinming Hou, Tim Wu
Group Project
Project Length: 4 Months
Our design for the NOAA marine laboratory at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, focuses on integrating ecological preservation, functionality, and local heritage. The chosen site, an existing developed area influenced by tidal changes, includes an aging seawall with structural instability that threatens nearby buildings. To resolve this, we redesigned the seawall with an extended cross-section and roughened surface, enhancing its ability to absorb wave impacts while creating habitats for marine species like rockweed, which thrives in tidal environments and adds ecological value.
The laboratory’s architecture draws inspiration from local residential dormer forms, blending traditional design elements with modern functionality. The layout optimizes logistics by placing truck access at the building’s center, ensuring efficient deliveries while maintaining flexibility for other uses when not in operation. Beyond functionality, the design addresses the protection of local wildlife, particularly seals, by creating additional habitats through the natural accumulation of sand around groynes, which reduces human disturbances and supports biodiversity.
Monolithic Sandy Hook not only provides a state-of-the-art facility for marine research but also fosters ecological diversity and preserves the cultural and natural heritage of the site. The project demonstrates a thoughtful balance between supporting NOAA’s mission, enhancing the local environment, and respecting the unique characteristics of Sandy Hook.
We chose a site where the building is already located in an area that has been developed. It is also a residential area, so the laboratory’s sea wall provides double protection and also offers an excellent location for poster observations.
We redesigned the seawall by expanding its cross-section and roughening its surface to enhance its ability to absorb wave impacts. At the same time, this transformation creates habitats for marine species such as seaweed, which thrive in tidal environments, adding ecological value.
the
Local Housing
Stie Feature 01
Stie Feature 02
Stie Feature 03
Dormer
Pitched roofs and dormers are the two most common things in that area. These two elements inspired our overall design form.
Reinterpreted Landscape
Loacl Housing
Groynes
NOAA Lab Building
Truck Lane
Low Tide
Low Tide
High Tide
High Tide
Entrance Rendering
Section Detail - Curtain Wall
Provenance
Culinary Art Institute
History, nature and food collide
38 Patton Ave, Asheville
Instructor: Douglas Hecker
Individual Project
Project Length: 4 Months
The primary objective is to establish a state-of-the-art Culinary Arts Institute in the heart of downtown Asheville, aimed at enriching the community, along with its students and educators. This institute is envisioned to be a beacon of local food culture’s origin and history, while seamlessly integrating with the scenic beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains—Asheville’s culinary cradle. The architectural design draws inspiration from nature, with a foundation that branches out into mountainous forms, symbolizing the growth and spread of food culture from this nucleus.
This structure is intended to be more than just a building; it’s conceived as a cultural hub and a vibrant conduit for engagement with the surrounding communities. It offers an unparalleled opportunity for students and faculty to delve into the food culture journey, from raw ingredients to sophisticated cuisines. By incorporating vertical and rooftop gardens, the design not only enhances the physical accessibility, views, and experiences for its occupants but also cultivates a deeper, spiritual connection between individuals and food. Through this fusion of architecture and local gastronomy, the institute is poised to foster a thriving food culture, positioning itself as a pivotal cultural and educational landmark in Asheville.
Culinary Elements
Squashes
Jams
Public vs Private
Lively vs Quiet Morph
View Roof Farm
Roof Farm
The roof consists of many triangular areas of different sizes. These different triangular areas divide the entire roof into multiple planting areas. The undulating rooftop farm provides a field-like planting experience.
Fritted Glass
Fritted Glass was carefully incorporated into the curtain wall to reduce direct sunlight. These Fritting converts harsh sunlight into soft light and provides a unique façade to the building.
Floor Slabs
The Open Web Steel Joist used in the middle of the floor slab allows for more column-free areas between floors. Narrower floor edges make the building's façade more complete and unified.
Steel Structure
The main appearance of the building is made up of exposed steel structures. The intricate but intentionally arranged steel structure ties the building itself more closely to the Blue Ridge Mountains, the birthplace of local cuisine.
Farmer's Market
The ground floor is dedicated to the agricultural market and lobby space. The exposed irregular steel structure provides a unique experience for the market. The three roots of the building divide the farmers' market into a relatively quiet part in the south and a relatively dynamic part in the north according to the surrounding environment.
Soil
Steel Tube
CLT Floor Panel
Frosted Glass Interior
Fritted Glass
CLT Ceiling Panel
Open Web Steel Joist
Stone
Exterior Steel Tube
Concrete
Tube
Deployable Shelter
Fast, safe and comfortable
Instructor: Joseph Choma
Group School Project with Ria Naab, Ke Ning, Breland Land Project Length: 4 Months
I was in charge of research on earthquakes. I designed this Tube Deployable Shelter on my own. All the drawings, concepts and studies in this portfolio were done by myself. After that, as the team leader, I led the team members to complete the physical model.
Folding is a systematic method of transforming flat materials into three-dimensional rigid structures. This research-based design studio explores the following questions. How can you design a light emergency shelter that will last longer than a tent? How do you design a deployable structure that can be flat packed, deployed, and flat packed again? How do you design a collapsible structure that remains stable without the use of resin stiffening hinges?
A temporary shelter is defined as a shelter that has an expiration date usually not to exceed a short given time frame. In our case, it is from one to three weeks. An emergency shelter is defined as a shelter designed for implementation in a scenario that is likely to be dangerous and requires immediate action. A deployable shelter is defined as a shelter designed to be easily moved to a location and set up when necessary. This usually also applies in the case of an emergency.
What and how could we design a more comfortable living situation so that people could stay while preparing for permanent housing? Or what we would design could become a more semi-permanent solution in reality.
XP Shelter System
China Tarp
T-Shelter
Create a foldable wall based on the principle that the crease extending outward from each vertex is usually the same as the two lines forming the vertex.
Repeat a foldable wall folding pattern and a foldable corner four times to form a closed tube when compressing it to a flat pack.
Create an extendable and foldable corner by assuming the diagonal lines are the mountain and a valley fold at the middle.
Extend the pattern in a vertical direction to allow it to form a closed tube before flat-pack but still foldable. And this extension improved its overall strength.
First, match the first folding pattern with the second one, then create 1/2 Tube by combining these two patterns together.
After combining these two folding patterns together, the tube forms the frames of the stronger tube to avoid the edges from deforming when exerting force to them.
1. Foldable Wall
2. Foldable Corner
3. 1/2 Tube
4. Tube
5. Stronger Tube 6. Stronger Tube with Frame
5. After twenty-four hours, remove all the tapes and fold it.
6. After the folding is completed, rubber is applied to each crease to enhance its stability.
Two people lift one side of the frame together and then overlap the two ends together.
Fold the two frames at the two ends flat and hold them in place.
1. Unroll an 8-foot wide by 28-foot long fiberglass and flatten all the wrinkles on the fiberglass.
2. Draw the designed crease pattern on the fiberglass with a pencil.
3. Cover the previously drawn lines with painter’s masking tapes.
4. All the exposed fiberglass cells are painted with resin.
Mountain Valley
Rail Park
A Pondering Nexus
Championing universal access to knowledge
The 46th Street Septa Rail Station, Market Street
Instructor: Scott Erdy
Individual Project
Project Length: 4 Months
Rail Park, positioned in harmony with Philadelphia’s City Hall, embodies William Penn’s vision of egalitarianism through its innovative architectural design. This project integrates a green public space with the city’s historic ethos, seamlessly extending from a bustling train station to a vibrant educational hub. Designed to be more than just a transit area, it offers study pods, dynamic, collaborative spaces, and expansive platforms for various activities, fostering a community-centered learning environment. The park’s distinctive feature, an accessible bridge, serves as a picturesque vantage point for the Philadelphia skyline and a lively center for classes and workshops. This bridge, along with the surrounding residential units that reflect local historical architecture, blurs the lines between private living and public spaces, enhancing community interaction and learning. A central element of Rail Park is its movable bridge, linking two buildings while promoting autonomy and a balanced educational dynamic. This bridge transforms into a mini community hub for engagement and collective learning, providing an urban retreat with panoramic views. Connected to an existing train station, the park makes education more accessible, reducing commute times and fostering a collaborative environment. This unique blend of architectural ingenuity and educational purpose positions Rail Park as a symbol of modern inclusivity and a catalyst for knowledge acquisition, community engagement, and personal growth.
Project Diagram: Rail Park, positioned in harmony with Philadelphia’s City Hall, embodies William Penn’s vision of egalitarianism
4 Pipe Fan Coil MEP system
Hinged Axonometric Drawing
Bridge
3. Top of the bridge 4. Dock
5. Student Unit A
6. Student Unit B
7. Student Unit C
8. Tutor’s Unit
Far from the center of the city
A hill sits lonely
Transit Hub
Lonely mountain cohesion people
54 Gray Eagle Dr, Asheville
Instructor: Dustin Albright
Individual Project
Project Length: 1 Months
Located south from the city
I have seen people cry
Mourns of loss
Tears of separation
From what was once a celebration
Every day is the same
Nothing looks different
Cars follow the same trail back and forth
With their stubborn and consistent path
People gather at or away from the city
But this simple systematization allows it to connect
Connecting this city
Unifying the hearts of people
It may be a small place
At the city’s furthest corner
It may be a small place
At the city’s furthest corner
Away from the nightlights and hustles
From the time of sunrise
To past sunset
Temperature and Color are the only changes
Nothing else
Quiet and peaceful
Like a library
But not dead like a cemetery
But this quiet and peacefulness unifies order
Allowing me to feel
The beauty of the city
Kingsessing Library
Library Retrofit Project
Enhancing Performance
1201 S 51st St, Philadelphia, PA 19143
Instructor: Janki Vyas| jankiv@upenn.edu
Team Member: Eliott Haddad, Ilyass Mousannif, Qinming Hou
Project Length: 1 Months
Group Project
What if the Kingsessing Library were located in San Francisco?
The Kingsessing Library analysis showcases the power of combining passive and active strategies to optimize energy efficiency, thermal comfort, and daylight autonomy while meeting sustainability goals.
Solar gains ranged from 4,481 kWh in January to 8,203 kWh in July, with stable electric and lighting demands. Seasonal shifts in window conduction and storage output revealed opportunities for improvement. Thermal comfort was highest on the first floor, with some areas reaching 100%. Daylight autonomy peaked near windows but struggled in deeper zones, a challenge addressed by adding a skylight to the northern aisle.
Four HVAC iterations slashed energy use (cooling/heating) from 12.65 kBtu/ft² to 2.229 kBtu/ft² with a VRF system—an 82% reduction without sacrificing comfort. Renewable strategies excelled: roof-mounted PV panels generated a 2,188 kWh surplus, while combining roof and ground arrays produced 127,637 kWh annually, exceeding demand by 38,862 kWh and ensuring year-round energy reliability.
This study underscores the impact of integrated design, achieving net-zero energy, enhanced comfort, and sustainability in one cohesive approach.
Construction Set
The as-built envelope features windows with a high U-factor, negatively impacting energy use intensity (EUI) and thermal comfort. Additionally, the building’s facade comprises a 4-inch stone veneer, a 16-inch brick structure or fi ll, and a 1.5-inch plaster and lath layer on the interior. Adding insulation could signifi cantly improve the EUI and thermal comfort, particularly in San Francisco’s climate, by increasing the total R-value of the opaque construction and enhancing the envelope’s thermal performance. By upgrading the glazing to windows with a U-factor of 1.53 W/m2.k, compared to the original windows with a U-factor of 5.32 W/m2.k, and adding a 2-inch insulation panel to the interior of the opaque construction, we achieved a 6%reduction in overall EUI, lowering it from 42.572 to 40.116 kBtu/ft².
The most effective iteration, achieving a 30% reduction in total EUI to 29.72 kBtu/ft², was the Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) system. This solution allows individual rooms to adjust their temperatures, accommodating the building’s diverse programs with varying heating and cooling needs infl uenced by factors like solar exposure and volume.
EUI: 29.72kBtu/ft2 -30%
The VRF system signifi cantly reduced heating energy intensity from 5.252 kBtu/ft² to just 0.395 kBtu/ft². Additionally, fan energy intensity dropped drastically, from 6.813 kBtu/ft² in the baseline HVAC system to 0.488 kBtu/ft². This highlights the fan’s substantial contribution to energy intensity in HVAC systems and underscores the effi ciency gains achieved with the VRF system.
kBtu/ft2 Pump 0.004 kBtu/ft2 Fan 6.813 kBtu/ft2 Cooling 0.546 kBtu/ft2
PV Panels Ground + Roof
With PV panels on both the roof and ground, annual energy production reaches 127,637 kWh, surpassing the building’s 88,951 kWh consumption and creating a net surplus of 38,862 kWh. Production exceeds consumption year-round, peaking at 2,000–2,100 kWh in summer and remaining signifi cant in winter. The system achieves net-zero energy annually and, with battery storage, addresses seasonal and hourly shortages. Demand management can optimize self-consumption, sending surplus energy to the grid and drawing power when needed, ensuring a reliable year-round energy supply.
