What is the meaning of life and death? The question is frequently asked from and toward people, therefore, this is a proposal of applying the question on architecture and discovering what is possible beyond decay of life and architecture. Unlike nature, architecture is given a second life through the efforts of humans.
“ReLive” is a cemetery including a series of renovation and new construction within the territory of a ruin in Kilkenny, Ireland. All deceased are cremated and their remains will be planted with a seed on site. Every 20-30 years, the cemetery will be moved to a new location and cover another land that needs to be forested. While the people decide to live again after death as a growing forest in the ruins, the architecture is also given a new purpose to host the family, visitors, and workers. People, architecture, and nature are connected as audience experience and understand the cycle among them.
original priory layout
the priory thechurchpriory church
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
south transept
presbytery
church crossing & crossing tower
nave north transept
north transept aisles
lady chapel
belfry tower
northwest gate
water tower
postern gate
postern tower
the cloister
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
cloister garth & enclosing ambulatories
innerparlour
chapter house
vestibule & day stairs
warming room
slype (passage from outer court to cloister)
store-room
external stairs to frater
outer or public parlour great store
prior’s totter
the monastic precinct
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
inner gatehouse
wall-walk with crenelated prapet
southweast precinct
bastion & bake house
bake house bread oven water tower
outer court
outer court entrance
slype (passage from outer court to east precinct)
reredorter
main priory drain
priory workshop
infirmary hall (ward)
infirmary chapel
infirmary reredorter
infirmarer’s chambers (?) kitchen block
burgess court
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
outer gatehouse machicoulis over millstream exit-arch
water mill
southeast tower
south tower
southweast tower
west tower
kells gate
D Tower is a building designed based on the parameters of the precast concrete system and also based on the conditions of the site. Kaohsiung City is the second most developed city in Taiwan and recently there has been a high demand for housing, office, and public amenities. Due to limited usable land, skyscrapers with mixed-use programs can be an architectural solution for the city.
D Tower contains a total of 88 floors. The number 8 is culturally significant and is considered a lucky number associated with wealth and fortune. Following is the floor distribution list: 6 for public amenities, 24 for housing, 24 for hotel rooms, and 10 for sky lobbies with a green rooftop spread out through the tower. The precast facade also plays a role of supporting the skyscraper— the hexagonal precast pieces combine to create a motionresistant web, which secures the building and prevents twisting and shifting.
Site Analysis:
Four large cities in Taiwan were considered as potential sites for a mixed-use skyscraper, Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung. Factors considered in the site analysis include economics, housing markets, and history. Kaohsiung, the second most developed city in Taiwan, was identified as the best location for a mixeduse skyscraper. The local Kaohsiung government has constantly been investing in infrastructure, tourism, and cultural representation over the past few decades. There is a high demand for new infrastructure, including residential spaces, community spaces and cultural centers. Space for development is also significantly more affordable in Kaohsiung, compared to Taipei, making the project more achievable if located in Kaohsiung.
Historical Maps of Kaohsiung Port
Shoushan
Ban-Ping Mountain
85 Sky Tower
China Steel Corporation Headquarters
ACADEMIC,
The purpose of the study is to explore and understand the characteristics and capability of concrete. All variables that affect final results of the concrete mix include the ratio of water to cement, temperature, and time.
The precast pieces were cast out of Quickcrete Mix and poured into pre-made molds out of wood and silicon. Through experimentation in form, texture and different mold materials, I found wood to be one of the most efficient and economical options for mold making material. At the same time, it is also a flexible material that can be used for creating texture.
Each precast piece is the outcome of technical experiments and each piece represents a single member within a larger structural or architecture system.
TEAM MEMBERS: SUSAN LIU, IREM SEZER, AVA DAVARI DEHKORDI
RESPONSIBILITIES: RENOVATION OF AN EXISTING BUILDING “SQUIRES STUDENT CENTER”
campus master plan + renovation
Intaking from the official masterplan of Virginia Tech - Beyond Boundary, our group further develop the campus masterplan upon the request of an “Art Campus.” It is the most crucial to enhance and bring the artistic, innovative environment to the entire school outside of the design school. The “folly” concept has been brought out as the main driving force of the master plan design. The goal is to encourage creative activities and inspire innovative thinking around various sizes of platforms between buildings, next to pathways, and on open landscapes. Depending on the size of the defined area, each will serve a unique function (ex. exhibition, classrooms, food bar...etc.) to ultimately gather and engage the Virginia Tech and Blacksburg community.
Moving on the next step of the project is improving the design and art community on the Virginia Tech campus. Our group decided to locate most of the new programs including library, museum, food court, design studio, art studio, break room, and gathering spaces to the existing Squires Student Center with some major renovation of the interior space. My main focus on the renovation is first breaking down the massive building volume with an additional passage connection penetrating through the building. Interior layout of existing space and new programs are integrated and woven together to create a collaborative environment.
Squires Student Center (main renovation building)
site plan & topography: Susan Liu
graphic & vegetation: Irem Sezer
existing demolision (yellow) + existing (white)
new circulation (yellow) + existing (white)
South Theater of Right Wing
Backstage wall demolition
Double glass wall installation
Side wall demolition
East corridor demolition
Tension Structure from foundation
Roof Layering for green roof
Digital media room assembly
3rd floor cat walk
West Wing (Ball Room)
Move in furnitures for art studios (SOVA can start using the space. )
West corridor demolition
Theater demolition
2nd floor practice room and recording room remodeling
2nd offcie addition
1st floor maker space
1st floor SA+D studio spac
East Wing
1st offcie & classroom addition
3rd floor "ligth path"
3rd floor SA+D studio space
3rd floor classroom, photography room, and storage
3rd floor kitchen & social spaces
South façade demolition
South Façade & Grand Stairs
Library
Museum
West Wing (Food Court & Theater)
Grand stair construction + entrance to library
Entrance to the museum
Interior wall rearrange for new preservation room, meditation, and offices
Library furnitures
Interior wall demolition & new arrangement
Existing strucutre reinforcement & new roof
1st floor food court rearrangement (café in the middle)
1st floor interior space (digital fabrication labs, art studios)
2nd floor offices & SA+D studio
DEMOLISH RENOVATION NEW ADDITION
COMPETITION, FALL 2019-2020
RECEIVED BRONZE AWARD
TEAM MEMBERS: SUSAN LIU, HUEI-MIN LU, XIN LI, I. HSIEH, YIXUAN CHEN
RESPONSIBILITIES: DESIGN & PLANNING, SITE ANALYSIS RENDERING, DIGITAL GRAPHIC REPRESENTATIONS.
redesign of existing landscape
The goal of the proposed plan is to restore the swamp landscape and the ecological potential of the site.
Daguan River bisects the site. The north side includes East Garden (zone 1), North Garden (zone 2), and West Garden (zone 3). The south side, titled South Garden, includes a wetland rehabilitation area (zone 4), Baihuachi (zone 5), a traditional fishery / ecological experience area 9 (zone 6), and Yu Garden (zone 7).
Highlights
North Garden: This historical park is dominated by a lotus waterscape. The proposed plan includes the removal of the amusement park facilities, restoration of Rhododendron Mountain’s forest landscape, creation of hiking trails, and construction of retreat cabins in the mountains.
East Garden: This area is planned as a scenic recreation area for the community, featuring new landscape and waterway planning. The landscape will be preserved and developed into a canal landscape area. The freight wharf will be repurposed into a tourist wharf, which will includes restaurants, guest lodging, small cultural retail shops, museums, and existing senior residential homes. The tourist wharf can increase commerce in the area. The recreational development can also help the local elders of the existing residential area engage with the community.
According to a historical map, the coast along the sea of Caohai consisted of dunes and swamps with multiple streams flowing throughout. The map shows that many of the current roads were natural waterways before they were paved over. Therefore, the roads, as well as the surviving landscape and plants, provide strong clues for restoring the landscape to its original state.
Examining the current landscape, we identified the roads that should be the original waterways, and aim to restore several streams that flow to the sea of Caohai. The current southwest bank must be removed so that the sea can restore its natural coast, an ecological landscape of sand dunes, swamp, and an alluvial delta.
Site Analysis: A A B B
Daguan Park
North Garden
South Garden
1 1
existing amusement park > to be demolished
2 2
existing parking lot > repurposed
location + existing condition + site analysis DIAN LAKEBoth North and South Garden have a primary and secondary entrance. The entrance of the original wetland missionary base serves as the secondary entrance of South Garden. Bicycle lanes connect the entire site. The overall circulation provides community members opportunities to experience diverse waterscapes. The west bank of the Daguan River is restored as a natural bank and serves as a cultural and ecological corridor. As a cultural corridor, the bank increases community members’ connection to nature and connects the transportation within the two parks. The bank also creates a diverse plant ecosystem and acts as an ecological corridor for animals and plants. The north bank remains an artificial revetment. Retaining the original east bank of the Daguan River will strengthen the restoration of biodiversity.
Memory is one of the most valuable assets for humans and it brings sadness when people are forgotten or someone has lost their memory of the important ones in their life.
The Rest is a redesign of a cemetery master plan and improving existing historical feature based on the following concept: to have the unknown” be “known.” The redesign emphasizes an important historical building built in 1897: the Smurthwait House. The new design scales down the master plan to form the site plan for the top portion of the cemetery. Assigned programs include the reception, archive, library, cafe, memorial wall, and reflection space. The design focuses on adaptive reuse of the historical building, expanding it for new programs.
This is an experimental project from a digital fabrication course. The focus of the semester is learning the workflow of digital fabrication processes understanding the fundamental concepts of design with various computer software and how to further construct utilizing specific tools. A couple of modern modeling tools and methods were introduced such as 3D printers, robotic arms, CNC milling machine... etc. Robot arms and clay printing are comparably new knowledge and manufacture methods exposed which motivated the completion of this experiment. Many researches and software learning such as grasshopper were done to complete the final 3d print clay star. This is also initiated a bigger research direction and question of how can the new technology and concept of digital fabrication be implemented broadly in the Architecture industry.
Name: Butler Design Group
Project Type: industrial, office, retail
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Firm Size: 35
professional architectural work
I started working at Butler Design Group in February 2019. I began assisting the site planning team where I soon was exposed to the process of planning, city submittals, and revision of architectural projects.
While spending major time on planning, I was also responsible for graphic and design presentations including creating building elevations, material boards, cultural packages, and marketing materials on various different project. I grew from a project intern to a project coordinator after six months of working at Butler Design Group.
In order to approach one of my professional goals, I requested to dedicate myself to the construction process after working for a year. I was soon exposed the production stage of building constructions and gained the experience through attending meetings and drafting construction documents.
architecture firm: Butler Design Group
project name: Mountain Vista (site plan)
responsibility: site planning
supervisor: David Reuterman
architecture firm: Butler Design Group project name: Carefree Quarter (left), Harvest Station (right) work on: post editing color elevations, material selection supervisor: Lanny Shaw & Tatiana Valdivia
architecture firm: Butler Design Group
project name: Pima Center (industrial) responsibility: assisting coordination of design review submission, and edit cultural book supervisor: Lanny Shaw
architecture firm: Butler Design Group
project name: West Town Marketplace (retail)
responsibility: construction document
supervisor: Ben Squires & Lanny Shaw
PROFESSIONAL/PERSONAL, 2018 - 2021
ARCHITOY PARTICIPANTS: SUSAN LIU, HUEI-MIN LU
TAICHUNG TANZI SPOTS CENTER, TAIWAN:
DESIGN: MAYU ARCHITECTS
MODEL: SUSAN LIU
WOOD:
DRAGON EGG, LIGHT FIXTURE, BOX
METAL: VINE BRACELET, WING RING
professional marketing + modeling
Architoy is an interactive toy inspired from the wood structure of a traditional Taiwanese temple - Xinhui Temple. The toy is created to pass down the wisdom and promote the value of old architecture. As the codesigner from Old Architecture Rescue Center, I am responsible for marketing materials including 3D models, website, animation, video, and posters. We choose several different local Taiwanese wood species as the material for different parts of the Architoy and each color can represents one of the five elements - metal, wood, water, fire, earth. Architoy is meant to be a product that bring lucks to it’s owner and carry the blessing from Mazu, the goddess of the Xinhui Temple.
The Sports Center is designed by MAYU Architects, where I work as my first internship. My responsibility include purchasing materials, customizing display elements, handmaking all parts of model, and final packaging for shipping.
The light fixture created for the philanthropy fundraising event, Light For Hope, hosted by Interior Student Alliance at Arizona State University. It is made out of scratch pieces cut out from the wooden egg. The sculpture celebrates the birth of new life, harmony, and hope. This connects back to the concept of the wooden egg which means sacrifices and protection.
