9 Selected Projects
Tengjia Liu l 2012 - 2015
A: 440 Mass Ave, Apt 3, Cambridge, MA 02139
Tengjia Liu
T: 217-737-6787 E: tengjia@mit.edu
EDUCATION MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (M.I.T)
Sep. 2012 - Feb. 2016
Master of Architecture Candidate; GPA: 4.8/5.0 -Acquired full-tuition fellowship
SHENZHEN UNIVERSITY
Bachelor of Architecture Degree; GPA: 3.8/4.0 -Graduated with distinction -Acquired top scholarship
Sep. 2007 - Jun. 2012
EXPERIENCE Architectural Intern - Snøhetta, New York, USA
Jan. 2015 - Feb. 2015
Architectural Intern - Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), New York, USA
Jun. 2014 - Aug. 2014
Architectural Intern - Kengo Kuma & Associates (KKAA), Tokyo, Japan
Dec. 2013 - Jan. 2014
Brand Director - MIT CHina Real Estate Innovation Conference (creic.org), Boston, USA
Aug. 2015 - Oct. 2015
Calgary's New Central Library and Library Plaza (Calgary, Canada) -Developed the project for the DD stage -Prototyped facade iterations physically and digitally Guiyang Performance Art Center (Guizhou, China) -Developed the project for 50% & 100% SD stage -Designed the performance hall and the landscape -Modeled in Revit
Mahanakhon - Interior and Landscape Design (Bangkok, Thailand) -Designed roofscape and interior of the podium -Studied and Propotyped physical models in different scales Kashima Roadside Station (Kashima, Japan) -Proposed progressive iterations under the guidance of the project manager -Produced presentation drawings and models.
EXHIBITION Made in Shenzhen, Local Architects and Their Practice
Sep. 2013 - Sep. 2014
2011 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture
Oct. 2011 - Dec. 2011
Nationwide Collective Exhibition by 26 Local Architects
Post-Universiade U Station Renewal Collateral Exhibition
AWARD Winner - Rosemary D. Grimshaw Award Winner - 2015 CAMIT grants Winner - 2014 Bill Mitchell ++ Fund Honorable Mention - 2014 9th [AC-CA] International Architectural Competition Honorable Mention - UA2011 International Architecture Design Competition Finalist - UNESCO Creative Cities: Shenzhen Design Award for Young Talents Finalist - 2008, 2009 & 2010 National Architecture Student Competition
SKILLS Computation -Architectural Drawing & Rendering: AutoCAD, V-Ray -3D Modeling: Autodesk Revit, Dynamo, Rhinoceros, Rhino Scripting, Grasshopper, Google Sketchup -Graphic Design: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign -Animation: Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiun
Language -English (Full working proficiency) -Chinese: Mandarin (native), Cantonese (native)
PRESERVING BAD ARCHITECTURE RADICAL PRESERVATION IN THE POST-DISASTER ERA STATE// INDIVIDUAL WORK SITE// BEICHUAN, CHINA ADVISOR// ANA MILJACKI AWARD// ROSEMARY D. GRIMSHAW AWARD - THESIS AWARD MIT M.ARCH THESIS
ABSTRACT The essence of trauma is precisely that it is too horrible to be remembered, to be integrated into our symbolic universe. All we have to do is to mark repeatedly the trauma as such. - Slavoj ŽiŞek This thesis re-examines the role of ruins preservation by speculating on the inherent tension between disaster ruins, psychological interventions and collective memorialization. It challenges the misconception of architectural preservation which is against human interaction as well as possibilities for future change. In other words, the historicization of past events should not only be manifested as the physical integrity of artifacts, but rather shape and be shaped by the present and future of a place. The thesis seeks to rethink the act of preservation as a means of integrating memorialization into the everyday experience of the inhabitants. Sited in the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in China, the thesis proposes an alternative way to restore and memorialize the aftermath of the Beichuan town. By establishing a live memorial versus a frozen ghost town, the thesis positions the quake aftermath in a direct relationship with the contemporary citizens and thus projects the site towards its future. The thesis traces the frozen ruins in both geographical and ideological terms. It explores preservation through memorialization by embracing future collapse, growth or transformation. After analyzing the existing urban context, the thesis welcomes change as a positive element in the preservation process. The project adapts and recycles building waste; transforms physical memories into resilient infrastructure; utilize the secondary disaster to reshape the landscape; and celebrates the tectonic rubbles together with natural or sub-natural elements, such as debris, dust, mud, as well as annual flooding.
The aftermath of the ruins, shows that the south part of the town has been entirely buried by the debris flow, and all the collapse happening in the north is mainly due to the structural failure. In the center of the town, the ruins of the Beichuan Middle School is destroyed by a severe stone landslide, causing the death of around 800 students and teachers. However, the spotlight belongs to the controversial fact that 80% of the buildings survived during the quake are dedicated to government-use.
A line of concrete cores will be built from the hill of the buried school all the way to one end of the other mountain across the river. serving as anchor points, these cores can stabilize rubble infill in-between, collected directly from all the collapsed buildings, to construct a rubble dam with porosity. Performing differently from normal concrete dams, this one allows water to pass through but resist debris, and mud which are mostly coming from the upstream landslides zones. It is a resilient infrastructure of the live memorial.
The rest of building rubbles is evenly distributed on-site to maintain the original urban grid with pocketed areas providing direct access to all the inhabitable government buildings. On the top of rubbles, 12 mat housing units and one platform for future school are scattered across the new territory. They are interconnected with each other through the ghosts/voids of the collapsed houses, forming ‘big houses’ with collective living. Memorialization is integrated into inhabitants’ everydayness between the two layers of urban orders.
Every big house has a centralized living area, paired with public programs such as temple, kindergarten and orphans’ home, which can reflect the demographic shift after the disaster. Broken families recomposed into new families, parents who lost their only child adopted a kid. The centralized communal space branches out to several communal courtyards shaped by the ghosts of previous buildings, connecting with past, providing multiple-layer out space and catering for smaller neighborhood. Storytelling.
The architectural readbility of the new ground as well as the dam will significantly reduce along time axis, all these physical memories starts blending into the surrounding circumstance. Meanwhile, the rubble dam resists the penetration of the debris from upstream, which catalyzes intense sedimentation covering the south part of the town. This accumulating process is highly accelerated by the delay of the annual flooding. The south town will gradually dissolve into highly-fertilized landfill, a land of flowers.
Architecture as device, not a sublime monument, reflects memorialization on the presence of human bodies enacting the space. Its porosity interprets inhabitants’ daily experience and how they perform the spatial rituals on a yearly basis. The annual floods, together with the muds, the debris, the dust, the seeds and the building rubbles, reshape people’s everydayness, celebrate a vernacular past, and project its trajectory towards the possibility of future transformation.
FLOATING CARPETS DUBAI ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL TOWER STATE// COLLABORATION WORK [2 MEMBERS] SITE// DUBAI, THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES AWARD// HONORABLE MENTIONED PROJECT 9TH [AC-CA] INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITION
CONCEPT Carpet has a symbolic meaning in Islamic culture, whose versatility is utilized in everyday Islamic life. Besides of the splendid pattern of decoration, it also conveys a strong spatial message as an important architectural enrichment. Carpet space can suggest a varies of activities, such as learning, entertaining, gathering and worshiping. It is the spirit of this element we'd like to bring to our new architecture tower in Dubai. In the design of Floating Carpets, the building is composed of two types of "carpet space"; one for Social Events and the other for Education. And the overlapping space of different carpets creates new spatial relationships that relate the public to the school. Those spaces include exhibition, lecture hall, professional practice.
Event Carpet
School Carpet
Event Carpet
Arch School Programs
School Carpet
Columns
Elevators
Mixed Programs Stairs Train Ferry
ARRANGEMENT
PROGRAM
STRUCTURE
CIRCULATION
OVERVIEW The 21th century is giving a new definition to architecture school. Rather than an enclosed workshop environment, we see architecture school more as a platform for not only the students, but also the whole society to learn, communicate and provide professional service. Our intention is to design a place where students, professions and the public can constantly interact with each other and share their ideas and knowledge. Located in the center of the Middle East, Dubai is the land of experiments for skyscrapers with its dramatic development. Instead of joining the crowd of chasing the record of height, here we propose a new tower typology that incorporates Islamic traditions with modern school and society.
LOCATION & STRUCTURE By extending one stop of the Palm Monorail, the Floating Carpets is located at the edge of Dubai's Palm Tree Island. With the monorail stop as well as a ferry port placed at the bottom of the tower, it is part of Dubai's transportation network and also a destiny for all the citizens and travelers. We are dropping a pin beyond the border of the city. It is an architectural blossom into whole Persian Gulf. Following the concept of carpets, we also applied a special column grid as a unique structural system as well as spatial organization. The column grid comes from an Islamic geometry, which contains a strong and clear rational but also creates more variations of inhabitant scale. An array of columns are generated to provide the structural support, therefore the conventional "service core" for tall buildings are eliminated to maximize the horizontally of each carpet. It is not the tallest structure in the city, but the most special and elegant.
1. School & Office 2. Lecture & Exhibition 3. Event Space
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Architecture Studio Stair Well Outdoor Critique Event Space Palm Memorail Station
PATTERN GRID SYSTEM
CIRCULATING INTERACTION YMTA = YMCA + MBTA
INSTRUCTOR// SKYLAR TIBBITS, M.I.T SELF-ASSEMBLE LAB SITE// BOSTON, MA, USA YEAR// 2013 M.I.T CORE 2 PROJECT - 2013 M.I.T ANNUAL ARCHIVE SELECTIVE WORKS - 2013-2014 M.I.T FULL-TUITION FELLOWSHIP WOKR SAMPLE
CONCEPT The project started with the relation between the YMCA users and the MBTA users. In reality, the Y users choose the programs in favor, less engaging to others; the T users just transfer from one type of transportation from another. Therefore, little interaction occurs between these two users as well as people and the Y programs. In order to create more interaction, the idea is to take the MBTA and the street circulation (including bus, car, bike, pedestrian and climbing), wrapping them around the Y, and locating the platforms on different vertical levels based on their speed and metric requirement. Basically, the transportation with more speed, more constrains on metric will be on the lower level.At this point, the YMCA has been defined as the in-between space or transition area between the different MBTA transportation platforms.
SECTIONAL MODEL
3-D PRINTING MODEL
ORGANIZATION
RENDERING
The design was beginning with a solid block containing all the YMCA programs. Corresponding to the organization of MBTA, the Y programs have also been arranged based on the speed, reflecting different internal movement of human activities. The more speed and public programs such as basketball court would be situated on the lower level of the building. Then use the carving method to generate the void space from the Y block for the T. This process is a back and forth designing process, looking for the close relation between the interior and the exterior and how the carving influences both the Y and the T. A continuous spectator areas has been created from the exterior carving, connecting lecture hall, swimming pool and basketball court, providing one option of transition areas.
The two rendering images illustrate two critical interior views; top: an autonomous space contains several YMCA programs and simultaneously accesses the street circulation which is wrapping around the building. bottom: a continuous spectator area provides visitors opportunities to experience lecture hall, swimming pool, baskectball court and exhibition hall when they are transferring between different MBTA transportation.
TRANSVERSE SECTION DRAWING
LONGITUDINAL SECTION DRAWING
FREEWHEELING SUBURBIA COLLECTIVE HOUSING IN MARFA STATUS// INDIVIDUAL WORK INSTRUCTOR// HRVOJE NJIRIC, NJIRIC + ARHITEKTI SITE// MARFA, TX, USA YEAR// 2014 M.I.T OPTION STUDIO PROJECT
CONCEPT Marfa is a place maintains the balance between adventure and doing-nothingness, a place blends art, architecture with its landscape, and a place accommodates a collection of contextualized artistic creations. As the site is located at the very north end of the entire Marfa city, it conveys a notion of transitional movement connecting the city and the nature. The formal expression of the housing cluster is fully inspired by this notion and integrated within the physical composition. An abstract gradient pattern is firstly superimposed to the site. Gradually, it adapts itself to the context and creates a series of spatial sequence distorting the definition of enclosure
Beyond this layer, the project also challenges the relationship between permanentness and temporariness, in particular the housing typology. By introducing the portable housing subdivision to lower level of each housing unit, the project releases the freedom of both physical and mental relocation to the future residents. The aggregation of housing units, public spaces and enclosed courtyards is fully dissolved within the Marfa context and most significantly, creates an active dialogue between the nature, the artists and the whole local community. By introducing the portable housing subdivision to lower level of each housing unit, the project releases the freedom of both physical and mental relocation to the future residents. The aggregation of housing units, public spaces and enclosed courtyards is fully dissolved within the Marfa context and most significantly, creates an active dialogue between the nature, the artists and the whole local community.
Ground Floor Plan Drawing
1. information desk 2. temporary exhibition 3. open lecture hall 4. art store 5. private meeting room 6. informal performance 7. linear reading room 8. restroom 9. shared kitchen 10. research studio 11. sculpture courtyard 12. portable housing unit
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A-A Section Perspective Drawing
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B-B Section Perspective Drawing
BOOKCASE CORE YANTIAN MEDIA LIBRARY
INSTRUCTOR// WENYAN YANG, SUIADI SITE// YANTIAN DISTRICT, SHENZHEN, CHINA YEAR// 2012 SZU B.ARCH THESIS - SHENZHEN UNIV 2012 GRADUATION THESIS WITH DISTINCTION - SHENZHEN UNIV 2012 SELECTED GRADUATION THESIS EXHIBITION - NATIONWIDE EXHIBITION: MADE IN SHENZHEN, LOCAL ARCHITECTS AND THEIR PRACTICE
DESIGN STRATEGY Corresponding to the current situation, lack of public open space, the initial strategy of the media library is focusing on creating more urban space for the local citizens. to maximize the possibility of ourdoor open space, i try to caregorize requested programs into three groups, minimize the building footprint and finially generate a front square.
CONCEPT Modern media library is no longer the traditional one. Reading books is not the only human activity happening in libraries. New technology encourages people to receive knowledge in other ways, such as laptops, ipads, movies, audiobooks etc. Therefore, libraries are becoming public places where citizens enjoy their social life. In this case, reading room can be treated as the central space where people hang out and have fun, so it should be open, public and even autonomous. The location of this project is Yantian District, Shenzhen, China. The existing libraries are always overloaded and citizens request the local government to build this one. My idea is to create a concept of ‘Bookcase Core’ and then transfer its spatical volume into readingroom space. Thus, the capacity of the reading room can be largely promoted and fulfill the requirement from the citizens.
GROUND FLOOR PLAN DRAWING
VISUAL CONNECTION
DIRECT SUNLIGHT RESISTANCE
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
bookcase core space training room regular reading room children & periodical lobby book processing closed book stack parking garage front square
SECTION DRAWING
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2 6
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SECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE DRAWING 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
CONCEPT
bookcase core space information area event space children & periodical car ramp book processing closed book stack parking garage front square
FOURTH FLOOR PLAN DRAWING
THIRD FLOOR PLAN DRAWING
stainless steel horizontal bracket aluminum cover plate vertical aluminum profile flush threaded stainless steel bolt polished stainless steel flat glass fin insulated glass unit horizontal aluminum profile “loose� dovetail connection for vertical differential movement attachment of bracket: 1.bolt screwed into blocking 2.bracket slides down vertically over bolt 3.bracket bolted to fin
FACADE DETAI DRAWING
SZ&HK BOUNDARY CONTROL TERMINAL BUILDING INSTRUCTOR// JIA YU, YUJIA STUDIO STATE// COLLABORATION WORK [4 MEMBERS] SITE// LIANTANG, SHENZHEN & HONGKONG, CHINA YEAR// 2011 INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION AWARD
CONCEPT Shenzhen and hong kong have frequent economic, cultural and social communication, with the dream of integration of the two regions. The intimacy between shenzhen and hong kong is illustrated in the design of a new way to passing the custom, which will accelerate the gateway traffic and make xianglian harbor a modern landmark of shenzhen and hong kong integration. he old way of passing the custom made the trip monotonous. We make a brand new, sighting seeing-based path tailored to the local conditions, while creating another landmark gateway to ensure the operation of the harbor efficient, providing a shared and unique experience for people from the two regions. rom the contrast of the nature in xiangyuanwei and urbanity of liantang, we had the idea of bridging shenzhen and hong kong based on the structure of the harbor, providing a new home to birds in the original natural environment and a new experience combining nature and urbanity by connecting the building and the bridge.
TRANSITION VOID SZU CAMPUS THEATER DESIGN INSTRUCTOR// SHUFEI GAN, SUIADI SITE// SZU CAMPUS, SHENZHEN, CHINA YEAR// 2010 PUBLIC PERFORMANCE STUDIO
- SZU 2010 ARCHITECTURAL STUDIO ARCHIVE SELECTIVE PROJECT - RANKING NO. 1 AMONG 90. - 2010 REVIT CUP NATIONAL ARCHITECTURE STUDENT COMPETITION AND EXHIBITION
OVERVIEW Modern Theater demonstrates its vital role in gathering people by creating cultural interactions between performers and audience. When this architectural typology encounters with campus topography and pedagogy environment, the boundary between public and professional tends to be blurred or even eliminated. This project is trying to sculpture a transition void space in order to connect existing natural elements with the new building. The void accomendates public terraces and release its position of encouraging conversation between artists and students.
CONCEPT Theater on campus represents a combination of educational architecture and cultural architecture. In addition of performance space, this theater also shoulders the responsibility of improving students’ routine life. By introducing a large-span roof system, I tried to buffer the conflict between the new building and existing park spaces, and simultaneously ‘transit’ students into the theater. At this point, autonomous space underneath the shelter can be translated into platforms for recreational activities and communication. They are arranged along a sloping step welcoming visitors in a direct way. Other two slopes are outdoor performance space with nature and indoor black box with cutting-edge techniques. They collaborate with each other to provide different configurations from day to night. The iconic feature establishes a new image of the entire campus towards the urban context across the main road.
STACKABLE TABLEWARES SURFACE & VOLUME - PRODUCT DESIGN STATE// INDIVIDUAL WORK INSTRUCTOR// BRANDON CLIFFORD, MATTER DESIGN YEAR// 2012 M.I.T GEOMETRIC DISCIPLINES I COURSE FINAL PROJECT
CONCEPT The project explores the discourse of geometry as the basis of architectural design process in an object scale. By applying the principle of 2-D spline into 3-D volumatric craftsmanship, the project aspires to demonstrating a series of stackable objects subdivied from a single volume. The design process takes a deep consideration of the functionality of each object. At the same time, fully take advantage of each object’s ‘inner surface’ and ‘outer surface’ to eastablish a complete joint system. The specificity of each surface enables the stability and the precision of the entire assembly process. With its own gravity, the whole set of tablewares can be placed in several different configurations. The possibility of the reconfiguration conveys a spatial meaning in architecture, and here, redefines the relationship between different tablewares.
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The basic principle of 2-D spline defining the surface joint between each 3-D object
MCKNELLY MEGALITH MEGALITHIC ROBOTICS - MOTION STATE// TEAM WORK SITE// MIT KILLIAN COURT, BOSTON INSTRUCTOR// BRANDON CLIFFORD & MARK JARZOMBEK PUBLICATION// DEZEEN.COM & FASTCODESIGN.COM MIT OPTIONAL STUDIO
ABSTRACT
Carved starting around 1100 A.D., the Moai of Easter Island weigh up to 82 tons apiece and are believed to honor ancient ancestors. People have long wondered how the natives of Papa Nui managed to move the massive stone carvings across the island from the volcanic quarry in which they were carved without modern machinery. When asked by the Dutch explorers, who discovered the island, how the statues were moved, the Rapa Nui natives always said the same thing: They don't move the stones. The Moai walk themselves. Student led by architect Brandon Clifford and architectural historian Mark Jarzombek created the McKnelly Megalith to investigate the mathematic principles observed in these ancient sculptures. The object was fabricated by using a digitally-controlled milling machine to carve foam blocks according to a study of basic geometry and critical math. This light-weight foam mass was then coated with layers of fiber-reinforced concrete spray, in order to generate a rigid and heavy outer surface. Although the object weights over 2,000 pounds, it can be moved with a fingertip. It can also be erected upright by merely a small number of people.
ERECTING
WALKING
ABSTRACT
The Math Behind The McKnelly Megalith
Memorialization - Megalith Walking
The sculpture was called the McKnelly Megalith, and it was a memorial to McKnelly's parents who lost their life due to a fire.
Memorialization - Megalith Standing
Calgary’s New Central Library and Library Plaza - Snøhetta Design Development Facade Prototyping Physical Model Making Rendering
Hebin Theater Performing Arts Center - SOM Schematic Design Performance Space Design Landscape Design Technical Drawing Revit Modeling
Kashima Roadside Station - Kengo Kuma & Associates Conceptual Design Design Iterations Physical Model Making
Mahanakhon - Interior and Landscape - Kengo Kuma & Associates Schematic Design Rooftop Landscape Design Interior Design Physical Model Making Rendering
CONTACT ME 217-737-6787 tengjia@mit.edu