Wei Chen_Portfolio by Wei Chen

WEI CHEN PORTFOLIO MLA CANDIDATE, 2012, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

wei chen Address: 40 N 40TH ST APT 1R Philadelphia, PA, 19104 Phone: 215-593-0117 Email: weich@design.upenn.edu

Education Aug 2009 – present Sep 2005 – Jun 2008 Sep 2001 – Jun 2005

University of Pennsylvania Candidate for Master of Landscape Architecture, 2012 Xi’an University of Architecture & Technology, China Master Degree in Artistic Design (with concentration in Environmental Art Design) Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), China Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering

Professional Experience Apr 2007 – Jun 2007 Jun 2006 – Apr 2007 Nov 2004 – May 2005

Intern landscape designer at Shaanxi Hongye Landscape Design & Construction Company, Xi’an, China Worked in team on landscape planning and design for Stonedrum Mountain Park. Intern landscape designer at Shaanxi Wanxiang Landscape Design & Construction Company, Xi’an, China Engaged in a series of landscape projects, including communities, public squares, campus, etc.; Worked as project leader for several small scale landscape projects. Intern electrical engineer at the Architecture Design & Research Institute of HIT, Harbin, China Involved in electrical systems design for hotel, campus and gymnasium.

Research Experience Mar 2007 – Jun 2008 Jun 2006 – Apr 2007 Nov 2004 – May 2005

Publications

Research on “Psychological Assessment of Public Space Lighting Design” (graduate dissertation) Assessed the quality of public space lighting design by using knowledge from visual psychology, environmental psychology and aesthetic psychology. “On the Road” research project — a survey on obstacle-free facilities condition in the city of Xi’an Worked collaboratively with law school students; conducted a series of social surveys. Sino-Norwegian research project on preservation of traditional courtyard dwellings in the city of Xi’an Worked with professors and students from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU); focused on preservation issues of cultural relics and intangible cultural heritage.

On Artistic Design and Its Aesthetic features [J]. Xian: Journal of Shaanxi College of Education, 2007, 23(74). Essentials in Landscape Lighting design [C]. Xian: Symposium of Higher Education, 2007: 274Promoting the Protection of Intangible. Cultural Heritage through Tourist Industry—Take the Ancient City of Pingyao for instance [J]. Xian: Journal of Shaanxi College of Education, 2007, 23(75).

Softwares 3D: Rhino, Grasshopper, SketchUp, V-Ray

2D: AutoCAD, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign

Hobbies Photography, Caligraphy, Italian Opera Singing

Programming: C, Visual Basic

CONTENTS STUDIO WORKS 06

STUDIO IV TEMPELHOF AIRFIELD: Up in the Air

COMPETITION 20

· Critics: Martin Rein-Cano and Yadiel Rivera-Diaz · To develop a playful and experimental approach to a cultural design task and to introduce artistic methodology as a strategy for finding and developing froms, concepts, and programs.

STUDIO III THE PHILADELPHIA STUDIO: Urban Transformation and the Making of Sustainable Districts · Critics: David Gouverneur and David Witte · To introduce students to the fundamentals of urban, territorial, and site specific design while developing the sensibility and acquiring the tools to deal with a variety of scales and a diversity of design considerations.

ULI 2011 MAXIMIZING THE TRANSIT OPPORTUNITY: Mount Baker Station Area · Critic: Gary Hack · The ULI/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition offers graduate-level students the opportunity to form their own multidisciplinary teams and engage in a challenging exercise in responsible land use.

EARLIER WORKS 24

Previous Internship/School Works · · · ·

STUDIO II GROUND WORK: A Park for Tacony, PA · Critic: Rebecca Kainer · To further expand and refine abilities to express design intentions through the conventions of landscape architecture – drawing, modelling, recording, and projecting.

The Rock Garden Baoji Stonedrum Park Kumarajiva Memorial Garden in Caotang Temple The Node

ARTS 18

STUDIO I: TRAVERSING LANDSCAPE – The Schuylkill River Trail · Critics: Anuradha Mathur and Nathan Heavers · To develop site-based investigations that will become the basic upon which new ways of seeing, experiencing, and transforming landscape may be envisioned.

Drawing

Photography

BERLIN STUDIO

Berlin Tempelhof airport ceased its function in May 2009. The former airfield is now available for something new. The site was presented to the public as an open space in the spring of 2010, but so far without a clear concept for its future shape, program and function. Its space is currently in a testing phase. It is clear however, that Berlin will get a substantially sized park - an area almost equivalent to the one of Central Park. This studio will take advantage of this unique situation to experiment on designs for a contemporary - and even future - inner city park. The studio will follow a very current discourse on a very concrete project.

STUDIO WORK SHOP: Lost in Translation A Score for music piece "Stirrings Still" (6 inches by 5 feet)

STUDIO IV TEMPELHOF AIRFIELD, SPRING 2011 (IN PROCESS)

BERLIN INNER CITY PARK

PHILADELPHIA STUDIO This part of Philadelphia post-industry site located along the banks of the Delaware River. After World-War II, decaying manufacturing industries along the river provided thousands of acres of underutilized, relatively cheap and centrally located land which favored the construction of the new interstate highways. The highway (I-95) cut Philadelphia off from its previously active commercial waterfronts. The neighborhoods that are located closer to these post industrial/infrastructural and service corridors tended to be affected in a negative way, and were generally severed from the waterfronts.

STUDIO III THE PHILADELPHIA STUDIO, FALL 2010

PHILADELPHIA WATER FRONT

In order to address these problems and to revitalize this part of Philadelphia water front. I built an internet-based commercial community. This e-business center, together with an eco park, not just bridge through water edge and the city, but reconnect the city to the country and the world through internet and products transportation net.

PHILADELPHIA STUDIO Aerial View

Structural Diagram

PHILADELPHIA STUDIO Perspective and Sections 14

Model 15

interpretation i

TACONY STUDIO

During the semester, students worked on creating proposals for a 180-acre parcel of land between Interstate 95 and the Delaware River, located in Tacony, just north of Philadelphia. The studio nude descending a staircase - Duchamp itself was structured such that the first exercises provided a method of working that students were able to draw upon for the entirety of the semester. Throughout the term students were paper folding asked to utilize a wide range of techniques, work at multiple scales in the development of projects, and discern the appropriateness of one mode of representation over another in the service of a particular design intent. A second motivation for the rotate studio's little - as framework or foundation can largely be seen as the longer conceived of as static formations, experienced by unchanging "observers." Instead, designers of landscapes must navigate through diverse conditions, a plethora of information, possibly conflicting agendas and still be able to envision inspired overlying possible futures for a site.

cite impression - mound

interpretation ii

cite impression - habitat building model

cite impression - nature

STUDIO II GROUND WORK, SPRING 2010

A PARK FOR TACONY, PA

re-interpretation

TACONY STUDIO Perspectives 18

Perspective and Section 19

SCHUYLKILL RIVER TRAIL STUDIO

This studio engaged a stretch of territory along the proposed Schuylkill River Trail as it enters Philadelphia near the towpath of the Schuylkill Navigation System and the neighborhood of Manayunk. The Schuylkill River Trail is a proposed trail of approximately 140 miles, extending from the headwaters of the Schuylkill in southeastern Pennsylvania to its entry into the Delaware River at Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia. As it runs through Philadelphia, the alignment of the trail cuts across a rich cross-section of its industrial and ecological history. The section of the trail that was the primary focus of this studio is a territory in transition where the familiar distinction between natural form and human artifact, ecological processes, and cultural activity are blurred. The studio focused on traversing this landscape afresh and in so doing initiating the process of making a new trail through this transformed nature - a trail that will gather, extend, reveal, and catalyze new relationships and processes as much as get us from here to there. As pioneers in the discovery of this terrain, students developed site-based investigations that became the basis upon which new ways of seeing, experiencing and transforming landscape may be envisioned.

Water Condition

River Sections

Joints of Framework

Digial River Model

Physical River Model

Insertion and Change of Water

STUDIO I TRAVERSING LANDSCAPE, FALL 2009

THE SCHUYLKILL RIVER TRAIL

2011 ULI COMPETITION

Say hello to Soma, Mt. Baker, Seattle’s new downtown community core. Soma is your dinner destination, your stroll to light rail transit, your doctor’s office and your child’s school trip to the greenhouse. Soma might be, quite literally, your home. At the very least, it is your home away from home. You find ease in the notion of being able to go to the gym and buy groceries within a two minute walk along a pedestrian-friendly green corridor, “The Greenway,” and discover that working in green roof buildings a short walk from the gym makes crunching numbers or editing papers all day considerably more enjoyable. Whether you are shopping with your spouse or on a search for a new furry friend, Soma makes life more comfortable. Despite Soma’s sleek design, you will find true beauty in its practicality. Not only does this downtown center have a panoply of amenities to meet the needs of the Mt. Baker community, but affordability remains a leading driver of Soma’s tenant choices and housing stock. Soma’s transit-oriented focus also speaks to its pragmatic nature; “The Greenway” safely connects the neighborhood to the Mt. Baker Station, and therefore, to Greater Seattle as well. The availability, affordability and variety of services, distinct Mt. Baker character and the sense of convenience and comfort generated by compassionate and sustainable design render Soma a place where the Mt. Baker community can truly live well.

Phasing

Master Plan

ULI 2011 COMPETITION, SPRING 2011*

SEATTLE URBAN REDEVELOPMENT

2011 ULI COMPETITION Aerial View

Perspective

Section 24

*This copetition is accomplished by a group work of 5 students. All drawings showed here are my individual works.

A traditional Chinese garden I designed during my internship in Shaaxi Wanxiang Landscape Design & Construction Co., 2007. Chinese always endow stone with emotions and stone is used in every traditional Chinese garden as a symbol of nature, wisdom or immortality. In this project I was trying to creat various spacial experience by carfully locating stones of different forms and textures with water, plants and terrains.

EARLIER WORKS

Baoji Stonedrum Park The Rock Garden

A winner landscape planning proposal for Stonedrum Park in city of Baoji. Under a senior landscape architect, I worked on this project collaboratively with another intern student during my 2007 internship in Shaanxi Hongye Landscape Design & Construction Group Co. Ltd. This historical site has a history that can be traced back to 3,000 years ago and all function and forms of our design came from careful reading of geographic and historic character of the site.

The Node Kumarajiva Memorial Garden in Caotang Temple An assignment I did for a design class, 2006. The goal of this design was to build a memorial garden for Kumarajiva - one of the most famous Buddhist scriptures translator in Chineses history, and to convey inner spirit of Buddhism to ordinary people.

A university campus publc space design I did independently during my internship in Shaaxi Wanxiang Landscape Design & Construction Co., 2007. In this project I created an mutifunction campus node by connecting public space with semi-public space and semi private space. Changes in materials, walls and elevation enriched visitors' experience and at the same time characterized different functions of the spaces.

HAND DRAWING Secrete Garden (Pen), 2007

An Old Schist Wall (Pen), 2009

30 31

PHOTOGRAPHY