BARCH 2019
MSAAD 2020
xuechen@upenn.edu 646-874-0773
2014-2020
XU ECH EN
CH EN
CONTENT
01 RE-UPS HUB A Rethinking of Human And Machine 02 F I E L D O F U N C E RTA I N T Y L A B R E A TA R P I T S 03 Curved Crease Paper Pavilion T H E M AT E R I A L E X P L O R AT I O N 04 THE NEW GROUND A Historical Point of View 05 T H E C O N N E C T I O N O F N AT U R E A N D S PA C E LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE 06 THE FOOD HEX RETHINKING OF FOOD DELIVERY SYSTEM AND ITS URBAN IMPACT 07 OTHER DRAWINGS
0
RE-UP A RETHINKING OF HU
Master 700: UPS
Critic: A
Partner: Yue Pa
Reconstruction of stru
The project is a UPS hub locating in upper west side of Newyork city. The building needs to function as both office The project centers on exploring the relationship between the organizations of human and logistic system, using coherence inhabitation of both human and machines. The project is a UPS Hub that requires maximum efficiency thickness and hierarchy, the project blends and connects different spaces and programs, creating a new model fo
01
PS HUB UMAN AND MACHINE
S HUB / Fall 2019
Ali Rahim
an, Yuxuan Liang
uctural and logistic system
e and logistic space. the tensions between the curvature of the plan, the enveloping facade, and the interior, circulation of a building, aiming a y of the logistic and circulation system. By reinventing the form of structural grid and logistic details with different scales, or both human and machine logistics to co-inhabit within the building.
Structural modular
Structure system
Details
Overall assembly
THE CHUCKS Modular system and assembly study
THE COMPONENTS THE STRUCTURAL VOCABULARY
THE MICRO-MACRO SYSTEM Starting from unit scale, the project began with developing vocabulary of structural and logistic components, expending to macro scale circulation, environmental components to actual inhabitable space of office, storage, and circulation space.
sections
office meets the logistic storage
logistic transits to auditorium
logsitic c
A
B
A
carrier systems
B
ground plan
plan
office and storage space
lightwell
ELEVA
The project is heavily structural the different types o the co-living of hum
The project is used as a dynamic hybrid between of tion, there are detailed structure with various bars t influence the way for both human and m
AT I O N
of grid could generate different spatial condition for man and machine.
ffice, package conveying and storage. On the elevathat indicating those various space. The structures machine to circulate, inhabit and function.
CROSS SECTION
D E TA I L S
02
FIELD OF UNCERTAINTY LA BREA TAR PITS Master 704: Museum Redeisng / SP 2020 Critic: Marion Weiss Partner: Xiaotong Jiang, Gorden Cheng
Museum of the Unpredictable is located in La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, where uncertainty lies underneath the thick tar, and such uncertainty is what makes the Tar Pit captivating. People are uncertain of what is covered underneath the thick tar, such uncertainty is what makes the Tar Pit captivating. The history of the Tar Pit demonstrates how the process of excavation, discovery and preservation play huge roles in the site. We want to focus on these three elements in our design and capture the uncertainty of the Tar Pits. The project contains three parts of structures and each represents a different experience. Entering from Wilshire Boulevard, people will first experience the journey of being submerged underneath tar and will arrive at the gathering museum’s canopy. When we enter into the building, we will see
the exhibition of fossils from both storage and hallway. In the research building, each excavation site is connected with each other to create a maze-like circulation, while people see the process of excavation at the ground. In our institution building, people are able to learn from lectures, while gazing through the vast excavation sites across. The uncertainty within excavation triggers the excitement of discovery, while searching through these uncertainties, we need to read and uncover the stories behind them so we can discover and re-tell these majestic stories in the future. The excitement to find out the history of the Tar Pit is captured by lab research that slowly discovers the story behind each bone and inform us the nature of the Tar Pit in the past.
SITE The project is redesigned by axises that are connections to the surrounding access We started by introducing three new axis’ on the site that create and focus on three dif museum, tar pits, and excavation sites. We re purposed the old parking area with a new design.
We also considered the site’s future of uncertainty and added the grid system to allow fu bilities. In general, this is a site that grows by its own uncertainties.
s and major roads. fferent targets, page w Excavation Garden
uture excavation possi.
DIAGRAM (1) EXISTING SITE (2) INTRODUCING NEW AXIS (3) INTRODUCING NEW EXCAVATION SPOTS AND LANDSCAPE/NEW GRID
THE EXP
We keep the Canopy of the Original Page Museum as a Pit park. Meanwhile, we introduce the tar lake cutting t the experience of ex
The whole journey will be through all three structures. Fi expanded lake to admire the tar feature. Then they will yard underneath and there the e
ERIENCE
an iconic feature of the memory of the old La Breau Tar through the Page site and open up the space, creating xhibition over the Tar.
irst, people will enter from the original entrance with the l be guided to the Page Museum Canopy with a courtentrance of the museum located.
1
2
3
THE EXPERIENCE
When finished the page museum, there is a tunnel connecting to the new exhibition area with views of massive storage space of the archived fossils and other collections. The new excavation building is designed in a arch structure to emphasize its connections to the bones of the fossil. It allows visitors to have an immersive experience of the excavation site and be educated from experts from museum. At the very end, there will be a excavation park in honor to educational lectures and events, and also a great leisure place for all the visitors.
(1-2) NEW PAGE MUSM (3) EXCAVATION GARDEN (3) EXCAVATION SPOTS ALLOWING PEOPLE TO HAVE A CLOSER EXPERIENCE OF THE WHOLE PROCESS
4
03
CURVED CREASE PAPER PAVILION THE MATERIAL EXPLORATION B.Arch 403: Curved Crease Paper Pavilion / Summer 2018 Critic: Duks Koschitz Student Team: Sharon Broyn, Xuechen Chen, Chafiq Ennaoui, David Huh, Bharati Kodnani, Yen Chi Lee, Shaun Mehta, Jonathan Ovshayev, Massi Surratt, Yuheng Wu, Runyu Zheng
Given the geometric constraint of curved-crease paperfolding which type of shell can be designed and fabricated that uses a single surface folded along curves with compliant hinges? This research project resulted in building a shell based on curved folds, specifically mirror reflections of a general cylinder. The structure was realized with vulcanized paper, a material that becomes malleable while moist. This enabled a building process in two phases, the first while the material is wet and foldable, and the second when the paper pulp dries and hardens. The general connection between form, expression and fabrication needs further exploration today as we need to find appropriate topics in geometry that are energy efficient and allows for sustainable fabrication processes. Folding sheet goods has an inherent used in the building industry, because one can avoid the use of expensive mold. As a semester long exploration, the 11 student studio was dispersed into 5 teams. Each team was to focus on a different aspect of shelter :Overall organization, sheets, ribs, and foundations. The project took my design as the final form of the pavilion. As a member of the 3-person frame team, I was responsible for formal geometry, ribs structures and pavilion constructions. I also took responsibility for documentation and publication research of the project.
OVERALL FORM
COLLECTIVE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS
POLLEYS TO LIFT
FOUNDATION
RIBS
PAVILION ENTRANCE
PAVILION SIDE VIEW
INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH PROCESS
(1) HOOK (2) CREASES DETAIL (3) CREASES INTERIOR (4) CREASES LIGHT (5) RIBS INTERIOR (7-9) CONSTRUCTION PROCESS
R (6) FOUNDATION DETAIL
CONSTRUCTION DIAGRAM A: WET THE SHEETS AND ASEEMBLE THE SHEETS INTO A COMPELETE ONE B: APPLY PULLEYS AND CONLUMNS FOR CONSTRUCTION SURPPORT C: PULLING IT INTO SHAPE AND USE RIBS AND FOUNDATION PAD TO LOCK THE SHAPE. WAIT IT DRY.
04
THE NEW GROUND A HISTORICAL VIEWPOINT B.Arch 402: Rome Project / Spring 2018 Critic: Tulay Atak Partner: Phuong Mai Do
Acknowledgement of historic and cultural layers “Rome wasn’t built in one day” and it is certainly a city of many layers. However, via della Conciliazione—the main street in front of the St. Peter’s Basilica—these layers were often ignored by visitors every day as they walked down the straight spine, focusing on taking pictures of the grandiose view of the St. Peter’s Basilica. That is the aftermath of the big demolition initiated by Mussolini. Instead of demolishing the old and build a new one, which intensifies the conflicts in between, we integrated a creative alternative into our proposal of urban planning: conceptualize the present Fascism situation as one
of historical layer that we selectively preserved and revealed its characteristics, while also extending a new slope as a new ground for the purpose of incorporating the modern layer into the surrounding area. Therefore, we proposed a new ground as a superimposition of the historical and modern layers, which revealed those previous historical layers and introduced a new experience into the big picture along the existing spine. It thus serves as common ground inspiring the whole district where people from all over the world meet and where the historical and cultural differences coexist in one converging spine.
ALK IN W
25 M
10 MIN WALK
0
10 MIN WALK
SITE The current spina has an existing slope. by cutting into the topography, removing soil and extending the surface, we reverse this slope and create a ‘split’ in the ground. This creates a new ground above and sinks down the preserved historical buildings, which remains on its original level, making them freestanding and isolated like an object in a museum. The new programs, on the other hand, would be attached to the new path.
S P I N E T R A N S F O R M AT I O N
ST. Peter
commercial
embassy
hotel
residential
church
church
info center
theater park
COEXISTANCE AND INTERACTION
THE NEW GROUND
SPINA
RESIDENTIAL
LANDSCAPE
BEFORE 1930s DEMOLITION
1930s TILL NOW
THE NEW GROUND
HISTORIC LAYERING AND SUPERIMPOSITION As the programs are tourists oriented, we want to separate and protect the rest of the city fabric from tourist (crowds). This is done so by adding a wall on the left side of Bernini’s arm, as an almost symmetrical addition to the Borgo wall that protects the Northern part of the city fabric.
H
A bl it m se
HISTORIC PRESERVATION Intact as historical displaces
Chiesa di Santa Maria in Transpontina Chiesa di Santa Maria in Transpontina
Chiesa di Santa Maria in Transpontina
FASCIST MODIFICATION Selective preservation
HISTORY AND FASCIST:
As a city evolving from ancient times, Rome was facing the tricky problem of how to balance the old and new. Mussolini struck the first low of the big demolition starting around 1930s-1950s, but the demolition faced the same problem as did its Chinese counterpart—since ignored the historical and cultural meaning behind the “urbanized” façade; as a result, and therefore the new “urban” fabrics could not meet the needs of people. The conflictions were intense, especially in the district around the St. Peter’s Basilica, where it had undergone everal modifications due to urban developments.
CONNECTION BET
SHORT SECTION
A. connection to the hotel B. commercial center C. public piazza and fountain D. historical staging E. pool F & G. underground piazza H. office I. hotel
FASCIST LAYER selective preservation-connects the modernity
TWEEN LAYERS
SPINA LAYER
HISTORIC LAYER
The new ground-modern layer
intact preservation
MUSEUM EXIT TO ST
Our project aims to make tourists more aware of these We propose a new ground that reveals these previous h the existing spine. It will act as common ground where torical and culture differences/
T. P E T E R C A T H E D R A L
e historical layers as they walk down towards St. Peter. historical layers and introducing a new experience along people from all over the world meet and where the his(tourists) coexist in one center.
5.0_THE CONNECTION
LANDSCAPE A LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE THE BOATHOUSE PROJECT
B.Arch 302: Boathous Critic: Gonz Site: Columbi
CONNE
The project focuses on the connect Inspired by shells and birds, the projec and triangulated tessellation. By creat a transition hub that offers an alterna the journey between. The loop, creatin optimized views and orientations. It al garden within that could be used as rocky triangulated facade made the pr topology and creating a new landscap
OF NATURE AND SPACE
ARCHITECTURE
se Project / Spring 2017 zalo Carbajo ia university, NY
ECTION.
tion between the urban and nature. ct was focused on the loop circulations ting the loop, the building itself acts like ative way of landscape and nature for ng continuous spacial experience with lso creates an outdoor transformative for event and for trucks parking. The roject fit into the nature, morphing the pe nature.
GROUND PLAN splitting conditions for public and private access informs outdoor yard and rooftop circulations
2ND FLR PLAN public and private circulation converge into a larger and continuous area for both public and private uses
INTERSECTION TO EXPANSION transition between the public access and private access
SECTIONAL SEQUENCE sequential movement of space form diverging to converging
06
THE FOOD HEX RETHINKING OF FOOD DELIVERY SYSTEM AND ITS URBAN IMPACT Competition: FA 2018 Partner: Xun Zhang Site: Newyork City
Drone technology has become a leading trend in the field of fast-delivery. Several major corporation, such as Amazon, DHL, and Walmart, have begun investigating the use of drones in high-speed delivery service. The project aims to design a food delivery system in New York City cooperating with the drone technology and to rethink about the potential opportunity for a smart city and how it will reboot community in such way.
tries to reboot the community by providing shared food and dining sites inside the delivery centers.
The Hex center is an infrastructure project that provides control knots for the area that hosts docking and charging stations for drones, reroutes the delivery, and provides space and opportunities for communal dinning experience and vertical gardens. It would be a future communiThe Food Hex system is is a rethinking project spe- ty center gathering people for fun and pleasure. cifically dealing with food delivery system. It superimposes a hexagon grid on top of Manhattan grid as a The twisted tower serves for better drones circulanetwork with multiple delivery centers as redistribu- tion as well as the air ventilation. The drones enter tion points of circulation and deliveries within districts from the cone-shape cuts and exits from the triangle and neighborhoods. It accumulates the orders and openings in different scales. The cuts also provides needs, redistributes the needs and routes,trans- spaces for vertical vegetation and gardens. ports the order through minimum drones, and
THE HEX CENTER SECTION
THE HEX URBAN
KEYS THE KNOTS THE POTENTIAL DELIVERY CENTERS
Introducing the Hex grid on top of Manhattan grid. Introducing new system of grouping and distributing system according to drone speed.
M1-12, B1-18, Q1-13
AREA OF INFLUENCE
DESIGN SITE
NUMBERINGS
Highlighting the available lots As Potential site For Delivery centers. They accumulates the orders, redistributes the needs and routes, transports the order through minimum drones, and tries to reboot the community by providing shared dining sites inside them.
199 Jay St, Brooklyn, NY 11201 Parking lot 200ft*400ft
M: Manhattan B: Brooklyn Q:Queens
TRADITIONAL DELIVERY SYSTEM
THE FOOD HEX DELIVERY SYSTEM
RESTAURANT IN AREA A
RESIDENTS IN AREA B
RESTAURANT IN AREA A
RESIDENTS IN AREA B
ACCORDING TO NewtonX.com
19min
24min
$10
$13
65min
AVERAGE DELIVERY TIME OF A 5 MILE DELIVERY
8min
EFFICIENCY
47% compared to cars
THE COST OF A 5 MILE DELIVERY
$0.8
COST SUSTAINABILITY
92% compared to cars
MANAGEMENT
10% compared to cars
ENVIRONMENTAL COST OF A 5 MILE DELIVERY 82%
60%
65%
TRACKING AND MANAGEMENT
100%
58% compared to cars
ACCORDING TO NYC traffic accidents statistics
300
LACK OF EFFICIENCY
150
LACK OF SECURITY MULTIPLIED WORKING HOURS
312
SAFETY
TRAFFIC DEATH IN NYC,2017
ACCUMULATE THE NEEDS
REDISTRIBUTE THE NEEDS AND ROUTES
FREE CARS AND LABOR
SHARED DELIVERY
SHARED FOOD AND DINING ENVIRONMENTS
REBOOT THE COMMUNITY
ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY
The Food Hex system is is a rethinking project specifically dealing with food delivery system. It superimposes a hexagon grid on top of Manhattan grid as a network with multiple delivery centers as redistribution points of circulation and deliveries within districts and neighborhoods. It accumulates the orders and needs, redistributes the needs and routes, transports the order through minimum drones, and tries to reboot the community by providing shared food and dining sites inside the delivery centers. By comparing the traditional delivery methods to drone, understanding how the use of drone will influence the food delivery in urban scale, such as scale, effienncy, sustainablity and such. The project takes Mahattan, NYC as the site for city exploration and hopefully reach an universal infrastructure for similar cities. The project aims to design a new smart delivery system with higher efficacy and better human interaction through the analysis of Brooklyn heights district and lower manhattan district, thereby potentially using the data it collected to help redistribute the programs and zones for a dynamic district fabric, thus eventually equipping the city with a more efficient planning and delivery. In the future, it can be combined with larger resources and robotic delivery car or drones with sensors that remap the city—while also reanalyzing the feedback from the infield transportation tools, thereby achieving a one-stop automatic self-developing city.
C
TRADITIONAL DELIVERY DROP OFF DISTRIBUTION
THE FOOD HEX DELIVERY CENTER DISTRIBUTION
2.2MAHATTAN, NYC Five 2min drone radius food hex delivery centers covering half of Manhattan
Four different 20min car routes in four neighborhoods
2.1 NYC MIDTOWN
THE FOOD HEX DELIVERY CENTER DISTRIBUTION As shown in the diagrams above, we can clearly see the influence of the city grid having on the traditional delivery routes. The 2.1 drawing shows four different routes of car delivery in four neighborhoods. They are limited in scale, slow, inefficient, and detoured, and most times, duplicated. In this project, Drones are being pursued as a new possible transportation method for large-scale delivery in the city. As shown in 2.2, only five delivery centers with 2min drone radius would cover half of the Manhattan and even more. The drones are much more efficient, secure and easily tracking.
2.0_THE FOOD HEX: RETHINKING OF FOOD DELIVERY SYSTEM AND ITS URBAN IMPACT
EX
THE Personal project, FA 2018 Partner: Xun Zhang
THE HEXAGON ARRANGEMENT
Drones can deliver to a circular area surrounding a drone center, where the radius is determined by the range of the drone. The drone centers can be efficiently packed in a hexagon, where the edges of the hexagon are equidistant from two neighboring delivery centers. It is assumed that the drones do not cross that boundary, because locations across that boundary could be more efficiently serviced by a drone from the neighboring center. The geometry is illustrated on the right.
Packing Drone Centers into a City Leads to Hexagonal Delivery Zone
h r
r ≈ 1mile ≈ 2min the Area of Which Is Composed of 12 Triangles
FOOD HEX FLOW CHARTS
COSTUMER NEIGHBORHOOD
RESTAURANT AREA
SYSTEM--ANALYZING
ORDERS DATA
COMBINING THE ROUTES
PLACE AN ORDER RESTAURANT----PREPARING
PLACE AN ORDER PLACE AN ORDER
DRONES
PLACE AN ORDER
IF DELIVERY
PICKING UP FROM THE CLOSEST POOL
DRONES
RESTAURANT----PREPARING RESTAURANT----PREPARING RESTAURANT----PREPARING ALL THE DELIVERY TO THE SAME AREA IN HALF AN HOUR
DELIVERY TO THE CLOSEST POOL TO DELIVERY ADDRESS IF PICKING UP
SHARED DINING
DRONES
DRONES
ALL THE DELIVERY TO THE SAME AREA IN HALF AN HOUR
THE HEX CENTER Drone technology has become a leading trend in the field of fast-delivery. Several major corporation, such as Amazon, DHL, and Walmart, have begun investigating the use of drones in high-speed delivery service. The project aims to design a food delivery system in New York City cooperating with the drone technology and to rethink about the potential opportunity for a smart city and how it will reboot community in such way. The Hex center is an infrastructure project that provides control knots for the area that hosts docking and charging stations for drones, reroutes the delivery, and provides space and opportunities for communal dinning experience and vertical gardens. It would be a future community center gathering people for fun and pleasure. The twisted tower serves for better drones circulation as well as the air ventilation. The drones enter from the cone-shape cuts and exits from the triangle openings in different scales. The cuts also provides spaces for vertical vegetation and gardens.
7.1_HEXA-T
Master 704: Elec
Critic: Ez
Partner with: Bingk
C O M P U TAT I O N A L C
The project uses object oriented programming to develop adva techniques of advanced geometric operation for the design an The project focuses on “the hexa-tetrahedral building unit” in t of space, the robotic material deposition and the real time data the unit using
TETRAHEDRAL
ctive/ Spring 2020
zio Blasetti
kun Deng, Huajie Ma
COMPOSITE FORM
anced generative and analytical algorithms. The team explores nd robotic manufacturing of tetrahedral building components. this case operates as the synthetic atom between the definition a exchange. The project also explores the robotic fabrication of g carbon fiber.
7.2_ARCHITECTURE DRAWINGS MASTER ARCH 720: Visual Literacy and Its Culture / Fall 2019 Critic: Kutan Ayata Site: Unbuilt
PLAN
The reality of our discipline is that we work through collective mediums and conventions of drawings, models, images, simulations, texts, prototypes and buildings to visualize architectural concepts.
7.2_ARCHITECTURE DRAWINGS
SECTION
XU ECH EN
CH EN
CONTENT
OTHER WORKS INTERNSHIPS
SHANGHAI HUAMAO MA
Internship P KPF Summe Primarily working on design schemes,
ASTERPLAN PROJECT
Project er, 2020 , drawings and inhouse renderings
VALLEY CHILDREN’S EAGLE OAK SPECIALTY CARE CENTER
Internship Project Smith Group Summer, 2017 Primarily working on interior design and renderings
SICHUAN TEAHOUSE MASTERPLAN PROJECT
Internship Project AECOM Shanghai Summer, 2016 Primarily working on drawings and diagrams
REVIT DRAWINGS
ENSCAPE INHOUSE RENDERINGS
XU ECH EN
CH EN
CONTENT
OTHER WORKS PERSONAL PROJECTS
3.0_CARTOGRAPHIC NARRATIVE: A FURTHER EXPLORATION OF RECOMPOSITIONS
8.0_FILM PROJECT
UNFOLD NEW YORK URBAN EXPLORATION CO-DIRECTOR: XUN ZHANG
Urban relationships can be very intimate, and very distant at the same time. Based on Walter Benjamin’s apt observation and concept, the experience of the flâneur—the attached and detached roles in city life—is part of the modernity in New York City. Our active participation in and fascination with street life ought to give us a new relationship to the time and space. Inspired by the montage of New York in Woody Allen’s classic 1979 film, Manhattan, the film is an exploration unfolding the complexities and the new dimensions of city spaces through the shifting and superimpositions of perspectives and scales.
The reality of the city is intertwined in the reality of experience.
In the clip, the frames are either shots of the woman moving through New York or her subjective perception of the city (showing as red frames). Such alternative back-and-forth Point of View (POV) shifts the spectator’s view back and forth between the two worlds, public and private, objective and subjective, the contrast in between allowing for a deeper understanding of the city: the city with its architecture composition is the stage in which urban life unfolds. This urban relationship continuously re-makes that architectural infrastructure, while creating an individually perceived understanding of the past, personal memories that become attached to particular architectural spaces (personal immersions), and eventually generating a collective impression of the city (shared reality).
8.0_FILM
UNFO NEWY
CLICK TO https://youtu.be
PROJECT
OLD YORK
TO VIEW: e/aWlsJGsHzhE
8.0_ARCHITOTURE
8.0_PHOTOGRAPHY
TRACES ARCHITECTURE LIFE
I wonder when architecture has become a label of me. As long as I walk in to Higgins building (Pratt Architecture Hall), the atmosphere, the tension, even the smell become different. It is like the cave of Alibaba. Inside, we are tortured, suffered and survived with the victory of achievement aftermath; outside, we are trying to escape as much as possible to enjoy the breath of living. Nevertheless, we will be together again, in Higgins, to fight our next battle. There is something paradoxical about this life. We cried and suffered, yet we are reluctant to give up and our motivated mind is constantly fueled by our Passion and creativity, which keeps us going. Our life is full of tortures and sufferings caused by torn desires—ice & fire. it is a conflicting sarcasm. The path full of tortures can also lead to growth. It gives a pain, and also causes scars, which is my gain. For the photos series, I choose the traces inside Higgins as themes. Traces, for me, are the signs of emotion, events, even moods or atmosphere. One could easily see the pain in a blood-drop or the fatigues insides four empty coffee cans. However, there are more stories than what the pictures can tell. They tell about the time passing by, the feelings at these particular moments in time, evoking a sense of an inner viewer within myself who could feel not only my emotions at that moment but also the current feelings enhanced and impacted by the surrounding environment. I want to show the powerful conflicting forces within those little traces of moments in life. They are so little, and yet so powerful.
XU E CH E N CH E N
B AR C H 2 0 1 9
MS A AD 2020
2014-2020