PORTFOLIO APPLY FOR BARTLETT SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE MArch Cinematic & Videogame Architecture YONGXIN XIE
Contents
01 FOUR-DIMENTIONAL CITY - SYMBIOTIC URBAN DESIGN advisor: Haohao Xu - Spring 2022 Revitalizing the declining old community around the former Changsha Railway Station and Golden Apple Market, this project introduces an internal pedestrian street. By reorganizing architectural functions and traffic flows, and incorporating a threedimensional transportation system along with replaceable functional bubbles, it achieves a four-dimensional community capable of continuous revitalization and renewal.
02 ALPHA ROOM - CAMPUS INTERACTIVE SPACE DESIGN advisor: Guang Zhang - Fall 2020 Within the campus of Hunan University, taking into account the constraints of existing student study and activity spaces, an effort is made to create an interactive architecture that allows students to autonomously define their space. This is achieved by leveraging dynamic structures and modular spaces that offer selectively free combinations.
03 TOWER OF BABEL - NARRATIVE DESIGN FOR A FUTURE WORLD advisor: Yinghua Chen - Summer 2023 Based on my imagination of the future world, this script interprets a new worldview to inspire contemplation on urban architectural spaces in the future.
04 FLOWING - DESIGN FOR A LARGE-SPAN SPORTS ARENA advisor: Xiaoming Chen - Summer 2022
[other works]
Proposing a large sports arena on the Hunan University campus, accessible to all, the site sits on a triangular plot with varying elevations, nestled between mountains and facing a scenic lake. The architecture adopts a streamlined design, incorporating a ribbon-like truss structure for a distinctive style. Positioned to overlook the lake with a mountain backdrop, the design seeks to blend seamlessly with the unique topography.
05 GRAPHIC DESIGN, PAINTING AND PHOTOGRAPHY 2018 - 2023
[other works]
01
Four-Dimensional City Symbiotic Urban Design
[Location] [Date of Design] [Category] [Label] [Tutor]
Changsha, China Spring, 2022 Urban Design Individual Work Haohao Xu
Changsha Railway Station is one of the earliest railway stations in New China, and the adjacent Golden Apple Market was once the most prosperous city center in Changsha. However, with urban development and the rise of high-speed rail, this area gradually declined, becoming a dilapidated urban village. In this project, I initially attempted to implant a three-dimensional transportation system into the pedestrian street of this area, aiming to attract crowds and revitalize the community. However, seeing many such declining communities in the city, I realized that a static and unrenewable community would eventually face decline. Therefore, I attempted to incorporate the element of the fourth dimension—time—into this design, creating a pedestrian street capable of metabolism. The goal is to address the issue of neglected communities in the rapid urbanization development.
1994
1991
2002
2009
Today
Jinpingguo Market
Leifeng Statue
Huang Road Pedestrain Street
Chairman Mao Statue in Juzizhou
Bar Street on Jiefang RD. W.
Location information The site is situated in the former railway station area of Changsha, Hunan Province, China. It once stood as a pivotal cultural and commercial hub in Changsha, but with the advent of high-speed rail, this locale has gradually witnessed a decline. Known among the Chinese as "Star City" due to its thriving entertainment industry, Changsha also boasts a flourishing light commercial sector and a rich red cultural heritage, making it a venerable city in China's revolutionary history.
On January 8, 1911, Changsha heard the first train roar during the of the Changzhu section of the 1911 trial Yue-Han Railway at Xiao Wu Men.
In the 1960s, the reconstruction and relocation of Xiaowumen Railway Station began. By the ambitious project to reconstruct 1960 1974, Changsha Railway Station was initiated.
On July 1, 1977, the new station was finished, becoming the tallest in Changsha and the 1977 structure second-largest station in the country.
Entertainment Mark Commercial Mark
Revolution Cultural Mark
Entertainment Mark
Revolution Cultural Mark After the Yue-Han Railway
1936 opened, passengers waited
Entertainment Mark
In 1975, Changsha started building
1975 its new railway station, with over 400,000 residents participating in the city's last major voluntary labor effort.
on the platform of Changsha Railway Station (Xiao Wumen).
In 2009, the Shanghai-Guangzhou
2009 h i g h - s p e e d r a i l w a y s t a r t e d , signaling Changsha's official entry into the era of high-speed rail.
Site Selection Mark
China
Hunan Province
Changsha
Mark in Diagram
1976
1996
2004
2012
2017
Chairman Mao Statue in Dongfanghong
Hunan Radio and Television Center
Huangxing Statue
Meixi Lake Bussiness Circle
Changsha IFS
Transportation and Placement of Bubble : 1. Leveraging the convenience of the site's proximity to the train station, the outer shell of the bubble infrastructure can be transported from the manufacturing site to the location using rail transport. 2. After trains deliver semi-finished bubble pods, cranes can be used to extract the pods from the train carriages. 3. Pre-digging foundations or setting up column bases in advance, then using a crane to place the semi-finished bubble pods on them. 4. Once the semi-finished bubble pods are in place, onsite processing can transform them into various functional bubble spaces.
Present Situation of the Base
Proposed strategy
Present Situation of the Base
The base function is single and backward
Reset venue function
To m o d i f y or rebuild a building
The site was built early and the buildings are old
R e s e t the field streamline
Rearrange the roads in the site
The east, west, south and north sides of the site are divided
Link the base to the surrounding area
Add threedimensional pedestrain trails
Sky Market:
Nestled in the heart of this community, where pathways converge, it forms a platform with diverse spaces. Here, various functions like market stalls and clothing shops are strategically placed, creating a vibrant space for people to naturally gather for commerce and gatherings. Hence, it becomes an elevated marketplace.
Above-Ground Park：
At the north entrance of the community, there's a ground-level car park underneath. The pathway starts here, gradually ascending and narrowing toward the southern pedestrian street. Above, you'll find a green lawn, prominent steps, and various functional elements like pavilions and pergolas, creating a park for leisure. This park also helps draw in people and conceals the car park.
02 Alpha Room
Campus Interactive Space Design
[Location] [Date of Design] [Category] [Label] [Tutor]
Changsha, China Fall, 2023 Interactive Architecture Design Individual Work Guang Zhang
In my university life, I've observed that whenever we want to engage in self-directed learning or activities, we often need to find specific spaces on campus. However, these spaces have certain limitations, and when you want to switch activities, you need to move to another space. This inconvenience prompted my reflection, leading me to consider whether we could change the logic of architectural design by providing each individual with a modular space. With this approach, people could easily adapt the space to different activities by splitting or merging it. Therefore, in this project, I attempt to create a flexible and adaptable building where users can define their own spaces.
Analysis of five main learning Spaces in Hunan University
Library Pros: Quiet environment, suitable for independent study. Cons: Must maintain absolute silence, not suitable for discussions or loud reading.
Professional Classroom Pros: Provides professional teaching facilities. Cons: Restricted by class schedules, not suitable for long-term activities, and personal items storage.
Design inspiration
Coffee shop Pros: Offers a free study and activity environment. Cons: Requires purchases, diverse crowd, occasional noise.
Playground Pros: Suited for activities with high noise and extensive movement. Cons: Mainly for sports, less suitable for quiet and private activities.
Dormitory Pros: Relatively free for study activities. Cons: Consideration needed for roommates' living habits, potential for noise disturbances.
In today's university campuses, every space available for students to use independently has its own strengths and weaknesses. However, no single space can cater to all students' needs, and the distances between them can create inconveniences. Therefore, I envision the possibility of a customizable space, a space that can facilitate dynamic changes in its structure, aiming to meet various needs within limited space.
Form Generation:
The small cabin rotates freely along a circular track, allowing for adjustable lighting and scene transitions.
Increasing the height of each layer provides lighting for the main building and reserves space for the rotating cabin to change its trajectory.
Dynamic blocks, based on the site characteristics, are manipulated to create roof platforms facing different directions.
Adjacent blocks interlock, accommodating the existing site level differences.
Additional central and side courtyards are introduced to facilitate natural ventilation and engage in a dialogue with the roof platforms.
Ground floor courtyard landscapes and the introduction of rooftop platform landscapes are incorporated.
Interior Space Generation:
The rotating cabin can also transition into the interior of the building.
Some spaces are lowered to create side courtyards, generating an interesting interaction with the rotating cabin.
The main circulation space revolves around a central courtyard, forming a closed loop.
The central courtyard features a sightseeing elevator and shaft.
Introducing a landing platform for the rotating cabin.
Incorporating various functional modules into the interior space.
Communication between different levels inside is also possible. The rotating cabins can pivot indoors, creating a dialogue with the interior space.
Having my own dedicated study space means I can finally watch online classes without wearing headphones. I can also recite aloud while reviewing. When I'm tired, I can take a nap without worrying about someone hearing me snore.
Finally found a place to gossip with my sisters. Now, we can chat all day without worrying about others overhearing.
Users of the rotating cabins can open the windows to communicate with people indoors.
They can also close the windows and electrify the smart glass for fogging to isolate themselves from the outside.
Feeling tired from studying? Rotate the cabin to the rooftop platform and enjoy the scenery!
Students can't afford the rental cost of a studio, and there's no need for long-term leasing. It can be easily dismantled here when not in use, making it really convenient.
Dialogue can occur between the rooftop platform, interior space, and the rotating cabin.
You can use a folding ladder to connect the upper and lower cabins.
Merging the upper and lower four cabins would create a temporary team workspace.
The circular exhibition hall makes it easier for us to appreciate the exhibits. I'm a member of a nearby studio and heard about the exhibition here.
If you're interested, feel free to visit our studio; perhaps there's an opportunity for collaboration. We are students from a nearby university, and the exhibits here are sourced from neighboring higher education institutions.
The rotating cabins can merge, so now it's okay to have a larger group!
T h i s w a y, e v e r y o n e c a n collaborate on group assignments or play board games together without any issues. The tri-fold door between the two cabins can be opened, allowing the tables to be joined together.
Ground Source Heat Pump Room
Low Voltage Distribution Room
High Voltage Distribution Room
Sectional Perspective View This building is composed of three discs that are interlocked and stacked, adapting to the varying terrain on both sides of the site, forming two entrances. The overlapping triangular sections create a central courtyard, featuring a double-height space with a skylight at the top for natural light and ventilation. At the three corners, there are three wells housing the electrical room, water well, and air conditioning room respectively.
Sectional Diagram
Class division has existed since ancient times.
03
Tower of Babel Narrative Design for a Future World
[Date of Design] [Category] [Label] [Tutor]
Summer, 2023 Narritive Design Individual Work Yinghua Chen
In today's society, class polarization is escalating, with a small elite holding a significant share of wealth resources, while the majority living at the bottom struggle in challenging circumstances. This work satirizes the phenomenon by depicting a future world where social hierarchy is taken to the extreme. Through the design of a script, it narrates the protagonist's adventurous story in this futuristic setting, showcasing the appearance of this future world. The title of the work is "Tower of Babel," derived from a biblical allusion criticizing human conflicts. The original meaning of the Tower of Babel was a tower leading to heaven, but the story concludes by revealing that the tower only leads to the surface, conveying a sense of pessimism and irony. In modern times, education is seen as the sole pathway to narrowing class disparities. However, the rising cost of higher education has turned it into a privilege for the children of the elite, contributing to the widening gap between the wealthy and the less privileged.
At this point, the existing social class system has completely collapsed, with the wealthy exerting control over the vast majority of the world's resources. Furthermore, due to the development of artificial intelligence, the poor don't even have the opportunity to sell their labor.
W ith the development of science and technology, people have invented brain modification techniques that can store memories and enhance intelligence. This technology elevates human intelligence to a new level, but its high cost makes it affordable only for a small fraction of the bourgeoisie. Since then, the intelligence gap between the rich and the poor has become akin to that between two distinct species.
With law enforcement robots safeguarding private property, the poor are unable to seize resources through means like rebellion, solidifying the unchangeable nature of the class gap.
Goodbye my homeland. Take one last look at the scenery above ground.
As a result, the poor accumulate increasing debts. To survive, they mortgage all their land and move into underground cities. The characters are based on the Attack On Titan comic strip
However, gradually, the resources conveyed down from the tower become insufficient to sustain the basic needs of the people in the lower levels, and many start to starve.
In order to ensure Mikasa's survival, her mother makes the heartbreaking choice to disassemble herself. She transforms into a container of water, a box of organic fats, and a coin-sized piece of iron.
I decided to disassemble myself.
They can help sustain her life for a bit longer.
This underground city was constructed by the wealthy for the poor, and the rich retained the survival rights of the poor because they recognized that waste disposal was a major obstacle to societal development and quality of life. These poor individuals became natural tools for waste digestion. Hence, the rich used the underground city as a dumping ground for garbage.
The underground people believe in a goddess residing in the sky who bestows resources upon them through this tower. That's why they refer to it as the Tower of Babel, signifying a tower leading to the heavens.
According to the tower's structure, it appears that there is another level above their city, and at the very top of the tower, there seems to be another world.
Currently Available Information
H o w e v e r, e v e n beneath the ground, class division persists, and the residents of the underground city push the weaker and poorer individuals to the lower levels.
Thus, the structure of the entire world is such that the further down you go, the larger the area, the greater the population, but the fewer the resources, and the worse the environment.
Please deliver these to Mikasa.
Unable to endure this life any longer, the indignant MIikasa leads a revolution with a group of people. By chance, they obtain a map of the Tower of Babel and decide to explore what lies above.
The residents on the surface use a tower to transport the waste to the underground city.
Mikasa happened to obtain a map of the Tower of Babel.
The main structure inside the tower consists of a giant transport channel in the center, composed of multiple pipes, surrounded by numerous levels of workshops for processing resources. Now, Mikasa and her group have reached the lowestlevel workshop
More and more people are starving to death. We've always revered the goddess and never dared to enter the Tower of Babel. but it seems the goddess has forsaken us. It's time to take action and explore what's above the tower.
inside the tower.
Many years later, because the lowest inhabitants lived underground for too long, and because the inhabitants of the above destroyed the evidence of the existence of the surface world in order to better control them. The children here have been living underground since birth. They believe this is what the entire world looks like.
H o w e v e r, w h e n M i k a s a a n d h e r g r o u p enter the interior of the Tower of Babel, they are astonished by the scene before them. Everywhere, operational machines are processing resources, but there is no sign of any goddess. They vaguely realize that there might be a larger conspiracy at play in the world.
Our protagonist, Mikasa, a brave girl with black hair, lives with her mother in the deepest level of the underground city.
The interior of the Tower of Babel is like this! Our supplies are just the products of machines! There is no god in the world at all!
There must be someone who created all of this!
Collection
Mikasa and her group descended along the tower to the underground first level. The buildings there were not as dilapidated as the lowest level, and the city had dim lights. The technology was more advanced, and security was tight.
Disinfection Sorting Processing Compression Transport Distribution
The city above ground: Highly developed, with sparse buildings, abundant vegetation, and wealthy resources, inhabited by a small elite. The existence of the city above ground is concealed from the underground inhabitants, as the residents above need to send their garbage down and utilize the underground dwellers to dispose of it.
This glass cover is designed to prevent accidental falls by people or animals.
The structure functions as a pump, collecting garbage from various locations in the city above.
Upon learning that the residents on this level also rely on resources transported down by the Tower of Babel, Mikasa considers collaborating with them to ascend to the top together.
H o w e v e r, t h e r e s i d e n t s h e r e refuse, feeling that they can survive now without taking risks. Despite being exploited by those above them, they, in turn, exploit those beneath them.
To p r e v e n t t h e p e o p l e from the lower levels from disrupting their current lifestyle, the residents here even use force, killing Mikasa's comrades, and in the end, only Mikasa manages to escape.
This section serves as a supporting structure because the Tower of Babel was constructed from top to bottom by people on the surface. Therefore, the top of the tower needs to be fixed to the ground to support the load.
T h e t r a ns p o r t a t i o n channel is composed of multiple pipes for conveying various types of materials.
Quickly kill them! don't let them disrupt our life!
The underground first level: Relatively advanced technology and sufficient resources. It's part of the conspiracy by the people above, allocating just enough resources to the underground first level for survival but not enough to allow them to develop advanced technology that could threaten the upper class. This leads the inhabitants to become numb to their situation, willingly maintaining the order imposed on them. The people from above also guide them to develop a certain level of force to quell potential uprisings from the lower levels. They are both exploited by the upper class and are directed to exploit the lower class.
The main structure of the tower consists of a central material transport channel, surrounded by many layers of workshops where robots process and sort goods. There are wires on the exterior to deliver some electricity to the underground city. This structure is used to anchor the tower to the ground of the underground first level.
When Mikasa finally reaches the top of the tower, she is amazed by the scenery before her. For the first time, she sees the sky, sunlight, trees, and feels the wind. The city here is highly developed, with wide streets, clean buildings, and people joyfully interacting – a stark contrast to the struggles for survival in the gloom of the underground city. It dawns on her that this is the true appearance of the world. At this moment, she realizes that the "Tower to the Heavens" they believed in is, in fact, a tower to the surface; the "gift bestowed by the goddess" they thought they received is just the garbage discarded by people above. Their entire life turns out to be a colossal lie, and the world is revealed to be cruel and unfair.
The bottom part of the tower is erected on the surface of the ground in the underground second level, serving a supporting role. Additionally, a door has been constructed here, initially intended for residents on the surface to inspect the situation below. Later, Mikasa and her group entered through this door.
The lowest level underground: Extremely backward, harsh conditions, dilapidated structures, and dim lighting. Despite having the largest area, it has the highest population density. The people here are blinded by the upperclass individuals to the true nature of the world. They consume the garbage left by the residents of the upper two levels, mistakenly believing it is a gift from the deity at the top of the tower. This is the place where the protagonist, Mikasa, lives.
04 Flowing
Design for a Large-Span Sports Arena
[Location] [Date of Design] [Category] [Label] [Tutor] [other works]
Changsha, China Summer, 2022 Architecture Design Individual Work Xiaoming Chen
Located at the junction of Hunan University's campus and the surrounding community, this triangular site, nestled between Yue Lu Mountain and Back Lake's cultural hub, poses a challenge due to its noticeable elevation differences. The project aims to create a versatile facility for sports events and academic exercises, blending seamlessly into the landscape. Leveraging the terrain's variations, the architecture appears to flow organically from the foothills of Yue Lu Mountain, imparting a dynamic atmosphere to the sports arena. The design gracefully integrates into the site, and its streamlined form elegantly mitigates the impact of the substantial architectural volume, ensuring a harmonious presence. Metal Roof Panels
Steel Truss System
LED Strips
Truss Joint Construction
Frame Structural System
Three Floors
Column-to-Truss Joint Construction
Second Floor
Section Drawing
First Floor Enclosure Structure
Site
Graphic design
Painting
Photography