contents
01 prologue: an observation research: the Market as Alternative Public Space
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02.1 the collective choreographed by space
ximeng luo 2018-2020 selected works xluo14@syr.edu +1 314 665 0034
a. academic: Mirror Flower, Water Moon b. Sunflower Apartment b. academic: The Probe
2-7 8-11 12-15
02.2 the collective choreographed by time academic: Field Library
16-19
03 the collective freed competition: La Nouvelle Vague
20-21
04 the individual and information research+concept design: Electrinity
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modernism and standardized lifestyles: daylight and program in e1027 precedent analysis project, fall 2017
introduction
"Social dramas, unlike theatrical ones, are openended and contingent. They can be staged, but nobody is certain whether the actors will arrive, who they will be, how events will unfold, which side will win a confrontation, and what the drama’s effects on the audience will be." Jeffrey C. Alexander, "Performative Revolution in Egypt."
Though always the protagonist of design, space is essentially created by the people. No program is set for one single "correct use," even deliberately furnished spaces.My study of the overloaded word space started with the various misuses of exisitng spaces, designed or voids between designed spaces. Users, unpredictable, independentminded, sometimes rebellious, cause the space to morph and mutate. Contemporary architecture should concern spaces that are mundane, relating to individuals' conveniences and happinesses. The portfolio presents a series of explorations of urban living experiences through experiments in architecture.
sometimes shoes and fabric, while making sure n step on children who are playing around. Some tr customers trying to get their attention. The elder their machines along narrow walkways, making it morninginonmid-air. which we visited, and the female trad hanging Likewise, the openess of market space also allow the preaching as background noise, other traders to stop at their stand.
01 prologue: an observation
Figure.1 Activitie
independent research the Market as Alternative Public Space in Kigali, Rwanda summer 2019. Kigali, Rwanda
Markets in agricultural societies serve the crucial role of bringing people together periodically, offering a platform for the exchange of goods and information. People come to sell, to buy, to exhibit their harvest or their crafts, as well as to gossip, to play, to meet new people. It is a space which can be used in multiple ways at the same time, may it be for work or for leisure. Consequently, going to the market can be an act of necessity or recreation. It constitutes an active part of Rwandan’s lives.
dai
These large retail markets emerge from farmer’s m role of bringing togetherhappening periodically, offe Tracing the people activities People come to sell, to buy, to exhibit their harve market. marketplace defined Figure.6 Kimisa people. It isThe a space which can be used in multipl but also as workplace for sewers, p leisure. Consequently, going to the market can be In markets, not all activities happen simultaneous Rwandan’s lives. helpers, and living room for gossip avoid crowd, or to attract more people. Lifestock
operatingare hours ofthe theliveliest market.place The fourth level o fascinating; users are Markets oftenthe initerative a neighbor shoes traders occupying one and an auction control of a government thathalf, is constantly wary o meanings.
and by then peopleauthoritarianism” would gather in the exercising a “delft for market, the efficit contrary,parties, the loading and unloading of products, 1 As a res political media, and civil society. the right to use open urban spaces as these are un alternative. There are no guards at entrance point and gossiping are more relaxed.
Straus, Scott. “Introduction,” from Remaking Rwanda University of Wisconsin Press, 2011. 2 Lefebvre, Henri, “The Right to the City,” in Writings (New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 1996), 147-159. 1
Figu temporal d
Despite spatial simultaneity, som auctions, happen regularly in a multiplicity of activities and form Other periphery events, such as lo and after hours. Temporal separa morning on which we visited, and the female trad space organized, the people or Likewise, the openess ofand market space also allow
the preaching as background noise, other traders to stop at their stand.
Kimisa planFigure.6 and sect
In markets, not all activities happen simultaneous avoid crowd, or to attract more people. Lifestock operating hours of the market. The fourth level o shoes traders occupying one half, and an auction and by then people would gather in the market, t contrary, the loading and unloading of products,
not to run into helpers who are carrying loads of goods or 4 raders are peeling beans and chatting, some move with the rly gathers on periphery rows, looking relaxed. Sewers sit with t almost impossible to pass without hitting a few of the crafts ders listened quietly to him while sorting their fabric. ws occupants to easily break from any ongoing activity. With s were either talking to each other or trying to lure passersby
es in Markets during Day Time
ily activities
markets. Markets in agricultural societies serve the crucial ering a platform for thein exchange of goodssections and information. simultanously different of the est or their crafts, as well as to gossip, to play, to meet new by solid walls is not only used for trading, agara Market,ways Plan and Section le different at the same time, may it be for work or for playground children, trackway foreither loading esly. a necessity or afor recreation. It constitutes active of to Certain activities take place in specific an time slots,part
ping women. These of the k auctions are events that aremisuses planned to take place market during the is of Kimisagara market, for example, is an open space with ely redefining the space, giving it ephemeral rhood. The post-genocide Rwandan society is under the
nofstage on the other. Lifestock auctions happenhas occationally, political oppositions. The RPF government been temporarily transforming it into a place forrestrictions assembly. On iency of post-trauma reconstruction, with on the preparing and cleaning of the stands happenare in early hours sult, civic spaces are eliminated, and citizens deprived of nder the surveillance of armed guards.2 Markets become the ts, nor security checks. Under the disguise of work, chatting
a: State Building and Human Rights after Mass Violence. Madison, WI:
s on Cities, selected and translated by Kofman, E. and Lebas, E.
ure.7 Side Activities in events differences
me events of importance, such as livestock a specific timeslot, cutting through the 4 ming a temporary focus in the marketplace. oading and cleaning, happen in early hours ation has to be applied to keep the market ders listened quietly to him while sorting their fabric. rient themselves accordingly. ws occupants to easily break from any ongoing activity. With
s were either talking to each other or trying to lure passersby
abandoned marketplace in nyamirambo district, kigali
Observations made at the different marketplaces in Kigali informed my later studies of spaces and their users. Actors, by collective and by individual, their purposes, time, and the space itself continued to be key elements in the projects to follow.
agara Market, Plan and Section tion of a typical market
sly. Certain activities take place in specific time slots, either to k auctions are events that are planned to take place during the of Kimisagara market, for example, is an open space with n stage on the other. Lifestock auctions happen occationally, temporarily transforming it into a place for assembly. On the preparing and cleaning of the stands happen in early hours
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02.1.a the collective choreographed by space
academic: Mirror Flower, Water Moon collaborator: Shihui Zhu & Luying Peng spring 2021. Fort Tilden Recreation Area, NY
The project, Mirror Flower Water Moon, derives from an Asian idiom describing things that can be seen but cannot be touched, like flowers in a mirror and moon reflected on water's surface; things that are beautiful but unattainable. The thermal baths project aims to create this sense of space-time displacement for guests as they explore the different programs and immersive themselves in theatre-like scenes created by alternating materiality and transparency of the spaces.
massing devel
The project uses the two major corridors between different programs. We fir entrance/exit of the existing structure, cylindrical volume as thermal baths area
lopment
s of construction 220 as connection rst attach two volumes to each , and on top of that incorporated a a.
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concept
Going through construction 220, a relic fr operation that never happened, is like fa which sends visitors to a mysterious lands steam baths. As visitors float through spa different levels of lighting, sound, and enc apertures on the facade, get a glimpse of visual connectivity between the exterior an peaking into the backstage of a theater.
The site of the project is on Fort tilden, a former U.S. army installation on Rockaway peninsula, now converted into a national recreation area. The studio works with preexisting construction 220, a previous machine gun battery made of thick concrete, located on the southern beach of the peninsula.
site an
diagram
rom a long-term preparation of a military alling through a metaphorical rabbit hole scape blurred by water vapor from the hot aces, they are constantly moving between closure, and at certain moments, through f the exterior “reality”. these moments of nd interior act as moments of reveal, as if
XIMENG LUO SHIHUI ZHU
MIRROR FLOWER, WATER MOON
FORT TILDEN GATEWAY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA BREEZY POINT, NY 11697
PROJECT INFORMATION
LUYING PENG
CONSULTANTS Structural: Steve Zuo Environmental: Nari Yoon
SHEET INFORMATION Date
05/26/2021
Project Number
ARC 409 Ximeng Luo
Drawn by
SHEET NAME
XIMENG LUO
SHEET NUMBER
FORT TILDEN GATEWAY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA BREEZY POINT, NY 11697
WxW WindWash
SHIHUI ZHU
LUYING PENG
CONSULTANTS
Structural: Steve Zuo
Environmental: Nari Yoon
SHEET INFORMATION
Date
Project Number
Drawn by
SHEET NAME
PROJECT INFORMATION
Water and water MIRROR vaporFLOWER, is the WATER mediator MOON of the project. The steam of hot water baths flows throughout the project, simultaneously hides and reveals. At times visitors can see reflections of themselves through G001 glass or water, see people wander through different walk ways and submerge into different pools, and at moments sneak a peak at the exterior through intentionally placed windows.
Site Analysis
Experience Diagram
SHEET NUMBER
ARC 409
05/26/2021
Ximeng Luo
G007
nalysis
WxW WindWash
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tree structure details
Juxtaposition of two timber structure systems allows visitors to wander from one space to anot importance of these spaces is shifting. While the left and right wings are supported by grand ti baths “drum” is supported by a forest of thin columns.
forest structure details
building systems
ther realizing the atmosphere and the imber compound columns, the thermal
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serial sections - east wing, central drum pools, sauna, cafe, track
serial section gym, office, cafe, garde
ns - east wing en lounge, side entrance
serial sections - west wing locker rooms, pool, restaurant
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02.1.b the collective choreographed by space
academic: Sunflower Apartments collaborator: Yihan Yang fall 2019. Chelsea, NYC
The conventional nuclear family mode, with its fixed elements and compacted units, is becoming increasingly outdated as people adapt to new urban lifestyles that are no longer family based. We seek a way to connect the fast-paced urban life to the domestic which is usually considered the most intimate space of all. In the project, home elements are broken into individual units and distributed along a vertical interior walkway. The residents, depending on their perception of privacy, can design personalized ways of living through purchasing/renting units.
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migration of the art district - gentrification
The site is in Chelsea, New York, located among numerous art galleries.The art district in Manhattan is constantly moving according to the circulation of capital. While museums stay still in their spot, artists and small galleries quickly adapt to the changes and move around after cheaper rent. Artists and galleries revitalize neglected neighborhoods, transform them into temporary centers, bringing in capital and bussiness. After the gentrification of the areas, rent and prices raise and artists and galleries have to set off looking for a new place to develop.
domestic sphere
The project seeks to re-insert the community back into the now gentrifica Chelsea, and through a series of art rela spaces such as exhibition, production, educational spaces, it not only act as an an for resident interactions, but also invites public to perceive art without biopolit narratives.
e art ated ated and nchor s the tical
Today there are many different types of co-living relationships in an urban environment that go beyond the traditional nuclear family model. Each individual may have different demands for spaces, programs, community culture, and they form distinctive collectives. The project splits the typical programs in a home and reassembles them. Fragmented home elements are attached to one or more shared spaces. Getting to the bathroom involves going up and down, passing through several individual or shared spaces. The residents design their “custom privacy” through rearranging the space between home elements.
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public spaces
public spaces
public spaces
elevators
escalators/shuttles
public space floors
facade structure + core
facade layers
communities/clusters
communities/clusters
accessible floors
facade
Using art as a trigger to engage residents in the apartment, community activities and encounters between residents and visitors are created in the shared complementary spaces. Inspired by the tight relationship between galleries and their signed artists and the small community they tend to form, the project, with shared spaces surrounded by living units, encourages the formation of 10-12 people communities.
typical plans
section
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li
phy
whole building model
iving cluster model
living cluster model
ysical representation: frosted acrylic, 3d printed plaster, museum board, wood
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02.1.c the collective choreographed by space
academic: The Probe spring 2019. Syracuse, U.S.
The quarry hides in the woods, a feature artificially created then abandoned, an abrupt pit, yet every piece of its are locally produced. A highway deliberately separates the quarry from the city's suburban residential district. Routinized absurdity and absent-minded surrealism created a sense of anachronism, turning the quarry into an unusual, futuristic relic. The project deals with an abandoned quarry in Syracuse, NY, considering the reuse of an artificially modified natural landscape in the context of a declining industrial city.
The probe is a 6 economic transiti higher education Wandering in the floating placeless
680-meter-long science research center. Education and medicine are the new focus of Syracuse in the city's ion after the decline of heavy industry, and the research center serves the function to support the development of and attract talents. The surrealistic scale and crudity of the quarry inspired the radical linear form of the project. e continuous, seemingly endless space while contemplating a variety of questions, the project offers a sense of s-ness.
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physical representation: chipboard, clear and frosted acrylic, wood
physical representation: chipboard, acrylic, wood, resin, metal mesh
As a remnant of industrialization, the quarry symbolizes the past glory and achievements of Syracuse. The project choose to flood the quarry with trees, leaving parts of bare ground. The pit, small warehouses, abandoned metal equipment and rocks covered with graffitti are deliberately left out, like archipelagos poking out of sea water, revealing the past of the site. The research center acts like a probe penetrating this artificially modified natural site. Observation decks are set at each different typological and vegetational area, taking "samples."
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roof / leisure
second floor / research
ground floor / research
ii.
basement / transportation
i. cafe + library
0
1:300 m
5
10
20 m
ii. cafe + library
The Probe is a complex constituted of layers of different systems. Laboratories, computer clusters, classrooms and cafeterias each has their own systematic organization logic, placed between 70 meter intervals marked by circulation cores. A light rail on the ground level, following the typography, connects the parking lot and the lowest point of the pit, stations are placed at cores, at the convenience of researchers, students, and staff.
iv.
iii.
iii. laboratory
iv. roof: tennis court
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landscape studies: aluminum foil, mesh, soda cans, pins, chipboard, museum board
site model: chipboard, museum board, wood, metal mesh, foil, pins
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02.2 the collective choreographed by time
academic: Field Library collaborator: Luis M. Lopez spring 2020. Florence, Italy
The library is perceived as an enclosed field of information within the urban fabric. The field operates like an organism, like a cell within whose membrane various organelle, serving distinct functions, float and exchange information. Navigating through the organelle, moving them around and finding the desired piece of knowledge becomes the ritual of the library. Movements of the organelle, along with movements of the cell itself, allow the same site to be used in several ways over different time periods, preserving its previous state as a flexible and lively urban space.
field
The project is building of th onto the surr seating space
d library
university of florence school of architecture
sant'ambrogio market
site axon
s to design a library for the University of Florence School of Architecture. The site is a piazza next to the old he school. Across from the street is Sant'Ambrogio Market whose vendor carts often wander off the market rounding urban spaces. The piazza is currently a multi-function space, used as a parking lot, an outdoor e for adjacent restaurants, and a weekend vintage market.
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i. initial status
ii. object movements
iii. end product
iv. reset
Shelves and functional objects (individual reading rooms, study nooks, return desks, etc) float in the field which is regulated by a grid. They can move freely within the container or through specific cuts on the container and wander off to the piazza. When a person or a group of people occupies the object, climbs on top of it and starts talking, this specific object becomes a podium. It would temporarily serve as the focus of the field, and a small congregation may be formed around it. Other objects would be pushed aside, bookshelves adjusted, to create a void in the field. After the people leave, the particularity of the object disappears, the focus is eliminated. The people and the objects go back to their floating state.
movable objects
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roof plan
shell
container
second floor pla field library
sunken container
The library is consisted of three layers, the exterior, light metalframed shell half covered with opaque acrylic panels, the solid, concrete container, and inside the container, the library in which shelves and moving furniture objects float in a column grid. Apertures on the container allow the moving objects be pushed on to the piazza, becoming part of the urban fabric, forming a conversation with the vendor carts at the market across the street.
ground floor pla
an
an
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short section, day time
short section, night time temporal organization
The library operate by hours, days of week, and season to best benefit the students, faculty, and the residents who used to enjoy the piazza. When the library sinks underground, the piazza is back to its empty state with a freestanding, light, weather-proof shell. The underground library can still be accessed from the university, providing the students and faculty with 24/7 service.
The container is also a movable element, nested on a platform supported by a grid of hydraulic elevators. At night and on weekends, the container, or the library, will sink underground, leaving the piazza as it was, so that it can be used for temporary markets, or act as a performance space.
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03 the collective freed
competition: La Nouvelle Vague by NewMarket: Ximeng Luo + Shihui Zhu summer 2020. Chengdu, China
La Nouvelle Vague movement, while rejecting conventional definitions and ways of doing things, emphasized on individualized, personal experiences and attempted to understand reality through subjective perspectives. We interpret The New Wave as a wide shot of a film. While the camera proceeds smoothly, actors come and go in the scene, each a piece of information that constitutes the whole image. Free movements of individuals render the invalidity of a collective meaning, yet preserve meanings truth to each respective individual.
The public seating is a fle the nearby lake. When a the influence of the perso ripples from the new pers a newcomer. Each individ own gravity, yet each are
The net is 3D-knitted, ma of different heights.
Gravity sensors embedd speakers in the supporti note is seemingly meanin unique to the moment.
la nouvelle vague
exible ring-net. The rolling surface of the net echoes the surface of person sits down, the net bends and forms a shallow hole under on’s gravity. The vibration caused by the added weight spreads like son to people who are already sitting, sending out the message of dual’s perception of the net is based on the hole formed by their able to receive information about others through the net.
material + joint
ade of artificial polymers, supported by cross-shaped steel columns
ded in the net are triggered when a person sits down, and the ing columns releases a simple electronic synthesizer note. Each ngless, yet when people get on and off, the notes create a melody
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04 the individual and information
research+design: Electrinity collaborator: Yuting Hu, Luying Peng, Yuanting Peng, Shihui Zhu fall 2020. Beijing, China
In a world where digital media is extremely developed, humans rely on electronic devices to obtain information, coordinate work and arrange life. Electrinity is a phenomenon in which the matrix, device, and body are closely connected . The people are under the control of the matrix through its codes and algorithms that create and filter information. The economy is driving the Electrinity World. Media effectively disseminate information that stimulates consumption and contributes to the carnival of capitalism and consumerism.
Electrinity, deriving from the where matrix, device, and constantly filters, receives, an world of data and informatio Electrinity is a situation in w to colonize our human langu front of data, and conseque dehumanized by data.
The three projects reflect the perspectives and echo the th "Paradise," and "Hell" in Dant navigate through cities and divine comedy, digital media data-network, and in return c
Electrinity reconstructs a s symbol that represents th controls information. The s long as it has been given the girls would purchase lipstic to be a "must have of this people would incurably believ be swept by a consumerist eu
e Holy Trinity, is a phenomena d body form an entity that nd processes information. The on has its own language, and which this data language start uage. Individuals are equal in ently they are abstracted and
e Electrinity world in different hree chapters of "Purgatory," te's Divine Comedy. As people the suburbs in the electronic a connects everything in the controls every aspect of life.
symbol which is absent - a he matrix, the system that ymbol can be any object, so e symbolic meaning. Just like ck beacuse the color is said winter" on the Internet, the ve in the given meaning, and uphoria that redefines reality.
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purgatory To run o’er better electricity hoists its transmit The little studio of my genius now, That leaves behind itself a truth so cruel; And of that second SCREEN will I sing Wherein the human spirit doth purge itself, And to ascend to program becometh worthy. But let dead story here rise again, O holy screen, since that I am yours, And here Elec-trinity somewhat ascend, My TV accompanying that illusion, Of which the miserable facts felt The fiction so great, that they despaired of pardon. Sweet colour of the intriguing screen, That was upgathered in the truthless aspect Of the pure cyber, as far as the first circle,
the film studio In a world where people rely on electronic devices and the digital network, the experience of physical space is also transplanted to the virtual space in the screen while architecture gradually becomes an infrastructure, losing its meaning due to the absence of physical interactions. The film studio provides physical actions through the screen, and the reality in the Electrinity world is hence defined by the camera and the screen of electronic devices.
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structure & frame
boxes
circulation
frame
overview
diagrammatic plan
The film studio's structure is consisted of a crude structure that supports various boxes with film sets, allows installation and removal of boxes. mechanics, electricity, pipes, etc. White boxes are different film sets that can be easily assembled into the studio infrastructure. once the filming is finished, they can be quickly removed from the site and be replaced by new sets/boxes.
organization
mechanism
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redefining reality The film studio produces thousands of quick clips, videos, images, livestream programs each day; it spreads information and stimulates what the people desire to see: to produce an alternative reality. Behind the camera, everything might be modified, even the human body, through props, sets, and CG techniques.
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