Internship Portfolio 2015_Xinru Liu

Liu Xinru

Work Selections from 2011- present rudimentary, passionate, playful

1

Miscellaneous Lance through Water, Photography, 2014 Islamic Architecture Ornaments, Ceramic, 2013

2

Architecture Mayan Musuem, Spring, 2014, RISD Pop-up Installation on Pier 26, Spring, 2015, RISD Bath House at Fox Point, Spring, 2013 RISD Dancing House, Fall, 2012, RISD

Urban Transition and Extension, Fall, 2013 RISD Macht Platz, Fall, 2014, TUM

Architectural Analysis Kenzo Tange Analysis, Spring, 2013, RISD Facade Analysis, Fall, 2015, TUM

3

4

ARCHITECTURE

5

6

Culture on Display Advanced Studio, RISD, 2014 Professor Hansy Better

Culture on display is consist of two parts, a traveling exhibit of mayan astronomy and a new museum of mayan culture. The core idea of the design for both projects is unfolding musuem and open up the traditional tectonic of column and slab, by which generating a more dynamic and flexible exhibit space.

The travelling exhibit of mayan astronomy exams closely the logic among different mayan calendars. The travling gallery itself is a sculpture display such logic while creating flexible exhibit space in vareis site conditions.

The new musuem of mayan culture is built upon the research of mayan astronomy, taking the idea that the cosmic and human are connected through the counting system of mayan calendar. Utilizing column as a basic element for constructing such cosmic-human relationship.

7

Traveling Exhibit for Mayan Astronomy Advanced Studio, RISD, 2014 Professor Hansy Better

This tool is designed based on the Tzol’kin calendar. Using thirteen and twenty as sacred numbers (13 joints, 20 digits), this tool uses the body to register/count time. The y-axis records the stretching and bending of the body, recording the numbers one to thirteen and pausing to celebrate the ankles, knees, hips, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and neck. The x-axis records the 10 fingers’ placement on the dowel. Each axis’ cycle back and forth, interconnecting, reaching from the ground to the sky, forming the 260 day count.

8

Diagram of panel variation

9

10

This drawing demonstrates the Mayan’s use of the Tzol’kin (260 day) and Haab’ (365 day) calendars.

The Tzol’kin calendar combines the numbers 13 and 20, which celebrate the 13 joints and 20 digits of the human body, to count individual days (separate from the concept of days and months). The Haab’ calendar is based on the solar year and is composed of 18 months of 20 days, and one month called the Wayeb’ of 5 unlucky days.

The combination of these two calendars forms a 52 year cycle (as opposed to the Western notion of century). These two measures of recording time celebrate the human body, and celestial events, linking Mayan’s conceptions of earth and sky, and the cyclical nature of life.

11

12

This traveling gallery can be assembled in different size according to the site.

This drawing illustrates the celebration of the Sun and it’s path in Mayan culture.

The Maya built Architectural structures based on their recordings of the sun, moon, and other constellations and planets. E-groups form one typology of these structures and were built to record the solstices, indicating the coming of the dry and wet seasons.

13

The New Musuem of Mayan Culture Advanced Studio, RISD, 2014 Professor Hansy Better

14

15

The ground floor plan of the museum is omnidirectional. The open floor plan, organized by columns of 1 inch diameter, allows visitors create their own path through the musuem, through which the distinction between inside and outside is ambiguous.

16

The museum has three levels, undeground, ground and above ground. The underground space exhibit the past, the ground space exhibit temporary and the above ground space exhibit future.

17

18

19

20

Pop-up Installation on Pier 26 Advanced Studio, RISD, 2015 Professor Anne Tate, Professor Nadine Gerdts

Simple, playful, however profound, the idea of this installation derive from seesaw, a game all about balancing. The installation is made of modularized metal and wood plates which are connected at the mid axis one to each other.

Walking through these plates is a process of self-reflection. The visitors will experience the fear of losing balance, the importance of maintaining balance and the easiness of such process for each individual. This process is aim to remind people the sensitivity of nature and the power of the individual in destorying the balance.

21

Diagram of program mapping

Diagram of height level

Diagram of mobile v.s. still

22

Visitor walking through the plate, balancing through collaboration.

23

Bath House project at Fox Point, Providence Architecture Design, 2013, RISD Professor Manule The site is located at Fox Point facing the lake. Based on the site study of typography, neighborhood, circulation and climate, the project is addressing a way of generating liminal space between the urban context and nature by creating a continuous circulation in between.

24

25

Longitudinal Section study

Cross Section study

Facing southeast, the bath house has a wide opening to light and view. This series studies exam how light would influence each program in the bath house.

26

zone of access

private

public

pools services offices public green

zone of privacy private

circulation path through the site

The connection among programs

New circulation generated by program

Pool Changing room& Restroom Ramp Private Sauna Stairs

27

28

Dancing House Studio of Design Principle, RISD, 2012 Professor Anastasia Congdon

Inspired by the Rite of Spring, the dancing house is aiming to provide a space that can generate the dance and body movement.

Built upon the special landscape provided by the course, the dancing house uses greatly the advantage of the wavy terrain and forms rhythmical staircases that lead the audience from the secular environment around to the divine platform in the center.

Meanwhile, the openness of dancing house bring the natural scene into the interior and explore the line between inside and outside.

29

30

31

32

URBAN

33

34

Transition and Extention Urban Design Principle, RISD 2013 Professor James Barne This project is built based on the intensive site analysis of North End and the four different coditions of how the site meets its boundries.

North End is full of dualities, so does the site of this project, which contains commercial vs residentail; enclosure vs opening; public vs private; flat vs slope; old vs new. The project focuses on addressing such dualities and tries to respond the analysis with four different treatments of the boundries of this residential complex.

35

Study of build fabric of North End.

36

Usage map

Fabric_size Map

Hot Zone Map

Fabric_width Map

Fabric_aggregation Map

Aggregation Comparison

Diagram illustrating the concept of transition

37

38

39

40

41

Making Space (in progress)

Macht Plazt Residential project in Munich Creating a path Advanced Studio, TUM, 2015through

the sporadic inner courtyard of the site and generating a speical moment for cultural reflection.

The project aims to initiate a connecting point among the semi public court yard space in the residential area south to the central station of Munich.

42

Diagram_Connection

Diagram_Inner Courtyard

Diagram_Cultural Zone

Hauptbahnhof

Schwanthalerstrasse

Green Coverage

Cultural Zone

43

the ground floor is commercial use

44

Front facade drawing, featuring the sound screen for filtering the noise.

1-50

Upper floor are multi-family apt 1-50

45

46

ANALYSIS

47

48

Form Analysis of St Mary’s Cathedral, Tokyo Architecture Analysis, RISD, 2013 Professor Carl Lostritto Kenzo Tange’s St Mary’s Cathedral speaks a lot of the form. The dominating crossing-generated skin form bring the visitor to a liminal space by reinforcing the persective inside the form. However, there is another kind of system acting in this building as well. The cubic side buildings on the side departs the sculpting style of the main building.

This analysis is focus on the difference of the side buildings and the mian building. Either mediating or exagerating the difference in between in order to reveal the consequential spatial experience inside the whole building.

1

2 3

4 5

6

7

8

9

10

11

49

Oblique drawing exploring the interior and exterior structure and the materiality of the surfaces.

50

Rhino Model drawing Using the digital language to address the materiality and the structure of the building..

51

52

53

Facade Study of Munich Building

Front facade

This building went through 3 renovation over 60 years.

The front facade remains the same. Facing the commercial street in Altstadt in the center of Munich, the front facade of this building is composed of millions of tiles, creating a strong sense of texture and pattern.

54

Back Facade

The back facade is facing the inner courtyard and has totally different characteristics to the front facade. The pattern of the facade is much reduced and minimized.

Compared of using tile, the facde is painted with an atempt to mimic the front, however, carrying strong art deco style.

55

56

MISCELLANEOUS

57

58

59

Lense through Water Film Photography, RISD, 2014 As the nature of lense is light reflection, looking through lense in a certain degree distorts the reality, Water, a material both reflects light and refracts light, filters the reality into a dualism, through which our perception of reality is both real and surreal. Illusion and reality wave togather, the world is upside down.

60

61

Infinity Ceramic studio of the Islamic and Persian architecture ornament, RISD, 2013

62

Inspired by the arches in Islamic and Persian architecture, the project is trying to explore the idea of infinity and repetition in both the Islamic religion and their ornamental style. The form of circle represents the idea of samsara and the pattern, which follows the life of a tree, on each of the arches represents the notion of life and death.

Tiles Ceramic studio of the Islamic, Persian architecture ornament RISD, 2013 63

Thank you