Portfolio of Xiuyuan_Ruan 2024 summer

Xiuyuan Ruan

Bachelor of Arts

Michael Graves College at Wenzhou-Kean University

Apply for Master of Architecture Program College of Environmental Design University of California, Berkeley PORTFOLIO

OF XIUYUAN RUAN

WKU 2019 Fall Studio-LANDSCAPE

Site: Wenzhou, China

Individual Work

UCLA 2024 Winter Major Building / Comprehensive Design Studio

Site: Los Angeles

Individual Work

Site: Shanghai, China

Individual Work

WKU 2021 Fall Studio-URBAN DESIGN PLANNING, HOUSING

Site: Shanghai, China

Individual Work

UCLA 2023-2024 Fall Studio-Building with Landscape

Site: LADWP Water Complex, Los Angeles California

Individual Design

UCLA 2023 Winter Studio

Site: Los Angeles, California

Individual Design

Monitoring Station

Site: Wenzhou, China

Individual Work

In this project, I will focus on hydrological environment and ecology. Wenzhou is adjacent to the East China Sea, with more than 150 large and small rivers and abundant water resources. According to the estimation of the municipal water resources department, the total amount of water resources in the city is 14.113 billion cubic meters, and the per capita possession is about 2,240 cubic meters. Among water resources, surface water resources are 11.185 billion cubic meters and groundwater resources are 2.928 billion cubic meters. Due to the influence of geology and geomorphology and other factors, the distribution of water

resources in the region is not balanced. Among them, the mountain and hills are about 7.504 billion cubic meters, accounting for 67% of the city's total surface water; the eastern plain area is about 3.668 billion cubic meters, accounting for the city's total surface water. The amount is 32.8%; and the island only accounts for 0.2%.

As a city with abundant water resources, Wenzhou has issued a large number of hydrological monitoring stations. But lacking a water quality monitoring station for education, Sanyang Wetland is an excellent location.

Most of educational facility in Wenzhou city are located in the centrel area(marked with rectangle)

School distribution in the main urban area of Wenzhou(Black Part)

WKU 2019 Fall Studio-LANDSCAPE

The project is divided into 3 functional zones, which are office areas, public areas and research laboratories close to the water source. The office area and the public area overlap each other, and the first floor area is a space where the river can be directly

Sanyang Wetland is located in Sanyang Street, Ouhai District, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province. It is adjacent to Wenzhou Development Zone and Longwan District in the east, Chashan Street and Nanbaixiang Street in the south, and Wutian Street and the city center in the northwest. The total planned area is 13 square meters. kilometer.

Watershed analysis map

Sunshine trajectory

Axonometric exploded

High School for Design & Innovation

In reimagining the educational environment for a high school specializing in architecture, our design approach breathes new life into an existing site characterized by its two industrial ware- houses. By embracing the distinctive truss structures of these buildings, we’ve crafted a seamless and expansive studio space that embodies the spirit of continuous learning and creativity. This strategic preservation and integration serve not only as a nod to the site’s industrial heritage but also as a fundamental element that ensures the spatial unity and integrity of our design. Central to our architectural intervention is the transformation of the ground level into a vast, open studio area dedicated exclusively to artistic exploration and architectural design, fostering an environment of collaboration and innovation among

Beneath this open expanse, we have tactically located the bulk of functional spaces within the basement, ensuring a clutter-free environment that promotes focus and creativity on the main floor. Suspended amidst this openness are four distinct classrooms and office spaces, designed as floating boxes that defy traditional constraints, seemingly folding into the air. This arrangement not only maximizes the usage of space but also introduces a dynamic visual element to the interior landscape. Connectivity within the building is enhanced through an inventive circulation system that links these floating spaces with the roof.

Massive model located in the site

students.

UCLA 2024 Winter Major Building / Comprehensive Design Studio

The integrated design of the roof and facade makes the building an extension of the road texture, and a landscape is placed in the front half to allow pedestrians to walk onto the roof.

Studio Floor Plan

Basement Floor Plan

Connectivity within the building is enhanced through an inventive circulation system that links these floating spaces with the roof. The roof itself, a striking feature, doubles as the school’s façade. It is conceived as a broad, smooth ramp that gracefully extends from the rear of the site to meet the street level, inviting the community into this hub of creativity. Supported by the adapted truss system, the roof space offers additional areas for interaction, outdoor learning, and showcas-es the seamless integration of structure and function. This architectural endeavor aims to reflect the school’s vision of innovation and excellence in design education, creating a space that is not only functional but also inspirational for future architects.

Express Transfer Station

Site: Shanghai, China

Individual Work

With the rise of Internet giants, the rise of online shopping in China has shown an exponential increase. However, the problem of user privacy leakage has become more and more serious. The leakage of customer information is mostly in the three links of e-commerce websites, express delivery, and customers themselves. Courier can obtain more than the information on the face-to-face. As long as the fraud gang is willing to pay, the courier who is greedy for illegal gains can open the package from the bottom of the carton, take a photo of the delivery list, and then reseal it. Especially for carton parcels, just repack them with tape, without wasting a new express plastic bag.

Since 2017, a new type of express receipt called "privacy face slip" has begun to appear. Compared with traditional face

slips, privacy face slips hide the key privacy information of users and are replaced by QR codes or barcodes. However, in the three years since its implementation, the privacy sheet has not yet been widely used in the entire industry. Some analysts believe that privacy face-to-face orders reduce the delivery efficiency of express outlets to a certain extent, which in turn leads to a low level of acceptance of private face-to-face orders by couriers. Compared with traditional faceto-face bills, private face-to-face bills require the courier to scan the code before viewing user information, which objectively increases the workload of the courier, and the investment in new equipment by the express company is also an expense.

Today, with the increasing development of online shopping and ogistics networks, people are beginning to find that although the delivery time of express mail is getting shorter and shorter, it depends on large-scale and complicated logistics processes. In this process, the personal information printed on the package will be watched by each process. Is there a way to simplify the traditional logistics model so as to avoid privacy leakage? There is a need for a facility for generalized and efficient handling of express sorting work.

The site happens to be located around the Huangpu River Wharf and its warehouses, where a large amount of freight and a large amount of small commodities will be carried every day. Originally, these goods will be distributed to various freight transfer stations, and then delivered to the receiver by the courier. A large and efficient express transfer station will solve the process of cargo distribution, and the transfer of goods will be automated.

The essence of this project is a simplification of the traditional express delivery process. When most of the intermediate processes are replaced by automation, the chance of privacy leakage is greatly reduced.

In the lower floors, the entrance to the entire building is placed. People enter the facility through the ramp on the right. After entering the second floor, pedestrians will enter a platform, and the transportation pipeline will be displayed in front of the pedestrians to provide a visual experience. The platform is connected to the pedestrian passage under the overpass, and the flow of pedestrians will not be blocked by the existence of the building. The exterior of the pipeline will be made of tempered glass, and the flow of internal express delivery will be clearly visible.

Users can send out express orders through a customized mobile app. In the process of using the app, the privacy of the user will be protected, and the transportation status of the express delivery can be checked through the monitoring in the facility.

The functional blocks will be fixed by vertical pipes and an external steel structure mesh surface, and the topmost sorting and delivery center will adopt a glass facade. The sorted goods are transported through vertical pipelines. Land freight will be transported through pipelines to the lower-level shipping center.

Although the pipeline will undergo multiple bends, its diameter will not change to prevent the accumulation of cargo. The section away from the street will go through a section of vertical pipeline, where it will experience a lot of replenishment and unloading of goods, thus forming a loop. Carry out the next round of cargo transfer.

Art Brut Institution

WKU 2021 Fall StudioURBAN DESIGN, PLANNING, HOUSING

Site: St. Josephs’ Asylum for the Poor, Shanghai, China Retrofit Design Individual Work

As an art form, Artbrut is defined as an art work that is not accepted by the mainstream art world or whose creator has not received systematic art training. In the first few weeks of the Studio course, I did a detailed research on Artbrut and made a booklet. In the process of research, I found that nearly 80% of Artbrut's works were created by patients with mental illness. I began to look for the connection between the two.

People with mental illness are a group that cannot be ignored in China. In terms of subject matter, they basically have their own delusions and subconscious content as themes. These subconscious minds are generally related to

mental trauma. For example, patients who were abused in childhood will often have delusions of being abused, while patients who have suffered emotional trauma will have delusions related to love. Artistic creation in the medical field is regarded as a major means of curing mental illness. The treatment mode is to observe the patient's subconsciousness through works of art, and then conduct targeted psychological counseling. This project aims to provide a suitable space for patients with mental illness, allowing them to make artistic creations without restriction. Their works will be displayed and used as a basis for treatment.

Different patients with mental illnesses require different space for creation. For example, Alose, a famous Art Brut artist, is good at creating large-scale paintings. Sometimes she needs a canvas as high as 2m. At the same time, because her works focus on showing love and the opposite sex, she also likes to paint in relatively colorful scenes. . For other painters, such as Zhou Huiming, he prefers to create in a closed, small space, because it will make him focus and not be disturbed. I designed a variety of units to meet the needs of different artists.

In order to provide suitable creative space for patients with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, I have conducted research on the causes and treatment of mental illness. However, this building is located in the center of Shanghai, surrounded by hospitals, schools, shopping malls and subway stations. During peak periods, there will be a very high flow of people. At the same time, the surrounding buildings are significantly higher than the original buildings. This will have a negative impact on patients with schizophrenia, and the vertical height of the creative space inside the building is too short, which will limit the creation of some artists. In order to solve these problems, increasing indoor height and increasing open space will be the focus of renovation.

UNIT4 and Yard Music therapy room

UNIT6 and gallary

UNIT1 and Landscape

The structure of the original building is a typical wooden structure, which is divided into two types of support, one part is the external column and facade supporting the roof, and the other part is the column net supporting the two-story floor. If the second floor slab and column net are removed, the stability of the building can still be guaranteed.

The formation of the outdoor space is due to the enclosing style of the three buildings. The enclosed space will be regarded as the courtyard of the project, which contains a landscape design and extended structure as the entrance to the courtyard. The Unit can be moved out of the courtyard through the original external facade that can be opened.

Section

The units can be moved into the room, and the room is also placed as a treatment and creative space.

Even in a high-density urban environment, patients can still create art in the space formed by the two buildings. As the column net and the second floor slab have been emptied, the indoor space has also been expanded.

The c-shaped corridor composed of 3 buildings was opened up into a large space, but rooms on the first floor were reserved as staff rooms. The structure of the original building is a typical wooden structure, which is divided into two types of support, one part is the external column and facade supporting the roof, and the other part is the column net supporting the two-story floor. If the second floor slab and column net are removed, the stability of the building can still be guaranteed.

Solar LADWP

UCLA 2023-2024 Fall Studio-Building with Landscape

Site: LADWP Water Complex, Los Angeles California Individual Design

The program of the quarter proposes an adjacent addition to the two existing Headworks reservoir containers to interface directly with a Water Complex open to public visitors. The Water Complex facility will be comprised of dual programmatic demands, an LADWP Operation Center slated towards private, internal use by the Department for managing the Headworks Reservoir and a public outreach and educational program as part of the Water Complex, which will bring visitors to the site. The entirety of the site will be operated as a public park, which our designated pie shaped territory will be a key component of. Considerations for how the proposed demonstration containers and the Water Complex plug into and reinforce the park must also be made. The park will be the public interface of the project connecting the site to Forest Lawn Drive and providing throughway access to the LA River beyond.

I conducted a sunlight analysis of the site and determined the best angle for the solar panels. All solar panels that won’t being shaded will be placed at a 30-degree angle facing south. I also analyzed the shadows between buildings. The placement of solar panels in shaded areas will change to face east-west, and the shorter the daylight time in the area, the more vertical the angle of the solar panels will be to ensure the maximization of energy use. Visually, this creates a sense of higher texture density closer to the edge of the boundary line.

The main building includes some enclosed facilities and water towers, the tops of which are also covered with solar panels. Connecting the main buildings are pergola supported by pillars, which are themselves polygonal shapes covered with solar panels, forming semi-outdoor spaces between the main buildings.

Visitors arriving at the site will enter the visitor center through the parking lot on the west side, and they can move east through all the indoor facilities and pergola areas, eventually reaching the headwork facilities next to the reservoir.

House to Housing

UCLA 2023 Winter Studio

Site: Los Angeles, California Individual Design

Los Angeles has served as a storied context for the single-family home as both a site of architectural invention and cultural desire and as an instrument of wealth creation. These dual narratives persist today despite economic realities that make both stories far less suitable to their intended audiences.

This project takes inspiration from the Mar Vista project and aims to provide 11 residential units by placing the Tract housing type on a fixed site. These units respectively serve households with 2-3 family members. I also incorporated Dingbat elements into the design so that the project can be a community with a shared courtyard while providing enough parking spaces.

The impact of these LA histories mirrors those of the US housing market more broadly. In turn, these social, political, economic and environmental effects have severely limited housing supply, affordability and sustainability, and have shifted the site of the architectural problem from house to housing. It is this shift that the studio will engage as a set of spatial, organizational and social potentials for design to interrogate.

This diagram reveals the process on site for a single unit. In order to provide enough units, the project started from two levels of blocks. The northern part is narrowed on the first floor to provide independent parking spaces, and the wall is beveled to facilitate the entry of vehicles. The southern part follows a similar concept, but is structurally connected across households on the second floor, providing a semi-enclosed space for parking spaces below.

Each unit has a living room, kitchen and each family member has their own bedroom and bathroom. Residents enter the community from the east road and enter their units by walking through the shared courtyard.

The exterior walls of the units are covered with transverse textures.

All residents share a courtyard, and the road between the two rows of houses is eliminated, allowing residents to have space to communicate without facing the danger of vehicles.

This diagram reveals the process on site for a single unit. In order to provide enough units, the project started from two levels of blocks. The northern part is narrowed on the first floor to provide independent parking spaces, and the wall is beveled to facilitate the entry of vehicles. The southern part follows a similar concept, but is structurally connected across households on the second floor, providing a semi-enclosed space for parking spaces below.

Each unit has a living room, kitchen and each family member has their own bedroom and bathroom. Residents enter the community from the east road and enter their units by walking through the shared courtyard.

Although the second floor is structurally connected, it is still an independent space of the unit. This suspended part will serve as the living room, with floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides providing ample lighting.

Falling Station(VR&Animation)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzbZ3RQao6E

Model Making&3D Printing

Scene modeling that can be browsed through vr