WORKING SAMPLE Ruoyun Xu Selected Works 2012 - 2016
INDEX
Ambiguous Courtyard Coffee Plantation Complex Architectural Design, La Ceja, Colombia
Transitional Blocks Affordable Housing Urban Design, Manhattan, NY
Dissolved Auditorium Urban Pavilion Architectural Renovation, Warsaw, Poland
Nomadic Stage Urban Complex Architectural Design, Beijing, China
Negotiative Edges Waterfront Community Restoration Urban Design, Agra, India
Harvest Urbanism 1km2 Urban Design for Population of 1,000,000, Hanoi, Vietnam
Bali Villa Project Luxurious Villa Design in Bali Island, Indonesia
Medium of Materiality Wooden Furniture Fabrication
AMBIGUOUS COURTYARD COFFEE PLANTATION COMPLEX ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, LA CEJA, COLOMBIA Harvard GSD Architectural Design Studio Instructor Camilo Restrepo Ochoa This project is defined by the tropical culture. The tropical culture is ambiguous. When an object or a concept is open to multiple interpretations, it is ambiguous. In tropics, you can never clearly tell the climatic seasons or geographical borders or social principles, which, architecturally, reflects into dissolved edges and ambiguous time and space. Based on this, I imagined a raised open courtyard and a dramatic complicated section. The courtyard is both open and close, inward and outward, and the section demonstrates multiple narratives simultaneously. The courtyard prototype and the dramatic section is what this project is based on.
Integration with Tropical Landscape
Imagining Tropics - Open Space | Section
PRODUCERS
produce support
Multiple Ambiguity The building is significant in different ways for different users: a production base for producers, a community center for local residents, and an exhibition platform of coffee culture for tourists.
recognize
COFFEE PRODUCTION
RESIDENTS
profit
redefine
community
TOURISM
appreciate
consume
LIVELIHOOD
experience
TOURISTS
C
A
F
AUDITORIUM makes simultaneous activities possible.
FOREST has no hierachy, center or boundaries.
R
W
RAMP continues movement but separates space.
WELL divides the space into two opposite but related parts.
COURTYARD COURTYARD blurs the notion of inside and outside.
Alphabet of Ambiguity Auditorium + Courtyard
Courtyard + Ramp AMBIGUOUS means that the object or concept is open to multiple interpretations, and that the choice between alternatives hasn’t been made.
TROPIC is ambiguous, because it always has multiple interpretations. There can be simultaneously inside and outside, horizontal and vertical, opened and enclosed, penetrated and blocked, solic and void, dynamic and static, etc.
Forest + Ramp
Forest + Well
TOOLKIT is developed with which design strategies for tropics come from, and this is precisely this atlas is intended for.
Toolkit & Reservoir of Ambiguous Typologies
Tri-User Relationship The building is significant in different ways for different users: a production base for producers, a community center for local residents, and an exhibition platform of coffee culture for tourists.
Coffee Beans Falling Down / People Walking Along
Infinite Pool & Continuous Route / Departing and Remeeting
Beans Drying / People Dining
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40 M
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COURTYARD EDUCATION SPACE LIBRARY TRANSPARENT FLOOR RESTROOM INFINITE POOL WATER PATHWAY ELEVATOR
Courtyard A Coffee beans fall down from the well on the roof platform of the courtyard A, peeled by the peeling machines underneath the floor, and get into washing sinks in courtyard B. Meanwhile, tourists start their journey from the lobby of the museum under courtyard A, enjoying the skylight going through the peeling machines from up above. After taking the elevator to the rooftop platform, tourists follow the beans and go down the stairs.
4F Plan Production Seasons
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5
10
20
40 M
3
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1
1 1
1 1
1 2 3
DRYING PLATFORMS OUTDOOR MARKET ENTRANCE OF MUSEUM / COMMUNITY CHAPEL
2F Plan Production Seasons
Courtyard B & C Tourists keep moving forward until the end of courtyard A, pass through the infinite pool with an open view of the rural landscape, and meet the beans again at the washing sink in courtyard B before continuing with the exhibition tour. Coffee beans, after washed, get dried on the rooftop of courtyard C, and fall down from the narrow gaps to the packaging space. The exterior space is both an outdoor cinema for community and also the passage for local residents to access the building.
TRANSITIONAL BLOCKS AFFORDABLE HOUSING URBAN DESIGN, MANHATTAN, NY Harvard GSD Elements of Urban Design Core Studio Partner Jeff Knapke
This project takes the waterfront space of East Manhattan as the site, tackling the discourse of social housing issues in the high-density urban contexts, and the relationship between public space and domestic space. As the core studio of urban design program in GSD, this project aims at delivering the basic approaches of urban design to students who mostly have an architecture background.
Contexts of Institution / Transportation / Green Space
Fitting in the Urban Fabrics as Spatial Catalyst
Urban Scale Transitions The site is located to the south of UN headquarters on the east edge of Manhattan, and it’s privileged by the 7 line, the 1st Avenue, and the east river waterfront park system to become a potential urban public space.
UNESCO
2nd AVE SUBWAY
FUTURE UN ESPLANADE
UNITED NATIONS COMPLEX
D
AN
T EL
ISL
EV
OS
TO
RO
FORD FOUNDATION
7 LINE SUBWAY
NEW FERRY TERMINAL
NEW SUBWAY STATION
TO QU EENS & LONG ISLAND RAILROA D
TUDOR CITY
TO
BR
OO
KL YN
GLICK PARK
34TH ST. HELIPORT
From City to Waterfront
Parcel / Height
Accessibility
View / Setback
Diagonal Street
Public Space
Transition of Scale
Spatial Manipulation To ensure the physical / visual accessibility from city to water, the site is divided into 8 strips, and buildings slope toward the river. To create street scale, buildings have setback on the high levels, and a diagonal street is added. To encourage gathering, two plazas are proposed on the both end of the diagonal, with the skyline improvised.
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2 N
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
5 10
20
40 M
Diagonal Pedestrian Walkway Public Square Semi-Public Streets Semi-Private Courtyards Private Residential Entrance Overpass to Tudor City Viewing Deck Cafe in UN Headquarter
Courtyard as Transition to Private
Street as Transition to Public
Architectural Scale Transitions Streets / Courtyards are employed to create the transition between the public and the private. Within the buildings, programs and dimensions vary from lower to higher levels. This is a compromise among the market patterns, urban scales and the architectural forms.
Courtyard Plan / Section
Street Plan / Section
DISSOLVED AUDITORIUM Urban Pavilion Architectural Design, Warsaw, Poland Warsaw Rotanda International Competition Instructor Wenyi Zhu Located in the very central area of Warsaw, Poland, was previously the office building of PKO Bank, and was destroyed in the 1979 bomb explosion, which was widely considered one of major causes of the Revolution of East Europe. The building was later rebuilt yet constantly criticized for the poor condition of material and construction, which led to the public design competition for the renovation. This project tears down the roof and creates an open public space, responding to the political and cultural contexts, showing respect for the victims of the explosion.
Diagonal Pedestrian Walkway
Circular Plan
Colonade
Jagged Dome
The typical circular plan firstly comes from the ancient greek amphitheater. Pythagoras said that the circle is standing for the very perfect of the world.
A colonnade consists of 45 columns around the Rotunda, holding the roof and the dome and generate a repetence and rhythm.
The distinctive outline, with the roof crowned with the jagged line like a general cap, presents elegant proportions and a feeling of slim and light.
W id
ok R
oad
un urro for s
di
uild ng b
ings
ped estr ians e rout to th
49 (45+4) columns standing for the 49 victims of the explosion
e sh opp ing
entrance of the underground plaza
mal l
sighting viewing and cu lture pa towards the s c lace in Soviet s ience tyle
tram s th h th e ci ty c ente r roug
ht
cen
ter
oad an r urb da the n l to e Rotu alle par on of th ti axis the the sec and
roug s th tram
ity he c
On 15 February, 1979, the gas pipework exploded under the Rotunda, causing 49 dead and many injured. The tragedy is memorized every year ever since. Taking 49 individuals as the concept, the proposal extract the columns as chief elements, strengthen the memorial by adding 4 extra columns.
g road
o
site
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Humanistic Renovation
ur
ain ban m
y the earb ing n
10
20
50 m
Underneath the Dome
NOMADIC STAGE URBAN COMPLEX ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, WUDAOKOU, BEIJING, CHINA Undergraduate Thesis Partner Min Cui Asian cities are well-known for the agricultural traditions. Agriculture production is the source of human food consumption and demands large quantities of farmlands. On one hand, with the urbanization bringing in problems like traffic jams and environmental pollutions, the urban residents have got little accessibility to the experience of farming culture and the delight of the harvest. On the other hand, the rural residents are always expecting a higher level of living, calling for the urban infrastructure rather than merely farming landscapes.
Observe & Perceive Chinese landscape painting is an apt metaphor on urban public life. They share the same complexity and unpredictability, with the boundary blurred and space reconstructed, rhrough which what one observes and what he perceives are different. And this ramification could be translated into new possibilities of public life.
3D Translation of 2D Images
Slides of Sections
Open Urban Stage The theater is open to the public with a semi-transparent structure, showing the splendid section to the street. An attitude of openness and participation is conveyed, and the performance in the theater would not be disrupted by the transparency.
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4 3 2
轴测 -- 结构 & 管线 -- 大量细线 1
5
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+6.0m Floor Plan
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5
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7
8 10
+3.0m Floor Plan
+12.0m Floor Plan
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+21.0m Floor Plan
+30.0m Floor Plan
1 2 3 4 5 6
Lobby Theater Public Library Administration Exhibition Main Staircase
7 8 9 10 11 12
Office Restaurant Kitchen Banquet Hall Hotel Lobby Hotel Rooms
13 14 15 16 17 18
Shopping Slots Concert Hall Device Wall Swimming Pool Gym Auditorium
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1250
2
7
1500 3000
4
1500
3
750 1500
5
Load-Bearing Beam String Structure 3000
1500
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
750 1500 3000 1500 1250
Enclosure Detail
500mm Main I-Beam 360mm Secondary I-Beam 150mm Main String 10mm Steel Anchor Bolt 250mm Steel Cord Ball V-Shape Stainless plate 250mm Steel Sticks, Sealed with Fireproof Materials
Diagonal Pedestrian Walkway
Public Participation Various activities are taking place in the public realm, and interactions are enhanced by the flexibility of the space. With the cooperation of light and material, people feel concerned by the built environment, and thus become willing to communicate with others.
Diagonal Pedestrian Walkway
NEGOTIATIVE EDGES WATERFRONT COMMUNITY RESTORATION URBAN DESIGN, AGRA, INDIA Harvard GSD Extreme Urban Design Studio Instructor Rahul Mehrotra There are different land use intensifications in Agra: river, monuments, transit infrastructures, vegetation, settlement, industry, etc. Among them, the river and the riverfront monuments were the spine of the city, according to which the city of Agra was defined in Mughal times. But now different land use patterns are fragmented and undermining the urban structure. One can hardly tell the original layouts of the historic garden except from the few gardens left. So this project is to restore the historic urban landscapes of 45 Mughal waterfront gardens in a contemporary context by stabilizing the edges and maintain the flexibility between the monuments and settlements.
RIVER
BAGH-I-HAKIM KAZIM ALI SETTLEMENT + INDUSTRY + WATER TREATMENT
MONUMENTS ZAHARA BAGH NEIGHBORHOOD MONUMENT + NURSERY + SETTLEMENT
BAGH-I-KHWAJA MD ZAKARYA NEIGHBORHOOD MONUMENT + SETTLEMENT + INDUSTRY
TRANSIT HAVIELI OF ALAMGIR SETTLEMENT + INDUSTRY + INFRASTRUCTURE
SETTLEMENT
CHAHR BAGH PADSHAHI NEIGHBORHOOD AGRICULTURE + SETTLEMENT
HAVIELI OF ISLAM KAHN SETTLEMENT + CANTONMENT + CROPFIELD
INDUSTRIAL
Bridging Past to Future The city of Agra needs a better awareness of her histor y. The urban edges, either reconnected or redefined, can thus establish a clearer urban structure.
COMMUNITY CENTER
COMMUNITY PLAZA
COMMUNAL PUBLIC SPACE
DESIGN SCHOOL
VISITOR CENTER
COMMUNAL PUBLIC SPACE
ORIGINAL LAYOUT
WALL TORN DOWN
ENCROACHMENT
RETRIEVING HISTORIC GRID
NEGOTIATING INTERVENTIONS
INFRASTRUCTURE AS NEGOTIATORS
Urban Stitches On the nor theast edge, between Ram Bagh and Zahara Bagh, two gardens which were once adjacent yet currently separated by a disr uptive flyover, a community center which contains market, restaurant and library and an open space for recreational use are to be proposed under the flyover.
HARVEST URBANISM 1KM2 URBAN DESIGN FOR POPULATION OF 1,000,000, HANOI, VIETNAM Vertical City Asia Urban Design Competition Partner Ao Liu, Pinghao Liu With the processing of urbanization in Asian countries usually turning out a disordered urban sprawl and rapid decrease of farmland, it has been long overlooked that the agriculture activities does not have to be incompatible with urban life. In order to approach to deal with the contradictory features between these two lifestyles, we propose a city with a symbiosis between the urban life and the agricultural life with mental and material harvests. A new propotype is figured out through creating a symbiosis of urban and rural areas. It combines the advantages of both lifestyles and gets rid of the disadvantages.
Community / Production Streetscape
Urban / Rural Symbiosis Harvests could be achieved within the new city through the cooperation of urban and rural. The landscape structure consists of a pattern with farmland and ridges, and shape and structure of the green corridor reacts on these.
Site Masterplan The proposal concerns a large amount of the situation of the site, including the backbones, public tranportations, u r b a n f u n c t i o n s, a g r i c u l t u ra l productions, industry and marketing, and public life.
Former Context
Urban Fabric
Open Scenario
Public Traffic
Community Systems within Plinth Buildings
green facades
residents to rooftop agriculture
staircase in resident buildings
citizens to interior public space
citizens to viewing platform
residents to interior public space residents to home
citizens to public cultural facilities
citizens to urban roads
passengers to lightrail station vertical connections among several layers
citizens to preserved farmlands
research results to production area
visiting students to production area ripe food to storage area waste storage to livestock feeding students learning about agriculture
food storage in process
vertical connections among several layers
waste storage to vegeable diesel fuels food production to citizens
food production to transportation
Production Systems in Tower Buildings
BALI VILLA PROJECT LUXURIOUS VILLA ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, BALI ISLAND, INDONESIA Intern Project in Kengo Kuma and Associates, Tokyo, Japan Project Manager Marcin Sapeta
The luxurious villa project, inspired by the natural environment on Bali Island, locates itself within the challeges and constraints of climate, topography and materiality. The form is not only to imitate a kind of typical plant on the island, banana tree leaves, but also to deliver a sense of fluidity in space and material. The author takes part in the masterplan design and drawing, floor plan design and drawing, 3d modelling, physical modelling, structural detail design, etc.
MEDIUM OF MATERIALITY WOODEN FURNITURE FABRICATION PROJECT MIT Furniture Making Class Final Project Instructor Christopher Dewart
Furnitures are bridges between architectural space and human bodies. Wood, a typical natural material, has inherent relations with physical recognition of space. The author sees it a great opportunity to redefine human scale by finishing the chair all with hand-oriented tools, such as hammer, saw, chisel, rather than CNC or other digitalized tools, so as to get better understanding of the process of fabrication.
Updated Feb 2016 Copyright Reserved