Architectural Design Portfolio by Yang Meng

Designing the architecture needed in this era is what I have always pursued. Buildings need to meet practical and other functional requirements based on the attributes in which they are built. But the buildings worth remembering are by no means limited to that. I'm interested in the design concept, scenography and mechanics of architectural design, which I think make for an entertaining and memorable building.

Beijing University of Technology (+86) 13001903093 | mengyang718@126.com

Yang Meng

The Tower of Reflection

People's identity transformation and self-reflection in the development of productive forces

Memory Weaving Walls Museum

Weave history and the collective memory of the inhabitants into the texture of the ruins’ walls

Melted Statues of Gods

Integration of religious activities and daily life in a multireligious context 04

Co-living Artistic Village

A means of revitalizing the countryside based on the sharing economy

01

The Tower of Reflection

People's identity transformation and self-reflection in the development of productive forces

After 1949, rural China underwent earth-shaking changes. In the 50 years from 1950 to 2000, the development of science and technology and the times brought about changes in productivity. When people face such changes, they have various emotions such as blindness, fanaticism, and hesitation. Mo Yan's novel "Life and Death Fatigue" observes and records the impact of this history on people's lives through the perspective of animals.

Starting from the translation of the novel scenario, the design attempts to look at people's situation and self-perception in the process of productivity change from the history of China from 1950 to 2000, and reproduce people's inner entanglements in a reflective way, so as to provide selfreflection methods for the changes to be faced in the future.

Individual Work

Instructor: Shicun Sun

Date: Mar. 2022

Location: Hyphothetical location

<Life and Death Fatigue> is a novel by Mo Yan. The title comes from the Buddhist scriptures.

"Life and death fatigue, starting from greed, less desire and inaction, body and mind are at ease."

Summary

A landlord who is industrious and kind in nature, but was wrongly killed, went through six reincarnations, became a donkey, cow, pig, dog, monkey, and finally reborn as a big-headed baby with a congenital incurable disease.

This book describes the reduction and reconciliation of hatred in rural Chinese society over the 50 years from 1950 to 2000

Five reincarnations

(1) Ximen donkey(1950-1960)

Ximon Donkey pulled a mine cart for the Great Steelmaking and eventually died of famine.

(2) Ximen ox (1960-1970)

Ximen ox worked together on private land with a single family Lan Lian, and was ostracized by the people of the cooperative.

(3) Ximen pig (1970-1980)

Ximen Tun bought a large number of pigs, wanted to become a pig breeding demonstration village, people joined in raising pigs together.

(4) Ximen dog (1980-1990)

With the reform and opening up, Ximen Gou moved from the countryside to the city with the people of Ximentun.

(5)Ximen monkey(1960-1970)

Ximen Monkey followed Ximen Jinlong's son to sell art along the street, witnessing the end of Ximentun's generation.

01 The beginning of the turn 02 Blind destination 03 Difficult choice

Mechanical and situational representations in other works of art

‘Three lessons in architecture' x Daniel Libeskind

The three lessons are intended to reflect on the transformation of architecture in different social, cultural, and historical contexts. This group of works goes out of the shape of buildings and houses, incarnates as machinery.

Reading machine

Memory machine Writing machine

Deus ex machina

Using the mechanism, the time dimension is artificially controlled, which is the omen and occurrence of the plot and events.

Yan

The book

Before writting, Mo Yan visited the six reincarnation murals on the temple wall, and immediately thought of the structure of the novel: looking at human society through the eyes of animals.

Domino system

CHARACTER STAGE

ARCHITECTURE

PEOPLE SPECTATOR

New way in Architecture Theme

Let's think of architecture as a stage, and the events and scenes that existed in the past, these fragmented spaces constitutethe characters in the stage .Architecture is no longer a vessel for man, but time and memory itself, and man becomes a bystander, reading and observing architecture.

Here, 2015, Richard McGuire

Temporal images are inserted in each present corner, placing fragments of the past, present and future in the same space, transporting the reader to the fourth dimension.

04 Monotonous labyrinth 05 Flowing hometown 06 The introverted stage

"Although history is not a complete and closed cycle, there is also a certain sense of repetition."

Mo

Plans of each level

a d e f g

h

The mechanism

1 2 3 4 5 6

The beginning of the turn

Blind destiionation

Difficult choice

Monotonous labyrinth

Flowing hometown The introverted stage

After the block rotates once, the staircase meets the space at the top. When returning to the bottom of the entire tower, people will be able to see through the prism from the bottom up, seeing the space coming from.

Time section

Interior space

The people involved, the sunlight at different moments, and the rotating staircase make the final kaleidoscope picture unique in each moment.

1. The beginning of the turn

Seems to be a choice, but it is uncontrollable to enter it, and eventually it will go up from the same step, and everyone faces the same situation.

2. The blind destination

In large-scale steelmaking, the development direction of the collective and the productive forces is wrong, and people are moving towards the wrong goal under the leadership of the collective, wasting a lot of manpower and material resources.

Ideal steel exterior interior

3. Difficult choice

Reflection, collective and individual, controlled, and productivity slowly developing.

4. Monotonous Labyrinth

Partially liberates productivity , develops breeding, and people who are domesticated pigs actually become captive pigs under the rules laid down.

6. The introverted stage

Due to the development of technology, the Internet has brought new production methods, and people have become productive forces independently.

5. The mobile hometown

Liberate the productive forces (reform and opening up). People flow from the countryside to the towns, opportunities, loneliness, and productivity grow rapidly.

Kaleidoscope composition cylinder

Shell Mirrors

The characteristics contained in the rotation of the kaleidoscope connect the above spatial sequences and the similarity of the development paths.

The blind destination

Difficult choice

The building is no longer a living machine, but a stage composed of scene fragments...

The complicated staircase and decoration symbolize the meaningless consumption of energy, and people blindly walk up the stairs without seeing the end....

Walking through a labyrinth of concrete walls, overhead are stones that slowly slide along the track, recording the history of pig farming for all...

02

Memory Weaving Walls Museum

-

The greatest feature of ancient Chinese cities is the city walls that surround the city buildings and street spaces, as well as the courtyard walls that surround the periphery of public facilities and family residences. However, due to the need for modern transportation, in 1957, Beijing carried out a large-scale demolition of the city wall, and several city walls were demolished. The city wall in the Beijing Ming City Wall Ruins Park, where the base is located, is the only remaining fragment of Beijing's inner wall.

The starting point of the design lies in the interpretation of the site: the changes in the walls within the site, people's living memories and future possibilities. The design uses six events and scenarios to weave historical memories and modern activities into the fabric of the walls. The linear space intertwined between the new wall and the old wall will bring a unique experience of the historical and cultural atmosphere of the city wall to the surrounding residents and tourists.

Individual Work

Instructor: Bin Hu

Date: Jun. 2021

Location: Beijing, China

Weave history and the collective memory of the inhabit

ants into the texture of the ruins’ walls

CITIC Tower

Walls

Train tracks

The site is located in the Ancient City Wall Park in Beijing, China. For nearby travelers arriving in Beijing by train, this area will give them an important impression of city walls.

Turret

The Site Walls Dongdan Park Beijing Railway Station Subway Station City main road

Design generation

[STEP 0] Ruins of Ming city wall

The Ming City Wall is about 10 meters high, and the design site is located on the outside of the city wall, which is currently a linear park with lush trees, where residents and tourists often chat, sing and take pictures.

[STEP 1] Setting a new wall

Creating a connection with the old wall by designing a "new city wall". This connection is not only reflected in the form, but also create an atmosphere of coexistence between the old and the new under the shared space of the museum and the wall.

[STEP 2] Blurring the inside and outside

In linear space, the arrangement of space will naturally produce a sense of sequence, which can respond well to the changes of time and show the development of the wall from ancient to modern.

[STEP 3] Building interrmediary spaces

The space between is shaped into an exhibition hall for linear tours, as well as related functions such as libraries, cafes, and tea houses. The paths during the tour are carefully planned and lead up to the city walls.

Visiting sequences historical timeline

1. Past 2. Transition 3. Present

-0.50 -0.05

a ±0.00 -0.05 0.85

01 Fortress of defense

02 Ancient stage 03 Highlands overlooking

The plan is unfolded linearly, with some outdoor activities or other residential spaces in addition to the main tour flow. and local residents who come to visit, and the space that can stay outside the orderly tour flow provides opportunities

Section a-a

room

square

-0.05 a 04 Flowing history 05 Broken walls 06 New culture under the walls flow. The people facing the building are mainly divided into two categories, tourists who get off the train at the station opportunities for these two groups of people to spontaneously move and interact with each other.

The towering wall form surrounded by the exhibition hall indicates the most practical defensive role of the wall in ancient times.

02 Ancient stage

On one side of the space is a large window, through which people can see the stage, and on the other side is the exhibition hall's description and display of ancient scenes.

01 Fortress of defense stage

03 Highlands overlooking

Through the surrounding stairs, people can personally experience climbing and looking, and recall the visual experience of the wall in the past.

04 Flowing history

The few remaining walls in the scene have lost their concrete meanings, suggesting that the walls are losing their specific functions in the transitional period of development.

05 Broken walls

The broken wall shows the wall demolished due to the construction of the railway, and also makes people reflect on the contradiction and relationship between ancient relics and urban development.

06 New culture under the walls

The atmosphere of the exhibition hall space is creating a modern background, and the wall is playing a new urban function, such as providing public activities, promoting heritage culture, etc.

Melted Statues of Gods

Integration of religious activities and daily life in a multireligious context

In Fujian, the unique regional environment and fishing activities have formed a folk belief headed by Mazu. There are indigenous beliefs that are highly relevant to everyday life. The intermingling of religious space, daily space and major religious and secular activities constitutes a unique daily life pattern of the local people.

With the development of information technology and the trend of cultural diversity, artificial gods gradually stepped down from the altar. The melting corner of the island alludes to the dissolution of the traditional church and is a metaphor for the change in the individualization of religion. The design touches sealed folk tales by interpreting and translating the gods of folk mythology into various spatial forms, and enshrines folk beliefs in this land with new interactive practices.

Individual Work

Instructor: Bin Hu

Date: Apr. 2021

Location: Meizhou Island, Fujian, China

Mazu Birthplace

Site overview

Meizhou Island, located in Putian, Fujian Province, has a typical subtropical maritime monsoon climate, close to the Gold Coast, and was approved as a national tourist resort in 1992. Among them, the Mazu Birthplace and Mazu Temple attract a large number of believers and tourists to visit every year. The island is rich in religious resources.

Christian Church Mazu Temple attracts a large number of Mazu pilgrims every year.

Earth God Temple

Every year on Mazu Birthday, locals hold a large celebration.

Gold Coast

Melted Statues of Gods

Site generation

After identifying the connections and locations between the buildings, the site was replanned. The use of gentle roads, the introduction of water systems and the connection of sight to achieve the integration of buildings.

Design dismanting

The design is divided into five connection of function and line

01 Original site

The site is located on the coast, with the Mazu Temple to the east and the residential area to the north.

02 Division

Roads and water systems are placed to divide the areas of each building and related functional spaces.

03 Blend

The buildings are interconnected by function, sight line and road, adding corridors and bridges to enrich the road layer.

Structures Buildings Green Land Water Main Road

five levels: road, water system, green space, building and the structures on it, which are interconnected through the line of sight, and finally form an inseparable whole.

Restaurant

Market

Workshop

Mazu Museum

Tea factory

Stage

The design translates five gods from folk mythology into five everyday spaces, which are interconnected and carry the beautiful vision of the local people.

Market and workshop, where meeting love by chance

Mother of Birth symbolizes a beautiful marriage. The design translates it to a bazaar and workshop space. The market will lead to chance encounters, and the well-designed eye relationship and open game plaza space will provide interesting opportunities for them to meet.

Generation Prototype extraction

Tea factory and tea fields, seeing tea production up close

Guan Yu symbolizes fortune and masculinity, and the design combines it with the local specialty industry of tea, which translates to a tea factory backed by tea fields. Here, people get up close and personal with tea production in a fun and interactive way.

Generation

The Stage, where performances or events occur

On the birthday of Mazu or other important times, there will be characteristic wandering activities on the island. The stage allow people to watch the event in action and perform here in daily life.

Wandering Route

Planting, Picking and Restaurant

The land is a symbol of people's good expectations for a good harvest. The designed restaurant is located next to the plantation, where people can grow their own food or pick it. The harvested food will go to the kitchen or store, where people can enjoy or buy it.

Generation

Local wandering tradition

Mazu Museum, an inclusive space close to the water

As the most attractive symbol on the island, Mazu is placed at the end of the journey. The lighthouse is a symbol of the peace that Mazu blesses people who go to sea. The design highlights Mazu's feminine qualities, soft and inclusive.

Generation

Co-living Artistic Village

A means of revitalizing the countryside based on the sharing economy

New village construction is a unique form of rural in China, which integrates the surrounding natural villages into unified residential areas, and adapts to the radiation needs of urbanization development by integrating the rural pattern and the surrounding area industries. However, as far as most new rural construction is concerned, this unified resettlement method has not achieved the desired results, but has persisted in an unhealthy way. The villagers rely solely on rental housing for profit.

Through a three-stage progressive design, we try to establish a mechanism where villagers and artists can use each other's resources to achieve common prosperity. Villagers will gain the needed rural vitality from the creative industries, gradually moving away from dependence on a single source of income from rental housing, and building villages together.

Group Work with Yuanzhen Gu, Weiting Diao

Role in Team: Conceptual Design(70%), Technical Drawings(90%)

Instructor: Yuefeng Fu

Date: Nov. 2021

Location: Wuhan, Hubei, China

Most profit comes from cheap rentals.

Summary: China's new rural construction policy divided the surrounding natural villages into unified residential areas. However, this unified resettlement negatively impacted its communities.

The Site

Social Fintech

Development Need By Society (Need solutions)

Return Of Investment Financial Returns (if any)+ Soical Returns

Pay for Success Smart Contract (Automating social finance)

Rural environment and economic construction

Research Consultancy Evaluation Decision+Insight

User Behaviors

Benefits Impact Marketplace Digitized community Beneficiary Communities

Assigning tasks Funds Prodects &Services

Development Capital Market [developer] Development Project

Limiao New Village is located in the Wuhan Canglong Island Development Zone. It was built in 2008 by the land expropriation and housing demolition.

Wuhan

Existing

industry type map in Limiao New Village

Accommodation industry Entertainment industry Art industry Catering

Revitalizing rural areas with creative industries Participate in Sharing economy Top-down Development planning

Bottom-up Development proposal Improve rural construction

Harnessing creative industries

Sharing economy

Components

Villagers problems

Poor living environment Single source of income (rental housing)

Improving the environment

Placing in an art gallery

Low rent Vast site Culture of village

No place for exhibitions

+ + +

problems Resources

Out of money Limited theme

Unable to keep young people

Components Components

Creative industries

Artists

Housing renovation

Art-related Public spaces

Art production part of the house rent

STEP2

Economic development

Villagers Cooperation

Optimizing street space Art activities

STEP1 STEP3

Artists

Economic development

Components

Exhibitions lectures Art events

knowledge of the art Artists

creative environment Comfortable accommodation

Funding Regular exhibitions Gallery Holding activities social network Tourists Publicity

+ + + + + + + +

Villagers better living place Art institutions

Better artworks

attract

Art atmosphere

Vibrant community

earn profit Artists Attract Tourists Retain talent

Villagers

Three-stage design

Creative industries are inserted, allowing villagers to gradually break away from the original single economic dependence.

STEP0 Current industry

Ground floor plan

STEP1 Renovate part of the house

STEP2 Place in the gallery

STEP3 Extended industry

Building renovation

Provide customized modification plans to allow artists and villagers to rebuild their houses according to the type of art industry they want to participate in.

Art industry reconstruction

Original plan

Painting exhibition

Art exhibition

Artwork production

Art Studio

Residency of art institutions

Excellent works attract institutions. 1

What a great work!

Institutions fund the construction of a gallery. 2

Attract villagers to the gallery. 3

It looks strange but beautiful.

Villagers think it's profitable. 4

I think this is more profitable.

Collaborate with artists to create art. 5

I want to participate...

Work together for more revenue. 6

Gallery attracts tourists to the village. 7

Interesting village...

We can cooperate as...

Other industries are derived. 8

Optimizing street space

Optimize existing street spaces based on six street renovation types. The transformed street space will be suitable for the generation and conduct of various artistic activities, and the streets full of artistic atmosphere will also attract villagers, artists and tourists, bringing vitality to the village.

Large-scale art event platform

Small-scale art event platform

Communication space

Landscape platform

Art exhibition space

Extension of indoor functions

Industry streamline

The type of industry derived from the art industry extends a new industry streamline through the tour streamline.

Art exhibition streamline

Other art industry streamline

Commercial streamline Resident streamline

Streamline of 1F plan

Traffic space construction

Streamline of 3F plan

The external space uses a steel structure as the skeleton, and the outdoor connecting platform is constructed in the simplest and quickest way, so that the street space is minimally affected during the single reconstruction process.

Place in the art space

Steel frame Concrete shelf Wooden fence

Street space effect

Connect with existing structure

LED strip lights

coping: 10 mm acrylic solid surface material, single element (without seams) 150/250/20 mm hot-dipgalvansed steel head plate 250/70/15 mm connecting plate

Ø 18 mm hot-dip galvanised steel tension rod

lifting sliding door: wood frame with triple glazing (U = 0.9 W/m2K)

translucent lam. safety glass balustrade: 2≈ 8 mm toughened glass and PVB foil

35 mm larch boarding, grooved bitumen felt on distance pieces 80/80/8 mm steel SHSs

35 mm trapezoidal-section metal sheeting; 2 mm sheet steel 160 mm steel channel sheet-metal covering bent to shape 150/270/24 mm steel head plate

roof tile, smooth slipware, slate toned 30/50 mm battens

30/50 mm counterbattens

house wrap; 120/24 mm larch boarding 200 mm mineral wool thermal insulation vapour barrier

40 mm mineral wool thermal insulation between 60/50 mm battens

2≈ 12.5 mm plasterboard 50 mm dolomite rock (quarry: Wachenzell), open-pored, on 5 –100 mm support pedestals

10 mm protection mat

bituminous sheeting, 2 layers 120 – 215 mm polyurethane rigid foam thermal insulation to falls; vapour barrier 200 mm reinforced concrete deck

Through a three-stage gradual design to form a sustainable economic model, the development prospects of the art village will also attract young people to return to rural construction.

Other works

Selected works 2018-2021

1.2. Sketches: The current situation of the houses in Shuiyu Village.

Location: Shuiyu Village, Beijing. Date: Jun. 2019

3.4.Creative sketching. Date: Mar. 2019

5.Photography. Location: Apple store. Date: May. 2019