Yijun Yan portfolio
Education
Harvard University
Master of Architecture I 2023 - 2026 (expected)
Rhode Island School of Design
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Interior Architecture, Nature Culture Sustainability Studies
Honors Graduate (GPA: 3.91 / 4.00) 2019 - 2023
Awards
1st Place - 24H Architecture Competition 38th Edition "culturEart"
Issued by IdeasForward | Mar, 2022
Collaborative team project with Yuchen Liu, Ruyue Qi
RISD Global Scholarship
Issued by RISD Global | Oct 2022
Voluntary Activity + Leadership
RISD AIAS (The American Institute of Architecture Students)
Executive Board - Marketing & Social Media Lead | 2022 - 2023
Duke Kunshan University B-Lab
Biodiversity Conservation Volunteer | Apr 2023 - Present
Women Overseas Non-Governmental Organisation
Host, Producer | 2022
Skills
Software
Rhino, Revit, Grasshopper, Enscape, Vray, Flovent, Climate Studio, Multiframe, Autocad, Google Sketchup, Adobe PS AI ID PR
Language
English, Chinese Mandarin
Work Experience
Bjarke Ingels Group
Design Assistant | Brooklyn, NY, U.S.
Jun - Aug 2024
Participated projects: Manresa Island Power Plant Adaptive-Reuse, Dalian MixC Commercial Development, Pennsylvania Avenue Urban Redevelopment, Miami Surfside Condo
• Conducted project research and presented findings on site context, client organization, and project background to inform internal evaluations and align design strategies.
• Developed conceptual massing and test-fit studies for early-phase design decisions.
• Produced presentation materials, including renderings, plans, and sections, supporting client engagement and design reviews.
• Produced physical urban design and architectural design model.
Gensler
Professional Intern | Boston, MA, U.S.
Jun - Aug 2022
Participated projects: Boys and Girls Club of America Boston Blue Hill Branch Renovation (Intern Project), New England Dental Group Renovation, IQHQ Research and Development District (RaDD), SAP Burlington, Akamai Technologies Philadelphia Office
• Led on-site user group surveys for the intern projects, collaborated with the team to develope actionable insights to inform design concepts and proposals for future fundraising.
• Proposed design concept and test fit, compiled project presentation drawings and documents.
• Produced mix-used FF&E construction review presentation.
• Produced finish plan, RPC, elevations for permit set, and project presentation drawings.
dongqi Architects
Interior Design Intern | Shanghai, China
Jun - Aug 2021
Participated projects: Estée Lauder Companies Pavilion CIIE 2021, XINTIANDI Style II Commercial Interior Redevelopment, XCommons
Adapted-reuse Fashion Retail Store
• Designed display stands design and project presentation renderings.
• Compiled finish set sheet and FF&E construction presentation, attained regular client meetings.
• Participated in client meetings, gathering feedback to enhance design outcomes and foster client relationships.
DPH
Interior Design Intern | Shanghai, China
Jul - Sep 2020
Participated projects: Handan MixC, BBK Changsha XingchengTiandi Commercial Development
• Designed the L4 and L5 Openhouse Pavilion, proposing spatial concepts and early-stage design strategies.
• Produced hand-drawn sketches to visualize and refine initial ideas.
Core III: Berklee Performing Arts Center
Ordinary, Except
Core I: Artist Residency and Residential Design
A Walk To The Shore
In Collab with Cape Cod Natural Museum of History Biomimicry Generative Design
Crossing Layers
Adaptive Reuse Multi-generational Social Housing
Tide
Cultural Center of The Future
1st Prize - 24H Competition 38th Edition "culturEart"
Professional Projects: Gensler, dongqi Architects
Boys and Girls Club of America Boston Blue Hill Branch Renovation XC273- XCommons Adapted-Reuse Fashion Retail Store Estée Lauder Companies Pavilion CIIE 2021
01 Quatet
Berklee Performing Arts Center
Project Type
Location Date Course
Instructor
Individual Project Boston, MA, U.S.
December 2024
GSD Core III: Integrate Adam Frampton
This imaginative project envisions a performance center for Berklee College of Music. Rooted in the spirit of jazz, Quartet is a study of interplay—between form and function, individual expression and collective cohesion, and the relationship between institution and urban context. The primary facilities include two major performance spaces: a blackbox theater and a traditional theater. Additional spaces encompass back-of-house areas supporting performance and music-making activities, classrooms, offices, and a dining hall to serve daily educational needs.
Site Plan
Syncopation is the art of placing emphasis where it’s least expected.
Facing Massachusetts Avenue, the busiest side of the site, the building presents a monolithic, regular facade. This contrasts sharply with the other facades, which are more dynamic and open. Behind this reserved exterior lies the back-of-house areas and the loading dock—spaces typically hidden. This counterintuitive placement is a deliberate act, emphasizing the building's dual nature: an object that serves the institution while inviting deeper reflection on its role in the city.
Site Section
In jazz, improvisation allows musicians to reinterpret melodies and create something entirely their own. In Quartet, this principle translates to a design that emphasizes flexibility and spontaneity.
The building consists of four distinct boxy masses, each representing a unique "voice" in the ensemble. These volumes pinwheel around a central axis, stacking and aligning within the site’s boundary. The voids between them act as dynamic atrium spaces—informal zones for performances, gatherings, and unexpected interactions. These atria are the improvisational moments of the building, unprogrammed yet vital, encouraging the kind of spontaneous creativity that jazz thrives on.
Quartet establishes a dialogue at multiple scales. Internally, the atria connect the various programs— performance spaces, classrooms, dining areas— encouraging interaction and fostering collaboration. Externally, the building interacts with its urban context. Its compact height aligns with neighboring structures, respecting the rhythm of the city.
One atrium is carefully positioned to correspond with the height of an adjacent structure, allowing uninterrupted access to southern light for both buildings.
02 Ordinary, Except
Artist Residency and Residential Design
Project Type Location Date Course Instructor
Individual Project
Dorchester, MA, U.S.
December 2023
STU 1101 Core I: PROJECT
Ian Miley
A signature building typology of the Boston housing stock, the triple-decker is a straightforward residential type. Implied by its name, units stack up vertically by three, each self-similar and flanked by a front or rear porch (the deck). This project aimed to approach architectural typology as mutable, open-ended, contextual, and programmatic, giving ordinary conditions the capacity to become exceptional. A close reading of two relationships: between site and building and between building and building, one will develop formal and spatial strategies informed by the specificity of place and type.
Yijun Yan | yanyj828@outlook.com
The design deconstructed the basic elements that constitute a triple decker and take the exterior elements: porch and roof as the driven force of the alteration. The gesture invloves rotating the gabled roof and forcing the exterior walls to squeeze under the rotated roof yet following the original orientation, forming triangular porch on the outside ground level.
Rendering + Model Photo
The outside porches of each triple decker then touch one another to turn the negative space inbetween the gathering spaces shared among the three. Their roofs also kiss at the touch points, making the three roofs an entity. The habitable space of the three triple deckers remians isolated by each household yet their functional component of the roofs are shared.
Crossing Layer
Adaptive Reuse Multi-Generational Housing
Project Type Location Date Course Instructor
Individual Project Warren, Rhode Island, U.S.
December 2022
Interior Arch. Design Studios (INTAR-23JR)
Nick Heywood, Janet Stegman
By 2050, the global population aged 60 years or over is expected to double reaching 2.1 billion. The classic nuclear family as a communal household is being replaced. New housing construction can be a solution. This project aims to adapt its concept and thus design a co-living housing complex for the two distinct user groups: solitary elderly and college student. Reducing its complexity and the barriers to “the other” while drawing boundaries where they are required, the objective is to design a utopia in which the “other” and the “alien” are seen not as a threat, but rather as a benefit.
Yijun Yan | yanyj828@outlook.com
The ramps cut through the existing floor slabs serve for both circulation and gathering purposes. The landings in between ramps are expanded into balcony-like platforms for leisure events. The half-storey high idle spaces underneath the ramps are not wasted as well, they provide extra ceiling height for senior club activity rooms, adapting to activities that have various needs of space.
Natural, durable materials, fit for purpose – terrazzo, timber, concrete – confer a warm softness to the interior design.
