Yiqun Feng-portfolio

My interest in architecture began when reading a magazine about villas at a hardware factory. The factory, which was managed by my father, was where I spent most of my time during childhood. Because my father was very committed to finding success with his business, I was always left alone in factory, which I perceived as a giant, autonomous, mechanic monster. To escape from the anxiety caused by the environment, I filled days by observing the operation of the streamlined assembly and watching raw materials being melded and molded before being distributed to places as far as Japan. Bored from the repetition, I received an unexpected and timely gift from one of my father’s customers—a magazine about forest villas. That gist became the point of connection between an impressionable child with an open mind and the dynamic culture of architecture—an immersive world with leisurely living spaces, integration of nature, and intimate family settings.

The initial interest in forest villas encouraged me to pursue a career in architecture. However, the inspiration for architecture provided by the magazine evolved after further study in geology, sociology, and building systems at Syracuse University. The fact was that luxurious constructions depicted in the magazine had an unbalanced priority on the real estate industry, exacerbating inequality in society and environmental areas. Such contrast motivated me to focus on the social benefits and sustainability of architecture. These selected works in portfolio address on social inequality, public safety, habitat reserve, and energy sustainability, with intention of designing new urban life.

FIRE DEFENDER BASE

BACKBONE OF EAST FLATBUSH

OFFSHORE WIND FARM

OTHER WORK

HOT LAVA

HOT LAVA

A conversational community encourages communications among all social class and the nature.

On the premise that the Forest Preserves of Cook County (FPCC) will make the Cabrini Green neighborhood in Chicago re-wild for the goal of establishing a forest preserve, this studio sees a potential to update the community’s notorious history of poverty and crime with harmonious coexistence of all-class people and nature.

The FPCC allows a new neighborhood within the preserve as long as 100% of the ground remains unoccupied (except structures & utilities). It guides the project to plan a floating community that isolates human footprints from the nature unless necessary egresses. It also provokes job opportunities of flora preservation. Therefore, I focus design on equal share of space with no boundary for any status of people, and on providing jobs and business spaces to support low-income groups.

ROLE: individual DATE: Fall 2020

INSTRUCTOR: Joel Kerner

Laboratories that conduct flora reserve studies and plantings, and instruct incoming residents with jobs of flora planting.

Assembly Factory

A factory that assemble shells, structures, and furnitures of housing units, transported through an assembly line.

Housing Bridge

Shared indoor plaza for residents’ business demands. Also Free for occupying of leisure and entertainment purpose.

Mechanic Tower

A mechanical center that contains operations of electricity, water use, and cable railway of housing units.

Growing “Downtown”

Shared indoor plaza for residents’ business demands.

Also Free for occupying of leisure and entertainment purpose.

Green House Laboratory

Landscape drawing collaborates with Javier Lam

GROWING “DOWNTOWN”

• Open space for all residents and all programs.

• Movable walls for temporary enclosing of relative private rooms.

• Hollow columns for merging indoor activities and outdoor nature.

GREEN HOUSE LABORATORY

HOUSING ASSEMBLY LINE

Walkway Bridge

HOUSING BRIDGE

Shared Rooms

• Passing flora downward to assembly line of housing units to create indoor arable garden.

• A green house with spiral farms.

Transporting Track

Assemble Zone 2

Furniture

Assemble Zone 2

Insulation & Wall

Assemble Zone 1

Structure

Material Belt

FIRE DEFENDER BASE FIRE DEFENDER BASE

A training system improves public fire safety.

Inspired by remarkable loss of firefighters that happened in Syracuse history, this project intends to explore the flaws that cause these firefighting history and seek potential efforts we could make. Efforts can be placed on both promoting advanced trainings for firefighters and raising fire protection awareness for civilians. It requires more intensive training and enhancement of public fire education. The project demonstrates the necessity and urgency of acquiring progress in the current firefighting field.

ROLE: Group work

Teammate: Glenn Addison Jordan

DATE: Spring 2022

INSTRUCTOR: Daekwon Park

*All drawings are produced individually expect with special annotations.

With an ambition of congregating all scattered firefighters and civilians, a type of training base located downtown aims to provides firefighters with spaces and systems of regular physical exercises and live fire exercises. Their rescuing ability should be improved, and civilians should be educated by firefighters with fire safety knowledge and actions under fire emergencies.

It is also a chance to recycle inactive infrastructural presidents to facilitate essential functions of fire training. Therefore, forms were derived from their original references: a water tower and a gas tank were brought in as they provided basic resources of fighting fire, whilst the structure of pithead is to build a straight and fast circulation crossing such large volume. These elements combine to produce an industrial quality within the project.

Egress and Elevators Civic Center Gas and water resource

A live fire training system is facilitated by installing replaceable steel pods on spiral corridors. The pods are prefabricated with fire resistant concrete and furnished with steel furniture to produce scenarios of fire incidents. The pods are easy to ship in and out through tracks and a special elevator. A control room will monitor the whole process of fire simulating to ensure the safety, by controlling the supply of gas and water and monitoring filtration system and building temperature.

In the regular training shed, multiple exercises can be set on the hanging slabs, such as fire truck practicing, physical training, and smoke house. And we also bring in the confined space training which is for practicing public’s escape ability and also a fun strategy for attracting attentions from civilians.

ENVIRONMENT CONCERN

Drainage

Drainage

Capturing and Recycling of Gray Water

Roof Shading Technique

Metal meshes

Steel panel

Section B-B

Steel Panel

Metal Meshes

BACKBONE OF EAST FLATBUSH BACKBONE OF EAST FLATBUSH

A reconnection reactivates dead ends and broader communities.

Along the edge of East Flatbush, and Canarsie is the Manhattan Beach branch of the Long Island Railroad. The now freight only rail was once a popular passenger transit route connecting commuters from Long Island City to the Manhattan Beach. What was once a connect to places has now become a separator of spaces as the city developed around the elevated rail track and current rail conditions creates dislocation, not only because of the circulation to the area, exacerbates the bottleneck within the few passages that crossed this rail, but also so many dead ends that are currently underutilized .The M1-1 zone and rail becomes a wall that separate the east flat bush and Canarsie and also creating dislocations within the city. Hearing voice from surrounding residents, we intend to mitigate issues of lack of accessible green spaces, pedestrian walkways and community infrastructures, by opening up the low-used railway to the public.

ROLE: Group work

Teammate: Calvin Leung, Chiwei Chen

DATE: Fall 2021

INSTRUCTOR: David Vega-Barachowitz, Crystal Eksi, Robert Daurio

Key Demands

Pedestrian Lane

Bike Lane

Farming Gardens

Food Support

Less Disruption

East Flatbush, Brooklyn

SITE CONDITION

Education

Public spaces

Government Infrastructure

Industrial Commercial

Surrounding infrastructures

Limited passageways

M1-1 zone

• It is hard to navigate in between the truck as a pedestrian in the Market.

• We would like the bus to come into the Market.

• There is not a lot of farmers market around the area

Astorio- Melon 1 Worker

• I don’t use the public transport.

• I am satisfy with the current stage, and don’t see things that I would like to change.

Reena - Restaurant Owner--Jus Fishy

• It is hard to navigate in between the truck as a pedestrian in the Market.

• Only the onion and tomato sellers use the rail line.

• The price is much cheaper here. (Christmas tree)

Dead ends along the rail

Zach - Farm Manager at Wyckoff Farm Museum

Freight Rail

Photos: credit to Calvin Leung.

PROPOSED CONNECTIONS AND PROGRAMS

We propose a change in zoning to pixelate the existing M1-1 Wall and build new connections and circulation. The Agricultural zone is a new growing lab, merging the garden of Wyckoff farm and the retailing of the Brooklyn Terminal Market as an entity where people are able to grow and sell food, a way with clear food transparency. The community center in the middle is an extension of the railroad playground to provide the neighborhood with more entertainment amenities. The industrial workshop at the end would cooperate with the Plako Scrap Processing Inc., but transform adjacent blocks to a forest. The increased tree coverage can both mitigate the pollutants and increase biodiversity of the area.

Before Agricultural Zone

After

NEW DEAD ENDS

Community Center

Industrial Workshop

The dead ends become major access to the railway walkway.

Community Infrastructure Pedestrian/cycling Infrastructure Automobile Infrastructure Green/Open Space

Perspective drawings: collaborate with Calvin Leung; axon-metric diagrams: collaborate with Chichen Wei.

OFFSHORE WIND FARM OFFSHORE WIND FARM

A strategy to popularize wind resource, increase city’s electricity capacity and promote environmental friendly lifestyle.

Offshore wind farm projects generate unimaginable benefits, especially for coastal cities. Except for its most distinctive advantage as a sustainable and clean resource, it also absorbs storm kinetic energy and reduce damage. With ambition of expanding current plan for offshore wind farms, I target on solving its potential risks and strengthening its interaction with civilians and onshore facilities.

INSTRUCTOR: Jeffrey Shumaker

POTENTIALS OF WIND FARMS

• Sea farm--support fishery industry

• Wave energy converter--extra electricity and storm dumper

• Vacation villa--connect to ports--boost economy--earn budget for oceanic scientists

• Charging decks--promote electrical vessels

Leased Wind Project Permission on Progress

Constructed Electric Cable Likely Electric Cable Electricity Transmission Line

WAVE ENERGY CONVERTER

Heave/Sway

Shaft rotates and spring expands

Hydraulic rams sense pressure Motor Generator Electricity

Hydraulic Rams

A technique that convert wave energy to electricity. Help stabilize turbines in strong waves, and join in the electricity grid transported to the city.

OTHER WORK OTHER WORK

THE COMPLETE MAP OF BEIJING

ROLE: Group work

DATE: Spring 2021

INSTRUCTOR: Drawing Architecture Studio

TEAMMATE: Xinyu Tang, Yuxuan Wang, Yi Zhang, Kexin Wang, Zhexv Yang, Kaicheng Zhuang, Wenting Feng, Chenhao Luo, Zheng Zhi, Junye Zhong, Deqiang Huang, Xinqi Meng, Huihuizhu, Yaqi Zhang, Yian Liu.

• A collaboration by DAS and Syracuse University School of Architecture in 2021

• Redrawing of an ancient Beijing map, by merging with contemporary art and modernism.

JUMPING LAB LIGHT EXPERIMENT

ROLE: Individual work

DATE: Spring 2020

INSTRUCTOR: Elizabeth A Krietemeyer

• An installation design of education lab for K-12 student, a space to learn geographic knowledge of the Green Lake, Syracuse.

• A wonderland consists of bouncing fabric and adjustable spatial configurations.

• Free assembled units avoid destruction of forests.

THESIS-FOUND OBJECT