PORTFOLIO YUXIN LIU
University of Southern California Master of Architecture Selected Works [2012-2019]
YUXIN LIU Master of Architecture,USC LEED Green Associate
PERSONAL INFORMATION Email: yuxinl@usc.edu
EDUCATION 2017-2019
University of Southern Californa | Los Anegels, CA Master of Architecture, Architecture
2012-2017
Xiamen University | Xiamen, China Bachelor of Architecture, Architecture
Phone: (213)245-8814 Address: 1302 W 35TH ST, Los Angeles, 90007 Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/ yuxin-liu-5420a8150/
WORKING EXPERIENCE 09/2018-11/2018
STRUERE Architecture Intern | Los Angeles,CA Concept Design | Modeling | Schematic Design:Renderings Project: 127 N Madison Avenue Mixed Use Project: 3700 Riverside Drive Mixed Use Project
04/2016-08/2016
Architectural Design Institute of XMU Intern | Xiamen, China Construction drawings and protection scheme design Project:Quanzhou Guangqian Hospital
SOFTWARE Rhinoceros [Advanced] Revit [Intermediate] Grasshopper [Intermediate] SchetchUp [Advanced] 11/2015 AutoCAD [Advanced] Illustrator [Advanced] Photoshop [Advanced]
07/2015-08/2015
InDesign [Advanced] Vary[Advanced] Lumion[Intermediate] Enscape[Intermediate]
Gulangyu Island Four-university Union Architectural Workshop Group Member | Gulangyu Island, China Street renovation design | field survey | information consultation Project:Renovation of Historic Block
HONOR AND AWARD 01/2016
The 4th CUC Cup International Competition for University Students Architecture Design | Excellent Award
10/2013
National College Architectural Design Teaching Plan and Achievement | Excellent Award
SKILLS 3D Printing Laser Cutting Sketching Modeling
Professional Research Group Member | Gulangyu Island, China Construction drawing | field survey | information consultation Project:Renovation of Historic Buildings
CONTENT
Future Housing System 01 Thesis
"Indoor Art Walk" 02 USC Marshall School of Business in DTLA
Constructs of memory 03 LA Transcript
Floating 04
Parking Structure Renovation
Wood Cabin 05
Construction Design
Self-service Residential 06 An Architecture Prototype in the Internet Age
A Day in Harbor 07
Activity Center Design
Artist Village 08
Historic District Planning and Design
Renovation of Guancai Building 09 Practical Porject
Yongan Primary School 10 Practical Porject
01 Future Housing System
Precedent: JEAN PROUVÉ, TEMPORARY SCHOOL OF VILLEJUIF
USC Architecture Directed Design Research: Thesis Instructor: Jose Sanchez Spring 2019
Being described as “A demonstration of mass-production of permanent structures”, the Temporary School of Villejuif represents Jean Prouve’s theory of prefabricated architecture. However, the iconic building ends up being an exhibit in the museum and it is not a practical building anymore. So base on this precedent, the thesis aims at figuring out a new way to create a new system for prefabricated architecture. After analyzing the primary concepts of the project, it comes out that the main rules of the precedent have its superiorities, but by the meantime, are also limited to the time and technology: all parts of it are designed in a traditional way and have a specific shape, which makes it limited to variations. The thesis intends to make an inversion of the relationship between parts and whole. While the traditional way it is to make many different parts to create one single unit, this project uses a few basic blocks to create a multiplicity of parts/units. As a system for future housing, people can customize their own house and the parts of the house can be assembled and replaced easily.
Jean Prouve creates an easy-assembly system. He makes a good classification of parts, and parts are transported to site after preproduced in the factory. However, all parts of the precedent are defined in a traditional way and they all have a specific shape. Different parts are created to fit in one single unit which largely limits the diversity of a system. Although the building is a temporary building, components of it are permanent.
In this project, eight basic blocks are designed to be the base of the system. Instead of following the rule of basecolumn-beam-roof-furniture system, this project is made up of the basic blocks and the parts based on them. The thesis understands architecture as parts instead of a whole, giant volume. Comparing to what Jean Prouve did in the Temporary School of Villejuif, the project wants to break the traditional architecture system. This fragmentation of architecture means that a few basic blocks can create all.
PARTS
ROOF
WALL
WALL
STAIRS
STAIRS
STAIRS
FLOOR
CORNER
CORNER
CORNER
The basic blocks constrain with each other and form different parts of an architecture. Parts that created by the eight basic blocks play all roles of architecture: Columns, beams, foundations, exterior walls, interior walls, ceilings, floorings, insulations, furnishings, stairs, window frames. Finally, the parts form an entire space as the frame for a unit. BASIC SPACE
1:3 DETAILED WALL MODEL
UNITS
Unit 1: Chatting
Unit 2: Sleeping
The system follows the rule of basic blocks-parts-space-unit-building. In this system, units are built based on basic space frame, and then other customized parts such as additional spaces, walls, and furniture go together. Since the basic space has a direction, different parts can assemble from the opened side and that makes it easy to assemble as well as disassemble. This also gives the system the flexibility of creating diversity.
CONCEPT MODEL
Unit 3 : Gaming
Unit 4 : Cooking
Unit 5 : Reading
PERSPECTIVE
A family house built from the new system. As a family house, the project is built by five units and every component follow the same logic and language.
VARIATIONS
Site
Structure
Main Space
Circulation
Cladding
Landscape
BUILDING PROCESS
The flexibility of this system makes it possible to adapt to the various situation, as well as to meet the needs of the different user’s group. In the following stage, I choose the family house as a case and complete the design. In this case, the units come together, connecting by circulation and landscape. The gaps between units end up being courtyards of the house.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
ASSEMBLY PROCESS In this system, disassembly is considered as important as assembly. While a traditional building might be standing for several decades or hundreds of years without change, future housing might adapt to different needs in a different time. Most traditional prefabricated buildings are dissembled by taking off bolts and parts and can never be a part for another different house. However, a temporary building might be more flexible if it can be reused to suit different conditions after its disassembly. On tectonic level, each block has certain tracks to fit other blocks. They can be slide in and out in a certain direction. Therefore, they can be assembled without break the part, and the part can easily be reused in another different project.
TECTONIC DIAGRAM
02 "Indoor Art Walk"
USC Marshall School of Business in DTLA USC Comprehensive Studio Instructor: Aaron Neubert Spring 2018
Located in the Historic Theater and Commercial District of Downtown Los Angeles, this corner site sits right through the route of the weekly Downtown Art Walk. As a satellite campus for The USC Marshall School of Business, this condition offers an opportunity for it to both contribute the students as well as the public. The interaction between the school which is normally private and the district which is public becomes a theme for the project. As the Art Walk is invited into the project, in which the gallery becomes a core for this building, the project is opened to the public. When the public firstly enters the building, they are placed in a vertical public space and get engaged with most activities in the school. Therefore, for the public it’s an extension of Ark Walk; for the school and entrepreneurs, they gain opportunities to advertise themselves and also make profits for the students that they will witness how an exhibition or a small trade market works.
After researching the public space of Broadway, it is found that although this is a historic and art district which attracts lots of tourists, public space is limited to the ground floor and deep inside the building. Also, the site sits right through the route of weekly Downtown Art Walk, which offers an opportunity for the project to interact with public activities in this district. Given the site in the corner of Broadway facing a crossroad, the strategy is to invite the Art Walk into the building, in this case, the building serves both students and the public, contributing to the public activities in the district.
SITE ANALYSIS: PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
ROUTE OF THE DOWNTOWN ART WALK
AXONOMETRIC BIRDEYES VIEW Located in the center of Broadway, the main challenge is how to engage the project with the art district, where the surrounding buildings all have high density and restricted public space. Despite all the galleries and bars in the neighborhood, activities here are restricted in streets because the public doesn’t have visible access to them. Therefore the project is aimed at breaking the boundary between solid building and the street for the public, to create an accessible public space for both students and the public.
The vertical public space is the core and main circulation of the project. After inviting the public into the building, other functional programs start to come in. As the programs insert into the core, space is squeezed into a free shape, creating several platforms facing the central space and offering the opportunities for different activities taking place.
CONCEPT AND PROGRAM DESIGN
PERSPECTIVE - FROM CORRIDOR TOWARDS CENTRAL SPACE
1. LOBBY 2.EXHIBITION 3. CAFE 4. KITCHEN 5. RETAIL 6.RESTROOM 7. SHIPPING 8. LECTURE HALL
9. CLASSROOM 10. SHARED OFFICE 11. PRIVATE OFFICE 12. STUDY SPACE 13. PUBILIC SPACE 14. STUDIO 15.MECHANICAL 16.STORAGE
PLANS
SECTIONS
PERSPECTIVE - LOBBY
Lobby as a start point of circulation, offers a view from the ground floor to the eighth floor, from inside to outside, creating free interior space for no matter who enters the building.
STRUCTURE
HVAC SYSTEM
CIRCULAITON
PROGRAMS
DIAGRAMS
The vertical public space is not only the core for public space but also the main space for circulation. The architectural staircase goes from ground floor to roof, creating a dynamic space for the project. The facade uses a glass curtain wall to create a clear view of the central space, inviting the public to get engaged in the activities.
AXO SECTIONAL DETAIL
PHYSICAL MODELS
For structure, the project uses a truss system to create clear interior space for the central core.
03 Constructs of memory LA Transcript
USC Topic Studio Instructor: Anthony Morey Fall 2018
The studio took a step-by-step process of design, observing, tracing, filming, abstracting on each stage and finally reconstructing our daily life in downtown Los Angeles. It seems that we read and understand Architecture, not through buildings, not through streets, but through what we see, experience, and remember. So if the activities are based on reality, will it be any different in a completely different world? If buildings in the real world become all strange forms, if sight becomes a physical object, if human itself becomes the same level of an object, will the experience have any change in the space? – or can the activities repeat in a world of difference? What if we can create a world that has the same human activities but in a totally different shape? To explore a system to redefine the city would be the purpose of the project. In this project, I looked into how the drawings set up a new system to say an old story of everyday life. The project portrays scenes of daily life happen in downtown LA, trying to rebuild an abstract world of Los Angeles: railways go into the downtown area; many factories and construction sits occupy large areas; no far from the factories are a quiet residential area, adults and children live a peaceful life. All these typical and contradict scenes go together and happen the same time in one frame, showing the complexity and different hierarchy of a city.
ROMAN NOLLI MAP
LOS ANGELES NOLLI MAP
NOLLI IN LOS ANGELES
The first stage takes its name from Nolli’s map. Direct tracing of Los Angeles was made through its representation of Plan, bringing it further to trace the representation of its figure-ground relationship. It was to not simply produce a script that read as a city but to take an image and translate it into objects. From there the studio was to begin to consider the activities that take place within such space on a daily basis. As this continuous tracing occurs, one cannot help but daydream about what occurs in the proximity of the line we are tracing. This brought a deep understanding of the corners, nooks, and cracks of Los Angeles’ mapping. This sensibility opens the tracer to discover nuances within formal relationships and instill them in the work.
LOS ANGELES NOLLI MAP
TRACING LOS ANGELES Here the translation from the stills was turned into three-dimensional constructs all looking at the relationship between spaces, between time and between experience as a means of discovery. Objects were pulled to connect, graphics attempt to relate and figures attempt to talk to spaces which only find themselves in proximity because of their selection from the earlier non-linear film making process. Los Angeles is a city with discrete scenes. A factory sits right besides residential area, but you don’t see a clue of each other. It’s a collection of activities, plazas, life, people pick their life and ignore other things. Every two scenes have their connection, and you hardly notice other things when you go from one place to another. Los Angeles is full of fragments.
Swing
Diagram
Perspective
Picnic
Diagram
Perspective
DIY Moto Garage
Diagram
Perspective
Metro
Diagram
Perspective
Musician
Diagram
Perspective
Leaving
Diagram
Perspective
Swimming
Diagram
Perspective
Meeting
Diagram
Perspective
Construction site
Diagram
Perspective
Park
Diagram
Perspective
LOS ANGELES TRANSCRIPTS Selecting a section of the map of downtown Los Angeles, I began to analyze the space through visiting and experiencing the space. After taking a film of a series of scenes, I take stills from the film and begin to translate them into 2D and 3D spatial diagrams. These diagrams were to attempt to translate literal space, experience, memories, and emotions into a construct of architectural peculiarities.
CONSTRUCTS OF MEMORY
The three-dimensional diagrams of the earlier exercise were released into a collection of assembled models. The models as a whole represent the various manifestations of the whole of downtown into a collection of frozen moments, vivid memories and a diverse redrawing of what a city is and how a city is experienced. In every moment, human beings, movement, sounds, and sights play their own roles, but now they are flattened to the same level. Different hierarchies disappear: human become columns, motions are frozen into curve walls, sights become connection such as corridors, architectural elements imply its space quality. So, every single scene becomes a spatial montage. In this way, together with other hierarchies—underground systems and landscape system, the moments build up the memory of a city. COLLECTION OF WHOLE STUDIO WORKS
SECTION ANALYSIS
On this stage, three main objects from the last stage are picked, assembling with other objects to reform the interior of them. By cutting the sections below, spatial continuity starts to come into the hollow model. Scale start to appear in the abstract model. As we extracting the reality from the map before, now we bring the reality back and begin to analyze the scale of the space. Stages before don’t create traditional architecture it doesn’t aim at creating efficient rooms or spaces for traditional activities, it doesn’t propose certain activities for people. Instead, it’s more like a rewriting of several established facts. But when it comes to this stage, more architectural definitions are going to set a series of space for human scale.
2D DRAWINGS DESCRIBING ARCHITECTURAL SPACE
Here the objects come together forming a composition of a small city. As different techniques apply in the objects, I start to identify the spatial peculiarity of them. Different colors create different interior space and landscape. Lines extended from the model imply a strong tendency for the objects to explode from inside to outside.
3D DRAWINGS DESCRIBING ARCHITECTURAL SPACE
As the objects pumping out, this three-dimensional model gains the value of two-dimensional drawings, describing the spatial condition in one single model. Stairs, windows, doors that representing real elements of architecture become a measurement scale for this project. By wandering around different “drawings� of the same building, experiencers would identify different peculiarities of different spaces.
GALAXY OF STUDIO WORKS
04 Floating
Parking Structure Renovation USC Comprehensive Studio Instructor: Andrew Liang Fall 2017
The project is a student-concerned design, focusing on what could be inserted in the marginalized area to serve the majority of students living around, and that to motivate the potential vitality of this certain area. Therefore, a gym, several study pods, and small retail are located in the parking lot as main programs. In this project, main entrance and commercial stores are located in the less activated side, serving students who live in neighboring dormitories. As students enter the project by a main outside staircase, the circulation leads them to traverse the program, adding different experience between different programs. And as a result, the project can actually activate the whole area.
SITE ANALYSIS
Site Location
Being marginalized and need to be activated.
Surrounding circumstances
Imbalanced connection of transportation
The project is to renovate the parking structure on the campus. The parking structure is located on the edge of campus, facing the street Figueroa Street, which makes it marginalized from the campus. The purpose of the project is to engage itself with the campus and together with the volleyball court, offer a variety of programs serving students around this area.
Site
Basic blocks
Program strategy
Program organization
Vertical circulation
Horizontal circulation
Boxes
Boxes floating
FORMING
SITE PLAN
In this project, main entrance and commercial stores are located in the less activated side, serving students who live in neighboring dormitories. As students enter the project by a main outside staircase, the circulation leads them to traverse the program, adding different experience between different programs. And as a result, the project can actually activate the whole area.
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
STRUCTURE
CIRCULATION
HVAC SYSTEM
PERSPECTIVE - MAIN ENTRANCE
PERSPECTIVE - VOLLEYBALL COURT
EAST ELEVATION
SECOND FLOOR PLAN
SOUTH ELEVATION
THIRD FLOOR PLAN
FOURTH FLOOR PLAN
05 Wood Cabin XMU Construction Studio Summer 2013 The project is a construction practice for wood system. A little cabin was designed to tectonic level and a physical model was built in wood.
AXONOMETRIC DRAWING AND STRUCTURE NODE
A
A
B
C B
D
C
E E
D F
F
a.Set up the pillar.
b. Set up the main frame.
c. Build the keel.
d. Build the purlin.
d. Pave the floor , wall and roof.
06 Self-service Residential
An Architecture Prototype in the Internet Age XMU Comprehensive Studio Fall 2015
The project is a future living prototype conceived for people living in the Internet age, in which people lead a changeable lifestyle in a high-density community. The model includes two main characteristics: modularization and self-service. The module can achieve considerable adaptability and can be used as a residential model to build in many conditions.
Module 1
Module 2
Module 3
Community 1
Single unit
Couple unit
Family unit
Garden
Service
Traffic space
Six kinds of plan : Suitable for various forms of family, and all can be built with each other in a modules. Type 1: single unit
Type 2: single unit
Community 2
Type 3: couple unit
Community 3
Type 5: couple unit
Type 4: couple unit
Type 6: family unit
07 A Day in Harbor Activity Center Design
XMU Comprehensive Studio Fall 2017
The site is at the end of the fishing harbor, which was also an old port of shelter. With the decline of the industry, people have left the harbor, forming a strong contrast to the other end of the shelter, which is a lively place with a large flow of people. The work is intended to renew the block, and then activate the entire fishing harbor.
Traffic in the center Courtyards in the center
Line of sight
1st and 2nd floor plan
08 Artist Village
Historic District Planning and Design XMU Thesis Studio Spring 2017
The design is based on a real historic site where three traditional temples have already located. After considering local culture, the project intends to create a mix-used artist village satisfied residential, entrepreneurial and commercial. A community with creation, life, display, sale and discussion and monomer building with diverse functions is built, and modern art studios coexist with the local historic temples.
大师工坊
A-A 剖面图：1:300
社区中心
中心广场
艺术商店
B-B 剖面图：1:300
艺术事务所
商业内街
景观绿地
09 Renovation of Guancai Building Practical Porject Survey and Drawing Summer 2015
10 Yongan Primary School Practical Project
Construction Drawings Fall 2016