ZHANG YUHAN | PORTFOLIO Master of Architecture Honors B.A. Architecture Studies +1 510-998-6886 yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
VERTICAL VILLAGE
Urban Nomadlandia
CO-LIVING WITH GREENERY
Dancing with Lennox Island
ALONG THE TRACK
STAGE HOUSE
Japanese Dolly
Individual Work Design Studio, ARC362 University of Toronto Spring 2021 Professor: Dina Sarhane
Individual Work Design Studio, ARCH201 University of California, Berkeley Fall 2023 Professor: Georgios Eftaxiopoulos
Individual Work Design Studio, ARC361/200 University of Toronto Winter 2020 Professor: Petros Babasikas Alejandro Lopez
Individual Work Design Thesis, ARC467 University of Toronto Fall 2021 - Winter 2022 Professor: Simon Rabyniuk
Individual Work Design Studio, ARCH200B University of California, Berkeley Spring 2023 Professor: Dan Spiegel
Individual Work Design Studio, ARCH200A University of California, Berkeley Fall 2022 Professor: Matt Kendall, Raveevarn Choksombatchai
Collaborate with P. Zhu, K. Lin, H. Macmurray Structure Studio, ARCH250 University of California, Berkeley Spring 2023 Professor: Simon Schleicher
ARBITRARY REGULARITY
GUMMY RHAPSODY
SMART RESIDENCE
Drifting City
VISUAL EXPLORATION
CONVERGENCE OF MINDS
Individual Work Design Studio, ARC101/201 University of Toronto Spring 2019 - Spring 2020 Professor: Jennifer Davis, Anne Ma
In Collaboration with Li Zhiting, Wu Hanbing, Chui Sally Design Studio, ARC480 University of Toronto Summer 2021 Professor: Andy Bako
Collaborate with Qin Junyan, Li Zhiting, Chaitali Ahuja History Studio, ARC354 University of Toronto Spring 2021 Professor: Petros Babasikas
Individual Work Design Studio, ARCH229 University of California, Berkeley Fall 2023 Professor: Raveevarn Choksombatchai
Individual Work Design Studio, VIS130/204/303 University of Toronto Fall 2018 - Spring 2021 Professor: Kristie Macdonald, Catherine Telford-Keogh, Mitchell Akiyama
Internship Public Architecture, Studio I CCDI Group Summer 2019 Leader: Zhiyong Hong
01 Vertical Village School residence under urban density
Individual | Professor Dina Sarhane | Spring 2021 | Toronto, Canada
PROJECT BRIEF Located in downtown Toronto, this project proposes a school residence for the University of Toronto, St. George Campus students. Besides the residential capability, the site also needs to provide communal services for its dwellers: gyms, study rooms, workshops, rostrum, lounge, gallery, indoor and outdoor green spaces, and cafeteria are embedded into the building systems. Driven from the study of Harbord Village, a typical Canadian downtown community with singlefamily houses, whose public and communal services surround the residential buildings, the new school residence “Vertical Village” is a response to the traditional nature-intimate living style on a densified land. Instead of spreading horizontally on the ground, the 9-floor school residence seeks vertical growth, and a reverse relationship between the residential units and semi-public programs is created. All private rooms in the Vertical Village are located on the edges of every floor, south and east the most, in making sure of the access of sunlighting, while communal services are the core and shaping a central gathering circulation to the architecture. Diversity is given to all dwellers by inserting various programs with flexible spatial interactions. Six unit types promote individuality and creativity in living spaces in both private enclosures and semi-private balconies. The private access to light and the sky is crucial in illustrating the primitive village lifestyle.
Conceptual Diagram - Vertical Village
Site Map - Downtown Toronto - Harbord Village | Univeristy of Toronto St. George Campus 1
Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
PRECEDENT STUDIES | NAKAGIN CAPSULE TOWER
CAPSULE SUNLIGHT STUDIES DIAGRAM
Nakagin Capsule Tower is a metabolic strategy for densified Tokyo city. Through its 2.5mx4m capsules, the tower highlights the basic elements for living: a bed to rest; a microwave for heating the food from convenience stores; a washroom; and a window to access sunlight. South-facing windows are placed mostly among the four-sided facade of the tower, promoting sunlight in individual capsules. PLAN PERSPECTIVE
While the window unfolds city’s skyline to the residence, a diverse lifestyle could be revealed from the circle openings.
SITE SEGREGATION AND BUILDING DENSITY TEST
INTERIOR UNIT DIAGRAM
AGGREGATION 1 ISOMETRIC DIAGRAM
VERTICAL CIRCULATION
AGGREGATION 2 ISOMETRIC DIAGRAM 2
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BUILDING ENVELOPE ILLUSTRATION
Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
The capsules aggregate by pairs along the two central vertical cores. Placed in different levels, the capsules are unified by elevator. It encourages the interaction between dwellers by extending the inner paths.
01
NEW AGGREGATION INTEGRATED WITH EXISTING SITE CONTEXT
SITE PLAN 3
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01
INTERIOR RENDERING
SEMI-PRIVATE COMMONS
TYPICAL FLOOR PLAN
TYPICAL UNITS
UNIT TYPES
I-SHAPE UNITS One Bedroom / Two Bedrooms
L-SHAPE UNITS Four Bedrooms
T-SHAPE UNITS Three Bedrooms / Four Bedrooms
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01
UNIT AGGREGATIONS AND SEMI-PUBLIC PROGRAMS CAFETERIA / RESTAURANT
VERTICAL CIRCULATION SHAFT
WORKSHOP
GARAGE
LEARNING STAIRS
STUDY ROOM
GALLERY
ROSTRUM
PRIVATE BALCONY
COURTYARD
SEMI-PUBLIC BALCONY
ROOF GARDEN
LAUNDRY ROOM
SECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE 5
Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
VERTICAL GARDEN
01
ADAPTIVE DESIGN IN FOUR SEASONS
SPRING
SUMMER
FALL
WINTER
The Sky Garden is a three-stories height vertical green space. It creates a semi-public place that invites all residences to enjoy the fresh air, green plants, and sunlight. The garden supplies green spaces requirement around the site, promoting a healthy lifestyle.
Semi-public programs are embedded in the core of the building. By varying height and spliting levels, the spaces between each program are opened and interact. The spatial flexibility actives the creativity of the dwellers.
Sitting on top of three heritage houses, the new school residence is well integrated with existing site and actively engages with the community.
The large private and semi-private balcony could be closed up by the retracting walls. Sunrooms will be temporarily built up for activating the semi-exterior space in snowy weather.
COLLAGE / RENDERINGS 6
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01
The design of the school residence actively responds to its existing site. Building directly on top of three historical preserved houses creates an intimate relationship between the traditional brick and the contemporary glass and concrete material. It demonstrates a solution for both conservation and development. Instead of only preserving the street facade, the interior of the houses is reinforced and revived with new public programs for the vertical community.
Instead of spreading horizontally, the building seeks its growth vertically with rooms located on the edges of each floor and semipublic services in the center. This reversion of the public and private relationships creates more community engagement and offers more spatial possibilities for diverse groups. Dwellers in different directions have equal opportunities heading towards the central communal programs.
Modular aggregation of the units rejects typical stacking in floor plans, which promotes outdoor pocket spaces for direct access to air, daylight and widespread vertical green. Prefabricated blocks reduce the on-site construction time in cold weather. The school residence endeavours to harmonize nature and humans and balance its spatial flexibility and building efficiency. Carbon emission is also lowered down through a contractable building footprint.
COLLAGE / RENDERINGS 7
Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
02 Urban Nomadlandia
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Shared techincal nomadic housing project in highrise Individual | Professor Georgios Eftaxiopoulos | Fall 2023 | Berkeley, US
PROJECT BRIEF The project in downtown Oakland proposed a nomadic way of living in a densified urban environment. Through analyzing the Mongolian Yurt, a traditional way of housing for nomads in central Asia for centuries, a contemporary urban “yurt” is designed. The hunt is inserted in the most vacant floors high up to 67% vacancy rate- in the highest residential towers in the city. It provides a varied composition that allows the shaping of single, double, family, and communal units, facilitating the needs of a diverse range of people. Domestic equipment will be connected by providing a central column that both supports the structure and supplies electricity in the hunt.
Transforming the original residential floor plan to an open field by preserving all strucutral columns and mechanical devices, while removing all the decorative, separting walls and furniture.
The orientation and displacement of rigid furniture in a circle plan show the discreteness of the individual elements but also shape an overall unity.
The aggregation between yurt units demonstrates the in-between spaces of different social organizations. It also illustrates the interaction between mankind and nature.
TYPICAL RESIDENTIAL UNITS
TYPICAL RESTROOM UNITS
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Strategically positioned at the center of each floor, the communal kitchen and washrooms, alongside vertical transportation, seamlessly align with the original unit aggregation. With vegetable plantations surrounding each unit, reflecting seasonal variations.
UNITS AGGREGATIONS
Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
In summer, the environment is lush and fruitful, fostering more individualized living. During the winter, the composition promotes closer community ties.
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Unit assembly manual, that shows the package in building the nomadic hunt through a minial use of material.
The sectional axonometric drawings shows the way of gathering and in-between spaces of the hunts in a paticular floor of the highrise.
Analogous drawing illustrates the site context, which highlights the luxury lifestyle in the highrised apartment. “High food price eat up our wages while we eat less.” 9
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02
SUMMER DAYTIME
SUMMER NIGHTTIME
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WINTER DAYTIME
WINTER NIGHTTIME
Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
02
COLLECTIVE SITE MODEL The collective site model of downtown oakland illustrate the density of the city.
Residents are encouraged to cultivate individual yards and make use of communal spaces, fostering a strong sense of community within the high-rise. This pioneering living prototype not only tackles housing challenges but also presents a scalable solution for high-rise living, enhancing inclusivity and affordability.
Despite its exclusivity, this Subsidized Housing Program within, often restrictive and competitive, falls short of effectively serving the local community. In response to the city’s dynamic and transient population, the design embraces a nomadic lifestyle, which rearranges the concrete slabs into open fields with huts and plantations, creating a more fluid and adaptable living environment.
The program could be seen as a prototype for implementing a nomadic lifestyle in the city. By projecting it into the larger context, from Oakland to the Bay area or even to the other side of the world, it encourages a lifestyle of nomadlandia.
ROOF PLAN
OBLIQUE
BAY AREA MAP
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02
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03 Co-Living with Greenery
03
TORONTO RAVINE SYSTEM STUDIES
Ahousefortwoinhabitantsonravineland
Individual | Professor Petros Babasikas, Alejandro Lopez | Fall 2020 | Toronto, Canada YEAR / LAND USED FOR HOUSEING
PROJECT BRIEF
1860
1920
1980
1880
1940
2000
1900
1960
2020
The House for Two Inhabitants is designed for a couple who married for a long time. One is a writer who needs a library and a studio with large windows for his works. The other one is an artist who needs an open studio and a gallery for exhibition. Inspired by the Glass House by Lina Bo Bardi, the house uses courtyards to communicate between interior and exterior, artificiality and nature. Design of the house also focuses on: raising ground for reducing train noises, reducing the snow load, and gaining passive heating by titled roof and glass panels. The glazing glasses blurs the boundary between interior and exterior.
HOUSING 1960
Built on Toronto’s ravine system, the house actively responds to its ecological environment and land. By analyzing existing ravine strategies, the House for Two Inhabitants grounded itself into the land instead of separating from it.
DROP ELEVATION
152.7%
from Front Door to Back Yard
INCR. 1.42m
DEC. 56.26m
2020
Drop(m)
1960
52.96%
DISTANCE TO RIVER
Avg. 106.23m
Avg. 0.93m
BACK YARD SLOP
TRAIL TO RAVINE
ROAD / INTERSECTION
BACK YARD SLOP
TRAIL TO RAVINE
ROAD / DEAD END
Avg. 2.35m Avg. 49.97m
6%
DROP ELEVATION
INCR. 2.24m
138.46%
DROP SLOPE
INCR. 1.98°
1960
from Front Door to Back Yard
1960
from Front Door to Back Yard
Avg. 39.4m
Avg. 3.41°
Depth(m)
RATIO
RAVINE SYSTEM TORONTO
HOUSING 2020
2020
Avg. 1.43°
2020
Avg. 37.2m
Depth(m)
4.77%
Avg. House / Yard Area
RATIO IN RAVINE 737066m2
Yard House 1960
Private Property
33.37%
24.08%
House 2020
Public Property
28.6%
75.92%
177466m2
559600m2
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03
RATHNELLY COMMUNITY TOPOGRAPHY STUDIES As the Rathnelly Community, communities on the slope generate their building and living strategies. Stairs leading dwellers from sidewalks to their own doors are as crucial as the door itself. Steep lands are turned into play yards, parks and conservation areas. Cycling is much more difficult in the community. A pumping system is embedded in dealing with the drop of height.
The city of Toronto is landed on its ravine system, where the built environment and natural system are blending together for biodiversity, environmental significance, and local ecological and recreation opportunities.
HIGH LEVEL PUMPING STATION
SITE MAP
RAVINE PARKS
PRIVATE STAIRS
RATHNELLY COMMUNITY
BB: SECTIONAL DRAWING - Rathnelly Community Living on Ravine Land CYCLING ON SLOP RAILWAY SYSTEM
PLAY YARDS AA: SECTIONAL DRAWING - Palying Yard on Slopping Land COLLAGE - Existing Site Context 14
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03
PRECEDENT STUDIES OF GLASS HOUSE BY LINA BO BARDI The Glass House is built on the edge of the Mata Atlantica — the original rain forest in São Paulo. Surrounded by nature, the Glass House mainly uses glass and concrete to frame different forest views for the house.
Bo Bardi dissects the house into four vertical strips — the living room, domestic area (bedroom and kitchen), courtyard, and staff area. Through the separation, she arranges various needs in privacy and publicity and their corresponding views to nature.
PLAN
Bo Bardi shows an uncompromising stand in forming the flat and free plan. Lifting half of the structure makes the house incompatible with its surrounding environment.
ELEVATION
PERSPECTIVE DRAWING 15
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03
GREENERY EMBRACEMENT
A physical model is made to test the melting greenery of the Glass House. Layered by plexiglass with laser-cutting scratch, the house is sliced into a series of sections, creating gaps for the interaction with watercolor. The material selection of Plexi echos with the transparency of the house, speaking for its unstoppable view to the outside. The watercolor here, represents the natural environment around the Glass House: Green color illustrates all the leaves in the rainforest, and purple stands for the flower around. A rich of visual stimulation is generated.
A symbiosis system is created when dipping both the Plexi model and pigments into the water. The water, as a medium, slows the collusion between the greenery and the artificial object. In analyzing different moments of the spreading pigments, a rich of attitudes towards their encounter could be identified by the pigment’s concentration: when the color first into the system, it collides to the house, while later it becomes more and more gentle and intimate in those section slides. The organic pattern of the spreading watercolor also speaks for the dynamic of the ecological system through its uncontrollable gestures. This experiment could also reveal a series of possibilities of engaging with the green.
PHYSICAL MODEL RENDERING FILM STILL 16
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03
INTERIOR PROGRAMS
The train’s noise on the north of the site is reduced by raising the ground and planting trees. The designed landscape builds up a barrier between the train and the house. Built in Toronto, a northern city, the large tilted roof will help reduce the snow load. Southern lights are encouraged for passive heating. The house with floor-toceiling glass panels and a courtyard promotes a positive engagement with the green. The side yard could be used for both private family gatherings and public outdoor galley. PLAN - Ground Floor
PLAN - Second Floor
EXTERIOR RENDERING 17
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PROGRAM ANALYSIS MASTER BEDROOM
LIVING ROOM / GALLERY
COURTYARD
KITCHEN
GUEST BEDROOM
DINNING ROOM
PRIVATE LOUNGE
LIBRARY / STUDIO
WORKSHOP / BEDROOM
STUDIO
SECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE 18
Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
TRAIN TRACK
RAISED GROUND
03
03
GREENERY EMBRACEMENT
COURTYARD | MASTER BEDROOM | BALCONY
BEDROOM | LIBRARY | BACKYARD
KITCHEN | COURTYARD | LIVING ROOM
BACKYARD | GALLERY | COURTYARD
COLLAGE | LINE DRAWING 19
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03
ADAPTIVE DESIGN BY EVENTS
Spatial flexibility is given to the single-family house, where the living room and side yard could fulfill both personal and public needs. According to the artist’s requirement, the living room could be turned into an exhibition center for installing her work during special time; the side yard could also function as an outdoor gallery where largescale installation could be placed. The front of the house is designed to be opened to the community and also embraces the greenery around through the large floor-to-ceiling glass panels. Creativity is promoted by giving less restriction to the structure. An intimacy between humans and nature is highlighted as the need of the householders.
During the wintertime, the house is closed up for the family. Highlighted above, the back of the house functions as the workshop space for both the writer and the artist. The ground floor is equipped with an open studio and an open bedroom, where the dweller’s spatial flexibility is largely given to. Located on the first floor also help with moving installations created by the artist. The second floor is programmed with a library for the writer. The height of the working space also provides him with a sightseeing view which promotes his creative thinking. Ground raising and tree planting create a natural barrier between the train and the house. The south-facing large panel of glasses provides adequate passive heating in the cold winter. Dwellers’ wellbeing is achieved by embracing its site context, both mentally and physically.
COLLAGE | RENDERING 20
Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
04 Dancing with Lennox Island
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Negotiating Coastal Erosion on Sovereign Mi’kmaq Territory Individual | Professor Simon Rabyniuk | 2021-2022 | Toronto, Canada
PROJECT BRIEF The thesis project mediates the rapid coastal erosion on Lennox Island, which is a selfgoverned Canadian First Nations territory in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The design for the island is to find a negotiation between the rising water and local First Nation Community, which encourages people to retreat from the island gradually through a long period of time.
Timeline of Lennox Island History
Timeline of Lennox Island Negotiating Phrases
100%
75%
58%
43%
30%
19%
9%
2%
0.3%
+0m
+1m
+2m
+3m
+4m
+5m
+6m
+7m
+8m
PHRASE I. PRESENT - 2050
PHRASE II. 2050 - 2100 21
PHRASE III. 2100 Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
05 Along the Track
05
Bauhaus campus masterplan with movable structures
Collaborated with Z. Li and H. Wu | Competition | Spring 2021 | Dessau, Germany Contribution | Design concept, 3D modeling, Isometric Drawing
PROJECT BRIEF Contemporary university campuses should work with new technologies to create flexible architecture and encourage students to be innovative, providing unlimited possibilities for new things. The original Bauhaus campus was decentralized. Taking inspiration from the technology development in the 20th century, Gropius placed stairs beside glass panels—so that people had a different view towards the outside as they took the stairs step by step. Our new campus has taken on a similar decentralization approach but amended it to promote the latest perception of transformative architecture and encourage students to think more adaptively to social changes. The campus consists of multi-function: as a public exhibition space, a school and a residence. In response to the railway beside the site, we include track systems into the campus to allow maximum movability of large architectural modules. Apart from the building blocks, the interior space is also designed to be transformable. There are various structural systems used for horizontal and vertical movement of walls, floor slabs and ceilings. A special treatment to the landscape is made to generate a unique and interesting experience through the campus. The centre courtyard is sunken to create an inclusive fabric of gathering space that extends into public, private, semi-public and semiprivate realms. Although Gropius’ principles were from more than a century ago, they never ceased to inspire creative designs. The new Bauhaus campus is designed to form a creative centre in Dessau. With its connection to the nearby Bauhaus museum, the Anhaltisches Theatre and the AlterRaucherturm, it will become a site of architectural and urban innovation.
SITE MAP - Individual Drawing 22
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OUTDOOR GALLERY
HIGHLINE
RESIDENCE
STUDIO | WORKSHOP
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EXHIBITION CENTER
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GYM | CONCERT HALL
EVENT LAWN
AXONOMETRIC DIAGRAM - Individual Drawing
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MOVEABLE STRUCTURE DIAGRAM
CONCEPT DIAGRAM - Individual Drawing 24
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06 Huub-Huub
06
Communal Center + Theather for Downtown Oakland Individual | Professor Dan Spiegel | Winter 2023 | Berkeley, United States
PROJECT BRIEF A 24h-service communal center designed for a wide rang of people in downtown Oakland, California. This project considered ways of inserting programs into the site through site analysis and geometry operations. By applying “Boolean difference” strategies, a clear revolve of the form and this coresponding function is highlighted.
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Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
06
26
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07 Stage House
07
A house + art space for artist Lisa Steele
Individual | Professor Raveevarn Choksombatchai, Matt Kendall | Fall 2022 | Berkeley, US
PROJECT BRIEF The project is designed for a Canadian artist Lisa Steele, who was my inspiring art history professor in my first year of undergraduate. It is a house combined with community programs based on an interest in performance art. Thus the house is designed to explore the spatial and visual possibility within a volume. Inspired by Tato Architects’ House in Hokusetsu and Casa Poli by Pezo von Ellrichshausen, the artist’s house creates a visual syntax dialogue of two precedents. The project intended to explore the idea of a Ramp plan in a section. Through the control of two sets of axis in the plan and the limitation of the number of steps, its design shows the care for the elder. PARTI DIAGRAM
EXPLODE PROGRAM DIAGRAM
CASA POLI SYNTAX STUDY - Projection
By following the action of projecting and extruding the windows in Casa Poli, this study explores the potential of overlapping by various boxes. It plays with the definition of intersecting spaces. N
PLAN - Second Floor 1m
HOUSE IN HOKUSETSU SYNTAX COMBINATION - Intersection
By inviting the second case study formation into the project, this step tests different ways of combining and merging with a similar operation. N N
PLAN - Ground Floor
PLAN - Basement 1m
1m
INTEGARATED DESIGN - Openings
A mediative solution for two various syntaxes is created. In this step, the operation of generating openings is explored and settled by a formula of which an opening will be left when there are intersections of two spaces or volumes.
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SECTION - Ramp Plan N
1m
N
N
1m
1m
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07
Model Photo
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07
Composite Drawing
The diagram illustrates a series of moments when people walk into the space. By collaging two-point perspective renderings, drawings, plans, sections, and elevations into a liner drawing, it shapes an arbitrary order in experiencing the volume, which encourages creative spatial engagement as a performance artist. This psychological map is intended to be read in multiple directions and allows different explanations from individuals.
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08 Japanese Dohy
08
Strucutral Design of Japanese Dohyō House Group Project with Pinru Zhu, Kai Lin, Hannah Macmurray | Professor Simon Schleicher | Winter 2023 | Berkeley, United States
PROJECT BRIEF A structural design of a sport center - Japanese Dohyo House through the application of grasshopper and forces analysis by Karamba plug-in.
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Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
09 Arbitrary Regularity
09
Shaping edges in architectural spaces
Individual | Professor Professor Jennifer Davis, Anne Ma | Spring 2019 - Spring 2020 | Toronto Canada
PROJECT BRIEF
I. ART PAVILION
The Canadian Artist David Altmejd inspires the series of projects. As he is interested in transforming daily objects, such as human bodies and the organic environment, through everyday materials, such as synthetic hair and mirrors, Altmejd gives familiar entities new life. The design starts with the Art Pavilion for David Altmejd in Downtown Toronto, to the Student Commons located in the University of Toronto St. George Campus. It is a spatical experiment by polygonizing our human scale spaces.
VARIATION I
Kensington Market The plan is generated from a geometric shape of a human head. Its “roof-wall” is inspired by the shape of surrounding townhouses. The two-stories structure provides chances for viewing artworks from every angle.
SITE ANALYSIS
Roof-Wall
Glass Panel Exhibited Artworks
VARIATION II
Mirror Stand
The mirror attached on the unique“roof-wall” structure is applied in reflecting the neighborhood. Two sets of stairs are designed to form a smooth circulation.
VARIATION III HYBIRD RENDERING
Openings are curved for engaging more views from the neighborhood. Long glass boxes are designed integrated with the pavilion in installing the artworks.
SITE PLAN - Existing Networking 5km Around 1:5000
SECTION
The project aims to design an art pavilion for artist David Altmejd, with a focus on his works of heads. As Altmejd takes the shape of familiar objects - the heads and makes them unfamiliar, the formal design of the pavilion also takes the elements in residential houses around the site - the Kensington Market and makes it distinct from its surrounding through building materials.
The Kensington Market locates in the center of an old Jewish community in the city of Toronto. The market is one of the most popular downtown places, which attracts neighbors and travellers for entertaining: restaurants, hand-craft shops, galleries. It embraces multi-culture. The place has sophisticated existing networkings, where a large number of art-lover could be found.
SITE MAP - Noli Map 1:500
ELEVATION 31
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09
II. POLYGONIZE THE SPACE LINE | Vertical “Wall”
PLANE | Horizontal “Surface”
VARIATION I.
VARIATION I.
SOL LEWITT “THREAD”
ELEVATION - Front
ELEVATION - Right
VARIATION II.
“PATH”
VARIATION II.
VARIATION III. VERTICAL STRETCH ISOMETRIC DIAGRAM
VARIATION III.
SPACE ARRANGEMENT
ISOMETRIC DIAGRAM
This studio focuses on creating architectural spaces in given dimensions. The dynamic and unique geometric shapes are generated within its regulation.
The second part exams the possibility through the horizontal “planes,” by its geometric simulation of organic mountain-like structure. The potential of polygonizing a space expand.
The structure is formed by two elements - the “path” and the “block.” The “path” is the stairs that visitors could freely walk through and across the space, while the “block” acts as the giant stones that block but also create the sight. The space is activated by these two elements.
What kinds of space can we polygonize?
Installed separately by three elements: stairs, blocks and structure, the physical model discovers their intimate relationships and unique views.
PLAN
The first step explores the possibility of geometrical and polygonized spaces, starting from vertical strips. Through the manipulation of threads, the rooms are folded out through the volume of the “walls.” A twostories structure is created.
PHOTO - Physical Model
PHOTO - Physical Model
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“BLOCK”
SECTION
PHOTO - Physical Model
Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
09 VOLUME - “Cube” | STUDENT COMMONS
SPATIAL COMPLEXITY
VARIATION I.
A Cube
Rubik’s Cube
VARIATION II. SECTION - Left
Tetris Cube
Floor 1 Plan I.
Floor 2 Plan I.
Floor 3 Plan I.
Floor 4 Plan I.
Floor 1 Plan II.
Floor 2 Plan II.
Floor 3 Plan II.
Floor 4 Plan II.
Roof Plan I.
Floor 1 Plan III.
Floor 2 Plan III.
Floor 3 Plan III.
Floor 4 Plan III.
Roof Plan II.
SECTION - Front
VARIATION III.
Find Edges
Interior Separation
FLOOR PLANS
BASEMENT
GROUND
SECOND FLOOR
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THIRD FLOOR
SECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE
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09
Through the experiments in both vertical and horizontal planes, the cube is now dissected into polygonal spaces, providing possibilities in experiencing its volume Why we polygonize a space? Enriching the dimension, we live and enjoy.
Rendering 34
Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
10 Gummy Rhapsody
PARTICLE STUDIES | AGISOFT | BLENDER
Computational programming spaces with gummy bear
Collaborated with S. Chui, Z. Li and H. Wu | Professor Andy Bako | Summer 2021 | Virtual Space Contribution | Design concept, Parametric script, Physical model, 3D modeling, Drawings
PROJECT BRIEF The project explores the potential in computational design by discussing the physical world and the digital realm through software, such as grasshopper, blender, agisoft and twinmotion. As a motif of our project, the Gummy Bear links the collective childhood memories with unfamiliar random programming structures. PHYSICAL MODEL - Gummy Bear
Second phase of the project explores Thomas Vanoost’s idea of an inherently chaotic and unstable reality through scanning and modeling gummy bears at different resolutions. Gummy bears that were scanned and modeled at a lower resolution more closely resemble bricks and form a denser and more stable structure. On the other hand, more realistic gummy bears form a structure that is loose and appears at the edge of collapsing. Layering was also used to document the melting of gummy bears, further showing how objects do not remain in a constant state.
The project starts with Stan Allen’s idea that in the field configurations, internal interaction and relationship between individual parts outweigh the overall shape. It explores this phenomenon in its most abstract form through the use of the computer graphics software, Blender. Based on the local conditions of a flock. Additional behavior rules and a moving attractor point to a mass of gummy bears are discovered to explore the formal potentials of forces and field phenomena. The established conditions enable the overall form to respond and remain intact despite changing forces experienced by individual particles.
FLOCK STUDIES | BLENDER
RENDERING - Film still from Twinmotion | Contribution: Concept Generation, Physical Scanning Overlaying Landscape, Physical Model, Physical Scanning Particle Resolution Test, Blender Flock Studies Script, Image Tone 35
RESOLUTION TEST
Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
SPATIAL STUDIES
ROOM TYPOLOGY ANALYSIS
SCALE ANALYSIS | TWINMOTION
PLAN / SECTION
RENDERING - Film still from Twinmotion
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CONCEPTUAL DIAGRAM - Aggregation from Different Gummy Reformations
The project finally investigates Ryan Manning’s idea of soft discrete bodies and partto-whole relationships between objects and the overall form.
Multiple stretching and dropping simulations were conducted on the gummy bears to produce a set of varying shapes. They were then used to form clusters with determined limits and intraparticle relationships.
Force fields were used to test how the clusters would interact with each other and form a larger composition. Recycling materials and visual representation styles from previous projects, “Gummy Rhapsody” creates a unified whole from aggregations of distinct forms while respecting the individuality.
CLUSTER FORMING | GRASSHOPPER
CONCEPTUAL DIAGRAM - Soft discrete body cluster forming by individual point forces
Elevation
Contribution: Concept Diagram, Grasshopper Particle Force Script, Grasshopper Configuration Diagram, Plan, Elevation, Section Drawing, Image Tone 36
Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
11 Smart Residence
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United’Habitation’srelocationonSidewalkToronto
Collaborated with C. Ahujia, Z. Li and J. Qin | Professor Petros Babasikas | Spring 2021 | Toronto, Canada Contribution | Concept, Manifesto Writing, Collages
MANIFESTO | SMART RESIDENCE Due to the increasing digitalization of everyday life, city dwellers live in isolation. However, we should NOT abandon the communal aspect of urban living. We are now declaring the construction of Unite d’Habitation in Toronto as an architectural prototype of Smart Residence—implementing technology intrinsically into everyday life. In an ever-expanding and sprawling Toronto, we believe that Unite d’Habitation can provide a centralized and efficient way of living. Technology has become a crucial part of everyday life, and the choice is not to eliminate it but to embrace it for creating communal living experiences. Therefore, the building offers comprehensive physical and virtual services to residents. We believe that Toronto in 2021 should have more constructions of Smart Residence as Unite d’Habitation with programs implemented to benefit the community. A decision has been made to place Unite d’Habitation on 307 Lakeshore Boulevard East—the Sidewalk Toronto Quayside neighbourhood’s residential zone—well-known for its innovative incorporation of technologies in urban designs. As an example of modern architecture, Unite d’Habitation allows upgrading to the latest technical services, making the inner-growth of Smart Residence possible. By incorporating technology and diverse unit typologies—24 unit types, each with the varying organization of floors—into modern architecture, Unite d’Habitation illustrates the ideal way to design residence buildings for a mix of different populations in a postpandemic society. In the post-COVID-19 society, people need new ways to respond to the change in social behaviours while keeping up with the rapid transformation of virtual technology in the Information Age. Unite d’Habitation is a perfect housing prototype where people could engage in small-scale gatherings and access daily supplies within a small moving perimeter. Rooftop pool and kindergarten are inclusive to the local community interior commercial stores will be providing room-delivery services by drones. We are confident that Unite d’Habitation will enhance the modern living experience and allow people to engage in more convenient and efficient services by creating a city within a city. Choose the Smart way to live.
Contribution: Manifesto, Collages, Image Tone 37
Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
12 Drifting City Envisioning the city through the wisdom of water
Individual | Professor Raveevarn Choksombatchai | Fall 2023 | Berkeley, US
PROJECT BRIEF The equilibrium of Yin and Yang, solidity and fluidity, firmness and gentleness, mirrors the harmony between urban life and nature, architecture and water. By reimagining the symbolism and philosophy of water within the Chinese context, the series of drawings depict a perspective on envisioning the urban landscape as an embodiment of such duality.
水滴石穿
上善若水
水至清则无鱼
水能载舟，亦能覆舟
Constant dripping wears away a stone
The greatest virtue is just like water, nurturing all things without competing with them
Water that is too clear has few fish
The water that bears the boat is the same that swallows it up
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Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
13 Visual Exploration Sensoryperceptionsneverlimitin,butstartfromone’svision
Individual | Professor Catherine Telford-Keogh, Mitchell Akiyama, Dina Sarhane | Winter 2019 - Spring 2021 | Toronto, Canada
INSTALLATION
PROJECT BRIEF Visual representation has always been a crucial element for both architecture and arts. This series of projects documents some of the visual practices in the past three years. Photography, line drawings, collages, and installation arts are applied in testing different visual strategies. As a student specializing in architecture and majoring in visual arts, blurring the boundary between sculpture and architecture is one of my focuses in exploring the realm of arts. Spaces on the scale that houses human beings could also creatively experiment. The installation arts actively engaging with the existing sites could also be considered as a means of landscaping project, which forms Tactical Urbanism that changes the way people conceive the space they live.
The artwork is shaped by layers of white paper (31inches by 43inches). A void is torn with organic traces from the center of the paper. All the paper is reinforced on the top and hung up by clothes rack on my apartment’s balcony, mainly used for laundry. Paper on the clothes rack is juxtaposed with fabric, flowing around by the push of the wind and the burn of the sun. All the voids in layers illustrate the atmosphere of caves, the primitive dwelling of human beings. Through the central hole of the work, restricted views are selected. Private terrace, semi-private neighbourhood, and public Commodities Fair are all framed by pieces of paper. In and out the cleanness, the audience’s position shifts from slides to volume, private to public, and artifact to nature.
COLLAGE OBSERVATION This collage is a composition of 33 found images, emphasize a message of the order under chaos. Digital image processing helps with the different opacities of images, revealing the idea of surface and structure and the fluidity in a still image. The geometric shapes with solid colors are symbols of the human body and the form of the space, which also balanced the picture. Inspired by David Altmejd, I was fascinated with the combination of different materials and how they affect each other. Lots of textures could be found in the image. Blurring the boundary of harsh edges in our life, the collage gives a sense of strangeness to the audience. It reshapes the familiar objects into unfamiliar.
This work uses line-drawing and collage, rendering a private and unique co-living experience with my pet, Tofu. With two sets of color, the pink stands for spaces occupied by me, while the orange represents the pets’ space, where it sleeps, eats, and drinks beside my bed. Through a motion drawing of the cat, an interaction between a human being and the pet is highlighted. The co-living situation represents a blurring boundary between Tofu and me.
The artwork documents time passing. Every piece of wind changes the motion of the layers. Every beam of light draws unique patterns with shadows. The white sheets become perfect canvas, while time is the pen, for nature to illustrate their minor but essential changes that easily be forgotten and hardly be detected by us.
THE CAVE | Installation Art
The wind blows, birds sing. They are free while restricted.
SHARED SPACE WITH TOFU | Line Drawing
UNTITLED | Collage
SHARED SPACE WITH TOFU | COLLAGE 39
THE CAVE | Installation Art Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
INSTALLATION We come from the earth and will eventually go back to the earth and transmigrate into different forms of life through the earth. Born and raised in a Buddhist family, this is my earliest cognition of the human body. Intimacies always exist between nature and human beings. However, we, as a part of the system of the universe, arrogantly place ourselves high above other forms of life through artificial films. We hide in buildings to avoid the wind, the rains, and even the insects. While in fact, the human body is part of nature and artificial distancing turns the body into the abject by processing body transmigration. The time-based installation, entitled H2O Transmigration, is a work composited by the natural element H2O (ice - water), five hollow plastic arms, green plants. Placed in the roots of a giant ancient tree for six hours, the installation invites people to observe the different stages of the melting arms: from iced plastic arms to fully transparent plastic shells. The process of melting ice refers to the decaying of a human body, gradually being absorbed by the earth. Inspired by Megan Feniak, the intention of using a natural element (water) to fill the physical shape of arms refers to the composition of the human body as well as the Five Elements of the world. Throughout the installation, only the body’s physical shape disappeared, while nature (the tree surrounding), the harmful plastic arms, which distanced the body and its natural surroundings, still remain.
This 3m tall installation is composed of fabrics (Synthetic Fiber, Organza, Canvas), safety pins, and a clothing rack. It creates the shape of a human figure by fabrics, more towards the illustration of a female body without emphasis. By questioning why the work presents a female identity, it reveals the gender stereotype of how the dress is majoring a feminine object. The “thinglyness” of the lightweight materials makes the artwork float when the audience walk around it, showing a vulnerable characteristic, and juxtaposing with its large scale. It also speaks for the people who lost their values and directions in the ever-changing world. This work of art uses tin foils to trace the surface of a human body laid on a bed. The juxtaposition between the absence of the physical body and the marks and shadows left creates a tension of existence. Inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic, I wondered what would be left when we die. However, after the demise of the body and spiritual connection to the world, a nameless sheet of shadow would be the last heritage.
H2O TRANSMIGRATION | Iced Stage
H2O TRANSMIGRATION | Melted Stage
THIS IS WHAT WE LEFT WHEN WE DIE | Installation Art 40
SHE - MYSELF | Installation Art Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu
14 Convergence of Minds Marx’s Building for Peking University in CCDI Group
Collaborated in Studio I, CCDI Group | Leader Zhiyong Hong | Summer 2019 | Beijing, China
PROJECT BRIEF This project is one of my main focuses during the summer internship in CCDI Group, Beijing. It is a Marx Building campaign for Marx’s two hundred birthday commissioned by Peking University. Located on the East edge of Peking University in Beijing, the building is grounded on the last unconstructed site for this hundred-year-old university. It reflects an interaction between the Western and Chinese architectural approaches as well as the influence of Marx’s philosophy in the Chinese land. The architecture requires a large-scale library, meeting halls, lecture rooms, study rooms, and cafeterias for both students and staff on the campus.
NOLI SITE ANALYSIS My research started with analyzing the existing site conditions. The campus experiences two main construction periods: 1920s with traditional Chinese building styles, mainly one to two stories high; 2000s with the contemporary communist-style. The juxtaposition between these two reflects on the project’s building block, density, and aggregation choices.
CONSTRUCTION PLAN
SITE CONTEXTURAL PLAN
The school building comprises eight main structures and seven courtyards, which echos with the eight oceans and seven continents, highlighting Marx’s influence across the world. The eight buildings also stand for eight main cities he lived in, including Trier (the city he was born), Paris, Brussels, Cologne, and London (where he died). Each of them represents a theme to the Marx’s Building. The facade is designed as a combination of traditional Chinese Dou Gong and European Column, which illustrates the crucial influence of Marx on the land of China.
PEKING UNIVERSITY | Old Building 1920s
One edge (the main entrance) of the building is cut for the status of Marx and his written script of The Communist Manifesto. This is both literal and spiritual connections with the Marx’s building and a celebration of his philosophical ideal.
The sunken garden actively engages the interior with its exterior through up and down circulations. Creating a void between the pedestrian street and the building itself generates a sense of solemn for this monument.
EXTERIOR RENDERING | MARX STATUES
EXTERIOR RENDERING | SUNKEN GARDEN
PEKING UNIVERSITY | New Building 2000s
EXTERIOR RENDERING | NIGHT
AERIAL RENDERING | NIGHT 41
Yuhan Zhang // yuhan.zhang@berkeley.edu