Mingus Apartment
A City for All
Detroit International Building Exposition 2022
Location: Detroit, Michigan Fall 2016, University of Michigan Collabortors: Jingbo Wang, Junxing
Ambitions
The main task is to propose a community to engage the surrounding city. In this project, our main focus is to think about new qualities for living. Three main ideas here I want to achieve: Maximizing sunlight for living units, providing shared kitchens as the center communal spaces inside the Mingus apartment, and design a new structure system which could used as a prototype which is suitable for apartment projects in other parts of detroit, but simultaneously follows the ambition.
Project Information
This site is located in the Mexican town of Detroit, and it is on the north side of Vernor Hwy. This site has a distinct boundary compare different urban contexts which include commercial space along the street and residential area behind the commerce. Our strategy is to introduce a new urban context into the site which allows interaction between residential housing, retails, and landscape. There are mainly two buildings linked as one
Prefabrications Innovative and future oriented medium The prefabricated strategy allows us to design a flexible housing complex. One bedroom unit, two bedroom units, and three bedroom units. On site fabrication allows pre-fabricated modules to be assembled as units, and off site construction happens in factories that installing materials such as manufactured systems and wall insulations into steel frames structure. As the heavy loaded trucks running between construction site and factories, two to three cranes will be used to place each unit in place. After a layer of units are installed, the concrete pouring process starts and another layer of units will be produced in the factory at the same time.
Construction
Innovative mass production of similar items
The structure of the building is a combination of steel frame and concrete. The ground floor parking is constructed by a serious columns with steel studs, and the retaining walls are built with pouring concrete and steel studs. Above the ground, the building process will be “one layer structure - one layer units�. The steel structure for each floor will be erected individually as one floor in order to install prefabricated units before pouring concrete on metal deck to integrate with installed units. The floor structure will not include the structure for each units, and it is designed to allow units stacking up as self-structured construction. The central atrium will be reinforced by a serie of steel columns to tie the atrium stairs and also functioning as railings.
Site Condition
Main Entrance
Open Platform
Outward Facing Balcony
Communer Space on Center
Egress
Unit Assembly Diagram
Core Structure Construction
Units on Site and Installation
Interior Structure
Unit Transportation
Construction Details The strategy of construction has two parts. Pre-fabricated units and on-site construction start in the same time, and as one floor structure approach to be finished, units will be installed as another floor structure under construction.
Unit Types The units are designed into five types to fulfill different housing needs. Lofts and apartments have carefully considered placement that the public programs can better serve each unit.
Section Details The major concern of design through section is to clarify the path of rain water flow and the practical structure logic when pre-fabrication ideas dominate the research on design process.
Enlarge Elevation
1:12 detailed facede and sectional plan
Elevation
1:60 general elevation
Platform as Public Space 1/8 Sectional Model The platforms of Mingus Apartment provide planting opportunities for comfortable engagement between residents and exterior conditions.
Social Engagement 1:32 general elevation
The design strategy of open square in between the Mingus Apartment is to attract population flow and create opportunities to allow residence directly contact with the surrounding programs and residents.
Public Kitchen The Kitchens are designed to located in core communter space, and its purpose is to allow each units to use shared space to better manage private space, and create opportunities for communicatons.
Atrium Lighting The Atriums are designed to create both vertical circulation and interior lighting. The core atrium decrease the dark corner by connect space above each floor, and it enrich the user experience visually.
Thermal Comfort Strategy 1:4 enlarged sectional model
A combination of layers are designed to serve for better thermal condition. Steel pipes as one of the layers allow hot water to distribute and warm the private space.
Ben Carson
An Open House The Democratic Presidential Library Prototype Location: Detroit, Michigan Fall 2015, University of Michigan
Program Layout The study of presidential library set boundary line for the program estimations both in scale and functionarity. The actual program seeing as logic volume can be displayed in forms and combination to study the possibility of general demand of functions in architecture scale. All these volumes allow merging, reasoning, and re-scaling, and each one of volume is formless but somehow solid as a representative logic.
Paradigm Analogy The analysis of House N draws the conclusion of a special spatial placement. The “matryoshka doll” logic provide sufficient potential to allow each “layer” adapt the unique character of programs into design.
Re-think of Program and Site Geometry As the clearity of programs stated, the square footage needed are re-arranged and calculted. The vertical inverted volume puts exhibition space on the top floors, and the arrangement of presidential archive and public library have equal access and importance compare to the exhibition space.
South-west Elevation Scale: 1:35
South-west Section Scale: 1:35
Structure Sequence The structure logic has equal concern about the hierarchy of each set of constrction. Each layer of floor can be pre-fabricated with installation plan that start with core concrete structure. The structure indoor manifest a spatial logic that
Exhibition Space The display of Ben Carson’s video and exclusive documentary
Ramp Entrance and Viewing Deck The direct entrance to a viewing deck and exhibition space at six floor.
Valuable Meshes
A Renovation City
Graduate Thesis - A systeamtic thinking to callibrate Urban Conditions
Fall 2017, University of Michigan Instructor: Perry Kulper
Design Intelligence The process of design in this study is a dialectical thinking of explaining inner disturbance which directly come from implicit situations and explicit form, and the goal is to develop significance such as break through segregation and aiming towards freedom and democracy. The index include a group of integrated social contents responded by meshes of information and conducting intelligent core to analyze the current policies and historical events. Strategies are aiming to dealing with daily affairs such as traffic jam caused by emergency incident and natural disasters, the misunderstanding of an explicable social group which largely defined as mysterious and demonized with social sanctions, and the practice of religion encourage sole practice on meditation and dialectical thinking which requires a space that different from group practice in other religions
Thesis Content The content of the thesis is about exploring the potentials and disciplines of seven fields (ideology, recycling industry, cultural fragments, logic of making, taxidermy arts, spatial fragments and installations), and take them as departure points to manifest a series of cross-stitch ideas to develop a series of transformed renovations to calibrate a series of urban scenarios.
Index of Players The seven fields aimed to developed a total of 14 index which each one of them is responding a specific opportunity for urban renovation and a single discipline from the one of the seven field. The focusing areas are several type of urban scenarios which contains certain level of concerns that brings a creative rethink and renovation of current urban condition.
Dearborn Public Performance Center (Scenario 1)
Dearborn is the major district of minority group residence in Detroit, Michigan. The misunderstanding that rendered by media has strongly lead people’s recognization of Islamic culture in a distorted picture. One of idex from the 14, “Standup Comedian Center”, a imitation of Sehzade Mosque’s and it provide ohysical and mental engagement for people to adapt and understand the difference. The comedians, Dave Chappelle, Russel Peters and Bill Burr are invited to perform a and “explain” the culture difference in a popular way, so the Mosque shape perfirmance center and the jokes about cultural difference can truly ease the tension derived from people’s misunderstanding and fear.
Toyko Scenario - Infrastructure, Metabolism, Ideology (Scenario 2)
The housing needs in high dense urban site allow flexibility in different district. A flying metabolism type housing so called “Flying Ark” reside on where housing need reach the peak. A high dense population district also has its own systematic way of transportation and paying method. “Flying Interchange”, a flying and temporary interchange that fly to self install on site and distribute the traffic at busy time; “Post man” functioned as displaying taxidermy and delivering machine in the same time; “Community Transit” transport citizens among skyscrapers to avoid excessive travel distance for running up and down.
Container Terminal Housing District (Scenario 3)
As the global economy shitfs the focus to different regions, some of the shipping gates are at of risk of being abandoned or already left for none use. The index that focus on this affair aim to transform current infrastructure to housing units and the “Flying Ark” applied as temporary housing to keep the felxibiility of the site for future development. The shipping containers are renovated to fulfill different combinations of placement. “Postman” and “Rage Against the Machine are functioning as construction workers and commanders in this scenario.
The Bridge of U.S. - Mexico Border (Scenario 4)
The wall are suggested to be enlarged to further segregate the people between U.S. and Mexico. But the bridge on the wall lead the dreamers to pursuit happiness and order. The bridges are assembled by the demolished parts of the Berlin Wall which has tremendous significance of break through segregation and aiming towards freedon and democracy. The bridges are vary in forms due to the actual geographical condictions, and all the representational details of the bridges are displaying the history of the Demonlishing of the Berlin Wall. The bridge formed by pieces and delivered by “postman�, so that it can be assembled temporarily any where any time.
Dearborn at the “Present”
Index used: Cultural Fragment 02_“Cafe Shop”, Taxidermy 01_“The Mail Man”, Taxidermy 02_“Amusement Elephant”, Logic of Making 01_“Standup Comedian Center”, Logic of Making 02_“Community Transit”, Spatial Fragments 01_“Zen Garden on Rail”.
Secondary City at Water Front
Index used: Recycling Industry 01_“The Cost Magnets”, Recycling 02_“Mandalay”, Cultural Fragment 01_“The Gripper”, Taxidermy 01_“The Mail Man”, Ideology 01_“Walking Ark”, Ideology 02_“Rage Agains the Machine”.
Lost in Toyko
Index used: Taxidermy 01_“The Mail Man”, Taxidermy 02_“Amusement Elephant”, Ideology 01_“Walking Ark”, Ideology 02_“Rage Agains the Machine”. Installation 01_“Take’ N Go”, Logic of Making 02_“Community Transit”.
Order of the Border
Index used: Taxidermy 01_“The Mail Man”, Taxidermy 02_“Amusement Elephant”, Ideology 02_“Rage Agains the Machine”, Installation 02_“Bridge Across the U.S - Mexico Border”, Logic of Making 02_“Community Transit”.
Inwood Railyard
Urban Design
“Beyond Railyard renovation and water mitigation - how can we design an economy autonomy that increasing community connection?� Spring 2016, University of Michigan Location: Manhattan, New York Instructor: Roy Strickland
Site Analysis The site area contains several public schools, two higher institutions, two major health care centers, several apartment buildings, a significant number of infrastructures including electric, transportation and sanitation. Residential buildings could be sub-categorized as pure mid-rise apartments and low-rise housing combined with retailing.
Inwood Technology Community College The majority population of Inwood neighborhood is Dominican, and the college provide higher education with special language background.
Railyard Waterfront As the entire site designed to build upon the railyard, landscape raised by twenty feet functioned both for mitigation and public activitiies.
Site Model: Inwood Community College and Water Front Scale: 1:30
Site Model: Inwood Neighborhood Housing Duplex Scale: 1:30
MATERIAL LOGICS + SACRED MULTI-SENSORY
Location: Omaha, Nebraska Fall 2014, University of Nebraska
Design Thinking
Architecture is a sensorial interaction that provides us with a perceptual and integrated understanding in the world. Building, to bemore specific, are experienced as a full extension of our bodies. The project will search to understand the connection between the multi-sensory experience and the crafting of a building. The search will rely on confluent investigations of material logics and sacred architecture.
Project Information
The project is designed as a community church serving multiple programs including - chapel, common space and rectory. Chapel as center, common program and rectory serve multiple purpose, and concering the group of people occupied the space with different objectives. Students, who come from close college will use the space to study and practice their religion. The majority people using the space will be Sunday Worship activities. Chapel and common area functioning as supplements to each space and allow people to engage with multi programs.The use of materials became the most essential elements to achieve the asthetic and sacred design goals for the light, space and activities. The design process include the basic infrastructure which focused on the relationship between Salt Lake Creek and the actual uderground water system. The entire mass og the project has designed to catch sunlightfor interior comfort and sacred effect in chapel.
Activity Layout Sunday worship is the most essential activity in this chapel. and regulious activities happen in special designed space. The different time layout display the planned range of time the visitors experience the dynamic combination of space.
Massing Model and Site Characters
Scale: 1:64 The geometry of site has opportunities to develop a series of massing that declare the programs by short time visual observation. The water creek generates a wide green land which make the East side attractive to place the most populated programs.
Existing Site Analysis and Site Framework The diagonal connections across the site demonstrate the interaction of major traffic which connect to the central Omaha. The liner connection between each program are designed as supplement to eac other, and the travel path is organized to provide visual clarity inside the chapel.
Chapel Section
Scale: 1:64 The structure of main chapel is pre-fabricated on site that made by metal studs with pour concrete. The private confess room and scared object displaying space are included as part of the interior.
Under Ground Water System The underground water system serves four purposes: geothermal contral, foold control and landscape watering.
Chapel and Relative Programs
Scale: 1: 64 As the entire site designed to build upon the railyard, landscape raised by twenty feet functioned both for mitigation and public activitiies.
Construction Sequence and Details The installation sequence of pre-fabricatied materials include installation schedule of HVAC and perminate furnitures.
West Chapel Entrance As a major chapel entrance, the on street parking and walking path are designed to allow direct entrance for wheelchair and eldery.
Waterfront Landscape The front landscape has five water collector as a stragety to storage rainwater for geothermal and water mitigation purpose.
Digital Fabrication
Robotic Extrusion and Shop Works
Arch Robotics and Arch Fabrication
Extruded lastic Roof
Extruded Webbing Structure
Steam Wood Bending
CNC 45 Degree Waves
Base Geometry
Mutiplicity
Offset with Substitution
Metamorphosis
This extrution was aiming to print out a softer surface by further testing through our experiences from last time. The start of the extruding process went through several rough print due to the shape of first layer (the complicity of first layer lead to greater attachment with heated table), and the simplified digital model still has over rotated shapes which create difficulties to modeling the overhanging form. The extruding head was covered by a layer of foam to keep the temperature of heating head and this strategic increased the level of softness of materials which allow additional control of each modeling layer (making slightly adjustment of extruded materials). Our take-away of second model: the digital model should have smaller overhanging to produce a decent level of accuracy, the printing material should be heated properly to produce better softness, and starting speed of printing should be fairly slow.
Base Geometry
Mutiplicity
Partial Delineation
Metamorphosis
This model is the first try of robotic extrusion and we were trying to testify if the contours can be appropriately extruded. The start of extruding process was running into multiple tests of extruding speed and material thickness, and we find out the temperature of the extruding head and the heating table has great effect to the level of material melting and forming. We manually control the speed of the extruding process to test the softness of the extruded volume, and we also observed the degree of angles of the moving path that might impact the performance of the robot. The sum up experiences we had from the first try has three key perspectives: the types of materials will affect the softness and quality of extruded volume, the speed of extrusion should be carefully adjusted by judging the print quality and accuracy at any particular moment, and the digital model should carefully calculate the thickness of each layer and avoid overlapping.
Representational Works Proto Speciation
Recycling
Coding
Dream
Fractal
Initial Thesis Exploration
Guernica and
d the Present
machine (logic) Intrgrations are
names (principles) that
deconstructed and play
vocabulary montage which leading a series of
Representation to inspire
Installation
Integration A are
Steven Ma (logic of making) and Archigram (Continous historical pursuing) that
Steven Ma Logic Archigram Pursuing and play
Ma-chigram Logic which leading a series of
Exhibition and Diagrams to inspire
2.5 d models
Omaha Design District Urban Design Professional Work Sample I Summer 2016 Omaha, Nebraska
Data Center Assembly Interior Design Professional Work Sample II Summer 2016 Council Bluffs, Iowa
Representational Graphic Samples Summer 2016 Omaha, Nebraska Intern Architect Work Samples