ZHEHENG LAI 2010-2017 design portfolio
ZHEHENG LAI name nationality date of birth current location email phone language skype linkedin
Zheheng-Lai China 10// Oct 1991 Los angeles, CA laitoto12345@gmail.com 315-3919545 Mandarians, English laitoto linkedin
drafting skill modeling skill
rendering skill crafting skill
Autocad architecture Adobe series Rhinocerous T-Splines for Rhino Autodesk Maya Vray-for Rhino Flamingo nXt 3d-printing & CNC Milling Shop tools
ACADEMIC SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
2010 - 2015
Bachelor of Architecture (five-year including final year work thesis) Dean's List - 2012-2015 Thesis - The Slow Machine - Super Jury selected work UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES (UCLA)
2016 - 2017
Master of Architecture - Post - Professional degree - The Suprastudio lead by Craig Hodgetts Admission Schorlarship GPA - 3.8 Graduate Research and Design Topic - The Extreme Environment - Conceptual design including full scale mock up construction
EXPERIENCE MORE ARCHITECTURE, SHANGHAI
2015 - 2016
Intern Architecture designer Mountain Hotel at Dachangping, Anji Concept design, sketching, concept modeling and model crafting Schematic design modeling, drawing, renderings Accra City Extension Concept Design, Drawing Drafting Minth Office Building War Room design modeling, interior rendering AN.ONYMOUS, LOS ANGELES
2016 - 2017
Intern Architecture designer Zero.Gravity Chair Concept design, sketching, concept modeling and model crafting Schematic design modeling, drawing, renderings Construction Drawing and exhibition assisst Hyperloop Showroom, Dubai Concept design of the Tensile fabric door system, animation, renderings The City Game - Instant Architecture Game at Hammer Museum Model Crafting, Exhibition Assisst
EXHIBITIONS & PUBLICATION SPECULATING REALISM
Syracuse Fisher Center at NYC, photoshop drawings, realism narrative
2014
BIOMIMICRY CHALLENGE Syracuse Center of Excellence, Installation Panel Design
2012
UCLA FALL 2016 STUDENT EXHIBITION Technology semiar design & Studio Individual Project
2016
SUPRASTUDIO RESEARCH BOOK Extreme Environment, Editing assisst
2016
SELECTED WORKS
THE SLOW MACHINE -
BACHELOR THESIS
Imaging an Architecture againsts Efficiency Transportation Complex Design as an Expansion of Jacob. Javits Center New York City, NY
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POD
Conceptual living space design against Extreme heat environment An Industrial prototype for all kinds of Desert area
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Construction design - full scale mock up for the Pod Constructing in UCLA Ideas Campus Parking Lot
CORNER
TO
SKY
High-Rise Office Tower Design for Downtown Syracuse Syracuse, NY
ZERO GRAVITY CHAIR -
PROFESSIONAL WORK
Furniture Product design for NASA engineering office Intern work at AN.ONYMOUS
LIVING
IN
MOVING
Plaza Recreation for artist’s instant living and public exhibition Los Angeles, CA
THE ICE MACHINE
Virtual Giant Machine design in Arctic as an Expansion of human living haibtat Topic of In Approaching to the Realism North Pole
OTHER WORKS & PROFESSIONAL WORKS
Digital Modeling / Digital-Hand Hybrid Painting / Photoshop Painting / Installation
THE SLOW MACHINE - BACHELOR THESIS Imaging an Architecture againsts Efficiency Transportation Complex Design as an Expansion of Jacob. Javits Center New York City, NY Advisor: Benjamin Farnsworth, Bruce Abbey, David Shanks
This thesis contends that the objective of architectural design should not be overwhelmingly by focusing to the exclusion of other aims upon an efficient schema. Rather, “The Slow Machine” considers the capability of slowness to deliver a thicker, less efficient architecture and a delay but more richly detailed spatial experience. This thesis project will examine itself by creating a transportation complex as an expansion of Javits Convention Center in Manhattan Shoreline, test the application of “Slow “architecture by transforming and stacking a series of “Non-architecture” elements including fairground moving machines, Manhattan urban icons, regular port components. The project lays out a series of wall systems highly compact, and to fill out the volume between them by the stacking of transformed “Non-architecture” elements. Some of the moving machines will maintain their functions to perform as the delay circulation system, as the exploded axon shows, Ferris wheels, roller coast tracks, tourists need to wait and moving slowly on these machines. But most of the “Non-architecture” elements are scaled, distorted, separated, colored and stacked with each other to consist multiple units, those units are distributed among the wall system, to create the spatial thickness. Every 12 units can consist a type of program, from the head of the transportation to the Javits center, a series of programs including ticket claims, security check, dining, media area… are repeating and happening within the thick spaces. Within these thick spaces, tourists will find out they are inside a bizarre environment, they need to take challenges to move, such as climbing on the squeezed balloons to use the ticket kiosk, to walk through the security check among the repeating light towers, to enjoy the media show within the crane structures, to having leisure time on a series of stacking cars… All those programs and strange spatial experience are repeating, make the transportation hub like an air filter, filtering people, slow them down, and force them to experience the environment in a detail way.
Standing On Manhattan Shoreline
Masterplan & Concept Study
The “Slow” Units
Terminal Layers Exploded
Screen Room within Cranes
Tickets Claims on Balloons
Security Entrance Within Stacking Light Towers
Food Court at Stacking Car Sculpturest
Terminal Sectional Part A
Terminal Part A
Terminal Sectional Part B
Terminal Part B
Sectional Pieces Axonometrics, Showing Slow programs
Sectional Physical Model, made by kitbashing sprayed trash and toys, CNC Base and Plexi Walls
A
POD
Conceptual living space design against Extreme heat environment An Industrial prototype for all kinds of Desert area
+ Construction design - full scale mock up for the Pod Constructing in UCLA Ideas Campus Parking Lot
Advisor: Craig Hodgetts Aiming to create a living units in the extreme heat area, the projects has two stages that can prove its functionality. In the Stage A, which is in conceptually, it is a metal living pod for a geologist to assisst him/ her to live more than a month in the dessert. It is using the circular water pipe to as a cooling system. The water will bring the heat down into the underground level in the dessert, the water will lose heat within this process. And the pump will bring the cold water up to the higher level to cool the pod down. Also, the rotating furnitures are scheduling the daily life for the user. The rotating bed will wake people up by chasing the direct sunlight from the two open holes. And the circular shape of the pod will organiaze the route of moving for the user. In the Stage B, we used the OSB wood board as the primary structure and spent 50 hours on CNC machine to cut them. THe waffle structure is wrapped by plastic exterior skin and cardboard interior skin. At the interior, we used the wood board and plaster to create the curveture of the floor. And the furnitures were all made by cardboard.
Stage A - Conceptual design In collaboration with - Fang Fan
Dust Air in With heat
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Daily Life in the Pod
Construction Concept
Small Scale Mock-up
Stage B - Mock up Construction Leading the team and in collaboration with Xiaoyu Yang Weishen Xu Yuqun Gan Jipeng Jin
Construction Documents
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Entrance
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Construction Documents
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Construction Documents - the furnitures
Construction Photos
Construction Photos
CORNER
TO
SKY
High-Rise Office Building Design for Downtown Syracuse Syracuse, NY Advisor: Bruce Abbey The decline of Syracuse should be related to its architecture context of downtown. Abandoned buildings are blocking the city passage ways and are giving the non-delightful moving experience. At the corner of Syracuse City hall, an abandoned building blocked the continuous diagonal boulevard which means people need to detour to keep on moving. The experience of detour should be redefined. This new office building has its normal function as a working area, but its lobby and sky gardens are functioning as a vertical experience for the detour process. With a diagonal escalator in parallel with the boulevard as the main entrance, the passing people will be elevated onto a public leisure level. The level includes a cafeteria, sky garden, shops which increase the value of the detour process. The project combines the office building with the urban context by engaging the public passing experience, elevated the continuity of urban blocks of downtown Syracuse.
Standing On City Hall Corner of Syracuse, NY
1’-16” Physical Model, Basswood, Museum Boards, Plexi Glass Concept Sketching, Pen & Tracing Mark
GroundFloor Plan, Lobby & Administration
1st Floor Plan, Lobby & Public Cafeteria
Longitudinal Section Through WE
Longitudinal Elevation
Latitudinal Section Through NS
Elevation Facing West
Dtail Section Through Lobby & Sky Garden & Office Rooms
Standing Inside Sky Lobby at 13rd Floor Standing Inside 1st Floor Cafeteria
ZERO GRAVITY CHAIR -
PROFESSIONAL WORK
Furniture Product design for NASA engineering office
Intern work at AN.ONYMOUS Advisor: Marta Nowak
Conceived as a mobile unit that can be paired with other wheels, Zero Gravity Collaboration Space can be moved on hard or softscape, simply by pushing the wheel. Made with a tubular steel frame and tensile fabric surfaces, the units are light enough to be moved around, but also strong and comfortable for different uses. The tensile fabrics come in different vibrant playful colors that would activate and animate the green landscape they occupy. These units can also come together to form larger spaces, providing dynamic collaboration spaces where different individuals can work and interact with one another each in their own favorite position within their own personal space. The wheel accommodates four working conditions. All these four configurations are placed within a continuous loop inside a wheel that can be moved and turned to provide the desired position.
Stage A - Conceptual design In collabration with AN.ONYMOUS
The Chairs - Zero Chair
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Body Position Research 190
Construction Mock-up
Under Construction Photo by Marta Nowak
A+D Museum Exhibition Photo by Iman Ansari
LIVING
IN
MOVING
Plaza Recreation for artist’s instant living and public exhibition Los Angeles, CA Advisor: Robert Petrie
The Plaza besides Broad Museum and near Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles needs a recreation proposal for holding instant exhibitions. So there needs the program of a catering kitchen, an instant studio and living space for the artist. The design engages with the machinery design, make the plaza performing as a machinery device to assist the instant exhibition. So the grove and café have been put together at the start of the plaza, which marked the most public region. The grove offers shading and seats and acting as an outdoor space of the café. The café can be moved on a stationary orbit which can serve different moments. During the daytime, the café is moving in chasing the sunlight to collect energy by the solar panel on top. But during every night and certain activities, the café will be located at the middle area, and the solar panel can be turned over and acting as a projecting screen. And it leads to the design of the catering kitchen and other stationary programs. The catering kitchen has been put in front of the lawn which has a roof garden for viewing the projection screen. It means the lawn, the screen and the catering kitchen had consist of a semi-privacy space during special moments. This space will offer a privacy feeling but still have negotiation with the public zones. And at the back of the catering kitchen is the most private area which is the studio and residence that can only be occupied by the artist. But the studio space is slightly lower than the plaza level, which offers a visual interaction between the public zone underneath the plaza and the private space above the plaza. This means the studio is only serving for the artist but it is somehow acting like a gallery all the time. And the residence area is locating above the studio so that the artist can go up right after work every night.
Facing West LA from Public Lawn
Plan, +35’, Instant Living Level
The Studio
The Studio
THE ICE MACHINE Virtual Giant Machine design in Arctic as an Expansion of human living haibtat Topic of In Approaching to the Realism North Pole Advisor: David Ruy In the World of architecture, imagination the future has the remarkable power in pushing the discourse of design. This project is happening based on an imaginary future world, a world in lacking natural oil and lacking of land for a living. So this Arctic Giant Machines are developed to satisfy the eager of natural oil by discovering the deep ocean at the North Pole, and offers a new living habitat for human beings. The Machine has the giant structure umbrella as a top reflection panel to sustain the temperature underneath it. Living habitat is inside the machine core in performing as a skyscraper tower. The nuclear engine is at the bottom of the machine, in offering energy. The natural oil collector and detector are underneath the engine, performing as tentacle pipes. This type of giant machine will be distributed widely at Arctic area, in marking as the “Hope� land of human society.
Hand Sketch of Arctic Machine. Pen, Marker
Existing Research Station Research Station in Constructing Fossil Oil Resource Natural Gas Resource Summer Orbit Summer Orbit Summer Orbit Extreme Area Basic Transportation Infrastructure
Distribution of North Pole Natural Resources
Machine Parts
OTHER WORKS Digital Modeling / Digital-Hand Hybrid Painting / Photoshop Painting /Professional Work
Future Flooded Manhattan, Pen & Marker Handdrawing Hybrid with Photoshop, In collabration with Fang Fan
Copy Culture in the Future, Pen & Marker Hand-drawing Hybrid with Photoshop
Machine Collage , Pen & Marker Hand-drawing Hybrid with Photoshop
Realism Matte Painting, Photoshop
Material Research - Paper Cup Curtain In collabration with Ke Yan, Daniel Kim
Hyperloop Showroom Gate system - tensile fabric In collabration with AN.ONYMOUS
Hearing Prosthetic Helmet In collabration with Yuqun Gan, Runzhou Ye
Hearing Prosthetic Helmet In collabration with Yuqun Gan, Runzhou Ye
Thank you.