ZIXIAO MA - Portfolio for UCL MArch Architecture Design

P O R T F O L I O

ZIXIAO MA

Apply for: MArch Architectural Design

Application Number: 23151614

I am a young architecture designer now applying for Architectural Design MArch, previously studied at Wuhan University, and now studying in University of Dundee for one-year exchange. I am very fortunate to be part of the Wuhan - Dundee exchange programme, allowing me to experience different cultures, work style, and design thoughts. During my undergraduate period, I participated in two internships, and actually participated in multiple projects during the internship, which changed the way I viewd at architecture.

In this portfolio, three projects are located in Wuhan, and the themes revolve around the local culture of Wuhan and the characteristics of urban streets. Because during the four years of undergraduate study in Wuhan, I have a deep and unique understanding of its local culture and the current situation of the city. Wuhan has its unique urban character, filling streets with the smell of grilled meats, makeshift lights and chatter, these small business owners activate our streets, provide culturally relevant foods that tourist flock to and create opportunities for a diverse group of people to interact with each other. I translated this feature into different building types and space types, so that it can be well adapted to the city of Wuhan.

In addition, there is a work that expresses my reflection and irony on modern consumerism, reflecting my ability to think critically and express ideas through drawings.

COMMUNITY MUSEUN

Redefine museum by learning texture of 'Lifen'

Project Type: Acedemic, personal project

Architecture Type: Public Building - Museum 02

THE CONSUMERTIST WORLD OF FUTURE

Consumerism Trilogy

Project Type: Acedemic, personal project

Architecture Type: Shopping Unit, Residential Unit, Club for Pig 03

VERTICAL WUHAN

Reorganization of Wuhan Urban Villages

Project Type: Acedemic, personal project

Architecture Type: Complex building 04

LIVING, INTERACTING AND PLANTING

Modular Integrated Building

Project Type: Acedemic, group project (Zixiao Ma, Zijian Xu, Yilin Wang)

Architecture Type: Integrated Modular Housing

COMMUNITY MUSEUN

Redefine the museum by learning the texture of 'Lifen'

Site: Wuhan

Project Type: Acedemic, personal project

Architecture Type: Public Building - Museum

Instructor: Kai Yu

Study and research the existing space types and plane textures of Lifen, which is a Wuhan traditional residence form. Because of the close relationship between different groups of people within it, this feature is used to redefine the museum and make the "superior" museum close to the people and community-oriented. At the same time, 3D printing technology and the concept of modules are used to make it a basic type that can be infinitely replicated in the city and adapt to any urban space scale, truly becoming a community museum.

Redefine the museum Form Isolated Art to Popular Art

In Wuhan now, museums and residents’ lives are very divided, and art seems to be aloof and untouchable to residents. Therefore, I hope that by translating and applying the layout of Wuhan’s residential space-Lifen to the graphic design of the museum, different groups of people can be gathered in the redefined museum and have an intimate relationship. Between artists and artists, between artists and tourists, between tourists and tourists, between businessmen and tourists, between businessmen and artists, and so on.

ISOLATED ART

In Wuhan now, museums and residents’ lives are very divided, and art seems to be aloof and untouchable to residents. In daily life, it is even more difficult for people to come into contact with art, no matter what form it is.

CLOSE RELATIONSHIP IN LIFEN

In Wuhan, on the streets and in the courtyards, the relationship between people is very close, and many interesting activities take place.

LEARNING PLAN TEXTURE OF LIFEN

The plane scale of Lifen Street is very conducive to people's intimate activities, so the structural reconstruction of its plane texture is used to redefine and design the museum.

CREAT SPACES FOR DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIPS IN REDEFINED MUSEUM

The types of activities in the museum and the corresponding types of spaces required have changed accordingly.

POPULAR ART

After the museum is redefined, all internal relationships are deconstructed and reconstructed to form a community museum. In it, life and art are well integrated, and different people can gather here, like a miniature city.

Works of art and people's lives are separated

Art is integrated into people's life

Photos of activities on the streets of Wuhan

HUBEI PROVINCIAL MUSEUM

Logic of GF Plan Generation

The film "The Gathering at Southern Station" was not filmed in Wuhan. The screenshot above is selected from a one-shot clip. It was filmed in Lifen in Wuhan. You can see the interior space and plane texture of Lifen. The scale is very close to the people and can even be said to be narrow, and at the same time, people will feel confused and lost when they shuttle through it. When traveling in the middle of the road, one second you may be in a billiard hall, the next second you enter a closed small room, and the next second you may enter a large factory building that can accommodate hundreds of people .

Perpendicular Line

Connection

Round Corner

Offset GF Circular Line

Final Volume Generation

Interior Rendering of the Exhibition Space

This is one of the exhibition spaces. You can see that the space on the left side of the picture can be used to plan and arrange different exhibition themes, and the right side is some rest and communication spaces. The gaps between the building modules form a good strip of natural lighting.

Interior Rendering of the Social Space

This is one of the social spaces. The building modules form a triangular-like void, allowing sunlight to penetrate naturally, bringing good lighting conditions for the planting of small and medium-sized trees. At the same time, it is a very good social space, which is the best place for local residents to gather, rest, play cards and have meals.

The project uses 3D printing technology, and the concept of modules, making it a prototype that can be infinitely replicated in the city and adapted to various types of sites. The application of 3D printing technology in the actual construction process is also constantly developing, and it has opened up new paths for architectural design and future development. Its high efficiency and sustainability have a high degree of adaptation to this scheme.

THE CONSUMERTIST WORLD OF FUTURE

Consumerism Trilogy

Project Type: Acedemic, personal project

Architecture Type: Shopping Unit, Residential Unit, Club for Pig

Instructor: Kai Yu

In 2100, "symbolization" erodes the social structure from every crevice, and people are completely engulfed by consumerism. Under the banner of environmentalism, people are immersed in the rainy shopping malls, buying those worthless pieces of paper clothes. Pigs have transformed from food to a status symbol. People have built luxurious clubs for pigs to enjoy, and even packaged pigs gorgeously after they died and sold them at high prices. The form of living has also undergone great changes.

Changes of Clothing

It is stipulated that clothes can only be made of "paper", and paper clothes become a symbol of legal citizens. At the same time, it rains 24 hours a day in the mall, and people can "recycle" old clothes directly in the mall. In shopping malls, clothes cannot be worn when they are wet, and every buyer must constantly buy the latest styles.

Changes in the Use of Pigs

Pigs are no longer food, but a symbol of class and a collectible. Everyone believes that each part of a pig can bring different good luck to people. Therefore, people built luxurious clubhouses for pigs to enjoy. After they die, every part of their body will be carefully packaged and sold at a high price and in limited quantities.

Today's Home Thumbnails

Under the influence of consumerism

Mass consumer culture is the basic support of Pop Art, which further satirizes consumerism by extracting elements from the collages of Pop Art masterRichard Hamilton.

Changes in Living Habits

Buying a house has been identified as the biggest obstacle to the development of consumerism. The living pattern has undergone earth-shaking changes. People have no privacy at all, the sleeping space is compressed to the minimum, and people are squeezed into a coffin-like space. Instead, grooming became the top priority.

IN 2100

The symbolization of consumerism is the only dominant culture;

Mainstream media endows objects with new meanings and makes them commodities;

Lead to changes in people's living habits and distortions of the social composition.

SHOPPING - Paper Clothes

In the shopping mall of the future, clothes can only be made of paper, and people buy new clothes while discarding old clothes in the rain.

1 - Wood pulp flows into clothes manufacturing factory;

2 - Wood transported upwards by machinery;

3 - 'Designers' make paper clothes from wood pulp;

4 - Some limited edition paper clothes are being displayed;

5 - People shopping in the rain.

PIG - Eat? or Collecting?

People build luxurious clubs, let pigs get the most luxurious service in it, and sell them as collectibles after their death.

1 - Pigs sunbathe in the open-air swimming pool;

2 - In the spa, pigs enjoy massage while listening to music;

3 - After the pig died, the waiter printed the logo on it;

4 - After the pig dies, professionals make up and pack it;

5 - People line up to buy a pig part as a collectible.

LIVING - What is important?

Here people have no privacy at all, the quality of life is compressed to the minimum, and makeup is the most important thing.

1 -What should be the most private thing is exposedf;

2 - People compress their living space to a minimum;

3 - Provide special display space for collections;

4 - The exclusive stage has its own unique stage lighting;

5 - People scrambled for the exclusive stage and dressed up.

Plan of the Consumerism City

The consumerist city mainly consists of three units: Shopping Unit, Residential Unit, and Club for Pig. Urban planning is mainly a block model, including residential blocks, shopping blocks, and comprehensive blocks. The residential block consists of nine Residential Units, the shopping block includes a shopping unit and a club, and the comprehensive block is formed by the Residential Unit surrounding the Shopping Unit or Club for Pig.

VERTICAL WUHAN

Reorganization of Wuhan Urban Villages

Site: Wuhan

Project Type: Acedemic, personal project

Architecture Type: Complex building

Instructor: Kai Yu

Study and research the existing space types and plane textures of Wuhan urban villages, and use the wasp plug-in of grasshopper as a tool to develop the urban villages vertically through the steps of observation, extraction, sorting, and reorganization. It mainly includes residential Units, small vendors, public areas, etc. Among them, the residential units have various patterns, and the combination of various building types also has different proportions and connection forms. By studying these existing space types, a new set of link logic is created to form a new vertical system.

Different types of stairs

Wuhan site analysis

The main layout and plane texture of the village in the city

Wuhan is a city that flows through the Yangtze River. The villages in the city are mainly distributed on both sides of the Yangtze River, and they are very dense. Hua'anli, the largest urban village in Wuhan, was home to as many as 100,000 people at its peak. The area is only one square kilometer, but there are more than 2,000 private houses. Although the house is dilapidated, it has very convenient living facilities and very low rent because the urban area is full of traffic. The urban village is one of the most important constituent elements of Wuhan city. Its messiness is often criticized by the world. However, if we learn its space type and link logic and make it develop vertically, we can achieve extremely low land use rate and extremely high Space efficiency.

Narrow space between buildings

Study and research the existing space types and plane textures of Wuhan urban villages, and use the wasp plug-in of grasshopper as a tool to develop the urban villages vertically through the steps of observation, extraction, sorting, and reorganization. It mainly includes residential Units, small vendors, public areas, etc. Among them, the residential units have various patterns, and the combination of various building types also has different proportions and connection forms. By studying these existing space types, a new set of link logic is created to form a new vertical system.

Extraction and recombination of basic elements.

Traces of life on the street

Vertical circulation

Volume restriction whole system

Volume restriction - bottom

Volume restriction - lower level

Volume restriction - middle

Volume restriction - upper level

Volume restriction - top

The automatically generated outdoor space is a very good activity place for the people of Wuhan. During the day, they can play cards, chat, play chess, and other different activities together. At the same time, you can see service areas such as electric vehicle storage places, as well as some canteens.

Two middle-aged women are chatting leisurely on the balcony in front of the house, and can experience multiple exchanges in such an outdoor space.

In the evening, when the sun shines in from the west, it is a good time to rest. An old man found a place where all kinds of flowers and plants were planted, and took a comfortable nap for a while.

Night is the busiest time in Wuhan. People gather on both sides of the street, eating supper, chatting, queuing up to buy supper, etc. The billowing white smoke from the street food and the lights of the small shops on both sides of the street made this night very lively.

LIVING, INTERACTING AND PLANTING

Modular Integrated Building

Site: Wuhan

Project Type: Acedemic, Group project

(Zixiao Ma, Zijian Xu, Yilin Wang)

Architecture Type: Integrated Modular Housing

Instructor: Zhonghua Gou, Penny Lewis

The core of the design is four declarations: Houses with diverse choices for people, More public space motivating social interactions, Horizontal and vertical green & blue, Providing more public service and facilities. Firstly, providing several modular choices for residents. People can choose according to similar lifestyles or interests. Secondly, the public space can be combined closely with people's living space. Thirdly, Develop green and blue space in the site vertically. It is combined with different activities for people and it can improve the community environment. Finally, The community is not a gated community, it provides much public service as well as job opportunity for people in the city to improve their life quality.

Green Center of the Whole City Physically and economically

Analysis of natural conditions in Wuhan and the site

The "Sanyang City of Design" demonstration area is an important value embodiment of Wuhan's "City of Design". The district aims to activate the historic district and create a high-quality creative urban life.

Proportion of each functional land

Total area: 1.87km²

Residence:76.9h (41.9%)

Administration: 11.58h (6.46%)

School: 10.38h (5.66%)

Commerce: 19.82h (10.76%)

Greenery: 1.47 (0.8%)

Top 3 Building area:

Total area: 476.87h

Residence: 273.77h (57%)

Commerce:63.55 (13%)

Public management / service:47.87 (10%)

Insufficient high-quality green

Wuhan is a very hot city in summer, with long hours of sunshine, high radiation intensity and high humidity. Besides, most green space in this area is created by the trees along the road. People's activities are not combined with green space efficiently.

This project has the opportunity to alleviate the summer heat on and around the site through vertical greening and vertical water systems, making it more suitable for residents' activities. This project will create more green and blue spaces combined with different activities in order to ease the hot weather in Wuhan.

The high temperature in summer in Wuhan is alleviated through vertical greening, and at the same time, this site becomes the center and starting point of related industries (such as garden worker training, high-tech exchange, etc.).

Site Plan

Site Strategy

According to the relationship between the site and the street, multiple passages are designed in the site to maintain its openness and connectivity with the surrounding environment. In addition, multiple squares with different characters and scales are designed as outdoor spaces for residents and tourists to gather and relax. The ground floor is all designed as public space or office space, and more private spaces such as living are placed on the upper floors.

1. Site 2. Different Publicspaces 3. Create Circulations

4. Residence Parts5. Set Back6. Vertical Circulations

Public Space - Open Platform

On the open platform, tourists and residents gather here to enjoy different natural landscapes, watch popular science videos of different plants in the exhibition hall, or experience the fun of planting in person.

Public Space - Corridor

Residents reach the corridors on each floor through the vertical core tube, where people on different floors can say hello to each other, or carry out different social activities, such as drinking coffee, chatting, reading and so on.

Modular SectionStructure

The overall structure adopts a reinforced concrete beam-column-truss hybrid system. In order to support the stepped building form that gradually recedes, the main structure adopts the same form

Lighting simulation analysis

Green Studio

Modular assembly drawing

Dining Bar (200 ㎡）

Exhibition Room (180 ㎡）

Planting Experience (350 ㎡）

Workshop Office, Training Room, Lounge (500 ㎡）

Roof Garden Only for Residents For Everyone Only for staff members

The modules are disassembled into multiple parts, such as walls, floors, ceilings, doors and windows, etc., which are assembled after being transported to the site, and then placed on the reinforced concrete structural frame.

Other Works - Internship results

Supporting Primary School Construction Project of Xinzhuang Demonstration Town, Jinnan District, ground floor plan

Supporting Primary School Construction Project of Xinzhuang Demonstration Town, Jinnan District, first floor plan

A bird's-eye view of the Honghe State project at night

Huangshan project, commercial supporting building, rendering of night

Huangshan project, commercial supporting building, rendering of night

Supporting Primary School Construction Project of Xinzhuang Demonstration Town, Jinnan District, wall detail