何孜行
Zixing He Undergraduate Portfolio
Downtown Beekeeping Station Prof. Matthew Byers, Studio III: Critical Programming p. 4 - 9
Berm Park on the Edge of Saint Peter Prof. Matthew Byers, Studio IV: Urban Design p. 10 -15
Bell Museum + Planetarium Project Prof. Dave Dimond & Doug Bergert, Studio V p. 16 - 23
Downtown Beekeeping Station Prof. Matthew Byers, Studio III: Critical Programming, U of MN, Fall 2016 Architectural Thesis Statement The project was to design a building that has very different program requirements comparing to its surrounding buildings. The Site is located within the Warehouse District in Downtown Minneapolis, where zoning requirements are strict. My response to the site was have the building represents a living organism that is growing and expanding in an urban, historic, and vertically static site. The building merges into its surrounding horizontally using camouflage but shows a different story vertically. It is similar to a tree, where the trunk is organized and stable while the canopy becomes less so.
Program Statement Educating the public about bees and beekeeping in a human scale. It is accomplished through introducing a bee’s life cycle from a series of connected experiences in a way that gradually merges the boundaries between human and bee in an urban area. The Building’s form is representing a living organism that is growing and expanding in an urban, historic, and vertically static site
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Model representing the notion of an ever-growing building
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Green Terrace Wood Shop Modern Honey Extraction Traditional Honey Extraction Observation Room Restroom
Third floor programs
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Section representing vertical circulation
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Entrance Experience
Green House
Indoor and Outdoor
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Honey Tasting Bar
Section illustrating building programs
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Berm Park on the Edge of Saint Peter Prof. Matthew Byers, Studio IV: Urban Design, U of MN, Spring 2017 The challenge of the project is that downtown Saint Peter is currently suffering from the heavy traffic on Minnesota Ave, a highway that goes right through the CBD. It creates an unfriendly environment for shopping, which is an important component of Saint Peter’s economy. Because of the lack of interest towards the Minnesota River, the riverfront environment has no vitality. Thesis: By relocating Highway 169 under an artificial berm, liberating Saint Peter’s downtown area from its heavy traffic, also setting up a stage for the riverfront area that can be established into a city park by raising the west floodplain into a berm.
Noise
100 feet wide street
Meandering woonerf
Diagrams for the current conditions and plan for the downtown (above) Site master plan and sketches illustrating additions for pedestrians (right) Diagrams illustrating the manipulation of the entire site (right and below)
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Sections throughout the site showing the highway underneath the berm
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Renderings for the entrance of the relocated highway (top left), pedestrian-friendly side of the berm (bottom left), water access location of the site (above)
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Bell Museum + Planetarium Project Prof. Dave Dimond & Doug Bergert, Studio V U of MN, Fall 2017
The site is at the new Bell Museum and Planetarium near Saint Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota. The objective of the studio was to reinterpret the site and programs and redesign the existing building.
The idea of the design comes from the lacking presence of downtowns given the site’s unique location of being between them. The realization of the design for the addition depends greatly on the structure. The addition transfers most of its weight onto the Planetarium cylinder, and spans over the museum’s parameter to two directions pointing to the downtowns. Meaning to help people locate and notice the two downtowns from the site, the additional floors also serve as an educational gallery for people learn about human impact on the environment.
980 ft
Minneapolis 850 ft
St. Paul 760 ft
The site’s height above sea level is more than 100 feet higher than Downtown Minneapolis and more than 200 feet higher than Downtown St. Paul.
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Site plan displaying that the box viewing Downtown Minneapolis has to have the elevation above the condo and trees.
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The box facing Downtown Minneapolis (above) is more than one floor higher than the St. Paul box (right)due to elevation difference of the two views.
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Axon exploded diagrams showing the composition of the addition to the Bell Museum and its main circulation (left) Renderings showing exterior views of the building (right)
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Framed view for Downtown Minneapolis
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A thinner strip of view for Downtown St. Paul overlooking St. Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota
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Thank you so much for your time!