Yuanlong ZHU's Portfolio

Guy Debord believes “In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, life is presented as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has receded into a representation.” More precisely, our participation in society, as well as our perception, is modified and even dominated by the presented spectacle. In the modern world, we are imposed a transparent but impenetrable curtain by the ubiquitous media, all surviving, producing, and living in a bubble wrapped by the spectacle. Also, our observation of the world through the medium invariably includes the process of proliferation of the spectacle.

This makes architecture a dilemma. While architecture itself is supposed to be a medium for conveying information, modern people use the medium to perceive architecture. If Ceci tuera cela was just a rant in the imagination of Hugo at that time, architecture today has long been regarded as a pictorial commodity in a two-dimensional world without depth. The belief of fighting against shallowness has prompted me to rethink architecture and its design.

As an architect, instead of falling into an excessive admiration for images, I choose to become a critic of the medium in this media age. For me, design is not a form of fawning over audience or a catharsis to the ego, but a reflection of the real world. This has led me to experiment constantly: how to give space a temporal shift; how to dig out some new anecdotes from old myths; how to awaken the thirst for knowledge in a place of chaos; how to use a gentle mockery to remind the crazy crowd.

The works in my portfolio are different in their forms of expression and approaches, but they all point to the same theme:

the pursuit of architectural authenticity in this media age.

01

Static Travel

Location: California

Individual Academic work

A Vacation Cabin for A Train–manic Oct- Nov 2022

Instructor: Shengrui XU

Upon the mountains and the sea, traveling by train always gives people the feeling of traveling through time and space. The train, a “space container”, also brings different feelings of use. Walking down the aisle of the carriage, there is a finely divided functional space on one side and a landscape divided by windows on the other.

This house was designed for a train fanatic. After countless train trips, he settled here with his collection of model trains. And this house has a dream about trains together with him. The moment of returning home is still the moment he embarked on his travel. A static travel.

Concept: Spanning Time and Space

Function

Circulation

Space prototype: train carriage

Blurring the boundaries of home and journey

The static travel means that everything he has to think about the train does not change with the time and space, that experience about the speed, about the surrounding scenery, will keep growing in this do residence.

Carriage

And the form of a carriage separates function from flow, creating a unique spatial quality.

Transformation of Space

The starting point for the design of this whole house is the flexible transformation of the carriage space.

Follow and divide the Function

Reorientation by landscape Re-integrate the window opening

La Conchita, California

34°21'50''N 119°26'53''W

Mountains, Ocean and Railways

The site was chosen to overlook the entire town, with views of the trains running along the coastline and surrounded by a rich and diverse landscape.

Generation of Space

The house forms a fluid experience and yet strictly divides the functions, a tribute to the spatial pattern of the train.

Stationary train

And how to describe a train?

Is it that sense of speed of the shuttle? Or the kind of walking by the window that brings countless changes of scenery? Or simply the exhilarating surprise of suddenly bursting out of the ground?

The entire program is gently placed in the terrain, and there is always a moment when one feels the subtle connection to train travel.

Unfolding of space

Unfolding the entire residence to get a continuous flow of use, with functions lined up on one side and facades with views on the other

Centralized functions

The functions in the residence are arranged in groups according to their relevance

The logic of spatial unfolding

Multiple Axis

The axis of the residence is arranged according to the different elements so that the landscape and windows, actions and aisles all echo each other.

Continuous façade

The window openings that create every moment the occupant walks in the house is a movement relative to the external scenery, creating the feeling of change

Function

Circulation Elevation

Structure Analysis

Roofing to lapover top flange of vent flashing

Waterproof membrane

Roof deckng

50 mm Smooth stained cedar siding (Wui compliant)

Continuously liquid applied Weather resistive barrier

R21 closed cell spray Foam insulation

Continuously liquid applied Weather resistive barrier

Wood STUDS

15mm GYB BD Applied

Additional Finish

400mm Concrete Mat Slab

Crushed Rock Covered filter Fabric

Post Applied Waterproof

Filter Fabric

Drain/protection Bd

Based on the characteristics of the site, the building structure is built with light wood structure

02

Reproduce Tradition

New Car Factory for New Industry

Location: Berlin, Germany

Individual Academic work

June-July 2021

Instructor: Nero HE, Kaiho YU

Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg will be the most advanced high-volume electric vehicle production plant in the world. The Gigafactory product technologies and production methods will be cutting edge: The most powerful Battery Systems as well as high-performance Drive Units and Power Electronics. A new dimension of Casting systems and a most efficient Body-Shop, leading to a high level of vehicle safety. This studio will set the site in Berlin-Brandenburg taking its current infrastructure, by using flatness as a production structure and prefabricated architectural components, it will reorganize the spatial planning and the overall circulation by integrating the movement of workers as well as different scales of robots.

Concept: The logical connection

The Blue Banana*

A discontinuous corridor of urbanization in Western and Central Europe, with a population of around 100 million.

Days Gone

The major industrial belts in Europe have shifted from the blue banana to new industrial regions**, which, coupled with Germany’s strong automotive industry base, makes the location of the emerging automotive industry more favorable to Germany.

Prepare for Giga Factory

Multinational TESLA wanted to design a car factory in Berlin-Brandenburg that would be most in line with modern technology and development patterns, which coincided with Fiat's design philosophy a hundred years ago.

Car ownership in Italy and Germany per 1000 inhabitants, 1920–2020***

An Automotive Giant in Europe

Italy has only one major car manufacturer: Fiat Group, it provided Italy with the basis for the automotive industry and the very advanced pro duction model of the time, which gave Italy an advantage in the automotive industry through out the 20th century

Integrated Production Innovative Approaches Popular Products

Learn from Lingotto Factory

The Lingotto Factory represented a fascinating window to tomorrow of that time: everything in timeless, dazzling motion. It also represented the most advanced productivity at that time, and new factorie could also learn more from it.

** Taylor, paul. (2015, March 15). No More Blue Banana, Europe’s Industrial Heart Moves East. Reuters.

*** Oldenziel, Ruth, and Adri A. de la Bruhèze. "Contested Spaces: Bicycle Lanes in Urban Europe, 1900-1995." Transfers 1, no. 2 (2011): 31-49 - Scientific Figure on ResearchGate

* The conceptualisation of the area as a "Blue Banana" was developed in 1989 by RECLUS, a group of French geographers managed by Roger Brunet.

Precedent

To understand this factory, we need to start with its production model. The plant is divided into two parallel buildings, each five stories high and one-third of a mile long, with runways that sit on top of both buildings like the decks of a ship. It was so large that it hosted the most efficient automotive industry of its time, as well as its signature production logic. Underneath the huge ring is the production process that is built around it.

Main space for processing

A Serialized Assembly Mode

The traditional automotive industry invariably utilizes a sophisticated assembly line production, and such a production model has a distinctive characteristic: serialization . This has been the case for nearly 100 years and has become the main logic of the automotive production industry.

Test track R&D Center Office

Test track

UPCYCLE *

Dismantling of the original factory and then reorganization Dismantling of existing factories and then reorganization with a view to converting the Serialized Assembly mode to the Hierarchical Assembly mode

A Hierarchical Assembly Mode

The streamlined production model, while improving productivity to a certain extent, is ultimately limited by a linear production logic. If a Hierarchical production model is used, it can reduce the efficiency that is reduced by waiting for products from the previous level.

Function Distribution

The Generation Process

*Detailed explanation on the next page

Chassis Assembly and Test track Model 1

Chassis Assembly

Body Assembly & Print Test track Model 2 and Final Checking

Body Assembly & Print

1930s FIAT

2020s TESLA

The process of reorganization is the extraction of the patterns in the building, which comes from the understanding of the characteristics of each chunk of the original plant, and then reprojecting the patterns onto the chunks to form a "reset" with connections.

Linking of functional logic

After the upcycling, the building is still integrated according to the logic of car production to meet the needs for car production

Giving Architectural Elements

The pattern creates more combinatorial patterns on a three-dimensional level, which allows the architectural elements to be quickly attached to the boxes.

Architectural Transformation

The patterns will eventually return to the architectural level, where the already integrated blocks will change according to their own qualities to make them more functional building blocks.

Factory axonometric drawing

Responsible for testing and performance tuning of new vehicles, with a huge ceiling for natural light to shine on any instrument

Research center for debugging the production logic of plants using the latest technology and materials

Responsible for the validation of new vehicle technologies and experimental assembly for testing in R&D centers

Section perspective of the test track Section perspective of the R&D center Section perspective of the Showing track

Assembly of car chassis using hierarchical assembly logic, and intergrated with a lot of new technology from R&D center

Initial inspection of the assembled vehicle, followed by painting and engine retrofitting, and other needed works

Storage and coordination of a large number of parts to assist in the initial assembly of the vehicle

Chassis Assembly Center Condition Inspection and Painting Center Spare Parts Center and Assembly Center

Concept: Fusion of functions

The Fusion

A Learning Center in a Fragmented Community

Location: Wuhan, China

Individual Academic work

Nov 2022-Jan 2023

Instructor: Lei PENG

The community center is located in a complex location where clusters of rural migrants form the old town and intersect with the construction of the new town. Both groups had to face a common problem: the education of their children. The children of the migrant population did not qualify for urban schools, and with an elite high school ironically on the edge of the site, I wanted to create an Fusion within the site that would allow a diverse range of children to enter and give them a sense of the joy of learning versus the complexity of the city.

Formation of Hankou Central District

As an industrial town, the city has developed a unique "zoning" construction pattern

The number of Nongmingong (migrant workers) and their children in the total urban population

Market Economy, Class Divisions

The expansion of commercial activity has transformed the traditional industrial city into a complex environment

The wealthy and privileged classes produce wealthy settlements and, accordingly, educational resources are concentrated towards them

This urban village has been standing in the city for 20 years, and the interior of the untouched area is in disarray

Urban Renewal & Educational Reform

The first school-age children are arriving in the urban village, while urban renewal activities are slowly starting

Contradiction, Boundary, Symbiosis

This is a venue full of contradictions, contradictions between people, contradictions between events and events, and contradictions of information abound.People around the area covet the site and want to make the best use of it

Recognized as an "aristocratic school" in the area, with a large amount of educational resources going to it

The temperament of Learning

Observing the learning patterns of various types of children in the midst of cities and urban villages, I have compiled two different learning paths, one from spontaneous exploration of the surrounding environment and the other from direct education from the outside world, both of which have unique cognitive effects, which I would like to integrate in the architecture.

Hover Box

Facing with a complex and crowded site underneath the building, one solution is to raise the building as high as possible to leave enough space for activities in the north and south areas, and the learning space is divided into several zones in the high sky to meet the corresponding learning atmosphere respectively. The activity space is then below the main space, forming a transparent box for theresidents to use

First sort out all the architectural elements required for the function and select the dominant architectural elements

Interaction Space

Select two learning spaces and their special modes of interaction

Architectural elements Spatial Location

Determine the relative position of the space and the connection points

Relationship

Revisiting and reproduce the space connection to the site

Choice of treatment for suspension sandwich

2F-Group room

3F-Electronic teaching area

Sectional Perspective scenes & Structural analysis

To maximize the floor space, the building uses trusses to raise the main space and increase the activity space by means of suspension

1500mm x 1500mm

Heat

30MM Roofing products from metal sheet

30MM Roof support slats

20MM Vapor barrier

40MM Phenolic foam thermal insulation layer

150MM Mortar layer

100MM Reinforced Metal layer

60MM thick 1: 3 Cement and mortar leveling course

30mm Phenolic foam thermal insulation

20MM Impact sound insulation layer

50MM Sound insulation ceiling

50MM Glued laminated wood ceiling

200MM Ceiling joist

10MM Floor cladding layer

20MM Cement mortar leveling layer

20MM Foam glass insulation layer

15MM XPS insulation layer

20MM Impact sound insulation layer

200MM Concrete surface

Shaped metal plate

1500*1000(low-E)

Aluminum hanging board

Metal hanging plate

Rubber gasket

100x100MM Universal square steel Beam

Curtain wall fasteners

Curtain wall frame drainage

Glass curtain wall

300x460MM Universal H-Beam

Fire-retardant coating

Anodized aluminum sheet with medium graininess of cladding

Matte stainless steel 6000K strip light White metallic paint

Exterior: Woven metal mesh ceiling + plastic cladding

insulating tempered glass

Strengthened laminated glass

Famous for 15 minutes

“Internet Celebrity” Architecture Study

Location: N/A (Shanghai,China)

Individual Academic work

Feb- Apr 2022

Instructor: Feifan MA

We live in an age of rapid decay. The Internet and the new mass media have turned public life completely upside down, creating a unique picture of cyberspace. For architecture, the process of public perception of architecture through hands-on experience has become experiencing through media, which makes the way of public perception of architecture very special. This study will start from Guy Debord’s theory of “the Society of the Spectacle”, a historical overview and analysis of the present cyber architecture, and finally an ironic design.

Metaphor: The Tower of Babel in the Digital Age

The Age of Spectacle and Media Architecture

Society of the Spectacle

Güedbo describes modern society as a landscape where human relationships have become pictorial, where direct communication has been replaced and the way of knowing the world has given way to the medium of images.

Architecture in a Society the Spectacle

A building's fame can be divided into three stages.

First is the stage of creation, where the architect creates new architectural forms through a series of claims and motivations

In the second stage, the architecture forms a representative "image" (i.e., a landscape) in front of the public through the interception and misinterpretation of the media.

In the last stage, the continuous dissemination of the landscape leads to the formation of a public mentality, which results in the worship of the architectural image (landscape). This worship, on the one hand, leads to an increasing number of people involved in the tour and appreciation of a specific building and its dissemination on the Internet, and on the other hand, motivates architects to reproduce new buildings using the image technology of the public worship.

Documented information and social media searches were used to quantify the visibility of the building, with the circles representing the corresponding search volume.*

One million searches

Visibility analysis will also be conducted for specific buildings over time

For creation, the trend of famous architecture shows a slow and steady rise, accompanied by the expansion of technology and the practice of star architects. Recent years have shown a decadence.

Georges-Pompidou Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu

Museum Jiefangbei Wukang Road

du Louvre Anfu Road

Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties Vessel Museum of Art Pudong Renovation of old industrial facilities Window of The World

Overseas Data

For Representation, the trend of famous buildings shows a rapid rise with the expansion of the medium, accompanied by a large amount of publicity

China Data CCTV China Art Museum 798 Art District

development trends** Renovation of old industrial facilities Phase 2 SOHO China Taikoo Li Sanlitun

For the worship, the trend of famous architecture showed a rapid explosion of hot spots that later faded fast as the public interest waned.

New Chinese style CityMart WenHeYou

Food review sites Chinese Twitter Chinese Ins

*The information in China comes from the Baidu index and the Xiaohongshu data platform(XINHONG) the information abroad comes from the Google index.

Isomerization Political Cult Technomania

Famous buildings in smartphones

For today's mass media, the cell phone screen is an important vehicle.

The architecture that Create

The quest for architectural form, or the need for a kind of political cult (leader cult), as well as the fervor for technology, made such architecture sufficient to create a new fame.

THE rebellion THE good life THE hot product

The creation of architecture is captured by the camera in the cell phone and reprocessed by the processor, which allows the creation of architecture to be pictorial and stylized.

The architecture that Represent

And different media tend to speak for different buildings. Newspapers often appear in the process of rebellion against old buildings, while magazines tend to feature neatly organized commercial buildings that represent a refined and beautiful life, and everything on the screen chases hot spots.

Wonders Lifestyle Taste

The architecture that Worship

The cult of the public has led architecture to three types of reproduction: the first is the excessive reproduction of spectacle, the second is the pursuit of taste and the attachment of a large number of buildings for filming without a cultural lineage, and the third is the creation of a way of life to remember the nostalgia of modern people.

And this is all represented through the screen, which makes the building screen in enough to represent anything and deliver any desired message.

The fact that people know architecture through their cell phones and express their worship for famous buildings through the swipe of their own clicks has prompted the reproduction of architecture to conform to this networkedness.

Create a building that is the most extreme, the most suitable for taking pictures and sharing

All of this will be reprocessed and content distributed and disseminated by the phone's built-in processor, a state-of-the-art photo processor that will make the building even more brilliant and glamorous on screen.

Site selection, design and technical drawings

The building will be located in Shanghai, China, where the first apple store is located. This is where the market economy as well as a large population meets, and where it is most communicative as well as topical, and it will replace the original Apple store as the new symbol of Apple in China, even of the world.

This building will be made for the era of cell phones, and it will form the most unique and crazy public effect, receiving everyone's admiration. The design will be iPhone* for meticulous size measurement and get the most suitable size of the building for taking photos.

On an approximate 16:9 cell phone screen**, the building will be in maximum harmony with its surroundings, which gives the building a sense of shock beyond the existing technology.

The building function will then be presented as an Apple Experience Store, which will appear as a unique glass façade in the city, gradually moving up through a spiral staircase to create a sense of circular experience, which also creates opportunities for people to flock to the store for taking photos.

*Data and phone appearance pictures from the official Apple website of IPhone 14 Pro Max **Estimated based on the size of photos pushed from social media platforms

It will contain two spiral staircases, giving people the experience of constantly circling upward and being able to continue spiraling downward at the highest point, and it also provides the fastest elevator for people to use when they want to get to a specific photo spot quickly.

Lujiazui, Shanghai

The architecture that Create

This Apple Store will create the greatest public effect, it creates a new form about Apple Store design, using the most advanced technology, and becomes a design example of famous architecture in the Internet era.

The architecture that Represent

It will also represent the pinnacle of capital for the entire city of Shanghai, becoming an urban landmark beyond any old building, and it will be the best representation of wealth, technology and new trendy playthings.

The architecture that Worship

The flurry of visitors kept the photos festering on the Internet, which led to more and more photos, creating a new public cult, while other companies, jaw-dropped by the building's success, began new imitations. This also brought about a huge following.

The world will be filled with these glass towers, at least until the craze dies down.

The pinnacle of “Internet Celebrity” Architecture

Shanghai Clinical and Research Center

Concept Design Competition

Professional Works

Location: Shanghai & Beijing, China

2021 - 2022

Case Study of Kunsthaus Graz

Study of façade and structure

Analysis of the generation process

East elevation rendering

Participated in

Design, writing and layout of project texts

Elevation drawing of HSCC Fuzhou Headquarters

Yiwu Grand Theatre

Interior Construction Drawing Stage

Social Housing Research

Mainly responsible for Mainly responsible for Mainly responsible for

Modeling and rendering of the ceiling structure model Interpretation of norms, and illustration and integration of academic content

In-depth study on social housing

Other Academic Works

Location: Wuhan, China

At and

2019 - 2022

Modeling, rendering and overall analysis of major detail models

Design of senior housing

Focus on residential units

Mainly responsible for Individual Work

Focusing on the interaction between the elderly and the living unit itself, window opening patterns of different angles and heights have been designed

Research related to Senior Housing and Architectural Construction