2018-Portfolio-Graduate-Selected Work

YIWEI GAO ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO Master of Architecture University of Pennsylvania

Bachelor of Architecture in Art University of Liverpool

Yiwei Gao

yiweigao@design.upenn.edu 1.215.512.9693

EDUCATION 2015-2018 expected

University of Pennsylvania I Philadelphia,PA Master of Architecture Real Estate Design and Development

2011-2015

University of Liverpool I Liverpool, UK Bachelor of Arts in Architecture RIBA Part I

EXPERIENCE 07/201708/2017

Vanke Real Estate Company, Shanghai

05/201706/2017

Henn Beijing ARCHITECT

05/201608/2016

Collaborated with other Vanke’staff to critic on the residential proposal by Richard Rogers Architect Firm every two weeks; Design a proposal for a renovation flower art museum and research on relative product design and application.

Designed the Changan Car branch office and built the landscape and architecture model by Rhino

DDB ARCHITECT Shanghai Modeled the facade of a renovation project by sketch up; Proposed an initial design for a hotel and build the model by sketch up; Drew the construction detail drawing of a curtain wall system by CAD; Layout several presentation files by Indesign and drew relative diagrams.

06/201407/2014

Adobe Suite Training Class

2012-2013

The Leadership of Vice President in AIESEC Talent Management in XJTLU

Trained more than 20 students on the basic skill of PS and AI

Organized several group interview and individual interview for membership recruitment; Collaborated with other students to hold the meeting for more than 40 people; Proposed and carried on some

PUBLISHMENT 2017 Spring

“Erosion-A Torous Climbing Gym” published on Pressing Matters 6

2016 Spring

“Architecture Promenade” published on Pressing Matters 5

2015 Autumn

“Transforming to survive” published on Pressing Matters 5 Pressing Matters: It is the school book collects two excellent works from 13 students of each studio every semester.

COMPETITION 2017

LIXIL (International Student Architecture Competition) the Third Prize Establish by Kengo Kuma and associates; I collaborated with 5 students to design a 50㎡ spa and we did the presentation to Kengo Kuma in Toyko, Japan.

2016

SCHENCK-WOODMAN Competition Honorable Mention I proposed the main idea about an interactive architecture system transfer sound energy from traffic noise into lighting and outputted diagram and drawings

2013

Tongji Design-Build Festival Honorable Mention Worked with 12 students to design a shelter and constructed it by the laminated board. I mainly design the foundation part of the shelter by sketch up.

SKILL

Adobe: Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, AfterEffect Modeling: Rhino, Revit, Sketch-up, Maya, Z-brush, Grasshopper Render: V-ray, Maxwell, Keyshot, Language: Chinese (Native), English (IELTS:7.0)

Contents 01 EROSION Torus Climbing Center

02 Evolving Edges:from hard to soft Urban Design-barcelona superblock morphorlogy

03 CARNIVAL:architecture promenade Cultural Architecture

04 TRANSFORM FOR SURVIVING House Design

05 VEILED PAVILLION Competirion-Thermal Spa Design

Other Work

06 POWER OF SHADOW A Voronoi Structure Pavilion

07 TREE HOLDER Furniture Design

08 Internship Work Xiamen Hotel

09 Revit

01

EROSION A Climbing Center Project Type: A Climbing Center Tutor: Kutan Ayata Partner:Xinyu Wang Date: 2017 Spring Location: Canal St. NYC Software: Rhino, Grasshopper,V-ray,3D-print

As our cities grow, the demands of contemporary urban life diminish the chance to explore outdoors on a regular basis. Many buildings provide specific physical conditions as determined the activity, enabling a variety of challenges to be “tackled� by users. While the degrees of difficulty and thirst for fitness can be satisfied in a utilitarian manner in these artificial terrains, what typically cannot be experienced in them are the totality, sublimity, and majestic qualities of grand outdoors.

This studio explores an indoor and outdoor rock climbing facilities in the Canal Park at the western end of Canal St on the west side of Manhattan to explore the aesthetics of such an artificial construction and formal material specificity of its assembly. I start finding a form by using interlocked toruses to boolean a cube and study two kinds of texture which can be used for climbing as well as can be constructed. Ă‹rosion is a metaphor of the form generation process as well as the process of the structure gets rusted and colors the facade.

Form Iteration The form starts from modeling architecture elements, like columns, ceilings, and walls into one model that can accommodate the climbing feature. A variety of digital modeling methods are applied to find the forms, such boolean and loft. For the FINAL MODEL, two interlocking toruses are used to boolean a cube or a cylinder to explore the carved out space for climbing.

Site Condition This climbing facility is located in the Canal Park at the western end of Canal St on the west side of Manhattan, which is a triangular site putting forward the challenge to the design. This site is originally used as a green park providing a leisure space and connecting the highway.

1 Load-bearing Concrete 2 Laminated Glass 3 Aluminum Window

4 Insulation 5 Water Resistent Membrane 6 Metal Cover

7 Concrete Panel 8 L Shape Steel 9 T Shape Steel

Construction Detail

Section B-B'

Section

10 Bolt 11 Concrete Tie Hole 12 Z Shape Steel

13 Stud 14 Concrete Paver 15 Load Bearing Concrete

Cut Away Axonometric Rendering

1 Entrance 2 Reception 3 Gear Rental 4 Gear Store 5 Cafe 6 Female Change Room 7 Male Change Room 8 Locker Room 9 Security Room 10 Office 11 Gym 12 Yoga Room 13 Storage 14 First AId

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First Floor Plan The program circulation travels from the lobby, changing room, gym, yoga space and the main circular indoor climbing space. The program distribution follows the overall form, cental circular open space is designed as the vertical climbing hall and other programs are attached around the central circular area. The small circular space in the center incorporates climbing training space and the vertical circulation. Circular elevator and stairs shaft stands in the center are inspired by Louis Kahn's Yale art museum, they also provide structural support. The courtyard as the media introducing the exterior view and the lighting. People can go outside and roof garden through the courtyard.

CONCRETE CAST SAMPLE

Climbing Texture1- Concrete Panel Each concrete panel is fixed by a steel or cooper frame back to the loadbearing concrete structure. The steel frame will gradually be rusted thereby erode the facade with a color.

brand-new

after one year

after five year

Variational Facade

after ten year

CONCRETE CAST SAMPLE

Climbing Texture2- Circle Packing Circle Packing pattern is inspired by the construction process of the concrete wall. The concrete wall will generate the holes due to the assembly process. These holes are designed as the climbing holds with various dimension.

Climbing Gesture

Detailed Plan This detailed plan shows how the climbing panels are hung on the concrete surface and the drawing shows an aesthetic feature.

3D Powder Print Model

02

EVOLVING EDGE Barcelona Superblock Morphorlogy from hard to soft

Project Type: Urban Design Tutor: Anna Pla Catala Partner: Wen Zhu Date: 2017 Autumn Location: Barcelona, Spain Software: Grasshopper, Python,Rhino, Vray

400m

Basic Network:50km/h

400m

Local Network:10km/h

400m

Local Network:10km/h

Our big idea is to create a superblock prototype that prioritizes pedestrians and directly emphasizes walkability. Hard edges from the Barcelona donut prototype get permeated and become the new and soft edge. We studied precedent street dimensions from cities Barcelona, Toronto, and Copenhagen and extract the rotation and subdivision as the methods to develop a new superblock.

The design process run from generative process to evaluation process. In the generative process, we designed our tool using 3d Cellular Automata to control density, rotation, and edge conditions.

Go from hard to soft, this concept shows in the generations of the building scale, building height, building units, material, and the landscape.In the evaluation process; we used lighting, ventilation, view, and street width/building height ratio to evaluate what has been generated. In addition to having an evaluative purpose, these tools are also used creatively to inform design decisions.

Rotation Threshhold between new and old city fabric Barcelona

Subdivision Gradiant Change of the city fabric Toronto

Remaining Building Removed Building

Site Evaluation Remain the high-credit buildings and remove the low-credit

Generation0

Generation0

Generation1

Tool Cellular Automata

Generation0

Generation0

Generation1

Generation1

Generation2

Generation2

Generation3

Generation3

Generation4

Generation4

Superblock Generation Regulate the number of the cells to born, survive, and die, CA tool can generate a series of different density massing.

Block Generation In terms of block scale, shortest paths are generated from attractors and generate the new block; With the update and redevelopment of the new city, old city fabric is gradually broken up and new fabric grows and substitutes the old fabric. The growth of the new fabric follows the shortest path and transform from the large scale to small scale to incorporate the friendly-pedestrian environment. environment.

Building Generation Hard Edge

Different scale of units by CA to generate the building massing

Building Generation Soft Edge Rotate the building edge to respond the soft edge

Perspective Site Renderingg Red color represents the old building and white color represents the new building. Old and new interlocked with each other following the from hard to soft rule.

Hard Building Elevation

The hard building elevation incorporates large-scale units and rough material, like concrete.

Soft Building Elevation

The student units facade is covered by timber louvers and transforms the density according to the lighting.

Site Plan The new building massing follows the from hard to soft rule gradually breaking the superblock edges and incorporate with the landscape to create the pedestrian-friendly streets.

Soft Buiding Plan This plan represent a combination of the elderly units (old building) and the young people units (new building)

Soft Budiling Section This section shows a rotation feature of this soft building, the void space as the ventilation shaft.

3d Print Model Hard Edge/ Habrid of old and new

Physical Model Hard Edge/ Habrid of old and new

Physical Model Soft Edge/ Habrid of old and new

03

CARNIVAL architecture promenade Project Type: A Cultural Architecture Tutor: Joshua Freeze Date: 2016 Spring Location: Spring Garden. Philadelphia Software: Rhino,Grasshopper, V-ray,

A fascinating carnival will surely impress you with a series of moments, which also works for space experiences during an architecture promenade. The pattern was chosen as the key to achieving the object above. With the process of projecting, distorting, boolean, erosion and copy on the pattern itself, the outcomes in a sequence of massing, landscape, space, structure, mullion, and detail were eventually generated.

The climax of the work is the auditorium, which is surrounded by promenade paths wrapped in skin, besides the idea of “room within the room� was also conducted in the design to create diverse spaces. The part roof of the building could be taken as activity spaces, which makes it interesting when communicating with others indoor or outdoor. You can feel the rhythm of the building changing along with its shape and space. The natural light was introduced to enhance the placelessness of some important spots such as market, gallery and exhibition hall.

Pattern Iteration

Patterns are traced from the city fabric of Philadelphia. Transforming the 2d pattern to 3d pattern to find the potential of different kind of space bringing the promenade experience.

Layer1: river, railway, highway

Layer2: main street and block

Layer3: traffic route

City Mapping Layering is a method to interpret the city fabric of Philadelphia.Three layers of city fabric are mapped together to show how the city is constructed and the hierarchy relationship within Philadelphia.

Bird View Rendering

This building consists of a series of massing with three main interior space (two theaters and one black box) and two exterior roof garden. The fast speed traffic force to design the exterior space at the roof thereby create a continuation of the exterior and interior space.

Divede the site into blocks by pattern

Connect individual massing

Connect ground and upper space to create the entrance

Distort the form

Project pattern and generate structure

Project pattern and generate cluster space

Project pattern and generate window, mullion and landscape

Massing Development Process The massing development process follows the layering concept to apply the pattern step by step to shape the form and detail of the building

1 Entrance Render

2 Roof Garde

The large stairs take people to a different "world", it is the beginning of the fantastic promenade. The entrance also is designed with art elements to show the cultural atmosphere of Philadelphia.

The roof garden is an interpretat extruded rusted irrugular rock c feel walk in

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1 Gallery 2 Auditorium

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3 Black Box 4 Shopping Mall

5 Roof Garden

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6 Theater 7 Traffic Tunnel

3 Theater Lobby Render

en Render

tion of the projected pattern, the combines the grass make people n a "vally".

Theater is a typical "room within room" space.Between the interior and exterior space, it consist the vertical circulation. The pattern on the window project an beautiful shadow on the ground.

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8 Exterior Cinema

9 Office 10 Parking

11 Chapel 12 Observation Tower

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1 Gallery 2 Auditorium

3 Black Box 4 Shopping Mall 5 Main Entrance

6 Theater 7 Lobby

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8 Exterior Cinema

9 Office 10 Roof Garden

11 Chapel 12 Observation Tower

04

TRANSFORM FOR SURVIVING Cinematic Architecture Project Type: Residential Housing Tutor: Rega Date: 2015 Fall Location: Manitoga. New York

Narrative Storyboard:"renascence"

The government put forward a plan to build a dam in Manitoga (Our Site), according to which, original residents had to leave their home.

Ming, the head of the demolition team, was in charge of a removal plan

Hong led a protest t in order to protect

to the government t her hometwon.

This project starts from conceiving a new story to edit a 2-mintues movie on the basis of two selected roles and scenes from a Chinese movie named "STILL LIFE" by Zhangke Jia happened in a quarry site located in Manitoga.

The movie leaves a question on how to help the residents to live beside a dam and I proposed a vertically transformed megastructure to address this. The bridge, as the primary structure, connects both sides of the reservoir and supports each house component which could move up and down automatically along the space-grid system in order to accommodate the changing water level. The concept of "transformation" is expressed both vertically and horizontally. This aim of the project is to create a potential kind of flexible forms to face the challenge of the future world.

However, the protest failed

Ascending water leverl submerged Manitoga eventually.

Plan 1/8” = 1’-0” Movable horizontal plan shows the transformation of the space

Section 1/8” = 1’-0” Movable vertical section shows the transformation of the space

Vertically Transformer Diagram Transfomer tactic is applied to two aspects of this gallery project. Firstly, the vertical volumes could move up and down to accommodate the changing water.

Horizontally Transformer Diagram Secondly, some walls of each volume could rotate 0 to 360 degree to change space to make the individual space to become the continuous open space

Exterior Rendering

On the bridge platform

Cut Away Sectional Perspective

Moment Sections

Exterior Rendering

Nightview rendering

05

VEILED GARDEN "LIXIL" Competition Third Prize Project Type: A 50m2 Spa Tutor: Ariel Genadt Date: 2017 Spring Location: Taiki-Cho, Hokkaido, Japan

In imagining what “Spa in Nature” means at Memu Meadows, we considered that“Nature” is both visible as landscape, and sensed as heat, cold, humidity, sunshine, moonlight, and seasonal changes. To bring these aspects forth, we thought of the spa not as a building but as a GARDEN. Unlike pavilions built as autonomous objects, our design may be likened to an archipelago. This metaphor was employed in old Japanese garden designs by placing “islands”, stones, lanterns and gazebos in a field of greenery, water and gravel, connected by paths, bridges, and decks.

In our garden, visitors arriving from the main trail enter into a field, on a winding path, suggested by timber planks, fences, and tall reeds, set on a rectangular grid. Aligned with the cardinal directions, the garden’s geometry marks a break between the world from which one comes and the garden realm. The path meanders through a series of veils or screens, which afford various levels of enclosure and privacy. At its southern, we propose to place the 2016 “Infinite Field� pavilion as a resting space in the garden.

Path

Structural Wooden Screen

Concrete Base

Polycarbonate Veils

Low Wooden Fences

Timber Roof Structure

Building Elements Diagram This diagram shows the material and the assembly elements of this pavillion

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Elevation Drawing

WEST ELEVATION 1:50 This elevation shows how the building submerged into the enviroment

Site Plan 1Garden 2 Main Entrance to Spa 3 Change Room 4 Showers 5 Bath 6 Stairs to Rest Area 7Open Channel Collecting Rain from Roof 8 "Infinite Field" Rest Pavillion

Site Elevation

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B

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Perspective Ground Flore Plan A parasol-like circular roof, partly covered in polycarbonate sheets and timber slats as a shading layer, directs precipitation back to the garden in the South. The North-South alignment optimizes the solar gain in the cold months, simplifies shading in summer, when natural cross ventilation is used. The orientation of open vs. veiled spaces results from a combination of views onto the landscape, privacy, solar gain and prevailing winds from North and West. There are only two fully enclosed spaces: one contains the changing room superposed by a rest area(2 x 7.3m2). The other contains showers (7.3m2). The hot water bath (6.2 X 1.7= 10m2) is like a natural pond embedded in the ground, and semi enclosed by a translucent roof and lateral screens. The water surface links the spa to nature visually and symbolically.

Construction Section B-B' The hot water bath (6.2 X 2.6m) is like a pond in nature, but semi enclosed by a translucent roof and screens. It is embedded in the ground, made of exposed polished concrete that serves as a thermal mass to store the heat dissipated by thewater. The water is heated by Solar Evacuated Tubes, made of transparent Borosilicate glass, and available on the market. They are installed vertically (so they are exposed even in winter) at the highest point of the roof, and aesthetically integrated into the architecture.The heated water is used for bathing, but also as a heat source for the enclosed spaces. A backup electric heating system will heat the water in the months when daylight is scarce.

Winter Thermal Analysis In winter the prevailing winds come from the North West. Therefore we enclosed the spaces to the North West and opened the bath towards thesouth. The enclosed spaces are heated by radiant heat from the water below. Above the inclination of the roof helps to direct and gather steam to guide it towards the rest area. Snow provides extra insulation on the roof and a shield from wind at the ground level.

Summer Thermal Analysis In the warmer months the radiant heat system can be shut and cross ventilation ensures comfortable temperatures in the enclosed spaces and pool area. The roof inclination enssures easy shading in the summer and maximum solar gain in winter.

SectionA-A'

06

POWER OF SHADOW voronoi structure exploration

Parametric Pavilion 2014 Fall Liverpool, UK We gave the continuous vaults a voronoi structure, which was elegant but stable. Hollow hexagons bring light between them. To make a hexagon which grows out of the vault and which makes its own rhythm of no-light, light, nolight, light: that is the power of shadow. Our group taked advantage of the Digital Fabrication, laser cut about more than 200 pieces to make the final model.

07

TREE HOLDER Furniture Design

Furniture Design 2016 Spring Phiadelphia,US Exploring digital fabrication technology to design a furniture is the principle of this course. Lathe is the machine could sand the column to be tapered. 3d print technology makes diverse complicated joints to be achievable. Digital fabrication makes complex model to be accurate and crafted.

08

Internship Xiamen Hotel Renovation Project DDB Shanghai Architect Build the model by rhino and sketch up

09

REVIT Office Building

YIWEI GAO

ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO E-mail:yiweigao@upenn.edu Tel:215-512-9693