Jingxiang Zhang
email: zjx1577876125@163.com 2021-2024 Syracuse university B'Ach '26 Selected work
Housing program in Lisbon, Portugal
Preservation program in Lower East Side
Neighborhood service facilities on Los Angeles
Education
Analysis
Type: residential
Location:Rua de Venezuela, Lisbon, Portugal
Instructor: Pablo Sequero Barrera
2023
The project is located in a residential area in the north of Lisbon, Portugal. This area brings together residential models from different periods and styles of Lisbon, from traditional Portuguese houses to modernist dormitories. The living patterns of local residents have undergone tremendous changes in the past 100 years. Residents are often seriously ignored during this change and have become parameters envisioned by designers in advance.
Juhani Pallasma once said in the book: "People's design of residential layout naturally stems from people's first impression of their home." The residents' own awareness should be an important part of the residential design. This project reduces the architect's intervention in the space during the design phase by minimizing interior walls, retaining maximum spatial flexibility and autonomy within the house. The design encourages residents to participate in the design of their living spaces, spontaneously form communities and interact with their neighbors.
In order to create a freer plan in each unit, reduce the interior walls that originally divided functions as much as possible, leave more "undefined" space for residents, and return the power of house layout to residents. And as time goes by, the residents' projection of "home" can be expressed in different indoor layouts.
Type: preservation
Location:605 E 9th St, New York, NY 10009
Instructor: Ivi Diamantopoulou
teammates：Yuqi Duan
Our design treat preservation as a way of critiquing historical landmark and recovering lost opportunities offered by its spatial potential. We wanted to challenge that notion of tight enclosure by reactivating historically underused courtyards as friendly, secured urban interfaces for exposing East Village’s character. Instead of viewing landmark as a static of the past, it should be seen as an evolving entity for further development on missed opportunities. we
envision tenement residents to reconvene on rooftops and balconies as they did 100 years ago and appreciates what the school offers for urban life. For this purpose, the gallery and community stage bookends the northern and southern streets, with gallery being a more formal, curated form of exposition and stage being a casual, down-to-earth flipped side of it. both the lounge and exhibition halls connects to archives and offices at the same level. Visitors must pass through a predetermined sequence of exhibition - archive - public space on each level, which blurs the boundary between what’s considered public and private. A sense of openness and democracy with LPC hearing meeting is emphasized throughout the design. Whether you’re inside archive, gallery, or meeting spaces, visual contact with the hearing hall is always maintained.
Type: Neighborhood service facilities
Location:320 S Santa Fe Ave,Los Angeles,Unite State
Instructor: Bradley J Silling 2022
After the industrial relocation and urban decline at the end of the 20th century, the industrial area in downtown Los Angeles gradually became a shantytown. The city's vulnerable groups gather in large numbers in this place, but the supporting public spaces and service facilities are seriously lacking. Due to Los Angeles' special car traffic mode, the narrow sidewalks are difficult to become a place for urban residents to gather and communicate. Therefore, a public space based on human scale is extremely important for the lives of surrounding residents. This project is located on the border of the industrial area in downtown Los Angeles, California. It hopes to provide a public space for people to rest and stay in this block by designing a public space to reconnect the city and the suburbs. This project includes urgently needed local service facilities such as urban gardens, adult skills centers, daycare centers and medical assistance. The medical center is placed on the first floor to help people get medical help in the fastest form, while the adult skills center is placed on the second floor to help the unemployed retrain professional skills and find jobs, and the daycare center is placed on the third floor farthest from the street noise. These different functions are placed on a gradually rising slope, and people can follow and touch all the functions of the building in the process. The building is divided into two parts, one is the enclosed space formed by different blocks, and the other is the public space formed by the roof of each block. People can experience the project inside the different blocks, and can also move and communicate in the public space formed on the top of these blocks.
In terms of appearance, the building adopts a wooden frame structure, which is between the solid wall and the completely open air, providing a vague and flexible definition for the public space inside the building. I hope to blur the boundary between the building and the community through this structure. People can easily penetrate from the community into the building through these frames, which makes there more visual and experiential interaction between the building space and the community space, and also makes the relationship between the inside and outside of the building more flexible and changeable.
Type: Metabolism Community
Location:Arborea, Italy
Instructor: Luca Ponsi
teammates：Xuance wang, Sweni Prajapati 2024
By exploring the social and historical context of Arborea, Sardinia, focusing on its transformation under Mussolini's regime into a hyper-grid “Bonifica” (reclaimed) land intended for agricultural development and Italy's food supply. Over time, urbanization and technology-driven agriculture have led to population decline and significant demographic shifts, creating an “vacant”environment waiting for something new to happen. Italy peninsula and Sardinia geographic locations has made it a key site for refugee migration, serving as both a transit point and a temporary haven. However, this influx places immense pressure on governmental resources and infrastructure. In response, this project envisions a self-sufficient living community on Arborea's underutilized land. While unappealing to locals, this land holds great potential as a foundation for refugees to rebuild their lives and establish a sense of belonging.
Our proposal introduces a "loop-by-loop" system, fostering a centripetal force to unite individuals from diverse cultural, social, and linguistic backgrounds. This system emphasizes collaboration, enabling refugees to build, work, and thrive together by adding workshop, communal and assembling spaces. The construction manual book will be provided to each individual or family empowers them to construct their own homes, balancing the needs of both individuals and the government.
The modularization way of building prioritizes cultural diversity, offering flexibility in design and avoiding the confinement of refugees to uniform, small living spaces. By integrating inclusivity, self-sufficiency, and cultural expression into the design, this community serves as a sustainable and harmonious solution to address the challenges of refugee integration while revitalizing Arborea's underutilized potential.
After studying the architectural typology on Sardinia, we discovered the migration and renewal of buildings around Sardinia. People built houses following the migration of sheep and moved and renewed them seasonally. The residents of these communities are generally herders, who adhere to the tradition of helping each other build and work during this migration process. The community exists in a continuously growing and vibrant way. We hope to dilute the fascist planning by reintroducing this traditional but vibrant architectural typology back to arborea, re-establish the relationship with nature for the local community, and revitalize the local community.
As one of the public facilities arranged in the center of the site, the "Earth Table" can serve as a bridge connecting residents on both sides of the site and a place for residents to gather and celebrate. The "Long Table" will try to draw the user's sight to the rice fields, bringing people closer to nature. And the modular design allows the building to change its shape according to needs.
At the center of the site are the workshop and the residents’ council. We hope to combine the two different typologies of the workplace and the council hall and find the possibility of coexistence. We hope that this combination can enhance the democracy of the building and promote equality in the community.
Ice Sucking Ice Movement
Type: analysis drawing
Location:southwest Santa Cruz Province, Argentina.Instructor: Tara Pearson 2023
This series of drawings delve deep into the intricate workings of moraine sedimentation 'at the Perito Moreno Glacier,emphasizing its role in extrapolation and projection. Through detailed illustratians, the process of sediment deposition and its implications for glacier dynamics are explored, offering insights into the glacier's
Water Temple by Tadao Ando
Type: analysis drawing
Location:Awaji Island, Japan.
Instructor: Tara Pearson 2023
