Zhehui chang Portofolio 2010-2015

ZHEHUI CHANG|PORTFOLIO B. ARCH, SOUTHEAST UNIVERSITY,CHINA

In the movie "Inception", the process of getting into one's subconscious is called extract; the process of changing one's dream is called plant.

In architectural design process, circulation is the tool as both an extractor and a planter.

Circulation is the way human intervene architecture; it's the clue, the sequence, and sometimes the story. It inherits human being's primitive desire, our intention of interpreting our inner world into our action. Looking deep into ourselves, what we care most? The public realms of streets? Or The adjacency to nature?

In the process of extracting, circulation extract people's desire, giving way to space.

Circulation to Extract & Plant Architecture is activated by circulation. Movement naturally supports and connects one space to another. When people are moving along a fixed route, how could this route affect them? When they are sitting on a train running across cities, or staying at a certain corner for a rest, their sensuality about architecture is originated from experience along circulation. The fixed circulation affects our designing process, and finally decides an experiential transcendence through space.

In the process of planting, circulation creates space and emotion, plant ideas into ones mind via experience.

Chapter I

Circulation as Extractor

01

Unflattened Streets __Growing Community

02

Second Ground __Plant Exhibition Center for Children

Content Chapter II

Circulation as Planter

03

Sequence Shots __Commercial and Traffic Complex

04

Parallal Rooms __Non-Functional Space Design

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Channeling Infrastructure __ Urban Design

February - April, 2014 Individual work Instructor: Meiying Zhang Location: All cities suffering from housing shortages

Chapter I

Circulation as Extractor

UNFLATTENED STREETS _ Growing Community

"Life is to meet your own double need of substance and spirit by the most felicitous way." _ Q. M. Furniture Residence is the kind of architecture closest to human. However, residence in China is the kind of architecture the most boring. Neighbors are separated from each other as a result of optimal space-saving organization in residential buildings. In the time that the essential need of human being has improved from material to higher spirit experience, what can we do to meet people's need for nourishing spiritual life?

In this project, I tried to create a different community with streets directly organizing neighborhoods. The streets are composed of modular houses. By regarding residents in this community as designers of the community, residents create gathering space according to their demand.

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a. degree of families' desire to change their houses b.degree of families' economic capability to buy new house _those who want to change houses the most are those who cannot afford a new one c.the size of public space in residential areas that are wanted d.the size of public space in residential areas in real life _the size of public space never meets the demand

RESEARCH

PEOPLE'S DESIRE FOR HOUSES 1.dream house type 2.area ratio of different rooms 3.dream bedroom

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2 1

d c

a

b

CONCEPT

According to the statistices on the chart, I decided the size of unit house in my community to be 6m*6m*3m. This cuboid unit could meet various demands. For example, it could be separated into four rooms for a family, or into two normal-sized bedrooms, or even a luxurious bedroom with walk-in closets. If you have saved enough money, you could buy one more unit to improve living standards!

MODULAR HOUSES

We all love music so we live together, with separated bedrooms and a large rehearsal room.

Nowadays, the majority of Chinese people are trapped in their housesthe inflated residential market disables us to change our houses into larger ones.

Some friends are married so we seperated. Now I live on my own.

My husband and I have got a new living unit for one more bedroom and a larger living room.

After our son was born, we enlarged our house and had a nanny to look after our children.

When children grew up, they asked for separated bedrooms and an entertainment room.

Children moved out, our parents came to live with us. We sold one living unit.

My mother passed away, and my father needed a nurse.

We sold another unit and used the money to travel after retirement! sold

maid's room

bedroom

living room

bathroom

NEW TYPE OF PUBLIC SURFACE Apart from this, people are trapped in their houses because the public space in current communities is too boring to hang out.

In the old days, the PUBLIC SURFACE in residential areas were alleys leading in all directions.

PUBLIC SURFACE in modern communities are the narrow corridors, and four metal walls in elevators.

What would the communities be if we create a new type of

PUBLIC SURFACE?

02

These sketches are sections of two types of ideal growing community in my mind.

Different from the communities nowadays, both types in my imagination combine activities with circulations.

Public surface are folded in three dimensions.

TYPES OF PUBLIC SURFACE

Growing rules: 1.The owner of the house can add new 'boxes' adjacent to or on top of their house by demand.

2.House only grow vertically or horizontally.

3.Exposed rooftops can be used for gathering activities.

Stair-step shape surface

Outdoor theaters

Streets

These three types of fundamental space elements are organized to form various public surface in the whole community, realizing the original intention in sketches.

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SIMULATION OF GROWING PROCESS Temporary scaffolds are used in the growing process when units cannot support each other.

Firstly, units grow around the 'start points'-the equipment rooms providing water and electricity.After years, units reach other 'start points' and grow in higher altitude.Public surface is painted orange in model. It develops into a complex, coherent system for activities during the community growing process.

2014-2016 31 new families, 96 unit boxes in total

2016-2018 77 new families join in, 299 unit boxes in total

2018-2020 99 new families join in, 558 boxes in total 04

terraced streets

steps

peak

playground

outdoor meeting place

cinema

theatre

narrow alleys

open-air

sheltered

Different sections of public space define the activities that could take place there.

Private Unit

Public Space

This series of sections shows balanced proportion of public space and private units.

Flowing public space contributes to more frequent interactions in neighborhoods.

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MOMENTS CATCHING IN MODEL Spatial experience in this community is exciting and diverse.Scene changes as you are walk through the community.

You will see different kinds of public place, meet different people, and watch different stories that taking place along circulation.

"Streets were alive with children playing, people shopping, people strolling, people talking." _Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities

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September - November, 2012, 8 weeks Individual work Instructor: Peng Tang Location: Zhongshan Botanic Garden, Nanjing

Chapter I

Circulation as Extractor

SECOND GROUND _ Plant Exhibition Center for Children TOP 16, China Contest of the Rookies’ Award for Architectural Students

"Man is the measure of all things."

_ Vitruvius

Children, a group of undeveloped brains, reflect the trend to swing around nature. However, their curiosity cannot be satisfied nowadays since they are not allowed to play and observe freely in the limited space in cities.

In this project, I provided a second ground elevating children to a higher altitude so that they can get closer to tree canopies. The second ground allows children to run freely through woods. By leaving the connections between exhibition rooms open, a child becomes the author of his or her own path, thus creating personal circulations and insights.

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CONCEPT

The site is located in a botanical garden with various trees, taking my mind back to childhood memories of being too short to reach tree branches. Although I was eager to know the stories taking place between the branches and leaves, I could only imagine while looking up into the scattered light.

After analyzing distributions of trees, I found that most of the trees within boundary line are five to eight meters tall, which is suitable for climbing and observing. This inspired me to provide a place that would lift the children up to reach the crown.

SITE PLAN TREE HEIGHT ANALYSIS > 13m

10-13m

8-10m

5-8m

2-5m

0-2m

+5.00~+7.00 Birdnest observing

+1.00~+5.00 Fruit picking

+1.00~+3.00 Bee Observing

Âą0.00 Watching Âą0.00 Planting

GENERATION OF SECOND GROUND Most children are bored with exhibitions with only one route.

The various rooms are connected by second ground so each child can choose his or her own route. Which arouses the enthusiasm of the attendants.

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EXHIBITION CONTENT Root Exhibition: Roots of plants are showed in a different angle.Aquatic plants are raised in transparent water vats, so that children could see the roots clearly.

Stem Exhibition: Stems' sections in microscope are displayed to tell children how the stems deliver moisture.

Leaf Exhibition: We have small art studios in this exhibition room which provide children with tools to make handcrafts with leaves that they collect outdoors. Children could feel the beauty of leaves through making art works themselves.

Flower Exhibition: The aroma of sweet-scented osmanthus trees raised in the greenhouse pervades the whole exhibition room, making the room a perfect place to rest and play. Children could play and have a rest in the holes on the display panels.

Fruit Exhibition: Various fruits with various sizes are preserved in the glass tubes. Children could take the fruits and enjoy the delicacy of the nature while playing hide and seek in this forest of tubes.

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Stretched Scope

Comfort Zone

Private Zone

1.2 1.0 0.6

Year 3 Height: 1.0m

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Year 6 Height: 1.2m

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Children are active and restless, making them easily distracted and feel bored. Thus, to inspire their enthusiasm for watching exhibition, the exhibition rooms are designed to lead children to enjoy the display while playing.In addition, kids tend to stay in small spaces when they are resting, so that they feel secure.

After analyzing children's figure dimension, I create more smaller space for them to burrow, crawl and climb through.

1.2

EXHIBITION ROOM

Year 9 Height: 1.3m

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Root exhibition 1.5

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Stem exhibition

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Leaf exhibition

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Flower exhibition

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Fruit exhibition 11

Tree climbing area on the bridge

Making handcrafts with leaves

Play hide and seek in tube forest

Crawling and climbing through display panels

1:200 Model Overview of second ground

1:50 Model Moments of second ground 13

September - November 2013, 8 weeks Individual Work Instructor: Yang Shen,Peng Tang , Kitada Shitsuo Location: Maqun, Nanjing

Chapter II Circulation as Planter

SEQUENCE SHOTS _ Traffic and commercial complex Southeast Unversity's Joint Workshop with Tokyu Design (Japan)

" The spectator remains not observer 'on the outside', he becomes part of the composition through his participation. He enters a dialogue."

_Bernhard Hoesli, Transparency- Instrument of Design

The government planned to build a traffic and commercial complex in Maqun, Nanjing. People come here mainly for taking trains or transferring to other vehicles. Thus, the routes taken by people are fixed.

In this project, people's fixed circulation on trails decides architectures' layout in the site, bringing about special spatial experience.

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TRANSPARENCY I

According to Colin Rowe, phenomenal transparency is closely related to space perception.

It makes the space we percept much broader and more various than what we see. For instance, if there was a wall in front of us blocking part of our view of the mountain, we would still feel the existence of the broad natural space behind the wall.

When I was working on this project, I had just finished reading the book "Transparency". Then I took down notes and write down some understanding about it. It guided me to design the whole poject in the entire process, step to step.

TRANSPARENCY II

"Transparency makes possible an analogous classification of function and architectural form."

1

2

3

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TRANSPARENCY III

1."The pillar allows for numerous intersectiong zones that can be perceived horizontally in every possible connection. Perceived vertically, however, this ambiguity is volumetrically resolved and clarified."

2.Pillar through the slab suggests the existence of the spaces upstairs and downstairs.

3.Replace the pillar with trees.

4.The trees not only tell the existence of other space, they also tell people their approximate position in the architecture.

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TRANSPARENCY I

VIEW BEING BLOCKED BUT MORE INTRIGUING

BACKGROUND

Maqun transfer station will be a NEW GATEWAY of Nanjing -- three traffic lines are planed to be terminated at Maqun. People from other cities by intercity railway will transfer to other vehicles here to get to the center of Nanjing.

We would still feel the existence of the broad natural space behind the wall.

CONCEPT FOR PASSANGERS The Purple Mountain, a symbol of Nanjing, is on the northwest of Maqun Station. In order to make scenary of the Purple Mountain more intriguing to passangers, I raised volumes, leaving narrow space to give the passengers an intermittent view of the mountain.

FOR PEDESTRIANS Three pathways perpendicular to the three view corridors would benefit the large number of people from the surrounding dense residential areas.

Thus, when pedestrians are walking on the pathways, they could also get an intermittent view of the mountain.

N

n

Ce

jing

an

fN

o ter

Instead of a straightforward view, a screen of buildings creates fractions of the whole enchantment. The fun always lies in the unseen. Following a line of movement, on trail, highway or on pathway, visitors would find the mountain

appearing rhythmically in the gaps, being surprised

again and again.

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Traffic lines and the mountain

Pathways for circulation

View corridors for mountain scenery

Squares for gathering activities

"Transparency arises wherever there are locations in space which can be assigned to two or more systems of reference- where the classification is undefined and the choice between one classification possibility or another remains open."

Control the height of buildings.

Elevate pathways to second floor to seperate people and vehicles.

Curvo and extend the roof to provide exciting view and cover the terminals.

Place a theatre at the centre of the site to attact people.

Dig 'holes' to allow vertical transportation and allow trees grow through them.

"The connection between the space of two separate levels through a common expanse of air has the effect not only of optically increasing the size of small rooms but also of generating ambiguous spatial relations."

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TRANSPARENCY II STATION BEING COVERED UP BUT STILL DISTINCT

"Transparency makes possible an analogous classification of function and architectural form."

The rolling roof covered by vegetation give the station a deceptive appearance. But the complex traffic lines around it and its unusual huge massing are telling you clearly about the function under the roof.

1.Generic urban tissue with buildings facing the mountain 2.Complex transportation system with streets, alleys, main roads, highways, and railways The new large massing differs with the surrounding tissue. It can be speculated easily that it is a transfer station.

3.Cover the roof of the station with vegetation Although it is intergraded with the greenland around, it is still obvious that there is a transfer station under it.

The flower field on the roof creates a gorgeous landscape for the city.

When you stand in the flower field, it seems that the roof is extended to the mountain.

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TRANSPARENCY III SPACE SPECULATION BEING STRENGTHENED

Light rail No.2

Intercity railway

Light rail No.7

"The pillar allows for numerous intersectiong zones that can be perceived horizontally in every possible connection. Perceived vertically, however, this ambiguity is volumetrically resolved and clarified."

Light rail N0.13

Road Road Holes for vertical circulation Short cut Transfer between lines Come by bus Come by taxi

I created different sized holes on floor slabs in transfer station, on squares and pathways. These holes serve for vertical transportation.

With trees growing through holes, and partly blocked street view, people could speculate the existence of other space at different heights.

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In winter, covered by snow, the huge roof become an amusement park.

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September -October, 2011,4 weeks Individual work Instructor: Zhenhong Gu

Chapter II Circulation as Planter

PARALLEL ROOMS _ Non-functional space design

"The essence of architecture is space."

_ John Botman

This is a project in my first year, leading us to do some funcky experiments on spacing by simple operations.

With the space designed, I tried to imagine the space as a real arhitecture artifact with people's circulations and experience in it. The interesting thing is that, tubular space demarcates people's circulations, followed by varied spatial experience along the parallel and thus differentiated circulations.

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SPACE DIVISION To divide space of a cube, we normally do with floor slabs, columns, walls, and sometimes we excavate volumes.

If we join several elements together, divided space would reconnect again in different ways.

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SPACE OBSERVATION

Intersection of two different sized trapezoidal prisms of makes spatial subordinate relationship more clear. In addition, observing space from different angles brings about various scenes.

“One can then experience each individual space one at the time and one after the other. ...

Attention is reserved for the part and there is perhaps, less a comprehensive feel for the whole.� _Bernhard Hoesli, a note on poche

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PARALLEL CIRCULATION

Circulation in tubes:

“Attention is reserved for the part”

Two kinds of spaces coexist but do not interfere with each other. Although each has its own circulation, people could shift from one to another.

Circulation in cavity: there is more “comprehensive

feel for the whole”

Not only the tubular space left by excavating supports activities, the rest solid part can also be regarded as another cavity. Additional stairs make it possible to switch from tubes to the coherent large space.

ASSEMBLY

VIEW TERRACE LOBBY

VIEW EXHIBITION

MUSIC VIEW DRINK LOBBY

ASSEMBLY

ENTERTAINMENT

QUIET VIEW

LIBRARY NAPPING GALLERY CAFE CAFE CAFE CAFE VIEW STUDY VIEW LIBRARY READING GALLERY FREE FREE QUIET LIVELY LIVELY QUIET LOBBY LIBRARY CANTEENGALLERY LOBBY

ROUTE

ENTRY

QUIET BOOK INFORMATION

ENTRY

ROOF TERRACE

SUNSHINE VIEW MUSIC TOY NAPPING PLAY AREA

QUIET PRIVATE

BEDROOM BAR VIEW RELAX BEDROOM FRIENDS BED QUIET LIVING ROOM KITCHEN COOK

TV

GUESTS

ENTRY

Spatial characteristics make space suitable for different programs.

Long circulations and sporadic light in “tubes” make them suitable for exhibition and relaxation.

Coherence and high space make “cavity” a gathering place.

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November,2013 - January 2014, 6 weeks Collaborator: Wen Zishen My role: Concept; Analysis; Model; Drawing Instructor: Li Xinjian Location:Nanjing, China

Chapter II Circulation as Planter

Channeling Infrastructure _ Urban Design

The prosperous brocade industry in old days brought about communities centered on brocade production around Nanjing. However, in recent decades, with the factories being moved out of rural area, these historic workshops and factories are gradually abandoned. Craftsmen and workers still live around those sites, but they work in new factories in suburb area. Frequent traffic congestions in the center of Nanjing make it hard for workers travel a long distence to work everyday.

To revive the forgotten historical sites, we connect these sites to new factories, by a bicycle lane elevated above roads. Workers are brought out to suburban factories, while tourists are brought in to historic sites. In this way, workers' daily routine to work is also dredged.

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BROCADE INDUSTRY IN NANJING 1910s

Brocade-related types of work change in ratio from 1910s to 2020s

2020s

Workers in surburb area

Production Retail Wholesale

Workers in urban area

Tourism 600 500 400 300 200 100 0

s s s s s 10 60 80 00 20 19 19 19 20 20

Number change of brocade-related workers in areas below Weaving Museum Built in 1645 It is used to display brocade for Qing aristocracy.

Brocade Factory Built in 1912

Baicaiyuan

Built in 1914 This historic block for brocade trade in 1910s is in good situation and needs rivival.

It has been moved to surberb area, but the workers still live near it.

Honghuadi

Zhijinxiang

Built in 1914 Flowers for dyes are planted here.

Built in 755 It is the birthplace of Yun Brocade. Some craftsmen living here are technical guidance in factory.

New Brocade Farcory Built in 1997

Ranbufang

Built in 1916 Historic block for brocade trade .

Yun Brocade Mall Built in 2001

CHANNEL LABOR OUT & TOURISM IN New functions of brocade-related spots Park Exhibition Restaurant Hostel Factory Shopping mall Residents working in suburban brocade factory Residents doing brocade-related work in rural area Unit : 50 people Route to work: Labor output Route to visit hisrorical brocade-related spots: Tourism income

Driving circulation Traffic jam: 5~10 minutes Traffic jam: 3~5 minutes Traffic jam: 1~3 minutes Brocade-related spots Traffic jam often take place in this old city, making it hard to visit all these spots.

Proposed cycling circulation Proposed cycling circulation Surrounding roads

in

Labor

out

Tourism

To revive the forgotten historical sites, we connect these sites to new factories, by a bicycle lane elevated above roads. Workers are brought out to suburban factories, while tourists are brought in to historic sites.

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REVIVAL OF BAICAIYUAN

Time built 1910s

Baicaiyuan is important in our bicycle channel system in that it is the joint point between the circular lane and the linear lane.

Therefore, we chose Baicaiyuan for further design.

We are surprised to find out that although abandoned, almost all the historic buildings are in good situation.

Most of the old buildings are planned to take the same jobs according to history. Some of them are planned to serve for the new bicycle lane.

1950s

Bicycle lane

1970s

Current functions

Blind alleys

New functions

New alleys

Abandoned house Shops Hotel

Bicycle hotel Exhibition

Brocade shops bicycle rental

Buildings along the bicycle lane provide service for riders, such as bicycle repairing and bicycle rentals. The shops, restaurants and hotels here allow riders ride in directly.

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BICYCLE LANE SYSTEM

The bicycle lane goes into surrounding shops and hotels, making the trip more exciting. Guests of bicycle hotels could ride into hotels and push their bicycles into their roomes.

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OTHER WORKS

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Furniture design for Camerich

I. MATERIAL SENSUALITY

Southeast Unversity's Joint Workshop with TU Delft August 2011 ,1 week Collaborator: Zishen Wen; Xinyang Huang, Zhi Ye, Qianyun Ji My Role: Concept; Analysis; Build Instructor: Biling Hu

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II.Community Center April - June 2011 8 weeks Individual Work Project Location: Nanjing, China Program: 300m2, 3-floors public building,exhibition, entertaiment, cafe Instructor: Guo Di

III.Cafe in Micro-Yuan'er Exhibited in Beijing International Design Week, 2014 Internship in Standard Architecture Project Location: Dashila, Beijing, China Program: 9m2, cafe Instructor: Zhang Ke, Zhang Mingming My Role: Design; Model Making

Constructed in October, 2014

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V.Drawing Outdoor sketching, in my hometown Zhangjiagang Water color drawing 2012

I spent most time of my childhood in this old alley. There were always stories taking place here, nourishing my daily life. Psychological experience and physical circulation syncretize with each other perfectly in this this typical Chinese living space. Thanks to this narrow alley, I was inspired to explore architectural design by combining movement and feelings.

Now, my personal narrative is really about to start again.

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Tel: (+86) 159-9636-1603 E-mail: changzhehui@126.com