Shen Chen An | Graduate Application Portfolio | 2021

University of Virginia, School of Architecture

CHEN-AN SHEN Portfolio for 2021 Graduate School Application — 2 To 3: From Binary to Complexity

works 2017-2021

Table of Content Studio Works Amazon.edu

Group Work / FALL 2020 Instructor: Felipe Correa

1 3

Paper Making Museum

15

A New Frontality

25

Research / Exhibition

35

Individual Work / FALL 2019 Instructor: Peter Waldman

Individual Work / SPR 2020 Instructor: Schaeffer Somers

Tale of Two Perspectives

37

Villages in the Urban

43

Individual Work / SUMMER 2019 Instructor: Shiqiao Li + Esther Lorenz

Individual Work / FALL 2020 Instructor: Felipe Correa

Other Works

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STUDIO

WORKS

Intervention of the Campus in the Historic Site

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The Institutional Identity of the Tower

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Amazon.edu: A 21st Century Metropolitan Campus

Group Work | FALL 2020 Project Instructor: Felipe Correa Site: 424 Fifth Ave, Manhattan

Amazon.edu examines how the former Lord and Taylor Building can serve as an epicenter for a new educational model that capitalizes on partnerships between academia and tech industries. The proposal conceives a new civic space for the campus of the 21st century metropolis. The project argues that the common Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) Program in Manhattan can serve as the basis for a new space that links the academy with the many different publics that constitute the city. Adding a tapering tower to the existing Lord & Taylor building, the project negotiates between two critical spatial identities: the campus as a global brand versus the campus as the epicenter of a new common landscape. The typology of the tower and the atrium plays a central role in synthesizing these two scales. *The project is designed collaboratively with Dylan Gibbs and Mary Key

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Company

Practice

Education/Practice

Government Research Council

R&D Development

Practice/Education

Innovation Funds

Developers

Corporate or Individual

Assistance

Research Led by Professors

Professional Workers

Practice + Education

Intern

Students

Education

Assistance

Company

Skilled Workers

Attempting degree

Education

Bachelor Degree

Assistance

Master Degree

ARCH 4010: Beyond Lord & Taylor

Faculty

Education

University

Professors Or research teams

Adapted Education Model

10 December 2020

Roof Classrooms Research

POPS

Co-working Bridges

Collective Amenities

Public Ground Floor

ARCH 4010: Beyond Lord & Taylor

Hierarchy of Occupation

New Model of Education / New Use Adaptation of Privately Owned Public Space (POPS)

The project questions the traditional education model of the research university, in which emphasis is put on the research conducted by professors while the cultivation of skilled labor forces is a by-product. The project proposes a new prototype for education model that emphasizes the involvement of high-tech companies and the collaboration between academia and the industry, using 424 fifth as a tool to interface with the public through an identifiable space, using instructors and students as a method of corporate transparency.

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10 December 2020

POPS Major Tech Companies Universities Site: 424 Fifth Ave.

Manhattan Academia-Industry-POPS Mapping Looking at the clustering of building types within the city, universities and major tech campuses are scattered throughout Manhattan, specifically midtown, along with the POPS (privately owned public spaces). While these spaces coexist, they never overlap. The projects proposes a space that combines these three spatial types.

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Existing Urban presence

Add POPS Ground

Removal Phase I

Removal Phase II

Add Institutional Identity

Removal Phase III

Add the Tower

Proposed Urban Presence

Phasing Diagram & Public Interface The project removes outdated structure of the building and preserves the historic facade. By removing the northern part of the facade, the project managed to create an activated ground floor that serves as the major interface between the city and the institution, transforming the ground floor into a civic space and return it to the city.

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POPS Ground Floor: Interior & Exterior The exterior and interior conditions are joined together to create this new use adaptation for a privately owned public space for academic purposes. The exterior courtyard serves as the new entry way into the Lord & Taylor building, forming a new civic space, and creates a unique view-shed into both the historic building and the organization of the institutions.

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Exhibition Bridge I

Exhibition Bridge II

Classroom Bridge II

Library Bridge II

ARCH 4010: Beyond Lord & Taylor

Classroom Bridge I

Library Bridge I

Classroom Bridge III

Classroom Bridge IV

Bridge Interior Section Perspectives

Floating Mass Sections & POPS Campus Section Perspective Floating masses are inserted into the volume of the former Lord & Taylor building to house the primary campus functions of the project and provide the necessary spaces for academic institutions. The insertion creates a figure ground relationship in which the bridge interior takes on the institutional identity while the rest of the volume becomes part of the POPS (Privately Owned Public Space). The public will be able to understand activities happening in the bridges, adding to the transparency of Amazon.

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10 December 2020

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ARCH 4010: Beyond Lord & Taylor

10 December 2020

Market Rate | Office Space + Co-Living Dorms

Market Rate Housing Plan | 1 in = 35 ft |

Program Division of the Tower

Office + Co-living Plan | 1 in = 35 ft |

Roof Plan | 1 in = 50 ft |

Tower as a Corporate Asset and Alibi for the POPS Campus A tower is given back to the Amazon for it’s corporate interest, giving the firm enough interest to pay for the POPS campus, also creating an alibi for its low density. The tower consists of office space, dormitory and co-living space, and market rate housings. It is designed to reach as tall as possible given the FAR and the context, so that Amazon can slowly buy back the property as needed.

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POPS Campus for City

ARCH 4010: Beyond Lord & Taylor

Corporate Tower for Amazon

Potential Expansion of the Campus

Building Height Comparison

Development Right Transfer & Potential Growth of the Campus The project leverages the demand of Amazon and the demand of the city. By removing the density from the existing Lord & Taylor and transforming that into a POPS foreground, the project is able to propose a tower height of 1428 feet, 28 feet short of the tip of the antenna of the Empire State building. Only by giving Amazon the iconic tower that comprises offices, dorms, and market rate housings, the project is able to return the historic Lord & Taylor to the city as a civic space.

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10 December 2020

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Materiality of Paper Translating to Concrete

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Materiality of Paper Translating to Glass

02

Inscribing Process: Paper (Making) Museum

Individual Work | FALL 2019 Project Instructor: Peter Waldman Site: China Town, Manhattan

The project examines the traditional Paper Making technique from China, and proposes to translate the process of making paper into a museum and a community exhibition center in the heart of downtown China Town, seeking to bring the community together by inserting a monumental piece that resonates with its cultural tradition. The project analyzes the process of making paper, extracting two narratives from it based on the transformation of the material, and the movement of the workers. Two monolithic pieces are developed from that, one for the exhibition of the fading Paper Making process, one for the exhibition of works produced by paper from the community.

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Bake

Scroll Exhibition

Hold-Filter-Press

Multi-Media Exhibition

Store-Mash

Rare Book Exhibition

Soak-Wash-Boil-Rinse

Community Library

Paper Making Process Abstraction

Material Status Water

(includes)

Process

(includes)

Book Stacks (Translates)

Concrete

Crash-Bask

Movement (Translates)

(Courtyard and Circulation Corridor)

Glass

Double-Height Exhibition

Process Abstraction & Diagrammatic Floor Plans

Plant-Pick-Chop-Skin

19

Community Work Exhibition

The project abstracts the traditional process of making paper based on the different status of the material and the circulation of the worker in each procedure.

The two narratives are then developed with architectural specificities, with the material status informing the placement of walls and openings in one piece, and the circulation of the worker informing the placement of the exhibition on the other piece.

Paper Phase: Superimposed Experience

Mixture Phase: Immersing Experience

Fiber Phase: Linear Experience

Liquid Paper Phase: Compressed Experience

Solid Phase: Compact Experience

Pulp Phase: Roaming Experience

Axonometrics: Planning Atmosphere and Program Based on the two narratives abstracted from the Paper Making process, the project develops two distinctive atmospheres and programs for the two monolithic pieces. One monument, constructed out of concrete, providing space for the actual process of making paper (tools and materials), and one transparent, an exquisite glass box providing space for exhibition and community activities.

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Stage IV - Store

Stage V - Press

Stage III - Soak

Stage II - Bask

Stage I - Plant

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Stage I - Chop

Level V - Media Display Level VI - Scroll Collection

Level IV - Large Exhibition

Level III - Community Library

Level I - Community Work Exhibition

Level II - Double-Height Installation

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Birds Eye View of the Historic Lawn and the Proposed New Addition

25

03

A New Frontality: The Lawn in 2035

Individual Work | SPR 2020 Project Instructor: Schaeffer Somers Site: University of Virginia, Charlottesville

The project envisions a new addition to the existing UVA campus in 2035 that connects the campus back to the existing national railroad system, not only threading the different grounds of the campus together but also re-introduce the Lawn and Rotunda to the continental network.

The project identifies the lack of orientation and frontality in the current planning of the campus, and proposes to establish a train station with a visitor center and a student center to re-establish the frontality. The project can be understood as a contemporary translation of the historic lawn, extracting spatial characteristics from the Lawn and re-invent it with modern language and technique.

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The Lawn in 1825: Historic orientation establishing the order in wilderness; Lawn as an academic interface open to the public.

The Lawn in 2020: The orientation is obscured by the built environment; Lawn is enclosed as a backyard of the campus.

The Lawn in 2035: Restore the orientation by establish the new frontality; A new lawn is added as a new public interface.

Site Plan | 1 in = 350 ft |

Restore / Flip the Orientation The project restores the orientation by connecting the Lawn back to the national railroad system, extending it to the North, adding a new lawn with one student center and one visitor center to re-establish the frontality.

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Entering the Campus: The Historic & The Proposed Visitors and incoming students will enter the campus from the North with the visitor center on the right and student center on the left, both bending up towards the railroad and bending down towards the Rotunda.

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Historic Condition

Contemporary Translation

Colonnade The project identifies the colonnade as one of the characteristic spatial condition in the historic Lawn that creates an intermediary space between the public Lawn and the private Lawn room. The project translates the historic Doric column with the cruciform column with steel finishes, diminishing the presence and still creates the same lighting and spatial condition.

Doric Column + Brick Wall

‘Mies’ Column + Glass wall

Private Roof Terrace

Collective Free Floor

Elevated Terrace The elevated roof terrace in the historic lawn are the connective tissue between the pavilions serving as a private circulation for the professors.

The project translates that with the concept of free plan. Floor plates are entirely supported by the pavilions, leaving the column free space as a collective terrace for student and faculty to activate.

Pavilions The pavilions are the most significant spatial characteristic of the historic lawn. They are designed based on one prototype but have diverse typological variations. They are all single family houses for the professors. The project translates the concept of pavilion by developing four different types of Brick Pavilion based on programmatic differentiation. The organization of walls and openings are dictated by the programs, creating a same diversity as the historic lawn.

Pavilion I

Pavilion XI

Pavilion II

Pavilion XII

Pavilion IV

Pavilion XIII

Pavilion VI

Pavilion XIV

Same Program / Different Types

Historic Lawn

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Different Programs / Different Types

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-1F Plan | 1 in = 60 ft |

Visitor Center: Waiting Room The underground volume serves as the visitor center with waiting rooms, galleries, cafes, offices, and activity spaces. Courtyards are inserted as the inverted pavilion, serving as light wells and entrances from the ground.

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A

A’

-1F Plan | 1 in = 60 ft |

Student Center: Open House Reception The volume above the ground is programmed for the faculty and students in campus. Enclosed programs such as lecture hall, library, faculty office are contained in Pavilions, supporting the floor plates for column free activity spaces.

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Section Perspective Through Student Center | A-A’

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RESEARCH /

/ EXHIBITION

37

Reference: Perspective as Symbolic Form by Erwin Panofsky

04

Tale of Two Perspectives Individual Exhibition Project | SUMMER 2019 Project Advisor: Shiqiao Li + Esther Lorenz Exhibited in University of Virginia School of Architecture This installation is a morphology of the traditional media of scroll. The project discusses the different implication of reality in different representation modes and perspectival style. By employing a special joint between pieces of the scroll, viewers are rendered the ability to interact and unfold the scroll to explore the back facade of it. The front facade is a view from the atrium of a typical HongKong residential building with one vanishing point. The back facade is a traditional painting of Chinese landscape with multiple vanishing point. The installation aims to provide a unique experience of shifting ‘realities�.

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Information Density

One Point Perspective: A Mathematical Construction The project examines how human perception understand the way one point perspective translates reality to image. The way one point perspective re-creates the reality in the mind is through a precise calculation. The body will stay still while the mind understand the structure first, then perceive the details

Features

Information Density

None Perspective: A Imaginative Construction The non-perspectival drawing in traditional Chinese landscape paintings translates reality in a different way. The body will not stay still while perceiving the image, as there is no mathematic relationship at all. Instead, the eye will capture features after feature, while the mind gradually fills in the detail as connective tissues.

It is a feature generated construction.

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ChenDong Village

DaPi Village

MiLong Village

RongXi Village

TaiCheng Village

XiaMao Village

ChenTian Village

43

DaGang Village

NanGang Village

DongPing Village

PingSha Village

SanYuanLi Village

ShaBei Village

TangGe Village

TangXi Village

XinKe Village

FuShan Village

GuangMing Village

QingHe Village

JinPen Village

LongHu Village

QuanXi Village

ShiMa Village

TianXin Village

YaGang Village

HengSha Village

RenHe Village

ShuiLi Village

WuXi Village

ZhuYi Village

LianTang Village

Reference: The City in the City—Berlin: A Green Archipelago

by Florian Hertweck & Sebastien Marot

05

Villages In the Urban Individual Research Project | FALL 2020 Project Advisor: Felipe Correa Site: Guangzhou, China The research focuses on village as a critical spatial entity that exists in the urban settings. These urban villages present themselves as distinctively different fabric from that of the city. They are not only relics of the historic rural villages, but also part of a larger commercial network. The research focuses on how to identify the significance of the villages, and how to negotiate the interface between the city and the village. By looking at the mobility infrastructures and added context that defines the boundary of the village, the project is seeking for potential transformation that redefines the interface with the city and introduces a new lease of life for those villages.

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Historically Rural V

The research identifies the footprint of the villa urban sprawl in Guangzhou. The mapping s fabric of city, in relationship to th

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Villages in the City

ages that have been brutally urbanized by the shows the distinct fabric of villages from the he major mobility infrastructures.

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B

C’

D

A’ A

C

D’

Historic Entrance Ancestral Shrine (Community Center) Historic Circulation

B’

Renovated Street Re-developed Residential Complex Latest Addition (Office, Trade Center, ...)

Urban Interface for Potential Transformation San Yuan Li Village Plan | 1 in = 600 ft |

Village as Defined by Highways & Potential Transformation for New Urban Interface A closer look at one of the urban villages reveals that how the most historic village footprint are enclosed by new additions of office and industrial buildings, which are then enclosed by mobility corridors. The drawing analyzes the organization of the village, identifies the critical spatial entity, and the site for potential transformation for a new urban interface.

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A - A’: Typical Section Through the Village

B - B’: Section Through the Renovated Street

C - C’: Section Through the Tower and the Highway Bridge

D - D’: Section Through the Main Ancestral Shrine

Diagrammatic Sections: Urban Fabric vs. Village Fabric A series of sections cutting in different directions show not only the inner spatial organization of the village but also the relationship between the village and the urban. The original village fabric is contained by office and industrial space on the periphery, separated from the city by the highways.

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Villages as Parts of

The research further identifies that, while the tively different fabric from that of the city, it al commercial network. The mapping here show commercial zon

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the Urban Network

e village is separated and presents a distinclso functions as a critical support for a larger ws the relationship between village and critical nes in the city.;

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OTHER W

WORKS

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06

Study Model Collection Individual Project Project Advisor: N/A Site: N/A

The gallery shows a series of study models with material ranging from rockite to paper. It includes site analysis model, precedent study model, concept model, etc.

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Culture of Congestion & Congestion of Culture Individual Project Project Advisor: N/A Site: N/A

This is an abstract mapping of the Manhattan island inspired by Delirious New York. The mapping takes on the idea of Culture of Congestion, and argue that the Manhattan island is also a congestion of culture, where critical events activated by populations from the world are self-generating the identity and culture of New York City.

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CHEN-AN SHEN

works 2017-2021