Portfolio_ChristineGao

Christine Gao Selected Works 2017-2022 Cornell Univeristy B.Arch ‘22

CONTENTS

1.

A Wooden Day Care

2.

WSH Student Union

3.

Shanshui City X Hudson Yards

4.

Disaster Machines

A Wooden

ITHAC Prof. Rudolfo Di

An aggregation of basic geometry creates a different set of conditions and em intersection while maintaining individuality. Same aged classrooms are conn of play, it also brings kids of different age group together. To optimize natural li skylight. Hence, the light bounces off the hills and softly illuminates the inte flooring follows the corresponding exterior g

n Daycare

CA, NY ias, Spring 2019

motions to each room. The volumes “kiss” one another, creating moments of nected by a connical indoor play area. Not only does this unify the experience light, each volume of the classroom is sheared towards the north to introduce erior. The interior finishes also resonates with the volumes. The direction of gemetry, while acting as a guide of circulation.

Form Function

Spatial Arrangement

WSH STUDE

ITHAC Prof. Kent Hubbb

Located at the heart of campus, the Willard Straight Hall h As one of the earliest student unions, Willard Straight Ha emerging new student culture. I drew inspirations from th spaces of the chamber nests and contains the student bo filters and pumps the flow in and out across the Libe Slope added to the original building. The Main Plaza space in f student out

ENT UNION

CA, NY bell, Spring 2020

has been a central hub for student life in Cornell University. all urgently needed an expansion to accommodate for the he circulatory anatomy of the human heart. As the primary odies, secondary spaces of connecting vessels and arteries e. New programs of concert hall, ballroom, and hotel were front of the Hall was extended to a terrace, drawing the t to a view.

Response to Site Conditions The proposed interrvation is an extension from the main Cornell Store Plaza down the slope, in corresponding views with the “hidden-disk” lounge of adjcent building

Filtering Landscape The meandering paths on the slope filters the bodies through directly down to the West Campus.

Primary Chamber Volumes Two primary chamber spaces are added to sustain a growing demand for public programs . The sphere fosters a multi-level concert space, and the cuboid hotel adja-

Connecting Arteries While the primary chambers contains, arteries and vessels connect the major spaces and pump the flow in and out of the building.

First Floor Plan

Transverse Section

Longitudinal Section

Student Town Hall The student town hall consists of a large four-story atrium space, flanked with classrooms on three sides, allowing natural light to wash in and softly illuminate the interior. The primary chamber drum, containing versatile ballroom and concert hall, nests above a series of terraces that extend out to the Libe Slope as a continuation of the landscape. On the upper floors, bridges are the connecting arteries that filter the student flow to adjacent programs, creating a feeling of openness, dynamism, and enhancing the social nature of the building.

SHANSHUI CITY X

NEW YORK

Prof. Henry Richardson

Collaborator: Hao

Upon the genesis of the New York Highline, a vertical city is r design approach, I went through an extensive vignette explor Gravity Sketch, and Twinmotion,. The final sequence manifeste twinmotion real-time renderings. The engagement between t imaginary and the hyper-realistic, conceptual and the highly exp of the design process, fostering ou

X HUDSON YARDS

K CITY, NY

n . Design VIII . Fall 2020

otian Jiang . Tim Qi

re-imagined through the scopes of Virtual Reality. Leading the ration with the aid of VR tools such as Unreal Engine, Arkios, ed the interplay between traditional graphic representation and these methods created tension and sparked resolution for the periential. The form of virtual collaboration was also a vital part ur fluency across various platforms.

SITE

Mediator between the two Fronts A vessel of meaning-making beyond its immediate context, the tower mediates the transition from nature in the foreground to a dense urban context in the background, softening the edge condition and filtering views through opacity and density. The striations of existing rail lines climb over the facade and extend to create a dialogue with the water, creating a meandering experience of traversing through mountains and streams with moments of clarity.

Office Employees Workers commute to the office via the train station at the ground level. Hybrid office spaces intersect with vertical gardens to create a more dynamic and green work environment. Access to the sky lobby provides a panoramic view of the city.

Fitness Runners The running track utilizes green space as an extension of the original Highline typology. Translucent brackets frame the view to the Hudson River and New Jersey, providing quick stops for runner along the Highline for refreshments.

Residents At the podium level, the glass elevator provides access to the multifunctional winter garden gallery space, translating the linearity of the Highline to vertical greenspace. At the tower level, a Double multizone core facilitates the circulation of different demographics.

Tourists The corridors perpendicular to the Highline are lined with shops. The vibrancy draws the visitors away from the Highline onto the podium. The connection between the Highline and the lake park acts as a continuation of the rail lines and draws the visitors out to a scenic view.

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Twinmotion Real-Time Simulation To capture the dynamic light quality of the entrance lobby, the rhinograsshopper-twinmotion workflow allowed for live visualization of different patterns and textures. The undulating screens filter the light and view of Hudson Yards, composing an Urban-Shanshui Painting with the city context.

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Disaster M

Valdivia, Chile Prof. Peter Ballm

We hold our breath in this disordered time. In increas vulnerability, as the human race, in the face of natural disa cases, disaster machines integrate construction technolog new architectures that charter through precarious landscap DNA of disaster-oriented thinking is later interwoven in th Northwest, to orchestrate a multiscale archite

Machines

e | Seattle,USA man, Spring 2021

sing frequencies, we receive daunting reminders of our asters. In response to the needs of inhabitation in extreme gies that are kinetic, performative, and adaptive to create pes. Taking lessons learned from the 1960 earthquake, the he tectonics of other seismic zones, particularly the Pacific ectural symphony to build targeted resilience.

Valdivia, Chile

Deflect

Reconstruct

Calibrate

City Center

Wetland

Fault Line

The seismic cloaking grid woven to the urban fabric releases ground tension and deflects the seismic waves, protecting critcial infrastructure

To retrofit and reconstruct the new wetlands, canals regulate the water level, houses float on rubbter foundation and adapt to the landscape

The drawing machine attach to the fault line as rigid frames attached to the Earth, infrastructure becomes instruments that map the Earth

BEFORE QUAKE

DURING QUAKE TECTONIC MOVEMENT

ADAPTED AFTER QUAKE

Seattle, USA Taking the lesson learned from the 1960 Valdivian Earthquake, the catalog of strategies are later adapted to Seattle, a city 300 years overdue for the “Next Big One”. The existing urban context renders Seattle extremely volatile to earthquakes, with the high-risk area near the water table highlighted in black. To retrofit Seattle, 3 systems are imposed on the coastal cityscape.

Drawing Machines and Geophone Station

Waterfront Canal System

Seismic Cloaking Grid

Held by tension and activated by seismic waves, the drawing machine vibrates to create a marking on soft ground, its armature extending out as a bridge to a viewing platform while regulating the incoming canal traffic. The geophone station consists of a magnet inside a coil that picks up the semic energy and converts it into electricity.

On the waterfront edge, the canal system filters and stabilizes land near water tables. On a regular basis, canals regulate the water level. When the land collapses in the event of the earthqauke, the rubber foundation that sits on the canals becomes buoys that allow houses and infrastructure to float and adapt to the ever changing landscape.

An array of underground boreholes that releases the ground tension and deflects the seismic waves down to the earth. Employing the borehole grid on an urban scale creates lines of defense, from an early seismic warning system to a network of denser grids that further reduce amplitude. Critical infrastructures are identified and protected.