Chuchu Chen_Interior architecture_2023RISD

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Rhode Island School of Design

Master of Interior Architecture

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CHUCHU CHEN O L

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My undergraduate background in landscape architecture has made me more sensitive to the relationship between people, spaces and the surrounding environment. The interdisciplinary thinking brought by my academic background helps me break through established frameworks and think about the building itself from the inside to the outside, and from the outside to the inside.

Architecture is rooted in specific places and social backgrounds, its existence is valuable. By adapting existing structures, we can enhance building performance and functionality. For me, the redefinition of architecture based on preexisting elements opens up new possibilities.

Through my graduate-level academic projects, I give new meaning to abandoned or neglected buildings, enhancing them with sensitive new additions that respond uniquely to the place, engaging with the demands of the setting, the environmental considerations, and the spirit of the existing structure. I strongly believe that the best creation is re-creation.

P R O L O G U E

3 04 Big Family 05 Deep Breath 36 02 Vertical Delirium C O N T E N T S EXHIBITION ADAPTIVE REUSE 05 Crossing the Pell 03 Artists' Commune Other Works 06 Perception Garden LANDSCAPE 04 14 20 26 40 48

CROSSING THE PELL

Project: Exhibition

Loction: Old Colony House, Newport, USA

Year: 2022 Fall

Team work (Chuchu Chen, Zhaoyang Cui, Victor Deng, Jinlan Huang, Xinzhu Huang, Shravan Rao, Yicheng Ren, Hongli Song, Xueyun Tang, Zhijie Tang, Zefeng Wang, Xinjie Xiang, Chang Xie, George Xu)

"Crossing the Pell" is an exhibition that used the magic of virtual and augmented reality technology to explore tantalizing visions for a future Pell Bridge that allows people to enjoy breathtaking views over Narragansett Bay while walking or bicycling over the span. Our goal was to help acclimate the public to something new using virtual reality to create an immersive 3D experience.

More than 450 participants, ages 3 to 93, were transported inside these inspiring visions, where they virtually walked and pedaled 2.1 miles across the iconic Claiborne Pell Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in New England.

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Selected Press

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Exhibition Photograph

Background

Poet Carl Sandburg said, “Nothing happens unless we first dream.” The construction of the Claiborne Pell Bridge in 1969 resulted from the dreams of many who wished to connect Aquidneck Island to Jamestown and beyond. More than half a century later and within a different context, many dream of crossing that bridge not in a car but on foot or on a bicycle.

The projects - Conductivity, The Net, Inhabited Bridge and All the World’s a Stage - were first developed in 2021 during the Crossing the Pell RISD Interior Architecture studio. Students developed visions for adding a suspended lower level to the bridge that would allow for pedestrians and cyclists as well as arts venues, parks, cafes and even a floating fish market.

I am in the Exhibition Design Team (2022), the team is responsible for the design, construction, reception of the entire exhibition. Use state-of-the-art virtual reality (VR) to bring to life the designs developed in the Crossing the Pell studio.

Pell Bridge, Newport, USA

Requirements

Limited budget (up to 5000$)

Exhibits

Fast construction (only half a day to install everything)

Reusable (Travel Exhibition)

Easy Transportable (Travel Exhibition)

New Technology (VR and AR)

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4 Infrastructural Visions

First concept - Community Participation

Location: Old Colony House, Newport Design team: 5 students in total

This was the first design concept we came up with and was eventually replaced. How could our exhibition have a strong impact on the local community? What could our exhibition be when facing audience that really encounter with the issue and are familiar with the topic? In order for that, we intend to design the exhibition centered with participatory zones where people are encouraged to stay and talk. Their own opinions and stories are collected, which help to extend the exhibition.

I'm responsible for the Spacial Language, Construction ideas, Modeling and Rendering.

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Pell Bridge Ride & Participation Island Rendering Floor Plan Pano Tour Rendering AR Explore Rendering

ACTIVITES ACTIVITES

PARTICIPATION ISLAND

Final concept - Crossing the Pell

Location: Old Colony House, Newport Design team: 14 students in total

We created the exhibition from scratch. Our team was hands-on from site selection, design, procurement of all furniture, graphic design, printing, to construction, and reception of citizens.

I'm responsible for the Installation of Column Enclosure Structure, Lighting System, Shooting and Editing of the VR bicycle instructional video. During this experience, I mastered basic AR and VR skills. For example, I can use Unity for VR interactions.

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AR Explore Photograph Pell Bridge Ride Photograph Floor Plan

9 Entrance Pano Tour VR Bicycle Participation AR Explore

Immersive Visualization

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AR Explore VR Bicycle Tour Pano Tour VR Bicycle Photograph AR Explore Photograph Users Perspective Rhino, Twinmotion, Sketchfab Users Perspective Rhino, Twinmotion, Kuula Unity Perspective Rhino, Twinmotion, Unity Pano Tour Photograph

11 Graphics Poster Brochure Carpet Feedback Boards C R O S S N G T HE PELL 2022 BIKENEWPORTRISDINTARCROSSNG THE PELL 2022 BIKENEWPORTRISDINTARCROSSINGTHE PELL 2022 B K E N E W P TRO R I DS I 2202LLEPEHTGNISSORCRATN TROPWENEKIB R DS RATN 2202LLEPEHTGNISSORC TROPWENEKIB DSIR I N T RA

Construction

Lighting System Foldable Table Column Enclosure Structure

02 VERTICAL DELIRIUM

Project: Adaptive Reuse - Data center

Loction: Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company Complex, RI, USA

Year: 2022 Spring

Individual project

In the context of the rapid increase in the information industry, data digitizes our collective history into a giant of human cultural repository. The data center, as a place for centralized management (storage, calculation, exchange) of data, is like a master brain. It is a super important asset for enterprises, for the public, and even for the entire human race.

It is evident that most of today's data centers are mainly one story high, windowless structures, with large open floor planes. However, are there any other possibilities? For instance, what would it be like if the data center became vertical? What kind of form will it be? What kind of image will it render? And how about its meaning?

Site plan

1st & 9th Floor plan

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SAVE LAND RESOURCES

From the perspective of urban development, the future land resources will be more scarce, the value of unit area will be higher, and multiplication creates more usable area and expands the frontier in the sky. At the same time, as an adaptive reuse project, the design respects the original site and does not intend to break the original architectural pattern.

BECOME THE LANDMARK

Data centers can be a landmark to showcase the technological progress of mankind. The abstract process of collecting data becomes an audiovisual experience, which creates new value in the data center. It can be seen and become an aesthetic. Technology is no mere means, but a way of revealing.

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EXHIBITION

Instead of being like the traditional data center, which is hidden in the dark corners of the building with a veil of mystery. People can approach, appreciate, feel the continuous flow of data and learn about the behind-thescenes glimpses of how a data center works, just like visiting an exhibition.

roof garden cafe sever room & NOA green space sever room & green space sever room & green space sever room & courtyard sever room & chillers & NOA sever room & cooling systems sever room diesel gerators lobby UPS systems & HV / LV room sever room & office

- Second floor

Interior

Interior - Sever room

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SAVE ENERGY

The design site is located on the seaside, with plenty of natural wind. The tower-like structure can take full use of the natural wind and become a natural cooling tower. On the one hand, because the space extends vertically, the wind will not be blocked by the surrounding buildings, and the wind in all directions can fully exert its effect. At the same time, activating the natural chimney effect can maximize the efficient flow of chilled air.

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BECOME THE INFRASTRUCTURE

In the post-human era, people's production and life rely on cutting-edge technology, data and human coexist, and the machine as a medium, in the form of a tower, like a plug-in, is placed into every corners of the city as the infrastructure of the future city. It's an activation of an area.

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ARTISTS' COMMUNE

Project:

Loction:

Year: 2021

Individual project

The aim is to explore three artist's personality, ethos, and the potential relationship between artmaking and spatial occupancy over time through a series of abstract physical model exercises. Then based on these matrix profiling of selected artists, and the study of the host structure, redefine the space with the specificities of a new program for the AIR (Artist in Residency).

Under my design strategy, it becomes a place where artists cohabit and cocreate the public commons, protecting and enriching their interior lives, while also becoming a more inclusive and accessible area where the public can fully participate in the artists' artistic creations and energize the site.

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wall to leak sealed but transparent

window multi-angle movement of the body and sight

stair multifunction to flex 03 Leaking Nomadic Flexible

Lawrence Abu Hamdan Francis Alÿs Colson Whitehead (Sound Artist) (Conceptural artist) (Writer) Adaptive Reuse - Residence George Arnold Building, RI, USA

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1 Lawrence's sound lab

2 gallery

3 storage room

4 parking lot

5 landscape plaza

6 Lawrence's living space

7 gallery

8 bookstore

9 common kitchen & dining

10 common living space

11 12 13 viewing platforms

14 Alÿs' living space

15 Colson's living space

16 guest room Third

Floor

Basement First

Second Floor

Floor Long Section 23

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Short Section

In this narrow building, conceptual artist Francis Alÿs will be able to observe the behavior of the public in a series of nomadic walks, which will be his source of inspiration; sound artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan will own a sound studio that captures sounds around the venue and continuously interacts with the public; and writer Colton Whitehead can realize many possibilities in a flexible bookstore space.

Exterior - Landscape

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Interior - Bookstore

Project: Adaptive Reuse - Residence

Loction: Xixi Wetland, Hangzhou, China

Year: 2020 Fall

Individual project

The family structure in China today is divided into many small families, but the clan has always been the root of the Chinese people. I have always been interested in the contemporary possibilities of traditional Chinese family relationships.

The design selected the Hong family with a long historical background. Taking surname, the core of Family cohesion in China, as the starting point, and based on the current era background. The design reconstructs the behavior of superfamily members living together and transforms the relationship between families from ‘house to house’ to ‘room to room’, ultimately creating a modern homestead.

Reconstruction of contemporary clan relations

04 BIG FAMILY

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Site research

The distribution of Hong ancestral halls

Existing Structure

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The roots of the Hong clan The present-day distribution of the Hong clan

XIXI WETLAND OF HANGZHOU , CHINA 30° 16’ 09” N 120° 02’ 39” E Chinese character structure of "Hong"

Chinese Radicals

"Hong" Common

Create different space scenes by directing natural water

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31 LIVING

PLAYING EATING TALKING

LEARNING

32 Axonometric

33 Short Section

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Section

Long

Project: Adaptive Reuse - Multifunction

Loction: Zhijiang cultural and create park,Hangzhou, China

Year: 2021 Spring

Individual project

ZHIJIANG CULTURAL AND CREATIVE PARK , CHINA

Breathing is a process of constant flow and penetration of elements between the external environment and the internal body, as well as among the internal tissues of the body. It is an organic system.

I tried to use BREATH as a metaphor for the organic communication system of the site, in order to create a new and more closely connected interactive platform and promote the development of the cultural and creative industry cluster effect in the park.

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DEEP BREATH

30 08’ 18” N 120 03’ 40” E 36

Community Space

To meet the needs of visitors

Exhibition Zone

The rooms vary in size, height and shape

Can plan all kinds of exhibition activities

Design intervention

Provide a place for people to meet and communicate

SUMMER

Use a breathing tube to create a green forest for people to meet, communicate and pass on information. Specially designed structures evoke a variety of natural flows (air, light, heat, groundwater, etc.) that harness natural energy to create a comfortable living environment.

Top viewing The atrium The entrance

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WINTER

The placement of the breathing tube in the building creates an open and dynamic system in which information and resources can flow freely and efficiently within and outside the cluster.

Artwork

Social space

Art installation

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PERCEPTION GARDEN

Project: Landscape

Loction: Wu Shan, Hangzhou, China

Year: 2020 Spring

The site was designated for the project, located in a mountainous area with a long historical context, and I select ‘ Kam Yan Corridor ’ and ‘Ancient royal back garden’ as a design clue. At the same time, as an excellent traditional culture, incense culture is lagging behind in the development of this region. Therefore, the design tries to inherit this elegant charm of the literati and promote the promotion of incense through the landscape way.

In the end, it is proposed to make use of the height difference of the site to create a contemporary urban garden with ‘path’ as the core, to feel the fragrant landscape and to carry out cultural infiltration.