Portfolio-Yuqi Cao

PORTFOLIO

Yuqi Cao

Selected Works From 2019 -2024 ycao7362@usc.edu +1 2135745717

Programme: MArch +2 in USC

YUQI CAO

850 Bloom Walk, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA CollinsCao@outlook.com | +1 2135745717 www.linkedin.com/in/yuqicao99

EDUCATION

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Los Angeles, USA

Master of Architecture. Aug 2022-present

THE UNIVERSITY LIVERPOOL Los Angeles, USA

Bachelor of Architecture (RIBA Part 1). Sep 2017-June 2022

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Los Angeles, USA

Bachelor of Architecture. Sep 2017-June 2022

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Los Angeles, USA

Architecture Designer Jan 2023-June 2023

Project: Urban Connection: Reshaping Community Life in Los Angeles

• Leveraged digital design tools to explore the pivotal role of architecture in urban dimensions, maintaining a proactive and a daptable work mentality. Successfully integrated neorealism with ESG sustainability principles, enhancing sensitivity and adaptabil ity to current industry trends.

• Focused on inter-city shared living space design projects, effectively addressing design and plan challenges through agile management methods, ensuring timely project delivery. The project cycle was shortened by 10% compared to expectations, fostering a comprehensive awareness of project management.

• Experimented with a multiscale design methodology that moves between territorial, urban, and spatial ranges

XI'AN JIAOTONG-LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY DESIGN STUDIO

Suzhou, China

Ecological and Sustainable Design Consultant Oct 2020- Feb 2022

• Led a small-scale urban design project in Vallbona, Barcelona using a unique approach that facilitated innovative dissemination of design solutions and integrated site-specific and material research

• Designed creativity and community feedback into designing a 1,500 square meter art school that strengthened community cultural activities and served 300 residents

• Taught design software tutorials to 30-40 freshmen, including InDesign and AutoCAD, as a member of the Designers' Association

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

Remote, San Francisco

Architecture Designer June 2019- Aug 2020

Virtual Design: Weaving the Digital Face of San Francisco

• Explored the application of digital design tools in the urban dimension, successfully combining neorealism and ESG sustainability concepts, and creatively developing a new design system by accurately analyzing the light and shadow effects in movie screens hots

• Created a comfortable environmental experience by using collage technology to strategically reorganize the space, and combine different scene fragments to design an open public area while providing privacy.

HUASEN ARCHITECTURAL AND ENGINEERING DESIGNING CONSULTANTS

Shenzhen, China

Architecture Intern Nov 2018- Jan 2019

• Participated in project management and overall coordination as a key member of the team to effectively improve team efficiency and project quality

• Implemented a strict review of design plans, and 95% of plans met all local specification requirements at one time; maintained close ties with the chief architect and brand contractors

• Collaborated and flexibly adjusted the design according to customer needs, effectively improving customer satisfaction and shortening the project approval node

• Enhanced understanding of ESG sustainable design and overall understanding of intelligent technology enhances team collaboration and initiative and self-driving force.

SKILLS

• Software Skill: AutoCAD, Rhino, Sketchup, InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, V-Ray, Enscape, Revit

• Software Certifications: received certification of Grasshopper Essential Rhino Essential, Rhino Advanced after watching a series of online courses from Archistar (2021)

• Language: native in Mandarin and Cantonese, proficient in English

PORTFOLIO DETAIL

• Finished five projects which included small-scale design, museum, adaptive façade and school.

Poem Of Light

Art School design in Vallbona

Vallbona, an isolated neighborhood in Barcelona's northern area belonging to the Nou Barris district. The City Council is currently working on an ambitious plan to transform Vallbona into an innovative agro-ecological hub of metropolitan influence, taking advantage of its physical environment, material and immaterial heritage, and ecological values.

Tutor: Marciel Jesus

Date: March-June 2019

Duration: Semester-long

Type: Individual Academic Work

Location: Vallbona, Barcelona

To stop without a farmhouse near. Between the woods and frozen lake.The darkest evening of the year.

--------Robert Frost

The site in a small town in Barcelona, which name is Vallbona. This place is surrounding with many basic public facility,including primary school, playground, supermarket and civic center. These facilities provide medium life standard and are easy to assess. Except from that, Vallbona is covered with farmland which give students opportunities to paint outside school and have possibility to experience the same view many famous painters once painted.

Land Usage

Why Build Painting School In Vallbona

Environment for sketching

Improve employment rate and provied artistic jobs.

Convenient transportation and good infrastructure. Low consumption level, suitable for artists.

Train more artist to improve painting skill.

Based on the site analysis, there is no art school surrounding Vallbona. However, Vallbona is close to Barcelona and the perfect position allow many poor students who don't have enough money living in the place where rent is too high. Build an art school in the site is a good choice, it could increase the income of local people and both decrease the cost that the students need for basic life.

Program Analysis

This art school is designed to fit every age of people's need, if they want to learn art. They can choose different time and different teacher, they can even be their own tutor. Beside the need of learning class, other basic need for different group of people are different. this need also taken into consideration while designing.

Classroom Function

Function Of Each Floor

The building has three layers. The ground floor is mainly for tourists, which is the gallery with glass frame towards the street. Anyone walk pass it will be albe to enjoy student's amazing woek.The second and the third floor are used for office and classroom. Students can choose to paint together or stay in the private studio.

ROOF

Due to its geographical condition, Vallbona is disconnected from the surrounding context by multiple infrastructures. In 2005 due to the neighbors' requests, a bridge was built to connect Vallbona to Torre Baro, a neighbourhood that hosts the nearesr train and metro station. Since its construction, the Viladecans bridgehas become he main connective link of Vallbona with the surroundings.

First

Second Floor Plan

Meeting Room

Lounde

Toilet

Auditorium

Library

Auditorium

Corner of School Painting classroom

Cars can park beside the street without block pedestrian's view.

Students can try their own painting skill without be stoped. When the sun shining through the window, it will create glorious shadow so students can paint different oil painting to capture the moment.

The bricks hanging outside the windows provide students an unforgetable moment when the sun shinging from outside of the room. Like Impressionist love to catch the moment of light and translate them into their own painting, this decoration give them more changable moment to be painted on the paper.

The bricks hanging outside the windows provide students an unforgetable moment when the sun shinging from outside of the room. Like Impressionist love to catch the moment of light and translate them into their own painting, this decoration give them more changable moment to be painted on the paper.

East of School Library

The material that building used can easily merged into local environment.

Students can find books talking about painting and art.

Detail Section

1 Ceramic brick

The facade used three kinds of color that was selected from the painting from Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, presenting the natural view of Vallbona.

The building used concrete as the basic material and glaze frame are added to give the classrooms more transparecy.

Process Of Brick Wall Design

San Francisco Obscura

First Hybrid Building in Lily Street

This building will be situated in an ambiguous site in the city. A series of assignments feed the architectural process. Making. Collage, montage, film viewing, analysis, drawings, models, program, and time or movement sequences are deployed as architectural devices into the process.

Tutor:Keith Plymale

Date: June.2021

Duration: Six Weeks

Type: Individual Academic Work

Location: Octavia Boulevard, San Fransico

The city of night passes through my fingers, overhead, underfoot. -- Johnny

Concept

The building is translated from a collage which originaly the reflection of a glass cabient. the light was re-combined based on the contunity and the frames are moved together in order to create a convergent space.

The 20th Century The building is constructed from the ground floor, adding layers one by one.

In the future each house is pre-constructed and it is easy to move from one place to another. The construction diresction will be from top to bottom.

Site & Demands

The site is along Octavia Boulevard between Page and Oak Streets, bisected by Lilly. This place do not have high building and this design shows the first skyscraper in the site. Although the building tyoe is different, the basic need for people are still the same. Inclusing sleep, study, esercise, play and eat.

The Future

Restaruant

Supermarket

Apartment

Staircase

High

House

Balcony

Terrace Living Room

This is the end of one journey, this is the beginning of another journey.

Fusion Museum

Researcher's Centre in Colchester

The project is a Research Center on Archaic Civilisations. The word origins hides a double meaning, and it means at the same time "where we come from" but also "where we start from" for a new journey. ORIGINS are the roots, the rootedness that binds us to the Past, what has been, and the ancestral act of being originated, being initiated into life, and starting a new journey in this world.

Tutor: Richard Hay

Date: Sep.2020

Duration: Semester-long

Type: Group Academic Work

Role: Main Designer, Painter

Location: Colchester, Essex,England

History of Colchester and Caribbean Site Analysis

The main land uses for the south of the river are suburbs and cities, such as landscape parks. There are few trees on the bank and edge plants ard river plants dominate. Noticed that wood fragments are rare. The bridges across the river Colne for cars and pedestrian are proposed to create access to river and form a complete trail system between south and north places.

Colchester

Function Prototype

The research center is not only a place studies archic culture, it is more like a bond that tie people together. Which means it need to provide tourists' basic need. It can suit all kinds of people's need, including researchers, touristsand family.

MUSIC AND STAGE

PHOTOGRAPHY AND CISIT

BICYCLE AND PARKING LOT

SEAT AND REST

SHOPPING AND MARKET

Form Generation

PUBLIC AND SQUARE

The idea came from the connecting line that link the site and the surrounding archiaic architecture. Which include St Mary's Church West Bergholt,Roman Wall,St Botolph's Priory,Gosbecks Archaeological Park, Layer Marney Tower, Holy Trinity Church. Each one of them represent the glorious history when ancient people living in colchester.

Axometric of Centre

There are four levels of the centre, with one basement and two layers of gallery and one corridor directed to the roof .The agp between the roof and floor createa large empty space that could provide tourists a glance to the roof structure. This researcher's center is surrounding with plenty of trees and have a path along the River Clone, which provide possibility for people to walk by.

BREAFAST AND SNAKE BAR

TEA AND COFFEE

EXERCISE AND RUNAWAY

On the entrance of the center, there are two stairs which instruct people to different levels. One is to the ground floor, the other one is lead to the second floor. No matter the stair lead people to what place, it is the end of one journey, and it is the beginning of the new sightseeing of the galleey.

Ancient Remain's Gallery

Timeline History Exhibition

The Entrance of Roof Corridor

The researcher's center is located on the north of the river clone, providing people a possibility to enjoy both of the nature park neary and the convenient of jogging along it. Due to its convenience, the place won't be abandoned after sunset, the square next to the river is a wonderful place for people to communicate.

Second Floor Plan

Winter Day Outside Center

People stand because of the house, and the house survives because of the people; Supporting each other in the house, feeling the world.

-----Zi Xia

Hollow House

Transformed Suzhou Folk Houses

The project is a renovation of a traditional residential house in Suzhou. In the renovation, the general position of the external walls and internal courtyards of the old house was retained, but the connection of the courtyards of the living space was redesigned. This design is based on the traditional houses in Suzhou, and uses the penetration of glass Windows to form a visual connection between the courtyard space and other Spaces. At the same time, the mirror reflection of the glass on both sides expands the sense of space of the courtyard, creating a real and unreal space effect. The use of perforated panels and glass on the exterior facade creates a translucent space, as well as preserving views outwards and privacy.

Tutor: David Vardy

Date: Nov.2018

Duration: Four Weeks

Type: Inidividual Academic Work

Location: Suzhou,China

Current Site

Under the influence of Buddhism and Taoism for fifteen hundred years, the city pattern of tang Dynasty for one thousand years, the neighborhood style of Song Dynasty for eight hundred years and the prosperous civilization of Ming and Qing dynasties for more than five hundred years, suzhou has created numerous architectural heritages. Suzhou ancient City base used to be part of an important administrative and cultural center in the city, with a large number of social sages and functional layout showing the spatial pattern of the former mansion and the latter residence.

The old house is located in No. 34 Fulang Middle Lane, facing Suzhou Cushion sofa factory in the south, close to the traditional folk houses of No. 36 Fulang Middle Lane in the west, close to the traditional folk houses of No. 32 Fulang Middle Lane in the east, and the Suzhou branch of China Travel Service in the north.

Large Depth Small Gap Between Roofs

Existing problems: the roof is too large, affecting the lighting. The interior walls are old and the windows teeter. The courtyards are excessive and messy. There are too many corridors, causing lots of corners and impeding accessibility. Indoor space segmentation is chaotic.

Design Stragety

In the modern society, people pay great attention to their own privacy. Particularly for the buildings related to people’s lives, their requirements for the spatial privacy and spatial domain are relatively high. Enclosure and limitation create the space. Different degrees of enclosure and limitation all can determine the privacy and domain. The internal space of the building is composed of an enclosed enclosure, so the open enclosure, or semi-open enclosure, can form a richer inner and external space of the building, providing a richer possibility for the transition space.

It aims to create a garden-like space within an enclosed residence. The site is divided into three parts, among which two ambiguous space is inserted to create the courtyard. Only a wall of the original residence is retained as the witness of history. A semi-enclosed space is formed on the second floor and the third floor facing the street by pore plates and french windows.

Creates a completely open space with unobstructed views of human behavior. It can guarantee light, but noise can also seriously affect people's life.

Creates a semi-open space that offers views outwards and privacy to a certain extent. Light can be absorbed through the void and some noise can be isolated.

Completely closed space, although can protect privacy very well, but also lost the possibility of exchange with the outside world, and can cause depressive feeling.

Shared Two Sided Wall

Outside Street

Interior Courtyard Site in Suzhou

Adding Layer

Separation

Reflects on Room

Gaden Length

The courtyard space here not only provides sunlight and air for the building, nor is it just an optional ornament in the building, but also becomes an unavoidable reality that people must face in life, which makes the wind, frost, rain, snow and the change of the four seasons intervene in people's life, closely connecting nature with people and becoming a part of life. The composition of the courtyard is extremely pure. In the courtyard, people become sensitive to the rarely noticed sky, to the sunlight at the end of the wall, to the projection of the flying corridor.

The roof plarform is between two threelevel living area and is surrounded by orifice plate so people can have a perfect view of ouside old Suzhou Town without annoyed by traffic jam. Plenty of greenery give more oxygen in the morning and decrease sunlight reflection of the glass.

Gound floor is mainly use for public function, including open kitvhen, living room and tea room. An interior rectangle courtyard is interspersed throughout the rooms and providing naure light. Children can play in it and adults can glab a chair and sit there just read books and still keep childern in thrie sight.

Second Floor is mainly for adults. The living room is on the south of the house and have a terrace outside. Since the study room is on the north part of the house, the separation of work and sleep area improves people's focus and efficiency.

Ground

Ginkgo Facade

Adaptive Facade Design

This teamwork is focusing on designing an adaptive surface that can be applied to a curved façade. The first step is to propose a hypothetical small building volume and later move onto refining the envelope of it as an adaptive surface. The proposed design is using parametric strategies to allow the exploration of various solutions based on different data to improve building performance. Every design proposal is responded to environmental, structural and usability issues.

Tutor: David Vardy

Date: Oct.2020

Duration: Semester-long

Type: Group Academic Work

Role: Designer, Painter, Model Maker

Location: Suzhou,China

The façade of the building as an integral part of the building is essential to its unique and varied expression.

-- Henning Larsen

Inspiration:Ginkgo Leaf

When fully unfolded, the blades overlap to maximize sunlight coverage.

Depending on the intensity and direction of sunlight, the blades open and close.

Arrangement, staggered front and back, reduce mutual shielding, and increase the entry of the fully expanded sun.

Geometric strategy of case

Units, repeated arrangement, completely transparent field of view, occlusion of natural environment transformation, scattered light formed by texture

Grasshopper Strategy

Model Making Process

First Stage

-Determine the shape of the façade.

-Through the push and pull transmission structure to control.

-Fix it on the shelf

Second Stage

-Study model

-Make the structure to control the rotation of the unit.

-Double tube structure.

-Double layer structure.

Third Stage

-Add the hollow out of the unit.

-Add light-sensitive material to the hollow area.

-Make the transmission structure

-Assemble the facade

Ladybug Analysis

Physical Model

Section diagram

Cat Cozy

Minimal Dwelling

This minimal dwelling is designed for a person and its cat. What a cat needs are a place to sleep, a place to eat and a place to play. What people need is a place for them to work privatly. The working spcae is separated from sleeping space and lifted up to creat private spacce from cat. The floor could be open for storage cause cats might learn how to open the drawers on the closet. The table could be raised down and the whole working place become a bed in case the cat is too annoying.

Tutor: Amanda Ortland

Date: Oct.2022

Duration: Semester-long

Type: Academic Work

Role: Designer, Painter, Model Maker

Location: Los Angeles, USA

A harmonious sanctuary where human and feline coexist, each finding comfort, privacy, and joy in a thoughtfully designed minimal space. -- YUQI CAO

When people with a cat wants to share living with others, the fundamental part is to provide enough space for cat to live without interrupted others. They also need multiply irregular space for cat to explore and steady storage space the cat cannot enter. Additionally, cat is a creature that always show of on people's computer or books when people are working. In this situation, cat and people are sharing the same space which means the height of furniture should be calculated specicies. There should be separated living areas between people and cats independent living space for people should be provided. The lighting and ventilation, and transform the original lighting and ventilation areas are also need to consider.Make good use of vertical and indoor roof Spaces. Cats love to climb up and down which means the certical and indoor roof space should be used in a good way.

Painter's ADU

Accessory Dwelling Unit

The ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) is the second living unit with complete independent living facilities for one or more people. The major advantage of ADU is that there is no cost of buying land separately, which is equivalent to getting the construction land at zero cost, which alone can save almost 50% or more. At the same time, ADU does not need to apply for separate utilities such as utilities such as water, electricity and coal, which also greatly saves construction costs.

Tutor: Amanda Ortland

Date: Oct.2022

Duration: Semester-long

Type: Academic Work

Role: Designer, Painter, Model Maker

Location: Los Angeles ,USA

A painter's haven bathed in light, with soaring glass walls and a five-meter ceiling, features flexible spaces defined by furniture, creating a unified expanse where art and creativity thrive.

Design Discription

This house is designed for a young painter who lives alone. The most important element for a painter is the light. The overall design enhances the ability of natural light to enter the entire residence through a glass wall. It is also the main source of natural light inside the building. The interior is designed to give all rooms a coherent view and thus make the view wider. The design symbolizes the boundary of a painter's level, that is, the change of level and height will act as an invisible boundary, unified with each other. The interior space is divided by furniture rather than walls. The flexibility of its use allows the design to adapt to the changing needs of residents. At the same time, in order to realize the space required for the painter to display his paintings, a 5-meter-high ceiling is the most suitable.

Golden Hours

Co-Living Housing

The architectural design of this co-living housing for elderly people features thoughtfully arranged L-shaped units that create a strong sense of community. Each unit provides private living quarters, seamlessly opening onto shared courtyards and gardens, fostering social interaction and a sense of belonging among residents. The L-shaped configuration not only ensures ample natural light and ventilation but also enhances accessibility and safety. Communal spaces, including lounges, dining areas, and activity rooms, are strategically placed to encourage frequent gatherings and engagement, promoting a supportive and vibrant living environment where elderly residents can thrive together.

Tutor: Amanda Ortland

Date: Jan.2023

Duration: Semester-long

Type: Group Academic Work

Role: Designer, Painter, Model Maker

Location: Suzhou,China

The façade of the building as an integral part of the building is essential to its unique and varied expression.

-- Henning Larsen