Curran Zhang Portfolio

portfolio

curran zhang [selected works] Columbia University GSAPP MS.AUD Carnegie Mellon University SOA B.Arch

CURRAN ZHANG curranzhang@gmail.com | 917.968.7575 | Brooklyn, New York City

EDUCATION Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation New York City, NY M.S. Architecture and Urban Design: 2021-2022 Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Bachelor of Architecture 2021 [with College Honors]

EXPERIENCE NBBJ Intern | New York, NY | Fall 2021 Worked within the NYCX3 studio to assist in the schematic design phase of a residential development in Vietnam. Scope of work included overall sections, elevations, diagrams, and assistance on other drawings of the SD phase.

StudioTEKA Design Intern | New York, NY | Summer 2019 Worked on technical drawings for DOB submission; site surveying; produced presentations for clients.

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates ACE Mentorship Program for High School Student | New York, NY | Winter 2015-Spring 2016 Worked on a hypothetical project under the supervision and tutelage of architects, engineers, and developers

CERTIFICATION Autodesk Certified User in AutoCAD and Revit.

OSHA Certified in 10 hours Occupational Safety and Health Training Course in CONSTRUCTION SAFETY AND HEALTH.

SKILLS Modeling

Graphics

Language

Autodesk AutoCAD Autodesk Revit Rhino

Adobe Creative Cloud Enscape Grasshopper V-Ray

English Cantonese

TABLE OF CONTENT 01.Transformation of Waste advanced synthesis option studio 02.Atlanta After-Property urban design studio II 03.Humanizing Brutalism advanced synthesis option studio 04.Future Tense Dense advanced synthesis option studio

01. Transformation of Waste Studio: Spring 2021 ASOS Instructor: Hal Hayes Location: Gansevoort Peninsula, Meatpacking District, NYC Partners: Shirley Chen(Initial Concept)

Envision a future where we are required to have a net-zero environment, the transformation of waste studio questions the ability to turn waste into a social catalyst that deals with the social environment of New York City. Since waste treatment is typically relocated to less desirable areas of the city, our project calls for a new waste treatment plant in the middle of New York City.

Through the vehicle of a high-density mega-structure on a site that was formerly an incinerator and waste transfer station, the design project explores the role of human waste in addressing social justice, economic, and environmental challenges that face cities today and will become even more critical in future urban development.

As a place of industrial advancement and rich social culture, the site has a long history of waste processing and industrial innovations.

Utilizing the rich history and deep cultural ties of the neighborhood, the program of a waste treatment plant aims to heal the advanced gentrification that has occurred within the Meatpacking District.

Design for Change Gentrification and ignorance are major driving forces behind the rapid changes that occur within the Meatpacking District.

By locating a food waste center on site, we begin to question the efficiency of our food cycle and the waste byproducts.

The project hinges on food as a driving force to reestablish the lost connection between the locals and the neighborhood. To better support the role of food waste within a neighborhood, the project contains a mixture of potential programs that are split into three main components: Infrastructure, Social, Food

Design for Discovery By designing for waste, a relatively undesirable product, the project offers programs that incentive people into understanding the various issues at hand. Cross pollinating relevant programs gives occupants a chance to directly interact with the waste cycle.

Within each of the six tower module, various food related programs are integrated for occupants to experience various cuisines, entertainment, and food productions. By offering a space for these interactions to occur, locals would establish a sense of connection and identity within the food waste cycle.

Achieving Net-Zero As society calls for a decrease in food waste and efficiency in food production/transportation, the main sustainable objective of the project is to design a building that achieves zero waste. Within each individual module, biodigestores/ water management follows a gravity system that provide for the programs below. With greywater and fertilization as the outputs of these systems, they allow for a productive growing scene to occur through hydroponics systems and indoor farming. Byproducts would continue its journey down to the next level where the same loop would occur.

Design for Economy

Design for Energy

The usage of food waste and bio-digestors help implement net-zero beyond just the building. The inhouse electrical and methane productions help alleviate the need of outside energy and overall operation cost.

In addition to the energy produced by the bio-digestors, the operable facades also offer opportunity of control solar heat. Capturing heat from the southern atrium and bio-digestors allow for a more efficient energy consumption.

In addition to stage configurations, the operable facade has PTFE membranes which not only gives control over solar energy, but also different environments for various performances to occur.

Programmatic Integration Each module consist of 9 levels, which each serving a purpose in the production, consumption, and education aspect of their cuisine. Designing performance chambers within each module allows for a centralized gathering space for occupants to participate in parts of the food cycle.

Level 0_Biodigestor/Back of House

Level 1_Food Hall/ Performance Stage

Level 2/3/4_Restaurants

Level 5_Cafe/Cabaret

Level 6_Office Space

Level 7/8_Industrial Farming

Thrust Configuration

Dance Floor Configuration

The first configuration is the thrust configuration, where the stage is located in the middle of the atrium and provide the maximum seating for any particular show to occur on stage. Thus the usage of various 2 person, 4 person and banquet seatings.

The second configuration is another version of the thrust configuration , where the stage is shrunken. This allows for a dance floor to form closer to the stage and allowing for more intimate performances activities.

Arena Configuration

Interactive Configuration

The third configuration is the arena configuration. This configuration allows for the performance in the south atrium to be the main focal point in the module. Tiered seating continue on towards the upper levels, where it takes advantage of the terraced floor plates.

The fourth configuration is an interactive configuration, where performers are allowed to perform within the occupants for a more intimate type of performance.

Various tiers of platform that juts out at various points allow for a more push and pull interaction.

02. Atlanta After-Property: Right of Living Studio: Fall 2021 GSAPP UD Studio II Instructors: Emanuel Admassu, Nina Cooke John, Chat Travieso, Lexi Tsien Location: Reynoldstown, Atlanta Partners: Achmad Maulana, Javier Ortiz, Carmen Yu

The idea of possession and hierarchy is vanished. Access and collective ownership bridges communities through mobility and flexibility. Ownership of property is redefined by its functionality rather than dictated by the capitalistic cycle of development.

Property not a static entity, but rather, it is a shared commodity that provides equal opportunity for all and is not bounded by a geographical position.

Reynoldstown is a place where everyone has equal access to resources and opportunities by intervening through 2 steps: right of way intervention and de-borderizing of fences. In a world after property, the idea of right of way is revisited. This intervention in Reynoldstown will act as a catalyst to a bigger neighborhood in which minority and low income families no longer face displacement.

The right of transit intervention acts as a transportation hub for the local residents to take advantage of. Resources provided on this site allow for the residents to reach a further network of transportation, whether it is for them, or their property.

The right of pedestrians acts as a safe haven for locals to traverse through their own neighborhood without the fear of any bad or lack of infrastructure. The pedestrian routes allow for various resources to form and provide not only a safe environment, but also an enjoyable experience.

The right of housing is an opportunity to tackle the lack of affordable housing within not only Reynoldstown, but also Atlanta as a whole. The broken promise from the Beltline acts as an opportunity for these interventions to provide multi-generation housing for locals.

The right of recreation acts as an intervention that allows for locals to use the amenities provided for them.

Aside from having a designated space for these activities, residents also have opportunities to rent out these resources for their own personal use.

De-borderizing Fences

By resisting capitalist development and redistributing allocated funds, we can picture a world where income and color does not determine where you live, nor does it define a boundary. The new designs of right of way hold major stakeholders/ developers accountable for faulty promises in which collective care and communal housing begins to weave a network of self sufficiency and resiliency.

Step _01 By removing the physical boundaries, backyards become a shared commodity and households are able to define their space using elements such as plants and furniture rather than hard boundaries such as fences.

Step _02 The wintergarden can be spaces to provide home services or resources for the community based on their hobbies or existing skills, such as barber shop, space for clothing tailoring or selling home goods, etc.

03. Humanizing Brutalism: SBC-X Theatre Studio: Spring 2020 ASOS Instructor: Hal Hayes Location: Southbank, London

The Southbank Centre is home to Europe’s largest centre for arts and stands as a symbol for London’s art, architecture, and skateboarding. From the spotlights of the dazzling performance chambers to the lively under-croft skate park, the brutalist Southbank Centre is a home for those who seek art.

Southbank Centre is home to a multitude of cultural nodes that are significant in London history and culture. Since these cultural nodes were introduced onto the site at various time periods, the site gives off a strong sense of disconnect between the people, buildings, and activities.

This studio aims to introduce a flexible performance chamber within Southbank Centre as a means to portray brutalism in a new manner. Design challenges of this project includes the 500-seat chamber and master planning of the Southbank Centre.

Humanizing Brutalism My proposal calls for an environment that is more humanly and socially engaging to the existing site. Thus, an injection of a “human” into the site, where all social activities would be harmonized under its roof. The forum space enables various activities to foster in a cohesive language that brings out the rich artistic values that the Southbank Centre has to offer.

By creating a unified South Bank Centre, existing spaces like the Queen Elizabeth Hall allows for renovations that optimizes occupant circulations.

Inclusion of existing architecture also allows for us to utilize an existing under-croft design and projecting it on to the new forum space.

Ground Level

First

The main focus of the ground level is dedicated mainly towards the back of house function of the Southbank Centre. The new design proposes a single loading zone on the south that facilitates all performance chambers on site.

The first floor allows for all buildings on forum space. The indoor amphitheate chamber acts as a cornerstone of

South Entrance

Ticket Center

Forum Space

Chamber Entrance

Concession Stand

Ensemble Room

Level

site to have direct access into the new r located under the new performance the various programs on level one.

Second Level The second floor is predominately for the usage of the new performance chamber. The flexible performance chamber has direct access to green roofs, front of house, and back of house spaces.

Restaurant/ Indoor Dining

Amphitheater

New QEH Entrance

Performance Chamber

Rehearsal Room

QEH Green Roof

View from Southbank promenade

View of the second level

View of an end-stage seating configuration

View of the indoor amphitheater

View from northern entrance

View of the tension grid

View of an arena stage configuration

04. Future Tense Dense Studio: Fall 2019 ASOS Instructor: Akhil Badjatia Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Located within the neighborhood of East Liberty in Pittsburgh, the project proposes a dense high-rise apartment building on the triangular site. The aim for this studio is to allow students to understand the technical challenges of designing a residential building and the dynamics of working in a firm.

As a central node within the neighborhood, the project attempts to tackle the affordable housing crisis and social issues present within Pittsburgh. The project would include a range of housing apartment units, amenity spaces, storefronts, and community landscaping to help push forth interaction between the building and the people of East Liberty.

With a triangulated site, it provided an opportunity for the site to be an epicenter for the community to congregate and foster an identity within Pittsburgh. With the convenient transportation and various amenities, the site would be able to become the anchor for the entire neighborhood. Everyone would be able to find a place on the site where they can relax and engage with other people.

Interconnectivity of communal spaces To reinforce the idea of community, the project includes various amenity spaces for the residences. Given a wide range of social spaces would allow for the occupants to travel through the building and interact with different people. Various amenities would be targeted towards different groups of people and help foster a stronger sense of community.

Multiple transit options are available for people to reach and enjoy the site.

Flea markets are present on site during the weekends to cultivate a sense of community.

Park features are integrated on the site to let people of all ages congregate.

A public cafe is located in the lobby for the residents and local workers.

The green room is one of the four public spaces that is provided to the residents.

Different extrusions are created on the facade to allow for communications between units.

Affordable and Interactive Units Building upon the idea of creating a stronger sense of community, a design idea that we incorporated is the integration of duplex units within the building. The existence of duplex units would allow a unit to have different neighbors on both levels. Within the building, the units are broken down into 10% 1-bedroom units, 40% 2-bedroom units, and 50% 3-bedroom units.

2-Bedroom Duplex Unit:

3-Bedroom Duplex Unit:

Section cuts through the unit showing the living room, bedrooms and bathrooms.

Section cuts through the unit showing the entrance/living room and a bedroom.

1-Bedroom Unit:

2-Bedroom Unit:

Section cuts through the unit showing the entrance, kitchen, and the living room.

Section cuts through the unit showing the two bedroom and the living room/kitchen.

2-Bedroom Unit:

3-Bedroom Unit:

Section cuts through the unit showing the entrance, bathroom, and a bedroom.

Section cuts through the unit showing the entrance/ living room and the 3 bedrooms.

Systems and Building Code Integration Within the course of this studio, we are taught the technical challenges of a residential building.

Our design, involved issues related to the structure, plumbing, heat pumps, make-up air system, garbage disposal, electrical/ mechanical rooms, egress, and ADA compliance.

Interior view of the green room

Interior view of the library

Interior view of a 2B unit

Interior view of a 1B unit

portfolio

curran zhang [selected works] Columbia University GSAPP MS.AUD Carnegie Mellon University SOA B.Arch