Issuu

ARCHITECTURE

PORTFOLIO

ARCHITECTURE 2020-2025

ZITAI DENG

ZITAI DENG

TEL: +61 0406123225

Email: zitai.deng@outlook.com

EDUCATIONS:

University of New South Wales

Bachelor of Architectural Studies 2020 - 2023

• Distinction

Master of Architectural Studies 2024 - 2025WAM: 83

• The Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture Dean’s List (Postgraduate) 2025-2026

• Graduated with excellence

WORK EXPIRENCE:

LAVA – Laboratory for Visionary Architecture

Intern

• Supported design development for the Saudi Expo Pavilion, contributing architectural visualisations, spatial design studies, and presentation materials.Helped students enhance their abilities in hand drawing, physical model construction, and digital modeling.

• Developed landscape and spatial design options for the pavilion’s outdoor garden to enhance visitor experience.

• Coordinated with international teams to prepare design reports and presentation documentation for cross-office collaboration.

• Assisted with design revisions and detailing for Sydney residential projects.

• Produced 3D models and renderings to communicate design intent and support internal and client presentations.

UNSW student mentor

• Assisted tutor in teaching

• Helped students enhance their abilities in hand drawing, physical model construction, and digital modeling.

Guangdong Architectural Design and Research Institute Group Co., Ltd.

Intern

• Participate in the design of the renovation of the herritage street in Liwan District

• Participated in the design of Foshan Primary School, responsible for diagram drafting.

COMPETITION EXPERIENCE:

Urban Escape 2025

• Honrable Mention

The Foster + Partners Student Award for High-Performance Architecture

• Nominess

10/2026-03/2026 Australia

09/2024-12/2024

10/2021-03/2022 China

During my internship at LAVA, I had the opportunity to contribute to the design development of the Saudi Expo Pavilion (KSA Pavilion), an international exhibition project exploring spatial experience, cultural expression, and landscape integration. The project involved collaboration between multiple offices and teams, requiring clear design communication and coordinated visual materials throughout the development process.

My role focused on supporting the visualisation and communication of design ideas. I produced and refined architectural renderings and assisted with 3D modelling to help represent the spatial qualities of the proposal. In addition, I worked closely with the Sydney office while collaborating with the Honduras team to prepare presentation materials and design reports used for cross-office discussions and project coordination.

I also explored landscape and spatial design options for the pavilion’s outdoor garden, investigating how landscape elements and circulation could enhance the visitor experience and strengthen the relationship between architecture and public space. Through this experience, I gained valuable insight into the workflow of large-scale international projects and the importance of visual communication in coordinating design ideas across different teams and project stages.

My Contribution:

Architectural visualisation and render refinement

3D modelling and spatial design studies

Landscape concept exploration for the pavilion garden

Preparation of presentation materials for international collaboration

2030 EXPO

LOCATION: Sudi

DATE: 2025-2026

Including ICON & KSA Pavilion

KSA Pavilion

Master plan

Sunken courtyard seating diagram

Sunken courtyard section analysis

RESIDENTIAL DESIGN

LOCATION: 10 Grove Street, Bondi

DATE: 2026

Back courtyard

Master bedroom

Living room

This project based on the reaserch question: Can public space move beyond its role as a conduit for circulation and function, and instead become a site for subjective experience, sensory presence, and remembered moments?

This project takes the Gordon Station area in Sydney as its site of investigation. By analyzing the decline of public space, the flow of transportation, and the dynamics of urban vitality, it identifies the key challenges faced in the current context. Through architectural design strategies, the project seeks to respond to these challenges and propose targeted spatial solutions.

Within a 15-minute walking radius of Gordon Station, public spaces largely operate as infrastructure—streets, parks, and open areas shaped by efficiency and movement. They are spaces to pass through rather than spaces to feel. Grounded in the belief that public space carries the potential to host moments of drift, resonance, and memory, this study investigates how overlooked and peripheral environments might become terrains of sensory experience. Rather than radical transformation, the design begins by noticing what is often invisible, creating room for new ways of seeing, feeling, and being. The proposal introduces a building as a “platform” that gathers both community and visitors. Integrating a bar, offices, and a hotel, it seeks to preserve the high-quality atmosphere of Gordon while expanding upon it—bridging the western station plaza with the Pacific Highway and re-activating the urban fabric through layered spatial experience.

It primarily serves people aged 15–45, including visitors seeking leisure, locals drawn to bars and social spaces, and travelers needing hotels. Together with office workers connected to nearby projects, these diverse groups overlap and transform the site into a vibrant urban node.

PLATFORM GORDON

LOCATION: GORDON WEST PLAZA, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

DATE: 2025

SIZE: 10,000 m2

View from Gordon station

RESIDENTIAL JOINERY DESIGN

LOCATION: 27 Stafford street, Paddington

DATE: 2025

P.A.S _ PARRAMATA ART STUDIO

LOCATION: 70 Macquarie St, Parramatta, AUSTRALIA

DATE: 2024

SIZE: 600 m2

The Parramatta Artists’ Studios (PAS) project responds to the City of Parramatta’s transformation into Sydney’s “second CBD” and future cultural epicentre. Located on Darug Country and aligned with the city’s $8 billion renewal, the project reimagines a civic site along Macquarie Street as a contemporary cultural hub — a space for creative production, civic contribution, and connection to Country. Its proximity to Civic Link, Parramatta Square, and Lennox Bridge enables the design to stitch together past, present, and future narratives of place.

Anchored by a sunken public plaza, the vertical program blends galleries, studios, residences, workshops, co-working areas, and a food court into a spatial journey of creation and encounter. The architecture is structured around public, semi-public, and service zones, with internal “nodes” offering moments of interaction and pause. A porous building form enhances openness and aligns with surrounding cultural infrastructure, supporting both visibility and accessibility. Sustainability is embedded as a responsibility, not an add-on. Materials such as K-BRIQ recycled bricks and geopolymer concrete reduce embodied carbon, while double-skin facades, water reuse systems, and photovoltaic panels drive performance toward net-zero. Lifecycle analysis confirms ~50% GHG emissions and ~88% nonrenewable energy reductions. PAS is ultimately a proposition for a climate-aware, community-embedded arts facility — generous in form, function, and intent.

for tranform, Multifuction,

Modular sunken plaza element stratagies

30mm HASIT 421 Estrich/Beton

Waterproofing membrane sitting on top of steel frame & insulation

185mm Homatherm HDP-Q11 standard (high-performance insulation board, EPS)

15mm gypsum board

80mm Homatherm EnergiePlus massive (Mineral wool insulation)

15mm Plaster board

5mm high-gloss polished steel sheet

2mm cement mortar

Waterproofing membrane sitting on top of cast-in-place concrete slab

Steel truss of sky light with soldered fixed

Transparent Glass_Ultra-Clear Glass (Low-Carbon Glass) Double skylight with aluminum frame

Screws fixed

Diffuse Glass_Ultra-Clear Glass (Low-Carbon Glass) Double skylight with aluminum frame

Screws fixed

80mm Homatherm EnergiePlus massive (Mineral wool insulation)

5mm plaster board with white paint

180mm cast-in-place concrete slab

Wall ties in steel channels fixed to studs through insulation

L-shaped steel holder of brick

Steel pined fixed with bricks

100mm cast-in-place concrete slab

100*100mm I-shaped steel stud

20mm Plaster board with white paint

100*100mm Homatherm EnergiePlus massive (Mineral wool insulation)

5mm plaster (incl. stopping and fabric insert)

Steel Lintel

Window Head with aluminum frame

Double glazing with clear glass

80mm Homatherm HDP-Q11 standard (high-performance insulation board, EPS)

15mm Timber Revea

60mm Homatherm EnergiePlus massive (Mineral wool insulation)

15mm Timber Revea using as table

20mm Plaster board with white paint

100*100mm I-shaped steel stud

100*100mm Homatherm EnergiePlus massive (Mineral wool insulation)

5mm plaster (incl. stopping and fabric insert)

80mm Homatherm HDP-Q11 standard (high-performance insulation board, EPS)

Window sill with aluminum frame

Wall ties in steel channels fixed to studs through insulation

20mm timber floor finsied of concrete slab

550mm cast-in-place concrete slab

350mm cast-in-place concrete slab

Steel pined fixed with bricks

U-shaped steel frame of ceiling system

20mm plasterboard ceiling with white paint on suspended ceiling system

Loop“E” is a speculative rural co-living community designed as an experimental retreat for future urban dwellers seeking a sustainable, flexible, and cooperative lifestyle. Conceived as a testbed for modular and decentralized living, the project challenges conventional models of urban expansion by proposing a phased, adaptive framework that grows in response to social and ecological needs. Set within a 45-hectare extension of 702 ST ALBANS ROAD, LOWER MACDONALD, NSW. The masterplan interweaves residential clusters, productive landscapes, and shared infrastructure into a resilient, expandable system that encourages self-sufficiency and land literacy.

The spatial strategy blends private and communal life through stacked housing modules, shared kitchens, and ‘yarning spaces’, while biogas systems, composting, and water harvesting are integrated as visible, everyday practices. A central hub connects homes, workshops, and play areas, supporting generational exchange and collective agency. Rather than fixed blueprints, Loop“E” offers a living framework—scalable, responsive, and regenerative—where architecture becomes a medium for ecological connection and civic experimentation.

The development unfolds in three adaptive stages, each designed as both a construction phase and a period of learning. Stage 01 initiates the social and productive foundation with three residential clusters, a shared workshop, a playground, and the first field area. It also introduces a nursery, storage, a camping field for visitors, and a bridge crossing the site’s natural boundary. Stage 02 (2045) expands the settlement through additional housing modules, while Stage 03 (2065) activates the full landscape, integrating broader agricultural and communal programs.

Rather than rigid milestones, each stage is conceived as an opportunity to test, refine, and evolve the community’s spatial logic and ecological systems. This phased approach supports flexibility, allowing the settlement to grow organically while responding to environmental conditions, user feedback, and long-term resilience goals.