UCL Bartlett MArch Architectural Design Portfolio_Keming ZHANG
Architecture Portfolio by Keming Zhang
Applying for MArch Architectural Design, UCL Bartlett Student ID: 25137390
Photograph taken by AFP
"I have these feet and legs. I have so many mountains and rivers. I want all of this everything.but not hate or regret. If you want to love me, don't worry about regretting it, Because eventually I always leave everything behind. I never stay in one place, And never want anyone to follow me, I want to go from south to north. I want to go from white to black. I want everybody to watch me, But not know who I am. I only want to see you blossoming, But don't want to know about your suffering. I wish to attain the waters of heaven, But not your tears."
—
Cui Jian "Fake Monk"
The movement of transients encompasses not only individuals but also the transfer of production and social relationships, leading to significant disparities in economic and social frameworks. As China's industrialization and urbanization deepen, these movements expose systemic issues within society. Social theorist David Harvey, in his work "Spaces of Capital," suggests that structured social mobility conceals underlying disorder in production relations, with this disorder harboring potential for the oppressed to make breakthroughs.
As an architect, I stress the significance of ownership, governance, and management within urban and rural production and living collectives, alongside the interplay between social groups, production, and living spaces. This relationship is both physical and social. Amid a world characterized by rampant individualism and unchecked consumption, "transient" emerges as an opportunity to change the relationship. Shifts in political power and revolutionary movements frequently provide the backdrop for the emergence or transformation of specific architectural forms. Such movements signify not only individual transformations but also changes in ideal lifestyles, production modes, and social cultures, reshaping societal spaces on a subconscious level.
In policy, theory, and exploration, we explore how spatial, political, and social realms and entities shape "transient" and how it can be utilized as a form of materialization, spatialization, and strategic politicization to counter broader capitalist oppression. Beyond architecture, I seek to apply these principles through various mediums like urban planning, curation, graphic design, and animation. Through these avenues, the interplay between capital and socialization is addressed within spaces, offering opportunities for engagement and response. By intervening on sites to establish spatial autonomy, enabling society to give back to people, we may find a potential solution to the unstable state of social groups. My portfolio will showcase five exemplary projects that elaborate on these practices.
[THOUSAND HIPPIES]
1.Delivery riders condenser as one community
2.Interventional devices that unite social groups
3.The exploration of municipal engineering and autonomous space
- The lifestyle of delivery workers
- Gathering on the bike
- Deliver food on the bike
- Lying on the bike
- Rush to socialize when they meet
- Low entry barrier
No formal employment relationship
No basic salary or social security
The emergence of delivery riders marks the rapid transformation of the economy, and the development of this new economic model is particularly prominent in Chinese society, which is closely related to the transformation of production relations generated by policy support since the reform and opening up. China, as a dense labor community, the population flow within the society has brought a huge transfer of means of production and materials——High prices for living and few employment opportunities have led to an influx of young people into the deliver market.
There is a gap between the time for delivery riders to enter the community and arrive at the destination. The time for shared-bike to leave the community and the destination, and the common space becomes an idle space, whose idle space can neither provide entertainment for the public nor provide temporary rest. Delivery riders and bikes can seize this possibility and make efficient use of space during this period to provide a service platform for Delivery riders to use.
Time Operation
The Transportation Ring of Beijing
Delivery Rider
Program Strategy
- Integrates different functionalities into facades
- Road-facing facade uses thick materials to shield Beds are incorporated, ladder serving
- Passage-facing facade resembles a vegetable basket Offering hydrophobic properties and functioning As a storage space for delivery items Window openings and encourages interaction among users
- Landscape-facing facade features transparent plastic material Embracing maximize views Fostering communication spots For users and delivery personnel
The study deconstructs and repurposes space, highlighting the interplay between these temporal factors. Additionally, employing interview surveys and data analysis, a number of delivery riders are interviewed to analyze the challenges they face in integrating and engaging with society. There is a gap between the time for delivery riders to enter the community and arrive at the destination. The time for shared bike to leave the community and the destination, and the common space becomes an idle space, whose idle space can neither provide entertainment for the public nor provide temporary rest.
The way of life and production of food delivery workers in urban space, based on centralized control of Beijing, extends to the global phenomenon. By providing suggestions for spatial autonomy for delivery workers, exploring the possibility of autonomy through the architectural context.
View of Landscape
View of Transportation
愛人同志
[LOVER COMRADE]
1.Xiong'An city, close to the heart of the motherland
2.Beijing's itinerant floating people
3.The issuance of Red Files
4.Openly diverges non-capital functions
5.Millennium Project
Millennium Project
In 2017, the central government decided to establish the XiongAn New Area in Hebei Province. At this point, the Floating Popluation around Beijing as the main displacement population are ready to transfer again.Takes Xiongan Planning as an opportunity to understand the Floating Popluation, explore the decentralized space, and strive for rights. Beijing is expected to lead 4 million people into Xiong’An, in addition to 400,000 college students, the remaining 90% of the population will live as a resident population of XiongAn, a large number of residential buildings in the rural rise. Formed a vison of New district, New development of XiongAn. All construction targets and policies are directly decentralized through the central government.
Floating Community
The community of people who migrate from non-Beijing areas to Beijing for work and life, mainly consisting of young people, often lack a sense of belonging. Their residence is unstable, giving a feeling of being adrift. Due to differences in career and career development, they form different social concepts and political attitudes. Their existence is a product of a specific historical period, and their living and psychological conditions reflect social phenomena in China's urbanization process.
Socialization
Utilizing spatial management methods with national power/authority, altering the environment and spatial layout, creating a specific social atmosphere and interaction mode, enabling group members to interact, communicate, and share resources with others in this environment, thus promoting each other's socialization and social interaction. Through spatial planning and layout, as well as geographical distribution and resource control, the power of groups is concentrated, and political decisionmakers can concentrate power through urban planning and architectural layout. At the same time, political forces can also concentrate power by controlling resource distribution and geographical distribution. Through the role of the group, incremental urban facilities and public services are provided, social
housing is offered, and the relevant political level begins to pay attention to the needs of the group. By using architecture to form a gathering space, public space, to bring dispersed groups together, the space contains subconscious group common functions, where they can achieve certain purposes and be socially concerned.
Decentralized
Understanding the territories and introducing the contradictions existing within the population allows Xiong'an to live and work in an environment that resists capital, allowing capital to return to Beijing and giving Xiong'an the opportunity to become a place that truly cares for the Floating People. Decentralized displacement is the best approach. From a territorial perspective, individuals reject centralized living in their consciousness, embracing a networked lifestyle and work patterns, which further strengthens the implementation of this method. The economic models present in Xiong'an have led to a large-scale, centralized expansion development. This development model can be interpreted as the government's urban planning behind this housing form. Therefore, in pursuit of a decentralized model, we must rethink how to reorganize the original density of Xiong'an and through the government's land requisition.
Non-capital Function
A crucial component of the coordinated development of the Beijing-TianjinHebei region, it aims to address the traffic congestion, resource overload, pollution, and other issues caused by the concentration of functions and population in Beijing. It adjusts the economic and spatial structures, with the political center focused in Beijing and the production and living activities radiating to the surrounding areas.
Frame Density
Based on geographical interpretation, Aldo Rossi's "Centro direzionale di Fontivegge" and Dogma's "Simple Heart" suggest that the framework of architectural types seems to curb urban expansion rather than allow for urban contraction. Isolated from each block, the framework serves as a mere frame, imposing restrictions on chaotic sprawl
development. The characteristic of this framework constraint is a significant differentiation between the scale of architectural forms and the scale of the city. Such a bottom-up development model inadvertently creates multiform living spaces for migrating populations.
The intension is to decentralization what was intended for Xiong An into the entire territory between Baoding Tianjin and Beijing. The project forms a fixed system for immaterial work and expression as a possibility of encounter and exchange. The mobility of the system is increased by the connection of the unit to the railway network.
[BIG
STONE BREAKS CHEST]
1.Migrant labor hierarchy and working culture
2.The release spatial of living and production
Photograph taken by Yann Layma
Autonomous Community Studio Architecture Design Wenzhou, China
Luo Le SP Semester, 2023
As the largest hierarchy in Chinese society, the propaganda of workers in China has gradually weakened. Young people no longer have the past enthusiasm to be elected workers and take pride in this profession. Once again, society encourage and accept the working hierarchy again, so that the working hierarchy can have enough space to create their own culture.The old factories surrounding Wenzhou are gradually closing, leading to a large number of workers losing their jobs. This stems from the development of automation, which has relieved factory workers of a huge burden of labor and the necessity to be bound. However, with the new round of industrial upgrading, where will manual laborers go from here?
In 1949, Communist Party end the Civil war, Mao Zedong and a group of other communists found the People's Republic of China. In 1952, China's first fiveyear plan was officially launched, and the means of production began to gradually shift to the public.
In 1997, The beginning of a wave of layoffs, where workers were forced to live in temporary factory housing or self-built houses in factories, and the society and economy looked forward to a virtuous cycle of sustainable development. In 2012, Wenzhou City began to implement the "Urban Construction Housing Expropriation Urban Village Renovation Rural Housing Cluster Construction Compensation Implementation Measures". After 2022, the old industrial zone began a batch of renovation. In 1978, China began to implement the major policy of reform and opening-up China began the transition from a planned economy to a market economy.
By altering the spatial structure through architectural changes, the possibilities of collisions between workers and society are addressed, enriching their spiritual lives. Single-function residential areas are transformed to meet the behavioral and psychological needs of workers. The multi-layered structural framework facilitates the installation of various housing and work units, further strengthening the participation among workers. Through spontaneous community construction and operation, a bottom-up governance model is formed. The new type of community space combines practice with an informal housing system, diversifying more patterns from the old formula.
[FADED BEAUTY]
1. New citizens, old soil
2. High density residential area in the center of Shanghai Old City
3. Large-scale demolition and construction under the process of urbanization
UIA-HYP CUP 2024 International Student Competition Competition Work with Yiwei Chen Xiaoyang Yu Jidong Zhang
Shanghai, with its ancient city moat area that has a history of over 700 years, is undergoing planning and transformation. After the relocation, the vacant houses and alleys record the traces of past life and the trajectory of Shanghai's urban development... A large number of vacant old buildings within the area are waiting to be demolished and redeveloped. while to the east, it is adjacent to the Bund Financial Center, with a view of the towering skyscrapers of Lujiazui.
Demolition, a product of the urbanization process, has accelerated the metabolism of cities from a macro perspective with its rough layout, neglecting the thoughts of the masses. The ancient city moat area, as a high-density residential area in the heart of Shanghai, bears a rich culture of alleyways and urban context. The changes in its fabric over the past 30 years of multiple demolitions have witnessed the departure of countless families and the loss of home memories.
Old residents move away, new citizens move in, living in high-rise apartments. In fact, the loss of home is not just a predicament for the old city residents. With residential implemented by the Shanghai government in the ancient city moat area in recent years, new residences are built on the razed old city, disrupting the continuity of the urban fabric. Under the accelerated process of urbanization, where the home is?
1.Residents moving out
2.Fading community sphere 3.Demoished and new apartments 4. Demolition finalized
Construction Data Model
Demolition Backtracking
By examining the resettlement rate of old city residents, we can infer the intensity of urban development and the scope of old city protection, with the premise of protecting people's behavior and memories to advance urban development strategies, and explore new criteria for protection and development. Using algorithms to calculate the suitable urban development values under resettlement. Here, the resettlement number is denoted as x, and various site data of residential clusters are other variables. When these values are input into the calculation, it is possible to obtain the additional area required for development and the building area that needs to be protected, thereby breaking through past urban patterns and establishing new criteria. Through multiple on-site samplings, the project restored the site data of group7 and substituted x into the calculation for testing. The test results recorded the urban development forms and heritage protection scopes under different resettlement rates, constructing a complete urban development system.
Through muliple sampling in the demolition site, the project restored the most basic 14 spatial pardigms of the lilong, and tested them one by one based on the methodology. Finaly, 29 original settlement paradigms, 19 communal district paradigms and 18 new settlement paradigms are summarised. The new home manual will realize the recovery of home, create substantal urban revival and expand new urban memory based on human behaviour, create an urban development model driven by relocation, and finally answer the ultimate question from the public under the mass demolition-where the home is?
Revitalizing Old Alley
While ensuring that each building module in the alleyway meets the original number of family residences, by adding a floor, the living space is allocated to increase the existing space. At the same time, more public areas are gained to improve the quality of life.
Publicizing Idle Area
By breaking through the building walls and connecting the alleyway road network, the process of activities drives spatial jumps between alleyway roads. The setting of movable doors encourages the original residents to continue the characteristics of their past alleyway life, to define the spatial scale and functions autonomously, and to support the production of small-scale businesses.
Extending New Alley
New living spaces grow based on the original public area's alleyway wall panel structure, and the spatial scale of the alleyway is interpreted as part of the living environment. The external balconies are interconnected, like new alleyways, gathering communities again. Convenient transportation spaces connect public areas, allowing new residents to eventually intersect with the lives of the original residents. Intervention Scenario
虚土之下
[UNDER THE VISUAL DUST]
1. Youth and country, city and illusion
2. Cognitive self and cultural reflection
3. As Cheif curator, create the balance between academics and careers
Youth Return to the Countryside
Lost in urban?
Escape from reality? ?
Let's look for one state that can move between society and individual sovereign and objective
Curatorial Circulation
In the natural countryside scene, listen to the wind in the field, find and think about the words of life. Go back to the country once more, in the village in the south of the Yangtze River, we measured the land with our feet, listened to the wind, and planted our own hesitation and nervous heart. Here we thought and talked, and found the words belonging to the new generation and the words of hope.
Curatorial Content Connection
Delany Shadow of Tree
Delany Shadow of Tree
Half of Peach Blossom
Alley and Belly
Alley and Belly
SOUNDPICKER
SOUNDPICKER
For-14 FOCUS
For-14 FOCUS
KEMING ZHANG
Address
Wenzhou-Kean University
Michael Graves College 88 Daxue Road, Wenzhou, China
Kean University 1000 Morris Avenue Union, New Jersey, US
Phone +86 17369015080
Email peikm_bruce@163.com zhangkem@kean.edu
Media WeChat: Tracing
Instagram:
pei.km_el
pei.km_bruce
EDUCATION
09/2021-06/2025
Wenzhou-Kean University
B.A. in Architecture
GPA: 3.930/4.0
Ranking: 1/42
07/2023
AA School of Architecture Visiting Programme
Shanghai/London Summer Program: Alley and Belly
PUBLICATION
03/2024
Migrants’ community building in two Montenegrin informal
SCHOLARSHIP
2022-2024
Kean University Dean’s List
Zhejiang Provincial Government Scholarship (3%)
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
03/2024 – 09/2024
The Wind in the Field Installation art exhibition Chief Curator
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
05/2024 – Present
12/2022-12/2023
49
Goran Ivo Marinovic (Author), work as author’s research assistant in his article Infographics design and definition, published in the Community Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/15575330.2024.2329630
EPILOGUE "In a city, you never know which person you might run into, turning a street corner, or which old memory a voice will bring back. Every city has its own images, and its own stories, and its own versions. But in every city there are also the images, the stories, the versions that belong to all cities: the current that runs beneath them all, connecting and dividing them."
— Italo Calvino "Invisible Cities"
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
"The past and the present, like two poles of the same logic, complement each other; recalling its roots is to journey further into the future." The practices of leading architects such as I.M. Pei have allowed me to first comprehend that the field of architecture possesses not only an elegant demeanor but also a far-sighted capability for future planning. Through interdisciplinary studies, I have come to deeply understand that architecture is not merely a job of numbers and mental design; it is intimately connected with human life, integrating a perspective that spans cultures and eras, and experiencing the intricate interplay of social and political forces. During my undergraduate studies, through research experiences and outcomes, I further deepened my understanding of architecture: the modernization of architecture should delve into and integrate the cultures and histories of various places, closely observing the daily lives of people, thereby reflecting a profound insight and care for the human living environment in design.
