SYRACUSE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
JIAHAO ZHENG
SCALE 1/8’’ = 1’-0’’
About Me Experiences
Fourth year architecture student at Syracuse University pursuing a B.Arch degree with a 3.82 GPA. Proficient in architectural design and conceptual deduction through drawing, bring seven years of U.S. study for fluent English communication.
With prior experience as an architectural intern across global firms and teaching assistant, I offer strong task execution, a robust team spirit, and an enthusiastic, proactive approach to learning. Skilled in Rhino and Adobe workflows, I’m passionate about crafting physical models and integrating them with digital modeling to explore space and form.
Education
Syracuse University
Bachelor Of Architecture 2026
GPA 3.82, Dean’s List 2021-2024
Design Studio GPA: 3.91
Outstanding Portfolio Scholarship
Syracuse Arch Summer Abroad Scholarship
Syracuse Academic Excellence Scholarship
SKILLS
Rhino 3D Modeling Concept Sketching
Adobe Photoshop Spatial Planning
Adobe Illustrator Design Research
Auto CAD / Revit Diagram Visualization
Vray / Enscape Render Presentation Development
3D Printing / Laser Cut Precise Model Making
Skidmore, Owings & Merill
Summer Architecture Intern
Worked on a Midtown Manhattan tower interior renovation, focusing on concept and schematic stages. Created design materials and attended meetings and site visits.
Produced enclosure detailings for MIT’s College of Computing, published in Architecture Record, and managed facade drawings for the SOM website.
Henning Larsen
Student Practicum Intern
Worked on a master planning project in Hawaii, producing large-scale site models, including landscape, context, and transportation. Created conceptual drawings, site diagrams, and renderings.
Beta tested AI timber software, «Generate,» modeling the firm’s timber project to calculate load and estimate built cost using
Chapman Taylor Architects
Summer Architecture Intern
Engaged in the conceptualization and advancement of multiple real architectural projects including Office Tower in Jiaxin, China and competition of Mixed Use Hotel Resort in Hainan, China.
Specializing in using Rhino to further develop models and refine details based on
First Year Architecture Studio Teaching Assistant
Worked as a studio teaching assistant for first year architecture studio. Host daily office hour to help new students with design, diagrams, and model making.
Communicate with professor and provide feedback on student performance.
Syracuse Architecture | Arc 408 | Fall 2024
Syracuse Architecture | Arc 407 | Spring 2024
Syracuse Architecture | Arc 307 | Fall 2023
Syracuse Architecture | Arc 208 | Spring 2023
Skidmore, Owings & Merill | Summer 2024
Train Graveyard Exhibition
A metonym for Highgate urban decay 50 Years to the future
Instructor: Amber Bartosh, Vanessa Lastrucci
Collaborator: Langtian Zheng, Guanxin Luo Syracuse School Of Architecture Fall 2024
The Train Graveyard speculates on the future 50 years ahead, focusing on the abandoned Highgate train station in London, which previously served as an important junction for the Northern Railways and as the location of the cemetery where Karl Marx is buried. The project proposes a system of adaptive reuse that allows the coexistence of physical ruins and digital AR archives of urban decay. The theme of the exhibition references the decayed depot that stores abandoned trains to the north of the station.
The design juxtaposes the operating underground station with the abandoned train station, retaining the original circulation of the underground station while repurposing it as an entrance to the exhibition. It reimagines abandoned public spaces as fluid vessels for social gathering and storytelling, offering a network that connects archives of urbanization across the city. A tectonic intervention system integrates post-industrial elements collected and reassembled from old trains and station parts, creating a readymade installation within the space. The proposal transforms the entire architectural design into a readymade, making the container the same as the contained.
Since AR technology is ubiquitous 50 years into the future, the visual effects and renderings imagine the overlapping of digital point cloud imagery projected on top of the readymade relics, adding to the performative reuse aspect of the design.
Train Graveyard digitally transplanted as the
exhibition theme
The Assemblage of found ruins as readymades in Highgate station
Overall Schematic Axon - Connection between ruins, existing underground station, and abandoned trains
AR projection of materiality on top of the ruin walls
AR projection that revives the site’s artifacts
Digital gallery inside abandoned train cars
Ground Floor And Exhibition Space Plan
Aluminum Roof Construction
Abandoned Roof Tiles And Sheeting
130mm Rigid Insulation
Aluminum Gutter
Roof Fascia
Anodized Aluminum Column
Laminated Glass Panel
Rustic Timber Cladding
Tectonic Wall Section And Zoom-In Detailings
Reclaimed Brick Walls
Anodized Aluminum Column
Platform Floor Treatment
HVAC Ventilation Pipe
Sealed Joints
Shallow Decking
Existing Station Brick Wall
Welded Backplate Joinery
Long Section And Facade Typology Diagram
Elevation render with AR point cloud facade Original Station Intervention Diagram
Chunk Model And Augmented Exhibition Objects
Exhibition space rendering with new tectonic intervention
Material Tactility Concept Model: Similar to exhibition artifacts, this model collects ruins and objects, assembling them through wax casting. The misty texture of the wax symbolizes the digital point cloud augmentation that stitches the ruins together.
Rotating Urban Classroom
Reimagining The Landmark Preservation Committee Headquater
Instructor: Ivi Diamantopoulou, Rami Abou-Khalil
Collaborator: Amanda Zhang
Syracuse School Of Architecture Spring 2024
This project connects the agency with civic life by opening LPC’s archives, hearing rooms, labs, and offices to the public. It also innovates preservation standards by expanding a designated landmark, an abandoned community school in the East Village. The project preserves Syner’s architectural legacy and safeguards the collective ethos embodied in the building’s life.
The significance of landmark preservation transcends physical permanence, evolving with the socio-cultural landscape. Inspired by vertical rotary parking, our design integrates rotation to foster a dynamic environment for active learning and DIY initiatives. This urban classroom offers non-hierarchical spaces that encourage exploration and engagement, allowing flexible development over time. Programs like Single Mother University aim to enrich urban ecologies, promote cultural expression, and preserve the heritage of the Snyder school.
Schematic Axon With Community Space Typology
The project’s focus of preservation targets Synder’s architectural legacy and the Charas community’s spirit, viewing preservation as an evolving process shaped by its inhabitants. Meanwhile, the landmark embodies “permanent temporality,” evolving over time to reflect past and present cultural shifts while remaining a relevant monument. The lack of fixed layout allows people to determine how spaces are developed and enriched over time. Every layer of change adds to the evolution and future history of the original Synder public school.
Traverse Section Diagram
Viewing From Tompkins Square Park: Architecture As Community Billboard
Sculptura-Tower
Exploration Of Form And Tectonic With Digital Fabrication
Instructor: Hans Tursack
Individual Work
Syracuse School Of Architecture Fall 2023
Sited in Hudson, New York, this project draws inspiration from Isamu Ngouchi’s sculputres exhibited in New York City. Featuring a twisting central core with a vertical atrium, a grand sky-lit stairway connects levels seamlessly integrating compact housing units. The double-skin facade, inspired by Morphosis’s Cooper Union Building, combines a semi-transparent mesh with a glazed envelope for environmental control. Symbolically open to Hudson,NY, Sculptura-Tower interlaces visual transparencies and sculptural forms, creating a dynamic connection with the vibrant city fabric.
Sculptura Tower Plan Diagram
Sculptura Tower Perspective Render
Sculptura Tower Tectonic Concept Model
Sculptura Tower Section Axon Diagram
Sculptura Tower Site Context Axon
Sculptura Tower Facade Chunk And Detail Diagram
The project aims to revitalize a Syracuse canal site, blending infrastructure development, agriculture irrigation system for planting beds and a natural swimming pool. The pool, designed as a bridge, landscape. Repurposing materials from Syracuse Interstate 81, longitudinal concrete beams each with distinct functions like livestock, forest, and human activities, fostering simultaneous
Aquaduct Renaissance
Historical Aquaduct
Instructor: Lawrence Individual Syracuse School Of Architecture
Renaissance
Davis Individual work
Architecture Spring 2023
agriculture planning, and landscape design. The recreated historical aqueduct serves as an bridge, introduces a new stream over the canal, offering panoramic views of the terraced overscale the highway’s ruins. Project programming organizes the site into vertical layers, simultaneous use of intersected spaces.
Aquaduct Restoration
Lawrence
Program Distribution Diagram
Exploded Tectonic System Diagram
Three Systems
1: Longitudinal Concrete Beams And Support
2: Traversal Truss System
3: Dividing Walls And Window Frames
Aquaduct Renaissance Plan Diagram
Aquaduct Renaissance
Renaissance Short Section
Aquaduct
MIT Schwarzman College Of Computing
Intern Work: Skidmore, Owings & Merill Facade Detailing At SOM Enclosure Group
Published In Architecture Record
Facade Isometric
Facade Typical Plan
Metropolitan Tower Interior Renovation
Intern Work: Skidmore, Owings & Merill
Role: Preparing design books for concept and schematic design, designing lobby and cellar interiors, produce rendering that showcase interior ambience and materiality, visiting the site for documentation and measurements
