AAD_SU21_053

GRADUATION PORTFOLIO OF SHEN CHENG M.S.AAD GSAPP COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY cs3907@columbia.edu

PROLOGUE

CONTENTS

Architecture is an expression of the true strength of a society because the things humans value most are those that are irrevocable, according to G. K. Chesterton.

Unlike other forms of art, architecture lies in full view and is difficult to get rid of. Architecture is a relatively permanent expression of how society as a whole sees itself and how it views the environment, and it can serve as a time capsule of human history and human thought.

It is a powerful reflection of human culture.

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OXYGENATING THE UNDERWORLD (A)Cclimatizing Nature Studio, 2021 Summer Collaborating with Climate & Environment, Nanjing, China

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ARCHITECTURE OF RESILIENCY Re-Connecting Beirut Studio, 2020 Fall The Healthy City, Gemmayzeh, Beirut, Lebanon

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GRANDFAMILY LINEAR PARK Kitchenless Stories Studio, 2021 Spring 2 Generations * 2 Ethnic Groups, Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New Yort, USA

In this portfolio, I want to interrogates the way architectural devices and architectural practices gain collective relevance by participating in the making of contemporary realities; by facing current environmental, technological and representational challenges; and by being part of ongoing interactions, collaborations, disputes and coexistences. I would like to express my point of view to interrogate the way architecture is part of the shared concerns that shape the evolution of the world’s societies and ecosystems. To explore the role architecture plays in the political enactment of the societal and the ecosystemical at large.

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01 OXYGENATING THE UNDERWORLD Site: Qianhu Lake, Nanjing, China Instructor: Nerea Calvillo Gonzalez (nc2006@columbia.edu) Group Work with Jinxia Lou(AAD 21), Jialu Deng(AAD 22) Dealing with /designing for / collaborating with climate and the environment is not only about technological solutions, but requires dealing with the weather, nature and cultural, social and political issues.

When we talking about oxygen, why are we only concerned about the oxygen above ground, the one humans breathe?

Industrial sewage, acid rain, chemical fertilizers and mono-crops are depleting the oxygen in soils and water bodies.

This oxygen reduction has a strong impact in under world ecosystems, causing biodiversity loss, soil erosion and desertification.

How can we oxygenate the underworld?

As we research on the biography of alligator weed, rumex and ramie, we wonder how can they intervene in the underworld environment challenge?

What impact will they bring in the long run?

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ALLIGATOR WEED INVASIVE DIAGRAM It can acclimatize to either warm or wet weather, even in extreme conditions. It also can acclimatize to water with low oxygen and high nitrogen. It’s strong adaptability makes it invasive to other species, occupying the living space of native plants and blocking waterways. However, it can provide shelter and food for some species like crabs, fishes and beetles. It can also oxygenate the eutrophic water and soil rich in heavy metal. Even more, it can increase the oxygen of the water by limiting the spread of blue-green algae!

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RUMEX INVASIVE DIAGRAM It’s leaves are full of nutrition, which can increase the output and production quality of animal husbandry. It also can save large amounts of feed grains and alleviate the tightness of food supply. It has developed root system, which makes it have wide adaptability to plant in the desert and saline-alkali land. And it oxygenates the soil too! However, if it grows too wild in farms, it will decrease agriculture yields and reduce feeding value, which is bad for agriculture output.

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RAMIE INVASIVE DIAGRAM It can acclimatize to all kinds of soil, even acidic soil. But cannot acclimatize to pests like beetles and paraglenea. That’s why the ramies we found almost have holes on leaves. It’s adaptability makes it an important fiber crop in China. The stems can be processed into clothing. However, the textile industry produces pollution when degumming. Ramie can also be used as fodder, such as for silkworms, butterflies and some livestocks. In addition, ramie has strong adaptability to soil and is beneficial to oxygenating soil and recovering soil fertility.

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CONSEQUENCE OF ALLIGATOR WEED On one hand it can absorb nitrogen and phosphorus, which will promote blue-green algae to proliferate. On the other hand, it’s allelopathy function will limit blue-green algae by producing toxic substances.

Therefore, as long as oxygen rises, aquatic species will increase. Alligator weeds will then attract micro organisms, which will later be eaten by crabs, fishes, shrimps, etc. Abundant food and cool shelter make alligator weeds an ideal habitat for them, such as for alligator weed flea beetles.

On the land, as ramie and rumex have wide adaptability, they can be easily planted and increase soil fertility, there will be more plants later on and attract other insects like butterflies to increase biodiversity step by step.

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SITE LOCATION & CHALLENGE Let’s take a look at a beautiful lake called Taihu lake in another city near Nanjing. Some factories nearby discharge Food Production, Agricultural and industrial waste into the lake, which promotes the growth of blue-green algae. The more blue-green algae, the fewer oxygen under water. Then, the fewer water creatures. Our hypothesis is that industry discharges on the lake keep happening because very few people see the damage. So, what if we diverge the industry discharges and transport them into the lake in the Oxygen Bar, in the centre of Nanjing city, so that everyone can see the consequences? Taihu lake will reduce its pollution but the oxygen bar will suffer severe damage from blue-green algae.

So we propose two inter ventions: 1. to pass a law that forbids polluting. 2. A demonstrational device: A floating prototype to oxygenate the water with the help of our companion plants.

A DEMONSTRATIONAL DEVICE This prototype can adjust buoyancy and be resilient. The structure uses HDPE pipe to counteract the accumulation of biomass. The PET growing medium on the top surface provides a growing habitat for plants. Inside the structure, there’re decomposing tanks in the center of soil, which will decompose extra alligator weed and increase nutrition to the surrounding soil. Lastly, We can attach bags behind the structure to improve the oxygenating process by putting alligator weed inside.

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IMPACT We create another 5 forms of prototype, and connect them into different shapes. Some can form an inner lake, some can form an inner stream. What happens when we put these prototypes in reality? Here we go! Our tetris starts on the lake! In the long run, what impact will these units bring?

During the whole process of intervention, we use pipes to transport Food Production, Agricultural and Industrial Waste from Taihu lake to the oxygen bar to stop the pollution in Taihu lake. However, these wastes cause blue-green algae bloom in the oxygen bar.

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Workers start to plant alligator weed inside the inner lake to proliferate oxygen. After several months of growth, workers started to change the shape of these prototypes and started to plant ramie and rumex on the floating land to cover the structure.

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IMPACT

After one year, the water is much clearer and workers started to connect these tetris into a whole one. With the growth of three plants, surprisingly, there comes some wild species like butterflies, waterfowls, snails, crabs, etc. (Animate)To sustain the wetlands, some workers need to cut extra alligator weed for compost. (Animate)Some need to keep planting rumex and ramie, which can be used for clothing,food and feed afterwards.

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Then comes the second year, the weeds cover the structure thoroughly and the lake is as clean as before. This is an ideal place to raise crabs where they have abundant food and different types of habitat. When the wetlands have a sustainable non-human ecology, it’s time to introduce humans to it. The workers develop the same structure to connect to the shore. Citizens can visit the wetlands to get close contact with plants and animals.

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IMPACT

POTENTIAL

Third year, the wetlands become a space to be shared with humans. The floating wetlands become a new “wing” to the Botanical Garden: the Ethnobotanical Weed Floating Garden, where children have a chance to study plant knowledge in the field, and citizens have a chance to have barbecue and other activities. We not only decrease the blue-green algae pollution but also increase the biodiversity by proliferating oxygen above and underwater.

What's future potential of these companion species?

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Alligator weed, rumex and ramie can also contribute to oxygenating other waters and soils in China, like the desertification caused by rubber trees in the southern part of China, or the eutrophication of the Yangtze River.

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02 ARCHITECTURE OF RESILIENCY Site: Gemmayzeh, Beirut, Lebanon Instructor: Richard Plunz (rap9@columbia.edu), Victor Body Lawson (fzb1@columbia.edu) Group Work with Aaron Sage(March 21), Fahad Al Dughaish(AAD 21) Lebanon is a Mediterranean country governed by the lack of planning and political instability. Since the early 1990s – after 15 years of civil war, the country missed several opportunities to rise from the ashes and instead moved instead from one crisis to the next resulting in increased civil unrest, lack of basic services, and increase in poverty amongst its population.

From the early waste crisis in 1994 – ongoing to-date, the electricity shortages, the mismanagement and supply of water services, all the way to the evident corruption and inadequate banking schemes – which led to an idle economic sector evidenced in unemployment and immigration – Lebanon is left with a compounding of accumulated errors undermining its future. Ninety per cent of its urban population and lacks basic urban services resulting in inadequate and unsuitable living environments. Political turmoil has led to a system collapse that has mostly affected the low to middle income populations – known as the “dwellers of city’s suburbs in dense urban settings.” Lately, these conditions have been coupled with the October 2019 uprising and the COVID-19 lockdown, also mostly affecting residents living below the poverty-line and faceing further increasing socioeconomic uncertainties.

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CHALLENGE In a city consumed by special interests, Beirutians suffer from inadequate access to basic resources such as water, energy, and food. In recent decades, Beirut has experienced increased dependency on external agents, as well as environmentally harmful development, compounding a multilayered set of issues. Faced with insufficient state-provided water and energy resources, citizens have long depended upon the private sector to fill the gaps, giving rise to what is known as the “generator mafia,” as well as private wells and water distributors. Private suppliers charge significant markups to government rates.

Paying dual bills for electricity and water disproportionately impacts the poor, who may spend up to 15% of their income on water resources alone. The recent economic crisis has caused more than half of Beirutians to dip below the poverty line, up 25% from 2019, and its accompanying inflation has caused food prices to skyrocket, with a quarter of the population spending 80% of their income on food.

Combined with the blast of August 4th 2020, these dual crises have increased basic resource dependency, exacerbating the need for deployable and accessible infrastructural approaches that can mitigate such problems through access to resources.

CHALLENGE 1 POVERTY

CHALLENGE 4 WATER SUPPLY

CHALLENGE 2 FOOD PRODUCTION

CHALLENGE 5 ENERGY SUPPLY

CHALLENGE 3 FOOD SECURITY

CHALLENGE 6 INFRASTRUCTURE SHORTAGE

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SOLUTION: SEED These challenges has led to the creation of the “Seed.” Designed to be a flexible space assembled with readily sourced materials, the Seed allows the users to configure urban space to accommodate different programs or constraints. The Seed consists of modular parts that can be assembled with limited tools and expertise across multiple neighborhood typologies.

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CONSTRUCTION & USAGE Due to the Seed’s unique unistrut system design, accessories can be attached to the main frame, altering the use and program of the space while putting agency back in the hand of the user. The Seed can be joined to provide expanded space and increased performance capabilities, and can function as a system of aggregates scattered throughout the neighborhood.

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NEIGHBORHOOD APPLICATIONS The Seed provides resilience and independence when deployed throughout Gemmayzeh.

The Seed can be located in a public plaza, vacant lot, public stair-landing or rooftop, where and when it is needed.

POTENTIAL SITE

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SITE 1： VACANT LOT

VACANT LOT PROTOTYPE

In a public space such as the currently vacant lot at the intersection of St. Nicholas Stairs and Rue Gourard, the Seed can be used as a fresh foods market and productive greenspace serving the next door restaurant as well as the community. In a pandemic, it can become a medical facility for Covid testing with its easily deployable curtain system.

VACANT LOT COLLAGE

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VACANT LOT OCCUPATION

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SITE 2： ROOFTOP

ROOFTOP OCCUPATION

On a residential rooftop, such as the building next to this vacant lot in Gemmayzeh, the Seed can serve as a quarantine space for residents exhibiting mild symptoms. In nonpandemic situations, the Seed can be a garden space providing food for the building’s residents, as well as a workshop space.

ROOFTOP COLLAGE

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ROOFTOP PANDEMIC SCENARIO

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SITE 3： STAIR & SIDEWALK

STAIR & SIDEWALK OCCUPATION

In sidewalks and stairs such as the St. Nicholas stairs, the Seed can harvest electricity and rainwater to nourish the Seed’s green wall, and supply neighboring communities with these resources. It can also be used as a public art exhibition space and shaded seating space along the pathway.

ROOFTOP COLLAGE

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STAIR & SIDEWALK OCCUPATION

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NEIGHBORHOOD APPLICATIONS: GEMMAYZEH

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CROSS-BEIRUT APPLICATIONS Seed modules can be distributed throughout the city, creating decentralized high-performance spaces that are linked as a network providing a granular data cloud enabling a high level of resiliency in the case of disaster prevention, deploying an interactive feedback loop that grants an equitable and accurate resource map. The design gives agency and self-sufficiency to the community through an intelligent and accessible system that can serve as a seed on which sustainable resiliency can be grown by the hand of the people.

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0 3 G R A N D F A M I LY LINEAR PARK Site: Sunset Park, New York, USA Instructor: Anna Puigjaner (ap2782@columbia.edu ) Group Work with Jingrou Zhao(AAD 21) Sunset Park's population is mainly composed of two ethnic groups, which are Mexican and Chinese. Despite these are the main ones, our project acknowledges that the community has even more diversity with many other Asian and Hispanic immigrants' subdivisions. The distribution of Hispanics and Asians divided the district into two parts. With all the differences, those ethnic groups face similar problems in Sunset Parkgentrification, lack of child care and education, difficulty in languages, etc.

Thus, we decided to work on those similarities in order to connect the two communities and empower them to fight back common social instability.

As Chinese students, we noticed that there's also a culture of grandparents taking care of grandchildren in Mexican families, just as they do in China. This unexpected similarity attracted us to the two generations - the elderly and the children. The younger generation plays an essential part in connecting different ethnic groups because they are more open-minded and easier to take new ideas. While it might be more challenging for older adults to connect with other cultures, by accompanying their grandchildren, they can avoid isolation.

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CHALLENGE Many children receive poor education because of overcrowded public schools and uneven distribution. The green frame in the middle marks an area where this situation is most difficult, with the public school 94 utilized up to 144% and even worse, is being renovated, increasing the need for space. Two senior centers in this area that serve Mexican and Chinese are both affected by the pandemic, limiting their available time of already limited space for activities. As this area is also the center of our "dividing line,” we decided it to be our core design area.

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CORE AREA This core area is about two blocks of width between 5th Ave and 7th Ave. The upper left part is mainly occupied by the Mexican community, and the lower right side Chinese community. In each of these two communities, there is a senior center and the public school 94 in the middle.

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DAILY ROUTINE We also analyzed grandparents' and grandchildren's daily routine on this site to figure out more possibilities of involving activities. We find out the elderly from both community have a lot of commons, like having lunch and attending courses at senior center. They both often take their grandchildren to and from school, accompany them to have dinner, do homework, and play games. Last but not least, they both like plaza dancing in the afternoon.

Mexico Senior Center: a one-floor open space for collective breakfast and lunch and some Taichi, yoga, lectures, etc. Its entrance is on the branch road, and the facade has no windows to see from outside.

And it's space is too limited to do a wide range of exercise.

Chinese Senior Center: a small building with two levels, the first floor is for activities like classes, workshops, etc. The second floor is for collective meals. Obviously, its limited space is hard to hold parties and meetings, like plaza dancing that the Chinese elderly like a lot.

Public school 94: including both elementary and primary school students, and the majority of its students are from these two communities. Compared to its large number of students, its space is too limited. Its playground is small. As is mentioned, it's overcrowded. Some of the class even takes place at the canteen. Activities for parents are also held at the canteen.

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SOLUTION PROTOTYPES We adopt a similar square structure and material to create several prototypes and define a common identity in the three sites. This square module will host different programs, Such as a canteen to expand locals businesses and provide shades to pedestrians. Corridors to connect second floors, farms to create a comfortable environment and provide food to restaurants. Playground to make a fun place for kids after school, plazas to hold dancing and exercising activities. We combine these prototypes and adapt them to fit each field, including adapting to the topography, the business surrounding, and buildings’ original structure. As we were going to put our modules in a few different sites, this would raise the structures' identity and help people be aware of their connection. Also, since our designs would be built not by the citizens but by the city council, the modules leave an open future of them being inserted elsewhere. Moreover, modules have specific mobility for people to open walls or add walls as the weather changes.

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POTENTIAL APPLICATION SITE In order to expand the place for children, the elderly, and the public. Our design will cover the linear route from Mexico Senior Center to the Chinese Senior Center. We will cut off the traffic on 51st Street and turn it into a linear health and education park. Briefly, we choose 3 strategic sites, two sites in front of two restaurants on each side of the street, which can become expansions of the senior centers, and on site in front of the public school. We will Mix 2 generations by letting kids go to the expansion of the senior center and the elderly gather at the school. We will mix 2 ethnic groups by allowing local businesses to interact with the other and let their same interests happen at the same place, like the school front. Moreover, we will create a linear road either with ramps and stairs to connect each field and make it friendly to both kids and the elderly.

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SITE 1： TACO RESTAURANT STOREFRONT

1st Floor Plan

We propose a combination of child care spaces and expansions of local businesses to encourage different communities' communication. Store fronts on both sides of the street are extended to create space and attract customers. As this site is closer to the Mexican community with their traditional food restaurant, we invited some Chinese food vendors and a shared kitchen. Combining small urban farms for people to grow fresh vegetables, a local food plaza is formed. Exercise space is also created for children to have fun after school.

There are a few small classrooms on the second floor for kids to do their homework after school while their grandparents cook and talk with each other. One of the classrooms is put on top of the barber shop in between two buildings as quieter space is more suitable for study. .

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2nd Floor Plan

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SITE 2： PUBLIC SCHOOL FRONT

1.5M Floor Plan

We regard it as the extension of the original school playground. After the elderly send their grandchildren to school in the morning, they will spontaneously come to this place and exercise what they have learned in senior courses, like Taichi and yoga. When kids finish classes, the elderly will also go to this playground to pick up kids and have fun exercise with them. In this way, two generations can mix not passively, like the elderly need to pick up their grandchildren after school, but proactively. Dancing is both interests for Mexico and Chinese people. In the afternoon or holidays, the elderly from both communities come here to dance and celebrate. In this way, two communities can get more interaction here.

Since the topography is sloping, we made a zig-zag ramp to make it easier for the elderly to walk. People can approach platforms on different heights during their walk, where they can dance and exercise.

3.7M Floor Plan

Mexican and the Chinese elderly are happily dancing together in their own traditional way.

They can communicate their culture, make friends with each other, and even talk about their grandchildren.

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SITE 3： CROSSROADS BETWEEN CHINESE RESTAURANT & CHINESE SENIOR CENTER

Floor Plan

We'd like to use this place as an expansion of the Chinese senior center. Also, we want to mix Mexican culture here, like expanding this Chinese restaurant with Mexican snacks prepared by street vendors. The Chinese community and Mexico community can meet with the other and get more power in the business. Moreover, after class, kids will have a place to play and study.

We use a circular ramp to connect each space. When kids finish school, they can go to the south part to have Martial arts classes or Taekwondo classes. After that, they will meet with their grandparents in the north part and enjoy Chinese food or Mexican snacks.

Chinese Seafood Restaurant

Eating and exercising give one person or one community power and form a bridge to connect two cultures.

Chinese Senior Center

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like express my deep gratitude to all the people that have helped me or coordinated with me during my 1 year study at GSAPP, including my teachers, friends and my dogs who accompanied me at every important moment of my life.

PORTFOLIO OF SHEN CHENG cs3907@columbia.edu

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