Haoting Gao's Portfolio

CONTENTS

PROFEESIONAL WORK ACADEMIC WORK

BEYOND ISLAND SYMBIOCITY

Build a new type of environmentally friendly island town

EGRETS STATION

Return industrial brownfields to nature

CHILDREN'S VISION

Children are not aware of the impact of the absence of a landscape, but they have a vision of a better landscape

EMOTIONAL SHELTER

Find a shelter to express your emotions and relieve the stress of your job.

Nanhai art center area International landscape Design competition

XINYI ART CENTER

Xinyi cultural and art center landscape conceptual design

SHENZHEN X-SPORT PARK

A extreme sports theme park in Shenzhen, hoping to create a world-class sports park through international design vision.

ANN ARBOR COMMUNITY DESIGN

Ann Arbor community design based on environmental sustainability and stormwater management

BOTANICAL

GARDENS CONSTRUCTION

Matthaei botanical gardens and nichols arboretum internship: Woody plants identification, clearing invasive plants, construction, and trail management

BEYOND ISLAND

Build a new type of environmentally friendly island town: The second possibility of municipal waste and ocean current waste

Designer: Haoting GAO，Zhongyi ZHANG, Xiaoxue WU

Location: Kimbaran Bay, Bali, Indonesia

Instructor: Hanji Li

Type: Academic

My Contribution：Analysis 50%, Strategy 80%, Concept 80%, Master Plan 100%, Model 50%, Rendering 100%, Physical Model 100%

Time: November 2020

The urban population of Kimbalan Bay is increasing year by year, which leads to the increase of urban garbage discharge and the shortage of urban residential land. In the meanwhile, the bay is also infested by marine rubbish.

As a consequence, I designed and built artificial islands and learned the method and process of Palm Island to solve the shortage of urban residential land and the discharge of large amounts of urban and marine garbage into the ocean. Besides, I collected urban garbage, recycled harmless and tasteless garbage, buried it in a single seawall unit. And then I tried to pile up boulders around the seawall, spray sand with sea sand boats to form an island, connect the seawall unit with roads to form an island chain, and collect marine plastic waste as building materials for buildings on the island to build houses and landscape facilities. At last, mangroves are planted in the outermost island chain to slow down waves and collect marine garbage, intending to use this environmentally friendly island town design to solve the existing problems of Kimbaran Bay city.

THE

The Surge In Population and Garbage

GROWTH OF URBAN POPULATION LEADS TO THE SHORTAGE OF URBAN LAND AND THE EXCESSIVE DISCHARGE OF URBAN GARBAGE.

WHY AND HOW TO BUILD AN ARTIFICIAL ISLAND TO SOLVE THE EXISTING SITE PROBLEM

Build Friendly Landscapes To Solve Urban And Global Problems

Burying harmless and useless garbage in the retaining wall

Artificial Island Repair Process

Burying harmless and useless garbage in the seawall

Connect all single retaining walls to form a road

Stack large foundation stones on both sides of the seawall

Morphological Deduction

Sea sand boat blows sand to form terrain

Using plastic waste as building materials

Building an environmentally friendly island city

Compact the soil and stabilize the foundation

Plant mangroves on the sea facing the sea to block the sea breeze and tide

Build houses after the terrain is stable and therefore the tide cannot reach

Expand the terrain and increase the habitable land

Form the first island chain to form the basis for the construction of island towns.

The sea wall of the first island chain is 788m long, and the landfill space is 157,600m³.

Gradually expand and develop into a threelayer island chain.

Construct a complete island town walking system, connecting the outermost layer to build a large barrier zone to resist the tide.

The sea wall of the second island chain is 804m long, and the landfill space is 301500m³.

Mangrove belts are planted on the periphery to collect ocean currents and reduce the intensity of ocean tides.

The sea wall of the third island chain is 990m long, and the landfill space is 594000m³.

Four types of buildings are made of plastic waste. There are 120 buildings on the island, which are expected to hold 2,400 people.

TO ESTABLISH A BALANCE BETWEEN ARTIFICIAL ISLANDS AND ECOLOGICAL NATURE

a. Mangrove island chains can block Marine debris and slow waves. Workers regularly recycle Marine debris from mangrove intercepts.

b. The interrupted island chain facilitates the seawater renewal of the water area, conducive to creating a biological habitat between the island chain and attracting more species.

c. The disposal of harmless waste is buried in the middle of the island and cannot be spread after being specially sealed off.Ensure that the original habitat will not be destroyed.

a.

b.

c.

NEW MARINE TOWNS OF ECOLOGICAL AND RESOURCE REUSE TYPE

In the three artificial island chains between the land and the sea, about 1053100m³ of harmless garbage is buried in landfills. The island has 120 buildings and contains a large amount of public green space, which can accommodate more than 2,400 people, and also brings better scenery to tourists and local people.

An orange building with a pitched roof that harmonizes with the existing site in Bali

A winding bridge connects the fIoating islands in the sea

A terrace of each building with a view of the island's beautiful scenery

EGRETS STATION

Return industrial brownfields to nature: The new owner of the abandoned factory are egrets

Designer: Haoting GAO, Xiaoxue WU

Location: Chengdu, Sichuan Province, P.R.China

Instructor: Cai WEN

Type: Academic

Time: August 2020

Chengdu Electric Power Fitting Factory used to be situated in the outskirts of the city, yet it is currently enclosed by busy downtown area. Since the factory relocated to the place far away from city centre, the original site has been derelict for 18 years, waiting to be converted.

When I conducted an on-site investigation, I noticed that fIying white egrets were in stark contrast with the construction waste. The egrets survived in this abandoned building. After researching the habitat of the egret, I determined to conserve the post-industrial brownfield.

I aim to restore this area to the dwelling of egrets, while retaining the characteristics of a post-industrial society. Egrets can search for a habitat in a city filled with skyscrapers.

WHERE CAN EGRETS DWELL?

Density Map Of Human Activity Green Belt Along The River

Egrets generally select farmland, fish ponds, rivers, shoals, and other areas with large areas of open water as feeding grounds.The foraging ground of the egret needs to be more than 60m away from the artificial disturbance and less than 2000m away from the habitat.

Egrets prefer wide forest belts with gentle slopes, high vegetation density as their habitat, which are close to bright water surface and Sancha River estuary and far away from artificial disturbances.

A Preferred Habitat For Egrets

WHAT ARE THE NEGATIVE INFLUNCES OF ABANDONED SITE ON EGRETS? 1-Waste

A.The site contains a large amount of construction waste.B.There are 7 remaining factories in the site. C.The site contains industrial residual pollutants.

STRATEGY FOR CONVERTING ABANDONED BROWNFIELDS TO EGRET HABITAT

Abandoned factory

A PHASED STRATEGY DIAGRAM

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Problem

Dilapidated workshop

Element

Contaminants

Bird habitat

Repair Excavate Transportation Plant management Water gate Bird House

For Egret

Strategy

Construction waste

Architecture

Heavy metal Egret

Establish the temporary habitat

For Contaminant

Wait for ergrets to breed

Dig out metal contaminants

Heap up

Reconstruct Plant management Soil switch Creat habitat Guide

Shap

For Architecture

Production

Clean

Terrain

Grow plants to prevent non-biodegradable pollutants

Reconstruction of plant Handling of building waste Build a mound of building waste Shaping bird watching platform

habitat topography Grow plants to absorb heavy metal pollution

Construct the core habitat for egrets

Attract egrets to return

Overlooking plarform Bird watching place Egret station

soil

Egret habitat

LANDFORM AND ACTIVITY

CharacterActivityElements

WETLAND SYSTEM

b.

c.

d.

VEGETATION

Hyperaccumulation And Wetland Plants

CONSTRUCTION METHOD

Festuca spp. Arrhenatherum elatius Lolium perenne Hibiscus cannabinus L. Eschscholzia californica Vetiveria zizanioides Pinus banksiana Gleditsia triacanthos Salix spp.Celtis-occidentalis Acacia mangium Pinus nigra

Vicia craccaCarex aquatice

flfIuminea

Macrobrachium nipponense

auratus

PERSPECTIVE

The original water tower will be rebuilt. People can watch birds through the windows opening in the tower. The tower itself becomes a landscape architecture.

Before After

The original factory building was first demolished with the remaining steel frame. Since egrets like to stay on long brams, steel beams are added to provide sufficient habitat for egrets.

Before After

The walls of bird watching tunnel are red bricks made of waste building materials, which are stacked in a specific way and interspersed with ferns.

Paving

Bird Watching Tower Bird Watching Tunnel

Egrets Dwelling Framework

CHILDREN'S VISION

Children are not aware of the impact of the absence of a landscape, but they have a vision of a better landscape

Designer: Haoting GAO

Location: ChongQing Province, P.R.China

Instructor: Kexin NI

Type: Academic

Time: May 2020

Migrant workers and low-income people move to the old communities, and their offspring are born in villages in the city with the development of urbanization in Chongqing. The landscape of the village in the city is aging, and the children's playground is full of dangers.

Children don't ask their parents: is the street suitable for us to play? However, childhood impressions of the streets remain in their memories forever. In fact, they are unable to make changes to the existing landscape environment, but they have the ability to perceive and evaluate the environment.

As a consequence, I collect their perception of the existing site environment and bring my design. I divided the site into four areas, and I extracted the form of the boundary of each site. I implanted a new activity site for the existing site to improve the utilization rate of the site by constantly changing and repeating the basic graphics. Moreover, I used geometry to enhance children's awareness of the environment, to bring a better landscape for children in the city.

"WHETHER OUR STREETS ARE SUITABLE FOR US TO PLAY?"

With the development of Chongqing's urbanization process, rural migrant workers and low-income people are transferred into the old communities, which promotes the expansion of the population scale of urban villages, furthermore their descendants are born in urban villages. Due to the aging landscape and unreasonable planning of urban villages, Children's playground and landscape cannot be well protected.

Site Status Photo

The architectural Properties surrounding the site

Site Surroundings

Development History

a.Because the walkways are too narrow and occupied by businesses, children often play on the main, heavily trafficked roads.

b.Some sites are long unused because of the lack of landscape, and the steep slope is not suitable for children to play.

ANALYSIS OF CHILDREN'S ACTIVITY AND PLACE PERCEPTION

Children can consciously perceive the surrounding environment , and I investigate children's cognition of the existing site and understand their behavior patterns to guide design.

Fifty Children Evaluated The Site

Conclusion

They can find a safe place to play, like the retail space, street, fire field, and the farmer's stand in the form. They are inquisitive and curious about new things.

At the same time, they were able to eliminate dangerous area itself, such as stairs, parking lot, industrial land, the use of child self-awareness of site, as the basis of my design, to reform and strengthen these Spaces.

Forms And Proportion Of Children's Activities

Organized play

Social chat

Toys(cards)

Fifty Children Evaluated The Site

Organized play

Social chat

Aimless play

Skateboarding game

Adventure game

Ball game

Natural landscape elements play

Amusement equipment play

Aimless play

Skate

Adventure game

Natural landscape elements play

Ball game

Aimless play

Skateboarding game

Adventure game

Ball game

Natural landscape elements play

DESIGN STRATEGY

Existing Space And Activity TypesAdd The Basic Pattern

Combined Pattern

Space Subdivision

Long and narrow

EMOTIONAL SHELTER

Find a shelter to express your emotions and relieve the stress of your job.

Designer: Haoting GAO, Xiaoxue WU

Location: Chengdu,Sichuan Province, P.R.China

Instructor: Rongqing LIU

Type: Academic

My Contribution：Analysis 80%, Strategy 50%, Concept 50%, Master Plan 50%, Model 100%, Rendering 80%

Time: April 2019

After analysing the questionnaire that 216 programmers in Chengdu Tianfu Software Park responded to, I discovered that 47.6% of the pressure originated from work. Stress can result in certain damage to cardiovascular system as well as hormone system. Even worse, this may lead to depression, which is detrimental to both physical and mental health.

After researching academic papers associated with the relationship between green open space and pressure and conducting an onsite investigation, I concluded that the existing landscape of Tianfu Software Park lacks openness, accessibility, and spatial diversity for activities, thereby diminishing the interaction between the site and people. Therefore, I intend to convert the site into a place that can relieve stress of the people occupied with work.

THE SPACE OF THE SITE LIMITS PEOPLE'S EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION

Site Surroundings

Site Problem

a. People have no place to rest and entertain.

The Tall Buildings Have An Oppressive Feel To The Site

c. The usage rate of the venue is low and people usually pass quickly.

d. Nearby residents cannot reach the site quickly.

THE REASON WHY PEOPLE HAVE NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

It Professional's Daily Routine

Their R&D projects are tight and they have to work overtime to complete in time , and they are often suddenly required to work overtime at night on weekdays or at weekends. Work occupies a lot of rest time, which affects personal life and makes them feel exhausted.

It's another day to get up early for work! come on!!!

The data we processed last night when working overtime is not problematic. This task hasn’t been completed yet, but the new one comes.

I have been working overtime for a month, so tired and sleepy, and I want to sleep...

The Green Space Is Far

The Conclusion Of The Analysis

In Table , which shows that stress is the most frequent complaint, followed by backache and fatigue.

With regard to irritation and stress,this may sometimes be a question of long periods of latent stress nearing a level that is difficult to manage. In other cases, this may be a question of more isolated occasions.

Table 2 may be interpreted as indicating that theshorter the distance to urban open green spaces, themore often people use them and the less often they suffer from stress.

• Distance – The closer open green spaces are to one’s dwelling, the more often one will visit them.

• The visit – Spending time outdoors in urban opengreen spaces seems to be the most important single factor affecting the levels of stress in this study.

• Accessibility – A dwelling with direct access to agreen yard or a garden of its own seems to be the optimal situation.

Design Logic

Adding

and exits and sidewalks to the site breaks the boundary of the site and enhances accessibility.

An overhead walkway running through the entire site connects the roof to the office building and activates the roof interface. Connect office space and leisure space together.

The rooftop farm brings organic new experiences to busy working people, and is open to the public and surrounding residents.

Space Under The Bridge

Waterscape

Overhead Trail

Space Between Buildings

Decompression Activities

PROFEESIONAL WORK

In this section, I will present my internship project at Mcgregor Coxall,Shenzhen, China, the results of my semester studio at Umich SEAS MLA, and the content of my summer 2022 internship at the Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.

Mcgregor Coxall

SYMBIOCITY

Led by Micheal Patte, fully participated in the Conceptualized Design, Mainly responsible for road design and diagrams drawing.

XINYI ART CENTER

Led by Micheal Patte, fully participated in the design. In charge of the whole rhino modeling, master plan, and lumion rendering.

SHENZHEN X-SPORT PARK

Led by Crystal Cheng(currently in Hassell). In charge of the whole part design, rhino modeling, and lumion rendering.

Joan Nassauer Studio

ANN ARBOR COMMUNITY DESIGN

Individual Project.

Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum

BOTANICAL GARDENS CONSTRUCTION

Led by Tom O'dell. Responsible for identifying woody plants, clearing invasive plants, building roads and outdoor areas, managing forests, arboricultural research, etc.

Ten years ago, the Qiandeng Lake area was famous for its avant-garde planning and design. Today, the weak connectivity between Qiandeng Lake and other areas is questioned. The new plan for the Nanhai Art Center area of this project is an extension of the original Qiandeng Lake area to the North. We believe the design should face the future and create a modern urban living environment more ecological, humanistic, and innovative Our approach aims to develop new fIows able to reestablish coherence to the territory and then, to the new city.

SYMBIOCITY STRUCTURING, DEVELOPMENT, ACTIVATION

With SymBioCity, water will fIow naturally, wild will meet the city, tradition will inspire modernity. The Chinese character of Qi inspired us for our design. Our design objective is to reinstall the conditions for the Qi to circulate freely within this new urban territory and activate and vitalize each urban area.

Re-establish a coherent system connecting hotspots, new and inherited.

Develop the existing elements with additional features to create a wellbalanced city experience.

Define the identity of each zone through its specific programs.

Reveal the invisible, closed, or neglected waters, valorize them, and interconnect them to activate a comprehensive system.

The design aims to add or optimize rivers, canals, bio-swales, fIooding areas, ecological ponds, feature lakes, freshwater wetlands, tidal marshes, etc. This diversity of water forms will provide the base to compose a large diversity of spaces.

Create energetic space and stops for education, cultural activation, and longterm community involvement.

Participate in the regional cultural growth presenting a new model integrating historical and modern features.

ART CENTER

MAGNIFYING ARCHITECTURE, EVOCATING CULTURE, INTERGRATE NATURE

Through the magnifying of modern architectural language, the revealing of Xinyi's history and culture, and the response to green city, Xinyi Cultural Center will be built into a focal place where modernity and history meets, city and nature integrate, and human and culture dialogue for showcasing the beauty of Xinyi.

Modernity: Magnifying the Architecture

Tradition: Evocating the History and Culture

Nature: Integrating the Ecology

By extracting and developing the modern language of the architecture to expresses the positioning of internationalization and modernity of the site. With simple and powerful design language to reproduce the connotation of Xinyi’s history and culture, in the meanwhile, through the spone city strategy, the nature on our site is also being respected. This place will be a window for people to know the city and experience the spirit of its beauty.

SHENZHEN X-SPORT PARK

As one of the youngest cities in China, Shenzhen's open and tolerant urban culture is deeply rooted in the city's space, providing a diverse and rich living experience for both local and foreign people. This project provides a stage for a rare extreme sports theme park in Shenzhen, hoping to create a world-class sports park through international design vision and operation.

Yitian Parking B and C is located at the intersection of Furong Road and Yitian Road, near guangshen Expressway in the south. It extends for about one kilometer from east to west and is about 30 to 80 meters wide from south to north. The surrounding users are mainly composed of residents, primary and middle school students and young people.

MINI FOOTBALL PLAYGROUND

ANN ARBOR COMMUNITY DESIGN

1 2550

WINDBLOCK PRIVATE ACTIVITY SPACE

BACKYARD RAIN GARDEN

SAND POOL LOADING AREA

REAL WORLD CONSTRUCTION

WOODY PLANTS IDENTIFICATION, TRAIL MANAGEMENT AND FOREST MANAGEMENT