Portfolio

Portfolio Yilin Chen

Selected Works 2019-2025

YILIN CHEN Address: Los Angeles, U.S. | Dongcheng, Beijing, China.

Tel: +1- 4015884606 | Email: cyilin1436@outlook.com

EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA GPA: 3.8/4.0 The Master of Science in Design with a concentration in Advanced Architectural Design, 

Explored AI-Assisted Design in Schematic Development and Advanced 3D Printing Technique: Employed image-based generative tools such as Midjourney and Stable Diffusion to fuse architectural references and conceptual imagery, enhancing hybrid spatial imagination

RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN GPA: 3.6/4.0.

Bachelor of Architecture. Concentrations: Nature-Culture-Sustainability Studies. 

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AECOM Architecture Intern

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Beijing, China May 2021 - Aug. 2021

Crafted the CD model for the Computed Energy Saving Evaluation (BECS) Hebei Baoding Hotel project model, aligning with Green Building Evaluation Standards.

Investigated in Urban Planning Chongqing Tongliang Mr Li’s Rural Revitalization Project, including 670000 m2 farmland and 43000 m2 construction land: a) analyzed and mapped site transportation, site zoning, site industries, and site potential. b) designed tourist routes including health care, restaurants, cycling paths, and farming experiences.

Teamed up on the Beijing Yunteng Hotel renovation: devised facade and entryway proposals.

CCCC ARCHITECTURE DESIGN INSTITUTE CO., LTD Architecture Intern 

Dubai, UAE July 2022 - Sep. 2022

Participated in Hotel Schematic Design phase: a) coordinated with Architect in lobby design and podium areas, including interior planting, rooftop public space and landscape, podium parking lot circulation and elevation, main entrance canopy, first-floor commercial, and public landscape; b) visualized hotel room interior, lobby, and main entrance for clients.

Engaged in the Dubai US International High School Renovation project’s site inspection, evaluated and documented the site, including the classroom wall finishing detail, office wall footing and window construction, and stadium acoustic installation.

CHINA BUILDING TECHNIQUE GROUP CO., LTD Construction Drawing, Urban Planning, and Architecture Intern 

Shanghai, China June 2023 – Aug. 2023

Contributed to Large-Scale Gangcheng Lingang Project: engaged in the comprehensive planning of an 84,274 m² mixed-use development beside Dishui Lake; redesigned two 30-meter pedestrian bridges, including bridge body, bridge truss/beam structure, V-column, pedestrian canopy, and envelope panel grid division; visualized 4 proposals for the client. The project is underway, with bridge construction set to begin soon.

Designed Interior for Anta Headquarters: developed and proposed two distinct entrance lobby designs featuring double-height spaces and spiral stairs; optimized the main entrance for vehicular and pedestrian circulation; created a comprehensive landscape design.

Collaborated in the bidding project of Wenzhou LiAo TOD planning, 660000m2 subway station TOD including houses, apartments, offices, public facilities, and primary educations: a) researched related 3 TOD projects, local planning policy, reference housing materials, and local culture; b) drafted commercial and office mix-use area including proposals of grouping building and skyscraper among the TOD consists of well-being, residential, community, tourist, school, office, and commercial.

CPG CONSULTANTS PTE LTD (DUBAI BR) Architecture Intern 

Providence, RI Sept. 2019 - June 2024

Received Honor Student Designation for Spring 2021, Spring 2022, and Spring 2023 for outstanding academic performance, endorsed by Professors, Dean, and the Academic Standing Committee.

Competitively participated in the 18th edition of Saint-Gobain Architecture Student Contest 2023 individual contest led by Professor Jonathan Knowles: designed a residence housing and sanitary building renovation as a video library. Engaged in the 49th Nisshin Kogyo Architectural Design Storm House 2022 and the Reuse Italy, Lake Chapel-San Giovanni 2022 competitions.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

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Philadelphia,PA Sept. 2024 - Aug, 2025

Created construction drawings, including restrooms, staircases, and wall sections.

Managed and documented construction contact forms between the construction company and the design company.

Beijing, China June 2020 - Aug. 2020

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION  

Languages: Native in Mandarin, proficient in English, basic in Japanese.

Modeling Skills: Sketchup, Rhinoceros 7, Grasshopper, Midjourney, Houdini basics, Laser-cutter, 3D-printer, Revit; Rendering Skills: V-ray, Lumion, D5 Render, Enscape, Rhino render; Drawing and Graphics: AutoCAD, Adobe Suite. Editing: Microsoft Office suite; Others: Max basics, Runway basics.

Content 1. Versatile Triad 2. Housing Void 3. Load and Lightness 4. The Bridge of Umbra and Light 5. Hempcrete Hut 6. Other Projects

Versatile Triad

Housing for a small academic community Time: Winter 2023 Individual Project Commercial housing projects prevails in the housnig market either in the form of apartment or the form of individual huts.

Activities and styles become fixtures for the desing of residential housing.

Every person has different characteristics daily activities, and living habits. This project aims at designing residencies specialized to this versatility and the interactions when they encounters.

This housing is designed to inhabit a nature-oriented academic community consisted of a biologist, a material scientist, and a psycologist. I designed the houses to meet their differences in daily life and work, and to foster the interactions they prefer.

Top

Right

Housing in nature provides a different ideology that encourages free expression of self than the efficiency-priotized urban context. The multiuse high wood land area also provide enough spaces for the residents study program.

Programs based on an analysis of their different daily activities, including sleeping, working, resting, dining, and communicating. Community interactions between activites are promoted through prefered border conditions.

Plan

Render

Top Biologist House: Greenhouse & Work-life separation

Top Material Scientist’s House

Left Material Scientsit House: Laboratory & boundary-less activities

Middle Biologist’s House

Right Psychologist House: Consultation & Work-life integration

Bottom Psychologist’s House

Top Material Scientist’s House Middle Biologist’s House Bottom Psychologist’s House

Housing Void Community Library

Location: Providence Time:Spring 2021 Instructor: Professor Silvia Acosta Individual Project The project encourages collective reading and researching activities—a central void for multiple purposes: study spaces and the library’s auditorium, two intersecting voids for book stacks and reading. The compression and tension of spatial experience separate individual and collective programs as individual study rooms situate arround the voids. The intersection with each voids and the exterior volume, forming cuts through the elevation, extending the interior into the immediate surrounding.

1st Floor

2nd Floor 0’

8’

16’

32’

3rd Floor

4th Floor

0’

8’

16’

32’

0’

4’

8’

Load and Lightness Lightwood Frame Construction Location: Los Angeles Time:Summer 2025 Instructor: Andrew Holder Teamwork with Yangyang Zhu This project investigates the potential of American light wood frame construction through a sequential exploration—from initial massing studies to structural articulation. Beginning with volumetric form-finding, the design process transitions into an examination of wood framing systems, emphasizing corner conditions, joint detailing, and load distribution. The study culminates in the development of unconventional sheathing strategies, challenging normative enclosure techniques and expanding the aesthetic and tectonic possibilities of light wood frame architecture.

Massing 1: Platform

Massing 2: Roof

Massing 3: Enclosure

1/8”=1’ Final Massing

3/8”=1’ Corner Framing Model

Top Roof Plan

Top Long Section

Bottom Plan

Bottom Short Section

Top Corner Detail Middle Material Detail

Top 1:1 Corner Detail Model

Bottom Roof Detail

Bottom 1;1 Roof Detail Model

Top South Elevation Sheathing Study Model

Bottom West Elevation

1:1 Building Model

The Bridge of Umbra and Light Location: Lisbon Time: Fall 2022 Instructor: Professor Jonathan Knowles Individual Project Umbra and light as counterparts are designed together to bridge the traditional and new. Umbra as a volumetric shade of the residential block is designed as a new shading for the relaxation area and its surrounding. Cuts are designed to cross the site, bringing visual and light permeability into the building blocks.

This is a project for Saint-Gobain Student Competition in Lisbon, Portugal. Their requirement contains the design of a residential building, both for renting and workers, a video library, renovated from a sanitory offices and for both public exhibition and Lisbon Film Commitee, and an exterior ground area, for public entertainment and connection of site with its context.

Site Analysis Program Video Library 3rd Level: Office & Production 2nd Level: Library & Production 1st Level: Exhibition & Public

Residence

Massing Generation

6~7th Level: Green House 3~7th Level: Apartments

I Extrusion

II Light Exposure

III Cutting Umbra

IV Paths following Cuts

2nd Level: Living Units 1st Level: Gallery & Start-up Business

Site Plan

Ground: Civil Green & Paths

a 1

b

2 c To make public and commercial programs easily accessible and separate

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them from private spaces, I designed them on the ground floor.

The pedestrians follows cut line which shape the building mass and umbra, allowing more sunlight to the site. I design the cutlines straight to improve the visual transparency on site.

4

d

To better occupy the civil greens, the quick and slow pedestrian ways are separated. Quick pedestrians connect site entrance with building entrance. Slow pedestrians are occupiable areas which allows for meanderings.

5 Commercial Programs:

Library Programs:

a. Start-up Business b. Shop c. Art Gallery d. Lounge

1. Exihibition room 2. Shop 3. Auditoryium 4. Cafeteria 5. Welcome / Recpetion

6 7 7

7

Library Exhibition

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8 8 8

Library Programs: 6. TV / Cyclorama Studio 7. Sound studio & Video edition room 8. Individual visioning room 9. Collective visioning room 10. Lounging area

10

0’

16’

32’

64’

Library Entrance

Exterior Garden

Apartment Programs: a. 1b1b room b. 2b2b room c. Green house 0’

16’

32’

64’

Interior Garden

Structure System

Ventilation System

Heating System

Inspired by the bridge structure, the residential block is suspended on three cores, reducing the number of columns and creating visual clearance for the interior.

Shadings To prevent direct sunlight from heating the building walls, I designed the aluminum cladding. Additionally, I included louvers in the design to reduce the light intensity in the green house and lounge areas

ERV supply & return and natural ventilation.

Individual on-demand water heater and radiant piping floor.

Hempcrete Hut

Small Dormitory for Natural Material Institution Location: Dutch Town Road Highwoods Multiple use Area, New York Time: Winter 2023 Instructor: Professor Laura Briggs Individual Project

This project envisions a small dormitory nestled within a dense woodland, designed for a school dedicated to educating the public about hempcrete—an innovative, sustainable building material.

Hempcrete, made from hemp hurds and lime, provides excellent insulation and breathability, ideal for the wooded, temperate climate. The structure embraces simplicity and durability, with exposed materials and natural textures that celebrate the organic qualities of the forest and the hempcrete itself.

The dormitory serves both as accommodation and a live demonstration of hempcrete’s potential in contemporary architecture. Emphasizing environmental harmony, all construction materials are sourced directly from the adjacent site, reducing the carbon footprint and reinforcing the ethos of local, circular design. This project is not only a space to live but also to learn—a tangible example of sustainable living and building, reflecting the school’s mission to promote ecological awareness and material innovation in architectural practice.

Blue Stone Tile

Wood Frame

Residential shed which materials for construction are designed to be planted and taken directly from the site in NY. Hempcrete Wall

Blue Stone Base and Thermal Mass

Hempcrete Material Experiment | WINTER 2023 Location: New York Instructor: Professor Laura Briggs Teamwork: Yueqian Sun

Top Hempcrete-Wood Hybrid Structure Study Model Left Short Section & Long Section Right Hempcrete-Wood Hybrid Model Study Process

Other Works 1. What Cheer Flower Farm 2. Dance Studio - Revit Practice 3. Soft Interlocking - Grasshopper Practice 4. Pillow Fort Case Study 5. Speculation in Abandonded Housing in Rural China

TEAM TBD ARCH-2178-04

63 MAGNOLIA STREET, PROVIDENCE, RI 02909

TBD MEMBERS: IAN CHEN, MARY SEOL, VIOLA TAN, HAOMIN WU

GENERAL G-101 G-102 G-103 G-104 G-105

ARCHITECTURAL CONTINUED COVER SHEET SITE ZONING EGRESS ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

LANDSCAPE L-101 L-102

WHAT CHEER FLOWER FARM

INDEX

SITE PLAN PARKING & ACCESS PLAN

A-501 A-502 A-503 A-504 A-505 A-506 A-507 A-508 A-509 A-510 A-511 A-512

AXONOMETRIC DRAWING AXONOMETRIC DRAWING AXONOMETRIC DRAWING AXONOMETRIC DRAWING WALL DETAIL: PARAPET WALL DETAIL: BALCONY WALL DETAIL: BALCONY WALL DETAIL: FLOOR WALL DETAIL: WALL DETAIL: CANTILEVER WALL DETAIL: FOUNDATION MODEL

ARCHITECTURAL

STRUCTURAL

A-101 A-102 A-103 A-104 A-201 A-202 A-203 A-204 A-301 A-401 A-402

S-101 S-102

STRUCTURAL 3D DIAGRAM FRAMING PLAN

DATE: 12/01/2023 DRAWN: IAN CHEN, MARY SEOL, VIOLA TAN, HAOMIN WU

CHECKED:

MECHANICAL M-101 M-102

MECHANICAL 3D RISER DIAGRAM MECHANICAL PLAN

IAN CHEN, MARY SEOL, VIOLA TAN, HAOMIN WU

REVISIONS: DATE:

DESCRIPTION:

TITLE: COVER SHEET

SHEET NUMBER:

G-101

SCALE: N.T.S.

TEAM TBD ARCH-2178-04 TBD MEMBERS: IAN CHEN, MARY SEOL, VIOLA TAN, HAOMIN WU

WHAT CHEER FLOWER FARM

1ST FLOOR PLAN 2ND FLOOR PLAN 3RD FLOOR PLAN ROOF PLAN & SOLAR NORTH ELEVATION EAST & WEST ELEVATION SOUTH ELEVATION MATERIAL NARRATIVE BUILDING CROSS SECTION WALL SECTION CORE

63 MAGNOLIA STREET, PROVIDENCE, RI 02909

What Cheer Flower Farm | ARCH-2178 | Fall 2023 Location: Providence Instructor: Rachel Stopka Teamwork: with Haomin Wu, Mary Seol, Yizhou Tan

DATE: 12/01/2023 DRAWN: IAN CHEN

CHECKED: IAN CHEN, MARY SEOL, VIOLA TAN, HAOMIN WU

REVISIONS: DATE:

DESCRIPTION:

10/27/23

GROUND

TITLE: DETAIL AXON SHEET NUMBER: AIR WATER/VAPOR BARRIER THERMAL BARRIER

A503

SCALE: 1/2" = 1' - 0"

Dance Studio | Revit Practice | Fall 2024 Location: Providence

Render Sample | New Aga Khan Museum | Spring 2025 Location: Tokyo Instructor: Professor Hina Jamelle

Work Sample | Summer 2023 Location: Shanghai, AECOM

Robotic Fabrication | ARCH-7472 | Summer 2025 Location: Pennsylvania, PA Instructor: Dr Alicia Nahmad Vazquez

Iteration 1a

Iteration 1b

Iteration 2a

Iteration 2b

Pillow Fort Case Study | Spring 2023 Instrutor: Ian Miley

Soft Interlocking| Grasshopper Practice | Spring 2023 Instrutor: Ian Miley