ZI XIAO SHEN SELECTED WORKS 2019-2023
BIO Energetic architectural master’s student skilled in 3D modelling like Rhino and simulations like Climate Studio, Excel, and LCA. Won 3 International & Canadian student design competitions. Eager to apply these skills to help build cost-effective, scalable, modular architectural solutions. xiaozishen@gmail.com
CONTENT Comprehensive Multi-program Building Project in New York
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Postwar Tower Infill Urban Planning in Toronto
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Indigenous Artefact Exhibition Room Design
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Stereotomic Form-Making Exercise
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Parametric Design for a High Rise Tower
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Hyperloop Station Design & Prefabrication Strategy
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Development of an Acoustic Visualization Software
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COMPREHENSIVE MULTI-PROGRAM BUILDING PROJECT IN NEW YORK Group Academic Project - 2023 - Four Months Collaborator: Farhan Dhanani | Instructor: Christopher Cornecelli Sited in Brooklyn, New York, this comprehensive mixed-use building project interrogates the tectonic-aesthetic generic of “Mass Timber.” The proposal produces an architecture of performance through the theatrics of the machine and the recomposition/recomstition of bricks, with circular material practices embeded in its production. - John Shen: Digital Modeling, Building Science, Structural Design, Digital Fabrications, Project Management. - Farhan Dhanani: Drawing Refinement, Physical Model-making, Rendering & Touch-ups. - Group: Conceptual Development.
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Form Exploration w. Foam Models
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Canal reflection
Subway deflection
Urban Mirror
Loading
Building Form-Drivers
Canal side section deflection
Street side section reflection
Acoustic Simulation
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Street
aggregates from demolished buildings
crushing & sorting
formwork
Building Material Recycling Concept
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recycled prefab building panels
Cast Test Using Recycled Bricks & Rockite
Facade Cast Detail Models
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1:500 Site Massing Model
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1:200 Site Model w. Building Cast Model
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Canal View to Building
Render: Cafe & Studio
Render:View to Main Stairway
Render:View to Gallery
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Render: Office
1:50 Riverside Facade Section Model 18
1:100 Building Model
Model Collection 19
geothermal open loop
ventilation &
radiant in-floor heating
roof-mounte
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cooling
structural system
ed PV
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POSTWAR TOWER INFILL URBAN PLANNING IN TORONTO Group Academic Project - 2022 - Two Months | Collaborators: Francesca Cornacchione, Lu Du | Instructors: Joh Cummings, George Baird This project analyzes a large, unwelcoming, and relatively lower-income (compared to rest of Toronto) existing post-war “tower-in-the-park” residential block near the Jane and Finch area in the City of Toronto. The project also proposes a series of architectural and landscape interventions to increase the area’s density while allocating plentiful private green spaces, ensuring that there are a variety of housing unit mixes and facing conditions, as well as the continuity of nature in living spaces, especially in the master planning and townhouse section design.
Planning Background
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Master Plan
(calculations & digital modeling by John & drawing compiled by Francesca)
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1 existing towers in the park
6 site circulation
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2 site pattern grid
3 site sh
7 street patterns
8 landscap
hading grid
4 view corridor
5 massing scheme
pe strategy
9 tree retention & planting
10 parking
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site corridor view from street
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townhouse design parti
stacked back to back townhouse & housing typology variants
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ground floor pla
typical section
underground floor
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second floor plan
third floor plan
plan
fourth floor plan
top floor / roof terrace plan
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INDIGENOUS ARTEFACT EXHIBITION ROOM DESIGN Individual Academic Project - 2022 - One Month | Instructor: Chloe Town This exhibition room design aims to evoke an intimate viewing relationship between the indigenous artefacts and the viewers. It seeks to treat turtle rattles and water drums as living entities the same way as the Iroquois do in their traditions. It does so by situating the artefacts at the eye level and using materials taken from the Canadian shield, the natural environment of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people. The design process uses mainly manual craftsmanship as opposed to relying on digital technologies. Model Materials: rockite, clay, pebbles, wire mesh
concept sketches
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natural room lighting at different time of the day
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STEREOTOMIC FORM-MAKING EXERCISE Individual Academic Project - 2021 - One Month | Instructor: Fiona Lim Tung This project explores how a stereotomic architectural form, where space is created from the removal of materials rather than addition of material, can be generated from a set of two-dimensional lines through a series of logical moves.
model photos
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isometric
negative space isometric
axonometric 37
PARAMETRIC DESIGN FOR A HIGH RISE TOWER Individual Academic Project - 2019 - Two Months | Instructors: Nicholas Hoban, Isaac Seah This project utilizes paramtric modelling and machine fabrications for a 30-storey tower design. The process involves form generation using Rhino3D and Grasshopper 3D and 1:100 prototyping using laser cutting and 3D printing.
design iteration
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model photos
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HYPERLOOP STATION DESIGN & PREFABRICATION STRATEGY Offsite Construction Research Centre Architecture Competition - 2021 - One Month Collaborators: Richard Schutte, Xing Cheng Huang | Advisors: Shannon Hilchie, Jose Maldonado This hyperloop station mixed development design is an answer to Toronto’s ever-expanding metro area and the adoption of an ultra-fast city-to-city “Hyperloop” transport (ex, 30 minutes between Toronto and Montreal). The design seeks to be a node of a potential North American hyperloop network while also serving as a flexible and integrated multi-use hub in the area. The crisscrossing waterways in the Greater Toronto Area’s pre-colonial landscape is the insipration behind the form, which was generated from the expected traffic circulation near the site. The project showcased that its complex form can be efficiently built by allowing its to be parametrically prefabricated offsite. Parametric Modeling & Rendering: Richard Schutte, Xingcheng Huang Research, Project Management, Drawing Refinement, Presentation: John Shen
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Parametrically Prefabricated Building The facade divides into numerous pieces. each piece’s dimensions are predetermined by the maximum truck bed sizes in the Grasshopper software before they are manufactured.
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DEVELOPMENT OF AN ACOUSTIC VISUALIZATION SOFTWARE Individual Work Study Project - 2020 - Two Months | Supervisors: Brady Peters, John Nguyen The Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) is a technique used in two-dimensional acoustic simulations. I developed a new workflow to speed up and optimize its visualization process in this project, which showcases its development and three different use cases.
Original Workflow
Time taken in total for a I million pixel animation: 48 hours to make the text file,4 minutes for human input
New Workflow
Time taken in total for a I million pixel animation: Text file producing is instant, 4 minutes for human input
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Freeze frame images taken from the animations of sound diffusion from different metamaterials were showcased.
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These series of freeze frame images showcased three different meeting room acoustic optimization options for sound diffusion and scattering.
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This series compared between sectional views of two different acoustic installation options under testing for a Daniels faculty classroom with a control (blank) group.
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ZI XIAO SHEN SELECTED WORKS 2019-2023
xiaozishen@gmail.com
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