Bingjian Liu Portfolio 2021 by Bingjian Liu

Master of Landscape Architecture & Urban Design Certifcate University of Pennsylvania

Bingjian@upenn.edu https://bingjian.page

March 2021

"La cité du Fleuve 2050" Kinshasa, D.R. Congo

"Anguilla rostrata (American Eel)"

Hudson River, NY, U.S.

2020.10

LA+ Creature Competition

Collaborator: Esther Jung, Heejun Shin

American eels are known to be a mysterious nocturnal creature. They spawn in remote and nutrient-poor places in the seas, and travel long miles from ocean to small creeks, eventually return back to where they spawn, to die into the abyss. Despite their great ecological value, the populations of American eels has dropped by more than 90% in the past four decades.

The project consists of two part: “Eel Oasis“ for creating habitat modules for eels on diferent parts of the Hudson river and tributaries where the ecosystem became non-functional; “Eel Ladder“ for creating fsh path on dams where glass eel(early stage eels) have trouble climbing up or using existing fsh ladder designs.

WINNING - DESIGN

Newburgh, NY

Dams

Eel Migratory Route

Disconnected Route

Environmentally Critical Zones

Project Site: Newburgh, NY & Freshkill Creek

Eel’s Life Cycle

Hudson River

Silver Eel (Migratory Adult)

Yellow Eel (Non-mature Adult)

Elver (Juvenile)

Glass Eel (Post-Larva)

Leptocephalus (Larva)

Eggs

American

EEL LADDER: Extending Eels’ Journey

Designed for All Sizes

Diferent types of dams have built over time along the tributaries of the Hudson River. These dams obstruct eels along with other migratory fsh to travel upward towards smaller streams and creeks where they stay most of their life. Eel ladder is designed to facilitate even small glass eel to pass through diferent sizes of dams.

Unimpeded Paths for Young Eels

Vacuum Pump Unit

Concrete Support

Ladder Ramp

Showering Pipe

3D Matting

Eel Migrating

HIgh Head Dam

Low Head Dam

Medium Head Dam

The Groveville Mill Dam, Beacon, NY

EEL OASIS: New Habitats on Migratory Route

The eel oasis, composed of connected foating modules along the shores of the Hudson River, improves the migration route with more rest stops for the eels. These modules create a shaded, hospitable underwater environment, which conforms to the favorable environment of eels. The oasis could also provide public space for humans in the adjacent urban area.

Eel Habitable Limbs

Buoyant Plastic Reef

Anchoring Column

Bio-flm & Algae

Recycled plastic bottles

Wetland Plants

Soil

Wood Chips

Coconut Fiber

Plastic Bottles

Wood sticks

Nutrient Uptake Roots

bottles

Native + Contaminants Uptake Plants

Acorus americanus

Asclepias incarnata

Juncus efusus

Helianthus angustifolius

Hibiscus laevis

"Common Ruins" PROJECT 2

La Mothe Chandeniers, France

2018.12

Young Architects Competition - Common Ruins

Instructor: Manus Leung

Collaborator: Yusheng Huang, Yumeng Liu

Located in France’s most famous valley, the castle of la Mothe Chandeniers is a uniquely romantic landmark, stunningly crafted, shrouded in mystery and spectacularly taken over by nature. Throughout its history, its halls have witnessed decadent feasts, silent abandonment, ambitious reconstruction works, a tragic fre and, more recently, an unlikely collection of guardians.

Embedded in the calm waters of Mothe Chandeniers’ castle, the newly inserted 300m long structure serves to connect the castle with its surrounding nature. Without removing any existing trees or structures, the design is a sequence of outdoor and semi-indoor gathering spaces, with a strong vertical and horizontal spatial experience that has a close reference to the castle’s towers and bridges respectively.

What is a castle? The aerial of the ruin tells the obvious answer: a series of towers linked together. The towers, as iconic space of the romantic castle, is essentially space of verticality.

Romantic Towers

Contemporary Towers

Deconstruct A Ruin

Contemporary Ruins

A sequence of outdoor and semi-indoor gathering spaces, with a strong vertical and horizontal spatial experience that has a close reference to the castle’s towers and bridges respectively.

Each of the towers frame the sky in their own unique shape and size to allow for various light and spatial quality to take place.

Dramatic Interior Sunlight

A Glimpse of Mystery

Seen from a distance, the scattered towers appear as a contemporary ruin among the existing overgrown trees. Overtime, the newly built will age and become even more camoufaged among the trees. Nature completes the design of mankind by taking space back according to its own pace.

PROJECT 3

"Mobility City"- Newburgh Waterfront Design

Newburgh City, New York

2019.8 - 2019.11

LARP601 Design Studio, University of Pennsylvania

Instructor: Nate Wooten Independent Work

Adjacent to numerous transportation features, Newburgh is a crossroads of the region and the gateway of Hudson Valley. The possible vast tourism service market would create numerous job opportunities, enrich local communities, and bring new economy patterns, which would make Newburgh a thrive region center in 2050.

However, the current Newburgh city is not enough for such new tourism for the disconnection to the waterfront and the lack of public transportation both to the airport and within the city. To achieve the future vision and take advantage of transportation and scenery resources, Newburgh should frst become a city of better urban mobility and better economic model.

Phase 1: Connect the Waterfront

Development Phases

Phase 2: Connect the City Phase 3: Connect the Region New Bus Route

“Food Shade” Project

Phase 4: Mobility City

The Final Piece of the Puzzle

The current public transportation does not provide access to the waterfront. Even for privite transportation, a detour has to be made to reach the ferry dock. A seamless connection between the city and the waterfront should be established to serve both commuters and tourists.

Rail

The current public transportation does not provide easy access to the waterfront. A seamless connection between the city and the waterfront should be established to serve both commuters and tourists.

Current

Proposing

A: The Pedestrian Bridge

B: The Terminal

C: Broadway Water St. Railway Front St.

Original Grading Plan

Modifed Grading Plan

Transportations in Parks

The design provides a new way for people to enter the waterfront, as well as making the whole waterfront more resilient. Diferent transportations are integrated in the center of the park space, opens new opportunity for the Hudson River. A sloping walk taking people down from the hill at the end of a pedestrian bridge; an esplanade along the river that linked the whole waterfront; and a newly constructed wetland garden to slow the rain fow before it reaches the Hudson River.

The waterfront with diferent transportation

"Corridors and Nodes"Chicago Parks and Boulevard System Redesign

Chicago, Illinois

2020.01 - 2020.05

LARP 602 Design Studio 602, University of Pennsylvania

Instructor: Karolina Czeczek

Collaborator: Wentao Zhong

First proposed in 1849 by real estate investor John S. Wright, the Parks and Boulevard System of Chicago was an urban infrastructure that supposed to serve as a mobility corridor and a leisure gathering place around the city. Connecting several large parks, however, the boulevard itself has not yet built an identity, nor it is a pleasant space for leisure yet. The project focused on the southwest corner of the Parks and Boulevard System, near the New City and Eaglewood neighborhoods. By proposing a new loop line as part of the city’s railway system along the Boulevard, the project discussed the potential urban framework to revitalizing the neighborhood.

Urban Design Framework

Vacancy

Typology Strategy and F.A.R. Study

The Floor-to-Area-Ratio of the current developments are far lower than in the zoning code, especially along the Ashland Avenue, a commercial corridor that runs through the city. The project proposed a denser development on the Ashland, enable more investment and more public realms along it.

Proposed Corridor Space

"La cité du Fleuve 2050" PROJECT 5

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

2020.10 - 2020.12

LARP701 Design Studio, University of Pennsylvania

Instructor: Christopher Marcinkoski

Collaborator: Yufei Yan

The project is part of “Speculations on Future Settlement: Urbanization Beyond Neoliberalism” Studio. The studio shares an imagined future condition where the African continent abandons the Neoliberalism practice and decoupling from the world, aiming to provide intentionally provocative visual stories ofering novel views of future urban life.

This project is focused on Kinshasa, D.R. Congo. The frst part of this project conducted a series of researches on local culture, history, and artists; The second half was a short animation focusing on the storytelling of a speculative future inspired by La Sape culture. The full project could be viewed here:

https://www.speculationonsettlement.net/kinshasa(Desktop Only) https://bingjian.webfow.io/kinshasa

Representing Landscape, History, and Culture

Interactive web illustration inspired by Congo artists and mythology 5

Brazzaville

Republic of the Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kinshasa

ACT 1-1

A short animation warning a future when consumerism takes

ACT 1-2

Art Auction & Balloon Station

River City Cityscape

Approaching The City

Bidding For The Art

River City Map

River Sapeur

The Runway Show

Climax of Act 1

Contrasting

INTERLUDE The Deconstruction

takes dominance, and the city itself becomes a commodity.

INTERLUDE Deconstruction

Contrasting

ACT 2-1 The Ugly Truth

Paying the Debt

ACT 2-2 The City Revealed

Runway Vanishing

Balloon Station Down Flotillas Showing

Ile M’Bamou

The City Revealed

The Congo River

The Factory

The Receipt Comes

Zooming

By using comic-style drawings, the project frst created a semi-dystopian narrative inside an imagined future urban form inspired by the Congo artist Bodys Isek Kingelez.

Sketched on iPad with Photoshop. 3D modeled with Rhino

Watch ”The Day - An Interpretation of Bodys Isek Kingelez’s Art ”: https://vimeo.com/460293928

The City of A Spectacle Society

The project tries to ask two questions for the imagined future: what will the urban form be when the technology frees the urban from the agglomeration efects? what defnes who we are in an absolute equal society? Inspired by Congo artists and the historic La Sape culture, the project created a narrative where consumerism is prioritized, and the city itself becomes a commodity. This “dark” story, where everything is about the spectacle society, gives us a chance to refect on our current world.

3D Modeled with Rhino. Styled with Adobe Photoshop. Animated with Grasshopper, Adobe After Efects, and Adobe Premier Pro.

Kulangsu, China "Kulangsu Subdivision"Revitalizing the World Heritage

2019.3 - 2019.6

Eight-University United Graduation Studio, Chongqing University

Instructor: Hao Long, Li Zuo

Collaborator: Xindi Wang, Zhou Wu

Kulangsu Island is one of the earliest sited listed as UNESCO world heritage in China. Located on the estuary of the Chiu-lung River and facing the city of Xiamen, Kulangsu is the city’s pride and a key tourism attraction. Kulangsu is an exceptional example of cultural fusion during the early 20th century, which remains legible in its urban fabric and the Amoy Deco style buildings, which is a synthesis of the Modernist style of the early 20th century and Art Deco.

This plan attempts to strengthen the subdivision of existing space, providing more small programs into diferent groups of communities. A guideline was developed for local property owners to renovate towards more subdivided buildings, and some typical or key buildings are designed as examples.

Typology Mapping

As the start point of the project, a typology mapping was conducted to analyze the potential of subdividing the existing building space on the island. The typology study includes community survey, literature review and digital tools.

Guideline Matrix

To make the guideline more fexible and more specifc, a guideline matrix is set for each zone based on the location relationship between the building and the street and the aimed program that the community is looking for. The property owners or the community could decide the renovation based on the guideline and certain programs.

Detailed Renovation for Focused Area

There are several focused locations of each zone that are selected to do more detailed design as to provide a trigger to the renovation as well to be examples for the landowners.

PROJECT 7

TieMa Industry District Regeneration

Chongqing, China

2018.5 - 2018.7

Urban Design Studio, Chongqing University

Instructor: Zhen Yang

Collaborator: Yiwen Gao, Kangdi Lei

The site once belonged to TieMa (Iron Horse) Industry, the only arm plant in South-west China that produce tanks and other military vehicles. The TieMa Industry has a history that traced back to World War II. Founded in 1941 as Chongqing Textile Machinery Factory to supply the Anti-Japanese army, the TieMa Industry started its arm produce in 1964 as part of the Third-front Movement against the Soviet Union.

As part of the urban regeneration plan, the factory will be relocated in 2019, and this once forbidden place is about to open to the city. How to re-create an icon for the district to attract tourist, and reduce the side efect like social exclusion and gentrifcation caused by the regeneration process in these years, are the main topics in the design project.