Mengru Wang-Portfolio2019

F R A M I N G I N F I N I T Y Selected Works 2012-2018

Wang Mengru mengruwang@wustl.edu M.A Washington University in St.Louis

DEPTH-FRAMING INFINITY

CONTENT

01 “Infinity is not the object of a cognition nor is it an immense object, exceeding the horizons of the look. It is the desire that measures the infinity of the infinite, for it is a measure through the very impossibility of measure.” -Nicholas Temple

THE LAND OF MANY PALACES Ghost City Revival Plan Vertical Ecosystem 02

Depth is the dimension that contemporaneously unites and separates, that is, although my here is “linked” to a there, I also see, at the same time, from here, that the there is a place in which I am not.

If depth means distance from here, then it involves self-perception and is continuously changing as the observer moves.

UNWIND PRIVACY Domestic Mutations in the Age of Sharing Paradigm Sharing House 03 ONE MORE ROOM Sandeigo de Compostela International Housing Collecive Housing 04

Depth is relative distances or the “thick” third dimension, is not directly or immediately visible. When we add depth to a primarily flat and static image produced by a two-dimensional axis, the visible cues hints the hidden information beyond through the association of learned.

AN INTERWOWEN LAYBRINTH An Addition to Louis Kahn's Palazzo Dei Congressi A Public Archive for Venice 05

The visible can be the implication of the invisible.

TIME FALL Fushun-Resource Exhausted City Regeration Tea House

“To perceive the persistences of surfaces that are out of sight is also to perceive their coexistence with those that are in sight”. The hidden surfaces beyond cannot be perceived, but can be conceived through our mind and by our body.

The hidden dimension is projected as a gradient of the decreasing optical size (3D) and increasing optical density (2D) of the space. The reinterpretation of depth is a visible surface recession.

06 INTROVERTED NATURE Chinese Garden's Modern Interperation Anpin Street Villa Design 06 OTHRE WORKS

01

THE LAND OF MANY PALACES

Ghost City Revival Plan - Vertical Ecosystem

2016 EVOLO COMPETITION Location : Ordos , China Tutor : Fan Zhang Collaborator : Haijiao Ma Duration : 2015.10-2016.1

Ordos, the biggest ghost city in China, has rather completed facilities and new local government but few people live there except the original farmers. It is because the lack of social connections and incitement of income that make Ordos an abandon city. Considering Ordos is rich in soloar energy and wind power and there are many network grids set around the unfinished buildings and which is sustainable energy to run them. Besides, these are unlikely to be used again for people owing to the weathering of nature, however, it is a suitable place to raise stock and vegetations since the desertification has deprived Ordos natural environment together with local people’s income resource. This vertial ecosystem is a viable way to realize Ordos industrial tranformation and to reinforce social relations and to bring about Ordos’ revival.

02

UNWIND PRIVACY

DOMESTIC MUTATIONS IN THE AGE OF THE SHARING PARADIGM

512 Advanced Options Studio Location: Los Angeles, U.S.A Professor: Lawrence Blough Individual Project Duration: 08/2018-12/2018

The sharing paradigm has been changing through years according to people’s life style, society’s development and the relationship between strangers. With more complicated interaction between neighborhood, stranger and the host, the project aims to create different levels of privacy and gradient publicity for different use. The “Spiral” host living, eating, working, playing and sleeping function without doors to provide a feeling that a resident can both be connected with public but also separated by the layered walls. Different scales of walls become partition, furniture, beam and window frame for different body movement. In terms of materials, solid brick transfer into hollow wall according to the shades of privacy. Layered gardens create buffer between city and dwelling system also the ecological environment for the whole system.

03

ONE MORE ROOM

Santiago de Compostela International Housing

419 International Housing Studio Location: Santiago de Compostela, Spain Professor: Emiliano Lopez Individual Project Duration: 09/2017-12/2017

Santiago, a pilgrim city, is cold and wet in winter, hot and humid in summer which forms the vernacular language in terms of architectural device such as extending eaves and “galleria” space. Situated next to the old town, the project sets back behind the street with natural green slope holding the “massive cross”. The shift of massing volume is also the representation of interior space. Organizing with diagonal views and fluid space, people can always have the consciousness of different thresholds and infinite rooms whereas the same time gain the certain degree of privacy with different spatial organization. Using wood instead of local stone, carbon dioxide can be stored naturally protecting the environment and also traces the time with wood changing into black.

My Project

Group Site

Museo do Pobo Galego Mordern Art Museum Cemetery

FLEXIBILITY - ONE MORE ROOM

04

A PUBLIC ARCHIVES FOR VENICE

AN ADDITION TO LOUIS KAHN’S (unbuilt) PALAZZO DEI CONGRESSI

511 Studio: A Public Archive for Venice Location: Venice, Italy Professor: Robert McCarter Individual Project Duration: 01/2018-05/2018

The project is located in the Arsenal area of Venice on the edge of the city connecting the old gate and Kahn’s unbuilt Congress. The program called for an archive space to hold rare books and manuscripts related to Venice’s history.

Because the sensitive materials held in the archive, the in-between space is designed as a series of layers, the “L-shape” room, from the public space to the most secure archive spaces. The lower part of the building holds book (condensed structure) and meets the upper part of reading (released skyroom) in the middle where the volume intersect vertically to form different light conditions for both reading and archives. This layering and separation of spaces influences many features of the design, including circulation, mechanical systems, and daylighting with slight shifts and pushing and pulling to form skylights, double height spaces, and circulation through the courtyard on the ground floor.

05

TIME FALL

Resource Exhausted City Regeration

City Regeneration Competition in Architecture Design Location : Fushun, China Tutor : LiYinong, Liuzhen Collaborator : JiaLiuyao, ZhaoLingjia, Wuxi Duration : 2015.2-5

Fushun, one typical energy-exhausted city, has large amount of subsidence area due to the excessive exploitation of coal. By utilizing the subsidence phenomenon and its time continuity, the space itself could perform this change with its flexible structure. In the process, the original pattern of mine is portrayed, hence visitors can commemorate and reflect the past while wandering in the real experience.

06

INTROVERTED NATURE

Chinese Garden Modern Interpretion - Anpin Street Villa Design

Professional Work (Internship) Location : Nanjing, China Collaborator : LiXinggang, Liuzhen Contribution : Detail Design,3D modeling Duration : 2016.7-9

Project located in an ancient urban area of Nanjing which faces the problem of height control, surrounding urban texture and culture atmosphere. Inspired by Chinese traditional dwellings and gardens, the private, introverted space is seperated but also connected within the public space. The outside layout follows the scale of city while at the cross of inside street we enlarge the space for people to encounter and talk. By creating the landscape inside the villa, we hope to constructed a silent nature where people can feel the spirit of classical garden away from the outside chaos.

05

OTHER WORKS