Qianxun Ding | Yale | M.Arch II | Architecture | Portfolio 2021

P RO LO GU E

CONTE NTS

A BOUT MOVEMENT

01 | SECRET WORLD OF CAT

“ T H E TA S T E O F T H E A P P L E L I E S I N T H E CO N TAC T O F T H E F R U I T W I T H T H E PA L AT E , N OT I N T H E F R U I T I T-

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DWELLING FOR A FAMILY AND A PET

SELF; POETRY LIES IN THE MEETING OF POEM AND R E A D E R , N OT I N T H E L I N E S O F SY M B O L S P R I N T E D O N THE PAGES OF A BOOK.”

02 | GHOST STANDS ALONE STEEL PLANT RENEWAL RECALLING MEMORIES

-- J ORGE LUIS BO RG E S

Our built environment is meant to encounter the human body. Only through the movement, can we experience the changing spatial quality in the Suzhou Gardens or the joy between silence and light in Khan's buildings. Architecture has long been dominated by single-point perspective since the invention of cameras, and the agenda behind each architecture piece has been speeded up by the widespread Internet. The flattening of architecture into image selling neglects that the human body is a comprehensive system, which includes other senses, such as tactile, hearing, olfaction, as well as the human body's memory, and instinct, and these together constitute the human spirit. In the animated film Ghost in the Shell, humans become incomplete when they lose parts of their bodies; when a man stays on the Internet for an extended amount of time, he no longer considers himself to be human since his ghost has already been twisted. We cannot live in an environment that negates body movement and sensory experience.

But in most of major cities of China, few have kept the power to evoke spatial experiences upon people. Within most of the mega blocks enclosed by walls, there are buildings with

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mere cubic rooms connected by monotonous corridors. People in these buildings are confined in their rooms, losing the opportunity to wander freely and encounter new things. The government and developers both see the environment as a commercial product and only go for eye-catching exteriors for the propagation on websites.

Apprehension towards modernism and the absence of body movement in urban areas has not been addressed enough in China.

There is little research on such a topic nowadays. However, this issue has been addressed by plenty of works from other countries, such as Edward Hopper’s painting Nighthawks, in which the loneliness was expressed in the modern city through the sealed glass and bright fluorescent lights in the restaurant against the dark street corner.

I believe that as a contemporary architect, I will have the opportunity to use interdisciplinary research methods to respond to this issue, and this collection of works explains possible solutions from different scales and perspectives. Through the nuanced study of human movement and multiple senses, it is possible to make a spatial sequence that

actively responds to events and social connections. Thereby expanding the boundaries of architecture.

03 | THE WIND RISES

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CONDOMINIUM WITH KINETIC FACADE

December 30. 2020 Qianxun Ding

04 | PLAYABLE CITY

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INTERACTION BY SUBDIVISION

05 | UPSTREAM

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NEW HABITAT FOR STRIPED BASS WHEN SEA LEVEL RISES

OTHER WORKS HIDE AND SEEK STATION ZERO CORAL REEF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AIR

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01 Secret World of Cat

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

0 1 | S E C R E T W O R L D O F C AT DWELLING FOR A FAMILY AND A PET HUST Architecture Studio 2017 Fall Instructor: Yu Zhou Individual Work Awarded for 2018 NATIONAL ARCHIROOKIES CONTEST Top16 (Second Prize) Focusing on body and behaviours, this studio begins with studying on families' behaviours and employs scripts writing as a tool to regenerate and redefine the possible relations between spaces and behaviours. The course restricts the scale of the design within a row house's size and neglects the surrounding environment, in order to maintain a constant concern on its subjects. The main goal is to design an house for an idealized family according to students' personal preferrences.

Aside from behaviours of human, I focuses on the compatibility of my design with the pet of the family-- a cat. The cat's moving pattern is completely different from its owners', which gives rise to a creation of serial forms and spaces to accomodate the cat's behaviours. The interesting part is that, as a family pet, the cat loves to play and eager to have interactions with other people, so the system must positively interweaving with dwelling spaces for human beings, and this two parts affirm the existence of each other respectively.

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01 Secret World of Cat

Preparing breakfast

Preparing lunch

Pruning the garden

Napping on sofa

Watching television

Napping on sofa

Watching television

Preparing hot-pot

Having hot-pot outdoors

Watching movies outdoors

Having hot-pot outdoors

Watching movies outdoors

Going to bed

Chatting with neighbours

MOTHER A Teacher

Making tea under sunlight

Reading newspaper

Help preparing Surfing on the Internet

FATHER A Government Officer

Catching birds on the roof

Observing son brushing teeth

Running wildly with son

Looking at news with father Playing with still lifes

Napping in mother's embrace

Having hot-pot outdoors

Free sample tryer in kitchen

Napping in front of the screen Pretending watching movies

Having dates outside

THE CAT

Looking at distant to relax

Wake up in sunlight Boiling water to make coffee

Sketching outdoors Help preparing

Dazing in front of collections Making tea

Having hot-pot outdoors

Watching movies outdoors

Going to bed Reading before sleeping

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

A Normal Cat

Still life drawing

SON A Nameless Painter

A SCRIPT FOR THE FAMILY -- CAT AS AN ACTIVATOR The studio requires the use of scripts to write and analyze the behavior and movements of the characters, so I wrote a script for an ideal family of three (and a cat) based on the timeline of a day on a weekend.

The characters in the play have different preferences and behaviors, and interact with each other, culminating in the evening hot

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pot dinner and outdoor cinema events. The relationship between events is shown by the intersection of the geometric patterns behind them. Through this analysis, it can be found that the cat interacts with everyone as a positive factor.

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FELINE ENGINEERING

DIVIDING PROCESS

Plan Outline

The form of the tunnels are designed to respond to cats' typical types of movement. Cats have their own unique behavior patterns. Here is a summary of its main movement characteristics.

The channel adapts to the cat's action characteristics through changes and combinations of forms. The entire passage has become a favorite place for the cat while connecting various rooms.

Secret World of Cat

The given site is a 15m × 9m rectangle with built row houses on either side of west and east. Such site conditions have formed a long strip layout, focusing on how to move from south to north. In order to organize the relationship between the tunnels and the relationship between the tunnels and other family spaces, the entire plane is divided into 5 main sections, of which the Cat channels are installed on three small sections, 500mm wide each. The main living space of the family can be seen in the two larger sections.

Tunnels vary in their height and width. The size of the tunnel is determined by the cat's body size, jumping height and turning radius. The passage adopts the form of broken lines combining diagonal and straight lines. The diagnols allow the cat to move t h ro u g h a n d c o n n e c t eve r y altitude across the house.

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TUNNELS

Divded Plan

tunnels' dimensions

Serial Sections

CATS’ BEHAVIORS AND FORM ACCOMMODATION

Burrowing

Jumping

Hiding

Being curious

Cats' behaviours PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

Forms to accommodate

UNFOLDED TUNNELS SECTION

DIVERSIFIED SPATIAL QUANLITY -FOR BOTH THE CAT AND THE FAMILY The cat tunnels and the family living spaces together form a rich spatial relationship. The tunnels penetrate multiple large spaces and become an activator in family life. The cat is able to interact with his family according to his wishes.

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Through structural changes, the cat tunnels as a part of the roof forms multiple focus of light and shadow changes. As a creature sensitive to light and dark alternation, cats are also interested in this rhythm of light and shadow.

For the whole family, this spatial relationship will become a generator of multiple events.

The carefully designed route allows the cat to participate in various activities throughout the daily life of the family.

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SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT: DAILY LIFE OF THE FAMILY

Observers cannot be sure of the precise location of their cat, so the cat is always with variety of possibilities. It may be lying on the roof, eating in the kitchen, catching birds outside or at any corner in the rooms. Well, who knows. The family can eternally expect surprises during their daily life, such as when they are brushing their teeth, cooking meals, sleeping on beds, painting in the workroom, or watching films outdoor. In this way, the family members can frequently positively interact with their cat.

Garden

Entrance

Secret World of Cat

TUNNELS INTERWEAVING WITH Living Room

RACING on the shelf in the living-room

SLEEPING under the bed of its master Bedroom

Open-air Cinema

Tea room

HIDING under the benches when you are watching films

Kitchen

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

BURROWING through the hole into the studio Studio

SHOW UP from the wall in the tearoom

Bedroom

Bathroom

SNEAKING into the kitchen to steal fish SITTING on the basin watching you brushing teeth The tunnels constitute a network across the house 7

THE INTERACTION BETWEEN CAT AND FAMILY THROUGH TUNNELS 8

Secret World of Cat

fixed window: timber flame window double glazing

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galvanized steel sheet t=0.4mm

trowel finished resin mortar t=4mm rigid insulation foam t=50mm concrete t=264mm exposed concrete acrylic emulsion paint finish

Fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) waterproofing: alaska cedar t=15mm floor joist adjusting bolt stainless steel cement excelsior board t=15mm structural plywood t=15mm rigid insulation foam t=30mm joist 60*30mm @300mm structural plywood t=15mm oil finish

timber flame window double glazing

fixed window: timber flame window single glazing

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Window Detail

structural plywood t=30mm

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Tunnel Detail

A B

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

Vertical Section Perspective A-A

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01 Secret World of Cat

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0.5

2.5

5m

Third Floor Plan

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1. Entrance 2. Living Room 3. Study 4. Master Bedroom 5. Dressing Room 6. Bathroom 7. Terrace 8. Tea Room 9. Gallery 10. Outdoor Dining Room 11. Kitchen 12. Dining Room 13. Open air Cinema 14. Bedroom 15. Cat's Main Room 16. Studio 17. Tunnels

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Second Floor Plan

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Ground Floor Plan 11

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

View in the living room

Physical model photographs: living room

Open-air cinema

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02 Ghost Stands Alone

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

0 2 _ G H O S T S TA N D S A L O N E STEEL PLANT RENEWAL RECALLING MEMORIES HUST Architecture Studio 2019 Winter Site: Wuhan, China Instructor: Wei Zhou Collaborator: Nan Cao Role: 50% research, 50% plan design 100% concept design, formal design, All the drawings except ones annotated with * Awarded for 2020 ASIAN DESIGN AWARD (Excellent Prize) The glorious steel mills in history were abandoned and empty workshops were left, but the seemingly empty space is not just nothingness. This design focuses on how to convey things that existed in the past to the viewer through multi-senses contact.

Since memories only exist in the viewer's mind, viewing through perspective alone does not necessarily evoke the viewer's memories.

Objects in reality are often confused with the viewer's actual experience. Therefore, the objects in the retrospective space must be primitive undifferentiated spaces. The vague appearance and the internal space with limits on senses can cause multiple interpretations by the viewer to adapt to the individual experience of the viewer. Through a series of formal evolution, the volume and size of each recall space are finally determined. These objects are arranged in a way parallel to the historical space usage, using the characteristics of the original place to set up programs.

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DEATH AND REBIRTH

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A PLACE WITH VESTIGE

Ghost Stands Alone

Hanyang Iron Plant Period 1891-1938

1891

Qing Dynasty

Firstly established by Zhang Zhidong during the Self-Strengthening Movement, it adopted the most advanced furnace at the time from Britain.

1894

1903

1938

After the First Sino-Japanese War, it turned into a Government-supervised and Merchant-managed plant, and grew into the biggest iron corporation in Asian.

Xinhai Revolution disrupted its production and management, and it has been no longer capable of making profit since then for the sake of the influence of later WWI and the plunder by Japan on iron ore.

WWI

WWII

During Second Sino-Japanese War, valuable machines in the Hanyang Iron Plant were packed up and sent to Chongqing (Wartime capital). The building in Hanyang was demolished.

The factory is dead, and all the historical equipment has been dismantled, leaving only the shell which is used to accommodate the equipment. But behind the death seems to be gestating a new life. So new lives appeared, trying to occupy this place belonging to the past era. They are attached to the structure of the factory and turn it into their home. They have a new spirit, but still pay respect to the past.

残酷な天使のテーゼ 悲しみがそしてはじまる 抱きしめた命のかたち その夢に目覚めたとき 誰よりも光を放つ Hanyang Steel and Iron Plant Period 1960-1985

Wuhan Iron And Steel(group) Corp. Period 1985-2010

1960

1985

2010

Present

Wuhan government decided to build a new plant to address its shortage of steel because of the strict control over steel by central government. The site was on the area of the old iron plant.

The Wuhan Iron And Steel(group) Corp. promised to meet all the steel needs of Wuhan government and took over Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant in return.

The furnace stopped and the corporation shut the plant down due to its outdated technology.

Most buildings became obsolete and only for storage usage by small contractors though the main buildings have been registered for National First Class Industrial Heritage for many years.

The Cruel Angel's Thesis The sadness shall then begin The shape of the life that you embraced When you awaken to that dream Shining more light than anyone else --- Neon Genesis Evangelion Theme, Cruel Angel's Thesis

FROM MACHINERY TO LIFE Billet caster

Furnace

Freight transportation

Blue Whale

Magpie

Trunk

Seagull

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

Crane

SITE IN THE CURRENTLY CULTURAL CLUSTERED ZONE IN WUHAN Due to the abundance of historical relics and outstanding position, this area in Hanyang was clustered with cultural institutions for public, which leads to the proposal of a historical and contemporary art collection and exhibition center on this site.

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Zhang Zhidong Memorial Park

Wuhan Qintai Theatre Qintai Concert Hall

Hanshui

River

SITE

Zhang Zhidong and Hanyang Iron Works Museum, Daniel Libeskind

Cultural-related Institution

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Main Road

Yan g

tze

Railway Planed Cultural Land 200

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500

1000m

Green Space for Public

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Original Structure

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Axonometric Drawing

Newly Built Ghost Stands Alone

Interior and People

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

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3 1. Meeting room 2. Office 3. Souvenir shop 4. Cafe 5. Stage 6. Make-up room 7. Elevator 8. Locker room 9. Auditorium 10. Equipment room 11. Contemporary art exhibition area 12. Historical exhibition area 13. Temporary exhibition area 14. Terrace 15. Lecture Hall 16. Collection room

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5 10 Original Structure

Second Floor Plan

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*Collaborated with Nan Cao

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Newly Built

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PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

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6 3 10 20 C

C 4 5 7

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Ground Floor Plan

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*Collaborated with Nan Cao

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20m

1. Office entrance 2. Main entrance 3. Reading area 4. Cafe 5. Kitchen 6. Souvenir shop 7. Sub-Stage 8. Stage 9. Elevator 10. Auditorium 11. Temporary exhibition area 12. Historical exhibition area 13. Rest area 14. Storage 15. Equipment room 16. Sub entrance 17. Rest area 18. Cloak 19. Story corner ( for children) 20. Contemporary art exhibition area 21. Multimedia classroom 22. Printing room 23. Reference room 24. Repair room 25. Cultural relic identification 26. Collection room

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Deduction of historical steel plant section

Newly Built

A-A Section

Ghost Stands Alone

Oxygen Lance Flux hopper

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Original Structure

Tiltable converter Liquid steel ladle

Charging Aisle

Furnace Aisle

Teeming Aisle

Billet Aisle

PARALLEL THE HISTORY A steel plant is a place set up to accommodate steel making equipment and work. But when the equipment is completely dismantled, what is left is just the body? The huge traces on the surface of the building seem to

imply the steel behemoth that once existed.

Even if the objects and people in the place have disappeared in history, the historical heritage can still telling its story.

The installation location of the original equipment of the steel plant was deduced through onsite investigation. What needs to be done is to reinforce the past traces by paralleling the past places. This creates a spatial order that follows history.

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

B-B Section

C-C Section

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and vacuum. Without identification, the place nowadays becomes cold and empty.

Trying to restore the mysteriousness and awesomeness the place ever owned, I chose primordial forms whose shapes cannot be clearly distinguished. These organic surfaces

Ghost Stands Alone

Inside the obsolete plant, the enormous scale and traces on the structures implicate immense industrial machines that occupied the place in the past, and a spectacular steel-producing scene emerges in visitors' minds. The steel mill was established to host these machines, however, now we have only the shell

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GHOSTS OF THE PLACE are the ghosts of missing giants who used to define this steel mill. They are similar in size and orientation and take this place as their new home.

EARLY STAGE COLLAGE: THE LOGIC OF MACHINE

Technical drawing: the building process of ghosts

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

Traces of gigantic flux hopper

400 × 200mm glued laminated timber

GHOSTS OF MISSING GIANTS

60 × 10mm steel rafter Φ20mm steel tube purlin Φ20mm bolt prefabricated steel joint (20-40mm plate) shape membrane

Φ5mm bolt Φ5mm spike

Translucent membranes framed by space grid structures allow dim light into these ghosts, resembling the quality of eggs or wombs.

Since the absence of most of vision and hearing, imagination and memeries begin to dominate visitors' mind.

Exploded axonometric drawing of detail

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03 The Wind Rises

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

03 | THE WIND RISES CONDOMINIUM WITH KINETIC FACADE

UC Berkeley Summer Institute ArchADV 2019 Site: San Fransisco, US Instructor: Keith Plymale, David Jeahning Individual Work

San Fransisco, a city encompassed by Pacific and the bay is always glittering under the clear blue sky of California.

This project gives attention to the relationship between architecture, environment and residents' body and movement. It looks into the extents of ambiguity and uncertainty architecture can have, which in turn provides the freedom for the way people to interpret and interact.

It starts with focus on the geometries in the facade. Under the theme twinkling, the shapes are deliberately added a level of uncertainty, which responded to the phenomenon of the sparkling fragment of sunlight on the sea. The interesting part is that the appearance of this building will change according to the weather condition and observers' perspective. Not only because there is reflective material installed on the sunshades, but also for the residents can open or close the sunshades themselves depending on the weather.

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The Wind Rises

11 12 13 14 15 4 3

Blinking | 10:44 |

Glitter | 10:58 |

SF Belle | 17:26 |

Sea | 17:35 |

Rail | 12:43 |

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10 7

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13 6

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Sun Shades | 12:12 |

Fresnel | 12:23 |

Bridge | 11:31 |

Shells | 10:44 |

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Under Sea | 17:58 |

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Waves | 11:48 |

Sales Force | 12:08 |

Aluminum | 12:11 |

Fence | 11:33 |

Hood | 11:43 |

San Francisco

PHOTOGRAPHIC MAPPING -- TWINKLING OBJECTS

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1. Photographic mapping -- twinkling objects 2. Facade early stage rendering 3. Site Plan: Relationship between the site and the waterfront in SF 4. Twinkling, Collage, cut print on 18"×18"

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PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

Cut

Cut

TWINKLING This project chooses the phenomenon twinkling as a motive to orient the collage, due to my findings in the field trip to the waterfront of San Fransisco on August 15, 2019. Embraced by the bay, the water and buildings even the roads reflect sunlight in a rhythmic way. When you walk in the city, you will notice how the ocean affects this city, such as reflective decorations everywhere, clear glass, brushed aluminum, and tiny glass balls buried in the surface of sidewalks' concrete.

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Sort

SITE

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300

600m

After the motif settled, the project started with serial technique as the main operating method. In an 18 by 18 grid system, I deliberately used the deviation of cutting to create a jittery geometric element. The four sides of the quadrilateral are not parallel to each other, but they are arranged in an orderly grid according. The repeated arrangement of elements cancels the visual depth and forces the viewer to observe from a dynamic perspective. The meaning of the picture lies in the relationship between elements, rather than a single geometric object.

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03 The Wind Rises

FOLD WITH DISCREPANCY

The sense of twinkling is presented in series of fragements, placed in a square grid. Since creasing lines are following the edges of the irregular geometries, the folded facade creates an effect that the reflection on the titanmuim sheets becomes discontinued and diversified.

This level of ambiguity prevents observers from focusing on certain parts, but encourages people to experience the effect from an overall perspecitve. In this way, this tower is able to evoke people's desire to interact with it, and confirms the environment around them as well.

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20m

ELEVATION : KINETIC REFLECTION

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

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1. Grasshopper file to create folding with a level of controlled discrepancy 2. Exploded view of four layer of folding 3. Fold at different angle 4. Use ZUND to create cutting and creasing 5. Paper model 6. Elevation drawing 7. The gradient of openess in the physical model

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UNITS--

The Wind Rises

MODULAR DESIGN The folding pattern of the collage also forms the internal residential spaces. The four layers of collages are connected at the nodes to form the structure of the entire building and also form the space. The long corridor that appears every third floor connects the two buildings to form a complete circulation network. The units on every three floors are interlocked with each other. Residents can enter the unit from the public corridor on the middle floor, and enter the main space of the unit up or down.

12nd Floor Plan

Circulation area

11st Floor Plan

Apt. 1101, 1108

UNITS TYPE STUDY 1b1b

2b1b

Apt. 1102, 1107 Apt. 1103, 1106 Apt. 1104, 1105

5b3b

3b2b

Elevator

Staircase

Staircase

Elevator

10th Floor Plan

Living-room N

Kitchen 1

Circulation

Bedroom

5

10m

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

ACCUMULATION

Bathroom

Massing

Interlocking Ground Floor Axonometric Drawing 31

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03 The Wind Rises

Bedroom Living-room Bathroom Kitchen

A typical 2-bed-1-bath unit

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1. Bearing 2. Titanium alloy sheet 3. Wooden panel

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Part of the sunshades that can be pushed outward forms the space for the apartment to expand into the air. These spaces enclosed by structural glass become places full of sunlight and capable of providing close contact with

4. Sub panel 5. 30mm structural glass 6. Support and frame

the city and the environment. Residents can use this space for personal activities, such as reading, relaxing, and planting flowers.

Here, physical behavior is reconnected with architecture and environment.

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

WINDOWSCAPE

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Section A-A

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03 The Wind Rises PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

INHABIT THE SKY We marvel at the pure blue of the sky; we stare at the fading silhouettes of flocks and grow solicitude; we calm down when hearing raindrops beating against windows. We live in architecture, but our minds always tend to indulge themselves in the world of fiction and imagination.

That is what distinguishes us from the vast material world in the endless universe.

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04 Playable City

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

0 4 _ P L AYA B L E C I T Y INTERACTION BY SUBDIVISION

HUST Architecture Studio 2020 Spring Site: Yangliuqing, Tianjin, China Instructor: Mei Jiang Individual Work

China's rapid economic growth has led to urban construction often without thinking, resulting in a large number of large-scale and undesirable urban environments. The empty square is dull and boring, and few people care about it; the wide roads make it difficult for pedestrians to cross, dividing the city into separate areas. The reason behind this is that the government and developers regard land and urban environment as commodities, rather than part of residents' lives. Due to the requirements for efficiency, the local government sold the land in extremely large units and allowed developers to monopolize the entire land. Resulting in a huge number of urban areas in large scale and lack of public facilities.

This plan rebuilds the public space system based on the scale that fits the pedestrians.

An expandable universal character network is suspended above the ground, allowing residents to freely explore the city in all directions. Then, the parts of the large plots that are difficult for residents to use are subdivided to create pleasant public places. In such a system, residents can meet and communicate in various places in the city without restrictions.

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PLAYABLE CITY

San Francisco

CURRENTLY UNDERUSED SPACES IN YANGLIUQING, TIANJING

Beijing

Playable City

Playable City refers to a city that allows a person's body to move in an urban area, either along a path or providing an area. It can be compared to the conceptual difference between environment and landscape: an environment that allows people to travel on the topography can be called a landscape. If a city area is not friendly to the human body, obstructs movement, refuses to provide a path, or closes itself, it can be called a non-playable city. In contemporary China, pursuing economic efficiency, local governments often hand over huge plots of land to a single developer for development, which often results in large areas of closed blocks. At the same time, the insufficient area of public roads has made the main roads extremely wide, and aggravated the closure of the plots.

Shanghai

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NON-PLAYABLE CITY -- MEGA PLOTS IN CHINA

Government of Yangliuqing

Traveled distance between blocks (m) 382

593

1130

Average density of urban road network (km/km2) 13.1

6.7

Central park 6.3 Retail center

THE UNCERTAINTY IN MOVING PATTERN IN A PLAYABLE CITY

Destiny

Attraction

Stop (to rest or pause)

Move (on foot)

Event

Ground

Move (on the Ground)

PROSPECTIVE

UNINHABITABLE

UNDEFINED

UNDESIGNED

SUPERFICIAL

ROOFS

PLAZAS

SETBACKS

INTERVALS

GREEN-SPACES

Due to the rapid development of Chinese cities and the unusual huge block scale, in the city we can find many spaces not designed carefully. They play an important role in the daily lives of residents, but have not received

the attention they deserve. The following design provides a space operating system for these five categories, and complements each other with the grid system.

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

UNDERUSED SPACES

STRATEGY FOR UNDERUSED SPACES SUBDIVIDE

ELEVATED GROUND

SUNKEN PLAZA

TERRAIN

PAVILLION

DIVDING WALL

BALCONY

PARASITE

Offset

Offset

TYPES OF UNDERUSED SPACES

TYPE #1 PLAYABLE ROOFS

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TYPE #2 PLAYABLE GREEN-SPACES

TYPE #3 PLAYABLE SETBACKS

TYPE #4 PLAYABLE PLAZA

TYPE #5 PLAYABLE INTERVALS

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form will also change with the changes of the urban area, and will merge with the city in every remaining space. This adaptive structure that can be continuously expanded with urban renewal will become an important place for residents to explore the city and carry out urban life.

Playable City

FREELY

A universal grid suspended 5m above the city ground can connect most of the underused space and divide the huge plot into walkable scales. In the meantime, so that residents can freely explore urban areas that are usually difficult to reach. Its form changes when it encounters a building, and the cross-sectional

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UNIVERSAL GRID FOR MOVING

FORMULAS FOR THE GRID

1 | BASIC REGULATION GRID normally maintains its height at 5m above the ground level, and varies its width from 2m to 5m.

3 | DETOUR VERTICALLY When encountering Prospective Roofs, GRID will detour from the top of buildings

100m

Universal Grid

Underused spaces

ADAPTIVE GRID SUPERIMPOSED ON THE CITY

EVOLUTION PROCESS

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

100m

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4 | MERGE WITH UNDERUSED SPACES The GRID and the Underused Spaces are complementary to each other.

2 | DETOUR HORIZONTALLY When encountering residential buildings, GRID will detour along outer walls on the same level

5 | TRANSPORTATION NODES Installed on every intersection, except ones overlapping with underused spaces

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1. Focus on built environment 2. Start from city center 3. Apply a grid of 100m *100m: to decrease distance for pedestrian to travel between mega plots 4. Begin with a small part 5. Cover the current built environment in the city center 6. Expand while the city develops (if necessary) 42

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TYPE#1 EXAMPLE--

This building is parasitic on the wide roof of the commercial center. Due to the rich regional art and culture and long history of the Yangliuqing area, this building was set as a public gallery. And its form will serve as a sign to enhance the recognizability of public places in this area.

Playable City

ROOF AS PUBLIC GALLERY

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1. Perspective view on the roof 2. Axonometric drawing 3. Section: the exterior space on the roof 4. Section: the internal space in the gallery

PORTFOLIO | QIANXUN DING

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TYPE#2 EXAMPLE--

1

The urban green space in modern Chinese cities often does not have enough depth of field to isolate the motor vehicle intrusion from the city’s main roads. This node is transformed from an ordinary street park, using different height to create sufficient depth of field in a small space. The gentle slopes raised on both sides create a sense of enclosure, allowing residents to temporarily avoid the urban landscape.

2

Playable City

GREEN-SPACE SHIELDING CITY'S NOISE

1. Perspective view: the underused space as a buffer 2. Axonometric drawing

1. Perspective view: the enclosure of slopes 2. Axonometric drawing 3. Section: a park on various heights

1

TYPE#3 EXAMPLE-SETBACK INTERVENING RESIDENTS' LIFE IN HIGH-RISE

2 3

The huge urban scale brings at the same time an overly wide setbacks. Due to the neglect of site design, the setbacks around high-rise residential buildings consist only of monotonous sidewalks. This node starts from the retreat area and uses "parasite" structures to provide additional public space for residents at high places. On the other hand, a series of structures on the ground act as a buffer to alleviate motor vehicle interference on urban arterial roads.

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04 Playable City

TYPE#4 EXAMPLE--

TYPE#5 EXAMPLE--

PLAZA FOR CRITICIZING THE GOVERNMENT

INTERVAL ACTING AS LIVING-ROOM FOR RESIDENTS

The square in front of the government office building only serves as a decoration to show the government's momentum, and cannot connect with residents.

The intervals between buildings in a residential area is the place where residents pass most frequently. But this kind of community usually only leaves the distance between buildings for vehicles and refuses to serve residents. Therefore, on the basis of the grid, low pavilions will become places for residents to communicate with the outside world, and the sinking space with a strong sense of enclosure will be used as a supplement to the residential space of residents.

The design further opens the square to citizens based on the grid. At the same time, the enclosing method of the space creates a political connection that can be used as a place for citizens to gather. In this way, the government can return to the city again.

1

2

1. Perspective view: people gathered in front of the podium 2. Axonometric drawing

1

2

1. Section: the enclosure of sunken space 2. Axonometric drawing

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05 Upstream

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05 | UPSTREAM NEW HABITAT FOR STRIPED BASS WHEN 2070 SEA LEVEL RISES 3ft

Art & Tech Competition 2018 Winter Instructor: Zhuoyuan Li, Xijia Zhang Collaborator: Ruoyu Li, Meishuang Li Role: 40% research, 100% concept design, formal design, model making, All the drawings except ones annotated with * The background of this design is the impact of sea level rise on the ecological environment of the Boston area in next 50 years. We selected the typical creature in the Boston ecosystem-- striped bass. As a shallow sea species, striped bass has its special habits: from April to mid-June every year, it enters the freshwater rivers of Boston to spawn.

Therefore, through the study of the migration route of striped bass, we can understand the impact on the ecological environment of Boston, thus generating this design.

of bass habitats and human activities while they can interplay with each other at some points at the same time. In this way, the goal of human and fish not affecting each other and living in harmony is finally achieved.

The aim of this design is to create a new spawning area for striped bass with a stable ecological environment. Through the investigation of the bass preferred spawning environment, we have selected the divided islands in triangles to increase the river water speed and create turbulence, which stimulate the bass to spawn. And we also set up wetlands to increase the ecological diversity of the site and provide sufficient nutrients for the survival and growth of bass juveniles. Since the venue was originally the sports field of Harvard Business School, water sports stadium were set up near the shore to compensate and replace the original functions. The main design technique is also reflected in the separation

Left: Epoxy Resin Model 49

50

05

0ft 3.0

RESULT OF SEA LEVEL RISES 3ft-STRIPED BASS AND HUMAN

GROWTH CYCLE OF STRIPED BASS

A

2050

Juvenile

2070s

Spawning Adult

Charles River Dam

HUMAN ACTIVITY INFLUENCE

Damselfly

Eggs

Fingerling Fry

HUMAN ACTIVITY FREQUENCY

Larvae VULNERABILITY

Mosquito Larvae

PREY

Poisoned Drainage

A

s 2030

0.75ft

Park Sailing Club

Fertilized Eggs

Adult Fish

Crayfish

Juvenile

2050s

Clams

FR

S A LT WA TER AR E

Soft Shell Crab Shrimp

RE

s

Parking Lot

R

A

On the other hand, Charles River will not face this danger, and the rise of the river will bring new living space for striped bass. However, high-density human activities in the city center will interfere with the spawning process of fish. The contradiction between sea bass and humans has become more prominent.

t

PREDICTED SPAWN GROUND IN 2070

2030s

Adult Fish

1.75f

Digital Mall

Spawning Adult

ESHW AT E

Striped Bass is an anadromous fish found primarily along the Atlantic coast of North America. The lake on the Mystic River is one of the main spawning grounds for striped bass in Massachusetts. However, the dam will not be able to withstand the inflow of seawater in 2070, causing the river to become salty and the striped bass loses important spawning grounds.

2010s

Laboratory

Sailing Club

s

00

21

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast in 2013. By 2070, sea level will rise by about 3ft due to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

Focusing on the ecosystem of Massachusetts, we select the common local marine life: striped bass as an example to explore the pressure on the ecosystem caused by sea level rise.

Park

Stadium

Upstream

s 70 20

CONTRADICTION BETWEEN

Petrol Station

Larvae

10s 20

Oil Pollution

Hospital

Processing Plant

F

O ISE

ON ST BO

Fingerling

Fry

Plastic Garbage

Restaurant

LR

A SE

E EV

L

Wharf Hotel

Freshwater Area

Water Sports

Outdoor Theater

Cinema

Chemical Waste

Salt water Area

*

Collaborated with Ruoyu Li Railway station

*Collaborated with Ruoyu Li, Meishuang Li Salt water

PREDICTED CHANGE IN STRIPED BASS’S MIGRATION ROUTE

Freshwater

Migration Route

HEAVILY URBANIZED AREA ADVERSELY AFFECTS BASS SPAWNING

Original Water Level

Intensive Human activity

Predicted Water Level in 2070

Striped Bass Spawn Ground

Railway

Upstream route

Heavy Traffic

Flooded

Charles River Dam Not- Flooded

2010

SEA LEVEL RISES 3ft

FLOODED Designed Capacity:

infiltration of water, the pollutant elements stored in the soil will be exposed. The rise of the water will also make humans lose important areas for activities.

2070

Mystic River Dam

3ft 2ft

NOT-FLOODED Designed Capacity:

spawning is located in a densely populated area. Before the sea level rises, there are facilities such as car repair shops, large stadiums, and fishing clubs. On the one hand, due to the

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The fish selects spawning location carefully, and vibration, noise, and pollution elements will adversely affect it. The Charles River traverses downtown Boston, and the predicted

Mystic River Dam

Charles River Dam

3ft 5ft

ORIGINAL SPAWN GROUND

PREDICTED SPAWN GROUND

SUBURBAN AREA

HEAVILY URBANIZED AREA

*Collaborated with Ruoyu Li 51

52

Velocity of Currents 71°7`20`` W

71°7`30`` W

71°7`50`` W

71°7`40`` W

71°7`50`` W

71°7`60`` W

05

FORMS PROMPTING BASS TO SPAWN

A FAST

SPAWNING ADULTS -- PREFER CHANGES IN FLOWS

Upstream

SLOW

JUVENILES -- PREY IN STILL WATER

10

Reduced Section Area -- Velocity Acceleration

Water Flow Direction

Day 1-4

9

Day 5-10

Day 21

5

Turbulence -- Energy Loss 9

er Riv rles Cha

4

Ep Potential Energy of Flow(m)

v

6

7

3

8

Velocity of Flow(m/s)

2

FORMS TO OPERATE WATER FLOW ct

ire

D low rF

te Wa

A

1 Turbulence -- Energy Loss

ion

A3

A3

A2

A2

A1

A1

125

250

500m

N

Pedestrian -18ft

-1ft

Vehicle

v=

Q

A

v- Velocity [Increase] A- Section Area (m2) [Decrease] Q- Volume Flow Rate (m3/s) [Constant]

Non-motor vehicle

A

v

A

v

Ep

DECELERATION

M

om

en tu m

of

Ch ar

les

Ri

ve r

ACCELERATION

Ep

Accelerated Currents stimulates striped bass to spawn 53

1. Wetland Service Station 2. Water Polo Stadium 3. Swimming pool 4. Aquatic Laboratory 5. Rowing club

6. Water Performance Hall 7. Ice rink 8. aquarium 9. Observatory 10. Campground·

Existing research shows that striped bass prefer river sections with rapid and turbulent currents. And it can be described by physical quantities: 1. The water flow speed increases suddenly. 2. The potential energy of water drops. 3. The water kinetic energy remains unchanged. River sections with such characteristics often have complex topographical changes and provide more concealment for the bass. Therefore, the bass has learned to perceive such flow conditions during the evolution process. We use the kinetic energy of the original river channel to create a similar dynamic model of the river, and use the relationship between the shapes to adjust the water flow. In addition to spawning, the larvae of striped bass also need enough food

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Accessibility 32

to increase their survival rate. Therefore, we have also designed a static water landscape that slows down the flow of water, similar to a naturally formed swamp, which can provide a suitable food source for the larvae.

Decelerated Currents allow striped bass to prey 54

05

NEW TYPE OF URBAN LANDSCAPE EXPERIENCE

REORGANIZED ON-SITE ACTIVITIES AND SPACE SEQUENCE ALLOWING BASS AND HUMAN TO LIVE SEPARATELY Upstream

Open-air Theater

Boating club

HUMAN AND STRIPED BASS

environment, and get a new type of urban landscape experience. The new space provided by the island chain makes up for the loss of public space due to sea level rise. At the same time, the landforms that serve humans and sea bass also provide new places of contact between man and nature.

Institute of Biology Aquarium

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Human activities gradually decrease from intensive activities on the mainland to remote islands. Some of the original intensive activities have been replaced with leisure activities closely related to the natural environment.

This space order between artificial and natural allows people to walk in the natural

Water court stadium

SECTION A-A -- THE GRADIENT FROM HUMAN ACTIVITIES TO STRIPED BASS HABITAT Campsite

Observatory

Open-air Theater

Stadium (Water Court)

City

FOR HUMAN BEING

Charles River

Swamp (Food Source)

Spawning Ground

Swamp (Food Source)

FOR STRIPED BASS

50%

Activity Density (%)

100%

0% Distance (m)

55

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

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STATION ZERO A stop for tour ists in a natural par k

HIDE AND SEEK Ch il dren’s h om e wit h i n d i v i d u a l spaces

HUST Architecture Studio 2017 Fall Instructor: Yu Zhou Individual Work

Other works

OTH ER WOR K S

HUST Architecture Studio 2018 Spring Instructor: Yu Zhou Individual Work

Section

Child as Individual

CORAL REEF Communit y Librar y

In and Out

HUST Architecture Studio 2018 Fall Instructor: Jian Gong Individual Work

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Communication

Size of Individual Spaces 1.75m

2.0m

3.0m

10.0m

8.7m

N

Groud Floor Plan

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