GSD Application Portfolio

Siy u an Xi

M A r c h C a n d i d a te Harvard Graduate School of Design

Content 1. Structure 2. Clothing 3. Furniture + Room 4. Housing 5. Fabrication 6. A Children’s Book 7. Imaginative Drawing 8. Sketch

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1. Structure Parasitic Space Fabric parasites grow on the facade of Centre Pompidou replacing the cross bracing of the grid structure, and creating space for a fashion atelier. The fabric interlaces throughout the structure creating a relationship of mutualism. The fabric is strong enough to provide support to reinforce the deformed grid. The grid, on the other hand, shapes the fabric and the space inside. The relationship between space and structure is very intimate.

The site analysis below diagrams the varying sightlines at different spots on the escalator of the Centre Pompidou to the spots on Bryant Park with the busiest circulation, which informs the growing of the fabric parasites.

Site-notional: Bryant Park, with public library building substituted by the Centre Pompidou as proposed in its original competition drawing.

Project program: A Fashion Atelier Critic: Jane Kim New York/Paris Studio, Columbia GSAPP, 2014 Fall

Fashion Atelier on The Faรงade of The Centre Pompidou 1

LEFT: Study of the structural and spatial feature of neoprene; 2D - 3D transformation.

RIGHT: A neoprene tent designed for New York Fashion Week NEXT PAGE: Transforming the grid of the Centre Pompidou; analogy of the 2D - 3D transformation of neoprene by the rigid body structure.

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Adding Degrees of Freedom to The Original Grid of Centre Pompidou

Rigid Body Unit

1D

Deform The Grid

Contraction

Expansion

2D

Combination

3D

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Original Structure

Parasitism

Mutualism

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Interior Space Looked from The Centre Pompidou

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2. Clothing Tension in the Unity A rule for body movements is set between two people through a prosthetic made from two Oxford shirts. Even minor body motion can be transmitted between the two participants as wordless communication, which makes the prosthetic both a tool and a shackle. An interplay of conflict and unity occurs between the two people.

The diagram on the right was drawn on 36 pictures selected from a small clip that I shot on the Orchard Street with an obsession of the interaction among people.

We need to talk to other people.

Reference Site: Orchard Street, Lower East Manhattan, New York Project Program: Motion-altering Prosthetic Critic: Babak Bryan New York/Paris Studio, Columbia GSAPP, 2014 Fall

We are happier when we have face to face communication.

Even though we are not talking, we still prefer to stay with each other.

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Elevation of The Prosthetic

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Transformation of The Prosthetic on Human Bodies

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Diagrams Studying The Prosthetic’s Effect on The Two Participants

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3. Furniture + Room Urban Mosaic In this project, the landscape of the Flatiron District is abstracted and interpreted as a transformable armature to be put in the triangular display window of the Flatiron Building. 84 wood blocks are jointed in a recursive mechanism, which controls the armature to transform from a screen to a room. In the transformation, voids of different scale appear intermittently throughout the armature, which not only create a dynamic visual effect but also put the space to multifunctional uses.

Site: Triangular Display Room at Northern Tip of Flatiron Building Project program: Window Display Armature Critic: Sarah Carpenter New York/Paris Studio, Columbia GSAPP, 2014 Fall

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Surrounded by notable skyscrapers such as Met Life Tower and New York Life Building, the triangular display room of flatiron building reflects the grid-shaped faรงades on its glass window. Looking through the triangular display room, passerby can observe the real facades and the reflected facades overlapping on the window, which creates a mosaic from the urban landscape of the Flatiron district.

The diagram on the right was drawn on 12 pictures of the window taken at different locations around it. The pictures are taken with an obsession of the facade of the surrounding buildings reflected and distorted on the display window, where the urban landscape of the Flatiron District is collaged.

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Mechanism of The Unit

Screen

Recursive Interlace

Interim

Room 13

Diagraming The Transformation of the Armarture in The Triangular Room

Cut #2

Cut #1

Section #1

Section #2 14

Diagramming The Visual Effect of The Armarture on The Street

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4. Housing Program Mixed A public park crosses over the Seine, connecting the public spaces on the two banks, which creates a regional focus for people’s leisure time on the river. Beneath the park is a housing complex with the program of student housing, social housing and hotel. The units of the three housings are mixed together and connected by multilayer circulation paths. The intentions of the design are to accommodate people of diverse needs, enhance the communications among the residents, and provide opportunities for them to helps each other.

Site: The section of Seine between Charenton Le Pont and Ivry Sur Seine, Paris Project program: Student Housing, Social Housing, Hotel Critics: Tsuyoshi Tane, Marcos Garcia Rojo, Antoine Santiard New York/Paris Studio, Columbia GSAPP, 2015 Spring

SP

OR

PA R

K

O

F

TS

CENTER

CONFLUENCE

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dif

Street

+

Bridge

+

+

Park

Housing

Typology

Primary Sketch of The Housing Applying The Typology

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Cells living units of varying sizes accommodating varying lifestyles Vessels Public spaces providing shared facilities and occasions to meet with other residents Pith Service center providing service and monitoring the differentiation of programs Picture of The Section of A Tree Truck Retrieved from: Fritts, H.C. 1976. Tree Rings and Climate. Academic Press, New York, 567 pp.

HOTEL

Typology Study SOCIAL HOUSING

Program Study

STUDENT HOUSING

Given Programs

Mix The Programs

SCALE OF ACTIVITY

STUDENT HOUSING STUDENT HOUSING

STUDENT SHARED FACILITIES STUDENT SHARED FACILITIES

HOTEL

TYPE OF INTERACTIONS

Individualality

Net

HOTEL

HOUSINGS + SHARED FACILITIES

Commune

+ TYPOLOGY

SOCIAL HOUSING SOCIAL HOUSING

SERVICE

HOUSINGS + SHARED FACILITIES + SERVICE

SPA FITNESS CENTER

SPA

RESTAURANT FITNESS CENTER SITUATIONS

POOL

RESTAURANT POOL

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Social Housing

Hotel

Student Housing

I am 80 years old. My wife passed away last year. My only child is working in another city. It is hard for me to take care of myself but I don’t want to go to a nursing home. I sold my big flat last year and bought a smaller one in the same building. The price difference made me able to pay the hotel to send some people coming to my apartment everyday and taking care of me.

I am supporting myself through the collage. So I am on a really tight budget. The hotel gave me a part time job to take care of the old people in the house. The pay can cover a part of my tuition and living expenses.

My wife and I are traveling with our two kids. We need a large place with all the home equipment so our kids can travel more comfortably.

But we cannot afford the luxury suite in the hotel. And we don’t need any service because we can do everything on our own. So what we actually need is a short term rental apartment instead of a hotel room.

I am a traveling student. I don’t have much budget staying in a normal hotel and paying for the expensive food and services. All I need is a bed and shared facilities like a kitchen and a washer. So a hybrid of hostel and school dorm is perfect for me, where I can also meet a lot of local students to hang out with.

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Form Generation

Form Generation

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Layers of Circulation

Intermittent Public Spaces

Service Radius

Major Circulation Path

Net of Terrace

Rendering of The Public Park

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5. Fabrication Origami Screen In this project, the mechanism of origami was studied and further used to design a screen. The screen has three states: flat when hanging on the wall; folded to minimize the taken space; standing as a thickened screen.

The pattern on the screen could create special light effects to an interior space.

Origami Study

This is a group project, in which I was mainly in charge of the screen pattern design and the fabrication of the screen panels. The pattern was designed on grasshopper and cut by laser cutter.

The screen panel was cut by CNC and its edges was beveled on the band-saw by hands. I also designed the canvas hinge connecting the screen panels.

Critics: Mark Bearak, Brigette Borders

Standing

Hanging

Canvas Hinge

Folding

Teammates: Dingpiao Tang, Yipeng Cui, James Moffet Parametric Realizations, Columbia GSAPP, 2014 Fall

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6. A Children’s Book The Story of A Fish A graphic narrative based on the observation of two goldfishes living with me.

In the team of two, I designed the narritive and the prototype of the graphic of the main characters, the fish and the humans. Besides, I took the responsibility of designing the Cover, the first, the fourth and the fifth page of the Children’s book and involved in the modification of other pages as well.

Partner: Ding Piao TANG Critic: Ken Rabin Graphic design workshop, New York Paris Studio, Columbia GSAPP, 2015 Spring Cover

Long time ago, fishes were the rulers of the world.

Humans were very popular pets.

One day, a fish went to a pet store, bought two people.

The fish took the people home, fed them carefully and changed the oxygen in the air tank every day.

Finally, the people succeeded breaking out the tank but drowned in the water right away.

Though the fish gave the people a lot of love and care, the people was not very happy living in the tank and struggled to get out.

The fish went back to the pet shop and bought another two people.

Back Cover

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7. Imaginative Drawings Drawing is not only the tool for me to capture my free-flowing thought, but also the trigger for my imaginations of spaces. I have the habit of and my very own approach to drawing imaginative spaces. The first couple strokes on the paper are random, but from which I can always see the potential qualities of some texture, typology or tectonic which give the drawing a general direction. In the process of drawing, the direction becomes increasingly clear. Certain qualities of space and architecture appears in the final outcome.

Heart Charcoal on Paper 1 hour 2015

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Truss Charcoal on Paper 30 minutes 2015

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Ribbon Charcoal on Paper 30 minutes 2015

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8. Sketches Sketch is one of my tools to reinterpret the reality, based on careful observation and measurement. In this section, I selected three of my plaster sketches, in which I tried to capture and depict the exquisite facial expression of the character.

Giuliano di Lorenzo de’ Medici Pencil on Paper 3 Hours 2013

Voltaire Pencil on Paper 3 Hours 2014

Agrippa Pencil on Paper 3 Hours 2013

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