Tianyu Guan UC Berkeley
Landscape Architecture Portfolio of Works 2010-2013
Experience
Landscape Design Intern, Hargreaves Associates, San Francisco, CA 02/2014-present +Assisting with planning, analysis, and design for Tianjin Yujiapu Haihe Ribbon Waterfront Park construction.)
Landscape Design Intern, Hood Design Studio, Oakland, CA 09/2013-12/2013 +Created renderings and physical models for a variety of urban landscape projects. +Selected projects: University of Chicago North Dormitory landscape design, Chicago; Pearl Stre phia. Opa Locka streetscape design, Miami.
Designer, Excelsior Action Group, San Francisco, CA 10/2011-present +Designed a single facade for an Excelsior merchant in a local revitalization project (Construction +Built CAD drawings and created renderings based on information provided by customers and en +Conducted material and construction research needed to complete pro bono designs for local c
Publicity Coordinator, Design for America, Berkeley, CA 02/2012-05/2012 +Worked with a team of seven to develop a prototype dustbin which prevents food waste in camp +Led design prototyping and graphic design workshops for over 50 college students and commu +Maintained affiliate outreach materials and built up relationships with relevant local media/organ
Graphic Designer & Photographer, Sprouts Cooking Club, Berkeley, CA 10/2011-08/2012 +Created outreach materials, including digital photos, advertising flyers, marketing emails, and of +Captured and processed images for cooking classes which promote healthy eating habits amon +Collaborated with a team of eight for a scholarship fundraising auction attended by over 100 gu
k, China (80 acre, under
eet renovation, Philadel-
n finished.) ngineers. community.
Tianyu Guan Contact Info
510-409-7970 TianyuGuan@berkeley.edu 2669 Le Conte Avenue Berkeley, CA 94709 USA
Education
University of California, Berkeley B. A. Landscape Architecture 08/2010-05/2014 (expected) Overall GPA: 3.7/4.0
Languages
English Mandarin Chinese
pus cafeterias. unity members. nizations.
Honors
fficial website. ng children. uests.
Merit Award 03/2011 2011 Berkeley Circus
Nomination 03/2013 2013 Berkeley Circus
Why Why “
�
...A number of porcupines huddled together for warmth on a cold day in winter; but, as
they began to prick one another with their quills, they were obliged to disperse. However the cold drove them together again, when just the same thing happened. At last, after many turns of huddling and dispersing, they discovered that they would be best off by remaining at a little distance from one another. In the same way the need of society drives the human porcupines together, only to be mutually repelled by the many prickly and disagreeable qualities of their nature.
Arthur Schopenhauer, Parerga und Paralipomena
y Landscape Landscape Design? Design? I perceive landscape design as an antidote for the “porcupine dilemma� outlined by Schopenhauer. Modern times witness a dissolution of physical distance, but an accumulation of emotional one. Urban settings can be vibrant yet depressing, where human porcupines huddle and disperse, dreaming for a moment of the ephemeral warmth. Nature helps disarm urban hostility, when incorporated properly with understandings of the site and of the people. I believe that, with its iridescent and manifold characteristics, landscape design possesses the magic to relieve social tensions and to ignite sincere communications.
Tianyu Guan UC Berkeley
Landscape Architecture Portfolio of Works 2010-2013
Studio Projects Art Works Case Study & Research Photography
Studio Projects
American Steel Studios
Sculpture Plaza West Oakland
Introduction
Comprised of two warehouses in the highly industrial West Oakland district, American Steel Studios is a space in which local artists and makers create and inspire. Over time a community has emerged, becoming the creative playground to a multitude of skill sets and industries. Suffering from soil liquefaction and toxic heavy metal, the open land adjacent to American Steel Studios is currently serving as storing space. By restoring a healthy soil landscape, the new plaza creates new sensory, cultural, and spatial experiences for both local community and outside visitors. Media: laser-cut acrylic & acetate print
Site Plan
Context Map showing surrounding public green space & soil liquefaction condition
A 3-D c diagram represe ative sp dio. By in order below a exempli of a lan develop
The Front: Above the Ground
The fron program a skateb plaza. B spatial e reograp local res outside industria
Aluminum pinball machine made after site visit works as inspiration for formal vocabularies
collage piece combining plan, ms, and renderings, The final entation is inspired by the crepirit of the American Steel Stulayering up clear acrylic sheets r of activities taking place both and above ground, the model ifies the “palimpsest� character ndscape enriched with urban pment history.
nt side shows three proposed m zones--a commercial corner, boarding park, and a sculpture By creating unexpected urban experiences, the carefully-chophed space will reintroduce both sidential neighborhoods and visitors into a predominantly al area.
The back side demonstrates ecological strategies that can be used to clean up and stabilize soil on the polluted site. Mechanical strategy: Remove the extremely toxic soil away from the site. Biological strategy: Create compost piles on site to further clean up and infill nutrition into the ground. Vegetative strategy: Establish a planting palette which helps address toxicity, regenerate soil, and develop truly sustainable urban spaces. The goal is to create an urban ecosystems that is hospitable to plants, animals, and people along time.
The Back: Below the Ground
New Ground
Urban Park Hayes Valley San Francisco
Introduction
Located at the heart of Hayes Valley, the city block bordered by Octavia Boulevard, Fell, Laguna, and Oak Streets, has a difficult recent history. The cessation of the Central Freeway construction left the site as undesirable urban blight. This project explores an alternative future for the decayed block: a multiuse urban park that both serves the local inhabitants and attracts the outside tourists.
1959
1989
1990-2003
Open of the Central
Loma Prieta Earthquake
Continuing Demolishing
Ce n tr al F re ew a y
I
101 HWY
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Low Low Income Income Housing Housing Complex Complex
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SR
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e Golden Gate Bridg
1948
Demolished Freeway Proposed+Unbuilt Freeway
2010-Present
Hayes Valley Community Farm
unity Farm nity Farm
g Complex using Complex
101 Exit yy 101 Exit
The Site
The city block bordered by Octavia Boulevard, Fell, Laguna, and Oak Streets has had a difficult recent history. Originally an intact residential block within a similar urban fabric, the properties on the site were Parking Lot Parking Lot resumed and demolished in the 1960’s to accommodate off/on ramps servicing the freeway that was constructed over Octavia Street. Due to structural earthquake damage and a changing tide in “Proxy”--Mobile Project “Proxy” Urbanization attitudesProject towards inner city freeways, the double deck structure was systematically removed, and much of the resultant void was reinvigorated as Octavia Boulevard. Having lain fallow for several decades, in Community Garden Local Garden 2010, local activists cut open the gates and appropriated the formerly embargoed site for urban agriculture.
HWY 101
The Process
I started by examin land use of the site the help of GIS. Fr formed my initial im site--an in-between ric and green spac of residential and c blending space of tourists from outsid
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Oak Stree
Octavia
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ning the adjacent e, in person and with rom this analysis mpression of the n area of urban fabce; a mixing district commercial; and a local residents and de.
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lley Distric
Hayes Va
0’
100’
The Approach
As a result of the site analysis, I formed my initial vision of the urban park--a space that reflects the mixing and blending quality of the neighborhood. Specifically, the park should combine various activity areas and meet the need of different groups of people. To achieve so, I tested with vegetation density, programmatic placement, and topographic adjustment.
The Idea
Inspired by the original topo, the current land uses and the surrounding community components, the project takes form of two terraces of different height, divided but also connected by a twisting “wall�. The vocabulary of forms embraces the concept of interconnectivity, shown through the fluid pathway network, the interweaving of contrasting ground surfaces, and the smooth transition between varied functional programs.
Paved Surface vs Vegetated Surface
The Masterplan
The Lower Terrace
TURF TERRACE SPORTS PARK
FLOWER FIELD VERTICAL GARDEN WELCOME PLAZA
CLIMBING WALL WOODLAND
URBAN BEACH
The Upper Terrace
Night view
1/32”=1’ Plywood Model
Showing contrast between surface materials.
Sutro Baths
Tsunami Memorial Sea Cliff San Francisco
Introduction
Inspired mainly by the ruins on site, the Sutro Baths Tsunami Memorial is dedicated to those beloved ones lost in tsunamis, but more importantly it is dedicated to the sweet homeland ruined by ocean waves.
The Site
Destroyed by fire in 1966, the once popular swimming complex Sutro Baths leave its current audiences with scattered ruins of concrete walls, blocked off stairs and passageways.
1946
1987
2002
2012
The Idea
Inspired by the site’s unique landscape, the memorial uses gabion cages filled with ruins collected on site and from other tsunami-hit places as its main construction material. The ruin pieces contained in the metal gabion cages, seemingly infinite in amount, embody the large quantity of homeland destroyed by tsunamis. However, by reusing and unifying these individual pieces into a entire new structure, the memorial spreads a positive message of rebuilding homeland out of ruins and ashes and encourages visitors to envision a bright future.
Lost Homeland Gabion Cage 3’x3’x3’ Memory New Structure Nostalgia
The Form
To harmonize with the natural surroundings, the formal language of the memorial is drawn primarily from the site. The verticality of the cypress tree trunks, the lunar phases, and the ocean waves patterns all influence the linguistic choice of the memorial.
The Walk
Walking into this rustic open space formed by the gabion walls, one is invited to interact with the landscape, original and built alike. Integrated into its landscape with its gabion cages, the memorial initially seems to dissolve into the Sutro Baths ruins. Walking through this coastal area, the memorial emerges gradually along the flows of the original topographs, five curvilinear, rustic, gabion stone walls, rising from the earth one by one and accumulating on top of each other. Approaching the memorial, the ground slopes gently downward and the series of walls emerging one by one, growing out of the earth, pile up and converge to a point up and ahead. Like an ocean wave or the phase of the moon, the wax is followed by a wane resembling the former, simply in the other way around.
The Masterplan
Besides the spiritual aspects, the tsunami memorial also transforms the Sutro Baths area into an better organized park-like place. New pathway network opens up the originally limited-used site. New sitting terraces aim to provide a pleasant visiting experience. Two viewing points are added to offer panoramic views of the site and the Pacific Ocean in distance.
Lower Sproul
Plaza UC Berkeley
Introduction
The Lower Sproul Plaza gives visitors the first glimpse of the University of California, Berkeley campus. This rather conceptual and experimental design proposes an adventure resembling a typical college education experience--starting from confusion and chaos, ending with enlightenment and reassurance. Media: ink & acetone
Art Works
A tree is more than what is floating above the around. Mirroring the overall shape of trunk, branches, and leaves, the root system below ground presents a fascinating cosmos of its own, yet beyond its own. This installation piece generates from my personal curiosity of the underground world and aims to manifest the vibrancy shining from the deep, moist darkness. Medium: stainless wire
What’s Below?
Kensington, California
Blake Garden
Ehretia Tree
Reconnection What would the 2035 world be like? What would the 2035 urban setting be like? What would the 2035 University of California campus be like? The conceptual design of a college campus recognizes and responds to sea level rise--one of the most critical impacts of global warming. The design proposal takes form in a heavy second-hand book. Carved page by page, the voluminous book transforms into fluctuating topography. I bring forward my vision of a future world highlighting the idea of “reconnection� on various scales--city, architecture, and landscape. Architecture becomes part of the landscape to convey a sense of integration in a disconnected world.
“Balance” 24”X18” Bristo Pencil
Lily of the Nile 24”X18” Bristo Prismacolor
The Ihouse 24”X18” Bristo Charcoal
“A man of true wisdom, with nothing but his senses and a soul that’s never sad, can enjoy the entire spectacle of the world from a chair, without knowing how to read and without talking to anyone.” Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet
Coat Desk Chair 24”X18” Bristo Pencil
Daily Collage Notebook
“Urban Solitude“ Digital Collage
Cas
se Study & Research
Taj Mahal Complex
Mehtab Bagh
Yamuna River
Agra
Mehtab Bagh
Visual Simulation Agra North India
Introduction
The Mehtab Bagh is a charbagh complex located in Agra, North India. It is situated north of the Taj Mahal on the opposite side of the Yamuna River. The garden was built by Shah Jahan around 1530. Over the years, frequent floods nearly ruined the garden. Nowadays remaining structures within the garden are in a ruinous state. From limited archeological researches and historical records, this project creates a series of simulated views of the once elegant moonlight garden. Media: pencil & watercolor
Photography
North Korea
China