Selected Works by Xen Pei H

HOI XEN PEI

EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES

M.Arch. Professional Degree (expected to graduate June 2025) MONASH UNIVERSITY, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA Bachelors of Architectural Design

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

URBAN HUMANITIES INITIATIVE PROGRAM AT UCLA | SEPT 2023- JULY 2024

• Engaged in a comprehensive interdisciplinary program that explores the intersection between architecture, urban planning, humanities, and social sciences in the context of Los Angeles and the US/ Mexico border

• Explored various methodological toolkits to include Thick Mapping and Filmic Sensing as methods of spatial inquiry and critique of socially constructed borders and commons.

• Contributed expertise in architecture to develop community-centered design principles, emphasizing the social impact of architectural interventions

MENTOR FOR MONASH ALUMNI TO STUDENT MENTOR PROGRAM | JAN 2023CURRENT

• Provided over 12 hours’ worth of support time to develop career strategies, exploring potential career paths and relevant skills

• Assisted mantee with transitioning to the workplace from a school setting

• Conducted porfolio reviews, offering constructive feedback for selected design projects and presentations to develope a strong and diverse porfolio

TEACHING ASSISTANT AT UCLA AUD 223 – MEDIATION III |APRIL 2024 - JULY 2024

• Led comprehensive technical tutorials on Blender & Rhino, helping students understand and apply design theories to meet assignment requirements.

• Instructed students on advance Blender physics simulations, texture mapping, and animation simulations

• Demonstrated practical uses of architectural concepts through Blender, enhancing students’ ability to visualize and execute design projects.

TEACHING ASSISTANT AT UCLA AUD 142 – TECHNOLOGY III |APRIL 2024 - JULY 2024

• Led instructional sessions on the fundamental concepts of parametric modelling, focusing on parametric shell structures on Grasshopper.

• Develop a lesson plan and grasshopper script to integrate with the shell of a deformed primitive tor their studio assignment requirements.

TEACHING ASSISTANT AT UCLA TEEN ARCH SUMMER PROGRAM |JULY 2023AUG 2023

• Led instructional sessions on architecture design, theory, and technical skills, providing guidance to students to support and clarify their queries to meet their assignment requirements

• Instructed students on architectural software and tools, including Rhino 7 and Adobe Creative Cloud, enhancing their technical proficiency Demonstrated practical applications of architectural principles through hands-on exercises on paper folding and orthogonal drawings

• Offered guidance on porfolio development and college application processes for students interested in pursuing architecture

WORK EXPERIENCES & RELATED ACTIVITIES

CityLAB UCLA URBAN HUMANITIES FELLOW | JULY 2024 - CURRENT

• Led the research and analysis to enhance the visual and functional impact of the Trans Wellness Center LA.

• Developed a proposal that includes approximately 2600sqft of additional space to the center’s current 3000sqft.

• Engaged with stakeholders to gather input and integrate feedback into the design proposal, ensuring alignment with the center’s mission and needs.

• Worked on pedagogy and building site analysis research for Downtown Los Angeles Trust building for future intervention proposals

• Designed and organized multi-sensorial exhibitions for cityLAB UHI Seminars Work on design development for ongoing UCLA Bruin Hub extensions on campus (Expected completion in August 2025)

ARCHITECTURE STUDENT INTERN AT PATTERNS, LOS ANGELES |JULY 2024- SEPTEMBER 2024

• Execution of drawings, diagrams and presentation layout for the submittal of the following Patterns projects to Los Angeles AIA Awards: Casa Alicia [Rosario, Argentina] Lonely Castle, Visitor Center [Hegra, Saudi Arabia] and Karma Kandara Phase VI Resort [Bali, Indonesia]

• Assistance on the Schematic Design Phase of the common areas for the Karma Kandara and Sunset 9101 projects

• Analysis and feasibility study of topographic site in Tinos, Greece.

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER AT PROJECT SOLUTIONS PTE LTD, SINGAPORE |MAY 2019AUG 2022

• Design, draw & compile specifications documentation according to Client’s brief for tender

• Produce 3D modelling for submission & design visualization for multinational commercial hospitality and office type buildings

• Review & summarize all tenders received during procurement stages

• Carry out cost analysis & advise Client of results/findings Attended weekly construction meetings with contractors & carried out site supervision (only upon site visit)

MONASH’S GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AND ADVANCE RESEARCH PROGRAM | JULY 2017

• Developed skills in research and research leadership

• Connect and worked with a variety of students from multidisciplinary backgrounds to develop and execute a research proposal

• Received training in preparing team-based funding applications

ADDITIONAL SKILLS

COMMUNICATION

• High verbal and written communications skills shown by consistent high distinction results for both written assignments and class presentations

• Ability to effectively interact and communicate with people from diverse backgrounds

TEAMWORK & TIME MANAGEMENT

• Able to work effectively in a team proven by results in a work setting and high distinction results for group assignments during undergraduate and graduate studies

• Completion of all required documentation, models, final client presentations, and submission drawings before deadlines

Rhinoceros 7

Rhino Grasshopper (beginner)

Rhino Kangaroo (beginner)

Autodesk Revit

AutoCAD (2D)

Autodesk Maya

Google SketchUp

EXPERINCE WITH MEDIA EQUIPMENT AND EDITING

• Developed skills using Adobe After Effects, Media Encoder and Experience Design to produce short animated films produced in Unreal, Maya, and Blender

• Required experience handling AV equipment for the purpose of documentation of my design process within studios

LANGUAGE

• Fluent in English and Malay in both conversational and writing Beginner level in conversational Mandarin

OBLIQUE TERRAIN

|M.ARCH COMPREHENSIVE DESIGN WITH EXISTED BUILDING STRUCTURE |SPRING 2024|

|GEORGINA HUJLICH |

IN COLLABORATION WITH MENGRU ZHAO

|CONCEPT: 50%|DRAWINGS: 90%|

|RENDERS: 50%| PHYSICAL MODEL: 10% |

LOCATION: 423-435 S HEWITT STREET, LOS ANGELES, CA, 90013

TYPE: PUBLIC EDUCATIONAL

PROJECT SIZE: 15,000 SQFT

Oblique Terrain is an adaptive re-use project built upon two typical bowstring and mortar warehouse buildings. The project converts the existing bowstring truss warehouse into a highschool for Arts and Architecture.

To achieve the new program, the project re-conceives the existing ground condition as a plate that situates itself within the old. Our proposal adds a new basement as well as a second floor above the “plate” with partial mezzanine levels that improves and expands the existing structure from 15,000 sqft. to 45,000 sqft.

EXISTING BUILDING STRUCTURE DIAGRAM

Duplicate the truss and flip one of the truss

Existing Building Structure

Add structural joints to connect the two bays of truss

Formed by the alteration of a simple bow string truss, a diagonal “plate” creates a dialogue between new and existing by discretizing moments where both intersect, amplifying our local formal ambitions. By extruding, dividing, shifting, slicing and subtracting new and old masses, we create intricacies of interior, exterior, and inbetween moments when pinched and shifted space for the public.

All original bowstring trusses will be reused from the existing site condition and reinforced with metal joints. The altered profile would afford spaces of enclosure or cantilever depending on where columns are placed.

The final truss also produces underbelly spaces that inform the exterior form. All existing steel columns will also be repurposed according to the new bow configuration. The existing Brick and Stone from the demolished walls will be salvaged neatly to prevent breakage. They will be cleaned of mortar and debris for reuse. Unusable masonry materials will be transported to recycling facilities where they can be processed into aggregate for new construction projects.

FORMAL AND STRUCTURAL STUDY OF TWO BAYS OF TRUSS

PLATE

VOIDS

Re-conceives the existing ground condition by creating a new connection between the segregated structures.

CIRCULATION

Creates natural light, ventilation and indoor-outdoor spaces for students.

Creates natural light, ventilation and indooroutdoor spaces for students

AUDITORIUM

An open-air circulation along the plane connects the two sides of the building.

AUDITORIUM

It is situated on top the diagonal cut of the building, emphasizing the slope of the configured truss profile.

STRUCTURAL DIAGRAM

All original bowstring trusses will be reused from the existing site condition and reinforced with metal joints. The altered profile would afford spaces of enclosure or

5. Slice & Extend

Trace & Subtract

6. Slice 2

5. Slice & Extend

1.Existing 2. Extrude 3. Divide 4. Shift

5. Slice & Extend 6. Slice 2

7. Trace &

elements, designed to mass and the internal.

maximize natural light penetration into the studio spaces, reducing the

Second floor plan

The programs are organized so that dwelling spaces like studios are situated above the plane while spaces that require less lingering are below. For instance, the woodshop and library are located in the basement, programs such as cafe, and galleries are located at the entry level for more public uses. A courtyard is situated below ground and can be directly accessible via the ground floor exterior. The auditorium sits on top the diagonal

cut of the building, emphasizing the slope of the configured truss profile.

The altered building appears in contrast to the surrounding streets. Standing brightly colored, within the neighborhood, Oblique Terrain becomes a beacon for attending students and potential anchor for the community as a green open space for the public.

uses. A courtyard is situated below accessible via the ground floor top the diagonal cut of the building, the configured truss profile.

floor plan

below ground and can be directly exterior. The auditorium sits on building, emphasizing the slope of

LOCATION: 2 TYPICAL LA HOUSING PARCELS (2* 75X25’)

TYPE: RESIDENTIAL

PROJECT SIZE: 15,000 SQFT

This studio aims to uncover new architectural propositions and possibilities for living. The studio engages Architecture as an epistemic question and a discursive practice, one with the capacity to make arguments and take positions through design, concerning ourselves with housing as the charged site where private life and the life of the city intersect.

After being assigned a housing type (Duplex/Fourplex), I was tasked to generate a taxonomy of common types and arrangements and through a series of drawings to better understand their governing principles and their rules of engagement from a precedent study. This process is vital to create expertise and control over the housing type we are studying, to bend and break the rules to produce new outcomes.

Figure ground diagrams

I was interested in 2 key characteristic of the duplex/fourplex type. To allow opportunities of intimate and organic interactions between the tenants and to utilise housing units as components that can vary in shape and sizes. To achieve this, my strategy inclides to use interstitial spaces to create porosity in plan and section by re-evaluating defensible spaces and the effectiveness of courtyard spaces. Furthermore, I elevated teraces and stoops to form circulation, semi and commmunal spaces.

Emphasizing multiple types of usable exterior spaces, this design includes incorporating unshaded/shaded circulation spaces, unshaded/shaded terraces, interiorized sunrooms, and large open communal spaces. Having this in mind, informal dwelling spaces that blend functional and recreational programs create a natural build up of privacy layers between tenants and neighbors.

Scale: 1/32”=1’

WATER WORKS

LOCATION: HEADWORKS RESERVOIR EAST, LOS ANGELES

TYPE: PUBLIC RECREATIONAL

PROJECT SIZE: 500,000 SQFT

This studio focuses on order through relationships cultivated from the site and deploying program to develop a spatial corollary for their containment through the design of the LADWP Water Complex. Negotiating programmatic demands that range from infrastructure to architecture to landscape, the Water Complex necessitates managing varied programmatic scales and dispositions as much as it does, taking a well-articulated position as to the nature of this particular public complex.

Site Plan

For my proposal, I brought forward the idea of the field as an object and expanded on the idea of a mountain scape or tower scape that contrasts with a graphic bed of patterns, emphasizing a synthetic ecology.

A graphic pattern alternates ground beds. A subtle intervention that is not infrastructural but impact subtly influenced the wildlife.

Headworks West

sqf

Scale: 1”=500’

Headworks East

sqf

Water Circulation Path

Bike and Recreational Paths

WATER PATHS FROM HEADWORKS WEST

Cross-section of the distribution Tank intersection

Programs are dispersed throughout 3 levels through a series of enclosed glass offices and concrete research spaces and large platforms.

Within the structure, 2 towers allows direct access to certain areas of platforms that will connect horizontally through a series of ramps and bridges. Circulation extends programs to the exterior of the tower and foregrounds a gradient of privacy within the space.

RITUAL SCAPES

LOCATION: KARMA BORGO DI COLLEOLI, PALAIA TUSCANY, ITALY

TYPE: PRIVATE HOSPITALITY

PROJECT SIZE: 560,000 SQM

This studio aims to frames adaptive reuse strategies within a discourse that transcends purely technical or economic considerations, evolving into a more nuanced engagement with issues of tectonics and aesthetics, and in a continuous dialogue between the past and the present.

For this project, I wanted to transform underutilized spaces by repurposing some existing structures (the ground) and engaging with the existing using materiality and lighting. I wanted to enhance connectivity with seamless pathways and framed views and to foster cultural programming and daily rituals.

The existing site consists of a melange of architecturally relevant elements: Middle Age buildings, a highly articulated ground that integrates landscape, hardscape and agriculture, and finally an abandoned church from the late 1700s. Currently, the site hosts a resort, after a significant restoration in 2003, following the conversion of one of the buildings into a villa for Tuscany’s aristocracy during the pick of the Renaissance.

A Piazza acts as a stage. It is a space where various activities unfold, creating a dynamic interplay between different domains. Not just transitional but also ritualistic. In this urban stage, the architecture and layout of the Piazza play crucial roles in directing the flow of activities and interactions. The buildings surrounding the Piazza act as the backdrop, while the open space itself becomes the foreground where the drama of everyday life is enacted. People gather, converse, celebrate, and sometimes even protest, making the Piazza a focal point of communal life.

Existing site

Foreground of urban stages

A piazza’s open nature invites people to linger, observe, and participate in the ongoing spectacle. The spatial arrangement allows for a fluid movement, where the boundaries between different activities blur, creating a seamless experience. This interplay of movement and stillness, of public and private, of the mundane and the extraordinary, makes the Piazza a unique urban space that is both functional and symbolic.

Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy

Piazza del Popolo, Rome, Italy

Granaio

Enoteca

The Villa

St. Peter’s

Focus: The Piazza spaces along the Villa, Enoteca, and Granaio

Carve (seams & voids)

Peter’s Square, Vatican City, Italy

Rotate

Embed

The existing Piazzas becomes an opportunity to direct the gaze towards and from the existing building. Exposing, framing and repurposing the existing as a performative ground. This ‘ground’ becomes the axis that allows for a new direction from the ‘gaze’. Seams, aperture and circulation become the systems of which parts of a whole is revealed on the compound. In complement with ideas of stages, performances and processes, the design proposes a winery that flows with the processions of performances and rituals that comes with piazza vernacular.

Anton Blok describes the processes of farming as leisure.1 He likens the activity of harvesting as a series of ritual steps, not seen as labor but a festive activity that in the past inverses the activity with respect to gender, work, time, and place. The proximity to the built-up area creates a paradoxical experience of almost being both inside and outside an agro-culture estate. When the two programs inexplicably meet, it creates an opportunity for a new dynamic between an performer and a spectator.

1 Block Anton, Urban rituaks in Italy and the Netherlands, (Van Gorcum, 1993) p. 51-57.

Flow of grapes

Projection of gazes

grapes

Surrounding views

KARMA KANDARA PHASE VI

|WORK EXPERIENCE|2024|PATTERNS, LOS ANGELES|

LOCATION: BALI, INDONESIA

TYPE: COMMERCIAL HOSPITALITY

PROJECT SIZE: 117,500 SQFT

This project focuses on the additional Building (A2) of an existing 5-star resort located in Bali, Indonesia. The proposal includes a common area that bridges to the new building. The common area includes a winery, dining area, infinity pool and pool bar.

I aided in developing the proposed Common Area design; working on iterations for the swimming bar, winery interior and external canopy design. I also assisted in developing the sun bed platform drawings and the pool details. Furthermore, I developed the building render sets (as shown) and the proposed sustainability features of the A2 building extension.

Karma Kandara 17

Karma Kandara 29

ECORESORT EXTENSION

|WORK EXPERIENCE|2019|PROJECT SOLUTIONS PTE LTD, SINGAPORE |

LOCATION: CHERATING, MALAYSIA

TYPE: COMMERCIAL HOSPITALITY

PROJECT SIZE: 470,000 SQFT

This project is focused on converting 48 existing Guest officer rooms into 24 units of Superior Rooms throughout the village, accommodate the client’s specified space requirements, and to address acoustical and thermal issues that are currently posing a large issue within rooms. Meanwhile, all the necessary enhancement on the structure also has to be done while maintaining the cultural and ecological integrity of the buildings and site in accordance with Green Globe & BREEAM’s standards.

In compliance to Green Globe & BREEAM, the design is heavily focused on utilising existing timber pieces to form the new extension. This new structure would maintain a minimum of 80 percent of existing’s traditional Malay long-house timber construction while new concrete columns will be fabricated in parallel with the existing columns.

My responsibilities encompassed conducting in-depth technical analyses to inform structural design decisions, creating immersive 3D models to visualize concepts, and generating detailed drawings essential for project implementation.

Scale: 1:2000 - A3 10 JAN 19

SITE PLAN CLUBMED CHERATING

Scale: 1:2000 - A3

Overall site plan of the Eco Resort Village containing 15 blocks of traditional Malay long houses with 2 types of configuration that branches from the main Espace Public area. Site is located in Cherating, Malaysia.

Schematic corridor plan detail

Schematic partition plan detail

Block A (H -type) 1st floor plan

To achieve the new room count and improve the acoustics of each room, the design proposes to extend the total width of the structure to create a new corridor and terrace. The new corridor extensions would be erected as a standalone construction to minimise the reverberations of passer-by’s steps, allowing a reduction of noise within rooms when the extension of each the new room would be

built upon the existing corridor. Additional columns are also added in an alternating pattern along the existing columns to reinforce the structure’s new load capacity of the new room extensions. After entensive material comparison and deliberation, cladded concrete is determined to be the most sustainable and economical material option for the new column structure.

O (Linear type) 1st floor plan

EXPANSION DESIGN

|UCLA URBAN HUMANITIES INITIATIVE

|SPRING - SUMMER 2024|GUS WENDALL|

LOCATION: WILSHIRE BLVD, LOS ANGELES

Supporting the expansion and merging services in Trans Wellness Center, Los Angeles, the proposal includes approximately 2600 sqft of additional space to the center’s current 3000 sqft. The extension would account for incoming staff members who will be recruited to support current medical and social services at the wellness center as well as new services, such as the career center. The plan also aims to increase the physical and visual comfort of existing spaces, enhancing visitors’ sense of belonging within the center by supplying additional lounge spaces. The increase of larger open spaces and rooms will accommodate more flexible activities by configuring the furniture layout. These larger spaces also allow for easier subdivisions for more temporary events or permanent services.

MAPPING JOY

|UCLA URBAN HUMANITIES INITIATIVE |FALL 2023 |GUSTAVO LECLERC & HEATHER SEYBOLT |

LOCATION: EAST LOS ANGELES IN COLLABORATION WITH: ALEJANDRA RIOS, JACQUELINE VELA

In this seminar, we studied the invisible walls and pockets of resistance, or “thresholds,” in four particular spaces, or “ecologies:” Flatlands, Downtown, Tijuana, and Freeways/Boulevards. For our final project, we produce a thick map focusing on the themes of Joy and Play within the common spaces of The Flatlands ecology.

Our project investigates the Flatlands of South Los Angeles as bounded by the 10, 105, 405, & 110 Freeways. Looking at neighborhoods such as (but not limited to) - South Central, Crenshaw, Inglewood, Exposition/University Park, & Culver City.

South Los Angeles is a vibrant community with a complicated past; from private ranches to burgeoning white suburbs to Black enclaves, South Los Angeles has grown exponentially in the past century alone especially at the height of industrialization, city wide expansion, and post War migration patterns. Today, South LA is home to a growing Latinx demographic primarily communities from Mexico and Central America following the globalization outsourcing displacement and civil war diasporas

Progress work and collection

Upon further reflection of the concept behind thick mapping, our group aimed to build a map that not only reflects the themes we envision from our collective findings but is one that holds layers that are physically and visually accessible and immersive. We used photos, videos, plants, fabrics, and materials found in the community and also texture, built from foam adding a multidimensional layer.

Focus Area