Xiang Xiong | UC Berkeley MUD 2024

XIANG XIONG

URBAN & ARCHITECUTURE PORTFOLIO

SELECTED WORKS

2018-2023

Master of Urban Design, University of California, Berkeley

Bachelor of Architecture, South China University of Technology

'Weallexperiencedarchitecturebeforeweevenheardthewordarchitecture.'

-PeterZumthor

I remember the feel and smell of the haystacks and firewood in the granary when I was a child, the hay crumbs in the air, the warmth of a roaring wood fire in the kitchen and the blackened stove top on the side, the cool feel of my bare feet on the living room tiles, the blue round windows jutting out of the stairwell, the smooth warmth of the thick wooden handles. I always loved sliding down the stairs from upstairs to downstairs on the handrail, running around the rooms barefoot, and exploring the hidden corners of the house. These childhood adventures shaped my initial perception of space, and perhaps it was these hazy impressions that started my interest in geometry, space, and architecture.

My cognition of things is based on my experience of contact with the world. The experience of space in my memory is the source of my thinking about space and the atmosphere creation in my design. I hope that in the future will be able to discover spaces that affect me from my adventures and consciously employ my fortes to develop and create them. Active partaking also allows me to concentrate more on the process rather than the outcome, which in turn allows me to concentrate more on what I am experiencing, giving me more pleasure and a deeper sense of understanding of myself and the world around me.

Old cottage in my hometown

Reveal The Hidden Landscape as a Hermeneutic Approach to Retelling Local Stories

2023 Fall Semestre, Advanced Urban Design Studio

University of California, Berkeley

Instructor: Amit Price Patel, Mona Lovgreen, Pol Fite Matamoros

Partner ship: Individual Work

Location: Emeryville, CA

Date: Dec, 2023

As a resident of emeryville, I used to notice a lot of historical remains such as shellmound, brick buildings, temescal creek and some old art installations, but I never knew the stories behind them. Based on this experience, I define emeryville's scarcity as having a wealth of historical stories and remains that have not been adequately told.

In order to transform emeryville from scarcity to abundance, I utilized the earliest historical landscape, the Temescal Creek, to integrate and connect different historical sites from different time periods to form a historical trail from San Pablo Avenue to San Francisco Bay.

This historic trail not only leads people to discover the hidden temescal creek, but also brings people to get to know the earlier history of the emeryville, meanwhile telling the new stories that are happening in the emeryville now and in the future.

Based on research of emeryville's history, it was found that each time the city was rebuilt, the old city would be erased, which resulted in a discontinuous history of emeryville. This project hopes to reveal and rewrite the story of emeryville through the methods of REMEMBER, REMEMBER and RETELL.

Timeline for Emeryville

Scarcity & Abundance and Project Vision

Historical Maps

Overlaying historic maps from different time periods, it is found that the historic sites that can still be traced are shellmound, industry buildings, and oakland trotting park. and temescal creek flows through all three sites.

Site Analysis

Urban Design Strategy

A main trail was designed along temescal creek to connect the three important historic nodes. Also, the main trail will connect other sub-trials to form a network of historic trails.

D-D Coexisting with the creek

Interacting with the creek

Seeing the creek

Artists' Walk

The trotting park now is mainly used as parking, and the brick houses underwent gentrification, so most of the artists could not afford it anymore. This project proposes a new glass buildings and put in the brick boxes that continues the work-life space of the traditional artist workshop, and the remaining space would be used as exhibition.

Old Photos

Shellmound

This project is based on the needs of Ohlone people, to rebuild shellmound and use it as a museum as well as a place of worship. Meanwhile, the surrounding buildings will be converted into residential units, and the original parking lot will be converted into a cooperative working space, so that the Ohlone people can be recognized again.

Old Photos

Recall Gallery

Due to the highway, it was difficult for the residents of Emeryville to access SF bay, so a pedestrian bridge was built at the end of the trail, which is defined as a recall gallery, displaying the materials collected by the Emeryville Historical Society as a recall and remind of the history of the whole city.

Old Photos

Shaded Space from a Traditional Perspective

Urban Renewal of Daxiaomazhan Shuyuan Blocks

SCUT 2021 Fall Design Studio, Academic course

The fourth Year in SCUT

Instructor: Su Ping, Wang Lu, Li Minzhi, Yang Ran

Partner ship: Group work with Wang zhi

Role in Team: Design(50%), Digital modeling(50%), Drawing(50%)

Location: Guangzhou,Guangdong, China

Date: Dec,2021

'Shuyuan' is a type of academy complex that used to house students for the imperial examinations. In the process of urbanization, many historic buildings on the site were demolished and converted into large residential units. Now the government wants to convert it into cultural blocks and move the residents away. The project aims to preserve the residents, allowing visitors and residents to share the block. Due to the humid climate in the area where the site is located, the activities of visitors and native residents mostly take place in the informal shaded space. Therefore, we classified and rearranged these shaded spaces based on the characteristics of the traditional buildings and the current situation of the site. In this way, both residents and visitors can get more formal shaded space, while traditional culture is preserved and developed.

Existing "Shuyuan" Buildings in Poor Condition

Dilapidated and Repetitive Residential Buildings

Strategy for Public Space Sharing

Activities with the people in and around the site mainly take place in shaded spaces, which are mainly informal, so the project aims to make these informal shaded spaces formal through the design.

Activities in and around the site

There are many formal shaded Spaces built by the government in the historic streets around the site, which are frequently used. However, most of the shaded space in the site is built spontaneously by residents, with a high utilization rate but insufficient quantity and quality.

Guangzhou Climate

Tourist-Activity Type

Resident-Activity Type

Existing Structures

Typology 1 Landmark

Typology 2 Building

Typology 3 Public space

Landmark-on Education Road

Landmark-on Xihu Road

Landmark-on Dama Road

Building 1

Jianda 'Shuyuan'

Building 2

Liushuijing

Building 3 Kaoting 'Shuyuan'

Make up for the lack of power with solar panels. The vines are wound around the wire.

Typology 3

The corridor guides people to walk from the entrance to the central public space, which divides the space of different sizes for gathering or dispersing activities. A pavilion will be built in the center to provide sightseeing.

An abandoned ancient well. The streets were flooded When raining .

Public Space

Public corridor section

A new corridor is built along the side of the house.

A new corridor is built in the open space.

In Between an alternative urbanization process for riverside settlement

2024 Spring Semestre, Thesis Studio

University of California, Berkeley

Instructor: Stefan Pellegrini, Pol Fite Matamoros, Zachary Lamb

Partner ship: Individual Work

Location: NanSha, China

Date: May, 2024

Rivers are often the first places where settlements develop, and each has its own characteristics, either at the riverbanks or above the water. Each forms a synergistic relationship with water, which also represents the specificity of the place. However, with rapid urbanization, many village lands fall prey to large-scale development, with the emergence of many high-rise buildings and huge infrastructures. This has not only caused these areas to lose their regional identity, but has also resulted in the riverside

or coastline becoming a hard edge, making it difficult to access and more vulnerable to flooding.

In southern China there once were many villages along the Pearl River Delta, but due to rapid development many villages have been destroyed. This thesis seeks an alternative type of development along the river that can retain the traditional lifestyle and physical spaces and a better relationship with the water while adapting to the development of the area.

understand the links between social organization, economic activity and spatial arrangement from their

Farming and Fishing

residential building

Socialization and Public Space

In my research on one of the largest villages on the area, I tried to

everyday life.

People's Everyday Life

City and Village in NanSha

Real World Issues

Main site research routes and spaces

Corresponding physical spaces

Impact of development

Proposals for Old Village

Traditional spatial patterns of residence and agriculture

Traditional housing typology

displacement due to development

Retained the old village

Proposals for New City

Public activities normally occur along canal or fishponds

what is worth to be preserved

Block scale varies greatly

Increased street frontage

Extended development area to meet density

increasing elevation differences to resist flooding

Public space occupied by parking lots

Development has affected the traditional social organization, economic activity and spatial arrangement of the village.

I try to find out what is worth to be preserved and how to make them better exist in the old village; meanwhile how to apply these valuable social practice and spatial arrangement to the new city.

Add water plaza to connect to fishponds

Add water plaza to connect to wetland

Site Condition

Based on the needs of the Village and the developer, place a recreational corridor to create entertainment and attract people. Industry parks are placed on both sides of the existing drive way, forming an innovation corridor.

In the recreational corridor, ground floor retail and cultural facilities are placed along the street, and also connects to the main water plaza, which reinforces the connection from the village to the metro station and wetland. At the same time, through the farmland ditch and wetland, connecting the different canals, to deal with flooding issue.

New Spatial Organization Exsiting

Old Village

Looking from the canal to the edge of the village and the city, we can see how the farmland, the traditional stilts houses and the buildings of the new city coexist with each other, with water and also with nature.

In Between City and Village

C-C

Youth Apartment

Shaping Youth Communities from Spaces of Different Publicness

SCUT 2019 Fall Design Studio, Academic course

The Second Year in SCUT

Instructor: Zhejuan Mo, Peng Ye

Role: Individual Work

Location: GuangZhou, GuangDong, China

Date: Feb 2019

In China, young people have become the main group of urban renters. This project wants to explore a design closely related to the social interaction pattern of young people. The site is located in Guangzhou, China, which is surrounded by many colleges and institutions, so the target groups are college students. After investigation, it is found that college students eager to socialize, but there is very little space around the site for socialising. Therefore, based on the privacy requirements of young people for public space, this project designs three types of Spaces of different publiciness to meet the social needs of young people with different personalities.

People’s Day around The Site

College students are the main youth group around the site, they often go to public places for entertainment in their daily life, but there is not enough and various public spaces to choose.

Demand Analysis

There are few recreational spaces for university students around the site, and they need more diversified public recreational spaces. For the public spaces of the youth apartment, there is also a demand for spaces of different degrees of publicness.

Design Strategy & Public Space Hierarchy

Based on surrounding functions and the traffic of the road, put the public area closer to the main road and resident area closer to the branch road. At the same time, the volume of the house is broken down to conform to the urban fabric, and then adjust the location of the apartment building to create three outdoor Spaces.

According to the demand analysis, public Spaces which serving each floor, each building and the whole community are added, so that introverted and extroverted people can choose to enter public Spaces with different degrees of publicness and socializing.

A public space for all residents of the youth apartment, which is semi-open for socialising and gathering, including indoor commercial spaces and outdoor open spaces.

Public Space for Each Block

Ground Floor Plan 1:400

2nd Floor Plan 1:400

Each building has an open courtyard, while each floor has a public space for the use of the building’s residents. These public spaces are located at different locations on each floor, facilitating inter-visual communication.

Public Space for Each Floor

Museum of Bicycles

A New Exhibition Viewing Mode with Cycling Instead of Walking

SCUT 2021 Spring Design Studio, Academic course

The Third Year in SCUT

Instructor: Ling XiaoHong, Peng Ye

Partner ship: Individual Work

Location: Guangzhou,Guangdong, China

Date: Mar,2021(Refined in Dec, 2022)

Can exhibition viewing, as a slow, walking experience, be replaced by a fast-paced, flashback experience? The site for this museum-themed project is located in the central park of the Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, in the heart of the area's greenway system. So I chose to use the bicycle as the theme for the museum, by linking it to the urban greenway so that people can ride from the urban greenway to the interior of the building and view the exhibition by bicycle instead of walking. This allows the experience of viewing the exhibition to be more than just viewing, but a dynamic experience, learning about the culture of cycling through the actual cycling experience.

At the same time, as a place that combines cycling, culture and leisure, it will act as a new destination for the Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, bringing people into the central area , increasing the vitality of the central area and facilitating communication between students from different schools.

Site Analysis

The site has a well-developed bikelane system and landscape resources. Also as a former Asian Games venue, it owns many sports venues.

People Activities

The activities that occur in the Higher Education Mega Center are mainly sports and occur both in the day and night. However, it mainly occurs in areas away from the centre and the area around the site is less used.

Design Strategy

The architecture works as a landscape, an extension of the urban greenway as well as a cultural resource. The museum is turned into a three-dimensional students hang-out.

Circulation

Compared with traditional walking tours, this proposal makes cycling the main method of viewing the museum, allowing visitors to tour the entire museum in a sequential manner.

New Destination and Bike Parking Node

The architecture connects to the urban greenway, with parking and resting spaces, and becomes a break point for cyclists and citizens.

At the same time, the museum acts as an urban destination, contributing to the vitality of the site and its surroundings, and ensuring that there are people using it at different times of the day.

A Welcome Entrance - Day

A Welcome Entrance - Night

Top Floor - Cycle Path Intersection

Upward Cycle Path

Pop-up Exhibition Hall

Sports Events Gallery-International Events

History of Bicycle Development-Today's Bicycles

Blind-Date Corner and Marriage Registration Centre

More Intimate Space for Marriage

2022 Open Project

The Fifth Year in SCUT

Instructor: Alfred Pun

Role: Individual Work

Location: GuangZhou, ShenZhen, China

Date: July 2022

In China, the number of single people is increasing every year and the opportunities for young people to meet strangers are becoming fewer. To solve this dilemma, a new kind of public dating space has been created in China - the Blind Date Cornerwhich allows people to quickly screen for suitable dates by posting their information. These spaces, however, are often too public, making dating quick and utilitarian and making it hard to truly motivate people to date; another typical marriage space is the marriage registration centre, where marriage registration and divorce registration are handled in the same space, making it difficult to guarantee people's privacy. By increasing the privacy of these two spaces, the project aims to enhance people's spatial comfort, and through the communication of sight lines between the two spaces, people in different stages of marriage can enhance their mutual understanding and alleviate the pressure of marriage caused by society.

In recent years, the marriage rate in China has been increasing year on year while the divorce rate has been decreasing. The single population is growing and people are becoming less likely to date.

The Problem of Marriage-Related Public Spaces

Design Strategy

Provide spaces of different intimacy for the blind date corner, while separating the marriage and divorce functions of the marriage registration centre. On this basis, increasing the vision communication between different spaces would enhance the mutual understanding of people at different stages of marriage.

The Current Situation of Marriage in China

Using walls to separate public spaces and blocking views to increase privacy. Thus it creates spaces more suitable for interaction.

The site is located in the central park in Shenzhen, China. The existing blind-date corner is one of the largest in Shenzhen, but it is mostly used by older people instead of younger people due to a lack of privacy.

Architectural Language

Site Analysis

Generation of Basic Form Space Flow for Different People

Logic of wall variability

The position and height of the wall changes according to the needs of the different spaces. By breaking and rotating these walls increases the diversity and publicity of the space. Also by varying the height of the walls, the roof level of the marriage registration centre is increased while increasing sunlight; meanwhile in the Blind-Date Corner the privacy is increased through the increased height of the walls.

Divorce Waiting Room

Wedding Hall section

Blind-Date Corner

Courtyard

07

Waterfowl

Bamboo pavilion for public and wetland creatures

2019 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Marcao Greater Bay Area-Association of Southeast Asian Nations International Colleges Design and Construction Competition

The Second Year in SCUT

Instructor: Zhong GuanQiu, Xiong Lu

Partner ship: As a team leader with 12 members

Location: Guangzhou,Guangdong, China

Date: Dec, 2019

In mathematics, a minimal surface is a surface that locally minimizes its area. This is equivalent to having zero mean curvature. This experiment presents the possibility of applying mathematical theory to form-finding. The corridor demonstrated the use of the advanced computational form finding tools developed by the block research group, more specifically the best-fit thrust network analysis. The force in the steel cables must follow the cables, as they only bear tension. This results in an ocean of tense, which gives the cable-net strength to pull back the frame of bamboos, thus realize an impressive act of cantilever. The hilo roof is built with a cable-net and fabric formwork system. It improves on traditional formwork structures for doubly curved surfaces, which would be comprised of custom timber carpentry of milled foam, by using mostly reusable components.

The cable net is spanned within a boundary of bamboo supported by conventional scaffolding. This is achieved by the non-uniform distribution of forces in each one of the cables, which is one of the edge techs from ethz.

1:10 test model

1:3 test model

1:1 model

Filling Bamboo Slices

construction of cable-net