Portfolio Xindi by Xindi Lyu

PORTFOLIO XINDI LYU

PROLOGUE

CONTENTS 01 SEQUENCING PUBLICITY A Systematic Intervention for the Street of Hoan Kiem

Architecture is a tool developed to adapt, survive, and solve existing problems. The practice is both artistic and scientific, where it is deeply involved with problems of psychology, siciology, technology, politics , and all other possible subjects intertwined within the built invironment. A [scheme] is what an architect developes as an idealistic outline in response to their given problem, estimating the initial solution in form as well as the probable scene it might establish. A traditional [scheme] can hardly go beyond the existing boundaries of the profession, where their only variations occurs through formal individualization. However, as today’s world faces the looming threat of climate change and inequalities, it is increasingly clear that the traditional toolkits of architecture and urban design can no longer tackle these crisis-of-the-day. It is clear that our design processes need to be reoriented where solutions from other fields can be integrated as another class of operators. Traditional architectural components under this premise loses their immutability and undergo a transformative action that enables them to opereate under the framework of non-architectural solutions. This portfolio consists of my attempts in rethinking architectural convention by introducing a transformative factor in conventional architectural schemes, thus allows for a hybridation of architectural function and roles in the oresent urban ecology.

02 IMPASTO JFK Terminal 4 Concourse Expansion

03 A HOME IS NOT A HOUSE A Inter-Connected Neighborhood

04 DANCER RESIDENCE Defining Functional Spaces with Human Movements

01 SEQUENCING PUBLICITY A Systematic Intervention for the Street of Hoan Kiem Individual Project Spring 2021 Instructor: Trevor Ryan Patt

“Intensive processes possess nonmetric properties in subtle and complex ways: sometimes they involve the spatial continuity and indivisibility of properties like temperature, pressure or density; other times the anexact yet rigorous way in which cellular spatial neighbourhoods are defined; sometimes what is involved is nothing specifically spatial, but rather that which remains topologically inv-ariant in a spatial process; and other times specifically spatial capacities are concerned, such as the capability of adaptive components to fold, stretch or bend.” ------ Manuel DeLanda

The development of urban space and architectural design have always been a bilateral procedure throughout the history with reciprocal effects on the contemporary public and private sector of urban space. The boundaries between the inside and outside, public and private are ultimately formalized based on the negotiation of different individuals. Public space, is not in itself oppositional to privacy. That a space is accessible, or even visible, to the public does not preclude private activity, introspection, or rituals. These moments occur all around the city, though spaces explicitly dedicated to them are becoming increasingly rare. This project takes place in the congested old town of Hanoi, Vietnam, where the subtle gradiation between the public and private is re-introduced into the condensed urban fabric. The design is an embodiment of juxtaposed public and private experiences, interfacing with the existing environment, informing new means of interactions under the irregular condition of the city streets.

The Urban Growth Pattern of Hoan Kiem From 1898 to 2021

Vernacular Program and Site Development

Hoan Kiem is one of the four old quarters of Hanoi, Vietnam. It is also the commercial core of the city, with preserved shop-houses packed along all the main streets, and vendors roaming around the busy sidewalks with traditional goods and handicrafts carried on their scooters. It is a compact urban district with a long history of development, where the well preserved colonial architecture, traditional temples and commecial streets attract hundreds and thousands from all accross the world. For the residents, however, the quality of life is degraded due to the old infrastructure and excessive infrastructure.

The Dong Xuan area north of the old quarter is used as the project area. It is one of the most populated area and the largest trading center of Hanoi

Spatial Experiences

Lightwell Typologies

COLLAGE

EXISTING PROBLEMSHoan The Existing

Kiem Streetscape

Strategy

CONCEPT DIAGRAMS

Observation Deck

Main Entrance

Bridging Device

Secluded Area

Roof-top Extension

Plaza Lightshaft

2nd Floor

1st Floor

Program & Circulation

adjacent store adjacent store

seating area

rentable stalls

4 handicraft workshop

rooftop garden

Arial of Interior

Arial with Roof

A-A Section

Experiential Renderings

Lightwell Assembly Analysis

Lighting Experience

Main Entrance

The interiors of the lightwells provide a variety of enclosures integrated within the larger communal space of the open market. The twisting concrete structure of the lightwells allows it to cast dramatic shadows within the enclosures.

The main entrance to the alley way is now highlghted with a lightwell that performs as doorway to the market area. The lightwell also extends on both sides of the entrance that forms two passages ways cutting into the two adjacent storefronts on the mainstreet.

Handicraft Workshops

Open Market

The second floor are attached with more floor panels to give spaces for handicraft workshops. This allows an additional business opportunity for local handicraft businesses.

The first floor here allows the integration of an open market. The light wells morphs into different forms from top to bottom and that helps stratify the layers of public spaces within the alleyway.

Public space, is not in itself oppositional to privacy. That a space is accessible, or even visible, to the public does not preclude private activity, introspection, or rituals. These moments occur all around the city, though spaces explicitly dedicated to them are becoming increasingly rare. A once common example was the phone booth, where private conversation could be held in direct view and immediate proximity with the fl ows of public life. In this case, it is the material assemblage of a particular room-like space that constructs a certain social privacy. However, this specifi city should not be mistaken for a pure functionalism; the impact of a material assemblage creates effects even when used for purposes other than its primary intention [Fig. 2].Taking advantage of the reconsideration of distanced isolation in public spaces, it is perhaps time to think more seriously about how private activity can be actively supported in our cities

Community Playground

Rooftop Garden

On the third floor, additional floor panels are connected from the rooftops of the adjacent residential buildings to the lightwells, forming a levitated outdoor space exclusive to the Hoan Kiem residents.

Porsche generated by the top of the lightwells now create additional wall members, forming a rooftop garden for the community.

02 IMPASTO JFK Terminal 4 Concourse Expansion Group Project Project Partner: Yuxin Huang Fall 2021 Instructor: Hal Hayes

This project explores the functional and iconographical role of the new concourse extension, both as a templated agency to fulfil the core spatial requirements of aviation as well as passenger’s needs for leisure activities, and also as the stage where visitors manifest their first impression of the city. The design investigates the limitations of the contemporary airport typology and proposes an alternative as a reconfiguration of its rigid program arrangement. By incorporating and overlapping the spatial parameter of service and amenity, interior and exterior, natural and industrial, A new formal vocabulary is introduced, anticipating a concourse reinvented to not only offer all the amenities of the physical city but also resembles the dynamic, multilayered “urban condition” of New York. The concourse is infused with a variety of special programs, including the gallery, theatre, playground and a series of indoor and outdoor gardens. These programs provide vignettes of the dynamic urban experiences of NYC. The design process starts with the critical examination of the existing concourse of terminal 4 and propose new formal logic that reiterates the traditional concourse concstruction. The new spatial prototypes are developed based on a series of overlapping conditions that informs the three-dimensional juxtapositions of functional programs in the concourse. The destinctions between collumns, walls and floor panels are obscured and redegined by a continuous catenoid surface that loosely defines the spatial boundaries inside. The concourse therefore becomes not only a live canvas painted with all these fun activities, but also is rendered as a live artifact itself as its canvas-like roof takes on the the vibrant color patterns of growing vegetation which responds to seasons and climates. Echoing the Central Park and Highline, the roof adopts an artistic texture pattern for growing and facilitating rainwater harvesting. Based on the sunlight exposure, various types of vegetation are situated according to their growing conditions, thus forming a kaleidoscopic growing pattern that becomes an exciting work of art looking from the above.

[Site Analysis]

The Terminal Systems studio focuses on the expansion of New York’s John F. Kennedy International Aiport’s Terminal 4 Concourse B.

Produced by Veronica Hernandez

The JFK Airport is known as the first large scale international airport in world history. By the time this grand design of "Terminal Ciry" was finished, it was considered as one of the true symbol of the country's power, freedom, and individualism. Since then the advanced aviation industry brought by JFK also became a token of the New York City, as the evolution of the airport it self also synchronize the historical changes of the city.

[Passenger Activity Map in Terminal 4]

[Reimagining the Concourse Typology]

[Formal Logic]

The existing sectional configuration of JFK concourse fascilitates a rigid program arrangement. Passenger experiences are limited within the spatial and visual confinments of each layer of the building. The design aims to reimagine this programatical diagram to increase the visibility and acessibility of each departure programs with each other. It also aims to blend the boundary between exterior and inteior spaces. The reconfiguration starts with exploring different overlapping conditions as spatial prototypes, where strucural columns, floor panels and walls are treated as a continual catenoid surface as the new primary elements for construction.

Rigid Section

Break Horizontal Boundaries

Breaking Vertical Boundaries

Chunk with Special Programs

Chunk with boarding bridge

[Special Chunks Configuration] End Chunk

Nuckle Chunk

[Arial Render]

Special Chunk B

Special Chunk C

Special Chunk D

Partner Work With Yuxin Huang

Windows Windows

Skylight Skylight

Columns Structure

Playground Playground

Lounge Lounge

Theater Theater

Gallery Gallery

Amenity Amenity Holdroom Holdroom

Departure Departure

Corridor Corridor

End Chunk End Chunk

Nuckle Chunk Nuckle Chunk

Special Chunk Windows Windows

Skylight Departure Skylight Arrival Baggage

Structure Structure

Special Chunk B Special Chunk B

Special Chunk

Regular Chunk Regular Chunk

Special Chunk C Special Chunk C

Special Chunk

Regular Chunk Regular Chunk

Special Chunk D Special Chunk D

Special Chunk

Regular Chunk Regular Chunk

Partner Work With Yuxin Huang

Amenity Floor

Departure Floor

Baggage Floor

Arrival Floor

[Special Chunk Transverse Section]

[Special Chunk]

HEATING & COOLING

Geo-Exchange Heat Pump

Radiant Floor Heating & Cooling

ROOF AND DRAINAGE

[Chunk With Boarding Bridge Transverse Section]

[Regular Chunk]

Inner Cavity Drainage System

VENTILATION SYSTEM

Heat Recovery Ventilator + UV Air Purification System

The overal section of the concourse is constructed by the folding movement a continiuous surface, where it occationally extends out into a boarding bridge. A variety of skylights are introduced to provide different lighting conditions, while also serving as a directional indicator Partner Work With Yuxin Huang

[Amenity Floor]

Partner Work With Yuxin Huang

A 1’=16’’ scale chunk model is created to show the texture, structural and interior detials of the new concourse design The concrete texture pattern is inspired by the modern arts of New York. The green roof is comprised by two different patterns, the ones with wider planting spaces are bioswales that primarily grow larger plants, including shrubs and vines.

[Holdrooms]

Partner Work With Yuxin Huang

The minature textures are designed to grow moss. The plants on the roof vitalize the paterns and endows it a seasonal quality through their natural color bariation across the year.

03 A HOME IS NOT A HOUSE The Inter-Connected Neighborhood Individual Project Fall 2020 Instructor: Gerard Damiani

Following Reynner Banham’s critique on contemporary architectural construction, the primary concern is its multiple limitations preventing further integration of any additional features except for maintaining the very minimal to meet with the most basic requirements for human comfort. They are static, unattached to the urban context, and hardly can they be responsive to needs of their inhabitants. This rigid and cumbersome configuration has put exceptional constraints on the livelihood of the elder population. Without the same level of physical wellness as the younger people to get around the stiff and unfriendly urban landscape, many elderlies are isolated from the public by the static architectural confinements. The number of Americans age 65 and older will more than double within the next 40 years, reaching 80 million in 2040. In the following decades, as the urban population continues to densify, and as cases of senior isolation rise and gradually elicit social awareness, neighborhoods needs to be completely reconfigured In order to fully readapt to the condensed urban landscape and restore the elder generation’s public engagement. The selected site, New York city, provides an ideal environment for me to carry out this concept for a re-configurated neighborhood, for its condensed population and overused urban landscape urges the integration of a new form of collective dwelling.

Reimagining Architecture as a Mechanical Interface

Reconfigured System As An Architecture Interface In order to create an alternative construct for a self-sufficient dwelling system, I decide to reconfigure the architecture composition by adapting to the formal and organizational logic of electric circuits.

In his book The Architecture of the Well-tempered Environment, Reynar Banham formed a critique on how architecutral objects solely depend on concealed mechanical systems to provide comfort and functionality. This project aims to extend on Banham's critique and explore the possibility of mechanical system as the predominant framefork for spatial configuration.The selected site, New York city, provides an ideal environment for me to carry out this concept for a re-configurated neighborhood, for its condensed population and overused urban landscape urges the integration of a new form of collective dwelling.

Streetscape Generation

The traditionally segregated interior and public spaces are integrate as the traditionally concealed mechanical system becomes the structure, circulation, and control network of the architecture, in which case the traditional constructional elements are reduced to the very minimum, architecture meets the end of its existence, and reincarnates in the form of a machine. The new composition of the architectural system is constructed based on the console logic, living units and public spaces are introduced as components, placed and programmed according to the system hierarchy. collective dwelling.

Structure & Transportation STRUCTURE

Residential Unit TRANSPORTATION

Structural Connection

Elevator Platform

The central supporting structure extends through the vertical axis of the neighborhood

Maintennence

Services

Commute

On the inside, each individual living units are formed and defined by two responsive wall panels which bears the subsystems branching out from the main pipe. The living environment in between is controlled and regulated according to the specific needs and conditions of its residents.

Equipped Facilities

The skin of the neighborhood also functions as an infrastructural interface, where the environmentally responsive machine tectonics are attached to extract, regulates and utilizes the water and other particles from the atmosphere. The module is composed with a responsive wind funnel and a thin layer of filter, the two orientational directions of the module allows it to perform as the input and output facility, which helps leverages the balance of the regenerative cycle of the core infrastructure.

Responsive Design

The public platforms of the living core extend out and carve into the façade volume, which opens up and redefines the form of this barrier and creates a more direct interaction relationship between the community and the surrounding urban context. The openings are arranged according to site orientation in relationship to the sun.

Pubic Programs

On the outside, the relatively condensed residential environment is surrounded by volumes of public programs loosely defined by semi transparent membranes that are attached to the system. The facade of skyscrapers has ceased to be what Banham sees it as being a screen with hardly any functional purposes, and becomes a habitable element, wrapping around the core living area.

04 DANCER RESIDENCE Defining Functional Spaces with Human Movements Individual Project Fall 2019 Instructor: Jianan Zhang

The old town of Krakow is considered by many to be the cultural capital of Poland. Its history goes all the way back to the early middle ages, making it the home of about six thousand historic site with a rich variety of historic architectural styles including Renaissance, Baroque and Gothic buildings that together compose the iconic image of its streetscapes. It is also renown for its exuberant dance scenes where some of the oldest performing arts companies still thrive and prosper. Nowadays, as the old town attracts and cultures numerous emerging young talents it is in itself showing a new burst of vitality. The Dancer Residence anticipates a modern housing typology that consists of different sectors for young performing artist to live, work and perform. The programmatical volumes in this project were treated as containers to accommodate the movement of their designated activities. The design links the rules of Laban motion analysis with the generation, categorization and separation of functional spaces, rooms became individual objects, arranged within the threedimensional frame of the orthogonal housing volume, which takes the form of a simple block in resemblance of the surrounding architectural of its historic site. The expressive curving walls naturally compose a courtyard, which also functions as a miniature plaza, separating the residential and studio space. It also establishes a reciprocal connection with its surrounding community as it opens an alternative path and a gathering place upon the existing urban grid of Krakow.

[Site Analysis]

[Program Analysis]

The site is located on a lot by the intersection of two main avenues and across from the castle in the old town of Krakow.

The historical buildings surrounding the site are predominantly constructed with red bricks, some are mainted with pastel colors and others are not. The architectural iconographies of the area are mostly arches and domes.

The functional needs of the dancer are categorized and group according to their privacy demands and activity types into three different sectors in the residence. They are fit within an cuboid block that resembles and aligns with the surrounding building interface on site. The house is thereby devided into a residential volumn, studio volume and a courtyard.

[Vocabulary]

The movements of each types of activities are broken down and coded following the rules of Labanmovement analysis. The resulting documentation of movents are then translated into wall members that define the spaces to accomodate such activities.

[Mechanism]

[Ground Floor Plan]

The residential space and the dance studio are separated by a small plaza that opens to the Royal Avenue and a path that connects the main street with the alleyway on within the urban block.The public entrance facing the mainstreet leads to the dance studio, whearas the house entrance is located on the side of the courtyard.

[Residential-Living Room] The envelope of the house is constructed with the predominant material used in Krakow's pld town. The ground flfloor of the residential sector can be accessed from two entrances, one at the back of the house, the other located by the side of the courtyard. The residential space is well seperated from that of the dance studio. 2nd Floor

3rd Floor

4th Floor

[Spatial Functions]

Residential Function

[Street View]

Studio Function

3rd Floor Main Bedroom

Ground-2nd Floor Practice Room

1-2-3 Floor

1-2-3-4 Floor Virtical Circulation

Stair

Residential Sector

2nd Floor Children's Bedroom

3rd Floor Office

Ground Floor Living Room

3rd Floor Stage

Dance Studio 4th Floor Attic

2nd Public Bathroom

36'

21'

12'

Two Sides Of A Dancer's Home The two sides of the house is devided and defined by a courtyard with only one bridge connecting the two sectors from the second floor gathering place to the grandstand hovering over the practice space. In the residential volume, the children's room are located on the second floor, the master bedroom on the third floor. In the dance stiduo, there are no internal partitions, each programs are defined by a single floor plate, all connected by a U-shaped staircase. The interior of the dance studio thus becomes ransparent, where dance movements can be visible from all spaces of the studio.