Portfolio 2021

Portfolio Yan Li

01 Academic Projects 02 Research Porjects Involvement 03 Teaching Activities

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The Lost Carpark Postgraduate 2017 Individual Project ‘Shared City’ Studio Tutors: Tom Locke, Barrington Gohns, Divya Purushotham and Ji hye Lim Project Site: Downtown Carpark, Auckland, New Zealand #parametric#repurpose#publicpark The studio was run by representatives from Warren and Mahoney’s Auckland office. The aim was to repurpose a section of the downtown car-park with a new civic function at some time in the future when public transport and autonomous vehicles have superseded the private motor vehicle as Aucklanders preferred mode of private transport.

We can't go on a picnic without ketchup and a car.

Have you a car?1

1 Walter Levy, The Picnic: A History (California: AltaMira Press, 2013), 87.

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Kiwa Museum Undergraduate 2016 Individual Project Museum Of The Pacific Tutor: Ross Jenner Site: Waterfront, Auckland #weaving#atmosphere#details This studio aimed to propose a Maori& Pacific museum and celebrate the Pacific culture.

The method used to explore atmospheric drawings was a combination of analogue ink painting and digital 3D modelling.

The result is a museum complex consisting of a theatre, music centre, gallery, and welcoming platform.

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Sunset Beach Surf Club Undergraduate 2015 Group Project Topic: CONSTRUCTED Tutor: Sue Hillery #materials#construction#fabrication This studio was a study into full-scale architectural practice.

For this six-week group work, my contribution includes proposing concept designs, creating the presentation plan drawings, making the concept models and the final physical models.

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Futuristic Ferry Terminal Undergraduate 2016 Individual Project Topic: Processing Tutors: Emma Morris & Tom Locke Site: Silo Park, Auckland #biomimicry#parametric#iteration This experimental project started with an SEM image of a shell.

The porous quality of the shell was simulated using analogue experiment, with controlled parameters. It then translated into the computer programme, input traffic data from the site, and generated iterations of architectural forms.

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Project Demo Video

Entry & Exit

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Corridor

01 Academic Projects

Furniture

VR Tactile

a study of physical construction for haptic-digital architecture Postgraduate Thesis 2018 arc/sec Lab Group Project with Individual Focuses Thesis Supervisors: Uwe Rieger, Yinan Liu Location: AR/VR Garage, Auckland #VR#multisensory#installation VR Tactile is a haptic digital architectural environment that combines physical construction with digital information to create a multisensory, interactive experience.

It uses virtual reality headset HTC VIVE, 1:1 physical installation with kinetic components and Unity 3D, to make digital information touchable.

The physical components for the installation are designed for a digital extension. Both components are are interlinked and follow a new design logic that creates a haptic-digital user experience.

This thesis investigates the physical aspect of haptic digital architecture, exploring new construction principles specifically for the VR Tactile environment, tested through prototypes and iterative processes. Due to the tracking area’s technical limitation, the installation’s dimension was 4m by 4m. The designed exemplary components include the Entry & Exit, Corridor and Furniture. The built components were to test the concept of multifunctionality, mobility and reusability when combining physical architectural elements with VR.

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VR Dance Performance Postgraduate Thesis 2018 arc/sec Lab Project Thesis Supervisors: Uwe Rieger, Yinan Liu Collaborator: Quinn He Location: Black Box Theatre, Kenneth Myers Centre #VR#Dance#Interaction This work was a one-month collaboration project with the dance department. The collaboration provided the opportunity to test the design strategies of the components, which was partially digital and partially physical and perform it to the audiences. The objectives were to produce the chair components for the dance piece, including building the physical chairs, designing the interactive digital context, and solving the technical issue during the collaboration.

Performance Video

The dancer only needed a specific part of the physical chair in the performance and reserved the other half for the imagined human actor. This idea determined the form and appearance of the chairs, which has the actual physical part that the dancer would use in her performance. Introduce a virtual person into the digital context so that the missing person only became visible in VR to the dance and the audiences. The design uses the most common white plastic chair, which has all the elements the dancer requires, including seat, back, armrest. The process started with removing the chair’s excessive part and adding additional structure to support the edited chairs. The design uses White and cyan to differentiate the physical and digital sides of the chairs in VR.

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H. Lange Detail Model Undergraduate 2016 ARCHTECH Group Work Tutors: Sarosh Mulla , Clio Qiu Teammates: Angela Lee, Troy Lv, Josephine Su #detail#construction#material This exercise aims to closely study the construction technique and material of a famous architect’s build project.

My contribution was researching the construction drawings, making sectional drawings, and building the 1:5 physical model with the team.

Laser Cut Models Internship 2017 Group Work Teammate: Kathy Yuan #lasercut#details# assembly The task we were given was to make three physical models of the under-construction buildings. We started with identifying an aesthetic of the outcome, simplified the given Revit model in Rhino 3D. Then laid out all pieces, got them cut on the cardboard material and assembled the laser cuts.

Harbour Sauna Postgraduate 2017 Group Research + Individual Work Tutors: Christer Malmström, Alexander van de Beld, Maria Isabel Rasmussen Site: Nyhamnen, Malmö, Sweden #nature#shelter#function This design is place for people to escape from busy life in the city and reconnect with nature. The roof frame is there to welcome all people and wildlife inhabits around the industrial harbour area.

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01 Academic Projects

Daily Sketches Started August 2017 5-15mins each #urbansketcher#watercolor#freestyle These sketches started as a suggestion from one of my tutors at the University, who knew that I was preparing to go to Europe for exchange and encouraged me to do lots of building sketches. I thought it would take too long to do on A4 or A3, so I bought some small A6 size books with 12 colour watercolour sets and built a minimalist watercolour field kit. I spend about 5-15mins per day on the drawings every day (there were a few exceptions, 2mins in the IKEA shop, 30mis in a Cathedral, and sometimes leaving a blank page). To me, doing these watercolours is a form of meditation. I use it as a way of taking a break from study and work.

I want to turn the current drawing library into AR (augmented reality) and make iterations in the next step.

Furthermore, study HyperReality by Keiichi Matsuda and other inspiring precedents for styles.

Scan the QR code or use the link to visit the virtual gallery https://hub.link/axA8ek5

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02 Research Projects Involvement

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AR Tumor Evolution Model Phase II Year: 2019 Project in collaboration with the team from: A NETwork! Group, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences; School of Architecture and Planning, arc/sec Lab and Centre of eResearch at the University of Auckland #HoloLens#3Ddatavisualisation#installation This collaboration project visualises complex genomic data in 3D through HoloLens, offering intuitive, easy-to-use multiplayer mode. My task was to understand the need from the medical school team, come up with an exhibition set up to allow users from various disciplines better interact with the model and the spatial information. The exhibition setup proposal is developed further and built by a new research team and exhibited in Ars Electronica New Zealand 2021.

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Hybrid Product Year: 2020 arc/sec Lab concept project #VR#tracker#hybrid The hybrid products proposed a new way for global tourists to experience unique NZ products at home through a cyber-physical reality. by combining the physical products with the dynamic virtual environments, providing the customers with a multisensory experience. My task was to design the 3D model and create final proposal drawings.

Garden Aotearoa

Year: 2020 arc/sec Lab + Digital Research Hub #MozillaHubs#virtualgallery#onlineexhibiton The Ars Electronica Garden Aotearoa exhibition was a contribution to the AE Festival 2020. It aims to create a portal to welcome international visitors to meet New Zealand’s technologists, artists and researchers.

My role was to coordinate the DRH team on the organisation task and prepare the online gallery.

LightSeries Installations Year: 2017, 2019, 2021 arc/sec Lab Reserach #3Dprinting#fabrication#physical The 1:1 installations had been showcased in the annual AE Festival. I supported the design and fabrication of the physical structures, created design solutions for assembling lightweight mesh structures, designed and 3D printing different joint components, and tested them against all requirements.

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VR workshop 1st-Year Architecture Media 2019 Tutored with Yuliana Won #VR#analogue#3Dscan In the 21st century, it is increasingly important to be aware of the new media platforms and how it informs our creative and communicative practice. Virtual Reality technology utilizing visual and auditory senses offers a dynamic, live-updating world that can be manipulated freely without the limitations of the real world. The workshop aims to introduce the possibilities of VR technology not just as a simulation tool but as an integrated media in the design process.

Together with Yuliana, we tested software for the workshop and prepared step-by-step instructions on using Rhino for 3D modelling, 3D scanning the physical model, and submission guidelines. Each group had two weeks for this workshop. The first week is for making the physical model and translating it into digital; in the second week, we set up the HTC Vive headsets for students to experience their designs in VR.

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Cyber-Physical Urbanity 4th-Year Architecture Design Studio 2020 Tutored with Uwe Rieger Studio in collaboration between the arc/sec Lab, the Melbourne School of Design and the global Ars Electronica Festival 2020 Featured work by Zoe Ooi, Helen Yue #Mozillahubs#VR#virtualspace This studio explored the idea of long-distance urbanity. The aim was to achieve a functional collaborative workspace prototype that assembles through merging the virtual and the physical world, that allows global users to access. The investigation was first tested in a live setting with the Architecture Department at the University of Melbourne as an applied research project. Then presented at the AE Festival 2020.

My contribution was providing technical support and knowledge to students. Typical duties include giving an introductory presentation to current technologies, testing new platforms, preparing Mozilla Hhubs software tutorials, technical problem troubleshooting, helping set up course schedule and collaboration sessions.

Cyber-Bio 5th-Year Thesis Research 2020 Supervised with Uwe Rieger Student: Jacky Ziyi Zheng #AR#cyberphysical#livingarchitecture This project combined the concepts of cyber-physical systems, IoT and living materials to explore the design of interactive cyber-bio materials and environments. The outcome was a 1:1 scale installation that uses HoloLens2, environmental sensors and actuators to link the bio material with the digital information. Weekly meetings were held for discussions and feedback.

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03 Teaching Activities

Distant Touch Prototyping a Gallery for Cyber-physical Artefacts

3rd-year Architecture Design Studio 2021 Tutored with Uwe Rieger and Jacky Ziyi Zheng Featured Students work by Ibtihal Al Hinai, Kenny Chau, and Eric Lee #Mozillahubs#AR#VR

Project exhibited at AE 2021 Garden AOTEAROA

The studio explored the new concept of long-distance space and hybrid objects. The project consists of a 3D online gallery to showcase and transport physical artefacts to other locations. The artefacts combine 3D printing with AR animations that can be viewed using phonesor AR headsets. There were 20 students in the studio with 10 being onsite and 10 students located overseas.

My teaching contribution to this studio was giving technical support and tutorials on the Mozilla Hubs and VR, joining and setting up the technology for all design sessions, and managing offshore students 3D prints in Auckland for presentations.

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