Yifan Hu

Yifan Hu is interested in exploring the spatial politics that nfluences living conditions for certain groups of people and how the idea of privilege can be re-evaluated through architecture. Her works have focused more on public projects for people with vulnerabilities and are in need of safer and proper spaces to proceed living.

Hu received her BFA degree in Interior Design and minored in Museum and Gallery practice at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. She is currently a second year graduate student in the Master of Architecture I program at Rhode Island School of Design.

Education and Qualifications

Bachelor of Arts

Pratt Institute, Brooklyn

Undergraduate Interior Design program.

Bachelor of Arts

Master of Architecture I

Rhode Island School of Design

Expecting graduation in Jun 2024.

Work experience

Digital Asset Assistant

Rhode Island School of Design, Continuing Education Department, Providence, RI

Stage Design

Zhi Fan Drama Club, Wuxi

Sep 2016 - Jun 2021

Aug 2021 - Jun 2024

Aug 2022- present

May 2018 - Jul 2018

Summer intern in charge of stage design for a local drama club, Zhi Fan Drama Club, based in Wuxi

Name of the Play: Yi zhu ( The Last Will )

Volunteer Teacher

Qinghai Province, China

Teaching Primary English study to elementary school.

Teaching Assistant

Elite Education Group (Wuxi ), Wuxi, China

May 2016 - Jun 2016

Jun 2015 - Jan 2016

Coursework reviews and assisting students preparing for SAT and TOEFL tests.

Skills

Rhino

Auto CAD

Adobe Indesign

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Photoshop

Maya

Adobe Premiere

Adobe After Effects

Public and Cultural Projects ........................ 06 - 67

Drawing as World........................ 68 - 73

Voyage ........................74 - 81

Disrupting the Arch An Addition for a Historic Landmark

The Market House located on the edge of the college hill in Providence, Rhode Island, is a three-story Georgian brick building designed by Josep Brown and Stephen Hopkins and was built between 1773 and 1775. Through its long history it has been serving for various purposes including a market place, a meeting hall for masonic conferences, a city council, and later was acquired by RISD for academic use. Among the many roles it played in the history of New England, its significant role as the center for slave trade is easily neglected. By studying the inscriptions written on the exterior facades, one could wonder whether the history being recorded there was just partial history and question about the decisions made to determine what was to be recorded or not.

The project is aiming to build an addition next to this Historic Landmark, the Market House, by adopting the repetitive “Arch” element from the existing structure and then break the disciplined perfection with disruptions of the geometry. The disrupted arches in the additional architecture open up apertures and work to frame the Market House differently, offering chances for visitors to view the Historic Landmark in new perspectives through the curated lenses.

Walking past the building, people would notice the several inscriptions written on the exterior facades describing a brief history of the building including the designer and patrons, marked water levels during several floods and another one that documented the 1775 event when people in Providence burned 300 pounds of British tea as an act of resistance to British taxation.

Being one of the U.S. National Historic Landmark District property, the Market House was built with real bricks instead of simply having the brick claddings on its exterior and it has made it difficult to actually make drastic changes to its originally structure, this might have been one of the reasons that major changes to this building were made through additions to existing structures. The fixed bricks supported its highly disciplined and fixed structure and the aligned arches are the major geometric elements for the ground level apertures and the representation of the great sense of order in the original building philosophy.

Rhode Island has been one of the states that held a considerable amount of slave population and the Market House was the centered trading place.The history of slavery have played an important role in the establishment for the economic foundation of this area. When the burning tea action is being inscribed as one of the celebrated events to show the early settlers’ declaration of independence and resistance from the British regime, one should question the absence of the same level of recognition to the oppressive and exploitative history of slavery.

Charette

A testing experiment working with wood to explore composite structures that generates multiple view points and diverse type of frames built with modules of repetitve forms, but with altered scales and orientations.

Inspiration for the later design process with the disrupted arches.

The composite wood model is also able to stand still on its all the six sides.

Being one of the U.S. National Historic Landmark District property, the Market House was built with real bricks instead of simply having the brick claddings on its exterior and it has made it difficult to actually make drastic changes to its originally structure, this might have been one of the reasons that major changes to this building were made through additions to existing structures. The fixed bricks supported its highly disciplined and fixed structure and the aligned arches are the major geometric elements for the ground level apertures and the representation of the great sense of order in the original building philosophy.

The approach of designing the addition of the Market House is to take the arch element from the existing structure and break the perfection with disruptions by altering the scales and proportions and even disrupting it with rectilinear geometries. The disrupted arches now serve more purposes like seating areas or canopies other than being a frame for openings, but the major function of the disrupted arches in the addition is still to open up apertures to show a direct correlation to the Market House.

But this time they are framing the existing building and surroundings with their unconventional forms and offering completely new perspectives which enable people to perceive the existing building and surroundings in different ways and even offering the chance for people to think about what part of the histories were missing or concealed, when what they are able to see with the Market House now is differently shaped through the disrupted arches. The question becomes what could have been done differently and recognized earlier.

A place for Interconnection

A Renovation of the Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island

The Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island, a non-profit organization that works to assist refugees and immigrants with to overcome cultural, language and living obstacles and to rebult a new life here in Rhode Island. The organization is now located at 220 Elmwood Avenue in Providence, Rhode Island. It is surrounded by a quiet neighborhood and this one-story building has a unique L-shape with a private parking lot at the east side and a bus stop very close to the west facade. The project aims to increase the visibility of the organization as well as to improve the interconnections between different programs.

To increase the visibility of the organization, the major addition is elevated from the north portion of the existing building and extended to the private parking lot, so it becomes a long and 3-story-tall structure that houses most of the living and service programs, the existing L-shape is now turned into a T-shape building. Each added story is around 12 feet tall, roofs are slanted with a subtle angle that resonates with the surrounding buildings.

A playground is opened up in the south portion of the existing building and it is directly connected to the childcare and can also be seen by people walking around in the hallways. The playground becomes a center surrounded by circulation paths like the hallways and corridors. The increased interconnection between people using different programs is achieved by a linear circulation system with multi purposes. The continuous corridors and balconies with a wider width become both the circulation path and places to stop and gather.

There is a subtle distinction between living and service programs so there is a major entrance that later leads to two other secondary entrances that each give access to the housing area and service/academic area respectively.

At the linear corridors there are moments allowing smaller-group-gatherings and they also lead to larger communal space for bigger-group gatherings and longer stays. The continuous linear circulation system wraps around and is able to connect living and service programs.

Healing Through Hands

A Shelter for Victims of Domestic Violence

Victims of domestic violence experience violence from abusers and suffer from the lack of systematic support. This project aims to build a temporary shelter for physical recovery and allows victims to engage in workshops to heal through making, to regain control over their environment.

I looked into different types of domestic violence, mainly four types: physical, sexual, emotional and financial violence, and lead to some certain programs that plan to include in the shelter. each program have different needs of privacy. That would later help decide what are those moments to be concealed and what are to be revealed, in the process of having this shelter to help raising awareness to domestic violence.

First floor plan

Basement floor plan area per level: 7530 sq ft.

Estimated floor level: 3 levels

Site for a shelter that deals with healing the trauma from domestic violence.

What to consider:

Prevent being overly secure (prison- like). Un- invasive security measures ( safer, healthier). Various access to public areas.

Visual access throughout the whole building. Natural lighting and access to natural landscape. Welcoming ( being acknowledged and respected).

Restore lives.

According to Building Dignity: Empower - making one's own decisions ; reclaiming the autonomy and dignity. Neighborhood that enables victims to restore independence, economic opportunities and social connections.

Community support

Public transportation

Essential stores

Healthcare

Visual screening/enclosing through nature

I chose the Sculpture center in Queens, it's also very close to MoMa PS1, also like the part when it has several access point, the interior can be completely concealed when the outermost access is closed, but the atrium inside also allows the breathing of fresh air and introduces natural lighting to the inside. It is a building with its original program as a sculpture center and exhibition space, it allows me to keep part of the program of exhibition in addition to the sculpture workshops.

Based on the previous program and privacy analysis and the bubble diagram showing relationship between each program, the programs are now adopted to the building sections, the central skylight is fully utilized to allow more natural light penetrate throught the rather enclosed building structure. Garden also constitutes a significant part in the programs. The access to outer environment and natural light is another key consideration in space organization.