CORNELL UNIVERSITY | BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE
PORTFOLIO OF SELECTED WORK
ROCK RITUALS AND THRESHOLD
The Rock and Island
Cornell University | Fall 2019
Instructor: Maddie Eggers, Val Warke, Gesa Buttner Dias
The rock is found in the crevice between two larger rocks tangent to the rock and describe the profile. Inspired by the original site condition, the measuring device is an enclosed adjustable slots connecting to each other measuring and recording the angle and length of the rock when touching this device.
The negative representation of the rock is constructed using 10 pieces of the measuring device which lengths and angles are preserved and scaled inside the 10*10*10in box. The positive is then filled into the negative skeleton.
Two people going to the island, the helper and the recipient, embarking on the journey of cleansing. They arrive at the island separately. On the island, they can sense each other’s existence but can’t see each other. Eventually they meet and leave the island together.
The recipient firstly arrives at the dock and goes into the cave and changes clothes for bathing, then walking up the stairs to the top of the island where bathing pools and saunas are. The pools one the top of the island is from rainwater and disrupted by the water gate. Two people have to collaborate and pull the gate together but they can not see each other due to the long distance. Then the helper helps add the wood to warm the sauna house. Since the helper arrives at the island from a temporary dock on another side of the island so they finally leave the island together.
SLOTTING ROCKS
The Sedimentary Rock Cube
Cornell University | Spring 2020
Instructor: Hallie Black, Felix Heisel, Val Warke
Using the same language of two kinds of slotting on sandstone skeleton and shales, the cube model slots peripheral shales onto the central sandstone together constructing a 6’’, 6’’, 6’’ cube.
SLOTTING ROCKS
Stone Workshop
Cornell University | Spring 2020
SEWING LAND
A Vertical Bridge between Top and Bottom
The conceptual site model embodies the natural gorge and manmade bridge prominent on the site. The bridge connects the two sides of the gap carved away and split by the natural formation of the gorge and merges into the existing street grids. The threads in the conceptual model act as the bridge and manmade interventions that sew the gap of two sides closer and alternate the landscape. Different types of papers with varying ingredients and manufacturing finishes represent the layers of shale lithification under pressure and sedimentation. The threads were soaked in ink and dried and then water is applied to dissolve the ink along punctuations left on paper.
The vertical connects the top and bottom of the gorger is sitting on the implied lines of the manmade forces like a string that changed the landscape representation.
SEWING LAND
The House for Two
Cornell University | Fall 2020
Site Plan
Second Floor Plan
The house Threads the manmade and nature together with the pedestrian walk from the existing bridge and the manmade gorge splitting the house representing the human intervention and nature respectively, The new circulation created allows visitors to fully experience and magnifies the dichotomy and the duality of the existing site. The residents live on the two sides of the forged gorge which splits the house into private and public areas with a connecting passage while contains the circulation and storage spaces.
The steepest part of the site is left unoccupied due to difficulties of construction and also emphasizing the prominence of the nature existing on the site. This strip of land is further amplified into a natural cut splitting the house and connecting to the pedestrian bridge.
First Floor Plan
THE DRIFT WOOD
Rowing Boat View Stands and Dock
Cornell University | Spring 2021
Instructor: Dasha Khapalova
The site of the Cayuga Lake inlet is populated with drift wood which marks the geological history if the water front and mediate between the land and the water. The rowing boat viewing complex consists of the viewing platform, dock and a watch tower that assume the form of the river formation and the materiality of a piece of drift wood.
The boathouse is located at the pivotal point of the curvature with another stream verging into the main inlet. In plan, the walls of the boathouse start with more straight lines and gradually transitioned into more curvilinear forms as the river smoothes the shoreline. The roofs spanning between walls follow the boundary of walls and split into many fragments open on different sides with clerestories for each program resembling a piece of driftwood washed away, visually connecting the interior and exterior and creating different lighting patterns. The waterfront of the boathouse is slightly carved in on the land which becomes the exit to the water from the interior.
STRUCTURE WALK THROUGH
Rowing Boat View Stands and Dock
Cornell University | Fall 2020
Team: Gabrielle Kim, Hyojun Shim
Instructor: Mark R. Cruvellier
Congress and Exhibition Center
Studio Botter, Studio Bressan
The Congress and Exhibition Center, located in a green area outside the city center of Agordo, Italy, creates a harmony with its immediate context - the alpine landscape. Designed to serve various purposes - such as a concert hall, a convention center, and an art gallery - the building has the dimensions of approximately 160ft X 360ft.
The overall design, as shown on the plan illustrated below, shows how the architects opened up a huge void, or hallway, intended for various performances and exhibitions. Such an unobstructed space was made possible through the use of a trussed roof system and a series of exterior columns and bracings.
Glued laminated timber was the main material used for the structural support, which was also consistent with the traditional alpine building style. The construction system is notable for being light, and the timber frames and columns were prefabricated in factories and brought to the site to be assembled. The Exhibition Center has a cantilevered roof with trusses and beams going vertically through each other this helps resist the gravity load of the roof and the live load such as snow.
THE DROPLET OF LIFE Afterlife Terminal
2021 Big Architecture Competition Team: Gloria Shi, Thuan La
Eighty percent of the human body is made up of water, we imagine that every droplet of water contains the memory of a human’s life. When the soul leaves the human body, it transcends its entire life into a droplet of water and returns to the realm of the in-between. In this realm, the souls converge into a vast ocean before embarking on the journey to the afterlife through the terminal.
Situated in the infinite ocean is the terminal that pitches into the sky and down to the unfathomable dark abyss. It takes on the form of a water droplet both in section and plan and guides a soul’s journey through the ephemeral experience following the natural flow of water. When the waves surge up, they gradually bring droplets of water into the terminal. Upon entering, the soul has a vision of the central space leading up to heaven with the hopes of concluding its journey there. Flowing downwards on the wedged step channel, the soul reflects on its life while being judged by the discrepancy between flowing steps and eventually reaches the bottom of the terminal, where the soul is being weighed. If a person lived their life well, their droplet is pure and light, enabling them to ascend in the form of vapor to enter the above. Meanwhile, the contaminated
water droplets will outweigh the rest and sink into the infinite abyss of darkness
