Growing From the Roots Zewei Feng Selected work from 2019-2021
Transcending Boundaries The concept of transcending boundaries was raised by Professor Biao Xiang in University of Oxford in his book with same name. At this moment, we are all living in the times that everything is being developed rapidly. We are pushed to face and adapt the tremendously growing era in a passive manner that we have no time to spare for break and introspection. Technology brings us forward, but it also sets up voids that isolate our community. we take these given conveniences for granted but forgot how we come to this state. While we respect the trend that the times is progressing in a complicated but inevitable mode, conscious adjustment is necessary to keep this whole entity from moving too fast to lose its balance. Through architectural studies, we could replace the isolative vacuum with a resilient membrane that could always grow along with the development of the culture and society. As an architect, I want to become the moderator in our society to study and comprehend the rhythm of the times, attempting to promote and maintain the healthy organic ecology between humanity and nature, between communities.
1. Escape within the city
2. Sankofa Cafe_Roots from Seeds
3.RISD Material Library_Flowing Storage
4.The Formicary
Urban secret garden hidden in the shell of old greek style bank
DIY cafe that brings the West End community closer
Updating the Risd material library to reactivate its potential as educational resource
A Chinese Restaurant that accommodates Chinese immigrant employees
Adaptive Reuse
The Formicary
Intro to Interior Studies III:
The roof over our heads: Housing design for social change Composer: Zewei Feng Instructor: Janet Stegman, Markus Berger Duration: 8 Weeks Site: PPAC garage, Providence.
From early 20th century to 1950s, Providence was once home of at least two Chinatowns, they were doomed either by man-made calamity or unban expansion in mid 20th century. Today there are still sporadic Chinese or asian restaurants sparsely spread out the downtown area and up to the hill as the remaining nubs of the previous Chinese community. The proposed theme is to develop the program/ prototype for a multi-occupant, mixed-use project as a 3-D expressions of relationship. Therefore, I decided to design a Chinese restaurant with its dual function as the dormitory for the Chinese employees in the restaurant.The main goal is to set up a base for the nomads to settle down and regrow their networks from this remaining roots embeded underground, re-building the interconnection between isolated individuals. Meanwhile the project creates an opportunity to rethink about the industry orientation of Chinese restaurant under this special pandemic period. How they are deeply trapped into current dilemma? What essential problems were exposed due to the chance of pandemic? Through this project, I attempted working on the possible developing direction of this industry that possesses profound signficance in the history of Chinese immigrants. What form it should take in the future to remain as the foundamental culture that Chinese immigrant rely on to take roots in the foreign land? How they stand out with their new face while closely inheriting the precious culture?
The PPAC garage locates on 233 Weybosset St, which is one of the major axis of downtown Providence. To be adapted to a Chinese restaurant, I envisioned this place as the base of vernacular Chinese employees, a source of cohesion. Along with other Chinese restaurants coexisting in the same area, they will together form stonger relationship between each other, building up the network of community instead of being isolated as individuals. Sourced from the notion that vegetative cover re-grow from the embeded roots to generate new ecology after massive natural disaster. Such character is the represntation of strong vitality of this social group and it will always accompany their development in history as one of the most noble culture.
Referring to the concept of Simmons Hall by Steven Holl, I attempted to search for a internal ecology of architecture to hold the dual functional space for Chinese restaurant exployees to work and live within. It blurs the boudary between working and living, but meanwhile keeps the privacy of the residents. With modular cell being the elementary unit that forms up this community while a natural tendency drives the voids through the space to become the lung or belly of the architecture, endowing the space with holistic permeability, making it an organic and flexiable inner sturcture. Typologies in insect communities
Potential scenarios fitting into the Context
I envision the internal network of the program through the diagrams above: 1). All individual units are interconnected by a random compact system, like the termite nest. 2). The whole structure is divided into several layers that penetrated and connected by the central belly. The restaurant area will be kept at first floor and part of the second floor. There will be a primitive entrance that introduce customers into the inner space of the ant nest. 3). The apartment blocks will be stacked in this ragged pattern, creating an organic and flowing spatial experience in this primitive hut.
Community/ city contained in architecture Through the extension and superimposition of the existing column arrays in PPAC garage, I created this imaginary grid system as the typology to guide the formation of community blocks. In the end, every apartment unit appears to be mudular but unique in their form. They together generate this complex internal ecology.
Customers
Steven Holl, Simmons Hall, MIT, Massachusetts
Employees
Entrance
Dual experienece As an integration, the Roots restaurant dramatically create two parallel experience for two categories of people involved in this space, the customers and the restaurant employees. For customers, the main purpose is to have the restaurant as platform for them to unconciously engage with the cultural and historical atmosphere of the social group of Amercian Chinese. The restaurant itself become the exhibitonary stage while the privacy of the living exployees won't be violated. On the other hand, a concious narrative is planned chronologically for the exployees living in the dormitory. The spatial design will strengthen their realization of their collective identity, enabling them retracing back to their roots to potentailly form the emotional connection within the community.
Interior Belly
The access to the dormitory and restaurant kitchen is facing north-west to the relativly quiet Chapel St. Entering through the long narrow space, one would discover an open atrium with both a long ramp and stairs that leads residents to the upperfloors. In this scene, the rough steel beams from the original PPAC garage are all exposed. The ramp will become the linear gallery exhibiting theme of the precipitation of Chinese restaurants' history while it also plays as a leisure space for people to rest on the interlaced platform along the ramp.
Front entrance
1st Floor Kitchen
Restaurant Sample group of unit
Reserved room on second floor
Glass Penetration
2nd Floor Living unit
Reserved room
3rd Floor
Ramp gallery Living unit
public area
Glass atrium
Risd Material Library_Flowing Storage Composer: Zewei Feng Instructor: Elizabeth Debs, Mary-Ann Agresti Duration: 5 weeks Site: Risd Material Library, 15 Westminster St, Providence
Risd material library, a floor above the Risd Fleet library, is locating at the second floor of the student dormitory at 15 Westminster St. It holds Risd's collection of materials, pictures, slides and digital images to provide opportunities for student to study for their researches and projects. Although it is close to the Fleet library, due to its relatively covert access, it is less utilized and aware as one of the valuable study resources of school. Given the theme aiming to renew and update the material library. My proposal will be summarized to four keywords: Interaction , Awareness , Classification , Storage . I intend to make it a physical dictionary of materials that could actively interact with students as a study platform, attacting their attention and interest to promote its sense of presence among students while avoid functional repetition with Fleet library. Based on the pattern of roof tiles on the ceiling plan, I developed this triangular modular typology that every design element within this space derives from it, the storage shelves, the bench, the receptions... An interactive and playful experience is created when students shuttle in-between the storage shelves, studying the materials while following the flow of the space. As a result, it raises the awareness of students of this exploration-worthy place, making the material library assist students' design study more efficiently as a school resource.
the network formed by Risd building
street view
Typology in Modular System Referenced from the storage method of traditional Chinese medicine, a modular system is highly efficient in storage and organization. The modular unit allows customization in dimension to fit different size of material. The standard and uniform system also enables building up index easily, which becomes quite suitable for the theme of material library.
The strip structure within the window frame is created by the thickened ceiling. With the installed ambient lighting, the material library becomes a decorative "belt" from the exterior, while marking itself out from the other parts of the whole building.
Different texture patterns derived from the triangle modules that distinguish different functional area The R-shaped cabinet plays as the focal point of the interior while it also marks out the two front desk area in material library. It is coverd by vibrant mosaic which represents the diverse culture of RISD
The ceiling of the central area in the library is lifted up, becoming the body of "Lake"
The interactive screenst allow students to explore the resource of material libarary in a more efficient and interesting manner.
The "fludity of space" is conveyed through the subtle transition of materials and visitors' movement, from the ceiling to the floor, the "river" to the "lake"
The education and class area is separated from the others by an array of wooden poles, creating a relative independent area for class or session while not completely seal it from the main space
Typology from the ceiling plan
Generation of the trianglar modules
"River" on the ceiling
Disamountable display rack that stands in an array along the central circulation.
Sankofa Cafe_Roots From Seeds Composer: Zewei Feng Instructor: Elizabeth Debs, Mary-Ann Agresti Duration: 5 Weeks Site: 392 Cranston St, The West End, Providence West End is the most population-dense neighborhood in Providence. For long time it suffers from the problem of food desert and was accounted for low income, low employment rate area. Based on statistics, currently cafe is not welcoming enough in this area as a leisure site. In that case, I attempted to endow extra functions with the cafe to actively incorporate the local issues into the program. The essential goal is to make this cafe appealing to native people while efficiently dealing with the problems facing by local people. In general, I planned to have free planting tutorial sessions offered in cafe, customers could take tutorial sessions for planting different veges and greens and earn seeds by consuming here. Then they can practice the skill set they learned at their own courtyard. Here an interactive network will grow up between Sankofa cafe and local people. With the will to learn new skills and be treated with pragmatic feedback of seeds and veges. Customers will be promoted to come more. Therefore, more and more communication and interconnection will happen in Sankofa cafe. The site of Sankofa cafe is at 392 Cranston St, the opposite corner of Cranston Street Armory and Dexter field, another two famous sites of this neighborhood. Ultimately, I want to develop this cafe as the local icon to play as the source of cohesion, forming stronger network that connects to everyone in this area. To approach this goal, I decided to endow some monumentality to the cafe as one of the attraction site at the center of this neighborhood.
Downtown Providence
West End
The West End is Providence's largest and the most population dense neighborhood which consists 16260 residents in total
Population density by block The West End is facing serious problem of food insecurity. Referring to US census data and Statistical Atlas, Around 50.9% of the population in West End is receiving food stamp, 33% of them have registered in SNAP, which is highest among all neighborhoods in Providence.
The site of Sankofa cafe is at 392 Cranston St, where it intersect with another three subordinate streets at this corner, which make this site a crucial hinge of the West End community. I intended to endow the design of Sankofa cafe with some monumentality to become an icon of this area, therefore to gradually developed community network through the cohesion of this cafe.
Income On and Off Food Stamps
Relative House Income Percentiles
Employment Status
Inertia from landform fluidity:
t eS
d
a Par
Cranston
Based on the engineering concept of Dujiangyan irragation system, I metaphorically treat the streets as the tributaries of the river and the cafe as the lanscape that divides the traffic flow, with the dominanting ramp facing the street intersection, the mounmentality is formed to attact people's attention
Ramp & Garden:
Dujiangyan Irrigation system, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
v
St
From the bottom of the ramp, one could be oriented to the roof top by the focus of the spherical structure inspired from the form of coffee beans. The climbing experience and the linear narrative will work together to leave a deep impression of the customers.
outdoor sitting area
Plantation garden
Being the most monumental structure that defines the Plants Cafe, the ramp meanwhile plays as the planting toturial area, circulation to the rooftop, and the gallery of veges.
Piet Oudolf, James Corner (Project Lead), Charles Renfro, Highline, New York
The Back Corner:
The double stairs at the back corner of the cafe play as a hidden resting area and dual connection between the roof and the ground floor. This area will be shaded by the grove that already exists there.
Mack Scogin Merrill Elam, Knowlton Hall , Columbus, Ohio
The back entrance happens after crossing this corridor of steel beams, which becomes a dual experience of the main entrance which is exposed to the Cranston St.
Peter Eisenman,Wexner Art Center, Columbus, Ohio
Overview
South Elevation
West Section
North Section
West Elevation
Customized Journey There are three ways getting to the roof top, the ramp, the interior stairs and the back stairs, together with two entrances at front and back, they create variable possibilities of the journey experiences. All of them will merge at the hemispherical structure on the roof top and end at the corner tip of the roof platform. The interconnected routes strengthen the integrity between exterior and interior, back and forth, giving the value of exploration to the whole space.
Project I
Escape within the city Composer: Zewei Feng Instructor: Wolfgang Rudolf, Eduardo Benamor Duarte Duration: 5 weeks Site: Risd Furniture Design Department, 27 N Main St, Providence While there are multiple exterior spots that are ideal for people to sit down and relax, besides the Providence Place, one can hardly find an interior space that allow people to do the same things. Given the open theme for the adaption of the Peoples Saving Bank building (currently RISD 3d store and furniture design department), I decided to transform it to an interior secret garden that hidden behind the classic Greek-styled facade of the old bank building. Anyone could enter this space to escape shortly from the city, wandering along the flow of the ramps, lying on the bench to take a short nap, having their meal besides the little fountain... It will be a quiet space that enables one to press the pause key of their intense life and just to enjoy this moment of peace. By projecting the Fibonacci Spiral enbodied in the facade of the bank building, I dissected the interior plan into a series of sections being designed into different scenearies. The central atrium bounded by the curved ramps is luminated by the natural light post through the longitudinal glass ceiling. Every design detail means to moderate the mood and emotion of experiencers to this harmonious rhythm between the light, greens and the vivid flow of the movement.
Typology development_Fibonacci Spiral
27 N Main St, Providence.
Street View
The site is located at the mediating zone inbetween the downtown Providence and the school & residential area on the hill, leaving a relatively undefined positioning instead of endowing a clear function to this secret garden, it fits this adaption to its corresponding urban fabrics.
Typology development_Projection
Conceptual Diagrams
Typology third floor
second floor
Section
Plan
Zewei Feng
BFA in Interior Studies: Adaptive Reuse | 4-year program Department of Interior Architecture
Rhode Island School of Design Providence, US, 02903
TEL: (+1) 614-530-6024 Email: zfeng@risd.edu
Acknowledgement The Completion of this portfolio owes to all my instructors for their valuable criticism and comment on my works. Without them, it will be far less than the level of satisfaction. I sincerely appreciate all the effort that my instructors as well as colleagues put to assist me achieving all these works.