Zhuoer Mu Selected works 2016-2019 B.Arch. / M.Arch. Joint Degree (2014-2020) Tsinghua University
P RO LOGU E
CON T EN T S
“Third space”, a concept attributed to the post-colonial theorist Homi Bhabha, refers to “a cutting edge of translation and negotiation where we will find those words with which we can speak of Ourselves and Others.”
01 Moresque
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[transition]
02 Wherehouse Complex
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[coexistence]
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[metabolism]
In China’s unprecedented wave of urbanization, many groups, cultures, and places that are unfamiliar, underrepresented, marginalized have been dismissed as the other. Having witnessed dramatic changes in built environments and how they produce and reinforce the perception of the other, I take it as a pressing challenge to address social problems with architectural and urban design, which entails making nuanced decisions in everchanging social conditions. Between religious and secular, old and new, industrial and cultural... By investigating the complexity and fluidity of the sociocultural landscapes, we can create in-between “third space” that has the power to gently diffuse binary oppositions, negotiate differences, and promote dialogue and communication.
More Than a Mosque: Reinventing Nanxiapo Mosque's Neighborhood Beijing, China 2019.03-2019.06
Transforming port warehouse into maritime museum and marketplace Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, China 2018.10-2019.01
03 The WHAO House
Worthy, Healthy, Aesthetic, Organic: A Solar Modular Home for China's Elderly Dezhou, Shandong Province, China 2018.02-2018.08
04 Rebath, Rebirth
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[juxtaposition]
Underground Bathhouse in Memory of Beijing's Bathing Culture Beijing, China 2017.03-2017.05
Other works
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Previous design studios and professional work Sketches and Photography Backpacking through Europe
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01 Moresque More Than a Mosque: Reinventing Nanxiapo Mosque's Neighborhood Tsinghua University - Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University Joint Studio 2019.03-2019.06 Instructor: Prof. Lu Wang, Prof. Krzysztof Ingarden Site: Beijing, China Collaborators: Haomao Jiang, Yuetai Shang Contribution: Conceptual design, developing, technical drawings, and architectural representation
The discourse of Islam and the Chinese society has been occurring widely in recent years. The concerns for integration, the clash of cultural differences and mutual understanding are key to the contemporary world. Through research on Islamic history in China and Beijing as well as the prototype of Chinese mosques, this project proposes to create a cultural buffer zone around Nanxiapo mosque. Transforming the courtyard walls into an interactive transitional space between the mosque's secular context and religious core, the project aims to express spiritual and socio-cultural needs of the community, facilitate crosscultural dialogue and achieve a greater assimilation within a multicultural district of Beijing. Exploring the notion of agency in architecture in providing a critical response to cultural differences and societal polarization, the project seeks to find an appropriate contemporary architectural expression to facilitate both religious and secular activities adjacent to a traditional Chinese mosque.
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Evolution of forms and functions of the mosque: A trend towards diversity and publicness
Mosques in Beijing: Segregated spatial structure, integrated functions
Niujie Mosque (966- )
Dongsi Mosque (1356- )
Spatial structure + funtional layout
Huashi Mosque (1415- )
Jinshifang Mosque (1429- )
Mosques in Beijing are marked by a segregated spatial structure and yet active functional connections with their neighborhoods, which creates potential for proposing a new type of boundary.
1 Creating a malleable surface as a new boundary
2 Transforming boundary to interact with context
3 Adding two volumes as gallery and nursing home
4 Forming three courtyards with two axes
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Creating a cultural buffer zone between secular context and religious core
According to the Imam of the mosque, the mosque’s key problem is how to become self-sufficient through leasing its adjacent spaces while retaining its unique identity. To address this concern, the proposal creates a cultural buffer zone around the mosque. Accommodating both secular and religious activities, it serves as a transition space or a "third" space that fosters cross-cultural dialogue.
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1 Wudu (ablution) space 2 Library & cafe 3 Halal food market 4 Kitchen 5 Halal restaurant 6 Classroom 7 Dining hall 8 Female prayer room 9 Ghusl (ablution) room 10 Reading room 11 Multipurpose hall 12 Community activity space 13 Community center reception
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Typical room layout A
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A: Courtyard of the community center
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Typical room layout B
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1 Islamic art gallery 2 Cafe 3 Dayroom 4 Nursing home room A 5 Nursing home room B 6 Canteen 7 Offices 8 Accessible bathroom 9 Nursing station
The nursing home serves both the local Muslim community and the senior citizens living nearby. The Islamic art gallery is a gateway to understanding their unique culture.
B: Corridor in the nursing home
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Third floor plan 1:500
C: Inside the gallery A
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To the orth of the mosque is a dining hall and a classroom. The space is shared by both the mosque and the community center. During Ramadan, the classroom is used for religious lectures and the dining hall is where suhoor and iftar meals are served every day for Muslims. At other times of the year, however, the space mainly accommodates seniors living in the community nursing home.
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The entrance of the mosque is on the ast side of the mosque. While the main gate and the adjacent stores form a continuous street facade, the unique identity of the mosque is marked by the prominent features of its traditional Chinese roof.
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The alley to the est of the mosque is where signature halal bistros line up. It is a place where both Muslims and non-Muslims can enjoy authentic Chinese halal food.
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To the outh of the mosque is a transition space between the busy pedestrian street and the quiet religious courtyard. The interaction between wudu (ablution) space and the community library allows for a gentle dialogue between the sacred and the secular.
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I like having a cup of coffee on the roof terrace.
I love the unique view I get here on the rooftop!
Wanna go to the gallery later?
No wonder grandma enjoys living here!
See you next weekend!
Looks like there's a temple inside...
At the south entrance
Going up onto the roof terrace
Walking around the mosque hall
Looking back to the south
Walking to the community center
In the courtyard
The second-floor roof terrace serves as a vertical interspace that separates the buffer zone on the ground floor and the floating volumes on the upper floors. It also offers a continuous experience around the mosque, allowing local residents and visitors to take a leisurely walk in this highly dense urban environment.
Section A-A
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02 Wherehouse Complex Transforming Port Warehouse into Maritime Museum and Marketplace Tsinghua University - University of Ljubljana Joint Studio 2018.10-2019.01 Instructor: Prof. Lu Wang, Prof. Jurij Sadar Site: Qinhuangdao, Heibei Province, China Collaborator: Zefei Zhang Landing page original oil painting by Axel Lind
The potential for creating third space also lies in the transition of place identity. In the context of the redevelopment of Qinhuangdao’s Port District, this project focuses on the transformation of an antiquated port warehouse. Qinhuangdao is an important port city on the coast of China. It is an important part of the 21st Century Maritime silk road and has earliest independent port in China. In the postindustrial economic transformation of the city, however, many piers of Qinhuangdao's West Port have ended up as marginalized places. As opposed to the original plan of demolishing the port warehouse and building a new maritime museum, the proposal is to retain the signature facades of the warehouse and create a new multi-use complex. The first floor features a seafood marketplace, interacting with newly-added upper floors that houses a maritime museum. In between an industrial form and a post-industrial function, in between cultural activities and a lively market, in between the old and the new, the Wherehouse Complex is a third space that gives rise to more possibilities.
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Triangles on the site
Triangles are a repeating geometry that can be found from many objects on the site. The existing warehouse has a signature undulating roof, the tower cranes have a triangular base, the sailboats are manifold triangles, and the rocks form a rhythmic row of triangles. As compared to more urban contexts, this pure geometry becomes ever more salient on the site near the ocean.
Qinhuangdao's Port District redevelopment includes a total area of 8.91 km², and the first phase will cover 1.35 km². The warehouse is located on Pier 1, adjacent to several other piers and connected to the seaside park via a waterfront promenade.
Concept The first floor features seafood marketplace, interacting with newlyadded upper floors that housed a maritime museum.
Site plan Port history
Massing process
Retain the existing signature facades of the warehouse
Add a new volume to house the museum
Create voids of triangle prism shape as atriums of the museum
Form three layers above the first floor
The new facades connect with the existing undulating facades
The floors are hung by cable from the truss structure on the top 19
1 Lobby 2 Market 3 Shops 4 Museum reception 5 Restaurant
6 Kitchen 7 Exhibition 8 Gallery 9 Activity room 10 Office 3 10
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1F - Seafood market
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2F - Restaurant, museum lobby
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3F - Maritime museum 21
Night view of the pier
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1 Main entrance 2 Seafood market 3 Restaurant 4 Maritime museum exhibition 5 Gallery 6 Event space
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The Wherehouse Complex is a hybrid space in-between an industrial form and a post-industrial function. The atriums of triangle prism shape become a transition space that shifts from public to private, from lively to quiet, from old to new. This transformation redefines the identity of the warehouse as a third space where the old industrial structure becomes a container of cultural activities as well as a lively market.
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Section A-A
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Structure model 1:500
Above: the west end of the building - seafood market and waterfront event space Below: the third floor maritime museum
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1 Rainwater eaves canal 2 Drain 3 Aluminum perimeter casing 4 3mm perforated aluminium sheets in 1.25*3.6 m panels 5 Double pane low-e glass 6 Structural fin in stratified glass 7 1*1 m lightened marble floating pavement 8 AC floor duct 9 Suspended ceiling 10 Steel pedestal 11 Steel frame 12 I-beam 300*450 mm 13 Mineral wool 14 Existing brick outer wall 15 Existing hollow block wall
Holes on the perforated aluminum panels transit from dense to sparse as the space becomes more public downward.
Facade cladding: perforated aluminum panel, primary steel frame, glass curtain wall
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03 The WHAO House Worthy, Healthy, Aesthetic, Organic: A Solar Modular Home for China's Elderly Solar Decathlon China 2018 (Runner-up) 2018.02-2018.08 Instructor: Prof. Ning Zhu Site: Dezhou, Shandong Province, China Collaborators: Sihang Ge, Yuyan Xia, Zhihao Huang, Qihao Liu, Dinglu Wang, Dechen Chen, Xiaoyuan Wu Contribution: Conceptual design, construction, operation, architectural representation Landing page original oil painting by Duoling He
WHAO - Worthy, Healthy, Aesthetic, Organic. The WHAO House is a modular, custom, prefabricated smart home designed for the newly retired seniors in Northern China. Made up of four interconnected room modules, the WHAO House offers a flexible and custom layout. It incorporates passive design features including a double skin facade system and a sunroom, as well as a water treatment system. Integrating an intelligent home system with a natural living experience in the city suburbs, the WHAO House serves as a quest for personalized smart homes based on prefabrication technology. Balancing technological innovations with socio-psychological needs of the target group, the WHAO House is more than an entry for the competition - it is also our architectural response to the crucial residential challenges facing today's aging population in Northern China.
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Beijing's rapidly aging population creates challenges and alternative possibilities
Dezhou seniors enjoy health & fitness options and plenty of places to play and socialize.
A solution: Prefabricated modular homes in Dezhou
Beijing to face further challenges from aging population
By ZHUOER MU mze18@mails.tsinghua. edu.cn
By YAN LI yanli@chinadaily.com.cn
Just an hour away from Beijing by high-speed rail, the city of Dezhou in Shandong Province is attracting a large number of Beijing seniors to retire in their vibrant solar town. Dezhou has done a superb job of preserving its heritage and creating a livable, modern city. The solar town’s diverse housing options and abundance of social and recreational activities for seniors combine to make Dezhou one of the top places near Beijing to retire. Despite having worked hard for several decades to earn an apartment, an enviable job and some savings in Beijing, many Beijing seniors never get to enjoy their ideal life with nature, sunshine, and free time. However, Beijing has almost denied them such possibilities. They are looking for a new place to enjoy their retirement years. The WHAO house is located in Dezhou with convenient transportation, picturesque
A blue book released on Saturday by the Social Sciences Academic Press showed that Beijing's permanent population has continuously dropped in two recent years while getting much older. The proportion of people over the age of 65 rose to 10.5% in 2017 from 8.7% in 2010, it said. The proportion of people of “working age” — between 15 and 64 — has fallen from 82.7% in 2010 to 78.6% last year. Dang Junwu, deputy director of the China Research Center on Aging, said Beijing has in recent years become a hyperaging society, one that has a significant proportion of people age 80 or older. "The aging population is a normal social transformation and part of the reason is due to low fertility in big cities," he said, explaining that college educated women prefer to delay having children as they engage in other pursuits.
scenery, profound cultures and abundant resources, which makes it an exemplification for ideal sustainable housing. A high-quality home is not necessarily expensive. The newly retired seniors can easily afford a set of basic modules of The WHAO House, simply by mortgaging an apartment in Beijing. In the future, they can add or update modules according to their needs. They can also rent a house, and the rent would be much lower
than their pension. Not only is Dezhou conveniently located, but it is a thriving hub for business, tourism, and logistics. The collaborative development of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei Province, along with the construction of the Xiongan New District not only promotes regional economy, but also creates a great opportunity for Dezhou’s future development. High-speed railway, internet and big data technologies provide suburban residents
with as much convenience as living in megacities, while also allowing them to stay away from the noise, pollution and other disadvantages of big cities. Dezhou is also blessed with abundant solar and natural resources. Solar industries are concentrated here, and the construction of the solar town offers great opportunities for architectural design. By offering flexible space, an integrated site, and a modular building with
Customize modular home at the flick of a switch
a smart home system, The WHAO House is a worthy, healthy, aesthetic, and organic home for the future. It is equipped with a smart system with preset strategies that can study user behavior, an active and passive fencing system with intelligent windows and shading blinds, a dynamic AC system which regulates users’ thermal environment,a biological artificial lighting strategy, and a real-time central ventilation system which manages air quality.
Buying a house can be as convenient as buying clothes online. People can choose the number and type of modules according to their own needs. They can also customize the furniture, air conditioning, lighting, and home decor. Seniors can own a home that reflects their own demands and tastes. 31
Modular homes offer almost limitless design opportunities. The WHAO House is one typical choice: it consists of four room modules: a hub, a master bedroom, a guest bedroom, and a multi-media room. The seniors can add or update modules when changes happen in their life, such as when their sons or daughters come to visit them more often, or their grandchildren want to stay at their place during holidays.
The life phases of a newly retired couple
From a module to a home
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The front yard and the master bedroom module
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The greywater filtration pond
1 Living room 2 Kitchen 3 Dining room 4 Master bedroom 5 Guest bedroom 6 Activity room 7 Sunroom 8 Greywater filtration pond 9 Water filtration tanks
Ground floor plan 35
Aluminum plate Foaming polyurethane
10mm plastic grille protective layer 3mm waterproof membrane 20mm pine panel 90mm structural beam 100mm composite insulation panel hanger 38mm steel keel 20mm steel keel 10mm gypsum panel
10mm calcium silicate panel 10mm horizontallight steel keel 75mm vertical light steel keel 100mm composite insulation panel 75mm structural keel 9mm pine panel 3mm waterproof membrane facade module
VRV indoor unit
Air conditioning vent
Section A-A 37
Competition results: Runner-up (overall); 1st Place in Comfort Zone, Home Life, and Commuting; 2nd Place in Engineering, Innovation, and Communications. 39
04 Rebath, Rebirth Underground Bathhouse in Memory of Beijing's Bathing Culture Tsinghua University Design Studio 2017.03-2017.05 Instructor: Prof. Maoyan Xu Site: Beijing, China Individual Work Redeveloped in 2019 Landing page original oil painting by Shaowu Qian
Beijing's public bathing culture goes back hundreds of years. While bathing is often regarded as a sensual and meditative ritual, public bathhouses in Beijing are usually sprawling, casual, and social, allowing visitors to wander through steam rooms, saunas, ice rooms, or thermal pools, with breaks for eating and socializing. The once-prevalent bathing custom, however, is dying along with the demolition of many old courtyard houses in Beijing's inner city. This project is an interrogation into the city's attitude towards its traditions, customs, and cultures that are giving way to more modern lifestyles. To reinvent an abandoned lot after the demolition of the original courtyard houses, the proposal creates an underground bathhouse beneath a waterfront plaza, juxtaposing two layers of urban space. Reweaving the urban fabric in the form of new programs, the proposal creates public space for the old Siheyuan (courtyard house) communities, and initiates a reexamination of Beijing's dying bathing culture.
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陰
陽
The body
Yin
Yang
water temperature 14℃
water depth
motion of water
spatial element
0.1m
45℃
0.4m
0.6m
0.9m
1.2m
1.4m
still
ripple
flow
spray
wave
whirl
vapor
enclosure
corridor
column
stairs
island
wall
courtyard
form
The bath
Bathing culture was already very popular 500 years ago in Beijing.
Bathhouses started to offer various kinds of services in the 1900s.
Public bathing became a dying tradition in the 21st century.
Original courtyard houses from 1800s
Demolished in 2001, site remains an abandoned lot
Creating 2 layers of urban space: public plaza and thermal bath
Reweaving urban fabric in the form of new programs
New interpretation of traditional spatial structure
Juxtaposition of modern urban life and memorial, experiential space 43
The opening
Small
Large
Skatepark 1
Skatepark 2
Mini-theater
Crawling net
Entrance
Fountain
Fitness facility
Array
Flowers
Bleachers
The waterfront plaza as a reinterpretation of the urban fabric of courtyard houses 45
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Exploring the interrelationship among temperature, water depth, and light
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Tepidarium 30℃ 0.6m
Therapy bath 34℃ 0.9m
Hot bath 40℃ 1.2m
Caldarium 45℃ 1.4m
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1 Caldarium 45℃ 2 Hot bath 40℃ 3 Therapy bath 34℃ 4 Tepidarium 30℃ 5 Hydromassage 26℃ 6 Meditation bath 22℃ 7 Frigidarium 18℃ 8 Ice showers 14℃ 47
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Hydromassage 26℃ 0.9m
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Meditation bath 22℃ 0.6m
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Frigidarium 18℃ 0.4m
Ice showers 14℃ 0.1m
The subtle juxtaposition of two layers of urban space enables people to re-examine the bathing tradition. 49
At the threshold between old and new
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Other works Linear Cafe
Regeneration of Railway Facility
Undergraduate thesis studio 2018.03-2017.05 Instructor: Prof. Wenyi Zhu Site: Beijing, China Individual work
Public welfare project (under construction) 2019.02-present Site: Tongchuan, Shaanxi Province, China Collaborators: Fangyi Wang, Guiheng Si, Yitian Li
Juntai Village Center
Re-interpretation of Traditional Cave Dwelling
Abandoned cave dwellings
Village center under construction 2019.06
2019.09
2019.10
The Loess Plateau
2019.07
2019.08
2019.11
2019.12
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Other works
The Intertwined Bridge Footbridge over the Nan River
Welcome to the Fringe Transformation of industrial quarter into residential area
Intern Project at Jiakun Architects 2019.07-2019.09
Exchange Program at Technical University of Munich | Urban Design Studio 2016 Fall Instructor: Prof. Mark Michaeli | Collaborator: Cao Gan
Future Co-living How logistics might shape the future of apartment living
The Flexible Crucible Re-imagining Nantou urban village
Future of Housing Design Competition, Tsinghua University (First Prize) 2018.05 Collaborators: Cao Gan, Haomao Jiang, Yanwen Liu
Tsinghua University Design Studio 2017.03-2017.05 Instructor: Xiaodu Liu | Collaborators: Yuebing Liang, Zhan Ran
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Sketches and photography
Poetry of connection
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Backpacking through Europe Aug 2015 / Sep 2016 - Feb 2017 / Jan 2019 / Jun 2019
MUN ICH Prague
As a passionate traveler, I backpacked through Europe during several visits, not only exploring each city’s architecture and landscape, but also experiencing their urban spaces and cultures via interaction with the locals who live in those spaces. Beyond being intrigued by the forms and atmospheres of architecture, I am enthusiastic about the cultures, histories, and social meanings of spaces.
Brussels
Frankfurt
Zurich
Winterthur
COL OGN Essen
VER ONA Basel
Vienna
Paris
Glasgow
Vicenza
Venice
Heidelberg
BUD APE ST
Stuttgart
London
EDI NBU RGH
Cambridge
Berlin
VAL ENC IA
Barcelona
MON ACO Hamburg
Cannes
ROT TER DAM
Ljubljana
Grasse
MAR SEI LLE
Delft
Amsterdam
The Hague
Warsaw
Krakow
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Zhuoer Mu Selected works 2016-2019