YONGXIAO lIU WORK SAMPLE

NO 1. SEE BEYOND

See Beyond is a children’s museum of digital media arts. The project seeks an architecture that we know by touch, rather than by sight. Using material changes that are hidden from view, low light levels, and light projec-tion to dematerialize surfaces, it reinforces and makes aware the power of touch through an exploratory oc-cupation of space.

The project is organized on three levels, connected by a continuous staircase. The floor slabs are covered by a layer of white, elastic material that conceals the varied underlying structures and textures, giving way to the pressure of footstepsand the touch of the hand to reveal the materials beyond. The elastic material allows for the creation of a smooth space that eliminates the hard boundaries of edges and objects; thus producing ambiguity in size, scale, and direction.

Material Diagrams Section perspective

Street View

M W

BASEMENT

ENTRY LEVEL

SECOND LEVEL

THIRD LEVEL

0 10 20 30 ft

CONCRETE WALL

SAND

FIBER STRANDS

END CONNECTION

CONCRETE SHELL

FINISH CONCRETE SLAB,BEYOND

OPENINGS FOR PROJECTION

LAYERS OF FIBER STRANDS

1/2 “ CONCRETE FLOOR FINISH

THREADED ANCHORINSERT

J - ANCHOR

STRUCTURAL CONCRETE SLAB

1/2 “ 1/8 “

1/8 “

FINISH CONCRETE SLAB,BEYOND

ELASTIC FELT

STRUCTURAL WALL BETWEEN STAIRCASE AND EXHIBITION SPACE

STAIRCASE, CIRCULATORY

STRUCTURAL CONCRETE SLAB

MATERIAL SECTIONSCALE: 2/3” = 1”

DETAIL SECTIONSCALE: 1/2” = 1’

NO 2. TOWER OF THE CITY As a museum displaying the history and culture of Ypsilanti, MI, and being located in the less populated district, the focus of the project is to establish the marker of the area, preserving and inheriting the history of Ypsilanti while letting people go up and appreciate the beauty of the entire region.

The project focuses on the inter-relationship of different programs relates to each other, namely, the space of observation, the space of motion and the space of rest, and how these spaces collaborate and define the building and vice versa. As a result, the effort is to explore the very basic quality of spaces.

Longitudinal section

Cross sectionFirst floor

Second floor

Third floor

Exterior Rendering Interior Rendering

Restaurant

Sculpture

Office

Education

Art

Digital Media Art

Entry

Hou

sing

Restaurant

Sculpture

Office

Education

Art

Digital Media Art

Entry

Hou

sing

NO 3. DETROIT MUSEUM HIGH + LOW

Origininal programs General organization explode and rearrange

Setting up Final result

Housing

Black-out

Studio

Office/Administration

Teens

Gallery support

Galleries

Entry

Program organization

NEOSTARS

OLD GIANTS

THE NEGELECTED

FOX FOX PARKING DECK FILMORE

Site section and site plan

The contrast of the two sides shows how different the den-sity difference between the north and south side through south and east elevation: the notion of this contrast indi-cates the topic of high/low, new/old an the attended/ne-glected.

ElevationsHIGH + LOW

DENSE + SCARCE

NEW + OLD

South elevation

0 10 20 30’

Typycal Floor Plans

P A R K

AVE

.

C O L U M B I A ST.

1st floor -- Entry, Pubic Art

0 5 15 25 ft

W

M

3rd floor -- Gallery

5th floor -- Gallery

10th floor and above -- Residential

M

W

8th floor -- Working Studio

Penthouse Module

The introduction of the double-height pent-house into the top housing bring variations into the project. Also, it make possible a moment of change on the facade.

The organization of the plans are centered at the cir-culation core. The ramps, as part of the most important components of the core, creates double and triple height spaces that connects through different levels, and its ra-diating manner further strengthens the idea of bringing people’s attention to vast exterior and make aware of this very special site condition of high and low.

Space and architectural skin:

The skin penetrates into architecture creates a pattern of the ex-terior, at the same time forming space that people are be able to interact and even become rooms and partitions.

Ramps from above:

The structure of the ramps from the upper level are exposed to the lower one of how it is meandering around the central circulation core.

Entry level Graffiti exhibition hall:

As one of the special elements of the museum, the space embraces one of the charac-ters of Detroit, allowing graffiti artists creates their work on the provided artboard in the museum during opening hours. The artboard are meant to be painted from the inside so it maintains the clarity of the fasade at the same time the concealed content of the artworks are be able to attract more people go into the museum and start exploration.

What is seen in Detroit is a broken balance of highs and lows. The concentrated and isolated housings, the high-rises of the central commercial districts and the popular recreational cent-ers, being separated from each other, make the city fragments. The site environment, on the contrary, is exceptionally rich in its contents of both old and new, density and scarcity, popular and the less attented.

The museum deals with different programs and issues such as education, digital media arts, work-in-place artists residence and general residence, all these different programs makes the museum complicated at the same time provides great opportunities.

The organization of the museum is following the mixing idea by vertically alternating the highs and lows (in terms of popularity of each level), dark and bright, art and residence, etc. to maximize the experience of visitors as well as a response for the site.

There are three special spaces inside the museum: the public graffidi exhibition entry level, the dark digital media art level and the open sculpture level up high.

Special spaces