Yixin Li_MArch 1

Y i x i n L iWe l l e s l e y C o l l e g e

2 0 0 9 - 2 0 1 2 C a n d i d a t e f o r M A r c h 1

C o n t e n t s

Musical Concepts

Jardins Sous La Pluie 04

Marketplace Canopy 06

Narrative Space 08

Drawing

Conceptual Design

Installation

Spatial Sensations Spatial Perceptions

Installation

Model

Installation

Drawing

Drawing

Drawing

Drawing

Built & Natural Environments

Installation

Model

Model

Creek of Peach Blossom 12

Aurora Observatory 14

Topographic Studies 16

Cut Along The Dotted Line 20

Dimensional Transformation 22

Keyboard Wall 24

The Academic Quad 28

Studio Panorama 30

The Mouth 32

Light Wall 34

01

“Architecture.. [is] a sort of ‘expired harmony’ : the sounds fade away but the harmony lives on.”

—— Anthony Vidler, Unhomely Houses

Music al Concep ts

Jardins Sous La Pluie charcoal, mylar, paper 36” × 48”2012, Advanced Drawing

04

Jardins Sous La Pluie, translated as “garden in the rain”, is the third movement of Claude Debussy’s piano composition, Estampes. By recording my fingerprints while performing the piece on top of the paper, I mimic the image of raindrops via the variation of texture and intensity of charcoal powder. Three registers correspond to the three sections in the music: before, during, and after the rainstorm.

05

The Canopydigital renderings2011, MIT: Integrated Architectural Design Intensive Studio

06

The “Swirls”Polygons with areas exceed-ing the threshold value were pulled upward, while others extended downward to form columns. The height of the resulting “swirls” are inversely proportional to the area of the original polygons.

Plan and ProfileWavy profiles are created by directly extruding and vertically bending the tangent lines of four of the ridges of each “swirl”. By projecting them into space, gaps are formed between the adjacent edges, providing openings and lighting to the interior space. A “grid” plan is preserved since these vertically undulating edges are visually straight in plan.

TaskWithin the given undulating ground with barriers, design a marketplace canopy which contains structure while retains its formal integrity. All the structural elements including columns and windows should be continuously incorporated into the form of the canopy.

Proceduresi. produce a raw drawing by a set of rulesii. develop a solution to the task by transforming the draw-ing into a spatial structure in Rhino raw drawing

“swirl” units

plan oblique profile

07

Narrative Space(collaborative project of a group of eleven students)site-specific drawing installation2012, Advanced Drawing

08

“They’ve taken over our section,” Irene said. The knitting had reeled off from her hands and the yarn ran back toward the door and disappeared under it. When she saw that the balls of yarn were on the other side, she dropped the knitting without looking at it.

——excerpt from House Taken Over, Julio Cortazar

The assignment was a response to our reading of Julio Cortazar’s novels and our class discussions of the concept of “uncanny”. In the empty shop space, each student may express her thoughts using ink, tape, threads or drawing tools on four separate sheets of paper, on the wall or on the floor. The free collaboration was like a musical composition where each of us uttered and contributed to the ultimate harmony.

09

“The double feelings of achievement and guilt in destroying nature perplexed our ancestors. Architects nowadays share the same contradiction. This paradox should always be at the core of our field’s research and reflection.”

—— Free Translation on Kengo Kuma, Introduction to the New Architecture

B uilt & Natural Env ironments

Creek of Peach Blossomwood, hay, dry branch, tracing paper 18’’ × 18’’ × 8’’2010, Spatial Investigations

12

The ancient Chinese story, the Creek of Peach Blossom, depicts a Utopian village removed from the wars and turmoil that occurred during the historical period. With its secret entrance by a creek that ran along the peach woods, the village was totally isolated from the outside world and located at a beautiful natural site. By shrinking the size of the models and installing the little houses at a covert corner beside Lake Waban, I reproduced the village described in the story, where both an ideal human society and a harmonic human-nature relationship are presented.

13

Aurora Observatorymuseum board, wooden sticks 20’’ × 20’’ × 20’’2010, MIT: Experiencing Architectural Studio

14

Human Figure (Dancers) Studies Tectonic Study Final Model

The task is to transform human figures into a natural phenomenon observatory. In the process of transformation, a formal connection among the human figure, architecture and nature is created.The Aurora Observatory gives the viewers three different experiences. The first level as a dark alley captures a thin strip of light that would reflect on the wall; the second level as a grand opening makes a space of extreme brightness; the third part is a translucent sphere in which reflected lights interact with each other to give a dream-like realm of blur.

15

Topographic Studies and Landscape Transformationvellum, card board, straight pins 10’’ × 10’’ × 1.5’’; 5’’ × 5’’ × 1’’2010, MIT: Experiencing Architectural Studio

Landscape Transformation

16

The task of this project is to use topographical information as a tool to transform the cityscape in a chosen city. Choosing Seattle as my site, I aim to direct water flow to the bottom-right corner of the site to create a wetland around an obsolete factory.

Topographic Studies

mountain area valley terrace golf course

17

“The world of physics is essentially the real world construed by mathematical abstractions, and the world of sense is the real world construed by the abstractions which the sense organs immediately furnish.”

——Susanne K. Langer, Mind: An Essay on Human Feeling

Spat ial Percep t ions

Cut Along The Dotted Lineblack masking tape on wall2012, Topic: Contemporary Practices in Art

20

Through this installation, I visually flatten and unfold this complex interior space which is featured with oblique angles and non-parallel walls. Installed in the Jewett Arts Center, this work locates at the entrance to a glass bridge. Designed by Paul Rudolph in 1950s, the Jewett Arts Center was an independent structure when first built. The passage was later added to connect the modern art center to an adjacent Collegiate Gothic building, and this corner has been opened up as a connecting point. By playing with detaching signs, I comment on both the history and the structure of this space.

21

Dimensional Transformation12’’ × 8’’ × 7’’2010, MIT: Experiencing Architectural Studio

22

poche structure

“zerography” Analytical Drawing

23

Keyboard Wallblack cardboard on wall2010, Spatial Investigations

24

This installation of a scaled up and lifted piano keyboard intervenes one’s perception of this space, generating confusion and disorientation. 25

“Lightness for me goes with precision and determination, not with vagueness and the haphazard.”

—— Italo Calvino, Six Memos for the Next Millennium

Spat ial Sensat ions

The Academic Quadcharcoal on paper, 100” × 24”2011, Advanced Drawing

28

From midnight to early morning, the passage of time casts distinct atmospheres to the academic quad on campus. By representing the shift of viewpoint in a time frame, I play with the changing nature of space in time and try to demonstrate how different times of day bring different qualities to the space.

29

Studio Panoramacharcoal on paper, 120’’ × 36’’2012, Advanced Drawing

30

Addressing the contrast of the permanent space and the transitory occupants, I render the drawing studio along with hints of activity and movements in the space. Differences between the static and the ephemeral are indicated by the use of hatching, variation of line weights and degrees of transparency.

31

The Mouthcharcoal on paper, 36” × 24”2011, Advanced Drawing

32

My goal for this piece was to show the “flesh-ness” of the human body. Of the lip and the tongue, a sharp contrast in tone and varied amount of details largely add to the recession of space. It delivers messages of tension and pain using the image of a mouth that threats to engulf everything.

33

The Light Wallcharcoal on paper, 60” × 72”2011, Advanced Drawing

34

Inspired by the gorgeous light effects in the interior of the Ronchamp Chapel, I aimed to create an imposing image that embodied an emotion of longing and hope. Taking the interior openings of the chapel as my subject, I expanded the view and altered the perspectives to intensify the surrealistic tension. The dramatic interplay of the extreme light and shade creates a transcendental space that calls for a spiritual response associated with the concept of sublime.

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