I l l u s i o n s , D r e a m s , a n d O p t i m i s m Y I H E Z H A N G Master of Science in Advanced Architecture Design | Cornell University Architecture + Discourse May 2019 Copyright © 2019 Yihe Zhang. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed "Attention: Permissions Coordinator," at the address below. Cornell University. First Edition. 2019. I conclude my research with three keywords, illusions, dreams, and optimism. Being an architect is about staying optimistic. As architec- ture lives a long life, our imaginations for human inhabitation may not find its agency immediately to achieve accomplishments, but any A b s t r a c t potentiality worth a voice. Society raises complex issues on hierarchy, human rights, cultural conflicts, and the standards for righteousness is everchanging. Some would argue that architecture has its limitations to Architecture, as a human-centric topic, interweaves many territories solve problems since it is deeply rooted in this circumstance itself, and of study besides the basic skills of design. Architect, as a “chief of crafts”, the consequences after a built piece may not fall into our original plans. suppose to think and perceive the world collectively with critical think- However, as scholars, every practice has its meanings and pave a path ing on humanity subjects to serve an ultimate goal of benefiting man- of archives to lead future generations to take a step forward. Then this kind. I wondered how the collective knowledge in other fields of study optimism brings illusions and dreams of what architecture could be, would inspire and help construct my critical thinking on the methodol- the sweet dreams of escaping problematic reality and a mirage of what ogy of designing architecture. Thinking of architecture as an art genre, could be a better solution to the way we live. I see my projects as proto- it contains a deep layering in cultural narratives. I would see it as a hab- types of statements that derive from the current situation and result in itat for humanity, a poetic motif, and a mnemonic attribute. Architect’s a series of possible solutions that may not merely stay in a contempo- imagination addresses contemporary concerns and also questions cur- rary context. They are statements or formulas that bring out questions rent paradigms and construct possibilities for the future. and welcomes alternative factors to complete an answer. C o n t e n t : - O p t i m i s m i n U r b a n E n v i r o n m e n t 1 - D r e a m s o f E s c a p i n g R e a l i t y 5 - I l l u s i o n s o f I s o l a t i o n 9 O p t i m i s m i n U r b a n E n v i r o n m e n t Most of my studio falls into the methodology of “function follows form”. Finding forms as a priority broaden the possibilities in initiating siteless projects. While in urbanism, this methodology shows its shortage because urbanism associates heavily to social and cultural context. It is inevitable to discuss the limitations and embedded circumstances. Park Avenue as a historical district that links the Harlems and the most luxury neighborhoods extract the obvious hierarchical problem. Our project locates in the “division line” where the topographical difference between the two neighborhoods highlights the division of cultural and social status. To alleviate the division and hopefully to encourage the communication between the two, we proposed four educational puncturations along Park Avenue with a switch in cultural interest, which would stimulate and encourage more Location: Buffalo, NY Fall 2018 | Studio Project overlapping between the two communities. Instructor: Nahyun Hwang, David Eugin Moon Xiaotong Wang, Junda Liu, Guoyu Wang, Yihe Zhang Illusions, Dreams, Optimism 1 2 Illusions, Dreams, Optimism Urbanism in a larger picture not only addresses historical and  Site : Roosevelt Island, New York, NY Architecture + Ecology Group 6 cultural problems but also tackle on the common ground of lifestyle. 1 Sustainability, although known as a favorite topic in contemporary 3 architectural design, has been an essential component in critical 1 1 11 2 thinking of building technology for centuries. When we are using the 7 8 4 8 6 5 10 word "sustainable," it usually implies something just above average 22 12 18 10 or just good enough to keep balance. I t often appears passively 19 21 12 13 as a solution after the aftermath. E-waste, for example, has made 17 15 14 many urbans like New York City suffer and leads to passive solutions. 19 Sustainability in architecture then elaborates the optimistic strategies 1 Cricket Incubator 2 Cricket Farm 3 Cricket Water Tank 16 4 Cricket Vacuum System 5 Cricket Green House on creating an active solution to the existing environmental issues. 6 Condenser7 Washing & Dehydration8 Dryer 9 Conveyor Belt ck Tru Foo d 10 Vertical Service Core ruckd T Foo 11 Public Elevator le nbi n V a 12 Laboratory Mo ati o Info rm 13 Exhibition 20 14 Micro-algae Farm As the side effects of traditional protein cultivation becoming more 15 Tide Turbine Generator16 Entrance17 Loading Dock 18 Hybrid Food Research 19 Event Space 20 Media and Publicity Trucks 21 Public Plaza 22 Public Information Tour and more troublesome in the aspect of waste of land and energy, the future-oriented protein cultivation has been brought on the table. This Location: Roosevelt Island, NYSummer 2018 | Studio Project Instructor: Tei Carpenter, Jesse LeCavalier project creates a closed loop of cultivating, educating, researching, and Seung Won Seo, Mohammed Mansoor, Chang-Feng Lee, JiaYi, Yihe Zhang reproducing energy to achieve complete sustainable life for residents on Roosevelt Island and beyond. Illusions, Dreams, Optimism 3 4 Illusions, Dreams, Optimism D r e a m s o f E s c a p i n g R e a l i t y As Kent Kleinman states in Archiving Architecture: It has been argued that buildings are not just the products of conventionalized, representational technologies but that buildings are a form of representational technology. To be sure, buildings should keep out the rain, but roofs and columns participate in an irreducible semiotic web that precludes any possibility of disinterested, unmediated apprehension. Buildings are archives written by time. They are everchanging and always embraces layers and layers of information. This living monumental nature br ings the poetic sense to ever y piece of architecture. In a romantic way of thought, architecture holds traces and marks for one’s essence. It is a amiable listener staying in the past but embraces the future. When it situates itself in the future, it detaches from the reality becomes a dream house that opens to any imaginations and arbitrary innovations. The following two projects depart from the concerns of reality and build a narrative that exaggerates a disorienting feeling on losing scales of context. One is a countryside living complex that built mountains Location: New York City, NY within a mountain. Individuals are isolated but at some point in an Summer 2018 | Studio Project Instructor: Michael Young, Kutan Ayata overall picture connected to each other. The illusion of being isolated Chen Shen, Jiayi Yi, Yihe Zhang and yet tightly bounded within a space reflects on the reality that in this informative era, privacy and aloneness is a constructed concept. The other is a virtual city creating space only with a scope of light. Illusions, Dreams, Optimism 5 6 Illusions, Dreams, Optimism One thing of light in the dark that I am fascinated with is that light creates spaces. Sometimes they define spaces that already exist while sometimes they are creating spaces out of nowhere. Born in this era that the city has always been lited, our generation seems to lose this notion that virtual world created at night is actually created by light sources and reflective surfaces. The idea of separation between light and shadow, and the illusion that light creates interested me the most. People depend on light and reflective surfaces to navigate. When it comes to augmented reality, the disorientation light can trick people to become extremely tangible. What if the virtual space, which is based on how the site looks in daylight, turn into a completely different space during the night? This lost of direction, this confusion light can bring us, I think is another way to noticing the light, and also noticing how we are so reliable to lights. Location: Buffalo, NY Fall 2018 | Studio Project Instructor: John Zissovici Illusions, Dreams, Optimism 7 Illusions, Dreams, Optimism I l l u s i o n s o f I s o l a t i o n Derives from the dreams, the illusions of isolation also applys to a poetry of interweaving nature with artificial nature, which is the buildings. The following projects render a likeness in loneliness by situating a series of isolated objects on a siteless site. Seemingly curved along the changing topography, the plate presents itself as a long, undulating wall resting upon the landscape. A series of evenly spaced openings gives the structure a rhythmic quality that tries to rationalize its irregular form. It exudes a sort of monolithic singularity that detaches itself from its environment. As one turns the corner, however, the building is transformed into a bird perched on the cliff ’s edge. Its flat, rigid wall faces the canyon and protrudes out from the landscape. It is all at once a part of the environment and completely foreign to it. As a visitor enters the building, they are immediately met with a small, curved wall that guides them towards two sides of the structure. To the right, they are led into a brightly light, open exhibition hall. It is made up of interconnected displays that direct visitors along a given path which is broken up to allow for a freedom of motion within Location: Grand Canyon, AZ this rigid circulation. If they go left, however, they may find themselves Spring 2019 | Studio Project Instructor: PVE Studio Roberto E. Villasante, Yihe Zhang in the sharedliving area of the domestic space, characterized by a freestanding wall that divides the room into eating and living, acting as an element of furniture for each side. Below this level are the two, identically mirrored bedrooms that overlook the Grand Canyon. Illusions, Dreams, Optimism 9 10 Illusions, Dreams, Optimism Detached from the vast expanse of the Grand Canyon, the Plate sits in a flat, open field. A dense forest surrounds its site, distancing it from the nearby road and forming a natural bubble of seclusion. To an unknowing passerby, it may appeardirectionless and unassuming, save for its monolithic site. Within the structure, however, a visitor finds themselves confronted by an indoor canyon whose form and size are reminiscent of the real canyon that exists just beyond the structure’s walls. However,the periodic engagement with a flat, cut, layered edge adds a human touch that transforms the exhibition into a fabrication of nature, an artificial structure that is built upon natural elements. Thus, the building acts as a bubble within a bubble; a microcosm that seeks to imitate the world beyond its walls within a controlled environment. The building’s domestic spaces continue this theme of seclusion as they stand detached from the other spaces around them. The Keeper and guest live their separate lives, with two distinct circulation cores on either end of the building. These mini bubbles only find themselves Location: Grand Canyon, AZ Spring 2019 | Studio Project converging within the Building’s singular entry space. Here, three Instructor: PVE Studio Roberto E. Villasante, Yihe Zhang worlds meet just before splitting off into their respective sides of the universe. Illusions, Dreams, Optimism 11 12 Illusions, Dreams, Optimism Located on a cliff ’s edge along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, the tower stands over the natural landscape, absorbingthe southern sun along its long, curved façade. The structure pulls one in as the arms of its U-shape embrace an onlooker. Within the building, a sense of continuity becomes apparent as every element is housed within the curved walls of eachroom, creating a singular, central space and circulation path. Each level is anchored and connected by a spiral staircase housed within the arm opposite to the entry. Private and public program interchange between each story, connected througha single circulation core and divided simply by doors on each private level. A visitor enters into a double-height exhibitionspace and can either go down to the Keeper’s living space or go up to the remaining levels. A shared living and dining area is vertically sandwiched between the two exhibition spaces which are, in turn, sandwiched by the living Location: Grand Canyon, AZ spaces. Spring 2019 | Studio Project Instructor: PVE Studio Roberto E. Villasante, Yihe Zhang Illusions, Dreams, Optimism 13 14 Illusions, Dreams, Optimism P l e a s u r e o f t h e N i g h t Along with the architectural practices in testing out "solutions" in a siteless, contextless, and timeless environment, other fields of studies added on multiple layers of intellectual thinking phylosophical wise and artistic wise. Curatorial practices, in my experience, collects the thoughts on the whole discourse of critical thinking. Curations always build on archives. It is a practice that encourages scholars to build own narratives. In the process of curating, one has to gather all the information and find the exact subject that matters. In the process of curating Pleasure of the Night, we started by learning the historical facts of how light gradually "conquest" our life, and the side effects that it brings to us. Night could be a motif of illusions. Darkness visually deludes us that it can hide all the traces Location: Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY Fall 2018 | Curatorial group Project and marks of human behavior. We certainly know that nights could be Instructor: Mary Woods Class ARCH 6819 a hotbed for lowering the moral standards and encourages the evil. However, we finally decided on the subject, pleasure, which shows only the optimistic side of the darkness. Illusions, Dreams, Optimism 15 16 Illusions, Dreams, Optimism I n s i d e O u t The precondition of “inside out” is a division of inside and outside, an interface between or among the interconnected beings. In physical and material touch, the interface is sometimes taken for granted as hu- man skin. In other patterns of connectivity, the interface and boundary between inside and outside are more controversial and unsettled. The moment digital network bloomed, the pressure of establishing social intercourse between strangers is suddenly alleviated. The low-cost dig- ital interfaces replaced the original social boundaries between bodies. Expressing became cheaper than it ever was that it seems one can ef- fortlessly achieve “inside out.” The curatorial proposal for Comparative Literature class discussed Location: Ithaca, NY more deeply in the essence of human being and the possibilities of “be- Fall 2018 | Comparative Literature curatorial proposal Instructor: Timothy Murray ing toched”. The debate ended up in discussing the invisible boundar- Zhen Chen, Yihe Zhang ies between cultural barriers and researched deep into activists’ works through all time. Illusions, Dreams, Optimism 17 18 Illusions, Dreams, Optimism C o n c l u s i o n The optismistic attitude toward architectual design is an essential quality to address the current issues actively. Architects use imagina- tions to declare messages and pass on to the future scholars. The illu- sions and escaping seems to be a passive reaction to the reality, but to put the architecture in a timeless and siteless span broaden the think- ing process of exploring new methodologies. It is a sophistic field of study that requires dedications in the subject of study, so it is necessary to find an exclusive way of critical thinking. As a student still exploring for my own language of designing, the practice in past year enhanced the threshold of my preception of ideas. I believe that keep an open mind on any possible solutions is the first step of finding the best solution. After all the dreams and illusions, Work Cited: there is a consistancy within, that is to believe that every new knowl- KENT KLEINMAN, “Archiving Architecture”, Archival Science 1: 321–332, edge we adapt has a potential stimulation in fostering new ideas. In the 2001. © 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. future, those ideas will find a destination to settle and bring changes to pp. 324 the world.