exploring the connection between human, nature, and space
ARCHITECTURE DESIGN
2021
As a project that draws on both my professional and cultural background, I have learned a lot on this journey. It not only brought my professional skills to another level,
but also taught me to manage East-West cultural differences and promote effective multidisciplinary & multi-stakeholders teamwork.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
This project aims to design a university medical school in Shenzhen, China. The German architectural firm I worked for collaborated with a local design institute (LDI), overseeing the project from conception to completion. My German team handled exterior facade design, while LDI managed the interior layout. Continuous synchronization between teams led to incremental client presentations and feedback-driven refinements.
In the context of cross-continental collaboration, my role involved diverse design proposals, guiding in-house visualizations, preparing presentations, and participating in LDI meetings.
DESIGN CHALLENGE
As per the principle "form follows function," a building's form should align with its intended purpose. This rule extends to facade design as well. For instance, to serve privacy needs, the building facade should incorporate fewer windows. Conversely, for public functions, additional windows become pertinent.
In this project, due to the separation of responsibilities between the two Chinese and German companies, one is responsible for functional planning and the other is responsible for facade design, which puts forward higher requirements for cross-functional coordination and design flexibility. Based on this background, my team and I introduced a flexible design system rooted in modularity.
FACADE DESIGN SYSTEM
The facade is designed as a window-wall system. There are immovable parameters that are constantly applied to all buildings and floors. These include the floor ceilings, suspended ceilings, as well as the anti-fall barrier. The respective functions determine the facade appearance from the inside. In addition, these requirements are supplemented by architectural elements that round off the architect’s intentions in a creative way.
3 FACADE DESIGN PROPOSALS
Based on this design system, I proposed 3 design proposals, and listed out the types of facades used in each proposal.
APPLY FACADE TO PLAN
According to the floor plan given by our partner LDI, I have mapped different types of facades to different functional planes.
The goal is to keep the facades the same but different.
TAKE AWAY
The sheer scale of the project, coupled with the complex and varied façade design and ever-changing floor plans, certainly added to the challenges of implementing changes – such as monitoring cost estimates.
This project greatly honed my ability to solve problems and work systematically. Additionally, the fast-paced, dynamic, multicultural environment has greatly enhanced my numerous skills in collaborating and communicating effectively with diverse team members and stakeholders.
Thanks for reading this far!
ROLE
Architecture Design
Cross-functional Collaboration
TIMELINE
One Year
TOOLS
Photoshop
Ilustrator
InDesign
Rhino
ArchiCAD