XINRAN KECell: (607)-280-2885E-mail: xk33@cornell.edu

XINRAN KE | PORTFOLIOCornell M. Arch 11 + Tongji B. Arch

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Life is to infuse the reality with poetry.

So is architecture.

CONTENT

ACADEMIC WORK

AVENUES - RDFZ | Elementary Learning Center

Internship @ Perkins Eastman

Gradient - Cornell Digital StudioRoom + Room - A Hotel for New YorkExhibition - Comfort and LightnessSet Design - Oedipus at Colonus, GhostsArtwork - Rural Life, Canoe

THICKET | Temporary Constructiona Sense of Comfort and Lightness

04

PUBLI[C]ITY | Manhattan Waterfront Planning

the Potential of Regular Urban System

14

KAHN-CRETE CAMO | Forgery Museum Design

the Art of Knocking-off

22

Detach or Attach

34GRAVITATION | City Complex Design

Walk it , Observe it , Feel it

FLANEUR | Metro Station Reformation 42

PROFESSIONAL WORK

52

56

OTHER WORK

6th LIXIL International Competition, 2016.3-2016.5Location: Taiki-Cho, HokkaidoProfessor: Andrea Lee Simitch, Lorena de RioMainly Responsible for : fabric performance design, fabric connection detailed drawing, interior rendering,

T H I C K E T 原野 の 竹林" A Sense of Comfort and Lightness"

THICKET achieves a sense of comfort and lightness not only through a lightweight bamboo and fabric structure, but also provides a physical experience of weightlessness through the light touch to the ground. A field of bamboo poles serves to structure a series of performative fabrics that provide energy, comfort, warmth, coolness and enclosure. Familiar references of Japanese domestic space, as structured layers of increasingly private spaces, are reimagined as layers of intelligent fabrics that create soft and flexible enclosures.

The bamboo structure lifts occupants into a constructed canopy overlooking the Taiki-cho landscape, protecting its timeless beauty while nourishing a lush and productive garden below, and from which flowering vines and fruit trees work their way up into the elevated structure. From afar, THICKET promises the comfort and warmth of shelter as the fabrics glow in the frozen landscape.

Japan Hokkaido Taiki-cho Site

Hilltop Trees the Deck Poles

FLOOR PLAN 1:1000HOKKAIDO LANDSCAPE

01 Water Colletion Soil 02 Ramp 03 Trampoline 04 Soft Surface05 Hard Surface 06 Courtyard

01

04

05

03

02

06

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6 7

Elevation

Section

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Bamboo poles with pre-attached brackets are driven into the earth and a series of unfolding operations br ing stability to the pr imar y skeletal structure. A secondary framework is unfolded onto which fabrics and hammocks are stretched and hung.

BAMBOO CONNECTION PERFORMATIVE FABRICSoftness and Strengh

10 11

This ‘Cycle of Life and Rebir th’ is fundamental to a resilient seasonal lifestyle that is practiced generation to generation. Referencing the primordial forests that cover almost 70 percent of Hokkaido, THICKET might expand or fragment into five clusters—as seeds dispersed throughout the local and distant landscapes, both urban and rural. As in a forest of trees competing for sunlight, water and nutrients, THICKET is a constantly evolving field. As in the game of Go, with its simple rules and subtle relationships and strategies, each iteration is a careful response to the context that has been placed before it.

SEASONAL TRANSFORM

THICKET transforms the spectacle of seasonal change into an evolving spatial landscape as its occupants finely tune its fabric enclosure. As a spring shower falls in the morning dew, a layer of water repellant fabric channels water to the garden below. As the warm sun rises on a summer afternoon, a light fabric screen is rotated into position offering cool shade. A thin skin of dense fabric is unrolled to deflect the cool autumn breezes. As the crisp winter night descends, a soft thermal layer warmed by the winter light is expanded into a cocoon.

CYCLE OF LIFE

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Manhattan Waterfront PlanningGraduate studio, 2015.6, Cornell UniversityLocation: East-manhattan, New York CityProfessor: Felipe CorreaPartners: Ruofei Gao, Yue Gu, Sukjune Choi

P U B L I [C] I T Y Located in East-Manhattan riverside between E 38th street and E 41th street, our design proposes a hierarchy of privacy within open spaces. The deviation of building profiles enables greater visual interactions towards both the river and the city. Meanwhile, the regular layout at the bottom level helps maintain the original texture of Manhattan grid. The scenery potential and the latent hazard of water-level rise of the East River urges us to incorporate resilient landscape design into our block system, thus creating an experimental and sustainable paradigm for Manhattan Waterfront.

"the Potential of Regular Urban System"

Focusing on the geometry and morphology of the urban block as well as the intrinsic property of city grid, our original research attempted to

unfold the role of regular grid systems in city planning. From the grid study of Chicago and Belo Horizonte, we were inspired by the intrinsic

pattern and hierarchy embedded in the choreography of urban space.

Preliminary Research: Hierarchy in Grid Systems The calibration of grid and block has been the primary driver which defines urban form without defining the specificity of its architectural elements. Abstract, yet dimensionally precise, these urban grids have an incredible ability to change over time and adapt to new urban programs and requirements. While defining key spatial layout and urban hierarchy, they also leave vast space for architectural experimentation. Using Manhattan as a laboratory, our design reflects the contemplation and exploration towards the architectural potential within regularized urban systems.

CHICAGO BELO HORIZONTE

Footprint upon river Urban texture

Megablock pattern Public infrastructure

Height Distribution Urban textrue

Hub and Axis Megablock pattern

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Prototyping

Masterplan

Vertical Connection

Roof Fitness Center

Waterfront Park

Roof Recreation

Light Rail

Pier Road

Residential Apartment

Overhanging Platform

Underground Parking

150m100500

Visual Penetration

20 50M0 10

A-A Section

Ground Floor Plan

40 100M0 20

A

A

18 19

Exploded Axon

Urban Profile

Interior Render

Office tower

Public Core

Private Core

Building Entrance

Traffic Flow

ResidentialHotel

Facade Strategy Public Space

20 21

KAHN-CRETE CAMO

Forgery Museum DesignJoint Studio (Tonji and RPI), 2014.3-2014.5Location: North Bund, Shanghai, ChinaProfessor: Kyle StoverPartner: Joe Daniele(RPI)

" the Art of Knocking-off "

The forgery museum conveys our highest respect towards Kahn and Nature. Wandering in between those huge, concrete columns, one perceives a sense of sublime and tranquility, and the spirit of Kahn becomes palpable.Geometric slabs and lush vegetation are pieced together, creating a lively camouflage of Nature. The front of mountain blurs the boundary of real and un-real, while the back of mountain witnesses sharp contrast between nature and artifact, exposing all the structure and pipes. The forgery museum itself serves as a great knock-off of Nature.

Interpretation Center

Lobby / Entrance

Artist studio

Factory / Storage

Gallery 11Artificial ecology

Gallery 111

Gallery 1

Industrial pipes

Visitors

Pedestrians

WHAT IS A FORGERY MUSEUM ?

A forgery museum is a place to hold and exhibit forgeries. Distinguished from conventional sense of museum, our design abandoned the exhibiting stereotype in search of a new mode of displaying.The project is an urban complex that contains three programmatic parts: an assembly line for artists to produce forgeries, a factory that duplicates and houses forgeries, and an ecological territory for exchange and recreation.

STEP 1: ORIGINATING

STEP 2 : INTERPRETING

STEP 3 : DUPLICATING

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Floor Section +14M KNOCK OFF

0.00+

5M+

5 10 20 40MN“ In principle, a work of art has always been reproducible.” -- Walter Benjamin

10M+

10M+

5M+4.3 M+

10 M+

5M+0.00+

10 M+

4M+

A

A

HURVA SYNAGOGUE

CENTRE POMPIDOU

NATURE

EXHIBITION VOLUME

POETRY VS REALITY

CONCRETE CAMOFLAGE

If you see a series of columns you can say that the choice of columns is a choice of light. The columns as solids frame the spaces of light. Now think of it just in reverse and think that the columns are hollow and much bigger and that their walls can themselves give light, then the voids are rooms, and the columns is the maker of light and can take on complex shapes and be the supporter of spaces and give light to spaces. I am working to develop the element to such an extent that it becomes a poetic entity which has its own beauty outside of its place in the composition.

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The interpretation center with an array of pinholes on its floor is located above water and surrounded by the terrace, reflecting the light outside in. The pinhole is small at top but large at the bottom, maximizing the light transmission while minimizing the danger to visitors. Spatial ritual arises between light and shadow, leading visitors to a dialogue with Kahn.

INTERPRETATION CENTER

LIGHT VS SHADOW

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FACTORY & POCHES

The final stage of duplication is carried out in one of the three fake mountains. Small poches are hidden behind the geometric mountain profiles. Forgeries are completed in those private poches. Visitors shuttle back and for th among the void, peeping into the working process.As a spacial extension of Kahn, the interior space triggers a dialogue with light and shadow, creating a divine and tranquil atmosphere. The nuance of light and scale transforms the circulation logic into an emotional spatial ritual.

SOLID VS VOID

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01 02

06

04

03

08

05

07

01 Lobby & Entrance

02 Back of House

03 Interpretation Center

04 Artist Studio

05 Storage

06 Elevator Core

07 Gallery & Gift Store

08 Gallery 1(Central Gallery)

09 Show Stage

10 Industrial facility

11 Duplication Factory

12 Gallery 11

13 Gallery 111

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09

11

11

12

13

50M+

40M+

34M+

28M+

22M+

88M+

64M+

54M+

46M+

88M+

17M+

0 M+

10M+

A-A Section

South Elevation

10 20M5

GRAVITATION

City Complex DesignUndergraduate studio, 2013.3-2013.5Location: Yangpu District, Shanghai, ChinaProfessor: Guanglin SunIndividual Work

" Detach ? Attach ! "

More often than not, the true phenomenon of social interation does not agree with what is readily apparent. Just as order lying beneath turbulance, separation promotes aggregation. The gap in the middle of the complex splits the mass volume into two parts, forming indented space on both sides. Serving as a bustling axis ,the gap triggers various visual contacts and unknown possibilities for mutual interactions.Instead of tearing the city complex into two separate parts, the seeming segregation engenders even intense social aggregation when allowing visual penetration towards the river.

China Shanghai Downtown Yangpu District Site

RESIDENTIAL

BAR

HOSPITAL

Patient

Relative

Nurse

Doctor

BANKStaff

Citizen

Teacher

Student

Parent

RESIDENTIAL

RESIDENTIAL

Demand Analysis & Circulation

With a famous hospital right opposite the site, the basic demand of the site lies in the daily requirements of eating and relaxing from users such as doctors, patients, office staffs and local residents. A round circulation at the ground floor facilitates the dining process of the hospital population and the bank staffs, relieving the stress of the extant restaurants. The two axis formed by the entrances enable better accessibility to the waterfront, both physical and visual.

Shortcut for Dining

PRIMARY SCHOOL

METRO

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Volume Generation View & Circulation

Decide the mass volume and set the location of 2 towers

Cut the volume and produce visual penetration towards the river from 2 directions, forming 3 corresponding entrances.

Generate indented space on both sides of the gap so as to maximize commercial value and visual contact.

Make space for platforms on both sides of the gap, triggering outdoor activities and social interaction.

Associate the two s ides with various types of bridges, forming 3 outdoor atriums.

Sink the bottom and create 2 sunken plazas for exhibition, draw more attention from the bridges thus vivifying the gap.

Views on bridges

Upper Level Lower Level

+

Circulation Grid

Optical Grid

4th Level +15.3M

3rd Level +10.2M

2nd Level +5.1M

1st Level 0.0M

ENTRANCE

SUNKEN PLAZA

BRIDGE

PLATFORM

+

+

+

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01 Office building lobby

02 Leisure platform

03 Rooftop garden

04 Retail center

05 Sunken plaza

06 Suspended bridges

07 Department center

08 Department entrance

09 Movie theatre

10 Restaurants

11 Boutique hotel

Complex Section

09

89.5M+

78.7M+

24.7M+

44.5M+

39.1M+

84.0M+

75.6M+

21.0M+

58.8M+

46.2M+

04

05

02

15.9M+

54.6M+

10.8M+

49.9M+

28.3M+

01

03

06

07 08

10

11

Metro Station Reconstruction and Urban ReformationFourth Year Undergraduate Studio, 2014.5-6Location: Zhongshan Park, Shanghai,ChinaProfessor: Wei Wei, Hongtao XuPartner: Xiaofei Wu

F L A N E U R" Walk it , Observe it , Feel it."

The focus of the renovation design is to probe into the interaction between city and architecture under the increasingly evolving lifestyles and advanced technology, abandoning the stereotype of architectural design in search of new possibilities to reconcile current urban contradictions. The renovation design of Zhongshan Park Metro station reflects our positive responses towards its surrounding environment. Aiming at reorganizing the population flow, offering safer alternatives for local pedestrians and vitalizing commercial ambience, we endeavor to uncover real life patterns of potential users.

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Multi-rise Residential High-rise Residential Commercial+Plaza Park+Gym Green Space Metro Station Parking Lot

Dual System

As a large transportation hub, the Zhongshan Park Area enjoys great traffic volume and population flow. However, there are two existing problems lying in the region.1. Weak connection between metro station and surrounding commercial. 2. Unsafe for pedestrians to cross the street. Accordingly, we developed an elevated urban corridor to connect the transportation station with the surrounding function, thus infusing the urban flow in to the commercial center nearby.

Dynamic system

Residential layout

Express for Citizens

Connection to commercials Public Transportation

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The elevated bridge consists of two systems. One serves as a short-cut for the citizens who want to take the metro No.3, the path of this system is half-under the railway. The other is connected to the surrounding commericial centers.Two axis intersect each other at the station crossroad. The N-S axis is parelled with metro No.3(elevated) and surrounding commercials, connecting each side of the street with a long overpass which facilitates the local pedestrians. The E -W ax i s i s p a r a l l e l ed w i t h me t ro No.2(underground) with several sunken plazas.

Urban Section46 47

Web with holes

Concrete giant arch

Steel Ropes

Roof Terrace

Steel truss for load-bearing

Railway

Steel truss for connection

Metro Hall

The whole metro station is suspended by a giant arch structure(approximate 100m long, 50m tall),with no other support in order to completely set free the ground floor urban space. We materialize this structure by using hexagonal concrete arch, steel ropes and steel truss. Regarding the metro station as a whole, we use steel topes to suspend the whole station. Among the truss system, the vertical ones are used to drag the bottom slab, which serves as the station hall. Those triangle ones are to connect the station hall with the railway platform. The truss system itself provides unique spatial experience.

Arch & Truss

Exploded Axon

Metro

Pedestrians

Passengers

TensionCompression

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The circulation of passengers and that of the local pedestrains are separated in the renovation design.A shor t-cut for passengers facilitates their process when taking the metro. Other par ts of the bridge, including the roof garden, are designed to trigger various possibilities for social interaction.Appreciating excellent landscape on the roof terrace, citizens enjoy their leisure time in the common space we arrange.

02

01 Ticketing gate02 Terrace 03 Indoor rest area04 Ourdoor rest area05 Accessible elevator06 Elevator 07 Assisting room08 Bathroom09 Exit gate10 Waiting area11 RailwayN

03

04

09

Waiting area floor planStation hall floor plan

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06

07

08

08

07

06

01

09

01

02

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06

06

5 10 20M

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Elementary Learning CenterLocation: Beijing, ChinaInstructor: Meiling Honson Mainly Responsible for : 3d-modeling, DD drawing, Interior Rendering

A V E N U E S - R D F ZInternship @ Perkins Eastman, 2014.3-8

ELC Design Development Drawings 1: 500

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Cornell Digital Workshop, 2015.6Professor: James LowderPartner: Yue Gu, Junhan Zhao, Rohan CherayilG R A D I E N T

A gradient is created between two sets of Erwin Hauer patterns, one with quadrilateral units, and the other hexagon units. In producing a gradual transition between the two types of pattern, we rotated and combined three quadrilateral units to fit into the hexagon grid thereby creating a third layer. To transform the Erwin Hauer pattern into 3 dimensional grid, we mirrored the minimal surface of the pattern units to enable connection through pattern edges. When it comes to an end for an edge to be linked, a cap with smooth border is attached directly to avoid further connection. This terminal strategy encounters geometric transformation under different circumstances.

Plan

Elevation

Pattern Typology

Terminal Strategy

ThicketThicket Thicket

HoseInflatableCurtain

Field

Field

Possessions Senses

BurnBurn

Hose

Burn

Module Primitive

GradientHose

View

Radiant SlabModels

Labor

This exhibition a documentation of the many ideas, some embraced others discarded, (and several still earnestly waiting on the sidelines) that provided the foundation for the Department of Architecture Japan Studio’s final

competition entry to the sixth LIXIL International University Architectural Competition in Hokkaido, Japan: Thicket. It is a categorization of the studio’s collective exploration of the themes of comfort and lightness, of

ephemerality, softness, and mist, of inflatables, transformation, ethereality, movability, and flexibility, of the senses, seasonality, the number five, domesticity, and warmth. The amalgamation of many individual ideas into a handful of

distinct projects favors not the singular but the process, and is so doing this exhibition reveals the good and the bad, the setbacks and the leaps forward, and recognizes the contributions that were made by the many.

As a non-hierarchical display of the everything, whether it is a Bristol model, a final render or a full-scale bamboo detail, these are seen as complementary representations working toward the final project. The inspiration, the

maybes, the “oh nothings”, the what-makes-up-the-thing, and finally this exhibition, all of this and more displayed here suggests another beginning, and perhaps for another time. It is a tangled endeavor and a thicket onto itself.

Kam Chi Cheng, Christopher Chown, Brian Hong, Takuma Johnson, Alex Jopek, Xinran Ke, Laura Kimmel, John Lai, Daye Lee, Sophie Nichols, Daphany Shen, Danwei Wang, Xinyu Yi, Yutian Zhang

A SENSE OFCOMFORT AND LIGHTNESS

EXHIBITION, CRITIQUE AND DISCUSSION MAY 12, 2016 at 1:00 p.m BIBLIOWICZ FAMILY GALLERY, MILSTEIN HALL

with spectial thanks to Cornell AAP and the Department of Architecture, Roberto Bertoia, Iñaqui Carnicero, Patrick Charles, Adelheid Christian-Zechner, Timur Dogan, Dagur Eggertsson, Jack Elliott, Mikhail Grinwald, Juan Hinestroza, Kent Hubbell, Paul Laroque, Ángel Martinez Garcia-Posada, David Eugin Moon, Mark Morris, Caroline O’Donnell, Val Warke, Sasa Zivkovic

May 12, 2016 at 5:00 p.mBibliowicz Family Gallery, Milstein Hall

May 12 - 30, 2016Bibliowicz Family Gallery, Milstein Hall

aap.cornell.edu/events

EXHIBITION

LAUNCH

MORE

a process

Poster design by Christopher Chown

Professor Andrea Simitch with Lorena del Rio and the students of the Department of Architecture Japan Studio

0

Bibliowicz Family Gallery, Milstein Hall, CornellCornell Department of ArchitectureCollective Work, 2016.5

Cornell Graduate Studio, 2015.7Professor: Dan WoodCollective Work

EXHIBITION —— A Sense of Comfort and LightnessROOM + ROOM —— A Meta-mosaic Hotel for New York

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Rural LifePen Sketch, 2011

Lishui, Zhejiang Province

CanoeCrayon Painting, 2012

Hong Cun, Anhui Province

ARTWORKSET DESIGN PROJECTS

Professor: Kent GoetzIndividual Work, 2016.5

Oedipus at Colonus

Professor: Kent GoetzIndividual Work, 2016.4

Ghosts

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XINRAN KE

EDUCATION Cornell University Ithaca, NYPost-professional Master of Architecture 06/2015-05/2016

Tongji University Shanghai, ChinaBachelor of Architecture 09/2010-06/2015

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) + Tongji University (TJU) Shanghai, ChinaUndergraduate Joint Studio 03/2014-05/2014

WORK EXPERIENCE Intern Architect New York, NYPilot Project Design Collective LLC 06/2016-Present Brand Designer Ithaca, New YorkVerdi Photography (Client: Ksenia Verdiyan) 08/2015-10/2015

Intern Architect Shanghai, ChinaPerkins Eastman Architecture Design Consulting (Shanghai Branch) 03/2014-08/2014

Intern Architect Shanghai, ChinaArchitectural Research Institute of Shanghai University 01/2013-02/2013

HONORS & AWARDS 2nd Price in Excellent Student Scholarship of Tongji University 2014Exhibition of 2011 National Science and Art Exhibition, Shanghai Museum 2011- Awarded to excellent art pieces nationally

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES Member, Publicity Division, Chinese Student and Scholar Association, Cornell University 2015-2016Volunteer, CTBUH “Future City” International Conference 2014Member, Future Architects Association, Tongji University 2013-2015Director, Publicity Division, Tongji University Entrepreneur Association 2012-2013Panel Secretary, the 8th Challenge Cup National Business Plan Competition 2012

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE SITP College Students Innovative Research and Renovation 09/2013-05/2014- Natural lighting system in underground commercial space, China Mapping and Drawing of Chenghuang Temple in Shanghai, China 06/2013-07/2013

LANGUAGES English (Fluent), Chinese (Native), Korean (Beginner)

SKILLS - Auto-CAD, Revit, Sketch-up, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Rhinoceros, 3D-MAX, Grasshopper, Maya, Visual Basic - Architecture model-making, freehand drawing and photography.- Piano (Shanghai Conservatory Level-10 Piano Certification, 2003)

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