Liuyang Zhang

About

Liuyang ZHANG is a London/Shanghai based space designer obessed in exploring spatial integration design, including city ,architecture, landscape and interior design.

EDUCATION

BE Urban-rural Planning, Wuhan University (Top10 University in China)

Architecture and Urban Planning (Exchange Student), University of Stuttgart

MA Interior Design, Royal College of Art


AWARDS

Excellence Award (National Level)

National Steering Committee of Urban and Rural Planning Education in China

For the Work— See Big from Small, the Investigation and Research on Survival Status of Urban Retail Space

in the Background of E-commerce.


EXHIBITIONS

Selected for Biennale Interieur 2020 for the Work— The Depersonalized Seat

Selected for ‘Work In Progress Show 2020’, Royal College of Art

Selected for ‘Work In Progress Show 2019’, Royal College of Art 


WORK EXPERIENCE

British Council

Participating in organizing international symposium ——Great Cities: Architecture and Urban Design Workshop

UAO Architects

Architecture Intern

Involving in design and planning of three sites and assisting to publish two projects on the famous website: www.gooood.hk,

● Flying Club in Changjia Mountain in Wuhan (Architecture and Interior Design, Under Construction)

● Assisting design of Cherry Blossom Garden located in Hankou River Beach in Wuhan (Landscape Design)

AREP Ville

Architecture and urban design Assistant

Involving in design and planning of two sites:

● Hanyang Station Masterplan (tender accepted), responsible for site analysis and concept strategies.

● Guanggu Comprehensive Urban Design(tender accepted), responsible for assisting design skyrail

station and circumjacent commercial space based on TOD mode.

CMSK

Design Management Intern

Involving in design product line and 2 projects of residential district planning and design for review.

Contact

Degree Details

Statement

From huge urban scale to tiny interior scale, I’m obsessed in exploring ways of using narrative architectural languages to build communication and interaction between human and space. Driven by this, I love to design immersive visitor experiences more than simply spaces and I have applied these thoughts in my design of cultural buildings such as museums, art gallery, tea house, and commercial buildings such as showroom, bontique etc.

Unexpected, Imperfect, Unfinished

The Touching Journey
The Touching Journey — The story starts from the touching journey of British Museum. It is the first time I recorded my personal journey through London using my sense of touch.
Research of the Surface of Trafalgar Square
Research of the Surface of Trafalgar Square
The touching map of trafalgar square 1:200
The touching map of trafalgar square 1:200 — This map records the surface of different accessible materials in Trafalgar Square with clay. When placing the 1:1 surface copy into this 1:200 map, all the textures of surface are magnified, guilding people to focus on their tactile, the small fluctuation of textures would be noticed.
Material Touching Sample of Trafalgar Square
Material Touching Sample of Trafalgar Square — The outdoor texture of Trafalgar Square appears to be more rough and irregular, while the interior texture of my home appears to be more delicate and decorative with perfect pattern.
2020 07 09 16 45 52
2020 07 09 16 45 52

My project responds to the increasing density of population in our cities. As land is used more intensively, space for citizens is being squeezed and the boundaries between public and private space blurred. My approach reverses the usual way of planning public space, moving from the macro- to the micro-scale. Instead of planning from afar, I recorded my personal journey through London using my sense of touch, making rubbings and casts of the surfaces of private and public spaces. This helped me to understand the intimate relationship between people and public space. My research shows that surfaces and materials tend to be imperfect: rough textures and random patterns that are constantly changed by visitors. Through this close-up study I realized that public participation is key for the public realm and that my design should designed to be constantly changing to encourage public participation.

Medium: Clay, Seed, Concrete

Size: Trafalgar Square

22 Bishopsgate: Circulation space makes public realm.

The Gathering Point Map
The Gathering Point Map — I found some undesigned casual spaces are actually taken important roles of people’s public activities.
City of London
City of London
2020 07 09 16 23 49
2020 07 09 16 23 49
2020 07 09 16 25 5
2020 07 09 16 25 5
2020 07 09 16 27 37
2020 07 09 16 27 37
2020 07 09 16 29 29
2020 07 09 16 29 29
2020 07 09 16 30 45
2020 07 09 16 30 45
Concept Model: The Folding City
Concept Model: The Folding City
2020 07 09 16 37 0
2020 07 09 16 37 0
2020 07 09 16 38 29
2020 07 09 16 38 29
Circulation space makes public realm!
Circulation space makes public realm!

In the second term I applied my approach to a study of 22 Bishopsgate, the tallest new office building in the City of London which has been named a ‘vertical village’ by the developer. My aim was to design public spaces in the tower that would respond to the criteria for truly public space that I developed in the first term. As research I made drawings of people using the streets, alleys and parks around the site. I found that the undesigned public spaces are much more intensively used. For example a doorway or alcove makes a good shelter for social chatting; a corner hidden in an alley creates a great atmosphere for drinking and chatting. No matter how public space is designed, people find the most suitable places for gathering. I came to the conclusion that circulation spaces within the tower would make the most important public and social spaces, maintaining the vitality of the city.