Yilun Li

About

During Yilun Li's study in BArch Architecural Design program in CAFA,Beijing (2013-2018), He managed to took part in an exchange
program to AHO, Oslo (2017). The Course : Body & Space Morphologies : Catharsis by professor Rolf Gerstlauer & Julie Dind has deeply affected Yilun's future projects and interests.  

He studied the performance of and with several materials or subjects. Instead of being given programs that address relevant topics,
issues or problems to solve and find a coherent architecture answer to, he was trying to find out a meaningful doing and a start for something to engage with, act with and grow close to. Acting on impulses, the work went through a making with the hands and become bodily, aiming at gathering experience first hand and in the meeting with real things. The results from a work like that can be
described as ARCHITECTURES - relational systems or objects that are carefully drawn forth, experienced, sensed and nourished by a person. That became an improtant guide of Yilun's projects in MA Interior Design ,RCA, platform interior urbanism runned by Vicky Richardson (2019-2020). 

This platform drove him thinking that Architectures are not necessary to be defined by designers but by people that experience and
interact it. Carrying that, He is particularly interested in undefined spaces and how people react with this sense of undefined in spaces. He is trying to figure out what causing undefined spaces emerged and how can we design this sense of "undefined" to create a space with openness, pureness and limitlessness.  

His thesis project " The Mud Bank" can be seen as an attempt under this context. Also during the global pandemic of Covid-19,
public spaces are deeply affected by the rules of social distance. This led lots of spaces became unpopulated and more "undefined". It is interesting to see how people reoccupy those spaces with a new strategy and that may shed some lights to our concept for future public spaces.

After graduation from this MA Interior Design Program in RCA, he will definitely carry this passion and interest on public spaces and bring it to a wider experiment on practical interior design in UK or China.

Contact

Degree Details

Statement

 Yilun's projects and works covering architectures, interior designs, exhibiton designs and musics but mostly unified by a same methodology. Aiming at using overlayed experiences to create narrations. Acting on impulses and inspirations, his works firstly went
through several jumps of ideas. Then he is trying to figure out the connections and reasons behind.  

Mudbank: Centre for Mudlarking

Site and Origins
Site and Origins — The Riverbank of the Thames in London as a geological origins of the City of London from 43AD Roman times had made this city to flourish. Also it is a typical urban public space favored by people from different classes, Based on records, people could walk to banks at any time for dumping water, washing clothes, sailing their boats and even catching fish. This situation continued until the pollution in Thames became serious. The government decided to build the embankment. It was a turning point in the history of appearance and usage of River Thames in Central London. Aiming to control the chaotic usage of river and its banks, long and giant walls were built on both sides of river all the way from Lambeth to Tower Bridge in order to block people from a direct access to the river. The embankment did reduce the pollution and help cleaning up the river, but it made River Thames no longer a public space for ordinary people. Today, public spaces in City of London is fully compressed by density of building and heavy traffics. Strict rules and uncomfortable designs are limiting people's behavious everywhere. Then I started to think about, what about I give back the openness and freedom by remaking a riverbank as a public space ? 22 Bishopsgate as a newly built giant tower in City of London, designed to be called as a vertical village. It’s openness is higher than any other tower in London before. So this is a perfect site for me to test out ideas about public spaces. 22 Bishopsgate is the newest layer of the city and its top floor is the highest place u can be in London. Carrying the impact of view on River Thames and the city. It is a perfect floor for my idea, to remake a Mud Bank — the oldest layer of London on this newest layer. On the left u can see a contour map of city of London, the orange area is the 22 bishopsgate and the yellow line is bishopsgate. I pick the terrain of riverbanks from the area bishopsgate reaching River Thames, so that you will got a terrain that falls towards the river. This typology also reflects a space of an amphitheater. People will sit and watch the Thames, London and celebrating the flourishing of a great city.

Launch Project
The way to place mud bank in 22 Bishopsgate
The way to place mud bank in 22 Bishopsgate — The original floor 59 with a terrace is full of air system facilities, the actual interior space is less than a half. Then by removing the floor of level 60 and part of the glass walls towards the terrace, a double height space is created. Install bones of the terrain, columns and trusses as a support, then install a replica of riverbank from the designated area in City of London. This terrain is scaled to a size of 1:5 As you can see the mud bank is falling towards the river leaving a gap between the new floor and the old terrace, so that the air systems are still be able breathe. Then install beams to support a roof. The design of the roof is inspired by ship building. Trusses and columns supported both the floor and the roof. The idea of using timber is to remain a sense of pureness and natural, ripped off human intervention, as a contrast to steel.
Plans
Plans — At the upper floor, which you got the greatest view of Thames and London at the south. At the north side, where the landscape flattens, is free to be hired temporary events. At the lower floor, there is a center for mudlarking and a library with relavant book collections.
Upper Flow View
Upper Flow View — This the view you got when you facing south at the upper floor. The topology of space echoes the riverbank,you can see that the landscape is falling towards the river. This creates a tactile relationship between people and the land.
Material Languages
Material Languages — Floor has been divided to two parts. A soft area with a finishing surface of wool felt and a hard area with a finishing surface of clay plaster. London Clay is used to make this clay plaster, which is a typical type of clay easily found near London. Its muddy, sticky and easily to contain objects. Most of the well preserved relics found in River Thames is protected by this clay. Lights are sharing the same material with the wooden trusses and columns, using ash, a typical kind of wood commonly found near the riverside of Thames.
Lamps
Lamps — The soft area mainly located at the south, with a better view of London and Thames. Because I believe the impact of views comes from calmness and a soft touching surface can give you that. Lamps are located through out the whole floor of the terrain. They’re all designed to be collapsible. Movable joints connected with the disc of lamps to adapt different angles of the floor when it is folded. Also USB and wireless charging is provided.
Section
Section — A center for mudlarking and its library are designed to be at the lower floor of the space. It will be a place to display and restore objects found in the bank, to tell stories about the hidden history beneath the mud. I think that sense of connection to history is perfectly match the context of my space. Connecting people with history, and actually mudlarking is also happening at the mud bank. The entrance hall located at the upper floor, sunlight is coming from above.
Entrance Hall View
Entrance Hall View — An information desk with a canvas louver is located at the entrance hall, giant walls near the scuttle is good for posters of exhibitions and events. These round ones are light wells, collecting lights for the mudlarking gallery located at the lower floor.
Lower Floor View
Lower Floor View — The idea of the lower floor is to create a feeling of you’re inside a cave, where it is dark but you got lights from above to lead your way. Also it is interesting that it feels like you are underground but actually you are in the sky. In the Mudlarking Gallery, Objects can be displayed on the walls of light wells with a background texture of Mud. Smaller objects will be displayed in the wooden boxes with cells paired with reading glasses located at the central island. There is also a reading sector for relevant sketches,notes or books. After a journey of history through objects in the gallery, you can take the staircases at the south passing by the library zone and back to the "sky". Because the cave-like lower floor is very dark, so the natural light from the upper floor at the exit will be very bright and divine. Like a lighthouse, leading your way. This feeling is very similar to the moment when you finally reach the exit of a natural cave.
South End View
South End View — Taking the staircases up, you will reach the south end of the upper floor in the Mud Bank, hugging the amazing views of The Thames and London. There’s a bar here. You probably want to get a drink after the journey in the cave. The bar is designed also with the topology of riverbank of Thames. Terraces with different heights falling towards the river creating platforms for sitting. Carrying the impact of stories from the objects found in the mud bank, and surveying the city from sky high, you becomes even more aware of this extraordinary achievements made by history. A Great City is in front of your eyes.
Night Views in the Mud Bank — At night, there will be curtains close up the core of the bar in order to protect a dark atmosphere for people to focus more on the views outside.
Skyline at Night
Skyline at Night — The Mud Bank at night is re-shaping London's skyline. Carrying hidden stories of this land, it becomes a modern monument of the city.

London wasn’t built in a day, or even a century: it evolved over two thousand years. Surveying the city from Mud Bank on the top floors of 22 Bishopsgate, one becomes aware of this extraordinary achievement. This public space at the top of the tower connects visitors with the history of London: its topography echoes the contours of the steeply inclined north bank of the Thames, which allowed London's commercial trade to flourish from 43AD. Beneath the Mud Bank, is a Centre for Mudlarking. Including a mudlarking gallery to display objects that have been found on the riverbank, a mudlarking archive will store, maintain, repair objects, as an extension for the official collections in the Museum of London. Mudlarks were the scavengers of the 18th century – often poor or young people who looked for items of value on the muddy banks of the Thames. Today mudlarking is a hobby pursued by enthusiastic amateurs who feel connected to history through the objects they find beneath the mud. Above it the open public space mimics the contours of the north bank of the Thames, at 1:5 scale. In contrast to the confined and regulated public spaces of the City, Mud Bank allows people to access and move around freely. Stripped of human intervention, the Mud Bank reveals the natural incline in the landscape as the City falls towards the river which creates a tactile relationship between human and the land.