Yueqi Jazzy Li

The Luyeyuan museum is a timeless work of architecture by Liu Jiakun. For those that follow contemporary Chinese architects, many including myself see him and Wang Shu as the leading pioneers whose works truly start to address modernity in the context of China. According to Jiakun himself, this project from 2002 is of great importance, for it gave him confidence in crafting materiality. From the moment one steps into the compound, the carefully arranged path begins to define a progression of spaces that plays out like drama. Through the bamboo forest, up the subtle steps, across a precarious bridge, one finds itself in the light filled entry hall, half way between the floor and the ceiling. The photoshoot was during a heavily overcast day but the apertures, slots, and openings sculpted out of the concrete mass seem perfectly calibrated to make the interior just bright enough to appreciate the details of the buddha statues but also just dim enough to perceive a sublime quality in the spaces. Built with Jialun's theory of "low-tech" architecture with local villagers as contractors, the building does not employ artificial lighting during daytime and exudes a crude sense of materiality that perfectly complements the objects on display. Subsequently, the client retained Jiakun to do the second and third phases of the museum and the photos show how he was able to again adeptly use natural light to give seemingly raw spaces a spirit. 

Zaha Hadid Architects

SOM

Riken Yamamoto

SOM

The Red Brick Art Museum is a hidden gem in the outskirts of Beijing. Located a few kilometers west of the Capital Airport, the museum is definitely off the beaten path. As sculptural and articulated as they are, its tall perimeter walls opposite of shanty shops across the street, do not immediately call to mind the presence of a sophisticated cultural institution. But once through the moon gate and inside the museum compound, it is clear that this is about pure celebration of masonry architecture and garden making. Shooting the various indoor and outdoor spaces of the museum, it's hard for me not to marvel at the architect Dong Yugan's ability to create richness and drama in seemingly minute and confined areas. It's as if every time a shot is composed inside the picture frame, three more are waiting to be discovered just outside of it. Evidently, many ideas of traditional Chinese gardens have inspired the various levels within a single floor and the tightening and releasing of spaces experienced in a sequence. But its singular use of masonry as the material throughout creates a cohesion and simplicity that is rather modern and bold. The museum draws a mixed crowd from all walks of life. With spaces so infinite and textures so stimulating, small children, teenagers, adults and senior citizens all seem to enjoy their own moments of hide and seek, romantic stroll, or zen like respite.

我们假想了两对年轻夫妇作为小院未来的主人，一对希望开一个面向胡同的艺术茶馆，另一对则希望有自己的工作室，有时可以开展小型展览等活动。通过适当地向地下借取空间，我们把两户人家的居住与工作空间分别安排在了一层和地下的两个体量中，中间则由一个方正的楼梯盒子连接，三个体量围合成了一个向东开敞的U形空间，通过可灵活开启的玻璃顶，使得下沉部分成为了工作室的私人小院，而地上部分则因为两颗枣树的保留，成为景观延伸，让这块场地形成了一个公共四合院。这样的设计既保证了原本违建已经形成的面积不被压缩，却又打造出一公一私两个院子，两者因为有了高度的差别和绿植与长椅的分隔，互不干扰又相互依托。

坐落于前抄手片区的C-3小院是白塔寺历史保护区胡同肌理中很普通的一份子，通过对它的更新改造，我们旨在为院子未来的主人们提供一个有品位的空间，亦期给院子周围的公共空间一个新的形象与功能。

通过对基地的考察，我们发现原本的小院已被私搭乱建的平房破坏掉了院子的基本形态，而院子外面的一块相对空旷的场地也因为四维的杂乱而毫无功用。在前期的研究中我们既感叹于原始四合院肌理的张弛有度，又在实地考察中被白塔寺片区街坊邻里热闹的市井生活所打动。因此，我们带着这个问题开始了工作：如何能通过设计巧妙地恢复原来的小院，又能让单纯的住宅区通过业态升级和公共空间的打造支持并传承胡同文化？

Among many precious courtyards in the Historic Baitasi District, Courtyard C-3 has a special character and siting. Thourgh our proposed adaptive reuse, we aim to provide not only a quality private space for the owners but also enhance the public realm by returning a common courtyard to the neighborhood.

Through research, we found that the courtard no long holds its form due to decades of illegal construction while the empty space to the east suffers from the same kind of neglect. We were impressed by the courtyard voids that once existed in Baitasi but also quite fascinated by the lively neighborhood life today. So asked: How can one restore the original small courtyard, while allowing new life and program to breath in and welcoming the public?

We imagined two young couples as the owners of this courtyard: one couple who wishes to open a tea house, and the other who wishes to have thier own artist studio with temporary event space. By shifting half the the floor area down to below grade, we create two clear volumes that are connected by a stair core. This creates a U shaped plan that not only introduces a private sunken courtyard below, but also by virtue of a visual connection, creates a public space at grade that becomes a node in the neighborhood. 

Current site with no real open space vs Proposed intervention that creates two courtyards

在形式上，我们通过传统的灰瓦坡顶保留了老北京胡同的意向，却在室内以及楼梯体量部分引入适当的现代通透元素，让狭小的空间与自然相通不再拥挤。这种新旧区分却和谐共存的态度，既是要适应现代新的生活方式对空间的要求，又要保留传统的文脉，增添时间的厚度。在施工上，我们的设计使用了钢骨架与预制轻质木塑墙板填充体系，既有效的应对了胡同内空间狭小的限制，减少了湿作业，又能减少墙体的厚度，节省出更多的可用空间。

Formally, we maintained the historic materiality and roofscape but introduced modern elements on the interior as well as the sunken courtyard. By maximizing the connection to nature, we greatly enhance both the utility as well as the aesthetics of the compact spaces, designed to accommodate a modern entreupreneurial way of life. The structure is composed of light gauge still and prefab SIP wall panels. This technology allows for ease of construction given the site constraints of the Hutong but also save more space for the interior thanks to thinker wall construction.

Team

Yueqi Jazzy Li

Magarita Calero

Aleks Dawson

The first phase of the ambitious Columbia Manhattanville Campus is yet another significant undertaking in the US by the prolific Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Completed two years after the new home for the Whitney, the two buildings in the first phase look rather like lost brothers of the museum building, in a good way. The boat-like window detailing, the appropriately articulated metal paneling, and the stunning double facade all together make both buildings seem much more delicate and refined than what they actually are. The Lenfest Center, with its dramatic cantilevers and suspended balconies, defy what might be considered contextual in this part of Manhattan. However, the slightly unbalanced form projects perhaps the perfect forward-looking and contemporary image for an institution with nearly 300 years of history. Inside, the gallery spaces prove RPBW's adeptness at creating perfect museum interiors. Open yet uncluttered ceilings, thoughtfully positioned window openings, and bold orange accents make for a neutral space for art while at the same time unassumingly declare a high level of tectonic resolution classic of Renzo Piano. 
 

Marcel Breuer

British Architect John Mcaslan and Partners' latest cultural project in Doha, Qatar showcases an extraordinary work of contemporary architecture rooted in Qatari traditions.

Msheireb Museums celebrate the history of four historic heritage houses in the heart of Msheireb Downtown Doha. Located within the oldest part of the capital, they form an important part of Qatar’s national history. They reveal unique aspects of Qatar’s cultural and social development in inspiring to create trusted environments in which the people of Qatar will engage, converse and exchange thoughts about both their past and their future.

Msheireb Museums are an integral aspect of the inner city’s regeneration of the old commercial centre with its traditional community-based lifestyle. The restoration of the four heritage houses, Bin Jelmood House , Company House , Mohammed Bin Jassim House and Radwani House, into world-class museums forms a vital part of the Msheireb Downtown Doha development.

Utilizing more than 17,000 straws, the team led by Yueqi ‘Jazzy’ Li and Eric Baumgartner strung together a blurry architectural space that engages touch, sound, and sight. Twelve panels form two constantly moving curtain walls and fluidity the space in between. The transparency and lightness of the installation allows itself to play with sun, wind, and light conditions. The ephemeral project does not take any static visual, acoustical, or sensual form. Instead, the dematerialization of straws, characterized by porosity and local interconnectivity, creates what Stan Allen calls - ‘field conditions’ – which are defined not by overarching geometrical schemas but by intricate intervals, repetitions, and seriality. The project was awarded 1st place of the architects’ week competition.

Danaus is an installation created by the Digital Fabrication seminar at the Tulane School of Architecture (TSA) in the spring semester of 2011. The piece explores the classic relationship between form and function through a series of multifaceted transitions of complexity, density, and depth.

Inspired by the work of French artist George Rousse, the student designers created a red cube made out of thin fragmented pieces in the shape of a hexagon. After entering Richardson Memorial Hall, one is confronted with the complete perspective of the cube right at the door. As one steps in and walks up the stairs in the lobby, the perfect cube reveals itself in the fragmented composition and begins a morphological process towards the floor above. Starting from small 4-sided polygons on the cube, the voids gradually morph into 5 and 6-sided shapes, simultaneously growing in size while diminishing in spacing.  The designers digitally scripted this reciprocal relationship between size and spacing to formulate another level of transition in the visual, namely from the subtractive to the additive, and further articulated it to allow Danaus a function that emerges out of its own form.  

One finally arrives at the end of Danaus and realizes its programmatic use as shelves for school publications, pamphlets, and postcards, which formerly were left flat on the bench by the administrative office. These unique shelves vary widely in size and depth to accommodate different publications and reach 11” at the deepest. The very last one of them is articulated to be a perfect hexagon, referring back to the original cube and completing the morphological cycle. 

Farms are beautiful as they are familiar to all, form dramatic landscapes, and most importantly they provide the essential harvest for nourishing our shared civilizations. In designing the masterplan for the National Museum Complex  in Sejong, we find the farms in this part of South Korea stunningly inspirational. We believe architecture for such a significant museum complex should embody the same spirit as the beautiful farm lands: humane, organic, and authentic. 

The masterplan design takes cues from the central park scheme and the natural grade change of nine meters to form a campus of small scale buildings integrated with the landscape. These modular buildings, appearing to rise gently along the natural slope, create a carpet pattern that defies any iconic stereotype. Instead, the careful placement of the massing and voids generate a wonderful human scaled village environment ideal for immersing oneself in art and culture.  The modular museum buildings, based on a 9m by 30m inverted arch prefab concept, allows for infinite adaptability and organic growth over time.  

The landscape plays an equally important part in our masterplan. A series of internal pathways cut through the land and serve as a network for pedestrian circulation. We sculptured the land so that it mitigates the 9m grade difference in various different sloped sections, creating a rich layer of intersections. The pathways, sometimes sunken, sometimes elevated, serve to not only connect different museums, but also to create a rich experience from various vintage points. The idea of a “museum mile,” borrowed from the famed New York City museum cluster, strings together the entire site through a north south pedestrian experience, with big atria, trellis, elevated bridges.

Material, craft, and light are fundamental to the making of a memorable architecture and urban design. In this proposal, we developed a material pallet that is rooted in the tradition of Korean architecture. Stone, concrete, wood, and brick are crafted together with planting and water features to form a warm and soothing environment. In the proposal museum complex, one finds similar qualities of the calming farm lands, tranquil rice fields, and fresh rain drops. Light is carefully introduced to softly light galleries, to cast articulate shadows, to render dappled daylight in outdoor plazas, to bring out the richness in authentic wood and stone pieces. As a result, this rich interplay between material and light give the masterplan timeless characters that are both historic yet contemporary, dynamic yet solemn, playful yet rhythmic.  

We believe this proposal represents a 21st century approach to museum master planning - one that is blurring the boundary between architecture and landscape, between tradition and innovation, and most importantly between farm, village, and city. 

Transformable Architectural Machine for City Dwellers

This research project, carried out at Intermediate Unit 6 of the Architectural Association in London, proposes an alternative mode of life enabled by a system of transformable kit of parts for an emerging entrepreneurial social class in Shenzhen, China.

Sited directly on top of a metro station, the proposed project is integrated into the local infrastructure and serves as a node of public activities. Each apartment in the building consists of a live unit and a work unit that can easily be reconfigured with sliding elements depending on the specific use. An inventive circulation strategy facilitates the highly mixed use of programs: courtyards serve as the gateway to individual live units and linear corridors provide efficient access to work units. This coexistence of two systems enable a constant flux of movements throughout the entire building without undesirable crossovers. Because of the transformable spaces shared by each live and work unit, the proposed project is imagined to have a density 40 times the average in Shenzhen.

This project aims to rethink the relationship between human habitat and water in the context of New Orleans. The proposed design consists of both an urban design and an architectural proposal.

awarded 2013 best thesis project of Tulane School of Architecture

This small yet influential solo project was a competition entry completed within one week’s time. The proposed building by virtue of its form and materiality begins to dematerialize on a beautiful part of Tulane’s campus. Buried below grade is a multi-purpose room that seats 45.

2012 Tulane School Competition First Place

This installation aims to both create a visual play and also serve a practical function as the school’s publication shelving. Digitally designed and fabricated, the piece serves to connect two opposite ends: the super digital and the super analogue.

This 2016 competition entry proposes a master plan for the Korean National museum that is based on the field condition of local villages. The design imagines a series of indoor/outdoor galleries where architecture, structure, space, and art all become one.

This installation is a classic demonstration of beauty that can be found in the everyday object. Made out of thousands of straws, the curtain walls become a ephemeral play of light, shadow, color, and sound.

This is a proposal for a supertall mixed use building in downtown Manhattan. Composed of a hotel and residences, the elegant tower seeks to refine the often masculine skyline of New York.

Jazzy Li worked on this project as senior designer at Ennead.

This is a ground breaking competition entry that made bold plans for the new Ant Financial group HQ of Alibaba. The proposal created a series of intersecting buildings that are set into the hilltop site. Collaboration and wellness were the goals of all of the spaces designed.

Jazzy Li worked on this project as senior designer at Ennead

This is an independent interiors project finished in early 2018. The design of this two-bedroom seaside apartment aims to create a zen like relaxed environment for the contemporary home in China.

Many of Jazzy Li’s architectural photos have been published on sites such as dezeen and magazines such as Surface. Below is a small number of his own favorites.