Portfolio

Thomas Wen

Thomas Wen
CONTACT 2620 Severance St Apt 6 Los Angeles, CA 900007 Email: usc.thomaswen@gmail.com Tel: (213) 300-6460 OBJECTIVE As an international student and recent graduate my objective is to obtain full time employment within the eld of architecture. I hope to continue learning the practical side of architectural practice while expanding my experiences of working with various architectural typologies EDUCATION 2008 - 2013 University of Southern California Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies Minor in 3D Animation Brisbane Grammar School

2002 - 2007

Contents
MATERIALITY STUDY
Space Truss Carwash

MATERIALITY STUDY
Mobius Bench

HOUSING STUDY
The Proletariat

INTRODUCTORY MAYA
Cityscape

GROUP PRODUCTION
Alien Roadtrip

PHOTOGRAPHY

EXPERIENCE Jun 12 - Aug 12 Aug 12 - May 13 Noel Robinson Architects Architecture Intern USC Chinese American Student Association General Sta

SKILLS Autodesk Suite Adobe Suite Microsoft Oce Miscellaneous LANGUAGES English Mandarin Fluent Fluent, Native Language AutoCAD / Maya / Revit Photoshop / Illustrator / Indesign Word / Excel / Power Point Rhinoceros

MATERIALITY STUDY
2x2 Sculpture

LIGHTING STUDY

Les Baines Des Docks

CHARACTER MODELLING
Giant Robot

CHARACTER RIGGING
Astronaut

MATERIALITY STUDY Space Truss Carwash

Spring 2010 | AutoCAD | Illustrator | Rhinoceros | Paper | Plaster | Balsa Wood | Museum Board | Plexiglass |
The materiality studio during Spring of Sophomore year culminated in the nal design project of visualising a carwash. Our studio section approached the project by experimenting with a variety of materials to assist in formulating our parti. This encompassed paper folding exercises, plaster casting before reverting to traditional wood and museum board study models. My initial approach adopted an Euclidean and rational approach towards the paper folding exercise. As I began to compound my formal explorations, I began to make alterations in the form of extrusions and scalar osets in accordance with the existing site conditions. As we continued the miniature material explorations, I adopted an idea of aggregating identical modules. These modules take on the shape of the tetrahedron, a continuation of the triangular formal language from the previous paper and plaster studies. These eventually gave form to a space truss comprised of tetrahedrons that functioned both as the primary structure and the space dening element in my nal design.
Evolution of the design parti from paper models 1 and 2 to plaster casts of 3 and 4.

Plaster cast 1 derived from paper folds.

Plaster cast 2 evolving and connecting the triangular volumes.

Plaster cast 3 adds asymmetry to the composition.

Triangular forms lead to museum board experiments with tetrahedrons.

Wooden dowels were used to expand on structural skeleton.

Form and cladding of the space truss system is nalised.

Progression into tetrahedron modules constructed from museum board and balsa wood dowels.

Clear Glass Panels Blue Glass Panels Aluminium Panels Perforated Aluminum Panels Concrete Tiles

Building envelope diagram.

2 9

8 4 4 10 5 7 6

FLOOR PLAN 1. Parking 2. Car Wash 3. Detailing Station 4. Toilets 5. Cafe 6. Interior Waiting 7. Exterior Waiting 8. Cashier/Retail 9. Storage 10. Pump Station

Section B

Section C

MATERIALITY STUDY Mobius Bench

Spring 2010 | AutoCAD | Illustrator | Rhinoceros | Timber | Screws | Paint | Lacquer |
As a group project we were tasked with creating a full scale functional bench as a part of our materiality exploration studio. After experimenting with paper study models involving curves and Mobius strips, we concluded that we would manufacture a bench consisting of a closed loop which runs the length of the bench before doubling back on itself to the starting point. This loop was then contorted with varying angles in order to generate a form that would be able to accommodate three users both sitting and lying down. Wood was our material of choice as it provided the structural strength we required to support all three individuals. We procured large plans of wood which we then cut and sanded down to the unique angles required for each bend in the loop. The pieces were assembled and then subsequently sanded prior to application of lacquer stains on the interior and white paint on the exterior.

Exterior Loop Assembly Diagram

Interior Loop Assembly Diagram

Complete Assembly Diagram

MATERIALITY STUDY 2x2 Sculpture

Spring 2010 | AutoCAD | Illustrator | Rhinoceros | Douglas Fir |
The Douglas Fir sculpture project prompted us to explore both materiality and modularity by creating a sculpture out of three modules derived from pieces of 2x2 Douglas Fir. The conditions of the project limited the amount of cuts we could apply to each module. I decided to explore a possible method of replicating the fractal nature of a trees branching pattern through the creation of varying joint conditions. Two modules were designed to achieve branching in two dimensions while the third module oered the opportunity to expand into the third dimension.

1.0 0.5

132

1.5

1.5

12.0

End Condition 1

End Condition 2

End Condition 3

132

End Condition 4

End Condition 2

End Condition 3

End Condition 4

End Condition 1

End Condition 1

End Condition 1

Module 1

Module 2

Module 3

Node Configuration 1

Node Configuration 2

Node Configuration 3

Node Configuration 4

Node Configuration 5

Node Configuration 6

Node Configuration 7

Node Configuration 8

Node Configuration 3 Node Configuration 1 Node Configuration 2

Node Configuration 6 Node Configuration 6 Node Configuration 8 Node Configuration 5

Node Configuration 1 Node Configuration 7 Node Configuration 4

LIGHTING STUDY Les Bains Des Docks

Spring 2009 | Plexiglass | Wood | Museum Board | Foamcore |
My rst group project in Freshman year we were tasked with the replication of the lighting conditions in Jean Nouvels Les Bains Des Docks. To achieve this, we constructed the interior out o foamcore in order to replicate the reectivity of the pristine white walls. Plexiglass was used to represent the individual pools and a hot glue gun was applied to the underside with the plastic still attached to create he water texture. The childrens play area was assembled with painted wooden blocks. Lastly, an enclosure was constructed out of museum board in order to prevent excessive light leaks.

Core materials: Acrylic plastic and foam core for reectivity; plexiglass with underlying blue layer intact to simulate water.

HOUSING STUDY The Proletariat

Fall 2010 | AutoCAD | Illustrator | Rhinoceros | Wood | Museum Board | Plexiglass |
In the Fall semester of our junior year we concentrated on a varying degree of housing projects. This particular project sought to challenge us by asking us to design four units consisting of two two-bedroom units, one threebedroom unit and one four-bedroom unit on a tight lot in South Pasadena. In my parti explorations, I was greatly intrigued by the idea of combining the limited exterior spaces on the site into a community space. This manifested itself in the community garden shared amongst all the residents as well as a shared kitchen for the two-bedroom units. As the project developed, I created another goal for myself which was to design an aordable residence through the use of elements such as wet walls and modular dimensions shared in all the units.

Site Plan

Ground Floor Plan

First Floor Plan

Southern Elevation

Eastern Elevation

Section A

Section B

Unit Model

NIGHT LIGHTING Cityscape

Fall 2011 | Maya | Photoshop |
The Cityscape project was simultaneously the rst and last 3D Animation project I have worked on so far. The projects inception came from my very rst introductory course to 3D Animation where our instructor asked us to create and render a sequence through a cityscape. I chose to pursue a steampunk and science-ction inspired atmosphere and, with the assistance of a plethora of online resources and reference material I managed to conceptualise the scene. The project was a crash course into polygon modelling which was drastically dierent to the NURBS modelling I was accustomed to in Rhinoceros. The project has since evolved into a continuous experimentation in night lighting and also allowed me to consciously position and experiment with lighting xtures which were usually secondary considerations in my architectural renderings.

CHARACTER MODELLING Giant Robot

Spring 2012 | Maya | Photoshop |
My second 3D Animation course dealt with the issue of hard surface modelling and culminated in a nal project in which we had to model, rig and animate a mechanical object. For my project I decided to create a giant robot inspired by the body language of a gorilla. The modelling turned out ne and I have found hard surface modelling to be one of my key strengths in Maya but the rigging and animation process was very complex and hard to grasp. That portion of the project was lled with many technical diculties which really set back my nal product that semester. The project was a complex semester long one but has become one of my favourite projects; the gorilla has gone through numerous iterations over the past two years as I continued to rene my 3D modelling skills and the current rendition was nalised for my graduating demo reel.

CHARACTER RIGGING Astronaut

Fall 2012 | Maya | Photoshop |
My last 3D animation project was the amalgamation of a character rigging course and a visual eects course. Our group chose to pursue a science ction theme in the visual eects course so I modelled an astronaut to complement it in the context of our rigging course. The character was modelled from scratch and then attached to a rig in order for me to animate it. The surrounding spaceship interior was a part of my contribution to the group project where I also worked extensively on lighting and rendering details.

GROUP PRODUCTION Alien Roadtrip

Fall 2012 | Maya | Photoshop |
As a part of our production class for 3D Animation we embarked on a semester long project to create a storyline involving the concept of an alien grandfather taking his grandson on a sightseeing adventure. The basic plot involved the grandfather falling asleep and the grandson unleashing destruction upon Earth, allowing us to experiment with a lot of special eects and compositing with live footage. My duties on the project were largely hard surface modelling and texturing which I was familiar and condent with. Further along the production line I was also tasked with lighting and setting up nal renders. The entire group project was an amazing learning experience which allowed me to work in a very integrated production pipeline but also provided my rst major lesson in interior lighting.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Fall 2009 - Spring 2013 | Nikon D80 | 50mm Lense | 18 - 135 mm Lense |

Jaws (Los Angeles)

Above: Double Tree Hotel Japanese Garden (Los Angeles)

Right: James Irvine Japanese Memorial Garden

Married Couple (London)

Left: Parking Lot (Los Angeles)

Right: Cathedral of St Mary of the Assumption (San Francisco)