Hi, I’m Jen Chenyu Zhang, an interdisciplinary designer/architect/storyteller. 
I design interactive experiences, using multi-medium platforms,  from a user-centered and empathetic perspective. 



Architectural
architectural, user-driven
architectural, humanitarian
architectural, tectonic
architectural, research
architectural, design
architectural, photomodel
research, analysis
urban design
fabrication

Multi-Media
video storytelling
interactive wearable design35mm
An Architect’s Handbook
The Invisible Cities
Boats In A Floating World
film photography
editorial
editorial
graphic



All visualsare original

unless otherwise indicated
Soft Threshold 
material study and installation of cork in Portugal
Rhode Island School of Design 
Collaborator: Yunchao Le
2019




Background and Design Goals:
Through four weeks of traveling in Portugal, the Soft Threshold project approaches the concept of “threshold“ by studying both the materiality of cork, the spatial relationship on site, in relationship with its cultural significance in Portuguese history.

While framing the entrance of the carpenter shop, the cork arch isolates the pedestrian from the homogeneous cement plating of the arcade. The thickness of the arch elongates the transitional experience from inside to outside, emphasizing the sense of departing and arriving, a unique character of Portuguese culture ever since the Golden Age of Discovery. The installation pieces were made by fabricating different composites of cork.

Assembly Diagram
Site Diagram