Yanyi Liu
Yanyi is a MArch Candidate at MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning.
She received her bachelor degree in Art History and Mathematics from Swarthmore College in 2023. She has designed sets for three plays and worked at a local gallery to host free public art exhibitions. She has worked on building performance optimization at architecture firms and is currently desiging towers that reuse core and floor plates in Denmark.
At MIT, Yanyi hopes to explore her interests in materiality and computation while following her passion for storytelling.
Projects
Core III Studio. In collaboration with Zachary Rapaport. Instructed by J. Jih.
Littoral Delight reimagines East Boston’s industrial shoreline as a site for ecological regeneration and public access, dissolving the linearized edge with vegetation-based habitats that buffer storm surges and rising tides. At its core is an “involuted pier” — a split structure that invites water in and supports both human use and marine ecosystems through layered plantings, reef-building foundations, and integrated public infrastructure. Four lightweight pavilions scattered along the pier serve functions like aquaculture production, education, recreation, and market activity, acting as points of interaction between people and the littoral zone. The architecture embraces repairability and sustainability, combining durable foundations with adaptable, low-impact timber structures to foster long-term stewardship and resilience.
Littoral Delight reimagines East Boston’s industrial shoreline as a site for ecological regeneration and public access, dissolving the linearized edge with vegetation-based habitats that buffer storm surges and rising tides. At its core is an “involuted pier” — a split structure that invites water in and supports both human use and marine ecosystems through layered plantings, reef-building foundations, and integrated public infrastructure. Four lightweight pavilions scattered along the pier serve functions like aquaculture production, education, recreation, and market activity, acting as points of interaction between people and the littoral zone. The architecture embraces repairability and sustainability, combining durable foundations with adaptable, low-impact timber structures to foster long-term stewardship and resilience.
Swarthmore College Senior Company 2023. In collaboration with Matt Saunders.
This set design of The Physicists (by Friedrich Dürrenmatt) pursues a sense of farce and kitsch disguised as realism. Located in an early 1900s European house repurposed into a sanatorium, the set attempts to be something off and whimsical to display visual humor.
This set design of The Physicists (by Friedrich Dürrenmatt) pursues a sense of farce and kitsch disguised as realism. Located in an early 1900s European house repurposed into a sanatorium, the set attempts to be something off and whimsical to display visual humor.
Core I Studio. Instructed by Carrie Norman.
The Contact is a public archive for the MIT Department of Architecture, sited in a courtyard surrounded by four MIT buildings. The design explores how a new building can be both a part of and apart from its context, using reflective curtain walls to mirror existing facades and create visual connections. The archive physically connects to the existing buildings at key points, while it maintains a deliberate distance from surrounding structures, forming new outdoor courtyards that foster visual and spatial exchanges between the institute and the public.
The Contact is a public archive for the MIT Department of Architecture, sited in a courtyard surrounded by four MIT buildings. The design explores how a new building can be both a part of and apart from its context, using reflective curtain walls to mirror existing facades and create visual connections. The archive physically connects to the existing buildings at key points, while it maintains a deliberate distance from surrounding structures, forming new outdoor courtyards that foster visual and spatial exchanges between the institute and the public.
Calligraphy Chair
Personal work
The chair attempts to carry the form and spirit of Chinese calligraphy while using mortise-and-tenon joints for structural integrity. It is made with cherry wood and rattans.
The chair attempts to carry the form and spirit of Chinese calligraphy while using mortise-and-tenon joints for structural integrity. It is made with cherry wood and rattans.
Creative Computation, Spring 2024. In collaboration with Ty Skeiky & Qingyang Xie. Instructed by Brandon Clifford.
The project explores the relationship between human movement and the movement of air. While the determined human participants run in precise, perfect circles on the ground, the airborne kit follows its own spiral, leaving behind an expressive trace in the sky.
The project explores the relationship between human movement and the movement of air. While the determined human participants run in precise, perfect circles on the ground, the airborne kit follows its own spiral, leaving behind an expressive trace in the sky.
