MSA Stage 5 School of Architecture
Ziyi (Alyx) Wang
MArch / Diploma of Architecture | GSA
Ziyi (Alyx)’s architectural work explores the cultural and emotional resonance of space. My final thesis project reimagines a monastic site in Porto as a layered environment for local communities, where architecture acts as both a threshold and a vessel for collective experience.
Through the interpretation of walls as spatial agents – whether thickened, inhabited, and acoustic, my design intergrates reclaimed local stone, gabion structures and transparent facades to meditate light / sound and social encounter.
Alyx’s approach combines spatial precision with poetic intent, aming to create architectures that are both materially grounded and spiritually responsive.
Based in Shanghai, Alyx has worked as an assistant architect for half a year with the working experience of three periods of internship.
Reinterpretation of walls – Monastery library / Refectory library in Porto
City walls have changed following the transformation of Porto. As the area expands, the fortifications have taken on new roles in urban planning. Some sections have been translated into architectural structures, others have become retaining walls at the edges,
while some have been preserved as remnants of the city’s history.
The thesis will explore the challenge of ethically reinventing and repurposing the fragmented remnants of historic city walls from the current urban fabric and levels of Porto. As these pieces are scattered across the urban landscape, the thesis question arises: how can these remains be adapted to serve contemporary urban needs while respecting their historical significance?
Walls, or such materialised boundaries, can be redeveloped into inhabitable functions, similar to how architects in classical architecture reinterpreted and repurposed the concept of poche. As an architectural strategy in technical drawings, poche involves shading solid parts in dense black to represent structural elements. As a tool, it can be applied to the interplay of light and shadow between solid and void spaces. The structure’s thickness, accentuated by poche, can also function as a cavity to house specific functions within the project.
The location extends from the viewing platform of MASA, situated behind Porto Cathedral, down to the linear contour wall at a lower level. This is the gathering place of boundaries, a site marked by the stepping back of heights and the terminus of past city gates and walls.
With such playful site, the thesis will explore the feasibility of using poche as a design language to bridge boundaries and engage with social responsibility.
