Manifesto
DEC-05-2024
Beyond Boundaries, Toward Fluidity
Beixi Zhu
Beyond Categories: The Fluidity of Design and Space
Based in Houston, I approach design as a profound exploration of connection and adaptability. My work challenges conventional boundaries—between nature and technology, individual and collective, body and environment—redefining how spaces respond to human experience. Grounded in artistic and philosophical principles, I draw inspiration from thinkers like Donna Haraway and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, integrating their ideas into designs that are fluid, interconnected, and dynamic. What sets my work apart is the ability to transform these conceptual frameworks into tangible, adaptable systems, creating spaces that evolve with their users and transcend static categories, offering a vision of architecture that is as thoughtful as it is innovative.
Reimagining Boundaries Through Design
For me, modular adaptive systems are not simply functional constructs—they represent an opportunity to rethink the boundaries that define our interaction with the world. My work challenges traditional notions of space and the categories that separate the natural from the artificial, the individual from the collective, and the body from its environment. “Design is a medium through which we experience the world,” I believe. “It should be fluid, adaptive, and attuned to the complexities of existence.”
Drawing inspiration from Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto, I reject the idea of a pre-existing “nature.” Instead, I see design as a co-construction of humans, non-humans, and technology—a living negotiation of relationships. “By breaking down rigid categories, we create systems that adapt and grow alongside us, reflecting the interconnectedness of life and design,” I often say.
Living Systems: Redefining Spatial Experience
My exploration of adaptability found fertile ground in a residential project I developed to address the needs of diverse family structures—single individuals, couples, families with children, and shared living arrangements. I created a modular system of self-contained living units that could evolve to meet the changing needs of its users.
“Each unit was more than a space—it was an extension of its occupant’s life, adaptable to their shifting realities,” I explain. Drawing on Merleau-Ponty’s concept of “bodily space,” I designed the system to foster an intentional relationship between its users and their environment. This pre-reflective spatial awareness allowed the system to transcend the functional, becoming a living interface that responded to individual and collective needs.
Through experimentation, I developed a generative system that adjusted to demographic and geographic conditions, dissolving traditional distinctions between private and communal spaces. “Whether it was a single module or a larger collective, the system bridged the individual and the community,” I reflect. This project was recognized with the AIA Fort Worth Design Award, which celebrates exceptional creativity, innovation, and responsiveness to social and environmental challenges in architecture. The award highlighted the project’s success in addressing complex housing needs through adaptability and inclusivity.
Adaptive Urban Interfaces: Beyond Form and Function
My focus on modular systems extended to my work on a rooftop water-harvesting system, developed alongside Professor Juan José Castellón and showcased at the 2021 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. This project explored how modularity could transform urban rooftops into adaptable ecosystems.
The system, consisting of nanotube-fiber tensile membranes and modular ceramic bases, was designed to optimize rainwater collection and integrate seamlessly with urban farming systems. My contributions included refining the tensile membrane through parametric tools, enhancing its efficiency in response to seasonal rainfall patterns, and developing ceramic bases that could adapt to various rooftop configurations.
What truly distinguished this project was its sensory dimension. Rainwater sounds were channeled through hollow columns, creating an interactive auditory experience. “This wasn’t just about utility—it was about creating a multisensory dialogue between users and their environment,” I explain. The design embodied Merleau-Ponty’s idea of space as something lived through the body, a dynamic interplay of perception and action.
“The system became an active participant in the urban fabric,” I reflect. “It blurred the lines between infrastructure and experience, fostering a deeper connection to the spaces we inhabit.”
Challenging Categories: The Body as Interface and the Continuum of Space
Central to my design philosophy is a rejection of rigid categories, which I believe limit our understanding of space and its potential. Drawing on Robert Sapolsky’s critique of categorical thinking and Merleau-Ponty’s thesis on perception, I embrace the idea of space as lived and dynamic, shaped by the body’s interaction with the environment. “Space isn’t static or fixed—it’s experienced through the body, constantly redefined by movement, perception, and action,” I say.
My projects reflect this philosophy by challenging binary distinctions—between individual and collective, natural and artificial, or human and machine. Inspired by the Cyberfeminist Anti-Theses, I often define my work by what it is not: “It’s not rigid, not isolated, not confined by traditional labels. It’s adaptive, interconnected, and ever-evolving.” This rejection of boundaries allows my designs to operate across scales, from intimate personal interactions to large-scale collective systems.
For me, the body serves as a "vehicle of being in the world," bridging the subjective and objective. Each modular component I design, whether a living unit or a tensile column, becomes part of a larger, coherent interface. “The body and space are intertwined—they define and transform each other,” I emphasize. This perspective enables me to create designs that integrate fluidly into users’ lived experiences, allowing systems to evolve in response to the complexities of perception and the ever-shifting needs of their environments.
One example of this is my thesis project in the Hongkou district of Shanghai, which reimagines the relationship between the individual body and the urban environment by freeing the ground plane from traffic and commerce. This elevated circulation system integrates residential, cultural, and public spaces, creating seamless connections between public and private realms. Inspired by Merleau-Ponty’s idea of space as lived and dynamic, the design emphasizes walkability, sensory engagement, and social interaction. By prioritizing the body’s movement and experience, this project challenges traditional urban hierarchies, envisioning a cohesive, human-centric metropolis that adapts to the complexities of contemporary life.
Toward a More Inclusive and Adaptive Future
As urbanization accelerates and climate change intensifies, I see a pressing need for adaptable systems that respond dynamically to evolving challenges. “The pandemic revealed the fragility of static infrastructures. We need spaces that are as fluid and resilient as the lives they support,” I observe.
My modular systems also reflect the decentralization of knowledge and power in today’s digital society. “Design must amplify marginalized voices and foster inclusivity,” I note. Inspired by Haraway’s concept of “artifactualism,” I envision systems that dissolve boundaries and embrace multiplicity.
For me, modular adaptive systems are more than a professional pursuit—they are a vision for a more interconnected, inclusive world. “Design isn’t about imposing order—it’s about creating opportunities for connection, growth, and discovery,” I conclude.
Through my projects, I strive to merge philosophical inquiry with practical innovation. From modular housing systems that evolve alongside diverse communities to rooftop water-harvesting designs that integrate sustainability with sensory experience, my work challenges conventional boundaries and redefines adaptability in design. By translating abstract concepts—such as the interconnectedness of body and space—into tangible systems, I aim to offer a bold vision of architecture as a fluid, evolving practice that responds to the complexities of human experience and the environments we inhabit.
References
Haraway, D. (1985). A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century. In Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962). Phenomenology of Perception (C. Smith, Trans.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst. New York: Penguin Press.