Explore my entire portfolio to find out my AP score at the end! Make your predictions now :)

#1: Biomimetic Skin

In this first piece, I wanted to explore the thermoregulation functions that happen within a whale. The layers of their skin are extremely complex, having five layers of dense fat and tissue. Additionally, whales are mammals that live in the seas, so I incorporated the theme of water (using watercolor) and the colors often associated with water (blue) for a calming and tranquil feeling. The skin function was inspired to become housing under the sea, an architectural site in the near future, where we are uncertain of what state climate change will put our Earth.

#2: The Living Shell

In this next piece, I wanted to create something with more depth, and I got inspired to make a folding building drawn from the shell of a crab. Transportable architecture has been more frequently explored as climates become more extreme. Crabs, like any other organism, exhibit thermoregulation behavior by moving away from extreme to milder temperatures. After creating the 2D piece, I projected it onto the cardboard 3D piece and photographed it.

#3: Meandering Homes (original)

After experimenting with the cardboard, I wanted to explore more of dissecting architecture. I was also obsessed with rain gardens and meandering rivers at the time, and how we can derive those systems into future plumbing and water distribution to plants and the building simultaneously. So, I designed an apartment complex that can be pulled apart for a cooler perspective, and overlaid a meandering river to make the connection. By creating this piece, one can think about resource delegation in the future when the world can become unpredictable.

#3: Meandering Homes (revised)

Nearing the May submission date for the AP exam, I had a lot of second thoughts about this third piece. After some feedback, I realized that the shading in the above image with the river didn't have a lot of contrast, and it might make the message unclear to the AP reader. So, I switched it up and cut up cardboard to make a makeshift topography map while the concept stayed the same. The meandering rivers and their complicated networks could serve as inspiration for future bio-bridges, where on highways and busy places other bridges could be made specifically for nature to cross so they don't get hit.

#4: Carving Away the Carbon

IMG_2037.pdf

First Revision

These three prints all have slightly different shades of blue, as I wanted to explore the moods that each print could evoke. In these revisions, the slime mould growing represents efficient city planning in busy cities and can limit carbon emissions with less concrete. I layered the edges with an architectural model I made, giving the print more depth and symbolism.

IMG_2036.pdf

Second Revision

In this second revision, I extended some branches of the mold to switch up the composition a bit. The greens and blues are there for a more sustainable feel, since when I think about sustainability, the color green often comes to my mind. Additional mold 'limbs' are seen in negative spaces of the original print, and the squares represent the birds-eye view of buildings.

IMG_2035.pdf

Third Revision

In this last revision, I realized that the print composition resembled a CO2 molecule quite nicely, so that's what I drew in the underlayers. On the edges, I put petri dishes of the slime mould to add to the circle-feel that already evokes the viewer by the spherical atoms.

#5: Symbiosis

I'm gonna be honest with this one -- I was on a tight schedule since I created this piece around March; there were numerous exams and quizzes, and I experienced some trouble organizing my schedule. Earlier in the year, I constructed an architectural model that you can see more in detail in the ARCHITECTURE section of this portfolio, so I decided to derive that with some composition and experimentation. Expanding on the slime mould concept with Carving Away the Carbon, I wanted to create a close-up piece with the city planning coming to life. Nature and infrastructure in this piece come together and live in harmony, thus giving the title.

#6: Modular Arils

This might be my favorite piece by far - not only because it uses my favorite colors (purple, hot pink), but because pomegranates are a fruit that I've been fascinated with since I was seven. Going into a topic I hadn't explored yet, transportable architecture and pomegranate arils went hand in hand. The individual seeds are packed together efficiently, and in the future, transportable buildings might be a necessity to move quickly. The hexagon shape is cool as it consists of six triangles, which can unfold to create more housing space (shown near the bottom of this piece).

As for the paint, we were required to make our own art supplies. I used pomegranate juice to make the deep red color, and then added lemon juice (lowering pH) to make a darker purple. Adding baking soda made a blue, and further boiling the peels made an orange color. After adding those, I included actual watercolor to make the piece a bit more vibrant. This project is super cool to me (and all the others in my portfolio!), and it's so cool that I actually wrote my college essay on it.

#7: Filtering the Future

As a final piece, and as cliché as this may sound, I wanted to go out with a bang. You can't really tell from the image, but this was my biggest piece by far. I found some research papers on sustainable architecture and PARKROYAL, printed them out, and collaged them onto the canvas. PARKROYAL is a hotel in Singapore that looks so futuristic, having suspended gardens on each floor to maximize vegetation growth and produce more oxygen. As you might know, plants perform photosynthesis, which converts CO2 into O2 for many organisms to breathe. On the bottom left is CO2 produced from factories/cars/other sources of pollution, and as it enters through the gardens on each floor, it slowly becomes more pure.

My AP 2D Art score is...

I was really happy when I got a 5! To be honest, I thought I would receive a 4 since I felt my portfolio didn't have much branching out. However, this is a great feeling! Stay tuned for AP 3D Art in the 2026-27 school year!

Have questions? Comments? Contact me at amymaz1hui@gmail.com or on Instagram at @amy.art617

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