Seeing Things

PRODUCED BY

YEAR

Zechen Huang

2022

TOOLS

Unreal Engine 5 | Houdini


Beast of Time

Beast of Time takes me back to where it all began—my first semester at RMIT. During that time, I created a small "beast of time" out of clay as a response to Rome and The Garden of Earthly Delights. This small creation symbolized the act of killing the present while preserving a moment in the past.

In my final semester of my Bachelor’s degree, I revisited this little beast and reimagined it using procedural generation to create a digital "monster hotel." This hotel, built with bone, meat, and skin in a simulated environment, captures the legacy of that original creation, translating it into a dynamic architectural narrative.

The concept explores the uncanny valley effect by simulating a living hotel as both a functional structure and an archival collection of past forms and ideas. Through this exploration, the hotel becomes an ever-present, uncanny monument, fusing architecture with the surreal and the grotesque.

Houdini Procedural Genration

Bone serves as the main structural support, while meat grows from the suffering crowd, dying under the sun and tearing through the shell. Red eyes act as tunnels, reaching out to the world.

To achieve a more dramatic effect, the façade of the hotel is designed as a shell, stretched to evoke tension and unease. This design emphasizes the organic yet unsettling qualities of the structure.

The entire building is procedurally generated using the digital software Houdini. Each individual component is crafted through procedural methods, with right side showcasing the complete layout of the script that governs the design.

Jeff's Horror Show

Selected works from (2020 ~ 2022)