ARCH4115

Architectural Design Studio C - Future Living in Shenzhen

Target Students BSSc 4

Course Term 1

Course Type Required

Venue Studio

Teacher(s) TIEBEN, Hendrik / CAI, Jiaxiu / CHEN, Chen / HO, Jimmy / MO, Kar-him, SALADINO, Nicola

In Studio C, students will learn key issues of contemporary urbanism. An essential point for this urban housing project is the consideration of the surrounding context which encompasses the natural and built environment, and the historical processes which shaped them. To understand and engage with this context, students will learn to relate and integrate different scales, from the district, street blocks, to the types of buildings and public spaces to the individual, private housing units. The studio offers the opportunity to learn about Shenzhen’s history, as the laboratory of Chinese urbanism while developing models for future living. Residential building types, with their integrated commercial and communal facilities constitute the main parts of a city’s urban fabric, and deeply contributes to its urban culture and lifestyles. Students will learn how the housing typologies define a district’s density, the relationship between built and open spaces, and thus the interrelation between communal and individual lives. They will also understand how decisions on the urban, building and unit scale will affect the projects sustainability.

DESIGN TASK
The key task of this studio is the design of an urban housing project. The term on “urban housing” underlines the studio’s focus on how housing projects should contribute to their surrounding district and consider the qualities of individual as well as communal life. A good urban housing project will carefully consider the design of the individual units in its links to supporting services as well as public and communal spaces. Students will also consider how their projects increase the liveability and vibrancy of the overall district and enhance the surrounding built and natural environment. The studio will use the competition brief “Reinventing housing in the South: Public Housing Design of Jiangong Community in Shenzhen Nanshan” as a reference, which was developed for the same site. Students thus will engage with questions and issues of a real case project.

SITE
The project site is in the Nantou Sub-district of Nanshan District, Shenzhen (according to the Statutory Plan of Tongle Area (North District). It was used in the past as an industrial site, and still includes earlier factory halls, dormitories, and office buildings. Other parts of the site are abandoned. A unique quality of the site are the existing trees, placed individually and in tree avenues. The site is surrounded by an urban village as well as public and private housing estates, and thus urban contexts in Shenzhen and other cities in the Greater Bay Area.

PRECEDENTS
In Studio C introduces and consolidates essential aspects and abilities for architects to respond to urban and natural contexts. It therefore introduces students to different methods of urban analysis and project development. The studio is closely related to the course ARCH3721 Land and City.