Urban Design Strategies: Hongqiao Central Business District - MVRDV

HONGQIAO CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT MVRDV Danny Andres Osorio Gaviria URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

Source: © MVRDV, 2013

HONGQIAO CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT SHANGHAI MVRDV

Danny Andres Osorio Gaviria Urban Design Strategies [H02N9a] Master of Urbanism and Strategic Planning KU Leuven 2016 Source: © MVRDV, 2013 URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

INTRODUCTION This paper is submitted as the final assignment of the Urban Design Strategies course, which is focused in the strategic characteristics of the urban project. The course is part of the Master of Urbanism and Strategic Planning at KU Leuven.

The essay situates the Hongqiao Central Business District in Shanghai, designed by MVRDV, in the contemporary discussion on architecture and Urbanism. In the manuscript is presented the general information of the project and the identification of the design challenges and themes MVRDV is addressing in the design and development of the urban project. Based on the description and graphic analysis of these challenges and themes developed in the project, it is elucidated the concepts and strategies of the project and the way in which the design theme is addressed.

As a complementary analysis the Hongqiao Central Business District in Shanghai as a study case is compared with two projects of reference and two key texts which addressed the same theme and urban design strategies. The exploration and analysis about the Hongqiao Central Business District in Shanghai evaluates the relevance and pertinence of the design theme, addressed by the project, in relation to the contemporary design discussion on architecture and urbanism.

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PROJECT INFORMATION Hongqiao Central Business District Designer: MVRDV. Location: Shangai Hongqiao International Airport, Changning Qu, Shanghai Shi, China, 200335.

Year: 2013.

Status: Under construction.

Client: Sincere Property Group, Shangai, China.

Surface: 4.5 Ha. Program : Master plan including offices, retail space, parking and public amenities.

• Offices: 110,000 m2.

• Retail: 47,000 m2.

• Cultural program: 1.790 m2.

• Parking areas: 55.000 m2.

Budget : Undisclosed.

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Hongqiao Central Business District location Source: © Google Earth, 2016 URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

HONGQIAO CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT - MVRDV MVRDV is a Dutch firm founded in 1993 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. MVRDV use a research-based design method, providing sustainable solutions to contemporary architectural and urban issues, enabling cities and landscapes to develop towards a better future [MVRDV, 2016].

MVRDV won in 2013 the design competition for the architectural design and the master planning of the new business district in Shanghai, close to the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. The project is currently under construction. The master plan designed by MVRDV covers a surface of 4.5 hectares and it is located close to the hi-speed train station and the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, in the intersection between the Shenhai Express Way and the Shenbin Road.

The construction of the Hongqiao Central Bussiness District started in April 2013. In this moment the first phase of the sustainable business park, the Flower Building, is complete. “The Flower Building is the landmark in our overall plan’ explains MVRDV co-founder and principal architect Jacob van Rijs, ‘the building is located near the entrance to a new metro station and acts as a beacon for pedestrians. The second phase of the master plan is under construction, there we combine flexible, more generic office spaces with a village-like urban plan that offers intimacy and friendly outdoor spaces.” [MVRDV, 2016].

The completion of the entire urban project is planned for 2016.

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Flower Building - Hongqiao Central Business District Source: © MVRDV, 2013 URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

DESIGN CHALLENGES & THEMES The challenge of the proposal designed by MVRDV for the new Hongqiao Central Business District is the creation of new public spaces shaped by the disposition of the architectural elements, which at the same time create new small public spaces and a underground public space creating an interconnected friendly public space system in the middle of a surroundings unfriendly for the pedestrian. The strategy is the integration and connection of the new public space system with the infrastructures in the area creating a connected, integrated and complementary urban system.

The strategic disposition of the public spaces change the dynamics of the site with a minimum of means, creating a new way to conceive urban life in the area. The hierarchy of the interconnected public space system allows the pedestrian to travel through the different scales of public spaces in the project becoming in an important element to manage evolution, not only in the specific area of the project, also in the entire surrounding area.

One of the crucial themes in the design of the new Hongqiao Central Business District is the multidisciplinary work and the collaboration between different design disciplines cooperating for the accomplishment of a sustainable urban project optimizing technical processes in the urban space as well as in the buildings which conforms the urban system. The sustainability is one of the priorities of the project at architectural level as well as at urban level integrated as complementary elements in the urban project.

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Hongqiao Central Business District Source: © MVRDV, 2013

Flower Building - Hongqiao Central Business District Source: © MVRDV, 2013

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DESIGN CHALLENGES & THEMES One of the most important challenges and themes in the design of the Hongqiao Central Bussiness District is the creation of a new atmosphere. The proposal is looking for the creation of new intimate public spaces in the area.

In this regard, the public space system is strategically connected with the surroundings and existing urban fabric for the integration of the urban project to the existing context. Although the existing urban systems in the surroundings are car-oriented, the new public spaces explores the possibility to be complementary and articulated with different infrastructural and urban systems.

The multi-scale strategy of the project is reflected in the creation of new collective spaces articulated by the architectural elements in the project; people can travel through different public spaces from the street level to the underground level and even to a higher level conceiving the architecture as an extension of the public spaces in the ground.

Despite the fact that one of the crucial themes and priorities in the project is the domination of the public space by the pedestrian, in the contemporary practices of architecture and urbanism the car is a mandatory element integrated to the development of any project. In this case the car is involved as part of the public space creating a slow flow of cars inside the public space articulated and integrated with the main road system. The urban space is the interface between the hard infrastructure of the city, pedestrian, car and architecture.

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Hongqiao Central Business District Source: © MVRDV, 2013

Hongqiao Central Business District Source: © MVRDV, 2013

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THEMES DEVELOPED IN THE PROJECT The challenge in the design process of the Hongqiao Central Business District is the creation of an inner courtyard as a public space shaped by office buildings. The project is located in the corner of the high-speed Shenhai Express Highway and the large Shenbin boulevard close to the high-speed Hongqiao Airport train station.

The disposition of the buildings is connected the Shenbin boulevard with the Hongqiao Airport train station creating two sunken squares articulated by pedestrian connections generating continious flow of people from the metro station to the boulevard and in the other way attracting people to the squares as places to stay in a totally different atmosphere in contrast with the noisy surroundings typical from the Shanghai’s outskirts.

The new urban spaces configured between the office buildings generates a intimate and friendly environment for pedestrians.

The multi-disciplinary interaction in the design of the project explore the sustainability of the urban spaces and architecture integrating techniques and technologies to achieve a high performance insulation, optimized building forms, shaded spaces, natural ventilation, rainwater collection, permeable road surfaces, links to the public transport system and a significant reduction in the urban heat island effect.

The project articulates the existing logics and dynamics of the site improving the qualities of the urban context with strategic interventions based on public space.

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High-speed Shenhai Express Highway and Shenbin boulevard

Connection to thehigh-speed Hongqiao Airport train station

The connection to the train station defines the building location

The connection to the train station defines the squares location

Source: Š MVRDV, 2013 URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

THEMES DEVELOPED IN THE PROJECT The project is developed in two phases, the larger southern plot and the smaller northern plot of almost 8.400 m2, the sunken squares designed for both plots create pedestrian areas protected from the congested avenues close to the project. The suken squares are designed as a places to stay composed by wide stairs with the aim to create informal seating areas complementing the larger two squares surrounded by the office buildings.

MVRDV creates a more intimate atmosphere of urban life defined by pedestrian streets connected to the sunken squares and integrated with the existing boulevards and train station. The composition of the public space system is also integrated and marked by two glass cubes connected to the pedestrian walkways and as a way to integrate and articulate the urban project with the existing urban fabric in relationship with the residential areas in the surroundings.

The commercial retail space (47,000 m2) is located in the ground floors integrated with a underground sunken square connected with the public space system in the urban surface, connected with the pedestrian circulations and the other squares.

One of the most challenging aspects of the project is the integration, to a public space dominated by the pedestrian, the car. The project is connected to the roads and infrastructure integrating the car as an element of the public space, involving a slow flow of cars inside the project through the public space on the surface connected the office buildings and with the parking areas underground.

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Source: © MVRDV, 2013

Public space system and sunken squares

Car access and incursion in the public space

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THEMES DEVELOPED IN THE PROJECT The strategies developed related to the urban architecture of the office buildings were developed based on different concepts. The functionality of an efficient interior of a typical office floor plan was combined with the compactness of an efficient facade resulting in the optimization of the building block.

Three different floor plan sizes, small, medium and large cube, were combined with different tower heights, from 4 to 8 stories, obtaining from one building family, an integrated unity and variety in the same urban ensemble. The office buildings are distributed in the plots in a way to configure in both an appropriate street facade along the Sheen Hong boulevard and shaped the inner public space configuring the both sunken squares with the aim to generate a diverse spatial experience different to the traditional gridded office parks. The facade pattern of the buildings was designed inspired by the traditional Chinese bamboo.

The building block configures the access to the underground square complemented with the commercial retail spaces connected at the same time with the office buildings transforming the interior circulations of the buildings in an extension of the public space connecting to the green roofs of the buildings. The “flower building� is a singular case where the rooftop configures an entire space which will serve as a jogging track.

The main pedestrian access to the project is connected directly with the metro station under the highway, integrating the public space system, squares and buildings.

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Functionality Efficient interior

Compactness Efficient facade

Optimization Efficient interior and facade

Different floor plans sizes S-M-L

Different heights

One building family Unity and variety

Typologies and building block strategies - Public space extension

Small cube (S)

Medium cube (M)

Large cube (L)

Floor plan types (S - M - L) - Public space extension

Traditional configuration Office towers

Compact Minimazing facade

Rotate Maximized views

Stagger Maximazing shading

Connect Maximizing flexibility

Open Public space

Building block configuration and open space integration (strategies)

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Standard office plan - typologies location

Source: © MVRDV, 2013

Hongqiao Central Business District Source: © MVRDV, 2013

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TWO PROJECTS OF REFERENCE For the critical comparison of the urban design strategies applied by MVRDV in the development of the design of the new Hongqiao Central Business District it is necessary the selection of the two projects of reference.

The PXP: The Shared City, a project developed by OMA and the UPV Munich designed by MVRDV, are the two projects of reference which address similar design themes and challenges that the Hongqiao Central Business District also designed by MVRDV. The critical comparison of the two projects of reference with the project of study explore similarities and differences in concepts and strategies applied to the design of the urban project to position the three projects in the contemporary discussion on architecture and urbanism.

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PXP: THE SHARED CITY - OMA Project Information

Designer: OMA. Location: Paris, France.

Year: 2015 - 2016.

Status: Competition.

Client: Gecina.

Surface: 50 531 m2.

Program: Mixed use.

• Offices: 24 486 m2.

• Parking: 14 797 m2.

• Hotel: 9 944 m2.

• Residential: 8 287 m2.

• Retail: 7 312 m2.

• Landscape: 3 985m²

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The project PXP: The shared city designed by OMA creates a new urban public space oriented to the interchange and innovation. The building is located in an area connected directly with the most important public spaces in Paris and with the business district of La Défense. The program of the project it is a mix of uses structure with the main urban systems of the Greater Paris.

“A / Social hub: The historic city of Paris, its agorà, its streets and its squares are based upon the concept of sharing. It is the reason for the city to exist: as a response to the need for citizens to gather, to exchange ideas, goods, and to find a place for representation. In order to stimulate the existing potentials of Paris and to create a new place where innovation can fully express and develop itself, PXP proposes the reinvention of urbanity through a unique architectural strategy. Four traditional types of courtyards are brought together, thus creating a diversity of floor plans, which range from generic to eccentric, and allow for different forms of colonization.

The result is an experimental alternation of identities: while the building extends continuously over the whole site, the diversity of courtyards provides the impression of a collection of architectures rather than a single mass.” [OMA, 2015].

The PXP project is located in an area of the city where is creating an attractor node for the surrounding trading, leisure, gathering and activities related to the urban space, which integrates the project with the existing bus station and the infrastructure crossing the area, a similar strategy applied in the design of the Hongqiao Central Business District which is connected with the train station, the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and the Shenbin boulevard. The challenge of the PXP is the articulation with the existing urban connections and the public transport system. As the Hongqiao Central Business District, the ground floor of the PXP was designed based on the theme permeability through fragmentation as a strategic operation, which allows the public space to go through the building connected with the surrounding neighborhood and the urban structures of the city. The strategies of fragmentation integrate the public space to the interior of the building.

The mixed of uses combines traditional programs as offices, housing, hotel, retail and parking with a interconnected system of collectives spaces, so called “shared spaces”, as the structure of the building generating a continuous flow of people among residents, users and people using the public space. Another similarity in the comparison of the design theme of the two projects is the creation of intimate public spaces, internal courtyards and squares integrated with the existing urban fabric of the city.

The sustainability and the landscape is another important common theme. In contrast the PXP project integrate planted courtyards and green facades, the rooftop of the building is dedicated exclusively to urban agriculture as a strategy to create a shared economy for the people living in the building. The aim of the designers is the achievement of a zero energy project in coherence with the sustainable dynamics of the Climate Plan, integrating solar technology and promoting new forms of mobility.

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Building blocks strategy and confuguration Source: © OMA, 2015

PXP: The shared city Source: © OMA, 2015

PXP: The shared city Source: © OMA, 2015 URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

UPV MUNICH - MVRDV Project Information

Designer: MVRDV. Location: Munich, Germany.

Year: 1999 - 2003.

Status: Completed.

Client: Merkur GmbH & Co., Munich, Germany.

Surface: 53.000 m2.

Program: Master plan including offices, public space and parking areas.

• Business park master plan: 23.000 m2.

• Parking areas: 44000 m2.

Budget: 21 Million EUR.

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In 1999 MVRDV won the competition for the design and development of the master plan for Unterföhring Park Village (UPV), a new office park located in a commercial area of a small municipality in the north east of Muchic. The master plan consist in the design of 19 office buildings accommodating the highest density and configuring a square as the main public space in the project.

The parking areas of the project are under the the entire area of the project, as in the design of the Hongqiao Central Business Distric, MVRDV use the strategic connection of the square to the parking areas, however the square is not for the use of cars, conceiving the square as the articulator of users, pedestrian and the public space system of the project. In contrast to the study case, the access of the car is restricted just for services purposes.

For this project the hierarchy of the spaces is different, the stratification of the spaces is clear, reflected in the creation of private gardens, lawns and terraces on the rooftop of the office buildings. The intervention in the existing neighborhood is complemented by trees and green edges articulated with the green belt which surrounded the neighborhood.

“The “Village” fills a central void in the commercial area of Unterföhring Park and thus becomes the new center. The master plan of Unterföhring Park Village will be realized in two phases. Four of the nine buildings in the first phase are planned by lauber architekten (Munich) and five by MVRDV. The houses vary in volume and façade material as determined by the master plan. This results in a heterogeneous ensemble, contrasting the large-scale projects in the neighborhood. A new community is growing out of a mix of various tenants and firms.” [MVRDV, 2016].

The main challenge in the design of the UPV Munich is similar to the one used in the Hongqiao Central Business Distric. The theme is the strategic articulation as an unit of the public space with different private uses as offices and commerce. In contrast to the first case analyzed, where the building blocks are part of a particular variation of one typology creating a dynamic unity, in this case the building blocks have a individual identity as particular units articulated by the public space and common collective areas.

“Interior City, a concept which grouped ten individual buildings of pure net area around five cores on a rectangular plot, interconnected by bridges and all held together by a glass cover. By separating the circulation from the net area, not only the buildings’ efficiency is increased, but also physical and visual connections between the buildings and workers are established.” [MVRDV, 2016].

MVRDV uses similar concepts to both project bringing the idea and principles of villages and city centers to the design of the office parks, paradoxically the projects are located in the outskirts and suburbs of the cities. The strategy is the use of these concepts to create a different and valuable atmosphere of urban life in these specific contexts.

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UPV Munich model Source: © MVRDV, 2003

UPV Munich public space and office buildings Source: © MVRDV, 2003

UPV Munich public space and office buildings Source: © MVRDV, 2003 URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

CONCLUSION After the exploration and analysis of the general information about the Hongqiao Central Business District in Shanghai and the identification of the design challenges and themes MVRDV addressed in the design and development of this urban project, it was elucidated the concepts and strategies and the way in which the design theme is addressed for the evaluation of the relevance and pertinence of the design theme in relation to the contemporary design discussion on architecture and urbanism.

The strategic character of the project is visible in the way how the intervention is the site is reinventing the urban life. The project is inserted in a site with specific conditions related to hard infrastructural elements directly related to important public transport system in the area. The strategy to reactivate the urban life is the creation of a dynamic public space articulated with the architectural elements and the insertion of new programs and uses to attract new users. The connection to a public transport system is strategically integrated to the project involving flows of people as potential users of the new public spaces.

MVRDV explore the creation of changes in the area with a minimum of operations, from the conception of the project the design process was focused in the public space as an articulator between the urban context and the new architectural elements, the integration and complementation of the strategy with the surrounding existing context is fundamental in the definition of the project as an attractor of people and a generator of urban life in the area.

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On the other hand the project develops a multi-scale public space system guiding the pedestrians through different levels and scales of public space integrated with the buildings. The car is an indispensable element in the contemporary world, despite the fact architects, designers and urban planners are trying to avoid the use of the car incentivizing the use of public transport system, one element that the project brings to the contemporary discussion about the city is the inclusion of the car as an element in the new developments. In this regard the project manage the possible evolution of the use of car conceiving a flexible idea about it integrating the car as a component of the public space system with the possibility to evolve according to the trends of the contemporary world regarding the sustainability of the urban environments.

The recreation of the positive aspects of a village or a city center for the generation of new urban life is one of the main strategies in the project located in a residential area characterized for the absence of uses and programs different to housing. However, as a critical analysis of this specific position of the designers it can be discussed the relevance or the pertinence of this kind of strategy as an attempt to emulate and bring concepts from the past, on one hand, it is interesting as an experiment to re-create and renovate traditional concepts hybridized with contemporary strategies and formalization of an urban project. The question is if this kind of strategies are still a valid, pertinent and relevant as a response to the contemporary needs, challenges and conditions of the urban contexts which the society is facing nowadays.

Related to the sustainability of the project, the designers involve in the design process different design disciplines from co-architects and co-designers natives from the site, as well as construction and research institutions, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and facade engineers, landscape architects and lighting and sustainability consultants. The sustainability of the project is defined by the multidisciplinary team lead by the Dutch architects. However, as the project is not complete yet, the real sustainability of the project beyond the technical issues will be visible when the second plot is completed.

In this moment the urban project seems to be designed according to the contemporary practice of the architecture and urban design. However the project is looking for a intervention in complex dynamics of the society, the re-definition and reformulation of urbanity and identity of the suburban context is a complete problem itself. The developed of the project and its completion of will show the real success of the strategy implemented for the designers and especially the performance and evolution of the project in time will demonstrate the real sustainability of the Hongqiao Central Business District. “People have to park a car and walk to the front door of the office like you do in a normal city, you walk out on the street and then you go into the building. You see colleagues, people from other companies, you see life on the street.�

Jacob van Rijs

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

ARCHDAILY, “Shanghai Hongqiao Airport Flower Building / MVRDV“, 2015, <http://www.archdaily. com/775389/shanghai-hongqiao-airport-flower-building-mvrdv>, June 1, 2016.

DESIGNBOOM, “CBD at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport under construction“, 2013, <http://www.designboom.com/architecture/mvrdv-cbd-at-shanghai-hongqiao-airport-under-construction/>, June 1, 2016.

DEZEEN, “Central Business District at Shanghai Honquiao Airport by MVRDV with Aedas“, 2013, <http:// www.dezeen.com/2013/04/24/central-business-district-at-shanghai-hongqiao-airport-by-mvrdvand-aedas/>, June 1, 2016.

DEZEEN, “MVRDV’s “office village” avoids business park cliches says Jacob van Rijs“, 2015, <http:// www.dezeen.com/2015/07/07/mvrdv-office-village-upv-munich-complex-jacob-van-rijs-movie/>, June 1, 2016.

INHABITAT, “MVRDV breaks ground on green-roofed Business District at Shanghai Honquiao Airport“, 2013, <http://inhabitat.com/mvrdv-breaks-ground-on-green-roofed-business-district-at-shanghaihongqiao-airport/>, June 1, 2016.

MVRDV, “Construction of the Honquiao Central Business District continues in Shanghai“, 2014, <https:// www.mvrdv.nl/en/news/HongqiaoCBD>, June 1, 2016.

MVRDV, “Hongquiao CBD“, 2013, <https://www.mvrdv.com/projects/hongqiao-cbd>, June 1, 2016.

MVRDV, “Hongquiao Flower Building“, 2013, <https://www.mvrdv.com/en/projects/hongqiao-flower-building>, June 1, 2016.

MVRDV, “MVRDV completes Flower building: First phase of sustainable business park at Shanghai Honquiao Airport“, 2015, <https://www.mvrdv.nl/en/news/mvrdv-completes-flower-building>, June 1, 2016.

MVRDV, “UPV Munich“, 2003, <https://www.mvrdv.nl/projects/upv>, June 1, 2016.

OMA, “PXP“, 2015, <http://oma.eu/projects/pxp>, June 1, 2016.

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Source: © MVRDV, 2013 URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES