Pengyu Chen. Density, Proximity and Temporality.

AAPC2018

Density, Proximity and Temporality -Forms of Collective Living of New Workers in Beijing in the Context of Production Transformation

Pengyu Chen 2020

Content

Content Abstract

1

Introduction

2

The current urbanisation problem and the government’s reaction New workers

Architectural Association School of Architecture

- Defining the subject

- Working conditions: long working hours and unstable working conditions

- Age

Graduate School Programmes

- Living conditions: Sharing conflict and loneliness

Coversheet for Submission, 2018-2020

Government initiative in providing housing for workers Existing dominant forms of rental housing and their associated problems

Program: Projective Cities, Taught MPhil in Architecture and Urban design

Design criteria

Term: Term 5/ Dissertation

Research aims, methods, objectives and questions

Student name: Pengyu Chen Submission title: Density, Proximity and Temporality

- Forms of Collective Living of New Workers in Beijing in the Context of Production Transformation

Course title: Dissertation Course tutors: Sam Jacoby

Platon Issaias

Hamed Khosravi

Doreen Bernath

Raul Pere Avilla

Cristina Gamboa

Mark Campbell

Chapter 1 The individual unit Design proposal of the individual unit

- Sameness

- Flexible space

- Private space

- The domestic functions of the individual unit - Size

Chapter 2 Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation Design of the communal space to increase its adaptability to new inhabitants

- Connection between individuals

Declaration: “I certify that this piece of work is entirely my own and that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or

- Case study: 706 Youth Space and lifelab

unpublished work of others is duly acknowledged.”

The spatial quality of the group communal space

Submission date: 01/06/2020

Signature: Date:01/06/2020

28

- New scale and new way of collective living- the Interest-based groups

- Case study: Cluster plan typology

The community beyond the group

46

Content

Chapter 3 The urban network

66

Identifying the spatial urban problem: Separation from the city Development model Design proposal for the four site types

- Type 1

- Type 3

- Type 2 - Type 4

A new workers’ community on the urban scale

Chapter 4 Design experiment and reflection

80

Site selection Design brief Application Structure system Individual unit Grouping Domestic core Intermediate outdoor space and vertical circulation Site strategy

- Ground floor - Roof garden

Way of living in the complex Reflection

Conclusion

112

Bibliography

118

Abstract

Abstract

Abstract

This research explores new forms of dwellings for a rising social group: the workers that have emerged from the shifting of the urban planning in the metropolitan environment of Beijing. The overheated real estate market has quickly consumed the buildable areas of Beijing and made the typical nuclearfamily apartment the dominant housing type. The municipality of Beijing and the market have failed to appreciate the changing demographics of residents and are continuing to develop the nuclear-family apartment type. This has resulted in two challenging phenomena for new workers in Beijing: scarce rental options in close proximity to workplaces and recreational spaces and the unmatched domestic type.

This research aims to identify this neglected social group, new workers, and explore new forms of dwellings and collective living in the metropolitan environment. In contrast to the dwelling form of the nuclear family as a social unit or stable communities stay the same for decades, the form of dwelling suitable for the highly atomised and mobilised subject should create new social relations that align with the workers’ needs and lifestyles.

On the scale of the housing unit, the collective space and the city, this research proposes a new form of dwelling that satisfies the new workers’ lifestyles and basic daily needs, creates a sense of identity for new workers as a cohesive community and forms a flexible network of living complexes on the urban scale.

1

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

the influx of migrant workers. Yet the question of housing for migrant workers has been largely neglected by public housing policies. While what constitutes the category of “migrant workers” has changed considerably across the

PHENOMENON: PHENOMENON: URBAN PHENOMENON: PHENOMENON: EXPANSION URBAN PHENOMENON: URBAN EXPANSION URBAN EXPANSION URBAN EXPANSION EXPANSION

previous few decades, the lack of recognition and subsequent vulnerability of this large population within the city has persisted. Due to the reluctance

PHENOMENON: URBAN EXPANSION

of policy-makers and housing developers to respond to prevailing conditions and demands for suitable dwellings for migrant workers, little is known about this group beyond the statistics (according to which they are deemed to be “problems”) and contingent on the rental market (in which workers are

The current urbanisation problem and the government’s reaction

In the last thirty years, the population of Beijing has doubled mainly due to

prone to “exploitation”). Understanding of their current living situations, social backgrounds and emerging lifestyles remains patchy and largely informal due to the lack of systematic observation and engagement. Migrant workers are thus viewed not as subjects but simply as problematic numbers despite their immense contribution to the growth of the mega-metropolis. They must 1990 571 km2

1990 571 km2

1990 2005 1990 571 km2 1423571 km2 km2 2000

1990 2005 2010 1990 2005 1990 20052010 2005 571 km2 6421km2 km2 571 1423 km2km2 571 km2 14236421 km2km2 1423 km2 1423

2005 1423 km2

2010 2005 2010 2017 2010 2017 2010 2017 2017 2017 2017 6421 km2 16411 km2 1423 km26421 km2 6421 16411 km2 km2 16411 6421km2 km2 16411 km2 16411 km2 16411 km2

2010 6421 km2

The transformation created a phenomenon called "摊大饼" a The transformation The transformation created The a phenomenon transformation created The transformation acalled phenomenon The created transformation "摊大饼" a phenomenon created called a acreated "摊大饼" phenomenon called a phenomenon aand "摊大饼" called urban "摊大饼" acalled "摊大饼" a basedaon real estate unstoppable chaotic expansion Population: 10.8 million Population: 13.8 million unstoppable unstoppable chaotic urban unstoppable and expansion chaotic unstoppable urban based chaotic unstoppable expansion onand real urban chaotic estate based and expansion chaotic urban ondevelopment. real expansion based urban estateon expansion real based estate onbased real estate on real estate Migrants: 0.5and million Migrants: 2.6and million

development. development. development. development. development.

2017 16411 km2

Population: 21.8 million Migrants: 8.0 million

cope with the deteriorating living conditions of Beijing’s overheated real estate market, housing shortages and urban sprawl. On the one hand, the hiked prices of city centre real estate meant increasing difficulty in finding affordable housing options for migrant workers and problems of illegal housing. On the other hand, the city cannot provide sufficient transportation infrastructure within its extended territory to support the daily commute of the majority of workers living the peripheral area.

At the crux of Beijing’s decision to develop large, multiple sub-centres to mitigate the housing crisis in its congested centre and sprawling peripheries is the introduction of the category of the “New Beijinger” to broaden the eligibility for public rental housing and the question of housing for migrant workers, which requires urgent, proactive studies and responses. The lives of migrant workers often do not adhere to traditional or conventional ‘family’ patterns, pulled as they are between highly individualised and highly sociable/networked states.

They are forced to be mobile, flexible and adaptable in both employment

Urban and population growth in the past 30 years

and living conditions and this has given rise to a dynamic picture of urban relations. This thesis attempts to unravel these relations and argues that this

4

5

Introduction

Introduction

situation should be viewed as an opportunity for the metropolis in the face of urban, production and social transformations. By coming to terms with some of the unique characteristics of the migrant worker population and the short and long-term communities they create, including issues of individuality and collectivity, modes of working and living, self-initiated spatial transformations and social networks and identities, this thesis further argues for new forms of spatial collectivity and relations that would in turn contribute to the sociocultural, creativity and productivity of Beijing in its future development.

state that “The government now encourages rural labor to reside in small and medium-sized cities and towns…At the same time, very large cities still need labor but this is more likely to be either in the service sector or in highly

New Workers

In the book Chinese Urban Transformation: A tale of six cities, the authors

specialized employment opportunities.”1 The new urban planning of Beijing is also implementing this intention. With transforming into a multi-center 1.Yuanzhi Chen, Alan, and Lisheng He, Chinese Urban

population in the related industries to the sub-center, except for technology,

2018), pp.9.

No stable job

need to reconceptualise their migrant workers since the labour directed

Domestic service Transportation

toward traditional industrial production is shifting to work in the technology

Production

and service industries. In the case of Beijing, following new urban planning

Delivery Small business Security

initiatives, workers are now composed of both well-educated professionals

Construction No stable job

employed in the technology, culture and finance industries and service

Decoration

workers who support these professionals’ life. The number of service workers

Civil servant service Domestic

in urban areas has increased significantly since 2012 and they are likely to be

Cleaning

Transportation Others

employed as technical personnel, food delivery staff and cleaners. Over the

Restaurant

Production Business

same period, the percentage of migrant workers employed in manufacturing, shops, construction and restaurants has decreased. This introduction

Professional technician Security Other business and service

Small business

concludes with a sketch of the characteristics of “new workers”. As explained 0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Construction

aligned with Beijing’s industry structure plan…In terms of education level, college-graduate workers mainly work in information transmission, software

Civil servant Others

and information technology services, computers and communication electronic Urban transformation scheme diagram (Top) Profession change from 2012 - 2017 (Bottom) Private space

Business

(Tianjin: Social Sciences Academic Press (China)(社会科学文献出版社), 2019), pp.27.

Professional technician

equipment production, finance, education, sales, etc.”2 Although these

Private facilities

source: Xiaohong Ma, Deting Yi, and Xiaoliang Hong, Research Report on Population Development in Beijing(2019)(北 Restaurant 京人口发展研究报告(2019))

in a report on population development in Beijing, new workers’ “jobs tend to be more professional and the entire occupation structure has become more

Decoration Cleaning

Transformation: A Tale of Six Cities (London: RIBA Publishing,

culture related, and financial related industries. Chinese metropolises urgently

Delivery

6

metropolises, the new urban planning is also transferring industries and

7

Introduction

Introduction

characteristics are not unique to migrant workers, Beijing’s working population is largely composed of migrant workers. Additionally, the occupation changes of migrant workers in the city reflect general changes to work in Beijing. With Beijing’s advanced educational resources, it will continue to attract a steady

2. Xiaohong Ma, Deting Yi, and Xiaoliang Hong, Research Report on Population Development in Beijing (2019)(北京人口发展 研究报告(2019))

(Tianjin: Social Sciences Academic Press (China)

(社会科学文献出版社), 2019).

influx of well-educated workers.

Defining the subject This research focuses on the specific social group of new migrant workers who are finding it difficult to live and work in cities. Hence, the term “new workers” in this research highlights two key aspects of this group. On the one hand, it represents the new type of working class of Beijing under the influence of Beijing’s new urban planning model. On the other hand, it highlights a population who are newly graduated or arrived in the city. This definition emphasises the “new workers” who are neglected by the government when providing housing for “New Beijingers”.

Age The new workers explored in this research are young professionals aged in their 20s and 30s. These parameters are not intended to suggest that no one outside this age range can be described as a new worker but is used to focus on the age range that best represents this social group.

Working conditions - long working hours and unstable working conditions Although the majority of new workers work the standard eight-hour working day,3 exhaustively long working hours also exist, especially for workers in the internet industry who often have to endure the notorious “996” culture cause

3. ‘Labour Law of the People’s Republic of China_National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China website’ (‘ 中华人民共和国劳动法_中国人大网’),

accessed 4 May 2020,

by a competitive job market and pressure to live in the city. “996” refers to a schedule of office hours running from 9 am to 9 pm six days a week. In March 2019, a project called “996.ICU” was launched on GitHub to protest against the “996” expectations of Chinese internet companies and it instantly attracted the attention of programmers worldwide.4 In Chinese internet companies, exploitive workplace cultures and a competitive job market have forced

4. ‘996.ICU’, Developers’ Lifes Matter, accessed 20 April 2020, https://996.icu.

workers to accept long working hours without any form of compensation.

This is especially the case for young workers who have recently joined the Photo of a late-night meeting from Jack Ma’s weibo, when he posted his opinion on 996

8

source: https://medium.com/@ming_ma/996-85f6cf76d44b

company. For an article in The New York Times, engineer Zhuge explains, “My

9

Introduction

Introduction

colleagues are too afraid to go home after work…As a junior employee, I can’t

considered response to the conflicts that can arise between tenants, landlords

be the first to leave.” The late-night cabs waiting outside internet companies

and rental agencies typically simply create more isolated private rooms in

and the abundant food deliveries to these workers are indications of the

an existing apartment. Thus tenants, although they live under the same roof,

prevailing “996” culture.

remain relative strangers to each other. Additionally, the majority of workers

Apart from the considerable number of workers in the internet industry, some

in Beijing are migrant workers whose only social circle, if they have one, is

new workers are freelancers pursuing work as writers, photographers, vloggers

connected to their university. As exhausting working hours prevent them

and shop owners, for example, who are also part of the internet and cultural

from seeking out opportunities to enlarge their social circle, they often seek

industry of Beijing. The flexible nature of their jobs creates interesting working

consolation online. However, while the internet may connect people virtually,

conditions where they do not need to consider issues of proximity between

in reality, it does not reduce workers’ loneliness and can further alienate

their working and living areas. However, counterintuitively, these workers

them from their fellow tenants. In Adrian S. Franklin’s article On Loneliness,

move home even more frequently than people in regular employment because

he explains, “Individuals only experience the relations while online, which is

of increasing rents. In an interview by Caixin, a freelance photographer was

an extreme contrast to the social bond that endures, without inconstancy,

found to have moved an astonishing eight times in three years.6 Freelancers’

irrespective of the intensity of interaction, juxtaposition, absence or presence.

unstable income makes them more vulnerable to rent changes and more

Despite this, the Internet is used a great deal for social interaction”.9 Thus,

cautious about committing to rental properties.

while the internet is convenient for information exchange and can connect

5

5. Lin Qiqing and Raymond Zhong, ‘“996” Is China’s Version of Hustle Culture. Tech Workers Are Sick of It.’, The New York Times, 29 April 2019, sec. Technology, https://www.nytimes. com/2019/04/29/technology/china-996-jack-ma.html.

6. 【Micro record】Beijing tenants-Rental condtions of Beijing migrant workers_video chanel_Caixin.net (‘【微纪录】北京租客—— 北漂们的租房百态_视听频道_财新网’

), accessed 20 April 2020, http://

video.caixin.com/2018-09-29/101331327.html.

7. ‘2018 young people rental big data report | CBNData’ (‘2018 年轻人租房大数据报告

| CBNData’), accessed 20 July 2019,

https://www.cbndata.com/report/1161/detail?isReading=report&page=1.

9. Adrian S. Franklin, ‘On Loneliness’, Geografiska Annaler.

Series B, Human Geography 91, no. 4 (2009): 343–54.

people who are geographically distant or housebound, it is no replacement for Living conditions: Sharing conflict and loneliness

real-world interactions and bonds between people.

A look at the rental market offers insights into the living condition of new

The conflict and loneliness that can result from sharing an apartment cannot

workers. Based on the “2018 Young People Rental Big Data Report” published

be resolved by the existing apartment types in the Beijing housing market as

by the online rental agency Baletu, in China major cities, 51% of tenants are

they have been created uniquely to cater to nuclear families and co-habiting

single, 44% are in a couple and only 5% being married with children.7 Since

issues are thus inherent in these properties. The nuclear-family apartment

young people cannot afford to rent a whole apartment by themselves or are

type does not aim to create any sort of collectivity among inhabitants. Being

unwilling to spend more than a third of their income on rent, they tend to share

unable to connect with fellow tenants leads tenants to spend most of their time

an apartment with other tenants. The research by Baletu shows that more

in their room in the apartment, alone.

than 80% of young people are sharing an apartment for economic reasons.

The rate of apartment-sharing drops for people born in the 1970s since they 8. Ibid.

are more economically self-sufficient.8 Since apartment-sharing is driven by economic reasons rather than choice, this type of living situation can give rise to conflict and few if any benefits (beyond the financial). With different schedules, diverging interests and multiple nonshared daily needs, co-habiting tenants are unlikely to find their needs met by the domestic facilities of the apartment. Without a collective form of dwelling, cooking, bathing and use of the living room must be constantly negotiated and compromises made.

Moreover, because apartment-sharing is not pursued based on any similarity between tenants, it also raises the problem of loneliness. As a knee-jerk, ill-

10

11

Introduction

Introduction

government has started to recognise the housing problems being faced by migrant workers. In recent years, Beijing has published public policies designed to provide housing for non-Beijing residence workers to supplement the urban and production shift. On 7 April 2017, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (北京市住房和城乡建设委员会) provided housing for non-Beijing residence workers for the first time. The associated policy also proposed a new term, “New Beijinger” (新北京人), to define who is eligible to apply for public rental housing. In the policy, a New

Government initiative in providing housing for workers

With the implementation of new urban planning initiatives, the Chinese

Beijinger is defined as a “Non-Beijing resident with stable employment in the city (for more than five years) without housing”.10 In September 2017, Beijing

10. ‘Announcement of starting rental of two public rental housing

Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources (北京市规划和

for no housing worker citizens and New Beijingers’(‘关于燕保·马

自然资源委员会) published the Beijing Urban Planning (2016-2035), which promises to provide 1.5 million apartments with a proportion of this housing

projects including Yanbao,Maquanying and Yanbao, Gaomidian 泉营家园、燕保·高米店家园两个公租房项目面向本市户籍无房职工和新北 京人无房职工开展配租的公告’),

accessed 5 March 2020, http://zjw.

beijing.gov.cn/bjjs/xxgk/gsgg/419598/index.shtml.

being earmarked for New Beijingers.11 In the case of the Zhongguancun

11. ‘Catalogue_ Beijing urban planning(2016-2035)_Beijing Mu-

Dongsheng Technology Industrial Park Rental Housing Project, of the 1,101

京城市总体规划（2016年—2035年）_北京市规划和自然资源委员会’),

apartment constructed, 366 apartments are available as public rental housing.

12

Despite the commitment to allocate 30% of newly-developed public rental housing to New Beijingers, with eight million non-Beijing residents in the city,

nicipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources’ (‘目录_北 ac-

cessed 5 May 2020, http://ghzrzyw.beijing.gov.cn/zhengwuxinxi/ zxzt/bjcsztgh20162035/202001/t20200102_1554613.html.

12. 1Beijing Haidian rural collective land rental housing project start- Xinhua.net’ (‘北京海淀集体土地租赁房项目开工-新华网’), accessed 5 March 2020, http://www.xinhuanet.com/house/201905-27/c_1124544022.htm.

this is just a drop in the ocean. More importantly, despite the government’s attempts to resolve the housing issue for migrant workers, it has failed to recognise other vulnerable social groups that fall outside the definition of New Beijinger but are instrumental to Beijing’s development plan. For example, young people who have recently graduated from university or just started their career in the city are ineligible to apply for public rental housing. With high consumption rates and increasingly elevated rents, these individuals are struggling to afford life in Beijing. The population displacement to subcentres is especially brutal for this social group. Without new policies, these new workers remain locked into work in the city centre but are simultaneously forced to reside in more suburban areas of the city. The problem of the separation between life and work thus remains unresolved and places substantial pressure on public transportation infrastructure.

Zhongguancun Dongsheng technology industrial park long-term rental housing project (中关村东升科技园园区集体租赁住房项目)

12

source: https://www.sohu.com/a/368470669_99906749

13

Introduction

Introduction

to apartment-sharing in huge numbers. Apartment-sharing is also being driven by the options in the rental market. There are three major forms of rental housing in the market.

Typical nuclear-family apartment The first type is a traditional apartment that can be rented either through a rental agency or directly from the landlord. These apartments have been designed for use by nuclear families, are more than 100 m2 in size and feature two to four bedrooms. In recent years, smaller apartments of under 100 m2 with one to two bedrooms have become available. These apartments are intended for 99 m²

109 m²

152 m²

use by young couples or families who cannot afford a larger apartment. Both

Existing dominant forms of rental housing and their associated problems

With increasing rents and modest salaries, new workers in Beijing have turned

the typical nuclear-family apartment and the new smaller apartment type are still too large and expensive for singles or couples to afford the rent. Most young people will thus choose to rent a room from a family or several tenants will share one apartment between them.

This dominant housing type has clear limitations as a shared apartment.

Nuclear-family apartments are often composed of one to four rooms, which are transformed into private rooms for tenants, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom which all tenants must share. The private rooms have enough space to provide tenants with space to sleep and relax but they are still only bedrooms with no attached bathroom or dedicated recreation space. The large size of the bedrooms also limits the individuals or couples’ willingness to use the communal space. The room with private bathroom are also the main bedroom of the original apartment. The room will be larger than other rooms.

The varieties in room types doer not give much options for the tenants. The 95 m²

147 m²

178 m²

tenants only have choice of a small room or a large room with toilet whether they need the extra space or need the bathroom.

The living room and the kitchen are usually constructed as a central space that connects the private rooms. However, this shared space is limited,

2-bedroom apartment

3-bedroom apartment

4-bedroom apartment

particularly when it must accommodate the different activities of several people simultaneously. The diverse schedules of individuals mean they are unable to live like a nuclear family and do most activities together. The other option for apartment-sharers is for only one person to use the shared space at a time, with other tenants being pushed into their rooms. This not only does

0

14

10m

Examples of nuclear family apartment type

not facilitate collective life but can also create conflict between tenants.

15

Introduction

Introduction

Communal Space

Private Space

Circulation

Domestic Facilities (communal/private)

Waste Space

0

16

Analysis of nuclear family apartment

10m

Communal space

Private space

Circulation

Collective facilities

Private facilities

Waste space

17

Introduction

Introduction

The amount of the communal domestic facilities and private domestic facilities are not proportional to the amount of tenants. The bathroom and the kitchen designed in the communal space was only designed to support the life of one household of 3 people. However, the apartment can be rented to 2-4 households with 3-6 people. The communal domestics facilities, especially the bathroom are not able to support the life of the tenants.Also, the circulation of the apartment also not design to form interactions between the inhabitants.

From the entrance, all the tenant can go directly back to their units without crossing over other tenants.

In addition, tenants’ apartment-sharing status is not stable. It is not uncommon for changes in employment and relocation decisions to prompt tenants to sublet their rooms on social media networks. Thus, even if a tenant commits to a rental agreement, annual rent increases and changes in personal situations can force tenants to move on. Moreover, frequent changes of tenants in a single apartment make it difficult for apartment-sharers to form relationships and may make them reluctant to even seek to make these connections.

14 m² 10 m²

16 m²

16 m²

8.5 m²

5 m²

Scattered long- term rental apartments are provided by rental agencies. The rental agency rents the apartment from the landlord then refurbishes it and

13 m² 26 m² 12 m²

Scattered long-term rental apartment（分散式长租公寓）

18 m²

19 m²

14.5 m²

19 m²

partitions it to create multiple individual rooms with a shared living room, bathroom, kitchen and dining room. The rental agency generates profits by charging more for renovated rooms and by renting apartments to more tenants thanks to the additional rooms created by partitioning existing spaces.

Although the apartment is renovated and partitioned to make it more suitable

14 m² 10 m²

for rental to singles or couples, conflicts between tenants still exist due to the high number of people living in the one space and sharing facilities. Tenants in

16 m²

this type of apartment face the same conditions as those who share a nuclear-

16 m² 26 m² 12 m²

18 m²

family apartment. The central communal space is not suitable to contain

19 m²

14.5 m²

19 m²

multiple activities and the communal domestic facilities are not enough to support their life. As a form of cluster apartment, the layout of scattered longterm rental apartments does nothing to reduce domestic conflicts or facilitate the development of relationships between tenants. Furthermore, to maximise profit, many rental agencies will partition as many rooms as possible, creating small and low-quality private and shared areas.

0

18

Scattered long-term apartment

10m

Communal space

Private space

Kitchen

Toilet

19

Introduction

Introduction

Shared bathroom

unit size: 21 m²

unit size: 7 m² (single room)

unit size: 16 m²

unit size: 17 m²

Studio with bathroom and kitchenette

unit size: 18 m²

unit size: 21 m²

unit size: 25 m²

Concentrated long-term rental apartment（集中式长租公寓） The concentrated long-term rental apartment takes the form of an individual

One-bedroom apartment with bathroom, kitchen and livingroom

apartment building built or renovated by a rental agency. Each tenant in a concentrated long-term apartment has an individual unit of one of various types, from a room with only a bed and shared bathroom, to a studio with a bathroom and kitchenette and even a miniature apartment. There are unit size: 40 m²

unit size: 60 m²

13.’ 2018 young people rental big data report | CBNData’ (‘2018年轻人租房大数据报告| CBNData), accessed 20 July 2019, https://www.cbndata.com/report/1161/detail?isReading=report&page=1.

also inexpensive units that hold multiple bunkbeds with a shared bathroom.

These apartment buildings have communal facilities such as a lobby, gym, study room, laundry room and roof garden. The rental agency uses the common facilities to attract tenants by projecting an image of a new and desirable lifestyle for young people with a social lifestyle and better housing standards and services. Similar to the hotel-type housing of the 20th century

One-bedroom apartment with bathroom, kitchen, livingroom and balcony

with individual rooms and centralised services, these rental apartments are usually expensive to target well-paid upper-middle-class white-collar workers.

Looking at the map of the concentrated long-term rental housing of Ziru, it can be seen that most housing is near the main working area and are priced from ￥5,000 to as much as ￥9,500. From the research done by Tubatu into unit size: 40 m²

0

Kitchenette

the rental conditions of young people, most young tenants make a salary of ￥5,000-12,000 per month and spend ￥1,000-4,000 of this on rent monthly.13

Thus, concentrated long-term rental housing is not affordable for the majority

Private domestic facilities analysis

10m

Bathroom

20

unit size: 88 m²

of young workers.

Balcony

21

30

Introduction

25

20

亚运村（Yayuncun） unit size: 21 m² Studio with bathroom and kitchenette

￥7000

将府（Jiangfu） unit size: 60 m²

Studio with bathroom and kitchenette

One-bedroom apartment with bathroom, kitchen and livingroom

￥8500

￥6200

15

北京上地凌云自如寓

将府（Jiangfu） unit size: 25 m²

北京望京阳光自如寓

10 亚运村（Yayuncun） 北京亚运村15自如寓

unit size: 40 m² 北京将府全智能自如寓

One-bedroom apartment with bathroom and kitchenette

￥8400

5

北京西直门梧桐自如寓

将府（Jiangfu）

将府（Jiangfu）

unit size: 40 m²

unit size: 88 m²

Studio with bathroom, kitchenette, and balcony

One-bedroom apartment with bathroom, kitchen, livingroom and balcony

￥6500

￥9500

0

北京建国门和平自如寓

自如城市之光

5

北京欢乐谷工场自如寓

北京Meeta自如寓

建国门 (Jianguomen)

建国门 (Jianguomen)

unit size: 16 m²

unit size: 17 m²

unit size: 18 m²

Studio with bathroom and kitchenette

Studio with bathroom and kitchenette

Studio with bathroom and kitchenette

10

建国门 (Jianguomen)

￥7000

City light (城市之光) unit size: 21 m²

15

6 bunkerbed with shared bathroom

￥1700

20

Meeta (Meeta)

Concentrated long-term apartment Analysis

0

10m

unit size: 7 m² (single room) 2 single room with shared bathroom

￥2000

23 25

Introduction

Introduction

On the scale of individual units, the variations in unit types are not intended to cater to different lifestyles but to maximise profit by providing units of varying affordability. Taking Ziru as an example, the dominant type of unit is the studio, sized at around 20-30 m2 and featuring a bathroom and a kitchenette. There are also more luxury units, which constitute miniature apartments of 88 m2 in the Wangjing area which is a popular working and residential area that is home to a large number of North Koreans. However, there is also housing in more peripheral areas where units as small as 7 m2 are offered or units with six bunkbeds in one same room and a shared bathroom. These bunkbed units are offered at a lower price of around ￥2,000-￥3,000 per month. These units are targeted at tenants who are willing to put up with lower living standards and longer commute times for lower rent. It can be argued that it is nice to see a wide range of room types available for tenants with different needs and budgets. However, the variations in the size of units are designed to extract money from a wider range of tenants. When analysing the size of the unit in relation to the location of the unit types, it is clear that the smaller units are all located in the more peripheral areas for tenants with less income and the larger size apartments are closer to the city centre and offer closer proximity to work for the upper middle class. Also, the individual units provide most, if not all, of the domestic functions a tenant will need, including a washing machine, which may be considered a luxury by many.

On the scale of the communal space, the common facilities of these apartment types do not bring people together as advertised but are more to satisfy cultural trends among well-paid young professionals who are considered to be eager to experience something “new”. Additionally, these facilities exploit Bonself

YOU+ Shenzhen Qianhai Youth Community

（远洋邦舍）

（YOU+深圳前海梦工场项目）

the loneliness and lack of community experienced by this group to attract them. With the larger individual units covering all the domestic needs of the inhabitants and abundant space offered in private rooms, there is no need for tenants to leave their individual units and use the communal lobby or study room. Also, the individual rooms are organised and connected through corridors with the communal spaces located on the ground floor and the roof garden. This does not promote interactions and encounters between tenants and thus does not achieve the communal life these buildings advertise.

Examples of long-term rental apartments in China by MAT

24

source: http://www.matoffice.com/

25

Introduction

Introduction

limitations when it comes to their ability to be adapted to new workers and to help this group form a community. Based on the needs and the lifestyles of new workers, a new form of dwelling should be proposed to cater to this unique group. At the scales of the unit, communal space and the city, the new proposal should respond to new workers’ current situation and define their individual and collective lives. In particular, the proposal should respond to issues around life-work separation, separation from urban life and the group’s lack of identity as a community.

On the scale of the unit, individual units should provide reasonable functionality based on the fundamental needs of new workers rather than providing all domestic functions. The functions covered in the individual unit should also consider the relationship between the individual and the collective and how to help the individual embrace collective living. The size of the unit should not be focused on maximising rents but be based on how to provide new workers with sufficient space to ensure their privacy, form their identity and encourage collective living. The individual unit should also be designed in response to the larger collective living system that support a new form of dwelling that different from the private room in the nuclear family apartment.

The communal space should not be designed as a unified central space as it is in nuclear-family apartments but should be designed to reduce domestic conflicts and form a new way for individuals to live collectively. The communal space should also consider how to cater to an atomised social group and help them to quickly become part of a community. The centralized living room and dining room are not suitable to contain the dynamic social group. The communal domestic facilities should be addressing the way of living of the group and to support their daily life and collective life.

On the urban scale, the design proposal should respond to the problem of lifework separation, separation from urban public space in the city centre and the lack of recognition of new workers as a community in the urban environment.

Based on the existing and development after the urban transformation, a new system of living can be proposed on the scale of the city. On the urban scale, the proposal should also respond to Beijing’s new urban planning which has had a huge influence on new workers.

Countries worldwide have endeavoured to provide housing for their workers

over the years. Moreover, there are contemporary examples in northern Europe of governments attempting to formulate new forms of collective living

in response to demographic changes and evolving social patterns, such as

constructing smaller households other than that of the typical nuclear family

type. However, what is the form of dwelling that should be provided for new workers in contemporary Beijing?

This dissertation aims to recognise and explore the neglected social group of new workers, to search for new forms of dwelling for this group that emphasise

Research aims, methods, objectives and questions

Design criteria

The three aforementioned rental housing types in Beijing all suffer from

collective living and to explore urban planning strategies that can make the urban environment more adaptable to new workers and densify the urban

condition. Through the investigation of related policies, new workers’ current housing situation and the design proposal and experiment on the scale of

the unit, communal space and city, this dissertation will respond to Beijing’s

real estate market, the uneven distribution of urban density in Beijing and the consumerism that has gentrified cultural life and leisure time in the city.

Objectives

- To study the current living and working conditions of new workers in

- To analyse the current urban situation in Beijing and propose a

- To propose a design for an alternative form of living for new workers

relation to housing.

design that can be adapted to different urban environments.

based on their needs and lifestyles and to help them to construct a community that represents their identity.

Research questions Disciplinary question:

What is the role of housing in responding to the migration of workers against the backdrop of production transformation?

Urban question:

How can a design respond to a fluid housing system on the urban scale with consideration of providing residential infrastructure and public space in diverse urban conditions?

Typological question:

What is the typology that emerges from new workers’ living and working conditions and needs and will provide high-density housing and support the possibility of forming collective life with these workers’ diverse lifestyles, daily routines and residence time?

26

27

Chapter 1 The Individuality Unit

The individual unit

The individual unit

Chapter 1 The individual unit

The scale of the individual unit is what best represents new workers’ atomised quality and their basic needs as a social group. This new social group is highly atomised and individualised compared with the permanent communities formed by stable nuclear families. The forms of dwelling that would be appropriate for new workers will thus be fundamentally different from the apartment typology designed for the nuclear family and dwelling type and lifestyle must be considered together. To date, neither the market nor the new long-term rental housing policy have provided suitable propositions for housing the new workers.

The majority of the rental apartments on the market is still the typical nuclearfamily type. Although the long-term rental apartments managed by rental agencies have already taken a step forward trying to focus on new workers, the individual unit is still either a bedroom in a typical nuclear-family apartment or a studio with a bathroom and kitchenette, which is a miniature apartment. This phenomenon is exactly what Karel Teige described in The Minimum Dwelling as the reduction of the family apartment. Teige claims that “the problem of the minimum dwelling could not be solved by the mere reduction and simplification of the floor plan of the large apartments of the wealthy, whether traditional or modernized.�14 He believes that with the change of the social structure, the increasing demand for housing cannot be satisfied simply by reducing the size

14. Teige Karel, The Minimum Dwelling (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2002), pp.239.

of bourgeois apartments without compromising living standards. By reducing the size of the nuclear-family apartment, the mechanism of the apartment remains unchanged and, hence, is not adaptable to the life of a different subject in a different time/context. The highly market-driven rental apartment environment of Beijing is unconcerned with finding the ideal dwelling for a new social group or forming a new way of life for them.

Importantly, with the involvement of private developers, the construction of long-term rental housing in rural construction land projects have done little to redress the balance and most housing is still composed of large apartments designed for the nuclear family. Since private developers already have a system of apartment types and schemes that can ensure that they will profit from a project, they are reluctant to construct new types of apartments or

30

31

The individual unit

The individual unit

spend resources designing new housing options. Nonetheless, the typical nuclear-family apartment remains unable to provide either the appropriate space or layout to accommodate new workers individually or as a collective. sleeping

dressing

private time

working

collection

Instead, new workers are adapting themselves to the nuclear-family domestic space.

What would be most suitable for new workers would be to provide each tenant with their own room to satisfy their need for privacy and to then organise

private space

communal spaces to encourage collective living. This would offer tenants abundant domestic and cultural functions together efficiently.

aspects: 1. to consider the basic needs of the new workers; 2. to identify what the boundary of sharing; and 3. To increase the density.

In the design proposal, the individual unit is intentionally designed for singles or couples as this living situation reflects most new workers. However, it does not exclude the possibility that the unit can be occupied by a family. With a combination of units available, families can also adapt to life in the new dwelling type. This design proposal intends to provide unit types that suit the majority

Design proposal of individual unit

The design of the individual unit focuses on the following three essential

of new workers but that are lacking in the rental market. Moreover, these units also promote a way of living that undermines the idea of the nuclear family as the only basic social unit of production. While the units can be adapted to family life, the typology is significantly different from the typology of the typical nuclear-family apartment in terms of spatial organisation and function to further deconstruct the idea of private family life.

Uniformity home workout

communication

sharing

co-working

- ensuring the equality of all individual units The design proposes to allow each inhabitant to choose an individual unit in the system. All the inhabitant will have the individual unit with exact same

flexible space

volume in the system. The individual units are composed of a private space and a flexible space. The private units may have a window and will be located in different areas in the building. The inhabitant will be able to make the flexible

0

32

1m

Individual unit composition

space more enclosed or open. But, the design excludes the size of the unit for

33

The individual unit

The individual unit

the inhabitants’ choice of location in the living complex. With the floor space of each unit being equal, the size and configuration of units are no longer relevant and where to live is based on what group an inhabitant would like to join, whether they want to be more or less connected to the community and what kind of collective facilities they would like to be closer to.

This design is also essential to delivering inhabitants proximity and collectivity on the urban scale. The equality of space and size of units will allow inhabitants to choose more freely on the urban scale. The sameness of the individual unit forms the basis for new workers (with different kinds of work and daily routines) to choose where to live based on proximity to work and the level of collectivity they want to enjoy. It helps to create a flexible system and live-work relationships as well as sense of connection for the whole community.

Private space - the solitary space within the individual unit Collective living requires a space for solitude. Thus, each unit is composed of a private space and a flexible space. The private space is designed as the most personal space to guarantee a maximum of privacy in the living complex. This ensures absolute solitude and the safeguarding of the identities of inhabitants in a collective form of dwelling.

In an interview on Archinect, Pier Vittorio Aureli and Martino Tattar argue: “we believe that living together is only possible if there is always the possibility to be alone, if each dweller has the possibility to retreat in solitude.”15 In their

15. ‘“Living Together Is Only Possible If There Is Always the

book, The Room of One’s Own - The Architecture of the (Private) Room,

Architectural Solitude | Features | Archinect’, accessed 17 April

Aureli and Tattar further dissect the necessity of being alone when living with others. The private room provides space for a person to withdraw from

Possibility to Be Alone.” – Dogma Studio’s Hard-Line Look at 2020, https://archinect.com/features/article/149959097/livingtogether-is-only-possible-if-there-is-always-the-possibility-to-bealone-dogma-studio-s-hard-line-look-at-architectural-solitude.

the constant social environment of the domestic space. This private space is where individuation happens and identity is shaped that is separated from the domestic environment and reproduction labour. Through analysing Virginia Woolf’s theory, they conclude that for Woolf as a woman, a room of one’s own is a separation from the domestic environment and an escape from reproductive labour. It allows a woman to concentrate on her work and become an independent subject in the production environment.16 Moreover, in his book The Minimum Dwelling, Teige states that “The disintegration of the

16. Dogma (Architectural office), The Room of One’s Own: The Architecture of the (Private) Room (Milan: DOGMA, 2018).

traditional family began with the entry of women in the workforce, along with 0

34

1m

Private space possibilities

the establishment of the principle of equality between men and women. As a

35

The individual unit

The individual unit

result, the family has become atomized into independent individuals, which in return has made it necessary for individuals to maintain a certain psychological distance vis-à-vis each other even in marriage, and therefore at home as well.

For these reasons, any rational solution to the minimum dwelling must posit the following rule as its most basic requirement: each adult individual must have his or her own separate (living and sleeping) space.”17 In Teige’s system, individual cells for living and sleeping make collectivised domestic activities Youth apartment

Karel Teige’s Diagram of a collective dwelling(1932)

possible. Collectivised domestic activities are essential to liberate individuals

Source: Loveless, Dogma

the general production labour force. Furthermore, it ensures women’s equal

17. Teige Karel, The Minimum Dwelling (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2002), pp.247.

from the burden of reproductive labour and allow them to become part of role in the domestic space and field of production. The minimum dwelling was emerged at a time when individuation and women entering the field of

Communal Communal Communal living Room working kitchen

working. The new workers are separated from the model of family living and entering the society and city to explore working opportunities. In the current

Outdoor space

Cinema

Reading room

Kitchen

Gym

Living Room

Bath room

Housekeeping

Laundry room

Kitchen

Bedroom

Services

Dining

Salon= Club

Bathing

Children’s space

Physical culture

Individual living cells

context of Beijing, the new workers exhibit the same need for free from the domestic labor and enjoy the working and living life in the city.

For new workers, the burden of reproduction is partially alleviated by the booming market of food and service industry in metropolises like Beijing. The food delivery system is popular in Beijing, and the domestic service can also be easily held by the developer of the living complex as the service labor is another major sector of workers in Beijing in the future development.

More importantly, it is an opportunity for them to retreat from production. Today, production has invaded every aspect of daily life, including social activities.

The private room provides the opportunity for people to be isolated from all possible distractions and be alone with themselves. According to Gropius, “To allow for the increasing development of the more pronounced individuality of life within the society and the individual’s justified demand for occasional withdrawal from his surroundings, it is necessary, moreover, to establish the following ideal minimum requirement: every adult shall have his own room, small though it may be!” From Gropius’s perspective, everyone should have their own room not only to satisfy the fundamental requirements of a dwelling but also to satisfy and promote individualisation.

Flexible space

Karel Teige’s Diagram of collective living

36

source: Teige Karel, The Minimum Dwelling (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2002), pp.17.

- the negotiation between individuality and collectively within the individual unit

37

The individual unit

The individual unit

The flexible space that is proposed will be attached to the private space as part of the individual unit. Different from the private space, the flexible space is not totally enclosed and can be equipped with different types of privacy devices based on the inhabitant’s wishes. The intention of the flexible space is as a further device that makes inhabitants conscious of the idea of individuality in a collective. By being able to choose the privacy devices attached to the unit and by being in control of the open or enclosed space, the inhabitant is involved in the negotiation of the individual and collective.

Multiple types of privacy devices are being designed to facilitate different levels of connectivity between the individual and others. The inhabitants can then choose which level of connectivity and form of sharing they want to have in the collective. The window type allows the inhabitant to have a more enclosed individual unit but the operable window or shelf allows them to open to the community. The sliding door type allows a shift between opening the space to the community and keeping in totally private. With the sliding door, they are able to alter the state of this flexible space daily based on their needs. The curtain type allows the inhabitant to create an ambiguous state between the private and the communal. Finally, the fully-open type allows a total more permanent shift from private to collective space. These types of privacy devices will be selectively applied to different sites within the larger complex to explore the daily routines and the potential collectivity that can occur with their use so they can be better adapted to the subject’s needs and desires. For example, for a site that is close to a workplace, the inhabitants will be composed mostly of workers who follow a strict daily routine. The type of privacy device used here will be more enclosed like the window type. Alternatively, the device types that allow a more permanent shift between private and communal life can also be adapted to allow collective activity only on weekends.

The flexible space should be understood both as an extension of the private space and a mediation between the private individual and the communal.

On the one hand, it provides more space for privacy when necessary. On the other hand, it indicates whether the inhabitant is willing to engage with the group and collective activities. Different from having a collective space in a communal area that can be used when needed, the act of sharing one’s flexible space is a gesture of accepting collective life and a reminder to the inhabitant of the use quality of the individual unit. Through opening the privacy 0

38

1m

Private devices

device, the individual gives up the privacy and makes a gesture of welcoming.

39

The individual unit

The individual unit

This implicit gesture is easier to be made for the subjects than actively to make connections with others in the Chinese context.

The other intention of the flexible space is to experiment with ways to create a collective life for new workers. As stated, new workers are a highly individualised social group with an unstable period of residence in Beijing. The flexible space and the privacy devices allow the inhabitant to have an enclosed individual unit at the beginning of their stay but keep open the possibility of opening up their space later on. The flexible space allows the inhabitant to gradually become familiar with their new environment and progressively share more with the people living near them and then with the larger collective.

Domestic functions - the absent of domestic facilities within individual unit for pure individuality Neither the private nor the flexible space will have any domestic facilities embedded within them. The domestic facilities in the design proposal are intentionally separate from the individual unit. Implementing domestic furniture such as a bed may reduce the individual unit to a mere place to sleep. The intention is to make the individual unit a purely personal space and a negotiation between the individual and the collective. Domestic functions can be shared among groups or on an even larger scale.

Drawing on Teige’s theory of the minimum dwelling, the spatial quality and the domestic functions of an individual unit should be defined based on new workers’ basic needs and lifestyles so that they embrace life in a collective.

The domestic functions of the individual unit and the communal space is a discussion of what can be shared and what the subjects are willing to share to reach a balance that satisfies personal needs and supports the sense of community. With the right balance, minimum subsistence activities by the individual and a maximum level of collectivity can be achieved.

The intention to separate domestic facilities from the individual units is based on the daily needs of the individual inhabitants. In the long-term rental apartments provided by rental agencies in Beijing, the unit types are standardised to create a reduced-size apartment with a bathroom, kitchenette with a microwave, personal fridge and a washing machine. Although the personal fridge and washing machine may seem unnecessary in an individual 0

40

1m

Transformation of flexible space

unit, there is a reason why these apartments do not have a fully-equipped

41

The individual unit

The individual unit

kitchen. In the condition of Beijing, the food delivery industry of the city become the outsourced that replaces the centralized cooking of Teige’s model for the new workers. With their long working hours and lack of cooking experience, cooking is not a daily activity for most new workers but is more of a collective activity that can create relationships between tenants or others. This is a strikingly different situation to that of the centralised kitchen of the cooperative housekeeping movement or what Teige proposed in The Minimum Dwelling.

Teige’s analysis of the kitchens of small apartments in modern dwellings finds three kitchen options: the live-in kitchen, the small kitchen and no kitchen.

Apartments with a live-in kitchen are a return to the old model designed for a family with the intention that the family spend all their waking hours in the kitchen. However, modern workers do not spend much time at home. An apartment with a kitchenette is only a revised version of this same type. The apartment with a small kitchen is a simply a miniature version of a bourgeois apartment and thus features a small kitchen, a big living room and a bedroom.

In the end, only with a changed ideology and the elimination of the kitchen from the individual apartment is there a possibility to form a more efficient system of a centralised kitchen and individual apartments with no kitchen.18 In Teige’s minimum dwelling model, domestic activities are centralised to remove

18. Teige Karel, The Minimum Dwelling (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2002), pp.240-245.

the need for a kitchen in the individual unit and replace it with a centralised kitchen to improve efficiency in terms of both domestic labour and architectural structure.

Nonetheless, the most important reason for moving to a centralised kitchen is to use domestic functions to promote collectivity. In this design proposal, domestic functions are embedded in the communal space as a collective activity. Without domestic functions in individual units, there are more reasons for the inhabitants to spend their time in communal areas. Any conflicts associated with the domestic functions can be addressed by ensuring there are adequate facilities based on the number of inhabitants in the complex.

Size The other important factor to be determined is the size of the individual units.

In the case of the long-term rental housing in Beijing provided by rental agencies, the size of the units is not based on the unit type or the number of occupants but largely depends on the budgets of target tenants. After the rise Minimised kitchen case

42

source: Teige Karel, The Minimum Dwelling (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2002), pp.244.

of illegal group rentals, housing regulations were published that stipulated that

43

The individual unit

The individual unit

each room of a property must be more than 5 m2 and cannot be occupied by more than two people. The design proposal adopts this as the minimum size of the private space of the individual units.

The size of the unit will be further decided based on its proximity to the city centre. For units in complexes that are closer to the city centre, with the price of the land being higher in these areas, it will be difficult to construct buildings that are sufficiently large to accommodate more sizeable units without sacrificing a minimum ratio of communal space to individual units. For sites in

说明

more peripheral areas, the individual units can be larger and of more diverse

1.本合同为示范文本，由北京市住房和城乡建设委员会、北京市市场 监督管理局共同制定，适用于本市行政区域内依法可以出租的房屋出租经

types. The differences in the size of individual units in different locations can

纪服务。

also help potential inhabitants to express their priorities, that is, whether they

2.签订本合同前，委托人应当向受托机构出示不动产权证书（房屋所

are willing to sacrifice their individual space for collective life. Unit size is a

有权证）或其他房屋合法来源证明原件；受托机构应当向委托人出示房地 产经纪机构营业执照、提供服务的房地产经纪从业人员信息卡。

negotiation between the density of units, proximity to the city centre and the

3.根据《关于公布本市出租房屋人均居住面积标准等有关问题的通知》

level of collectivity desired by the inhabitant.

（京建法〔2013〕13 号）的规定，本市住房出租应当符合建筑、消防、 治安、卫生等方面的安全条件，应当以原规划设计为居住空间的房间为最 小出租单位，不得改变房屋内部结构分割出租，不得按床位等方式变相分 割出租。厨房、卫生间、阳台和地下储藏室等不得出租供人员居住。出租 房屋人均居住面积不得低于 5 平方米，每个房间居住的人数不得超过 2 人（有法定赡养、抚养、扶养义务关系的除外） 。法律法规另有规定的， 从其规定。 4.按照《北京市发展和改革委员会关于废止有关收费文件的通知》 （京 发改〔2015〕2617 号）规定，房地产经纪服务收费实行市场调节价管理，

The average area of the rental housing should not be lower 5 m2, and each room should not live more than 2 person.

由双方当事人协商确定。 5.本合同文本【 】中选择内容、空格部位填写及其他需要删除或添 加的内容，双方当事人应当协商确定。 【

】中选择内容，以划√方式选

定；对于实际情况未发生或双方当事人不作约定的，应当在空格部位打×， 以示删除。 6.本合同文本中未约定或者约定不明确的内容，双方可以根据具体情 况在相关条款后的空白行中进行补充约定，也可以另行签订补充协议。 7.委托人和受托机构可根据实际情况决定本合同原件的份数，并在签 订合同时认真核对，以确保各份合同内容一致；在任何情况下，委托人和 受托机构都应当至少持有一份合同原件。

Beijing houses leasing service contract（北京市房屋出租经纪服务合同）

44

source: http://zjw.beijing.gov.cn/

45

Chapter 2 Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

Chapter 2 Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation As seen in Chapter 1, the individual unit is simultaneously the ultimate private space ensuring the possibility of retreat from the collective and the flexible space negotiating between the individual and the collective. Beyond the individual units, the collective space connects individuals and forms the type of collective living suitable for the new workers. As argued in Chapter 1, the new worker, as a highly mobilised and individualised social group, needs a distinct type of collective space, one that is different from the type provided for the already existing stable communities. Thus, the collective space for new workers should be able to adapt to the frequent moving of the individual inhabitants and should support them to become part of the collective as quickly as possible. The diverse daily routines of the new workers must also be considered in the design of the collective space. Although the majority of new workers have a stable job with standard working hours, schedules differ between professions. Those who work for internet companies typically have longer working hours than others, thus spending less time in their residences.

Also, at the beginning of their working life in the city, the inhabitants may be in a state of flux, finding jobs or being between jobs which increases the variation in daily routines. Hence, precedents like Familistère would not be suitable given that it is designed for the inhabitants enjoying a unified and managed daily routine of the worker family. Moreover, the notion of collective living should not be limited to exclude the wider community. Collective space should be designed to extend from the door of the unit to the public space beyond the building or complex.

The goal of the collective space design includes the following aspects:

48

1.

Connects inhabitants of this mobilised and individualised social group

2.

Adaptable for the diverse daily routines of the inhabitants

3.

Include a larger community

49

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

workers, frequently moving to different apartments in the city and the isolation of the private room, makes it difficult for new workers to form relationships with Externalized

Internalized

Mediated

Integrated

their fellow tenants. On the scale of individual units, the flexible space tries to solve the problem of the separation of the private room in apartment-sharing.

However, how to best help new inhabitants to become part of the community still largely depends on the design of the communal space.

Connection between individuals The flexible space of the individual unit is the first level of collectivity. The flexible space allows the inhabitants to form close relationships in smaller groups of two or three people. With different combinations of individual unit types and privacy devices, different modes of sharing can be formed from the

Design of the communal space to increase its adaptability to new inhabitants

Currently, with apartment-sharing being the dominant living situation for new

lowest level of collectivity to living together.

New scale and new way of collective living- the Interest-based groups The next scale of the collective is the small interest-based group composed of 10-20 individuals. Adding an extra level between individuals or couples and the whole living complex allows the inhabitants to form close relationships more quickly on a more confined scale. Compared with a large community, there will be more interaction between new inhabitants and others, making it easier for them to become familiar with each other.

Different from the existing collective condition of a stable family, the proposed collective is based on interests which is a faster and easier way to form connections between inhabitants. Interest-based groups are organised based on their interests and their similar daily routines, which are defined by occupation, lifestyle, personal habits and so on. The communal space for each group is designed based on the possible activities that could be easily shared among inhabitants based on their interests. These activities are not related to domestic activities but include the general types of cultural activities and the commercialized activates that can be found in the city centre but are hard to access from peripheral areas, for example, drawing, reading, singing, wood-working, listening to a live band, going to a coffee shop, working, gaming and so on. These activities will define the design of the communal space for different groups. The inhabitants can choose which group they would like to join when they become part of the complex. The interest-based group is 0

50

5m

Possible sharing types based on private/flexible space composition

inspired by the current existing collective living example, lifelab, organised by 706 Youth Space.

51

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

wanted to hold lectures and seminars inside the group and for the public. It originally started in a rented xiaoqu apartment19 near several universities in Beijing. 706 Youth Space is still based in this apartment and organises several seminars weekly. In the apartment is also a bar, a collective living room and a library.

In 2017, one of the members of the group proposed conducting an interestbased collective living experiment as an attempt to form collective living opportunities for people with similar interests and beliefs. They called it lifelab. The members of each lifelab can hold their own seminars and events

Case study – 706 youth space and lifelab

706 Youth Space is an organisation originally started by 12 students who

19. In the dissertation, xiaoqu(ĺ°?ĺŒş) refers to the residential developments in China.

independent of 706 Youth Space. Each lifelab consists of around ten people Minecraft Collective Space Autonomous community

Reading Room Poetry and literature

Fawaizhidi Sharing economy and household works

Post-modern Storage Music community

and has its own theme. For example, there are lifelabs based on a love of reading, live bands, writing and autonomous collective living. The lifelabs are realised by apartment-owners who share their apartment with like-minded others for a modest rent. After submitting an application form online, the existing members of a lifelab will decide whether a further member can join.

The majority of members are relatively long-term and remain in the apartment for about one or two years. If there is a vacancy, however, they can accept temporary tenants for as little as one week. To illustrate, there is a lifelab in Wangjing, a major residential and working area in the city next to the 798

Field trip photoes of 706 Youth Space (Top) Photoes of examples of lifelabs (Bottome)

52

source: http://bj.bendibao.com/ditie/linemap.shtml

Art District and CAFA, an art university. It is a loft with six individual double bedrooms and a shared bathroom and kitchen. Some of the rooms are only

53

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

around 13 m2 for two people, just a little bit above the regulatory minimum.

However, the minimal size of the private units allows space for a shared living room in the middle for seminars and events.

The lifelabs have successfully become extensions of the 706 community in a domestic environment and have organised collective living based on interests.

I am using this new form of collective living in Beijing as the basis for the provision of leisure and entertainment activities and flexible housing options in my design.

However, the current form of the lifelab has its limitations and problems. First of all, although the current method of organising a lifelab makes use of unused housing resources in existing xiaoqu apartments, the issue of the management of the xiaoqu remains. A proper alternative would be to construct a collective living system separate from the xiaoqu system. Also, while in the Wangjing example the rooms conform to the regulations, there are also examples of two sets of bunkbeds being placed in a small room to reduce the rent, a practice that is similar to illegal group rent practices. These living conditions cannot provide tenants with sufficient privacy or personal space. Collective living should not involve a decrease in living standards. The most critical issue is, as a small organisation, it is difficult for 706 Youth Space to obtain sufficient housing resources to cater for the large number of new workers.

The communal group space envisaged by this design project does not completely separate the members of the different groups. During the day and whenever the assigned group it is not using it, the communal space can be 0

5

10m

accessed by other inhabitants to increase the connections and fluidity of the community. This also allows inhabitants to join several interest groups without inhabitants needing to live next to each other.

to allow new workers to better adapt to collective life. The design proposal is inspired by the cluster plan as the spatial organisation typology to form a collective space for individualised new workers.

0

54

10m

Plan and axon of lifelab in Wangjing

The spatial quality of the group communal space

The spatial quality of the communal space for each group is also designed

55

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

on the family as the basic production unit, collective life has always been formed on two scales: the scale of the family and the scale of the community.

On the scale of the family, it is the living room or live-in kitchen that forms the collective space where daily domestic activities can be done together by family members. On the scale of the community, the collective space takes the form of centralised domestic facilities and squares.

Not until the start of the 21st century, which heralded a drastic change in social structure, did the organisation of types of collective spaces begin to experience any innovation. Countries such as the UK, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden

Case study: Cluster plan typology

Throughout the history of collective living, with societies being largely based

have a long history of cooperative housing beginning in the 19th century but cooperative housing in these countries was still designed based on the family as the basic unit. In more recent times, there have been several examples in Switzerland and Germany of the cluster plan typology being employed not to house the nuclear family but to house multiple groups of people in a single household. This change in typology has emerged in the face of a lack of rental housing for singles and couples in European cities.

This new spatial organisation typology is based on the cluster apartment type.

The cluster apartment is not a new idea. It is a housing type frequently seen in student accommodation or shelters for vulnerable populations. A typical cluster apartment is usually composed of several individual units connected to a collective space through a circulation space. However, although it is a housing option for several individuals in one household, the typical cluster apartment is limited in its ability to form any sense of collectivity in the apartment. With the corridor leading directly to the door, interactions between inhabitants are not encouraged. Also, the communal space is a large living room that functions as a kitchen, dining and living room. With several individuals living in the apartment, inhabitants may come into conflict with each other when they are forced to use the same room to carry out different activities. With no visual or sound barriers, some inhabitants will have no choice but to retreat to their room. However, these shortcomings of the typical cluster apartment are avoided by the cluster plan as a spatial organisation typology with several strategies being used to accommodate several groups of people in the same household.

According to this typology, the collective space directly connects all the Comparative analysis of typical cluster apartment and cluster plan typology

56

individual units in the cluster apartment without corridors. Inhabitants can

57

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

Direct Connection to Communal Space

Visual connections between spaces (House A, Mehr Als Wohnen)

participate in collective activities as soon as they leave their units. In some cases such as the precedent Kraftwerk 2, the living room is intentionally placed next to the entrance to the apartment so every inhabitant will see and interact with the inhabitants in the living room whenever they leave or return to the apartment.

The collective space in the apartment is designed as a series of segmented spaces of various sizes. These segmented spaces are intended to allow multiple groups of inhabitants to carry out independent activities at the same time without interfering with each other. There are also spaces in the communal Circulation Through Spce

space that can be closed off for more private activities. Nonetheless, the spaces are not separate or enclosed as rooms are to allow visual connections between the spaces. The various sizes of the spaces in the cluster plan are designed based on different scales of collectivity. A cluster plan with around five to ten individual units usually includes one or two large spaces for collective activities for the whole apartment and multiple smaller spaces for activities among smaller groups.

0

58

10m

Segmented Communal Space Direct connection, segmented communal space

Moreover, the spaces are programed with different domestic functions, which

source: https://www.mehralswohnen.ch

59

Individual Bathroom

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

Individual Kitchen Individual Outdoor Space Collective Bathroom Collective Kitchen Collective Outdoor Space

0

10m

Longitudinal section (House A, Mehr Als Wohnen) Individual bathroom

Individual kitchen

Individual outdoor space

Collective bathroom

Collective kitchen

Collective outdoor space

Individual/Communal programs

are also arranged to encourage collectivity. The domestic facilities of the

Communal Facilities Arrange Space

individual units are limited to a bathroom and kitchenette, or only a kitchenette or neither a bathroom nor a kitchenette. This variation in the domestic facilities available as part of the individual units is to allow them to be adaptable for use by multiple demographic groups, such as the elderly and single-parent families but the intention is still to limit domestic functions in the individual

0

10m

Collective programs in relation to spatial arrangement (House A, Mehr Als Wohnen) Collective bathroom

60

units and encourage inhabitants to spend more time in the collective space.

Collective kitchen

61

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

House A

House A Sud Zwicky

House A Spreefeld Zwicky Sud Berlin

Multi-centered Spatial Organization

House A, Mehr Als Wohnen House A

62

House A

Multi-centered Spatial Organization

Spreefeld Berlin Zwicky Sud Kraftwerk 2

Multi-centered Spatial Organization

Zwicky Sud

Zwicky Sud

Zwicky Sud

House Spreefeld Kraftwerk Berlin WganisART 2 A

Centered Spatial Organization

Spreefeld Berlin

Spreefeld Berlin

House A Kraftwerk WganisART Zollhaus Zwicky Sud 2

Multi-centered Centered Spatial Spatial Organization Organization

Spreefeld Berlin

House A Zollhaus Zwicky Spreefeld Sud Berlin WganisART

Multi-centered Centered Spatial Spatial Organization Organization

Kraftwerk 2

Spreefeld Berlin Zwicky Zollhaus Sud Kraftwerk 2

Spreefeld Berlin Kraftwerk WganisART 2

Multi-centered Spatial Organization

Kraftwerk 2

Kraftwerk 2

Centered Spatial Organization

WganisART

WganisART Zollhaus Kraftwerk 2

Centered Spatial Organization

Zollhaus

WganisART

Zollhaus

Centered Spatial Organization

WagnisART

WganisART

Comparative analysis of spatial organization

Comparative analysis of spatial organization

Multi-centered

Centeral

(House A, Mehr Als Wohnen)

(House A, Mehr Als Wohnen)

Zollhaus

Zollhaus

Zollhaus

63

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

Collectivity in the time of mobilisation and individuation

By using the cluster plan as the spatial organisation typology for the communal

similar ideologies and cultural background. Thus, it is necessary to construct

space, activities of different scales will be able to take place in the communal

a community on the urban scale that allows the members of the collective

space and this space will facilitate more interactions between inhabitants.

and other like-minded people to be connected. Thus, each living complex includes communal spaces that can be accessed by complex inhabitants and the public to attend activities arranged by the community. Activities that the

The community beyond the group

The group is the first way for inhabitants to make a connection with other

groups within the complex need more space to carry out or want to share with

inhabitants and become part of the collective. However, the idea of the

the public can take place in the public communal space. These activities can

community should not be limited to the scale of the group. Cooperative

include seminars and lectures like those hosted by the 706 Youth Space or

housing projects in northern Europe have successfully realised collective life

workshops of any kind. In this way, the living complex is not only a housing

inside the apartment by adopting a cluster plan typology. However, outside

system but a community centre that connects everyone in the neighbourhood

of the apartment, collective life has not been achieved. Although communal

beyond. The communal spaces are designed with consideration given to the

spaces were designed both inside each apartment building and in the outdoor

different urban locations and contexts of the complexes in relation to the urban

spaces between the buildings, since there are no activities designed to be

strategy.

carried out in these spaces, they have failed to form collectivity outside the cluster apartments.

In the design proposal, the collectivity of the living complex is achieved by connecting all the groups through a larger-scale communal space and vertical circulation spaces to connect the groups. The larger-scale communal space is arranged to accommodate domestic functions and merges the communal space of the groups with a large domestic environment to reduce the separation between the groups. The domestic facilities include a kitchen, bathroom and dining space and are designed on the scale of the group and the context of the living complex with consideration given to daily routines of inhabitants and the time spent in the communal space and other locations. For example, cooking is not an essential domestic activity for those inhabitants who live in locations in the city centre, given the abundant food delivery services and restaurants available. Moreover, these inhabitants typically do not have the time or ability to cook. Cooking is more of an activity that can promote the creation of a connection between the inhabitants rather than one that is needed to satisfy a daily necessity. However, for a site on the periphery of the city, where food deliveries and restaurants are inaccessible, cooking becomes a necessary domestic function. The inhabitants who choose to live in these peripheral locations will also have more time to cook and share meals with others.

Given that new workers have been neglected as a social group by the housing system, it is important that this design fully recognises them. New workers should be able to find a sense of belonging in their social group among people with

64

65

Chapter 3 The urban network

The urban network

The urban network

Chapter 3 The urban network

The communal space and the individual unit are concerned with addressing the issues of collective living and the daily life of new workers. However, what really addresses new workers’ issues of living/working separation, in particular, their separation from urban life and the lack of recognition and community on the scale of the city. The research tries to address these issues with several design proposals on the urban scale. From the design proposal of the individual units and communal space, the idea of constructing a system of housing and community on the scale of the city is embedded in the design of both the individual units and the communal space. On both the scale of the individual unit and communal space in the living complex, the design proposal tries to address the use value of private and collective space. There is no permanent, unchangeable quality of the space, that is, whether it is private or collective is not fixed. The intention is to reinforce the idea of the temporary quality of the individual unit and encourage the inhabitants to share space and move around in the living complex, even on the urban scale. The construction of a fluid system of living complexes in the city addresses the problem of separation from the city and creates a community for this emerging social group.

The goals of the design proposal at the urban scale is as following: 1.Give space and raise attention for the new workers as a social group 2.To address urban problems of congestion and sprawl based on the location of sites

Beijing has a relatively smaller population and lower urban density. This does not mean that Beijing is unaffected by congestion and overpopulation but its key problems concern the uneven distribution of urban resources and residential areas. The Beijing municipality’s decision to create sub-centres aims to resolve this situation by distributing the population and city functions over less dense areas of the metropolis. However, new workers have been neglected throughout the process of this urban shift and are not supported

68

Identifying the spatial urban problem: Separation from the city

Compared with metropolises such as Tokyo, Hong Kong and Manhattan,

69

The urban network

The urban network

in the policies in any form. This problem is most clearly illustrated in the Existing subway line

40

25

of “New Beijinger” excludes new workers. By implementing a policy of using

24

Planned new subway line Subway station

35

Working area

44

30 29 19

General urban area

25

Peripheral center

26

23 22

21

Concentration construction area in greenary zone

issue of unevenly distributed urban facilities.

Rural construction land is a type of land that is owned by rural governments,

20

Sub-center

rural construction land for long-term rental housing, the design proposal explores how to make new workers a part of the urban shift and confront the

Leisure area Core Area

requirements for a public rental housing application. Specifically, the definition

20 1

2

15

10

which use it for the construction of residential buildings, public infrastructure, tourism facilities, military facilities and so on.20 In October 2017, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources (北京市规划和自

20. ‘Land Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China_

然资源委员会) and the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-

3 May 2020, http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/c30834/201909/

npc.gov.cn’ (‘中华人民共和国土地管理法_中国人大网’), accessed d1e6c1a1eec345eba23796c6e8473347.shtml.

Rural Development (北京市住房和城乡建设委员会) jointly published a policy supporting the use of rural construction land for long-term rental housing to increase rental housing supply and solve the housing shortage.21 While the

6

5

30

7 0

8 11

41

10 17

18

31 15

13

16

4

12

14

5

3

10

32

37

35

36

21. ‘Advices about further reinforce using rural collective land

reasons for this approach, the most important reason why this policy is being

website of The People’s government of Beijing Manicipality’ (‘关

constructing long-term rental housing_ Regulatory documents_ 于进一步加强利用集体土地建设租赁住房工作的有关意见_规范性文件_首都之

pursued is that most rural construction land projects are similar to where new

窗_北京市人民政府门户网站’),

15 34 33

20

accessed 5 March 2020, http://www.

beijing.gov.cn/zhengce/gfxwj/201905/t20190522_60484.html.

workers currently live. That is, most new workers live in urban areas with lower

45

5 9

availability of the land and making new workers part of housing policy are both

population density, fewer residential facilities and less urban infrastructure.

Also, most of the land is further away from the city and working areas. Thus, with these sites, it is worth experimenting with alternatives to the construction of sub-centres and the displacement of industries and populations.

Through analysing the availability of existing and planned public transportation infrastructure (mainly subway) and proximity to the city centre based on commute time, this project selects more than 40 rural construction land sites

40

25

39

from the land available. Some of the sites have already been developed into long-term rental housing projects but these projects are still included in the

30

site selection to create a more complete picture of possible alternatives to the current development plans.

38 35

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Under the new policy to use rural construction land to develop long-term rental housing, private developers bid on available land parcels. The development is funded jointly by private developers and the local government, as defined in the policy. The profits are then split proportionally among the investors.

Mapping of four types of sites

70

After construction, the property and services are managed by a private rental

Development model

40

71

The urban network

The urban network

housing agency.

Of the housing built in this way, 30% is provided as public rental housing and eligible New Beijingers can apply to gain residency of it. The applications of potential inhabitants and organisation of collective activities are arranged by social organisations, such as the 706 Youth Space, with the help of private developers.

proximity to working and leisure areas, residential density and the residential facilities in the neighbourhood. All four site types are representative of the living conditions of workers in the city of Beijing and their associated problems. The design proposals for each type of site attempts to address these problems

1:10000 0

2km

and construct a system of living complexes on the urban scale.

Design proposal for the four site types

Rural construction land sites are divided into four types based on their

Type 1

Site type 1

The first type of site has the closest proximity to the city centre and in areas with relatively higher residential facilities and public space. On these sites, inhabitants can enjoy a shorter commute time and proximity to the key commercial and cultural areas of the city and abundant urban residential facilities. The inhabitants living in these areas typically have a standard working schedule where they work only on weekdays or area subject to the “996� working conditions previously discussed. The density of residents is the highest on this site type as land prices are at a premium close to the city centre. Thus, only by increasing population density can the design be developed without sacrificing communal space. The individual units will thus be of minimal size but will not be so small as to sacrifice living standards. Also, this type of site will be in high demand given that most new workers will wish to live close to working areas. For example, the example site of type 1 sites is next to the third ring of Beijing, in a dense residential area with several gated xiaoqu. The majority of the residents in the neighbourhood are composed with middle class nuclear families. It is near to two subway stations. Also, there is a shopping mall and abundant restaurants, shops and schools.

On this type of site, the design proposal is seeking to address the sense

Seperation

of loneliness and lack of community experienced by new workers. The site Example of Site type 1 and strategy (Left) Photoes of the example site (right)

72

source: map.baidu.com

strategy is not to construct any residential facilities for the inhabitants or other

73

The urban network

The urban network

residents in the neighbourhood. Current residential facilities are sufficient to support the everyday needs of the inhabitants. The public space and communal space that can be accessed by the public and other members of the community will be organised on the ground level in the form of squares.

The communal space of the complex will be more enclosed to form a more fluid connection for the complex’s internal community.

Type 2 The second and third type of sites are in more peripheral areas of the city and thus are further away from the city centre and working areas. Inhabitants of both of these types of site will be composed of a mix of workers with stable work schedules and freelance workers with varying work schedules. Working space will be considered part of the communal space in these sites either in the form of working space, including offices, workshops or commercial space. The example site of type 2 sites is near to the fifth ring with some luxury penthouses in the area. The residents living in this neighbourhoods are

Site type 2

higher middle class who choose not to live in the city center. It is also near to a recreational park, but there are not much commercials to support the residents’ life.

The population density of both site types 3 and 4 is lower than for type 1.

However, compared with the third type of site, the second type has an even lower residential density. The sites are in areas with a very low level of development that could potentially become more developed. For this type of site, residential facilities will be designed and embedded on the ground level of the living complex to provide facilities to support the inhabitants’ daily lives.

Considering the low residential density and possible future development of the surrounding area, the public space will still be arranged on the ground floor separate from the external community.

Type 3 Different from the second type, the third type of site has a higher residential density and more residential facilities but lacks public space that allows for leisure and cultural activities for the complex inhabitants and other residents in the area. These sites are typically near developed urban villages that are

Provide

already occupied by migrant workers. The daily needs of the residents can thus Example of Site type 2 and strategy (Left) Photoes of the example site (right)

74

source: map.baidu.com

be satisfied by the facilities provided in these developed urban villages. The

75

The urban network

The urban network

example site of type 3 sites is also near to the fifth ring. This area is developed with large amount real estate development with a cheaper price compare to the city center for young non-Beijing residents to afford. The residents in the neighbour hoods are composed of lower middle class families and large amount of migrant workers living in the urban village. There are abundant restaurants, shops that can support the life of the residents. The education resources are also developed to support the education of the families having living here for more than 10 years.

The issue with this type of site is how to develop communal spaces within the building that can be accessed by the public to form a stronger connection between the complex residents, villagers and migrant workers. The living complexes on these sites will be treated as a community centre for the neighbourhood.

Type 4 The fourth type of sites have a low proximity to the city and has a low level

Site type 3

of residential density and few residential facilities. These sites are located in suburban areas but close to public transport. However, with the large scale of Beijing, the commute time to the city centre can still take around two hours.

The sites are proposed for freelance new workers or others who do not need to commute to work every day. The sites are also suitable for young people who want to start their own company. This type of site can exploit a closer life-work relationship in the peripheral areas of the Beijing metropolis. The example site of type 4 sites is outside of the sixth ring near to a village with a subway station nearby. The major existing villager are local villagers and migrant workers who have a lower income. There are also real estate developments developed for the villagers. However, the village is not developed to provide facilities for the residents. There is not much residential facilities or commercials to support the residents and the neighbourhoods’ life.

Different from those sites in closer proximity to the city centre, this type of site needs to provide complex inhabitants with residential and leisure facilities.

Moreover, the distance of these sites from the city provides the possibility to experiment with merging communal and public space following carefully considered parameters. For this site type, the communal space that can be

Invite

accessed by the public will be more closely intertwined with other scales of Example of Site type 3 and strategy (Left) Photoes of the example site (right)

76

source: map.baidu.com

communal space in the living complex with regulated access times for the public.

77

The urban network

The urban network

workers not only on the scale of individual living complexes but also on the scale of the city of Beijing. This community will be reinforced by the proposal for the urban network and will contribute to the construction of the identity of new workers as a recognised social group in Beijing.

The creation of a community of new workers can also be considered a strong response to the commercialisation of cultural, artistic and other leisure activities in the city. In recent years, coffee shops and restaurants in Beijing have started to decorate themselves in a style that allows the customer to take a beautiful photo of the space and upload it to social media. With the high

A new workers’ community on the urban scale

As argued in Chapter 2, there is a need to construct a community for new

profits that can be earned from this new trend, numerous shops have begun to pop up in Beijing and visiting these pop-up spaces have become the new leisure activity for not only young people but also the middle and upper-middle classes.

The artistic sphere is also becoming increasingly commercialised. Beijing’s 798 Art District has been transformed from the home of an old factory to the home

Site type 4

of various contemporary art galleries. At the beginning of this transformation, rents in the area were low and many artists lived and worked in the district.

Then came several private galleries, tourist hotspots and coffee shops.

Although not much quality artwork is being shown in the exhibitions in the 798 Art District, the galleries nonetheless charge expensive entry fees. The 798 Art District has changed from an artistic and cultural area to a commercialised area and tourist destination. The cost of enjoying the leisure spaces in this area make it inaccessible to new workers. The organisation 706 Youth Space provides an alternative for people who want to embrace cultural and artistic activities free from commercialisation. By constructing a community of new workers that is composed of young and well-educated individuals, this project on the urban scale can also create a network of communities for not only new workers but also other young people that embrace these activities.

Art District has changed from an artistic and cultural area to a commercialised area and tourist destination. The cost of enjoying the leisure spaces in this area make it inaccessible to new workers. The organisation 706 Youth Space provides an alternative for people who want to embrace cultural and artistic activities free from commercialisation. By constructing a community of new

Merge

workers that is composed of young and well-educated individuals, this project Example of Site type 4 and strategy (Left) Photoes of the example site (right)

78

source: map.baidu.com

on the urban scale can also create a network of communities for not only new workers but also other young people that embrace these activities.

79

Chapter 4 Design experiment and reflection

Design experiment and reflection

Design experiment and reflection

Chapter 4 Design experiment and reflection

In this research, one site type is chosen as the site for the design experiment and design proposals for the individual unit, communal space and urban strategy.

43 17

28

25 24

44 42

27

29 20 19

26

23 22

21

1

2

6

30

7

8 10

41

11 17

31

18 4

15

13

16

45

12

14

3 5 32

9

37

36

35 34 33

40

39

38

choosing this type of site is its closer proximity to working areas and the city centre. It is important to experiment with how to achieve high residential density in the city centre without sacrificing communal space and living standards.

Site Selection

Type 1 discussed above is chosen as the experiment site. The reason for

1:250000

0

50km

Also, the site will attract inhabitants who are interested in sacrificing personal space to embrace collective life in the city. Moreover, type 1 sites are the most comparable of the four site types to current long-term rental apartments.

Hence, by selecting this site, the viability of designing and creating a new form of dwelling in similar conditions can be explored. Also, with its proximity to the

1:10000 0

2km

city, it is more challenging to find appropriate constructible land and thus this

1:10000 0

2km

type of site is also significantly smaller than the others. It is valuable to test 0

the proposal in the harshest building conditions in the city to see if it could be

Design experiment site

1km

applied on other sites.

Building

82

Greenary

Site

83

Design experiment and reflection

Design experiment and reflection

Design Brief

Site information Building type: Long-term rental housing Height limit: 60 m Total area: 11,100 m2 Building coverage ratio: 30% Footage: 3,330 m2 FAR: 2.5 Total floor area: 27,750 m2 Total Units: 1000 units Inhabitants (including short-term residents): 1,000 inhabitants Floor area of individual units: 10,000 m2 Floor area of communal area (groups): 5,000 m2 Floor area of domestic core: 7,000 m2 Floor area of roof garden: 3,000 m2 Service area: 1000 m2

Application

When the construction of the living complex begins, people can start to apply online to live within the complex. The application process will involve completing an application form stating personal information, interest and willingness to apply for the complex in that location. After being accepted, the new member can be connected with other accepted members via social media groups. The member can choose an individual unit or decide to live in a After the building is completed and the inhabitants have moved in, information about different interest groups and vacant individual units in the building will be gathered and published online for new members to choose and apply for.

The structure system of the building is composed of 13 metres by 13 metres column grid with a waffle slab of reinforced concrete. The ceiling height is 4.8 metres. The use of this structure and material provide a large span and column-free space in which a larger-scale communal space can be created.

At the same time, as the site is in a dense area of the city, this structure also

Structure System

group following group meetings online with people with similar interests.

considers the future adaptability of the space, which can be transformed into a residential and office complex or other public building such as a museum or library.

Within the more permanent structure, the individual units are built using a light steel frame that can be assembled and disassembled quickly and easily. The light frame system also allows the developer to densify or reduce the density of the living complex in the future.

84

85

Design experiment and reflection

Design experiment and reflection

Private Space

Flexible Space

space. All the private spaces are designed to be the same size of 2.5 metres by 2.5 metres, which is larger than the regulatory minimum size for a room of 5 m2 but will be the minimum size of the private space across all sites. This size space does not sacrifice flexibility for the inhabitant, who can still arrange

Individual Unit

As proposed, each individual unit is composed of a private space and a flexible

their furniture as they wish. The individual units are arranged in two floors with the high ceiling. It gives more variation of unit types to add more variations in between individual units and the communal space.

The flexible space is of a similar size but varies based on the different sharing modes employed. With the unit’s light frame system, several types of flexible Possibility of arrangement in private space (Top) Privacy device and flexible space types (Bottom)

86

space have been designed, including the window type, sliding door type and open type.

87

Design experiment and reflection

Design experiment and reflection

Private room looking to the communal space

88

Individual unit with privacy devices

89

Design experiment and reflection

Design experiment and reflection

Basic frame

Possible Configurations

0

5m

Individual unit types

0

90

5m

91

Design experiment and reflection

Design experiment and reflection

Window

Temporary

0

5m

Communal space design

larger structure, the communal spaces are designed in a five-by-five grid with the dimensions of the individual unit as the basic group unit. The potential

Grouping

The individual units are being designed as part of a larger structure. In each

to cater for a range of possible activities is considered when designing the Internalized

Integrated

Mediated

Externalized

communal space, with a combination of one or two large spaces to several small spaces connected using cluster plan organisation being viable options.

The individual units are initially gathered in groups of two or three with various possible modes of sharing that can be created with different types of individual

0

92

5m

Individual unit types

units being considered. The combinations of individual units then fit into the larger framework with the complementary communal space.

93

Design experiment and reflection

Design experiment and reflection

Communal space merging with flexible space

94

Communal space with more permanent shifting privacy devices

95

Design experiment and reflection

Design experiment and reflection

life and provide vertical circulation pathways for the three large groups. The domestic core is also a larger-scale communal space for several groups, allowing inhabitants to meet and relax in the collective living room. Domestic functions including a collective kitchen, collective dining room, collective living

Domestic Core

Three large groups are connected to a domestic core to support domestic

room and bathroom are provided in the domestic core. Since this complex will primarily be home to workers with a standard work schedule or “996� schedule, the collective kitchen will cater for people with an interest in cooking or as a space in which weekend group dinners can be organised as well as meals for traditional Chinese festivals. The dining space will be used more frequently by people who eat dinners provided by food delivery services.

With similar schedules and thus people getting up at the same time each morning, abundant showers, toilets and long washing basins are provided in the bathroom. The bathroom also provides lockers for the inhabitants to put their toiletries.

the domestic core. The intention is to stop the domestic core from becoming the only larger-scale communal space and increase the fluidity of the system.

Outdoor stairs connect all the outdoor spaces on different floors. Hence, besides the collective scale of the three large groups, which is created with the domestic core, the inhabitants can also freely move to any group in the living complex through the outdoor spaces. The vertical circulation system also connects all the groups to the roof garden.

0

96

5m

Intermediate outdoor space and vertical circulation

An outdoor space is placed in-between every two groups and is connected to

Domestic core and outdoor communal space diagram

97

Design experiment and reflection

Design experiment and reflection

Domestic core at night

98

Private space of individual unit looking into the communal outdoor space

99

Design experiment and reflection

Design experiment and reflection

0

General floor plan

10m

Communal space

100

Flexible space

Private space

101

Design experiment and reflection

Design experiment and reflection

Subway Station

Infrastructure at the cross near the site

to the city centre and several working areas. The site is in a heavily residential area and surrounded by several residential developments. The site enjoys several residential facilities with a shopping mall, restaurants and convenience

Site strategy

The site is near Beijing’s 3rd Ring Road, is near two subway stations and is close

stores in the area. Hence, there is no need to provide any residential facilities in the living complex for the inhabitants or the neighbourhood.

Ground floor The ground floor is reserved for short-term living facilities including guestrooms and hostels and communal space that can be used by the complex inhabitants, other members of the community and the wider public. The communal space that can be accessed by the public is intentionally located on the ground for easier access and to create a more enclosed community on the upper floors.

The separate upper floor community is essential to ensure the fluidity and flexibility of the community, especially in the city centre.

The site is surrounded by multiple residential developments, which are gated xiaoqu. The building is thus intentionally constructed with the back of the site against the back fence of the xiaoqu, leaving a square in front of the building.

0

102

The square forms an intersection of public space between the several gated

Site map

50m

communities. It can encourage interactions between the inhabitants of the

Residential

Commercial

Office

Education

Government

Subway station

103

Design experiment and reflection

Design experiment and reflection

0

Ground floor plan

10m

Communal space

104

Flexible space

Private space

105

Design experiment and reflection

Design experiment and reflection

complex and the neighbourhood. The square is intended to be home to street vendors as part of the ground floor design. Street vendors are restricted by the city as part of its beautification plan. However, they are an important residential resource in Beijing as workers rely on them for their breakfast and food late at night. Including street vendors in the design will safeguard public residential facilities that are valuable to city residents. Also, collective activities that include the public can be arranged in the square.

Roof garden As part of the site strategy, the outdoor space on the roof has the opposite role from that of the square on the ground level. The roof garden is a lifted square that gives the inhabitants of the living complex a piece of outdoor space in the city centre. All the outdoor activities on the scale of the complex community take place on the roof to support the daily needs of the inhabitants.

This includes domestic functions such as providing a place to dry clothes and recreational functions such as an outdoor sports area, planting area and garden.

The roof can be accessed by any group via the vertical outdoor stairs or the stairs and elevator in the domestic core. All the inhabitants can interact on the roof garden.

individual units and use the domestic core to satisfy their daily need. After getting familiar with inhabitants in the same group, they can choose to open their flexible space from time to time or open completely and able to choose a more private device on their private units.

In the morning, when they preparing themselves for work, they would meet other inhabitants together in the communal bathroom and communal dining space in the domestic core. When they come back from work, familiar friends and groups will hold collective dinners, but, at most of the time, they would

Way of living in the complex

When the inhabitants just move in, they would spend most of their time in their

eat alone or eat outside. The groups would hold activities on weekday nights and weekends. Inhabitants with free time and people from other locations or public can also join with the information posted online before the activities.

During the weekends, they can choose to join activities in their complex or go 0

106

10m

Roof axon

to events in other locations.

107

Design experiment and reflection

108

Design experiment and reflection

109

Design experiment and reflection

Design experiment and reflection

high-density housing and collective living for the residents and public.

However, there are still some points that need improvement.

With this site, which is close to the city centre, the project achieved high-

Reflection

The design experiment shows the potential of the design proposal to provide

density housing and provided 1,000 living units for 1,000-2,000 people. With the same floor area, the typical nuclear family apartment can only provide around 600 individual rooms. However, to achieve this density, some units may not get sufficient daylight and may need to be removed.

The light steel frame system for the units successfully provides the flexibility to make the building suitable for other functions in the future. However, it is hard to say whether the problem of sound-proofing between the units can be solved using this system. It is also worth discussing whether there is a need to transform the building to accommodate other functions or whether temporary residents and their needs will continue to exist in the city in the future.

The size of the units might also increase and change the balance of the ratio of the floor area of the communal space to that of individual units. Since there is also an intention to connect all the groups, the communal space in the domestic core can be reduced and the communal space can be more focused on the groups.

There is also a redundancy in the vertical circulation space. The vertical circulation space can be replaced by turning one of the exterior vertical areas into an enclosed circulation area or simply removing it.

The idea of designing the communal space based on the activities that the inhabitants may wish to carry out there can be improved through consultation with future residents or by designing the second location based on the input of current residents to increase possible variations and reduce unused space.

Closable communal spaces can also be added to the communal space to supplement the levels of collectivity.

110

111

Conclusion

Conclusion

Conclusion

Conclusion

Against the backdrop of the dramatic urban and production transformation of Beijing, this dissertation started by identifying the emerging social group, new workers, whose living conditions are being neglected by both the municipality of Beijing and the market. New workers are well-educated, unmarried, young workers who have recently graduated from university or arrived in the city.

With their modest income and competitive work environment and rental market, they are struggling to make ends meet in the city without support.

The new public rental housing that the government has proposed still focuses on the nuclear family as the main subject and constructs the nuclear family through domestic spaces with the help of private developers. Rental agencies are constructing types of long-term rental apartments that target well-paid, white-collar workers and that new workers cannot afford. In this context, new workers need a new form of dwelling that not only addresses their housing problems but also helps them to form an identity as a social group, construct a community of their own and provide for their mental needs in terms of loneliness and lack of leisure activities. The design project tries to address all these issues with design proposals presented on the scale of units, communal space and the city to propose a new form of collective living for new workers.

The individual unit is composed of a private space and a flexible space. The private space provides new workers with a maximum level of privacy in a collective living environment to ensure they can keep their identity and to allow them to retreat from collective life. The flexible space and the privacy device are negotiation tools that allow them to define the relationship between themselves and the community. It is also their first step to becoming part of the community.

In terms of the communal space, taking inspiration from 706 Youth Space, the individual units are connected and grouped based on the inhabitants’ interests.

These groups are then connected to the larger-scale collective space to form a fluid and non-hierarchical system. The cluster plan typology is adopted as the spatial organisation typology to direct the design of the communal spaces to facilitate different levels of collectivity.

On the urban or city scale, the proposal intends to construct a system of

114

115

Conclusion

Conclusion

living complexes and a community of new workers that can deal with their separation from the city and lack of community and identity as a social group.

The proposal draws on the policy of using rural construction land to develop long-term rental housing to critique the ongoing development of long-term rental housing based on the nuclear family type and to reflect the housing conditions and problems faced by new workers. By dividing the construction sites into four types, the design proposal identifies different issues in four different conditions and defines the relationship between the new workers’ community and the public.

A design experiment is also conducted to test and improve the design proposal. The design experiment chooses a type 1 site and, on this site, the design proposal is applied at all scales. The design experiment highlights the potential of the design proposal but also finds some problem areas that need to be resolved and changes that could improve the design proposal.

From the design experiment, it is clear that the proposal is feasible create enough density and communal spaces for both the inhabitants and the neighbourhood. In retrospect, it is also be possible to reduce the density and increase the individual unit in improving the living standard. Other sites will be more achievable than this type.

The focus of this dissertation is not to provide a solution to the housing shortage for workers in Beijing but to identify a neglected social group and propose a new type of dwelling for them based on their unique needs, working conditions and the lifestyles. At the same time, the dissertation is a critique of public rental housing and the rental market in Beijing, which have both ignored the demographic changes of the city’s residents and are still pursuing a policy of building rental housing based on the nuclear family as the basic social unit.

Future research in this area will explore how to make both the municipality of Beijing and the market aware of this change and how the cooperation of the state and market could positively impact this situation.

116

117

Bibliography

Bibliography

120

Bibliography

58.com, and Anjuke.com. ‘2019 Higher Education Graduates Career, Living

Feminist Struggle. Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2012.

and Transportation Report (2019年高校毕业生就业居行报告)’, 2019.

Franklin, Adrian S. ‘On Loneliness’. Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human

Developers’ Lifes Matter. ‘996.ICU’. Accessed 20 April 2020. https://996.icu.

Geography 91, no. 4 (2009): 343–54.

‘2018年白领生活状况调研报告 - MBA智库文档’(2018 white collar living vondition

Gropius, Walter. Scope of Total Architecture. London: George Allen & Unwin

research report_MBA intelligence file). Accessed 20 July 2019. http://doc.

Ltd, 1956.

mbalib.com/view/cd85af61c0d5ad7780878d002f6f9d96.html.

Hayden, Dolores. The Grand Domestic Revolution : A History of Feminist

‘2018 young people rental big data report | CBNData’ (‘2018年轻人租房大

Designs for American Homes, Neighborhoods, and Cities. London: Cambridge

数据报告 | CBNData’). Accessed 20 July 2019. https://www.cbndata.com/

(Mass.), 1981.

report/1161/detail?isReading=report&page=1.

Hugentobler, Margrit, Andreas Hofer, and Pia Simmendinger. More than

Angotti, Thomas. ‘Metropolis 2000 : Planning, Poverty and Politics’.

Housing : Cooperative Planning - a Case Study from Zurich. Basel: Birkhauser,

Accessed 27 February 2020. http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/

2016.

ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE3NTM0MzZfX0FO0?sid=5d522678-506f-4299-a392-

Karel, Teige. The Minimum Dwelling. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2002.

fccc4d460439@sessionmgr103&vid=0&format=EB&rid=1.

Kries, Mateo, Mathias Muller, Daniel Niggli, Andreas Ruby, and Ilka Ruby.

Aureli, Pier Vittorio. Less Is Enough. Strelka Press, 2014.

Together! : The New Architecture of the Collective. Weil am Rhein: Vitra

———. Project of Autonomy : Politics and Architecture within and against

Design Museum, 2017.

Capitalism. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 208AD.

Lazzarato, Maurizio. Governing by Debt. South Pasadena, CA: Semiotext(e),

Aureli, Pier Vittorio, and Martino Tattara. ‘Harvard Design Magazine: Production/

2015.

Reproduction: Housing beyond the Family’. Accessed 24 February 2020.

———. The Making of the Indebted Man : An Essay on the Neoliberal

http://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/41/production-reproduction-

Condition. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2012.

housing-beyond-the-family.

‘“Living Together Is Only Possible If There Is Always the Possibility to

———. ‘Soft Cell: The Minimum Dwelling’. Architectural Review. Accessed

Be Alone.” – Dogma Studio’s Hard-Line Look at Architectural Solitude

25 February 2020. https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/soft-cell-the-

| Features | Archinect’. Accessed 17 April 2020. https://archinect.com/

minimum-dwelling/10033401.article.

features/article/149959097/living-together-is-only-possible-if-there-is-always-

South China Morning Post. ‘Beijing Workers Have Longest Daily Commute

the-possibility-to-be-alone-dogma-studio-s-hard-line-look-at-architectural-

in China at 52 Minutes Each Way’, 27 January 2015. https://www.scmp.

solitude.

com/news/china/article/1692839/beijingers-lead-chinas-pack-longest-daily-

Ma, Xiaohong, Deting Yi, and Xiaoliang Hong. Research Report on Population

commute.

Development in Beijing(2019)(北京人口发展研究报告(2019)). Tianjin: Social

Boudet, Dominique. New Housing in Zurich : Typologies for a Changing

Sciences Academic Press (China)(社会科学文献出版社), 2019.

Society. Zurich: Park Books, 2017.

Maki, Fumihiko. Investigations in Collective Form. WaWashington University

Chen, Yuanzhi, Alan, and Lisheng He. Chinese Urban Transformation : A Tale

School of Architectureshington University, 1964.

of Six Cities. London: RIBA Publishing, 2018.

Qiqing, Lin, and Raymond Zhong. ‘“996” Is China’s Version of Hustle Culture.

Dogma (Architectural office). Loveless : The Minimum Dwelling and Its

Tech Workers Are Sick of It.’ The New York Times, 29 April 2019, sec.

Discontents. Milan: Black Square, 2019.

Technology. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/technology/china-996-jack-

———. The Room of One’s Own : The Architecture of the (Private) Room.

ma.html.

Milan: DOGMA, 2018.

Sigfried, Giedion. Befreites Wohnen = Liberated Dwelling. Zurich: Lars Muller

Federici, Silvia. Revolution at Point Zero : Housework, Reproduction, and

Publishers, 2019.

121

Bibliography

‘Labour Law of the People’s Republic of China_National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China website’ (‘中华人民共和国劳动法_中国人 大网’). Accessed 4 May 2020. http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/c30834/201901/

ffad2d4ae4da4585a041abf66e74753c.shtml.

‘Land Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China_ npc.gov.cn’ (‘ 中华人民共和国土地管理法_中国人大网’). Accessed 3 May 2020. http://www.npc.

gov.cn/npc/c30834/201909/d1e6c1a1eec345eba23796c6e8473347.shtml.

‘Announcement of starting rental of two public rental housing projects including Yanbao,Maquanying and Yanbao, Gaomidian for no housing worker citizens and New Beijingers’ (‘关于燕保·马泉营家园、燕保·高米店家园两个公租房项目面向 本市户籍无房职工和新北京人无房职工开展配租的公告’). Accessed 6 March 2020.

http://zjw.beijing.gov.cn/bjjs/xxgk/gsgg/419598/index.shtml.

‘Advices about further reinforce using rural collective land constructing long-term rental housing_ Regulatory documents_website of The People’s government of Beijing Manicipality’ (‘关于进一步加强利用集体土地建设租赁住房工 作的有关意见_规范性文件_首都之窗_北京市人民政府门户网站’). Accessed 5 March

2020.

http://www.beijing.gov.cn/zhengce/gfxwj/201905/t20190522_60484.

html.

‘Beijing Haidian rural collective land rental housing project start- Xinhua.net’ (‘ 北京海淀集体土地租赁房项目开工-新华网’). Accessed 6 March 2020. http://www.

xinhuanet.com/house/2019-05-27/c_1124544022.htm. ‘【Micro record】Beijing tenants-Rental condtions of Beijing migrant workers_video chanel_Caixin.net’ (‘【微纪录】北京租客——北漂们的租房百态_ 视听频道_财新网’). Accessed 20 April 2020. http://video.caixin.com/2018-09-

29/101331327.html.

‘Catalogue_

Beijing

urban

planning(2016-2035)_Beijing

Municipal

Commission of Planning and Natural Resources’ (‘目录_北京城市总体规划 （2016年—2035年）_北京市规划和自然资源委员会’). Accessed 5 May 2020.

http://ghzrzyw.beijing.gov.cn/zhengwuxinxi/zxzt/bjcsztgh20162035/202001/ t20200102_1554613.html.

122

123