MA Architecture & Urbanism Thesis Design #manchesterschoolofarchitecture #maaumsa

THE MIXED-USE FLOATING CITY 2020 Postgraduate Design Rongzhou Zhu

ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO

Manchester, England United Kingdom Manchester School of Architecture University of Manchester Manchester Metropolitan University Copyright reserved by Rongzhou Zhu MA Architecture & Urbanism

How we live toghther in 2050?

Mixed-use and floating city Smart technology Sea level rise

Mixed-use Floating City Dachan bay, Shenzhen, China MA A+U

TABLE OF CONTENTS

00 INTRODUCTION

03 MODEL & SKETCH

01 BACKGROUND & LOCATION

04 DESIGN PROCESS & CONCEPT

02 SITE ANALYSIS & ISSUE

05 PROJECT DETAIL

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book is the result of a research of the topic and the support and endorsement of a variety of collegues and tutors.

This is a result of a design of Dachan Bay, Shenzhen, China with the topic of "floating mixused" city. This is the result of an applied research and design studio during the 2019-2020 academic year at the Manchester School of Srchitecture in the program: MA Architecture & Urbanism jiontly accresited by Universtiy of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University.

Thanks for the Manchester School of Architecture (MSA) for giving me this opportunity of design and research, as well as the support and guidance. A special mention should be made for the tutors that supported the development of the project from the start: Eamonn Canniffe, Colin Harwood, Mazin AI-Saffar, Antonio Blanco Pastor.

I would also like to acknowledge all the tutors and friends who have given me help, feedback, advices and criticisms during the course and design.

00

Introduction

As an important part of China's Pearl River Delta, Shenzhen is, alongside its roles as a technology and economic centre, also one of the most important logistics and transportation hubs in the country.

The city boasts a population of 13,438,800, and possesses one of the fastest growing economies and highest gross domestic products in China. To the east of the city are the Mirs and Daya Bays, while to its west is the mouth of the Pearl River, and the Lingding Channel; south across the river from Shenzhen is Hong Kong.

Shenzhen is rich in alluvium and marine sediments, and as such, is classified geologically as part of a low-lying, easily submerged area.

For this reason, rising sea levels are of particular importance in the city, necessitating highly complex solutions.

Further complicating the situation is that a large number of subterranean and reclamation projects have been undertaken in Shenzhen over the course of its expansion. Natural disasters relating to, or resulting from marine factors have been common, not only over the past 30 years, but throughout the city and surrounding county’s (recorded) history, stretching 600 and 1,700 years into the past, respectively.

In this context, it is necessary to question how rising sea levels can be prevented, or their effects mitigated, while permitting growth to continue, and without provoking a mass exodus from coastal cities.

Dachan bay, as the key area of Shenzhen's transformation and development planning, is facing the choice of transformation and development.

Dachan bay was originally planned to be one of the largest ports in China, and has been e x p a n d e d i n t h e p ro c e s s o f construction. However, after China experienced a slowdown in economic growth due to the financial crisis, the planned port size was about twice the actual user demand, which directly led to the imminent transformation plan of Dachan bay area. Even though the demand for the use of ports has been reduced, in the special advanced development mode of China, the supporting functions of the surrounding cities have been improved. The development of the surrounding cities is no longer dependent on ports. But depends on the development of diversified industries and the further improvement of urban functions. , the Shenzhen municipal

government is bidding for the right to use this area and the planning scheme.

Dachan bay, as a typical area of Shenzhen's urban transformation, has the characteristics of Shenzhen's emerging high-tech city and the characteristics of the coastal city. Dachan bay is facing the contradiction between urban planning and port planning as well as the contradiction between future urban development and the threat of sea level rising to urban security.

This design is to make possible solutions to the climate and urban problems that The Dachan Bay may face in the future, and to design and plan the dacha Bay with the topic of mixed-use in a vertical giant structure and an urban mode co-existing with the ocean.

01

Background & Location

This design mainly takes the competition of superscape 2020 as the background to explore the problems and conditions that cities may face in the next 30 years to the end of this century, and how to solve it through mixed-use and other ways.

Over the past three decades, both the frequency and intensity of climate change and natural disasters around the world have increased, ushering in dramatic changes. A combination of human and natural processes is believed to underlie alarming rises in sea levels, threatening coastal cities and littoral areas the world over.

Not only shorelines and beaches, but also buildings, communities, settlements, and entire nations face an existential challenge owing to rising sea levels. Already, the damage that this has caused has seriously impacted the quality

of life of people living in coastal areas. Sea levels are forecast to continue rising for at least the next century. According to the Globe and Mail of Canada, the world's remaining glaciers and ice sheets are "melting completely much faster than anyone imagined and will certainly be gone within this century."

In contrast to the erosion caused by rising sea levels, land use is actually increasing in coastal areas around the world. With the influx of people from rural areas to cities, and the latter’s resulting incessant need for development, land in coastal areas is so densely populated in some large cities land has begun to be reclaimed from the sea. When these two opposite albeit inevitable trends intersect, coastal cities can only rectify them through urban planning and construction. Some coastal cities,

such as Singapore, Miami, and Copenhagen have taken a lead in precisely these pursuits.

Shenzhen, a booming coastal city, has seen rapid growth in both population and urban size over the past three decades.Shenzhen has acquired a huge urban area in the Dachan Bay area by reclaiming land from the sea. However, these areas are exactly the high risk areas of inundation after sea level rise.Dachan Bay, an overgrown port, is also being targeted by the Shenzhen municipal government for urban renewal, with plans to use more than half of its land for other uses.

As one of the main themes of future urban development, mixeduse can greatly improve the efficiency of urban unit area, reduce people's living cost and improve people's productivity.

Mixed-use cities allow citizens to do more productive and living activities within a smaller range of activities which is particularly important for cities that will be threatened by future climate change.

Therefore, this design takes Dachuan Bay in Shenzhen city as the project location, and takes future sea level rise as the background to design a mixeduse urban design project that can resist the threat brought by future sea level rise and coexist harmoniously with the ocean.

Metabolomics and modular Mixed-use cases images Source: http://www.noel-murphy.com/rotch/2016/03/11/tokyo-bay-and-theeconomics-of-floating-cities/

Image maps of the project location area that would be flooded in the future under different sea level rise scenarios.

Data source: https://ss2.climatecentral.org/#13/22.5254/113.8860?show=satellite&projectio ns=0-K14_RCP85-SLR&level=0&unit=meters&pois=hide It can be seen that in the context of a high probability of sea level rise of 0.5-2m within this century, the project location is particularly vulnerable to the impact of sea level rise due to the relationship between altitude and land reclamation.In the future, if sea level rise cannot be controlled, the whole shenzhen area will be threatened.

Big Architects' flood landscape urban design for Manhattan Source: https://www.dezeen.com/2014/07/11/movie-bjarke-ingels-big-u-stormdefences-protect-manhattan-flooding/

02

Site analysis & Issue

China's opening up first started in Shenzhen and over the years, this reform has extended to the Pearl River Delta (PRD), the Yangtze River Delta, the Bohai Bay and Central and Western China. These areas together create a complete Loop which marks the country's leap to new heights and enhanced productivity.

Hong Kong - Shenzhen collaboration has evolved over the years and the continuosly close partnership between both cities has fostered strong synergy in the region.

Dachan Bay has great potential to become thr strategic platform where a new form of collaboration and doing business takes place.

The transport infrastructure development in Dachan Bay where land, sea and air transport all converges in one spot is

representative of its connectivity given its ideal positioning as the bridge between the successful aviation hubs in PRD area.

Dachan Bay is and established w o l rd - c l a s s f re e t r a d e p o r t which serves as a tool into the global market. But Dachan Bay's construction was built exceeded the actual demand because of the economic crisis.

The demand for ports in Shenzhen has not kept growing as expected by the Shenzhen municipal government.However, Dachan Bay and its surrounding urban areas have been completed according to the original plan.

Therefore, Shenzhen city plans to transform Dachan Bay into a new CBD city centered on technology.

The Shenzhen Urban Development S t r a t e g y 2 0 3 0 p ro p o s e s t o transform Dachan Bay into a new service and logistic center.

This shift will pisition Dachan Bay at the forefront of Shenzhen's development.

Because of the geographical and transportation importance of Dacha Bay and the special nature of its reclamation, the area is more dependent on the sea and at the same time more vulnerable to sea level rise.This is also where The city of Shenzhen is expected to bear the brunt of flooding as sea levels rise, according to satellite images.Therefore, the transformation of Dachan Bay requires a step-by-step response to sea level rise.

Shenzhen's historical development timeline

Messina maritime theatre

Established areas similar to Dachan Bay Venecia

Alger

The design area is at an important maritime and air transport node, which is very important for the traffic in Shenzhen

Traffic system near design area on different heights

The design area is located on the commercial axis of Shenzhen, which connects almost all important industrial and commercial areas in Shenzhen. As the end point of this axis, the design area needs to be directly connected to this line by bridges.

Urban pattern analysis for different founctions' areas in Shenzhen

The proportion of land occupied by different functions in different areas According to the analysis of different types of urban areas, it can be known that the urban areas with mixed u s e h a v e h i g h e r u s e e ff i c i e n c y, can accommodate more effective population per unit area, and create more productivity.The more mixed urban areas have higher requirements on the proportion of supporting public space, which also leads to the need to improve the efficiency of private space.

In the future urban function ratio, the proportion occupied by public space and activities will be increased, while the proportion occupied by private activities will be reduced due to mixed-use.

The concept of the traditional residential, commercial and industrial area will disappear, every individual resident living in their own mixed-use little space to do most of their production, living and learning activities, and the efficiency of the public space is the biggest gave people the necessary social and interactive experience and real necessary cannot be replaced by virtual reality technology.

03

Sketch & Model

Basic vertical structure and transportation model

Additional building and sea level rise scenarios model

04

Design process & Concept

The purpose of this design is to finally form a mixed use of future urban form that can adapt to sea level rise.The theory of modular architecture and metabolism is the core of the future urban form, through the means of modular architecture, forming an urban building from the bottom to grow, adapt and die out.The theory of metabolism provides a new way of thinking for the design, through industrial technology and information technology, to form a huge self-developing vertical urban structure in the vertical direction.Conway's game of life provides a theoretical basis for the development trend of units in structures.By mixing this pattern, the efficiency of the cell body and each cell layer is improved.

In the concrete implementation of the design concept, the rules of the ancient Chinese game "Huarong Road" are used in the transportation of the unit modules in the vertical structure.

New communications technology, AI technology, rail transport technology, modular unit construction technology and new materials technology are among the technologies envisioned in the near future to help achieve a floating mixed-use city in the future.

Plan for Tokyo 1960

Metabolism: City of the Future Metabolism was the most important urban architectural, artistic and philosophical movement, that Japan produced in the twentieth century. Its influence went beyond the utopian concepts of a society that was experiencing rapid economic growth in the early 60s and it materialized in specific projects, not only in Japan but also beyond the archipelago.

The theory of metabolism emphasizes the growth, change and decay of things, advocates the adoption of new technologies to solve problems, and opposes the view that cities and buildings are fixed and naturally evolved in the past.Metabolites believe that cities and buildings are not static, but a dynamic process like biological metabolism.Time factors should be introduced into cities and buildings, and the period of each element should be clearly defined.

In terms of long period factors, movable and short period factors should be installed.

The metabolism theory believes that the development of industrial technology and information technology can change the whole society, and they attempt to solve social problems through technological means, so that the whole city can develop correctly, namely "growth, renewal and decline".

Specific applications and plans of Metabolism: Plan for Tokyo 1960, City farm, Environmental space, Marine city.

City farm

Beautilion Takara

Marine City

Through The Conway's game of life, a vertical system of growth, renewal and death can be generated in the prescribed urban fabric, which is advocated by the metabolism theory. Observing the growth trend and summarizing the most favorable form of urban space "survival" will help to design the vertical system in the future city.

Record the generation process and trend of some volumes on the site.

A vertical structure generated from a regular urban fabric based on street archetypes

Switch to the other two base shapes to get the different final shapes

The three most common combinations of units that can "survive" summarized by the auto-generated process.

Some impossible or no economic value structures are removed from the automatically generated tower structure, and some invalid or disordered structures are replaced with universal results.

Combined with the tower structure of super high-rise building and the location of the central core, the tower combined structure around the central core is formed.This result is achieved by computer simulation and human intervention adjustment.

Mixed-use

By studying the activities and behaviors of an ordinary citizen at different times of the day, the functional requirements of different urban entities are determined.

More private activity space needs can be transformed into public space through the change of technology and urban structure so as to increase the utilization rate of urban unit space.

The purpose of mixed-use is to improve the utilization rate of urban space and productivity per unit area by combining the functions of ordinary cities in pairs or more.Similarly, ordinary urban streets are transformed into village-style clusters, which are vertically stacked to form a new vertical urban space.

Huarong Road Transportation (Klotski)

The technological support needed

05

Project Detail

1.Strategies

5.Ecology & Sustainability

2.Transportation

6.Plans

3.Sections

7.Materials & Structure

4.Units detail

8.Images

Strategies

Phase 1: Sea level rise will remain manageable and preventable in the near term to the next 30 years.The design area will retain the ordinary streets in the traditional sense and begin the construction of the giant vertical urban structure of the future. The traditional city in this stage will serve as the supporting facilities for the future city and the basic urban planning and development of this area.The sea water is introduced into the base to form the transportation and construction system of sea transportation, road and railway.

Phase 2: The next 30 to 70 years.At this stage, sea level rise has reached a certain height, and it will pay unacceptable costs and risks to continue to maintain its engineering protection.

In this stage, the peripheral landscape and flood control facilities will be flooded, the traditional streets and infrastructure within the area will be gradually reduced, and the building materials will be gradually recycled in the vertical city.

Some original infrastructure structures will be transformed to strengthen the vertical structure foundation to resist the sea level rise.

Phase 3: After this century.At this stage, sea level rise will be too great for humans to contend with.

In addition to continuously raising the ground level of the port area to maintain the port function of the entire city, other areas will be completely submerged.Traditional streets and buildings will be completely recycled, and almost all urban functions will be integrated into the vertical urban structure. The city will grow and renew upward like a metabolism.At this stage, the traditional road transport will be abandoned, rail,air and sea transportation will be the main transport mode.

Transportation

Sections

Rail transportation between buildings

Transportation cure

Road transportation

Water transportation

Units detail

Ecology & Sustainability

Energy supply and water cycle treatment

Building materials recycle

Plans

Materials & Structure

The composition and extension of the unit body module

Combination of structures and transport tracks

The internal structure of a unit

Structure and schematic diagram of transmission device

Passenger elevator structure

Images

Interior renderings

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2. Ferraro, J. M. (2012). Venice: History of the floating city. Cambridge University Press.

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11. Tamari, T. (2014). Metabolism: Utopian urbanism and the Japanese modern architecture movement. Theory, Culture & Society, 31(78), 201-225.