U R BA NI S M
ve r tic a l
Edited by Z hong jie Lin and José L . S . Gám ez
VERTICAL URBANISM China Studio 2012-2014
Copyright © 2016 by UNC Charlotte School of Architecture All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Edited by Zhongjie Lin and José L.S. Gámez Designed by May Khalife, Laurel Nee, and Zhang Chi First printing, 2016 Distributed by the author, School of Architecture, Storrs 105 University of North Carolina at Charlotte 9201 University City Boulevard Charlotte, NC 28223 Email: SoA-info@uncc.edu Printed in the United States of America, by [insert name and address of printing company]
CONTENTS 2
Preface
6
Vertical Urbanism: Re-conceptualizing the Compact City. Zhongjie Lin, Ph.D.
20
When New Urbanism Gets Old: Differing Cultures in Global City Design. José L.S. Gámez, Ph.D.
32
2012
Chris Jarrett
Suzhou Industrial Park High-Speed Rail Station Business District
82
2013
Xiangmen Area Redevelopment, Suzhou
130
2014
Redevelopment Plan for Wuyan Bay, Xiamen
Vertical Urbanism
Preface
P R E FAC E
3
Vertical Urbanism
P R E FAC E
4
Preface
5
6
7
Vertical Urbanism
VERTICAL URBANISM: R E - C O N C E P T U A L I Z I N G T H E C O M PA C T C I T Y Zhongjie Lin, Ph.D.
Although the term “compact city” appears frequently in academic accounts of sustainable urbanism as well as in professional documents for planning projects, it is often used in a manner generally linked to certain wellestablished principles including high density, mixed uses, walkability, and transit oriented development (TOD). The fixed language ties the concept to traditional Western urbanism, while the compact city actually possesses the power to generate dynamic urban forms, utilize cutting-edge technologies, address pressing environmental issues, and respond to distinctive geographical and cultural contexts—thus enabling it to challenge conventional notions of urbanism. The awareness of limitations of current theory and practice leads to the introduction of “Vertical Urbanism” as an alternative discourse of the compact city responding proactively to the state of contemporary metropolises characterized by density, complexity, and verticality. Vertical Urbanism distinguishes itself from the nostalgic idea of neo-traditional urbanism on one hand, and the static Modernist notion promoting tall buildings as dominant urban typology on the other. In contrast, it advocates physically interactive and socially engaged forms addressing the city as a multi-layered and multi-dimensioned organism. We have been investigating the concept of Vertical Urbanism and studying its influence in urban design through a series of capstone studios in the Master of Urban Design program of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. These studios, conducted in several cities in the United States and China, focused on various design issues such as urban infrastructure, transit system, industrial waterfront redevelopment, 8
and downtown revitalization, and tested the concept in different geographic and cultural settings. This essay will first trace the historical development of and debates surrounding the concept of the compact city, and define the approach of Vertical Urbanism from both historical and practical dimensions. It will then examine important urban design issues based on Vertical Urbanism through the studio projects, including the relationship between density and vitality, the relationship between horizontal and vertical dimensions, space of flow and scalar shift, as well as the ecological and social adaptability of megaforms. These pedagogical experiments helped frame the design methodology of Vertical Urbanism, and explore the capacity of this global urban tactic to provide localized design solutions.
Debates on the Compact City The compact city is a relatively recent concept in the discourses of urbanism. Many attribute the idea to Jane Jacobs and her seminal work The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which argues for dense and diverse urban centers like Manhattan over the planned Modernist City or Garden City; but it was not until the late 1980s that the term “compact city” became commonly used academically and professionally.1 Studies of the compact city have evolved along with rising awareness of climate change and the global movement of sustainable development following the 1987 Brundtland Report.2 This report, published by the United Nations’ World Commission on Environment and Development, prompts policy makers as well as professionals to rethink the role of urban design and development to better protect and sustain human
Re-conceptualizing the Compact City
habitats. As a result, the idea of the compact city was circulated in both policy circles as well as professional planning and development communities, and became particularly influential in Europe where political leaders appeared to be more concerned about issues pertaining to energy shortages, global warming, and the negative impacts of urban sprawl. Two documents, both published by European governmental agencies in 1990, are instrumental in this endeavor. One is the United Kingdom’s White Paper on the Environment, also published as This Common Inheritance.3 The other is the Green Paper on the Urban Environment published by the Commission of the European Communities.4 Both recognize the role of urban planning and urban form in achieving environmental and urban sustainability, and advocate the “compact city” as a solution of the dilemmas facing European cities.5 The Green Paper particularly favors the planning approach of compact city not only for its environmental benefits including energy consumption and emissions but also its potential contribution to the quality of life. Both documents have been quite influential and led to a series of other publications, which further articulate this concept. One of these well-known publications is entitled Towards an Urban Renaissance, put together by the Urban Task Force led by Sir Richard Rogers in the United Kingdoms in 1999.6 These documents characterize the compact city as a form of high-density development with increased socio-economic diversity and an improved public realm encouraging low-carbon lifestyles and supported by public transit infrastructure. Influenced by these discourses, the compact city has grown
into an important component in the practice of sustainable urbanism, in fighting urban sprawl, and linking attributes of physical urban form to healthy environment and society. However, there have been different definitions of the compact city and opinions regarding its impact on city building. Michael Breheny’s essay “The Contradictions of the Compact City,” published in 1992, summarizes the early—and still unresolved—debates on the concept and its planning implications.7 On the one hand, its proponents claim that the compact and functionally mixed urban form can meet two major planning objectives neatly: one to protect the natural environment, and the other to foster the quality of life in a healthy city. On the other hand, opponents point out several limitations of the concept. Critics suspect that the relationship between a compact urban form and environmental improvement might not be as direct as its sponsors claim. They also criticize that the prevailing definitions of compact city are tied primarily to Western models, often referring to pre-modern or early-modern urban forms in Europe, and thus represent a particular set of fixed cultural identities.8 Although most scholars recognize that a compact form contributes positively to urban sustainability, the criticisms nevertheless indicate inadequacies of current approaches to building a compact city. Since the 1980s, New Urbanism has gradually developed into a dominant discourse of city building in the United States, in concurrence with the growth of the organizations supporting it, and it has influenced urban design practices across the world. Proposals 9
Vertical Urbanism
for designing compact cities are often associated with principles of the New Urbanism movement like high density, mixed-uses, walkability, traditional neighborhood development, and transit oriented development (TOD). While these principals represent fundamentals of sustainable development, the fixed design language further strengthens the compact city’s connotation of traditional Western urban form. In addition, complex political, social and cultural factors in contemporary societies have led to different forms of urban density, and demand incorporation of regional contexts both morphologically and sociologically in urban design practice. The expanding territory of human agglomeration has also led to a growing scale of urban systems, including its mass transportation, information networks, and ecological systems, which in turn are changing the process of urban intensification. These global conditions, thus, require a reinterpretation of compactness in which a higher degree of integration and interaction of urban components becomes the key.
Concept of Vertical Urbanism The Master of Urban Design program at UNC Charlotte has been engaged in the investigation of Vertical Urbanism as an alternative approach to the design of compact city. This concept responds proactively to the state of contemporary metropolises characterized by the relationships of density, complexity, and verticality. It is concerned with physically complex and socially engaged spatial forms featuring the contemporary city as a multi-layered and multi-dimensioned organism. Vertical Urbanism thus distinguishes itself from the nostalgic idea of New Urbanism on one hand, 10
and Modernist notions promoting tall buildings as a dominant urban typology on the other. We have continued to frame the methodology of Vertical Urbanism in the context of a series of capstone urban design studios, using them as laboratories to investigate the design, ecological, and socio-cultural dimensions of building the compact city. Vertical Urbanism particularly addresses design issues of high-density urban areas supported by complex urban systems that conventional planning approaches are only able to manage with limited success. When urban density reaches a certain point, verticality becomes a crucial attribute of the city. In such a city, all components of urban design including circulation, land uses, open spaces, ecologies, and human activities are distributed in a different pattern and their relationships mutate. As we can see in some of the world’s mega-cities like Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, and New York, the floor area to plot ratios go beyond 1:12 and residential densities exceed 400 persons per acre. With such intensity, the planning area of a city is no longer its surface but the entire built-up area and the potential buildable vertical space above. In such cities, transportation, social programs, and open spaces are highly integrated in a system that stretches from underground to the top of buildings. Given such complexity, we can no longer simply focus on the site plan and layout of buildings, but should examine the city as a three-dimensional matrix for urban design solutions. Studying urban verticality not only deals with the spaces above the ground; it involves looking beneath
Re-conceptualizing the Compact City
Figure 1: Yokohama Minato Mirai 21 Central Station, Yokohama MM21 Corporation
the land to examine underground transportation, service, and uses, as well as their relationships to the uses and structures above. The designs of urban areas surrounding major train stations or metro interchange stations in such cities as Tokyo and Shanghai represent some best examples for such vertical spatiality through height as well as depth. The multi-level underground spaces often link commercial developments, public uses, pedestrian circulation, and parking facilities to an inner-city or inter-city transportation node, all of which further connect to the public areas and open spaces above. The complexity of different systems involved in the planning of such a multi-model transportation district entails systems design thinking and a combinatory planning approach.
Although Vertical Urbanism is not a brand new idea, its concept and methodology are yet to be critically articulated. Architects and planners have long dreamt of urban forms to address the growing density of cities for a century or more. The illustrations of a future New York drawn by Richard Rummell and other artists in the 1900s and 1910s envisaged a vertical city consisting of skyscrapers linked together by interconnected bridges and serviced by automobile and rail transportation networks on different levels above- and underground.9 Although these earlytwentieth-century visions of the city as a machine have fallen out of favor, the question remains relevant: can we design an urban environment of high intensity that is efficient, sustainable, and livable, with the amenities, landscapes, and lifestyle choices that we enjoy on the 11
Vertical Urbanism
Figure 2: King’s View of New York, by Richard Rummell, 1910-11
ground? Such imperative has continued to grow as cities have become ever larger and urban systems more sophisticated, and contemporary technologies are offering more options to realize such an urban form. The mid-20th century witnessed many attempts in practice—both pragmatic urban tactics and ambitious utopian schemes—to conceptualize such verticality in urban design. The Skyway system in downtown Minneapolis, inaugurated in the 1960s, was one of such 12
Figure 3: Downtown Minneapolis Skyways
Re-conceptualizing the Compact City
Figure 4: City in the Air, byArata Isozaki, 1960
meaningful experiments, although it focused primarily on the system of pedestrian circulation. The Skyways extend the pedestrian circulation and retail spaces to the upper levels and create linkages among the tall buildings in downtown; and the system also improves public transit ridership and experience. There were also numerous utopian urban projects during the postwar decades—often associated with the Megastructure movements—advocating radical concepts of Vertical Urbanism to challenge the status quo of cities on both formal and social levels. Arata Isozaki’s “City in the Air” project presented a long-standing desire for freedom from land and a faith in the capacity of technology to shape a self-contained vertical human habitat.10 The project depicted a cluster of towers growing out of Tokyo’s medieval urban fabric and toward the sky,
carrying inhabitable spaces on enormous horizontal cantilevers. Imaginaries by Isozaki and his peers in the avant-garde Metabolist group inspired the vertical development of Tokyo in the following decades. In the United States, Paolo Soleri also conceptualized a series of projects called Arcology since the 1960s, proposing megastructures to house thousands of people and built in an ecologically sensible manner. Although these theoretical projects did not result in many built works, they have continued to inform contemporary practice seeking vertical compact urban forms.11 On the practical level, an important source of inspiration in terms of a vertical organization of spaces comes from some megastructures engineers have created, which distinguish themselves from 13
Vertical Urbanism
Figure 5: The world’s biggest cruise ship Oasis of the Seas
traditional approaches to planning. Contemporary ocean liners, some of which can carry more than 5,000 passengers with extensive amenities like a selfcontained city, provide an excellent model for a vertical compact city. In a large cruise ship, almost all primary programs needed for running a city, including housing, retail, dining, entertainment, gym, library, education, clinic, administration, and social spaces are packed into an extremely compact volume supported by an exceedingly efficient circulation system and serving a population equivalent to a mid-size township. The compactness of such a “city” also significantly reduces energy consumption and carbon emission. Not necessarily resembling the ocean liner in form, many contemporary mega-projects, some involving multiple urban blocks, also resort to a similar integrative design approach. One example is the CCTV Headquarters designed by the Office of Metropolitan Architecture, in which numerous complex programs are organized in a vertical network based on their interrelationships like in a three-dimensional city. Similarly, Zaha Hadid Architects’ design of Galaxy Soho in Beijing approaches the large-scale commercial and office 14
Figure 6: Galaxy Soho, Beijing, by Zaha Hadid Architects, 2012
Re-conceptualizing the Compact City
complex as an integrative system of programs and spaces, and creates a powerful form visualizing the spatial network. The expanding territory of urban ecology and landscape represents another important dimension of the urban systems calling for Vertical Urbanism. Projects like the High Line in New York have inspired the design strategy of “vertical park,” making landscape an evolving system to guide the city’s growth and transformation. The growing practice of vertical farming demonstrates the promise of reconnecting high-density urban centers back to nature. “Urban Epicenter,” a theoretical project proposed for New York, uses vertical farming as an urban catalyst to rebalance environmental as well as social ecologies in the city, placing agricultural production, housing, and social spaces adjacent to each other in the spiraling tower to maximize social interactions. Finally, it is critical to differentiate the concept of Vertical Urbanism from the stereotype of vertical city. Skyscrapers dominate urban centers or Central Business Districts in many cities in the world. They are, however, vertical cities planned and built in the traditional manner and often characterized by the layout of “towers in the park” influenced by Le Corbusier’s theory of urban planning.12 This approach to planning has led to development patterns like superblocks and gated communities that segregate buildings from their context and result in disconnected urban landscapes. Chinese cities, among others, have seen significant negative impacts of this approach. Figure 7: Urban Epicenter, New York, by Jungmin Nam, 2009
15
Vertical Urbanism
Figure 8: Redevelopment of Penn’s Landing, Philadelphia, by Michael Lovaglio, 2011
In contrast, Vertical Urbanism is not a static form; rather, it represents a dynamic and adaptable strategy of urban design and development. This strategy moves away from the Modernist notion promoting tall buildings as dominant urban typology and toward the exploration of physically interactive and socially engaged forms, which address the city as a multi-layered and multi-dimensioned organism. It is informed by contemporary urban systems ranging from underground mass transit to futuristic urban farms, and conceptualizes the city as a holistic organization of infrastructure, space, and ecology in a three-dimensional framework. Density, complexity, and verticality are three keywords to describe the characteristics of Vertical Urbanism. Density indicates the concentration of population, programs, and developments, as well as the intensity of resulted social interaction. Complexity refers to the multiple 16
interconnected urban systems forming the backbone of a contemporary metropolis’ operation. Verticality addresses the multi-dimensional spatial network responding to such density and complexity to provide an urban environment that is efficient, sustainable, and socially engaging.
Vertical Urbanism studios Although large-scale urban systems are characteristic of mega-cities across the globe, their impact on urban form must be analyzed within local economic and cultural contexts. The Master of Urban Design program has been engaged in pedagogical explorations of Vertical Urbanism through a series of capstone studios conducted in four different cities in the United States and China since 2010.13 These studios tested this urban design method in different settings of urban
Re-conceptualizing the Compact City
Figure 9: “Melding”, SIP high-speed Rail Station Area Redevelopment, by Adam Martin, Amanda Edwards, Dan Robertson, Pan Qihao, and Jing Yan, 2012
growth and transformation including the re-genesis of urban infrastructure, business districts associated with transit hubs, revitalization of historic areas, and urban waterfront redevelopment. Sensitivity to locality in both ecological and cultural terms was emphasized across these studies although the schemes constantly engaged experimental design methods. The 2011 studio consisted of two assignments. In the first phase, students participated in the Edmund Bacon design competition to rethink Philadelphia’s I-95/CSX Corridor, anticipating the demolition of the highway in several years. Based on the competition entries, students continued to develop urban design schemes for the waterfront area around Penn’s Landing in the
Center City. The competition’s theme, “Intersect”, represents a major challenge facing urban infrastructure built in the postwar decades. The transformation of the metropolis in the postindustrial era demands new notions of mobility and connectivity centered on an emerging ecological culture. The challenge in this project for Philadelphia was to reinterpret density, redesign the waterfront, and tie it back to the central business district and historic neighborhoods both physically and culturally. This task inspired the action of weaving horizontal as well as vertical elements of the urban circulation system. Soft ecological systems were prioritized to replace the hard transportation structures, providing the framework for 17
Vertical Urbanism
programs and open spaces, overcoming the fracture created by the transportation artery and significant grade change, and fostering ecological and social interaction. We started a three-year sequence of investigations of Chinese cities in 2012, in the format of an international summer program that incorporates the MUD capstone studio. The first China studio took place in Suzhou and studied the redevelopment of an industrial zone into a business sub-center, which is adjacent to a recently completed high-speed rail station and will soon house a station for two metro lines. The complex multi-modal transportation interchanges—highway and rail, inner-city and inter-city, elevated, surface, and underground—demanded a sophisticated threedimensional planning strategy in order to achieve a sensible solution. Such complexity prompted students to pursue a higherdegree integration of programs, circulation systems, and spaces, while conceiving consistent, legible, and elegant forms. Some teams used a parametric approach to envision an interactive relationship between buildings and open spaces and between the programs and circulation systems, breaking away from the traditional composition of isolated and repetitive towers and podiums. A park located at the center of the district serves as the point of convergence of circulation and human activities and provides an escape to a manmade nature in the form of a “valley.” Canals, an essential element of landscape in the historic city of Suzhou, were reintroduced, linking this area to its 18
regional context and providing another layer of urban ecology. The 2013 studio remained in Suzhou. Its design question, to a great extent, demonstrates how the concept of Vertical Urbanism differs from the vertical city. The study site is located within the old city wall. The historic center of Suzhou is relatively “flat”— most buildings are two- or three-story—because a strict height limit has been implemented to minimalize negative visual impact on the city’s numerous cultural sites including temples and the world-famous classical Chinese gardens (some of them are UNESCO World Heritage sites). The complexity of programs and landscapes is revealed in a section drawn by one of the teams, showing the moat, the rebuilt city gate, the garden and historic buildings around the site, and a mix of proposed new programs and amenities intended to revitalize the district including park, museum, retail, and housing. In addition, a new metro station is located at the southwest corner of the site. The intersection between Vertical Urbanism and horizontal landscape inspired students to seek alternative solutions in order to introduce contemporary urbanity to the site and to maintain local identity without relying on traditional formal vocabulary. For example, the project called “Ribbons” consists of a series of horizontal ground-scrapers, which reinterprets the historic pattern characteristic of the urban landscape of old Suzhou with paralleled strips of houses, narrow streets, and canals. As in the traditional approach, verticality is not considered
Re-conceptualizing the Compact City
Figure 10: Site Section, Xiangmen Redevelopment, by Charles Kane II, Miao Zhou, William Henry, Bang Zhong, Yamei Liu, 2013
Figure 11: “Ribbons,” Xiangmen Redevelopment, by Klint Mullis, Logan Creech, Elrica Metayer, Yuchao Xu, Yuxuan Su, 2013
as macro-scale urban structures, but rather microscale tactics mediating the canal, street, square, and buildings. The discussion of the city as a system integrating natural and cultural landscapes continued into the 2014 studio, which took place in the southern coastal city of Xiamen and focused an area along the manmade
Wuyuan Bay. The addition of new infrastructure including two metro lines and the relocation of the city’s airport has made Wuyuan Bay a new urban node desirable for large-scale developments. The studio sought an alternative model of development to the stereotypical “towers in the park” and residential superblock. The teams were inspired by the Zhongzhai village 19
Vertical Urbanism
Figure 12: “Life between Blocks,” Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment, by Evan Weaver, Evan Mills, Yiming Cai, Bixuan Meng, Yunlong Zhang, Yunyi Luo, 2014
adjacent to the site, which originated as a minority tribe but has recently grown into a “village in the city”: almost all peasants have turned their small cottages into seven- or eight-story towers with apartments leasable to migrant workers. These illegal constructions fill up the small parcels they occupy, leaving only a meter or two for tiny alleyways between buildings, resulting in an extremely high density. The plans for the 18-hectare new development sought a middle ground between “megastructure” and such a “group form” stemming from vernacular settlements.14 The resultant form was characterized by numerous clusters of modular buildings, combining the pattern of the village-in-thecity’s incremental construction on one hand, and the visual and regulatory order brought about by the large20
scale infrastructure and landscape on the other—a solution that could only be achieved through a holistic approach to the urban system as an adaptable network.
Density, Complexity, and Verticality Studies of the compact city have evolved along with the rising awareness of climate change and the global movement of sustainable development. Debates surrounding this concept over the past few decades, however, have revealed limitations of the prevailing definition linking it to traditional European urban forms. Vertical Urbanism argues for an alternative approach to the design of compact cities. As we delve into this emerging urban paradigm, it becomes evident, through the various case studies, that Vertical Urbanism
Re-conceptualizing the Compact City
is not simply a high-density urban form or an image of skyscraper city. Rather, it refers to a combinatory system responding to the nature of contemporary metropolises as interacting layers of space, ecology, and information, which lead to an integrative design strategy for urban centers.15 The interrelationships between density, complexity, and verticality constitute the web of systems shaping the forms of compact city. The concept of Vertical Urbanism represents a flexible design strategy, instead of a static form, with an emphasis on its adaptability to contemporary urban conditions in differing geographic and cultural contexts. As indicated by case studies in this volume, the design methodology of Vertical Urbanism addresses the changing characters of Chinese cities, as the country undergoes dynamic transformation and its cities rely on urban infrastructure to stimulate development. These cities are in a critical stage to define a sustainable path of development and to shape the identity of their urban landscapes and cultures; and Vertical Urbanism can influence this process in ways that balance between the need for growth and the pursuit of identity and urbanity.
1. Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York: Random House, 1961). There are some other early sources of the compact city including: Paul Goodman and Percival Goodman, Communitas: Means of Livelihood and Ways of Life (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1947); and George Dantzig and Thomas Saaty, Compact City: A Plan for a Livable Urban Environment (San Francisco: W H Freeman, 1973). 2. The World Commission on Environment and Development, “The Report of the World Commission on Environment and
Development: Our Common Future,” UN Documents, 1987. 3. The UK Secretary of State for Environment et al, This Common Inheritance: Britain’s Environmental Strategy (London: HMSO Publications, 1990). 4. Commission of the European Communities, Green Paper on the Urban Environment [COM(90) 218], 1990. 5. There are a few other important writings advocating the compact city and helping to articulate this concept, including Tim Elkin et al, Reviving the City: Towards Sustainable Urban Development (London: Friends of the Earth, 1991); and Harley Sherlock, Cities are Good for Us (London: Walkden House, 1990). 6. Urban Task Force, Towards an urban Renaissance (London: Routledge, 1999). 7. Michael Breheny, “The Contradictions of the Compact City: A Review,” in Michael Breheny ed. Sustainable Development and Urban Form (London: Pion, 1992), 138159-. 8. Breheny, 156. 9. Richard Rummell, King’s Views of New York (New York: Moses King Inc, 1911). 10. For details of Arata Isozaki’s work and discussion of megastructure, see Zhongjie Lin, Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern Japan (London: Routledge, 2010). 11. Paolo Soleri, Arcology: the City in the Image of Man (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1969). 12. Le Corbusier, The City of To-morrow and Its Planning (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1987); and Le Corbusier, The Radiant City: Elements of a Doctrine of Urbanism to be Used as the Basis of Our Machine-Age Civilization (New York: Orion Press, 1967). 13. Recently the capstone studio shifted to South America to continue with the exploration through new studio sites in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki coined both terms, megastructure and group form, to describe collective forms. Fumihiko Maki, Investigations in Collective Form (St. Louis: Washington University in St. Louis, 1964). 15. Thom Mayne advocates. Thom Mayne, Combinatory Urbanism: A Realignment of Complex Behavior and Collective Form (Los Angeles: Stray Dog Café, 2011). 21
Vertical Urbanism
WHEN NEW URBANISM GETS OLD: D I F F E R I N G C U LT U R E S I N G L O B A L C I T Y D E S I G N José L.S. Gámez, Ph.D.
Introduction Back in the years between 2008 and 2010 when my colleagues and I were working to launch an urban design program located off our main campus, one challenge we faced was to create a curriculum that would incorporate a range of scalar experiences (local, regional, and global) as critical pedagogical components within Master of Urban Design (MUD) offered in the School of Architecture at UNC Charlotte. In its initial iteration (2010 - 2008), the MUD curriculum was a 36 credit hour program that lasted one and a half years (fall-spring-fall). It was revised in 2010 and consolidated into a 12-month program (fall-springsummer) with no loss in credit hours. Despite the fact that this change condensed the calendar of study, new opportunities emerged that enabled the introduction of what is now a critical component of our MUD program’s pedagogical model: integrated global education within the design curriculum. This change came on the heals of a larger initiative throughout the School of Architecture rooted in an effort to define the role of international education within our overall curricula and vision for future design practitioners. Through the work of a dedicated International Education Committee, a mission, objectives, and an action plan were developed, which focused upon “preparing globally ready designer practitioners” who would have an “experiential understanding of cultural diversity gained through an integrated approach to international studies.”1 David Walters, Deb Ryan, Zhongjie Lin, and I were all founding members of that degree path but David and I were the first two faculty members assigned to 22
full time off-campus roles in support program. David was the founding Director of the Master of the Urban Design program and I directed our outreach and research arm, the City.Building.Lab — both located in UNC Charlotte’s Center City Campus. We often joked that our working relationship was a bit like a Martin and Lewis skit — he was the calm and collected one with all the keys to city building knowledge, while I was the lackey who bumbled through urban issues and generally made a shambles of David’s good work. Possibly a more accurate comparison was to be found in the urban “camps” in which we each stood — David is a card carrying, charter signing New Urbanist (and a quite talented one, at that) while I am a card burning, charter avoiding “everyday”, DIY, and/or other kind of urbanist that shuns congresses.2 Each of the MUD faculty represent some combination of these “urbanisms” but we all also understand that contemporary movements such as New Urbanism, Landscape Urbanism, and contemporary issues associated with globalization must be brought into our discussions, classrooms and curriculum. I mention all this because it sets the stage for the challenges that we faced when teaching in the summer sessions, or the final terms of the curriculum, just as students traveled, and returned from abroad, and began facing the real prospects of jobs, graduation, and intensive design development (often in that order of importance from the students’ point of view). The realities of employment, in fact, shaped significant parts of our urban design teaching at the program’s inception. We understood that our MUD program needed to balance both practice and theory if our
When New Urbanism Gets Old
Figure 1: UNC Charlotte School of Architecture Master of Urban Design Students in China
students were going to gain a foothold in local offices as well as make significant impacts on the future shape of our city. This is not to say that our program was imagined as intensely skills focused; however, urban design (as a profession) represents a range of concrete skills similar to, often overlapping with, but different from those found in architecture and landscape architecture alone. And, urban design also has an historical lineage that both anchors the discipline while leaving room for creative interpretation of alternatives and the weaving of critical practices with principals of, for example, sustainable development within the context of global transformations. Our summer abroad aimed to provide a setting in which city-building skills could be tested within a global laboratory and, thus, provide a way of expanding
academic and professional discourses. Such a setting would, we hoped, to alert students to the challenges of a global practices in addition to their own cultural awakening. Global education presented its own challenges for us (faculty) as well. The challenges stemmed from the fact that the students, armed with a strong grasp of urban design fundamentals rooted in the North American context, traveled to China for a 5-week intensive design experience involving research and design collaborations with Chinese institutions. Led by Dr. Zhongjie Lin (the current Director of the MUD program), students were introduced to a context in which contemporary global urban design practices were being tested in real time, in real places, at enormous scales, and impacting real people. In a sense, China was the world’s urban laboratory. Thus, our initial summer coursework aimed to explore 23
Vertical Urbanism
China’s urban transformations while also introducing questions of global influences and cultural differences. In many ways, the program was designed to provide opportunities for students to engage a range of topics not often studied in western urban design programs precisely because of the contexts that were shaping Chinese cities at that time. Framed by themes of verticality, complexity, and density, the program focused upon emerging patterns in Chinese urbanization and their contrasts relative to patterns found in Charlotte or the U.S. generally. However, China did not exist in a vacuum and students were asked to keep a global set of patterns in mind as a frame of reference. In that sense, the international studio experience did what it was intended to do: it exposed students to questions of urbanization occurring on a global scale and, thereby, challenged students to stretch their skills to address a set of circumstances which, although specific to an international location, would potentially impact design and development practices at home. By extension, the international component of our program has also challenged us, the faculty, to reflect upon global urban design, and thus challenged our assumptions, our “expertise”, and our pedagogical frameworks. In my opinion, the China program has taught us several things. For example, it illustrated in particular that New Urbanism, which originated from American practice, has both strengths as well as limitations. Such limits were exposed through students’ struggles while partnering on design projects with students from Chinese universities. Our program’s pivot to Asia 24
forced us to explore alternative approaches to density and urbanity, and alternative forms of compactness and verticality. It turned out that principals of western urban design that may have been new at one time are increasingly showing signs of wear and tear, and are subject to critical reexamination in the global context. This essay outlines some of these contextual issues that have shaped our program, its pedagogy, and some of the cultural challenges we have faced as we have sought to introduce our students to a larger global community. It does so by illustrating how questions of scale and density are culturally bound through a discussion of recent transformations in Chinese urban centers and through the responses our students have had when confronted with the verticality and complexity of urban spaces in cities like Suzhou and Xiamen. These vignettes, which are presented through students comments, foreground the portfolios of three years of design research developed by our students working in teams with students from Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Xiamen University, and Wuhan University.3 In the end, our experiences abroad have given us a space within which to rethink basic assumptions of good urban design practice and to reframe the challenges that lie ahead for future urban designers.
New Urbanism & its Discontents New Urbanism, as one of several prevailing urban design theories and practices, remains a part of our foundation studio and a valuable contribution to the overall skill-sets of our students and alumni. As Emily Talen points out, “New Urbanism collectively
When New Urbanism Gets Old
Figure 2: UNC Charlotte School of Architecture Master of Urban Design Curriculum
represents the main principles of a variety of intrinsically related paradigms — neotraditionalism, traditional neighborhood design, pedestrian-pockets, transit-oriented design, and traditional urbanism.�4 As theory, New Urbanism has begun to influence many debates within urban planning schools across North America. Within the context of the southeastern United States, New Urbanism has begun to take hold in a range of arenas including the public sector (through form-based codes) and the private sector (through new suburban development models and some urban redevelopment initiatives). New Urbanism, in this sense, is no longer a part of the avant-garde in
architectural discourses but it appears to be emerging as such in planning practices both in and outside of academia. While New Urbanism may, in some ways, be the prevailing physical planning discourse in our region, our curriculum recognizes the need to move students progressively through a range of scales and places, starting locally in the first semester, then moving onto more complex regional contexts in the second semester and, finally, to global contexts in the final sequence of summer sessions in which other forms of urban practice and theory may be necessary. For 25
Vertical Urbanism
this reason, Zhongjie Lin crafted the MUD program’s initial trip to China around opportunities to examine a range of topics not typically studied in American urban design studios, including our own, precisely because of the often radically different challenges facing urban environments in China versus those typically found in the U.S. By framing the students’ exploration of Chinese urbanization through the lens of “Vertical Urbanism,” the program, which included a studio and seminar component, explicitly addressed emerging high-density patterns of urban transformation. Vertical Urbanism became the theoretical scaffold upon which to build alternative visions of highly compact yet radically different (as compared with what we see in Charlotte, for example) urban places. So, if New Urbanism dominated the foundation studio in the first semester, then global urbanization became the pedagogical theme for the coursework undertaken over the final summer sessions. China had, by the time of our first global studio visit, undergone intensive urbanization efforts for nearly two decades. One result of this process was an unprecedented construction boom and the development of many new towns representing urban forms ranging from Ecological Urbanism to New Urbanism to high modern models. These large-scale projects were intended to not only serve as economic engines for the country but also to help move the country from village to urban lifestyles. In many cases, verticality was a dominant feature of much of China’s urban development over the course of the 1990s and early 2000s; this verticality was often marked by high density, high rise living and included complex commercial, 26
recreational and social programming uncommon in the west. Verticality, in this sense, provided an evolving paradigm of urbanism that shaped new urban centers and distinguished them from traditional downtowns. As such, these vertical urban centers represented an emerging ideal of contemporary global urban culture; such concentrated urban developments collapsed global urban forces with local constraints in ways that both blurred the distinctions between the local and the global and yet maintained specifically Chinese imprints — both in the cultural and material fabric of each city. In a sense, what our students witnessed was the “glubanization” of China — the global urbanization of Chinese cities that increasingly exposed them to and embedded them within global flows of culture and commerce, economies of development, and of place-based competitive advantages. Originally coined by the political economist Bob Jessop, glubanization emphasizes the role of metropolitan centers in the rapid transformation of both social and physical spaces. And, like previous theories of world or global cities, glubanization points out that global processes impact cities differently while simultaneously creating many similar attributes in local places — such as distinctive skylines, redevelopment centers, unique mixes of marketplace (both commercial and financial) entities, and competitive place-based dynamics.5 In some ways, this parallels Doreen Massey’s discussions of a “global sense of place.”6 Again, much of China’s high density urbanization was and continues to be characterized by both verticality and compactness. Large scale developments introduce high population densities along with concentrations of
When New Urbanism Gets Old
programmatic uses (commercial, residential, leisure, semi-public, etc.) often within single large scale buildings and “neighborhood” developments. In other words, many of the large development projects that students visited represented a degree of density, compactness, and complexity in their mixture of uses that contrasted with what most of our students had experienced to that point. This contrast was manifest through vertical, aggressively programmed, and largely self-contained urban environments. In some cases, each tall building was in-and-of-itself a compact city. This, of course, differs from discussions of the compact city in the west. As Zhongjie Lin points out in his essay, the term “compact city” often appears within discussions of sustainable urbanization to generally describe mixed-use, walkable, and transitoriented patterns of development — and, these are all terms also often associated with New Urbanism.7 Discussions of the compact city have built upon two models rooted in the notions of “urban village” and of mixed use development typologies found in the U.S. and the U.K. in particular: Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND). Promoted as more sustainable development patterns than conventional suburbs from the mid to late 20th century, TODs and TNDs represent urban compactness drawn from traditional European cities that have relatively dense residential and commercial areas linked by high degrees of accessibility to public transportation. Studies of such places point to lower energy consumption figures across those two metrics as compared with places of lower density and/or lesser levels of available public transport.8
Despite its common usage, no clear definition of the “compact city” exists. Additionally, according to some planning scholars, many of its championed characteristics, such as sustainability and desirability, cannot be easily connected to concrete or empirical evidence.9 In general, criticisms of New Urbanism and of compact city-building strategies can often be categorized by three principal arguments focused upon empirical performance (metrics of sustainability), ideological and cultural issues (inclusiveness and cultural appropriateness), and aesthetic qualities (authenticity, historicism, and style). These categories are not independent of one another but one of the most visible critiques has been manifest in empirical studies of trip reduction, housing affordability, infrastructure costs, and environmental protection that often challenge claims made by proponents of New Urbanism. My goal is not to comprehensively summarize the debates, either pro or con, relative to New Urbanism; however, it is important to note that questions of compactness, perceptions of density, and of complexity are things that are not well addressed in prevailing critiques. Similar concerns could be raised about other prevailing urban design theories. Our experiences in China point to the need to re-interpret models of compact urbanization particularly in light of the scale, complexity, and verticality we have witnessed. In this sense, common critiques of New Urbanism and of compact city development often fail to address some practical and cultural questions, which are raised when western models, strategies and practices are confronted by international contexts. 27
Vertical Urbanism
Scale, Density & Mixed-up Uses: Culture & Fit Cultural perceptions of density, complexity, mixes of commercial uses, and of spatial organizations (such as commercial or semi-public uses below and above the ground plane) are conditioned by local custom, experience and practices. Mixed use, for example, in much of the United States is often not nearly as mixed as what we have seen in many major metropolitan centers in China. Similarly, the idea that a new development may house 100,000 people or more surprised our students but is common practice Beijing, Shanghai, or Suzhou. Density, in this case as a measurement of population, was initially simply beyond the experience and, therefore, beyond the comprehension, for most of our students. While subjects such as these deserve much more research, most prevailing urban design theories including New Urbanism are often characterized as western in derivation. New Urbanism (and Landscape Urbanism, for that matter) does not suggest that social dimensions of cities, like a sense of community or place, can be designed through physical form alone; similarly, the various qualities of physical space often sought by New Urbanist developments in the U.S. may not translate easily to a range of international contexts. The built environment is only one piece of the puzzle and perceptions of the built environment, particularly those that attempt to identify “good” vs. “poor,” are ultimately shaped by specific cultural and social variables in specific places and times. Scale is one such variable and a critical factor in cultural understandings of the built environment. However, it 28
is also an aspect of place that is influenced by political structures, economic variables and social policies. Form based codes in the United States, for example, provide a policy structure that can tie back into local place-based attributes and to the role of political and economic entities in the development of urban landscapes. Neighborhood character, including scale, density and materiality, are all spatial qualities that can and are often governed by form based codes in many communities. In China, however, the political and the economic take on much different and larger roles. The political order is manifest through an “urban administrative hierarchy” that designates multiple urban levels including “municipality (provincial city), vice-provincial city, general provincial capital, general prefecture-level city, county-level city, county town, and general designated town.”10 Much of the urban expansion that China has undergone over recent years has occurred in metropolitan centers and megacities in particular, and this growth has tended to occur in centers of political administration. Scholars describe this as an “administration-center bias” in which cities with higher administrative hierarchy often receive greater resource allocations, institutional partnerships and concentrations of market-based forces.11 What this translates to, in many ways, is concentrated high density development that often includes combinations of infrastructure (subway and rail), intensive mixed use developments (developments intended to house and support populations in the hundreds of thousands), and commercial and cultural destinations (shopping areas, museums and entertainment facilities). Scale in this kind of system is a function of managed population growth and urban
When New Urbanism Gets Old
development; the higher the tier of city, the higher the population density and the greater the emphasis on land use efficiency. This means that urban redevelopment efforts have transformed center cities to primarily mixed and commercial uses as industry has been pushed further to the suburban fringes. According to scholars of Chinese urbanization, first tier cities benefit from this kind of urban investment bias, which creates imbalances between resource distribution.12 This system has shaped cities like Beijing, Suzhou, and Shanghai, among many others, which are all high level municipalities that our students traveled to and studied. One aspect of this kind of concentrated growth that our students experienced was manifest in an “expanded urban scale” that has been “stretched, expanded, and upgraded as an integral part of the strategy of place-marketing and place-promotion in order to capture and fix global mobile capital.”13 This combination of place-based development and expanded urban scale presented significant challenges for our students — both conceptually and in practical terms:
Student 1 (2012): The most challenging aspect was to reconcile our desire to apply western design principles to China’s auto-oriented mega-block development style. Another challenge was conceptualizing how vertical mixed use buildings would accommodate the current and predicted population density in China. Ultimately, we decided to hold firm and to design smaller more pedestrian-friendly blocks. We learned quickly to think at much larger densities than we were used to designing for in the west. Student 2 (2012): With the help of our Chinese student collaborators, we did not struggle with the ideals of the western world too much. We were able to discuss the ideals of both cultures and come up with a cohesive design. If I could say there was a challenge it
would have been the verticality of buildings in which, at first, we didn’t have buildings tall enough to meet the clients’ needs……Also trips around China and seeing the magnitude at which they lived helped us to realize what they would be looking for.
Such challenges persisted throughout our 3-year research cycle in China (2012, 2013, and 2014). Students consistently found that questions of scale (both in terms of physical urban form and population density) challenged their understandings based upon what they had experienced to date: Student 3 (2014): Scale was a bit overwhelming and we were shown two polemics in China: the mega block and the small winding, organic town structure. So, even though we have an arsenal of Western design techniques, I think that all went out the window when we were introduced to the site (in Xiamen) and these two ideas.
Student 4 (2014): Typical western design principals, such as allowing retail shops to have entrances on primary or secondary streets, is not a necessity in China, because retail can exist and flourish almost everywhere, including down back alleys.
In their quest to reconcile the contrasts between their design experiences and the context that China presented, students explored strategies and design frameworks rooted in combinatory, ecological and landscape urbanisms.14 The apparent complexity of these design movements held the promise of potential resolutions to the challenges of radically dense environments and expanded scales of development in each of their case study sites. Given the need to act, the ideological divide between New Urbanism and Landscape Urbanism so often seen in academia was quickly patched over. As a 29
Vertical Urbanism
at stitching together buildings, landform and public spaces in three-dimensional frameworks. Still other strategies emerged that attempted to address historic legacies through the use of transformed typologies that were rooted in cultural traditions, which aimed to give a sense of identity to large scale new developments. In a sense, the students took a combinatory approach to urban design theories and context, past and present, in an effort to develop a tool set appropriate to their sites (the local) and their professions (the global).
Figure 3: Dr. Lin and students from Charlotte and China working through design challenges
result, design strategies emerged to break down large sites into smaller districts, responding in both intensity and scale to the context of the site and the location of new infrastructure, such as future metro station exits. Students borrowed strategies from one camp to augment those found in another: pedestrian scaled increments were layered over mega-scaled urban blocks and then infused with ecologically driven forms in both the landscape and architecture. Following general transit oriented development models in the west, the most intensely programmed districts were located in areas near metro exits and surrounded by vertical high-rise mixed-use and residential towers while lesser densities were directed to edges of districts and nearby communities. Other strategies involved the use of complex landscape and ecological systems aimed 30
Figure 4: An example of a student team’s urban vision built upon a mixture of design strategies
When New Urbanism Gets Old
Glurban Design? Thoughts on the Need for Combined New Urbanisms Despite the challenges that our students faced in addressing the density and scale of much of China’s development patterns, our basic pedagogical interest in complexity and verticality as they relate to mixes of uses, forms of high density development, and scales of intervention all remain important aspects of our global urban design studios. In fact, the global contexts that we study shed light upon how both our practices in the U.S. and urban circumstances found elsewhere can interact. Urban design, like its allied design disciplines, is a cultural practice with professional responsibilities that require a fluency in a range of diverse languages of form and critical cultural thinking. In the case of our work, what we find is that our cultural perceptions, as well as those of our students, have shaped our notions of good urban design, pedestrian scale, appropriate density, and mixes of uses in productive but limited ways. While this does not negate their value, it certainly points out that our values are not universal. This is not earth shattering news by any stretch of the imagination but it suggests the need for urban designers to deploy their imaginations as critical cultural practice — to recognize that the “local” remains something that is shaped by global urban forces while it can be articulated to enable local identities of both people and place to remain vibrant and meaningful.15 A global sense of urban design and place-making requires a broad range of global fluencies and expertise. In many ways, the battle between New Urbanism and other urbanisms is only a distraction; the war must be won in delineating
the local within larger global flows. Our urban design program’s integrated approach to international travel is intended to situate our practices within a complex context that integrates design, research and cross-cultural analysis through firsthand exposure to trends that shape global cities. Our students have responded positively, which reinforces our idea that this model is effective: Student 5 (2014): The idea that there is only one way to look at a plan is too simplified and has not proved to be the answer. The ability to reach across cultures begins to expand the potential for urban designers.
Such a global landscape demands a global set of design practices that also include opportunities for engaged original investigations. Questions of scale, complexity of use, and density in the form of verticality all point to local strategies in China that operationalize placemaking as urban redevelopment and re-scaling / intensification models. This points to what we see as an initial finding from our design and research: the interactions between our students and those in China led to an expanded sense of the compact city, one that builds upon differing cultural perceptions of scale, complexity, and density particularly as they relate to verticality. In a sense, this set of cultural experiences contributed to a broader understanding of the role of urbanism within a global context while also opening a new area for critical design practice and research.
Looking South to Look Ahead In an era of rapid urbanization and increased global interconnectedness, emerging urban design 31
Vertical Urbanism
professionals must be able to navigate diverse cultures, and our curricular model is intended to help our students develop an ability to do so. While we have seen some cultural limits to our students’ understandings of global urbanization and of prevailing urban design theories and practice, the work that they have produced points not to a rejection of basic principles of urban design. Instead, what we see is a form of extended critique somewhat like that found in the work of Berkeley sociologist Michael Burawoy. For Burawoy, case studies in specific places and times can capture unique instances in which global theories can fall short. Rather than rejecting those theories, his Extended Case Study Method provides avenues to dismantle and rebuild those same theories by exploring the anomalies that confront them.16 Specifically in this set of cases, our students’ ability to both engage prevailing notions of new and compact urbanism while also drawing from strategies rooted in cultural context and landscapes to extend beyond conceptual limitations points to a model of combinatory design processes that can underpin global practices. Our experience in China has proven rich with opportunity not only to provide benefits associated with international travel programs but also to establish collaborative partnerships and laboratories for “crosscultural exchange, speculative research, lectures and workshops, productive civic engagement.”17 As our initial 3-year research cycle wrapped up, we turned our attention to another part of the world in which similar research themes could be seen but in different form: Latin America. In 2015, we reoriented and relocated our global studio to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Rio provided opportunities to witness a range of 32
urban transformations that were, on the one hand, unique to the city at the time, while also illustrative of global urban conditions on the other. While large scale infrastructural investment and questions of sustainability were themes that framed our program’s experience in China, the Brazilian context facilitates study of those themes while adding other issues, such as informality, driven by its contemporary political, economic and cultural landscape. Rio, despite its vast size, covering approximately 720 square miles, is in many ways a city made up of very dense and sometimes vertical compact cities — each neighborhood has a strong sense of identity rooted in both culture and physical characteristics. Our goal in Rio is to continue to explore interrelationships between density, complexity, and verticality; however, Rio also offers added complexities due to the quality of both formal and informal development characterizing its recent urbanization. These combined urban conditions constitute potential research avenues that can illuminate various global forces influencing new forms of compact cities including somewhat are not yet recognized as such. Our exploration of vertical urbanism as a flexible design strategy relies, in part, upon its potential adaptability to contemporary urban conditions in different global cultural contexts. Rio de Janeiro represents a city of contrasts in which highly formalized transformations of urban areas (Olympic event driven infrastructure, for example) sit side by side with urban expansions driven by human appropriation. In the context of Latin America, verticality, while still important, may be matched by the complexity of high density mixed (up) use areas characterizing the favelas. Informality in Rio, as in other parts of Latin America,
When New Urbanism Gets Old
often combines complexity of social programming (mixing of housing, cultural spaces and commerce, for example) with the need to build vertically (homes upon homes, shops upon shops). While this is not the vertical urbanism found in the Chinese context, informal urbanism carries many similar and equally complex social and spatial characteristics. When contrasted with the vertical gated neighborhoods that make up many of the Rio’s newer coastal suburban neighborhoods, what one faces is a set of cultural experiences rich in lessons that elaborate what our understanding of the role of urban design within a global context may be. As our research moves forward, we will contrast and compare our case study cities and countries in search of a combination of 21st century urbanisms. 1. For an overview of the School of Architecture’s approach to international programming, see: Chris Jarrett and Zhongjie Lin, “Incremental Initiatives: Global Programming X6” in Globalizing Architecture: Flows and Disruptions: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. Edited by John Stuart and Mabel Wilson. (Washington DC: ACSA Press, 2014) 597–603. 2. David Walters is now an Emeritus Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at UNC Charlotte and he continues to contribute to our MUD program through both teaching and generous service as a guest critic among other things — including feedback on early drafts of this essay. 3. The full portfolio of projects can be found in a companion publication to this monograph titled Vertical Urbanism: Case Studies in Chinese Urbanization. 4. Emily Talen, 2000. “New Urbanism and the Culture of Criticism” in Urban Geography, 21:4, 320. 5. See: Bob Jessop and Ngai-Ling Sum, 2000. “An Entrepreneurial City in Action: Hong Kong’s Emerging Strategies in and for (Inter)Urban Competition” in Urban Studies 37 (12): 2287–2313. 6. Doreen Massey, 1994. “A Global Sense of Place” in Space,
Place and Gender (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press) 146–56. 7. Zhongjie Lin, 2018. “Vertical Urbanism: Re-conceptualizing the Compact City,” forthcoming in Vertical Urbansim. New York: Routledge. 8. See: David Walters, 2007. Designing Community: Charrettes, Masterplans and Form-based Codes. Oxford: Architectural Press. 9. Michael Neuman, 2005. “The Compact City Fallacy,” in the Journal of Planning Education and Research 25, 11–26. 10. Wei Houkai, 2015. “The Administrative Hierarchy and Growth of Urban Scale in China,” in the Chinese Journal of Urban and Environmental Studies, 3 (1): 1550001–5. 11. Houkai, 150001–17. 12. See: Ronald Moomaw and Ali M. Shatter, 1996. “Urbanization and Economic Development: A Bias Toward Large Cities?” in Journal of Urban Economics, 40 (1): 13–37; see also: Xinggang He, 1991. “View on Population Explosion and Scale Control in Chinese Metropolis” In Social Scientist, 1991(2): 42–50. 13. George C. S. Lin, 2007. “Chinese Urbanism in Question: State, Society, and the Reproduction of Urban Spaces” in Urban Geography, 28 (1): 24. 14. For example, students were asked to read Thom Mayne’s book Combinatory Urbanism: The Complex Behavior of Collective Form (Los Angeles: Stray Dog Café, 2011); students were also encouraged to examine the work of leading “landscape urbanists” such as Stan Allen and James Corner as well as innovative interdisciplinary design firms such as Susannah C. Drake’s DLANDstudio that integrate (among other things) ecological strategies into their work. 15. I am borrowing (and, perhaps, distorting) Arjun Appadurai’s work on the imagination in contemporary global cultural production; see: Arjun Appadurai, 1998. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press). 16. Burawoy’s Extended Case Study Method is a model of sociological research that engages both local contexts and global theories; while, his specific methods may apply to ethnographic research specifically, his model of intellectual engagement with a topic is more widely applicable. See: Michael Burawoy, 1998. “The Extended Case Study Method,” in Sociologial Theory 16 (1): 4–33. 17. Jarrett and Lin, 603. 33
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2012
Vertical Urbanism
SUZHOU INDUSTRIAL PARK HIGH-SPEED RAIL STATION BUSINESS DISTRICT
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SIP Rail Station District
BRIEF
SITE & PROGRAM
The first Master of Urban Design summer studio took place in Suzhou, China, in 2012. In collaboration with Suzhou University of Science & Technology College of Architecture & Urban Planning, the joint studio focused on an industrial site in the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) and studied its potential redevelopment as a new business district.
The study area is located in one of the industrial zones built in the 1990s based on a master plan developed in 1994. In 2010, the Shanghai-Nanjing Regional High-speed Rail Line was completed, further integrating China's largest megalopolis into a 300 kilometers transit corridor. The station in the SIP is built next to the site, which was refined in a 2007 master plan as a new business center for SIP and slated for redevelopment. In the meantime, Suzhou has developed a mass transit system for the city with construction beginning on the first metro line that same year. According to the metro system plan, both the proposed Line 6 and Line 8 will go through this area adjacent to the SIP with each sharing a station within the site. This will undoubtedly bring in greater crowds and more business opportunities to the area.
The SIP is a new town located in Suzhou, a historic city in Yangtze River Delta about 100 kilometers from Shanghai. Created in 1994 as a joint venture between the Chinese government and the Singaporean government, the SIP has served as a high-profile demonstration project featuring Singapore's economic development models now translated to mainland China; the new town also serves as a model of sustainable organized Chinese urbanization. It has since become a powerful magnet to attract Foreign Direct Investments, and its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown at an incredible average rate of over 30% annually. Envisioned as Suzhou's business urban center complementing its historic downtown, the SIP has developed into a city of over 700,000 residents. Nevertheless, after 18 years of rapid growth, the widely lauded SIP model is facing challenges as the city undergoes economic and social transformations, in which high-end tertiary sector service industries (such as scientific research, information technologies and other commercial services) are foregrounded in its future development agendas.
The entire redevelopment area is about 1.5 square kilometers; however, the studio focused on the central area of 446,550 square meters for business and mixused developments. The study area is across the highway from the high-speed train station in the south and surrounded by proposed residential developments on three other sides. The site is imagined as a transitoriented development (TOD) with balanced programs including 540,000 square meters of office and hotel, 400,000 square meters of housing, and 260,000 square meters of commercial, as well as 10,000 square meters of underground retail space associated with the metro stations. These programs would be organized around an 80,000 square meters park at the center. 37
Vertical Urbanism
PA R T I C I PA N T S The 2012 summer studio was held as a joint workshop between UNC Charlotte School of Architecture and Suzhou University of Science and Technology (SUST) College of Architecture and Urban Planning. The studio was supported by Suzhou Industrial Park Urban Redevelopment Company and Futurepolis Ltd.
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Faculty
Zhongjie Lin, Jose Gamez (UNC Charlotte); Jason Slatinsky (Futurepolis); Zhang Xi, Zhou Xi, Huang Ying (SUST)
Students
(UNC Charlotte) Hanin Khasru, Broderick Whitlock, Jacquelyn Beattie, Ashley Powell, Lucas Shires, Elizabeth Frere, Adam Martin, Amanda Edwards, Dan Robertson, Dylan McKnight, Becky Manning, Maria Floren, Allen Davis, Sonal Patel. (SUST) Ding Zhiqi, Wang Chujie, Zhao Yuan, Gui Peng, Pan Qihao, Jing Yan, Dong Tingting, Wang Gaoxing, Liu Ke, Zhu Yifan
SIP Rail Station District
OBJECTIVES
S I T E A N A LY S I S
The state-owned SIP Urban Redevelopment Company was charged to develop this site and had commissioned Nikken Sekkei Ltd. for its design. Our studio provided an opportunity for hypothetical studies and alternative urban design concepts based on the provocative approach of vertical urbanism, which could spark conversation about the future of SIP.
Suzhou is located in the Jiangsu province of China and it is widely known for its beautiful gardens and traditional waterside architecture. The Suzhou region is located in the center of Yangtze River Delta. Regional Planning of Yangtze River Delta officially approved by the State Council further defines that Yangtze River Delta is a key international gate of the Asia-Pacific Region.
One critical aspect of the studio was that it focused on an important topic within the realm of urban design, namely, the relationship between infrastructure - in this case, mass transit systems - and urban form. As a new transit hub, the SIP will necessarily create a three-dimensional spatial network that encourages higher-density development and greater integration of programs; this will also demand increased connectivity and accessibility in both horizontal and vertical dimensions. The transit hub and the resulting vertical urban form also facilitate a more intimate and integrative relationship between public open space and the city. Thus, this studio examined the impact of the transit system on an emerging urban center and explored various formal and spatial expressions of vertical urbanism.
Suzhou has become a primary city within China's Yangtze River Delta economic zone due to its high GDP and overall economic contributions to China as a whole. Recently, it has been a center of the silk trade and a place of gardens and canals. The city has long been a ha ven for scholars, artists, and skilled craftsmen. Suzhou has also become a home to major joint-venture and high-tech manufacturing activities. Therefore, the city currently boasts one of the most robust economies in the world. For example, Suzhou is the world's largest single producer of laptop computers. The Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) in the east, and the Suzhou New District (SND) in the west, are each home to factories from numerous North American, European, East Asian, and Australian companies. Major industrial products include microchips, flash memory systems, electronics, computer equipment, telecommunications components, power tools, specialty chemicals and materials, automotive components, pharmaceuticals, and much more.
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Vertical Urbanism
The Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) also represents the largest cooperation project between China and Singapore Governments. SIP itself is located beside Jinji Lake, which lies to the east of Suzhou Old city. The China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park (CS-SIP), in which our site lies, was established on February 26, 1994 when Chinese Vice Premier Li Lanqing and Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew signed a joint development agreement. SIP has a total jurisdiction area of 288 square kilometers, of which, the China-Singapore cooperation area covers 80 square kilometers with a planned residential population of 1.2 million. 40
SIP Rail Station District
41
Vertical Urbanism
gh Hi e sp ed il ra
Taihu Lake
Suzhou
85 km Shanghai 15 km 15 km 30 km 30 km
Hangzhou Bay
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SIP is currently characterized by a predominantly post-industrial landscape in which poorly constructed buildings show signs of abandonment and deterioration (despite having been constructed between 2002 and 2004). The site includes several existing streets and canals lined with trees that evoke the potential for a unique character. However, the streetscape is incomplete and in poor condition and canal edges are overgrown with vegetation and littered with waste. In addition, the site's current land use planning and physical qualities do not match the proposed vision of a mixed use and transit-oriented development. Interestingly, Suzhou has an historic urban core (well over 2000 years old), called Old Town, with a distinctive character. Old Town is immediately adjacent to the SIP site and represents a unique opportunity to knit the old and the new together.
SIP Rail Station District
10 km
Yangcheng Resort Lake
gh Hi e sp ed
SIP
il ra
Natural Preservation Area
Past Development Zone
Historic Core
Jinji Lake CBD
Current Development Focus Area
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Vertical Urbanism
View East through Rail Station
Plaza in front of Rail Station
Given the poor state of the current architectural and urban fabric of the site, local governments have solicited ideas for the redevelopment of the SIP site. The currently proposed site plan for the study area was prepared by Nikken Sekkei of Japan. Preliminary analysis of the Nikken Sekkei plan suggests a high degree of homogeneity; urban forms are replicated throughout the site, with the commercial center offering a slight change in pattern (a larger rectangle form, also copied across the site). The scale of both the architectural structures, urban structure (block sizes, street widths) and the proposed open spaces appear to be too large to be compatible with the scale of human social life. 44
SIP Rail Station District
Canal at Site Edge
Canals, Bridges, History
Train Station, view towards site
View From Rail Station 45
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EXPOSED VERTICALITY Ashley Powell, Lucas Shires, Elizabeth Frere, Gui Peng, Zhao Yuan
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Vertical Urbanism
N 0m
100m
200m
Master plan
Exposed verticality embraces the range of complex systems and spatial layering through which contemporary Chinese cities are constructed. Due to extreme density, Chinese cities exist in a multi-planar fashion, inhabiting both the sky and subterranean levels. Suzhou is one such city -- a hyper-dense vertical urban center facing on-going change.
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The Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) site represents this current state of transformation; it will be home to a regional high-speed rail station and linked by multiple stories of underground transportation, mixed uses and high density development above grade. Planning concepts surrounding the project include ideas about the “accessible city”, “urban archipelagoes”, smart cities, and ecological cities.
SIP Rail Station District
Existing figure ground
Proposed podium figure ground
Stills
Tower figure ground
Green cores
Flows
Blue ways
Vertical circulation
Ebbs
Pedestrian circulation
Elevated circulation
Typologies
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Vertical Urbanism
Section A-A
Section C-C 50
SIP Rail Station District
51
Vertical Urbanism
Our urban design proposal seeks to build upon this set of conceptual strategies in ways that ensure that the development on the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) site reinforces and amplifies the vision of a 21st century. Therefore, our concept of exposed verticality suggests that, if carefully articulated, the spatial complexity and hyper-density of contemporary Chinese urban centers can be extremely efficient and dynamic thereby, creating destination cities with character, fully functional urban rooms and a rich lived experience. At its core, exposed verticality is an augmentation of current development practices allowing otherwise concealed elements of high-density Chinese cities to be explored and inhabited in new ways. Concept meets physical form via multi-level planes that are both externally visible and inhabitable, an elevated tertiary circulation system of eco-bridges, recessed vehicle and pedestrian systems, transparent facades, way finding technology, and penetrable earth bringing vertical urbanism to the forefront of the experience. Undulating landforms become an essential means of expression of exposure offering the user direct contact with various aspects of urbanism typically isolated from the uni-dimensional ground plane.
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Exposed Verticality is not a criticism of nor does it seek to challenge all areas of conventional Chinese planning; it is instead an articulation of the importance of the complex layering systems out of which these cites are made. The Suzhou Industrial Park Redevelopment can become a destination with the potential to contribute greatly towards Suzhou's ever-growing economy. As a gateway city, SIP's exposed verticality can become the face of Suzhou and, therefore, establishes itself as a prototype for future development on the periphery of the city.
SIP Rail Station District
Section B
Section D
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MELDING Adam Martin, Amanda Edwards, Dan Robertson, Pan Qihoa and Jing Yan
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Vertical Urbanism
N 0m
100m
200m
Master plan
Melding and Exposed Verticality, as concepts, allow otherwise concealed elements of high-density Chinese cities to be explored in ways that enable a rich complexity of systems to be layered into new urban formations. Combined design concepts are necessary in order to meet China's contemporary urban challenges - in this case as represented by the Suzhou Industrial Park redevelopment project.
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Years ago (2002), the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) was an agrarian village; today it is a major industrial site already slated for redevelopment. The pending transformation will remake this industrial complex into a major mixed-use urban center. Additionally, our site sits in a strategic location between two lakes with growing residential populations. When combined with the fact that Suzhou is a gateway to the East, then our site becomes an important location for all of China.
SIP Rail Station District
Slinky spatial character
Initial phase
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phasing plan
In this sense, the master plan responds to the rapidly growing Chinese population and economy: 350 million people will be added to China's urban population by the year 2025. That is more than the entire US population in less than 30 years. Given this rate of urban expansion, our design team aims to enter into Asia’s complex junction of high-density urbanism, landscape, and verticality; we also aim to engage the
struggle for place and meaning in a rapidly changing physical and cultural environment. This can only be done through the melding of landscape and vertical urbanism principals, and by exposing opportunities that vertical urbanity holds.
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Vertical Urbanism
Pedestrian pathways
Network
Vehicular circulation
Phasing
Building height
Transit nodes
Connections within blocks
Open spaces
Green networks
We view MELDing as an urban action that can combine separate and unique elements together; the term refers to the ways that elements can be blended, reformed and carved into a newness that results in a hybrid urban whole. The concept meets its physical form via multi-level planes that are externally visible and inhabitable, elevated circulation systems, systems of ecological repair, recessed vehicle and pedestrian systems, transparent facades and landscapes, and wayfinding technology. 58
We view Exposed Verticality as a dynamic interaction with urban spaces that offers to aid China in planning for increased density through extrusions that break the surface of building facades (thereby allowing for maximum inhabitable space in the same footprint). Exposed verticality is a maximization of urban development - a union of scales of design that are sensitive to the human/micro and urban/macro.
SIP Rail Station District
L.E.G.
Building massing
Void space/Wayfinding Airspace wayfinding moments (leg joints) Ground space wayfinding points
Open space system
Wayfinding
Primary (non vehicular pathways) Secondary (non vehicular pathways) Interior block network pathways (see typology)
Pedestrian pathways
Sub-space system + Transit
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Vertical Urbanism
Canal Walk
Site Sections
The two concepts are held together through undulating landforms, which form an essential means of direct contact with various aspects of urbanism typically isolated in conventional land-use planning. In addition, a key feature of our proposal is a canal connection that provides an ecological and active catalyst for development. It will not only serve as a regional water connector for biological processes but also a shared public open space. Like the basin of a sculpted valley drawing in water from multiple tributaries, it draws in people for social interaction and cultural activity concentrating them at the water's edge in a new Central Park Space. 60
Through the melding of history, environment, people, housing, transportation and connectivity, and commerce, our proposal envisions the future of urban development in Suzhou. Today, China stands at a transition point. It is in the middle of the largest migration of people from agrarian to urban life that the world has ever seen. The Suzhou Industrial Park redevelopment site has the unique opportunity to be a physical manifestation of that shift. Through our concepts of Melding and Exposed Verticality, we combine all the pieces that make Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, and China a unique place without repetition.
SIP Rail Station District
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RENEWED BIOPHILIA Maria Floren, Becky Manning, Dylan McKnight, Dong Tingting, Wang Gaoxin
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Vertical Urbanism
N 0m
100m
200m
Master plan
Located in the lower Yangtze (Chang Jiang) valley, in Jiangsu province, Suzhou forms one hub in an extended communication network of roads, railways and canals. Suzhou is both the second largest industrial city in China (next to Shanghai) and the second largest city among the cities in the Yangtze Delta.
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The city has a rich economic and cultural history tied to its network of canals and drainage systems, which were initially constructed to protect and irrigate the rich rice fields. Despite losing approximately 88,000 hectares of farmland between 1978 and 1995, the region remains one of the most diverse and intensified agricultural production areas in the world. Rice paddies, market gardens, glass-houses and fish farms dot a landscape well-watered by thousands of interconnected canals.
SIP Rail Station District
Offices Cultural/civic spaces Residential areas
2002 Aerial
Retail Parks
Land Use ECONOMY DETOX LAND & WATER CREATE NEW HABITATS RELINKING CANALS
HUMAN WELLBEING
2002 Canals + Villages ECONOMY
RENEWED BIOPHILIA
MENTAL PHYSICAL THERAPEUTIC
AMENITIES ATTRACTIVE MIXED USE
CULTURE RECONNECT TO WATER NATURAL ORIGINS COMMUNITY
Suzhou remains one of China's “green cities” in that it is still largely able to feed itself from its adjacent territories, rather than relying solely on foods imported through long supply chains. This can be seen in adjustments made since 2004 to ensure sufficient land reserve for green areas and parks; these form a framework for environmental protection that includes three lakes, four gardens, six ecological corridors and twelve community gardens. These adjustments have also begun to address the serious environmental problems facing the region and have been promoted as a vision of modernization combined with a high quality of life.
Lily Pad Concept
Proposal
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Vertical Urbanism
Underground - Nodes - Public Transit - Streets
Water Bodies - Pedestrian Paths - Nodes
Site Diagrams
Our urban design proposal seeks to build upon this set of sustainable strategies in ways that ensure that the development on the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) site reinforces and amplifies the vision of a 21st century green city. Therefore, our urban design project seeks to provide a hybrid growth model for the SIP and its Regional High-speed Rail Station Central Area—one that balances the community values of historically smaller-scaled rural Chinese villages with the modern density, environmental responsibility and economic vitality required for the rapidly- expanding city centers.
Elevated Skywalks 66
SIP Rail Station District
rainwater harvesting
water reusage
Exhibition Tower
park irrigation
water collection
activated canal edges
rainwater harvesting
Cultural Center greywater system site irrigation canal recreation
water collection
canal access & recreation
Water Ecology rainwater harvesting
urban farm water filtration & irrigation
water filtration & pond
South Blocks
greywater system & water collection
water fountain plaza
water collection & irrigation connecting site canal
Park
Water System Typologies water collection & irrigation
water filtration pond
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Vertical Urbanism
Accessible mounds Public art
Separated bike lane Commercial
Water fountain plaza
Pedestrian bridge
Water filtration pond
Underground retail level
Meandering canals
Subway line
Capital Hotel
Park + Underground Axon
Escalators
Main road Underground Underground path level Elevator retail park circulation access
Public art Public hotel lobby
Focused Site Plan
This proposal is driven by design objectives focused on sustainable and efficient organizations, in a relatively compact urban form, of infrastructures, mixed-use programs and sustainable open space infrastructures. These organizations include vertical and threedimensional frameworks, above and below grade, as well as ecological systems taking full advantage of the local landscapes and its resources. 68
The site is organized around the existing transit connections and road infrastructure to create a balanced and interdependent hierarchy of spaces. The primary axis is the Central Park, anchored at each end by the Planning Exhibition Center to the west and the Cultural Center to the east. This civic “spine� is bordered on the north by residences with working farms, navigable waterways and agricultural learning centers. The waterfront and commercial cores border the Central Park to the south and southeast.
SIP Rail Station District
Central Park
Northern End - Residential
Southern End - Urban Blocks
Additionally, our proposal is inspired by the lily pad, which sits on the water while the lotus flower rises above. The lotus grows from mud and reaches toward sunlight with open blooms, a symbol of purity and spontaneous generation. It anchors below with a root system that connects it to a larger context. Using organic structures and new and existing waterways canals and tributaries - as paths between rural, sub-
urban and urban core, this urban archipelago provides innovative growth patterns to support the balance between community, environment and economy. This represents a biophilic and resilient model of condensed sustainable development that integrates characteristics of ancient Chinese culture - qualities the newer China is beginning to re-value - with modern industry and technology. 69
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RIPPLE Hanin Khasru, Broderick Whitlock, Jacquelyn Beattie, Ding Zhiqi, Wang Chujie 71
Vertical Urbanism
Bird‘s eye view
Our urban design proposal seeks to build upon the development on the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) as a series of urban nodes within a larger inter-related network. In this way, the SIP site amplifies the vision of a 21st century global gateway in the heart of Suzhou. Therefore, our urban design project seeks to provide a dynamic growth model for the SIP and its Regional High-speed Rail Station Central Area - one that will impact not only Suzhou but also the region.
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In essence, we see the development of SIP as one action that can lead to other actions. Something, anything, big or small, can cause a change in its environment. Whether it is a pebble causing a still pond to move infinitely outward or an urban core stimulating development and activity from its center to its surroundings, the development of SIP will have ripple effects. Having multiple urban or development nodes creates multiple ripples. The collision and merging of these ripples create new and unintended spaces of activity, as with the spaces between ripples, act as paths and become important corridors of movement. The ripple effect is a comprehensive understanding of urban environments.
SIP Rail Station District
Park Node
Office Node
Cultural Node
The Ripple Effect
This effect becomes even more dynamic when applied to vertical urbanism. The urban nodes and their spheres of activity become three dimensional taking people and uses outwards and upwards. Combined with the idea of breaking open the ground plane (perhaps borrowing from Stan Allen's “thick 2-d�), the effect can also help to blur the edges between the underground, ground and sky.
By taking above ground elements and infusing them with below ground spaces, the boundaries become less defined and space becomes more comfortable for its occupants. By merging the regional scale of the ripple effect with the local scale of ground breaking, vertical urbanism provides for the needs of future development and growth in a responsible and effective manner.
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TABULA PLEXUS Allen Davis, Sonal Patel, Liu Ke, Zhu Yifan
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Vertical Urbanism
Master plan
China presents a special urban context for practicing urban design, one quite different from the Western cities from which many contemporary urban design theories were developed. As such, an understanding of the scale and pace of Chinese urbanizations is important. According to the Organization for Economic CoOperation and Development (2010), China is on pace to become an urbanized country within a 30 to 40 year timeframe; by contrast, urbanization in the United States occurred over an approximately 100 year period while the process took about 180 to 200 years in Europe. 76
Thus, by 2015, China’s urban population will be between 680 and 700 million, at least 2.5 times larger than the urban population of the United States, and is expected to reach 900 million by 2050. Such explosive growth is captured in this striking assessment from the Energy Foundation’s 2011 Annual Report: “China adds 2 billion square meters of new buildings every year, putting the country on track to build the equivalent of a second China in the next 20 years - a boom that accounts for about half of the new construction in the entire world”.
SIP Rail Station District
Decentralization
Palimpsest
Tabula Plexus
Core Concepts
T
T
T
Placement: Convergence
Placement: Site Lines
Placement: Given Block Structure
Internal Organization: Finding the Gestalt
Internal Organization: Functional Zones
Internal Organization: Program + Form Structure
Size: Cross-Site Framework
Size: Walking Distance
Rational for Cluster Application + Organization
As a way to address China's unique urbanization through the specific context of the Suzhou Industrial Park and as a way to bridge between concept and design, our approach combines the American idea of the Garden City and the ancient Chinese “9-square� system (Jiu Gong Ge).
The Garden City approach involves the separation and dispersal of concentrated activity clusters across the site, each having its own unique identity in both form and function. Jiu Gong Ge traditionally involves the orderly division of space in a 3x3 grid yielding nine distinct functional areas (the palace, agriculture, the marketplace, etc.).
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Vertical Urbanism
Shopping + Leisure Employment + Production Tourism + Entertainment Outdoor play Cultural + Educational Private Space
Built Space Green Space Plaza/Courtyard Vertical Interchange Water Space
Applied cluster
Activity points
These combined approaches provided a point of departure for our design process. Firstly, our approach of separation or decentralization establishes the site as a reflection the macro-scale urban conditions - of polycentric urban forms exhibited by the contemporary post-metropolis. Secondly, site analysis revealed strong temporal cues spanning past, present, and future: a pre-existing canal in the heart of the site, the existence of insurgent agriculture among industrial land uses, and the site's critical position in global economic operations.
As our design processed developed, we began to see the site is a palimpsest, which compliments the Jui Gong Ge and Garden City models referenced above. The three conceptual frameworks combine to provide ways to “excavate” existing layers and traces of partially erased layers each of which contribute to new surfaces and become part of the overall urban form. The result is a tabula plexus - a non-rigid framework of integrated systems that entwine to form a “net” in which things “cross and intersect, mix and overlap, fuse or imbricate without monumentalizing hierarchy” (Mayne, 406).
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SIP Rail Station District
Complex folded planes (landscape system)
Hybridized Level
Normative Foundation
Enhanced Canal
Retail Office Recreational Cultural/Educational Research + Development Residential
Vertically Mixed Land Use
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Vertical Urbanism
Vertical gardens
Atrium
Skypark
Urban beach
Open space typologies
High Speed Train Station Elevated Expressway Underground Train lined with Retail Connection to Office Building Parking Decks Larger Retail spaces at Tunnel Intersections Subway System (Lines 6 & 4)
Our translation of this concept yields a version of combinatory urbanism, or a complex spatial system shaped by dynamic and flexible urban design strategies, reinforced by a typological approach based upon on-going processes rather than static forms. In our case, the overall proposed site organization is based on primitive components of forms and flows (lines, mounds, and planes) as well as the added feature of distinct, decentralized clusters internally organized by the Jiu Gong Ge approach.
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The combined approach of decentralization (urban structure), integration (open space and infrastructural systems), and typologies (primitive architectural forms) provides an “essential quality of change and transformation rather than its strict classification or obedience to historical continuity� in which landscape, architecture and spatial patterns transgress traditional functional or formal limitations (Lee and Jacoby, 17). Given the unprecedented pace of China’s current urbanization, our approach is particularly relevant as it illustrates how strategies can be mixed and recombined in order to address rapidly changing circumstances.
SIP Rail Station District
Complex Folded Planes (landscape system)
Hybridized Level
Normative foundation
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Vertical Urbanism
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SIP Rail Station District
Cultural Office Residential Recreational Commercial R&D Open space
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2013
Vertical Urbanism
XIANGMEN AREA REDEVELOPMENT, SUZHOU
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Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
BRIEF The Master of Urban Design group from UNC Charlotte returned to Suzhou for the 2013 summer studio. This time, we focused our lens on the city's historic center. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou has over 2,500 years of urban and cultural history. Even though the city continued to rebuild and expand, its center has remained in its current location, leaving an abundance of historic urban relics and significant sites. Known as “Venice of the East”, Suzhou's historic center is characterized by canals, stone bridges, and pagodas, as well as numerous meticulously designed gardens that were named collectively as a UNESCO World Heritages Site in 1997. The historic Old City is a rectangular area of about 14 square kilometers that was surrounded by city walls on four sides with a number of gates. Although most parts of the city wall were demolished during the post-1949 era of industrialization, the Old City's moat stayed in place and connects the internal canal system and to the historic Grand Canal linking Beijing to the prosperous cities in the Yangtze River Delta. A unique pattern characteristic of Suzhou downtown's urban fabric, described by some as a “double-chessboard”, resulted from the overlap of the grid of roads and the grid of canals. Canals parallel roads and run side by side, determining the placement and orientation of buildings and courtyards. The interaction of canals, narrow streets, and vernacular buildings create intimate urban spaces and poetic landscapes.
Although the historic urban fabric faced serious challenges in urban redevelopments that catered to modern urban lifestyles (including the introduction of the private automobile, which resulted in the disappearance of many canals), efforts to preserve sites within the Old City were never abandoned. Instead of merely saving landmarks and gardens, a few projects were carried out successfully in recent years to preserve and revitalize the historic districts by initiating new uses and tourist programs through conservation of the canals and old buildings. Pingjiang Road, adjacent to the site for the studio, is an excellent example of one of such preservation and revitalization projects.
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Vertical Urbanism
PA R T I C I PA N T S The 2013 summer studio was held as a joint workshop between UNC Charlotte School of Architecture and Suzhou University of Science and Technology (SUST) College of Architecture and Urban Planning. As in 2012, the studio was supported by local organizations, in this case Suzhou Culture & Tourism Development Group, and Futurepolis Ltd.
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Faculty
Zhongjie Lin, Jose Gamez (UNC Charlotte); Jason Slatinsky (Futurepolis); Wei Hu, Xi Zhou, Ying Huang (SUST)
Students
(UNC Charlotte) Rachel Wheeler, Paul Krynski, Soumana Tahirou, Charles Kane II, Zhou Miao, William Henry, Nathalie Slobodiuk, Nathaniel Heyward, Joshua Foster, Blane Johnson, Jyothi Raman, Klint Mullis, Logan Creech, Elrica Metayer. (SUST) Sun Suxian, Fang Kai, Liu Yamei, Zhong Bang, Chen Wenyi, Fan Di, Liu Xinyi, Xu Wanqing, Feng Yuzhou, Xu Yuchao, Su Yuxuan
Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
SITE, PROGRAM & OBJECTIVES Xiangmen Project occupies two urban blocks with a total area of 10.88 hectares (26.88 acres). It is bordered by the historic moat to the east, Ganjiang Rd (the city's East-west thoroughfare) to the south, Cangjie Street on the west, and Ouyuan Garden to the north. Pingjiang Road, which is now a popular tourist destination, is just a block away in the west. The site also enjoys its proximity to important cultural sites in the northeast quarter of downtown including Humble Administrator's Garden and Lion Grove Garden, as well as a prestigious educational institution Suchow University. A small canal separates the south block and the north block. A reconstructed city gate, after which the project is named, sits along the moat to the east. Metro Line One Xiangmen Station is located at the southwest corner of the site. As the largest vacant site in the center city, Xiangmen represents an unparalleled opportunity that could potentially influence historic city center's further development at large. The studio called for alternative urban design schemes addressing the complex site context and Suzhou's significant urban legacies. In addition, alternative visions for the site's development were expected to introduce contemporary urban spaces and programs that would enrich urban life and experience in Suzhou, contributing to the revitalization of the historic downtown. One critical way to achieve these goals would be to take full advantage of the new urban infrastructure, primarily the metro line, to improve accessibility to the site and organize key urban spaces.
The historic canals in and around the site also meant that an ecological aspect must be taken into consideration in redeveloping this historic area. The primary programs for the site included: 1) lowrise housing, 2) a boutique hotel, and 3) a shopping district. Other building programs, such as cultural facilities, could be introduced to complement these primary uses. More importantly, open spaces and the design of the public realm, particularly with regard to existing landscapes and landmarks (including the moat, the city gate, the canal, and the metro station) were to be the connective fabric that would hold together the old and the new. It should be noted that, because the site was situated within Suzhou Old City, the studio was presented with strict constraints, such as height limits, setback controls, and other important local planning regulations. For example, buildings in the north block could not exceed 12 meters in height because of area's location within the Pingjiang Road Historic District. Buildings in the south block could go up to 24 meters, but buildings within 20 meters of the city gate were limited to 15 meters in height. Other planning controls, such as a fifty-meter setback along Ganjiang Road, a five-meter setback from the small canal between the two blocks, and a threemeter setback from the northern border, were also introduced to further ground the studio project in the existing context.
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Vertical Urbanism
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Xiangmen Blocks Project is located in Suzhou's Old City. It is bordered by the historic moat to the east, Ganjiang Road (the city's east-west thoroughfare) to the south, and Ouyuan Garden to the north. The popular Pingjiang Road historic district is just one large block away to the west. The site also enjoys its proximity to important cultural destinations in the northeast quarter of Suzhou, including the world cultural heritage sites like the Humble Administrator's Garden and Lion Grover Garden as well as prestigious educational institutions like Suzhou University, and represents unparalleled opportunity of development that could have significant impact on the downtown at large.
Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
the Zoo East Garden
Couple’s Garden
Pingjiang Historical District
Suzhou University
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Vertical Urbanism
The project site exists at the end of the Old city, along the moat and a water gate. The site acts as a gateway into Suzhou, which has a history of more than 2500 years. Multiple dynasties have ruled this city and this has been a major city since ancient times. Therefore, history, infrastructure, and ecology represent three important aspects of urban design in this historic setting. Historic landmarks and cultural contexts must be carefully considered when proposing new interventions in order to maintain continuity of the urban area and its identity. The introduction of new infrastructure would allow the historic area to evolve and stimulate new programs and activities compatible with contemporary urban life but these changes may also challenge long held cultural meanings, uses and place-based identities.
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The site itself is a long rectangle with total area of 10.88 hectares (26.88 acres). It is divided into two large blocks by historic canals in the middle, which an ecological dimension that was to be taken into consideration in redeveloping this historic site. A reconstructed city gate sits along the moat to the east. Metro Line 1 Xiangmen Station is located at the southwest corner of the site. Given this context, this studio was asked to develop urban design alternative schemes responding to the complex context of the site as well as Suzhou's history and urban culture. In addition, the studio sought to introduce contemporary urban spaces and programs to enrich urban life and experience in Suzhou, contributing to the revitalization of the historic downtown. This meant that the studio faced issues associated with new urban infrastructure, primarily the metro line, and the role it played in improving accessibility to the site and organize key urban spaces.
Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
Metro Line and Bus Connections
Connection to the Industrial Park
Water Connections and Wind Analysis
Pedestrian Connections
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Vertical Urbanism
Public Spaces Around Wells
Water level retail
Historic buildings
Situated in Suzhou Old City, the project was framed by an existing set of building codes and guidelines, particularly building height and setback regulations. Buildings in the north block should not exceed 12 meters in height as it is within the Pingjing Road Historic District. Buildings in the south block can go up to 24 meters, except those within 20 meters from the east border that can build up to 15 meters. A setback of 50 meters is required for buildings along Ganjiang Road. Five-meter setback is mandated for buildings along Zhong Zhangjiaxuan River (the canal between the two blocks). Three-meter setback is mandated for the northern border.
Street character
Local food production
Retail + Housing
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Newly developed canal + Housing
Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
Ouyuan Garden
Residential buildings east of the site
Czangjie street west of the site
N 0m
Ganjiang road south of site
50m
100m
Site Plan (provided by Suzhou University) 95
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AMALGAM Blane Johnson, Jyothi Raman, Liu Xinyi, Xu Wanqing, Feng Yuzhou
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Vertical Urbanism
Site model
N 0m
25m
50m
Master plan
Northern Park- Residential area
P R O J E C T L O C AT I O N
CONCEPT
The Old City of Suzhou exists within the urban core of Suzhou City surrounded by two newer urban centers - the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) and Suzhou New City. The project site itself is located the end of the Old city, along the moat and a water gate, and it acts as a gateway both between new urban spaces and old but also as a gateway between the past and the present.
A moat, which separates the Old City into two areas, connects the city (both old and new) to historic waterways, the culturally important Ouyan Garden to the north, and a reconstructed City Gate to the east. This early infrastructure connects Suzhou to its more than 2500 years of urban history and to the many dynasties that made the city such an important destination over time.
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Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
Figure-ground diagrams
In order to bridge between old and new and between past and present, our design seeks to create a landmark area that amplifies the Gateway in the Old City of Suzhou. Drawing upon historical precedent, our proposal aims to strengthen the urban fabric between the site and Pingjang Road. This will establish a harmonic interaction between old and new and lead to a process of interactions and adaptations resulting in a new urban center.
Hand-sketches
In a sense, the movement of people, material, and energy will help create communities in harmony and balance by combining old and new - by creating an amalgam of China’s past, present and future.
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Vertical Urbanism
Living steel trusses cascade across the platform
Mix of bold metals and earthly materials along the path
Small nodes for seating & Visual points of interest Minimally impacts the ground level Elevated Pedestrian Path
Water flow control from Moat to Basin
Treatment / Water control Storage Cisterns
Final treatment / reservoir
Biohaven floating island treatment / settling basin
Consumption Rapic aggregate / sand filtration with overflow current
Ecospine Filtration in the Northern Canal
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Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
Planting strip with perennials Expanded Polystyrene fill 12 to 36� maximum lightweight soil with a protection layer for garden tools
Insulating and Waterproofing Drain board and drain pipe Typical detail of vertical garden
Concrete slab
Rain Cleans rain water as it passes through plant roots & soil
Natural sunlight
Reduces air & noise pollution while providing clean air
Drains pipe collecting filtered water & distributes it to the ground
Provides a space for relaxation & for nature
Vertical Rain Gardens
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Vertical Urbanism
Public plaza and well in the Southern residential area
Section A-A 102
Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
Section B-B 103
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INTO THE DRAGON Rachel Wheeler, Paul Krynski, Soumana Tahirou, Sun Suxian, Fang Kai
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Vertical Urbanism
N 0m
Master plan 106
40m
80m
Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
Green space
T H E D R AG O N The dragon symbolizes power, strength and good fortune. Suzhou's 2500 years of culture and urban history provide the context for our design - they provide a way of entering into the rich, powerful, and promising role that history can play in contemporary urban development. In this sense, historic landmarks and context, if carefully considered, can strengthen new urban interventions in order to maintain continuity of the urban area and its identity. The introduction of new infrastructure would allow the historic area to evolve and help to shape a new ecology that sustains the city in both environmental and cultural ways.
N Open spaces
0m
40m
80m
107
Vertical Urbanism
Historic canal
Canal sections
Site sections 108
Renderings
Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
Building front facing building front
Building front facing canal
C A N A L S & G R E E N S PA C E Our urban design proposal aims to develop alternative schemes that respond to the complex context of the site. For example, the historic canals in and around the site provide a cultural, historic and ecological anchor that can give new life redeveloping part of the city. In addition, the primary street grid in our proposal is drawn from the combination of historical maps from 1921, and a concept of establishing a north / south axis.
BUILDING FRONTS
Building fronts
The main circulation continues through key points and creates moments of compression and release. This can be seen in semi-public courtyards and in the way that the canal asserts its presence by dividing the two opposing themes. These spaces establish a distinction between circulation and resting space and gestures such as this also strengthen the relationship between the canals and their significance to gathering in the Suzhou culture. Utilizing the concept of "borrowed view", a secondary axis was superimposed over this grid to emphasize a visual connection between Ping Jiang Road and the historical eastern gate. The formal components of the traditional Chinese Garden are incorporated to provide intimate spaces, visual terminus, and to respect Suzhou's rich garden history. 109
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LINGERING CITY Joshua Foster, Nathalie Slobodiuk, Nathaniel Heyward, Fan Di, Chen Wenyi
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Vertical Urbanism
diagrams The classic gardens of Suzhou are world renowned for their intricate aesthetics and traditional network of spaces. The Lingering Garden in particular, exemplifies the traditional elements of compression and release that embody the character of Old City Suzhou. The dynamic relationship of path and node represented in the classic gardens, combined with a modern interpretation of the same elements, became the inspiration for the design of our proposal, the Lingering City. Beginning with an orthogonal urban fabric reminiscent of Old City Suzhou, our proposal overlays a dynamic and modern adaptation of the unique pathways of the classic garden, and connects three main nodes throughout the site. Furthermore, each main node is uniquely characterized and highlighted by an important east / west axis. These axes visually connect the individual to immediate and conceptual landmarks of Suzhou, and play into themes of the combination of modern and traditional elements.
Figure ground ÂżgXrH grRXQd RESIDENTIAL OVER RETAIL RESIDENTIAL OFFICE OVER RETAL
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A secondary urban fabric represents the typical pattern and scale of Old City Suzhou. This network provides a more intimate scale compared to the modern primary pathway, and creates an indirect series of pathways and open spaces akin to smaller alleys and paths found in ancient Chinese villages. These passages weave in and landuse open space out of the primary network, connecting the individual to smaller scale spaces, each with their own character. Lingering City represents the synthesis OFFICE PRIMARY of traditional elements of classic Suzhou gardens and culture, and of modern design. These elements combine to provide HOTEL OVER RETAIL SECONDARY an innovative, cultural, and lasting experience within a HOTEL vibrant city, rich with a 2500 yearTERTIARY history.
Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
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LOTUS William Henry, Charles Kane II, Zhou Miao, Liu Yamei, Zhong Bang
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Vertical Urbanism
The lotus flower has a profound connection with traditional Chinese culture. Often referred to as the “Gentleman among Flowers," many Chinese people, over time, have expressed appreciation for the flower, as it "rises from dirt without being polluted.” Known not only for its beauty, the Lotus provides nourishment; every part is usable - the lotus root and seed are considered vegetables, while the lotus leaves are commonly used medicinally. As a cultural symbol, the flower represents cleanliness, history, health, and community. Therefore, our design proposal utilizes the lotus as a bridge between old and new Suzhou. The locus provides a way of connecting traditional typologies with a rapidly globalizing country and a way of preserving Suzhou's vernacular style while addressing the serious needs of a growing community.
“As a lotus flower is born in water, grows in water and rises out of water to stand above it unsoiled, so I, born in the world, raised in the world having overcome the world, live unsoiled by the world.” -Buddha N 0m
50m
100m
Master plan Reserved Building
116
Studio
Canal
Museum
Shopping mall
Sunke
en plaza
Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
WAT E R B U S & C R U I S E ROUTES Until the turn of the twentieth century, Suzhou's Grand Canal was more than just a showcase for the city's history -- it was a major thoroughfare for water-based transportation of people and goods. Today, traffic on China's highways has reached critical mass, and travel alternatives are embraced both by developers and consumers. With the development of the site, and its access to the Grand Canal, its only natural to provide infrastructure for the development of both local and national water-based transportation. The Northern end of the site, mostly residential, will benefit from and intra-city water bus; while the southern end of the site will boast a docking station for a luxurious river cruise line to rival that of Europe. This plan returns mass transit to Suzhou's canal system, and can be applied as far as Beijing, offering diversity to China's economy, tourism, and transit lines.
N 0m
Water stage
50m
100m
City gate
Moat
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Vertical Urbanism
Existing Tourism Chartered Boat From Suzhou to TaiHu From Suzhou to TongLi From Suzhou to ZhouZhuang
Stations Tourist Attractions New Paths Existing Route Existing Night Route
Water bus & Cruise routes
H I STO R I C T H R E E O F F I C E R S ’ PA R K Three Officers' Park serves as the first major east / west threshold into the site. Furthermore, it orients that threshold toward the highly visible historic gate that serves as the axis for the Watergate Theatre. These historic features were preserved to maintain a physical reminder of the past of the site and to entice creative professionals to set up offices in and around these structures. 118
Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
Water Stage
Canal Museum
WAT E R G AT E T H E AT E R Enclosed by dense bamboo, our proposal suggests a large shopping plaza separated into several parts with different functions: shopping streets, rest areas, outdoor cafes and city forests. Building upon the importance of the canals to the ancient city, water plays a central role in this area. The water stage is the visual center for people on the plaza and orients itself off of the city wall. Shallow pools separate the two buildings that enclose the shopping plaza to offer another way for people to get close to the water. 119
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RIBBONS Klint Mullis, Logan Creech, Elrica Metayer, Su Yuxuan, Xu Yuchao
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Vertical Urbanism
View from Northeast Corner
View from Southeast Corner
N 0m
Master plan
122
50m
100m
View from Southwest Corner
Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
Land Use Residential Mixed-use (Residential over Retail) Commercial - Shopping Commercial - Entertainment Hotel Office over Commercial
CONCEPT Playing off of the inherent linearity of the city wall and redeveloped grand canal greenway, our design proposes a series of linear “ribbons� that traverse the site, introduce a mix of programs and activities, and that connects with existing nodes in the surrounding context. Drawing upon the urban wall, its gates, and openings onto the site, the ribbons are broken down to allow vehicular and pedestrian circulation, which connect a series of public spaces. This, in turn, helps define the new block structure that provides order to the site. 123
Vertical Urbanism
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
124
The architectural form and material of this project link the traditional and contemporary and gradually stitch together the old and new areas it rests between. The pedestrian network builds upon patterns found in Old City Suzhou by emphasizing small pathways and alleys that knit the larger urban block fabric. Two interlocking vehicular roadways provide access to the center of the new development and to both residential and commercial districts. The canal system interacts with the pedestrian and vehicular networks to provide a range of public spaces informed by water, landscape and buildings.
Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
Context + Constraints
Ribbons of development
Identifying existing site conditions such as existing nodes of activity, the presence of mass transit, and historic constraints to shape the conceptual direction.
Playing off of the inherent linearity of the site and the re-emergence of the old city wall and redeveloped grand canal greenway, the site is imagined as a series of linear "ribbons" that traverse the site connecting existing contextual nodes.
Block formation
Contextual weaving
Drawing from the breaks in the existing urban wall to the west of the site, and the gates, and openings in the city wall to the east, we broke down the "ribbons" by introducing vehicular and pedestrian circulatory routes as well as a string of public spaces.
This provided the neccessary infrastructural framework with which to develop the site.
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Vertical Urbanism
Existing Canal New Canal
Building-CanalBuilding
Existing Canal
Existing Canal
Existing Street
Existing Street
Building-Canal-SpaceStreet-Building
Primary Street
New Canal
Secondary Street
Public Open Space
Building-Space-CanalSpace-Building
Site Boundary
Pedestrian Path
Vehicular Bridge
Pedestrian Bridge
Vehicular Underground Access
Pedestrian Underground Access
Building-Space-CanalStreet-Building
Canal edges
Vehicular framework
Pedestrian framework
The canal and street landscape interact in various ways to create a variety of spatial interactions between water, land, and building.
There are two main “u-shaped” roadways that provide primary vehicular access to the site. They interlock towards the center of the development providing ample vehicular access to both the commercial and residential districts of the site.
The pedestrian network stays true to the Old City Suzhou system of smaller pathways and alleyways through a system of larger blocks. Various public open spaces string along the pathways as one moves through the site on foot.
Multiple areas of repose exist on both sides of the canal allowing pedestrians to collect for either informal gatherings or for small formal functions. A canal edge park rises out of the earth to form dynamic areas for occupation. Areas of seating bleed into the water, planters, and the canal strengthening the relationship between the two and bringing pedestrians closer to the water. Each provides shelter for patrons of the park but they also provide points of complexity in an otherwise flat landscape.
126
Folding forms engage both the water and ground level providing dynamic areas of respite for pedestrians moving throughout the site; these landscape elements are woven into the space to break up the “hard” edges of the infrastructure and compliment the linear nature of the experience. These public spaces also serve as catchment zones for storm and gray water, which combine with green roof systems and the canals to provide a sustainable form of urban infrastructure.
Xiangmen Area Redevelopment, Suzhou
Building - Canal Building
Building - Space Canal - Street Building
Building - Space Canal - Space Building
Building - Canal Street - Building
Canal sections
Site sections - Looking North
0m
25m
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100m
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Vertical Urbanism
Sub Level Entry Plaza
Neighborhood Park
Hardscaped Sub Plaza
The Sub Level Entry Plaza is a multi-level space with entrances from both ground and underground levels. It is handicap accessible via ramp and elevator. It has space for outdoor seating and a water feature.
The residential neighborhood park is located typically in residential areas. It has a range of soft and hardscaped features. It offers separate spaces for recreation activities. It also has functional land form features.
Sub level plazas are bordered on at least two edges by retail frontages. The canal bisects the space with multiple rows of tiered planter beds to further define the distinct areas.
Residential Park 128
Central Plaza
Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
Energy Efficient and Sustainable Building Materials Green Roof
Photovoltaic Array Water Cisterns
All commercial buildings are built for the health of the environment and the occupants. All commercial buildings are 3-Star certified according to Green Building Standard. The photovoltaic array offsets energy usage. The water cisterns collect water for cleaning and bathroom facilities. The green roof keeps the building cool as well as a place for growing crops. The building materials are efficient and healthy for building occupants.
Commercial building
Focus Area 1 Section
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Vertical Urbanism
1. Light Cannons
2. Mid Level Bleachers
3. Canal Seating
4. Gathering Spaces
5. Bridging Across
1. Elevated Landscape
2. Central Gathering Space
Focus Area 2
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Xiangmen Area Redevelopment
Focus Area 2 Perspective
Canal Perspective - Looking North down the residential canal 131
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2014
Vertical Urbanism
REDEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR WUYUAN BAY, XIAMEN
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Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
BRIEF The 2014 summer studio was carried out in Xiamen, a scenic coastal city in Fujian province in southeastern China and just across a strait from Taiwan. Considered the center of the “Min-nan” (south Fujian) region and its culture, Xiamen and the surrounding southern Fujian countryside are the ancestral home to large communities of overseas Chinese in Taiwan and Southeast Asia. The city was a treaty port in the 19th century and one of four original Special Economic Zones (SEZ) opened to foreign investment and trade when China began economic reforms in the early 1980s. The city’s urban area includes six districts centered at the old urban island area, and has a total urban population of 1,861,289 based on the 2010 Census. Xiamen is one of China’s most popular tourist destinations and endowed with educational and cultural institutions supported by the overseas Chinese diaspora. The recent urban growth and population surge have provided Xiamen opportunities to expand its infrastructure system and redevelop and densify its suburbs. The new metro lines reach areas like Wuyuan Bay and stimulate redevelopments based on the TOD principles. Accommodating the growth while preserving local cultures and vernacular forms represents a primary challenge in this new wave of city building.
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Vertical Urbanism
PA R T I C I PA N T S The 2014 summer studio was a joint workshop involving three institutions (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Xiamen University, and Wuhan University) and hosted by Xiamen University.
Faculty
Zhongjie Lin, Jose Gamez, Christopher Jarrett (UNC Charlotte); Zhang Ruoxi, Hong Wenqian (Xiamen University); Hu Xiaoqing (Wuhan University).
Students
(UNC Charlotte) Katie Hamilton, Adi Mokha, Gota Miyazaki, Lindsay Shelton, Jinchi Tang, Branyn Calegar, Fiona Cahill, Saeed Oloonabadi, David Perry, Rachel Safren, Will Penland, Evan Weaver, Evan Mills; (Xiamen University) Gao Bingxu, Fang Taiyu, Yin Qiuyi, Li Wei, Meng Bixuan, Cai Yiming; (Wuhan University) Zhang Yu, Li Meizi, Zhang Zhe, Zhu Dunhuang, Lin Jing, Zhang Yilong, Luo Yunyi 136
Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
SITE
OBJECTIVES & PROGRAMS
Wuyuan Bay is an oceanfront area in the northeast of Xiamen’s main island surrounding a manmade bay of around 2 square kilometers. The bay was named after five arched bridges over the bay and also features a large wetland park. Original residents in this area include a minority tribe of She in the village of Zhongzhai. Zhongzhai has gradually turned into a village-in-the-city with a continuing influx of migrant workers seeking cheap apartments in Xiamen. In the meantime, high-end developments around the bay have been going on for several years, especially following the decision to relocate Xiamen’s airport to Xiang’an District, making Wuyuan Bay an important node between the downtown and the growing new districts outside the island. The recent plan to expand Xiamen’s metro system with the addition of two new metro lines (Line 2 and 3) connecting at Wuyuan Bay, would make the area even more desirable for development.
The studio aimed to explore alternative urban design for waterfront Transit-Oriented Development based on the concept of Vertical Urbanism. We called for provocative concepts of urban design responding to the complex site context at Wuyuan Bay, as well as Xiamen’s urban culture and economic future. These concepts should address new urban infrastructure, primarily the metro lines, and use it to improve accessibility to the site while organizing programs and urban spaces to enrich urban living and culture in the Wuyuan Bay area. The waterfront site also invited ideas of ecological landscape planning and sustainable development strategies to develop optimal urban patterns suitable for Xiamen.
The site chosen for the summer studio includes three parcels along the western bank of Wuyuan Bay and bordered by 401 County Rd on the other side. From north to south they are 5.19 hectares, 4.77 hectares, and 8.07 hectares respectively, with Wuyuan Bay metro station (Line 2 and 3) just north of the north block, and Wuyuan Bay South metro station (Line 2) between the second and third blocks. Zhongzai Village is adjacent to the site across Rd 401. The wetland park is on the opposite side of the bay. The site is currently occupied by some low-density mixed-use developments, but most of the buildings are underutilized. 137
Vertical Urbanism
The program called for mixed-use developments in all three blocks with an average FAR at around 2.5, translating into around 450,000 square meters of floor area. The significant programs included the following: commercial spaces in a variety of forms; hospitality including a five-star hotel and a boutique hotel; office spaces; a range of cultural facilities, including a maritime museum and a movie cinema along with approximately 150,000 square meters of housing. Open space was a critical component in this development. It was expected that at least 20% of land be devoted to open spaces and landscapes. Designs should create and optimize waterfront views and foster accessibility through orchestration of buildings, landscapes, and circulations, as well as through ecological infrastructural strategies. The metro stations were considered pivotal points in organizing circulations and programs above and below grade. Station entries, plazas, and other open spaces were to be designed in conjunction with shopping, services, and landscape. 138
Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
P.R. of China
Major Road Infrastructure
Fujian Province
Proposed Bicycle Lanes
Xiamen Island
Wuyuan Bay Site Location
Metro Infrastructure 139
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AQUAMORPHOSIS Katie Hamilton, Adi Mokha, Gota Miyazaki, Zhang Yu
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Vertical Urbanism
N 0m
Master plan 142
125m
250m
Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
Rapid urbanization throughout China has expanded the need for urban design strategies that address both environmental and societal needs. In Xiamen, Wuyuan Bay presents a particularly valuable case study as an area slated for future urbanization. However, the area is not a blank slate; therefore, this project explores the impact that history can have on place making, building form, and open space / ecological regeneration. We believe that a place specific design rooted in the history of a site can act as a catalyst for change in the ways China addresses its urbanization. This project can act as a model for future developments that want to break away from the generic large scale projects that have become commonplace in modern Chinese construction. Not so long ago, Wuyuan Bay was not a bay at all; it was, in fact, rice patties. Between 2005 and 2006, the government of Xiamen dug out the northern section of what is now the bay and built up the northern shores, creating a small bay with a bridge. Then, between 2006 and 2014, the government expanded the bay further south. This (re)creation of a bay was actually part of a government program to repair ecological damage that had resulted from a focus on industry and economic development in the latter half of the 20th century. Between the 1950s and 1970s Xiamen “reclaimed� about 7.5% of its land area from the sea, and disrupted the natural ecosystem in the process.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, aquaculture expanded throughout the region, polluting the sea with wastewaters and excess feeds. During this same time period industrial sites and residential areas discharged their waste into the sea as well. In just a matter of 8 years this pollution had a catastrophic impact on the environment—the land area covered by mangrove forests fell by close to 90%, major fish kills occurred twice a year, and marine mammal populations declines. Wuyuan Bay was also a part of an initiative to repair and reclaim the natural systems of the area. Prior to 2005, Wuyuan Bay consisted of a constructed seawall, reclamation of sea for farmland, and decreased water flow and silt accumulation. The government opened the seawall, dredged the bay, and created the wetland park to help combat these issues. These actions resulted in 0.013 square kilometers of land area returned to the sea and the development of a high-tech park and business center in the area.
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Vertical Urbanism
Form: A large base with vertical volumes sitting on top Possible uses: Commercial | Residential | Institutional
Podium Tower Hybrid
Form: A courtyard with perimeter buildings that are broken at one or more points Possible uses: Commercial | Residential | Institutional
Split Ring
Form: Modular rectalinear buildings that maintain strong pedestrian edge. More than 10 stories Possible uses: Commercial | Residential | Institutional
Stepped Linear Building
Building typology 144
Form: Modular rectalinear buildings that maintain strong pedestrian edge. ossible uses: Commercial | Residential | Institutional
Mid-rise Rowhouse
Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
Site zones and functions
Wuyuan Bay’s history as a man-made bay presents an opportunity for a unique design solution for the site located on the western shore of the bay. The continued excavation and creation of waterways throughout the site pays homage to the site’s past while driving future economic and ecological development strategies. Based on the importance of water in the history of Wuyuan Bay and the Xiamen region, our concept focuses on drawing water in from the bay and encouraging the exploration of water as a medium for entertainment, transportation, and for natural cooling. The proposed site design also helps remediate water and it provides ecological connections between humans and the sea. The spatial organization of the site is structured around districts, which respond in both intensity and scale to the context of the site and the location of the future metro exits. The most intense districts are located in areas near metro exits and surrounded by high-rise residential. The less intense districts are further from the village and share a stronger tie to the village. These district designations also considered primary uses and which uses would benefit most from certain locations. Spatial typology 145
146
BRIDGE THE GAP David Perry, Rachel Safren, Will Penland, Yin Qiuyi, Lin Jing, Li Wei
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Vertical Urbanism
Circulation system
148
Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
Xiamen continues to experience both economic and population growth, which is shifting the city’s planning focus from the developed western coastline to the underdeveloped eastern coast. Wuyuan Bay and its surrounding infrastructure make this development site an ideal new urban gateway that could symbolize a connection between the western and eastern coasts of the island. With the island of Xiamen under rapid urbanization, as with all of China, the issue of urban verticality has become an important debate. The urban renewal process is erasing traditional urban villages and shaping vertical urban centers. Thus, the exploration of verticality is critical to development of not only a sustainable ecological system but also sustainable social and economic systems as well. Our concept, Bridge the Gap, is a direct response to this need to build in sustainable ways that ensure social, economic and ecological stability. In this sense, our concept aims to bridge between these development impacts and to bridge between existing areas surrounding the site. In an effort to meet these goals, this proposal focuses on two topics: compact urban form in an urban center, and organization of infrastructure, programs, and public spaces in a threedimensional framework.
Age in Place; Live, Work, and Play; and the sense of a Cultural Identity within a modern development. Bridge the Gap’s intent is to enable the site to become Xiamen’s second city center and provide a new gateway to the island from the north. With the development site situated between two proposed metro stations, heavy pedestrian activity and traffic, a dense mixeduse set of districts must be developed. While there is a great incentive to provide a large entertainment core for this population, which will be mainly composed of commuters and young professionals and families that want access to housing and work in the Torch High-Tech Industrial Park, consideration must be paid to the neighboring Zhongzhai Village. The village may not be redeveloped for another 10-20 years and its residents provide a great deal of cultural value to Xiamen’s north Huli District. In accordance with program requirements for vertical urbanism, our answer addressed a comprehensive approach – in other words a responsibility towards social inclusivity in a place and time where new development usually comes at the expense of disrupting existing social networks.
A focus upon these topics ensures social connectivity between the adjacent local urban fabric of Zhongzhai village and the site; the concept evolved to minimize gentrification, and connect with a cultural vertical village by promoting the importance of the ability to 149
Vertical Urbanism
1. We intend to connect the two metro stations in a continuous way to invite more people into our site.
2. The entrances of the Zhongzhai village have existed for a long time and will not be removed. We intend to connect the village and surroundings area.
3. In response to the yacht club and the wetland and on the other side of the bay, we create public space along the beach to connect villagers and the people come from the bay.
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7. The footprint of buildings in our site should respond to the surroundings. The central part will be like a continuation of Zhongzhai village.
6. The public space along the beach connecting the bay and the village are open and will be museum, amphitheatre, open market, forest, iconic building and dock which create the interaction between insiders and outsiders.
5. The bridge climbs up and down in order to create shade and path for people and the earth also climbs up and down to create tunnels for people.
Story line
Green belt
150
4. The form of the bridge connects both villagers and new residents. It is a continuous green belt and winds along the beach. Meanwhile, the connection across the road will be sunken plazas and skybridges in order to separate the flow of people and vehicles.
Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
Bird's Eye View of Site from Across Wuyuan Bay
Bird's Eye View looking into the North Ecological Business Center
Bird's Eye View of Site from Wuyuan Bay Wetland Park
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Vertical Urbanism
Site Plan for the Southend District
Perspective from Sky Bridge into Commercial Center
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Perspective from Sky Bridge into Commercial Center
Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
Wuyuan Bay
N 0m
40m
80m
Site Plan for the Southend District 153
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BRIDGING NATURE Branyn Calgary, Lindsay Shelton, Tang Jinchi, Gao Bingxu, Li Meizi
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Vertical Urbanism
4.2 MASTERPLAN
Entertainment District Entertainment district North Metro stopStop North Metro
Plinth + Bay interaction Plinth + Bay interaction Residential district
Residential District Public Beach access Public beach access from boardwalk from Boardwalk
Public fishing pier and market Public Fishing Pier and Market
Park for Villagers, Park for villagers, visitors and residents Visitors and Residents
South Metro stop Stop South Metro
Ecological Reserve Ecological reserve
Civic / Institutional District Civic / Inst. District
N 0m
125m
250m
NTS
Master plan 156
31
Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
Working within the framework of vertical urbanism, the masterplan enhances site opportunities in such a way that contributes to Xiamen's economic growth while simultaneously enhancing Xiamen's ecological condition by reducing the Heat Island Effect. Under this umbrella, the masterplan concept has three foci areas that will guide development: 1) The city of Xiamen and its economic future 2) Wuyuan Bay and its unique ecology - wetland park 3) The culture of the existing fishing village that is is adjacent to the site These design foci are realized by a unique integration of ecology and design and are expressed in three different nodes: a commercial entertainment area to the North, a cultural public space in the center, and a research and education center in the South. A plinth will be a component of green infrastructure that creates community cohesion by acting as an “ecological thread� that links the three nodes, reducing the Urban Heat Island Effect while improving both the function and ecology of the site. The Plinth will enrich the urban environment by creating a unique urban form, helping to create experiences reflective of Xiamen's past (fishing village), present (ecological landscape) and future (sustainable architecture), while giving the resident or visitor the unique opportunity to experience the dynamics of both the built and natural expression of urban form.
Moving from the North to the South of the site each node will express one of these key elements of Xiamen's culture along an activity index from high to low. The northernmost node, the commercial entertainment center, is the area of the site that has the most urban intensity, as it is near a major metro exit and relates to the high density buildings directly to the North of the site. This node speaks to the city of Xiamen and its future economic growth. In this node, the Plinth is meant to engage the waterfront to allow for active recreational activities. The Plinth draws people from the metro station to the waterfront. In between the commercial node and the central civic park node is a residential district. In this area, the Plinth in elevated and skirts the buildings at the top of the podium to allow for private residential access to towers yet also bays out to allow for public access and spectacular views of the waterfront as one travels from the northern commercial node to the southern nodes. The civic park node has one metro stop (Wuyuan Bay South) and two metro exits to the site. This park is meant to engage the village with the site. The elevated Plinth provides shade and shelter and acts as a structure to allow for vendors to set up and sell local goods and feel a part of the community.
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Vertical Urbanism
GREEN ROOF GREEN ROOF
RES. RES.
RE S . RE S .
RES.
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RES. RES.
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C O M M U N ITY POOL GARDEN
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OFFI CE
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PARK MUS UE M
RESEARCH RESEARCH
MUS UE M
RESEARCH
RESEARCH
MUS UE M
RESEARCH
RESEARCH
MUS UE M
RESEARCH
RESEARCH
RESEARCH
RESEARCH
Perspective of Multi-modal Parkway
The educational and research node in the southernmost part of the site is meant to engage nature and the wetland park across the bay. In this node, the plynth is highly integrated with the buildings, enhancing their ecological function and encouraging the education of residents and visitors about ecological sustainability and how it relates to the built and natural environment.
RE S .
OFFI CE
RESEARCH
Living Landscape: The Wetland Filtration Process
RE S .
GARDEN
RESEARCH
R E TA I L R ETAIL
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RE S . RE S .
MUSUEM PARKI NG PARKI NG PARKI NG
OFFI CE
PARK
RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH
CLASSROOMS PARKI NG PARKI NG
Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
Wetland Plaza / Main Retail Street
Wetland Walk / Bamboo Grove
Spatial explorations
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SPORTSGATE Fiona Cahill, Saeed Oloonabadi, Fang Taiyu, Zhang Zhe, Zhu Dunhuang
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Vertical Urbanism
Building Plaza Green Trackway
Building Plaza Green Trackway
Level 1+ Plan
Parking Sunken Soccer Field
Level 0 Plan
Level 1- Plan
View from Buildings
Connection of Activities
Cultural Activity Node
Sports Activity Node
Entertainment Activity Node
Residential Activity Node
Program Activity Nodes
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Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
The site for our proposed SportsGate Masterplan is located on the northeast coast of Xiamen Island. The proposed development area consists of three parcels of land totaling 18.03 hectares located on the east side of Wuyuan Bay, with two proposed Metro stops along the Roundabout Main Road bounding the western side of the site. These two stops are the catalyst the area needs for redevelopment and our project aims to create a vision for the area, incorporating the Metro stations, the waterfront along the Wuyuan Bay, and the surrounding site opportunities of the bay area. The main objective of the project is to use Vertical Urbanism as a way to create a vibrant Transit Oriented Development along the waterfront, as well as create a vibrant neighborhood for residents and a destination for visitors through well-designed public spaces. Additionally, our design for SportsGate focuses on old and new Chinese culture, pulling from the philosophies if the Chinese Garden and providing a framework for the growing activity-driven lifestyle of the area. For example, our design incorporates sports and outdoor activities into the public spaces of the site that build upon existing traditions within the city at large. Xiamen currently has an international marathon that takes place each year, as well as a growing populating of cyclists (both professional as well as casual). There is also a culture of plaza dancing each night throughout China that this plan helps to continue, as well as areas to introduce sports and activities that might not be well known or widely played (like beach volleyball or soccer). These activities provide
the present springboard that will launch future social environments. Relating to the Wetland Park across the bay, the surrounding residential developments, and the Zhonghai Village to the west through physical connections, infrastructural connects and providing activity areas, SportsGate strives to use the past to move towards the future. The design is divided into three nodes, with a cultural (and some sports) activity node in the north, a business node in the center, and a recreational activity node in the south. The development is fully mixed-use, with a higher concentration of residential units in the south, office space in the middle, and cultural/office in the north. Throughout the site is a trackway connecting the different types of public spaces (recreational, cultural) and introducing residents and visitors alike to the potential of the outdoors. In a sense, the overall site is a contemporary interpretation of the Chinese garden typology, which has evolved over three thousand years. It includes both the vast gardens (public recreation spaces) built for pleasure and to impress, and the more intimate gardens intended for reflection and escape from the outside world. Combined, they enable the overall site to become an idealized landscape, which is meant to express the harmony that should exist between humans and nature.
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Vertical Urbanism
Series of perfectly composed and framed glimpses of scenery
Concealment and Surprise
No single view from which all the beauty can be seen
Borrowed scenery
Anti-Symmetry
Chinese Garden
Building Playground Elevated Concourse Connected Islands Green Plaza Trackway
T2 Rural Zone T5 Urban Center Zone T6 Urban Core Zone 0m
Civic space regulating plan 164
50m
100m
0m
Transects plan
50m
100m
Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
Buildings
Plazas & Landscape
Longitudinal section
Secondary path through site
Primary path through site
Village and water
Site Layers of design
Model pictures
165
Vertical Urbanism
Phase I
Phase II
Phase III
Final Build-out
View Derived Building Placement
Wind Direction
166
Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
Recreation Plaza
South looking view of recrecation plaza
Boat float dining edge 167
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LIFE BETWEEN BLOCKS Evan Weaver, Evan Mills, Meng Bixuan, Cai Yimin, Luo Xunyi, Zhang Yunlong
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Vertical Urbanism
Precedents Office buildings Waterfront Sunken garden
Museum & galleries Underground plaza Metro station
Plaza under bridge Hotel Entertainment Residential zone
Economic & technical index: Land area: 179600 m2 Build-up area: 381901 FAR: 2.126 Green space: 20.6% 0m
Master plan
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125m
N 250m
Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
Characteristics of collective form
Figure / ground of the site Zhongzhai village
Spontaneous but minor variations in physical expression Wise & dramatic use of geography & topography Human scale Building sequence
Sequential development of masic elements Repetitive use of visual elements Open spaces between buildings
Gathering space
Compositional form Open space
Mega form
Group form
Temple & ceremony space
Urban Context
Illustration of concept of Group Form
CONCEPT In the midst of the one of the most intense urbanization movements in history, Xiamen is confronted with an onslaught of mega-development projects that will challenge the city’s abilities to maintain strong and active public spaces. One key area of Xiamen that is currently underutilized is located along the waterfront on one side and an urban village on the other and has become the focus of development pressures. The proposed Xiamen Metro Line 2, currently under construction, will run along Roundabout Main Rd in this area with two stations adjacent to the site, Wuyuan Bay Station in the north portion of the site and Wuyuan Bay South Station in the south portion of the site. The new metro stations will encourage new development; therefore, it is important to propose solutions for this
site, which address the need for new development and that can create good public spaces for for all Xiamen residents and tourists. Through the use of the design theory collective form, our design proposal focuses on modular forms and human scaled pedestrian environments. The theory of collective form, promoted by the Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, emphasizes three different types formal design strategies: compositional form, mega form, and group form. We used group form to create a spatial structure for the design of our masterplan.
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Vertical Urbanism
12 - 13m 11 - 12m 10 - 11m 9 - 10m 8 - 9m 7 - 8m 6 - 7m 5 - 6m 4 - 5m 3 - 4m 2 - 3m 1 - 2m 0 - 1m
0- 5˚ 5- 15˚ 5- 25˚ > 25˚
Site Views
Cluster analysis
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Site Sun and Wind
Site Slope Condition
Path
Connection
Path
Open space
Open space
Landscape architecture
Path
Path
Site Elevation
Entrance
Height adjustment
Access to beach
Green land
Surroundings
Access to beach
Nodes
Connection
Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
Open space for pedestrian
Space under the bridge Plaza
Major walkways
Open space along the bay Open space in the site Open space in the village
Paths between buildings
Pedestrian Accessibility
Model pictures
Pedestrian Accessibility
Current Open Space
Pedestrian Circulation
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Vertical Urbanism
Metro Station and Plaza
Cultural Museum and Plaza
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Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
Plaza under the Bridge
Detailed plan of nodes: the Museum and the Cultural Square
175
Vertical Urbanism
Residential Commercial Residential Commercial Office Hotel Public facility
Function Division
Greenbelt
Explosion Diagram
Bicycle System 176
Wuyuan Bay Redevelopment
Sidewalk
Metro station
Shopping mall
Shopping mall Courtyard
Footstep
Sandbeach
Dock
Bay plaza
Section A-A
Sandbeach
Bicycle
Footstep
Museum
Courtyard
On the roof
Sidewalk
Expressway
Section B-B
Plaza under bridge
Section C-C
Mall
Courtyard
Open roof
Metrostation
177
Master of Urban Design School of Architecture University of North Carolina at Charlotte 180