New Cohesion
- 2024 Spring Architectural Studio Project
- Individual Project
- Site: Bijiang village, Shunde, China
This studio focuses on creating secure spaces for diverse groups. We argue that permanent supportive housing must transcend mere shelter to become a social vessel—one that safeguards private space while providing communal areas for interaction, thereby empowering residents with genuine choice. The proposed architectural approach avoids prescribing social behavior; instead, it creates the conditions for community to emerge spontaneously. Through the strategic deployment of negative space across multiple scales (urban edge, cluster, and unit), the design cultivates a spectrum of social possibilities, constituting an inward-facing urban space. Within this framework, residents hold the right to choose their level of engagement—from remaining in their private sanctuary to participating in communities of varying scales or the public realm.
-The Grid: Event Generator-
The three spatial paradigms define a vibrant boundary organization system at the entrance of Bijiang. The grid structure blends with the texture structure of the village. The park becomes a base point for various crowd gathering activities. The interweaving of the structure promotes The interweaving and overlapping of the behaviors of different groups of people. We have shaped a new Bijiang portal boundary and created a kind of uncertainty - which provides a new paradigm for Bijiang's future boundary function replacement and crowd communication.
[1] Connector
The space as a connecting body can usually be replaced with various gathering functions such as offices and libraries. The corridors flexibly interspersed around it form a continuous traffic, which forms a complete system in conjunction with the core traffic inside the space.
The space as a connecting body can usually be replaced with various gathering functions such as offices and libraries. The corridors flexibly interspersed around it form a continuous traffic, which forms a complete system in conjunction with the core traffic inside the space.
[2] Residence
As a stable spatial paradigm that can provide a good framework for housing replacement, the widened corridor forms a semi-public gathering space that provides a good transition between private and public.
As a stable spatial paradigm that can provide a good framework for housing replacement, the widened corridor forms a semi-public gathering space that provides a good transition between private and public.
[3] Boundary
The large space as a boundary transition can be replaced by functions with interface properties such as factories and theaters. A half-span flexible space is inserted inside to cope with public life, forming a double-sided space.
The large space as a boundary transition can be replaced by functions with interface properties such as factories and theaters. A half-span flexible space is inserted inside to cope with public life, forming a double-sided space.
space will connect the local residents and migrant workers, and the specificity of the site will connect the two textures together to form the boundary between Bijiang village and the city. The complex and diverse needs of different groups of people make it impossible to determine the specific functional space and distribution of activities, and the site is in urgent
need of reorganisation and connection of the existing texture; by determining the landscape structure and limiting the scope of activities through strips of different modes, activities can be carried out in an
efficient and orderly manner. The park consists of a highly traffic orientated space as the main structure, on top of which activity strips are superimposed, which together with the extension of the grid form a variety of activity spaces at the joints of the strips and become an important place for connecting different groups of people.
-Reorganization of public space-
The western boundary of Bijiang Village is where the residential fabric meets, with the original site featuring a mix of dining, logistics, and residential uses lacking clear organization, and most of the original businesses have declined. The boundary on the west side, close to external roads, has not established a good internal-external relationship. In addition, the ancestral hall interface within the site is passive and has not played its role in shaping public space in the village. By reorganizing the functions of boundary buildings, constructing a new logistics center with ground-floor retail as a village transportation hub, integrating the original site into a community center, and activating public activities through the village square in front of the ancestral hall.