Restoration, Reconnection, Infiltration
- 2022 Fall Urban Design Studio
- Individual Academic Project
- Site: Guangzhou, China
“Urban heritage is not seen as an isolated thing, but as an immediate and wider part of it. The contextual environment affects heritage and its revitalization, and finding new uses and repurposing heritage has a stimulating effect on the environment and its development . The effect of this interaction can lead to recognition of heritage and promote its sustainability.”
The fabric of the village extends to the new building, combining the spatial intention of the vertical and horizontal alleys into the new bazaar. The old industry has the opportunity to be revived to attract people, and the parking garage solves the needs of the original site, and the composite function meets the needs of surrounding residents and tourists.
High-density modern neighborhoods and suburban fields are spread on both sides of the railway, where chaotic functions and volumes are intertwined. The strip-shaped building massing serves as the boundary of the community, organically connecting people to the natural scenery on the other side of the railway.
The modular building volume spreads to the fields, and the three-dimensional planting improves agricultural efficiency and provides better planting conditions for the villagers. The livestock breeding industry has been put into the industry, which has improved the economic benefits.
Disrupted geographical and cultural continuity
The railway connects Foshan to the west and passes through Kuipeng Village, a key area for urban village demolition and reconstruction. It crosses the Huadi River and is Fangcun, which has been vigorously demolished and rebuilt since 2005. The urban density has increased rapidly in a short period of time, and the original urban and rural structure has Completely alienated, walking south is the remaining fields on the edge of the city. Dense residential buildings in urban villages, high-density high-rise residential buildings, decaying factory areas, and vibrant flower fields and cultivated land are intertwined and overlapped along the railway line.
In the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration, especially the site where the project is located, different histories and events conflict with each other, which are compressed and superimposed in the same time and space interval, and continue to surge and change. The ruins of the Guangzhou Iron and Steel Railway are a kind of clue to connect the interrupted geographical and cultural continuity and reproduce the invisible tradition. I chose to use modular wood-bamboo structures that are easy to dismantle, adapting to the evolving urban landscape and creating a social mechanism grounded in residents' needs and cultural traditions. The rigid spatial structures of these marginal areas could organically evolve, fostering fresh avenues for communal engagements, local enterprises, and public gatherings, thereby reviving social bonds and historical narratives.