Perimeter Walls

Shenzhen's non-commercial sections are often enclosed by perimeter walls for privacy and security. What is understandably necessary in an urban fabric quickly devolves into entire sections of the city being closed off to public traffic. (The mix-use housing typology that provide for ground level commercial activities is noticeably missing at the bottom of high rises. Instead, peddlers' carts attack street intersections and a scattering of shopping malls sit on block-sized islands dispersed throughout the city.)

All perimeter walls have gateways and openings to let private passage through. These openings are often guarded by gatehouses and attendees. Like crossing a checkpoint, there is a protocol to follow before opening the gates for entry. These thresholds disrupt the flow on the sidewalk and interactions between the public passer-bys. The street becomes a maze of ugly walls.

The lack of public identity is one of the faults that I attribute to the over-zealous claiming of private spaces. Is there a better way to provide for security and a sense of public space? (Are there similar deterrents to monotony and rigidity of the perimeter walls and provide for a smoother transition between what is public and private?) Can architecture create a new "defensible space" for the city scale?

Shenzhen marketplace

The Shenzhen marketplace in 华侨城 (foreign Chinese city) is located in the middle of a well planned industrial neighborhood built in the 1980s. But for the new developments nearby, going to the market in a dangerous daily task. I tailed an elderly leaving the marketplace (a majority of morning shoppers are elderly) for about 15 minutes before she got to the gates of her luxury highrise.

Traditionally, the Chinese marketplace has been the soul of the neighborhood; it was where people come together to purchase fresh produce and meats, and share a bit of each others lives. They were usually complimented by small eateries and other shops that sell domestic wares. However, current city living demands business models of a different scale: markets become supermarkets and mom and pop stores give away to larger warehouse stores. While most are still pedestrian friendly, these points of transaction are no longer about daily living but about efficiency and cost. (Unfortunately, new developments like this one in Shenzhen often do not have adequate access to domestic goods and services, and should be amended)

fringe apartments

On my way to Shenzhen, I noticed that along the fringes of large urban centers there are some patches of newly transformed residential villages. The rise of this apartment typology here is due to 1) the rising wealth amongst the rural dwellers; 2) the increasing demand for suburban housing; and 3) the continuing industrialization of large scaled farming.
These 3-4 story apartment styled housing are situated on what used to be railroad-side strip farmland. Noise and vibration aside, they are significant improvements upon previous rural structures that often lack water/sewage and electricity. In comparison to the skyscraper apartments, these tightly packed

While there are many different decorations and styles of ornament used on these apartments, for the most part, they share a very rigid set of components: There is the stairs core that provides access and division to the units with a sharp point to the skies; the balconies that open to the south for light in the winter and sun protection in the summer; the load bearing construction method that limits (or enables) different spatial compositions (the ability for developers to sell by #bedroom/#bath); the tightly packed (dare I say urban) condition of these developments; and a one story wall that encloses a tight front yard just before the narrow streets.

train station.Scale

The Shanghai Nan (上海南） train station is a seating area under a glazed dome; a glorified spot of shade and shelter. There are rings of pavilions and waiting spaces that provide order and sequence for ticketing, waiting, and boarding.

The station is on the third level. The outermost ring is the entrance, information and security checkpoint. Past that is a ring of shops each within its own pavilion. The majority of the travellers enter the center to wait. As the trains are below, passengers board through one of the eight gates that surround the center.

The dome is held up by a network of beams held up by an outer ring of 36 and inner ring of 18 pillars. At the center there are a compression and a tension ring that culminate in an oculus. The herringbone glazed framing for the dome is patterned so that it seems to lift off the structure, making the dome seem higher (and therefore lighter) that it really is.

金沙江路站 (test)

The intersection at jinsha elevated rail station is busy as ever.

a shower is a shower

After getting home from a loong flight, I was looking forward to a nice shower and night sleep. I had already had dinner and met everyone, and was headed to the shower. I realized as soon as I stepped into the shower were that there was no water pressure. And I couldn't get the spray nozzle to. So instead I used a small basin and towel-washed my body in the freezing tub. Oh, I already miss my shower head and the torrents of hot massaging water.

airport.Scale

Normally, airport hub, transport hub, and other public spaces seem extravagant in their spatial layout. I have reasoned it is because the spaces are scaled according to a crowd, most likely a moving one. Instead of using dimensions related to the human proportions, large public spaces are designed according to the speeds and vectors of circulation. This is to say we relate to spaces by moving through them.

To be specific, we move with both our bodies and our eyes (other senses less so). Patterns of movement are suggested by physical and visual boundaries created by static and dynamic interferences. Thus, by using architecture to design physical and visual boundaries within space, I can manipulate how users circulate and experience the space.