Spatial Transformation
in the Age of Obsolescence II
Spring Semester 2016
Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich
Guest Professor: Doreen Heng Liu
Studio Lecturer: Mulan Sun & César Besada
Spatial Transformation in the Age of Obsolescence II - Factory Renovation in South China
THE STUDIO
This studio took the opportunity to explore the same issue of obsolescence in two different urban and cultural contexts, through the means of research& design . Two semesters are on the same subject:
Fall Semester 2015: Zürich, Switzerland – Papierwerd-Areal (temporary building)
Spring Semester 2016: Guangzhou, China – Zi Ni Tang (abandoned cement factory)
The Spring Semester 2016 course was organised as a joint studio , in collaboration the CUHK (Chinese University of Hong Kong). Both ETH and CUHK studios focussed on the re-development of unused industrial structures. Students worked on the so-called Zi Ni Tang cement factory, that was once a sugar refinery (Panyu, Guangzhou area, Pearl River Delta). The site is at the rural-urban area of Guangzhou metropolis . The 7700 sqm building was finally abandoned in the 1990s, in the context of the rapid economic changes that happened in the area. The refurbishment of the factory would allow it to host new functions in unexpected ways.
Is architecture able to adopt the role of catalyst at the service of regional redevelopment?
How could it foster culture, diversity and multi-functionality?
LEARNING OBJECTIVES. RESEARCH AND DESIGN
Theory
The first weeks of the course were dedicated to research about:
- History of Zi Ni Tang factory, Panyu industrial areas.
- Contemporary case studies dealing with refurbishment of obsolete architectural legacy.
- Communes, urban design and planning.
- Architectural typologies (in particular: communes and mixed-use projects).
Students were encouraged to gather and to share knowledge, in order to obtain a good understanding of the subject (site, precedents, etc). It was expected that this process would contribute to construct individual ideological positions about the issue.
Project
As a practical work for this semester, students developed a project for the future of Ni Zi Tang old factory. The existing building would be re-used and extended to host an ambitious large-scale program (12,000 sqm) to transform the factory into a mixed-use cultural complex. The complex aimed to become an international meeting place for cultural exchange. It would include workshops, art studios, lecture halls, conference rooms, exhibition spaces, performance areas, residential units…
A sort of prototype of global cultural commune for the 21st century globalized world.
It was encouraged to explore and propose innovative solutions and to pay attention to:
- Coherence of the insertion of the building in the in the existing factory compound and its larger urban context.
- Programmatic and strategic features of the proposal.
- Spatial qualities of the architectural design, and relationship between the existing and the new.
- Construction techniques, with adequate tectonic expression.
POST-INDUSTRIAL, GLOBAL COMMUNE
The studio accepted the challenge of reconsidering the spatial potentials of existing structures, to accommodate urban life and culture in creative, original ways.
How could they be reused?
Could they accommodate housing, spaces to work, to learn, or to exchange ideas…?
Would these constructions have the potential to adapt to the 21st century?
What would a commune look like in the times of globalization?
We aimed to exchange the thoughts of the difference and sameness and to ultimately develop new prototypes of multifunctional architecture, considering urbanism, form and tectonics.
Bamboo forest
Student: Caroline Lütjens
City of Rice
Student: Henning Proske
Fish Pond
Student: Luka Lijovic