Revitalizing Nankou

Arch 202, Spring 2016
Proposing a mixed use urban fabric for Nankou.

Revitalizing Nankou
Individual Project Section

Background & Objectives

Throughout this studio, we looked at different alternative urban strategies for Nankou. Looking at the different issues contemporary China is facing to revitalize itself and differ- ent urban systems (access, water, light, structural, etc), we collectively as a studio drew up share parameters for the site. Every one was then given a lot to test their own ideas within the parameters.

Design Parameters

Nankou Design Parameters.

Issues & Goals

One of the main issues for this plot is that it is situated in the middle of the site, therefore it needed a strategy to bring people into the site. In traditional Chinese architecture, the courtyard is place of gathering. In this project, the courtyards are used to bring people into the site. Trees are used to signify courtyards and by following the “courtyards” people are led into the site and brought to upper levels of the building.

Case Study

Shionome Canal Court

A variety of studies looking at the structure, access, and how water flows out of a building were taken into consideration.

Access Strategies

Access Diagram

Plan

The building is based off a grided columnar system.

Conclusions

What is really a courtyard?

Perhaps a courtyard is really just a reminder that we can gather somewhere despite constant advertisement of what it should look like. While Treister may have argued that the Chinese have lost their cultural tradition to modernization, Lu points out that it still exists in how Chinese go about planning and designing. The focus of traditional architecture has been loss of physical architecture types despite its inevitability to become obsolete as the philosophies that guided it fell. But what remains is that China still builds on an axis and perhaps the key to preserving the spirit of courtyard housing is not in the house itself but in preserving the urban context it lives in as Qizhi and Abramson have mentioned. Because only understand the correct urban context can the courtyard house exist. Yet, another solution, is to revive elements of the courtyard house to have Chinese remember what a courtyard is like. Nevertheless, we must realize that Chinese tradition no longer has a linear path because modernization was introduce so quickly. This is not without effect as they have seen. While eventually, Chinese architects will be able to find their own voice in modern architecture, it is important to see that copying was an important tool for learning quickly and that their historical conditions made traditional courtyard housing outdated. Thus for courtyard housing to be revived without preserving an urban context, it is necessary for architects to decide on what they want to keep and what suits how they live now.