062510 Zhou Shan Project EN - locus-foundation.org

Architectural Revival
in China
China has begun an ecological about-face; eco-cities are under
development. Cleaning up pollution, “greening” and using renewable
energies are part of the programs but the development methods are sometimes brutal.
In his hometown of Hangzhou, Wang Shu has a different perspective: ”Modernity in China can
be civilized, through its culture”. He has become the leader of a generation of Chinese
architects who wants to break away from these methods. Wang Shu proposes a new
“historical narrative” for China in the era of sustainable development.
PRACTICE PROJECT ZHOU SHAN
An Experimental Urban Renovation’s Project
NEW / This experimental project in Zhou Shan proposes a new approach of urban renovation in China.
Rehabilitating the harbor’s industrial area of Putuo in a touristic and cultural area by 8 architects from all
over the world is an unprecedented initiative.
EXEMPLARY / From its conception to its realization, the transformation of this area illustrates the
LOCUS philosophy: it involves a multidisciplinary team and focuses on the quality of the place, its
heritage and population. Converted into a touristic and cultural center, the waterfront of Putuo will be a
landmark project of Chinese sustainable architecture.
MUTLTI-PARTNERIAL / The local government of Zhou Shan have entrusted Wang Shu with this
ambitious project. Laureate of the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2007, Wang Shu
associates 8 architects from the LOCUS community. Each architect confronts it’s experience of a dialog
between contemporary architecture and historical, cultural, environmental heritage to the Chinese
reality, giving a new lease of life to Zhou Shan.

SITE AREA: 43 100 m 2
GROSS FLOOR AREA: 12 600 m 2
TOTAL BUILT AREA: 21 100 m 2
PLOT RATIO (COS) : 0,49
BUILDING DENSITY: 1,67
PLOT DISTRIBUTION
Plot n°1 / Parking Court Philippe Samyn, Belgium
Plot n°2 / Restaurant Jana Revedin, Austria
Plot n°3 / Bar Fabrizio Carola, Italy/Mali
Plot n°4 / Restaurant Rintala Eggertsson Architects, Sweden
Plot n°5 / Reception Center Françoise-Hélène Jourda, France
Plot n°6 / Museum Carin Smuts, South Africa
Plot n°7 / Office for artdesign Fabrizio Carola, Italy/Mali
Plot n°8 / Parking/Office for artdesign Carin Smuts, South Africa
Plot n°9 / Gallery Rintala Eggertsson Architects, Sweden
Plot n°10 / Restaurant Hermann Kaufmann, Germany
Plot n°11 / Gallery and Artists Studio Jana Revedin, Austria
Plot n°12 / Artists Studio Francis Kéré, Germany/Burkina Faso
Plot n°13 / Artists Studio Carin Smuts, South Africa
Plot n°14 / Gallery and Artists Studio F. Kéré, Germany/Burkina Faso
Plot n°15 / Art Museum Wang Shu, China
Plot n°16 / Public Space Philippe Samyn, Belgium
Dare . Transmit . Federate
ABOUT ZHOU SHAN...
GEOGRAPHY
! The largest archipelago of
islands in China
! Located in Hangzhou Bay, in
the North East of Zhejiang
Province
! 500km away from Shanghai
! At the entrance of the delta of
Yang Tsé
HISTORY
! The nearby Mount Putuo is one
of the four sacred mountains in
Chinese Buddhism
! Zhou Shan is the Chinese
capital of fishing
SURFACE AREA
! 182km from East to West
! 169km from North to South
DEMOGRAPHY
! A one-million population
! Population density of 672
inhabitants per km 2

February 2010
Project's Conception:
Wang Shu
(Chief Architect)
May 2010
Study trip of the
architects on site
August 2010
Pre-projects'
presentation
October 2010
Scale models'
presentation
Symposium at World
Expo
FOCUS ON THE STUDY TRIP
Dare . Transmit . Federate
Spring 2011
Construction starts
On the left: Random attribution of plots, Carin Smuts, Christian Franz Thomann
(Jana Revedin Architects)
Above: First workshop with Wang Shu, Lu Wenyu and the 8 architects
Signature of the contracts between the architects
and the local government of Zhou Shan during an
official ceremony
On the left: Dagur Eggertsson (Rintala Eggertsson Architects)
Wang Shu and Zhang Jianfei (chief of Bureau of Culture,
Radio, Television, Press and Publications of Putuo district,
Zhou Shan)

Photos
D. Eggertsson interviewed by the local
television
Raphaelle-Laure Perraudin
(Jourda Architects)
Dare . Transmit . Federate
The docks
Wang Shu and Fabrizio Carola
Philippe Samyn

From left to right:
Emilie Rousseau, Fabrizio Carola, Faduma Abdulle, Paolo
Chiariello, Pauline Legros, Raphaëlle-Laure Perraudin, Françoise
Ged , Olivier Gondouin, Asa Decorte, Marie-Hélène Contal,
Philippe Samyn, Wang Shu, Christian Thomman, Carin Smuts,
Wolfgang Huss
ACTORS OF THE PROJET
Wang SHU
2007 Laureate of the Global Award
Architect - Professor and Director at the
Architecture School, Hangzhou University
The position of Wang Shu is unique in the contemporary
architecture scene in China. His practice is made of both history
and invention. Wang Shu creates an architecture based on a reappropriation
of Chinese time and culture. He saves ancestral
skills in order to make them competent once again. He transforms
building knowledge to adapt them to the sizes and the tempo of
contemporary programs. The architect doesn’t copy old patterns
but reinvents the architectural culture and puts it back into the
movement of history.
Jana REVEDIN
Architect PhD – Associate Professor at Umeä
University (Sweden)
Founder and President of the LOCUS Fund
Jana Revedin studied architecture in Buenos Aires, Princeton and
at Milan Polytechnic. In 1996 she founded her own architectural
practice in Venice and in Austria. Her combined Italian and
rationalist German background gives her a special eye for
sustainable architecture and its twin concerns with people and
place. In 2006, she creates the Global Award for Sustainable
Architecture to reward architects from all corners of the globe who
are working towards more sustainable social and cultural
development. In 2009, she broadens her action with the creation
of the LOCUS Fund for innovation and transmission in
architecture and the city.
Françoise GED
Architect – Director of the Observatoire de
l'Architecture de la Chine contemporaine
Françoise GED regularly stays in China
since 1985. She has published many articles about Chinese
heritage policies and the urban formation of Shanghai. For the
past twelve years she has developed plural programs of
cooperation within the Observatoire including with the University
of Tongji and the World Heritage Institute of Training and
Research – Asia and Pacific (WHITR-Asia-Pacific).
Dare . Transmit . Federate
ARCHITECTS INVOLVED
Fabrizio Carola – 2008 Laureate
A new historical cycle for stone, a
sustainable material
Françoise-Hélène Jourda – 2007
Laureate
The city is an eco-system
www.jourda-architectes.com
Hermann Kaufmann – 2007 Laureate
Wood is the material of the XXI st century
www.kaufmann.archbuero.com
Francis Diebedo Kéré – 2009 Laureate
To build local: materials and building
systems
www.kere-architecture.com
Jana Revedin – Founder
Architecture fabrics and reinvent the city
www.revedin.com
Rintala Eggertsson Architects – 2009
Laureate
Architecture links humanity with history
and nature
ww.rintalaeggertsson.com
Philippe Samyn – 2008 Laureate
A new economy of resources
www.samynandpartners.be
Carin Smuts – 2008 Laureate
Architecture and empowerment
Wang Shu – 2007 Laureate
The cyclical idea of architecture as an
art of resources
Amateur Architecture Studio