Shao Fuwei, XJTLU, ARC305, semester 1, 2016-17

REVERSE CITY
Shao Fuwei 1301187
ARC305-Neighbourhood fiction
Tutor: Li-An Tsien

In collaborative society, commercial is the focus instead humanity. We still live in a world where things are clearly delineated or separated from each other especially groups of people
with various social status. Migrants- a very distinctive social group in Modern Shanghai plays crucial roles in city construction, however, with relatively low social status, isolation, lack
of respect and passiveness are often found among them.
Boundaries should start to blur between the different domains, and in which collaboration and interaction becomes far more important than keeping separations. As a result, I wanted
to think of a giant machine, a building that would tear apart the boundaries that separate migrants from approaching the life of Shanghai and orchestrate various domains allowing them
to interact and collaborate. Thus it helps them set up their own position among the locals.
-1-

URBAN ANALYSIS_ Two-Side City
Suzhou river as a series of nutrient cultivated the area on both part. The city pattern grew organically alongside the river. Shanghai Lilong house was one of the most fascinating outcome of
it which used to be habitat for the local.
As the rapid economic growth, these houses are being rented to the migrants with low income. At the same time, the tribal form of city is under the threat of deconstruction and
reconstruction of high-rise towers, especially the northern part of the river.
Although a few of Lilong House were kept at this point on the southern part, a lot of high rise towers have been growing up day by day which are expect to eat up rest of the houses.
-2-

URBAN ANALYSIS_ Two-Side Wall
self-organization
self-creation
losing control
-high towers
-high speed roads
-huge city scales
-selfish preservation of historical buildings
have become great obstacle of migrants accessing the outside world, limited resources
from the surrounding areas resulting in self-creation and self-organization which further
contributes to the chaos in their living space preventing the local from getting in.
disordered
-3-

1978-1994
-reform and openness
-socialist modernization
More and more people paoured into Shanghai since
1980
1995-2004
-reform of household registration system
-period of confliction between local residents and
migrants in terms of housing and jobs
Too many migrants brought great pressure into urban
space, and caused the unemployment of local residents.
Government started to control the migrants’ activities
in the city by reducing their rights.
2005-2010
-differentiation of locals and migrants in living
condition
-the comprehensive plan of shanghai (1999-2020)
Building new and high building blocks on some of
original living sites became a major solution to solve the
problem of high pressure of living for locals. Relocation
and moving to new apartments became popular among
locals. Low rent price of traditional Lilong houses turns
into the first choice of migrants.
2011-20??
-lower social status of migrants
-dramatic difference of locals and migrants in terms of
income -unfair treatment
With the limitation of migrants’ education background
and unequal treatment in Shanghai, disconnection
between locals and migrants become particular obvious.
Huge pressure of survive in Shanghai for migrants has
reached to a peak which results in the first decline of
the number of migrants according to an investigation
conducted at the end of 2015.
-4-

-coming from rural area
-comparativly low education background
1978-1994
-5-

-unfair social rights compared wtih locals
1995-2004
-maximum utilization of limited space spontaneously
-results in disorder
-6-

-the local gradually been relocated
-the migrant are squeezed to smaller zones due to the period of seeking for rapid economic development
-high towers and high speed constitute an enormous city enviroment
2005-2010
-tiny living space of the migrants unimpressive
-7-

-life is work, work is life
2010-20??
-the migrant are easy to form an introverted society with strong cohesion
-unwillingness of getting in touch to the outside
-monotonous life and not creative
-8-

PROPOSE SOLUTIONS_Start from site analysis
CREATIVE CITY
Government’s methodologies of preserving historical industrial buildings for artists’
creation is not the same notion of creative city or active society. The city will be activated
only when the creation started to happen on the normal people. The solid and stubborn
brick building really stop this from happening. The most walkable street along the river
should be accessible to those migrants.
The current site area should be stretched up and becoming a exposed, transparent,
penetrable and well-organized into an inverted city for migrants’ living.
-9-

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
-10-

REVERSE CITY CONCEPT
Facing the issue of lack of social care of migrant workers in contemporary Shanghai, the
proposed design concept was a plan that could possibly improve current condition.
By doing so, I proposed:
1. A LIFT-UP city-maintain the active use of the ground by migrants and connect
them to the context.
2. An overlapped system-allow 3D interaction including parallel and vertical
circulations for creating ample relations.
3. A self-organized society- self-development and creation of living environment
are the natural instinct of migrants’ reaction to their living context, the same
accessibility of their surroundings should be maintained
4. A relatively high building structure should be fulfilled so that we set up our own
position in the environment, to be not afraid to show and able to be seen.
5. Transparent building system allowing the expression of identity of migrants
living inside.
-11-

EXPLODED ISOMETRIC DIAGRAM
Different levels separated by intermediate roof gardens works as parallel neighborhoods with its distinctive characteristics formed
by it habitants. Each neighborhood shares similar program with residence, commerce, study and work (see the top two level plans
as a sample). The space for users especially the migrants are more or less the reinterpretation of their life in lilong houses thus
maintain its flexibility of self-development and possibilities to create a lively living space.
MAIN CONCEPT
1.Integration of multifold social background people
Corridors as an open space allow people meeting with each other (inspired by traditional Lilong Houses)
2.Improvement of personal education level
An open library as a crucial part at the ground level where can be easily accessed.
3.Flexibility and restriction of proper spontaneous reaction and action to living context
Truss system of the envelop resembles as timbers made structures which migrants used to build their own
spaces. The open corridor with open air also allows certain spontaneous reactions to their living space.
However, the activities are under the structure itself which create a balance of being flexible and wellorganized
space.
4.Distinctive division of locals and migrant forming introverted world
Fragmental spaces disturb the stable city structure formed by social states and reorganize the group of
users not only the migrants but also the locals to create a unified world. And different levels of spaces
being connected by roof gardens and atriums reconnecting the fragments into a whole piece.
6.Small mass of living spaces weakens the feeling of existence
Using larger scale buildings to wake the senses of essence
7.Relationships between work and life
Live in a city-like building contains the daily life activities.
-12-

‘Life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise rebellion: to refuse to tape yourself
to rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every
year, every idea as a true challenge - and then you are going to live your life on a tightrope’’
Philippe Petit
-13-

SITE PLAN-ROOF GARDEN PLAN ON TOP LEVEL 1:500
PROPOSED SITE PLAN OF THE RELATIONSHIP
THE ORIGINAL LILONG LIFE AND NEW BUILDING 1:2000
The current Lilong house near site area was abnormal in this case, although it has a very wide street between two Lilong house district which should function as a main Long tang transits the circulation in between. In cater to fulfill the
development of economy, transportation was developed for faster speed, the main Longtang was connected to the main road which now currently dominantly by cars. It is no longer functioning as a human scale to the inhabitants and locals. In
addition, due to the damage of the system, the inhabitants have to build the walls and fences to separate themselves from bothering. And due to the original planning, the inside circulations were all secondary circulation. With the self-creativity of
the inhabitants, the internal space becomes more and more messy. No more locals are able to access the inside world and the introvert society never want to get in touch with the outside. And that’s where I think the problems starts.
To address this issue, I want to re-activate the communities again by cooperating the existing houses and proposed projects. Start with re-creating the transitional system in the Lilong area by create a main Long tang in the middle and extend it
to both end of the road. And several secondary Long tang will be re-attached to the main walking zones and basically organized by themselves. Pedestrian from locals are re-directed to the Lilong space from the proposed project thus bring more
chances of communication of migrants and locals.
-14-

ARCHITECTURE FLOOR PLAN 1:300
First Floor
1. toilet and wash room
2. retail store
3. barber shop
4. coffee shop
5. food market
6,11,13. family units
7,8,12,15. shared department
9,10,14. single unit
16. outdoor gym
outdoor space
(ciculation, communication,
ventilation and selfdevelopment)
-15-

NEIGHBOURHOOD ON TOP OF
THE BUILDING
Ground Floor
1. toilet
2-6. team office
7. shared department
8. single unit
9. family units
10. theatre/ lecture room
11. projection room
12. bar
13. roof garden
14. storage
-16-

First Floor
1. workshop
2-3, 5-6, 11-12, 14,15. Private study
room
4,13. Rest room
7,10. Discuss room
16. library/ open study space
-17-

Ground Floor
1. street facing side (back) the
entrance corridor
2-3, 5-6. Private study room
4,13. Rest room
7. discuss room
8. toilet
9. front side (facing to migrants’ houses),
entrance hall, gathering node of migrants
10. toilet
11,12,15. Meeting room
16. library/ open study space
-18-

BUILDING SERVES MIGRGANTS
NORTHWEST VIEW
OF THE BACKSIDE
OF THE BUILDING
(facing to the main
street)
-19-

SOUTHEAST VIEW
OF THE FRONTSIDE
OF THE BUILDING
(facing to the Lilong
house)
-20-

SECTIONAL DIAGRAM 2-2
The experience of home is structured by distinct activities – cooking, eating, socializing, reading, storing, sleeping, intimate acts – not by visual elements. A building is
encountered; it is approached, confronted, related to one’s body, moved through, utilized as a condition for other things. It can function as a corridor, has daylight, has
ventilation. It can be glazed over and turned into a giant exhibitional performance space.
-21-

A REVERSE CITY differs from normal high-rise towers with pyramid form representing social hierarchies and isolation. The reverse city breaks the rules that restrict the activities and selfdevelopment
and helps them explore themselves with no differences in terms of social status. It recreates the relations of groups and individuals, helping break the original social groups
into fragments and reshaping the social relationships of them into a unified word. The higher the space goes, the more communitive the spaces are. It adapts the most original lifestyles of
Lilong life with a brand new existence where neighborhoods are formed and the hierarchy vanishes.
-22-

CEILING/FLOOR SLAB
Façade finishing 10mm
Water proof membrane
Insulation 50mm
Vapor barrier
Reinforced concrete 203mm
ROOF GARDERN
Paving 45mm
Soil 120mm
Filter 15mm
Retention, drainage layer 30mm
Water proof membrane
Insulation 80mm
Vapor barrier
Composite decking 205mm
Space frame depth 2m
Gutter
Pipe
TECTONIC MODEL
Steel truss 200*200mm
Steel I beam 600*600mm, 520*520mm
-23-

REFLECTION OF THE FINAL CRIT
From the initial concept to the final proposal, transparency and highrise
of building structure allowing to express the identity both of the
migrants and the architecture itself, overlapping system that allows
3D neighborhood interaction both horizontally and vertically and selforganization
inside the building system allowing the development of
themselves spontaneously.
However, there are a few aspects requiring more thoughts which
reduces possibility of improving migrants’ lives including:
1. The high and large building structure is non-corresponding to its
context resembling like a monster tearing the migrants’ houses apart.
2. The atrium is so deep that limited light can penetrate into the
bottom part of the building which brings trouble of inviting nature
light.
3. The huge platform is another issue that reduces the accessibility
of migrants who live behind the building approaching to the riverside
or park.
4. The initial intended circulation for both migrants and locals
require the movements through the ground floor which is a library.
Its initial intention was to create communication and encounter by
forcing them going through the public library. It is a bit arbitrary that
assume that will happen.
-24-

underground courtyard
underground courtyard
PROPOSED SITE PLAN-REVISED
The ground level of the library is moved to the
underground so that generating a fluent flow of traffic
on both sides of the buildings and provided a free
platform or plaza (roof ceiling of ground floor) for
creative activities or communication.
Circulation of people on the ground to the underground
could be the stairs in a courtyard on the street side
mainly serves the locals. In addition, a double height
courtyard on the southern part where migrants live
providing another approach for the migrants.
-25-

SECTION1-REVISED
MOVE DOWN THE WHOLE BUILDING
REMOVE ONE LEVE TO CREATE OPEN SPACE
-26-

underground courtyard
underground courtyard
SECTION1 DETAIL-REVISED
Solve the problem of lack of natural light in the lower floor.
Balance the architecture and its context without causing troubles for the circulation of neighborhood.
Dramatically reduce the height of the building to decrease the side effect of high-rise buildings to its context.
-27-

COURTYARD AND OPEN PLAZA-REVISED
Active the lives of migrants live on the southern part of the building by providing an open plaza for social gathering.
-28-

UNDERGOURNDCOURTYARD-REVISED
Moving the library to the underground provides a quiet and peaceful atmosphere.
-29-