Architecture Asia Special Issue - ARCASIA Awards for Architecture 2020

HONORABLE
MENTION
E
Redevelopment of the Old West City
Gate Complex: Urban Renewal of
Shanty Towns
Integrated Buildings
Architect:
Zhongxu Architectural Design Co., Ltd.
Location:
Changde, China
The project design entails three dimensions: people's livelihoods, commerce, and culture.
People's livelihoods are the first priority, and relocation is the solution to social problems. A
new urban landscape can emerge through the interweaving of commercial activities, and the
banks of the moat that also brings vital capital and extensive social participation to the project.
The establishment of public places, such as the Hulukou Square and the Yang Family Clan
Archway Square, reflect the vividness of the urban communication space. The small, narrow
house accommodating the community center symbolizes the spiritual “ancestral house,” the
continuity of cultural traditions, and daily communication within the neighborhood.
JURY CITATION: It seems that the Changde old west city gate area Urban Renaissance Complex
is the architectural answer to the complex problems of the social ecosystem that include
acing the new and old in the urban transformation, culture, and commerce, mobile demolition
and relocation, the simple and complex contradictions, find balance and symbiosis. From 2011
to 2017, an architect moved into the old town to be a real part of the project, and the current
form of the rejuvenated city came into being. Regardless of the architectural form, functional
content, and the protection of material and intangible heritage, the Old West City Gate has a
continuous cultural root.
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