Studio LaM

Studio Work (2013 Spring Semester, Inge Rocker Studio, GSD)

Location : Guangzhou, China

Program: Mixed-Use

Design Period : February, 2013 ~ May, 2013

Design Team: Kangil Ji

Organizer: –

Existing Condition

Proposal

Verticalized street life

Narrative

In last century, many modern architects failed in making better cities by applying function-oriented ideologies, such as faster construction and traffic flow, with less consideration on the cultural and environmental performance of the city. Yet, this failed notion of city design is more widely accepted in today’s China, as the only solution to build cities for 100 million people every year. Given this situation, modernists concept of city cannot be easily rejected, but should be revised.
Today, urban environment of the city of Guangzhou in Southern China is becoming more deteriorated. This is due to its skyscraper-oriented development without consideration on the city’s climate and culture, which requires more energy and isolates people in series of gated communities.
The concept of ecologic urbanism proposes a new model of city development based on an alternative model of middle-rise, mix-used building typology. This third typology mixes modernist concept of city (faster construction of city based on Walter Gropius’ Torten Housing) and local people’s communal life based on its street culture, while providing diverse thermal properties in the building to generate varied urban activities based on architectural typology.