Thesis program_Ziyi Wang

U R B A N I S M A N D S O C I E TA L C H A N G E

PRE-EMPTIVE DEFENSE

-SURVIVAL STRATEGIES OF ARTIST VILL AGE

ZIYI WANG/ziwa1456

PRE-EMPTIVE DEFENSE

-SURVIVAL STRATEGIES OF ARTIST VILL AGE

i m a g e : P h a n to m L a n d s c a p e by Ya n g Yo n g l i a n g [01]

[02]

PROLOGUE “When a silkworm produces silk, it would never dream there is a Silk Road,� the artist, architect and provocateur Ai Weiwei said in an interview last year. Quoting a verse written by his father, the poet Ai Qing, he was reflecting on the surprising growth of Caochangdi, the burgeoning urban village and arts community perched on the north-eastern outskirts of Beijing. (source: The Village that Art Built | BLOUIN ARTINFO,2010) Artist village is a spontaneous spatial gathering of artists, is a special urban form under a certain economic, political and urban condition. This thesis project will address the qualities and problems of artist villages in Beijing, and explore possible strategies to protect artist villages from demolition and over-gentrification.

[03]

Pre-emptive Defense -Survival Strategies of Artist Village Thesis programme Ziyi Wang/ziwa1456 T u t o r: C h a r l e s B e s s a r d D i r e c t o r: D e a n e S i m p s o n + C h a r l e s B e s s a r d IBBL-Urbanism and Societal Change Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture

[04]

CONTENT Introduction

07

Theme

09

-Economic transformation

11

-Art urbanism

15

-Evolution of artist cluster

19

-Urbanization process

21

-Artist relocating

23

Context

25

-The loop raiway district

27

-The village of artists

29

-Social conditions

21

-Site photos

33

-Interviews

37

Programme

43

-Problemtization

44

-Design strategy

45

-Architectural proposal

48

-Working scale

50

References

52

Literature

54

[05]

“I leave home at 9 am everyday, drive to my studio, like an office worker, but in the opposite direction: they go into the city, I go away from it.”

“As a professional artist, I like a regular life. I have no interest in casual and sensitive, they even bring negative emotion sometimes.”

“My studio is next to the loop railway outside fifth ring road. The track is right outside the wall, it used to be the train repair factory.

I always imagine the kind of old steam train passing through my studio.”

“We are the first ones come to Black Bridge Village.”

“They all used to be warehouses, the price was only 0.1 or 0.2 rmb per square meter(per day).”

“And then the artists came. The landlord thought this could be profitable, so they transform the warehouses into studios.”

source: Graphic Interviews of artist Wang Guangle, illustrate the impression of artist villages, by Drawing Architecture Studio.

[06]

INTRODUCTION Art district, or Artists Village, is a new spatial outcome in China’s economic and urban transformation. Since China’s economic reform started in 1978, ideological and political control over art and culture have been gradually loosened, allowing exposure of Western avant-garde art to art enthusiasts. The rise of self-employment and easier migration has further allowed Bohemian artists to practice in their preferred cities. As such, China’s art villages started to take shape in the 1990s. Some well-known art districts artist villages, such as 798 art zone, Songzhuang in Beijing, have become artistic and cultural symbols in these cities.

Art villages in Beijing are a spatial outcome of China’s economic reform, characterized by loosened control over ideology, employment, migration and expression of ideas. The desire to develop creative urban economies in government policies provides further support to the growth of art activities. In the past two decades, art villages in Beijing emerged and prospered, presenting a new sector of urban development in China.

Anecdotal reports on this new urban outcome reveal that art villages accommodate art studios, artists’ residences, and galleries, where artists create, exhibit and sell their works. Visual artists, especially those working on contemporary art rather than traditional painting, dominate the resident population. As artists who not only look for an affordable place but also spacious studio space now resides in these post-industrial warehouses as their temporary solution for workspaces.

But as the agenda of urbanization keeps invading city fringe in major Chinese cities, artist villages inevitably became the target of new urban development, which has a great value as a creative area. In the process, many artists have to move away from the city for an affordable place to work and live.

Based on this situation, the thesis project will focus on an artist village at the urban fringe of Beijing city, use this place as an experimental site to explore and develop different possibilities of how can artist dwelling create better communication and coherence with other urban areas but not lose their home in the urbanization process.

[07]

“EXPLOITING THE TERM’S INHERENT AMBIGUITY – THAT STEMS FROM THE SEEMINGLY CASUAL MERGER OF ‘CREATIVITY’ AND ‘INDUSTRY’ – THIS MODERN URBAN PROGRAM HAS BEEN APPLIED AS A PERFECT PLACEHOLDER TO ANY AREA OF AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE.” NEVILLE MARS 798 AND THE CREATIVE CLUSTER CONUNDRUM

[08]

THEME

[09]

Chinese Auction Sales 2004 to 2011

Million Euro

9,808

10,000 8,000 5,962

6,000 4,000 2,000

1,516

1,560

2005

2006

2,012

2,152

2,151

2007

2008

2009

691 0 2004

[10]

2010

2011

ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION The dominance of the Chinese market has been driven by expanding wealth, strong domestic supply, and the investive drive of Chinese art buyers. Growing domestic difficulties in Chinese property and stock markets and the lack of other alternatives have lead to a significant amount of substitution into art as an investment.

Source: © Arts Economics (2012) with data from Artnet (2012), AMMA (2012)

Begin with the China’s economic reform started in 1978, ideological and political control over art and culture have been gradually loosened, allowing exposure of Western avant-garde art to art enthusiasts. The emerging art district was built as much by the spontaneity of the artists as by the pressures of policy and money. The growing art market not only attracts more and more artists, galleries and collectors come to the art districts but the government and investors as well. In 1995, the Beijing government would dedicate USD$140 million to the development of visual arts and the art market in Beijing, exempt art-related businesses from city taxes, and include art districts within its next Five Year Plan.

As the political, economic and cultural centre, Beijing sets culture and technology innovation as two strategies: the technology innovation will focus on the production level, solve the measure and condition of development, and the cul-

After active competition from five bidders, Zhang’s Bloodline: Big Family No. 3 sold for record-breaking price at US$12.1 million at the Sotheby’s Hong Kong Modern And Contemporary Asian Art Evening Sale on April 5th, 2014, surpassing its high estimate of $10.3 million.(Sotheby’s)

tural innovation will provide new ways of public cultural service and industry.

The local government positively promotes the ‘combination between culture and technology’, which leads the Beijing art market to be the largest art market in China. Meanwhile, Beijing has many culture creative zones, galleries, auction houses, museums and art institutions around.

In addition, the Beijing art industry administration office also improves the Chinese art market’s structure actively, establishes the art industry fund, helps the development of art industry with grants, supports the development of small size, middle size and large size art companies. The Beijing government takes a series of measures to make Beijing a significant art marketplace in China.

[11]

Total Auction Market Global Share by Value in 2011 Source: Š Arts Economics (2012) with data from Artnet (2012), AMMA (2012)

US 23%

UK 19%

France 5% Switzerland 2% Germany 2% Italy 1% Rest of the World 6% China 42%

[12]

On the primary art market, according to online statistics by Artron, Beijing tops the country in terms of the number of galleries, with 1,054 in total, including Beijing’s most famous art community – 798 Art Zone. The expansion of 798 Art Zone also improves the development of the surrounding area, with, for instance, CAOCHANGDI Arts, Black Bridge Village, and JIUCHANG International Art Zone. Numerous galleries, plus comparatively lower living costs, attracted a large number of artists as well as graduates with art dreams, and even gave birth to the famous ‘Songzhuang Artists Village’. This also led to the establishment of the primary market in Beijing.

Artist village in Beijing is presenting new patterns of urban development formed by governments, international organizations, investors, collectors and property developers. The model of developer-oriented and over commercialized 798 Art Zone

The success of 798 art zone is an spatial outcome of growing art market, political decision and emerging cultral demand. Its model of artistic branding has become a important example for the future “creative district” development. (image: wikipedia)

798 art district and bottom-up artist cluster settling down in the warehouses indicate a delicate balance between the demands of the market, policy pressures, and creative ambitions. The 798 art zone seems to become a successful business model for developers and government, and it brings a series of new development combine with art galleries and museums in major Chinese cities. But as the last part of the industry chain, artists are being forgotten in the economic and urban development. The booming art market and the spatial derivative effects of the art district attracts more and more touristic business and galleries but left no space for artists themselves.

[13]

State intervention Policies on land market Policies on art market Policies on cultural industries

A transitional land market Enterprise reform Urban transformation Urban expansion Land ownership change

A growing market Establishment of galleries, auctionhouses and exhibitions Art works sales Economic fluctuations

Location of art villages Trade-off between rent cost and creative enviroment

[14]

ART URBANISM Explaning the location of artist village Diagram explaning several stakeholders and factors in the development of artists village.(sourece: Xin Liu, Sun Sheng Han, Kevin O’Connor. Art villages in metropolitan Beijing: A study of the location dynamics.)

Artist village refers to a particular space or district accommodates art studios, artists’ residences, and galleries, where artists create, exhibit and sell their works. Visual artists, especially those working on contemporary art rather than traditional painting, dominate the resident population. Art Village or Artist Village is becoming a new spatial outcome in China’s contemporary economic and urban transformation. The north-east side of Beijing has become a giant creative factory, around 30 art districts were created from the 1980s. The rise of self-employment and easier migration has further allowed Bohemian artists to practice in their preferred cities, and after years of developing the artist, the village s play a big role both in the present urban context and creative industry.

From abandoned factory to 798, from an urban village to Caochangdi, art has become a successful tool to generate dynamic urban life and economy, some of them have even become touristic and cultural symbols of the cities. But further away to the urban peripheries, young artists who are looking for spacious and

The Beijing East Village was an avant-garde artistic community of the early 1990s located in the eastern part of Beijing, just past the Third Ring Road on what was then the city’s margins. It was formed in 1993 when a group of like-minded artists took up residence together in a “village” of low-quality migrant worker housing, fixing at the entrance a handwritten sign. Their community’s name was inspired by the East Village of Manhattan, with which they felt an affinity in their experimental aesthetics.(image: Rong Rong)

low-cost studios settled down with migrant workers in these city ruins, urban fringes, and suburban villages, and keep shaping the urban appearance in their own way.

Artist villages in Beijing always give us an impression of not too close and not too far, the geographic location is always close to the “central art district” but still on the city outskirts. Their ambition to create or to success reveal in the peculiar spatial outcomes: the spacious room for producing and exhibiting their artworks combine with the undesirable living condition for artists themselves, and the legality of the buildings are still undefined. The post-industrial buildings and warehouses are favored by developers because of its low construction cost and potential growth of land value, and artists become the catalyst accelerate the process.

[15]

Ol d S um m e r Pa l a c e Pa i nt e r V i l l a ge

Forbbi d

[16]

Green area

Inner city

Artist village before 1990

Demolished artist village

Water

Urban area

Artist village in suburb

Artist village in urban fringe

Rialway

Suburb

Art district (official)

Universities

Ca ocha ngdi Villa ge

C e n t r a l A c a dem y of Fine Arts

Black Brid g e Villag e

798 Ar t Zo n e

S ongz hua ng V i l l a ge Ea st Villa g e

de n City

0km

1km

2km

5km

10km

MAP OF BEIJING ART DISTRICT 1:200,000

[17]

2,296

1,165 the Tenth Five Year Plan (2000) first enshrined the term ‘cultural industries’ as a central policy.

Beijing nominal GDP (billion rmb) 1985

Beijing cultural and creative industry revenue (billion rmb)

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

2015

Lifespan of artist villages 350 30 5000 40 80 30 30 120 50 200 30 100 50 70 60 30 50 700

West village East village Songzhuang village Pingxifu Shangyuan Shangri-La art commune 798 art zone Beijing international art village Caochangdi village Loop railway art city Brewery art garden 318 international art village Jiangfu art zone Dongying art zone Zhengyang art zone Heiqiao art zone 008 international art zone Black Bridge village (site location)

Three phases of artist villages art institutions

artist village Beijing urban area

before 1995

1995-2005

after 2005

Essentials of artist villages price

enviroment

policy context

price

location

property

population

source: Beijing Statistical Information Net [18]

enviroment

policy context

price

location

property

population

enviroment

policy context

location

property

population

EVOLUTION OF ARTIST CLUSTERS China’s avant-garde artists have been attracted to Beijing since the birth of China’s contemporary art in the late 1970s. China’s first art village, the old summer palace painter village(the west village), is a milestone in the history of China’s art villages. Consequent development can be summarized in three phases: emergence in urban fringe, relocation to remote areas, and establishment in outer suburbs.

The first phase occurred in the early 1990s when the West Village emerged in a rural village close to Peking University in Haidian District. At the same time, a smaller art village known as the East Village appeared in rural Chaoyang District.

Both the West Village and the East Village were short-lived e they were dismantled by local authorities in 1995. Public security concern was the official reason, but the underlying issue was that avant-garde art and the Bohemian lifestyle became an unstable factor of the local authority at those political sensitive dates of Beijing.

The second phase began in the middle of the 1990s when artists relocated to Beijing’s remote rural areas. Art villages in Songzhuang and Shangyuan developed in Tongzhou and Changping districts respectively. They accommodated artists who had relocated from the West Village and the East Village. Art villages in Songzhuang had a rapid increase in rent and also expanded extensively as a result of the local government’s promotional strategy in recent years.

The third phase was in the 2000s when art villages returned to the outer suburbs. It was during this phase that Factory 798 in Chaoyang District was transformed into a popular art district. The wider area surrounding Factory 798 and the nearby national artistic education institution, China Central Academy of Fine Arts, has also attracted artists to settle down since the mid-2000s. More artists would prefer settle in the urban fringes rather than in remote rural areas for the sake of stronger spatial connection to the city. But not long after the villgaes returned, many of them in this suburbs were demolished due to urban expansion.

[19]

0

10

Beijing in 1990 (571.00 sq km; population: 7,362,000) Beijing in 2005 (1423.28 sq km; population: 10,718,000) Beijing in 2010 (6421.51 sq km; population: 11,741,000) The site location

[20]

20

30

40

50 km

URBANIZATION PROCESS Theses maps are showing the city of Beijing has been growing extremly fast in the last 25 years. The urbanization process have invaded large amount of suburbs, villages and rural areas, driven by the government and developers and also by the local residents themselves.(source: Global Metropolitan Observatory)

After the economic crisis in 2008, art market in China had been through a very hard time: many galleries had been shut down, artists quit their studios and went back to their hometown. The dominant financial force of the western country had returned back while the art market stepped back or slowed down, and another type of business is taking over the primary production in China, no surprise it’s the real estate.

Since the Chinese urbanization process has been accelerating for the last 2 decades, at the year after the economic crisis the bizarre phenomena of the blowout in real estate in China had hedged the wave of crisis. To confront the global market shrinking, the Chinese central government proposed a project called “Stimulating domestic demand� which contained a series of financial and currency investment at a budget of 586 billion dollars in total. As one part of the consequences, in the year of 2009, the average Chinese housing price had risen 25.1%.

In a market could increase its value so quickly, it attracts more and more developers taking part of this city-making project. But in the process of urbanization and gentrification, lots of slums and villages in the urban outskirts of Beijing are facing deconstruction and relocation, which remained huge problems in the societal and cultural aspects.

[21]

Diagram of artist relocating process

refurbrish villagers farm land

protest

warehouse artists

developer relocate

[22]

demolition

urban expansion

ARTIST RELOCATING Since the urban expansion is swallowing many of the suburb areas in Beijing, for the artist who live in villages are also become the victims of the procedure.

Artists are facing the same situation as the local villagers and the migrant workers who live in the urban villages, but the sarcastic situation is that the artists were the first persons who explored the quality of the suburb area and make it charming and attractive. The developers who come into this area not only kick away these artists but also use “art district” as an advertisement to brand the new development.

In this areas, the ambiguous land right also makes the artists more vulnerable.

As a matter of fact, the land of villages belongs to the village commune, and the land could only be rent out but not for sale, unless they are planned as a new development area and they can be sold by the government to the developers. So “The Warm Winter” art project is a demonstrtion against inhumanine demolition and expulsion by developer and police. This photo is one part of the art projects called “Day Dream”.

The homeless artist sleeping in the snow reveals the strong conflict between the urbanization process and artists or other residents.

these art studios locate in the villages are mainly constructed as warehouses by the local residents, and rented out to the artist for a contract of 10 years or more.

Since the artists moved into these warehouses they started to invest in furnishing the warehouses into studios and living places, which cost a large amount of money. But in a few years when a new local plan comes out, these areas have to be cleared out and very few artists will get compensation for the previous investment.

In this situation, artists do not and cannot have any of the land property as their living or working space, they can only be tenants and have to move away when the dozers come. In the year of 2009, plenty of artists villages were demolished on the north-east side of Beijing, which lead to a series of demonstration art project, but the result stays the same. Besides this the main issue is still out there: where is the suitable and stable place for artists living? If they move out of the city will they face the same situation due to the urban expansion in the future?

[23]

“COULDN’T WE USE SOME OF THE TOOLS THAT THEY USED TO CREATE A MARKET ECONOMY TO STIMULATE CULTURAL LIFE? LOOK AT THE SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE.... A PLACE WHERE THE AUTHORITIES CAN EXPERIMENT WITH INTELLECTUAL AND ARTISTIC LIBERTIES!” MICHIEL HULS HOF + DAAN ROGGEVEEN EXTRA SPECIAL ZONE

[24]

CONTEXT

[25]

THE ART STUDIOS

500m

[26]

Aerial Map

Beijing International Airport

N

9k m

Loop Railway

Nearest metro station 4.5

km

Caochangdi Village

2km

6.5km 4km

18k

m

Songzhuang Art village

3k

Central academy of fine arts 798 art zone

Black Bridge Village m

km

16

New embassy district (under construction)

Tiananmen Square

T H E L O O P R A I LW A Y D I S T R I C T The chosen site is called “Black Bridge Village�, locating in the north-east suburb area of Beijing, surround by a loop railway for train testing. This isolated place uses to be abandoned by the urban planners because of the poor connection and transportation with the city, the whole place just like an island in the urban area isolated from the city of Beijing.

The diameter of the loop railway is around 2.8 km, the whole length is 38 km.

It was built in 1958 for the sake of train testing and railway engineering. The artist village is at the north-east part of the loop railway, also, it is the end of the village. As the artist village is hidden behind the urban village, the price of the art studios still stays very low. And the village is also quite close to several other art districts, so it attracts many young artists to settle down here, and gradually becomes an artist cluster.

[27]

National film museum

International Horse club

Loop Railway Art City (Art district development)

Senior Housing Development

Forest Farm

New French Villa Development

Urban Village Area (informal settlement)

Storage Center

Artist Village Area Site location

The Loop Railway

N

COMPONENTS OF THE AREA [28]

THE VILLAGE OF ARTISTS The Black Bridge Village is one of the fastest growing artist villages of Beijing after the economic crisis in 2008, there are proximately 700 artists work in this area. From the point of the village is the proximity to the 798 art zone and central academy of fine arts, and the affordable price also attract more art students and freelance artist. As the external factor is that many artist villages in surrounding areas had been demolished around 2009, so many artists relocated to Black Bridge Village. And the reason it still remains alive is mainly contributed by the loop railway as a natural shelter separating the village from the city, and protect the village from the interest of developers.

From outside the loop, there is only 3 entrances could get to the village and they all locate in the west and north side.The village shows a special gradient of a spatial object from the entrance of the loop to the end: if you come from the city enter the main entrance, the first building is a gigantic National film museum, and go deeper is a new french villa development, the lowest price is around 12,000 dollar per m2. And then you will enter the urban village area, with mainly accommodates the migrant workers. After that, you will see the artist cluster, which is in the end of the road and there are no exits on the another side. In short, the location of the artist cluster in the most undesirable area even inside in the loop railway. The southern part of the loop is just a forest area which is not allowed to be developed.

[29]

Demographic Facts in Black Bridge Village 2014 1700 Local residents 700 Artists

Other Artists

Artists graduated less than 5 years

70,000 Migrant workers

Population Composition

Age Distribution of Artists

7.0

Rental Price of Art District in Beijing 2014 unit: rmb/m2/day 798 Art Zone Black Bridge Village

2.5 1.5 0.6

0.3 2005

[30]

2010

1.5

2015

SOCIAL CONDITIONS The village appears a great mixture of the population from different social groups. The original residents are the villagers, they are also the landowners.

And the dominant population are the migrant workers, which from all over the country come to the suburb area of Beijing looking for jobs and opportunities, are renting the rooms inside the urban villages that the villagers build. The other possible group in the future might be the higher class who can afford the urban villas, they will reside in the gated villa community but separating from the urban villages only by a wall. The last part of the population are the artists, while only consist 1% of all village but occupy much more space than other residents. Although they live in the same area, but there is very little communication between them. But in another way, they have the same character in the system of Beijing, the only difference is the workers serve the city with labour, the artists serve the city with creativity.

The studios rent price is growing at least by 10% every year, but still very popular with the artists, almost every studio is occupied. Since a lot of artist villages had been demolished in recent years, there is still a huge demand in the market for studios.

Black Bridge Village is an active playground for different kinds of artists, there were many art projects and events happening every month. In recent years, several non-profit organizations and galleries were opened to the public, mainly focus on promoting young generation artist who lacks channel on marketing. In the meanwhile, the artists are building very strong communities by themselves, everyone who lives here has a great connection with other people in their own neighbourhood or in other districts.

While the art activities are flourishing in the community, something is disturbing the local residents and artists. Several violent incidents upon artist were happening because of illegal charging of parking fees by the village government or disagreement on rental price. As a high educational of an artist, they still don’t have an effective way to defend their rights in housing or other issues.

[31]

photos by author

C O U R T YA R D A N D W A R E H O U S E The urban structure of artist village is expressing an amazing simplicity of non-design. Row-houses lying on the two sides of the street, then many streets connecting to the main street, and using a guarded gate to enclose this area, make a single entranced urban space: the courtyard. The courtyards are concise and straight, linking all the studio into one district. And each courtyard also represents an identical recognition of artists and communities.

[32]

The main functions for these courtyards are parking space, most of the artists are using car or motorcycle as transport for the sake of unreachable public transportation. Another important object is the greenhouse, due to a lack of supervision, the tenants are free to build up their own greenhouse as an extension to their studios in a certain area.

[33]

photos from social media

LOF T LIVING The existing artist studio typology can be varied in Black Bridge Village, but the dominant style is the row warehouses. Normally the warehouses are 7 meters high in the middle, 6 meters high at both side walls. The main structure is by bricks, the roof is constructed of light steel structure and corrugated steel. The warehouses are only installed with simple water and electricity system, the heating system and other furnishments are done by tenants themselves.

[34]

In order to have a cozy place to work and live, many artists renovated their studios with loft structure for the bedroom or other facilities, and left the main space undivided. The flexible division provides the opportunity for different ways of using the space. So in the Black Bridge Village area, there are not only the artist but many restaurant, exhibition space, furniture store, photography studio, factory, and storage as well, altogether formed an ecological art system inside.

[35]

photos by interviewee

Name:

Peng Haitao

Occupation:

Film make/Photographer

Age:

25

Gender:

male

School:

Beijing Film Academy

Address:

Guanghua Art district 36

Time of Living:

20 months

Studio Size:

100m2

Transportation:

car

Rent Price:

0.7rmb/m2/day

[36]

When Haitao came to Black Bridge Village, he established this non-profit organization called “the Truth Research Lab�, the original idea was to provide an open space for different groups of people exchanging their opinions about art or society. And this place has held different events such as experimental music show or documentary seminar in last year. Now he is using this place as his studio and also living place.

INTERVIEWS

[37]

Name:

Huang Ming

Occupation:

Oil painting/watercolor

Age:

40

Gender:

female

School:

Sichuan Fine Arts Institute

Central Acadimy of Fine Arts

Address:

Guanghua art district 50

Time of Living:

8 years

Studio Size:

appro.400m2

Transportation:

car

Rent Price:

unknown

[38]

Huang Ming is a female artist using this warehouse as her and her husband’s studio, so the space is quite large and containing a small living room. She only works here few days a week and live in another place. She uses to hold an exhibition called “the Black Bridge Village: a micro narration”, which contains her previous work describing the atmosphere about the village. As the photo above could show, one painting of man collecting garbages and another one of the villagers are doing karaoke on the street. She uses her special way of observation to describe the life of the residents in the village, “even the village is quite chaotic and dirty, but you can feel directly down to earth... you can see the societal shift in China, from the ordinary people and migrant workers, from their living statues...I think this is very significant for artists.”

INTERVIEWS

[39]

Wu Zhiyi’s loft.

Name:

Wu Zhiyi

Zhiyi is an architect living with other two artists

Occupation:

Architect

together in the studio. She use to organize a kind of

Age:

27

“open studio day” in Black Bridge Village, the intui-

Gender:

female

tion is to gather all the artist in the village and open

School:

Central Acadimy of Fine Arts

their studios to public on a certain day, in order to

Address:

Guanghua art district

bring more attention to the village and life of artists,

Time of Living:

2.5 years

promoting the reputation of this village and also

Studio Size:

100m2

make change of the spatial quality. Even this event

Transportation:

electric bike/uber

did not work out because of many practical reasons,

Rent Price:

0.72rmb/m2/day

but the strategy is very inspiring for how to change the current situation of the artist village and bring it to another level more than just a living space.

Cao Taiping’s studio.

[40]

Name:

Cao Taiping

Taiping is a painter just graduated from Central

Occupation:

Oilpainting/instrallation

Academy of Fine Arts as a master student, he has

Age:

31

been living here since he started his master pro-

Gender:

male

gram. From the discussion with him, he is strongly

School:

Central Acadimy of Fine Arts

against government involved artist district develop-

Address:

Black bridge district A-5

ment. “A blind eye from the government is the big-

Time of Living:

3 years

gest support, it is a kind of freedom, a sense of the

Studio Size:

70m2

free market. As long as they step in, the price will

Transportation: motorcycle/uber

definitely rise up...and we all have to move out, here

Rent Price:

will become the second 798 (art zone).�

0.72rmb/m2/day

INTERVIEWS

[41]

“CAN WE CONSUME THE CITY WITHOUT DESTROYING IT?” SHARON ZUKIN, NAKED CITY: THE DEATH AND LIFE OF AUTHENTIC URBAN PLACES

[42]

PROGRAMME

[43]

PROBLEMTIZATION By analyzing the research and interviews, there are several major issues I want to tackle in the thesis project. The main problem for this kind of artist villages is that they are always facing an uncertain demolition scheme, the unpredictable urbanization is the first level problem in the project. So under this circumstances, the initial stand of the artists will be trying to protect their homes from deconstruction and violent expulsion. And by keeping this village stays still, keeping an affordable price of the art studios may also be important to young artists or creative class, a studio with unacceptable price will means the same as demolition of keeping the artists away. So the strategy of new studio development will explore a business model to keep the village function in a sustainable way.

Based the assumption of keeping the area in one, there are also many qualities in the village can be discovered and explored in the project. Such as the concise urban structure and spatial quality of the warehouse area, and the expandable and convertible structure of the light structure warehouses. The varies loft living style could also be a unique typology study for the architectural design. In this studios, how to use the local labor and material is also a strategy can be considered in the project.

Another important observation in this village is the spatial sorting and community. Even the artists have not very much interaction with the other people live in this village, but in the artists village itself, there is a big community among them.

The reason maybe they all from the similar background but the spatial arrangement also helps to form these communities. This kind of informal gathering between artists not only shape their lifestyles but also give a huge impact to the society. Several events were taking place in the villages and bring the village into an ideal place to work and live for artistic class or even people who are interested in their lifestyles.

[44]

DESIGN STRATEGY Based on the previous research, this project will focus on two different levels of design. The first one is developing an organization in the artist ecological system in order to provide a more financially sustainable environment for the turnover of artists. The second one is trying to explore the spatial quality of the existing artist village and warehouse typology, and combine them together to design a new artist community center to support the ecological system. From this two different level of intervention, the project will use the potential of artists to create an attractive cultural area to keep them safe from new urban development.

Policy Support

Urban cultural capital

Artist Government

Culture experience

Public

Marketing channel Attract business

Residence

Tax revenue Land use rights

Consumption

Subsides

Developer

Outcome Input

[45]

Land Policy

Government Municipality

State

Village

Own Collective Land Property Industrial area

New Local Regulatory Plan

Tax revenue Urban cultural capital

Primary Art Market Tax revenue hierarchy

Art dealers

money flow relation

The project will be a collaboration between the government, developers, and artists. In one hand, the project cannot proceed without the support of local government, on the other hand, the government should not get involved too much in the process, they should leave this area as nature ecologic system to provide a political-free environment for artists to create.

[46]

By changing the local plan to provide the opportunities for the artists or developer owning the land use rights. The local government(village) could also become shareholders by providing the land use right to the developer.

STRATEGY Finance Public Donation State Subsides

Bank Loan

Shareholder Rent and dividend

Cultural area

Fundation

rent or sale

Developer

Development

Profit

Organization The Artist Community

Artist residency

Gallery & Exhibition

Offices & Studios

work exhibit Artist

Creative class

Public Functions Restaurant Cafe & Store Library Cinema Theatre Events ...

Citizens

Tourists

organize activities

ARCHITECURE

The economic source for this project will be leading by art foundation or institutions, with governmental subsidies and bank loans as supplementary. In order to make the project financially sustainable, the developer should find a balance in commercialization. The idea is to make the profit from the commercial functions to subsidies the residence of artists, and keep the affordable price of studios in the future.

The aim of the architectural proposal is to unite the 700 artists altogether to generate a dynamic atmosphere in the artist village. By changing the residential area into a multifunctional artist autonomy, the artist village will become an artistic stage for the artists, the city, and the public.

THE STRATEGY

[47]

m

254

storage center

existing artist studios

Project site

THE ARCHITECTURAL PROPOSAL The new building development will focus on an existing big storage center locating in between these artists villages. Right now there’s no artist living inside the storage center, and its central location would be suitable for the new community area and public purposes.

The proposal is to keep part of the current structure and demolish the rest for the sake of diverse functions and spatial qualities. The aim is to uniting all the artist studios into one coherent district, to raise the cultural and artistic value [48]

18

0m

HEATING RM

KITCHEN

BEDROOM ARTIST DWELLING

STORAGE

CARPARK

GARDEN

TOILET

MEETING ROOM

GALLERY STORAGE

STUDIO

GREEN HOUSE COMMUNITY SPACE

FACTORY STAFF GALLERY

PRIVATE CLUB

WORK AREA

CONFERENCE ROOM

BUSINESS OFFICE

EVENT SPACE

EDUCATION WORKSHOP

CAFE&SHOP RECEPTION

OFFICE ADMINISTRATION

LOBBY

SECURITY PUBLIC LIBRARY

CARPARK

RESTAURANT total area: 45,000m2

private

semi-public

semi-private

public

Function diagram

in order to attract more visitors and express its economic potential and urban quality to the decision maker and the public, in one hand is to keep the artists stay away from demolition, on the other hand, it could also generate more cultural and urban value. And the project will use the reputation of a vibrant artist autonomous district to keep the artists studios stay alive, and possibly expand in the future.

[49]

Ziyi Wang Artist Autonomy -reprogram artist community in Beijing Henitati onsequa ssuntio nesequiat.

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isometric 1:500 and zoom in 1:100

intervention diagram

strategy diagram

plan 1:250

section 1:100

visual

visual

[50]

Beijing art district map 1:100,000

siteplan

board layout

WORKING SCALE Design strategy diagrams Urban level

Map of urban connection(1:100,000)

Site plans (1:5,000)

Site model

Isometric drawing (1:500)

Conceptual diagrams

Architecture level

Floor plans/sections/isometric(1:500/1:200)

Visualizations

Conceptual diagrams and collages

Models

[51]

Ai Weiwei ‘s Shanghai studio, Malu, Jiading, by Fake studio.

Artist residence in Songzhuang village, by Xu Tiantian, DnA architects.

[52]

Parrish Art Museum, New York, by Herzog & de Meuron.

SESC Pompéia, São Paulo, Brazil, by Lina Bo Bardi.

REFERENCES

[53]

Theory Ai Weiwei. (2014). Spatial Matters: Art Architecture and Activism.

Doug Saunders. (2010). Arrival City: How the Largest Migration in History is Re

shaping Our World.

Jinliao He. (2013). Creative Industry Districts: An Analysis of Dynamics, Net

works and Implications on Creative Clusters in Shanghai.

Keller Easterling. (2014). Extrastatecraft: The Power of Infrastructure Space.

Liu Mingliang. (2015). Beijing 798 Art zone: Field work and track in the context

of marketization.

Neville Mars, Adrian Hornsby.(2008). The Chinese Dream: a society under construction.

Pier Vittorio Aureli. (2008). The Project of Autonomy: Politics and Architecture

Within and Against Capitalism.

Sharon Zukin. (2010). Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places.

Essays Enkhbold Chuluunbaatara, Ottaviab, Ding-Bang Luh, Shiann-Far Kung. (2013).

The Role of Cluster and Social Capital in Cultural and Creative

Industries Development.

Lennon H.T. Choy, Yani Lai, Waiming Lok. (2013). Habitat International.

Economic performance of industrial development on collective land in

the urbanization process in China: Empirical evidence from Shezhen.

Philipp Zielke, Michael Waibel. (2013). Habitat International. Comparative urban

governance of developing creative spaces in China.

Si-ming Li, Hung-ha Cheng, Jun Wang. (2013). Habitat International. Making a

cultural cluster in China: A study of Dafen Oil Painting Village,

Shenzhen.

Xin Liu, Sun Sheng Han, Kevin O’Connor. (2013). Habitat International. Art

villages in metropolitan Beijing: A study of the location dynamics.

Yimei Yin, Zhigao Liu, Michael Dunford, Weidong Liu. (2013). The 798 Art District:

Multi-scalar drivers of land use succession and industrial

restructuring in Beijing.

[54]

Articles and Magazines

Adrian Hornsby and Neville Mars. (2008). The Art of Keys: Profit and Loss in the

Art Village Industry.

Alex Pasternack. (2008). Other Kinds of Ambitions: From Artist Villages to Art Districts.

David Spalding. (2010). Art+Auction. The Village that Art Built.

Jennifer Currier. (2008). The Town Planning Review, Vol. 79, No. 2/3, Planning

the Chinese City, Art and Power in the new China: An exploration of

Beijing 798 district and its Implications for contemporary Urbanism.

Neville Mars. (2014). Urban wisdom advancing with China. 798 and the creative

cluster conundrum.

Reinier de Graaf. (2015). Architecture Review 1419. Building Capital.

Robert Manguriana nd Mary-Ann Ray. (2008). Perspecta, Vol. 41, Grand Tour.

与创意集聚之困 798

Xiao Mina. (2012). Places Journal, May 2012. Art Village: A Year in Caochangdi.

798 and the CReatIVe CLUSteR COnUndRUM

Xie Wenting.(2015). Global Times. Artists under siege.

Zafka Zhang, Lisa Li. (2008). Creative Industry and “creative generation” in China.

2014年10月 第67期 067封面0910.indd 28

Re-drawing Hadrian’s Villa Re-writing Caochangdi Urban Village.

Films and documentaries

Bumming in beijing, 1990, Wu Wenguang

67

14-9-11 上午1:51

Gut Renovation, 2012, Su Friedich Warm winter, 2011, Zheng Kuo

LITERATURE

[55]

Pre-emptive Defense -Survival Strategies of Artist Village Thesis programme Ziyi Wang/ziwa1456 T u t o r: C h a r l e s B e s s a r d D i r e c t o r: D e a n e S i m p s o n + C h a r l e s B e s s a r d IBBL-Urbanism and Societal Change Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture

[56]

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, IBBL-USC