M.Arch Thesis | Joint Studio 2015 | Politecnico di Torino

POLITECNICO DI TORINO

DIPARTIMENTO DI ARCHITETTURA E DESIGN

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

ZHANGJIAKOU SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS FOR 2022 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES

JOINT STUDIO 2015

POLITECNICO DI TORINO

DIPARTIMENTO DI ARCHITETTURA E DESIGN

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

ZHANGJIAKOU SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS FOR 2022 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES

JOINT STUDIO 2015

MASTER DEGREE THESIS

ACADEMIC YEAR 2014/2015 AUTUMN SESSION

MEET THE MENTORS

Professor

Professor

Gustavo Ambrosini

Mauro Berta

Michele Bonino

Davide Vero

Zhang Li

Liu Jian

Xia Mingming

Professor

Tutor

Professor

Professor

Tutor

MEET THE TEAM

Architecture City Construction

Architecture and Restoration

Architecture City Construction

Architecture City Construction

Elena Maioglio

Angelica Manfredini

Fabrizia Parlani

Sara Ressia

Valentino Pileggi

Matteo Ponsetti

Francesco Serra

Simone Vioglio

Architecture City Construction

Sustainable Architecture

Sustainable Architecture

Sustainable Architecture

FOREWORD

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1.1 Past events: Nagano 1998 1.2 Past events: Torino 2006 1.3 Past events: Vancouver 2010 1.4 Beijing 2022

2.1 Beijing experience 2.2 Macro area analysis 2.3 Micro area analysis 2.4 Masterplan Competition: MASTERPLAN A MASTERPLAN B MASTERPLAN C MASTERPLAN D 2.5 Competition results

WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES

BEIJING JOINT STUDIO WORKSHOP

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3.1 Winter Games: Experience and Learn 3.2 Architecture and mountain in China 3.3 Courtyard dwellings 3.4 Feng Shui and contemporary sustainability

4.1 Exhibition and review - Politecnico di Torino and Tsinghua University 4.2 MASTERPLAN A 4.3 MASTERPLAN B 4.2 General projects overview

IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS

TURIN JOINT STUDIO 2015

BIBLIOGRAPHY

TIMEline JOINT STUDIO 2015 THE BEGINNING 8 selected students, 1 project

WELCOME TO TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY Inicial presentation: an overview of mountain and Olympic Games concept

February 2015

MASTERPLAN PRESENTATION End of the workshop. visting the village, living Beijing

March

Destination Beijing

April

Zhangjiakou Chongli Taizicheng

Badaling

Suzhou Shanghai

JOINT STUDIO 2015 THE END

MIDDLE TERM PRESENTATION Video conference with Chinese colleagues

May

Back to Turin.

FINAL EXIBITION

June

Road to graduation...

Welcome to Politecnico: Chinese team reaches Turin

FOREWORD

前言 第一章

Fig.1 Banner for Beijing candidate city for Winter Olympic Games 2022, Taizicheng village, Hebei province.

The Tsinghua-Polito Joint Studio is a collaboration program with the goal to develop common activities in the area of higher education and research between the Department of Architecture and Design of Politecnico di Torino and the School of Architecture of Tsinghua University in Beijing.

With the first edition in 2008, the focus was on the post-event reuse of some sport venues of 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Joint Studio 2015, the fifth edition, is back on Chinese Olympic topics.

China is one winner candidate for 2022 Winter Olympic Games. The venues have been planned in Zhangjiakou, a popular skiing site located at 170 km north of Beijing, in Yanqing and in Beijing as well. The objective of the studio is to develop a design research on Olympics facilities as a long-term sustainability item, in terms of environment, economics and social impact. Eighteen students, between Chinese and Italians, have been worked together to design some alternative masterplans for Taizicheng Olympic Village, within Zhangjiakou venue. Some key items are: relationship among smart infrastructure systems and the new settlement; urban fabric concepts based on articulated street-houses sequence pattern; traditional courtyard dwellings re-invented; integration between the village and the surrounding landscape; re-use of housing and infrastructure for post-event period.

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Fig.2 Child looking from footbridge in Pudong, Shangai, March 2015.

1. According to data form World Bank, 16 of the 20 more polluted city in the world are Chinese and just in Beijing more than 3600 tons of carbon leakage are released by the traffic daily. Before the economic globalization of its economy, Chinese city was full of bycicles. Nowadays, the number of car circulating is around 40 million and it’s still growing. About 750.000 people die premature every year because of city pollution.

Learning from China.

The Joint Studio has been a great opportunity for all of us to approach, even for a short time study period, one of the countries with the faster rate of economic growth and social transformation in the last few years. We had so many questions and doubts about the trend of this development. Is that the right direction for a fast growing country within the global scenario? Which aspects should be taken into account during such a rapid industrial and productive expansion? How important should be the questions about pollution and nature preservation?1 We went there with the expectation to know if our doubts and questions were rightful. We found a country full of history and with a culture way different from ours. We have been amazed looking at traditional Chinese architecture living together with the brand new building and one the tallest skyscraper in the world.

Likewise we didn’t expect to see so much heterogeneous people -coming from so different economic and social level- sharing street-life in Beijing or Shanghai.

It’s been a great chance even because we had the opportunity to work sideby-side with Chinese students, in a continuous process of mutual and fruitful exchange of knowledge.

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Reading Key. From the beginning, our aim was to give some interpretations about Chinese cities and society, mostly coming out from observations during our direct experience. We were astonished by the large scale of cities such Beijing or Shanghai, in which several souls coexist: it’s very common to notice crowded road full of people and typical smell, next to luxury shopping and commercial road (as Nanjing Road in Shanghai). One of the reason of this social contrast it’s the unequal speed of economic development among social classes, that make economic disparity wider. This aspects, along with the fast demographic growth (between 1953 and 1996 Chinese population doubled, reaching 1.224.000.000 of people2) make the situation more dramatic and the process to a social equality arduous to reach. Therefore, in the background of economic globalization and the the context of rapid urbanization, it’s interesting to explore and understand deeply even the social progress of Chinese society related with cultural and demographic aspects. Our intent is to have a more a critical approach to understand the dramatic contraddictions that this rapid development bring with it.

2.Data from China Population Information and Research Center, 1997 Fig.3 Skyscrapers view in Pudong district from the oldest part of city center.

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Urban growth and social contrasts.

Aside from our first impressions about Chinese cities, it’s useful to give a general overview about modernization of urban system in China.

The academic circle generally believes that China is currently in a period of rapid urbanization. The Chinese Academy of Engineering anticipated that from 2005 to 2020, China’s urbanization rate could increase by around 1% on an average annual basis, the urban population would grow by 326 million, and the urbanization level would reach 55%-60%. By the middle of the 21t century, when China develops into a moderately developed country, the urbanization rate will climb up to approximately 70%3. Just to gauge the scale of this phenomenon, we’ll try to give some scientific data taken from academic studies. Actually it’s not easy to give a clear overview, because so many research institute estimated rate growth of China urban development in a different way. Then, those data differ conspicuously from institute to institute. To summarize, while the most optimist widely believe that China’s urbanization rate would reach 60% or even higher in 2020, approximately 70% in 2030, and an ultimate saturated rate of 85%, the neutral nevertheless anticipate an urbanization rate of 55% or more in 2020, approximately 65% in 2030, and an ultimate saturate rate of 70%. On the one hand, problems widely exist in the “Middle Income Trap” period, as in many other countries, including underemployment, the gap between the rich and the poor, housing shortage, traffic congestion, environmental pollution, and social

3. From consulting project entitled “Research on Sustainable Development Strategy amid China’s Urbanization Process” (2005).

4. Cheng Ming, Wang Kai; “Speed and Trend of China’s Urbanization: a comparative study based on Cross Country Panel data Model”,in China City Planning Review, Vol.24, No.2, 2015, pp. 6–13W

unrest. On the other hand, it’s a period of strategic opportunities including the optimization of the population distribution and urban layout, the transformation of the development mode, and the realization of the inclusive growth. During a period of rapid urbanization, such as all the other big countries historically, even China is always confronted with challenges from the coordinated rural-urban development For instance, over the past few years, the urbanization process of the migrant workers slowed down, the rural-urban development divide was widening, rural development elements constantly flew into the city, and the large-scale capital, after its entry to agricolture and rural areas, greatly influenced China. In the process of high-speed urbanization, those conflicts and problems will get intensified.

This sets off a new wave in urbanization studies among both the governmental organizations and the academic circle. While historically in China practically all cities lack analyses on the historical processes of physical changes, those new trend of studies about urban development have a strong influence on governmental strategies and analysis. Indeed, after the 2008 financial crisis, the Central Government incorporated urbanization into the nation’s long term core strategies, by actively expanding domestic demands, to realize transitional development, to optimize population distribution and to promote coordinated rural-urban relations4.

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Fig.4 This graphic depicts countries and territories with 2050 urban populations exceeding 100,000. Circles are scaled in proportion to urban population size. Hover over a country to see how urban it is (percentage of people living in cities and towns) and the size of its urban population (in millions). From: http://www.unicef.org/sowc2012/urbanmap/

Struggle between modernity and tradition.

Certainly in Western countries, a common way of thinking used to identify modernity with westernization and the paucity of knowledge about Chinese society and its history has always been a big problem for the cultural relationship between such different countries.

It’s clear that in Europe the image of China is closely related to economic matters towards our colonialist tradition (formerly territorial colonialism, nowadays more cultural and economic).

It’s even true that after XIX sec. crisis, China had to face several problems to become a modern country (as meant by europeans). This process to modernization passed through a deep cultural revolution that brings with it a period of tough rejection towards its own traditional culture.

All too often, therefore, globalization matched with homogenization. This process brings to a inevitable cultural uniformity. It nevertheless needs to be pointed out that this can apply to standards and production but it represent almost a historical crime in the field of cultural features. We must not confuse a critical internationalism with the idea of global markets system.

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Furthermore, those fast modifications seem to struggle with the cyclic view of the history, typical of the asian cultures. Indeed in China, at least in the past, the measure of this cyclic time is regulated by universe and nature and especially in architectural field we can’t note drastic stylistic changes in conception, as has happened continuously to western art and culture5. The shape is more relevant then the idea of material authenticity: this is why it’s very common to re-build historical monuments rather than preserve the original artifact. Idea diametrically opposed to our theory of historical value. For instance, during the cultural revolution, as many cultural monuments, the main entrance of Tsinghua University campus was destroyed. But, in early 90s, it was rebuilt exactly in the original design. It’s evident how a such approach to the past is different from our idea of history. Under the influence of western culture, the protection of historic buildings and cultural features now requires modern historical studies to be the basis of its analysis and evaluation, while the rapid disappearance of the historical environment will bring more straightforward difficulties to empirical studies.

5. Gregotti V., L’ultimo hutong - lavorare in architettura nella nuova Cina, Skira, Milano, 2009

Fig.5 The Old Gate of Tsinghua University was once the main entrance to the campus.

It was demolished during the 1960s and rebuilt according to the original design in 1991.

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1.WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES

第一章

The Olympic Games are the biggest sporting event held in the world. That’s why the cities hosting them enjoy a moment of exceptional glory. Something that is unique, unforgettable and hard to compare with other major celebrations or events that have been held throughout the history of the Games. Instead, we are going to talk to you about the set of sports and residential facilities which have to be digested by the city itself and incorporated into “everyday� life as soon as the Closing Ceremony is over. Most of the sports buildings required for the organization of the Olympic Games and the residential facilities necessary to accommodate the athletes, the press or members of the Olympic Family cannot simply be considered from the point of view of their use during the Games.

Olympic Villages can be considered the living heart of the Olympic assembly, where the best athletes from every corner of the globe join together every four years in the pursuit of Olympism.

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Origins of the Olympic Village.

The first reference that should be made when talking about the origin of the Olympic Village concept is to Baron Pierre de Coubertin’s1 ideas. The creation of a “modern Olympia” was openly put forward to groups of architects as early as 1910 by the Baron. Defined as an ensemble organized in different locations for Olympic sporting events, the “modern Olympia” was a territorial translation of Coubertin’s ideas, inspired by internationalism and aspirations of world peace, both of which were characteristic of European intelligentsia thinking throughout the first half of this century, and also inspired by the belief in sporting activity and sports education as a means of achieving those absolute objectives.

In “Olympic Buildings”, Martin Wimmer suggests classifying Olympic Villages on the basis of the styles of the different types of housing and defines a three stage evolution.

The first one corresponds to detached houses or bungalows laid out in a similar way to the suburban housing estates or industrial colonies built in the first decades of this century in Europe and the United States2.

The second stage began with the appearance of the apartment block at the Käpylä Olympic Village in Helsinki ’52. With the exception of Melbourne ’56, which reverted to the suburban estate model for its Village, this model is the one used for the Rome ‘60 and Tokyo ‘64 Villages, although in Tokyo’s case the apartment blocks were combined with wooden modules.

1. Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, usually called Pierre de Coubertin (Paris, 1863 - Geneva, 1937) was a French historian and educator, known as the founder of the modern Olympic Games.

2. The Villages, we have termed “inaugural”, are Los Angeles ’32 and Berlin ’36 and would fit into this model.

The third stage corresponds to the construction of large housing complexes organized around identical tall housing blocks, in some cases with different designs. This was the case for Mexico ‘68, Munich ‘72, Montreal ‘76 and Moscow ‘80. We could even add another stage which would include the Villages of the last two decades. On the one hand, although the Seoul ‘88 and Barcelona ‘92 Villages were large residential complexes, the combination of different types of buildings and of varying heights of apartment blocks made them distinct from earlier operations. On the other hand, the “ephemeral” Village cases of Los Angeles ’84 and Atlanta’96 introduced the idea of a multi-purpose “container” as a type of building.

Nowadays the concept of the Olympic Village as a special “resort” which brings together athletes and their companions is a standard feature of the schedule upon which the organization of the Olympic Games is based. It is even true to say that from now on it is a concept which is central to the Olympic idea, given that the Village, in principle, assembles all the participants of the Games under the same roof, where they can exchange ideas and form friendships, or simply share a meal and watch their fellow athletes’ exploits on television together.

This gives them an opportunity to get to know each other better, making people seem less “foreign” or “a friend for life”.

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Urban Planning.

We will firstly discuss the importance of urban planning and architecture on life in the Village.

Urban planners must consider the location of the Village as a fundamental point of their planning. In general terms, a poorly planned location causes a range of operational problems for the teams. If the infrastructure systems of the host city are not analyzed carefully, the Village may be sited in an area which causes problems of access through existing physical obstructions. Planners may attempt to overcome the problem of access by locating the Village centrally within the city, but this may cause other problems in terms of noise and distractions to athletes. Another possible solution is to locate the Village further toward the outskirts of the city, but this in turn may result in transportation times being increased, and athletes being denied access to other attractions of the city.

3. The OVP contains the following facilities: Team Welcome Ceremonies, retail services, recreation services, meeting rooms, village Management Offices (optional).

4. The RZ contains the following facilities: accommodation, NOC offices, NOC medical spaces, NOC workshop / storage areas, dining halls, polyclinic, NOC Services Centre, Resident Centres / front desks, NOC meeting rooms, athlete lounge, Chef de Mission Meeting Hall, Security Command Centre (SCC), recreational Sports Facilities, recreational areas, religious Centre, facility Services Centre (co-located in Operational Zone).

Olympic Village Layout.

The Olympic Village consists of three major components: the Residential Zone, the Olympic Village Plaza and the Operational Zone. The Olympic Village Plaza3, formerly known as the International Zone, hosts a number of retail and recreational areas for the benefit of the Athletes and Officials as well as Guests of the Olympic Village. The OVP is the only accredited area where Media may enter unescorted in the Olympic Village. The Operational Zone contains the back of house areas of the Olympic Village including all the services for the Olympic Village to function efficiently. The OZ is situated on the perimeter of the Olympic Village to facilitate movements in and out of the Village without compromising security operations.

The Residential Zone4 is the ‘private’ area of the Olympic Village and is the Residents home containing accommodation, dining and certain recreational activities. Only Residents of the Olympic Village and personnel with RZ accreditation have access to this area. Any Guest without appropriate accreditation access must be invited into this area by the NOC and escorted at all times. It should also be noted that some athletes are accommodated in ancillary facilities located close to their competition sites if that site is a long way from the main Olympic Village. Organisers of the Olympic Games must face the challenge of accommodating approximately 15,000 persons in the Village of the Summer Games, and 3,500 for the Winter Games.

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1.1 Past Events: Nagano 1998 Winter Olympic Games

The Olympic Village

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Fig.1 Aerial view of the Olympic Village

Aerial view of the Olympic Village

For one month, the Olympic Village was home to some 3,200 athletes and officials from the 72 countries and regions participating in the Nagano Games. The village served as an area for athletes of all sports in which to rest, relax, dine, and be entertained, where friendship overcame boundaries of nationality or creed.

The Olympic Village opened its doors at noon on January 24, 1998. A total of 2,652 people checked into the village prior to the start of the Games. As this was the first time in Olympic history that accommodations were provided free

As more and more teams arrived at the village, the atmosphere became increasingly lively.

The village was transformed into a kaleidoscope of colours as participants in their team uniforms strolled around the grounds and dropped into the recreation facilities to check out the games room and disco, or visited the souvenir shop, television lounge, and library. Queues forming outside the free-of-charge games room and IBM Internet “Surf Shack� attested to the popularity of these facilities, and Olympic souvenirs were also a big hit with village residents, with items like pins

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For one month, the Olympic Village was home to some 3,200 athletes and officials from the 72 countries and regions participating in the Nagano Games.

The village served as an area for athletes of all sports in which to rest, relax, dining, and be entertained, where friendship overcame boundaries of nationality or creed. The Olympic Village opened its doors at noon on January 24, 1998. A total of 2,652 people checked into the village prior to the start of the Games. As this was the first time in Olympic history that accommodations were provided free of charge for the entire period, the majority of athletes arrived earlier than at previous Games. Many athletes got a taste of Japanese culture by joining in activities including demonstrations of tea ceremony, flower arranging, kimono dressing, traditional dance, and koto (Japanese harp) put on by volunteers at the cultural activities centre.

The Olympic Village was located in the Imai district of Nagano City, approximately 7 km from the city centre. The city of Nagano built a brand-new residential complex for post-Games use as public housing and leased this to NAOC. Situated on 19 hectares of land, the village comprised 23 buildings containing a total of 1,032 apartment units, as well as temporary restaurant, shopping, and recreation facilities covering approximately 12,000 m2. Shuttle bus service to the venues and parking were provided. In addition to the fitness centre inside the village, athletes were given exclusive use of a gymnasium and swimming pool at the nearby Minami Nagano Sports Park.

The village was divided into two zones. Within the residential zone were the accommodation facilities, NOC offices, residents’ dining facility, NOC Service Centre, polyclinic, fitness centre, religious centre, and centre for cultural activities.

A wide range of temporary amenities was provided within the 12,000m2 common facilities area: a 1,000-seat cafeteria, restaurant for the athletes and officials, shops, bank, post office, disco, games room, recreation room, fitness centre, polyclinic, meeting rooms, and offices. A religious centre and a cultural activities centre were established in the residential zone.

Temporary facilities were constructed from prefabricated and recyclable materials.

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1.2 Past Events: Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games

Fig.2 Vermilion is the dominant colour on some ten thousand elements distributed across the city, including posters, banners, flags and tangled ski-sticks.

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In 2006 the Winter Games returned to Italy after a 50-year absence. Unlike the 1956 Games, which were held in the small resort town of Cortina d’ Ampezzo, the 2006 Games were hosted by Turin. The Games were attended by approximately 2,600 athletes representing 80 countries. The Olympic system consisted in a pole for the ice sports, with a Piedmont appendix in Pinerolo, and an alpine area, with a natural hub in Sestriere, for the snow disciplines. Two points connected by a motorway two state highways and two railway lines.

The installations used for the Olympic competitions were located in a central area in Turin referred to as the “Olympic District” in purpose-built or restructured facilities and Lingotto was defined as its centre. Not far from the former factory that hosted the Main Media Centre were located the Olympic Village, the installations for ice hockey speed skating, figure skating and short track speed skating, the hotels of the Olympic Family and the Olympic Stadium, while the curling competitions were held in Pinerolo. Moving into the mountains, alpine skiing was divided between Sestriere and San Sicario Fraiteve. Snowboard competitions were held in Bardonecchia, cross-country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined competitions were held in Pragelato. Bobsleigh, luge and skeleton in Cesana locality. Freestyle in Sauze d’Oulx and biathlon in Cesana San Sicario. The athletes were hosted in the three Olympic Villages (Turin, Sestriere and Bardonecchia), while the Media were accommodated in the seven Media Villages in Turin and in temporary mountain hotel structures.

Il Sistema Olimpico di Torino 2006_The Olympic System of Torino 2006

Fig.3 The Olympic System of Turin 2006

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Il Territorio_The Territory

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Medals Plaza was set up in the central portion of Castello Plaza in Turin, facing the historic Royal Palace. Here athletes competing in the XX Olympic Winter Games received their medals during official award ceremonies, to the sound of the national anthem and the raising of national flags in honour of the winning athletes or teams. Fifty-five of the 84 medal award ceremonies were held in this location. There were three Olympic Villages: Turin, Bardonecchia and Sestriere. This was a new development in Olympic history resolving some of the transportation and altitude-adjustment needs of the athletes, who, in the mountain villages, lived in the same climatic conditions as their competition venues. In terms of operational management, however, the needs were multiplied by three, compared with the traditional Olympic model of a village situated in a single location. In addition to the Venue staff each site had to be able to accommodate the Olympic Family the athletes, the teams’ technical personnel, the technical delegates of the International Federations concerned, Sponsors, the press, TV broadcasters and spectators. This meant providing areas in which each of these groups could work, rest and eat and drink (bars, restaurants, a medical centre, conference facilities, private rooms), and of course all the related services. Each Venue consisted of a mixture of permanent structures (the competition installations or buildings housing restaurants and work areas) and temporary infrastructure (stands, lounges, structures used for accreditation and other operations, information points).

Turin Olympic Village.

The Turin Olympic Village was created in a historic area of the city once occupied by the Wholesale Market complex, which dated from the 1930s.

The restoration work was carried out by a team co-ordinated by the architects Benedetto Camerana and Giorgio Rosenthal with the aim of redeveloping the whole district.

The Village subdivided into three different areas: operational, residential and international and occupied an area of over 100,000 m2.

In the 29 days of operation, from 31 January to 28 February the Village was home to some 2,100 athletes, officials, coaches and escorts, from teams representing 53 different countries.

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Fig.4 Site plan

Fig.5 Aerial view of the Olympic Village in Turin

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1.3 Past Events: Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games

Fig.6 Aerial view of the Olympic Village

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The City of Vancouver co-hosted the XXI Winter Olympic Games with the Resort Municipality of Whistler, located 125 km from downtown Vancouver, and four local First Nations bands from February 12th to February 28th, 2010. One of the key points emphasized by the corporation in its bid to host the Games was the sheer physical beauty of Vancouver and Whistler. The 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games would be, the bid promised, the first Winter Games to be held by the sea, surrounded by mountains. The “Sea-to-Sky” Games promised spectacular views and venues for visitors and athletes, members of the Olympic and Paralympic Families and billions of television viewers. At the same time, the athletes’ village in Vancouver would be within easy walking distance to BC Place Stadium, the proposed venue for the Opening, Closing and Medal Ceremonies, while the athletes’ village in Whistler would offer a park like setting within 15 kilometres of the Whistler sport venues.

In total, 2,566 athletes competed at the 2010 Games, there was record participation by women at the Winter Games, in excess of 40 per cent. The Games saw record use of mass transit that, according to local transit officials, has changed commuting habits. TransLink, Vancouver’s transit agency, launched an ambitious expansion plan before the Games that included 48 new SkyTrain cars, a new SeaBus and 180 diesel-electric hybrid buses.

Fig.7 The Olympic System of Vancouver 2010

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Vancouver Olympic Village Located on Vancouver’s waterfront with extraordinary views of the city’s downtown skyline and Coast mountains, the Olympic and Paralympic Village Vancouver features newly constructed low- and mid-rise apartment buildings.

With close proximity to the competition venues, athletes were able to walk or take a short bus ride to the city’s shopping and entertainment districts and enjoy the nightly Victory Ceremonies and cultural celebrations just moments away at BC Place.

The goal was to provide a comfortable “home away from home” for competing athletes, striving to provide the best possible competitive conditions for athletes competing in the 2010 Winter Games.

Fig.8 The Vancouver Olympic Village is built

by Millennium Development Group.

A 93,000 m2 village with over 1000 units, that was able to accommodate over 2,800 athletes, coaches, and officials.

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1.4 Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games

Fig.9 The International Olympic Committee named Beijing as the host city of the Olympic Winter Games 2022.

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Beijing’s vision is to boost winter sports by maximizing the use of existing venues in Beijing, and accelerating the development of outdoor winter sports in the mountain areas to the north of the City. Beijing 2022 states that with a potential market of over 300 million people living in Beijing and the surrounding Hebei Province, hosting the Olympic Winter Games would be an opportunity to develop winter sports in China with the Games providing a catalyst for the accelerated development of high quality and economically sustainable winter sports facilities.

Games’ planning is aligned with the 12th Five-Year Plan of the national, regional and local government authorities involved in the delivery of the Games, and centres on the creation of a “sport, culture and tourism belt” between the three proposed Games zones of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou.

As well as boosting social and economic development, the Games are viewed as an opportunity to promote health and well-being. Beijing’s motivation is to consolidate the success and legacies of the 2008 Olympic Games by providing an extended legacy for venues built for those Games and to create new Olympic legacies through a celebration of Olympic Winter sport.

Beijing’s masterplan comprises three zone: one city and two mountain.

PLAN B / MAP B

nfrastructure Olympique Olympic Infrastructure Site des cérémonies d'ouverture /de clôture Opening/Closing Ceremony venue

Sites Sportifs Sports Venues

Zhangjiakou

Biathlon Biathlon Bobsleigh

Village olympique Olympic Village

Bobsleigh

Noyau des hôtels des médias Media hotel cluster

Skeleton Skeleton Curling Curling

Hôtel olympique Olympic Hotel

Hockey sur glace Zone hôtelière principale Main hotel area

Ice Hockey

Centre Principal de Presse (CPP) Main Press Centre (MPC)

Luge

Centre International de Radio et Télévision (CIRTV) International Broadcasting Centre ( IBC) Centre des médias des sites de montagne (CMM) Mountain Media Centre ( MMC)

nfrastructure de transport ransport Infrastructure Aéroport international de la Capitale de Beijing Beijing Capital International Airport

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14 11 13

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Luge Patinage de vitesse Speed Skating Patinage de vitesse sur piste courte /Short Track Patinage artistique Figure Skating Ski de fond Cross Country

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Saut à ski Ski Jumping Combiné nordique Nordic Combined

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Yanqing 22

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Fig.10 The Olympic SystemSkiof Beijing 2022 alpin

Nouvel aéroport de Beijing Beijing New Airport Aéroport Ningyuan Ningyuan Airport

Bosses Moguls

Autoroute Motorway

Sauts Aerials

Artère urbaine

Ski cross

Urban arterial road

Ski Cross

Train

Ski half-pipe Ski Halfpipe

Train Métro Subway Train léger Light rail

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Alpine Skiing

Ski slopestyle Ski Slopestyle Snowboard-Slalom géant Snowboard Giant Slalom

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7 5 2

1

3 1

2 3 6

Snowboard cross Snowboard Cross Snowboard - Half-pipe Snowboard Halfpipe

Existing, no permantent works required

Snowboard - Slopestyle Snowboard Slopestyle

Existante, construction permanente nécessaire Existing, permanent works required

Site d'entraînement pour le patinage de vitesse sur piste courte Training Venue for Short Track

Prévue Planned

Site d'entraînement pour le patinage artistique Training Venue for Figure Skating

Additionnelle Additional

Site d'entraînement pour le hockey sur glace Training Venue for Ice Hockey

Existante, aucune construction permanente

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Beijing proposes three Olympic Villages. All three villages are centrally located in their respective zones in relation to the venues they serve and no significant altitude differential exists.

The Beijing Olympic Village (6,000 beds) would be located north of the city near the existing National Stadium. The furthest venue for athletes living in this village would be the Ice Hockey (men) venue at 18 km. The Yanqing Olympic Village (1,000 beds), 94 km northwest of the Beijing Olympic Village, to accommodate athletes in Bobsleigh, Skeleton, Luge and Alpine Skiing with competition venues less than 1 km away. The Zhangjiakou Olympic Village (3,000 beds) in the Taizicheng Ice and Snow Town, 243 km Northwest of the Beijing Olympic Village, to accommodate athletes in the Nordic disciplines, Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard. The furthest venue for athletes living in this village would be Snowboard at 11 km.

Currently, Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou are connected by two expressways, and the high-speed rail linking the three Zones will be completed and operational in 2019. High-standard roads connecting the venues in the Zhangjiakou Zone and the Yanqing Zone are under construction or renovation as scheduled. At Games time, a well-designed road network traffic management system and dedicated Olympic Lanes will guarantee the smooth and reliable operation and Games-time transport.

Fig.11 The National Stadium, Beijing

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02

2.BEIJING JOINT STUDIO WORKSHOP

第二章

2.1 Beijing Experience From the site analysis till the end presentation

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Reached Beijing after few days for settle down, the first appointment of the Joint studio 2015 was arranged on Monday the 9th of March, thereby, the beginning of the two weeks long workshop took part. In the few previous days, the italian teachers, assisted by the chinese students, had provided, for the italian student, the opportunity to get use with the huge Tsinghua University Campus, and show them around the peculiar architectures.

The schedule, of the first day includes the project site visit, usefull to understand the features of the future olympic mountains.

Meeting point Tsinghua University, direction project site. Eighteen students, ten Chinese and eight Italians, two Italians professors and on e Chinese assistant, jointly in the university bus. Passing by Zhangjiakou, the group reached finally Chongli, exactly the “Genting Ski Resort�, potential location for the Winter Olympic Games in 2022.

There, received by a traditional lunch, the group had the possibility to recover from the long journey and finally know each other. That was the first moment of socializing: common language was English, of course, which allowed the students to break up into four different sub-groups, mixed but very tight-knit, ready for working.

Further, was the moment to reach the highest point of the mountain, taking the new cable railway, from the resort. It was impossible to deal with the temperature; consequently, it was a quick phase and everybody wanted to reach again the

Fig.1 (Pag.5) Tsinghua University Bus Fig.2 Didactic moment, in Tsinghua Campus Fig.3 Exploration time in a Beijing District.

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Fig.4 Explanation moment in Genting Ski Resort, Chongli, Zhangjiakou Fig.5 Visit of the Olympic game site, Chongli, Zhangjiakou

resort to warming up. In there, a guide showed several models, projects and planning about the new outlook of the valley, the venues places, new roads and villages. It has been provided an overview of how China is preparing for the Games.

Even if the temperature was still fluctuating between -7 C° and -15 C°, was time to move along, visiting the future areas for the Olympic Winter Game.

Once in Taizicheng, the project site, was not possible enter in to the village for different reasons, however was effortless to understand the shape of the place, the vernacular architecture and habits of the local people, passing its borderlines and reaching the top of a hill nearby. Then, has been indicated other places for the future venues, useful for the future masterplan.

The end of the day was characterized by a summit, in which the Olympic committee has given to the attendance an exhausting explanation about the development interventions on the valley: venues and residences. Really, kind was the Chinese cordiality, after the working day, they grateful the group with a pleasant dinner in a fine place in Chongli.

Tuesday, the 10th, began with the first presentation, in which all the students have explained an idea related the concept of mountain, local settlements and Olympic Game events. Interesting notice two different approach to this presentation, Italian one: more focused on tradition and natural preservation, and Chinese one: open-minded for new infrastructure and opportunities that

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the games might provide. That presentation was the first moment of debate and conversation between students and teachers. Since that moment, the design phase has begun.

Subsequently in the afternoon of the same day, the different four groups have started to work to reach the final goal: four masterplans and as deadline Friday the 20th.

Initially, the information needed to prepare a suitable project have been collected, then after few days the first project concepts have been developed.

The working place was a private room in Tsinghua University, the students spent mostly of their time there aided by teachers and assistants. Chinese people integrated the Italians in the campus life, showing around the place, facilities and without forgetting each day a better place in which spend lunch or dinner together. Thus, the groups especially the Italians had the possibility to work and live deeply the Beijing traditions and people. The project’s review was on Sunday the 15th, in Zhang Li department: project professor in Tsinghua University and member of the Chinese Olympic committee. In this instance, the teacher become involved for steering the groups: pointing out some problematics relative to the Olympic Game, to avoid them in the final projects. He suggested preparing territorial model, to understand the slope and the topography of the site, and caring prevalently on the future reuse of the village: the main problem related to the Olympic game and the massive events in general.

Fig.6 Conception and development activity in professor’s studio, Beijing

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The following days were characterized by an intensive work. The deadline was immediate after the last review, and each one rushed to arrive with the better result as possible. The last day before the presentation, all the groups met together for finalize the models, using the models laboratory and its equipment.

In conclusion, the last presentation arrived. Established the connection via VoIP with the Italians teachers, each group began to exposited its masterplan, followed as well by the Chinese teacher and assistants.

The four final proposals for the masterplan were truly different one to each other and they brought relentlessly an idea of what should be a sustainable Chinese Olympic village.

The workshop was intensive and grateful experience in inspiration, in architecture, achievement and, for the future effort that will bring the group for the final exposition in Turin.

Fig.7/8 On the work, modeling phase, Tsinghua University, Beijing

2.2 Macro area analysis Chongli County

The analysis has been conducted starting from the onsite survey, than using some data and maps provided by the Tsinghua Univerity professors and Chinese group mates, together with articles and books found successively in Turin.

1. Zhangjiakou climatic analysis, Weather China, accessed 08 Aug 2015 http://www.weather.com.cn

Contextualization.

The area affected by our work is the rural village of Taizicheng, located in the Chongli County under the Zhangjiakou Prefecture in the northwestern Hebei Province in Northern China.

It lies in the Yanshan Mountain range only 140km in a straight line north of Beijing, but more than 200km and about 3-hour travelling by car. The city of Zhangjiakou, which has the nearest train station, is 70 km away. Even if it is not very easy to reach at the moment, the planned high-speed railway will drastically increase the connection of the village with Beijing and the rest of the country.

The climate in Northern China area is characterized by a temperate, semi-arid monsoon climate, with long, cold, dry, and windy winters due to the Siberian anticyclone, and hot, humid summers driven by the East Asian monsoon; in between spring and autumn are dry and brief. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −8.3 °C in January to 23.7 °C in July. The annual precipitation is between 530-570mm, with the most precipitations occurs during June to August. It will occasionally have weather disaster such as hails, frosts or rainstorms1.

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Regard the air quality problem, in Chongli is far less grim than in Beijing but still present. Official data show that Zhangjiakou was the city with the best air quality in Hebei province last year, with 315 non polluted days and only four days of heavy pollution2. Nevertheless the International Olympic Committee seems to be still concerned about the problem in the report of the 1st of June 20153, but positive about the action promised by the Chinese Government for the future.

There is also a severe water stress problem and the Beijing – Zhangjiakou area is becoming increasingly arid. In fact China is one of the world’s thirstiest countries with a per capita freshwater availability about one fourth the global average. The principal causes of the regional water stress is the low rate of rainfall together with intensive industrial and agricultural use. These land uses draw mainly from ground water reserves. For these reasons water prices rising by half last year. A ton of drinking water now costs about 6 Yuan (1 euro) while recycled industrial water costs 1.6 Yuan per ton4.

Even the skiing industry with the many resorts that are forced to use snow-making machines to provide snow-covered slopes for their venues are contributing to worsen the problem. In a 2011 report hydrologist Hu Kanping5 denouncing the large amount of water used every year for this resorts saying that they should not just exist in these areas because are unsustainable, and the water could be used to increase crop yields for local farmers.

2. WU N. Beijing keeps Winter Games champagne on ice, South China Morning Post, 23 Feb 2015. Accessed 22 aug 2015 3.IOC, Report of the 2022 commission, IOC, 1 June 2015.

evaluation

4. WU N. Beijing keeps Winter Games champagne on ice.

5. KANPING H. Where is the capital’s skiing industry going? in Probe International, 2011.

Fig.9 Graphic with the location of the village of Taizicheng at national, provincial, prefectural and county level (Source: image elaborated by the author)

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To overcome the problem resorts are trying to use recycled industrial water as well, but risking this way to cause severe environmental damage.

This type of climate is great for summer tourism in order to avoid the extreme heat of the big cities, like Beijing, but it is very harsh in winter and not optimal for skiing tourism because the very low snow precipitations and the water problem together with the severe cold wind. On the other hand a large amount of sunny days and strong wind could become a great source of green energy. In fact there are many wind turbines on the tops of the mountains in Zhangjiakou area and several houses in the area including Taizicheng village are equipped with thermal solar panels to provide free hot water made of vacuum tubes excellent for this climate conditions. The Zhangjiakou region is exposed to the solar radiation for about 2800-3000 hours in a year with a power that reaches 15001700 kwh/mq in the sunniest areas. The actual wind hours per year is in average 5000, with an accumulation of wind energy in a year of about 1000 kWh/mq6.

The Hebei area is crossed by the Great Wall of China of Ming dynasty constructed between 1368 and 1644. The state of preservation is generally very poor in this sector, so that the section which passes near the planned Cross Country venue, about 4km away Taizicheng village, is now totally destroyed, with only a long pile of stone that marks the ancient path.

6. Zhangjiakou climatic analysis, Weather China, accessed 08 Aug 2015 http://www.weather.com.cn

The Hebei County is mostly a rural and poor area, with some important economy poles and great plans for the future. The economy is mostly based on agriculture, even if the city of Zhangjiakou have several other sectors well developed. Due to his strategic position northwest of Beijing the city has been nicknamed “Beijing’s Northern Door” and was historically the chief northern gate in the Great Wall to China for Europeans travelling along the Tea Road; It is a critical transport node towards the northern regions, with airport and train station; it is home of Hebei North University with many foreign students; it has a strong iron and steel industry thanks to the abundance of iron and coal in the territory and it is even the home to one of China’s most important grape wine industries, the Great Wall Wine Company.

The plan for the future in the area is strongly directed towards the tourism sector. In fact the local government is heavily investing on infrastructure and is encouraging new investment in the area. In fact the real estate industry is exploding even if it isn’t still followed by strong sales activity and the government is not offering assistance or protection to the present investors. Chongli has already become the main ski destination in China thanks to the presence of 4 major destination resorts (Wanlong, Duolemeidi, Great Wall and Genting Secret Garden), even if the ski sector is still naive and problematic.

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Fig.10 The Genting Ski resort slopes that will that will host several competitions of the Winter Olympics in 2022. (Author: Serra F.)

7. RIES F. The future of Chinese ski tourism, 1st Euro-Asian ski resorts conference Almaty, October 8th, 2013

Skiing tourism development in China.

The challenge in developing the skiing tourism in China have to face many obstacles, and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games have as one of his goal to overcomes some of these7: - Social challenges: Skiing is not part of the Chinese culture. In fact skiing is now seen as an elite activity, expensive, highly dangerous, physically challenging , to only experience once-in-a-lifetime.

- Geography location challenges: One of the greatest obstacle is the context where locate the ski venues. In fact the mountain range in the north-northeast of the country have limited snowfall and vertical drop, extremely harsh weather conditions and distance from the main customer base. The West mountains have excellent relatively abundant snowfall, excellent vertical drop, beautiful landscape and cold but comfortable temperatures due to the absence of persistent winds in winter, but in the other hand the west locations have a dangerous political instability and are really far away from the rich and high density cities of the East Coast. Those areas has already developed several skiing resorts but the Chongli County seems to be the area with the most potential thanks to his good position.

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8. WU N. Beijing keeps Winter Games champagne on ice.

Fig. 3 Genting Ski Resorts snow trails map.

(Source: http://bbs.lvye.cn) Fig.11/12 (next pages) View of the mountains near Taizicheng Village from the top of the Genting Ski Resorts Trails. (Author: Ponsetti M.)

- Government challenges: The political situation can be both an opportunity and a disadvantage, due to the strong decision-making power of the government. It can accelerate and facilitate some operations, but also interfere with the normal private business.

- Operative challenges: There are different operative problems that can be easily solved in a sufficient amount of time, but can be problematic for the fast grow dreamed by the local government. Among others: there is a serious lack of competence in the ski industry at a local level; little cooperation between the resorts and too much competition; limited vision of the resorts that offer only skiing services without improve and experience many other four seasons recreational activity; the artificial snow contrasts with the usually snowless grey surroundings; resort facilities tend to be very low standard; the activity is still too expensive and the price is going up, for example according to an interview published on the South China Morning Post this year (2015) a season pass in Genting Resorts (Chongli) was now about 3,900 yuan (568 euro), over ,1000 yuan (145 euro) more than last year8.

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2.3 Micro area analysis Taizicheng Village

9. IOC, Report of the 2022 evaluation commission, IOC, 1 June 2015.

Taizicheng (太子城) which literally means “prince victory” is a rural mountain village of about 1,064 inhabitants planned to be entirely demolished in order to become the location for one of the two Olympic Villages for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Games.

The village lies on a valley between four mountains, placed in a central position between the future venues locations. 4km north there is one of the most important Ski Resort in Hebei, the Secret Garden Genting Ski Resort, with its ski courses that during the Olympic Games will host the freestyle and snowboard competitions. 3km south is situated the Kuyangshu village, a rural village of farmers with almost 400 inhabitants that is planned to be removed to make way for the Nordic Centre9. West of Taizicheng lies other small villages along Dongma road that connect Taizicheng and the city of Chongli, 20km away, which concentrates all the major services of the area (hospital, primary school, market, administration offices, etc.).

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Fig.13 (left) A drawing on a territorial scale of the Taizicheng area. (Source: Cortesy of Zhang Li) Fig.14 (right) A view of the village from the north side (Author: Serra F.)

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Economy and society.

The villagers are a compact community of farmers. The dominant majority ethnic group is Han with a minority of Hui and Manchu. It is common the phenomenon of blood relationship between families and the staying-at-home during the spare time.

The main activity of the inhabitants is cultivation and animal farming. Agriculture is decentralized and with limited mechanization. The main crops are potatoes, broad beans, flaxes and purple cabbages, while the main farmed animals are cows and horses. Horse farm is a traditional activity in the area, in fact the horses of these lands where used for military purposes for centuries.

Together with farming activity seems like the growing tourism sector is providing local people with more career options and allows to greatly increase their salaries. Many young people from local villages learned skiing and gained coach certificate, trying to have a slice of the skiing market. This way the villagers are able to coaching in winter and work in the fields in the other seasons with significant impacts on the economy.

Fig.15 A community moment in a courtyard.

(Source: Joint Studio 2015 “A briefing of Taizicheng Village and rural areas in North China�)

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Fig.16 A graphic showing the Taizicheng River and its tributaries and the texture of the agricultural fields (Source: image elaborated by the author)

Natural environment.

Taizicheng village lies in the north side of a valley between 4 mountains with summits that goes from 1800 to 2000 meters a.s.l.

The area occupied by the urban settlement is not completely flat, in fact the altitude decrease in southwest direction toward the steam from at maximum of 1582 meters a.s.l. in the northeast side to a minimum of 1568 meters a.s.l. in the southwest, with slope that do not exceed 10%.

The hydrography of the area consists in several small creek, of which the main that cross the village are one that goes from north to south and another one that goes from east to west meeting each other between the two parts of the village. The low level of precipitations cause that they are dry for most of the year, for example the Taizicheng River have an average depth of 0.19 meters and less than 1 meter width when not dry.

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Taizicheng has about 3,000 hectares of arable land10 composed of narrow and long fields with different orientation depending on the topography. Even the sloping ground at the base of the mountains are cultivated thanks to a series of terraces modifying the natural landscape of the valley.

The natural environment in the area has been heavily exploited through deforestation, mining and agriculture. To contrast this situation in view of the Olympic Games there were planted millions of pines trees on the slopes of the mountains concerning the events, in order to establish an environment able to come closer to the collective imagination of alpine skiing and of Winter Olympics Games, but that doesn’t match the Chinese environment. In fact the natural vegetation of the area is composed of aspens trees with no trace of pines tress.

10. TAN L.Y. Visita alla prefettura di Zhangjiakou, paese al centro delle Olimpiadi invernali, China news, 2015.

Fig.17 The contrast between the planted pine trees and the current natural landscape (Author: Manfredini A.)

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Fig.18 A graphic showing the circulation in the area.

RED LINES represent the primary roads.

ORANGE LINES rap represent the secondary roads BLACK LINES represent the local roads.

(Image elaborated by the author) Fig.19 A famer walking on the road in Kuyangshu Village, the future cross-country venue (Author: Serra F.)

Circulation.

Taizicheng is a quiet and small village where the inner circulation is mostly pedestrian, while outward circulation is done by private cars or equipment for farm work.

On the West outside the village there is an important intersection where Dongma Road, the main route of the area, split in three different part with different directions. One road goes in north direction towards Genting Ski Resort and a second one goes south of the valley toward Kuyangshu village. The first road have been recently renewed, while the second is entirely new and allows to reach the south without passing through Taizicheng village like before.

The third part of Dongma Road cross in the West-East direction Taizicheng village and acts both as the main distributor of the village, both as the only way to pass through and reach the follow-up village, Quipanliang. Due to the fact that in east direction the road loses relevance meeting a few small villages before climbing in the mountains, it is quiet with very little traffic. There is also a road of secondary importance going in south direction connect the middle of the village with the new route that goes south. The street network is completed with several local roads frequently unpaved that allows to reach individual properties and accessing the fields.

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Fig.20 A graphic showing the urban fabric.

You can see the buildings in black and their orientation and the courtyard in gray.

(Image elaborated by the author)

Urban fabric.

Taizicheng is composed of a hundred houses placed following the ancient rules for an ideal town and building position based on Feng Shui and on the locals experience in dealing with natural environment. In fact the village lies on a south-sloping site, exposed to the sun and drained to a protective small river at its base, with a protective arch of mountains to the north.

The town unfolds along Dongma Road from east to west with an elongated shape. A small river dividing the village in two parts, a smaller east part and a bigger west part. The boundaries of the town are marked to the south, southeast by a stream and to the north by the slope of the mountains.

The urban fabric is composed by single story farm dwellings (pingfang) with walled courtyard used as working and storage areas. Dwellings placed around a courtyard is the traditional housing type in China with a long rage of possible solutions depending on the status and financial ability of the families, the number of families and the geographic location.

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In Taizicheng there is a very simple rural courtyard dwelling, composed by a main building placed on the north side of the courtyard, and most of the time a secondary building placed in the south. The main building usually is wider, can have more than one floor and house the family apartments. The south building, if present, could be used as work spaces or warehouse or as expansion of the living space due to a growth of the family or many other use. Other small constructions can be built inside the courtyard placed on the east or west side, often self constructed with recycled materials.

The courtyard is enclosed by a surrounding wall and the majority of the windows are open towards the interior of the court, making the singled unit a very closed private place. To access to the unit there is always a red massive doorway that from the public roads allow direct access to the courtyard. The single courtyard units joined together form long east-west strips of main buildings and yards separated by thin walls, and a chaotic belt of small secondary constructions.

Fig.21 A satellite image of the village (Source: Google Earth)

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Fig.22 A dwelling in red brick and interlocking red roof tiles. (Author Serra F.) Fig.23 A dwelling constructed using a prefabricated system. (Author Vioglio S.) Fig.24 The houge greenhouses that characterizes the countryside of the area. (Author Serra F.)

Architecture.

The constructions in the village are mostly one-storey houses, with very few buildings of two or three floors.

From the point of view of the constructive techniques we can find different types of buildings.

A great part is constructed using prefabricated systems with red metal roof and walls of insulated white panels, with poor architecture value and efficiency.

Several other buildings are constructed with bearing walls in red bricks or stone, mud and straw, painted in white and gray, interlocking red roof tiles and timber frame for the covering. Even if this type does not have a great architectural value and have little connections with the construction traditions, there are some typical Chinese elements of some interest, like the circular section laths of the roof framework, while other elements are absents.

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There are also a very little amount of buildings with some historical value that uses typical construction materials and techniques like curvy pitched roof, gray roof tiles, basic decorations and complex roof framework. Those buildings are clearly the most ancient and interesting however they are only a handful, stuck in the urban fabric and in very bad preservation conditions, almost completely collapsed.

Other types of constructions are seasonal greenhouses and stables. Those functional buildings are an important part in the village, because of their number and huge size, they occupy a large part of the farmland during winter and allows cultivation and farming even with the extreme climate of the area. They are made with plastic materials panels or in prefabricated system and they could have brick walls as a base.

Passing through the valley you can see several buildings carved into the mountains. This type of cave-dwelling (yaodong) is typical of northwest China and were made in the past, and sometimes still today, in order to protect from the wind and the climate in a very low-cost way. Those constructions were possible thank to an easy to dig but compact soil and were used both as harvest storage caves both as dwellings.

Fig.25 Circular section laths of a house in Taizicheng (Author Serra F.)

2.4 Masterplan Competition - Masterplan A Francesco Serra, Valentino Pileggi, Sidi Kang, Xin Shi and Shyang Lv

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The first part of the design competition for an alternative proposal for the Taizicheng village (inside the candidature of Beijing for 2022 Winter Olympic Games) took place in March, come esito of the working collaboration between italian and chinese students. The result has been the production of four different proposal. Let’s focus on the Masterplan A, designed by Francesco Serra and Valentino Pileggi with Sidi Kang, Xin Shi and Shyang Lv. Starting form some previous consideration on the site landscape and on the current shape of the existing village (topography, streets hierarchy, urban fabric, dwellings, production area, rural fields), we started to give our own interpretation about the rules that should be basically the starting point of the design concept. Proposals for the Masterplan should be appropriate to the context, taking -as much as possible, the specific characteristics of the area, its vocations, possible ways of transformation. The outcome of the transformation should inherit values from existing (as well as lose those values) and will acquire new ones. A community can look forward only if it can look at its past and can learn from it, and draws from its past, finding a new identity. Immediately different approaches to the project clearly emerged.

Fig.26/27/28 In the conference room at Tsinghua University.

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The main topics we focused on was: - Sustainable aspect. How could we give a sustainable answer to the need of territorial infrastructure in order to connect all the venues?

- Natural environment. How the urban fabric should be designed according to the contesto montano? How to speak properly with the landscape? How could we minimizes the footprint?

- About local craft and people tradition. Is there a main form of local craft? It’s important to respect and maintain in the future the local traditions and lifestyle of people living there? It’s possible to keep the actual community living there thinking for them a different future trade?

- Tourism and activities. How could we think about the touristic flows in the future? It’s possible to think, through an architectural project, some approaches to a more sustainable form of tourism?

- Traffic and circulation. Our aim was to re-think the mobility system in order to limit use of private car and promote use of public transportation and bicycle.

Fig.29/30 Main topics of the project

ARCHITECTURE PROGRAMMING

CONCEPT

MASTER PLAN Topography

respect/reservation/ rehabilitation

Traffic

road network/ connection

Settlement

construction/ location

Climate

seasonal difference/ wind-proof in winter/

Landscape

terrace/ agriculture/ mountain/ wind-generator

Footprint

least intervention to natural environment/ Adaptation to topography

Agriculture

ecology/ specie

Infrastructure

stability/ efficiency/ clean energy CONCEPT ARCHITECTURE PROGRAMMING PROBLEM SEEKING: MINIMIZING ARTIFICIAL INFLUENCE

MASTER PLAN

Community Modernization

consanguine/ geography-based

technology/ mechanization/ massive manufactory

Ideology

collectivity/ uniform mentality order/ tradition

Tourism

grand hotel/ international winter sports

Social space

street/ public space

Commercial

market/ circulation/ communication

PROBLEM SEEKING: INTERPRET LOCAL TRADITION

Production

food/ generation/ economy/ enterprise

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RE PROGRAMMING

Fig 31

RE PROGRAMMING TURE CORES

Fig 33

RST LEVEL

CONCEPT

ARCHITECTURE MASTER PLAN PROGRAMMING

CONCEPT

ARCHITECTURE MASTER PLAN PROGRAMMING SMART TRAIN: ROUTE/ STATION

Fig 32

Fig 34

ROAD: THIRD LEVEL

CONCEPT

MASTER PLA

CONCEPT

MASTER PLA

Fig. 31 Main connection cores.

Fig .32 Smart train line.

Fig .33 Main road.

Fig .34 Second and third level roads.

Our aim was to connect the future olympic village to the high speed train station sited between the same village and the site venue in the south. In addition to the central connection point, we decide to locate in two different part the public parking. They are located exactly on the east and west access of the village.

Those three points are connected by a main road that maintain the course eastwest of the old main road of the existing village. The station of the future village connects the central core of the settlement with the high speed train station coming from Beijing with the two main competitions areas north and south.

This connection is provided by a sort of smart train that works suspended and not on rail. This system allows us to avoid the rails and to reduce the impact on the ground. Also provide a solution to the the question of cross between main road and train line. Starting from those two main connections, we draws the other roads with a different hierarchy (red and green in the graphics). We focused on the design of the road sections and thought about the mobility flows on them. Our concept was to have a system based on the separation of mobility. On the main road it’s planned the circulation of both bus and car, and cycle route obviously. On secondary roads we have the circulation restricted to just residential’s car and bike. Third roads are for just pedestrian circulation.

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ARCHITECTURE PROGRAMMING

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SUSTAINABILITY: ROAD NETWORK

CONCEPT

MASTER PLAN

MASTER PLAN

USTAINABILITY: SMART CONNECTION/ PUBLIC TRANSPORT

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The design project relies upon the idea of a central space consisting in the main station. The design process of the central hub has been on of the main challenge of the whole project. The first idea was to have an underground station that could solve the problem of the interconnection between the railway and the main road (Fig. a). But our intention on the project was to minimizes the intervention on the ground. Building an underground station has been judged too much invasive.

Then second proposal for the design of the core was a semi-covered public space with a open square in front of the station (Fig. b), but the problem of the train crossing the village on the ground level still remains. Later, we get the suggestion of a suspended train system that allows us to not cross the two different transportations line. Moreover this system has a minimal impact on the ground. The distribution organization inside of the station works still on two different level but now the train stops on the upper one. From the upper level people could reach the ground level by vertical elevators or walking down (Fig. c).

The generation of the shape starts from a circular figure quite pure, subtracting parts where the viability cross the station.

Fig.35/36/37 Conceptual Sketches

a.

b.

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ARCHITECTURE PROGRAMMING

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Fig. c

COLLECTIVITY: STATION/ PUBLIC SPACE

CONCEPT

MASTER PLAN

Our purpose about the distribution of functions was to mix public building and facilities with the residential space, especially in the central part of the village, in order to avoid the possibility to have part just to live or just to work, but creating a mixed space for the activities of the whole community. Finally, following the request of professor Bryan, we made a proposal for a future re-use of the Ski Jump venue located in the South competition area. We imaged to exploit the existing structure of the sky jump venue to build up a residential complex made of single boxes hanged on the ski jump. The subject has been brought up because the ski jump is definitely the hardest venue to re-use after the Olympic Games.

1. Distribution functions: red bulidings are MIXED (PUBLIC-RESIDENTIAL) RIBUTION OFofFUNCTIONS: mostly residential, while green ones are for public utility and facilities.

ITECTURE PROGRAMMING

CONCEPT

COLLECTIVITY: MARKET/ LOCAL TRADITION/ AGRICULTURE/ ECONOMY

COLLECTIVITY: MARKET/ LOCAL TRADITION/ AGRICULTURE/ ECONOMY

MASTER PLAN

ITECTURE PROGRAMMING

CONCEPT

COLLECTIVITY: VISITOR CENTER/ CULTURE/ COMMUNICATION

COLLECTIVITY: VISITOR CENTER/ CULTURE/ COMMUNICATION

MASTER PLAN

2.4 Masterplan Competition - Masterplan B Simone Vioglio, Matteo Ponsetti, Jia Yuan, Ao Jing and Qin Ling

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The idea of new urban dwelling was born mostly on the existing village shape.

It starts through the reinterpretation of some traditional element of the existing village that we can find in the today urban organization. The courtyards, the main central street that works as connection and meeting place, the orientation of singular bindings and of the whole village. All these elements are brought from the rural scale to re-explaining them in the urban scale.

The principal connection to reach the village are the new Olympic street, already made that connect also the others venues places, and one central street that pass through the village. We have designed a new setting for the main connections, to shift the existing central street to north, to exclude the main motorized private traffic into the village.

Functionally, the village is made in three parts, the first one in the mostly commercial, the second is in the more part residential, and the third is a part of single houses thought for re-settlement of the today inhabitants, after the Olympic games. The village is served by two main streets that connect the others venues places, and becomes the dwelling boundaries to north and south.

The urban fabric is made by traditional courtyard shaped city blocks, composed by two opposite linear buildings which are interposed by an open multifunctional space and served by secondary distributive buildings by the main streets.

The courts can become very hibrid spaces, able to expand the public spaces in time of special events, becoming a covered space, an extension of the function

Fig.38 In the conference room at Tsinghua University.

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Fig.39/40 In the previous pages: the replacement of the central road outside the village and the three public spaces that cross the main pedestrian street.

in front of it, or am urban garden. In the normal days the courts are open spaces for inhabitants of the building around it.

The core of the village is a linear public pedestrian space (inspired by now existing central street, but without cars) that pass through the whole village. This space works as a linear place; as big meeting and commercial axis, as pedestrian distribution of buildings and as generator element of urban fabric. The path of the new street are made following the existing path, and to have different kind of prespective of the landscape around during its use.

Three element cross the mainly central public space: the transportation axis, the “island�, and the connection axis. The transportation axis is a connection built element that join the new high-speed train station with the village and the bus station. It is located in the west part of the new village that is the gate of the village. We have chosen to design an elevated footbridge, to preserve the continuity of the underlying countryside and to realize a plane pedestrian path from the railway station to the village. The footbridge is configured not only as a linear connection between two points but as an articulated way to reach the village from the railway station (and contrary) where find a local product market place and enjoy the view of the surrounding natural landscape. The footbridge intersect the urban fabric and the main pedestrian road in the west part of the village, and with the firsts two urban blocks, becomes the gate of the village.

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Fig.41 Functional scheme of the possibility of different usage of the spaces of cuortyard, private, public as an extension of main central street and covered with different functions.

A very long urban front that crossing the whole valley to connect the village with the landscape, in the connection point with the main street the path of connection axis become wider and create a public square.

The “island� is a space made by a platform that overhang the river and make possible to absorb river flow variation when it pass through the village. It works as an hinge point, that split the village in two part, (helpful to divide the zone of the Olympic village) and follow with the urban fabric the natural conformation of the land (as the today village) The third crossing element makes a direct connection between the countryside, the rural part of the village, and the mountains, to create a convenient way for various rural activities, we hope that you will retain even after the transformations.

The whole design concept try also to create a vision of the surrounding areas of the village, through the conservation of mountain paths and mountain landmark elements, as ancestral temples, and the preservation of agricultural areas to reuse to the local productions or as a support to alternative kinds of tourism activities.

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2.4 Masterplan Competition - Masterplan C Angelica Manfredini, Elena Maioglio, Lu Yingxiu, Wang Minquan

Fig.42 In the conference room at Tsinghua University. From left to right Lu Yingxiu, Elena Maioglio, Angelica Manfredini and Wang Minquan.

Having had the opportunity to be part of the Joint Studio Group made us grow not only in professional sphere but also personally. Mostly was to develop a better understanding of contrasting cultures, both studies and social reality.

Being present in China with our oriental colleagues made us appreciate and understand different ways of seeing the architecture and the cultural conception of that place. From the earliest days of work we have had a very strong collectivity with our Chinese friends and the evidence of that were the successful results obtained, having finished with one of the winning projects at the end of the workshop. In the projectual framework, we had discussions where each one submitted its proposal and exposed different points of view.

Thereafter, revisions were held with the purpose to expose everyone’s opinions about each work presented, to finally come up with a conclusion and decide together the best way to address each particular issue.

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The Masterplan was developed to establish a framework for both improvements and growth. The proposal presents the “After Olympic games 2022” as a reflection of bringing back the real carried activity together with tourism, which brings us to an Agro- tourism. This proposal will recall people’s memory of Chinese traditional agriculture life. It is consisted of different aspects of agriculture, such as plants, food, history and space feelings, and the communication between nature environment and human-being.

Nowadays, contemporary people live in cities and high-rise buildings and end up being away from the nature world. The Agritainment project is designed accordingly to the site and has several courtyards that are combined with the surroundings and other buildings along the project. This project presents the coexistence of the residential area with the other necessary auxiliary activities for the Olympic Games. Even though agriculture no longer plays a major role in China´s economy, we attempt to use the experience of agricultural work and production as a selling point of the local tourism, to offer visitors an experience of the traditional way.

Fig.43 Agritainment is the combination of dwelling ,agriculture and entertainment, inducing tourism.

NOMY + C O C E UL TU

ITAGE R E H L RA

AGRITAINAMENT

AGRICULTURE 141

ENTERTAINMENT TOURISM

Fig. 31

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Fig. 33

Fig.44 This croquis represents the initial general idea after the first brainstorm Fig.45 This croquis represents the building framework with the open space inserted in between, making the fabric more dynamic and improving the viability.

The spatial framework of the project is based on the existing fabric. We tried to build a new version of rural complex following the prototype of the local village.

We created a gradient of building density from north to south. Therefore, when people follow the finger-shaped open space, they gain an experience from the compact building areas to the nature.

As mentioned, a density gradient is created in the residential area. We have the high density residence, the low density residential area, and then the experience fields at the boundary of our site. The experience fields allow visitors to experience the agricultural work, it does not emphasize on production, instead it’s part of the agritainment tourism. They are also facing the fields for mass production. The mass production area is currently used by the villagers to do real agricultural work. A set of finger-shaped open space going toward the fields lead people through the density gradient.The visitors will arrive at the check-in area from the railway station. A shuttle transfers them here through the main road. After arriving at the bus station, they go through the check-in point.

There’s a ceremony square for the arrival of the athletes. The international and operational zones are gathered in the same cluster.

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Check-in Area & Bus Terminal Logistic & Parking Administration International

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High - Density Residence Low - Density Residence Experience Fields Fields for Mass Production

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This first exploded view shows the different floors of our residential complex.

The public area with public passages and common spaces are marked with black in the bottom. It shows how the residential complex works. Along a public passage, various courtyard units were placed. You can also see the vertical traffic in both the courtyard units and the public spaces. All the public services are arranged in the central axis. The public passage links to the private corridor inside, then the private corridor connects to each rooms. The courtyard is also a place for tourists to experience more delicate agricultural cultivation.

While the next diagrams there is an exploded view of the terrain with the road network. The road follows the existing fabric, the rivers, and the terrain.

Upon the roads we added a public transport route inside the village to offer accessibility. The public service is integrated into the residential complex and the fields have two parts, the inner part is the experience fields, the outer part is the real agricultural production. The village stills surrounded by the nature and the agriculture, maintaining the essence of the village.

Fourth Floor

Third Floor

Second Floor

Fig. 46 Exploded view of residential area and open public space

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First Floor

Public Space

* Public services integrated

Public Transportation Stop Rotes

High density Residence Low density residence Check-in and Bus Terminal

Experience Fields

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Logistic and Parking International and Administration

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Experience Fields Mass Production

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Fig. 47 Buildings / Cluster / Fields (1) Open Space (2) 4

* Public services integrated

Public Transportation Stop Rotes

High density Residence Low density residence Experience Fields

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on

Fig. 48 Acessibility (3) Terrain / Masterplan Layout (4)

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Experience Fields Mass Production

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2.4 Masterplan Competition - Masterplan D Fabrizia Parlani, Sara Ressia, Fu Ran and Zhang Jingnan

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The first step of the project design was the two weeks long workshop at the Tshinghua University. After the project area survey, the design phase has began.

We had the opportunity to work with Chinese students and understand a different culture and different reality.

The proposal presented a possible vision for the Olympic games in 2022, creating a new lively village for current inhabitants e tourists.

We worked strongly with our chinese collegues and discussed about four main points: - transports; - network of public spaces; - mixed use; - legacy plan.

Fig.49 Layout Masterplan D

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MASTERPLAN

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Transports.

Firstly we focused our attention on streets. The project provided the creation of a roads hierarchy and pedestrian parts.

In order to provide a functional viability in the area we decided to keep the vehicular flow and the pedestrian separated one from the other, dedicating the core of the village to the people and organizing the vehicular way along the boundary. In this way pedestrians flow and vehicles flow never cross each other.

Fig.50 Streets network

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PLANNING STRATEGIES

TRANSPORTS Hierarchy of roads and pedestrian parts

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Network of public spaces.

Proposals for the Masterplan should be appropriate to the context, taking as much as possible, the specific characteristics of the area.

On the other hand this urban renewal project wanted to reconnect the city to its natural context, which in Taizicheng is defined by the nearby River (figure 1) and Mountains.

Also the natural orography suggested a new settlement of the city in order to create a well defined village in the landscape (figure 2).

Fig.51 Possible water uses and green spaces

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PLANNING STRATEGIES

NETWORK OF PUBLIC SPACES Integration between landscape and urban features

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PLANNING STRATEGIES

03

PLANNING STRATEGIES

Fig.52 Orography conservation

Mixed use.

We created bustling districts where people can work, live and play, with a special focus on incorporating public areas and open space.

The future design imagined a combination of residential, commercial, cultural, and institutional uses, where those functions are physically and functionally integrated, and that provided pedestrian connections (figure 3).

Obviously there are some benefits: - greater housing variety and density; - reduced distances between housing, workplaces, retail businesses, and other destinations; - stronger neighborhood character; - pedestrian and bicycle-friendly environments.

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MPIC VILLAGE

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LEGACY PLAN Low density and mixed uses

Fig.53 Mixed use

Legacy plan.

Following the request of professor Bryan, we made a proposal for a future reuse of the Olympic Village.

After games the city will have two main functions: village for current inhabitants, and attractive place where people from Beijing can spend their holidays in winter and summer (figure 4).

Finally, we made a different project for reutilization of the Ski Jump venue, located in the South competition area. We imaged to exploit the existing structure of the sky jump venue to build up a moto- crossing track. This treatment has been applied to Salt Lake City after the XIX Winter Olympic Games. The transformation of the Sky Jump brought good results, and creating an attractive place never deserted.

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THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE

LEGACY PLAN Other activities

Fig.54 Activities diagram

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Fig.55 View of the future city

MASTERPLAN

RENDER

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2.5 Competition Results Final review in China

Masterplan A - Landscape and connections.

Streight Points. This masterplan has a close relationship between smart infrastructure system and new settlement: the station provides a public core.

It also has a clear idea of urban fabric, reminding courtyard dwellings; in the meantime almost flexible from density point of view. The architectural imagery for some central places: market/agriculture, visitor center is good;

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Weakness. Excessive “infrastructural” imagery for the central station: it appears like a big hub, out of scale. Plus, it appears as an object landed “from Mars”, with no relationship with the space around, while it should generate the layout of the open space. The central road seems to be conceived as a large traffic avenue; but the new infastructural system should allow instead to keep cars (quite) off the settlement and also no parking area seems to be planned.

The smart train system should be very efficient during Olympic days. But in some way it is a heavy infrastructure marking the landscape, useful for a high number of visitors. What will happen after the Olympic Games? Will it be always useful?

Another possibility is to change the project: not a suspended train system, but a track for electrical minibuses.

Fig.56 Masterplan Layout - Landscape and connections

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Masterplan B - Renovation of Taizicheng Village.

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Strenght points.

This masterplan has a very clear and efficient layout organisation, a clever idea of a gate (reminding the value of gates in Chinese tradition) acting in the meantime as an infrastructural transversal connection and as a public commercial space (the market). It could provide a strong identity to the village. The “island� square can act as a public space, providing an open view towards the mountains A clear idea of residential fabric, based on courtyard dwellings; flexible from density point of view and for future uses/re-uses, great potentiality for architectural imagery.

Weakness.

The position of the connection with the train station is not barycentric: so maybe the operational zones and the residential ones should be served by roads and parking.

This project could probably be one of the candidates to constitute the basis for the masterplan to be developed. It could be interesting to explore to explore multiple ideas for some focal points, such as the gate, the central square, the urban fabric (gaining some useful ideas from Project A and Project C).

Fig.57 Masterplan Layout - Renovation of Taizicheng Village

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Masterplan C - Agritainment.

Streight Points. This masterplan has an articulated street-houses sequence pattern, creating a recognizable urban fabric with a clear idea of residential units, based on courtyard dwellings and a flexible mix between high-density and low-density buildings. This density gradient allows an integration between the village and the land, opening towards the mountain landscape; 172

Weakness. The international and administration zone on the west edge seems to be just a sum of some volumes, without a connection with the infrastructures and the rest of the village; an architectural identity is needed. The openness that lies inside the “gradient� concept is interesting, but perhaps it could present security problems. It would be necessary to think a solution to enclosure the Olympic area; There is the possibility to integrate the layout of Project B with Project C.

Fig.58 Masterplan Layout - Agritainment

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Masterplan D - The sustainable planning of Zhangjiakou Olympic Village.

Strenght Points. The central axis could provide the main public open space.

Maybe the layout seems to recall the idea of the orography contour lines.

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Weakness. The buildings are scattered all around, with a weak relationship with the open space: they just punctuate the land, like Modern Movement high rise blocks.

There is an ineffectual connection with infrastructures and the village do not offer a definite form towards the main sides (the entrance point, the south side).

Fig.59 Masterplan Layout - The sustainable planning of Zhangjiakou Olympic Village

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MASTERPLAN

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03

3.IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS

第三章

Fengshui, the qualitative architecture.

Valentino Pileggi, Francesco Serra.

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Fengshui, one of the pillars that support China’s ancient architectural theories, was the soul of Chinese traditional architecture during its five thousand year history. It advocated the harmony between humankind and nature, which perfectly matches with the ideas of modern green buildings.

For Chinese observer, nature is a living organism that breathes. For this reason, Fengshui born as art that observes the nature and it contains geomantic astronomy, geography, human information science, and other fields. Because of the lack of systemic scientific knowledge associated with Fengshui, it has a mystical character bordering at times on superstition.

Buildings, better than anything else, reflect the enforceability of those principles, separating the inner part with the external one, clarifying its role as connection between the two environmental parts.

In this depth analysis is examinated the culture of Fengshui exploring the relationship between traditional geomantic omen and architectural aesthetics.

Helped by some selected projects, the aim of the focus is an alternative method to approach the sustainable architecture.

Keywords: Chinese architecture principles, Fengshui.

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Winter Olympic Games: Experience and Learn.

Parlani Fabrizia, Ressia Sara.

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Over the last 20 years, sustainability has become an increasingly important consideration when staging the Olympic Games.

In 1994, the IOC adopted the environment as the third pillar of the Olympic Movement and created a Sport and Environment Commission to advise the IOC Executive Board on policy positions regarding environmental protection and sustainable development. The IOC and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) hosted the first biennial World Conference on Sport and the Environment in 1995 in Lausanne, and in 1999 the IOC developed Agenda 21 for Sport and the Environment in collaboration with UNEP. The Olympic Movement’s Agenda 21 aims to encourage members of the Olympic Family to play an active part in the sustainable development of the planet. It sets out the basic concepts and general actions needed to ensure that this objective is met. As the Olympic Movement’s most significant event, it is important that the Olympic Games follow these principles.

1. Values, Partnership and Legacy: Cornerstones of the Olympic Movement, Dr. Jacques Rogge, 2007, http://www. thechicagocouncil.org/UserFiles/File/Events/ FY08%20Events/11_November%2007%20 Events/Rogge%20Chicago%20speech,%20 v10%20FINAL.pdf

Through proper planning and management, the environmental impacts of the Games can be minimized and organisers can work closely with public authorities to use the Games as an opportunity to enhance areas of the host city and introduce new sustainability programmes, which can create a lasting environmental legacy once the Games have finished. In the short term, these initiatives help provide the best possible environment for the athletes to compete in, while the long-term benefits will be felt by the inhabitants of the host city and region. Staging an event as complex as the Olympic Games has a significant impact on the host city. However, as IOC President Jacques Rogge explains: “Every city that hosts the Olympic Games becomes temporary steward of the Olympic Movement. This is a great responsibility and also a great opportunity, each creating a unique set of environmental, social and economic legacies that can change a community, a region, and a nation for ever�.1 Keywords: Olympic Games, Beijing winner candidate.

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Reinterpretation of Chinese Courtyard House.

Maioglio Elena, Manfredini Angelica.

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The traditional form of Chinese houses is represented by the courtyard house. In old traditional residences, the courtyard was the focal point of the house. Most, if not all, rooms of the house had a direct connection with the courtyard. Courtyards served privacy purposes where they maximized interior relationships and openness while keeping the outside separate. Not only were courtyards used as social family gathering spaces, they were also a source of air flow and thermal comfort to the residence. Courtyard Houses have been most popular in residential architecture all over the world and in all climatic regions. Courtyard can be square, rectangular, round or amorphous, generated by placement of rooms or buildings around it. In hot arid climates such houses provide a greater measure of comfort.

The courtyards supply light and cool air to the rooms around it.

Air circulation within this confined space relies largely on the proportions of the surrounding walls and positioning of window openings in the surrounding rooms. Breeze and shading in the courtyard help in creating comfortable living conditions during day and sleeping conditions during night. In this paper various attributes of courtyard houses are discussed. The degree of enclosure, the size and orientation of courtyard in terms of the bioclimatic significance is discussed.

Keywords: Courtyard houses, Traditional residences, Bioclimatic significancehave finished.

Keywords: Courtyard houses, Traditional residences, Bioclimatic significance.

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Local thinking in a globalized world.

Ponsetti Matteo, Vioglio Simone.

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The design process becomes a mechanical procedure as a manufacturing industry and there isn’t time for critique and research. The velocity of execution and the will to characterize the site are conducted mostly through examples of copying western models. China wants international respect and exposure, the tendency of the government is to build recognizable architectures, iconic and impressive, look for a global recognition. Chinese society are searching for an identity of Chinese architecture through the idea of rebuilding whole sections of the city in a traditional style, across the way of progressive scale growth of cultural tradition images: as lanterns, fans, dragons, coins, to instill in their facilities a few Chinese features. Today, students with Western education, can be interpreted as the last attempt to import new ideas and knowledge from the West, but there is a good part that rejects the nowadays architectural situation, choosing a language based on the purity of tectonics, traditional materials and vernacular construction technologies. Even the government tends to put an end to the senseless construction of buildings that do not reflect the Chinese culture, we can find an example in the assertion of the capital’s vice mayor: ”building ordinances to govern the city’s building size, style, color and materials” a clear stop to the “weird buildings”, as exposed by the Chinese President Xi Jinping.

A country composed of 56 different nationalities living under the same flag, not without conflicts, in a continental size territory with an ancient and glorious past and rooted traditions, reflect this unique diversity in a richly varied vernacular architectural tradition unrivaled in the world. Thanks to many year of development and different cultural influences, rural architecture is a great teacher of all aspects relating to what we now call “sustainability�. Many ideas from tradition together with the invaluable contribution of the knowledge developed in the twenty-first century may be useful in developing a contemporary architecture respectful and efficient, but also able to find a cultural and formal Chinese identity. We have analyzed the connection between traditional and contemporary architecture along with the context where both are located.

The region chosen for the study is the Northern region.The old dwellings located in this region have adapted in a very peculiar way to severe natural conditions. Between several different vernacular architecture it is possible to identify three main general typologies: the common single story rectangular farm house (pingfang), the courtyard houses (siheyuan) and the subterranean dwellings (yaodong). For each one of them we will present different contemporary architectures with different approaches concerning the issue.

Keywords: Chinese rural architecture, Critical regionalism.

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04

4.TURIN JOINT STUDIO 2015

第四章

4.1 Exhibition and review Politecnico di Torino and Tsinghua University

Tsinghua and Polito teaching together

J O I N T

S T U D I O

2 0 1 5

Zhangjiakou sustainable projects for 2022 Winter Olympic Games AND two design studios on Beijing and Chengdu

M o n d a y

1 5 .

Sala delle Colonne, Caste V i a l e M a t t i o l i

Exhibition and review D e b a t e : 1 7 . 0 A collaboration between Tsinghua University in Beijing ( School of Architecture) and Politecnico di Torino (Dipartimento di

EXHIBITION AND REVIEW 15.06.2015 Sala delle Colonne, Castello del Valentino The exhibition included the final review of several projects of each winner masterplan, A and B. The Joint Studio was tsuccessful concluded with all the projects exhibited and discussed by an international jury made of standout professors.

INTRODUCTION Matteo Robiglio, Coordinator of the College of Architecture, Politecnico di Torino GUEST CRITICS Florence Graezer Bideau, École politecnique fédérale de Lausanne Valentino Castellani, Vice President of Torino Internazionale association, former President of Organizing Committee for the XX Winter Olympic Games Turin 2006.

Massimo Crotti, Istituto di Architettura Montana, Politecnico di Torino Enrico Molteni, Accademia di Architettura, Università della Svizzera italiana

0 6 . 2 0 1 5 llo del Valentino 3 9 , T o r i n o

w: 15.00-17.00 0 0 - 1 8 . 0 0 Architettura e Design )

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY Professors: Liu Jian, Zhang Li Tutor: Xia Mingming Students: Lu Yingxiu, Kang Sidi, Qien Ling, Shi Xin, Wang Minquan, Ao Jing, Lyu Shiyang, Jia Yuan, Fu Ran, Zhang Jingnan POLITECNICO DI TORINO Professors: Gustavo Ambrosini, Mauro Berta, Michele Bonino Tutor: Davide Vero Students: Angelica Manfredini, Elena Maioglio, Fabrizia Parlani, Francesco Serra, Matteo Ponsett, Sara Ressia, Simone Vioglio, Valentino Pileggi KEY QUESTIONS: Relationship among smart infrastructure system and new settlement; urban fabric concepts based on articulated street-houses sequence pattern; traditional courtyard dwellings re-invention; integration between the village and the surrounding landscape; re-use of housing and infrastructure for post-event period.

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4.2 Masterplan A Fabrizia Parlani, Matteo Ponsetti, Sara Ressia, Simone Vioglio

1. didascalia immagine o testo o elaborato 2. didascalia immagine o testo o elaborato

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General features.

In the second part of the workshop we worked to the evolution of the masterplan. Changes concerned the general approach of the urban form and the organization buildings in relation to the Olympics.

The rigid urban form of the starting masterplan, changed through some elements suggested by our primary masterplan, based on an organic urban setting. The overall shape follows the river adapting to its shape and takes the river as an element that becomes part of the village.

We have enhanced the axis of transport, with new features and a more direct path to the village.

The built has been designed and optimized, dividing it into two different parts.

The public is banned from entering to the Olympic village. The western part is opened to all people, and it is connected to the main streets.

The other areas are serving the olympics life. For insteance creation of temporary parking areas and structures, or future expansion of the village.

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Fig.1 Yellow the trasportation axis, in orange the public area and the medal plaza, in red the Olympic Village area with its private leisure place, in black dots, the future expansions.

Functions.

The settlement works through a gradient that is both in length and from the central path to outside.

The transportation axis is the main entrance to the city. It reaches the gate where tourism facilities and events take place.

The main axis is made up of commercial space, which decreases along the way and becomes the area for public city facilities and housing. The same principle is applied from the center to external part.

Furthermore there is the possibility to organize parking lots in the eastern part next to the olympic square.

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Fig.2 The connections fabric, the main streets are outside the village, the central axis is pedestrian, and the transportation axis that pass through the village.

Connections.

The village is achieved by an existing road that connects to Ku Shu Chang Cun, another venue of the Olympic events of Congli County.

The connection between the train, the bus station and village is created by an articulated path made of functions that intersect it.

The “transportation axis� is located in a side of the village and it is the fastest way to reached the village. Secondly, the shape of the public spaces, along the axis are thought to create panoramic views.

The mobility into the village is thought to preserve pedestrian and cycling streets.

The city blocks can be reached by car, using streets located in the boundary of the village.

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Fig.2 The space for celebrations

Celebration areas.

The spaces for celebrations consist of a large initial area and a welcome centre created into two big public buildings. These work as built background behind the stage.

The Medal Plaza is the central square and it is designed for awards ceremonies during the Games. The sport plaza is located in the eastern part and it is for different activities during and after the Games.

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Fig.3 The urban fabric systems

Urban fabric and Post Olympics reuse.

The urban fabric is based on the traditional courtyard. This system is modified to fit it to the urban scale. The results are long rows of buildings (as shown by the existing village) that form compact urban fronts to the central street.

Buildings of the courts are flexible and adapted to the shape of the terrain, creating courts with different sizes and different possible of uses.

After the games, the Village will be partly converted into a residential area, maintaining commercial functions along the main street at the same time.

The International and Operational zone will become reception area, with services related to hospitality and trade. The transport axis will retain its starting functions becoming part of the activities of the village.

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4.3 Masterplan B Angelica Manfredini, Elena Maioglio, Francesco Serra, Valentino Pileggi

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Fig.4 Viability diagram

Viability.

The road system proposed redraws the territory in a very precise conception: a rational and capillary system with a cycle and pedestrian connections is an opportunity that should not be seen just like urban design, but also in order to increasing the quality of life.

The Master Plan provides the redevelopment of the existing network alongside the construction of new roads and cycle and pedestrian paths.

The network project is developed on the following areas: the North-South axis and the East-West axis.

The first axis consists of five green corridors, called “fingers�, which allow to cross the urban area from north to south, up to the mass production fields.Each of them, depending on what it intercepts, is characterized by different activities.

The second axis is constituted by a hierarchy of roads in which those external to the village connect the big sports and urban centers. On the other hand, cycle and pedestrian mobility takes place on low-traffic roads within the village, through which only public transportation is allowed. This public transportation system connects the village to the train station and not only that: it allows people to reach all the adjacent municipalities and winter sports facilities. In this way it will be possible to have a free- private traffic village favoring soft mobility.

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Fig.5 Urban fabric diagram

Urban fabric.

It is clearly visible by looking at the fabric the lack of a morphological centrality, due to the combinations of five fingers that intersect the central west-east axis. The particular shape of the urban grid assumes an extremely diversified and heterogeneous shape. The base unit is given by courtyard dwelling, used throughout the project both for residences and public activities. We have tried to interpret this housing typology, by simplifying forms and elements. What’s left is little more than a suggestion, for instance the size of the domestic courts used do not respect strictly the traditional proportions: the target was creating the intimacy of this internal space, a marked characteristic that has always been stressed in the Chinese culture. From north to south, the tissue becomes progressively more rarefied, until they reach the cultivated fields of mass production, where we find only single-family homes, the dedicated area for the locals. From north to south the height of buildings decreases, allowing good lighting in the courts and between buildings.Secondly, each group developed a part of the Master Plan starting from these common points: the western part is characterized by a “platform” which underneath hosts all public functions, while above there are residences. The East part the public functions are concentrated within the ground floor and around the central finger, there is none “platform” to subdivide different functions: in this case there are terraces and gardens on the roofs of commercial and public buildings, serving as a sort of buffer.

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Fig.6 Celebration areas diagram

Celebration.

The diversified mix of activities and functions in the village makes it heterogeneous and dynamic. However, two major openings in the more compact part of the tissue are easily distinguishable : they are the two focal public points of the project. Each of them intersects a finger and is characterized accordingly. There has been a successful attempt at framing these two dominant public spaces.

With this approach we have been able to connect the whole area, creating a more fluid circulation.

The first public square is located in the west part of the village and meets the river finger. The fluvial park is a relaxing area, which is overlooked by a number of cultural activities. While the second public square is located in the east part which is the celebration zone during the Olympic Games. After this period the square will be re-functionalized and will host an open market. Whereas there will be a commercialization of all the local agricultural products, attracting tourists and inhabitants.

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Fig.7 Functions diagram

Functions: before and after the Olympic Games.

The buildings in the west area is predominantly residential, apart the buildings bordering the river, that are characterized by medium - large areas that can accommodate exhibitions and large events. This area has a panoramic restaurant through which you can cross the river; the office will be converted into administration center and In addition, there are the bus terminal and the check-in point at the west entrance of the village. With the big event finished, the check-in point will become tourist center and the bus terminal will continue its function. The commercial activities will retain their character.Moving from west towards east, we find an area with less compact fabric, but we can still recognize a big opening: the central public square designed for celebrations during the Olympic period. Also in this case, there are number of buildings facing the square that host public activities: shops define the northern perimeter of the square and are intended for the villagers, who can sell their products directly. Instead, the square south facade is bordered by two large buildings that during the Games will be the Media Center, and after it will be connected to the workshop building towards south. Proceeding eastward, there are two activities related to wellness: clinic and gym, which will retain their function. Finally, central-east side is predominantly public due to the centered public square that connects northsouth and west-east axis. This location represents a significant importance either during or after the Olympic Games.

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4.4 General project overview Conclusion

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Concluded the first part of the Joint Studio workshop experience 2015 in Beijing, the Chinese and Italian groups have continued to work separately for the final exhibition of 15th of June in Turin at the headquarters of Architecture at Castello del Valentino. There have been weekly revision sessions in China and Italy with related professors, maintaining a constant dialogue among students. On the 28th of April was organized an outstanding review using remote connection to check the work progress and confront the issues related to the different approaches.

From the beginning, at Tsinghua University, each student individually focused on single lots, developing the architectural part without major variations of both winners’ masterplans. In Italy, the work undertaken by the students of the Polytechnic of Turin focused more on an urban scale, proposing additional amendments to the urban fabric. The union of each participant’s contributions has made possible the realization of an articulated and complete project.

The final works displayed on 15th of June have shown once again that the cooperation between Italy and China is not limited to the design process as it has a very strong cultural and educational character. Chinese students helped the Italian ones to understand the urban transformation on the surroundings of Beijing, in particular the rural areas, which is the case of Taizicheng.

Fig.8 Fu Ran presenting his project

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Fig.9 Lyu Shiyang presenting her project

A country like China, whose cities are changing rapidly thanks to its formidable economic growth, needs a special attention to when it comes to the rural areas, punctually those that have not yet been fully transformed by the economic malstorm. Currently, both rural and urban development in China are experiencing a transition period. China was mainly characterized by accelerated rural industrialization and urbanization processes, which have greatly changed the rural areas, for instance, with the loss of cultivated land to factory workshops and the transformation of rural laborers to industrial workers. These changes have resulted in a radical transformation of the rural industrial structure, employment structure and land use pattern. Since the turn of the century, narrowing the prosperity gap between urban and rural areas and achieving urban-rural coordination development have been central concerns of China.

For that propose, the collaboration with Chinese students was a precious instrument to compare interesting and different interpretation of the preservation of memory. Having into consideration the culture, the traditions and the economic development in China, the roll of the Italian students was to bring the balance between the current reality and the traditional one.

The principal objective of the exhibition was to provide members of the public and interested parties the opportunity to view, consider and discuss the proposals, confronting different points of view.

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Fig.10 General discusion between participants Fig.11 Group picture of Joint Studio in Turin

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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FABRIZIA PARLANI SARA RESSIA VALENTINO PILEGGI FRANCESCO SERRA

MATTEO PONSETTI SIMONE VIOGLIO ELENA MAIOGLIO ANGELICA MANFREDINI