ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO
WEST PIER, BRIGHTON, 2017, CUICHENG ZHANG
CUICHENG ZHANG RIBA PART 2
I
DIPLOMA
I
ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
C O N T E N T
ARCHITECTURE
MARBLE INSTI TUTE URBAN MARBLE ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD
COMPOSITE CIRCUS CAGE AND STAGE
SHANGHAI STREET LIFE
RENAISSANCE
TRADITIONAL SHANGHAI LANE(LONGTANG) REGENERATION
DATONG FANG COMMUNITY CENTER REHABILITATE THE HOMELESS
DONG SI MOSQUE BEIJING MOSQUE RENOVATION
URBAN INSERT EXHIBITION
INFRUSTRUCTURE PAVILION
EXHIBITION : HUMANISTIC NATURE AND SOCIETY AN INSIGHT INTO THE FUTURE
FILM PRODUCTION DESIGNER
EXHIBITION : ROADS IDE PICNIC THE TRADE OF RECLAIMED MATERIALS IN UK
PRODUCTION DESIGNER FOR ART FILMS SELECTIVE WORKS
YEAR: 2019 DON, UK
-
NOW I
(IN BUILDING:
MARBLE
PROGRESS) MARBLE ARCHIVE
I I
LOCATION: LONTYPE: ACADEMIC
INSTITUTE
01
URBAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD “SURPLUS VALUE” OF ORNAMENTS PUSHED ADOLF LOOS TO CLAIM ORNAMENT AS A CRIME. MARBLE, AS A MATERIAL WITH BOTH AESTHETIC QUALITIES AND HIGH SURPLUS VALUE, IS IN DILEMMA IN THE CONTEMPORARY MARKET. THE PROJECT EXPLORES THE CULTURAL MEANING OF MARBLE AS A HERITAGE AND REHABILITATE IT WITH VALUE AS BUILDING MATERIAL.MARBLE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST COMMIDITIES EVER TRADED BY HUMANS. HISTORICALLY, ITS DIFFICULT EXTRACTION, COSTLY TRANSPORTATION AND LIMITED AVAILABILITY MADE IT BECOME A SIGN OF WEALTH AND POWER. MARBLE WAS EVEN EMDOWED WITH RELIGIOUS MEANING. SINCE THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, THE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT HAS WASHED OUT CULTURAL MEANINGS OF MARBLE. PEOPLE NO LONGER CARE ABOUT THE HISTORY OR SOURCE OF IT. INSTEAD, IT IS ONLY USED TO SHOW OFF THE WEALTH.
IN UK, HISTORICALLY, THERE WERE 36 VERNACULAR MARBLES EXTRACTED, BUT NOW THERE ARE ONLY 4 STILL IN PRODUCTION. INSTEAD OF EXTRACTING NATIVE MARBLE WITH HIGHER PRICE OF LABOR, THE VAST MAJORITY OF MARBLE USED IN UK IS IMPORTED FROM OTHER COUNTRIES. CITY IS AN URBAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD FULL OF RECLAIMABLE MARBLE. THE PROPOSAL IS CONVERTING AN EXISTING PARKING LOT TO AN URBAN MARBLE INSTITUTE WHICH WOULD REVIVE AND PROTECT MARBLE AS A HERITAGE AND PROVIDE INFRASTRUCTURE TO SUPPORT MARBLE SALVAGE AT A CITY SCALE. THE SOURCE AND DESTINATION WILL BE MONITORED. MARBLE SLABS WILL BE RECLAIMED, PROCESSED, SORTED AND STORED. THEY WOULD BE SENT TO REUSE AFTER CAREFUL EVALUATION.
Vermont Marble Company, 1925 The company was converted to a marble museum nowadays.
Basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura,380s The columns were reused from Ancient Rome
MARBLE HERITAGE
AS
The cultural meanings distinguish marble from other stones. Ancient Rome treated marble as heritage. There were laws on reusing marble for public buildings because they treated marble as the inalienable components of the city’s image, which has to be preserved. Preservation often required adaptation to new public purposes and contexts: in short, reuse.
INDUSTRY WASHED OUT CULTURAL M E A N I N G However, since the twentieth century, concrete, steel, and glass came to play an increasingly important role as building materials, while marble became far less popular. The quantities of stone quarried nowadays are far less than before. Meanwhile, the industrial development has washed out cultural meanings of marble.
UK
NATIVE
MARBLE
In UK, historically there were 36 marble extracted. But now there are only 4 of them still in production while 32 of them are no longer quarried.
MARBLE
CATALOGUE
The catalogue of marble used in UK is shown. Merely in London, there are more than 60 types of marble used in London Buildings. They came from more than 10 different countries.
YEAR: 2018 I LOCATION: LONDON, UK I BUILDING: ANIMAL RESEARCH CENTER I TYPE: ACADEMIC
COMPOSITE CAGE
AND
CIRCUS
02
STAGE
COMPOSITE CIRCUS. IT IS THE REDEFINITION OF THE CIRCUS TYPOLOGY BY CONSIDERING TODAY’S RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMANS AND ANIMALS. TODAY, CIRCUSES AND ZOOS ARE BEING SHUT DOWN DRAMATICALLY DUE TO A SHIFT ON SENSIBILITY AND MORALITY. THIS PROJECT PROPOSES THE REDEFINITION OF THE CIRCUS TYPOLOGY BY CONSIDERING TODAY’S RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMANS AND ANIMALS. CHISINAU CIRCUS IS TRANSFORMED INTO AN ANIMAL RESEARCH CENTRE FOR LOCAL AND ENDANGERED SPECIES WHERE THESE ANIMALS INHABIT LUXURY ENVIRONMENTAL CAGES WHILE HUMANS ENJOY THE SPECTACLE OF THEIR ORDINARY ROUTINE FROM THEIR LUXURY MATERIAL CAGES.
The project is located in Moldova, on the site of Chisinau Circus. The circus is located in the city center of Chisinau, which is the capital of Moldova. It was built in 1981 and abandoned in 2004. The project is based on reversing this process and bringing back the animal into an artificial environment that resembles the original land out of which it was removed. It reuses and transforms the abandoned circus into Research Centers with rescued endangered species. The proposal will be realized by redesigning two primary elements of the circus: the stage and the cage. The design is based on these gestures with consideration for the original building.
1. First, the original cage and offices are demolished. The animals are moved from the small cages and placed into artificial biomes around the building. 2. Second, the stage is no longer used as a space of performance, but as a space for education. In the space, there is a digital archive where projections of wild animals are shown. 3. Third, the audience is placed in balconies that face towards the biomes and not anymore inside. People are only viewers, visitors without physical interaction with animals. The spectacle is now the animals’ ordinary life.
CIRCUS RESEARCH Here is a research on the history of the circus. What you can see in this timeline is the evolution of four aspects I have detected: domestication of animals from wild life to pets; nomad circus or settled circus; perform for fight or amusement and physical or digital spectacle. However, today, circuses and zoos are being shut down dramatically. This fact reflects a shift on sensibility and morality: now we consider it cruel to have wild animals in the city and in cages.
RESEARCH CENTRE While circuses and zoos disappear, animal research centers pop up in Europe. There are three types research centers differing based on focus and purpose. After analyzing five case studies, I ended up with what a research center should consist of today: a combination of rescuing local and endangered species with an education center.
ADAPTION TO A R T I F I C I A L ENVIRONMENT Then the space that an animal (pig is taken as scenario)occupies is studied when it has been transferred from its natural environment, to a domestic space, productive environments, and research cages. As you can see at the very end stage of this process the pig ends up being caged into only 2 sq meters of space.
ORIGINAL CHISINAU CIRCUS It is a brutalist concrete building surrounded by a small area of forest. When I studied the plan I realized that although animals are the main dwellers of the building, they only got 10% of the space.
CAGE
STAGE
SECTION
Animals would no longer be kept in cages. Alternatively they would be raised in artificial biomes.
Instead of seeing animals perform, the audience would be gathered and enjoy seeing the ordinary life of animals.
A biome is a defined space or territory that shares the same climate, flora, and fauna. Here I have collected 12 Moldovans native endangered animals that will dwell in my research center. For example from grass land, to cliffs, foothills, the series of forests.
PLAN In this plan you can see how the biomes are distributed around the central stage of the circus. The insertion of the balconies into the audience space and the education center in the middle of the stage.
RETRACTABLE ARMS Biomes are covered by retractable arms. They could move for different species and biomes with different spatial requirements or different amount of animals. The original roof structural ribs are kept and reinforced and tails are added behind them to magnify the space. I further developed these arms in Techinical Study Course. There is the ‘skin’ cover between arms. It consists of ‘network’ for structure and ‘ETFE air cushion’ for controlling environmental elements.
There is the ‘skin’ cover between arms. It consists of ‘network’ for structure and ‘ETFE air cushion’ for controlling environmental elements. Among cables, ETFE air cushions would be added. It could control the temperature meanwhile allows daylight comes in. The audience structure inside is an insertion. It is an independent structure.
SECTION In this section you can see the three gestures in relation to each other; the expansion of the building with the biomes.
RETRACTABLE MECHANISM Biomes are covered by retractable arms. They could move for different species and biomes with different spatial requirements or different amount of animals. The original roof structural ribs are kept and reinforced and tails are added behind them to magnify the space. The experiments and prototype models were done to help design the mechanism system.
JOURNEY Now I’m taking you on a journey through Chisinau Research Center. Here, we approach the building. The visitors are here only for seeing the ordinary life of animals. Thus, for some animals like the Sugar Glider, you may have to come at night. Here we are in one of the balconies enjoying the spectacle of biomes from our ‘cage’. Seeing the Animals and being seen by them from their luxury environmental cages, or stages.
YEAR: 2015 I LOCATION: SHANGHAI, CHINA I BUILDING: RESIDENTIAL I TYPE: ACADEMIC
SHANGHAI STREET LIFE RENAISSANCE
03
TRADITIONAL SHANGHAI LONGTANG REGENERATION THE CONCEPT COMES FROM THE OBSERVATION OF THE CURRENT SITUATION OF OLD LONG-TANG (TRADITIONAL HOUSING IN SHANGHAI) THAT THE SPACE IS LIMITED WHILE RESIDENTS TEND TO EXTEND THEIR SPACE INTO PUBLIC SPACE. THEY ALWAYS EXTEND THEIR SPACE HORIZONTALLY. FROM THE SITE ANALYSIS AND SHANGHAI HISTORY ANALYSIS THE SITUATION IS EMERGENCY THAT WITH THE SPEEDY DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY THE STREET LIFE IS DECREASING. AFTER RESEARCHING AND STUDYING CASE THE CONCEPT COMES OUT - TO GROW THE LONG-TANG STREET IN THE THREE- DIMENSIONS CONSEQUENTLY TO MAINTAIN OR RECALL THIS KIND OF STREET LIFE. THE NOTION OF THE PROJECT IS TO CREATE AN ARCHITECTURAL SYSTEM COULD RESOLVE THE EMERGENCY SITUATION AND BE USED IN THE FUTURE.
Glass is added to create the specific atmosphere inside the building. The inside building is not indoor totally. People will feel as if they are walking along a real street, while still maintaining a sense of privacy. In short, the facade is like the cover of the building which
makes the building semi-opened to the open air. For that reason, the building will express a new type of community. After construction of main building, a facade made by frosted glass is added to create the specific atmosphere inside building.
CASE STUDY KOWLOON WALLED CITY The phenomenon in the site that residents try to extend the space remind me a case - Kowloon Walled City. This is a case that residents grow their building or space by themselves. They mix use the functions. The city was more like a villege in 1898. With the flow of time, residents grow the building due to their need. From this case I learned the functions people want to have and trend of extension.
TYPOLOGY ANALYSIS Several types of buildings in the site are researched. Some interactions are found that some of them are transformed from other types which is done by local residents. The photos below show that residents tend to extend their space into streets. This will make the street more and more crowded.
DESIGN PROCESS
Take the site
Fold the street in threedimensions
Modify the volumes to fit the street
Take the street in the site
Fold the street into three dimensions
grow the street
make the street looks dynamic
Add the structure in the middle
Add volumes
Add facade
Move the structure to the facade
Building grows
Folded Street- Make the street become the rule which building will obey when developing
AA’
BB’
NORTH
PLAN -1F Cinema Underground Public Space
7F Apartment Store
2F Apartment
8F Apartment
3F Apartment
9F Apartment Restaurant
5F Teah House Cafe 3F
7F
1F
6F
4F
5F
10F
8F
9F
6F Roof Garden Store
1F Cinema
4F Apartment Cafe
-1F
10F Roof Garden
AXONOMETRIC Folded Street- the building would grow along the vertical street. The building is a community with cafe, cinema, tea house and gardens.
Section AA’
Section BB’
YEAR: 2016
I
LOCATION:
SHANGHAI, CHINA
I
BUILDING: SHELTER
I
TYPE: ACADEMIC
DA TONG FANG COMMUNITY CENTER
04
REHABILITATE THE HOMELESS IN CHINA, THE HOMELESS PROBLEM FITS THE SITUATION OF PROPAGANDA - THERE IS LITTLE INFORMATION ABOUT THE HOMELESS, AND THE GOVERNMENT PRETENDS THE PROBLEM IS NOT SERIOUS. PEOPLE CAN SELDOM SEE THE REAL SITUATION OF THE HOMELESS. DATONG FANG IS LOCATED IN THE OLD CITY OF SHANGHAI WHERE IT IS FULL OF TRADITIONAL HOUSES. MOST RESIDENTS IN THIS AREA LIVE WITH LOW INCOME. THE LACK OF MANAGEMENT BRINGS PROBLEMS IN ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC SECURITY. HOWEVER, ITS LOCATION IN THE CENTER OF SHANGHAI BRINGS LOTS OF POTENTIAL POSSIBILITIES.
With the research on the homeless people in Shanghai, it comes out that most of them become homeless because of lack of ability to work and a few of them are teenagers.The target for building a shelter here is not only providing rooms for the homeless but also rehabilitating them, giving their oppotunity to get educated. They need dignity and the best way to help them is enabling them to socialize and go back to society. This project realizes this aim in an architectural way. It encourages local people gathering here with the homeless voluntarily.
There are not only dormitories, but also job center, library, workshop, canteen, education center...... The community center will become a selfcircular system. Some homeless people enter and leave with the ability to reenter society, while some of them stay here and educate or help successors. Some transition senarios are given during the project. One homeless child, one homeless women, one homeless senior man and one homeless man are researched as scenarios here. The daily life pattern before and after joining Community Center are studied.
SHANGHAI HOMELESS PEOPLE RESEARCH There are 10,0000 homeless people in Shanghai. Almost half of them are male and one thrid of them are families. Some of them rely on begging and on picking up rubbish. They do not have jobs. Some of them live in a very dirty and small improvised accommodations while most of them do not have place to live. i
X 4% = 24,000,000 POPULATION IN TOTAL
14 %
REALITY IN CHINA
Organs on offer
The number of homeless people is growing while goveronment pays a little attention on it.
100,000 HOMELESS
23 %
37 %
Year 40-59
Year 17-39
Belongings vandalised
26 %
58 %
42 %
Male
Female
HEALTH CONDITION
There are remarkable number of disabled people among the homeless in Shanghai
Half of the homeless people have health problems and 17% of them are disabled. Many of them have chornic diseases.
FOREIGN MEDIA FOCUS ON ADDRESSING SOCIAL ISSUES
CHINESE MEDIA FOCUS ON THE DIFFICULTIES
Homelessness is relatively new occurrence in China. Can it be boiled down to a side effect of the Hukou system or is it an inevitable result of economic development? (Homelessness in China, Hammond, 2012)
Shanghai-A homeless person was killed in a fight for place to sleep. (Shanghai Morning, 2015) There are many difficulties to help homeless people in China. (Chinese Observation, 2012)
EXISITING SHELTER ANALYSIS Research on Shelters in Shanghai There are many problems with shelters in Shanghai.
Of the single, adult homeless population, 25% are suffering from a mental illness.
MAIN REASON FOR HOMELESS Half of them become homeless because of no job
32% Be Willing to Beg
48% No Job
2% Mental Disease and Other
17% Domestic Violance
HOMLESS INTERVIEW Railings make the shelter like a jail. Problems for the Shanghai Shelter: 1. Difficult to enter 2. Difficult to leave unless to depart sent to hometown mandatorily. 3. Staff show little respect.
they can prove that they do not have place to live and he has no money at all.
Each room of the shelter has railing to keep homeless people from escaping. The homeless people are locked in the shelter or be sent back to The Shanghai Shelter is heavily guarded. hometown mandatorily. Most are not A homeless people can enter it only when willing to go back to their hometowns.
The interviews were done in April 2016. The idea is to show the thoughts and basic needs of homeless peopleFreedom and dignity, working skill, socializing ability, spirital pursuit. They are willing to go the the shelter but at the same time they are afriad of being trapped there. They want to continue their hobby and have personal life instead of going to a “prison.”
HOMELESS
RESEARCH
The public holds the stereotype about homeless people that they are dangerous. However, the reality in China is that the homeless people are marginalized. Their belongings are burnt; the Chinese mainstream media prefers emphasizing the difficulties of tackling homeless problem while only few people really take action to help them. The existing shelter in Shanghai is more like a prison with steel fence instead of a warm shelter. After interviewing a few homeless people, the word ‘freedom’, ‘own interests’ , ‘friends’ come out. The project aims to provide a shelter which would integrate the local people. It would rehabilitate the homeless people.
EDUCATION DEGREES OF CHINESE HOMELESS PEOPLE Most of them cannot read 65% Illiterate
32% Primary School or Middle School
2.5% College
0.5% University
Mr Chen came from Anhui province. His fellow villager brought him to Suzhou and guarenteed him wealth. Then he disappeared after cheating of all of Chen’s wealth. Chen was illiterate and he began to pick up the rubbish. Mr Chen is not willing to go the shelter because of a lack of freedom.
Mr Wang e has difficulties to find the job because he is shy to communicate with people, he cannot read and he is too short to do physically demanding jobs. He wants to be trained and has a speciality that he can find a job. He is willing to go to the shelter and he wants to make friends.
Mr Li has a mental disorder but he enjoys smoking. He often picks up cigarettes that people drop. He has nowhere to sleep because he loses in the fight with other homeless people. He wants to be cured. When he recovers, he want to have his own tobacco shop.
YEAR: 2018 I LOCATION: BEIJING, CHINA I BUILDING: MOSQUE I TYPE: WORKSHOP
DONG
SI
MOSQUE
BEIJING
MOSQUE
RENOVATION
THE TWO-WEEK WORKSHOP AIMS TO RENOVATE THE RELIGIOUS BUILDING - MOSQUE. THE ORIGINAL MOSQUE’S TYPOLOGY IS CHINESE TEMPLE, WHICH MAKES THE MOSQUE NOT RECOGNISABLE. EVEN MOST OF RESIDENTS AROUND DO NOT REALIZE IT IS A MOSQUE. HOWEVER, THE MOSQUE IS THE HEADQUATER OF CHINESE ISLAMIC ASSOCIATION - IT IS THE ONLY MOSQUE WITH THREE COURTYARDS IN CHINA. THE RENOVATION INTEGRATES THE MOSQUE WITH SURROUNDING CONTEXT WITH INTRODUCING ISLAMIC PATTERNS IN ORDER TO DISTINGUISH THE MOSQUE FROM OTHER TEMPLES. EXHIBITION ARCADE IS ADDED AND THE FIRST COURTYARD IS OPENED TO THE PUBLIC. INSTEAD ISOLATING, ISLAMIC CULTURE IS INTRODUCED TO THE PUBLIC IN A GENTLE WAY.
05
YEAR: 2016 ION I
I LOCATION: TYPE: WORKSHOP
BEIJING, CHINA I BUILDING: PAVILI COLLABORATOR: RONGFENG ZHANG
URBAN INFRUSTRUCTURE
PLUG-IN PAVILION
THIS PAVILION COMPLEX IS GENERATED BY PROCESSING, WHICH IS A PRACTICE OF COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN. IT CONTAINS FIVE COMPONENTS: STAGE, SPIRITUAL SPACE, PUBLIC SPACE, PATHWAY AND COMMERCIAL STREET. EACH OF THEM ARE RESEARCHED SEPARATELY WITH DIFFERENT INFLUENCE CURVES AND INFLUENCE VALUES. THIS PAVILION IS A COMPLEX WHICH CAN INSERT INTO ANY SITE IN THE CITY.
06
SEPARATED ELEMENTS ANALYSIS Original Plan and abstract
Infulence Value: 0
Infulence Value: 10
Infulence Value: 20
Infulence Value: 30
Stage
Spiritual Space
Public Space
Pathway
Commercial Street
Infulence Value: 10
Infulence Value: 20
Infulence Value: 30
Infulence Value: 40
YEAR: NA I
2016 I BUILDING: SHELTER
I
LOCATION: TYPE: EXHIBITION
I
SHANGHAI, CHICOLLABORATOR: PU DAI
EXHIBITION : HUMANISTIC NATURE AND SOCIETY
07
AN INSIGHT INTO THE FUTURE UTOPIAN WORLD WAS MENTIONED IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN IN THE BIBLE, THE INFERNO IN THE DIVINE COMEDY, AND EVEN THE REPUBLIC BY PLATO. PEOPLE CONSTRUCT OUT OF THE PURSUIT FOR PERFECT WORLD, THE EXPECTATION OF THE BLUEPRINT AND FUTURE, AND THE CRITICISM AND SATIRE FOR REALITY. IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA, THE AMBITIONS TOWARDS FUTURE CITIES AND ARCHITECTURE IN THE LAST CENTURY HAVE GONE AND UTOPIAN THOUGHTS HAVE BEEN REDUCED TO A PAGE OF HISTORY BOOKS. THOUSANDS OF CITIES PRESENT THE SAME LOOK. IN THE PROCESS OF STRONG MATERIAL CIVILIZATION, UTOPIAN WORLD IS THE SAFE HAVEN TO HIDE FROM BRUTAL REALITY. UTOPIA IS EXACTLY THE BASIS OF REALISTIC WORLD WHICH BECOME LESS AND LESS GROUNDED. THIS EXHIBITION TRIES TO REFLECT ON THE ERA AND TO RECONSTRUCT A NEW UTOPIA.
CULTURE - HUTONG In Beijing, hutong is the most important place for generating traditional culture. People lived there for dozens of generations. However, hutong is left by the time during the rapid development. Because of the incomplete facilities, increasingly number of young people move out with only a few of old people remain there. Also the agrarian problem is serious-- the economy asks for towers while culture asks for hutong. Hutong is now meeting a dilemma.
The exhibit tries to tackle these problems by introduing the vertical street. It can maintain the context of hutong. Some public facilities such as hospital, school, theaters and even runway for exercise are added to the community. PROPAGANDA The exhibit represents broadcast channels - radio station, newspaper even CCTV. As known, in China, all broadcasted information has to be checked by government even on the Internet.
So propaganda is the speaker of government and meanwhile people have to accept the information what the governor want them to accept. The exhibit is composed of two pyramids. The outside one represents the stable society which people live in. The inside pyramid is made by mirror, which represents propaganda system. People outside of it can only see the fancy, smooth appearance which is broadcasted by the governor. The inside structure is invisible to the public.
Five parts of the exhibits represents for politics, propaganda, culture, history and economy. The background of it is set in Beijing, the capital of China. All models are put in a pyramid shape frame which represents a stable state of society. Five pyramids separate in a big Beijing map. However it can be found that they have subtle connections on the top. This subtle network represents the fact that the elites of each domains will connect
with each other in some degrees. This network cannot be even sensed apparently. So, this great picture is not only a stable structure, but also becomes a prediction for the growth of each domain in contemporary China. This time, we attempt to explore some possibility for the future city structure from the inside of existing things. We would like to do a kind of forecast and deduction, neither optimistic nor pessimistic.
CBD In any city of China, CBD is the center. It is the product of market economy with high efficiency. Towers become the sign of it. Although it has high efficiency, some lands still are wasted. For that reason the exhibit is designed to release the public space on the ground floor. Buildings are lifted and connected by public space in the air. It is more like a hanging city. The space on the ground is released to the public. People can use it for garden, amusement park...
HISTORY In history part, ‘Hai’ is used as a representative. In Beijing dialect, ‘Hai’ represents lake. Some of these ‘Hai’ naturally occurred thousands years ago, and some of them are digged by emperor hundreds years ago. The lakes are extracted from Beijing map and lifted. Each of them becomes an island which has whole ecological system on it. They compose a realistic utopian garden world. It is an manifesto of human that history will be respected all the time regardless of changes of environment.
YEAR: 2019
I
LOCATION:
LONDON,UK
I
TYPE: EXHIBITION
I
COLLABORATOR: AA DIPLOMA 18
EXHIBITION : ROADSIDE PICNIC THE TRADE MATERIALS
OF
08
RECLAIMED IN UK
THE EXHIBITION WAS HELD IN AA SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE BY DIPLOMA 18. IT IS ABOUT THE RESEARCH AND RETHINKING ABOUT RECLAIM INDUSTRY IN UK. IN NORTHWEST EUROPE LESS THAN 1% OF BUILDING MATERIALS ARE SALVAGED AFTER DEMOLITION. THE DISREGARDED MATERIALS ARE INSTEAD EITHER LANDFILLED OR DOWNCYCLED. THE WEBSITE OUR UNIT CREATED OPALIS.CO.UK IS PART OF AN ATTEMPT TO REVERSE THE TREND. BUILDING MATERIALS ARE ENERGY INTENSIVE TO PRODUCE AND SHIP. THEY CONTRIBUTE SIGNIFICANTLY TO INCREASE GREENHOUSE GAS LEVELS IN THE ATMOSPHERE. REUSE OF THESE BUILDING COMPONENTS EXTENDS THEIR USEFUL LIFE, REDUCES THE NEED FOR NEW MATERIALS, WHILE CREATING VERY REAL ECONOMIC BENEFITS IN THE FORM OF JOBS. IT IS A VALUABLE AND OFTEN OVERLOOKED STRATEGY FOR ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION. OPALIS.CO.UK CURRENTLY CONTAINS ABOUT 60 COMPANIES THAT ARE ACTIVE IN THE SALVAGE TRADE. IT IS BELIEVED THAT THESE COMPANIES ARE PIONEERS IN A PRACTICE THAT SHOULD BECOME THE NORM. THROUGH RESEARCH TRIPS ACROSS THE UNITED KINGDOM, OUR UNIT MEMBERS HAVE VISITED THESE RESELLERS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND HOW THEY OPERATE WITHIN THE DESIGN, DEMOLITION, CONSTRUCTION AND RECYCLING INDUSTRY. WHERE TRADITIONAL AND ANTIQUE MATERIALS ARE THE MOST FREQUENTLY TRADED, WE ENVISION A SALVAGE INDUSTRY THAT HAS A BROADER SCOPE AND ALSO DEALS IN MORE CONTEMPORARY MATERIALS.THE OPALIS UK PROJECT IS AN INITIATIVE OF ROTOR, A NONPROFIT BASED IN BRUSSELS.
“THERE ARE OBJECTS FOR WHICH WE HAVE FOUND USES. WE USE THEM, BUT ALMOST CERTAINLY NOT THE WAY THE VISITORS USE THEM. I AM POSITIVE THAT IN THE VAST MAJORITY OF CASES WE ARE HAMMERING NAILS WITH MICROSCOPES.” BORIS AND ARKADY STRUGATSKY, ROADSIDE PICNIC, 1972
REUSE VS. RECYCLING The energy needed for recycling is much greater than the energy needed for simply retrieving and displacing the material locally, keeping it in its original form. Moreover, recycling processes usually greatly reduce the technical qualities of the materials involved
which has lead critics to refer to the practice as ‘downcycling’. Recycling creates very little added value. It typically is little more than a waste management strategy, creating very low grade materials. In the building trade, reuse practices have always been very
common. The ancient Greeks, for instance, would reuse fragments of old ruins as a resource in order to build castles or forts. In 17th century England, it was very common to reuse construction materials such as bricks, as it made sound economic sense. In the period after WWII, in
Europe, the practice was gradually marginalized. From the 1980 onwards, confronted with ever increasing quantities of building wastes and with filled up landfills, governments turned to recycling schemes as a way to divert part of the wastestreams. Reuse is
less promising as a waste diversion technique than ecycling, because it requires a certain quality in materials for it to be economically and practically viable. However, when it is feasible, the advantages over conventional recycling are tremendous. Reuse creates local jobs and significant added value.
SELECTIVE PAGES OF RECLAIMED MATERIAL CATALOGUE
1:10 Exhibition Model
YEAR: 2014 - NOW
I
PRODUCTION DESIGNER FOR ART FILM
I
TYPE: FILM POSTER
PRODUCTION DESIGNER FOR ART FILMS SELECTIVE WORKS “I PREFER THE FILMS THAT PUT THEIR AUDIENCE TO SLEEP IN THE THEATER. SOME FILMS HAVE MADE ME DOZE OFF IN THE THEATER, BUT THE SAME FILMS HAVE MADE ME STAY UP AT NIGHT, WAKE UP THINKING ABOUT THEM IN THE MORNING, AND KEEP ON THINKING ABOUT THEM FOR WEEKS.” — ABBAS KIAROSTAMI AS A PARTTIME PRODUCTION DESIGNER, I WORKED ON MORE THAN 5 MOVIES. FOLLOWED ARE SOME SELECTIVE WORKS. • “EXTREMELY HATEFUL ONE” WAS SCREENED AT 69TH FESTIVAL DE CANNES • “ZHOUZHUANG” HAS BEEN DISTRIBUTED IN USA. • “INTIMACY” IS IN PROGESS OF DESTRIBUTION IN USA.
09