Concept | Preventing the City From Being Submerged

from Work samples-Dahan Xiong

by Dahan Xiong

Three Gorges Dam Impact, the Lost Identity

Evolution Diagram | Space and Structure of the New Dam

The initial purpose to build a new dam on this site: Block the water, the basic function of this typology.

Another messege through this similar type is to respond to the three gorges dam

Upper--the new understanding of str-ucture and form of the dam.

Critical level--as a reminder of the current water level, also as a monumental space for the whole city.

Lower--the original dam is the typical and structural part to resist the rising water level.

In the lower part: The original dam form, the structure is the main body, divided in the vertical direction, and the function is attached to the structure.

Programs on the virtical level of the dam connected with the water utilization.

River Layer City Barrier

To create space and support the upper level, the whole mass is devided into buttresses.

The spaces formed in the middle of the buttress become a place where multiple functions are inserted and attached, and different zones are defined.

Multiple functions are placed in the dam, and the dam space produces different programs and spatial forms, creating the diversity of the complete structural space at the bottom.

Horizontal and vertical directions generate the rich urban interface and visual experience.

In the upper part:

The structural functional relationship is reversed.

The internal function space is the main issue, and the structure is no longer the core. Create a linear and more integrated space.

To fragment the buttress structure and create a sense of order while maintaining a structural integrity.

The dam and structure are re-understood, and the integrity is continued while the richness of the whole is given.

The structural transfer layer makes the three different attribute spaces of the upper, middle and lower part of the dam exist.

Upper space - life function of internal space.

Top space - continuous urban function.

Different structural parts ensure the vertical traffic and the accessibility of different dam parts. Make the whole dam a city space with full participation of urban residents, rather than an independent and specific national tool.

Manufacture FactoryFarmland / Preservation

Owing to the huge fruit and grain production in Zhongxian County. Citrus processing is a major economic industry in Zhongxian County. Juice companies such as Jungguole and Parsonbai have production lines here.

Zhongxian County is one of the most suitable areas for citrus cultivation in the world. Also, it has a reputation of an advanced county for grain production in China. Besides, to prevent the impact of ecological environment problems, provide constant water temperature for spawning of rare fish, and prevent the eggs from being washed away and died because of the water inflow from the Three Gorges Reservoir.

Power StationImmigrants Take-in

The city has a large population and developed industries, so there is a lot of electricity for domestic use and industrial use. The local use of the water head for power generation greatly reduces the loss of the power transmission process. At the same time, it solves the problem of lack of electricity and electricity in some parts of China.

There are a total of 130 million people along the Yangtze River. Apart from the larger cities or cities with important production functions, there are still many small-scale settlements. It still needs to provide shelter services for the scattered towns and solitary people and build communities to make such a space through the dam. The crowd is integrated into society.

Educational FacilityCommunity Recreation

Use the special space formed by the dam to provide education space for the city. Attached to the established dam, a new generation of educated people maintains a connection with this space, what has changed and what has been preserved, the dam is used to record and tell.

For a dam with open urban space, it does not emphasize its control, its independence, its specialization.The image of the original isolated hydrological infrastructure is oriented towards a model that is integrated with society full of functions.

Unlike the Three Gorges Dam – a specialized, separate functional structure – it is close to urban life.

--WushanCounty

--YunyangCounty Zhangfeitemplehasexistedformorethan1700 years.Alargenumberofpreciousinscriptions andpaintingsweresubmerged.

Theoriginaldiversityofspeciesandavarietyofrare animalsinhabitedhere.Now,withthechangeofwater environment,theYangtzeRiverissufferingfromnofish.

--WanzhouCounty

Wanzhouwaterwayhastobe changed.

--FengjieCounty

Once,therewereabundantBaidiculturalrelicsof ancestorsandvariousarchaeologicalworkswere carriedouthere.

--Shennong

Beforebeingsubmerged,QuYuan'sformer residence,QuYuanTemple,ancientplankroad andotherscenicspotswereherefor1200years.

--ZiguiCounty theFirstCityofThreeGorgesRelocation

Itusedtobethe"hometownoforangein China"fortheadvantagesofsoil,producing bestorangesinChina.

Carnival and performance are the symbol, the value and the traditional lifestyle of Yi people. Theater is the carrier in modern times.

But theater has gradually become scenery and an image for modern people to excavate the profit in this consumption society. Modern modes collides tradition as well.

And Yi people are one group being observed for an ethnic reason while now being watched in all these booming shows and activities. Their life and value need to be repositioned and the relationship between the "Performer" and "Viewer" should be rethought.

UrbanismbyTourism

Xichang is an area that transitions from the developed areas of western China to the mountainous areas also a transitional zone from modern to traditional. At the same time, it becomes a region of ethnic integration. The excavation of local “carnival” culture and tourism development of ethnic minorities promote the development of the local economy and its urbanism yet at the cost of their original life and values.

Therefore, my solution is a "micro-city" responding to urban form and space, a complex that gives back the traditional activity space on the ground and hides the cultural consumption place above.Through the type of theater as the carrier, it can provide places for traditional ethnic minority life customs and commercial performances in the modern tourism industry. They could coexist in one city.

UrbanBlocks--OriginalCity

ChangeofSkyline--Urbanism

CityPublicTheater--EthnicMinoritiesLifeStyle

Thesetwotheatersrepresentthetransformationandintegrationof urbanculturefromtraditionaltomodern.

Anupperindoortheaterofculturalconsumption,capitalturnslocal activitiesintoaperformance; funeral homes at different times of Mission send bodies out of town through Mission

Atraditionalactivitytheaterinthelowerpartofthecityprovidesa placeforspontaneousactivitiesofethnicminorities.

Programs | Functions, circulations and spaces studies

There is a tradition of celebration of lives at their ends and onward of Mission district. There were funeral homes along the mission, and a mixed neighborhood with different ethnic roots, the confronting culture brought real life cycle to this area. Due to the city limits, people had to send bodies out of town by streetcar along mission to Colma for burial. The final journey of these people came through our site and out of the mission district and SF. Our project is like a conversation about obsolescence and life cycle, the vehicles are replaced by another one, and the gas station is abandoned now for new construction. We are trying to use our site to cherish this piece of history and bring an attitude or a gesture to this type of building, the way people experience the funeral spaces and the end of their journey.