Deliberation in Guangzhou - Reflective Journal by David Gerber

DELIBERATION IN GUANGZHOU SEMESTER 2 - 2017 - STUDIO 30 ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR GREG MISSINGHAM AND DR. HING-WAH CHAU GUANGZHOU, CHINA DAVID GERBER - 774234

INTRODUCTION TO OUR SITE

We were introduced to our sites today and were given an introduction to the brief.

F O R E S T P A R K 森林公园

YO N GX I N G AV E N U E 永兴大道

FAR: 2.2 RESIDENTIAL 住宅

FAR: 4.4 COMMERCIAL 商业

Our main goal is to focus on:

Y I N G D O N G AV E N U E 英东大道

FAR: 4.3 COMMERCIAL 商业

CANAL STREET 河滨路

FAR: 4.5 COMMERCIAL 商业

R AR MA BL MABS L林 A荫 S 大道

The site I was given was the Nansha North District Commercial Development.

R E T A I L S T R E E T 商业街

FAR: 4.9 COMMERCIAL 商业

- Sustainable urban development - Walkability - Shopping street - Mixed-use precinct

FAR: 2.2 RESIDENTIAL 住宅

FAR: 0.8 EDUCATION 教育

GA N G Q I A N S O U T H AV E N U E 港前大道南 0

MASTER PLAN SUBMITTED 4/26 NANSHA 565mu MASTER PLAN NANSHA, GUANGZHOU, CHINA

总平面图

GUANGZHOU NANSHA DEVELOPME

ROBERT A.

MAY 18, 2017

AUGUST 1, 2017 Page 1

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

We learned about the forces that influence the design process. - Villages own the land and can say “no” to what the government wants to build. - Affects types of buildings. - Affects forms. - Discuss with the villages to transfer lease hold with the developer. - Joint venture company. - When the building is built, the company is dissolved. - Both parties profit from construction. - Has to be mutually beneficial.  - For government.  - For local villagers.  - For the developers. AUGUST 1, 2017 Page 2

LINGNAN CULTURE

Learning about the Lingnan culture and how it can be applied to the design process and final design within the city plan. How will it affect the design? What can you learn from it? Where can it be applied?

Lingnan architecture (Cantonese Jyutping: Ling5 naam4 gin3 zuk1; Traditional Chinese: 嶺南建築), or Cantonese architecture, refers to the characteristic architectural style(s) of the Lingnan region - the Southern Chinese provinces of Gwongdung and Gwongsai. - Wikipedia - Lingnan Architecture

AUGUST 1, 2017 Page 3

PRELIMINARY DESIGN STRATEGIES

What should the streetscape look like? - Build upon precedents and work from there. - What does the street feel like? - How does it respond to the livability aspect? Design an envelope of the buildings and expand. Sustainable development/design principles. - Wind, Water Recycling, Storm Water Cleansing, Solar. What rules are you going to play by from your design? - Cultural inspired. - Sustainable. - Clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brief. - Feng Shui. AUGUST

1, 2017 Page 4

EXPOSED TO CULTURE

I was exposed to the system of laws for spatial arrangement and orientation in Chinese culture. Feng Shui. It is a very important concept for people. It deals with health, success, and balance in life. - Fire and water. - Site is protected from the wind (mountains). - Site has water on the North-East side (Pearl River). - Important in personal health. - Business will be good and healthy. - Balance - Materials - Colours

AUGUST 1, 2017 Page 5

PRELIMINARY DESIGN QUESTIONS

I have never experienced designing a whole city before, so I had a lot of questions right from the start in order to help in steer me towards the right direction. - Does the whole town plan have to be Feng Shui or each individual part of it? - Each house - Each retail - School - Orientation of the whole town - Is there a certain type of dwelling that needs to be created? - High-rise? - Medium-rise? - Town-house? - Detached? - Is there a certain type of dwelling that canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be built there? - Are the properties for rentals or purchase? - Does this affect if the children of the renters can go to the school or not? - If it does, does a school need to be built?

- Canal - Is it a human-made canal? - Does it connect to the other water body? - Can it be implemented for run-off/grey water? - Does it serve any other purpose? - Markets certain days? - Boat tours? - Just visual? - Soil conditions - Close proximity to water - Looks like farm land? - Can we dig under ground? - Basements - Parking - Commercial

AUGUST 1, 2017 Page 6

FENG SHUI RESEARCH

Diving into Feng Shui I started learning about the different aspects to it, as well as finding different precedents in order to fully understand the laws and spatial arrangements.

SW IX N PH EO

S AL ET

FA MER M E

R E T A I L S T R E E T 商业街

HELPFUL PEOPLE

FAR: 2.2 RESIDENTIAL 住宅

FAR: 4.9 COMMERCIAL 商业

FAR: 0.8 EDUCATION 教育

TE R

20M

40M

MASTER PLAN SUBMITTED 4/26

GUANGZHOU NANSHA DEVELOPMENT & CONSTRUCTION

W AT E

G RA

总平面图 MAY 18, 2017

SCALE 0

SPIRITUAL GROWTH

ROBERT A.M. STERN ARCHITECTS 2

AUGUST 8, 2017 Page 7

RT LE

CA R

H LT

GA N G Q I A N S O U T H AV E N U E 港前大道南

N RI SP

NANSHA 565mu MASTER PLAN NANSHA, GUANGZHOU, CHINA

Where can it be applied in my design process? - Materiality? - Colours? - Orientation of the master plan in accordance with Feng Shui? - Individual apartments all Feng Shui?

O O W

What can I learn from it?

FAR: 4.3 COMMERCIAL 商业

FAR: 2.2 RESIDENTIAL 住宅

Y I N G D O N G AV E N U E 英东大道

MONEY3B

CANAL STREET 河滨路

R AR MA BL MABS L林 A荫 S 大道

FAR: 4.5 COMMERCIAL 商业

FAR: 2.2 RESIDENTIAL 住宅

RE FI

E IT H R W IGE T

YO N GX I N G AV E N U E 永兴大道

TI EA

FAR: 4.4 COMMERCIAL 商业

L FA

I want to use this in my design and found it very interesting because I had never been exposed to it. It is a challenge, but I am excited for it.

LOVE & MARRIAGE

F O R E S T P A R K 森林公园

PRECEDENTS FOR FENG SHUI

The first thing I did was go to Pinterest and dive into research about how Feng Shui is implemented into design and the proper way to go about it. Since I had not previously been exposed to it, this was great to expand my knowledge and start thinking about how to design the project both macro and micro levels.

AUGUST 8, 2017 Page 8

EXPOSURE TO CULTURE

Today we learned about more Chinese cultural traditions. Still trying to process all of this new information and try to think how I can implement it into my final design. At this point is seems really difficult just because of the discrepancies between culture, client, government, and developers. - Yin and Yang

阴阳

- Always in balance. - Balanced by the elements. - Usually found in gardens. - Cycling, and always one part of the thing close to the other.

- Bagua

八卦

- 8 trigrams in Taoist cosmology. - Fundamental principles of reality in 8 interrelated principles - Each consists of 3 lines, each line either broken or unbroken (representing Yin and Yang).

- Bi Ci

彼此

- Here and there – In place. - Now and then – In time.

- Gu Jin

古古今

- Past and present. - A proper work of art can show you the past. - Always working in the cultural history in what you do now.

AUGUST 8, 2017 Page 9

GUEST LECTURER TAKE-AWAYS

Marcus came in to speak to our class about the changes undergoing in China at the moment and different traditions that continue to make designing/standards a challenge. These are the key points that I think are beneficial to my design process. - Western approaches to urban design is inappropriate in China. - Last 20-30 years the approach to urban renewal is to demolish and start fresh. - Last 5 years there has been a big move against the demolish/renew ideology. - Complicated land ownership/land leasing process. - Planning schemes/zoning are very strict. - Large setbacks because regulations require you to set back from the boundary. - Low-rise Setback - Mid-rise Setback - High-rise Setback

- Must have greenery. - Must have a car park and a part for landscape. - Not pleasant, but fulfill the codes (legislated). - Fences blocking the roads. - Terrible for retail. - People canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t cross. - Almost like a wall. - They prioritize the car, not people.

- Single-residential blocks (very strict). - 400m x 400m - Blocked off by big walls (Gated community-like). - No shops or street presence so you have to drive your car to the shops and spend more money. - Work out ways to have the benefit of both the old and the new. - Eventually these gated communities will become inhabited by impoverished people.

- Active street presence. - Not good living conditions. - Sometimes no toilets/running water. - Very slum-like. - Urban agriculture. - Very good architecturally - Have to have window access to every room. - Rules about day-light. - Have to have 3 hours of direct light.

AUGUST 8 2017 Page 10

PRECEDENT STUDY DISCUSSION

Class discussion about our progress for the presentation next week. Talking about ideas for our design and which way to take it as well as references that can help aid in the design process. - Quality of public space is very important - Activities for urban spaces - Façade articulation - How to activate the street? - Shopping street - Atmosphere is different as you make the street wider. - Reference recommendations. - Alexander vs Townscape - Image of the city – Kevin Lynch – 1960s AUGUST 15, 2017 Page 11

PRECEDENT STUDY PRESENTATION

For the precedent case study, I decided to first start with the research I undertook in traditional Chinese architecture and current urban planning schemes. From here I wanted to see if I can implement these design strategies and create a hybrid of traditional and modern. From my understanding, the Chinese culture is very set on a certain way of designing and changing their mind is often met with difficulty. Because of this, I decided to try and create this hybrid system so as to respect the culture, but also bring in some Western ideas as the client/developer wanted this type of look for their new city in Nansha. The main take-aways were: Strong Central Element, Strong Outer Wall, Division of Functions, and the Importance of Greenery.

STRONG CENTRAL ELEMENT

STRONG PRESENCE OF OUTER WALL SECURING THE INTERNAL AREA

DIVISION OF FUNCTION IS VERY PREVALENT (PUBLIC VS. PRIVATE)

GREENERY FOR HEALTHY CHI AND TO ENCOURAGE LIVELINESS

AUGUST 22, 2017 Page 12

The first part I looked into was the retail street. I really enjoy the liveliness that the Chinese city streets have. It creates an interactive environment and a living city.

PLANT 2m 6.5'

PARK'G 2.5m 8'

LANE 1 3m 9.8'

MEDIAN/ LEFT TURN 3m / 9.8'

LANE 1

14000 29000

PLANT

WALK

FURN

7500

- Modern/New - Open green spaces - Organized - Nice, clean, areas for dining and shopping Cons:

2.5m

SCALE 1:250 0

PROPOSED RETAIL STREET DESIGN

GUANGZHOU NANSHA DEVELOPMENT & CONSTRUCTION

OPTION 1 - UNCOVERED RETAIL

ROBERT A.M. STERN ARCHITECTS 24

MAY 18, 2017

WESTERN CULTURE INFLUENCE/MODERNIZATION

5000

8000

24000

100000

Pros:

500

5000

NANSHA, GUANGZHOU, CHINA

3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 5000

Retail Program Landscape

NANSHA 565mu MASTER PLAN

FURN 2.5m 8'

WALK 2.5m 8'

PLANT 2m 6.5'

PARK'G 2.5m 8'

LANE 1 3m 9.8'

MEDIAN/ LEFT TURN 3m / 9.8'

LANE 1

PARK'G

PLANT

WALK

FURN

- 2 LANES OF TRAFFIC - PARALLEL STREET PARKING - MEDIAN/TURNING LANE - 7 & 33 STORY BUILDINGS

500

7500

14000 29000

7500

500

Residential Program Retail Program SCALE 1:250

Landscape

PROPOSED RETAIL STREET DESIGN NANSHA 565mu MASTER PLAN NANSHA, GUANGZHOU, CHINA

OPTION 1 - UNCOVERED RETAIL MAY 18, 2017

2.5m

- Can you excevate in this area? - Too far gone from culture/societal norm?

PARK'G

Residential Program

The Cons for the Chinese design is that it isn’t what the client wants for the design and it creates a “slum-like” look for a newly regenerated area.

The Cons for the Western design is that I am not sure if we can excavate in this area as the firm has not gotten back to us yet. It also brings to question whether or not this is too far gone from culture and societal norms. Is this acceptable/possible?

WALK 2.5m 8'

7500

The Pros for the Chinese design is that it embraces the culture and societal norms, and creates an active and lively street presence.

The Pros for the Western design is that it is modern, new, clean, organized, and the direction China is headed,

FURN 2.5m 8'

500

- 2 LANES OF TRAFFIC - PARALLEL STREET PARKING - MEDIAN/TURNING LANE - 7 & 33 STORY BUILDINGS

3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 4000

- Not the image the client wants? - Too slum-like for the new regenerated area?

5000

8000

5000

Cons:

24000

- Embrace societal norm - Embrace culture - Activate the street - Lively

5000

Pros:

3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 4000

EMBRACING THE KNOWN CULTURE

5000

The idea here is to embrace the local, known culture, and fuse it with modern, Western influences.

3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 5000

100000

PRECEDENT STUDY PRESENTATION

GUANGZHOU NANSHA DEVELOPMENT & CONSTRUCTION ROBERT A.M. STERN ARCHITECTS 24

AUGUST 22, 2017 Page 13

PRECEDENT STUDY PRESENTATION

The next part I looked into was the canal section. I felt as though that this was the most important part of the planning proposal to get right. It is the key separating element between the commercial and residential zones, and thus, is a key connector and attractor point.

WALK PLANT 2m 2m 6.5' 6.5'

Cons: - Not the image the client wants? - Is it possible to make the canal for multiple purposes? - Maximum width?

5000

- 2 LANES OF TRAFFIC - PARALLEL STREET PARKING - 7 STORY BUILDINGS

PARK'G 2.5m 8'

LANE 1 3m 9.8'

5500 16000

PARK

5500

PARK

5500

15400 50900

LANE 1

Residential Program

PARK'G

PLANT WALK

5500 4500 19500

24000

GARDEN 4m 13'

4000

24000

5000

- Embrace societal norm - Embrace/celebrate culture - Activate the canal - Lively - Multi-purpose, not just a visual element

3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 4000

Pros:

3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000

EMBRACING CULTURE AND ACTIVATING THE CANAL

Commercial Program Landscape SCALE 1:250

Canal

PROPOSED CANAL STREET DESIGN

GUANGZHOU NANSHA DEVELOPMENT & CONSTRUCTION

NANSHA 565mu MASTER PLAN NANSHA, GUANGZHOU, CHINA

2.5m

The idea here is to activate the canal so that it isn’t just a water feature to look at, it needs to be embraced into every day life for the individuals in this location.

ROBERT A.M. STERN ARCHITECTS 28

MAY 18, 2017

The Pros for this design proposal is that it embraces the culture and societal norms, creates an active and lively canal area, and is multi-purpose and not solely visually pleasing.

- Not the image the client wants?

- 2 LANES OF TRAFFIC - PARALLEL STREET PARKING - 7 STORY BUILDINGS

Residential Program

5000

PARK'G 2.5m 8'

LANE 1 3m 9.8'

5500 16000

PARK

5500

PARK

5500

15400 50900

LANE 1

PARK'G

PLANT WALK

5500 4500 19500

GARDEN 4m 13'

4000

Commercial Program Landscape SCALE 1:250

Canal

PROPOSED CANAL STREET DESIGN NANSHA 565mu MASTER PLAN NANSHA, GUANGZHOU, CHINA

MAY 18, 2017

2.5m

GUANGZHOU NANSHA DEVELOPMENT & CONSTRUCTION ROBERT A.M. STERN ARCHITECTS 28

WALK PLANT 2m 2m 6.5' 6.5'

Cons:

24000

5000

- Modern - Clean - Image of client? - Not just a visual water feature - Engage with the canal - Interesting (not grid-like) - Not as much excavation

3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 4000

Pros:

3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000

MODERNIZING AND INCORPORATING THE CANAL INTO ITS SURROUNDINGS

The difficulties for this design proposal is that neither myself nor the firm knows of the exact details of the canal. Will we even be able to engage with the canal? Can we readjust the canal and make it not so straight like the original master plans in order to create interest? Is the canal able to be multi-purpose? Is it deep enough to have boat traffic on it for tours, floating markets, and celebrations of festivities by the water? The ideas are there, but the go-ahead is not as of yet. AUGUST 22, 2017 Page 14

PRECEDENT STUDY PRESENTATION

The precedent case study assignment was very beneficial in letting me dive into researching and starting to picture what I want my design to start looking like. I found numerous precedents that I believe would work well in Nansha, however, it also exposed many more questions while undertaking the research.

Pros: - Modern/New - Open green spaces at the ground/podium level - Organized - Nice, clean, areas for dining and shopping - The direction that China is heading into - Mix-use (retail/office) Cons: - Too far gone from culture/societal norm? - Height restrictions? - Soil conditions? Questions: - Does the retail/commercial section need to follow Feng Shui? - Can high-rises be built on this land? - Can there be excavation for basements/parking/ commercial space?

The questions that arose were: - Does the retail/commercial section need to follow Feng Shui? - Can high-rises be built on this land? Height restrictions? What are the soil conditions? - Can we excavate? This would help in planning out basements, parking, and potential commercial space. - Is there an approximate population size that we are looking to cater towards?

Pros: - Modern/New - Open green spaces at the ground level - Organized - Nice, clean, areas for walking - Multiple residential types, means it can cater to multiple income levels - Doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have walls blocking each portion of housing (walkable) Cons: - Too far gone from culture/societal norm? - Height restrictions? - Soil conditions? Questions:

Ideally I would be able to design mixed-use dwellings to that we can have a variety of people living there and not just affluent. The mantra of the overall design is inclusiveness and liveliness, a place where everyone wants to live and visit; a tourist spot.

- Is there an approximate population size we are designing for?

AUGUST 22, 2017 Page 15

POST-PRECEDENT PRESENTATION

After completion of the precedent studies, there were more questions that emerged through class discussions and between group members. We compiled a list of questions to send to the firm, including some of these that emerged through my research. Questions:

Things to look up/consider:

- What other programs are provided in the nearby areas? - What kind of population? - How to accommodate everyone? - Schools? - Temples? - Theatres? - Sports Facilities?

- Rough guess for population. - Crude math based on ratios given. - Roughly 20,000 units. - Roughly 2.5 people/unit. - Approximately 50,000 people to house.

- Are the above available in other nearby areas or do you have to build one yourself? - Self-sustainable? - Maybe next phase will provide functions to support the population? - Maybe you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the population yet to warrant certain functions? - Maybe design for projected population?

- Check how many people you need to warrant a police station, fire station, other supporting facilities. - Jet confirmed that we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do mixed-use. - Community/supportive facilities can be on the bottom floor.

AUGUST 22, 2017 Page 16

GUEST LECTURER TAKE-AWAYS

Donald Bates came in to speak to our class about his experience in working in China on various projects. This gave a good indication of the types of challenges we would be facing during our design process in China. - Fire Regulations. - Access for fire trucks around the building, all sides. - SOHO apartment, don’t need to have everything ventilated. - Resi apartments need to have access to natural ventilation. - SOHO apartments are assumed that people would be there very temporarily. - Hotel rooms are only temporary. - Can be mechanically ventilated so changes how you plan. - Chinese culture likes to subdivide parts to break them up visually. - SS100 – Yantai - Breaking up the towers. - Make it look like 2 towers instead of 1 big tower. - Breaking up how the façade would read. - Implement into my design?

- Xitaihu – Wujin – Chang Zhou. - Water remediation project. - Once you clean the water, the water front became desirable. - Water features and close access to water is very desirable in Chinese culture. - Strong sense of use-planning. - Commercial in one area, entertainment in another, residential in another. - Doesn’t produce a vibrant city. - A lot of traffic and movement. - Push for mixed-use, multi-use planning. - Xiaguan – Nanjing, 2010-2012. - Transit coverage. - Finer grain means people will walk because it’s not too far to get to places, less traffic. - Mixed-use and not separated. - Efficient use for infrastructure. - Having it together means that the network is always used. - Parking for commercial 8-5 can be used 24/7. - Mixed-used hubs spread through out the master plan.

- No connection between streets and destroys urbanism. - Streets are too big. - 5 lanes each way for main streets. - Have to walk very far or drive just to get to certain parts of the master plan. - Setbacks have consequences. - How do you activate the ground level? - People walking then there’s greenery, then pavement, then building. - Destroy urbanism of the city. .

AUGUST 29, 2017 Page 17

SCHEMATIC STUDIES

400m 1 OF THE MAIN GOALS: WALKABILITY F O R E S T P A R K 森林公园

200m

YO N GX I N G AV E N U E 永兴大道

100m

FAR: 4.4 COMMERCIAL 商业

FAR: 2.2 RESIDENTIAL 住宅

50m

R E T A I L S T R E E T 商业街

FAR: 2.2 RESIDENTIAL 住宅

Y I N G D O N G AV E N U E 英东大道

FAR: 4.3 COMMERCIAL 商业

CANAL STREET 河滨路

R AR MA BL MABS L林 A荫 S 大道

FAR: 4.5 COMMERCIAL 商业

FAR: 2.2 RESIDENTIAL 住宅

Since I do not have experience in urban planning, the way I approached the schematic design was investigating the master plans that have already been created. Since they were rejected, there had to be something I could learn from them in order to not repeat the same mistakes.

FAR: 4.9 COMMERCIAL 商业

GA N G Q I A N S O U T H AV E N U E 港前大道南

SCALE

总平面图

NANSHA, GUANGZHOU, CHINA

40M

400m

1 OF THE MAIN GOALS: WALKABILITY

200m 100m 50m

GUANGZHOU NANSHA DEVELOPMENT & CONSTRUCTION ROBERT A.M. STERN ARCHITECTS 2

MAY 18, 2017

SOLAR STUDIES

20M

MASTER PLAN SUBMITTED 4/26 NANSHA 565mu MASTER PLAN

FAR: 0.8 EDUCATION 教育

My first thought was to check out the walkability of the two master plans given to us by the firm. Walkability was something that was emphasized numerous times to us, so I decided to dissect the master plans and see how walkable they were. I based the radius of the circles on the average a Westerner will walk before resorting to use a mode of transport (couldn’t find statistics for Asian culture), this was 400m. Although the circle method isn’t technically accurate because of all the turns one would actually make, it did, however, help me see that those original master plans weren’t walkable. What this meant is that I would have to think carefully about where certain retail shops would have to be on the commercial side of the land in order to make sure people would walk and not use their car instead.

SUNSET

SUNRISE

ICE

LST

ER SO

SUMM

SUNSET

SUNRISE

WINTER

SOLSTIC

WIND STUDIES

I also undertook preliminary solar and wind studies as these are crucial in the type of climate that our site is located in. It will also dictate the way in which the buildings are orientated and how they are treated externally.

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017 Page 18

CORRESPONDENCE WITH FIRM

Our group received answers to the questions we previously sent the firm. We can now use it for our overall design. - Is there a certain type of dwelling that needs to be created? - High-rise? - Medium-rise? - Town-house? - Detached? - Residential buildings up to 100m, Commercial can be super high-rise. - Is there a certain type of dwelling that canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be built there? - Not considering villa typology. - Are the properties for rentals or purchase? - It is a commercial real estate development project, design for buyers, but depends on sales and market conditions.

- Canal - Is it a human-made canal? - Municipal requirement. - Does it connect to the other water body? - Connected to Pearl River. - Can it be implemented for run-off/grey water? - Separate system for that. - Soil conditions - Looks like farm land? - Design as a piece of flat land. - Can we dig under ground? - Can consider basement excavation.

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017 Page 19t

SCHEMATIC DESIGN PRESENTATION

Building upon my preliminary studies, I decided to dive deeper into the climate conditions and how the site and original master plan fares environmentally speaking. I undertook environmental analysis for solar and wind in order to learn how the master plan reacts with the site. In doing so, I am hoping to be able to optimize a master plan once we get to China, and it will respond to the climate both for solar lighting/shading and to let the wind flow through the city so that there is cross ventilation, and thus, less need for internal cooling. Guangzhou has a particularly interesting sun path, so I tested out both the summer and winter solstice. The summer proves how difficult it will be to design as the sun is very high, is up for long hours, and very hot. The winter time, however, the sun is not out for as long, is very low, and is only visible on our site for a few hours a day as the sun gets blocked by the mountains to the south. SSW S

SUMMER SOLSTICE JUNE 21ST

35.30<

WSW

33.17 W

31.04 28.91

SUNRISE: 7:42AM SUNSET: 9:14PM SUMMER MONTHS: APR - SEP

WNW

25.78 24.65

ESE NW E

18.26

NNW

16.13

ENE N

NNE

SSW

WINTER SOLSTICE DECEMBER 22ND

SUNRISE: 10:03AM SUNSET: 8:47PM

19.90

WINTER MONTHS: DEC - JAN

NNW

SSW

WIND ROSE DIAGRAM GUANGZHOU, CHINA 1 APRIL - 8:00AM -> 30 SEPTEMBER 9:00PM HOURLY DATA: WIND SPEED (M/S) CALM FOR 10.45% OF THE TIME = 458HRS EACH POLYLINE SHOWS FREQUENCY OF 1.0% = 42 HOURS

<8.00

M/S

9.00<

WSW

8.10

SSE

<0.00

7.20 6.30

SE WNW

5.40 4.50

ESE NW

3.60 2.70

E NNW

2.16 1.08

ENE

9.70

NNE

4.32 3.24

11.40

ENE

6.48 5.40

ESE

14.80 13.10

WIND ROSE DIAGRAM GUANGZHOU, CHINA 1 DECEMBER - 10:00AM -> 31 JANUARY 8:00PM HOURLY DATA: DRY TEMPERATURE (C) CALM FOR 9.15% OF THE TIME = 135HRS EACH POLYLINE SHOWS FREQUENCY OF 1.6% = 23 HOURS

7.56 WNW

18.20 16.50

ESE

8.64

21.60

WNW

9.72 W

NNE

23.30

10.80<

WSW

25.00<

WSW

M/S

SSE

<14.00

WIND ROSE DIAGRAM GUANGZHOU, CHINA 1 APRIL - 8:00AM -> 30 SEPTEMBER 9:00PM HOURLY DATA: DRY TEMPERATURE (C) CALM FOR 10.45% OF THE TIME = 458HRS EACH POLYLINE SHOWS FREQUENCY OF 1.0% = 42 HOURS

WINTER SOLSTICE DECEMBER 22ND

22.52 20.39

SSW

SSE

1.80 0.90

ENE NE

NNE

WIND ROSE DIAGRAM GUANGZHOU, CHINA 1 DECEMBER - 10:00AM -> 31 JANUARY 8:00PM HOURLY DATA: WIND SPEED (M/S) CALM FOR 9.15% OF THE TIME = 135HRS EACH POLYLINE SHOWS FREQUENCY OF 1.6% = 23 HOURS

SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 Page 20

<0.00

SCHEMATIC DESIGN PRESENTATION

The first set of plans, isometric, and solar studies is done on the original master plan that we were given by the firm. I used the solar studies to check the places that did not get any natural light and how that problem could be alleviated. Right away I noticed that the retail street is dark the majority of the year because of the tall buildings adjacent to it. Since this is a key component of the overall design scheme, I decided to play around with orientation to see how to get more light into this area. The second set of drawings has the whole site flipped 180 degrees. Basically commercial and residential switch sides and testing what would happen. It is not perfect as the canal got changed too, but the solar studies still show the outcome. This orientation is better because the high-rise commercial district would not overshadow the rest of the area as they are the furthest from the sun, however, the tall residential towers created a problem in the residential part of the plan. The retail and canal axis did get more sunlight with this scheme though. The third set is testing a scheme that would work ideal with the angles of the sun and the way the wind flows in this area. The heights of the buildings gradually get higher as the plan moves towards the north. This creates a mountain affect and lets the wind roll over the city and lets the most unobstructed sunlight reach the exteriors of buildings. Although the scheme worked in principle, it created the first problem again, a dark retail street, and this time a darker canal as well.

HOURS OF SUNLIGHT/DAY 8.29< 7.37

HIGH RISE

6.45

MEDIUM RISE

5.53

LOW RISE

4.61 3.68 2.76 2.33 0.92 <0.00

HOURS OF SUNLIGHT/DAY 8.29< 7.37

HIGH RISE

6.45

MEDIUM RISE

5.53

LOW RISE

4.61 3.68 2.76 2.33 0.92 <0.00

HOURS OF SUNLIGHT/DAY 8.29< 7.37

HIGH RISE

6.45

MEDIUM RISE

5.53

LOW RISE

4.61 3.68 2.76 2.33 0.92 <0.00

SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 Page 21

SCHEMATIC DESIGN PRESENTATION

I also looked into the way in which the wind will affect the site and the different ways in which wind works. The original courtyards created a lot of draft (which could be good or bad) and the large distances between buildings meant that there would be a lot of turbulence occurring beside each building.

LARGE DISTANCE BETWEEN BUILDINGS

Closing the gap between buildings and having the spacing closer means that the wind will flow over the cluster and cause less gusts. This is a particular occurrence in the canal zone, and since it is a place where there will be a lot of people, this could be a potential problem.

MEDIUM DISTANCE BETWEEN BUILD-

SMALL DISTANCE BETWEEN BUILDINGS

HIGH RISE MEDIUM RISE LOW RISE

LARGE DISTANCE BETWEEN BUILDINGS COMMERCIAL DISTRICT

SMALL DISTANCE BETWEEN BUILDINGS CANAL

RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT

I also experimented with turning the residential side on a 45 degree angle in order to work with the wind instead of against it. This allows for ventilation to flow through and over top of smaller buildings. Since it is such a hot and humid climate, any wind that works with the scheme is a bonus.

SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 Page 22

SCHEMATIC DESIGN PRESENTATION

WIND STUDIES

ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

SHADOW STUDIES SUN STUDIES

My method of operation for this schematic design phase of the project is to firstly work with the environmental analysis in order to optimize a planning scheme that works for both solar and wind. There needs to be direct sunlight as per code in China, so this will play a lead role into how the scheme is designed.

TRANSPORTATION CITY LINKS

CONTEXT ANALYSIS

Next I will respond to the sites context, this will help me design in accordance to transportation and neighbouring communities which would/ could use the same services.

NEIGHBOURING PHASES

PUBLIC SPACES SERVICES

PROGRAM ANALYSIS

RESIDENTIAL COMMERCIAL

EDUCATION

Finally, the program will be implemented into the optimized building volumes in order to be convenient according to preliminary studies and ensure a walkable and livable city.

SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 Page 23

TIME TO TRAVEL TO GUANGZHOU It is September 17, 2017, and I am on my way to Guangzhou from Melbourne. Excited and nervous all at the same time. Excited because I have always wanted to visit Asia and havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t gotten to as of yet. Also excited to push myself out of my comfort zone. I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t experienced China before, not worked on urban planning, so I am excited to push myself and grow as an individual. Nervous because of all the work that lays ahead in the next coming weeks while in Guangzhou, and not sure what to expect. Worked on fixing up solar studies from the schematic design assignment on the plane, working on the Rhino model, and preparing for the meeting with the firm on September 19th. SEPTEMBER 17, 2017 Page 24

TRAVEL DAYS - SHENZHEN, HONG KONG September 18th and I am in Shenzhen, but going to Hong Kong for the day for sight-seeing. I took full opportunity to take lots of pictures of built and currently being built residential buildings. Precedent research turned from Pinterest into live learning. Interesting to see the types of buildings that are created. Seems to be a cookie-cutter typology. Why fix something that isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t broken, right? It seems to work for them. Shocking to see how high these residential buildings are, as a person scared of heights, I would not want to live in them... I now know the type of buildings I may need to design depending on how the meeting goes with the firm and if they agree that I can make mid-rise, mixed-use, buildings. SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 Page 25

JSD MEETING, GUANGZHOU The students met with Hanion and the respective firms at the JSD building in Guangzhou. This was an opportunity for everyone to meet, as well as firms to present their given projects and answer any questions. Below are the key notes taken at this meeting. Passed the info onto my team members who unfortunately got sick and could not make it. - Preparation for 2021. - Beach event in that area. - Project is very urban planning-centric. - In close proximity: - Public park, 2 major streets, 1 major street through middle of site, 5 star hotel. - Commercial vs. Residential. - Major focus on commercial - 100m+ - Residential - 6 storeys - 60% residential / 40% commercial - Open-gate community - Commercial more self-containing. - Retail on ground floor of residence. - More urban design than architecture. - Consider streetscape. - Consider context/surrounding neighbourhoods. - How streets interact (width, intersections).

- Primary/middle school. - Small kindergarten separate. - All underground parking. - Think about next phase. - Next phase is directly adjacent. - Mirrored for next phase - Want residential/commercial to stay where they are because of mirror idea.

- Guangzhou standards about distances. - Check codes for building distances in regards to solar/shading. - Building envelope. - Curves are harder to fit codes. - Commercial is too closed off, think more of a mall typology and centralized. - Codes are a bit flexible. - Situation-dependent. - Destroying Chinese culture.

- Really liked my solar studies. - Very necessary and they see that the original plan was not good, want us - Streets. to design something new and not just - Play with street widths/heights of rearrange old plan. buildings to code. - Want us to pay close attention to - Not just super wide streets environmental issues (wind, solar). - 1 - 1.5 hours of sunlight per residence. - 0.5 - 1 hours of sunlight per commercial. - Shading not as important as direct light.

SEPTEMBER 21 2017 Page 26

FIRST OFFICE WORKDAY

Building upon the discussion with the firm during the first meeting and the schematic design presentation on September 22nd, the team dove into the new schematic design. Todays goal: - Overall Master plan. - Divide/detail Point of Interests. Feedback to implement: - Need more roads for traffic reasons. - Take into consideration the next phase. - Big CBD style centre.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017 Page 27

MEETING WITH CEO OF MOBOZHI

Today we met with the CEO to discuss progress and previous design ideas. The following is the feedback that we got from him: - Need a wind analysis with how wind goes through the city. - Pay attention to solar/shading.

every room gets natural light

We then went onto a few building visits that Mobozhi worked on. We visited Nansha Yacht Club and Nansha Bay Residential Project. At the Nansha Bay Residential Project, we learned about spatial arrangement. We were able to get plans for the new buildings under construction, now we have a better understanding of the way rooms are arranged in the apartments, and the sizing as well. Some key take-aways from the Nansha Bay Residential Project: - Primary/kindergarten gives more opportunity for the project because the government likes it. - Ground and first floor for retail. - Retail strip for public in an otherwise secluded neighbourhood. SEPTEMBER 24, 2017 Page 28

OFFICE WORKDAY

Todays goal: - Building spacing diagrams on Rhino. - Rough masterplan solar analysis. - Canal Renderings - Masterplan diagrams. Had a meeting with the developer at lunch as well to talk about progress.

RESIDENTIAL CODES - SOLAR STUDIES SUMMER SOLSTICE JUNE 21ST - 8AM - 9PM

WINTER SOLSTICE DECEMBER 22ND - 10AM - 9PM

ISOMETRIC

PLAN

12.00<

8.00<

10.67

7.11

9.33

6.22

8.00

5.33

6.67

4.44

5.33

3.56 2.67

4.00

1.78

2.67 1.33

Rita found the building separation distances and I ran solar simulations on volumes that represented the residential and commercial separation distances. This helped us figure out the impact that distances and orientation has on the neighbouring buildings.

0.89

<0.00

<0.00 HOURS OF SUNLIGHT/DAY

On our first meeting on September 21st, the firm told us to look up building separation codes in order to make sure we abide by the codes.

ISOMETRIC

HOURS OF SUNLIGHT/DAY

COMMERCIAL CODES - SOLAR STUDIES SUMMER SOLSTICE JUNE 21ST - 8AM - 9PM

WINTER SOLSTICE DECEMBER 22ND - 10AM - 9PM

ISOMETRIC

PLAN

12.00<

8.00<

10.67

7.11

9.33

6.22

8.00

5.33

6.67

4.44

5.33

3.56 2.67

4.00

1.78

2.67 1.33 <0.00 HOURS OF SUNLIGHT/DAY

0.89

<0.00 HOURS OF SUNLIGHT/DAY

SEPTEMBER 25 2017 Page 29

OFFICE WORKDAY

Next I made a rough master plan solar analysis. We had somewhat of an idea of what our overall design is going to look like. We decided to build off of what Rita had as her schematic design and implement what both Victor and I had found out through our experiments during the schematic design phase. I took Ritaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design and modeled it in Rhino, I then mirrored it so that we can see the type of impact it would have if our design would be to be mirrored for the next phase. Taking into consideration that we were told numerous times to be thinking about the bigger picture and how our design can impact the surrounding neighbourhoods. It was interesting to see the design mirrored because that is a better orientation (in my opinion based on preliminary solar studies), and the next phase would get that design.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2017 Page 30

OFFICE WORKDAY

When we originally split up points of interests, I decided that I would focus on the canal/retail part as I had found numerous precedents so I had a good idea of what I wanted to achieve. After visiting the site the second time, it became apparent that there is only one part of the canal that is heavily reinforced, the rest is held in place by the surrounding land mass. We were also told that the height of the river fluctuates throughout the year, especially during monsoon season. Taking into consideration that I originally wanted to activate the canal area, the second site visit was crucial in helping me bring my ideas to life. Since it is not built up, I have more opportunity to create an interesting canal strip. The first image shows what the canal would look like at the end of the site where there is a park, and this would be a more natural setting as it would connect to the natural park on the south-west edge of our site. The second image shows what the canal would look like by the retail section of the site. Both canals respond to the changes in water levels and create a different environment and different interaction depending on the water. This creates a lively, interactive, canal area which was my goal from the start of the semester.

SEPTEMBER 25 2017 Page 31

OFFICE WORKDAY

The last part of today was spent creating the previous CAD master plan into diagrams. This was made to help us understand the overall context, and to help show others where our site is and how it relates to its context. It was more of an exploratory exercise so that we can understand the site better.

Context - Water

Context - Roads

Overall Context SEPTEMBER 25, 2017 Page 32

MOBOZHI ARCHITECTURE DESIGN INC

Today we got picked up in Nansha and taken to visit the Mobozhi Architecture Design Inc building. We had a tour of their firm, were shown their projects that they completed, and had an opportunity to meet with Greg and Hing-wah to talk about our progress and what we plan on doing next. Some take-aways that I got from the project presentation were: - Ideas about historical/culture. - Fusing the two together with modern ideas/practices. - Interesting, because that is what I wanted to do when I first started my precedent studies. - Traditional Chinese Garden with modern techniques. - Modern columns for structure. - Steel columns used for piping as well. - Saves space/cost. - “Always learn from the old/new and combine them together.” - “Go and develop with the time” SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 Page 33

FINAL PUSH

Today we had a very last-minute meeting/presentation. We met with Mr. Fok (the client), and showed him what we had for our master plan idea. My role was to compile our presentation, create the diagrams of our master plan, section and their diagrams, the next step in designing the residential area, and adding precedents to Victor’s parts.

RESIDENTIAL

NANSHA COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT 南沙湾商贸北区开发项目

住宅

Overhangs

PRELIMINARY MASTER PLAN SCHEME - Location - Nansha, Guangzhou, China - 地点 - 中国，广州南沙

Symmetry

- Land area - 565mu - 土地面积 - 565亩

Strong horizontal Elements

balconies

LINEAR GREEN BELT 带状城市绿地公园

Strong Central Focal Point

GENERATING THE GRID 地块细分

Strong Base Element Traditional/Modern Column/Beam Construction

1-2 - Commercial 3+ - Residential

How big is a city block? Nansha North proposed 80 x 70 m approx. Melbourne Hoddle Grid 200 x 100 m DELIBERATION IN GUANGZHOU Rita Liao Studio C Sem 02 | 2017 Tutors: Greg Missingham & Hing-wah Chau

Barcelona 120 x 120 m

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017 Page 34

PREPARATION FOR MID-SEM PRES.

We were very fortunate that we had to last-minute prepare for the meeting with Mr. Fok because we got the majority of our design finished and put together before the mid-semester presentation. All that was done was a few minor tweaks and corrections that were missed when we were rushing to finish. I also did a few wind simulation tests, but we decided against adding it to the presentation because they were really rough and I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know how to properly show it and for it to look good. The simulation needed to be tweaked in order to show a proper diagram, but nonetheless, we knew that the elevated ground floor helped with carrying wind across the site. SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 Page 35

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

The next few weeks following our return back to Melbourne was centered around getting the plans to work in our volumes, working out retail on the ground floors, activating the streets to get people outside, designing the external facade to reflect traditional Chinese architecture, but with a modern twist, and compiling everything for the final presentation. 2

1. PLOT ALLOCATION

2. EXTRUSION

3. VOIDS FOR SUNLIGHT

4. GROUND FLOOR SETBACK FOR COVERED WALKWAYS

5. INTERNAL STOREYS REDUCED FOR MORE SUN LIGHT

PRECEDENT 1

6. VOLUME CUTS FOR SUNLIGHT AND WIND INTO COURTYARDS

7. 1.5m SETBACK FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION CORRIDORS

8. SOLAR STUDIES FOR FURTHER VOLUME OPTIMIZATION

PRECEDENT 2

PRECEDENT 3

9. VOLUME CUTS FOR MORE LIGHT INTO COURTYARDS

3 FIRST LEVEL FLOOR PLAN - 1:500 @ A0

GROUND LEVEL FLOOR PLAN - 1:500 @

SECOND LEVEL FLOOR PLAN - 1:500 @ A0

CROSS VENTILATION

SUNLIGHT IN EACH ROOM

FIFTH LEVEL FLOOR PLAN - 1:500 @ A0

CROSS VENTILATION

RESIDENTIAL HUMAN CIRCULATION

FUNCTIONAL CONFIGURATION

RETAIL

TYPICAL 1 BEDROOM UNIT - PLAN - 1:100 @ A0 1 BED, 1 BATH - 57 sqm

TYPICAL 2 BEDROOM UNIT - PLAN - 1:100 @ A0 2 BED, 1 BATH - 70 sqm

SUNLIGHT IN EACH ROOM TYPICAL 3 BEDROOM UNIT - PLAN - 1:100 @ A0 3 BED, 2 BATH - 86 sqm

DELIBERATION IN GUANGZHOU - DAVID GERBER - 774234

Ground Floor Design

Floor Plans 1 BEDROOM

PRECEDENT 1

PRECEDENT 2

2 BEDROOM

PRECEDENT 3 GREEN SPACES

3 BEDROOM

APARTMENT CONFIGURATION

Volume Formation Diagrams Symmetry

Overhangs

Strong horizontal Elements

Strong Central Focal Point

FIRST LEVEL FLOOR PLAN - 1:500 @ A0

GROUND LEVEL FLOOR PLAN - 1:500 @

SECOND LEVEL FLOOR PLAN - 1:500 @ A0

AUTOMOBILE CIRCULATION INSPIRATION DELIBERATION IN GUANGZHOU - DAVID GERBER - 774234

CROSS VENTILATION

SUNLIGHT IN EACH ROOM TYPICAL 1 BEDROOM UNIT - PLAN - 1:100 @ A0 1 BED, 1 BATH - 57 sqm

CROSS VENTILATION

SUNLIGHT IN EACH ROOM TYPICAL 2 BEDROOM UNIT - PLAN - 1:100 @ A0 2 BED, 1 BATH - 70 sqm

SUNLIGHT IN EACH ROOM TYPICAL 3 BEDROOM UNIT - PLAN - 1:100 @ A0 3 BED, 2 BATH - 86 sqm

Strong Base Element Traditional/Modern Column/Beam Construction

FIFTH LEVEL FLOOR PLAN - 1:500 @ A0

balconies

1-2 - Commercial 3+ - Residential

OCTOBER 30, 2017 Page 36

This studio was an incredible experience and pushed me out of my comfort zone, which in turn helped me grow a lot and learn how to work under pressure while still maintaining a high standard of work and professionalism. Thank you to everyone who made this possible. Thank you Hanion for organizing everything for us, thank you Mobozhi for providing us with accommodation and transportation to and from work and the opportunity to work along side your firm, thank you to Hing-wah and Greg for not only choosing me to partake in this studio, but also being vital in my ability to grow and learn as much as possible in a short time span. This ended up being an extremely interesting project and process, and was great to get a glimpse of the “real world”. It’s just too bad that there wasn’t enough time, would be great to see this project through to its end.