Project: Hutong Architecture School
Lulu Le Li - Unit 22
Background Since the 1980s, the Chinese government has been implementing a housing relocation plan. The goal is to transform the traditional Chinese dwellings into high-density residential neighborhoods with modern utilities. However, this has lead to a mass destruction of Beijing’s Hutong cultural assets. Many courtyard houses have also been demolished for the city’s “ring-road” highway system. The 2008 Olympics Games further accelerated the destruction of courtyard houses to make way for sports venues and infrastructure for the games. This mass destruction has left residents of Hutongs feeling insecure and has put Hutong’s dense social network and intimate culture under serious threat. Project Brief I am proposing a Hutong regeneration programme built around a “live” architecture school, where the students engage in the design, manufacture and construction of various insertions within the Hutong fabric. This will be their learning environment (school) during the seven year life of the project, corresponding to the length of their degree programme, and at the same time the school buildings will be used as community learning centres and social hubs. The aim of the project is to train the future architects through direct on-site exposure to design and construction based on understanding local culture and heritage. At the same time, they will renovate and revitalise the Hutong communities helping to reinforce and refurbish the existing architecture through construction of the school buildings; providing access and spaces for training for the community, and; creating facilities to retain and encourage traditional Hutong activities. Once the “school” is gone at the end of the project, it shall leave behind the Hutong in a much better state architecturally and provide the residents with new and improved facilities for social use. The project critiques the current Chinese system of education, which is study based, result oriented and divorced from the real world and traditions. Meanwhile, contemporary school buildings are quite often enclosed reinforced concrete blocks, looking similar to hospitals or office buildings. In my view architecture design should engage with everyday life and not be divorced from the past, as expressed in Bauhaus philosophy. Therefore, I want to challenge the present school system and design an open school environment that connects with tradition and interfaces with the surroundings, with strong elements of apprenticeship in it. After in depth study of the Hutong culture and condition, I believe Hutong offers the most intimate and organic system for learning and experiencing the architecture and culture. The shared space, porous structure, the different spatial and acoustic quality also offers a continuation of space for thinking and imagination. I also subscribe to Herman Hertzburger’s view that the most important part of a school is not the enclosed classrooms but the in between spaces where social interactions occur. Architecturally, the project is concerned with the facilities, possibilities, activities and pleasures that the school’s architecture generates. The project will also try to address the tension between the students and locals, the school program and local activities, school developments and Hutong modernization, through the study of translucent learning environment, dealing with threshold, concealment, implication and relationship between private and public. The Site: Central Beijing, next to the monumental Drum and Bell towers, is one of Beijing’s most atmospheric and traditional neighbourhoods. The area is currently under threat for a new proposed 500 million “time square” project. Part of the adjacent block has been demolished.