MASTER THESIS - MAGNUS ASKER PETTERSEN H U TO N G R E G E N E R AT I O N A DAY CARE COMMUNITY FOR THE ELDERLY L I V I N G I N T H E H U TO N G O F B E I J I N G
RESEARCH AND AND CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
SUPERVISING PROFESSOR - Prof. NEVEN FUCHS-MIKAC EXTERNAL SUPERVISOR - JOAKIM SKA JAA 2013 - 2014 - The Oslo School of Architecture and Design
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INTRODUCTION - a short introduction to the thesis and the contentof the project.
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STATISTICS - research on the demographic development in cina and beijing.
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THE HUTONG - a pictorial introduction to the hutong areas of beijing.
THE FABRIC AND SHAPE OF THE HUTONG - a pictorial explanation to the hutong areas of beijing .
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TYPOLOGIES - a study of typologies and how they can relate to the courtyard house
INTERVIEWS AND CONVERSATIONS - a collection of discussions in beijing
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THE SITE - an introduction to the Shi Jia hutong and the sites selected for the project
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THE PROGRAMME - how to develop a day care centre for the elderly living in Beijing
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INTRODUCTION A short introduction to the thesis and the content of the project
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This thesis aims to highlight the need for a better care system for the aging population in Beijing, and explore the possibilities to utilize the structures of the project to activate, and socialize the users of the day care in the vicinity of their own neighborhood. The day care community is not one specific place, but a collection of structures where the user can go to socialize, and to get help with medical and daily problems. This integration of social development and daily life makes it easier for the user to get the full potential of the day care system. The project promotes social interaction with the inhabitants of the community, and as a result of this, improving the living situation for the elderly living in the Shi Jia Hutong. The thesis explores the possibilities of further development of the Hutong, without diminishing the overall complexity of these urban areas
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S TAT I S T I C S Research on development in
the Cina
demographic and Beijing
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Aging China In 2010, nearly 178 million people in China were 60 years of age or older, accounting for 13.26 per cent of the total population. The number will double by 2030, and an official report in 2010 said China will overtake Japan to become the world’s most ageing society by 2030.
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Source: The Economic Times (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-09-25/news/42394743_1_demographic-crisis-population-400-turn)
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70% Pension coverage is available only to those employed in the government sector and large companies. Thus, children are responsible for the retirement of many parents. According to the Asia Pacific Population Journal, the lack of adequate pension coverage in China means that financial dependence on offspring is still necessary approximately 70 percent of elderly people.
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Source: Wikinvest (http://www.wikinvest.com/concept/China%27s_Aging_Population)
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4 - 2- 1 The problem nicknamed the “4:2:1� phenomenon, highlights the idea that an increasing numbers of couples are now responsible for the care of just one child, but four parents. The Population Development Review reported in 2002 that initiatives are under way to improve access to government pensions and to encourage saving for private pensions in an attempt to reduce the burden of the 4:2:1 phenomenon. The ability of urban parents who are only-children to have more than one child themselves may somewhat reduce this burden.
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Source: Wikinvest (http://www.wikinvest.com/concept/China%27s_Aging_Population)
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Age breakdown Beijing Age breakdown data is only available for 2004. At that time, 9.96 of the population was aged 0-14, 78.92% were aged 15-64, and 11.12% were aged 65 or over.
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Source: The World Population Review (http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/beijing-population/)
10% 0-14
78% 15-64
12% 65 <
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29,4 Every 100 residents aged 15 to 59 had the burden of looking after 29.4 elderly people in 2012, but the figure was 24.3 in 2008, state-run Xinhua News reported, citing figures. This rapid growth, shows an alarming number of how elderly people in Beijing are finacially dependent on their offspring.
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Source: The Economic Times (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-09-25/news/42394743_1_demographic-crisis-population-400-turn)
X 100 15-59
X 29,4 60+
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2,63 million 60+ Released by the municipal committee on ageing, the report said nearly 2.63 million registered Beijing residents were 60 years old or above in 2012, while the total number of registered Beijing inhabitants stood at 12.98 million. The unofficial numbers may be a lot higher, since the totla population in Beijing in 2012 was approximately 20,2 million.
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Source: The Economic Times (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-09-25/news/42394743_1_demographic-crisis-population-400-turn)
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Increase in elderly population In 2006, the registered population of Beijing aged 60 or above increased by 605,000, accounting for more than 60 per cent of the total increase in the number of registered residents.
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Source: World Population Statistics (http://www.worldpopulationstatistics.com/beijing-population-2013/)
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400 turn 60 every day Beijing will see an increase of senior citizens every year until 2020. This highlights the huge challenge in caring for the elderly. The city is faced with rapid growth in its elderly population, with 400 more people reaching the age of 60 every day, according to a report released by the city government.
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Source: World Population Statistics (http://www.worldpopulationstatistics.com/beijing-population-2013/)
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Life expectancy The average life expectancy in Beijing (2011 numbers) is 81,12 years old. The male average is 79,16 years against the female average og 83,17 years old. These numbers are on the same level as the life expectancy in Oslo, Norway.
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Source: The World Population Review (http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/beijing-population/)
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Family member decrease Since the introduction of the one child policy the average number of family members in Beijing has decreased over the last four decades. Because of this there are fewer children to take care of their parents when they get older.
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Source: Want China Times (http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20110506000123&cid=1103)
4,81 pers in 1973
3,38 pers in 2003
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T H E H U TO N G To know where you work, and to know your surroundings is important to architecture. This series of pictures is a short introdution to the Hutong areas of Beijing.
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The streets of the Hutong is the social sceene. Here people meet to talk, play games, share stories and to socialize
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The Hutong is not only a place for people to live. The Hutong contains markets, shops, barber shops, laundromats, temples and much more. The Hutong is almost to complex to comprehend
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The living conditions can be poor, and the state of a lot of the structures are in a really bad shape
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There are exceptions, and if you look for them, you can find the secret gems of the Hutong. Well kept historical examples og how the courtyard house once used to be.
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The entrance represents the wealth of the inhabitants. Anonyme entrances represent the lower classes of the residents in the Hutong
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Old families often have elaborate entrances with large doors and high security. The inside of the courtyard is a very private part of the life in the Hutong
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The narrow lanes gives a private setting. There is always a new surprise behind next corner. Not knowing where you will end up is one of the greates qualities of the Hutong. Behind every corner there are new people, and new conversations
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The larger traffic lanes are an important part of the infrastructure of the Hutong, but because of the rise in inhabitants, the are lanes are getting more and more congested.
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The streets of the Hutong can be full of life. They are a good way to se the complextiy of the demographic of the Hutong
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If not, they are a great way to get away from the busy life in Beijing. The Hutong can sometimes be a place of solitude
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The sanitary facilities in the Hutong are an experience in itself. You know where they are before you can see them.
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The community centre is where the area is organized from. If someone has a problem, this is where they would go. The centre has full controll over the inhabitants of the Hutong, and looks after their well beeing.
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T H E FA B R I C A N D S H A P E O F T H E H U TO N G The Hutong is Rugged. It is put together by different structures, shapes, materials and people. Here are the pictures showing the diversity in the fabric of the Hutong
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In the middle of the courtyard new structures are popping up like small pet houses. These structures are made with brick. All though ment as temporary structures in the beginning of the 70â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, they are now a large part of the Hutong structures
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More â&#x20AC;&#x153;well offâ&#x20AC;? inhabitants often make elaborate additions to their courtyard house, often in the style of the old courtyard houses
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The brick - By far the most used material in the Hutong. There is something special about the homogenized feel of the Hutong and the elaborate use of brick.
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In the older structures of the Hutong, the use of wood is also very present. The level of detai is often very high, and the wood work is often of a very high quality.
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Nature is a very big part of the Hutong. In many places the trees are almost one with the structures. Because there is no underground structures, the trees can grow more freely than other places in the city
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All though the Hutong can be a grey and colourless scene in the winter, the use of colour has a strong significance. Colour can represent what type of function a building has, or the importance of the owner of the courtyard
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The shape of the roofs are very typical for the Hutong. It has a very gentle look to it, and at the same time it is a very detailed structure, made up by hundreds of painstaikingly detailed roof tiles
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The shapes of the courtyard is often used to emphasize a movement. The transition between two spaces are often represented by a circular opening. The patterns on the ground can also be of a very high detail.
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T Y P O LO G I E S A study of different typologies and how they can relate to the structures of the Hutong and the courtyard house in Beijing
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I N T R O D U C T I O N If you look at the drawing of the court yard house, there is a lot of information about how the house is a complex mixture of several types og building typologies put together to form a intricate housing situation. This research aims to isolate the selected typologies , found in the courtyard house, to study them individually and find the potential in further development, and alteration of each typology.
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TRANSITIONAL SPACE
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COURTYARD AND ATRIUM SPACE
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WALL STRUCTURES
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HIERARCHICALLY ORGANIZED SPACES
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LAYERED SPACE
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MULTIPLE PURPOSE SPACE
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TRANSITIONAL SPACE
The notion of a space, not quite outside yet not quite indoors can be said to have been with humanity for thousands of years. From simple shelters to the Greek temple gables, from tents to the Si He Yuan Courtyard house in Beijing. The transitional zone has evolved as a response to local climate on all continents. The materials, functions and sophistication may vary, but their main purpose remain to provide a gentle transition between indoor and outside.
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Project: Architect: Location: Year:
Atelier Bardill Valerio Olgiati Scharans, Switzerland 2006 - 2007
The client, Linard Bardill, needed only one single space, a room to work in. This working space occupies not even a third of the stipulated volume. The rest of it constitutes a courtyard that is monumentalized by a huge round opening to the sky.This is where the house expresses greatness and clearness in contrast to the arbitrary geometry of its external appearance and to the small-scale environment of the village.
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Project: Architect: Location: Year:
House in Gotanda Go Hasegawa Gotanda, Tokyo, Japan 2005 - 2006
This building in the centre of Tokyo is divided into two separate buildings, with a spiral staircase connecting the two parts of the house. The spiral staircase functions as the main circulation point of the house, and at the same time the staircase is situated in a open space, that can be opened or closed to the outside world. The ten meter high door can be split in two, giving the possibility of having an outside are as a part of the house.
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COURTYARD AND ATRIUM SPACE
Historically the courtyard was the scene of many activities; it was the place where the fire was kept burning, for sleeping and recreation. The atrium-type house is derived from the dwelling type of the classical Greek, Roman antiquity and earlier courtyard structures from East-Asian countries. The courtyard house in which one or more courtyards can be arranged in different locations within the floor plan, while the courtyard of the atriumtype house is the spatial centre of the house. The inner courtyard also serves as a circulation zone, recreationalspace and access zone to adjacent rooms. The shape the courtyard decides on different modes of access and spatial components. The climate was a factor of importance in determining the courtyards. The enclosed space is protected from wind and sound from the neighbourhood, while it keeps the quality of light increases and personal space is created.
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Project: Architect: Location: Year:
Qingcheng Mountain Teahouse Standardarchitecture Chengdu, China 2007
The â&#x20AC;&#x153;Stone Courtyardâ&#x20AC;? Tea House is located close to Daguan Town at the foot of the Qingcheng Mountain near Chengdu. With total area of 500 square meters, the tea house is actually comprised of five separate courtyard buildings stand very close to each other. The first building is an empty front courtyard; the last building functions as living courtyards; and the other three buildings function as tea courtyards.
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Project: Architect: Location: Year:
Fuji Kindergarten Tezuka Architects Tokyo, Japan 2007
A kindergarten in the shape of a oval with a perimeter of 183m, made for 500 children. It is conceived as a single village. The interior is an integrated space softly partitioned with furniture. Projecting through the roof deck are three preserved zelkova trees 25m in height. The simple shape of the kindergarten makes up for a very interesting interactional pattern of use. The user can follow the directional flow of the structure, or move around to all of the rooms freely, using the courtyard.
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WALL STRUCTURES
Massive wall houses can be related to a castle. Castles were not necessarily military strongholds; many of them, were nothing more than fortified houses, and it is in these we must seek the first traces of our own homes, the earliest evidences of domestic architecture. When cutting horizontally one of these fortified homes, one discovers the richness and complexity of inhabiting a wall.The Wall understood as the interface layer between the exterior and the interior. Between these two faces, it is where the highest density of human activity takes place.
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Project: Architect: Location: Year:
Poli House Pezo von Ellrichshausen Architects Coliumo, Chile 2005
The building functions both as a summer house and a cultural center. This established a contradictory use: the interior would have to mediate between a very public aspect and a more intimate and informal one. That is, it had to be both monumental and domestic without any of the negative aspects of either one affecting the other. Therefore, the architects decided not to name the rooms by function but instead to leave them nameless and functionless, just empty rooms with varying degrees of connection between them. Then they decided to organize all the service functions in an oversized perimeter (the functional width), inside a thick wall that acts as a buffer. That hollowed, empty space houses the kitchen, the vertical circulations, the bathrooms, the closets and a series of interior balconies that protect the windows from the sun (to the north) and the rain (to the west). If necessary, all the furniture and domestic objects can be stored inside the perimeter, freeing up the space for multiple activities.
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Project: Architect: Location: Year:
Guerrero House Alberto Campo Baeza Vejer, Spain 2005
To build a well-balanced house full of light and shade. To fill this central space with shade, the office opened it to the front and back, creating 3 meter deep porches that protect these openings from the sun, tempering the light. To either side, bedrooms and baths. In the front courtyard, the entrance to the house, four orange trees mark the central and main axis, flanked by low walls that hide service areas. In the back courtyard, another four orange trees are similarly aligned. And at the end, carved into the ground, a trough like pond stretches from side to side. The house is the construction of a luminous shadow.
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HIERARCHICALLY ORGANIZED SPACES
Hierarchically organized houses have one or more aspects with them that makes the defines the layout of the structure. This can be based on heath distribution, layout of rooms, size of rooms, or usage of the house. In the early 20th century europe, the hierarchically organization was often based on class. Where, and how people lived in apartment buildings.
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Project: Architect: Location: Year:
House of the Faun Pompeii, Italy 200 B.C.
Built during the 2nd century BC, the House of the Faun was one of the largest, and most impressive private residences in Pompeii, Italy, and housed many great pieces of art. It is one of the most luxurious aristocratic houses from the Roman republic, and reflects this period better than most archaeological evidence found even in Rome itself. The House of the Faun covers nearly 3,000 square meters, and occupies an entire city block, or insula. The house can be divided into five major parts: the Tuscan atrium, tetrastyle atrium, service rooms and corridors. Like other wealthy aristocrats of the Roman Republic, the owners of the House of the Faun installed a private bath system in the house. The bathing room was located in the domestic wing, which was to the right of the entrance, and along with the kitchen was heated by a large furnace. Additionally, the house contained an entrance passage, a number of bedrooms , dining rooms for both the summer and winter, a reception room , and an office
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Project: Architect: Location: Year:
Tóló House Alvaro Leite Siza Vieira Vila Real, Portugal 2005
The project consists of a holiday home with three bedrooms, a social bathroom, a living room, a dinning room, a small kitchen with a support washbasin, pantry, and even a small outdoor swimming pool. The terrain is sharply inclined and has a particular configuration: it is very long and narrow. However, the fact that it faces south allows it to receive optimal solar exposure and to enjoy a particular natural view. Its fragmentation, necessary due to the steep topography, transforms the whole into a composition of small linked and interconnected volumes, creating an unevenness that allows for a more secure and rational use of the lot. In this way the house’s various functions are clarified with each elevation corresponding to a single compartment. The roof functions simultaneously as pavement support for the gardens.
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LAYERED SPACE
The layered house is a linear compilation layered from one end to the other. Historically it was a question about weather conditions and space. The residents moved the animals inside their homes to gain heathed air from the animals. For the animals to fit inside the building the space increased within the same construction principles, and the building became long and layered. Today the layers are more about spatial experience than construction principles. They are buffer zones between outside and the inside, between nature and the living space.
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Project: Architect: Location: Year:
Polyphonic Jun Igarashi Tokoro, Japan 2012
The theme of this house is air volume. The house has many layered air volumes. The air volume changes inside the house between summer and winter. The aim of the nesting composition in section and plan is to change the air volume. This principle is similar to the principle of Japanese traditional â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kotasuâ&#x20AC;?. To reduce energy consumption by controlling of air volume, it makes comfortable interior environment.
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Project: Architect: Location: Year:
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Gordon Bunshaft New Haven, Connecticut, USA 1963
A six-story above-ground glass-enclosed tower of book stacks is surrounded by a windowless rectangular outer shell, supported only on four massive piers at the corners of the building, which descend 50 feet to bedrock. The outer walls are made of translucent veined marble panels, which transmit subdued lighting and provide protection from direct sunlight. At night, the stone panels transmit light from the interior, giving the exterior of the building an amber glow.A public exhibition hall surrounds the glass stack tower that is situated in the middle of the box structure inside. The glass box contains the rare books collection of the library.
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MULTIPLE PURPOSE SPACE
The multi purpose space has been around for many years, but after the rise of the modernism, the popularity for this spatial structures became more and more popular. The multi purpose space can be found in many variations, but are often recognized by larger room structures, that contain several activities at the same time, or they have the ability to change the use of the space depending on what is needed at any given moment. Typical examples can me multiple purpose sports arenas and exhibition centres, but in this research the focus has been put on small houses and spaces that are used for dwellings.
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Project: Architect: Location: Year:
Tree House Mount Fuji Architects Studio Tokyo, Japan 2009
The house is constructed around a centrical column, that support the roof structure. The roof beams spirals upwards, forming a shell like roof structure over the one room building. In detail, the archshaped â&#x20AC;&#x153;column-beamâ&#x20AC;? frame structure made by LVL/Laminated Veneer Lumber in 51 mm thickness is rotated in the regular angle of 11.25 degree (360 degree/32 frames) to form this architecture. Each frame gets 55 mm higher than the previous one, therefore there is the height difference of 1.7 m in frame as they go around 360 degree. This system forms the fluent Hyperbolic Paraboloidal curve surface providing the entrance to the roof terrace, while it also functions as the high side light that brings in the only open sky toward the east and the greenery of the neighboring house as a framed picture. The completed house was formed by the strict rules of the geometry, but somehow it achieved the atmosphere unlike the artificial object. When we sit down at the bottom of the central pillar and lean against to look up, those radially extending beams appear to be the branches of a large tree.
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Project: Architect: Location: Year:
Collectorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Studio UNStudio New York City, NY, USA 2007 - 2010
The design for an existing loft located in Greenwich Village in Manhattan explores the interaction between a gallery and living space. The main walls in the loft flow through the space, and together with articulated ceilings create hybrid conditions in which exhibition areas merge into living areas. While the walls form a calm and controlled backdrop for the works of art, the ceiling is more articulated in its expression of this transition. By interchanging luminous and opaque, the ceiling creates a field of ambient and local lighting conditions, forming an organizational element in the exhibition and the living areas. In addition the former windows in the South wall have been replaced by floor to ceiling glass panes that frame and extend compelling views, over a full glass balcony.
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INTERVIEWS
AND CONVERSATIONS
During my stay in Beijing in Febryary 2014 I did a series of interviews and conversations with people living in the Hutong, people who worked with day care centres and architects working with de development of the Hutong in Beijing.
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THE REALITY OF CHINESE DAY CARE
Interview with Ma Naichi and her husband in Beijing, China, January 28th 2014. Translator for the interview was my former Chinese teacher Lee Weiwei. The intention of this interview was to get a better insight into how the Chinese are working out the details on how they can create day care centres for the elderly living in Beijing
Could you give a short summary of what kind of work you are doing? - I am a doctor, but I am not practicing medicine at the moment. My husband is a doctor in Chinese traditional medicine, and has been working in the hospital for ten years. At the moment I am working with the problem of how China and the government is going to be able to cope with the rising elderly population. The organization is trying to find solutions to how we can take care for the elderly in the future. The middle class and the rich in China already have the wealth to take care for themselves, but they are just a fraction of the population, and we are focusing on the people who are less fortunate, and who has to rely on their families and the government to take care of the when they get older.
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This is a fairly new study in China, and before 2005, there was almost no one who was focusing on the rise in the elderly population. We are one of the few who are really researching this, and we are working with the government, charity organizations and the private sector to find the best solutions for how to take care of the elderly in Beijing.
What would be the most pressing needs for the less fortunate elderly living in Beijing? - The elderly living in Beijing often has very little money, and the people you are focusing on, living in the Hutong, usually have a place to stay, but they have very little money. They may have around 1000RMB per month to live for, so they live on a bare minimum. As a consequence of this, they have nothing to do in the daytime. They either just stay in their home, or talk to their neighbours, but other than that, there is not much to do. Often their children have moved out, and they are left to their own. Finding a way to activate them, and to give them a meaningful life is very important. The problem with the people living in the Hutong is that they cannot move. They wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t function well in another situation. They have lived there for so long that they know no other way of life, and they are not able to adapt when they are moved. This we have seen when the government re-house people. They rely on the community in the Hutong, and when you take this away from them, they just donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what to do.
How is it possible to control the use of the centre, i.e. how would it be possible to know that it actually is poor elderly who use the centre: There is a certain risk that wealthy people would use the centre, and as a result of this, the people who actually need these centres would not be able to get in. - The community actually has a really good control over who is eligible to use these types of centres. The community centres have all the information about who live in a certain area of Beijing. They have this information because they are in control over who is connected to which hospital in the city, and they also have the connection with the local police. For example, if a person or a family is in the need of the police, they contact the community centre, and they will contact local authorities. In addition to this, the person who would like to use the day centres can contact the government to get an authorization card showing that they are eligible to apply to be a part of a day centre.
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If it would be possible to create a day centre for the poor elderly living in the Hutong area of Beijing, what do you think would be the most appropriate functions for this centre? - We have done a lot of interviews around the city, with thousands of people, and they actually give a lot of the same answers to our questions. A big problem, especially the people who live in the older parts of Beijing would like to have a small market in the centre. They mainly ask for small vegetable markets, because it is a long way to walk for them to the supermarkets, and because of their health and old age, they doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always have the energy to go shopping. Another important function would be a health check service. The centre cannot give active medical help, but it can offer health check-ups, psychological help, and it is also possible to offer traditional medicinal help. It is only health clinics and hospitals that can offer active medical treatment, including medicinal treatment, but the Chinese medicine is outside of this restriction. This is very helpful, since a large part of the elderly community in Beijing are strong believers of the traditional Chinese medical care, and they wont use western medicine unless their doctor sends them to the clinic or the hospital. In addition to these services, it would be practical to have basic sanitary services, like toilets and showers. A lot of the public toilets are in a very poor state, and having good sanitary functions can give a positive effect on the general health. We always look at each centre individually, and we ask the community what are the most pressing needs for the local population, and from these interviews we try to figure out what functions would be the most appropriate for each day centre. At this point there is no standard for the day centres. It all depends on the local community.
When it comes to size, is there a norm for this, or do you just take what you can get regarding locations around Beijing? - In general, we do not like to have large centres. We believe that having smaller centres, in a larger number is better than having larger centres in smaller numbers. This is because the locals like to feel comfortable in the centres, and if there is to many people using them at once, they get confused, and as a consequence of this, the centre works against itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s purpose. If the centre could accommodate around 100 people, than you would have good coverage for a certain part of the community. Not everyone would use the centre every day, so having space for around 100 persons means that you could cover up to 600 users in one area. The system we are trying to establish is working in the way that if you are eligible to use these day centres in Beijing, you can use all of them.
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In which way do you think that it would be the most efficient way to finance this type of day centres? - The government often starts these centres, but in Beijing there is a very high complexity of how to finance these centres. The government often sees the need for a centre, and than they try to organize how to get it built. They will put a great effort into getting them built, and if a private company wants to start a centre, they will give them a great deal of finances to complete the job. Nothing is ever really private in China. If you have a private company running a centre, you get the land from the government, they will help you finance it, and in the end, they will also help you coordinate it. Since this is a very new type of social care in China, it is important for the government to show that they have control of the problem, so that they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t â&#x20AC;&#x153;loose faceâ&#x20AC;? as we say here in China. The user often pay a smaller fee, to be a part of the community centre, but most of the finances comes from the government, the private sector and charity organisations. A lot of the workers in the centres are volunteer workers as well.
Talking about the workers, who are the typical employees in these centres? - The employees are very often volunteer workers. Often in the health service, retired doctors, who still are able to work and want to give something back to the community, are working there, but a lot of the employees are students working as volunteer medical personnel. They do this to get the extra experience and it is very good to have on your CV. There are psychology students, medicine students, students learning traditional Chinese medicine and also chiropractic students. In addition to this, there are volunteer workers from charity organisations and a lot of the people who use the centres help each other out. Even though they are old, a lot of them are in good health, and they want to help each other as much as they can. People come from a variety of backgrounds and they always find a way to help out.
If we focus on the social aspect of the centre, what type of functions do you think would be important to establish, when it comes to adding a social day centre in an already closed social community as the Hutong? - The Hutong is a very well organized society in Beijing, but the living conditions are fairly spartan, and the people living in the Hutong will say that they have a good life, and that they have few problems. The thing is that the new economy is making it more difficult to run a business in the Hutong, and a lot of the small markets are
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disappearing from the area. The social scene in the Hutong is often based around the daily routine, and if it is possible to establish a small market, at the same time you suddenly can get a lot of social activity. If you could establish a social hub connected with daily activity the chance of the centre being a success is a lot higher. A lot of the social happenings in the Hutong is organized by the local community centre, so having people helping the local community centre in this kind of work is just as important as having places for social activity in the centre.
Could you underline some of the disadvantages with having the centre located in the Hutong, compared to other areas of Beijing? - The problem in the Hutong is the space. It is more difficult to organize these centres in the Hutong than other places, because the Hutong, even though it is very organized on a bigger scale, when you go into the complexity of the situation, it is very difficult to find a suitable site to use for a day care centre for the elderly. Another important aspect is that it is more expensive to establish a centre, if you are a private organization, because in China it is the state that owns all land. You can never by land in China, you can only â&#x20AC;&#x153;borrowâ&#x20AC;? it from the government, and this can be up to seventy years, depending on the use of the site. When it comes to the day care centres and similar institutions, you often only get thirty years, and in a financial perspective, that is not a very good starting point. If a day care centre would be established in the Hutong, you would have to be either substantially financed by the government, or you should have established a good network with different types of charity organizations.
When we are talking about the subject of charity organizations, could you give a few examples of what kind of charity we are talking about, is it solely financial support, or is there other kinds of donations we are talking about as well? - Yes, there are different types of charity. An important part of the charities is of course the financial beneficiaries, but there are other types of charities that we are collaborating with, when it comes to our day care centres. One important collaborator we have established is the charity supermarket. Here the poor elderly can go and get their groceries for a very good price compared to other places, and they can also buy very cheap clothes and other goods they need. Alongside the charity supermarket we have been working with different types of kitchens. We wanted in the beginning to have a separate kitchen for each of the day care centres, but after a while we saw that this was not a very viable financial strategy. After a while we decided to build a larger centralized kitchen that would supply
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each centre with what they needed after what demand they had. In this way we could control the financial side a lot better. Some centres still have a small kitchen, but these kitchens are intended for the staff and not the users of the centre.
Even though the elderly mostly have a place to stay, what are you thoughts on having temporary sleeping quarters in the centre? - The short answer to your question would be no, don’t give them temporary sleeping quarters, but the reason for this answer is very complex. Moving to a centre from your own home would be very un-natural for the elderly living in Beijing. If they have to move out of their home for a period of time, they would live with friends or relatives. There is a very important unwritten rule in China that you should take care of your family. If you don’t take care of your relatives you are putting shame upon your own family, and then you “loose face” as we say. Showing that you have a strong family relationship in China is very important, and if you break the façade, as you would phrase it, than your family will loose respect from the local community, and that is not a good thing. It is actually very bad.
What kind of user-generated activities do you think would be suitable to add to a day care centre? Not all of the users are in bad shape, and it would be interesting to see what the possibilities were for user-based functions. - Well, as you say, not all of the users would be in bad shape, and that is a good thing. I think that it may be a good idea to have some kind of functions that could be organized by the users themselves, but what these functions could be, I have not a very good answer to give you. We have little experience with these types of programmes. One idea could be to contact other people in the community, and ask them if they would like to volunteer at the centre in the same way as the medical personnel participates in the programme. Carpenters, teachers and technicians would be good resources to have in the centre.
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LEARNING
FROM
BEIJING
On the 29th of January and the 4th of February I had two conversations with Professor Zhong Yufang and his wife Keren He, whom are both working at CAFA, The Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. We talked about how the life in the Hutong of Beijing worked, and how they, as architects, worked in the Hutong. We also discussed the Chinese governments politics on how to build in the Beijing Hutong. This text is trying to recall the essence of these conversations. Magnus: My initial approach to the project was that it was supposed to be for the elderly poor living in the Hutong of Beijing, but after seeing how people live, I have changed my mind regarding the restrictions on the users of the centre. Zhong: The Hutong is a very complex place, and it is very difficult to define poverty in this area, and in Beijing as a whole in fact. There are of course really poor people living in Beijing, but they cannot afford to live in the Hutong. These people are not even registered as Beijing citizens, and would therefore not be able to use the day care centre in the first place. If one were to make a project to help the poorest in Beijing, we are talking about a completely different project. The people living in the Hutong are either living on a bare minimum, or they tend to be very rich, financially speaking, but people living in the Hutong tend to look at each other as equals. If you have worked for the government for your whole life, or you have worked in the streets your whole life, you have given an equal admirable effort to do your work, as a citizen of Beijing. The concept of equality and respect is very interesting in
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the Hutong. The people who does not care so much about this concept is the new middle class, and they do not live in the Hutong, because they can afford to move out, to live in a residence of higher quality, but they can not afford to live in the Hutong with the living standards they wish to have, because they can not afford to own a private residence in the Hutong. Therefore the only people living in the Hutong are the poor and the rich, and they live side by side, and they like to live in there, because this is a life that they want to have.
Magnus: I have tried to find a site for a while, but this is a very difficult task to take on. It seems like the Hutong is a very controlled area regarding ownership and residence eligibility. How is it possible to keep developing this area, when the government is controlling it in such a strict manner? Zhong: The Hutong is a part of a very old system in China and Beijing. After Mao came to power in 1949, the communist party have had control over all land in China, you do not own any land anymore, only the rights to use land. For example, if you have a building site, you can only use it for 70 years. It is like a royalty system; where you own your building for 70 years, and after that, everything that is on that site will automatically belong to the government. That is why developers in China often try to build two to three houses on one site, before they do not have the rights to use the site anymore. In the Hutong, the situation is a bit different, because here the family rights also come in. A family can own the rights to use a site, but they cannot change what is on that site, unless they can get approval from the government, and this only happens on rare occasions. The government cannot remove people living on this type of land, so therefore there is a lot of building mass in the Hutong that is in a very poor structural state. The Hutong areas that are owned by the government are often in a better state, but they are strictly controlled, and you have to be eligible to rent a unit in the state owned Hutongs. As a consequence of these very intricate ownership rules in China, it is very difficult to do anything in the Hutong. You can only move people If they agree to move. Some people wants this, and some donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that simple.
Magnus: Looking at different areas of Beijing, it seems like the development in the Hutong has varied a lot. Some places you can se huge building complexes, and in other parts, high-rise buildings replace whole areas of the Hutong. On the other hand you can see large areas of the Hutong that are still intact, with little to no intervention of modern building structures. How come the development of the Hutong is so differentiated in Beijing?
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Zhong: This is like all other large cities in the world. Some developers have large projects, and some have smaller projects. In China, if you have good connections with the government, you are able to do more than if you do not have any connections. SOHO and MOMA are two large developers with good connections, and they are very visible in the city of Beijing, using high-profiled western architects for their projects. It may sound hard, but that is how China works. The government also does many of the large projects, and they are able to do more than private developers. There was a period where the government did a lot of large-scale projects, but after seeing the consequence of this, they wanted to cut back on the extreme development of the city. It was not good for the local community to have such a rapid development of the city. The government has changed their philosophy of the city development in the Hutong, to be more like the concept of acupuncture. The theory of acupuncture is that you have a pressure point, and if you put pressure on this point, it may give a huge effect on a larger area. The sae goes for the development of the Hutong. If you try to make small, but precise changes, that can give a more healthy effect on the development of a certain area.
Magnus: I have done a few observations in the Hutong, and one of them is the extreme density of the structures. One can say that the concept of the courtyard house, with a few exceptions is a thing of the past. The new Hutong is a complex grid made up by an incomprehensible mass of volumes and structures spread out over a vast are of Beijing. Why do you think that the Hutong has developed in such a way? Is it because it is easier to build without permission from the state, or is there another explanation for the very uncontrolled situation there is today? Zhong: Actually, the answer to this question starts of with a very simple explanation. In 1976, there was an earthquake in Tangshan. At the time this was the most devastating natural disaster in modern time, and hundred of thousands died. As a result of the earthquake, thousands of families were without a home. The solution was to make temporary refuge structures inside the courtyard houses in Beijing, and other areas, so that the people had a place to stay when their homes were being rebuilt. The problem was that a lot of the people that were moved to Beijing did not want to move back, and their temporary dwelling in the Hutong became a permanent home. People started making these structures more and more rigid, and thirty years after the Hutong has become a complex system of old and new structures in very different structural conditions. The result of this complexity is that there is a lot of uncontrolled building activity in the Hutong, but the government has a certain “what we don’t see, we don’t know about” policy. It would be impossible to have complete control of the inside of the Hutong, so the government is only controlling larger renovations and building programs in the area.
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Note that this goes mainly for private owned courtyard houses. When it comes to state owned Hutong areas, they have much more control of what is going on, but these areas are just as complex as the private owned Hutongs.
Magnus: We have talked a lot about finding the right site for my project, and the Shi Jia Hutong is a very interesting place. It has a very central location in Beijing, the site is close to public transportation. The Shi Jia Hutong is also house more local Beijingers, and a lot of them have lived there for their whole life. Zhong: Yes, the Shi Jia Hutong is a very good place to use as a site for your day care centre. The complexity of the site, and its history is very interesting. It has been the home for normal people and important politicians in Beijing. A lot of the people who live there have had a connection to the state, or they have done work for the government. As a result of this, the government is taking good care of this area in Beijing; and they want to improve the quality of this area. In many ways you can look at this area as a testing ground for how the government is trying to improve the standard of the Hutong structures in Beijing. The mixture of people is still very present, and you have both poor and rich people living there. Keren: The Shi Jia Hutong is a part of the Hutong area that has been under a lot of urban development, so the mixture between modern structures and Hutong structures is much more present than in other areas of Beijing. In many ways it is a very good representation of how Beijing has developed in the last fifty years. This is not a place where the tourists go to see the Hutongs of Beijing; this is a place for the local people. I would say that this is an important aspect to consider when planning a day care centre for the elderly.
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TA L K I N G
WITH
BEIJING
On the afternoon of the 28th of January 2014, I walked around the Hutong area surrounding the Beihai Lake in Beijing. During this time I did interviews with some of the local residents in the area to understand a little bit more about their life in the Hutong. This is what they had to tell me. Translator for the interviews was my former Chinese teacher Lee Weiwei. The Questions were divided into different categories concerning the life of the inhabitants of the Hutong.
Interview with Ms. Yan, age 66 Ownership and occupancy Q: How long have you been living in the Hutong A: I have lived in this area of Beijing for 50 years. Q: Do you own your own unit in the Courtyard, or do you rent your space? A: I have never owned my own home. I have rented it from the government since I first moved here. I pay around 25RMB per month. Q: Do you live alone, or do you live with your family? A: I live by myself.
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Q: If you live with your family, how many people are there in your family? A: I don’t live with my family, but I have my dog. He is a good companion. Q: How big is your unit? A: My unit is around 20m2. Building condition Q: How would you describe the state of your home? A: I think that it is ok. This area of the Hutong is ok compared to a lot of other areas in Beijing. The government takes good care of the area around the drum and bell tower. Q: What is the main thing that you would wish to improve with your home? A: I think that it would be nice to have better access to a toilet and a shower. That can be a bit difficult sometimes. Questions about the community Q: How do you like your local community? A: My local community is very good. I think that my neighbours are nice, and the people in my courtyard are nice. We are like a big family. Q: Is there anything that you would like to be changed in your local community? A: I don’t think that I would like to change much, but it would be nice with better toilets and more of them. The tourists use them, and in the summer that can be problematic, because they are not always cleaned well enough. Q: Would you like to have a day centre within your local community, and if so, which type of functions would you like to have in this day centre? A: A day centre sounds like a good thought. Having a small market would be the thing I would like to see. A small market and good sanitary areas could be a good start for the centre, and maybe a small workplace. Q: Is a day centre something that you would like to use on a daily basis? A: It depends on the functions. If I could go there to talk to people and to work on my things than maybe I would use it a few times a week. Q: What kind of health care services are you able to get in your living situation as it is right now A: I get health care from the government. They give us health insurance and medical care. It is very good. Q: Would you like the centre to offer health care services, and if so, which type of services would you like to be offered? A: I don’t know, I think that the service I get now is very good. If I get a lot older it would be nice.
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Interview with Mr. Jia, age 42 Ownership and occupancy Q: How long have you been living in the Hutong A: I have lived here for ten years. Q: Do you own your own unit in the Courtyard, or do you rent your space? A: We rent our house from the government. Q: Do you live alone, or do you live with your family? A: I live here with my family. Q: If you live with your family, how many people are there in your family? A: I live here with my husband and our boy. Q: How big is your unit? A: Our unit is around 35m2. It is very good for this area. Building condition Q: How would you describe the state of your home? A: The state of our home is ok. We have had some problems with the roof, and it was difficult to get it fixed. Q: What is the main thing that you would wish to improve with your home? A: It would be nice to change the roof, but we need to get a permit and we are not allowed to do it our selves, so I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think that we will do it. Questions about the community Q: How do you like your local community? A: The community is good, but it takes time to get something done. Q: Is there anything that you would like to be changed in your local community? A: It would be nice to get help with the repairs on our house; it can take some time to get the help we need from the government. Q: Would you like to have a day centre within your local community, and if so, which type of functions would you like to have in this day centre? A: A small market would be nice to have, and some better public toilets.
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Q: s a day centre something that you would like to use on a daily basis? A: Right now I think that I am a bit young, but when I get older I would really like to have a place to go to socialize with my friends. Q: What kind of health care services are you able to get in your living situation as it is right now A: My family is getting health care from the state. My husband works in the government. Q: Would you like the centre to offer health care services, and if so, which type of services would you like to be offered? A: I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know.
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Interview with Mr. Jie, age 68 Ownership and occupancy Q: How long have you been living in the Hutong A: I have lived here my whole life. Q: Do you own your own unit in the Courtyard, or do you rent your space? A: The courtyard is private, and I rent from the owner. I pay around 450RMB per month. Q: Do you live alone, or do you live with your family? A: I live with my wife. Q: If you live with your family, how many people are there in your family? A: In my family we are four persons. My two children have moved out a long time ago. Q: How big is your unit? A: My unit is around 45m2; it is a lot bigger than normal in this area. Building condition Q: How would you describe the state of your home? A: My home is good. Private Hutongs are often better than state owned, but it depends on who the owner is of course. Q: What is the main thing that you would wish to improve with your home? A: It can get a bit cold in the winter, so it would be nice to have better heating during the coldest time of the year. Questions about the community Q: How do you like your local community? A: I think that the community service is good. Q: Is there anything that you would like to be changed in your local community? A: It would be nice to have a shopping area in the Hutong. There used to be a lot more, but now the big supermarkets are taking over, and the smaller grocery markets are disappearing.
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Q: Would you like to have a day centre within your local community, and if so, which type of functions would you like to have in this day centre? A: I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know. I would like to see more toilets and showers in the area. Some people have toilets in the courtyard, but a lot of them are taken down to make room for more units. Q: Is a day centre something that you would like to use on a daily basis? A: It would be nice to have a place to go to take a shower and talk to my neighbours. If there were a cafĂŠ or some area for playing games I would go every day. Q: What kind of health care services are you able to get in your living situation as it is right now A: I get health care services fro the government. They are taking good care of the people in this area. Q: Would you like the centre to offer health care services, and if so, which type of services would you like to be offered? A: Maybe if the centre had acupuncture or cupping I would use it. I like to stay healthy and to work out.
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Interview with Mr. Qiang, age 72 Ownership and occupancy Q: How long have you been living in the Hutong A: I have been living here for 40 years. Q: Do you own your own unit in the Courtyard, or do you rent your space? A: The government owns my unit. Q: Do you live alone, or do you live with your family? A: I live with my wife. Q: If you live with your family, how many people are there in your family? A: It is only my wife and me who lives here, our son has moved out yeas ago. Q: How big is your unit? A: The unit is not very big. It is around 25 m2. Building condition Q: How would you describe the state of your home? A: Not too good, but it is ok. Q: What is the main thing that you would wish to improve with your home? A: I would like to have better insulation. It can get very cold in Beijing during the winter. Questions about the community Q: How do you like your local community? A: The local community is good. There is not much happening, and it is a safe neighbourhood. Q: Is there anything that you would like to be changed in your local community? A: It would be nice if it were easier to get some help with small things. The community centre takes care of a lot of people in this area, so it can take some time to get help, if we need it. Q: Would you like to have a day centre within your local community, and if so, which type of functions would you like to have in this day centre?
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A: A day centre sounds interesting. It would be nice to have a place to go to do some shopping for groceries. It is very far to the nearest market right now, and since I only have a bike, it can take some time to get there. Q: Is a day centre something that you would like to use on a daily basis? A: Maybe not every day, but it could be nice to have a place to go during the day. A lot of the people stay in their home during the winter, and the days can get very long, but the life here is good. Q: What kind of health care services are you able to get in your living situation as it is right now A: The government provides us with health care services, and they cover all of my expenses if I need help. I used to work in the government, and that gives me benefits. Q: Would you like the centre to offer health care services, and if so, which type of services would you like to be offered? A: I am not sure. I am in good shape, and I seldom need any help. I like to work out. Maybe having some work out areas can be good. If people work out, they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get sick. It would be nice to have a doctor to give health check.
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Interview with Ms. Jing, age 76 Ownership and occupancy Q: How long have you been living in the Hutong A: I have been living in this area for over 25 years. I moved here with my husband when we got married. Q: Do you own your own unit in the Courtyard, or do you rent your space? A: No, most of the Courtyard houses in this area is owned by the government, and we rent it for around 20RMB per month. It is very simple, but we like it, and it is affordable. Q: Do you live alone, or do you live with your family? A: I live with my husband and my grandson. My daughter and her husband are working in a factory outside of Beijing, and they come visit us whenever it is possible. Q: If you live with your family, how many people are there in your family? A: We are three people living together in our unit. Q: How big is your unit? A: The unit is not very big. It is around 20 m2. Building condition Q: How would you describe the state of your home? A: It is ok, but it can get very cold in the winter. We use electricity to heat, and that works fine. It is very difficult to change anything in the house. If it gets broken, we have to contact the community centre, because we are not allowed to fix it ourselves. Q: What is the main thing that you would wish to improve with your home? A: There is not a lot I would like to fix. When the Japanese moved to Beijing they lived in this area, and they fixed a lot of the houses. Our unit is in a good condition because we live in an old unit that used to belong to a Japanese man. Questions about the community Q: How do you like your local community? A: The local community is good. They take care of us if we need anything, and it is working very well.
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Q: Is there anything that you would like to be changed in your local community? A: No, I like how it works, but it would be nice to be able to fix smaller things our selves. It can be a bit difficult to get help with the basic problems sometimes. Q: Would you like to have a day centre within your local community, and if so, which type of functions would you like to have in this day centre? A: A market. The market I use today is too far away for me, and it can be a pit problematic getting groceries. It would also be nice to have more public toilets, because a lot of the tourists use the same toilets as we do, and they are not always very clean. Q: Is a day centre something that you would like to use on a daily basis? A: I am not sure, because I have never used one before, but I think that it would be nice to have some extra community services in the area. We live a very simple life, and we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ask for much. If the centre had a market and public toilets, that would be very welcoming. Q: What kind of health care services are you able to get in your living situation as it is right now A: I have health care at the local community centre, and also this area is close to larger hospitals. The government gives us health insurance, and we only have to pay for 10% of the health care we receive. Sometimes the government covers all of our charges as well. Q: Would you like the centre to offer health care services, and if so, which type of services would you like to be offered? A: I think that the service is pretty good, but if the centre would offer regular health checks, that would be a nice thing to be able to get.
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THE
SITE
An introduction to the Shi Jia Hutong and the sites chosen for the day care center for elderly people living in the Hutong
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The site is located in the centre of the city of Beijing
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Located just two blocks east from The Forbidden City, the Shi Jia Hutong is situated in one of the most important historical parts of the city.
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The area around the Shi Jia Hutong is a mixture between new large scale city development projects and historical Hutong areas. The area has been under rapid development in recent years and the Hutong is shrinking every year.
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The project is divided onv seven sites, located along the main road of the Shi Jia Hutong. The seperation of the programme is done to make a greater impact on the community, and also to socialize the Hutong in a more efficient way.
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The public transport system in Beijing is very efficient, with a lot of Bus routes. The Subway system is one of the best in the world, and it is expanding rapidly.
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The Shi Jia Hutong is located in an area of Beijing with a high number of schools, and since it is near by the forbidden city, there is also a lot of police stations and govenrment offices in the area.
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Because of the development in the area there is a lot of hotels and banks in the area arounf the Shi Jia Hutong. There is a lot of shopping as well, but a lot of it is high-end shopping, aimed at the rich. Markets are disapparing in the area, as a consequance og the rapid development of the area.
New structures
As shown in the image above it is clear that the Hutong is vanishing in a great extent. Almost all of the Hutongs in Beijing is no longer consisting just of courtyard houses, but a lot of them are a mix between new houses and large building complexes. All the areas marked in red are new structures in the area around the Shi Jia Hutong. 115
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THE
PROGRAM
How to develop a day care centre for the elderly living in Beijing, and why the Shi Jia Hutong is chosen as the site for the project
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DAY
CARE
FOR
THE
E L D E R LY
The main purpose of the day care community is to take care of a specific demographic group in Beijing, namely the elderly. This is a large group of people in Beijing, and it is only going to grow bigger with the years. The functions of the day care community represents the activities and the purpose of the project, but the location can also say something about how to develop the architecture of the project. It is important to look at the Hutong for what is today, an intricate fabric of large and small volumes tightly knit together in a complex situation in the centre of Beijing. It consists of structures ranging from ruins to newly developed projects in all measures and scales. In addition to the structural web that makes up the Hutong, you have the people living there. The resident of the Hutong is a personification of the rapid development of Beijing. You can on one hand have people living on the bare minimum, and right next door some of the richest and most influential people of Beijing are living. The Hutong can be a hectic space, but at the same time, it can represent some of the most serene places in the whole of Beijing, a quality that is unique for the Hutong. Taking all of these things in consideration, you have to be very conscious about how to design for the residents in the Hutong, especially when you are designing something that should benefit the community as a whole. The architecture has to reflect the needs of the residents, and at the same time adapt it self to its surroundings. The day care community for the elderly is a natural addition to the substase of the Shi Jia Hutong and its residents, and should therefore work as a contributor to their daily life situation. It is important to emphasize that it is not the intention of this thesis to solely base its architecture on the Hutong and its residents, but to utilize these qualities as a base point to explore new ways to make architecture in a situation with little to no innovation when it comes to developing the area in a thoughtful manner.
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D E V E LO P I N G
T H RO U G H
AC U P U N C T U R E
As a result of the rapid development of the Hutong areas of Beijing, the government has decided to change the system for how they are developing the Hutong. The new system is based on the logic of acupuncture. According to traditional Chinese medicine, stimulating specific acupuncture points corrects imbalances in the flow of qi, and in the same way, this is the concept for the new Hutong development. Small projects executed properly can have a great effect on the community and its surroundings. The idea behind the day care community is to divide the program in seven sites. Having smaller projects connecting the community together can have a greater impact on the community than one large project based in the middle of the Hutong.
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THE SHI JIA HUTONG DAY CARE COMMUNITY PUBLIC PROGRAM
PUBLIC SERVICES
THE USER The number of users that the Day Centre can accommodate depends on the size of the plot and the programme. The Day Centre is going to be able to accomodate around 60 - 80 users at the same time, but it is open to the public, so it acts as a genereal meeting point for the elderly public in its site specific are.
One of the important parts of the programme is to establish a public toilet, available for the users of the day centre. The state of the public toilets placed around in the Hutong is very poor, and it is essential to have clean toilet facilities in the day centre.
The day centre will also offer shower facilities for its users. Not all of the people living in the Hutong has access to a shower.
Being able to wash your clothes properly is important to keep up a good hygiene. The day center will facilitate this by adding a laundromat service for the local community.
THE DAY CENTRE Even though the day centre is a puvlic service, it main focus group is the elderly people living in the Hutong area around the centre. It is built to accommodate everyone, but it focuses on those who does not have the basic facilities in their own homes. The main purpose of the day center is to increase the living standard of the user of the center, while also offer social activities connecting the users with local community and give them opportunities for a dignified everyday life situation.
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Even though the centre can not perform direct medical help, it will have rooms for medical consultations, where medical personal can come and to physical check-ups. In addition to this, the centre will be able to practice traditional chinese medicine, which is a big part of the chinese culture.
SOCIAL SERVICES
As a part of the community, the centre wil have a market for vegetables and fruits. This is an important addition to the programme. The smaller vegetable markets in the Hutongs are vanishing, and this is a problem for the people living in the Hutongs
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
Even though the car is taking over Beijing, the preferred mode of transportation in the Hutong is the bicycle and the electrical scooters. As a part of the programme the day centre accommodates a small work shop, where people can repair their bikes.
The workshop also organizes gatherings where users can learn how to do traditional chinese art and craftsmanship. The meal is an important part of the social life in China. The centre will have an eating area for its workers and users. Exercise is a big part of the chinese culture. The day centre will facilitate areas where people can meet to work out The kitchen in the centre is mainly for the workers of the centre, and for social activities. Most of the food for the day care centres are prepared in a central kitchen in Beijing.
The culture of the Hutong is important. Trying to pass on this culture to the younger generations will be one of many focus points of the project.
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THE SHI JIA HUTONG DAY CARE COMMUNITY ADMINISTRATIVE PROGRAM
SOCIAL SERVICES
THE WORKER The worker of the day care centre can be people working in the state, but also students and the elderly themselves. Pensioned doctors, medical students and volunteers are typical people working in these institutions in China.
The workers of the centre are a bif part of the social scene in the day centre. They are an important part of the activities
The day centre functions as a extension of the community centre, and in addition taking care of the elderly, it helps organize activities in the local community
The day centre helps the users with problems they may have. This is not legal problems, but medical and social problems.
THE DAY CENTRE The day centre functions as a social place for the users of the centre, but it also functions as a communication system between the local community centre and the government. The centre help organize activities for the local people living in the Hutong, and it works as an extension of the community centre. It offers medical consultation, and it bindes the inhabitants of the Hutong together.
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The day centre helps organize the vegetable market, and it also helps with the food run. The day care centres of Beijing can deliver food to your home if you are to sick to get out of your own home.
MEDICAL SERVICES
Traditional medicine is a big part of the Chinese culture, and just as much used as western medicine. The day care centre can offer all of the typical forms of tradicional Chinese medicine
Even though the centre can not provide direct medical help, it will be able to offer medical check-ups. I addition to this, the centre can offer fysiological help and psychological help. A lot of the people working at the centra are either medical student or pensioned doctors wanting to give an extra hand after they have retiered from their work.
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THE SHI JIA HUTONG DAY CARE COMMUNITY SITE SPECIFIC PROGRAM 4
100m
1
132
2
3
SITE 1 - 380m2 Medical department
SITE 2 - 110m2 Public toilets
SITE 3 - 1520m2 Day care centre
SITE 4 - 240m2 Public showers
- Medical department - Offices - Meeting room
- Male and female toilets
- Vegetable market - Kitchen - Dining area - Common area - Toilets - Workshop - Storage - Technical rooms - Tea house
- Male and female showers - Storage - Public space
6
5
7
SITE 5 - 250m2 Public showers
SITE 6 - 300m2 Public toilets
- Male and female showers - Storage - Public space
- Male and female toilets - Handicap toilets - Public space
SITE 7 - 640m2 Laundromat - Laundromat - Storage - Technical rooms - Public space
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