bridge in difference_renskemaria by Renske Maria

ÂŠ 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

LOKMACHAU bridge in difference ÂŠ 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

WITHIN MOVEMENT

The Hong Kong-China border is slowly dissolving. In 2010 a part of the frontier closed area at Lok Ma Chau has openedup for new urban development and by 2047, 50 years after the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China, the border will no longer exist.

At the same time the borderland has high potential to become a valuable place in itself. As liminal body the borderland has remain one of the most beautiful natural landscapes in the area. But how to relate this contradictory qualities of place and movement?

The borderland is characterized by the intense exchange between parallel ideologies; by movement between cultural, political and environmental differences of the Pearl River Delta.

Based on a theoretical and spatial exploration of place within movement, this project proposes an inhabited bridge at Lok Ma Chau, connecting Hong Kong and Shenzhen, that affords

global movement within the Pearl River Delta as well as a local sense of place revitalizing the borderland. By understanding place as relation and inspired by the stories and latent experiences of potential future users the bridge becomes a place to not only move through, but a also go toÂ´ and therefore provides for a sense of place within movement.

ÂŠ 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

LEARNING FROM HONG KONG? Due to Hong Kong’s history as a British colony and its recent transformation into one of the most important global network agglomerations connecting Eastern and Western economies, the Pearl River Delta has become a space of transit. This is directly reflected in an accumulation and intersection of parallel atmospheres and social demographic composition. Also at Lok Ma Chau this is clearly visible in the urban fabric. The landscape is dominated by huge infrastructural elements that facilitate the transit between Hong Kong’s wealthy economy with its beautiful wetlands and China’s cheap labor industry with standardized high rise.

This contemporary global landscape is often understood as a problem rather than a quality resulting in the experience of ‘placelesness’. But, place in Hong Kong is valuable. Not only in an absolute sense, reflected in the high land prices, but also in an emotional sense as acknowledged by its visitors and inhabitants. In Hong Kong, there is, despite the movement and differences of the Pearl River Delta, a possibility to experience a sense of place. When relation is valued as having an ontological status of its own, Hong Kong cannot be described by differences like east or west, tradition or modernity, global or local, but the valuable Hong Kong place experience is one in which the greatest possible difference between its parts- complimentary or competitive- cause a delicate and sensitive relation and therefore a new sense of place. In my personal terminology; a sense of place within movement. But how can we understand this sense of place within movement? And how as designers can we work with this?

ÂŠ 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

PERSONAGES If place is understood as relation, as designers we not only have to engage with the physical qualities of place, designing an embodied experience, but we also have to engage with the intangible qualities of place designing resonance. Quoting Brian Massumi we have to ‘sense the virtual and build the insensible’. What this exactly means for architecture is subject to further explorations. In this project my aim was to ‘bring into existence worlds other than those of pure abstract information’ by engaging with all ‘three ecologies’ and from there sketch a structure of possibilities, a field of potential, for future design.

To sense the virtual I decided to ‘multiply my perspectives’. Based on context mapping (associative questionnaires) of the latent experiences of the future users and a more traditional site analysis’s, I developed five personages sketching their live stories and current environment that function as design brief. In short; 1) a school child that lives in Shenzhen and crosses the border every day twice to go to school; 2) a businessman that lives in Hong Kong and crosses the border at least twice a week to do business in the Pearl River Delta; 3) a migrant that crosses the border only during peak time in the Chinese holidays to visit his family that did not migrate to Hong Kong in the 1950s to find a better job; 4) a tourist that crosses the border for leisure purposes to see the Hong Kong cultural highlights; and finally, 5) a local that lives in the frontier closed area and currently never crosses the border but in the future might find a job in the developing borderland eco-tourism. The personages form a ‘design brief’ that goes against the objectified and rational approach of western place making. But, how to transform this into architecture?

‘Every morning at 5am I get on the school bus that brings me to the border in order to go to school. My parents think that the schools in Hong Kong are better compared to Shenzhen, but since we cannot afford living in Hong Kong I have to get up really early every day!’ © 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

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SCHOOL

ma di woe do vrij zat zon

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19.00

24.00

HK (HOME)-SZ 5% SZ (HOME- HK 95 %

schoolkids route student route

‘Today I have a meeting in Zuhai, tomorrow in Shenzhen and Thursday I can finally go back home to Hongkong. I am really looking forward to the construction of the new train network that will connect all Pearl River Delta cities within less than 1 hour travel time.’ © 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

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13 % 36%

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WORK

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ma di woe do vrij zat zon

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HK (HOME)-SZ 39% SZ (HOME)- HK 61 % BUSINESSMAN

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Since I have retired from my - migrant -job I spent my old days with hanging around and playing games with my friends in Mong Kong area. I miss my family that still lives in China, but luckily I can visited them with the Chinese new year and the dragon festival.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; ÂŠ 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

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FRIENDS &FAMILY

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13.00

19.00

24.00

HK (HOME)-SZ 12 % SZ (HOME)- HK 88 %

Migrant

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;My husband works in a Chinese restaurant in London. I have a small restaurant in our hometown that serves lunch to the truck drivers passing by when crossing the border. I hope my man can come back when our local economy will grow again, because of the recent opening our frontier closed ÂŠ 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

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TO LONDON

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2020

‘Today I spent my time in the wetland park watching the flora and fauna at the northern part of Hong Kong. From here it was possible to see the high rise of newly built China, maybe I will cross the border tomorrow to go shopping in Shenzen, I’ve heard it’s cheap over there.’ © 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

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LEISURE

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HK (HOME)-SZ 60% SZ (HOME)- HK 40 %

40%

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% shopping area new tourist spot

tourist office place of interest

Pearl river delta tourist route

ÂŠ 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

ATMOSPHERES This story-based design brief cannot be transformed into modern program-driven architecture, but the personages inspired the design of three atmospheres that, defined by kinesthetic differences, engage with a relational void, global and local program and the surroundings of the borderland.. An atmosphere is a strong potential of a place that can influence oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s feelings and is achieved by carefully designing for all the senses. Just like, as Kandinsky explains, specific colors in paintings will stimulate specific feelings, the use of carefully selected architectural elements will, in my opinion, stimulate the experience of specific atmospheres.

The first atmosphere is inspired by the fast economic connection between Hong Kong and China and facilitates the users that will cross the border on daily basis or come for shopping. The energy is directive and commercially oriented, the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;smooth and cleanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; interior materialization is based on plastics and fritted glass. The second atmosphere is inspired by the leisurely connection between Hong Kong and China. It facilitates the users that wander around the region between all tourist facilities. The energy is associative and educationally oriented. This atmosphere houses tourist information points and a historical museum. This atmosphere is materialized with wood, fiberglass textile and copper elements. The third atmosphere is inspired by the local landscape and is designed as a place to enjoy nature and relax. It facilitates a natural walking route and the offices related to the border-control function. Users of this atmosphere will stay in the building for a longer period of time. This atmosphere is embedded in the local surroundings by the use of natural materials such as stone, earth and bamboo. These atmospheres form the fundaments of the final architectural design.

ÂŠ 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

BRIDGE IN DIFFERENCE The final project is an inhabited bridge based on the atmospheres that swirl through and around a long â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;voidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; that literary and symbolically connects Hong Kong and China. This relational void, as inspired by the ancient Chinese bagua trigram, relates the atmospheres to each other and to the surrounding landscape. Living edge. The bridge now literary increases the surface connecting Hong Kong en Shenzhen. By this, the currently dead edge is transformed in a porous edge and potential living edge for future use; a mutual benefit zone, a relation based on place and movement, is created.

Anamorphosis. The quality of the relational void is further developed in the inner and outer facade. The rhythm of the inner void interacts with the rhythm of the outer routes in such a way that the experience of place within movement is further stimulated by the effect of anamorphosis. The swirl of the outer routes takes the bagua concept literary by turning around the experience of its architectural elements; roof becomes facade becomes floor. This is further developed in the materialization. The basic framework of the outer facade, which is formed and constructed based on the pattern of the swirling routes, provides for a set of different panels that can be adjusted to the local circumstances in accordance with the atmosphere and function and detailing; roof, facade or floor. Bridge in Difference. In this way, what might be valuable (a specific view or experience) for one person, might be worthless for others. By means of different speeds and purposes the bridge will become place and movement simultaneously. Therefore the Lok Ma Chau bridge in difference becomes a place to not only move trough but also go to and thus provides for a sense of place within movement.

ÂŠ 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

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ÂŠ 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

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FACADE ELEMENT DETAIL

ÂŠ 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

CEILING ELEVATION

INNER FACADE ELEVATION

FLOOR ELEVATION

ÂŠ 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

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OUTER FACADE ELEMENT 1:20 // 1:5 // 1:1 FACADE ELEMENT 1:20 II

DETAIL 1-1 DETAIL 1-2 1200

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. wooden finishing 4 . Kerto fineline curtain wall system 2 . 26mm changeable infill 6 . 200x50 Kerto construction

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

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   

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SEMI SEMICONDITIONED CONDITIONED

CONDITIONED CONDITIONED 1a1a

1a1a

1b1b

+/+/-

2c2c 1b1b

2a2a

+/+/2b2b

+/+/1c1c

2b2b

+/+/+/+/2a2a

2c2c

heat heat gain gain byby sun sun because because 2a2a natural natural stack stack effect effect byby evaporation evaporation river river 1a1a nono

heat gain gain byby sun sun 1a1a heat

sunshading byby cantilever cantilever and and adaptive adaptive 2a2a sunshading

possible possible heat heat gain gain byby natural ventilation ventilation from from under under and and side side 1b1b hothot 2b2b natural winds winds from from south; south; but but blocked blocked byby orientation orientation only heat heat gain gain byby mechanical ventilation ventilation onon roof roof 1c1c only 2c2c mechanical temporal temporal use use and and travalators travalators

heat gain gain byby 1b1b heat

mechanical decentralized decentralized ventilation ventilation system system 2b2bmechanical

of of cantilevers cantilevers

long long term term use use and and instalations instalations

fritted fritted glass glass (integrated (integrated in in building building climate climate system) system) also also used used forfor cooling cooling and and heating heating

connection to to seasea water water heat heat exchanger exchanger 2c2c connection

ÂŠ 2013 Renske Maria van Dam

THINKING .FEELING. ARCHITECTURE In my opinion architectural thinking differs from philosophy and from engineering in such a way that it not only engages a certain problem on a theoretical level (philosophy) or on a practical level (engineering), but that it exactly makes the relation between theory and practice. The goal is not to make a design that ‘represents’ a certain idea, but the goal is to actualize the idea in architectural capacities. Architecture does. In line with the discourse on ecological thinking you can achieve this by doing experiments with making ‘text objects’. A text object is an artifact that comes somewhere between theory and practice

and shows the ‘how’ (capacities) of the considered

theory in a practical way. Making text- objects can help as in-between phase between theory and design, because giving yourself the obstruction to literary make something (give the theory matter) can help to shift the your mode of thinking from why (theory) to how (practice) and therefore brings you, in my opinion, closer to architectural understanding. The text experiments, personage experiment as well as the working concept model all can be understood as an atempt to make a text-object. The relation between research and design in this project therefore was not achieved directly, but in a cyclical process by leaving theory when producing, but embracing theory when making design decisions. Therefore the relation between research and design is associative, which, in my opinion, is the best relation you can have between research and design; both can be equal in complexity and do not have to be reduced into one or many. ‘‘Being is building is dwelling is keeping place within the free to remain in peace… The real plight is that mortals ever search anew for the nature of dwelling, that they must ever learn to dwell.’’ (after heidegger)

ÂŠ 2013 Renske Maria van Dam