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In architectural renderings of new buildings going up, they have nice plazas. In reality, they are car parks
Parking in the middle of Fuhua Road. At an intersection! No they won’t get a ticket.
Outside Book City.
The mindset of an urban planner in a big city here is quite different than in the US. In the US, planners are often advocates (be that good or bad) for a more car-free city. However, here in Shenzhen I get asked by planning colleagues why I do not own a car. I have been asked that question a lot.
In a city and country where most people do not own cars, urban planning decisions are made by people who own and drive cars. Traffic and parking are enforced by people who own cars.
You know they are right. maybe I should buy a car. In the city as it is now, it is rational to buy and use a car.
Xinyang masterplan by Word with SWA Group
Masterplan for a district of Doha, Qatar by mossessian and partners.
This is the centerpiece of Phase 1B of developer Dohaland’s $5.5 billion ‘Musheireb’ development. mossessian & partners is one of four practices working on Phase 1B of the Musheireb scheme, a 35 hectare project that aims to revive, regenerate and conserve the historical downtown of Qatar’s capital city. Due for completion in 2016, the mixed-use scheme will offer residential, commercial, retail and leisure facilities through creation of over 100 buildings. The judges of the MIPIM Architectural Review Future Projects Awards applauded the scheme for the significant attempt to create “a contemporary vernacular architecture in the Gulf. Public space is combined with extensive shading and its scale relates to everyday life”.
and their design for Al Barahat Square in within that masterplan
As shade is the first priority in comfort cooling, the design incorporates sheer density with tall narrow streets. The street scape is very much part of the mossessian scheme: sculpting the void – carving the space between buildings – is as important as designing the buildings themselves. Deep roof overhangs and decorative screens layer the buildings and create shade throughout the year. The thermal mass of the building envelope is used as a heat sink to balance the region’s severe temperature fluctuations. This combination of strategies works together to create an ecosystem that offers a high level of thermal comfort in an energy efficient and therefore sustainable way.
It is a fairly nice design and human scaled. Although the chandeliers in the shaded arcades are a little odd.
Central Toronto Waterfront by West 8 and DTAH
2006-2011
The Toronto waterfront did not have consistent elements linking the various parts of the waterfront together, so the objective of the project is to address that fact by creating a consistent and legible image for the Central Waterfront, in both architectural and functional terms.
Also from Arch Daily that I liked
Lantern Pavilion by AWP/Atelier Oslo
An interesting public space in Norway. A god sense of enclosure and openness at the same time.
Built to showcase innovative wood architecture.
The intent was to design a new square and a sculptural object in wood in pedestrian districtaiming at revitalizing the area, and creating a place where many different activities could take place: a meeting point, markets, informal music concerts and other happenings. Since the site is visible from afar, and from the railway separating two distinct areas of the city it was essential to create an object that could be experienced from distance and reveal the square.
“Living Landscape” d3 Housing Tomorrow Competition by STUDIOMARCOVERMEULEN
This design did not win the competition.
Living Landscape 1.0 is the first design in a series. Its roots lay within traditional Dutch housing which has a back-to-back orientation with a density of approximately 36 dwellings per hectare. What sets Living Landscape 1.0 apart is the that the dwelling are situated front to back. The density of the Dutch housing is maintained. The orientation was shifted to provide optimal orientation towards the sun for all of the dwellings in the proposal.
A new Tower in Shenzhen
Guosen Securities Tower / Massimiliano + Doriana Fuksas
From Italian architects, Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, who designed Shenzhen’s new airport terminal under construction.
The proposal was awarded first prized for the competition to designShenzhen’s Guosen Securities tower, and, typical of the Fuksas pair, the schematic design carries a strong presence with the shear mass of the volume broken down into a more manageable scale thanks to the three-dimensional voids. The tower will be the first ecological tall building to be built in Shenzhen.
2011 Skyscraper Competition Winners
The winning design
The award seeks to discover young talent, whose ideas will change the way we understand architecture and its relationship with the natural and built environments. The first place was awarded to Atelier CMJN (Julien Combes, Gaël Brulé) from France for their ‘LO2P Recycling Skyscraper’ in New Delhi, India. The project is designed as a large-scale wind turbine that filters polluted air with a series of particle collector membranes, elevated greenhouses, and mineralization baths. More images and descriptions of winning entries after the break
Among the honorable mentions there are “waterscrapers” that clean oil spills and desalinate sea water, inverted skyscrapers for a floating Olympic villa, recycling towers, research skyscrapers that harvest lightning power, vertical cemeteries and amusement parks, sports skyscrapers, fish farms, and “living mountains” for desert climates. Other proposals use the latest building technologies and parametric design to configure environmentally conscious self-sufficient buildings.
higher angle
Photos taken for the American magazine Life All the photos from Life’s archives can be looked up on Google in many different topic areas (of course, most are related to American topics, but some are Chinese-related). Life magazine doesn’t exist any more, but some of the world’s best photographers used to work for the magazine. If you have any good photos of old Shenzhen, please send them to me!
Shenzhen border taken from Hong Kong side
Peasants cross bridge between Hong Kong and Shenzhen in 1954
Hong Kong - Shenzhen border
Workers unload train at Lowu border
Shatoujiao
Hong Kong Harbor, late 1940s
from another website, Shenzhen 1970s
From the photos, it is hard to believe Lowu would become the world’s busiest crossing.
