THREE ROOFS AND FOURTEEN COURTYARDS SCHOOLS OF ARTS AS ARCHITECTURAL PROMENADE

ABSTRACT

THIS THESIS FOCUSES ON A COMMON URBAN PROBLEM IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA. MOST MODERN BUILDINGS FAIL TO INTERACT HARMONIOUSLY WITH NATURE. REGARDED AS INDEPENDENT AND ENCLOSED FUNCTIONAL UNITS, THEY ARE ABRUPTLY EMBEDDED INTO URBAN FABRIC. TAKING THE HENGQIN SITE AS A PRACTICAL CASE, THIS STUDY ADDRESSES TYPICAL URBAN CHALLENGES BY SOLVING EXISTING SPATIAL PROBLEMS ON SITE. TO SUMMARIZE TARGETED DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND APPROACHES, THIS STUDY CONDUCTS LITERATURE REVIEW AND CASE ANALYSIS IN TWO ASPECTS. FIRST, IT SORTS OUT THREE CORE DESIGN CONCEPTS OF THE GRADUATION PROJECT, NAMELY GREEN ROOFS, PUBLIC SPACE AND WATERFRONTS. THREE FUNDAMENTAL DESIGN PRINCIPLES ARE CONCLUDED ACCORDINGLY: (1) VERTICAL ECOLOGICAL INTEGRATION, (2) BOUNDLESS PUBLIC CONNECTIVITY AND (3) WATERFRONT LANDSCAPE PERMEABILITY. THESE PRINCIPLES ARE IMPLEMENTED AT THREE SCALES. AT THE MASTER PLANNING LEVEL, ELEVATED OPEN GROUND FLOORS ARE COMBINED WITH WATERFRONT LANDSCAPE PENETRATION TO FORM LIVELY WATERFRONT SPACES FOR ECOLOGICAL LEISURE AND CULTURAL COMMUNICATION, REALIZING THE COORDINATED DEVELOPMENT OF OFFICE, RESIDENTIAL AND WATERSIDE PARK FUNCTIONS. AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL, BOUNDLESS PUBLIC LINKS ARE BUILT BETWEEN BUILDINGS. MULTI-LEVEL CIRCULATION AND MIXED FUNCTIONS ARE INTEGRATED TO ELIMINATE DIVIDED FUNCTIONAL ZONES AND IMPROVE FRAGMENTED PUBLIC SPACE AND INSUFFICIENT SOCIAL ACTIVITY VENUES IN TRADITIONAL COMMUNITIES. AT THE ARCHITECTURAL LEVEL, VERTICAL ECOLOGICAL INTEGRATION IS ADOPTED TO CONSTRUCT A MULTI-LAYER GREEN SYSTEM. GREEN AREAS EXTEND FROM THE GROUND TO ROOFTOPS, EFFECTIVELY BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN BUILDINGS AND NATURE. SECOND, BY ANALYZING DOMESTIC AND OVERSEAS CASES OF HIGH-RISE OFFICE BUILDINGS, WATERFRONT COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS AND RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURES IN SHENZHEN AND OTHER REGIONS, THIS STUDY CONCLUDES THAT HIGH-RISE MIXED-USE BUILDINGS AND RESIDENTIAL BLOCKS CAN MAINTAIN CONTINUOUS PUBLIC SPACE AND CREATE OPEN SPATIAL FORMS VIA VERTICAL ECOLOGY AND WATERFRONT LANDSCAPE PENETRATION. THIRD, BASED ON SITE ANALYSIS OF HENGQIN, THREE TARGETED STRATEGIES ARE PROPOSED: (1) OPTIMIZING WATERFRONT INTERFACE, (2) INTEGRATING SCATTERED GREEN LAND AND (3) CONSTRUCTING VERTICAL PUBLIC SPACE FRAMEWORK. TO FURTHER EXPLORE INTERACTIVE MODES BETWEEN ARCHITECTURE AND NATURE IN CITIES, THIS RESEARCH ULTIMATELY PUTS FORWARD A COMPLETE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN SCHEME FOR THE TIANMU RIVER WATERFRONT AREA IN HENGQIN.