Stedenbouwers let op, 9 valkuilen in China!
5 juli 2005, 15:08
Recentelijk heeft KCAP de ontwerpfase van het masterplan ‘Waterland’ in Beijing (68 ha) afgerond. KCAP heeft hiervoor al aan meerdere Chinese projecten gewerkt, waaronder twee grote stedenbouwkundige competities in 2001 en verschillende gerealiseerde architectuurprojecten in 2002.
Voor een Nederlands bureau is China een groot, onbekend monster. Met een hoge dichtheid en voorzien van hoge kwaliteit moeten woningen in rap tempo ontworpen worden. Locale regels rond het ontwerpen resulteren echter al snel in voormalige Oost Duitse ‘Plattenbauw’ beelden. Elke ingreep wordt menigmaal vermenigvuldigd en de schaal en consequenties zijn groot. Er rust een grote verantwoordelijkheid op ‘Architectuur en Stedenbouw’ in China.
Het project ‘Waterland’ in Beijing van KCAP dient als een goed voorbeeld om de verschillende interessante en bizarre vraagstukken van een stedelijke ontwikkelingen in China, zoals locale planning- en bouwregels, hoge dichtheid, verdwijnen van een site (en de historie ervan), de aspiratie naar Westerse waarden, snelheid, hoeveelheid, etc. te illustreren. We geven daarom wat tips om de strijd tegen de verschillende valkuilen binnen stedenbouw in China aan te gaan.
9 traps to watch out for in China!
Trap 1: sunlight distance
A few, yet very strict, rules condition (sub)urban master planning in China. Sunlight distance is a noble urban planning measure to guarantee citizen’s right to natural light. The spacing, the north-south distance between two buildings, is defi ned by building height multiplying a factor. Shenzhen factor = 1; Beijing factor = 1.7.
Trap 2: density
The city planning offi ces make density guidelines. The investor then tries to fi nd maximise profi t within the guidelines. A balance must be achieved between density and overall spatial framework in order to guarantee quality living environment.
Trap 3: orientation
The preference for orientation, infl uenced by Feng-shui beliefs and market demands, heavily limit design possibilities. In northern Chinese cities, east-west orientation is taboo because of the harsh west afternoon light. In Shenzhen east-west orientation is possible; this allows to experiment with European perimeter blocks.
Trap 4: natural ventilation and light
To achieve natural ventilation and light, kitchen, bathrooms, and toilets all need to have windows on external wall. This seemingly small rule actually results in fractal–shaped fl oor plans, as often seen in Chinese apartments. The combination of these simple rules could easily result in typical Chinese housing plans with extremely rigorous building patterns. Dense, fractal– shaped and anonymous apartments line up into long rows of 4.5 to 18 stories high. Each row is at distinct distance from the next. All houses face south loyally. This picture could be horrifying. The challenge in master planning is exactly to bring identity, vitality, diversity and differentiation in this otherwise stiff and dominant matrix of buildings. This requires a strong spatial framework which integrates organisation, landscape, traffi c into one coherent system. The planner is provoked to act like Pope Sixtus. In Beijing Waterland, special climaxes, for example landscape resources, landmarks, main public spaces, are connected to create points and lines in the spatial framework. Landscape punctures and softens the building matrix, and connects external green and main public facilities to neighbourhood interiors. Each neighbourhood centre has a specifi c landscape theme.
Trap 5: erasure
Development sites are mostly in tabula rasa condition. The site is sandy, yellow, dry and fl at. When Beijing Waterland started, we had to look for contextual clues to construct new relations with larger urban context or external landscape assets. And we locate communal and commercial facilities at the intersection of many landscape elements. Integration with external landscape is our strategy to reinstall relations, context and memory.
Trap 6: aspiration
China’s rising middle class is aspired to western values and formal expressions. In their consumer minds, the contradiction of communism and market economy is resolved; coffee, tennis and pets mean lifestyle. They look for non-Chinese cultural reference. Projects brief refl ects the desire: northern European streets and atmosphere, modernity, freshness. As architects, we are often surprised by what Chinese defi ne as quality and beauty. We are forced to re-evaluate what is often taken for granted and make a better version. At the same time, we are challenged by their aspiration. We are prompted to prove that European architecture is truly worthy of such devoted appreciation.
Trap 7: enclave
Often we are requested to concentrate the same typology in one zone. According to developers, this is to ensure that higher-income inhabitants do not have the nuisance from (slightly) lower-income inhabitants. This inevitably results in class segregation to a certain extend, but it is compensated by generous communal and commercial programmes such as parks, squares, sports and shopping centres. In Beijing Waterland three facility hubs (50,000m² in total) of mixed programmes optimise outward orientation to relate the residential area to the larger urban scale.
Trap 8: speed
Short design period and rapid construction speed make working in China extremely exhilarating and satisfying. The speed is a mandate from combination of reasons: national economic growth, market demand, land re-zoning, encouragement of spending and consuming (planned by government), etc. Speed is also facilitated by simple client -architect relations, no complex negotiation amongst stake-holders. The client gives a brief, foreign architect design, and the local architect modifi es the design to local regulations and technology. It cannot be simpler. The speed has its down side too. For Beijing Waterland; the market is two years ahead of the government planning offi ces. The developer has been busy planning the area since 2003, but planning regulations and guidelines where only announced in 2005. The already developed designs (masterplan, housing typology, landscape concept, commercial centre) all had to be thrown out of the window and we had to start again.
Trap 9: quantity
Each intervention is multiplied in large quantity. The consequence of design is immense. In Beijing Waterland, 12 main housing types (decided by client) will be multiplied to 5000 houses. The strategy tries to insert maximum diversity to soften consistency. The large planning area is further differentiated into 9 neighbourhoods in terms of location, landscape themes, typology. High apartments take advantage of views; low townhouses are embedded in green and water; special ensembles terminate landscape axes. Differentiation and diversity is the key to such large (sub)urban planning projects.
Rotterdam, 4 juli 2005 Shiuan-Wen Chu / KCAP