AirSpace: Gangxia Uprising

Gangxia Uprising

Radical Erasure

Hypothesis: Speculative image of Gangxia

Topic concerning ‘governance’, reflecting the notion of framed media, how media could be framed architecturally. The photograph was taken inside a newly built commercial building which hosts the Hilton Hotel adjacent to the underdeveloped village of Gangxia. The windows project a view of the old village, but interestingly are obscured with perforated metal panel façade; however, windows facing the new developed side of village have no façade obscuring the view, as if it is framed picture perfect. In one aspect of argumentation that would arise when approaching this topic matter, it portrays a certain method of governance of massive population, power of the government that is rooted within the Chinese culture. Throughout my journey in Shenzhen, human value and moral would be reminded us through signs, billboards, and media. Personal media would be screened and blocked by the government, although media in China is biased, it doesn’t affect the consumption of media whatsoever.

Photograph 1 : Governance

The photograph symbolizes the aspect of ownership of public and private, how a private space turns into a public space that host interaction and exchange. How soft program gets created in a common space, and how official authorizes the activities. A renovating commercial unit in the newly developed building that hosts the Hilton Hotel performs as a transition route for the villagers from the village’s interior to exterior and vice versa; this reflects human behavior and explains how the old and the new co-exist, how there is a loose level of ownership from authority. Discussing human behavior, it is crucial to mention how a private property alters its function according to certain time of the day, and how this observation influences the design. 

Photograph 2: Ownership

Exchange of gut and wealth loosely describes an act of Chinese most favorite activity, gambling. How gambling defines the commodity of space, demand, and availability? This topic of argumentation would provide soft program for the design. How gambling drives the economy of a community and profoundly influence the aspect of architecture and ownership? Design influenced by close speculation on growth and profit through micro-economy within the village. 

Photgraph 3: Commodities

By observing buildings in the village, an interesting topic comes into mind, when I looked closely to the façade of the villagers’ homes. Series of extended metal structure (frames) exceed dweller’s space; questions concerning air rights quickly inspire the formalization of the design, generating space via cheating of air rights. With the reorganization of space to mitigate hybridization space, but still in this phase, questions raised about hybridization is whether good or bad? 

Photograph 4: Hybridization

Photograph 5: Facade - Air Right

Gangxia Uprising; GX

(Takes advantage of Gangxia Air-Right for New Affordable Community)

‘Initial AirSpace Offering’ (IAO)

An initial AirSpace Offering (IAO) is used by original landowners in Gangxia and/or other potential districts to bypass the rigorous and regulated capital-raising process required by venture capitalists or banks. In an IAO campaign, a percentage of the XSpace (currency) is sold to early backers of the project in exchange for legal tender or module(s) in GX.

Project Documentation; aiming for prospective investors and migrants

When an original landowners in Gangxia wants to raise money through an Initial AirSpace Offering (IAO), they are required to create a plan on a whitepaper which states what the project/location is about, what need(s) the project will fulfill upon completion, how much money is needed to undertake the venture, how much of the virtual AirSpace the pioneers of the project will keep for themselves, what type of money (legal tender) is accepted, and how long the IAO campaign will run for. In this specific case, Gangxia original landowners unite to a single massive project to re-define Gangxia by taking advantage of air-right for a new affordable community; GX.

During the IAO campaign, enthusiasts and supporters of the firm’s initiative buy some of the distributed XSpace coins with legal tender. These coins are referred to as tokens and are similar to shares of a company sold to investors in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) transaction. If the money raised does not meet the minimum funds required by the landowner, the money is returned to the backers and the IAO is described to be unsuccessful. If the funds requirements are met within the proposed duration, the money raised is used to complete the GX project or initiate a new scheme.

Early investors in the operation are usually motivated to buy the XSpace coins in the hope that the plan (GX) becomes successful after it launches which could translate to a higher XSpace coin value and/or modules in the GX than what they purchased it for before the project was initiated. The XSpace coin would eventually become currency to trade modules in GX when the project becomes successful.

AirSpace - Investment platform prototype

The success of the GX project depends on the unification of the original landowners and the growth/profit the site generates. Gangxia is going through a phase of negotiation with the government of its air rights condition. In this revolutionary time of the district, it is arguable of their cooperation with the Chinese government. Therefore, to invest in an XSpace coin in Gangxia, sky is the limit. 

AirSpace and its prospective building design

A systematic scheme for the definition of AirSpace is influenced by the five selected topics concerning; governance, commodities, ownership, hybridization, and façade. The scheme invented to solve and improve the quality of life within Gangxia village as it faced shortage on housing due to a residential development plan in the 80’s which limits residential housing to seven and eleven floors. The parameter of the village are being developed, new commercial buildings are being built creating walls of buildings guarding the Gangxia urban village. Potential of unused air space above the entire village initiated the concept of the project. An investment platform designed to allow for a diverse status of investors to spread the wealth and revitalize the micro and macro economy. Unused air space would be constructed on capital raised from the AirSpace service, creating more profitable space to provide more income for landowners and investors as well as solving issue on housing shortage.

The process of development involves demolition of the current building to improve quality of ground condition and its infrastructure. The compensation for the demolished lot (landowner) would be translated into same measurable area on the AirSpace building. The new AirSpace building would cover the unused 9.1% on the lot’s and its neighbors’ FAR (floor area ratio). The number was calculated through a speculation of a high rise within the village with estimate FAR of 12.6%; average FAR for Gangxia village is tightly 3.5%, leaving over 9.1% unused and in line for development. 

Process

The new AirSpace buildings would occupy the existing building mass through a demolition process, with the same footprint, the buildings offer extra footprint by occupying the unused air space of its own and the neighbor’s. It is a competition among the original Gangxia citizen, the lot with the most investments would get to provide for the construction of the new AirSpace building project, neighbors have been negotiated and come to an agreement in prior for the bid. Once the result is finalized, construction begins on the selected lot, and its neighbors would receive compensation for their air space as negotiated in the agreement (the compensation would consists of certain yield percentage, space in the new building, and/or legal tender or XSpace currency. The core lead by a mega core consists of four elevator cores providing four elevators in each core making sixteen elevators as dwellers’ circulation. Extended upon the core are cantilever corridors leading to free profitable space with cables attached to the mega core to provide structural stability. The corridors are then connected with slabs organized in form of grid to define the boundary of dwellers’ personal space. Each floor provides for four extra stories of growth in space and income, for the project supports mitigation and revitalization of macro and micro economy of the urban village, therefore the building support possibility of growth for dwellers. The boundary or the amount of space owned by dweller is defined by dweller, depending on the amount of XSpace dweller purchases or invests in the AirSpace platform that would later use to purchase space within the building; previous landowner would be compensated with identical space area within the building and certain amount of yield generated through profits from the space within the new AirSpace building.

Instance

The AirSpace building will partially fill up the skyline of the urban village, dweller’s quality of life is also what the design prioritized upon, and therefore the space within the core of the building will provide for sustainable agriculture project. The agriculture project will not only provide cash crop/ household crop for the dwellers, improve breathing air quality, but ultimately emphasize on the “farming” identity of the original dwellers in the Gangxia urban village. The volume of a typical building mass in the village will be replaced with a structure filled with plants (sustainable agriculture project), crops can be treated as cash crop where they could be traded in a micro or a macro scale, for the usage of the space is upon dweller’s/investor’s decisions. The core is covered with a glass façade to perform in similarity to greenhouse to provide for regulated climatic condition for plants to grow in their maximum potential; also to decorate the sight of the village with greenery.

 

Phase3 : Open space

NANTOU ANCIENT VILLAGE: OPEN SPACE

 

        The project’s purpose is to preserve the specific condition of everyday life that is now being demolished by the invaded of modernism. Nowadays after modernism has become famous and categorized of being civilized, the appearance of building become similar. This leads to the preservation of ancient architecture in order to let the future generation knows about the past. Meanwhile, the relationship and the activities of people began to be abandon and extinct. Of the following this project aims to create an open space or the space that can be used as the public for any types of people. The characteristic of this open space is hoe it can be adapt to any kind of limits, which the limits is the area of the spaces that is diverse around the village and the uses of the users. Therefore, the constraint is area with no less than 2 meters in width with at least 3 boundary sides in order to shape the activities of the users. In addition the activities that are choose to be the constraints are the common activities the often seen in the village which is hanging clothes, sweeping floor, choosing things of customers and motorcycle. This project will also provoke the notion of how function of space can shape people and how people create space at the same time.

        Nantou ancient city or Xin’an ancient city is also considered as one of the urban village located between Bao’an and Nanshan district. Nantou ancient city is the village that is well-known for its old atmospheric of preservation of Chinese culture. It was once a prosperous village which has importance strategic warrant protective wall to build against Japanese pirates etc. Nowadays, it is being an area of preservation that the government tries to preserve and promote. However, the uniqueness of this area doesn’t seem to be a real authentic of it, due to the materiality of the architecture that was use in most of the village. Moreover, the more preservation of architecture the more lack of community ‘s interaction awareness.  With the change of technology, the pattern of how community of this village is being is now changing in to more individual’s pattern. The interaction between people will be abandon, due to the various types of people that come to the village to seek for the rental house. This creates a large gap of interaction between people.   

        The urban village is the village that contains many cultures, identity and hierarchy together within the same place. The public space becomes the only space that they can do anything they wants. Even though, some of the individuals activities still invades some part of the space. The space can also be used in various kinds due to the personal though or experience of people which can leads to the multiuse of object inside the area. This leads to the interaction of people to people and people to the space that should be concerned before being extinct. In addition, the space will also help people to have an interaction between each other not only by communication but also by perception or posture and activities they do like a big living room for people to come and share their space together. The communal use of space becomes common in different area like the public space. This project tries so save the pattern of informal use of the space which is one of the charming this village has.  The use of space is different according to different minds and ages.

        This project creates elements that can be integrated together into the public area which benefit the villager and also create a multiuse legally inside the space rather than invading the space. The elements are clothes’ hanger, panel that can be adapt to table or chair, floor tiles and gap of limitation. These spaces are being protected by these elements in order to make people know how much space can be use besides their building. Meanwhile, they also protect the building at the same time by creating a limit for those areas. For example, the floor tile will create a boundary which if people want to go to their home they will use the path of normal floor instead of the path with tile. Meanwhile, if they want to walk or have a rest or play this space is suitable for them to use. Moreover, ­this space can also make people having an interaction between together whether by directly or indirectly. For instance, the children can use the clothes’ hanger as playing elements or using the panel connecting them as table, chair or playing toys. Of the following this space is a big living room that tries to reduce the boundary between people and promote the limits of space by create an imaginary line by using objects as a tools. 

Using VR as a tools to generate the feeling and atmosphere for the user

A new innovative landmark

Radical Erasure

A Dichotomy Between Block and Speculation

Introduction

Huaqiangbei in Shenzhen is a developed city block. It has been known as The silicon valley of hardwares where gigantic electronics markets are located consists of retails and wholesale stores. They are placed throughout buildings along Huaqiang road.The stores can be found in every shopping centres or malls along the district. It is a place for retail and trading where retailer or innovators can rent the space for selling and services. Buildings in Huaqiangbei are mostly gigantic commercials for technology and innovation. From small component shops to a new innovative products. Huaqiangbei is now considered as one of the manufacturing district which is the main income that run the economy in Shenzhen. However, if we consider in Huaqiangbei nowadays where all copy products have produced and widely sold in many places but by the people who have good skill in a assembly and technology. There are potential that could be developed further to change the image of the district from manufacturing to  the leader of innovation and design. Moreover, to gain the benefits to huaqiangbei in term of economic growth where it would attract new inventors to invest in the new invention products and also ordinary people and tourist as well.

Starting with the design concept and aim of the design in order to develop living quality and provide proper spaces for retailers including to change the commercial to be more pleasant and attractive. 

First is to re-organise the space in the building, a new building consist of 8 floors, 

From the highest floor to lower floor :

• 5th floor : Small component shops are located and the components will be send to another floor in order to assemble new products.
• 4th and 3rd floor : Assemble and modification space with groups of experiment spaces.
• 2nd floor : New invention products
• 1st floor where the lobby, Ordering machine and waiting areas are located and.
• G floor : Entrance from Huaqiang Road
• B1 is provided for the facilities and collective spaces such as learning room, relaxing spaces, cafe and restaurant. 
• B2 is connected to the metro with the elevators provided to for access to the building.

Here is the video present 3 characters, customers, owner / retailers, workshop participant who use spaces in different purpose.

Typologies

1. The merge between single unit for retailer and machine system : A single unit is consisted of 3 parts which are working space for managing products with providing of a monitor to accept customer’s order from ordering machine at ground floor (Ordering machine is more convenient for retailers by telling order’s queue, time to receive the products including appointment to meet the retailers at their shops) , individual storage on the upper of the unit where allow the products from rail can be kept and send to customer at the back and private resting area where prepared for owner and their child in case if they have. Another on is Testing or experiment area where before products are released they have to pass this area to check or test the quality that it is usable and ready to transfer in the next step. 
2. Logistic system : In order to transfer products or components, the rails are installed connected to the shops and testing spaces which are linked to main storage at the back to store the products before release to other zones.
3. Atrium : An adaptable space at the centre of the building which is adaptable in many events such as an expo, exhibition, auditorium or workshop space. There are steel columns with connected rail of structure above allow more facilitate for install and construct new structure when the event is changed. It can be an exposed space or conceal by using folding partition.  

Conclusion

                  This new design of the building is to organise and recombine elements when the interior become more fundamental than exterior. Being more than just a commercial building but become a new trend of a new spaces where all the activities and process are the variable to run and also increase the economic growth in the district. In the same time, life quality will be improved in the better way and also skill of people and are developed and used in the right direction.