Architecture Commons^™

Neo Collectivism: Public Space Design For The Intergenerational Community, Shu Zhang

Architecture Senior Theses

Within our lifetime, we will see an increase in the aging of the population in China, and the social isolation of the elderly is occurring every day. Simultaneously, more and more young people migrate to large cities, while older family members stay in their home towns to ease the younger generation's burden. The once collectivist family culture has been destroyed, and the daily life of the elderly without their relatives has become monotonous and lonely. Moreover, with the advancement of technology, the younger generation is increasingly dependent on smartphones for social interaction and life, which increases the possibility of the …

Xiong'an,Minglu Wei Baita: Towards An Alternative Urbanism, Minglu Wei, Ying Zuo

Architecture Senior Theses

In 1978, with the onset of economic reform, the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) started to accelerate in China. Beyond the success of these mega-cities, if one starts to relate the history of SEZs to the political history of China, one may find that SEZs have always been utilized as a method for the leaders of CCP to manifest their authority and to fortify their achievements. Such state projects are inevitably founded on a paradoxical claim. While being announced as monumental undertakings capable of glorifying the country and benefiting people, they also demand sacrifices of citizens for a higher …

Modern Chinese Architectural Restoration, Tengkui Xie

Architecture Senior Theses

All over the world, there are always buildings to be built and buildings that become old. Should buildings that catered to older needs but are now obsolete be torn down and replaced with new buildings or can we do something to balance the value of the present and the past? All buildings have historic and aesthetic values of their own times, so it is not wise to wipe them out of history completely. It would be better to preserve, restore and reuse them. Restoration has a long history in the West and since the beginning of the 20th century there …

Sinoconn: Merchandising Of Architecture And Rearmament Of Labor, Furui Sun

Architecture Senior Theses

The project is situated in the context of contemporary China, where tremendous production power and a huge labor force have been accumulated through decades of rapid economic growth. In recent years, China's persistent growth has begun to slow, which challenges the administration with an imminent socio-economic crisis and the potential for a massive scale of surplus capital and its consequences. This conflict emerges out of the complementary "inner connection...between the developments of capitalism and urbanization" identified by British-born Marxist scholar David Harvey. Such a problem and its resolution can be seen in France in the mid-19th century right after an …

Baita, Xiong’An: Towards And Alternative Urbanism, Minglu Wei, Ying Zuo

Architecture Thesis Prep

The project focuses on Xiong’an, the new special area established in April 2017 by the Chinese government, as well as the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in China, both as a typology and political and economic events. By documenting and understanding the urban development pattern that has been implemented in China since 1978 and by revealing the process of translation and materialization of this capital and politics driven utopian model in the past forty years, the objective is:

1. To construct an alternate portrait of the development of Xiong’an, which is arguably a unique urban typology in China, from pieces of …

Never-Land | A Parasitic And Accumulative Approach To Urbanization In China, Xiaoyan Dong

Architecture Senior Theses

Ever since 1960s, European situationist and Japanese metabolist architects constantly reject the uniformity and totalitarian of modern architecture/urban design, seeking parasitic and dynamic approaches to post-war urbanization. Projects such as the Plug-In City and the Tokyo Bay dream of alternative urban scenarios by reversing traditional perceptions of infrastructure’s role in the city, combining architecture, technology and society together. However, these megastructure projects not only neglect the existing urban context but also lack political and economic driving force. As a result, they are considered utopian by many contemporary critics.

Fifty years later in China, fast urbanization process creates problems for both …

China's New Weird, Bangyuan Shi

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis offers a critique of the diminishing communal life int he contemporary Chinese city which is created by the gap between large-scale master planning strategies and the contemporary need to focus on the individual instead of the structure of communities.

China's New Weird proposes an alternative to large-scale urbanism through the use of micro-urbanism strategies that preserve the relative scale and character of traditional urban settlements, like those of the "hutong", while also addressing the contemporary need to increase inner city population densities. The intention is to adapt the patterns of space and use that are found in these …

Never-Land, Xiaoyan Dong

Architecture Thesis Prep

The thesis re-imagines the operation and impact of construction sites under fast urbanization in China, by studying the live + work practices of migrant construction workers. The thesis criticizes the existing introverted “Wall + Hut” construction paradigm, proposing an adaptable architectural structure around construction sites, which provides spatially an alternative urban nomad lifestyle for Chinese construction workers, and in return reconstruct the urban experience in China based on the increasing demand for migrant-dwellings and omnipresent construction sites.

Industrial Intervened, Xige Liu

Architecture Thesis Prep

The structure of China industrial company is quite different, because the company had many other related service only available to people who work there and their family, such as kindergarten, college, food factory, theatre, apartments and etc. That is the culture and social contents of a typical industrial company. It is also the characteristic of socialism of China. Like what Tschumi said, the social relevance and formal invention of architecture cannot be dissociate from the event that happen in it. It’s also related to what Cedric Price had done for the Fun Place that the architecture should be highly adaptable …

New Beijing: Learning From New York, Bowen Zhang

Architecture Thesis Prep

This thesis aims to address the housing problem generated by the previously mentioned contradicting stimuli to create a new housing typology that is appropriate for a modern Beijing.

Hacking The Urban Village | Architecture As Board Game, Xuyun Liu

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis proposes the board game as a new research methodology and platform for the study of southern China's urban villages.

Hacking the Urban Village examines the urban villages that have, in recent decades, become a common but informal settlement type in China as a result of China's unprecedented period of urbanization.

This research forms the contextual core of a board game where game settings present the current urban conditions and players may explore alternative forms of urbanism. The board game offers players the opportunity to investigate both he formal conditions of the urban village life along with it attendant …

A City Within A City: Protecting The Spirit Of Hutong, Yuan Yuan

Architecture Thesis Prep

The ancient Chinese believed that humanity should exist coherently with the nature. In Siheyuan, which are the houses stand along the Hutong, the connection with nature is expressed through the centrally located courtyard. The grey brick walls and the low-angled tile roofs create the ancient atmosphere in that historical area, because the materials are quite different from the factories processed materials of the modern buildings, such as the pre-cast concrete and glass. At the same time, the relationship between family and family is pretty closed in that area. Many tenants have to share a courtyard, sometimes they have to share …

China Rail-Borne, Daya Zhang

Architecture Senior Theses

The next stage of China’ growth and advancement rests on the assumption that its population will be more and more concentrated in cites since approximately 350 million farmers are expected to move towards the urban areas from 2005 to 2025. How to connect its population of more than 1 billion within those cites, and among them, is always an urgent issue for Chinese government to deal with. Railway is the most common mode for Chinese to travel around. However, the overcapacity has plagues China’s railway network for years, especially during the national holidays, such as Spring Festival. The emergence of …

A Critique Of Chinese Education, Ying Chen

Architecture Senior Theses

The biggest problem of the state-controlled children’s education in the People’s Republic of China is that the system focuses more on the method of education rather than learning of children themselves. Thus the children lack of internal motivation to learn. Moreover, the typical education in China tend to isolate the students from the neighborhood, lacking a chance for students to really interact and experiement hands on with new knwoledge. However, this problem aspect can be overcame by learning from the western pedagogical strategies, such as the Montessori Education. For this educational approach, the primary goal is to stimulate children’s internal …

Urban Stitch: Reinventing Housing In The Globalized Urban Realm For Chinese Migrant Workers, Jennifer Hoi Ling Ha

Architecture Thesis Prep

"This thesis contends that architecture can reclaim individual and community expression within the globalized urban realm through the integration of unique programs in a live/work community environment."

Urban Stitch: Reinventing Housing In The Globalized Urban Realm For Chinese Migrant Workers, Jennifer Hoi Ling Ha

Architecture Senior Theses

"This thesis contends that architecture can reclaim individual and community expression within the globalized urban realm through the integration of unique programs in a live/work community environment."