Factory 798,Beijing
Beijing,China
In-between(s)
In recent years, a vibrant art community has emerged in a mixed-use and industrial neighborhood in northeasternBeijing. Now, the area has been slated for development into one million square meters of residential towers, threatening the livelihood of the existing community. How can one fulfill the requirement for one million square meters of new residences and simultaneously preserve the existing fabric of small art galleries, artists studios, and local community life?
We are interested in the confrontation of the old and new, and therefore have developed an alternative plan: On ground level, we keep the existing facilities. Over these, we superimpose a new high-density residential quarter, a horizontal city hovering twenty-five meters above the ground, with courts of light open to the galleries below. Our project is about a strategy of in-betweens: spaces between the old and the new, below and above, east and west.
Program
To build a new development comprising one million square meters and up to 5600 units of housing, commercial/studios/lofts for the artistic community.
Lattice
The concept of the lattice arises out of two constraints: first, the need for a structural grid and a regular system of vertical circulation/ egress, and second, the requirement that the new structure touch down at points that interfere minimally with the existing fabric. One constraint is orderly a maximum egress distance of 50meters and the other is disorderly, that is, dictated by the vagaries of existing circumstances. The lattice is the ideal structure for mediating between these two constraints.