Text description provided by the architects. The project “Super Link” is to explore the possibility of making tripartite innovation of space-industry-system in Chang’an, an industrial town of Dongguang, that is looking for new momentum in urban development.
Site Strategy: Linear Community
The government client intended to gradually transform the entire old factory area into an innovation park. We made a strategy that starts with renovating the stores, houses and warehouses along the main street.
Line/Interface: Integrate the façades of the buildings along the North Lianfeng Road, to form a continuous 300-meter-long urban interface. We hope such a powerful “Line” will in turn activate the whole area by radiating westward, connecting the community Park and Gym, further revitalizing the whole Innovation Park.
Plane/Grounds: By connecting the three levels, on 0m, 6m and 15m, through open corridors and stairs, we aim to create a 3D pedestrian network and urban garden.
Point/Nodes: Two major gateways mark the entries to the Innovation Square, one at the intersection of the two major roads and the other as the community park’s main entrance. They are the urban nodes with open stairs linking up the multiple levels of movements and spatial flows. Although our proposal was much simplified later, the basic spatial structure of “Point-Line-Plane” remained, and our vision eventually implemented: the starting line of the Innovation Park.
“Line”: Roof Canopy and Corridors
We united the long street-front buildings with a steel canopy to resembe a “flying carpet”. To pay tribute to Chang’an Town’s “new tradition” – In Chang’an Town, most townspeople share the same family name, Li, and believe they are the descendants of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin. They liked to use orange terracotta and glazed tiles to represent their cultural identity associated with the Chang’an of Tang Dynasty. So we adorned the canopy with orange and the columns with ochre. We added street corridors between the buildings to strengthen the communal connection and unify different façades.
“Point”: Open Entrance and Gathering Park
The two entrances and the Gathering Park are the primary public spaces in rehabilitation progress. To allow access to the Square from various directions, we added open stairs on the south and north sides of Building #2, to create a three-dimensional flow of multi-level spaces.
Initially, the building’s backside faces another old warehouse’s rear facade, so the back lane appeared lifeless. We opened up both ends to activate the pedestrian lane with commercial activities, and further connected it to the Gathering Park.
Dialogue between New and Old
The project required an engaging dialogue between the new and the old. The site’s information was highly deficient and building regulations ambiguous. During a site inspection, we accidentally discovered that Building #2 was originally designed to be a three-story building, yet it remained unfinished. We climbed onto the roof, and found two rows of column heads neatly lining on both sides. This unexpected finding offered the possibility of integrating the new construction with the existing old structure.
Hence we sorted out three methods of grounding the round steel columns systematically:
A. At the canopy ends and city street corners: the columns directly land on the ground;
B. At staircases: the columns land onto the steps – the column base is at the same level as the steps or platform;
C. On the rooftop: the columns land onto the original column heads exposed on the second-floor rooftop.
To continue the old building’s texture, we wrapped the façade of new street front with tiles in similiar (red-brownish) colour, while we repainted the rest facades. To make subtle difference between the new and the old, we paved the new building façades vertically, in contrast with the horizontal paving of the old. The ground paving continued the original building’s modular grid into the innovation park. And it also occasionally transformed into other landscape elements, such as seating and walkways, to achieve a sense of wholeness. Through subtle spatial and tectonic “stitching” methods, the Chang’an Innovation Square injects new energy of urban life into an old and worn factory district; it also offers citizens a fresh perspective on a town they have been long accustomed to.
