798 future heritage

Beijing, China – 2014

THERE IS AN ADVENTURE HERE WAITING TO BE FOUND.

WE PROPOSE TO ENVISION THE WHOLE TO BE A PARK.

That means that the landscape should be re-designed as a pedestrian landscape. An amalgam of spaces and events that encourage your exploration. Lots of added trees will green the site and the found building collective will find itself presented as a the odd building collective it really is. Of course cars and services will be part of this.

THE NEW NETWORK
WE ADD BRIDGES, DOORS, CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE GALLERIES , SO WE CAN MOVE FROM ONE GALLERY TO THE NEXT WITHOUT GOING BACK TO THE STREET ALL THE TIME.
THAT MAKES FOR A MUCH BETTER ‘BLOOD FLOW’, AN EXPLORATION OF 798 THAT IS MORE FLUID.
IT RIGS THE GALLERIES TOGETHER TO BECOME A HUGE ART NETWORK.

NEW NETWORK

EXPANDING THE IDEA OF THE CONNECTING BRIDGES, THESE WALKWAYS CAN DEVELOP A NARRATIVE OF ITS OWN. A SPECULATIVE STRUCTURE THAT HAS ITS OWN RULES AND PERSONALITY. A STRUCTURE THAT MAKES OUR EFFORTS TO WALK FEEL LIKE A FREE FLOW IN SPACE. THE WALKWAYS PICK YOU UP AT THE ENTRANCES AND LEAD YOU THROUGH THE SITE. TO LOOSELY UNRAVELS THE POST INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE AND BARGES THROUGH WALLS TO DISCLOSE ITS CONTENTS.

HERITAGE
OF COURSE WE SEE THE KILIMN HALLS AS ART, WE ALSO SEE THE FORMER FACTORY ARCHEOLOGY AS HERITAGE, AND SO DO WE SEE THE CURRENT USE AS FUTURE HERITAGE. SEEMS OBVIOUS THAT THIS URBAN MACHINE HAS MULTIPLE LIVES, AND SHOULD NOT BE LIMITED IN GENERATING MORE LIVES.
OUR ONLY STRATEGY TOWARDS THE BUILDING HERITAGE IS THAT THE BUILDINGS SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN DOWN. WE CAN PEEL, TRANSFORM, ADD, UNITE, SUBSTRACT…

PARELS VOOR DE ZWIJNEN
A GREAT ART DISTRICT NEEDS ARTISTS. EVEN THOUGH THE RENTS MIGHT NOT JUSTIFY AND THE ENVIRONMENT MIGHT BE TOO DISTRACTING. BUT WE PROPOSE TO INSERT STUDIO SPACES THAT HOOVER ABOVE THE CORE AREA TO REALLY AND IMAGINATIVELY FEED THE MACHINE.

LEAVING THE GROUND A VERTICAL ZONING
INSTEAD OF A 2 DIMENSIONAL ZONING THAT TENDS TO SEGREGATE, WE PROPOSE TO VERTICALLY REGULATE 798.
ON THE GROUND THE STREETS ARE MOSTLY REPLACED BY AN URBAN PARK FOR PEOPLE TO WANDER FREELY.
ELEVATED IS OUR NETWORK OF WALKWAYS THAT ACCESSES THE BUILDINGS AT UNEXPECTED MOMENTS.
THE ELEVATED WALKWAYS ALSO ALLOW US TO EASILY ACCESS THE ROOFS OF THE EXISTING BUILDINGS. HERE WE PROPOSE A ROOF LANDSCAPE THAT IS GREAT FOR EVENTS AND GATHERINGS.
ABOVE AND BETWEEN THERE ARE ELEVATED ARTIST STUDIO’S, SO THE ARTIST HAVE A PLACE TO WORK UNDISTURBED AND THE PUBLIC SEE A LAYER OF VOLUMES THAT THEY HAVE NO ACCESS.

URBAN CONSTELATION
798 IS A HUGE MAGNET FOR CREATIVE RELATED INDUSTRY, AN URBAN EVENT IN ITSELF THAT SHOULD EASILY GENERATE DENSIFICATION AROUND ITS BORDERS.

Urban study for Beijing Design Week
Completion: 2014
Design team: Wendy Saunders, Vincent de Graaf, German Roig