ORDOS 100 #41: Single Speed Design

Jun 2009

By Nico Saieh — Filed under: Houses , China, Ordos 100, Single Speed Design

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This villa is located in plot #92 of the ORDOS project.

Architects: Single Speed Design
Location: Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China
Principals in Charge: Jinhee Park AIA, John Hong AIA/LEED
LProject team: Brett Albert, Frederick Peter Ortner, Matt Allen, Caroline Lang, Clara Wong, Bao Wei
Structural Engineer: Paul Kassabian, SGH Inc.
Design year: 2008
Construction year: 2009-2010
Curator: Ai Weiwei, Beijing, China
Client: Jiang Yuan Water Engineering Ltd, Inner Mongolia, China
Constructed Area: 1,000 sqm aprox

Early on we noticed that that the overall project siteplan is a cleverly devised urban scale display system for a hundred different architectural experiments. Instead of deploying traditional property lines where no audience can tread, pedestrian easements relentlessly surround every lot. Within the abstraction of the desert, each team is liberated: without formal guilt we are given license to create autonomous product-like villas that can be viewed on all sides by an equally abstract audience.

From this cue, we took the opportunity to create a solution that on one hand references the local environment but also offers a more prototypical attitude toward energy savings – a solution that might be adapted to other building types beyond housing. Eight towers are proposed, each containing a separate and distinct program: an entry tower, a living tower, a food tower, a gym tower, 2 bedroom towers, and 2 bathroom towers. Through the distortion of each tower’s geometry, strategic connections and segregations are created. Organizing the program in this way permits greater efficiency, as only one-third of the towers are occupied and require the consumption of energy at any given time during a diurnal cycle. The organizational system also heightens the experiential differences between rooms that are necessarily similar in size, while creating a high level of porosity between interior and exterior spaces.

: site plan

: plans 01

: plans 02

: elevation 01

: elevation 02

: elevation 03

: elevation 04

: section 01

: section 02

: section 03

: section 04

: structure diagram

: usage diagram

Cite:
Saieh , Nico . "ORDOS 100 #41: Single Speed Design" 22 Jun 2009. ArchDaily. Accessed 09 Feb 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/25719>

Comments (21)
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Links to this entry (2)

Jt says:

ordos… is…. getting so.. boring.

# June 22, 2009 at 13:21

PanamArq says:

I wont judge this architecturally because I think that Single Speed has stated that they are more concerned about the idea. I think the tower-zone idea is the best thing to come out of Ordos. I would like to see what the architects can do when they are fully committed to designing the building

# June 22, 2009 at 13:33

David Basulto [tricky] says:

I really like how the program is spread across towers. Interesting sections.

# June 22, 2009 at 13:41

heaven says:

Again such a unbelievable non-sense projet! What is the win of that “towers” ? Not even the sections are good.

# June 22, 2009 at 13:49

Design Metafeed says:

#architecture ORDOS 100 #41: Single Speed Design:
This villa is located in plot #92 of the ORDOS p.. http://bit.ly/SLhFx

# June 22, 2009 at 13:53

Jason Torres says:

ORDOS 100 #41: Single Speed Design http://bit.ly/ZMI4W (via @archdaily)

# June 22, 2009 at 14:05

renn says:

The last render is crazy… It’s more like a striper in a club

# June 22, 2009 at 14:18

Julio Fernandez says:

No sense of reality…
Ordos will be the next titanic!! but this one is going sink faster…

# June 22, 2009 at 15:16

Koós Miklós says:

igazán figyelemreméltó épület | ArchDaily http://bit.ly/o1vjb

# June 22, 2009 at 16:48

Xing says:

I think it should be ORDOS 100 #42 instead of 41, right?

# June 22, 2009 at 22:51

Xing,

If you mean that because of the Yazdani project posted after our Ordos 100 #41, it´s right. Yazdani Studio’s villa isn´t part of Ordos 100, but is located right next to it.

# June 22, 2009 at 23:12

joninberlin says:

Superficial no content. A typcial ‘Hollywood’ style rendering job for a typical meaningless design from wanna-be hipsters who call themselves ‘single-speed design’. I mean what does “single-speed” (a term for bicycles with one gear) have to do with architecture?

# June 23, 2009 at 03:31

OV says:

It’s been done in Morocco:
http://www.ippnw-students.org/Chapters/Morocco/morocco.jpg

Next one please.

# June 23, 2009 at 04:19

José says:

I like it…sory

# June 23, 2009 at 04:20

Yoav Ickowicz says:

ORDOS 100 #41: Single Speed Design – #modern #white #architecture – http://bit.ly/8Z3RJ

# June 23, 2009 at 09:50

otis says:

wtf

# June 23, 2009 at 09:53

Joninberlin, I wish that your criticism was more about design and not the name of the firm. if you read their description you will see that they seem to agree that Ordos is a very odd project and they are more interested in creating a prototype. i think they achieved this. if you see their other work, it is actually very interesting, especially their “Big Dig House”

# June 23, 2009 at 10:44

Hi PanamaArq.

Perhaps I was being a little too harsh critizing the name ‘Single Speed’, so I took some time to check out their ‘Big Dig House’ as you suggested. The idea was interesting (salvaging construction material from the big dig site), the result however was somewhat brutal in my opinion and I’m sure you agree.

Regardless, kudos to SsD for getting something built although I still hate their name.

# June 23, 2009 at 10:57

yes i agree the big dig house is a bit brutal, but that may be because of the reclaimed materials previous use. i do not think the ordos house is attractive either, but the idea is what I like.

no comment on the office name… :)

# June 23, 2009 at 11:01

LV says: