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Architects: Lab D+H
- Area: 3000 m²
- Year: 2017
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Photographs:Arch-Exist
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Lead Architects: Zhongwei Li
Yongqing Fang
Yongqing Fang, a renovation project as a reaction to the rapid urban transformation of modern-day life, sits right in the heart of Guangzhou old town. Our design strategy emphasizes on renewing the buildings and activating the existing resources in the area to avoid relocating or expelling.
This inner-city renewal project improves the quality of life for all residents but also keeps their place-attachment by preserving the historic neighborhood fabric. The success of Yongqing Fang also provides a new benchmark for a micro-renovation approach – a series of case-specific measures -- towards inner-city rejuvenation.
Micro-transformation
Residential houses, commercial stores, and a combination of historic and modern buildings crowded in Yongqing Fang. To unify the style of the site and to retain the historical context, micro-transformation came into being. At the start of the renovation, most of the dwellings in Yonqing Fang were found abandoned. An overall inventory was established and intensively discussed with all stakeholders involved, leading to a final classification of all buildings into five different renovation categories applied on site: restoration, façade redesign, structural reinforcement, partial rebuilding, and new construction.
Instead of adopting a unified measure, an organic approach toward renewal was taken, which from the start has embraced the coexistence of a wide range of different building types and styles sitting next to each other, at the same time combining restoration with the injection of a new urban program.
Sustainability and Symbiosis
Respecting the local culture by using an environmentally sustainable and low impact approach to rehabilitating the site, we effectively use the original materials of the site such as tiles, brick, natural stone, and wood. We adaptively transform them into landscape elements.
Several moments are utilized in the landscape design: large wall falling into the water, wood ladder, roof garden, and Bruce Lee’s ancestral entrance garden. Those expansions and reconnections respect the local culture. The public space of Yongqing Fang is not only the renovation project of the neighborhood but also the creative prophecy of the outdoor activities.
