Practice of Wutopia: Borderland
Design Period: 2008
Construction Period: 2009-2012
Location: Malu Town, Jiading, Shanghai
Client: Oriental Wisdom Valley
Architects: Ting Yu, Jinwei Xu
Site Area: 8586 m2
Project Area: 11696 m2
Ground Floor Area: 6970m2
Underground Floor Area: 5045m2
FAR: 0.81
Green Space Ratio: 34%
Building Density:28.9%
Numbers of Car Parking: 83
Numbers of Unit Type: 12
Numbers of Stories: 3-4, Building #12 is 5 stories
People tend to view architectures as pri- vate, closed locations, inside which they live,
act, and interact. As a result, common spaces, such as parks or walkways, are often
ignored or overlooked, as they are regarded as ‘outside’. Individuals are iso- lated
within buildings, thus architectures,which should never be considered only as private
spaces, are further disconnect- ed from each other. As public space loses its
effectiveness, the city is ultimately dot- ted with scattered lonely islands.
It is my primary concern to reshape and redefine public space in the project.
The first step is enfeoffment. The land will be divided into 12 sections, according to
manufacturing, living, business and trans- portation needs. A 4-meter-high wall will be
built to draw the boundaries between each section.
The second step is called borderland. A borderland is different from a boundary;
rather, it is an interactive space between the inside and outside space. It is vaguely and
loosely defined. With the possible need for future modifications of bound- ary, a
borderland can be redefined and reshaped accordingly.
The third step is colonization. It is my pre- diction that with the potential of explor- ing
and ‘conquering’ due to owner’s need in the future, a new boundary will be drawn. An
open borderland will facilitate formation of new borderlands between 12 individual
sections.
The fourth step is alliance. The new bor- derland will take its lead to reshape and
redefine the function. Different individual lands will re-ally based on their new func- tion.
I do not aim to predict the pattern of their alliance and balance; however, it is my
intention to design the architecture in a way which allows for creativity, flex- ibility, and
functionality.
