chinese cultural center
DESCRIPTION
UNC Charlotte, College of Architecture 2009 CAP ProposalTRANSCRIPT
Chinese Cultural Center
Chinese Cultural Center
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC2
Emily Lancaster-Vine
Chinese Cultural Center
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
5th Year Cap Proposal
Spring 2009
3Spring 2009
Table of Contents
Premise, Program, and Site 5
Site Information 11
Precedent Study 27
China’s Vernacular Architecture 28
Yung Ho Chang 32
Process 39
First Semester Drawings 47
Final Drawings 61
Bibliography 91
Table of Contents
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC4
“I am trying to look at the industrial landscape as a way of defining who we are and our relationship to the planet. It is the thing that is growing and
it is part of our economy, and it is a part of our politics, and it is part of how we elect our governments. It is a part of everything we do, but it is a big
machine that started rolling and I’m not coming at it to celebrate it or glorify the industry, nor am I trying to damn it. I am just trying to say, ‘Well, this is
what it is.’ So, to show those types of images or those types of places allows the viewer to begin to comprehend the scale. So, it is another landscape.
It is a landscape. It’s a different landscape.” [Manufactured Landscapes]
5Spring 2009
Premise, Program
, and Site
Premise, Program, and Site
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC6
China’s history has been a conglomeration of war time and peace time as power has been transferred through the hands of many
dynasties. Other nations, such as India and the Soviet Union, have been a constant influence on the transformation of China’s
religious beliefs and war tactics since the first century AD. In more recent times, the communist revolution and the growth of Mao
Tse-Tung’s power banned many of the rights of China’s people. The industrial revolution made one of the greatest impacts on
China’s building technology and continues to heighten the growth of change in rural and urban contexts. For example, advances in
building technology led to the construction of the world’s largest dam, initiating the displacement of thousands of people from their
villages. In the cities, more job opportunities are available, which has vastly increased the amount of new housing neighborhoods
within the city.
The rate of growth and change in China is escalating. Original Chinese traditions have been pushed aside. It is rare that traditional
building types are still present within the city. The Forbidden City is an example that lives on in Beijing but now as a tourist
attraction. The palaces and temples that have survived wartime and the growth of industry are places that need to be preserved
and remembered. New buildings are being designed to represent the fast pace of change in modern Chinese society. They are
overshadowing vernacular architecture of the past.
The tense relations between the United States and China have been a critical influence in the recent past. The introduction of
China’s culture and national identity into our nation’s capitol can help inform present and future generations. China’s long history
and its transformation into one of the world’s Superpowers has placed a strain on the preservation its culture. Those who visit the
Chinese Cultural Center in Washington, DC will be exposed to a greater knowledge of China’s original traditions and the escalating
transformation of its cities. Examples of the Cultural Center’s permanent exhibits may include the setbacks and conquests of bloody
wartimes, changes within governmental powers, self-preservation in rural areas, and recent expansion and development in urban
areas. It is important to learn what has influenced the contemporary society of China.
Premise
7Spring 2009
Placed in the center of our nation’s capitol, the Chinese Cultural Center’s site is on H Street. It will reside next to the Chinese
Friendship Arch, the city’s only landmark that marks the small district of Chinatown. Chinatown, a mere 6 blocks, is consumed within
an established commercial district of mid-rise buildings and is close to many points of interest. Buildings adjacent to this area include
the MCI/Verizon Center, the National Portrait Gallery and the National Building Museum. The Chinese Cultural Center is positioned
north of the National Mall, United States Capitol building and the National Galleries. A second east/west axis connects the cultural
center to the White House. The Cultural Museum is across the street from the Gallery Place - Chinatown Metro station entrance,
establishing a further connection with areas outside of Capitol Hill.
The Chinese Cultural Center is in close proximity to many points of interest of the Residents of DC, as well as tourists visiting the
city for the fist time. Its location is easily accessible by foot, metro, or car, and will speculate visitors of all ages. Placing it inside the
small district of Chinatown will strengthen the area’s Chinese culture and educate our nation and those unable to travel to their
native land about the history of China.
Premise, Site, and Program
Site
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC8
9Spring 2009
Premise, Site, and Program
Lobby 700 1 700 sfReception 150 1 150 sfCoat Room 230 1 230 sfRestroom 450 2 900 sfAdministrative Office 450 3 1,300 sfConference Room 640 1 640 sfBookstore 1,600 1 1,600 sf Gallery Exhibition Space 1,800 2 3,600 sfVisual Auditorium (75 seats) 1,200 1 1,200 sfProjection Room / Lighting / Sound 200 1 200 sfCourtyards Tai Chi 900 1 900 sf Teahouse 500 1 500 sf Garden 300 1 300 sf Meditation 150 1 150 sf Bamboo 100 1 100 sf Café 900 1 900 sf Café Patio 950 1 950 sf Kitchen 500 1 500 sfClassrooms Art 450 1 450 sf Computer 325 1 325 sf English as a Second Language [ESL ] 375 1 375 sfResidence Bedroom 275 8 2,200 sf Residence Restroom 450 2 900 sfResidence Balcony 500 2 1,000 sfResidence Patio 800 1 800 sf
Janitor’s Closet 25 2 50 sfTransformer Vault, Room, or Exterior Pad 100 1 100 sf Electrical Room 50 1 50 sfElectrical Closet 25 2 50 sfCommunications Room 50 1 50 sfBoiler, Chiller, & Pump Room 300 1 300 sfFan Room 300 1 300 sfPlumbing Room 50 1 50 sf Total of subconditioned (interior) floor area 21,820 sf Circulation - 20% of subtotal floor area 4,360 sf
Total floor area 26,180 sf
Program
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC10
“The semi-suburbanized and the suburbanized messes we create in this way become despised by their own inhabitants tomorrow. These thin dispersions
lack any reasonable degree of innate vitality, staying power, or inherent usefulness as settlements. Few of them, and these only the most expensive as
a rule, hold their attractions much longer than a generation; then they begin to decay in the pattern of city gray areas. Indeed, an immense amount of
today’s city gray belts was yesterday’s dispersion closer to ‘nature’.” [Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities]
11Spring 2009
Site Information
Site Information
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC12
German immigrants originally populated Chinatown. Chinese immigrants began to populate the area in the 1930s, after being displaced from Washington’s original Chinatown along Pennsylvania Avenue by the development of the Federal Triangle government office complex. After the 1968 riots, the population of Chinatown sharply declined and ethnic Chinese residents, as well as many others, left for suburban areas to escape the city’s rising crime and taxes. The Friendship Archway was dedicated to Washington DC in 1986. It is a traditional Chinese gate in the style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and was designed by a local architect Alfred H. Liu. The arch was built to reinforce the neighborhood’s Chinese character. At this time, the local Metro station was given its present name, Gallery Place-Chinatown, but by then most of the neighborhood’s Chinese population
13Spring 2009
Site Information
had already moved to the suburbs. Large sections of Chinatown’s residential areas were torn town during the construction of the old Washington Convention Center and the MCI Center. In 1982, the city constructed the Wah Luck Housing at 6th and H Street, NW to accommodate the displaced residents. Recently, Chinatown underwent a $200 million renovation, transforming the area into a bustling scene for nightlife, shopping and entertainment. Local laws dictate that new businesses in the Chinatown area must have signs in English and Chinese to preserve local character. Chinatown’s most prominent businesses are the approximately 20 Chinese and Asian restaurants, almost all of which are owned by Asian-American families.
Chinese Friendship Arch, Chinatown
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC14
District of Columbia
Chinatown
Site
Green Space
15Spring 2009
Site Information
MCI / Verizon Center
Portrait Gallery / Smithsonian American Art Museum
Surrounding Chinatown Institutions
National Building Museum
National Academy of Sciences
Army Core of Engineering
Gallery Place - Chinatown Metro Station
Washington Public Library
United States Mint
Convention Center
Metro Center Station
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC16
5 min.
10 min.
15 min.
20 min.
Walking Distances
17Spring 2009
Site Information
1 foot contours site is effectively flat
Chinatown Topography
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC18
Chinatown Landmarks
NYCPhiladelphia andRichmond Chinatown Buses
Chinese Grocery
Chinese Restaurant
Gallery Place CommunityCenter
Gallery Place - ChinatownStation Entrances
Friendship Arch
Starbucks
Chinese Grocery
Wah Luck Housing
Project Site
19Spring 2009
Site Information
Gallery Place CommunityCenter
Mixed Use Commercial FederalPublic
Green Space
Institutional
Low Density Residential
Medium Density Residential
HighDensity Residential
Local Public
Chinatown Zoning
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC20
H Street South Elevation
110 ft
Project Site
(includes demolition of one existing building)
H Street North Elevation
21Spring 2009
Site Information
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC22
Summer: Morning Shadows
Summer: Afternoon Shadows
Summer: Evening Shadows
Winter: Morning Shadows
Winter: Afternoon Shadows
Winter: Evening Shadows
Constant Sun / Shade
Constant Morning Shadows
Constant Evening Shadows
Constant Afternoon Sun
23Spring 2009
Site Information
Strong Southern Wind blocked by Residential Mid - Rise building.
Back of site exposed to strong North Eastern wind.
Strong North Western wind blocked by
Residential Mid-Rise buildings.
Chinatown Wind Forces
Automobile repair shop noise during daytime hours.
Restaurant food delivery noise during daytime hours.
Constant noise from street vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
Chinatown Noise
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC24
A
25Spring 2009
Site Information
B
C
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC26
“The once uniform urban landscape is now a metropolitan field that is inundated with skyscrapers and individually expressive architecture with a
disorganized or damaged fabric or simply without.” [Yung Ho Chang, “City of Objects aka City of Desire”]
27Spring 2009
Precedent Study
Precedent Study
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC28
Courtyard Houses [Beijing]
Neighborhood Plan [Beijing]
In Beijing, the courtyard is an element in the traditional Chinese residence. It originated as a ‘walled garden.’ This space was considered a small ‘utopia’ and was intended for individual through and concentration.
Open to the sky above, courtyards filter an abundance of light into the dense development of Beijing’s [hutong] neighborhoods.
29Spring 2009
Precedent Study
Residence Plan [Beijing]
Courtyard [Beijing]
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC30
Residence Section [Sichuan Province]
Courtyard [Sichuan Province]
The courtyard is centrally located in the residence. It is protected from the outside world by the rooms that surround its four sides. Today, this space is celebrated as a place for family activity.
The courtyards may vary in geometry and size, allowing others to be used for small gardens.
31Spring 2009
Precedent Study
Residence Plan [Sichuan Province]
Courtyard [Sichuan Province]
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC32
33Spring 2009
Precedent Study
Yung Ho Chang
Yung Ho Chang was the first Chinese student in Beijing to go abroad and study after China’s Cultural Revolution. He was a student
and became an educator at the University of California at Berkeley and Ball State University. After 10 years in the United States he
decided to go back to Beijing. In 1993, Chang became the first Chinese architect to establish a private firm in China.
Mass development is a challenge affecting China’s cities. Development and construction that cause significant transformations are
realized before planning ever takes place. Urban design concepts are undeveloped. In a consumer society such as China, economic
and commercial concerns replace traditional Chinese social, economical, historic and personal interests. Radical transformations of
cities change historic centers, natural terrain and walking space with Western style skyscrapers, new urban spaces and increased
motorized transportation. Emerging generations of architects must address immediate urban conditions such as high-density, fast
and uneven economic development, chaotic and unplanned settlements, pollution, traffic congestion, and political and cultural
transition in society.
Yung Ho Chang supports the “creation of ‘alternative’ public and private spaces that resist the homogenization of urban space and
social life” (Hanru, 42). He wishes to provide urban inhabitants diverse and meaningful experiences of space and time. While Chang
does not import conventional “global,” “high-tech,” or “virtual” vocabularies as alternatives to traditional styles, he articulates the
excitement and pleasure of urban life in spite of the conditions of high density, speed and chaos.
The courtyard is an element used in traditional Chinese architecture to provide both internal openness and protective closure from
the outside world. The variety of scale in courtyards is seen from palaces to courtyard houses. Chang’s Eastern ideas suggest that
“architecture is secondary to the space it contains” (Lerup 18). The courtyard’s versatility lies in its dynamic multiplication of space.
Courtyards are vital in high-density housing, such as in Hong Kong, to allow for light to enter into rooms that would otherwise
receive no sunlight. In his projects, Yung Ho Chang reinterprets the traditions normally followed by traditional Chinese elements.
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC34
Split House
35Spring 2009
Precedent Study
The Split House is located north of Beijing, in the mountains close to the great Wall of
China. In this project, Yung Ho Chang redefines the traditional Chinese courtyard. One
side of the courtyard is enclosed by mountains while the other side are enclosed by the
walls of the house. Chang blurs the line between natural and man made. The house is
“split” in the middle to bring in the scenery. The angle of the courtyard can be adapted to
fit into the mountain landscape. Chang employs elements and materials that have been
used in the past in new ways. The structure of the house employs wooden beams and
columns that have been laminated to increase their longevity and structural integrity.
The walls of the house are made from rammed-earth, an ancient technique. The earth
formed walls are a good source of insulation and have minimal environmental impact.
Split House for the Commune of the Great Wall [2002]
Construction Photographs
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC36
Hebei Education Publishing House
37Spring 2009
Precedent Study
Hebei Education Publishing House [2002]
The Hebei Education Publishing House is located in Shijiazhuang, Hebei. The space
needed for the publishing house only requires 3 floors. Yung Ho Chang’s mixed-use
building occupies the bottom 9 floors with rental office buildings and retail shops
to compete with China’s lively real estate market. The three different programs
act as relatively independent micro-buildings. A void is created in the spaces
between. The circulation core is a vertical urban garden that is open to the public.
Publishing
Offices
Retail Vert
ical G
arde
n
Structural Model
Building Section
Building Model
Building ElevationSpatial Diagram
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC38
“Preservation is a wonderful concept, which in itself shows the limited way in which the profession of the architect is considered. The architect is by defi-
nition the one who causes change. This role is the motivating thrust of the entire profession. Therefore, we are fundamentally reluctant to participate
in preservation, seeing it very much as the enemy. However, this is an historical flaw. Preservation is not opposed to change; it is a modality of change.
Preservation must be investigated in terms of modernity. This would entail that we have to preserve before we design, or rather, that we will decide
whether we design something that is to be preserved or not.” [Rem Koolhaas, “Found in Translation”]
39Spring 2009
Process
Process
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC40Preliminary Building Models
Chinatown Model
41Spring 2009
Process
Street Model
Section Study
H Street
project site
tour bus drop-off
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC42
Building Model
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Midsemester Ground Floor Plan
43Spring 2009
Process
Midsemester Models
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC44Rough Building Section
Rough Building Section
45Spring 2009
Process
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC46
“The city of the captive globe is devoted to the artificial conception and accelerated birth of theories, interpretation, mental constrictions, proposals and
their infliction to the world. It is the capital of Ego, where science, art poetry and forms of madness compete under ideal conditions to invent, destroy and
restore the world of phenomenal reality. Each science or mania has its own plot. On each plot stands an identical base, built from heavy polished stone to
facilitate and provoke speculative activity, these bases – ideological laboratories – are equipped to suspend unwelcome laws, undeniable truths, to create
non-existent, physical conditions.” [Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York]
47Spring 2009
First Semester Draw
ings
First Semester Drawings
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC48 Street-front View
49Spring 2009
First Semester Draw
ings
Final Model
View through Market Alley
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC50
Site Plan
51Spring 2009
First Semester Draw
ings
Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC52Building Section
Building Section through Courtyards
53Spring 2009
First Semester Draw
ings
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC54Elevation through Alley
H Street Elevation
55Spring 2009
First Semester Draw
ings
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC56
View through Market Alley
57Spring 2009
First Semester Draw
ings
View of H Street and the Friendship Arch
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC58
H Street South Elevation Project Site
H Street North Elevation
59Spring 2009
First Semester Draw
ings
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC60
61Spring 2009
Final Drawings
Final Drawings
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC62
63Spring 2009
Final Drawings
Site Plan
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC64
Level 1
65Spring 2009
Final Drawings
Level 2
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC66
Level 3
67Spring 2009
Final Drawings
Level 4
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC68
Building Section through Courtyards
69Spring 2009
Final Drawings
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC70
Building Section
71Spring 2009
Final Drawings
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC72
Building Section
73Spring 2009
Final Drawings
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC74
H Street Elevation
75Spring 2009
Final Drawings
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC76
Elevation through Alley
77Spring 2009
Final Drawings
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC78
79Spring 2009
Final Drawings
Wall Section
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC80
Building Assembly Diagram
81Spring 2009
Final Drawings
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC82
Structural Plan
83Spring 2009
Final Drawings
Structural Diagram
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC84
85Spring 2009
Final Drawings
View through Market Alley
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC86
View of H Street
87Spring 2009
Final Drawings
View to the Friendship Arch
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC88
View of H Street
89Spring 2009
Final Drawings
View from Adjacent Building
Ch inese Cu l tu ra l Cente r Wash ington , DC90
“The absence of a theory of bigness – ‘what is the maximum architecture can do’ – is architecture’s most debilitating weakness. Without a theory of
bigness, architects are in the position of Frankenstein’s creators: instigators of a partly successful experiment whose results are running amok and are
therefore discredited. Because there is no theory of bigness, we don’t know what to do with it, we don’t know where to put it, we don’t know when to
use it, we don’t know how to plan it. Big mistakes are our only connection to bigness. But in spite of its dumb name, bigness is a theoretical domain at
this fin de siècle; in a landscape of disarray, disassembly, disassociation, disclamation. The attraction of bigness is its potential to reconstruct the Whole,
resurrect the Real, reinvent the collective, reclaim maximum possibility.” [Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York]
91Spring 2009
Bibliography
Chang, Yung H., Ruan Xing, and Hou Hanru. Atelier Feichang Jianzhu : A Chinese Practice. Chicago: Map Book, 2003.
Chang, Yung H. “City of Objects aka City of Desire.” A+U. December 2003. 70-73.t
Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage, 1961.
Koolhaas, Rem. Delirious New York : A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan. New York: Monacelli P, Incorporated, 1997. 495-516.
Koolhaas, Rem. “Found in Translation.” Volume 8: Ubiquitous China. New York: Columbia University
GSAPP / Archis, 2007.
Manufactured Landscapes. Dir. Jennifer Baichwal. DVD. Foundry Films, 2006.
Images
Knapp, Ronald G., A. C. Ong, and Jonathan Spence. Chinese Houses : The Architectural Heritage of a Nation. Grand
Rapids: Tuttle, 2005.
Chang, Yung H., Ruan Xing, and Hou Hanru. Atelier Feichang Jianzhu : A Chinese Practice. Chicago: Map Book, 2003.
Bibliography