MAKING IN CHINA by Samuel Wong Ying Chau
About Samuel Wong
(Bachelor of Architecture, University of Technology Malaysia
2006)
Samuel Wong straddles across architectural practices and property developers in his 11 years of experience in Malaysia, Singapore and China. As a result, from strong experience at Singapore’s firm - RT+Q Architect, Samuel joined Aedas Shanghai for a short period before spending five years as a Design Manager for CapitaLand’s Raffles City in Hangzhou, China. He involved in both design consultancy and developer’s office, he believes that the excellent design is come from by the fusion of strong visions amongst architects, clients and consultants, and not to mention good plan from the Project Team. He has returned to Malaysia May 2017 after the completion of Raffles City, and is expect for a new start in the local construction industry.
Samuel came to China when the country just had its 30 years of sizzling, double-digit economic growth – raise millions of Chinese out of poverty but also give a large price tag on its environment. He witnessed the Chinese government’s effort in embracing, sustainable and higher-quality development, the rise of entrepreneurship which brings forth troublesome changes not only to China but increasingly also the rest of the world, and the emergence of Chinese architecture voices in this high-speed economic growth. In this public lecture, Samuel sharing his experiences and observations during his seven years in China, and his participating in building one of the most ambitious landmarks for Hangzhou skyline. This lecture is expected to tell to all with a sharp interest in architecture, cities, arts and culture, curatorship, preservation and urbanism.
Deng Xiao Ping
On 22
October 1978, Vice-premier Deng Xiao Ping made an official visit to Japan,
become the first Chinese state leader since the founding of the People’s Republic
to visit Japan. On this trip, Deng met with Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister
Takeo Fukuda. He took a ride on the Shinkansen. Marveling at the speed of Japan’s
bullet train system, Deng remarked, “The shinkansen is faster than the wind,
like it’s pushing us to run. At this moment, we really need to run.”
Two
month later, Deng took over the reins of power and become China’s paramount
leader, introducing “reform and opening up” policies that would change China
forever.
“宁要浦西一张床，不要浦东一套房”
“Prefer a bed in Puxi, rather than a house in Pudong.”
“The development of Shanghai and Pudong is not a regional
issue, but a national one.” By Deng Xiao Ping.
HangZhou 杭州市
The most populous city of Zhejiang Province in east China.
It sits at the head of HangZhou Bay, which separates Shanghai and Ningbo. It is
classified as a sub-provincial city and forms the core of the HangZhou
metropolitan area.
HangZhou West Lake 西湖
The city’s West Lake, a UNESCO World Heritage Site,
immediately west of the city, is amongst its best-known attraction.
HangZhou MeiJiaWu Tea Village
This tea village is a famous Dragon Well Tea (Longjing tea 龙井茶) plantation nestled in the hills surrounding West
Lake. Once, it was just a poor village with a history of over
six-hundred-years, until they started to plant tea.
Qian Tang Jiang Tidal Wave 钱塘江
An East Chinese River that originates in the border region
of Anhui and Jiangxi provinces. It runs for 459 kilometers through Zhejiang,
passing through the provincial capital HangZhou before flowing into the East
China Sea via HangZhou Bay.
Site: Qian Jiang
Qian Jiang CBD
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| Comparison between 1995 and 2016 of Qian Jiang CBD |
It is located in the southeast side of downtown HangZhou,
next to the Qian Tang River. It is 4.5km away from the West Lake and 18km from
the XiaoShan International Airport. The building represents The Moon (日) and The Sun (月). Central area of this
building serve as HangZhou’s future business, political and cultural center.
Raffles City, HangZhou
The project
incorporates retail, offices, housing and hotel facilities and marks the site
of a cultural landscape within the Qianjiang New Town Area.
Architect
Ben van Berkel
- Born 1957.
- Dutch architect.
- Founder and principal architect of UNStudio.
- “Raffles City HangZhou will be a point of confluence, a hub
for business conduct and a new destination for visitors and residents alike; an
‘all-in-one’ destination for working, living and leisure in a highly sustainable
environment.”
Concept
“Three nodes”
There are three nodes in the building: 2 nodes from the base
of the towers and 1 node looking toward the Qian Tang River. It also function as main entrance of Raffles City.
“The philosophy behind
the Raffles City concept is to integrate mixed use in an urban context, but in
such a way as to give this concept a twist; by focusing on where the urban
context meets the landscape of the city. In the design of the towers the urban
element of the project twists towards the landscape, whilst the landscape
aspect, in turn, twists towards the urban context, thereby effecting the
incorporation and consolidation of these separate elements in one formal
gesture.” By Ben van Berkel.
Orientation
It creates dynamic look.
Raffles City reach a height of 60 stories and it provide views both to and from
the Qian Tang River and West Lake areas. The east-west orientation of the
towers minimizing overshadowing while maximizing daylight for the residence and
offices.
Green connection
The surrounding green axis is
drawn through the courtyard towards the tower landscape façade. This create a ‘contrapposto’
twist of the tower as the urban façade faces the green axis and the river.
Circulation
The landscape is divided into
four spatial, extending from the site boundary to the inner court fronting the
built mass. The main landscape circulation stems from the nodes.
Engineer Facts
The connection bridges have a span longest at 74 meters.
Façade
They used 3D tiles on the
main entrance of Raffles City to create the transition effect. It clads in a
shimmering scale-like skin of aluminum tiles and the podium façade reflect the
building’s activity and landscape to offer pixelated perspectives. They also
frame internal views.
Retail Mall
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| Exterior only have the building name and a LED screen. |
UNStudio try to bring modern
architecture design to this mall. Interior of the mall very architecturally and
very different if compare to other malls. F&B having the highest percentage
in this retail mall. Percentage of F&B in China also getting more and more
because most of the people go to mall is for entertainments and also F&B. Retail
mall has 7 floors and 1 basement. Usually shopping mall just have 4 to 5
floors. Level 1 and 2 have smaller
voids but in level 3 can see the entire void.
 |
| Staircase provide dynamic feel. |
 |
| Podium retail layout. |
 |
| Railings and void edges. |
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| Podium voids overview. |
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| Podium central void sectional view. |
In the interior, it consists different types of voids – vertical, central and diagonal. These voids is to break down the volume of 7 story height interior. Material for the void is anodized aluminum.
Advantages of steel
structures in high-rise structures:
- High strength, lighter self-load, flexible space planning, wider span.
- Fast construction, high degree automation, easier allowance for MEP coring, reliable quality and have a high comprehensive benefits.
- Steel structure has an unparalleled form-making ability in comparison with concrete for irregular and complicated structures.
Office Lobby
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| Tower 1 office lobby design concept. |
Material used is performed aluminum
with fluorocarbon finish.
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| Tower 1 office lobby timber box panel installation. |
Concept is to have 3
different types of installation:
- Piece by piece.
- Small panel.
- Big panel.
Have to pre-install on site first to check it fix or not.
Conclusion
In the end, I had find out
how China develop their city with modern architecture design so that it makes
their country to better one. It is a good lecture by Samuel Wong about his
experience because we can learn more about China religion.
Q&A Sections...
Question 1: From MC.
Question: What was the issue you faced and the timeline for
you to get here?
Answer: When I
joined the project in 2012, the schematic design for Raffles City Hangzhou is
already over, the involvement of UNStudio was intense. In 2014 and 2015
while we were dealing with the design shop drawing, only the architect from
UNStudio can check the drawing therefore while constructing we rely a lot
on them and it took around 2-3 years for it to be completed.
Question 2: From MC.
Question: What is the quantity, budget, timeline, population
projection and profit during
working in China? Having been abroad and coming back to Malaysia with
the exposure you have, what can we pick up from their mythology of quantity,
can you state some factors of development that we can pick up from China?
Answer: Raffles
City Hangzhou took up from 2008 to 2017 which is a long
construction process and it is actually
not a good example to show the speed of China development. Sometimes, we
having difficulties to communicate with the local contractor as they
normally related to the government. Most of the local developer in China has government background,
therefore it is easier for them as they can push the project and things would
be easier. There is different attitude, foreigner is much more committed.
China’s developers are more aggressive.
Question 3: From audience.
Question: From
Malaysia to Singapore to China, what is your advice for young people? Is
it good to move out oversea to work? Or is it better to stay in one place?
Answer: Of course, young architect has to explode. For me, working in China for 7 years is a life-long
experience, it had change my perspective on how the architect in
China works, how is their speed and so on. My advice is to stay in Malaysia for few years and spend a few years in
local firm to brush up the skills before moving forward to oversee because in
China is very competitive. I have no chance to study aboard,
so I want to have a chance to go aboard and have tried to apply to Europe and
Japan. I still remember when I went China in 2010, they still
seeing the old and new of ShangHai. People at there are rough and move
very fast and change very fast. If want to work in China, I advised
young architects to learn more on the software Rhino.
Question 4: From audience.
Question: What is the total development costs for this whole
project?
Answer: It is around
9000RMB for 1 sqm,1700 RMB for 1sqm(office).