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PAM TALK (Making In China)

PAM TALK - MAKING IN CHINA
On the 13th of September 2017 in Publika, I’ve attended a PAM talk by the local architect, named Samuel Wong. He is a Bachelor of Architecture at University Of Technology Malaysia 2006 and worked at RT+Q Architects in Singapore and joined Aedas Shanghai for a short period of time.After that Samuel Wong spend 7years working as a Design Manager  for CapitaLand's Raffles City in Hangzhou. 


Tonight, Samuel Wong would like to share his experience rather then giving a lecture about his life and career in overseas. He look up to Deng Xiao Ping, the Father of Modernism in China during the 1980s, Deng Xiao Ping said that "they are moving too fast, we need to move fast ourselves too."  Deng Xiao Ping wanted to create the identify of city and work on region issue and took the initiative to develop Pudong. He made China's technology and development to a higer level. This made what China is today.



RAFFLES CITY SHOPPING CENTRE

Raffles City is a urban hub for working and living as well as leisure that is located in Hangzhou, this building s a mixed-use development by UNStudio. Raffles City became a landmark that incorporate retail spaces, offices, housing and hotel.


The Mixed-Use Destination

The architectural expressions throughout the building connect the combined programmers in one seamless flow. The 116,00m2 retail podium at the base of the tower begins this interconnected flow, organised as two diagonal and intersecting figure "8". It accommodates retail, restaurants, leisure facilities and parking and has a direct underground metro. 



The Tower of Raffles City

The Tower was surrounded by greenery that drawn through the courtyard towards the tower landscape facade, the greenery are connected to help provide better environment and ventilation for the building. The urban facade faces the green axis and the river create a 'contrapposto' twist of the tower. At the same time, the urban facade interacts with the urban surroundings. The orientation of the tower minimizes overshadowing and maximizing daylight for the residences and offices.  While giving a view of the West Lake and Qian Tang River for both tower.


The Facade

Both tower consist of an 'urban facade' with vertical fins, and a 'landscape facade' with horizontal planters. The programme and orientation of the facades determine the depth, width and angle of the facade panels. This maximize the openings with an optimal window to wall ration. 

The shimmering scale-like skin of aluminium tiles, the podium facades reflect the building's activity and landscape to offer pixelated perspectives. The Tower feature an outer layer of rotated, vertical solar shading fins, placed atop the curtain wall system.




Sustainability 

Raffles City project they seek to receive the LEED gold certificate. Therefore the incorporation of natural ventilation principles and innovative and sustainable ways in which the materials are employed all work in synergy with one another, in order to low the energy consumption and material demands of the building. Additionally, urban sustainability is also very important consideration in the design. The development is hybrid, regarding the program mix and it creates dynamic, continuous 24/7 cycle of activity, a hub for business conduct, a new destination for visitors and residents alike and will become an all-in-one destination for working, living, leisure and entertainment.


Q&A SESSION

1. What were the issues faced, and the timeline for you to get here?
When I joined the project in 2012, the schematic design for Raffles City is already over. During 2014 and 2015 we were dealing with the design shop drawing and it took around 2-3 years for it to be completed.
2. What is the quantity during working in China? Budget, fee, timeline, master planning? What can we pick up from the people in China. 
Raffles City started in 2008 until 2017, so it is actually a very long construction process compared to the other development, which is not a good example to show the speed of construction in China. During construction, they face some difficulties to communicate with the local contractor as they are normally related to the government and the Chinese developer are very aggressive.​
3. What is your advice for young future architect from Malaysia, is it good to move out oversea to work? Or is it better to stay in one place?
If you are given chance, you should expand your knowledge and is good to explore more. My advice is to stay in Malaysia for few years and brush up some 3D skill for example Rhino and Grasshopper before moving going to oversea. In China is very competitive and the Chinese are fast and intelligent. I witness the transformation of China as I encountered very rough Chinese people.​
5. What is the total development cost of the building?
‘It is around 9000RMB for 1 sqm,1700 RMB for 1sqm(office)’


REFERENCE
1. http://www.archdaily.com/29771/raffles-city-unstudio
2. https://www.designboom.com/architecture/unstudio-raffles-city-hangzhou-china/
3. https://www.dezeen.com/2009/07/17/raffles-city-hangzhou-by-unstudio/
4. https://www.capitaland.com/international/en/find-a-property/global-property-listing/offices/raffles-city-hangzhou.html
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