This bid set up by a company based in Urumqi (广汇集团) aimed for the planning of a parcel in north of GuiLin’s downtown. The major constraints have been the density that was asked confronted to local GuiLin’s contruction rules about building’s dimensions and the viewpoints on the surrounding mountains.
The program is split into several scheduled sections of constructions, each section being managed by one team; I was member of the team in charge of the section with a shopping mall and the more densified area on the project.
The main problem during this bid was the lack of coordination between teams, the majority of the meetings not being very constructive, nor even productive; the majority of the decisions were taken individually after the meeting, with the loss of information that it can induce for the other teams’ members.
The main concept about the shopping mall results in the creation of a pedestrian street. It creates a filter between the road and the center of the planned project, while making it possible for people to make their shopping or have a drink without undergoing sound, olfactory and visual pollution of the road. The apparent randomness of the whole shopping area shows up a longer linear of shops, and generate public places around which restaurant’s terraces and coffees can take place.
One of the concepts which was the hardest to make other members of the team aware of is the continuity I wished to create between the various aspects of the project; from urban furniture to the building. One of the ilustrations which I’ve shown the most being Heatherwick Studio’s “Blue Carpet”.
