NADAAA + cooper union students build linear pavilion in one of shenzhen's urban villages

the dense urban villages of shenzhen comprise of a series of historic cores, which are facing extinction as a result of the city’s unprecedented growth. ‘surrounded by the rapid expansion of the contemporary city, the dense urban fabric of these communities serves as a reminder of a past that is not so distant as it is fundamentally out of scale with the emerging forces of real estate,’ says NADAAA, who has realized a pavilion in the chinese city as part of the 2017 bi-city biennale of urbanism \ architecture (UABB).

NADAAA teamed up with students from cooper union to realize the project
image © designboom (also main image)

to complete the project, NADAAA — the boston-based architecture firm led by nader tehrani — teamed up with students from cooper union, the new york institution of which tehrani is the dean of architecture. the result is a permanent and flexible structure that will continue to serve the neighborhood long after the bi-city biennale is over. currently used as a weekend marketplace, the pavilion takes the form of a classical portico or roofed colonnade.

the pavilion is a permanent and flexible structure
image © designboom

‘the advent of the ‘biennale’ as a cultural event is maybe a good vehicle to draw light onto these vulnerable communities, but the curatorial constraints require economies that do not afford permanence,’ says NADAAA. ‘precisely because of this, we imagine a structure on the main plaza that is designed to become part of the urban fabric, to serve as a civic structure, and to become part of the community it serves for a longer time to come, with the flexibility of housing varied programs.’

the structure is currently used as a weekend marketplace
image courtesy of UABB

‘the site of the plaza produces an urban edge along the village wall that is ripe for programmatic activation,’ continues the design team. ‘as a structure that adopts the wall as datum, we propose a linear stoa of sorts that has the power to respond to the length of the plaza itself. with each bay composed of a customized section, the structure is fabricated of standard steel scaffolding, and thus generic, economical and culturally standardized in nature’.

see here for designboom’s full coverage of the 2017 bi-city biennale of urbanism \ architecture.

the design takes the form of a classical portico or roofed colonnade
image courtesy of jeremy son

the scheme has been designed be as flexible as possible
image courtesy of jeremy son

the site of the plaza produces an urban edge along the urban village
image courtesy of UABB

the structure responds to the length of the plaza itself
image © designboom

the pavilion illuminated at night
image © designboom