Design Beyond East and West

Our entry is the end result of many factors; six years of designing and fitting out the interiors of condominium housing purchased by our clientele, survey statistic’s from twenty-five young middle class couples, all previous clients. These we combined with two elements that make for a "perfect space" in accordance to local culture. Abstracting from ancient Chinese coins we inverted the square to form the exterior perimeter wall of the design, the circle is represented in the traffic flow within the square. The square perimeter represents "perfection", the circular movement within "eternity". We applied this concept to a typical affordable housing unit consisting of seven levels, no elevator, with the units sited on a north to south axis, 11 x 11 meters square. The open kitchen concept is a standard design device via customer demand in much of our work; we moved the laundry facilities from the typical balcony placement to the central core of the plan, another rising popular concept. The amount of natural light throughout the floor plan was another issue that we solved by placing clerestory penetrations tight to the upper wall height in appropriate locations. The clerestory allows daylight to filter into the hall and inner areas of the plan creating interesting shadows at various times of the day. The kitchen as the central core compliments both the western and eastern ideal that family activity revolves around mealtime. The core also accommodates ventilation and mechanical support. Interaction between indoor and outdoor space is achieved by placing the balconies in the most common desired locations providing a location for greenery and enjoyment of the cooler seasons of the year. The screen at the side of the main entrance eludes formality accented by a cantilevered glass shelf placed opposite the door. The screen further provides a translucent barrier shielding access to the common bathroom.

Images as contained are exclusive property of Con Tech (Xiamen) Ltd. Terence Van Elslander Architect and Studio M any reproduction and use without permission is subject to all remedies as contained in the Intellectual property rights accords copyright Studio M 2001

In east and west the Internet has its impact on work-at-home and the space saved from most conventional side or center hall plans allows us to insert a study with wall niches that allow for a computer desk with built in bookshelves. We have increased the average bathroom size and provided built in closets and storage, again we relied on customer feedback from our survey results. In a construction environment where profits are higher than western expectations we resolved through our construction experience that the unit can be built pre-finished within the average combined cost of purchase and interior fitting out. We considered the fabrication of the structure using the typical concrete "cage" construction minus the brick infill between the columns and beams, drywall stud construction provides for all interior wall partitions. The corner window can be accomplished replacing the typical cast in place concrete column with a nominal sized steel support. The design has a 90% approval rate amongst first and second homebuyers but only rated 45% approval with local developers. We have always believed end users in China are more attune to the changing housing standards influenced by their exposure to European and North American media. The developers follow the norm " what has sold before" are more resistant to change without acknowledging that they sell units due to the absence of an alternative choice. Only the developers objected to marketing pre-finished units, a concept more acceptable in Shanghai and Beijing. Taking into consideration that 90% of all units sold with brick interior partitions are removed and re-fitted after the point of sale, developers with government encouragement should consider the savings in both building and environmental damage from the removal and disposal of waste from each project. Our concept as presented was taken to final completion in a theoretical building and site plan to reinforce our belief in its integrity and application.