Architects: Advanced Architecture Lab[AaL]
Location: Wuhan, China
Architect In Charge: Mu Wei, Zhou Chao, Yu Hui
Area: 60 sqm
Year: 2012
Photographs: Li Xiao
“Glued bamboo prefabricated construction system” ,developed by the Advanced Architecture Lab(AAL) together with the bamboo institute of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, is trying to transform the rich bamboo resource in China into the industrialized building structure material. “Glued bamboo prefabricated construction system” advocates of social production and a construction system building upon the high-level prefabrication.
The gluebam investigation is a long-term research project in Huazhong University of Science and Technology Advanced Architecture Lab, to establish a standard and application of this new material through design of housing product. Meanwhile AAL integrate the latest computational design application to achieve DIY housing through parametric computational aid designing, bringing designers closer to its client.
“N4+”is a housing typology based on gluebam, located in Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the house is positioned in proximity with the architectural department. “N4+” house completed in 25 days, is a prototype base on the concept of mass production and fabrication, delivery to site for fast construction.
In the past three decades, along with the rapid development of China’s economy, urbanization process has never been faster in China. To some extent, this rapid urbanization process has become a tool for the growth of GDP. Under the unique political and economical system, China’s urbanization has two major modes:
1, Urban expansion driven by the government.
2, Urban re-development driven by developers.
Most of this kind of drastic activities are based on commercial operation thus the products has become luxury merchandise than benefits to the public. Meanwhile, besides “urban mirror” and “urban stretch”, most of old areas did not get the opportunity to benefit from professional architecture knowledge. Instead, many areas emerged a “spontaneous growth” activity represented by low quality self-built residential buildings at countryside.
We aim to “repair” these areas by apply architecture knowledge sociologically.
According to global statistics, 85% of all buildings have no architects’ activity involved. Architecture education and practice mainly aim to serve large scale commercial projects in big cities instead of small residential at countryside. Therefore, we can easily see that there is a variety of fragile brick concrete construction system and self-built residential in those countryside coherent to cities.
If we see citizens as the main part of architecture, the first thing comes to our vision is the demand of architecture in our society– demand for new space to satisfy our diversity of daily needs; the another one is architecture problem in today’s society– does the construction of most dwellings have the architectural rationality? Does the loss of accuracy exist in such building procedure? Moreover, is there any possibility for a broader independent practice besides commercial real estate market?
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