New Vitality of Old Cities – The Power of Design |
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Jointly organised by the Guangzhou Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau and the Guangzhou Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, the lecture series “New Vitality of Old Cities – The Power of Design” was held at the Guangzhou Urban Planning Exhibition Center. In the third lecture of the series, DPA director Mr Tan Chee Yong joined Mr Chen Xiong, deputy dean of the Guangdong Provincial Architectural Design and Research Institute, to discuss how good design has the power to build quality projects and quality brands.
Sharing from DP Architects growth in tandem with Singapore’s nation building, in depth experience in China and the firm’s unique Hub Ecology model, Chee Yong explained how an urban space can be designed to facilitate community interactions and foster social identity in China’s ‘Future Community’ vision. He illustrated this using Our Tampines Hub (OTH) as an exemplary model of an integrated community, sports and lifestyle hub. By condensing multiple stakeholders along with their respective spaces and its functions within a single development, the design of OTH achieves the primary purpose of serving as a one-stop destination that provides for the sports and recreational needs of a wide range of interest and age groups. At a deeper level, its spatial organisation and interlocking volumes, weaved together by flowing streetscapes and green terraces, deliver more than just a convenient co-location of different functional entities. Conceived as a sum of parts, the spatial programming of OTH synergises its varied services and facilities so that they effectively relate to one another and co-generate healthy and sustainable socio-economic capital.
The lectures are part of the plans by the Guangzhou Municipality Bureau of Housing and Urban-Rural Development to improve the local built environment, increase cultural relevance and attract world-class design firms to participate in the urban development of the district.