Crossroads

KANG De Yuan

The proposal is initiated from an analysis of the surrounding environment, an effort to extract the innate character of the neighborhood to more sensitively respond and provide for the communities to be affected. The functions lining the periphery of the site can be categorised into either industrial or educational institutions. Utown positioned on the western edge of the site hosts also a large community of residents.

Coupled with a projected increase in the size of the local community, there is an imminent need to consider the dynamics of the incoming community with the existing student body.

The site is envisioned to be a buffer between the community of students with the industrial section of the vicinity. The proposed design is one that is socially inclusive and engages the larger community beyond the boundaries of the site through the provision of amenities within its core.

Crossroads represent the design strategy of intersecting axes and through the interplay of different dynamics, inject vitality into the environment. The site is divided with an introduction of axes that reflects movement patterns and the typical zoning method is adopted to better position the masterplan within its context. Plots are assigned a respective programmatic type while each type will be attributed with design conditions which govern their performance.

A high degree of consideration was placed on the conditions of the streets as increasing pedestrian flows plays a significant part in the vision of the masterplan. The proposal therefore envisions a neighborhood that is porous to its surrounding communities and highly pedestrianized streets with an increased consideration for the shading provided by the built environment to accommodate the high degree of pedestrian traffic.