Urban Ecologies Studio 2010-11 – Water Treatment for the Forbidden City

Related Staff : Juan Du

Studio Instructor: Juan Du

This Design Studio aims to confronts conventional architectural design and city planning practices by exploring sustainable urban design strategies for the development of the contemporary city. The Studio employs architectural design techniques and thinking, utilizing environmental technology as an architectural material to solve basic public infrastructural issues within dense urban sites.

By understanding the City as a synthetic ecosystem comprised of the Biological (resources and services) the Social (people and communities), the Economic (costs and affects) and the Constructed (buildings and infrastructure), this studio proposes architectural interventions that negotiate the relationships between these elements to offer a comprehensive responses to the urgent needs of the city.

The 2010-11 Urban Ecologies Studio explores the design potentials of a water treatment facility at an historic canal site in the center of Beijing. Confronting the conventional modernist notion which separates infrastructure and habitation, this project encourages innovative thinking to create an urban design project that educate the residents and visitors on the problems of urban water shortage in Beijing by showcasing various ecological designs that contribute to the cultural and environmental life of the city.