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Rural Public Restrooms Design + Build, China

A group of UC DAAP students, led by Whitney Hamaker and Ming Tang, participated in the  “Yuzhang Construction*” workshop to design and build two public restrooms at the Pengyuan village, Yifeng County, Jiangxi Province of China in summer 2020. This workshop is a collaboration with Nanchang University (NCU),  Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU), and cooperates with the local village to carry out the 2020 public facilities construction. Due to the COVID-19, all design was completed through virtual collaborations. The first designed restroom is under construction, started in September 2020.

Project location: Pengyuan village, Yifeng County, Jiangxi Province, China

Project scope: design and construction of two rural ecological restrooms

Design activity: June-August, 2020

Construction: 09.2020- 12.2020

  • Faculty advisors: Fen Xiao, Qong Wu ( NCU), Yingdong Hu (BJTU), Whitney Hamaker, Ming Tang (UC)
  • UC Students: Sabrina Ramsay, Alexandra Steigerwald, An Le, Pwint (Audrey) Wati Oo, Nathaniel Liesch
  • NCU students: Mingxuan Wu, Ding Wang, Xiaohu Cheng, Meile Gui, Xianhao Xie, Hao Xiao, Jiayi Wang, Jiaoao Li, Mo Jia, Zheng Li, Yijia Wang
  • BJTU student: Cilu Luo, Zhu Cheng, Lurui Lue, Jiayi Xu, Xiangyu Zhou, Yudang Wang

The project won the First Place in the 2021 Asian Design Award. Sustainable Design category. 

Picture Taken by Fen XIao, NCU.  Photography Credits Go To Fen Xiao, NCU.

* “Yuzhang Construction” workshop was founded in 2018, initiated by the School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Nanchang University. Based on the concept of “innovation and construction,” the workshop works through the public welfare design and construction of social projects to serve the community and carry out a practical model of teaching. Through the construction activities of the mill building construction in Xikeng village in 2018, and the rice bridge building in Tianqiao village in 2019, students and faculties walked into the countryside to understand the rural, activate the countryside with design, and to help the local rural revitalization and sustainable development.

 

The project was also exhibited in 2021 DAAPcares and won the 2021 DAAPcares Sustainability award.

Project featured by Gooood

“The Tiniest Cottage” design + build project by UC + Beijing Jiaotong University is featured by Gooood (谷德设计网), the most popular architecture online magazine and community in Asia.

Project name: The Tiniest Cottage
Design: Beijing Jiaotong University, University of Cincinnati
Design year & Completion Year: 2019 & 2019
Leader designer & Team:
Yingdong Hu(BJTU), Yunan Zhang(BJTU), Huazhan Guo(BJTU), Ming Tang(UC), Whitney Hamaker(UC), Yongquan Chen(UC)
Team Member: Zhuo Chen, Peida Zhuang, Shurui Li, Zhixuan Li, Yingjie Liu, Zijia Wang, Yuanjia Luo, Wenjun Lin, Yanqi Yi, Tran Huy Phi Vu, McQuillen Patrick, Figley Lauren, Micham Jordan, Ryan Tess, Swafford Jeremy
Technical Support: Jianming Wang,Luo Yang
Project location: Orchard Village, Aiyuan Town, Shuyang County, Jiangsu Province
Gross Built Area (square meters): 78m²
Photo credits: Beijing Jiaotong University
Partners: CBC
Clients: Shiyang County People’s Government
Brands / Products used in the project:
Wood: Jimu Construction Technology Engineering (Shanghai) Co., Ltd
Steel: Qingdao wangbaoqiang Industrial Co., Ltd
Doors and windows: Guangzhou Haode doors and windows Co., Ltd

Check out more info on this UIA-CBC Design-Build Competition project here.

UIA-CBC Design Build Competition

Pear Orchard Cabins

Design + Build project in China. UIA-CBC Competition

2019 UIA-CBC International Colleges and Universities Competitive Construction Workshop walks into Guoyuan Village, Aiyuan Town, Siyang County, Suqian City, Jiangsu. UC + Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU) team has won the UIA-CBC competition proposal as one of the top 15 teams from proposals submitted by 101 Universities across 23 nations. After the winning of Phase 1 proposal, UC+BJTU team was invited to join the Phase 2, and build the permanent structures from August.01 to 19 in China. The project won the third prize. Please check out the final result of all 15 projects .

Taking the century-old pear orchard as the site, this year’s Competitive Construction Workshop sets a theme of creating “Pear Orchard Cabins” that can improve the quality of living in the orchard. The participating teams designed and build 15 cabins in the orchard as well as infrastructure that connected the whole community in order to contribute to the revitalization of the “Century-old Pear Orchard”, and also to explore a path for changing villages by the power of design.

The theme of this year’s workshop is “Pear Orchard Cabins”, which takes the whole 100-year-old orchard as the site of design where 15 selected teams from renowned international and domestic universities will be involved to discuss how to “activate villages through design”. The teams will use a limited space to design and construct their cabin in order to provide more activity solutions to the villagers and visitors. The design will be based on the element of “pear” and picture future scenarios involving countryside spatial experience and pear-related themes all the way from design to constructions or construction. The design content is not limited to installations and may also include consideration of the site and the environment.

As an integral part of village revitalization plan, the workshop seeks to explore a rural public architectural form than can fit in with nature. By linking up the 15 “Pear Orchard Cabins” in the century-old orchard with a continuous infrastructure, it emphasizes the fun experience of exploring the place, activates the heart of the village and injects the power of design into the basic mode of rural production, driving the change and improvement of rural lifestyle and providing a paradigm for rural construction.

Phase II: Design+Build Team

Students: Lauren Figley, Jordan Micham, Pat McQuillen, Vu Tran, Jeremy Swafford,Tess Ryan

Faculty supervisor:  Whitney Hamaker, Ming Tang (UC); Yingdong Hu, Yunan Zhang, Yongquan Chen (BJTU)

 

Phase I: Design Proposal

UC Student Team, class from ARCH3014, digital media skills. Spring 2019, taught by Prof. Ming Tang.

Winning Team: Lauren Figley, Andi Moore, Jordan Micham, Pat McQuillen, Vu Tran 

Graduate assistant: Jeremy Swafford, Shreya Jasrapuria, Kenna Gibson, Alan Bossman, Tess Ryan

Faculty advisor: Ming Tang, Xiangbin Xu, Yuhui Song (UC); Yingdong Hu, Yongquan Chen ( BJTU)

early concept

Final concept

Photo of Phase II. China

 

Low Carbon City

Shenzhen Center for Design. ALCCA parallel research Grant. China. Team: Ming Tang, Chris Auffrey, Xinhao Wang, Mingming Lu, Zhou Yan. Students: Desai Sagar, Reinersman Michael, Davis Seth, Block Olga. 2015

Low Carbon City. Shenzhen Center for Design. ALCCA parallel research Grant. China. RMB 50,000 ($8,069) PI: Tang.  Co-PI: Auffrey, C., Wang, X., Lu, M. 2015

This academic research project is organized by the Shenzhen Center for Design and conducted in parallel to the Alternatives for Low Carbon City and Architecture (ALCCA) planning and design competition. This research project brings together professors, researchers, and students from multiple international universities from the region and around the world: Shenzhen University, University of Hong Kong, Columbia University, University of Cincinnati, the University of Syracuse, and Harvard University. Each research team is tasked to produce one ‘User’s Manual’ about specific topics involved in the planning, design, and implementation of low-carbon urban development. These ‘Manuals’ aim to provide substantiated knowledge and innovative ideas for the discussion of the environmental, economic, social, and cultural issues surrounding low carbon projects in Shenzhen and the rest of the world.

Web Applications

  • Energy summary
  • Transportation CO2 Emission
  •  Building C02 Emission

The goal of this research is to construct a relational model allowing developers to better understand the complex relationships among various urban parameters such as population, density, carbon emission, car usage, development intensity, zoning, and energy consumption. The use of dynamic/parametric modeling has allowed us to compare the advantages and disadvantages of underground, surface, and vertical development, as well as different transportation and building densities and coverages, and to propose an optimal strategy for new infrastructure development and land use. We believe the great challenge for the PINGDI1.1 project is to create evaluation systems that can quantify various parameters of the urban built environment, and ensure a low carbon lifestyle for all residents through various scenarios including iterative proposals on urban infrastructure, land use, building programs, waste management, renewable energy and transportation systems.

Step 1: Construct measurable Low carbon indicators
Low carbon indicators from various aspects were proposed. These indicators will be very helpful in establishing an eco-city performance monitoring system for the low-carbon city. Step 2: Construct Assumptions
Quantifiable Relationships were established based on the following assumptions of the PINGDI low carbon city starting zone.

  • Population density
  • Industrial space requirement
  • Carbon emission per employee by industry (ton/person) 
  • Energy consumption rates per area by industry sector (J/sq.m.)
  • Commercial/office space requirement (square meters per employee):
    • Residential
    • Energy consumption rate per residential area (J/sq.m.)
    • Carbon emission rate per residential area (ton/sq.m)
    • Water consumption
    • Wastewater generation
    • Municipal waste generation
  • Stormwater runoff
      • Proportion impervious area
  • Automobile carbon emission rate (ton/km)
    • Assumption of surface parking
  • Transit carbon emission rate (ton/km)
  • Percentage by travel modes
  • Total distance traveled per person (km)
  • Carbon sequestration rates (ton/sq.m)

Step 3: Construct site database

A digital model of the PINGDI site is constructed using advanced parametric modeling tools, which include block and building.  Street network, Land use type by block, FAR, Building height, Building use type, and other parameters will be coded into the database allowing further computing. Three scenarios named high-density development, mid-density development, and low-density development were constructed.

4. Scenario-based analysis

We offer a brief discussion of each concept below along with example illustrations of their application. The parametric modeling results are analyzed based on low-carbon city criteria related to various services including school, healthcare, recreation, commercial, and parks.

Conclusion

The conclusions are made based on the analysis of various scenarios based on the GIS scenario 360 program in the relation to the low carbon planning methods. Final Report 

The project is also featured in my book chapter. 
Tang, MInnovative Tools. Data-Driven Landscapes. Edited by Jonathon Anderson, Daniel Ortega. Innovations in Landscape Architecture. Routledge. ISBN: 1072954 UK. 2016.

Book available. Sustainable Urbanism

Sustainable Urbanism. Study Abroad in China. University of Cincinnati. 2016

Edited by Ming Tang, Mingming Lu, Xinhao Wang, Christoph Auffrey, Chun Zhang.

Printed in 2018.

Engineering / Architecture / Planning Study Abroad Program: Sustainable Urbanism from an International Perspective

SAID 6099, PLAN 6099, ENVE 6099.

IMG_0534

This study abroad course will focus on the concept and practice of urban sustainability in the global perspective, which emphasis how to support the simultaneous development of our society, our economy and the environment without sacrificing any aspects. Through field study across various disciplines, the course exanimates the most challenging sustainability issues we are facing. The course provides students with experiential learning in the application of the current theories, models and methods used in engineering, architecture and urban planning to specific, real-world issues of sustainable urbanism as they are currently being confronted in the rapid developing countries.

more pictures about the course.

Course website