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Architects: Nhoow Architects
- Area: 640 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:ICY©ICYWORKS, Di Zhu, Vancy, Yulin East Road Community
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Lead Architect: Tang Zhang
Text description provided by the architects. Yulin Alley is located at Yulin Sanxiang, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The area of Yulin was built in the 1980s and 1990s. In the past decades, apartments built in different periods were connected by paths, and the integration of old and new buildings gradually formed the present Yulin, which has its own temperament - the air of the marketplace. The charm of Yulin may start from its old age. Yulin East Road in Yulin Street is facing the same problems as most old urban areas, with aging houses, dilapidated greenery, narrow roads, and lack of public space, increasingly unable to meet the needs of residents' public life. In such an old urban area with tight conditions, whether we can effectively organize and utilize the remaining space in the blind spots of urban planning is the first topic we face. As a community public space, how to realize its openness and sustainability is the second issue we face.
The project has gone through a total of 3 phases of the renovation process since the design launch in 2018. From the completion of the disabled-friendly space in the alley in 2020 to the indoor and outdoor platform and community stage on the first floor of the Party Service Center in 2021, and then to the renovation and renewal of the Cafeteria and service rooms in 2022. Neighborhoods are growth-oriented, and the process of phasing the design into use, design, and function can grow together with feedback and time in the face of urban renewal issues. As a designer, we hope to continue to accompany the growth of the neighborhood; as an operator, we hope to bring into play the platform of the space and practice the possibility of linkage mechanisms between inside and outside the neighborhood, commercial and social. In the first phase, through the disabled-friendly space in the alley, we tried to explore the utilization of the remaining space in the city, what kind of temperament the community space can present, and to establish an open co-creation and operation mechanism with the community. The second and third phase is about how to present the community block as a small cluster space and how to meet the needs of more operators and users under limited conditions after we change, integrate, and grow together with the local community and more diverse and multi-creative teams join.
Therefore, the design strategy is divided into three parts:
1. Set functional cores to support spaces with specific functional demands;
2. The rest of the space is a multifunctional space that is not defined to meet different scales, densities, and various behaviors generated;
3. Blur the boundary between spaces, between inside and outside, and through the regulation of indoor, semi-indoor, and outdoor gray space and outdoor space, form a flexible space that integrates and uses each other.
We hope to form a community scene with blurred boundaries through flexible design and flexible space layout, where all people could enjoy their own lives, feel the lifestyles of others and feel friendly living together.
Phase I Yulin Alley - Yulin Alley is a community disabled-friendly space supported by the community of East Yulin Road in Chengdu, planned and designed by our design team, and jointly operated with the community. The space sells coffee, desserts, and creative products, and frequently holds art exhibitions, themed pop-ups, workshops, bazaars, and other activities. Yulin Alley is trying to create an environment of freedom and equality. It calls for people to get out of their houses and expand their living circle; at the same time, it also provokes communication and incubation, attracting more people to initiate and participate in exploratory attempts with openness.
Phase II Community Stage - Considering the extraordinary and daily nature of the stage, as well as its public use as a leisure space, the stage design needs to minimize the number of falling columns and adopt a cantilevered structure. The roof is separated from the wall and connected through the solar panel, which increases the lighting while weakening the sense of volume to make it more floating and thinner. The metal cabinet with push-pull recessed panels on the wall can be used for posters and information notices of various social activities.
Phase II Community Leisure Platform - The entrance platform provides residents with a flexible space to have daily rest and participate in community services where they could stay, negotiate, and gather together to play chess and chat. The design of moderate height difference and width of the wooden platform also provides rehearsal space for the community children's choir and performance club. It serves both as the forecourt of the office space and as the backcourt of the community stage.
Phase III Community Service Room - The plan of community service rooms is rectangular. We set the functional core spaces in the homogeneous column network to provide support for specific functional requirements, and the rest of the space is an undefined multipurpose space. The northern part is for social service content while the southern part is for commercial content forming an enclosure and facing connection to the Yulin Alley. The community theater between the two parts serves as an elastic space, providing extension space for each part so as to dynamically adjust the ratio of service and business.
Children Secret Archives - Focusing on the individual experience and public memory of community residents, attracting them to participate in the community through "awakening", "interaction", "reproduction", "archive research" and other methods. It provides enough vivid research materials for experts and scholars in the direction of history, psychology, anthropology, and education, and becomes a supplement to the conventional "local chronicles".
Community Workstation - Focusing on the needs of community residents, aiming at the elderly, the disabled, women, and children in the community, social workers use professional methods and skills to assist individuals and families to develop their potential and improve their social functions.
Community Cinema - Collect and display cultural works of the youth, build an accessible viewing space for the community, and set a platform for young filmmakers and artists to display and exchange their creative idea.
Design & Art Retail - The store has publications and products related to design, art, architecture, and pan-sociology, as well as the self-starting field of Yulin Alley. Let the community events, social information, and community service that young people care about circulate, and promote young people to rely on the community, integrate into the community, and participate in community governance. We hope that everyone can take the paper to the streets and pay more attention to what is happening on the road.
Mrs. Li and her family came to Yulin in the 1990s to run a barbershop. Residents in the community, regardless of their age, call her "Li Jie". The barbershop has been providing low-paying haircut services to residents for decades, as well as door-to-door haircut services for elderly people with disabilities in the community.
Phase III Community Cafeteria - The cafeteria provides dining services for community residents. Each meal costs 15 yuan, and the elderly over 70 years old have a discount of 3 yuan. The cafeteria also provides shared services such as parent-child kitchens, Yulin mother group, and birthday parties for the elderly. From its operation to the present, this space has been praised by community residents for its convenient, fast, cheap, nutritious, and delicious meals and shared caring services.
