Arcadia

A stage for life – community living

Time: 2014
Tsinghua Architecture Studio

The topic of this studio is “Stage for life”, which calls for attention on relationships among people, daily life, architecture and nature. The routine and mundane life of ordinary people just like you and me has great value. Architecture adapts to, accommodates, and activates way of living.

My characters are all typical people within Tsinghua University. They are brought here and start to perform their daily life. Arcadia is a stage for this “reality show” and hopefully, one that promotes more possibilities for living.

“Every place is given its character by certain patterns of events that keep on happening there. “
“The more living patterns there are in a place – a room, a building, or a town – the more it comes to life as an entirely, the more it glows, the more it has that self- maintaining fire which is the quality without a name.”
Christopher Alexander

9 characters with different jobs, hobbies and dreams are all typical Tsinghua residents. By interviewing these people, I have a clear image of how they spend a typical day.

Our seemingly complicated lives actually consist of simple and periodical activities such as sleeping, eating, working, studying, socializing, exercising, watching, etc. They are where Arcadia starts from.

Sectional Perspective and Structural Details

The site is an open grassland between two teaching buildings, quiet but appealing. After mapping the site, plants and sculptures are located and integrated into my project. Arcadia respects nature and merges itself into the ground.