White Tangram —— Micro-Renovation of East China Formal University No.1 Village Residential Quarter Entrance

Located within the 100-meter radius of Suzhou River, East China Formal University No.1 Village is surrounded by crowd residential quarters. The obsolescent entrance to the Village was narrow, lacking traffic diversion, and with chaotic arrangements of facilities. Facing the Inner Ring Elevated Road, it is hardly a place where people can slow down the pace and enjoy the moment.

The Village was included in the list of 2020 Residential Quarter Renovation Project in Putuo District. The refurbishment of the residential quarter entrance needs to attend two major requirements: a new image and a good commendation for daily use. We adopted the design strategies of “space extension” and “internalization of the exterior decoration”, hoping to create a “loving community”.

“Space extension” is to satisfy the usage requirements by providing more space. The design breaks through the stereotype of a 2-dimensional gate, and instead extend the entrance area deeper into the residential quarter. This settles the traffic diversion of pedestrians and electro mobiles, offers enough space for resting benches and billboards, and makes a perfect cover for the messy yet vibrant life settings such as the smoke pipe of the primary school canteen next door and the garbage cans.

“Internalization of the exterior decoration” is to do the spreading, guiding, and shielding of the architectural interface according to the above mentioned “space extension”. It resembles doing interior construction in outdoor space. In direct contact of the users are the interior interfaces that can be touched and experienced in person, sparing the exterior façade of the residential quarter, which would lack a point of view considering the site conditions.

The architecture construction of the entrance doorway space is fabricated by a thin layer of white aluminum panel. The top view of the entrance is similar to a curved ruler being redirected several times to habitat all people; faux wood-colored aluminum square grilles are used to guide pedestrians while shielding negative elements (such as canteen air ducts) and providing a warm place for the residents of all ages, couriers, and office workers to gather around, chat with each other, and take a short break from the hustle and bustle everyday life.