A new district on the fringe of Nanjing, formulated on modernist planning and consisting mostly of large autonomous gated housing communities has left Pukou as a well-engineered city but one with limited opportunity for dynamic public life.
The site is on a large block located on a corner of two major streets; a canal wraps around the site forming the rear site boundary. This boundary has been transformed into a green network of public open space.
A freely interpreted and eroded perimeter block typology forms the basis of this project’s architectural figure-ground. With two street edges left in place and the two other sides adjacent to the public open space removed, the private courtyard associated with the typology is protected from the street and connected to a larger network of public open space. Two civic-scaled openings mid-block effectively reduce the block size for pedestrians and provide public access through the courtyard to the public open space beyond.
A tripartite urban fabric was seen as a positive contribution to the city, with a robust ground floor, a middle-storey, and a slightly misbehaving attic that completes the abstraction of typologies. Within the private court, a pavilion folded into the site ensures no reduction in green open space and provides an interesting topography to an otherwise flat landscape.
The site features an active-edge retail on the ground floor, a 104 room hotel, an office space in the middle storey, a preschool of 2,500 sq m in the attic, and finally a community centre with swimming pool and auditorium in the courtyard. With this collection of mixed programmes, Pukou Community Centre is a destination, not just a place to find government services.
The façade consists of a series of thin concrete overhangs which form a platform on which to sit a series of folded perforated metal sails that respond to the changing facade orientations, ensuring minimum heat gain through an otherwise glass building. The outcome is a well ventilated and naturally lit building reducing energy consumption and providing high amenity for both staff and visitors.
It is said that urban design’s role is to ensure a great city despite poor architecture. Brearley Architects & Urbanist’s ambition for this project was to provide both a high amenity building and landscape, and a more than positive contribution to the city.