New Life

Aiming at helping the homeless in Guangzhou, China, to reintegrate into the society, this five-storey transition centre will provide skills training, physical and emotional support, as well as a short-term shelter to the occupants.

Two of the main issues plaguing China include homelessness and food wastage. The former is a result of China’s economy developing rapidly, which has attracted a significant percentage of the rural population to migrate to the big cities, such as Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing, in the hope of finding employment. However, not all have been successful and hence this has led to some of them without jobs and/or homes in the cities. 

Spatial Design
The centre is situated within an abandoned, long and narrow factory with stairs on both sides of the building, which is not conducive to getting around. As such, ramps are designed to provide convenient walking paths to each floor and also act as communal gathering platforms. Plants will line the sides along the paths to bring greenery into the building.

A training area on the third level

PROJECT DATA
Project Name
New Life
Location
Riverside, Nanshixi Main Station, Haizhu District, Guangzhou, China
Site Area
2,122 square metres
Gross Floor Area
4,475 square metres
Building Height
5 storeys; 4.5 metres
Student
Huang Piaolei
School
Raffles Design Institute, Singapore
Programme
Bachelor of Architecture & Interior Design (BAID)
Supervisor
Rosa Liane Da Silva LOPES
Images
Huang Piaolei

This is an excerpt. The original article is published in
Construction+ Q1 2023 Issue: Housing Construction: Demand & Supply.
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