MENG Yan
Nantou, A City Or A Village?
For a long time,Shenzhen has been portrayed, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unwittingly, as a young city with a history of only three decades. The myth of how a “small fishing village” has miraculously grown overnight into a modern metropolisis still prevailing in main stream media and widely persists in the public imagination.The myth is followed by a curse, haunting this Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for many years, that it is a city with no origin, no history or culture. Intruth however, the Nantou Old Town in the Nanshan District of Shenzhen was founded as a city over 1,700 years ago during the Jin Dynasty, and it served as the political, economic and military center for the Shenzhen-Hong Kong area during the Ming and Qing dynasties, governing a vast area that included modern day Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Zhuhaiand Macao. In the early Qing Dynasty, the Nantou Fortress was destroyed and abandoned in an evacuation known as “Jin Hai Qian Jie” (Sea Ban and Frontier Shift). It was later restored for use up untilthe early years following the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, when the government of Bao’an County was relocated to another site. From that time on, Nantou became a quiet village surrounded by an old city wall, its history as a city for over 1,700 years fading from memory.In the following decades, with the growth of its economy and population, the village expanded out from the confinement of its ancient wall. The historical buildings inside and outside the city wall were demolished and new buildings built. The Old Town continued to disappear as thevillage grew.
After the establishment of the Shenzhen SEZ in the 1980s, urbanization was first dominated by government and state-owned enterprises, followed by a top-down process of implementation by developers that guided by urban planning. Like other villages surrounded by sprawling urban development, Nantou Village experienced a bottom-up and haphazard self-urbanization process in contrastto the planned urbanization around it. This stark difference was due tothe historical legacy of the“rural-urbandual-system”of land ownership,combined with the added pressure of a surging market demand, leading to a process of evolution that has been entirely spontaneous and informal. Implemented by the village collective and individuals, this process has been subjected to the pressures of external urban development and yet has benefited from the market demand and the imperfection of urban policy. The restriction that villagers are only permitted to build two-story houses as residences on their own house hold plot was broken, and the function as residence was then shifted to market-driven apartment rentals. In order to meet the demands of the market, villagers subsequently rebuilt larger and higher buildings, eventually filling their household plotsas much as possible. This formed a unique urban landscape ofhigh-density clusters of “hand-shake buildings”, what has become a typical spatial fabricof urban villages in the Pearl River Delta (PRD). The urban village is a special alternative urban typology, an economic and social ecosystem formed because of failures in urban governance and the urges of pure economic incentives. It is usually located in the middle of the city, but provides accommodation at comparatively low prices, while also creating diverse local employment opportunities. It therefore acts ashaven for new comers, a temporary buffer to the city and itsharsh urban environment of fierce competition. Today, urban villages in Shenzhen andthe PRD are not rural enclaves surrounded by urban districts, but “urbanized villages” that have been collaged and integrated into current urban reality. To be exact, it emerges asanew“ThirdTypology”—“Village/City” which is different from the prevailingdual system of either village or city in China. It is not only the first choice for arrival by new immigrants, but also an integrated and indispensable part of the city itself.
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Nantou, Old Town Preservation or Urban Village Regeneration?
As compared to other urban villages, Nantou Village has preserved its main street pattern after decades of development. Although the old town has changed dramatically,the southern gate and eastern gate still exist, and several ancestral halls, temples, old houses, a church and other historical buildings remain as well. Sites of archaeological significance have also been preserved underground. Today, NantouVillagerepresents a symbiosis of an old town of nearly two thousand year’shistoryand a modernurbanized village. It existsinbetweenacity andavillage, and yet it is neither a city nor a village when history intertwines with reality. Underneath the current hustleand bustleof urban reality, hidden clues of spatial and historical memory can still be found.
In the past decade,though scattered preservation and renovation efforts inside and outside of the city wall have never stopped,Nantou has been in a dilemma whether to protect the historical heritage of the old town or to redevelop the urban village so as to improve the residents’ livelihood. Local government also has been trying to explore the cultural resources and tourist potential of the Old Town. Numerous studies and design proposals have been prepared, but few of them have been implemented because of complicated factors.
At the beginning of 2016, when the design and research team of Urbanus started to be involved in the Nantou Preservation and Regeneration Project, we found that rather than the contradiction between historical heritage protection and urban village regeneration, the most critical problem that has been hindering Nantou’sfutureis how to define and position both its historical and its contemporary heritage; this is the fundamental question that decides its future destiny.By starting with research into the historical context of the ancient city, our team has also carried out detailed field investigations. Through mapping multiple layers of historical information compared with on-site observation and recording, the future blueprint for the Old Town gradually took shape. The history of Nantou Old Town reflects a condensed and complete urban history of Shenzhen. Rather than a spatial renovation, the more needed effortsare to improve the quality of life of its residents and to rejuvenate the local culture.
We did numerous cases tudies regarding historic renovation, both in China and abroad, and studied the evolution of theories on historic preservation.We concluded that only by respecting the authenticity of the history and cherishing the cultural layers and historical traces of each period of time can we shape a timelessly dynamic urban community rooted in local history and culture. We see today’s Nantou not as an old historic town in the traditional sense, but as a historical heritage town, which carries on the history and culture of nearly two thousand years, and which preserves the spatial, social and cultural heritage of Shenzhen across every historical period. It is the only precious sample of Shenzhen’s urban culture that displays both historical relics a long side a full record of China’s rapid urbanization over the last three decades.
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City as Exhibition Venue and Exhibition as Practice
Based on the preliminary study on Nantou, Urbanus proposed adevelopment model of introducing cultural events, preservation, intervention and regeneration. Adapted to local conditions, we drafted six tailor-made regeneration plans which can be implemented at alater time: Parks and Gardens Revival Plan, City Boundary Redefinition Plan, HistoricalBuilding Preservation Plan, Main Street Navigation Plan, Creative Factory Plan and Inner City Dynamic Regeneration Plan. These projects mainly focus on the renovation of key public spaces and the introduction of public activities as part of the process of activating and promoting the regeneration of the Old Town. Later on, after sufficient field investigation, urban design and research work, we came up with the idea to propose Nantouas the main venue of 2017 UABB in the biennale venue selection process.
After consensus was made on the venue, further field surveys and research into Nantou’shistory helped usto find a narrative line on which spatial renovation and the exhibition implementation could highly coincide. A series of renovations along with this narrative line will, with most effective interventions, have minimum interference with the daily life of local residents.They will improve the public space quality of the Old Town to a maximum effect, while leaving enough roomfor future development.
The Nantou Old Townis located to thenorthof ShennanAvenueand south of Zhongshan Park. Built along a gentle slope, the Old Town used to be guarded by four gates in four directions. The northern gate was abandoned in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, and the northern street in the traditional county town’s “Cross Roads”pattern lost its vitality ever since. Zhongshan Park tothe north of the Old Townwas the earliest public park in Shenzhen. It was built during the Republican era of China and features old, towering trees that attract many visitors. The wall surrounding the factory area constructed in the 1980s separated the park from the Old Town. We decided to reconfigurethis critical node by extending South Zhongshan Street northward, restoring the traditional “Cross Roads” pattern and reconnecting Zhongshan Park, the Old Town and the Park outside the south gate. This step of spatial restructuring will be the starting point of future old town regeneration, beginning with a series of exhibition venues for the UABB, which will be rolled out along this main spine.
Following the urban design strategy of preservation and regeneration while locating exhibition spaces for UABB, we soughtto reconstruct a public open space system in Nantou. Serving as an exhibition route, this system consists of both architectural spaces and outdoor venues. The exhibition venues are in five zones from north to south and extending out toward east and west: A. Factory Zone, B. Cross Road Zone, C. Southern Gate Zone,D.Historic Buildings Zone,and Chunjing Street Zone. The whole exhibition spatial narrative is formed with the following seven interlocking themes, like the structure of Chinese literature or drama.
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Spatial Structure and Narrative of the Exhibition
Introduction: Southern Gate Park
The archway to Nantou Old Town can be seen when approaching westward from Shennan Avenue after passing Nanhai Avenue. Guan Di Temple is tothe east, while the Nantou Museum,on the site of the former Bao’an County government built in 1950, is not far to the west. Toitsnorth is the excavation site of the moat from the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
The Southern Gate, the only surviving remains of the southern city wall, is the oldest existing structure in Nantou, with a history of 600 years. It is interesting that through later demolition of some buildings between the Southern Gate and Shennan Avenue, the original footprint of the Old Townhas become clearer. Within the old town perimeter, the densely erected village buildings are partially painted grey or decorated with grey tiles and sloping eaves. Together with some newly-constructed city wall fragments, the efforts to restore the original style of the ancient city can be easily seen. We believe, however, that visual restoration will not help restore the Old Town. Only when urban regenerationis seen as an effort totackle complexurban problems can we find abalance between history and reality, and between spatial heritage and humanistic lifestyle.
We hope to establish a connection between the existing cultural sites outside of the Southern Gate and to introduce a new interactive experience in the Park, recreating the spatial prelude before entering the Old Town: walking through the archway of NantouOld Town, a newly built kiosk designed by FCJZ is on the west. Just like a small pavilion by acountry road in ancient times, its overhanging eaves provide shaded seating for travelers; The Guan Di Temple is across the road, with 3D wall murals on its gable, and the contrast between solid building and painted illusion provokes expectation before entering theOld Town; Atemporary “Weng Cheng” (barbican) plaza installation is on the north, reproducing with light materials the semi-circular barbican of the Southern Gate as it has been recorded in historic literature. The barbican is a symbiosis between historic facts and literary fiction, and its temporary popping-up will change people’s daily experience as they pass the ancient city gate. The small semi-circular plazawill be kept after the exhibition, allowing people to stop and to ponder or lament.Rather than a simple rushin and out from the old city gate, a new route of humanistic and historical context will start.
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Elucidation: Ancient Academy Square
Entering the SouthernGate, one is now standing on the South Zhongshan Street, which islined up with many small shops.A small piece of elevated land in an eastern corner is where the Ancient Academy Square is located. According to historical records, the former Office of Coastal Defense was to the east of the modern day square, and in the early 1900’s the Fenggang Academy was established on its premises. It was also the site of the Nantou Middle School and aftermany further changes, the site is currently surrounded by densely packed village towers behind the eastern and northern walls. In the process of renovation, the original atmosphere of existing trees and open space is preserved as much as possible,and only the hedgerow is removed from the south of the square to add steps and ramps in order to make the square more open facing towards the city gate. A screen wall of grey bricks separatesthe terrace from the street below. A small open space is created in the middle of the square and a small stage is addedalong the northern wall to accommodates mall-grouped performances and community activities. This small quiet courtyard with the shade of trees is a nice pocket garden to enjoy the city view, especially from a small porch pavilion in the southeast corner.
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Transition: Cross Road Square
With the surging population living in the old town, most of the traditional houses have been demolished and rebuilt into rental apartments. The Dongguan Guild Hall is one of the few historical buildings that were spared from this fate. There are a couple of other buildings in the vicinity, including the Xin’an Opium Den, the Yili Pawnshop, and the Hongchang Casino, which were all renovated in the 1990s in celebration ofthe reunification withHong Kong. They are closely adjacent to residential buildings of various styles built in the past decades. We chose this small vacant open space, enclosed by traditional buildings andotherresidential buildings, as the junction node connecting the main exhibition venue and the Chunjing Street area to the west of the exhibition route. Gradual spatial transition is arranged here to separate external street space from semi-public space in the internal block，and the elevation of the site is adjusted responding to the existing topography. Concrete parapet walls are used as the boundary for areas of different elevations, the practice of mixed masonry with greyand red brick in traditional Lingnan (southern Chinese) architecture is adopted in outdoor paving. Localfruittrees, typical in the Lingnanregion,are used as the major tree species in landscaping in order to carry on the practical and innovative feature of traditional Lingnan culture.
For a large number of illegal buildings and structures, instead of a total demolition, categorizedand diversified renovation strategies are adopted, and feedback from the residents are followed in order to make continued adjustments. The basic principle ofrenovation is to make the most of the current situation. Small-sized squares,pavilions, and green spaces are designed atthe major nodes of public activity, responding to the specific conditions of each site in order to compensate for the current scarcity ofopen public space in the old town.They also willrespond to issues like changesin lifestyle, the transformation of traditional spaces, and the scale of Lingnan architecture.
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Conclusion: Baode Square
This areaused to be a small open space in the center of the old town and was later used as a threshing floor in the 1970s. Historic County Government ruins, the Baode Ancestral Hall, and other historic buildings are in the vicinity. The site is surrounded by dense residential buildings built in different periods, with a basketball court of terrazzo floor that was built in the 1990s. The square is usually empty and unwelcoming in the daytime because of the hot weather, and becomes vibrant after dark when children are chasing each other and adults are sitting around barbecuing and drinking beer. It is a stage for daily life, shifting betweennoisy and silent, chaotic yet dynamic.
Located on both sides of the square were two metal sheds. Erected on the site of buildings demolished several years earlier, they had served as temporary markets to sell clothing, fruits, and other groceries. The two sheds have been removed and two new temporary structures are built on the site after coordination with local residents. In addition to compensating the same floor area for the village, the new structures have roofs with slanting steps toward the square, forming a continuous interface which allows people to walk all the way from the square onto the roof.Theroof serves as audience seating for basketball games or performances in the square. We also add trees around the square so that even in the summer, the outdoor space is partially shaded. The roof facing South ZhongshanStreet isalso made of slanting steps, forming a roof-top theater; a nice place to enjoy the view of the street and the park.The form of these buildings responds to the small scale and rich roof profileof the adjacent historic buildings making up the Dongguan Guild Hall to the west. Buildings in urban villages are usually finished with a great variety of colors and patterned tiles, and nearby Foshan in Guangdong is the origin of these pottery tiles.We chose a custom-made potterytile as the finish to cover all of the buildings and the square itself, while the terrazzo basketball court is left completely preserved in the middle. The two new buildings definethe boundary of the square, and abulletin board along the street is redesigned and integrated into the plaza.These efforts help enlarge and extend three-dimensionally the originally limitedpublic space into a hubfor gatherings and sharing. The two buildings will house an information center and bookstore, as well asexhibition and event venues during the upcoming biennale. We hope they will continue to serve the residents in the urban village as a community buildingand culture center into the future.
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Agglomeration: Creative Lab and Market Square
In the 1980s, a large number of factories began to be builtinrural areas of Shenzhen and almost every village built factory buildingstorent outasthe quickest way to shake off poverty and to get rich, while also bringing more employment opportunities for the villages’younger generation. As urbanization intensifies and urban districts sprawl to enclose villages, factories inside these villages are confined within as well. With the increasing immigrant population and rental demand, urban villagesare becoming the most open, densely populated and highly trafficked sectionof the city,witha mixture of industrial and residential areas.
WanliIndustrial Zone of Nantouis located in the northern part of the old town and built in the late 1980s, with a building area of 14,000 square meters. Three plants and two dormitories of the industrial zone are surrounded by enclosing walls, separating the old town and Zhongshan Park to the north. Two factory gates on the eastsitbetween the Nantou Town Primary School and the village; there are always residents and school children passing by the square in front of the factory.
The exteri or walls of the factoryand dormitories are essentially maintained in their original appearance. The existing horizontal stripe windows, tinted glass, granitic plaster, mixed pebbles, vertical white tiles, and color mosaics of geometric patterns are preserved as much as possible.They are typical examples of exterior wall materials widely used in 1980s and 1990s. Only the large muralpainted on the factory building adds a new stroke to the layered traces of time. A temporary metal shedon the factory square is dismantled, and a light canopy of stretching fabric is built along the east wall to accommodate an open-air café. At dusk, when the canopy is lit up from inside, it looks like a huge lantern floating abovethe square between the factory and village buildings. The enclosing wall on the west side of the factory is demolished to allow the factoryarea to merge into the surrounding neighborhoods. The exterior wall of the groundfloor of the main plant is removed,and a north-south inner street connecting the other two buildings is created. Another intersecting passage connects the square to the east and the alley on the west side,and eventually leads to the public stage and Zhongshan Park. After opening up the first floor of the mainbuilding, a series of enclosed spaces with different sizes and colors are scattered around.Theywill be used as venues for various themed exhibitions. The irregular alleyways between these big boxes are as complexasa maze, with embedded screens, light boxes, images, posters and bulletin boards on the walls.More contents will be added during the exhibition so that the exhibits will grow spontaneously and the atmosphere will keep changing all the time. Connected with the outdoor square it is like an open market as well as a delightful miniature theme park, suggesting that it couldbe an open creative clusterand a new living community for young people in the old town.
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Openness: From Public Stage to Open Theater
The public stage appeared in the late 1980s and witnessed the early migrant worker culture of Shenzhen. With the rapid industrialization of the city and the thriving of village and township enterprises, public stages were built throughout the city.They met the leisure and recreational demands of a large populationof young migrant workers and mass performances of various types used to be seen all over the city. With further growth of the city and the relocation of factories to the outskirts, however, this kind of grassroots recreation gradually disappeared and public stages were dismantled. In Nantou village, weare surprised to discover a remaining public stage between the old town and the Zhongshan Park on the north. The south edge of the stage is close to the crowded urban village while the north edge is open to the green space of the park. It is still a semi open-air theater for ordinary people to host amateur performances and local community activities, with a covered seating area for up to 500 spectators. In the summer, old men and women are sitting in the shade to play chess, to read or to watch kids playing. We decided to use this public stage as the multi-function hall during the biennaleto host lectures, seminars, stage performances, films and other activities. We also hope to preserve its role as an informal performance venue as much as possible, so that it can still host thedaily activities of local residents when it is available.
We have placed three raised audience seating areas under the existing steel roof canopy, providing abetter performance atmosphere and better views. The layout of audience seating resembling several scattered rocks creates an atmosphere of an informal theatrical space. A lifting fabric curtain system is designed around the roof truss, making it no longer a closed, static and conventional theater, but a convertible space that can be both open air or closed. A great variety of performances or activities, formal or informal, indoor or outdoor, are made possible when the curtain is lifted or dropped. As the result of the actual intervention of the biennale, the multiple functions of the public stage will be extended to host thedaily lives of local residents after the exhibition.
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Seclusion: Urban Oasis
In the center of the old town, there is a piece of land deserted for many years. It is located to the west of Chunjing Street and enclosed on four sides by residential buildings. Historical buildings that once occupied the site have been gone for a long time. The site is now enclosed by a barbed wire fence and two uncompleted buildings with exposed steel bars and formwork are visually striking. Local residents spontaneously planted vegetables and fruit trees in the open space and gradually turned it into a hidden oasis. We hope to introduce spatial installations with themes of plants and to organizea small-scale garden tour or planting workshops through UABB to reactivate this area. Our future plan is to dismantle the fence of the garden and invite botanists, artists, local residents, students and the public to plan their own renovation strategy together and to build a new community space.
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Urban Curation: The Beginning of a Long-term Plan
The 2017 Shenzhen-HongKongBi-City Biennale (Shenzhen) themed with Cities, Grow in Difference will soon be held in Nantou Old Town. As the main exhibition venue, Nantou Old Town is a heterogeneous symbiosis of a historic town and a contemporary urban village. The urban interventionofthis UABB is highly consistent with the old town regeneration plan, making a smooth transition from one to theother. During the renovation of the main venue, the design team selected a great variety of spaceswithin the urban village, including factory buildings, streets, squares, residential buildings, historical buildings, and parks. We hope through renovation for exhibition spaces, architectureand art interventions,and organized events to bring an alternative experimental opportunity for the regeneration of NantouOld Town and the renovation of urban villages in general. “Urban curation,”in contrast to the current urban renewal process, is a long-term strategy for the incremental improvement of urban spaces and the quality of urban life.
