TEMPORARY PERMANECE
Whilst at Arup Associates, Suzanne led the Design and the Project Team of Temporary Permanece for Tongji University in Shanghai.
From a structural level we have viewed the pavilion as a simple enclosure that sits within the confines the local district of Siping, Shanghai, to provide a focal point both during the day and the night time hours. A simple modular structure composed of cruciform modules which when combined can form an almost limitless number of configurations depending on the needs or the whims of the community.
The proposed installation seeks to provide local users with a simple place to stop and inhabit and offer the potential for dialogue with the built environment. The fabric of the city and its significance alters dramatically depending on the viewer. The element of time is experienced quite differently by a tourist as opposed to a citizen of Shanghai. Tourists are exploring a terra incognita, whereas citizens already know their locale and their history; the points of concern and comfort, solitude and community. For the former, the ephemeral structures in the city are just another sight among many. For the residents these structures will in due time lose their initial element of surprise and become as familiar as all the other day to day environments. The proposal seeks to allow the community to reform the pavilion into any manner of things; refuge, tea house, observation post, play area, allowing a steady metamorphosis of the built environment.
Shanghai, PRC
© Arup Associates
© Arup Associates
© Arup Associates
© Arup Associates
Client Tonji University, Shanghai
Size 4m(L) x 4m(W) x 3m(H)
Value /
Status Completed 2015