THE SOCIAL UNIT

An "object plaza" able to host up to 5 people simultaneously

THE SOCIAL UNIT

03

Jan

2016

Shanghai

Asia/Shanghai

Chinese

Population: 27 Million30 million in 2025

GDP: 251 6.6 %

BigMac: 2.74 us dollars

The Social Unit
West Bund | Shanghai | Object Plaza
 
Concept
The concept is to generate a scalable object as a platform for enhancing social interaction synergies, hosting multiple functions and several users at the same time.
A multi-functional object for resting and playing, it can host up to 5 users simultaneously. Its shape is specially designed to encourage social interactions among its users. It offers an elegant spot to stop, rest, sit, lay down, contemplate, observe, chat, play, and any other activities that users may come up with.
 
 

©100architects


 

© Amey Kandalgaonkar


The Social Unit is a trial to catalyze the integration of social interactions in residual public spaces of the renowned West Bund, Shanghai’s new art district.
After a process of rapid & radical urban transformation of such a scale, which turned the industrialized area into a Cultural Corridor, arises the opportunity of revitalizing residual pedestrian areas at the bank of Huangpu River.
 
 

© Amey Kandalgaonkar


 

© Amey Kandalgaonkar


As a small scale response to that matter, Cloud in the Bund appears as a mixed-use “object” that lies between urban furniture, sculpture, art and public space.
It is a multifunctional object designed to be used simultaneously by several people, literally to ease social interactions, offering an elegant spot to stop, rest, sit, lay down, contemplate, observe, chat, play, and any other activities that users may come up with.
 
In fact, its shape has been intentionally designed providing enough hints of how to use it, but flexible enough for the users to reinterpret it and customize their own way of using it, hence the object looks quite different from each side.
 
 

© Amey Kandalgaonkar


 

© Amey Kandalgaonkar


 

© Amey Kandalgaonkar


The aim was always to concentrate different functions in a single volume, which through its morphology would allow the users to interact from all its sides. , It is a condensed functional landscape for leisure.
The object has been thought as a scalable modular urban furniture, able to grow in size & program by adding more functions to it.
 
 

© Amey Kandalgaonkar


 

© Amey Kandalgaonkar


This scalable functionality, added to the high performance of its materiality, makes it highly versatile to be displayed in different public colliding spaces, from riverfronts to squares, from pedestrian streets to hotel lobbies or shopping malls, etc…
The intention of making it look as a homogeneous and continuous object, as well as suitable for both, interior & exterior spaces, has led us to fabricate it in a solid-continuous surface, therefore the chosen material was Dupont Corian Solid Surface, due to its high performance and outstanding aesthetics.
 
 

© Amey Kandalgaonkar


 

©100architects


 
Project Credits
 
Project name: The Social Unit
Design: 100architects
Design team: Pang Xin, Marcial Jesus, Javier Gonzalez
Production: Dupond (Shanghai)
Location: West Bund, Shanghai, China
Area: 4 m2 (2 x 2 m.)
Completion: March 2016
Photographer: Amey Kandalgaonkar
 
 

About

A multi-functional object for resting and playing, it can host up to 5 users simultaneously. Its shape is specially designed to encourage social interactions among its users.

 

More images

Street Intervention

What is an street intervention?
This is the smallest scale of interventions that takes place in the public realm of a city, related to the altering of a portion or a whole street or square, whether vehicular or pedestrian, by adding or installing new alienated elements to the existing configuration of the street.
 
This typology intervenes in existing urban settings by occupying the ground of a given area and by acting as an accessible and multifunctional platform, catalyzing social interactions by drawing attention to the “new place”. It is a tactical intervention with a non-territorial nature, keeping a clear formal and aesthetic distinction from the existing surroundings.
 
This type of intervention is oftentimes used by Retail Operators to transform their spaces into unique and visually appealing environments that increase foot traffic, attracting and retaining customers by turning their commercial spaces into “experiential retail” helping them stand out in a competitive market, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty while enhancing their brand presence potentially leading to higher sales, without the need of big renovation investment.


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Related Moments
A great Sunday with my dog.

A great Sunday with my dog.

He couldn't stop to look at it! Everyone loved it!

Photo by Piggy

Taken at THE SOCIAL UNIT

So cool!

So cool!

Waiting for my friend at the showroom.

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Taken at THE SOCIAL UNIT

Such a long day..

Such a long day..

a perfect spot to take a break! :-)

Photo by Myra

Taken at THE SOCIAL UNIT

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