RED WEST GATE

Glocal West Gate
Jiading | Shanghai | China

Introduction

This project was developed within the context of a closed competition by invitation organized by the local Government of Jiading, in which their aim was to renovate the traditional West Gate to downtown Jiading.

Occupied by a local wet street market, the West Gate has been losing over time the cultural relevance and significance that had on the past.

It is a massive red platform that extends throughout the entire wet street market generating an alternative elevated pathway on the 2nd floor that provides of new retail and cultural spaces.

The red elevated walkway has a big and striking featured public space right in the middle of the street, a space for the people, thought and designed to encourage social interactions, contact and relationships among users. A place to sit, talk, share, teach, learn, rest, etc…

The new proposal was intended not only to bring back the relevance of all this cultural heritage, but also reactivate the area by the injection of commercial and cultural activity.

Understanding the wider context of the city of Jiading allowed us to draw inspiration from the traditional environment. With almost 800 years of history, Jiading is a town with a strong craftmanship tradition and a well-known culture of tolerance and respect to the coexistence of different ideas and beliefs. It has been historically famous for its educational institutions, a big tradition of passing on the knowledge.

The DNA of the place

The total area of the renovation is 5950 m2, in which we aimed to identify the cultural DNA of the area and to address and highlight it through our design and program, in order to provide a new scenario for its reborn, passing on its heritage.

They can be as simple elements as the pavement material of the West Street, or the little patios hidden behind the walls, or complex characteristic carpentry and woodwork present in the most significant façades.

The proposal can be summarized as a cumulative process of several key points based on the idea of preserving the old & traditional soul while embracing new & contemporary solutions.

1. Preserving the key buildings, the most significant ones & kept in better conditions, in order to preserve the memory of the past settlement. 2. Preserving the old street pathway and materials, as the footprint that carries the soul of the old street 3. Taking advantage of characteristic elements of the site, such as the waterfront, and the patios, in order to enhance the way visitors, experience the public space. 4. Creating an alternative elevated pathway on the 2nd floor, increasing the linear meters of retail + cultural spaces while boosting the perception of the surrounding area, visually striking due to its different color and materiality, providing strength and personality to the architectural proposal. It is both, an aesthetical and a commercial strategic improvement. 5. Introducing a platform for an alternative type of cultural retail, workshops, galleries, etc…, which will culturally enrich & complement the regular retail scheme.

The Multilevel Strategy

The pedestrian platform on the 2nd level is one of the most important innovations with regard to the current existing situation. It is both, a commercial and a functional + aesthetical strategic improvement.

It is a huge commercial strategic improvement since the length of potential commercial façades facing the pedestrians is multiplied by 3. This means that where we previously had roughly 200 meters of commercial façade, now we could have around 600 meters of façades from rentable spaces, making the intervention economically more feasible.

Fundamentally based on the idea of « giving something back to the society », it improves not only the commercial activity, but also the public space of the whole area. Not only retailers, sellers or local craftsmen and artisans would benefit from the new proposal, but also the entire community of West Gate in particular and Jiading in general. They would have a new public space to meet, to share, to walk, to talk, to learn, to relax, to laugh & have fun.

Credits

PROJECT NAME: Red West Gate
DESIGN: 100 Architects (Shanghai)
DESIGN TEAM: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Vivian Song
CLIENT: Friends of West Market Street
SIZE: 5950 m2
STATUS: Unbuilt
LOCATION: Jiading West Gate, China