Xinyi Shen

Xinyi Shen is a developing architect currently advancing her graduate studies at the Royal College of Art in London. She graduated from the University of Nottingham 's Ningbo in Architecture in 2019 and went on to work in practice in XFrame for doing some interior, installation and illustration projects.

She believes that architecture is a medium for observing the world, It is a carrier of memory and a metaphor of the moment. She regards architecture as a process, while designing is also a kind of "construction" of life in a broad sense. Her current interest lies in rethinking the life cycle of a building. Starting with suspended construction projects in the rapid urbanization in China, Xinyi attempts to study the building state between "unfinished" and "finished” and explore the potential for those unfinished buildings to coexist with their surroundings.

In Praise of Idleness

The proposal responds to the UN international experiment to reduce working hours across industrial and service sectors, with the goal of creating a system that promotes better mental health, community relationships, and lower carbon emissions while maintaining productivity.

In China, the extreme working hours are already characterised as “The 9 to 9’s” which have brought the country wealth but also at a cost. Often visually evident in headlong speculative development, result in the failed partially built, and abandoned urbanism. The new generation is already rejecting this work ethic wholesale, in turn, termed “The Idlers”, they only work when they want and need to.

My project looks to investigate whether The Idlers are none other than the future citizens The UN experiment seeks to find. Can they occupy abandoned urban districts and superstructures such as towers that are currently earmarked for wasteful demolition? Making those unfinished structures their homes and working areas, the new system with productive landscaping could achieve a certain degree of self-sufficiency and meanwhile feed nearby existing communities, and this relaxed economy also turns the very idea of ‘gentrification’ on its head.

Research_The idleness of building

Research_The idleness of living

Vision_The power of being idle

The project combines the idleness of the building with people's desire for an idle, leisure life.

It opposes the inherent mode of dealing with ‘stagnation’ - ‘demolition’ - ‘reconstruction’ of superstructures under opportunism and capital games. Through a progressed, productive landscaping system, the project provides an economical and sustainable solution.

Those who intentionally opt to cut their working hours and wages have regained the value of life in other dimensions. People take control of their free time, and the positive community environment encourages self-improvement and stimulates more creativity.

Tower in the context

The north-east exterior view

Existing tower condition

Located in the bustling city center of Guangzhou, the project is based on an existing 46-story tower. Due to the break of its capital chain, the gigantic concrete structure has been kept vacant for more than 20 years today.

It is a bold statement to the surrounding environment, advocating the restoration to a pastoral life of idleness.

By exploiting the potential behind the idle economy driven by the productive landscape, the logistics and public spaces at the bottom (a food mall, a vegetable market, and an in-between bicycle parking) are tightly integrated with the urban context, while the high-rise residential area maintains an appropriate distance from the fast-paced industrial life.

Overall sections – The whole tower is organized by an integrated landscape system, including natural farming, the greenhouse, and the garden. To emphasize the notion of symbiosis, in contrast to a clear demarcation of tower space in different vast areas, the design methodology is to create a scattered distribution of the green, ensuring that each floor can have both dwelling and landscape at the same time.

Close-up section – The experiment in idle living will concentrate on the middle section of the skyscraper, where every four stories will be integrated into a typical cluster, which will be stacked and repeated throughout the tower’s construction.

Typical plans – The idea for capturing the leisure lifestyle is to consider the subdivision of each floor plate. From the bottom to the top, the three forms of green emerge in different places, also making the crop types to be divided.

Close-up elevation – The proposal explored how the timber structures could be added into the existing concrete construction. Each cluster has at least 5 various room types due to simple modification and combination of the basic residential unit, idlers can pick according to their own needs, and different groups of people together build a diverse community.

View_ Shared Garden – People converse, work, and exchange information in the shared garden on the bottom level of the cluster, common leisure spaces and co-planting objectives also aid in the development of better and deeper dialogue among residents, resulting in stronger neighbourhood ties and a pleasant community atmosphere.

View_ Double-height common room – The open and double-height space of the top of the typical cluster serves people by connecting to the planting system and can also be changed into a flexible space for collective activities.

View_ Rooftop swimming pool – The concept of idle living will apply not only to inhabitants but also to the city. Complemented by part of the leisure and commercial space, the rehabilitation of the tower will be more economical and sustainable.

View_ Basic living unit – The basic living unit is a linear space of about 2.4m, which includes a simple bedroom and a bathroom. The linked construction of the prefabricated CLT modules allows the space to grow flexibly into different types of units, and also allows for the progressive occurrence of interventions.

Xinyi Shen

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Royal College of Art