△ Aerial view © live in the jungle
The Block Apartment is part of the “Flash Building School” unit featured at the Longgang branch exhibition of the 2019 Shenzhen Hong Kong Biennale. Developed by Professor He Chuan’s team, this residential design and construction system utilizes affordable light steel boxes from China Construction Technology as modular building units. The system is designed to meet the diverse needs of young people by offering an efficient, shared, and flexible housing solution through systematic design and construction.
△ Overall plan bird’s-eye view © live in the jungle
Adapting Space for Rapid Construction
China’s rapid urban development over recent decades has raised challenges for design and construction methods focused mainly on quantity. As cities shift from growth to renewal, is it enough to provide standardized living and working environments without differentiation? Can architects apply innovative, integrated design and construction approaches within modern industrial frameworks to create adaptable, diverse, and sustainable buildings that grow organically? This is a pressing question we seek to address.
Northwest perspective © live in the jungle
Building Systems and Modules
Building Blocks (Modules): The design is based on a standard 3 × 3 × 3 meter spatial module as the core unit. These modules can be freely combined into multi-dimensional blocks, enabling a variety of three-dimensional spatial configurations.
△ Modular units
Unit Combinations: To meet diverse user needs, functional units are connected through various combinations. This approach creates spaces that are both unified and personalized.
△ Spatial construction
△ South perspective © live in the jungle
△ Human-scale perspective © live in the jungle
System Structure (Adaptability)
The framework consists of 16 prefabricated steel frames, each measuring 6 meters long, 3 meters wide, and 3 meters high, into which modular units are inserted. The skeleton includes transportation cores, structural elements, and equipment pipelines. The filling consists of numerous variable unit combinations.
△ Skeleton and infill units
Garden Integration (Climate Adaptation)
To respond to Shenzhen’s subtropical climate and promote natural ventilation and ecological balance, each floor incorporates an aerial garden platform. These platforms, arranged in a specific pattern from bottom to top, create a rich external spatial form and reflect the diverse lifestyles of residents.
△ Human-scale perspective © live in the jungle
△ Human-scale perspective © live in the jungle
△ Partial exterior perspective © live in the jungle
Summary
The Block Apartment employs standardized, modular methods to construct diverse and flexible units, aiming to explore future design and construction systems based on digital modular techniques. The key objectives are efficiency, comfort, sharing, and adaptability.
△ Partial exterior perspective © live in the jungle
△ Staircase platform © live in the jungle
△ Staircase platform © live in the jungle
△ Staircase platform © live in the jungle
△ Staircase details © live in the jungle
△ Rotating staircase atrium © live in the jungle
△ Night view © Wang Yanbin
△ Night view © Wang Yanbin
△ Construction site photos
△ Construction site photos
△ Process model construction
△ Process model construction
△ Process model construction
△ Plan view
△ Elevation drawing
Project Information
Project Type: Exhibition Installation
Location: Shenzhen, China
Architect: He Chuan Architecture Studio, Shenzhen University
Area: 310 m²
Year: 2019
Photographers: Lai Hao, Yanbin Wang
Lead Architect: He Chuan
Design Team: Ma Wenlongyin, Chen Jing, Jiang Rui, Wen Hui
Client: Longgang District People’s Government, Shenzhen
Structural Design: China Construction Technology Co., Ltd
Landscape Design: China Construction Technology Co., Ltd
Construction Contractor: China Construction Technology Co., Ltd
Curator: Future+Academy
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