ABSTRACT
In collaboration with Suzhou University of Science and Technology, the joint studio focused on an industrial site in the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) and studied its potential redevelopment as a new business district. The SIP represents a current state of transformation; it will be home to a regional high-speed rail station and linked by multiple stories of underground transportation, mixed uses, and high-density development above grade. Melding as a concept allows concealed urban elements to be explored in ways that enable the complex systems to be layered into new formations. Exposed verticality facilitates a union of the human/micro and urban/macro scales. China presents a distinctive urban context from the Western countries for practicing urban design. In order to address China's unique urbanization through the SIP's specific context and as a way to bridge between concept and design, this project started by comparing the Western Garden City model and the ancient Chinese system of "Nine-square Grid".
