The site was covered with densely planted metasequoia forest, leaving only a 4-meter-wide old pier on the shore. In order to minimize the impact on the original environment, we divided usable spaces into four parts: the pier is located on the south side of the cove, the activity room is placed on the west side of the river, and the changing room is built on the old pier site. The boathouse is then the only part of the project that needs to occupy the existing forest. To avoid large-scale felling or transplanting, we split the boathouse into three thin strips scattering in the forest, roughly corresponding to the direction of the new pier.
4. Page:3
Case Study
Zoning Analysis
Public Zone
Lobby
Lounge
Restaurant + Snacks Corner + Coffee Corner
Gym (Male + Female)
Deck Area + Jetty
Toilet
Simi Public Zone
Spa
Yoga
Changing Room + Locker (Male + Female)
Toilet
Private Zone
Office Room (Manager + Asst Manager)
Staff Room
Toilet
AFNAN HOSSAIN ID 2017000600013
5. Site Plan Case Study
Page:4
The site was covered with densely planted metasequoia forest, leaving only a 4-meter-wide old
pier on the shore. In order to minimize the impact on the original environment, we divided
usable spaces into four parts: the pier is located on the south side of the cove, the activity room
is placed on the west side of the river, and the changing room is built on the old pier site. The
boathouse is then the only part of the project that needs to occupy the existing forest. To avoid
large-scale felling or transplanting, we split the boathouse into three thin strips scattering in the
forest, roughly corresponding to the direction of the new pier.
AFNAN HOSSAIN ID 2017000600013
6. Programming
Page:5
Case Study
Programming
1. Office room
2. Storage
3. Staff rest room
4. Toilet
5. Changing Locker Room
6. Mechanical Room
7. Out Door Game
8. Deck
9. Coffee Corner
10.Lounge
11.Gym
12.Yoga
13.Outdoor Gym Spa
14.Lobby
15.Pavement
16.Green
17.Water
18.Boat
AFNAN HOSSAIN ID 2017000600013
7. Design Zoning Case Study
Page:6
Public
Lounge
Coffee Corner
Gym Spa
Deck
Office room
Storage
Semi Public
Toilet
Changing Locker Room
Mechanical Room
Private
AFNAN HOSSAIN ID 2017000600013
9. Design Appreciation
Page:8
Case Study
In order to promote and support China's rowing sport
for a long term, Vanke Education Group, in collaboration
with Shanghai Pudong New District, planned to build a
small rowing club in Century Park to organize rowing
training and activities for more youth and teenagers.
Having 200 trainees each year with 20 to 30 every
month, the club needs to store approximately 15-20
rowing boats and provide training & activity rooms,
lockers & showers, toilets and seating areas for
adolescents. The club will conduct daily training and
technical instruction and also open to parents and
rowing enthusiasts.
Century Park is the largest wetland park open to the
public in downtown Shanghai. The Zhangjiabang River,
which can be partially used for rowing training, is an
urban river that crosses the park in a rough width of
35m. Rowing athletes face the opposite direction of
advancing when paddling. Due to the considerations of
safety and speed change, we set up the club at the bend
point of the river with a cove to facilitate two-way
departures and arrivals.
AFNAN HOSSAIN ID 2017000600013
10. Design Appreciation Case Study
Page:9
The rowing boats have 4 kinds in size for singles, doubles,
fours and eights. The length is about 8-18m and the width
is only 30-60cm. The width of the “small home” we
designed for the boats is limited to accommodate only one
boat yet with four floors, and the length is a combination
of the boat length modules. In order to reduce the impact
of on-site construction in the park, the structural
foundations of the boathouses consist of prefabricated
point-like concrete blocks. The column composed by two
bolted angle steel, is forked in the upper part like a tree to
form a “Y” to support double pitched canopy. On the
lower part four “branches” cantilevered from the column
serve the rowing boat storage. The slender boathouses are
completely open with only necessary roof shelter, making
the boat carrying a weight-bearing walk in the forest.
To reduce transplanting, we measured and recorded the
position of each Metasequoia in the site so that the three
boathouses could be inserted into the forest from suitable
angles. However, it is still difficult to position them on site.
Fortunately, the sunlight casting shadows in the forest
gave us generous help. Along the shadows were we then
able to adjust the angles and find more spaces.
Spatial_layers_produced_by_the_forest_and_the_boathouses
view_from_boat_house_to_pier
The_slender_boathouses_inserted_in
the_forest_are_open_to_natural_environment
AFNAN HOSSAIN ID 2017000600013
13. East Site and West Site
Page:12
Case Study
The east side of the activity room is adjacent to the changing
room. An eight-meter-long cabinet divides these two spaces,
the front is for storage, the rear is a writing board, and the
two ends contain the air-conditioners. The other three sides
of the activity room are facing the riverfront; on west side
three sets of foldable sliding windows provide complete
openness to the outside
East Site
Below the sliding windows is a long and wide wooden sill
that can be seated, making this boundary space a place for
rest, communication, and viewing. It also established a visual
connection between indoor ergometer training and rowing
training in the river. We not only allow the pavilion to open
itself to the surroundings, but also give it a special identity
through its position in the water and a slightly lower floor
elevation in comparison with the riverbank. To enter the
pavilion requires three steps down from the entrance, it is
yet until placing yourself inside this calm space that you start
to perceive the merge with the nature outside.
West Site
AFNAN HOSSAIN ID 2017000600013
14. South Site and North Site
Page:13
Case Study
The pier is located at the boundary between the river and
the cove on the south side of the base. The pier floats in the
water and is fixed with pipe piles by embracing pulleys. It is
covered with plastic wood panels and supported by bundles
of buoys. Serving both sides, the pier connects to the shore
through a 5.5-meter-wide ramp to the boathouse area, and
to the passage between the activity room and the changing
room through a small ladder. Both the ramp and the ladder
are connected by hinges to comply with the fluctuation of
the water level.
Pier, boathouses, changing room, and activity room are four
independent venues that the club requires. We designed a
set of convenient and logical circulation that can link them in
an organic way. Entering from the park road, following a path
into the forest, you will encounter a fork near the entrance to
the club.
North Site
South Site
AFNAN HOSSAIN ID 2017000600013
15. Lighting (Natural & Artificial) Case Study
Page:14
The activity room in the
river is a waterfront
pavilion like “a boat not
tied”. The bottom is
barge-like rectangular
steel grating on pipe
piles driven into the
riverbed. The cover is a
20-meter-long double-
pitched roof, supported
only by twin steel H-
pillars at both ends -
this gives freedom and
access to the space:
between the H-pillars is
the door towards
exterior platforms,
between the twin
beams on the pillars
becomes the passage
for the skylight.
AFNAN HOSSAIN ID 2017000600013