Projects for the renovation and reuse of Panjiayuan market, Beijing

This thesis is the final result of the Joint Studio Polito-Tsinghua 2014 edition, an academic partnership between two schools of Architecture: the Tsinghua University of Beijing and the Politecnico di Torino. The work theme of this year has been the transformation of the Panjiayuan Antique Market, one of the largest and most famous antique and handicraft market in China.

As a final result, the “Linked Market” project develops from the main idea of connection between the design area and the surrounding city of Beijing, to complete the already established urbanity.

Its driving force is to be found in the main ground connection, that shapes the area where the market takes place. In fact, from its intersection the site is divided into ten macro-blocks and three squares, that are placed along the main path. This principal route directs the flows inside the market: it allows the stream of people, coming both from the ground and the underground level, where the metro gate is placed, to walk through the market. It also hosts one of the mark out of the whole design: the flea market, a trilling trading place, where the direct relationship between sellers and customers is still lively.

The variety of goods together with the mixture of peoples’ cultures and traditions, that settle this place, recall the colorful Arabic Souks. As a common point, the last one is an open-air marketplace, where merchants display their goods for sale. Moreover the Souk is divided into specialized sections dealing in specific types of products that are exposed under light structures. This last aspect inspired the design of the canopy that strongly characterizes this space: realized in textile architecture it leaves the soil almost free from any columns giving the possibility of free movement along the main path.

A secondary circulation route is created by the inner streets that branch off inside each micro-block. This ensures a good permeability inside the blocks and gives life to the inner courts in their cores, where greeneries and social activities are hosted. The theme of connection still happens also inside each building of the micro-blocks, linked one to another through bridges that are placed at several levels along the inner courts. The final result is a clearly recognizable intervention inside the city of Beijing, obtained thanks to the irregular shapes of those buildings. They seem to evoke Burri’s work “II Grande Cretto”, in the sense that the mass is cut away leaving a good balance from built and free spaces.

The organization of the total area of intervention follows the actual state of the Panjiayuan Market, where selling goods are banded together according to their typologies. For this reason, in the intervention each macro-block inside the market is made up of two

blocks with a detailed selling theme. In particular, these units are gathered together in couples according to the following subjects: Literary, Treasure, Exposition Center, Ethnic Gadget, Offices and Antique Utilities.

To emphasize their theme of connection, these blocks vary among them for the different height and number of floors, according to the sizes of the goods that are sold in their shops.

The composition of the facades follows different treatments too: the external facades, facing the main connection path, embody the “mass” idea, and are almost closed from the outside. However, they leave space for sporadic openings and random triage compositions in order to contrast the solidity of the entire bricks facades. On the contrary, the facades facing the inner courts are made by a see-trough glass material, which is sustained by steel elements. This is chosen in order to enlarge the social atmosphere inside each block. The treatment of the facades, that characterizes each of the already mentioned themes is found in the inner-paths: for each one of the selling theme, different paneling technique is chosen. These refer to the goods that are sold inside their shops and to some traditional Chinese images.

A different treatment is designed for the Exposition Center: made by polycarbonate facades it expresses its different function. Here, in fact, it is possible to see the great variety of Chinese tradition goods.