Studio 21

Double Happiness

Toby Reed | Cities + Process Focus

This studio is available to students enrolled in ABPL90142 Studio C, ABPL90143 Studio D, and ABPL90115 Studio E.

Studio Description

Students will design a thermal spa resort hotel complex next to a river in the mountain spa-city of Gongchangling. The broader site which is now empty will ultimately be a mixed-use site and include apartment buildings, housing districts, shopping centre and entertainment precinct. Students will design the thermal hot spring/spa resort hotel buildings in detail, using a number of design strategies and developing their own methodology which each student considers right for the social and political context of the project. The project requires a design that is propositional about the morphology of the modern city, recent urbanism in China and concepts surrounding architectural form and space.

Studio Outcome

Students will deal with the following issues and tasks in relation to a contemporary Chinese building: The design of a modern spa hotel resort in a landscape setting. The planning of city blocks, public spaces, shops, apartment buildings and offices. The morphology of the contemporary city. The organisation and design of social activity. The aesthetics and critique of the contemporary city and social activity. The role of the image in the public building in the 21st century city. The design of a public building and public spaces. Students will study the evolution of art and architecture techniques and its relation to architecture.

Studio Leaders

Toby Reed is a director of Nervegna Reed Architecture. Toby Reed’s projects include the Arrow Studio and the PEP Dandenong (Precinct Energy Project) as well as urban design and master-planning in China. The PEP Dandenong lead the way in Australian architecture for green district energy, being the first precinct in Australia to be powered by co-generation. NR also makes architectural videos many of which have been recently featured at the MPavilion.

Readings & References

• PRD (Pearl River Delta) Mutations - Koolhaas
• The Society of the Spectacle - Debord
• Made In Tokyo - Kaijima, Kuroda, Tsukamoto
• Made In Shanghai - Li, Li, Jiang, Tsukamoto
• Hal Foster - The Art Architecture Complex
• Verb List – Richard Serra
• Vertical Village – MVRDV

Schedule Mondays 15:15-18:15 in MSD Room 138; Thursdays 15:15-18:15 in MSD Room 142

Contact Handbook Key Dates