MSA Stage 4 School of Architecture
Yiran Wang
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My personal design focus is directly related to people, the inhabitants, and users of the space; how they interact with the space, how they experience it, and the ways they can create memories. I believe that good design is enrooted in culture, blends into its surroundings, yet stands out as a unique space that can inspire. As I continue learning and developing my design skills, I am interested in ways to challenge myself to design that goes beyond the building, but rather reacts to urban matters, social issues and stimulates its environment.
Urban Building – ‘More Than Plastic’: Material Recycling Centre
‘How to promote community circular economy ？’
On our earth, 120,000 tons of plastic waste flow into the ocean every year, causing expanding drifting garbage islands and threatening the earth’s ecosystem. Responding to this serious environmental problem with architecture, is a new kind of environmentalism.
This architectural experiment is located in Thornwood, Glasgow, Scotland. This is a neighborhood 50 minutes’ walk from the city centre, occupied by ordinary social housing and council housing, as well as related community facilities.
Taking the plastic waste generated in the daily life of family units as raw materials, residents are encouraged to participate in the plastic recycling experience, and aims to create a workshop for all people to participate in material regeneration.
In this building, a series of workshops to display and let residents participate in the whole process of transforming waste plastics into works of art. The knowledge exchange centre (reading area) and series of lectures aim to bring new inspiration to people’s understanding of plastics and promote society’s attention and action on waste plastic recycling. The display area of plastic handicrafts that can be seen everywhere in the building is the most intuitive display of plastic recycling results. In addition, the provision of rental studios attracts artists and art lovers from a wide range of backgrounds, so that the building’s inspiration is not limited to the cycle of plastics. This innovative waste plastic reuse model seeks the possibility of second use for plastic waste and shows the potential of community circular economy.
Our future vision is: In Thornwood, plastic is something more than plastic.
Urban Housing: How to build sense of community?
‘Home is our roots, but we are not rooted.’
The main themes of this residential project are: collective sustainability, and community belonging. In newly built housing, families or two or more people living together are the design target groups. So the residential units designed are two-bedroom apartments. This has helped balance the housing stock in Thornwood, making the area attractive to a wider range of residents. The project is committed to transforming this area into a new activation point for public activities in the city. Different from traditional housing units, the project uses the entire G Floor as a shared common space. And the renovation of existing housing also tends to link private and public spaces.
Home, is not only housing, it is called community.
