gross floor area: 48.000 m2
location: Shenzen
function: luxury residences in nature reserve
performance: net zero energy residences
On the intercession of the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, RAU is advising a multi-billion Chinese developer on a project that would place 120 homes within a crucial water extraction area inhabited by protected species in an ecologically responsible and energy-neutral manner.
Shenzhen is just north of Hong Kong. After Shanghai, it is the busiest port in China and has grown over the last 30 years from a sleepy fishing village to a high-tech financial centre in tropical southern China. To the north of the city is a river basin landscape. Evacuated since 1998, it has a rich biodiversity and is crucial as a supply of drinking water for the local population.
China Vanke Co., Ltd., a listed company for 18 years, is the largest housing developer in China. As of 2007, this company managed 31 million m² of land (11 million of which was already residential area) and had another 42 million in the pipeline. Vanke has an agreement with the local government to build 120 homes over this extremely vulnerable valley.
The solution was pole houses: pre-fab houses on a concrete platform (the basic construction site) floating on a single pole above the landscape. Tilted to provide their own shade, they are also cooled naturally by an updraft provided by a patio. Their ‘green’ roofs are covered with vegetation and solar panels. Accessed by a single road under which water and fauna can move with no obstructions, this plan minimises the loss of crucial vegetation both during construction and in use.....more
