“공공 공간은 스스로를 지속할 수 있어야 한다.” — genarchitects
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Aranya Youyi Bay Community Regeneration / genarchitects — Agenda Priority Arrangement
넓은 광장에는 이미 삶이 있었다. 아침에는 달리는 사람이 지나갔고, 저녁에는 아케이드 아래서 음료를 마시며 이야기를 나눴다. 시장과 공연도 열렸다. 친황다오 아라냐 유이만의 재생은 비어 있는 장소를 채우는 사업이 아니라, 사용하면서 드러난 새로운 필요에 응답하는 증축이었다.
광장보다 길어진 가장자리
중국 음식점과 추가 점포가 필요해지자, 설계팀은 기존 디지우랑을 식당으로 바꾸고 단층 유닛 세 동으로 나무가 있는 중정을 둘렀다. 다른 두 유닛은 호텔과 아파트를 따라 대체로 나란히 놓여 양쪽에 점포가 면한 거리를 만든다. 강당 쪽에서 오는 사람은 살짝 틀어진 건물의 모서리를 따라 중정으로 들어선다. 가로질러 지나가던 광장은 건물과 나무 사이를 돌아 걷는 길이 되었다.
열린 면적은 줄었지만, 길에 닿는 면은 길어졌다. 사진에서는 낮은 녹색 처마가 이어지는 동안 호텔과 주거동이 보였다 가려지고, 사람들이 점포 앞과 수목 곁에 흩어져 있다. 걷는 속도와 멈추는 자리가 한 가지로 정해지지 않는 이유다. 이 변화는 광장의 공공성을 크기보다 경계와 활동의 관계에서 찾은 선택으로 읽힌다.
머물 자리를 만드는 지붕
처마는 넓게 뻗어 있다. 나무의 수관과 함께 그늘을 만들고, 주변 객실과 주거에서 내려다보는 시선도 거른다. 처마 밑에는 각 점포의 작은 앞마당이 남는다. 의자를 내놓을 수도, 상품을 전시하거나 임시 행사를 열 수도 있는 자리다. 실내와 길 사이의 선은 영업 방식에 따라 움직인다.
겉보기에 가볍고 자유로운 배치에는 단단한 조건이 깔려 있다. 새 기둥은 지하주차장 기둥 그리드에 맞아야 했고, 설계 승인부터 개장까지 주어진 시간은 여섯 달이었다. 설계팀은 지붕의 바깥쪽에 철골 기둥 네 개를 놓고 외벽을 구조에서 비교적 자유롭게 떼어냈다. 임차인이 바뀌어도 점포의 크기와 위치를 조정할 여지를 둔 셈이다. 천장에는 조명만 남기고 다른 설비를 벽 속에 담아, 바깥 처마와 실내 천장도 한 표면처럼 이어 놓았다.
운영이 완성하는 공공성
주민의 발코니에서 내려다보이는 지붕에는 처마 패널의 줄눈을 이어 격자를 만들고, 틈을 배수 홈으로 썼다. 녹색 외피와 탈착 가능한 유리섬유 그릴은 기존 아파트의 색조를 받는다. 가까이서는 가는 기둥과 넓은 지붕이 대비되고, 멀리서는 작은 건물들이 나무 그늘 사이의 쉼터처럼 놓여 있다.
설계팀은 식당과 상점이 방문의 이유를 만들고, 처마와 나무 아래에서는 구매와 관계없는 활동도 일어나길 바란다. 이 주장은 공간의 배열에서 설득력을 얻는다. 다만 사진만으로 비구매자의 체류 자유나 영업시간 밖의 접근을 확인할 수는 없다. 유이만의 공공성은 건물을 준공한 순간 끝나는 성질이 아니다. 이 작은 길과 마당을 앞으로 어떻게 열고 관리하느냐에 따라 계속 시험받는다.
Write by Claude & Jean Browwn
Core Thesis — Public space must sustain itself through commerce (Growing Through Use)
Through our work on Youyi Bay, we have developed a new understanding of the relationship between commercial and public space: public space needs to sustain itself. A good commercial operation can help maintain and manage the small-scale environment of a place, encouraging people to gather, and that gathering in turn sustains the commercial activity.
First, people need a reason to take a stroll; only then might they sit down, play with their children, encounter others, or join an event. Restaurants and shops give people reasons to come, while the spaces beneath eaves, under trees, and between shops allow activities beyond consumption to take place. Some people come specifically to eat, some are simply passing through, some sit and wait for friends, and others stand outside the shop windows. People with different purposes share the same streets and courtyards, while the everyday operation of the commercial spaces supports public life.
The renovation and extension of Youyi Bay, like its approach to operation, have evolved alongside the unfolding of everyday life.
Spatial Strategy — From plazas to courtyards and streets
The new commercial spaces were not intended to fill the plazas to capacity, but to break up what had been relatively uniform spaces into a variety of scales, accommodating a richer range of activities.
The original plaza was divided into courtyards and streets by a group of low-rise buildings. Two building units, roughly parallel to the existing apartments and hotel, form a double-sided street. The former Dijiulang was converted into a Chinese restaurant, which, together with three new single-storey units, encloses a courtyard. The unit near the auditorium is slightly rotated to guide people arriving from that direction into the courtyard.
People no longer cross the plaza along a straight line, but move between buildings, trees, and shops. The apartments, hotel, and auditorium no longer appear as complete façades at all times, but come into view and disappear again as people walk. The open space has become smaller, but its public-space interfaces have grown longer.
Constraints — The conditions behind the seemingly free layout
Behind the seemingly free arrangement of the buildings is a set of very specific constraints. The new structural columns had to align with the existing column grid of the underground car park. Only six months were available from design approval to construction completion and official opening. The process of confirming the commercial tenants took time, leaving a short period for interior design and construction. The new buildings are also located within the main field of view of the surrounding residents. Although only one storey high, they still needed to address the issue of overlooking between the buildings and the people living around them.
Structure & Construction — Simple shelters
We first decided to use steel structural units that could be quickly fabricated and assembled, shortening the construction period. The same structural and construction system was adjusted slightly at different locations according to the site and programmatic requirements. Because of the need to align with the underground car park, the structural design began with the aim of supporting a complete roof with as few columns as possible. Each unit therefore has only four steel columns, pushed to the outer edges of the roof. The columns are made of precision-finished steel and rotated 45 degrees, with their edges facing outward. Their slender dimensions and crisp edges bring a degree of refinement to these simple shelters.
The exterior walls are relatively independent of the load-bearing structure, allowing the rooms below to be freely adjusted in size and position according to the needs of restaurants, retail spaces, and future tenants. Only lighting is retained on the ceilings, while air conditioning and other equipment are concealed within the walls. This allows the interior and exterior ceilings to continue as a single surface, establishing a consistent atmosphere across the site. It also greatly reduces the concealed services work that is often the most complex and time-consuming part of interior fit-out, helping to accommodate the uncertainty of future commercial tenants.
Threshold & Privacy — Spaces beneath the eaves
The guest rooms and residences around the plaza all overlook the site from above. To reduce direct visual contact between the residences and the commercial spaces, the eaves were made considerably wider and work together with the trees to provide screening. The tree canopies and broad eaves shade the space from the sun while filtering views from above, making people feel more at ease. Each shop therefore has its own small area in front of the entrance, where tables and chairs, product displays, or temporary events can be arranged. These spaces form an adjustable boundary between the interior and the plaza.
Roofscape & Materiality — The fifth façade and the green palette
The buildings are also visible from the balconies of the surrounding residences, making the overall coherence of the roofs particularly important. We extended the joints in the eaves panels onto the roof, forming a regular grid whose gaps serve as roof drainage channels. The ceilings are made of finely spaced, removable green fiberglass grilles, ensuring flexibility during use. The buildings continue the green palette of Youyi Apartments, while the textures of the different materials change subtly under different weather and lighting conditions. We wanted these buildings to be like the shelters of a weekend market—simple, direct, and open, scattered among the shade of the trees to support the emergence of all kinds of activities.
Background — Original community and post-occupancy needs
Youyi Bay is a micro community in Aranya, Qinhuangdao, comprising a hotel, apartments, and commercial spaces. The original design organized its public spaces around a group of plazas: the hotel and apartments enclosed their own courtyards, while the buildings created plazas of different sizes and atmospheres. Moving through them, people experienced a gradual shift from lively to quiet, and from public to private.
During the two years following completion, we made several return visits and saw people running through the plazas in the early morning, sitting beneath the arcades for drinks and conversation in the evening, and taking part in markets, exhibitions, reading sessions, and performances. After a period of use, Youyi Bay identified new needs: a place for a proper Chinese meal, with private dining rooms, as well as additional shops that could enclose a courtyard with trees and outdoor seating together with the Chinese restaurant.
from archdaily