EAST XIAOHONGSHAN COMMUNITY
Built as a colleagues' community in the 1990s, it was once national property and has later been through the national privatizing housing reform.
It consists of four 5-storey slab-block apartments and was constructed with a brick-concrete structure.
Nowadays, a lot of new constructions have been erected around this community, and the demographics have changed dramatically since the housing reform.
Background Information
Housing reform is a transitional policy for China's urban housing to transform from the previous unit allocation to a market economy. Most of these houses are welfare housing allocated by the former state-owned enterprises to employees. East Xiaohongshan community was one of those welfare housing.
Three phases of China's housing reform after 1978:
1) 1980-1988, rent increase;
2) 1989-1998, the selling of public housing (at a discounted rate), the design of housing subsidies, including the housing provident fund;
3) 1998-now the complete demolition of the welfare housing system and the formation of a free-wheeling. market-driven housing sector.
SITE CONDITIONS
The community is located near several newly constructed office buildings and cross the street is Wuhan University, therefore, the current residents include employees and students, as well as some elderly people and children.
Environmental Analysis
Wuhan and Sydney locate in similar latitudes besides the difference between the Northern and Southern hemispheres, the NSW Apartment Design Guide can be adapted to the Northern hemisphere version and the orientation of the site is within the 'good' to 'very good' range.
Site Communal Spaces
The building blocks sit very close, and.as new office buildings rise next to it, the original basketball court, which was the only space for communal gathering – was taken for car parking. The high density, fast-changing demographics, and lack of proper communal spaces and services are causing a quiet, dull community life with little or no interactions between people.
ISSUES IN CASE STUDY
1. Close building distance and high density
2. Lacks proper communal space
Design Criteria 1 - Building Separation
D1 = 12m D2 = 1.4m
Building Height = 16m
● NSW Apartment Design Guide
For 5-8 Storey Apartment:
Between habitable rooms: minimum 18m
Between habitable room and non-habitable room: minimum 12m
Between non-habitable rooms: minimum 9m
Not compliant
● Wuhan Technical provisions for planning and management of Construction Projects
For buildings heights under 20m:
D1 ≥ Building height * 1.2
D2 ≥ 10m
Building Height * 1.2 = 19.2m < 12m
Not compliant
Design Criteria 2 - Green Infrastructure
Site Area ≈ 6843 sqm
Canopy Area ≈ 1818 sqm
Green Space Ratio ≈ 26.6% > 20%
Compliant with NSW Standards
NSW
Apartment Design Guide
(Minimum Tree Canopy Target for 1500㎡+)
Site Area ≈ 6843 sqm
Greenery Space ≈ 920 sqm
Green Space Ratio ≈ 13.4% < 25%
Not compliant with Wuhan Standards
Wuhan
Urban Greenery Regulations
(Minimum Green Space Ratio)
Design Criteria 3 - Communal Spaces
NSW
Apartment Design Guide
(Minimum percentage of communal
Open space)
Wuhan
(Not specified. Usually
defined by green space ratio)
-
Question: Can all the highlighted areas be considered as communal spaces? The NSW Apartment Design Guide did not specify whether or not facilities are compulsory for communal spaces, which makes it vague to define. Almost none of these spaces have any facilities, but all of them has the potential for communal activities
-
If so, the area is 2731 sqm, and the percentage is 39.9% > 25%. Compliant with NSW standards. If not, the percentage is 0. However, these spaces are functioning poorly.