Date: 18 April 09
Author: Caroline Ednie, Web Editor
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A project by a University of Edinburgh, Department of Architecture graduate has been announced as one of the winners of the prestigious Hunter Douglas Awards at Archiprix International 2009.
The biennial competition, organised by Archiprix International and the Facultad de Arquitectura, Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay, showcases the world’s best graduation projects - and this year featured 218 submissions from 66 countries.
The international jury, which featured: Salvador Schelotto (Dean farq, UdelaR, Uruguay), Mario Schjetnan (Mexico), Anne Lacaton (France), Juan Herreros (Spain), Sou Fujimoto (Japan), reviewed all submitted projects and selected 24 nominations. 8 winners were then announced on Friday 3 April 2009 in the Solis theatre in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Matthew Murphy's award winnning project is 'Metropolitan Markets', which was produced as part of the 'Borderlands in Shangai' course, under the auspices of Dorian Wiszniewski at the University of Edinburgh. The thesis synopsis for Metropolitan Markets can be viewed in full below:
Metropolitan Markets
A cycling businessman is startled by a mother hen and her chicks as they file across the path. His bike veers into shards of glass and rubble that litter the cycle route. As he phones his office he is approached by a ragged entrepreneur. Barefoot, with tattered clothing, he carries a basin for water, rubber patches and a small tube of adhesive. A curbside transaction occurs and the businessman continues on his way. This reflects the global economy of a booming Megacity meeting the Artisanal Entrepreneur of Shanghai.
Metropolitan Markets insists that Shanghai is at its most fascinating when these economies meet, and suggests that the most sustainable development occurs when these conditions support each other. The MetroMarket Network is designed to provide for this uniquely Shanghainese mode of modernisation.
Ticket barriers punctuate the Shanghai Metro Network. Every journey begins and ends with a barrier exchange, however, on every line in the city there are two redundant barriers, one travelling in each direction. If all but one station in each direction is ticketed, then it is impossible to complete a journey without encountering a barrier and hence completing the necessary transaction. The removal of two barriers on each line (in opposite directions) allows the selected stations to take on a new character: metro platform becomes park, promenade, piazza.
The Shanghai MetroMarket Network uses the ticketless platform principal to propose a new type of Market place for Shanghai. The tradition of specialised Market Trading - the last vestige of the ragged entrepreneur - is incorporated into the infrastructure of the MegaCity.
The system is designed to create a more integrated relationship between Metro, City and Country. This enables a continued economic relationship between city and province, furthering the development of local agriculture and trades across the whole of China, and ensures that Shanghai’s position as a gateway to Western Economies does not lead to a separation from rural Chinese Economies and Produce.
Two stations designs are made to test this proposal through an adoption and alteration of ongoing developments. The underground-overground relationship is a product of the marketplace bleeding into surrounding structures and communities.
The following image features the masterplan of the Urban Design Proposal for the City of Shanghai. This marks all of the stations across the city and the trade that occurs at each station. There are also two images of the markets that were designed in detail to test this proposal: the Flower Market and the Live Bird Market (or Earthen Flower Box and Shanghai Bird Tower). The Masterplan was developed in association with Bethan Axford, a fellow student from the University of Edinburgh.
(Click on all images to enlarge)
Below - overview of the whole project
The Shanghai Bird Tower is a proposal for The Hong Kong New World Tower and Huang Pi Nan Road Metro Station. The tower and station are currently under construction with direct access proposed between the tower lobby and the metro station. The proposal adopts this project after the primary structure has been erected (core, columns and floor slabs).
The Shanghai Bird Tower is driven by a Bird Market at ground level and a Bird Zoo at the apex of the building. An 'Avian Logic' infiltrates the rest of building as new programmes nest throughout the office tower.
The live Bird Market sits in the foundations of an existing skyscraper and acts as a station for the metro line (like Canary Wharf). The Bird Market nestles in amongst the foundations of the tower and stretches into local Lilong (traditional Shanghainese housing). There is an interplay between a caging of the birds and the caging of the workforce in the super efficient office building. This results in public space and facilities that are appended to the skyscraper, culminating in the aviary at the apex of the building. The string tower model demonstrates the ambition to have the tower supported from above by birds. It was critical in forming an architectural language that is appropriate for such a programme.
Below - images of the Shanghai Bird Tower
The following images are vignettes featuring: the birdmarket; veterinary clinic specialising in the treatment and research of avian diseases; communal staffrooms; P.R. suites and Conference Facilities (Atrium for the Caged worker); and the Shanghai Bird Zoo and Visitor's Centre at the Apex of the building.
The Earthen Flowerbox is a proposal for The Zhen Ping Road Metro Station. The building proposal intervenes in the ongoing metro station expansion and positions itself in the middle of the nearby high-rise developments and their war of attrition with the neighbouring slum.
The Earthen Flowerbox reuses the excavated soil as a by-product of the civil engineering project. An allotment ziggurat facilitates floral production for the MetroMarket whilst operating as counterweight to the cantilevered roof, providing partial cover while at the same time ensuring that the subterranean marketplace can breath.
These two schemes are important in communicating the range of responses that are possible from this Urban Proposal. Each station is a specific response to the trade proposed and how it relates to the surrounding city.
The following images are of the Flower Market. The main thrust of this building is the relationship between soil and trade, which features the creation of a metro station and involves the excavation of lots of soil. Growing flowers requires the use of lots of soil, therefore the excavated soil is reused to create a cantilevered allotment roof, supporting the MertroMarket structurally and infrastructurally. This was the first station to be tested and was also designed in conjunction with Bethan Axford.
All images: courtesy of Matthew Murphy.
The eight winners in full for the Hunter Douglas Awards at Archiprix International 2009 were:
09_deeply rooted tree designed by Pasqual Herrero Vicent - Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain; Deviational space designed by Espen Folgerø - Bergen School of Architecture, Norway; Maja Turg: a market for Tallinn designed by Max Rink - Delft University of Technology, faculty of architecture, The Netherlands; MArchitecture designed by Ryo Kitazawa - Tokai University, department of Architecture and Building Engineering Kanagawa, Japan; Markerpark designed by Sander Lap - Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and Urban Design, The Netherlands; Metropolitan Markets designed by Matthew Murphy - University of Edinburgh, department of Architecture, Scotland (UK); Regional Museum of Mine site: North Chili designed by Tomás Garcia de la Huerta -Universidad del Desarolla Aquitectura Santiago, Chili; Tokyo Littoral Art Center designed by Kazuaki Hattori - University of Tokyo, department of Architecture, faculty of Engineering, Japan.
To view details of the winners of Archiprix 2009 click on the following link: http://www.archiprix.org/workshop_2009/ (Matthew Murphy is second from the right in the winners picture)
