Linked HybridSteven Holl architects

Chow Chi Ho (Jeffrey)

Introduction
Since the design of Linked Hybrid which dated back to 2003, Steven Holl Architects
have had unique visionary and concepts towards collective housing in China. Instead
of constructing 8 individual residential towers that discourage social interaction and
promote isolation, the architects have strong and frm ideas of turning the large scale
housing project into part of Beijings urban design.
1
There are a number of successful
and important architectural knowledge and innovation that contributed to the industry
and society. The main purpose of the article is to explore these signifcances.
Location: Beijing, China Completion: 2009
Background and Site
Linked Hybrid is situated adjacent to the site of old city wall in Beijing, at the corner
between the North 2
nd
Ring Road and the East 2
nd
Ring Road (Beijing has 6 in total).
The project is located almost at Beijing town centre, with only 15 minutes walk to the
nearest subway station. During the 1950s and 60s, the district was used for industrial
zone.
2
So developer Modern Green does not have to demolish any existing houses
but merely a factory on the site for this housing development.
3
Steven Holl has made
a comment specifcally that he would not have taken the project at all if there were
any old and existing houses that would get knocked down due to new development.
As this is against both cultural heritage and humanity to forcibly taking local citizens
properties for new development (which is common in China).
4
Due to Holls idea and intention of respecting local culture and thinking
5
, the architect
collaborated closely with his Chinese partner Li Hu since the early conceptual stage.
This resulted in a project that is rich in the sense of context awareness. This will be
discussed further down the article. During the design phase, the architects aim at
conquering against Beijings current development trend, which is mostly about object-
based free standing towers and un-sustainability (Fig. B,C). Linked Hybrid has been
focusing on urban scaled green design right from the beginning: aiming at creating a
porous open space for citizens with sustainable facilities.
6

Fig. B Location Map of Linked Hybrid
Fig. A Perspective view of Linked Hybrid
Fig. C,D Typical Housing in Beijing
Fig. E Diagram showing Ground Loop and Sky Loop
Fig. E Sky Loop program details
Programme:
Project architects Steven Holl and Li Hu has constantly stressed on NOT designing a
walled residential collectives.
7
Instead, they advocated openness: Open city within
a city is the theme named by the architects.
8
The aim of the design is about the
opened and welcomed urban nature but not merely individually confned housing
towers. This concept evokes a confict between the developers and the architects. On
one hand the developers like the urban concept which will help promoting the use of
space and attracting attention, but on the other side they also emphasized that the
site must be fenced off with gates opening for security reason. With the dilemma the
architects have proposed a hybrid of social and commercial programs added on top of
the primary residential use.
9
In that way there will no longer be ways to fence off the
site due to visitors, albeit the gates are still to be erected around the premise.
The programs are organised in 2 loops at different height. The ground loop serves as
the major entrance for residence and visitors. It consists of a hotel, a school, a restaurant,
a theatre library and also a kindergarten. Most are scattered around the bottom level
of each tower and artifcial landscape, leaving an open space in the middle of the site.
The open area is then used for green space and pool for hangout and gathering.
The second loop is raised up high between the 12
th
and 18
th
foor, thus the name
sky loop.
10
This is the area where the linkage between the towers is enforced via a
total of 8 skybridges, each activated with a specifc program. They serve the purpose
of creating physical interaction as well as providing a platform for social interaction.
Please refer to Fig. F for program details.
The 2 loops formed a city at the site. The richness of programs does not only help
drawing visitors but also forms a self-contained and sustained community for the
residents of the apartments. The architectural idea of urban and city thus successfully
turns into bringing benefts and convenience to the users and inhabitants on the site.
Conclusion
Steven Holl and his partner Li Hu have taken advantages of the large project scale
and successfully implanted several signifcant architectural knowledge within it. Firstly
it is about activating and sharing the built environment with both the residents and
visitors. This is done and promoted via the detailed and carefully planned program
loops in different dimmension. Artifcial green space is also another factor that may
help pulling Beijing citizens towards the oasis. Isolation is what the architects tried
to discard and conquered. With Linked Hybrid, the architects advocated the idea of
shared open space. This is a signifcant idea especially in high density area like Beijing
where resources are precious and limited. Moreover, the co-operation of architects
fromboth the Western and local architects yielded an intelligently crafted architectural
outcome. In Linked Hybrid there are quite a number of local traditional elements
injected in the apartment design. These elements will gain wider appreciation and
acceptance amongst local citizens. Lastly the sustainability design in the project played
an important role to further support the architects proposed notion of sharing of
resources. These architectural innovation adds together to make this collective housing
a successful project.
Manipulation of Urban Space
There are 5 artifcial mounds contained within Linked Hybrid, bringing and linking
the residents and visitors to the nature even though the site is located close to the
metropolitan Beijing city centre. The architectural concept of Urban Oasis is thus
being successfully implanted.
11
More importantly the mounds are constructed with
the excavated earth on site which accord with the idea of nature and sustainability.
12

The architects also named the mounds in relation to the 5 stages of a humans life
Mound of childhood, Adolescence, Middle Age, Old Age and Infnity. Each of them
corresponds to a related program respectively.
With the oasis designed, the next job for the architects is to activate the site not only
within the residents but also for visitors. This naturally leads the architects to introduce
attractive public programs and environment for the ground entry level, such as theatre
and cinemas complex, situated amongst a soothing pond and grassy landscape.
13
Up
above 10 more levels, the architects introduced even richer programs for residents
and passerby to freely circulate and activate the site in multiple dimension. This
architectural idea is an oppose to most of the typical high rise residential buildings
found in Beijing, which only focus on isolating themselves from the street level to
maintain a high degree of privacy.
14
Linked Hybrids maximised openness aims at creating intertwine with residents as
well as visitors.
15
From ground level through to the skybridges. The architects have
successfully manipulated the urban space in different altitude.
Fig. G Artifcial landscape in Linked Hybrid
Sustainability Aspect
Linked Hybrid is conceived as an open city within a city. It encourages the sharing
of space and facilities between the residents and pedestrians. Under this intention,
the idea of sustainability is naturally born. It is frstly supported by the remodelling of
landscape with several artifcial moulds constructed with on-site excavated soil. (Refer
to previous section for more details)
Secondly, the water used inside Linked Hybrid is recycled. Greywater fromapartments,
which refers to the water that is used for bathing, laundry and dishwashing, is cleansed
with UV light and then stored in the large pond at the centre of the site (Fig. F). It is
later used for watering the landscape and green roof.
660 geothermal wells, each 100min depth below the foundation, have been implanted
at Linked Hybrid.
16
This makes the design one of the largest sustainable projects in
Beijing. One of the most innovative architectural implementation of the project is the
huge amount of apartments that the geothermal heat pump system is capable to
support a total of 750 fats. Moreover, if the heat pump system is to be installed as
separate machines on the ground, then a large amount of green space will have to
be sacrifced and not to mention the noise pollution resulted. As a matter of such,
hiding services underground where appropriate will certainly bring benefts to both
the environment and end users.
Within the apartments, the low-e coated glasses favoured solar gain and heat
control.
17
This in turns reduced the demand for indoor cooling. The apartments also
feature another system called displacement ventilation.
18
Air that is below the desired
temperature will be released from the ground. The cooler air will keep on displacing
the warmer air, resulting in a constant refreshing of air within the environment.
Architectonics
The residential towers in Linked Hybrid utilized a skeletal frame structure.
19
This granted
the apartments with maximum fexibility for its interior space as the walls now act as
panels that can be freely confgured. Hundreds of different apartment layouts in a huge
variety of types is then available as options. This architectural feature is uncommon
in China due to the fact that mass housing has always been very standardized and
repetitive historically. Being fexible in layout is more humanized as the ideal case for
every inhabitant should be different as each will have a different demand for housing.
Fig. F Green Roof and Pond at the centre
Fig. H 2 sample house plans in Linked Hybrid with cross ventilation shown
Another visual highlight of the project is the use of bright and sharp colour at certain
highlight areas. It is easy for visitors to recall Holls MIT Simmons Hall project with the
similarity of the palette used. In Linked Hybrid the colour is seen on the lower surface
of the skybridges and on some of the window frames of the towers. This introduces a
polychromy effect which traditional architecture used to achieve via the use of different
material. The use and selection of tinting is not random or accidental at all. In fact this
brings back the idea of respecting local Chinese culture and belief. The choice of colour
was inspired by Buddhist temples, together with the random principle derived from
the respected book named I-Ching (known as Book of Changes).
20
This becomes a fne
example of fusing western architecture forms into local Chinese traditional belief and
knowledge. The outcome is neither a mere copy from any sides but an intelligently
and uniquely crafted architecture. Nowadays with many foreign architects coming
from all over the world to China for the development, such design methodology
which embraces the knowledge from different parts of the world could help yielding
buildings that are rich in both meaning and thinking.
(1750 words)
Linked
Hybrid
Central
Beijing
Illustration Credit
Fig. A http://top-10-list.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Linked-Hybrid.jpg
Fig. B http://farm6.staticfickr.com/5117/7162955830_13e7574b67_z.jpg
Fig. C http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-03/18/content_544116.htm
Fig. D http://www.digitaltoolsforarchitects.com/category/exercises/exercise-5-1/
Fig. E http://www.archdaily.com/34302/linked-hybrid-steven-holl-architects/gf-plan-layout1-1/
Fig. F http://www.archdaily.com/34302/linked-hybrid-steven-holl-architects/program_plan-converted/
Fig. G http://www.thecoolist.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/linked-hybrid-building_beijing_1.jpg
Fig. H http://www.archdaily.com/34302/linked-hybrid-steven-holl-architects/pp154_beij_apartmentviews_
wotext/
Endnotes
1 Steven Holl Architects: Linked Hybrid, Beijing, 2003-08.
(2010). Lotus international,141, 64-71.
2 ibid
3 Steven Holl: Linked Hybrid, Beijing, China. (2008). GA
document,106, 42-55.
4 Linked hybrid - East Xiba River Road, Beijing, China,
2008: Steven Holl Architects.. (2008). A + t,31, 20-29.
5 ibid
6 Webb, M. (2008). Made in China: as a great nation
modernises with terrifying rapidity, architecture is
caught in the slipstream. Architectural review,
224(1337), 34-37.
7 ibid
8 ibid
9 Minutillo, J. (2009). Getting the lay of the land: with
several projects nearing completion, Steven Holl
Architects spreads out across the Chinese landscape.
Architectural record, 198(1), 138-142,144-145.
10 ibid
11 ibid
12 Yang, A. (2008). Linking big. Wallpaper, 110, 34-37.
13 Melvin, J. (2006). Dynamic hybrid: Linked Hybrid,
Beijing, China. Architectural review, 224(1340), 50-53.
14 ibid
15 Capezzuto, R. (2004). Steven Holl: otto torri e un anello
volante = Eight towers and a fying ring. Domus, 876,
92-101.
16 Bossi, L. (2007). Il teorema di Holl = Holls theorem.
Domus, 900, 12-17.
17 Ho, C. (2008). Steven Holl Architects. Blueprint
(London, England), 255, 44-49.
18 Holl, S., & Jefferson, E. (2005). Holl on hybrids
[interview]. Architectural design, 75(5), 78-83.
19 ibid
20 Webb, M. (2008). Made in China: as a great nation
modernises with terrifying rapidity, architecture is
caught in the slipstream. Architectural review,
224(1337), 34-37.