8. Interior Urbanism
Zeyuan Shi
Shi Zeyuan is an architect from China who completed bachelor degree of architecture in China Central Academy of Fine Art. He believes that the interior is an interface between its occupants and the built environment. Having been trained as an architect in the CAFA and the RCA, Zeyuan has come to realize that a well-designed “interface” is crucial for the experience of the built environment and the interior is a crucial agent for social change. His work explores the diversity of human occupation in numerous environments, extending from the room to the city.
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My proposal is reorganizing the22 Bishopsgate as an open and real village.
The glass curtain façade of 22 Bishopsgate doesn’t speak about people who work inside the building, or differentiate between private and public space, though the building has been named by the developer as a “vertical village’. These interior spaces are concealed behind the tower’s surface and the title ‘village’is misleading as they are privately controlled.
My concept aims to make the façade of the building speak about the inside activities honestly, as well as to give people a say on the use of its public spaces.
The strategy is to add a semi-exterior system to visualize the interior public space of the building which is specifically a food market, as well as to provide public with more activities. By creating restaurant stalls from the ground floor to second floor, the design wishes to expand the feeling of the street to the building at a smaller scale. Routes connecting them will compose a vertical circulation system. I hope this system could give people a feeling of walk around freely at a tiny village when people are climbing stairs and platforms. With open kitchens, changing food kiosks, people have multiple options to dine in or take out, meet up. These platforms also provide spaces for events and activities such as talks, music and private events. While the market will be accessible not only to the 22 Bishopsgate community, but also to the public, it aims to become a destination that all Londoners can enjoy by opening its doors to the public seven days a week.In a word, my intention is to create a new kind of public legacy for City of London.
