Vegetable Station
Agricultural Cooperative in the High Density City
Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
Individual Work
Fall 2022
Professor: Jing Li
The urbanization causes the emergence of urban villages. Almost 70% of population living here are the underclass who come to work here from other city due to the low-cost housing in urban villages, resulting in the economic stratification. The city now facing the farmland marginalization, making the rise of vegetable prices, which create the inequality of food supply. Government is planning to rebuild the urban village to improve the appearance of the city, but once it is improved, these underclass people will not be able to afford the rising rents , even facing unemployment, their re-moving leads to the emergence of the next urban village problem.
This project plans to create a new type of urban agricultural operation system. Providing those underclass with part-time jobs of farming in exchange for discounts on renting and shopping, and also provide the city with fresh vegetables, so as to reduce economic stratification, food inequality and guarantee the lives of the underclass.
I designed a daily work-based operating system where people can choose the projects they want to work on.
Through their participation, they can earn either free vegetables or convert their work into monetary compensation.
I am using this Operation System to also show the programs I put in this building...
However, the system can also switch to an entertainment mode, guiding users on how to reach learning and shopping areas.
This adds flexibility and enriches the user experience by supporting both productive and leisurely activities within the site.
This is the mind map I created before developing the system. It focuses primarily on research into the growth cycles of different plants, which helped the following design and layout of the planting areas. By rotating crops seasonally within the same plot, this project can operate year-round.
I also studied the workflows of planting and transportation to support the later design of spatial organization and circulations.
Mindmap
Since the overall architecture is divided into work and leisure zones, each follows a different spatial design strategy.
The work spaces are designed with an emphasis on efficiency, while the leisure areas focus on participation and engagement, encouraging users to interact with the space and with one another.
The work spaces are primarily organized according to workflow, with distinct zones and circulation paths for different tasks. However, these paths are strategically linked at certain points to ensure smooth coordination and efficient operation.
The leisure spaces are interwoven with the work areas to encourage engagement, while people in each zone can see into the other, their circulation paths remain separate. This visual connection without physical overlap is designed to spark curiosity and motivate participation.
Luohu District is located at the heart of Shenzhen and serves as a major transportation hub, which is why I chose to locate my site there. Within Luohu, Tianxin Village stands as a representative example of Shenzhen’s “urban villages,” where approximately 65% of the residents are low-income migrant workers. The surrounding living conditions are poor, and the area is dominated by unhealthy fast-food options. My project site is situated on a vacant lot in Tianxin Village, adjacent to an existing food processing factory and a railway transfer center.
Click here to my site...
The ground floors of the surrounding residential buildings are currently used as commercial shops, and I incorporated this characteristic into my own project. The main leisure spaces are located on the lower levels, while the workspaces are placed above. The leisure areas also extend upward, creating visual and spatial interaction with the upper-level workspaces, reflecting the strategy I outlined earlier.
I also chose to retain the original main intersection as the primary entrance to my project, preserving the existing circulation pattern and ensuring continuity with the surrounding urban fabric.
As mentioned earlier, the entire building consists of two main components: leisure space and work space.
Within the work space, the program is further divided into processing, planting, and transportation areas.
To maximize sunlight exposure for the plants, I tilted the planting area toward the south and designed it to spiral upward, creating a continuous outdoor circulation path. In contrast, the hydroponic zone, which requires less sunlight is placed at the center as a core, with the planting areas wrapping around it as they ascend.
The leisure areas are also subdivided into dining and retail functions. The work space includes additional staff areas for management and research. Each zone is equipped with its own dedicated elevators and staircases to ensure independent access and avoid interference between different programs.
To allow both the leisure and work areas to grow vertically and remain visually and spatially connected, I further divided the planting zone into two types: planting (working) and planting (learning and selling). These two circulation paths operate independently but rise alongside each other, encouraging interaction without disrupting functionality.
+60m Plan
+7m Plan
+3m Plan
