SOCIAL HUB: A Light Industrial Factory in Northern China

Abstract

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, a rapid industrial revolution swept across many Chinese cities under Soviet aid from 1953 to 1957. During the first five-year-plan period, many brand new and important factories were constructed and put into production. As China was in its early socialist formation period, most of the buildings built up at that time in China were of the ‘Soviet Styles’ during the initial several years. They showed ‘modern and simple’ solid exteriors, symmetrical plans and facades, and were built with heavy materials such as reinforced concrete. Most of the citizens were proud of working in those factories and took them as symbols of significant social progress. However, with the development of Chinese economy, most of these factories are no longer in use. As glorious as the former factories were, the current situation is dismal. In the late 20th century, due to the poor management and the pressure of state-owned enterprises transformation, these factories ended up in systematic failure. Most of the workers from these factories were at the prime of their 40s, but they had lost jobs they were so proud of. Furthermore, as a large portion of these workers had not received an adequate education, many of them started small businesses utilizing their previous work experiences, some others started earning their living as manual laborers, and some have been unemployed for the past 20 years. As a response to the bleak current status of the Soviet-aided factories in China, this thesis aims to make a research on and demonstrate their significant architectural languages, while exploring methods to adapt the factories into contemporary Chinese contexts. The thesis focuses on an abandoned factory site in the urban area of Shijiazhuang, which is a second-tier city with a typical light industry about 300km south of Beijing. The site facilitates No. 1 Cotton Textile Factory in the CBD of Shijiazhuang. The deserted huge building complex is alien to its contemporary neighborhood, and is currently facing the fate of demolition. The author proposes to put new blood into the abandoned factory by introducing a series of architectural interventions and public programmes, while maintaining its architectural and historical features as a means of preserving the memories of the once-proud workers. The proposal particularly emphasizes on building an aging-friendly community, providing the retired ex-workers a place for recalling on their good old days while embracing the future.