CCA News
San Francisco to Shanghai: CCA's StitchLink Studio Course Visits Sister City on the Other Side of the Pacific Rim
Posted on Wednesday, August 25, 2010, by Samantha Braman
You've surely heard the term "sister cities," but what does it actually mean? And here's an even tougher one: Name even one of San Francisco's sisters.
The designation is actually an official one, meaning that the two geographically and politically distinct cities in question have entered into a formal agreement committing to the promotion of cultural and commercial ties. And San Francisco's 18 siblings include Bangalore, Barcelona, and Shanghai. This last was the focus of the spring 2010 edition of the CCA StitchLink Studio, which every year focuses on some element of world architectural design that is progressive, current, and future-focused, but also conscious of the historical and cultural context of the place in question.
In spring 2010 Lisa Findley, professor and chair of the Bachelor of Architecture Program, along with Architecture associate professor Peter Anderson, led 12 undergraduate and three graduate students through an investigation of the thriving and architecturally rich metropolis of Shanghai. They focused on specific areas where new buildings and urban development bleed into older structures and patterns of living. Such zones are too often dismissed as poorly designed, unsustainable, and unproductive; the goal of this course was for each student to narrow in on one site in particular and examine opportunities for new-wave architecture and design to subtly yet effectively negotiate new and old cultural, spatial, and aesthetic values.
Given the "sister city" premise, Anderson and Findley sought to narrow the scope of the studio by identifying a set of urban problems common to both San Francisco and Shanghai. They focused on the fact that both cities have significant opportunities to fight increasingly untenable traffic by taking advantage of water transportation possibilities, and that water transportation nodes such as ferry landings can be significant "stitches" between water and land, old and new, tradition and the future. Over the past 100 years, both cities have abandoned ferry service in favor of private vehicles, but now both are rethinking this move. The studio investigated possible water-bus and ferry opportunities in the Bay Area, and in Shanghai the students looked at sites along the east-west-running Suzhou Creek, designing ferry landings that tied back into their neighborhoods in terms of form and cultural function.
During their 10-day trip to China in March, the group worked diligently on their project sites, but they also took time to walk the streets of Shanghai's downtown. Destinations included the French Concession, the high-rise haven of Pudong, the Old City, and Xintiandi (this last is a car-free eating, shopping, and entertainment district). They visited the offices of architects working in the city (including BArch 1995 alum John Leung, who runs his own successful firm), attended an event for Chinese students who would be headed to CCA in the fall, and sampled traditional regional cuisine. Their three-day, two-night venture outside the city brought them to numerous ancient water towns, including Zhouzhuang, an old canal city with a history of nearly 1,700 years; Suzhou, known for its gardens and canals; and Tongli, a very traditional village nearly void of Westernized urban influences.
Reported Findley and Anderson: "Tongli is a small place that is only lightly influenced by contemporary tourism, and a good opportunity to see multiple approaches to preserving traditional culture and architecture while at the same time making it available to outside visitors."
2010 is not only the 30th anniversary of Shanghai and San Francisco's sistership, but it is also the year of Shanghai's much-anticipated World Expo, a great opportunity for the students to see a variety of architecture and design. Anderson has a long-standing connection to Tongji University in Shanghai, home of one of the top two architecture programs in China, and Findley spent a portion of her 2008–9 sabbatical in Shanghai and the surrounding water towns. Both faculty members are thus very familiar with this rich and varied region.
"It is a sophisticated, complex, and exciting global city with a fascinating history and uncountable layers," they say. "Given China's obvious global importance in this century, an introduction to at least one region is, to our minds, critical for our students. The portion of the trip that was outside the city, where we came into contact with more traditional village atmospheres and other windows into a broader range of historical and contemporary Chinese culture, was also crucial."
Findley and Anderson like to think of architecture as a four-dimensional, embedded practice—meaning that it takes place in space and unfolds over time and through experience. It exists within specific contexts: physical (city, landscape, climate), cultural, historical, social, purposeful, and so on.
"Traveling with an architect's eye and mind is not a natural thing. It isn't merely a matter of wandering around and taking in the sights. It requires slowing down, and a kind of systematic seeing. Traveling while in architecture school is a great way to begin to learn this discipline, since the teachers are there solely to direct and focus your attention, offering important techniques for absorbing the lessons to be learned from a place.
"This is one of the best studio experiences we have ever had. The students were intelligent, talented, and motivated. They worked very hard and produced very strong projects. They were a joy to travel with, and it was particularly notable how they saw themselves as a group with a shared purpose, watching out for one another and being very inclusive in group activities. We were particularly pleased that the graduate and undergraduate students mixed so seamlessly."