A residential community planned across a steep, twisted hill – and isolated by a busy ring road – grows together through a series of linked common green spaces where water is celebrated.

The biggest design challenges – aside from the scale of the project – were the steep and warped slope of the site and the irregular shapes of the parcels. The designs placed approximately 2,400-2,800 residences on a hill which had been subdivided by roads and large drainage canals.

Studies compared more organic layouts that keept the existing grade, with more efficient layouts that altered the grade significantly. Placing housing units along the existing slope created more organic neighborhoods, and reduced the big cost of earthwork. However, the units couldn’t always be grouped as efficiently, creating more variations of building typologies and complicating foundation work. In these options, street slopes also varied more greatly. Placing the units in more monolithic layouts reduced the construction cost of the buildings, but increased the cost of the earthwork, as the slopes had to be significantly engineered. These schemes also felt overpowering for the site and were less visually engaging.

The different schemes also looked at entering the parcels from the top ring road – which meant a longer journey, but more privacy and security – or entering from the base ring road.

To meet open space requirements, designs looked at placing green spaces both within the parcels and outside of them, in the public-private venture parks envisioned over the existing drainage canals.

I was responsible for the (more) organic layout designs, as well as project organization, development calculations, and site section studies; using a combination of local planning codes and, where left uninformed, American planning codes. The residential typology designs came from the local design architect.

I focused on creating a harmonious environment, with a variety of scales of easily accessed spaces where people could gather, while guarding privacy. The entry road, as well as other main roads, for example, avoids pointing directly at residences. (I have held this concept of “no knife-like road” dear to my heart ever since studying Feng Shui in interior design in undergrad.)


ARCHITECT / PLANNER

The Jerde Partnership (Danny Ha, Project Principal)

IOANA URMA’s ROLE

Design consultant, Concept Phase: Developed several masterplan options in plan and section; also kept track of development calculations and project organization.

SITE

S.E. Asia

MATERIALS & DIMENSIONS

  • · 12 parcels totalling 132 acres/ 0.53 sq km
  • · +/-2,400-2,800 housing units (number of housing units varies by scheme, depending on how open space requirements are calculated)
  • · 3 housing types: Semi-detached houses (in 3 design sizes); Townhouses (in 3 design sizes); & Condo towers (4 building designs)

IMAGE CREDITS

Masterplan designs, plan/section studies, and plan diagrams (featured on this page): Ioana Urma. 3D renderings & illustrated section: The Jerde Partnership project team headed by Danny Ha & Oleg Kiselev.

Cross-section illustration through one of the drainage canal parks showing planted areas, trees, an outdoor amphitheater, a play area, birds and white clouds across a blue sky.
Exploded axonometric of the design layers on the hill, starting with the assembled design on the bottom, then pulling out above: streets, water ways, and common green spaces.
Schematic cross section studies through back-to-back properties at 15% grade slope, showing how the height and view relationships change when they are spaced different amounts apart. Exploded axonometric of the design layers on the hill, starting with the assembled design on the bottom, then pulling out above: streets, water ways, and common green spaces.
3D rendering of modern 2-story over garage townhouses with sloped A-frame roofs, balconies, wood-slat dividers between neighbors, and lots of greenery.
Colored cross-section through row housing on the hill and a condo tower at the bottom of the hill, showing how dirt would need to be moved around to make the slopes work.

A lot of dirt would need to be moved to increase the max-height of the condo towers and make the grading work in a more efficient (less organic) plan layout.

Colored masterplan parcels with townhouses and condo towers, showing how the rows of houses needs to ondulate around the twisting slopes and convoluted parcel shapes. 
                                                            Black and white version of a study where the rows are straighter, necessitating moving a lot of dirt to make the grades work, is overlaid in the upper left corner.

Top study shows a more efficient plan option, which would, though, necessitate moving large quantities of dirt in order to maintain a consistent, and not too steep, grade.

Diagrammatic plan and section studies on of the different housing and parcel types and how they fit across the landscape at different slopes.
Colored Masterplan (option) A of the whole hill, showing housing types mainly organized by parcels, with semi-detached houses on the east  and north parcels, townhouses on the west parcels, and condo towers at the base of north and west parcels.
                                                            The complex, twisted slopes, and irregular parcel shapes stand out, as do the communal green-space drainage channels between the parcels, and the big amorphic park at spanning the top 1/3 area of the hill.
                                                            The 2,823 housing unit count breaks down into: 795 semi-detached houses, 730 townhouses, and 1,289 condo units in 12 condo towers.
Colored plan diagram of the housing types: 3 sizes of semi-detached (on the east and north parcels), 3 sizes of townhouses (on the west parcels), and condo towers (at the base of the north and west parcels).
Colored plan diagram of the masterplan, an earlier version, highlighting the intersection of the ring of green spaces with continues through the parcels, intersecting the common areas along the drainage canals which come downhill. Colored plan diagram of the housing types: 3 sizes of semi-detached (on the east and north parcels), 3 sizes of townhouses (on the west parcels), and condo towers (at the base of the north and west parcels).
Colored plan diagram of the masterplan, an earlier version, highlighting the intersection of the ring of green spaces with continues through the parcels, intersecting the common areas along the drainage canals which come downhill.
3D rendering of green intersection in housing development, with lush vegetation, small-scaled streets, and the sloped roofs of 2-3 modern housing peaking up beyond.
3D rendering of modern 2-story townhouses with cars parked in front, balconies, sloped A-frame roofs with exposed rafters projecting over the entry, and lots of greenery.
Schematic cross section studies through back-to-back properties at 15% grade slope, showing how the height and view relationships change when they are spaced different amounts apart.
Colored cross-section through row housing on the hill and a condo tower at the bottom of the hill, showing how dirt would need to be moved around to make the slopes work.

In a less organic layout, a lot of dirt would need to be moved to make the slopes less extreme/follow code.

Colored masterplan parcels with townhouses and condo towers, showing how the rows of houses needs to ondulate around the twisting slopes and convoluted parcel shapes. 
                                                                Black and white version of a study where the rows are straighter, necessitating moving a lot of dirt to make the grades work, is overlaid in the upper left corner.

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GLOWING
TRANSFORMATION

BEIJING, CHINA
(AT JERDE)