Cityscape Apocalypse is a conceptual and critical museum project at north bound, Shanghai, mostly based on the thesis known as "Architecture Knock-offs".

 

 Knock-offs represents the reproduction (fake copy) of an original (real thing), but its value is no less than the latter. A successful knock-off consists the disassemble analysis of the original genes, the alternative thinking under current context and refactoring of the phenomenon using emerging techniques. Architecture are experts at making knock-offs, they draw from history and reproduce to fit in the current environment; they create "unique" which is actually the specific extensions of wide system of the existing.

 

Based on the "knock-offs" thesis, the project, Cityscape Apocalypse, followed a wide range of case study covering different urban strategies and phenomenon form 1960s to 2000s. The existing designs are disassembled and the latent genes are analyzed and copied. By mimicking and refactoring these thesis and forms, the project created "multiple urban senses" in a "senseless" urban environment at north bound, Shanghai - currently surrounded by highly developed business zone and old Lilong housings, which is typically the realistic depiction of cityscape of Shanghai. The building consists of three major programmatic elements: 1. Museum for Forgeries 2. Factory for the Production of Forgeries 3. An Artificial Ecology: each at 1800 sq.m.. Like the monster created by Frankenstein, the project, Cityscape Apocalypse, can be seen as a reassembled monster which contains varies of single elements but under consistent design anticipations.

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Brief Info: Tongji-RPI Joint Studio (8 Week Group Work)

Collaborator: Erica Barrows

Instructor: Kyle Stover(RPI); LIU Hongwei(Tongji); WEI Wei(Tongji);

March-2014