Community

Founded on the belief that in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life, Big Brothers Big Sisters works to make a direct and lasting impact on the lives of children facing adversity by establishing one-to-one relationships with volunteer mentors. Supporting this mission of inclusion and social justice, the new headquarters of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Houston imagines the building as a catalyst for community engagement with a design that is visually porous, vibrant in its use of color, and filled with natural light. The project uses architecture to produce a joyful and hopeful presence in the city that can act as a model for future chapters of Big Brothers Big Sisters throughout the country.

‘De Schoor’ is a place where people can meet each other, where information about the care offered is provided and where training courses are organized. Together with the adjacent group practice, it is a first step towards the transformation of a mono-functional district into a more urban living environment.

In 2017, we were invited by the village secretary to do an overall planning and a series of architectural design of Xiaoshi Village in Pengzhou, Sichuan Province. Just like other rebuilt villages after the earthquake, XIaoshi Village is facing the same difficulty in reidentifying itself with monotonous residential buildings, simple brick-concrete architecture along the street and hollowing rural community.

The building concept responds to the needs and opportunities offered by the old neighborhood La Carolina in Cuernavaca’s downtown heart. A traditional neighborhood embedded in Cuernavaca sinuous topography with a high urban density and just a few places for recreation. The important research done by the Ministry of Culture of the state found that in that neighborhood and its surroundings there were over 25 orchestras with more than 25 members each, various soccer teams, many children and young people interested in silk-screen printing and photography as well the need for a common space where culture, recreation and sport would be a source of energy for their daily life, thus correcting social disruption among the neighborhoods as part of the historic site.

Jiufeng Village is located on the North-Peak Mountain (BeiFeng) of Fuzhou, surrounded by picturesque hills and streams, known as “the rear garden” of this city. It is a hot spot for Fuzhou people to spend their weekend in nature. However, the space for tourists is limited in Jiufeng Village because of its mountainous terrain. The primary problem should be solved by our design is how to use the limited space to enhance the reception capacity on weekends, in the mean time, provide an effective public space for locals on weekdays.

Sava Activities is an on-going public urban design project aiming to reintroduce the riverbanks of Zagreb’s Sava River to the daily life of the city. Initiated as a competition proposal in 2015, the project had been developed around the flood related characteristics of the river. Unlike the other European capitals which are established around a river, Zagreb’s urban growth had been formed with a tendency to move away from Sava.