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Garment Factory Rehabilitation    
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Location: Zhangjiagang, Suzhou
Type: Factory Building Renovation
Building Area: 31015 m²
Time of Design: 2021.7~2021.8
Status: Concept Design
Design: Xiaodi Sun
Collaborator: Kailun Sun 



Chaonan Village, Zhangjiagang is a port town located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Surrounded by farmland and facing the Yangtze River in the north, it has pleasant scenery and a long history of agriculture and industrial manufacturing. The object of our design and renovation this time is a factory building complex located in the farmland in Chaonan Village, which currently covers an area of about 5,400 square meters.

In the eyes of architects, the renovation of old houses often has infinite temptations in the operation of spatial forms. But in this proposal, we strive to prioritize the function and economy model behind. Over the past few decades, Chaonan Village has taken agriculture and manufacturing as its main industries. With the increased population loss due to China’s urbanization process, we ask ourselves, how to use this piece of land to weave a feasible economic income model for the future of Chaonan Village?

Our vision is to create a new type of agricultural complex. We propose to transform the original economic structure system rooted in manufacturing and agriculture into an organic business model that integrates "agriculture, culture, researching, and touring" parts, so that traditional rural industries can be continued in the renewal combined with modern science and technology, education, and tourism services. The rural economy can be revitalized up to date with new living habits.

In the design part, we propose to retain most of the existing factory buildings inside the site because of their distinctive structure and simplicity of space. The new zoning of different programs then shapes the form of space based on their different needs on daylighting and human activity. Under the agricultural/botanical garden space, a “landscape cloud” with functions such as resting and chatting is set up, together with an elevated second-floor corridor, it creates a vivid three-dimensional spatial experience for the new born factory complex.