Our ILAUD Experience: Two Approaches to the Renovation of Historical Neighbourhoods in Shanghai

Authors: Francesco Grugni, Marco Voltolina

The recent publication of Discontinuity in Contemporary Cities - The ILAUD Experience: Shanghai's Urban Voids as an Opportunity for Regeneration by ILAUD Press (the full book is freely available here) reminded us of the wonderful experience that we had in Shanghai back in 2019. At that time, in fact, we were both studying at Tongji University, and we had the chance to participate to one of the legendary workshops organized by the International Laboratory of Architecture & Urban Design (ILAUD), founded by Italian architect Giancarlo De Carlo (1919-2005).

The theme of the workshop was "Discontinuity in Contemporary Cities" and participants were asked to reflect on the rapid transformations that were affecting the city of Shanghai, and to imagine a project of urban regeneration for a historical lilong neighbourhood built in the 1920s.

Marco's project, developed together with Patricia Carrilero, Yuanyuan Lin, Yu Tang and Wanxuan Yu, is titled "Next Generation Lilong" and proposes the preservation of the old buildings and the addition of a new urban layer on top of them: a giant playground for children, in the hope that the new generation will develop an emotional bond with the historical neighbourhood.

Figure 1. Next Generation Lilong. Source: Discontinuity in Contemporary Cities - The ILAUD Experience: Shanghai's Urban Voids as an Opportunity for Regeneration, ILAUD Press, pp. 82-83.

Figure 2. Next Generation Lilong. Source: Discontinuity in Contemporary Cities - The ILAUD Experience: Shanghai's Urban Voids as an Opportunity for Regeneration, ILAUD Press, pp. 84-85.

Francesco, on the other hand, worked together with Nicholas Venieris, Zihan Wang, Jiaye Yang and He Yikuan, adopting a different approach and designing a project titled "Extruded Footprint". In this case, the old buildings are dismantled, but their characters are not forgotten, as they are reinterpreted in the new volumes that replace the existing constructions, thus creating a space for the community that combines the strengths of the old and the new.

Figure 3. Next Generation Lilong. Source: Discontinuity in Contemporary Cities - The ILAUD Experience: Shanghai's Urban Voids as an Opportunity for Regeneration, ILAUD Press, pp. 86-87.

Figure 4. Next Generation Lilong. Source: Discontinuity in Contemporary Cities - The ILAUD Experience: Shanghai's Urban Voids as an Opportunity for Regeneration, ILAUD Press, pp. 88-89.

Source:

Di Toppa, Enrica et al. (Eds.). Discontinuity in Contemporary Cities - The ILAUD Experience: Shanghai's Urban Voids as an Opportunity for Regeneration. ILAUD Press, 2023.