I-Shin Chow is not simply one of those expats who seek to bring
greater attention to the architectural treasures of 1930s
Shanghai.
As one of the design principals at sciSKEW Collaborative, the
31-year-old Singaporean is especially intrigued by the way in which
a city's inhabitants embed their own stories into the architecture
around them.
While exploring Shanghai's domestic spaces, he found his own
home.
"I pretty much stumbled upon the house during one of my
excursions and immediately felt a special connection," Chow
explains. "It is rare to find an old house with such a great
combination of factors: location, building condition, and
understated charm.
"Growing up in a laid-back place like Singapore, I naturally
gravitate towards spaces that are unassuming rather than
ostentatious," he adds.
Located in the heart of Puxi, the house itself is an almost
textbook-perfect example of the archetypal three-story Shanghainese
xinshi lilong (new-style lane house), one of the many that were
churned out in the 1930s according to a modular plan.
"This one in particular belongs to the two-bay type, which are
less easy to find than the one and one-and-a-half bay houses, but
are generally much brighter and airier," he says.
Together with his two New York-based partners, Chow set about
restoring the house, and putting the firm's unique stamp on the
place. According to him, the firm's experience in preserving
historic buildings in New York was an asset.
"The approach we took towards the renovation was typical of our
design process," Chow says. "As an architectural practice focused
on telling stories -- excavating old ones, as well as weaving new
-- sciSKEW was naturally committed to restoring, as far as
possible, the house to its original Bauhaus-inspired state.
"Throughout the main living spaces of the house, our strategy
was to intervene as minimally as possible, replacing worn-out and
rotted members only where needed," he adds.
The original cast iron windows were retained and even the old
furniture and light fixtures were rescued from the trash pile. "I
wanted the house to tell its own story," he explains.
That is not to say, though, that Chow and his partners were only
interested in unearthing the history of the house. "The house had
some distinct peculiarities typical of the lane house type," he
says.
These houses very often have rather dingy air wells, small
bathrooms, and dark north-facing rooms the locals call tingzijian.
In the case of the Dagu Road house, these "useless spaces" needed
to be reworked into areas that could support the needs of a
contemporary lifestyle.
"Our solution was a translation of the modern circulation and
utility cores that allow today's condos and high rises to exist,"
Chow says.
The existing problem spaces were reorganized into a continuous
white spiral rising from the ground floor and emerging on the roof
as a viewing terrace with panoramic views of the city. The
materials used for this spiral were simply taken from the existing
"useless spaces" -- terrazzo, mosaic and light.
"By inserting a modern core into the old house this way, we were
able to retain and restore much of the original interior while
simultaneously providing new support spaces for daily activities,"
Chow says.
For him though, the coexistence of the two intertwined stories
-- the old xinshi lilong and the new condominium core -- speaks of
a larger reality of our time.
"We live in an age where technology has allowed the
unprecedented exchange of information across the world, yet
conflicts are raging on because of a lack of translation between
people, ideologies and societies," Chow says. "I believe the task
of the architect is to create spaces for new dialogues to
exist."
Chow obtained his Master of Architecture degree in Columbia
University after an undergraduate education at Princeton
University. He spent much time living in New York, as well as
working in Berlin.
He says moving to Shanghai four years ago seemed like a natural
next step for him. "I have always been most comfortable in cities
that are meeting places for different peoples, different
cultures."
It seems clear that like the city of Shanghai itself, the
designs of Chow and sciSKEW Collaborative emerge from a confluence
of East and West, old and new.
(Shanghai Daily April 3, 2007)