Interview about Urban Pastoral Affordable Rental Houses, winner of the A' Construction and Real Estate Projects Design Award 2023
This design takes into consideration the need for affordable rental housing in Shanghai, the impact of epidemics, and China's carbon reduction policies. The designer creates a community vegetable plantation within the settlement and small vegetable gardens on the roofs of buildings of different heights. Together, they form a multi-level growing system that provides safe and easily accessible food for residents. Additionally, each floor of the building has a public space that encourages neighborhood interaction and serves as a service place for emergency medical control during epidemics.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsThe concept originated from reflecting on urban resilience during epidemic lockdowns, when food accessibility and community connectivity became critical urban issues. We envisioned the “urban pastoral” as a new living model — one that merges agricultural production with everyday residential life. The design evolved through layering: ground-level community vegetable fields provide a shared farming experience, while mid-level sky gardens and rooftop plots extend cultivation vertically. This multi-level system not only enhances self-sufficiency but also creates diverse spaces for neighborly interaction, education, and relaxation. The design thus redefines affordable housing as a living ecosystem — sustainable, participatory, and socially vibrant.
Energy efficiency was achieved through a combination of passive design strategies and renewable technologies. The building orientation optimizes solar gain and natural ventilation, while external shading systems and green façades reduce heat absorption. Solar panels on rooftops generate renewable electricity, complementing the self-generating electricity floor, which converts kinetic energy from human movement into usable power for public lighting. Additionally, the integration of self-luminous concrete materials in public paths reduces nighttime energy consumption. Together, these innovations enable significant energy savings and advance the project’s alignment with China’s carbon reduction and sustainable city goals.
The project’s spatial framework was designed for dual functionality — everyday social life and emergency response. Under normal conditions, each floor features semi-open communal spaces for socializing, shared cooking, or leisure, fostering neighborly bonds. During public health emergencies, these same areas can be rapidly reconfigured into temporary medical checkpoints or isolation support zones, ensuring safety without compromising accessibility. Vertical circulation routes are clearly defined to separate living, service, and medical flows when needed. This flexibility reflects an urban planning philosophy that views architecture not just as shelter, but as a resilient infrastructure capable of adapting to evolving social needs.
The inspiration came from the desire to restore the emotional connection between people and land within a dense urban environment. In Shanghai, affordable housing often lacks green, interactive spaces. By embedding a rural lifestyle — vegetable fields, courtyards, and water features — into the base of the urban block, residents can experience a slower, more grounded rhythm of life. This urban-rural fusion not only enhances the visual and ecological quality of the settlement but also supports mental health and community belonging, creating a living environment where nature becomes an integral part of daily experience.
The “Shanghai drifters” — young professionals seeking affordable yet dignified urban living — inspired the project’s balance of compactness, adaptability, and ecological responsibility. The modular housing units are designed for flexible use, accommodating single occupants or small families. Shared kitchens, co-working spaces, and communal gardens foster a sense of inclusion. Carbon-conscious features such as solar roofs, vertical greening, and energy-recycling floors minimize environmental impact while reducing living costs. The result is a housing model that aligns personal well-being with environmental stewardship, offering a sustainable alternative for the next generation of urban citizens.
The design balances openness and privacy through a clearly defined vertical zoning system supported by intelligent access control. The ground floor functions as a fully open public area — a welcoming space featuring shared gardens, vegetable fields, and community markets that encourage public engagement and urban vitality. Above this, a dedicated residential stairwell serves as the transition zone between public and private realms. Only residents can access the upper floors through facial recognition or smart card authentication, ensuring controlled entry and a sense of security.This architectural strategy achieves a delicate equilibrium: the community remains open and vibrant at its base while the upper levels preserve the residents’ privacy and tranquility. By combining spatial hierarchy with intelligent technology, the design effectively creates a porous yet protected urban community, where inclusivity and security coexist in harmony.
Our research revealed two pressing needs: affordability with dignity and community resilience. Many low-cost housing developments in Shanghai lack social vitality and adaptability. We analyzed demographic patterns, post-pandemic behavioral changes, and residents’ desire for greener lifestyles. These findings guided the decision to embed food production, renewable energy systems, and multi-functional social spaces within the housing fabric. The planning emphasizes self-sufficiency, mental well-being, and energy efficiency — transforming the affordable housing typology into a self-sustaining micro-community that enhances urban livability and resilience.
Technological innovation was integrated to serve both function and design expression. The self-generating electricity floor — embedded in high-traffic areas like corridors and plazas — transforms pedestrian movement into renewable energy, powering nearby lighting and ventilation systems. The self-luminous concrete, used in pavements and outdoor seating, absorbs sunlight by day and emits a soft glow at night, creating a visually poetic nighttime landscape while reducing energy consumption. These technologies blur the boundary between infrastructure and art, transforming sustainable systems into expressive architectural features.
This project proposes a new paradigm of affordable housing that integrates urban agriculture, renewable energy, and community resilience within a compact urban fabric. Its most influential contribution lies in redefining affordability — not merely as low cost, but as a sustainable, socially connected, and health-oriented way of living. The concept demonstrates that green living can be achieved at scale through innovative spatial design and material technology. As cities across China confront challenges of density, aging, and sustainability, this model provides a replicable framework for inclusive and resilient urban communities.
The integration of vertical farming required close coordination between architecture, structure, and landscape systems. Lightweight soil substrates and modular planting boxes were developed to minimize structural load. An automated irrigation and nutrient circulation system links rooftop gardens with lower-level plantations, recycling rainwater and greywater to reduce resource consumption. The stepped building heights allow for optimal sunlight exposure and cross-ventilation, ensuring plant vitality while improving indoor microclimates. This synergy between structure, ecology, and technology enables the farming ecosystem to thrive sustainably within an efficient building envelope.
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