A De-marginalized City of Beijing

Zhuoran (Angel) Yu, Design Stream

Laura Miller, Advisor

In Beijing, many tourist parks and schools are enclosed by gates and walls, creating a sense of isolation from the surrounding society. My thesis connects the gated precincts of the Tsinghua University campus and the historic Yuan Ming Yuan Park, a popular tourist attraction. This area is further fragmented by large multi-lane roads and a river. Beijing has numerous pedestrian bridges over large roads that connect disparate sites, but these are quite utilitarian. Starting with studies of this pedestrian infrastructure, my thesis inspires to do more than connect point A to point B. I hope to blur boundaries between discrete areas, to foster inclusivity and connection. In my design, I create a fusion of bridge infrastructure with various scales of historic types of tea houses, from intimate to a large opera performance space, that serve as both urban and social infrastructure, and appeal to locals and tourists alike. Integrating bridges with tea houses allows people access to not only physical spaces in the city, but also specific ways to formally and informally socialize and engage their senses.