Dominant type and migrant spaces in Chinese cities: architectural transformation of the tower-podium typology of a high-rise housing block into hybrid living place in Ningbo, China

ABSTRACT Focusing on the housing issue which segregates city dwellers and marginalises the migrants, this paper proposes an architectural transformation of a dominant type in Chinese cities, in search of a sustainable regeneration strategy which encourages social integration. This paper is concerned with two main issues: how to transform a dominant type of high-rise residential living – i.e. tower-podium residential – in China to promote a sustainable city, architecture and community; and how to integrate migrant-working class with the middle-income class to form a hybrid cohabitation place. The paper uses a design project to put forward a hypothesis, focusing on modifying the spaces of the podium in a tower-podium residential building in Xiaowen Street, Ningbo to provide a cohabitation living space for both migrant-working class and middle-income class group. The design creates spaces for living, co-working and community interaction, etc. to cultivate hybrid programme and spaces aided by informal spatial design strategies. Besides providing a case study of typological transformation with a tower-podium housing type of Ningbo, the study also contributes to the literature of informal cities and design strategies in seeing architectural design as an active agent for social changes.