Vertical Street.

Wuhan, China

Awards: Cube design_The 19th Architectural Talent Award_First Prize

Can the street continue beyond the ground?

Vertical Street begins with the public life of Wuhan's older neighbourhoods: the small routes and everyday places that connect homes to one another. The proposal asks how those relationships might extend into a denser residential setting. Streets rise between buildings, linking shared spaces at different heights and bringing places for daily activity closer to the homes around them.

Model rendering of a residential neighbourhood with towers, elevated connections, and looping routes above the surrounding urban fabric — Vertical Street / A network above and between homes
The overall proposal introduces connections at several heights within the neighbourhood. Model rendering developed in collaboration with Ruoxi Li.

01 / Common ground

Start with the life between homes.

The studio study contrasts the small, interconnected streets of older Wuhan neighbourhoods with the more inward-facing spaces of contemporary residential developments. It takes the street as a place of public activity, as well as a route. The design carries that interest into the existing fabric, proposing more shared space while retaining the close relationships between buildings, entrances, and everyday movement.

The street becomes a network of possible encounters.

02 / Building the network

Build connections into the form.

The six studies develop the intervention through a sequence of additions. Selected volumes establish a starting field, cross-site links connect them, and further routes extend around and above the buildings. The ambition is a dense network with several paths through it, carrying the street's role as shared space beyond a single ground plane.

Steps 01 and 02 of the design sequence, highlighting selected buildings and introducing translucent volumes within the existing neighbourhood — 01–02 / Establishing the field
The first studies distinguish selected volumes within the existing fabric, then introduce additional vertical elements.

Steps 03 and 04 showing cross-site routes and multiple connections between vertical volumes — 03–04 / Connecting the volumes
Routes begin to cross the site and link the buildings at different heights. Connection becomes part of the organisation of the proposal.

Steps 05 and 06 showing looping connections around the buildings and an additional upper network — 05–06 / Extending the network
Looping routes extend the earlier connections, forming a layered system of movement and shared space.

03 / Streets across levels

Give each level a part in public life.

The exploded drawing distinguishes three parts: the renovation layer, the street layer, and the interconnected layer above. Together, they connect the existing neighbourhood with new residential volumes and elevated routes. The section tests this idea inside a building, placing smaller shared spaces beside homes and circulation. Public life is distributed through the proposal rather than concentrated in one central room.

Exploded axonometric separating the upper interconnected routes, the street layer among residential buildings, and the renovation layer at ground level — Three layers / One connected neighbourhood
Separating the layers makes their relationships legible: the ground-level intervention, the streets between buildings, and the network above them.

Colour-coded sectional perspective of a residential building with small communal rooms, planted terraces, and activities at different levels — Within the building / Shared spaces beside homes
The section places public activities at several heights. Terraces and small rooms create intervals along the building's circulation.

04 / Places along the way

Give people reasons to stop along the route.

A network needs more than connections. The programme studies introduce places for planting, leisure, community services, sport, and study alongside residential spaces. Their different arrangements explore how small activities might fit into the larger system. The plans then bring these possibilities back into relation with routes, cores, and planted spaces, turning a circulation idea into a set of places to occupy.

Catalogue of thirty spatial studies grouped into residential, greenery, leisure, community service, outdoor sport, and studio activities — Activity studies / A vocabulary of small places
The catalogue explores a range of programmes and spatial arrangements. Its categories give the shared network different potential uses throughout daily life.

Two plans showing routes, building cores, planting, and small occupied spaces across the proposed street network — In plan / Routes with places to stay
Read the individual rooms and platforms together with the spaces linking them. The proposal develops the street as both a means of access and a setting for shared activity.

Home / Street / Neighbourhood

Keep everyday life connected.

Vertical Street extends the idea of the neighbourhood street through a residential framework. Its routes and small public spaces offer a way to consider density through the relationships between homes and the life around them.

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Location: Wuhan, China
Studio: Hust Architecture Studio
Instructor: Mei Jiang
Collaboration: Ruoxi Li
Recognition: Cube design_The 19th Architectural Talent Award_First Prize

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