About the project
At a Longgang intersection in Shenzhen, where subway access and commercial density converge, Plug-In Protocol treats the abandoned building not as an endpoint but as an unfinished urban resource capable of hosting new life over time.
Rather than promising a single act of completion, the project proposes a phased protocol for cumulative growth. A lightweight scaffold-like secondary grid is threaded into the existing concrete column-and-slab frame. Two spatial operations—a diagonal divider and a cross path—turn access into orientation and orientation into encounter, while a permanent service spine consolidates circulation, HVAC, utilities, and maintenance access. This minimum intervention makes the structure safe, legible, and usable while allowing it to remain visibly unfinished.
Once the spine is established, modular programs can attach, detach, and return. The street-facing phase introduces shared dining, a pop-up market, quick-service kitchen, exhibition space, tea room, co-working areas, indoor gardens, and residential units, allowing the building to be publicly tested and socially negotiated before occupation moves deeper into the frame. Components remain adaptable in form and function and can be added, removed, or reconfigured as needs change.
By setting a light, reversible system against the permanence of the existing concrete skeleton, the project offers an alternative to demolition or total completion. Architecture becomes an ongoing process of re-entry: resource-conscious, incremental, and able to evolve with public acceptance and shifting economic conditions.