Plug-In Protocol.
Longgang, Shenzhen, China
- Awards
- 2nd Prize Winner — Re:Form: New Life for Old Spaces, Buildner
How much does a building need before life can return?
An unfinished concrete frame at a Longgang intersection becomes a resource for the city. Plug-In Protocol proposes a sequence of small, reversible interventions: establish access and services, introduce a lighter frame, and let new uses occupy it over time. Completion becomes an ongoing process, shaped by the people who return to the building.
A lightweight system introduces places to move, meet, and stay within the existing concrete structure.
Begin with what is already standing.
The project starts with the concrete column-and-slab structure and its position near transit and commerce. A scaffold-like grid creates a second scale within the larger skeleton. The existing frame remains legible as new entrances, inhabited edges, and small programs bring activity back toward the street.
New uses occupy the street-facing part of the frame, allowing the proposal to begin with a limited intervention.
Give change a dependable framework.
A permanent spine consolidates circulation, utilities, HVAC, and maintenance access. A diagonal divider and a crossing route organise movement through the grid. These elements establish the basis for occupation while leaving the spaces around them open to different arrangements.
The plan brings the existing structure, new partitions, and circulation into one field. The service framework supports several possible patterns of use.
Attach, test, and reconfigure.
Dining, a pop-up market, a kitchen, exhibition space, a tea room, co-working, gardens, and housing are proposed as modular uses. They can attach to the framework in stages. Public occupation becomes a way to test the building before extending deeper into it; components can be removed or rearranged as needs change.
The presentation brings the spatial operations and component system together. Open the drawing to follow the sequence at full resolution.
Retain / Insert / Reoccupy
A building that can keep becoming.
The proposal sets a reversible system within a lasting frame, making room for repeated adjustments rather than fixing every use at the outset.
Back to the beginning ↑- Location
- Longgang, Shenzhen, China
- Studio
- International design competition — Buildner Re:Form #2
- Collaboration
- Ruoxi Li, Yi Wei Chen
- Area
- ≤ 250 m²
- Recognition
- 2nd Prize Winner — Re:Form: New Life for Old Spaces, Buildner