ABSTRACT

The lifestyle of citizens in Xiamen changes with the occurrence of urbanization and verticalization. The spatial organization within tower-like residential buildings is generally focused on individuals or small families. However, people generally had more public space which could be used for their shared interests in the vernacular housing in which they used to live. My research discovered advantages and disadvantages for both vernacular and modern housing, and proposed a new distributed public resources architectural model in an urban context to help reclaim public space while retaining the possibility of city growth. This project aims to create a more complex ecology in future city models that will enhance its capacity, humanity, and sustainability.