CATALYST --FROM SMALL ACTION TO BIG INFLUENCE --Architectural Scale Design as an Activator for Urbanism

Abstract

Planners always try to design a city from a plan in a large scale and gradually come to the scale of architecture. However, we cannot always have the chance to create a new city zone. Cities are full of memories within time. They have inherent history and the infrastructure left for them. What shall we do to influence and activate a city which already has its own urban context? As an architect and urban designer, what is the appropriate way to design architecture that has a far-reaching positive influence? I do not want to use the word "landmark", because most buildings are definitely not "landmark". However, a building can be a catalyst for the city, which means it could find a role or position to influence the vicinity. This book consists of the works by the author during the one-year program M.S.A.A.D(Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design) in the Department of Architecture, Art and Planning at Cornell University. Architecture can always be the catalyst for an urban area, just like one of my professors NHDM said: “Architecture can do everything.”