SOM Foundation's latest China Fellows tackle social housing challenges at home and abroad

The SOM Foundation’s 2024 cohort of China Fellows has been revealed as Zhangxiang Dai, Wenxiao Xiang, and Xiangqing Zheng. 

They will each receive $5,000 for their separate proposals addressing this year’s theme of "Adapting Housing Strategies to Respond to New Realities."

Their solutions attempt to provide answers that will help researchers further explore different modes of multifamily housing that are responsive to the current and future needs of its occupants and society.

As expected, each overcame challenges of density, code compliance, incorporating natural light and air, "invisible rooms," and access to transportation through their proposals. Each will now have 18 months to complete their research abroad before the Foundation grants copyrights. Peter Duncan (Practice Leader at SOM, Shanghai), Wang Lin of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Sun Yimin of South China University of Technology Guangzhou comprised the jury.

Zhangxiang Dai's proposal, 'Vertical Deconstruction, Housing Equity, and Humanistic Care,' will look to examples in Japan and China to construe a better stabilizing model for youth and workforce housing while also addressing the plight of office vacancies and high density in contrast with the prevailing "status quo." Dai is an undergraduate at Chang'an University. He says: "The theme of this year’s SOM Foundation China Fellowship is very close to my inner thoughts over the years, and also responds to current issues in China."

Joining Dai was Wenxiao Xian, an undergraduate at the Hunan University School of Architecture and Planning. Her proposal 'Re-Inhabit the 'Invisible Room'' addresses the unique design challenge posed by communal spaces in collective housing. It will attempt to prove these spaces add value and are beneficial to the health and well-being of residents. Xiang will travel to four EU countries to study the concept up close, and states her own experience and "memories form the earliest and most profound impressions of the concept of my living environment" have informed her work so far.

Rounding out the cohort is Xiangqing Zheng, a current Master's student at the University of Hong Kong, with her proposal 'Adapting Housing Strategies: Temporary Construction and Code Compliance.' She will explore the role building codes play in shaping the development of public housing with a consideration of public health and environmental crises and how they spark governmental restrictions on the built environment. She explains: "This proposal is a continuation and extension of my previous study about the reflection of codes from the perspective of practice, temporary construction in the highly dense built environment, and renovation and extension utilizing light-weight materials." Zheng previously obtained a Bachelor's in Architecture from the South China University of Technology.