Reviewing The Transition Of Housing Design Through The National Competitions For Chinese Cities (1950s-1990s)

Chinese Central Government organized 9 National Design Competitions for urban housing in total, from 1950s to 1990s, the period when the main housing provider was transferred from welfare system to the real estate market. The goals of these competitions were based on national housing policy and dedicated to solving national housing issues in reality with the participation of the national architects. Besides, they had performed influences through publications, exhibitions,and standard designs. The awarded schemes of these competitions followed the guide of housing policies, the housing issues in reality as well as the thoughts of the architects. They represented the housing design and concept of the period. Therefore, they will be an important approach to unfolding the development of housing design in China during this period.Based on the main housing issues and policies of the period this thesis drew the outline of each of these competitions through the following aspects, its theme, the technical and economical index, the functional scheme, the types of layout, the exterior design as well as the structure and material used by competition schemes. The thesis compared and analysed the awarded schemes between different competitions in following aspects:the design thinking—the technical and economical index, housing industrialization; the design conclusion—the plan layout, exterior design; the comparable specific schemes—with similar funtion pattern or scale. The thesis tried to draw several clues that can represent the development of Chinese urban housing from 1950s to 1990s. By these clues it is found that in the period of commodified housing the architects’creativities were mostly activated and realised. The conclusion is that relatively high economical index, loose policy and criterion, and the allocation mode of welfare housing which ensured the diversity of the subject, could provide more exploring space and provoke the creativity of the architects.This thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapters presented the meanings to national competition study and the method imployed in this thesis. Chapter two to chapter four introduced the 9 competitions through three stages of the housing system reform— the period of welfare housing, the period of commodified housing and the period of marketed commercial housing. At the end of each chapter, the corresponding competitions are compared in a few aspects. In the conclusion chapter, the transform of the urban housing design in the fifty years (from 1950s to 1990s) is stated in following aspects— the technical and economical index, the types of layout, the housing units and economy, the shape of housing unit, the housing industrialization, the accessory room allocation exterior design as well as the concept of the Comfortable-Residence.