In city Kunming (Capital of Yunnan Province, China), there is an evacuation passageway which is 8m in height 8m in width totally 300m in length, connecting several sunken entrance plazas of a big underground shopping mall. This evacuation passageway, giant in volume, center of this site, should be functioned more than just an ‘evacuation tube’.
The design takes a stab at urban design through space and program as an ontological object.

Program : The three plazas are given 3 broad public programs/identities. The tunnel serves as an escape from the rigid function of the plazas and the shopping complex as well. We propose 3 sets of bicycles from respective plazas that have been misplaced into other two plazas. The bicycle program allows the architecture to perform as an urban experiment. The tunnel is fragmented into modules breaking away from the existing grid to counterbalance the linearity of the tube. These modules act as follies to interact with. Each folly serves as a canvas/capsule to embed with elements from the province. Each plaza has its own color marker. The color of each plaza is dominant till the junction after which the other’s takes over. The cyclists follow the color of their destination.

Approach : The unique dualism of the chinese context demands a dual approach to design. As a result of complex context we deviated from a single conceptual approach to a multiobjective performing architecture. We decided to cater to the immediate functional requirements of the middle class through public programs while engaging the community through a experiential and playful narrative.

This combining of play and function is achieved through architecture that is viscerally experiential and also serves as an intellectually curious ontological object. This is achieved through manipulation of traditional geometry and deconstruction of contextual elements respectively while trying to marry phenomenological approach with deconstructivism.