Pechino come arcipelago: La trasformazione delle danwei industriali

Observing danwei (socialist working units) in the present day means discovering an interesting urban project laboratory for contemporary Beijing. The presence of danwei in the urban tissue is still a reminder of post-1949 organisation in cities. It also offers an urban experience that can mediate between hutong and contemporary 'superblocks'. One of the main danwei features is a mixed configuration, i.e. factories, schools, gyms and workers' clubs in the same enclosure. If industrial danwei in particular are considered, they are 'urban' almost by definition, unlike European factories whose scale (with a few exceptions) is a fracture in the urban tissue. Chinese industrial heritage is therefore suitable for re-use practices dedicated to urban tissue and not so much to individual items.