Located in Shanghai, China, Wulumuqi Road Apartment is a project completed by SKEW Collaborative. In the re-design of this apartment, the original flat roof was partially demolished to give way to an attic. The alteration and addition of Wulumuqi Road Apartment was an interpretation of a local policy of urban beautification in Shanghai. There was a city-wide policy where pitched tiled roofs were being added to roofs of modern commune housing built in the 40s to 50s that were considered devoid of civic or traditional character. The triangulation of the roof plane was extrapolated to give shape to the ceilings, walls and staircase, where each tread and baluster was articulated to mark the ends of these triangle surfaces. This attic took reference from the vernacular form of the triangular dormer window found in the neighborhood which served as an archetypal form that was rigorously applied to this project – with all of its implications of structure, envelope and geometry. The staircase took on a similar form, where each tread and baluster was separately articulated to mark the culmination of these graduating and transformative triangle surfaces. The rest of the apartment was kept simple; the existing industrial steel windows, wooden flooring and white plaster walls were retained, in anticipation of the unfolding elements from the new attic space.
