Sun City at Taklamakan Desert

Virtue: Faith
Painting: The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun
Artist: William Blake [1803-1805]
The painting depicts the ambiguity of good and evil. God, symbolically, blessed Mary by wrapping her in faith (a pair of wings made from sun rays), while the dove with the sun instead of the olive branch, represents peace.
Critical Thinking: The symbolism and sustainability nature of the Sun. 

Title: The Sun City
Location: The thresholds between the farmland and dessert in Xinjiang China
Function: A holiday resort of shadow, solar farms, and cactus fields with water and sun-cream production facilities.
Project Description: The Sun City aims to restore faith between the Chinese government and Uyghur Turkic ethic group in Xinjiang China, after years of tension and rebellion which resulted in the government imprisoning thousands of Uyghur into ‘re-educational camps’.

The thesis focuses on how faith in nature, alongside the employment of symbolism can initiate community cohesion and contribute to sustainable peace. Here, the sun is the protagonist and metaphor of political and economic opportunities, and simultaneously the environmental and common enemy for the Chinese government and Uyghur Turkic in the face of climate change. The Sun City, an inhabitable field, comprises a holiday resort of shade, solar farms, and cactus fields with water, silk and Sun-cream production facilities.

The masterplan demonstrates the resilience of the Uyghur community by occupying the harsh desert environment. The symbolism of peace is in the infrastructure – the dove form carrying the metaphoric sun of X number of cactus aims to protect community spirit as well as farmland from desertification. The cactus farming takes advantage of the abundance sun light, and in turn presents a new sustainable economy. The Jasmine flower is a symbol of wellbeing and faith for both communities. Jasmine is grown on hanging chandeliers in the glass spine structure of the dove. The wings of the dove, made of jasmine shaped solar collectors, presents hundreds of kilometers of shade for holiday makers concern with skin cancer caused by the ever aggressive sun. The supporting structural columns of the jasmine petals houses all the resort accommodation. Crucially, the impact of the Sun City is the sustainability of peace, and how architecture can improve China’s human-rights reputation.