宋庄，是中国乃至世界范围最大的艺术家聚集地，有来自 20 多个国家和地区的近万名艺术家在这里生活、创作。宋庄也是全世界拥有最多美术馆的地方，这个位于北京城市副中心的艺术创意小镇，在面积不到四平方公里的区域内，有数千个艺术家工作室，三十五家大中型美术馆。全球超过 80%的国家级艺术馆、博物馆都收藏和展览着来自宋庄艺术家的作品，纽约的现代艺术博物馆（MoMA）就收藏有六位宋庄艺术家的作品。

▼项目鸟瞰，aerial view of the project ©白羽

Beijing’s rapid economic transition, unique political atmosphere and immense urban growth have shaped a trajectory of prominence of art villages in its metropolitan region from the 1900s. Its origins can be traced back to Yuanmingyuan, the grounds of the Old Summer Palace in the north-east of Beijing, where artist settled from all over China celebrating a creative community and period of intense artistic exploration. After this movement ended in 1994 many collective groups were constantly replicated around this urban fringe outside of the third ring, namely Factory 798, Caochandi and Songzhuang Art District.

The latter one has seen the largest development in recent years, with more than 5,000 artists living in its grounds and 35 large and medium-sized fine arts galleries, it is certainly one of the largest gathering of contemporary artists in China if not in the world. Centered in the village around Xiaopu, in Songzhuang Town of Tongzhou District, the major factors influencing this location were escaping from the fast-paced city and pressures of modern society while living side-by-side with the local population; this odd combination of art visitors and an aging population created an interesting scenario, where each group has their own needs for public spaces.

▼街景，street view©白羽

过去，村内艺术家工作室虽然多，但大多是关门搞创作，村庄整体环境也缺乏艺术气息，这让不少慕名而来的游客有些失望。近年来，通州作为“城市副中心”，堡村最早的定义是“画家村”，艺术家和村民和谐共处。后来艺术逐渐形成产业，艺术参与社会构建，人群也越来越复杂，还应考虑政府迁入带来的公务员及家属，相关智库企业，配套服务机构等人口结构更新作用，另外，在地居住的村民仍然占有相当大的比重，原住民与诸多新生群体一起创造了一种有趣而和谐的氛围，每个群体都有自己对公共空间的理解与需求。

▼区位分析，location analysis©Crossboundaries

宋庄镇政府对小堡南街公共空间的改造，不是孤立项目，项目背景是城市副中心建设，以副中心规划和小堡艺术区规划为蓝本，选取了这个重要节点，探索和尝试“城市更新”的手段落实规划，通过政府投资改善公共环境，引导环境升级、功能升级，实现街区品质提升。本项目是宋庄艺术商业示范街的入口，也是艺术创意小镇南区中轴线上的重要节点，与小堡文化广场、印象街项目构成整体景观系统。

宋庄镇政府希望提供一个具有多功能和包容性的公共设施，于是委托 Crossboundaries 将毗邻小堡文化广场停车场的街道景观改造成一个热闹，合符民生诉求的户外社区公园。

▼改造前的空间，space before renovation©左：白羽，右：杨超英