Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
Say the words “new Chinese architecture” and what springs to mind? Ambitious skyscrapers, soaring apartment blocks, Olympian designs in central Beijing by celebrated international architects, and the unbridled kitsch of suburban estates like Thames Town, a bizarre mock-English development near Shanghai.
But even while great - and likable - tracts of old Chinese cities continue to come tumbling down in the names of change and modernisation, the country’s up-and-coming practices are developing intelligent new forms of specifically Chinese design, even if they do draw from the west from time to time. Whatever other glamorous projects these talented young architects are beginning to scoop up, it is mostly housing for ordinary people that concerns them - that, and a desire to change the direction of Chinese architectural development, all too often a soulless juggernaut ripping the hearts from old towns and cities.
Source: guardian.co.uk – Jonathan Glancey on the new Chinese architects
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Monday, March 10th, 2008
BusinessWeek and Architectural Record will honor building and planning projects that are reshaping modern China at the second biannual “Good Design Is Good Business” China Awards in Shanghai on May 23, 2008. A jury of editors has selected 13 projects, as well as this year’s “Best Client,” innovative real-estate developer China Vanke Co., Ltd., from more than 100 entries from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, based on their use of design to achieve strategic business and civic objectives.
“This year’s winning projects reflect the growing sophistication of architecture and construction in China,” said Robert Ivy, FAIA, vice president and editorial director for McGraw-Hill Construction and editor in chief of Architectural Record, “and this year’s business winners demonstrate that good design is changing the face of China in complex larger projects and individual buildings.”
“The degree to which design projects make sense from both a functional and aesthetic perspective dictates their success,” said David Rocks, international senior editor of BusinessWeek. “These architects and clients have developed innovative venues with measureable results, spaces that yield benefits beyond being useful, but that positively affect the businesses, organizations and visitors on a daily basis.”
Winners include the architects and clients of projects that range from major new additions to a city’s urban fabric (Shanghai South Station and Beijing Finance Street), to important cultural facilities (Liangzhu Culture Museum, Dafen Art Museum, Suzhou Museum, and the Sino-French Center at Tongji University).
Source: McGraw Hill Construction
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Monday, March 3rd, 2008
China plans a city-sized monument celebrating traditional Chinese culture and centred on the birthplace of the philosopher Confucius, state media said Sunday.
The “Chinese Culture Symbolic City” in eastern Shandong province will cost at least 4.2 billion dollars and span more than 300 square kilometres (115 square miles), Xinhua news agency quoted those involved in the project as saying.
Project organisers will begin soliciting design proposals for the plan next week but already envision a memorial hall to Confucius and monuments to other memorable Chinese figures from the past.
Read more @ Xinhua: China plans ‘city’ celebrating traditional culture.
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Saturday, March 1st, 2008
The dragon at Beijing Capital International Airport came to life on Friday. Everyone who walks into the dragon-shaped Terminal 3 (T3) will see the flattery heaped upon it before it opened was no deception.
The new terminal wasn’t even half as crowded as the two older ones around noon, when this reporter walked in. No lines in front of check-in desks, no passenger running down the passages, no arguments in hushed or loud tones, No strains, at all. That’s should be good news for those traveling to and from Beijing for the Olympic Games.
The building runs for 3.25km and covers 98 hectares of floor space, the equivalent to about 170 soccer pitches.
Architect – Norman Foster
Read more @ Terminal lifts Beijing into the high-flying club – China Daily
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Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
Qingyun Ma, dean of the University of Southern California School of Architecture and former principal of the Shanghai-based architecture and land planning firm MADA s.p.a.m., has accepted his appointment to serve as a juror on the prestigious International Design Awards architecture panel.
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Monday, February 25th, 2008
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) announced that it has appointed Aedas Limited in association with Edward Cullinan Architects (ECA) to be the professional consultant for the Campus Master Plan (CMP). CUHK will conduct thorough and extensive consultation in order to formulate a comprehensive plan for the sustainable development of its campus in the coming decades. The recommendation by the Steering Committee on Campus Master Planning to appoint Aedas / Edward Cullinan was accepted by the Executive Committee of the University Council.
CUHK Appoints World-Class Architect to Chart Campus Development – CUHK.edu.hk
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Sunday, February 24th, 2008
Despite appearances to the contrary (black polo necks, black suits, black round Corbusier spectacles, black shoes offset with one luridly neon element), architects are as fashion-conscious as regular human beings. They just love a trend! Cast your eye over our skylines and it’s like flicking through Vogue - or, mostly, the shopping pages in Take a Break. First a style appears - sported by some avant-garde Isabella Blow-a-like such as Rem Koolhaas or Herzog & de Meuron - next thing you know every architect in the country’s copied it from the architectural magazines, run it up in their sweatshops and covered our high streets in it. One minute it’s edgy, next it’s your local Asda. Five years ago it was buildings shaped like wedges. Since the Gherkin, it’s all curves. Once Rafael Viñoly’s Walkie Talkie’s gone up in the City, though, all skyscrapers will have to look like electrical goods.
Heights of fashion in the world of architecture: Gehry to Koolhaas - Times Online.
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Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Shanghai, already crowded with skyscrapers built on the back of robust economic growth and financial might, will be home to the country’s tallest building in Lujiazui financial zone of Pudong New Area.
Construction on the proposed 580-m building, among the world’s tallest, will start this year, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The Shanghai Center, reportedly scheduled for completion by 2010, has been approved by the city’s development and reform commission.
Read more @ Chinadaily.com – Shanghai draws up plan for nation’s tallest building.
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Sunday, February 17th, 2008
This competition invites you stand on the shoulders of giants like Frank Gehry and gaze into the far reaches of imagination and technology. We challenge you to create the most awe inspiring architecture and landscape - to stretch the envelope of human experience and to dazzle the senses.
What we want.
Awe inspiring fusions of architecture and landscape – that simple. The emphasis is on imagination and artistic expression.
What we don’t want.
Technical marvels that are cold and devoid of artistic merit and beauty.
Deliverables - Submitting your entry
One image per entry must be uploaded prior to March 10th 2008.
Images must be 2560 x 1600 JPEG images – at least 90% JPEG quality.
Entrants must be members of CGTalk or CGSociety. The entry process will walk you through a free signup if you are not already registered.
NVArt - artspace | Architecture and Landscape
Posted in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Technology | No Comments »
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
Showcasing alternative visions for the Central Police Station compound, architects and urban planners yesterday called on the government to have a rethink before accepting the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s HK$1.8 billion facelift proposal.
Organized by Heritage Hong Kong Foundation, the exhibition showcases seven designs and two site analyses in an attempt to stimulate debate on the Hollywood Road compound’s conservation and its integration with new buildings.
The exhibition comes in the wake of the HK$1.8 billion facelift proposal the club unveiled in October and which will see the compound turned into an art and commercial site.
Read more @ The Standard
Posted in Architecture, China, Hong Kong, Urban Planning | No Comments »
