Hey all,

I thought I would take the re-launch of the blogging platform to re-launch this space.

I spent the summer working for an office in Hong Kong, and decided to take a bit of time off from the GSD, and stay on for an as yet undetermined amount of time. Obviously, I liked the work and the city, but it also seemed like a good opportunity to get some more work experience before returning to and then graduating from the GSD, whenever that may be. It wasn't an easy decision, but I am pretty sure it was the right one.

As to my plans for this space, it will sort of depend. Unfortunately, I can't really post much about work since a lot of the work is confidential, but I am researching for my eventual thesis, and will use this space as something of a clearinghouse for any thinking and work generated during that process. Hopefully, using this platform as a part of my research will keep me honest on both. Depending on how long I end up staying here, I would also like to use this space to document what I hope are a series of travels around China and Southeast Asia. At this point, however, that is as much an aspiration as anything. Of course, then there is also just the random stuff about living in Hong Kong that I feel could be interesting. Having now spent around 4 months here, there is a backlog of stuff I can share, so that will get worked in as I go along. Above all, I should probably just stop posting stuff to facebook, and use Archinect instead!

Anyway, I hope all this sounds like it could be interesting, and that I can make it so.

Thanks for reading,

Malls Across America View full entry

The second half of our first day in Beijing was spent touring several of Beijing's hutong neighborhoods. For those that don't know, the hutong is one of the traditional forms of courtyard housing in China. I do not know how widespread the type is, Shanghai for example has its own variation, but it... View full entry

Hey all, This is a continuation of my considerable more negative post from yesterday. Olympic host cities always struggle to find creative and profitable ways to re-use the many stadiums, arenas and complexes built for the games. The real test for a host city starts once the events have ended and... View full entry

Hey all, This is the first of a number of posts about my studio trip to Beijing at the end of February. Some will go more in depth about our project and what we did and saw, and others will be more of the "crazy things I saw in China" variety. There are a lot in that second category. This first... View full entry

The GSD and Harvard's South Asia Initiative kicked off a program of lectures and panels organized around the common theme of South Asian Urbanization Thursday with a screening and panel discussion of the documentary film Dharavi, Slum for Sale. The film explores many of the issues that surround... View full entry

It turned out to be too good to be true. It seems as if China is not planning on merging a number of cities in Guangdong Province into a single "city" of 42 million after all. I'm not sure why the "Turn the Pearl River Delta Into One" scheme was originally reported as fact, but I am not sad to... View full entry

Hello Archinect! First, an apology. It has been 2 long months since my last post. Despite strident statements about how I was going to post every day when I started, I should have realized that studio crunch time was going to get in the way. Perhaps I should have waited until the new semester to... View full entry

Synopsis: "While embezzling $14 billion from a Chinese bank for the US government, two Western bankers grab $15 million in cash for themselves. They store it in an upright bass case and wander the streets of Shanghai, waiting for their morning departure. When the more experienced of the two... View full entry

[storyboard] [urban design!] View full entry

The Museum of Fine Arts' (MFA) new Arts of Americas wing opened last weekend, and I was lucky enough to spend last Friday morning previewing the extension before it opened to the public. I received the invitation because I spent a day, about a nine months ago, helping them test the handheld... View full entry

Hey all, I thought I'd introduce myself and talk a little about my plans for the blog. So my name is Andreas. I grew up in the Boston area, and am approaching the end of my first semester at the GSD's Urban Design program. I have an M.Arch from Washington University in Saint Louis and before that... View full entry