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When complete, the 25,000 sq ft Well Living Lab, the first scientific research centre in Asia to focus on the indoor environment, will feature a range of simulated homes and offices. The facility will make small variations to the environment – in lighting, air quality and noise levels, for example – and monitor how they affect workers’ health, happiness and productivity. The research findings will be used to change the way future buildings are designed. — The Guardian
The first Serpentine Pavilion co-commissioned and built outside the UK has opened its figurative doors in Beijing this week. Designed by JIAKUN Architects, the temporary structure is the result of a collaboration between London's Serpentine Galleries and WF CENTRAL in Beijing. First renderings... View full entry
London-based Serpentine Galleries are branching out to China and will be opening the inaugural Serpentine Pavilion Beijing this May. Announced as a collaboration with WF CENTRAL from Beijing, the new pavilion will be designed by JIAKUN Architects in the city's historic Dongcheng District, only a... View full entry
“The Guardian Art Center is a lot more than just a museum,” says Ole Scheeren, principal of the eponymous Beijing practice Büro Ole Scheeren. The german architect has just completed a major project in the heart of Beijing: the Guardian Art Center, a custom-built auction house complete with... View full entry
The first images of MUJI Hotel Shenzhen have been released, and they show that it has been built to reflect the ethos of the brand that is best-known for its minimalist homeware products. [...]
The company says the hotels have been designed to reflect “an anti-gorgeous, anti-cheap” concept. Its goal is to offer great sleep at the right price, provide a space supporting both body and mind while away from home, and connect travellers to local people and places.
— Lonely Planet
Bedroom inside the MUJI HOTEL in Shenzhen.After experimenting with houses for (strictly) dogs and (mostly) humans, Japanese lifestyle design retailer MUJI is now also entering the hospitality sector with two new branded hotels to open in Shenzhen on January 18 and in Beijing on March... View full entry
MAD Architects recently completed their massive Chaoyang Park Plaza, a 220,000 square meter, 10 building complex which draws on classic Chinese landscape paintings in its design. Completed just in time for the end of the year, this recently released set of images by acclaimed architectural... View full entry
MAD Architects looked to classic Chinese landscape paintings in designing the new Chaoyang Park Plaza, built within Beijing's central business district. Built at the southern edge of Chaoyang Park, the new 220,000 square-meter complex has a similar function to that of New York City's Central Park... View full entry
Beijing will suspend construction of major public projects in the city this winter in an effort to improve the capital’s notorious air quality, official media said on Sunday, citing the municipal commission of housing and urban-rural development.
All construction of road and water projects, as well as demolition of housing, will be banned from Nov. 15 to March 15 within the city’s six major districts and surrounding suburbs, said the Xinhua report.
— Reuters
"China is in the fourth year of a 'war on pollution,'" Reuters reports, "designed to reverse the damage done by decades of untrammelled economic growth and allay concerns that hazardous smog and widespread water and soil contamination are causing hundreds of thousands of early deaths every year." View full entry
Construction of the Zaha Hadid Architects-designed Leeza SOHO mixed-use tower in Beijing is making progress as newly released photographs document. Once the 46-story structure reaches its final height of 207 meters (679 feet) in September of this year, it will be home to the world's tallest... View full entry
Galleries often act as stagnant interior display spaces: their primary function is to host works in a relatively unobtrusive way that is artful without being ostentatious. But what about galleries that are designed to serve another purpose, as the freshly completed Roca’s Beijing Gallery in... View full entry
The Chinese capital issued its highest red fog alert for a second day on Wednesday, keeping highways closed in and around the city which is already under a smog alert after weeks of choking winter pollution.
China's weather bureau warned of visibility of less than 50 meters in some areas, leading many airports to cancel flights.
— Reuters
Air pollution is one of the most significant public health issues facing major cities around the world. Find out more here:Working indoors not enough to protect you from air pollution, according to new studyThese are the most-polluted cities in the USReducing Turin's smog with free public... View full entry
The China Philharmonic Orchestra has revealed designs by MAD Architects for a new concert hall in Beijing. The 26,587 square meter concert hall will contain 1,600 seats laid out on a series of “terraces”. Developed with acclaimed acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, who also worked on the Walt Disney... View full entry
It's rare that spectacle and nuance combine effortlessly, but an exception can be made for the lithe sculptural form of the San Shan Bridge. The bridge, which translated into English means "three mountains," will serve as a shapely conduit between Beijing and the river valleys of Zhangjiakou... View full entry
Beijing is stepping up measures to fight against smog and pollution by building a web of ventilation corridors as one of its plans to combat climate issues, according to municipal authorities.
“Ventilation corridors can improve wind flow through a city so that wind can blow away heat and pollutants, relieving urban heat island effect and air pollution,” Wang Fei, deputy head of Beijing’s urban planning committee, told Xinhua News Agency.
— CCTV America
The planned "ventilation corridors" would range from less than 80 meters to more than 500 meters wide and – hopefully – do what their name suggests, providing a conduit for wind to blow away pollutants like particulate matter.Five major corridors are planned for the Chinese capital, running... View full entry
A red alert should go into effect if there is a prediction that the air quality index will stay above 200 for more than 72 hours. The United States government rates above 200 as “very unhealthy,” and 301 to 500 as “hazardous.” At 7 p.m. Monday, the Beijing municipal reading was 253. [...]
At international climate change talks, including the ones now underway in Paris, Chinese officials have promised to curb coal use in order to address both air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.
— nytimes.com
More from Beijing:Beijing's challenges to become the center of Jing-Jin-Ji — a supercity of 130 million peopleThe tiny village library that draws Beijingers in drovesBeijing mayor says air pollution makes his city "unlivable"China considering drastic ban on coal View full entry
