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"The Pritzker prize, the Nobel prize in architecture, is awarded to honor those who build works demonstrating 'durability, utility, and beauty'. This is widely accepted as the yardsticks for good building design. Sadly, many of these foreign architects' works in China display none of these." — chinadaily.com.cn
If you dig a hole deep enough... is an installation by New York architects LEVENBETTS for The Solutions, the 2011 Chengdu Arts and Design Biennial, currently running through October 30 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
The impetus for LEVENBETTS' installation was the children’s adage in America that says that if you dig a hole in the ground deep enough you will emerge on the other side of the earth in China.
— bustler.net
The showpiece is a staircase smack dab in the middle of the first-floor work room that leads to a second floor with a gaping white void painted red inside. Taranta says it's “reminiscent of a large droplet of water ready to fall from the ceiling.” Uh, yeah. If a “large droplet of water” looks exactly like a vagina. — fastcodesign.com
Imagine a city like Los Angeles disappearing from the map completely. That's exactly what happened to Chaohu, a city in eastern China's Anhui province with a similar population — about 4 million. The people have remained, but the city has vanished in an administrative sleight of hand. — npr.org
Charlie Hussey of Edinburgh-based firm Sutherland Hussey, which has 75 per cent of its work in China, believes that architects are often singled out. “Whenever ethics in China is brought up, architects are always picked on,” he says. “But we’re all trading with China. If Joe Bloggs buys a TV, he’s trading with China. Architects just deal with bigger pieces. There isn’t a single person in the UK who hasn’t traded with China”. — ft.com
Steven Holl Architects’ gigantic Sliced Porosity Block just topped out in Chengdu, China, inserting its striking neo-cavern profile into the urban grid. The large-scale, LEED Gold project is a pedestrian friendly gathering space which, while immense in size, attempts to reduce its bulk with large openings to provide code-mandated natural light to the surrounding neighborhood. — Inhabitat
The British architect Chris Wilkinson has designed and delivered one of the four tallest buildings in China, and the ninth tallest in the world. Not bad for a 65-year-old designer who had never done a tower before. The 1,439ft Guangzhou International Finance Centre is more than 400ft taller than Renzo Piano's much-heralded Shard, which is now rising slowly above London Bridge station. — independent.co.uk
Beijing is two cities. One is of power and of money. People don’t care who their neighbors are; they don’t trust you. The other city is one of desperation. — Newsweek
Beijing tells foreigners that they can understand the city, that we have the same sort of buildings: the Bird’s Nest, the CCTV tower. Officials who wear a suit and tie like you say we are the same and we can do business. But they deny us basic rights. You will see migrants’ schools... View full entry
I think most exciting thing for designers is this pure absence of design and this incredible presence of life. If you see that combination it is a very profound lesson, I would say. - Rem Koolhaas — OMAofficialchannel
Rem Koolhaas talks to camera about OMA's project in Kowloon, China known as WKCD, West Kowloon Cultural District. You can watch him speak about his 'village' concept, setting up an office on location with young Chinese staff, lessons learned from the context and his adherence to it. View full entry
My last entry was in December of 2009. I suppose I never was particularly good about updating this thing, but it seems a bit ridiculous that I couldn't be bothered to post once about the many, many things that have gone on since then. My apologies. I guess I could start by saying that the world looks like a very different place than it did back in second year. — University of Toronto (Brendan)
Steven Holl's Sifang Art Museum will be opening in Nanjing, China, in November of this year. In the mean time they have launched a pretty site with some nice alternating photographs of the building. Check it out. View full entry
And then there’s something about the building’s appearance that seems to unsettle people. Just when things got back on track after the fire, a Chinese critic published an article saying that the building’s contorted form, which frames an enormous void at its center, was modeled on a pornographic image of a naked woman on her hands and knees. The piece ignited a storm of negative press, forcing Mr. Koolhaas to issue a denial. — nytimes.com
China, which seems to complete mammoth infrastructure projects on a routine basis, has claimed another world-beater with the opening of the longest sea bridge.
The 26-mileJiaozhou Bay crossing connects the bustling port city of Qingdao, south-east of Beijing, to the industrial district of Huangdao.
— guardian.co.uk
Chicago-based architects, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, have just shared with us news that they have won the competition to design China's Wuhan Greenland Center. Press release follows... CHICAGO, June 21, 2011—Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is pleased to announce that... View full entry
A master plan by Chicago-based architecture firm Goettsch Partners has been selected as the winning scheme in the design competition for a prominent site in the new Pazhou district in Guangzhou, China. Three urban parcels form the triangular site, which is planned for seven buildings totaling 428,000 square meters. Set along the Pearl River Delta, the Pazhou district anchors the city’s expansion to the east. — bustler.net
