SOM©MIR renderings

Modern urban living, commerce and tourism are a part of the new multi-district redevelopment plans for Nanjing’s Yangtze Redevelopment. Selected by Beijing based MCC Real Estate Company, SOM has imagined a scheme that will create a new area of neighborhoods, shopping districts and corporate skyscrapers embodying a new identity for Nanjing and a mixed-use cityscape for its people.

SOM Director Douglas Voigt said, “The core concept of the SOM plan for Nanjing Xiaguan is making connections. Connecting the city to the river. Connecting the best of urban living to nature. Connecting under–utilized land to value creation that will increase growth, tourism and prosperity. Connecting Nanjing’s rich heritage with China’s rising economy.”

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Courtesy of UnSangDong Architects

Designed for the ShangHai Industrial Pavilion, UnSangDong Architects imagined the Korean Corporate Pavilion coinciding along the subjects of green city and green life. It is named Communi-Imagination and it holds the introspection of environment together with innovation of technology. Korea got over the unfortunate situation of the Korean War which didn’t seem to be possible and has achieved unimaginable development and innovation. This space represents technology and spirit of Korean enterprises which is the main agent of these accomplishments. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of gmp Architekten

Following their success in winning first prize in an international competition, the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) have been commissioned to realize a tower block complex of ten buildings in Nanjing. The design by gmp is for a financial enterprise center on a site of about 80,000 square meters in this large eastern Chinese metropolis. The above ground gross floor space of the 120 to 200 meter high tower blocks will be about 500,000 square meters. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of The XSS

Architects: The XSS
Location: Hong Kong, China
Project Area: 230 sqm
Photographs: Courtesy of The XSS

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Courtesy of Ying chee Chui

’1K house’ was a design studio in the Department of Architecture, MIT in 2009 co-taught by Professor Yung Ho Chang, Chairman of Department of Architecture, MIT, Professor Tony Ciochetti, Chairman of Center for Real Estate, MIT, and Professor Dennis Shelden, Department of Architecture, MIT. It is a project designed for the rural poor in the earthquake area, Sichuan, China who lost their home during the seismic disaster in 2008. The Pinwheel house is the selected project to be built in China and it became the first built project, by architect, Ying chee Chui, an MArch’11 student at MIT, in summer 2010.

As MIT’s first low cost housing prototype, this project set the stage for the importance of low-cost developments for locations around the globe that have had natural disasters that are beyond society’s control. By reaching out, architects everywhere can take advantage of opportunities such as theses to help a society recover and rebuild. More information on the project after the break. read more »

Courtesy of Serie Architects

Serie Architects has been awarded first prize by the competition Technical Committee for the Wuxi Xishan Civic Centre in China. Serie saw off strong competition from a high-powered international shortlist which included NihonSekkei, GMP Architekten, AS Architecture-Studio, and Arte Charpentier.

The scheme is oriented around a large public plaza which is intended to form the centre of public life and expression within the Civic Centre. This unadorned open space hosts public gatherings and events, government displays and temporary exhibitions. The importance of symmetry within the composition of the plan is expressed in the strong axial relationship to the main entrance. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of MAPA

Architects: MAPA
Location: Shenzhen, China
Project Team: Hoo Khuen Hin (Leader), Lim Ching Tung, Armando Atiencio, Ma Wei, Wu Xijia, Gao Chunyang, Liu Changxin
Client: Shenzhen Zhonghe Industry
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 160,000 sqm (Total GFA)
Photographs: Courtesy of MAPA

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Courtesy of Atelier 11

Architects: Atelier 11
Location: Beijing, China
Design Director: Xu Lei
Design Team: Ding Liqun, Gao Qinglei, Liu Heng, An Peng
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 51,199 sqm
Photographs: Courtesy of Atelier 11

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Courtesy of Yaohua Wang, Scott Chung, Qing Cao, & Lennard Ong

A wall is a binary condition: in/out, old/new, here/there. Blurry Wall, a proposal for a culture complex in Nanjing, China is a project that confuses these distinctions through conflicting bodily sensations. The intention of team members, Yaohua Wang, Scott Chung, Qing Cao, and Lennard Ong, is to tune the architecture into an instrument that channels the different urban energies flowing through it, blurring the boundaries between them. More images and project description after the break. read more »

© Brininstool, Kerwin, & Lynch

Designed by Brininstool, Kerwin, and Lynch, the Beijing Core Area Master Plan is a massive civic proposal of over 27 million square feet of building area and an additional 1.5 million square feet of public space design for the Central Business District of Beijing, China.  More images and architect’s description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of Ojanen_Chiou Architects

Ojanen_Chiou Architects shared with us their first prize winning proposal for the Kunshan Huaqiao Forum and Hotel where the city is known as the birthplace of traditional Kunqu opera, and is renowned for its unique canal townships in the Yangtze River Delta. The effort to create synergy between urban development and environmental habitat, while creating numerous layers of experience that maximize the use and enjoyment of the water’s edge, became the inspiration for the organization and form of the architecture. As the centerpiece of the entire development, the buildings seek to exemplify an adaptive, ecological and progressive spirit while retaining a strong connection to local cultural traditions. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

polder garden

The city of Jinzhou is located 430 kilometers north of Beijing in the province of Liaoning and lies 20 kilometers inland. The Jinzhou Longqiwan New Area is an urban development on the coast of the Bonzai Sea. Part of this development is a park, for which Bureau B+B is building a ‘fierljep’ polder and an information centre. This polder-garden will open during the Jinzhou World Landscape Art Exposition in 2013. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of Studio 505

Australian architects and designers Studio 505 are currently completing a series of iconic projects in a new cultural precinct in Victoria’s ‘sister state’ Jiangsu Province in China.

Located in Wujin in the Changzhou precinct, the 3.5 hectare Lotus Park has been designed to be occupied throughout the year with festivals and functions throughout the day and night. The design establishes a clear and active programme of functions and includes the W Gallery, a new museum of contemporary art and many new entertainment and restaurant venues. The themes of environmental sustainability, education, recreation and community focused arts programmes are key to the establishment and success of the park programme. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of Adrain Lo

Adrian Lo, a budding architect, shared with us his first prize winning proposal for the Tropical Architecture Design Competition for Institutes of Higher Learning. His concept, “Architoptoe,” is defined as any architecture that is designed to fit a specific “social-urban-environmental biotope”. i.e. a design through understanding a city or a macro-area as a ecological system (a natural system evolved through a set of cultural, social, economical, historical and environmental rules.) Each archi-biotope is a small-scale zone with unique events and programs that are mixed and hybridized. More images and project description after the break. read more »

Lead by principal designers Hui-Li Lee and John Wong, SWA Group  along with consulting architect Ojanen_Chiou Architects provided the winning competition proposal for the Suzhou Industrial Park Central Business District which aims to bridge old and new cultural historic heritage through the innovative design of public open space.  Providing a focal point for the Suzhou’s CBD, the park highlights its ideal location, the connection between ecological and social environments, and the unique landscape of Jinji Lake which offers a mix of urban life and waterfront activities .

Landscape Architects: SWA Group
Location: Suzhou, China
Consulting Architect: Ojanen_Chiou Architects
Drawings/Renderings: SWA Group

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Courtesy of Steven Holl Architects

The Sliced Porosity Block—the Raffles City development designed by Steven Holl Architects in Chengdu—celebrates its topping out at 123 meters. Located just south of the intersection of the First Ring Road and Ren Min Nan Road, the 3 million square feet mixed-use complex consists of five towers with offices, apartments, retail, a hotel, cafes, and restaurants. More images and complete press release after the break. read more »

© Virgile Simon Bertrand

Architects: Duccio Grassi Architects 
Location: IFC – Hong Kong, China
Client: Max Mara Fashion Group
Project Area: 157 sqm
Project Year:  2011
Photographer: Virgile Simon Bertrand

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Photo by Jose Maria Cuellar - http://www.flickr.com/photos/cuellar/

It is a known fact that larger architectural firms have been commissioned work in China for years, giants such as Steven Holl Architects and Goettsch Partners are known to have well-established satellite offices in Shanghai. Without a doubt, Chinese work has filled the void left by the less than impressive American economy, but it is only within the past decade that these projects have been extended to smaller architectural firms within the United States.

Find out how small U.S. architectural firms are profiting from China’s economic boom after the break.

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Courtesy of Design Crew for Architecture (DCA)

Yizhuang is a new city in the south-east of Beijing. At the moment, the area is only fields on which the infrastructures’ works have already started. There is a main street that will go throughout the city from north to south. This main street will be crossed by 3 main knots defining 3 main districts: an administrative district, a cultural district and an offices district. The Beijing Yizhuang Mix, designed by Design Crew for Architecture, is located in the offices district and will be the first to be built. A train station stops right in front of the plot and the line will be linking downtown Beijing to the upcoming Yizhuang city. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »