Eleven young architects collaborate to design high-density urban nature in China.



Photo courtesy MAD

North Zone
Atelier Manferdini (USA), BIG (Denmark), Dieguez Fridman
(Argentina), Emergent/Tom Wiscombe (USA), Hou Liang Architecture
(China), JDS (Denmark/Belgium), MAD (China), Mass Studies (Korea),
Rojkind Arquitectos (Mexico), Serie (UK/India), Sou Fujimoto Architects
(Japan).

Photo courtesy MAD
In 2008, MAD organized and invited 11 young international
architects to carry out an urban experiment to design the Huaxi city
center of Guiyang, in South Western China.
The Masterplan was developed by Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning and Design Institute, Studio 6, together with MAD.


Photo courtesy MAD

North Zone


Photo courtesy MAD

South West Zone
In the past 15 years, around 10 billion square meters of built space
has been created in the urban areas of China. In 20 years time, another
200 to 400 new cities will be built. Until now, the results of this
overwhelming urbanization have been defined by high-density, high-speed
and low-quality duplication making the urban space meaningless, crowded
and soulless.

Is there an alternative future for our cities that lies in the current social condition, where new technologies leave
the machine age behind, and where the city increasingly invades the natural space?
Based on an Eastern understanding of nature, this joint urban
experiment aims to explore whether we can use new technologies and
global ideas to reconnect the natural and man-made world.
The site of Huaxi is famous for its dramatic and beautiful
landscape, as well as a diverse mix of minority cultural inhabitants
during its history. Its future is defined by the local government’s
urban planning as a new urban centre for finance, cultural activities
and tourism.


Photo courtesy MAD


Photo courtesy MAD
MAD brought the young architects together here in the
summer of 2008, for a 3-day workshop to create an experimental urban vision for Huaxi.
Each architect provided a unique design for a single part of the
masterplan, based on their own understanding and interpretation of the
local natural and cultural elements.
The result is a series of organic individual buildings, growing from
the natural environment, and working together to produce a compound of
diverse urban activities.
In this high density urban environment,
the limits of urbanization are controlled and set by nature; the
buildings take on the dynamic topography of the site, touching the
landscape in a more interactive way. Generic verticality is replaced by
a complex taxonomy of urban activities, defined by a multiplicity of
connections, detours and short cuts. The natural and the artificial are
fused together, revealing an image of a future architecture.
The ecological method here is not just focused on saving energy;
rather, the goal is to create a new, balanced urban atmosphere which
can evoke the feeling of exploring the natural environment. The city is
no longer determined by the leftover logic of the industrial revolution
(speed, profit, efficiency) but instead follows the “fragile rules” of
nature.


Image courtesy Atelier Manferdini

Atelier Manferdini, USA


Image courtesy Atelier Manferdini

Atelier Manferdini, USA


Image courtesy BIG
BIG, Denmark


Image courtesy BIG
BIG, Denmark


Image courtesy Dieguez Fridman

Dieguez Fridman, Argentina

Image courtesy Dieguez Fridman

Dieguez Fridman, Argentina


Image courtesy Emergent

Emergent, USA


Image courtesy Emergent

Emergent, USA


Image courtesy Hou Liang

Hou Liang, China


Image courtesy Hou Liang

Hou Liang, China


Image courtesy JDS

JDS, Denmark/Belgium

Image courtesy JDS

JDS, Denmark, Belgium

Image courtesy MAD

MAD, China

Image courtesy MAD

MAD, China


Image courtesy Mass Studies

Mass Studies, Korea


Image courtesy Mass Studies

Mass Studies, Korea


Image courtesy Roykind

Roykind, Mexico


Image courtesy Rojkind

Roykind, Mexico


Image courtesy Serie

Serie, UK/Mexico


Image courtesy Serie

Serie, UK/Mexico


Image courtesy Sou Fujimoto

Sou Fujimoto, Japan


Image courtesy Sou Fujimoto

Sou Fujimoto, Japan
This collaborative experiment thus provides an alternative,
responsive model for the development of the urban centre: a man-made
symbiosis, in harmony with nature, in which people are free to develop
their own independent urban experience.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], China
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], Denmark
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], USA
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], Argentina
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]/Tom Wiscombe, USA
Hou Liang Architecture, China
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], Denmark/Belgium
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], Korea
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], Mexico
Serie, UK/India
Sou Fujimoto Architects, Japan
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