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      Ma Yansong picks six highlights from his Blueprint Beijing exhibition

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      Architect Ma Yansong, the curator of Blueprint Beijing, a feature exhibition exploring the future of the Chinese capital at the 2022 Beijing Biennial, shares six of his highlight installations from the show.

      Ma, the founding partner of Chinese architecture studio MAD, invited 20 architects and artists of different generations from around the world to present their visions for the future of the city of Beijing in a variety of mediums including architectural models, installations, photography and videos.
      Blueprint Beijing is the feature exhibition at the inaugural 2022 Beijing Biennial curated by MAD’s founding partner Ma Yansong”Blueprint Beijing is a comparative study of history and the future of Beijing and the world,” Ma told Dezeen.
      “We compiled a compendium of seminal events, people and ideologies from around the world that have vividly explored the theme of ‘the future’, such as Archigram, Oscar Niemeyer and many more, that have had a significant impact on current architects, and have influenced changes in Beijing’s urban planning in relation to major events.”
      “The works of several creators selected here traverse the dimensions of time, space and geography, and their personal creative imagination has brought distinct significance to the exhibition,” he added.

      Twenty architects and artists from around the world are invited to re-imagine the future of the cityThe exhibition also presents material taken from historic archives about eight architects and collectives that have showcased visionary ideas, as well as four Chinese science fiction films with historic significance.
      Here, Ma has selected six of his highlights from Blueprint Beijing for Dezeen:

      Restaurant Inside the Wall, by Drawing Architecture Studio, 2023
      “The Restaurant Inside the Wall installation is presented as a graphic novel, with a restaurant hidden inside the wall as the protagonist. Drawing Architecture Studio (DAS) transformed the graphic novel into a spatial experience in order to strengthen the absurd and suspenseful atmosphere of the story, by collaging and connecting the real elements of various street stalls.
      “Drawing from the observation of urban spaces in China, DAS has discovered a lot of unexpected pockets of wisdom embedded in everyday urban scenes, and roadside ‘holes in the wall’ are an example of this. This installation adds a microscopic daily footnote to the grand avant-garde urban blueprint for the future.”

      Filter City & City as a Room, by Peter Cook from Cook Haffner Architecture Platform, 2020-2022
      “In this installation, Peter Cook dissects two of his drawings – Filter City (2020) and City as a Room (2022) – into elements that concentrate on sequences.
      “Cook utilizes his signature strategy of creating concept drawings that remain connected to the built environment, while also moving towards a new future-looking ‘hybrid’, particularly interiors, that can be created from fragments of drawing and images.
      “As a result, viewers can transcend from distant observers into participants.”

      Liminal Beijing, by He Zhe, James Shen and Zang Feng from People’s Architecture Office, 2022
      “The installation of Liminal Beijing, created by People’s Architecture Office, connects the city of Beijing in different time and space. It features a knot of radiant, winding, and rotating tubes that can be interpreted as pneumatic tubes transporting documents in the 19th century or the hyperloops developed today, representing the link between the future and the past.
      “Modern life would not be possible without the hidden system of ducts that deliver heating, cooling, and clean air. Air ducts in Liminal Beijing are made visible so they can be explored and occupied, and are presented as missing fragments of space and time.”
      Photo is by Jerry ChenAstro Balloon 1969 Revisited x Feedback Space, 2008, by Wolf D Prix from Coop Himmelb(l)au, 2022 edition
      “This installation was realized by combining two of Coop Himmelb(l)au’s previous works: Heart Space – Astro Balloon in 1969 and Feedback Vibration City in 1971, which were first shown in this form at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2008.
      “The resulting installation is a cloud-like, semi-transparent and reflective floating space that translates visitors’ heartbeats into a lighting installation.
      “Throughout its practice, Coop Himmelb(l)au has presented numerous futuristic ‘architectural’ prototypes of dwellings which are responsive to the sensibilities and activities of their inhabitants.”

      Beijing In Imagination, by Wang Zigeng, 2023
      “Chinese architect Wang Zigeng illustrates two city models that were informed by visual imagery of mandalas on the floor and ceiling of the exhibition space, expressing the tension between the ideal city and the chaos of the real world — a parallel reality of both the present and the future.
      “He believes Beijing is the embodiment of ancient cosmologies and an ideal city prototype through the ritualization of urban space – the establishment of political and moral order as a highly metaphorical correspondence between human behavior and nature.”

      Pao: A Dwelling for Tokyo Nomad Women II, by Toyo Ito, 2022 Beijing edition
      “This installation explores what living means for city dwellers in a consumerist society. Even today, half of the population living in Tokyo are living alone, and having a place to sleep is all one needs. Pao is a light and temporary structure that can be dissolved in the buzz of the metropolis.
      “This is a new edition of Toyo Ito’s previous work Pao: A Dwelling for Tokyo Nomad Women. By recreating the installation in Beijing while coming out of a global pandemic, Ito hopes to provide a space for visitors to reflect on the excessive consumerism that has continued to dominate the present.”
      The Photography is by Zhu Yumeng unless otherwise stated.
      Blueprint Beijing is on show at the 2022 Beijing Biennial Architecture Section at M WOODS Hutong in Beijing until 12 March 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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      FOG Architecture transforms Beijing courtyard house into fragrance store

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      Chinese studio FOG Architecture has turned a courtyard house in Beijing into a flagship store for fragrance brand ToSummer with exposed wooden roof trusses and columns.

      Located within a 500-square-meter Siheyuan complex, the store occupies  a 280-year-old courtyard house that are common in the region.
      The store is located at a restored courtyard house in BeijingFOG Architecture renovated the building to reveal its original architecture, which features triangle-shaped timber roof trusses and series of wooden columns.
      Layers of decorations added on the structure over the years as well as some of the interior walls were removed to expose the core wooden structure of the building as well as to create an open view of the space.
      The studio exposed the wooden roof trusses and columns of the original building”We ‘skimmed’ the building to expose its ‘skeleton’,” said the studio. The resultant ‘column field’ became the visual centre of gravity of the space as well as what defines its outline.”

      “One of the challenges of the project had to do with the building’s old and new functions – more specifically, how to transform this venerable courtyard which has stood for nearly 300 years as a private residence into a commercial space that is neighbourly, communal, and all-inclusive,” it continued.
      Product display areas are arranged around the courtyardsGlass windows were installed at the storefront, inviting visitors on the street to observe the complex layout of the old courtyard house, while glass walls were used to divide the space.
      Product display areas were arranged around three courtyards of various sizes at the ground level of the complex, each connected by a bridging hallway, which the studio described as “symbol of graduating from the past to the present”.

      FOG Architecture creates kinetic display for Super Seed’s Hangzhou store

      On the first floor,  FOG Architecture remodelled the roof space to create a lounge area overlooking the building’s roofs.
      These roofs were restored with the same grey brick tiles from the original building layered in the same density.
      Grey brick tiles from the original building are restoredA rain chain was hung from the roof connecting to a hundred-year-old well of the site. The well-preserved brickwork of the well echoes the delicate crafts of the roof tiles.
      FOG Architecture was founded by Zheng Yu and Zhan Di and has offices in London, Shanghai and Chongqing.
      Previously the studio has completed flagship stores for ToSummer in Beijing and Shanghai. Other recent retail project from the studio include Super Seed’s Hangzhou store featuring kinetic display.
      The photography is by InSpace Architectural Photography.
      Project credits:
      Design team: Zou Dejing, Wu Leilei, Wang Shengqi, Tang Mo, Lei Ronghua, Jiang Lu, Huang Yingzi, Zhuang Shaokai, Sun Yuan, Zhang Xinyue, Chen Yixuan, Zheng Yining, Tao Xinwei, Cao Xiaomao, Hou Shaokai, Xiong Aijie, Khoon Choi (client representative), Zhan Di, Zheng YuProject management: Shen Qianshi (client representative)Lighting Design: Zhang Xu, Liben DesignStructural engineering Consultant: Tao Xinwei, Wang HaiboConstruction drawing: BS DesignContractor: Youlong Jinsheng

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