2008 Jan 10 Urbane Event this Saturday: Architects Talk Chinese Cities of the Future
For those of us struggling to come to grips with the no holds barred development of our beloved capital city--or who are simply fascinated by the city's twisted, hipper-than-thou architecture scene--this Saturday promises a good healthy start to the weekend: a talk by three of the city's young architects at the Boloni furniture store, sponsored by Urbane. Not that we need an occasion to talk about Beijing's development four decades into the future, but the fact that each of them has a new book out isn't a bad reason.
Ma Yansong will talk about MAD Dinner, the first monograph on his firm MAD, one of China's most innovative firms.
Dutchman Neville Mars, formerly of Rem Koolhaas's Office of Metropolitan Architecture and the mastermind behind the Dynamic City Foundation, a sort of urban think tank, will be discussing the group's oeuvre as seen in the new book The Chinese Dream.
And OMA architect Andre Schmidt will be sharing some images from Big Bang Beijing, the book that he put together with Hiromasa Shirai (who also once worked at -- you guessed it -- OMA).
The whole thing is in collaboration with our friends at Boloni, who are hosting it at their Beijing flagship store (it's actually a "lifestyle museum," which should be a draw enough). Food, drinks, freebies, and leather couches will abound. There's even a free shuttle from the Holiday Inn Lido or the China World Hotel. Take that, ring roads!
Free. Saturday, January 12, 2008, 4-6pm, Boloni Lifestyle Museum (No. 9 Dingcheng Road, Chaoyang District / 北四环鼎成路9号, 居然之家向北100米). Rsvp to Nancy Ding at 5820 7700 ext. 853 or marketing@urbanechina.com.
Links and Sources
Urbane Website: http://www.urbanechina.com
MAD's website: http://www.i-mad.com/index2.htm
Ma Yansong Danwei interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIKij7-rjio
Speaker Neville Mars' Dynamic City Foundation: http://www.dynamiccity.org
Andre Schmidt's website http://www.andre-schmidt.de
OMA's website: www.oma.eu
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