architecture as a (beijing) duck

version 1 , polite.  there are a bird perch, a bird nest, and a bird's egg on the ground of Beijing.

version 2 , sharp architect's humor.  A guy is about to poop (CCTV building, anthropomorphic. Sorry Rem). He is looking for the toilet, but can't find it (national stadium, sorry Herzog.. but that's the shape). So he does it on the street (National theatre).

NPCA

Only here you can be undecided between spend a Sunday afternoon at the KTV (karaoke) or go to the theatre for an opera.. I finally opted for a stunning Aida, the NPCA, the bubble-shaped theatre.

re-move

Friday night, a guy moving a small police station... with policemen inside. 

the Silk Road, 3D

In any architectural competition, today, and not only here in China, about 80% of the outcome is done by the render. A lot of companies are starting to draw rough floor plans and elevations only after have reached a satisfying 3d image. The temptation is understandable, because is so easy to simply play with render engines,  and which one of the jury members would even check the so boring  and old-fashioned CAD drawings?

So here it is what is becoming the most useful tool in today's offices: the rendershop's catalog. Basically it works like a catalog of a dressmaker - the company is called, ironically, the Silk Road- although it reminds me also to the one of Barbie clothes. And it has 400 pages of stuff, shifting from fake Palladio style to Gotham city. 


How will I dress my tower today?

Beijing Zoo

Pavilions in pure soviet style at the Beijing zoo. The light comes in from the animal cages at the sides of the main space, and from the ceiling.

The Pants

CCTV building just completed, after 8 years (started in 2004), 473.000 m2.
Accommodating TV studios, offices, broadcasting and production facilities.

So they will be able to broadcast the European cup, next month!

Postcard from Hong Kong

Statistics may be not updated, or unprecise, but:

- highest population density in the world (Mong Kok district 130,000 in one square kilometer)
- longest bridge span for car and train traffic (Tsing Ma Bridge, opened May 1997, main span of 1.377 m)
- largest permanent light show in the world ( A Symphony of Lights, 13-minute long show of synchronized light and sound, performed on the existing 20 high-rises on the Hong Kong Island, since January 2004).

http://www.brandhk.gov.hk/en/xml/funfacts_main.xml

Ethnics

Ethnic minorities (recognized 56) in China.

Some days ago in a photographic set, at lunchtime in the park under our office.

Model makers

Company of model makers for architectural design.
So many workers.. I had to wait for them to go have dinner to take the picture, in order to show the models.

Their brochure mix jobs as the bird's nest stadium of Herzog and others more like a plastic for toy trains. The name of the company is "Ionic", with a roman's capital as logo.
And it all makes you think, expecially if you go there after a long and tiring and troubled design process.

Four

There are four temples in Beijing, dedicated to four nature's entities: Earth, Sky, Sun, Moon.
Chinese names are Ditan, Ritan, Tiantan, Yuetan.
They are positioned as cardinal points: north, south, east, west (in relation to the old city center - the forbidden city), inside the orthogonal city grid.

Simple, schematic, a little childish. Like an RPG game.


Temple of the Earth, Ditan Park. Today is just a squared empty space in the midde of a park, quiet and beautiful. Edge of paved area 130 mt.

Gestures... and Tai-Chi

Bruno Munari in the '60 wrote a little book called "Supplement to the Italian dictionary" which listed all the Italian gestures most commonly used while speaking. The classic " What do you want?", the "I do not care", the "It wasn't me ", etc.. All listed, analyzed, described in their movement. Personally, another not very famous master (PL.B.) has shown me that in a foreign country it is possible to say virtually everything just using three things: mimic, tonality and creativity. For example the question "Do you think it will rain tomorrow?" can 'be expressed by pointing to the sky, then at one's watch, then imitate the rain, all with an enigmatic and a little dumb face. From there on, my travels have always been a succession of combinations of basic verbs, orangutans's verses and a lot of persistence. And I did it always pretty well.

But yesterday, I had a bad struck about what I believed to be an universally valid language. My Chinese teacher was making strange gestures to indicate the concepts of "yesterday" and "tomorrow". Saying "yesterday", she was indicating in front of her, while "tomorrow" was positioned behind her, over her shoulder. Exactly the opposite of how we western people do! Then I asked for an explanation, and the answer was:

"Yesterday" is something that is past, it is known, it has been seen. So it is in front of our eyes. Instead "tomorrow" still has to come, so we don't have seen it yet: that's why it is on our back. "

Later, when she insisted on telling me that the concept of "next" is indicated pointing downwards, and for "previous" you have to point up, I haven't asked more questions.. and I realized why Munari had specified "Italian"!

But it all makes a kind of sense when you see old chinese people in the park doing some Tai-Chi exercise, and often walking backwards.
So see you soon (I point backward), for the next (I point downward) post.

Bei_SIM

In China there is no google, no youtube, no facebook. But they have made a copy for everything. For example, their google is called "baidu", and it is exactly as our google (excepts for the some contents, like Tibet or Tian'anmen) but the graphics, layout and how it works, are the same. And sometimes, better: for example, in "baidu maps" they have made a 3d model of the whole central part of the city of Beijing -something like the entire city of Milan-, all in a very fancy "Sim City" style.

In the picture, Tian'anmen square

link is

http://map.baidu.com/?newmap=1&ie=utf-8&s=s%26wd%3Dbeijing

(click on the upper right corner in the map, to activate the 3D visualization)

I will vs. you won't

The Great  Wall at Jinshanling, 120 km north-east of Beijing. But: "the strength of a wall depends of who guards it", as Gengis Kahn said before conquer his huge empire. (in the picture, mongolians where coming from the right).