Mark Magazine has its 14th issue out. Bert de Muynck | movingcities contributed to it with an article on Beijing’s Olympic Architecture. Throughout the past months the flood of article’s on the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube delivered a particularly distorted image of the impact of the Olympic Games on the Chinese capital city. Focusing on a few lesser known Olympic Stadia might put Beijing’s Olympic development in another perspective.

During the countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics the international (architectural) media has exhaustively reported on the urban development of the city. In their feeble attempts to describe what is happening and measuring the impact of the Olympics on Beijing, these media have seldom done more than what they did during the past years. Endless repetitions, pseudo-analysis and speculations pay lip service to the international starchitects working in China’s capital. The media’s obsession with the Water Cube, the Bird’s nest, CCTV, Linked Hybrid and the Egg is none less than obscene, perverse, retarded and vulgar. Recent contributions, written by ‘architectural critics’, to this evolution are From Mao to Wow! (Vanity Fair), In Changing Face of Beijing, a Look at the New China (New York Times), Secrets of the Bird’s Nest (The Guardian), Forbidden Cities (The New Yorker), Out of the Blocks (The New Yorker),…

What else can these hit-and-run articles mean than that we are facing serious problems when it comes to analyzing, describing and trying to understand architecture and urban development? Note that this is not a problem solely limited to China. We are clearly living in an era where the news-papers ‘architectural critics’ like to feed their audience with a diarrhea-meets-design discourse.

But let us not loose focus.

Basketball Stadium | Wukesong Indoor Stadium

Olympic Architecture

Overall, the Olympic Architecture goes beyond the mediocrity of the capital’s architecture, embodying a certain identity while following the logic of the economic quantum leap China is making, turning a society of producers into a society of urban consumers, where there is room for spectacles that aren’t political mass movements. At the same time, the architecture expresses a search, successful or not, for forms that are recognizable, thereby mixing tradition with technology. In the repetitive sea of housing and bland corporate towers, the new buildings are islands of amusement, competition, consumption and distraction.

full version here

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“Olympic Architecture” by Bert de Muynck
Published in Mark Magazine #14 June/July, 2008

Other publications in MARK Magazine:
A Letter from Beijing | Published in MARK Magazine #09 (July/August, 07)
An interview with Ai Weiwei (CN) | FAKE Design | Published in MARK Magazine #12 (Feb/March, 08)

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Olympic Architecture | publication

ORDOS100 | Farewell cheers with Mr. Cai and FAKE Design

ORDOS100 | getting ready to leave

ORDOS100 | passing through Ordos

ORDOS100 | Ordos elevated railway

ORDOS100 | leaving Ordos Aiport

Pictures by Mónica Carriço & Bert de Muynck | movingcities.org

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ORDOS100 | out of Ordos

Ordos Project: parallel to the ORDOS100 website, there is the Ordos Project website which frames the larger context of the creative and cultural development of the site. There we can read:

In addition to the Art Museum & ORDOS100, the Ordos project comprises of many other initiatives such as the opera house, hotel, educational institutions and soon to be built over the three phases of planning and construction.

Two of these projects are finished, the Art Museum and the Artist Studios, while the Restaurant is currently under construction. Last March, it officially broke ground, and it’s expected to be completed by October this year.

ORDOS100 site visit | arriving at Ordos Project location

ORDOS100 site | June 27, 2008

Ordos Project | Restaurant to be completed in October 2008

ORDOS100 site visit | following SAMI architects (PT) looking for their site plus interview

ORDOS100 site visit | SAMI talking with the developer Mr. Cai Jiang

Ordos Project | inside the Ordos Art Museum

Ordos Project | Masterplan model

Ordos Project | Ordos Art Museum model

Ordos Project | Ordos Opera House model

Ordos Project | Ordos Boutique Hotel model

Ordos Project | ORDOS100 Phase I models

Pictures by Mónica Carriço | movingcities.org

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ORDOS100 | site visit

At the end of these two days, one starts wondering what one has seen, what the messages were that came through. One couldn’t help that villa’s started blurring into each other, the borders between kitsch and criticality were torn down. After two days it was too early to make conclusion, as some proposal are deeply embedded into the Chinese construction reality, others seem to come from outer conceptual space. Some villa’s were tailor-made, others could be anywhere. At the end everybody was exhausted, thrilled, tired and hyper. And this gathering wasn’t even half-way.

At the end of the evening the architects who presented on the first day got their comments from the jury. Cryptic and critical messages were passed around, debated, deciphered. Some were nice, others not so nice, some were short, others lengthy. During a long night food, cigarettes and alcohol heightened the euphoria and eased the disappointment. A snapshot impression.

Ordos100 | phase II presentation | day2

Ordos100 | big models, small models

Ordos100 | phase II presentation | day2

Ordos100 architects | monitoring & mesmerizing

Ordos100 architects | commenting the comments

Pictures by Bert de Muynck & Mónica Carriço | movingcities.org

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ORDOS100 | presentation phase II

In the center of the meeting room one finalized model, featuring the 100 proposals, around which the architects gathered. All architects and models meticulously being scanned by the jurors Ai Weiwei (FAKE design), Wang Shu (chief architect Amateur Architecture Studio) and Cui Kai (chief architect of China Architecture Design and Research Group). A snapshot impression.

Ordos100 model masterplan

Ordos100 architects mesmerized by masterplan model

Ordos100 phase II presentation

Ordos100 architects cruising the corridors, monitoring the models

Ordos100 sanding, cutting, positioning

Ordos100 architects, more monitoring, more mesmerized

Pictures by Bert de Muynck & Mónica Carriço | movingcities.org

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ORDOS100 | presentation phase II

Once the plane hit the ground of Inner-Mongolia, we were put in buses, drove to the hotel, had dinner and after that the architects gathered around the big masterplan model, opened their boxes and placed their models onto the big site model. Filling up their plots and scanning other architects’ proposals, a strange euphoria filled the room. The first evening brought ORDOS100 to a first climax. The multitude of possibilities continued, the festival of forms progressed and the next days presentations would take place. An impression of the first evening with more updates to come in the coming days…

ORDOS100 phase II architects on the move

Ordos Airport

ORDOS100 | June 24, 2008

Pictures by Bert de Muynck & Mónica Carriço | movingcities.org

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ORDOS100 | conclusion phase II

JongArsitek Vol.4 | Architecture Magazine from Jakarta (click to download PDF)

Bert de Muynck | movingcities publishes “Mediocrity and the Metropolis” in JongArsitek. JongARSITEK! is a free architectural e-magazine made by some young Indonesian architects including Danny Wicaksono, whom we met in the context of ORDOS100.

Most of the articles are still in Bahasa Indonesia but the magazine is planning on making it bilingual in the next editions. A group of young urban and architectural aficionado’s, the team of JongArsitek! has nice and big plans:

This edition is a special one. Published in the time of our nations 100 years of awakening, it marks another JongArsitek!’s step towards refinement in making a free architectural publication. Though still partial, but the editorial team has decided to start making this publication in bilingual. Not just because starting this edition forward we will have contributors from other countries, but also because we want to introduce built or conceptual Indonesian architecture, and the thoughts of young Indonesian architects to the world. (text by Danny Wicaksono)

So, support, download, submit your work, proposals and writings and get in touch with them. Besides a great opportunity to get familiar with Bahasa Indonesia, JongArsitek! features the Museum of Contemporary Art (Lima, Peru) by Mexican office PRODUCTORA.

Our contribution “Mediocrity and the Metropolis” is a meditation on the Metropolis.

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Mediocrity and the Metropolis | publication

Beijing, April 2008

Bert de Muynck | movingcities publishes “Making minced meat of memory” in the MUDOT Magazine. In a series of projects dealing with ‘hutong hallucinations’ the author mixes Beijing, Rem Koolhaas, Michel Houellebecq, Ou Ning, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ai Weiwei, Simone de Beauvoir and many others into the debate on Beijing’s preservation. Prince Charles, unfortunately, launched his call to ’save the hutongs’ too late to meet the deadline of the essay.

The Question

MUDOT (magazine for urban documentation-opinion-theory) launched near the end of 2007 its call for its ‘memory, amnesia and urbanism’-issue with following set of questions;

How are memories constructed, embedded or deleted in the city? Why and how are some preserved at high cost while others are sacrificed with nary a backward glance? Lest a city wants to become a ghost town or an open-air museum, history will constantly be layered, merged and replaced by new memories and stories. Just as the relationship between the political , economic and the existing geography is in constant flux, so too are we – our lifestyles and our stories transformed. But when does intentional forgetting develop into something close to amnesia and becomes detrimental?

Beijing, April 2008

One Answer

The suffering of a society in rapid change, with the consequent psychological demand for people to endlessly adjust to an eternal present, is counteracted by a simple design objective and philosophy; in the eternal contemporary city happiness is essentially a thing of the past. Happiness can be built on demand. Training memory equals, as Nietzsche saw it, the beginning of a civilized morality. More and more one can witness a tendency, on a global scale, where memory becomes an active and destructive force, a remembrance of time gone, a contemplation of paradises that are lost.

full version here
download full version here
download MUDOT-editorial by Dr. Kai Jonas and Thomas Soehl here

Pictures by Bert de Muynck & Mónica Carriço | movingcities.org

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Making minced meat of memory | publication

Although architecture critics do not generally review sales-catalogues, The SOHO NewTown Files offers a glimpse into the strange universe where real-estate developer psychology meets architectural analysis. On the first page, one can read, “We bring the masters back down to earth. We ask them to design for the stylish middle class. Here they are constrained by budget and functionality. There are no more masters. There are no more idols. Art marries business.” There is no more future, I think, further exploring possible forms of market-led anarchistic architectural developments.

SOHO China Snapshots

Jianwai Soho | architect Riken Yamamoto

SOHO Shangdu | LAB Architecture Studio

Chaowai SOHO | Iroje Architects and Planners

Sanlitun SOHO | Kengo Kuma and Associates

Pictures by Bert de Muynck & Mónica Carriço | movingcities.org

Links

SOHO China
Riken Yamamoto
LAB Architecture Studio
Iroje Architects and Planners
Kengo Kuma and Associates

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SOHO China | publication

Ewha Campus Complex | Dominique Perrault Architecture

area around Ewha Campus Complex

view from Jongo Tower | Rafael Viñoly Architects

Pictures by Bert de Muynck | movingcities.org

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Seoul snapshots III

Areas around Sinseol-dong, Sinsa, Banpo, Dairim and Dangsan subway station | Seoul, June 6, 2008

Pictures by Bert de Muynck | movingcities.org

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Seoul snapshots II

Drive from Incheon Airport to Seoul

Area around Dongdaemun and Sinseol-dong | Seoul, June 5, 2008

Pictures by Bert de Muynck | movingcities.org

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Seoul snapshots I

Decolonizing Architecture

movingcities interviewed Alessandro Petti and Sandi Hilal on their new project, ‘Decolonizing Architecture’. Set up in collaboration with Eyal Weizman, and produced by the Haudenschild Foundation, the project attempts to use architecture as an “arena of speculation” about possible futures of Palestine.

Rather than undo the power of Israel’s architecture of occupation, the project seeks to turn it on its head, reorient and thus liberate its potential, thereby dealing with the political problem of the re-use of the architecture of exclusion, violence, and control. The transformation of the suburban single-family house of Israel’s colonial architecture may thus suggest a possible repertoire of actions for the urbanization of suburbia at large.

Decolonizing Architecture

After presenting their critically acclaimed Stateless Nation-project in the context of the Architectural Biennale di Venezia in 2003, Alessandro Petti and Sandi Hilal’s new project ‘Decolonizing Architecture’ is selected as a contribution to the upcoming Architectural Biennale di Venezia, Sept 14 - Nov 23 2008.

While in Bethlehem last March movingcities interviewed Alessandro Petti and Sandi Hilal on the ‘Decolonizing Architecture’-project, the state of the city in Palestine, the rhetoric of the process (which is feeding nothing), architecture biennials, art, occupation, the wall and their motives to do this research and design. Utopia or Dystopia? Art or Architecture?

Read full Decolonizing Architecture - An interview with Alessandro Petti and Sandi Hilal.

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Decolonizing Architecture | Interview

Line13 Superlinearity workshop presentation at TIMstudio | Beijing, May 31 2008

Workshop | analyses & conclusions

Line13 | Masterplan: Superimposing Programmatic Concepts

• Segment Analyses
• Program Analyses
• Programmatic Concepts
• Design Proposals
• Masterplan Proposals

Line13 Superlinearity project page

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Line13 Superlinearity | Presentation

Workshop | Public Presentation | May 31, 2008

Adrian Blackwell and movingcities.org are pleased to invite you to the final presentation of the LINE 13 - SUPERLINEARITY workshop*, hosted at TIM/studio in Beijing.

The workshop took place between May 26 and May 31: a group of 13 architecture students from the University of Toronto researched, worked and designed around the Northern section of Line13 (from Xierqi till Beiyuan) dealing with the topics of New Forms of Work, Productive Landscapes and Transportation Networks.

Review will start at 17h00.
The students will present their findings, analyses and conclusion,
followed by drinks/discussion.

Location: Theatre in Motion/studio, Beijing
Beixinqiao Dongsi Beidajie, Dongsi Shisi Tiao 93 A 4th Floor
中国北京东城区100007东 四十四条93 A楼四层

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*In collaboration with Xu Jian (Professor of Art History, Sichuan Polytechnic University).
*Students participating on this workshop: Gary Chien, Maya Desai, Holly Jordan, Hayley Imerman, Safora Khoylou, Esmond Lee, Timothy Lee, Antoine Morris, Mariangela Piccione, Matthew Spremulli, Sando Thordarson, Sandy Wong, Joseph Yau.

*More information about the workshop: Line13 Superlinearity project page.

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Line13 Superlinearity | Invitation

Line13 Superlinearity workshop | Beijing, May 29 2008

Workshop | day 4 of 5

Line13 Superlinearity workshop at TIMstudio | Beijing, May 30 2008

• Line13 Superlinearity project page

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Line13 Superlinearity | In work

Shangdi station | Beijing, May 29 2008

Workshop in-work presentation at TURENSCAPE | Beijing, May 29 2008

Around TURENSCAPE with Alexandro Cabrera Camprubi | Beijing, May 29 2008

TURENSCAPE Design Institute | Beijing, May 29 2008

Pictures by Bert de Muynck & Mónica Carriço | movingcities.org

• Line13 Superlinearity project page

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Line13 Superlinearity | TURENSCAPE

Introduction to the workshop by Adrian Blackwell | Beijing, May 27 2008

Introduction to movingcities by Bert de Muynck | Beijing, May 27 2008 (source: Blackwell-click to enlarge)

Moving on Line13 | Beijing, May 27 2008

Xizhimen station | Beijing, May 27 2008 (source: Blackwell-click to enlarge)

Beiyuan Subway Stop | Beijing, May 27 2008

Along Line13 | Beijing, May 27 2008

• Line13 Superlinearity project page

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Line13 Superlinearity | Intro & site visit

Beijing Line13

Between May 27 and May 31 movingcities is invited by Adrian Blackwell, Assistant Professor at Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design | University of Toronto to give a design workshop in Beijing, hosted by Theatre in Motion’s studio. We will be looking closer, through a series of fieldtrips and programmatic interventions, into the Beijing’s peri-urban condition along the Northern section of Line13.

Line13 superlinearity | from Xierqi till Beiyuan

Line13 Superlinearity

Line13 is the mobility spine that makes Beijing move. It is an elevated subway line cutting through large parts of the modern city. With Beijing’s attempts to spread its urban growth into a polycentric model, Line13 re-organizes this ambition; connecting nodes of polycentric development. Surrounding the line are zones where economical, sociological and cultural tensions co-exist.

Throughout the following week we will develop some content, analyses, fieldtrips, ideas, projects and interventions focusing on the Northern section of this line. We go beyond. Beyond the fifth ringroad. Into a territory where urban research and design can reinvent itself.

We will elaborate more in the coming days, for now, have a look at our Line13 Superlinearity project page.

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Line13 Superlinearity | Workshop

Beijing, Life on the New Frontier | April 23, 2008

movingcities publishes “Moving Cities: Life on the New Frontier” in Sarai Reader 07: Frontiers. SARAI is a programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, one of India’s leading research institutes with a commitment to critical and dissenting thought and a focus on critically expanding the horizons of the discourse on development, particularly with reference to South Asia.

SARAI READER 07: FRONTIERS

The Sarai English Readers are published once a year . Each issue is structured around a specific theme and features articles, essays, reviews & criticism, interviews and photographic essays.

Frontiers considers limits, edges, borders and margins of all kinds as the sites for declarations, occasions for conversation, arguments, debates, recounting and reflection. Our book suggests that you consider the frontier as the skin of our time and our world, and we invite you to get under the skin of contemporary experience in order to generate a series of crucial (and frequently unsettling) narrative and analytical possibilities.

For us, the frontier is a threshold waiting to be crossed, a space rife with the seductive aura of transgression. We are not talking only of actual, physical borders (though of course we are interested in literal and political borders) that are usually the residues of war, but also of the borders between different temporal registers, between languages, between different modes of action, between different bodies of thought and conviction, between the exception and the rule. Looked at this way, a border is more than a constellation of fixed markers circumscribing a domain.

Beijing, Life on the New Frontier | April 23, 2008

MOVING CITIES: LIFE ON THE NEW FRONTIER

What we witness and are mesmerized by, almost to the point that we don’t, or can’t, understand its functioning, its modus operandi that now dominates large areas of the world, is maximum mobility, a term coined by economic historian Fernand Braudel.

As artist/philosopher Manuel De Landa explains in A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History, maximum mobility is „the layer where large amounts of financial capital, for example, flowed continuously from one highly profitable area to another, defying frontiers and accelerating many historical processes.”

The two other layers, that together with maximum mobility form the three separate flows moving at different speeds through the history of the past millennium, are what Braudel terms “material life” and “accelerators of all historical time”. As defined by De Landa:

…”material life”, the know-how and traditional tools, the inherited recipes and customs, with which human beings interact with plants to generate the flow of biomass that sustains villages and towns. This body of knowledge resists innovations and hence changes very slowly, as if history barely flowed through it. (…) Next comes the world of markets and commercial life, where the flow of history becomes less viscous. Braudel calls market towns „accelerators of all historical time.

The socio-economic contours of developing countries are still determined by these three flows today. Urban and architectural development in these nations is inevitably and unavoidably intertwined with these flows. Along with the flow of financial capital, halting to circulate in some cities, or infiltrating one country after another, comes the flow of people, ideas, knowledge and styles. They halt only temporarily, as if briefly touching the ground and then taking the next leap to a different site.

Today’s problem could be that we don’t understand this temporality, and that we have not been able to get a grip on an ephemeral that lasts for a hundred years. In vain, it seems, we search for concepts and tools to deal with this; desperately we implement methods that have proven their use in the past; painfully we watch reality come into being, history unfolding, the future nervously knocking on new doors of perception.

Meanwhile the three flows move along at different speeds, forcing different trajectories and modes of development. Is there a beauty, or a method, in the madness of this inevitable movement?

Beijing, Life on the New Frontier | April 23, 2008

SARAI READER

Sarai Reader 07: Frontiers. (all contributions can be downloaded)
Moving Cities: Life on the New Frontier - Bert de Muynck | movingcities

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SARAI | publication