Building Beijing
Beijing had a huge profile this year as a result of the Olympics, but it is not just sport that has caught the headlines.
The two iconic Olympic buildings – the Water Cube and the Bird's Nest – have excited interest worldwide, not least among architects. China is fast becoming a centre for progressive contemporary architecture and the Architecture Biennial Beijing is its major chance to show off what it can do.
Curating this year's event which opened in October is Neil Leach, Professor of Architectural Theory. The Biennial brought together the work of some of the world's top schools of architecture, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Architectural Association, SCI-Arc, UCLA, ETH Zurich and Tsinghua, as well as some of the most progressive designers such as Zaha Hadid; Greg Lynn; Gehry Technologies, consultants for the Bird’s Nest; Yansong Ma, designer of the Olympic torch for the Bird’s Nest; and Chris Bosse, designer of the Water Cube. The university's own Dr Mette Ramsgard Thomsen was also included in the line-up of talented emerging architects from around the world.
Professor Leach curated an exhibition at the first Architecture Biennial Beijing in 2004, which focused on avant-garde architecture, and he was also involved in the 2006 Biennial where he curated an exhibition on emerging technologies. This year's exhibition was entitled (Im)material Processes: New Digital Techniques for Architecture. Professor Leach said that its purpose was "to showcase some of the most progressive emerging architects in the world, focusing on the innovative use of new digital techniques, specifically 'immaterial' processes, such as scripting and programming, and 'material' processes, such as 3D printing and CNC milling".
These techniques are now being used to produce what Professor Leach has termed "radically innovative architectural environments."
"A new generation of structures is being created," he said, "that recognise the potential of the computer not just as a sophisticated drafting and rendering tool, but also as a powerful tool in the generation of designs themselves." These techniques can be used to generate structurally optimised and environmentally efficient buildings.
Professor Leach added that China has changed dramatically since the first Biennial in 2004, not least in terms of its architecture. "It's like watching history in the making."
"The Biennial has had a huge impact on the buildings being designed there and is helping to mould Chinese architecture by introducing its architects to the most progressive architectural ideas in the world."
The Biennial exhibitions have proved very popular. All the world's top architecture schools want to be seen in China and to recruit students there, and talented young architects want to be exhibited there. The exhibition's catalogue, compiled by Professor Leach, gives an overview of developments in the world of architecture and highlights the huge contribution of digital technology. He commented that a complex building like the Bird's Nest could not have been designed without the latest digital modelling techniques.
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