News:the organisers of Beijing Design Week plan to emphasise problems with copyright in China by exhibiting an original version of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s giant Rubber Duck, which was duplicated around the country when it recently appeared in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour.
At a press conference announcing that Florentijn Hofman‘s ten-metre-high inflatable duck will appear at Beijing Design Week 2013, the event’s organising committee highlighted the proliferation of unsolicited copies that emerged in several Chinese cities including Tianjin and Wuhan last month, as well as unauthorised T-shirts and merchandise.
“We want to use the Rubber Duck case to drive an awareness programme raising the sensibility towards intellectual property rights around China,” said Wang Jun, a senior consultant to Beijing Design Week’s IP Protection Office.
Beijing Design Week will instead work with Hofman to produce and license official associated products and promises to take legal action against lookalikes.
“The Rubber Duck knows no frontiers, it doesn’t discriminate people and doesn’t have a political connotation,” says a statement on Hofman’s website.
A 16.5 metre tall version of the sculpture was shown in Hong Kong from 2 May until 9 June, attracting a reported 8,000,000 people to the area.
Hofman’s duck has appeared in over a dozen cities since it was first exhibited in 2007, including Sao Paulo, Sydney and Amsterdam. Its installation at Beijing Design Week, which takes place from 26 September to 3 October, will be its second in China.
Chinese studio Neri&Hu has unmasked the I-beams structure of the oldest steel-framed building in Shanghai to create an Italian restaurant with a raw industrial interior (+ slideshow).
Neri&Hu stripped the inside of the space, leaving exposed brickwork, peeling plaster and Victorian ceilings mouldings intact. The architects then added steel-framed partitions to create a drinks bar, a pizza bar and a series of private dining rooms.
“Stripping back the strata of finishes that have built up after years of renovations, the design concept celebrates the beauty of the bare structural elements,” say the architects.
The main dining area is loosely modelled on a traditional marketplace, which inspired the name Mercato. The two bars are located at the centre and feature industrial steel shelving and reclaimed timber canopies, while glass lamps hang over tables like street lights.
Banquette seating runs through one section of the restaurant, which the architects built using wood found onsite and tubular steel frames.
The three private dining rooms are surrounded by an amalgamation of materials that includes antique mirrors, blackboards, metal mesh, recycled wood, raw steel and textured glass.
“Constantly playing the new against the old, [our] design is a reflection of the complex identity of not only the historical Bund, but of Shanghai at large,” says the studio.
The entrance to the restaurant is a sliding metal gate with words spelled out between its horizontal bars.
Mercato is one of six restaurants at Three on the Bund, a department store along the river in central Shanghai, and it is run by French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
Neri&Hu puts the “industrial” back in three Michelin star dining and refined interior at Mercato.
Situated within the prestigious Three on the Bund, Mercato is renowned chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s newest culinary destination in Shanghai, the first of which to serve up an upscale yet rustic Italian fare. Neri&Hu’s design for the 1,000 square metre restaurant draws not only from the chef’s culinary vision but also from the rich historical context of its locale, harkening to early 1900s Shanghai, when the Bund was a bustling industrial hub.
Stripping back the strata of finishes that have built up after years of renovations, the design concept celebrates the beauty of the bare structural elements. Three on the Bund was the first building in Shanghai to be built out of steel, and the architects’ decision to reveal the original steel columns pays homage to this extraordinary feat. Against the textured backdrop of the existing brickwork, concrete, plaster and mouldings, new insertions are clearly demarcated. Constantly playing the new against the old, Neri&Hu’s design is a reflection of the complex identity of not only the historical Bund, but of Shanghai at large.
Coming off the lift, one notices immediately the Victorian plaster ceilings above, its gorgeous aged patina juxtaposed against raw steel insertions: a series of lockers along the wall, a sliding metal gate threshold, and the suspended rail from which a collection of eclectic glass bulbs hang—the opulence of old Shanghai coinciding with a grittier side.
Making reference to the restaurant’s name, the vibrant atmosphere inside the main dining space recalls a street side marketplace, featuring at its centre the Bar and the Pizza Bar, both encased in steel mesh and wire glass boxes with recycled wood canopies. Above, a network of tube steel members, inspired by old-time butcher’s rails, intertwine with the exposed ductwork and form a system for hanging both shelving and lighting. Like a deconstructed sofa, the banquettes along the edge of the dining area are made from wood salvaged on site and embedded into a metal frame.
The private dining rooms are also featured in the space as metal-framed enclosures, infilled with panels of varying materials: reclaimed wood, natural steel, antique mirror, metal mesh and chalk board. A band of textured glass along the top edge of each PDR affords some transparency, while sliding doors between each room provide maximum flexibility. This language continues into the corridor between the kitchen and dining area, where a back lit wall of textured glass panels – inspired by old warehouse windows – encourages interaction between the chef and his patrons.
Diners seated along the edges of the room experience a different sort of ambiance. To bring lightness into the space, the perimeter represents an in-between zone: between interior and exterior, between architecture and landscape, between the domestic and the urban. Clad in white travertine, the walls here act as a temporary departure from the other rich textures and palettes. The focus here is simply the breathtaking views of the Bund beyond, drawing the far reaches of the city into the dining space itself.
News: Italian furniture brand Kartell has announced that it will launch 50 flagship stores across China in the next five years.
Kartell has partnered with Chinese luxury goods company Gold Bond Enterprises, which is helping to manage Kartell’s rapid expansion in the country.
The first store opened in Beijing on 30 May and was designed by Kartell’s artistic director, Ferruccio Laviani, to “emphasize the quality, high design content, richness of materials and glamour associated with the brand.” New stores are scheduled to open in Shanghai and Chengdu over the summer.
“China, because of its size, importance and the complexity as a market required a targeted and wide-ranging plan,” said president and managing director of Kartell Claudio Luti, adding that the partnership with the Chinese company would help to “achieve concrete results in both the residential and the contract areas.”
President and managing director of Kartell Claudio Luti
Kartell in China – 50 single brand stores in 5 years
Kartell announces an intense schedule of single-brand store openings: 50 flagship stores over 5 years in the biggest centres of the Chinese market. The announcement marks the beginning of a partnership with Gold Bond Enterprises, a leader in the Chinese luxury sector. The first city to see the partnership take form is Beijing, where the Kartell flagship store and showroom opened on Thursday, 30 May 2013, in the Sanlitun Village. Summer openings are planned for Shanghai and Chengdu.
Milan, 14 June 2013 – Kartell is pleased to announce that it recently inaugurated its first single-brand store on Thursday, 30 May 2013 in Sanlitun Village as part of the agreement with the Chinese company, Gold Bond Enterprises.
The Beijing flagship store is the first to have a new luxury look designed by Ferruccio Laviani exclusively for Kartell. The design was created specifically to emphasize the quality, high design content, richness of materials, and glamour associated with the brand. Architects, clients and contractors will also be able to see the entire collection in the nearby 400 square-metre showroom.
The Beijing flagship store is only the first of a long series, and by summer 2013 there will be two more openings in Shanghai (at the APM department store, opening soon, and at the Kerry Center) and one in Chengdu at the ICF Mall.
According to Claudio Luti, President and Managing Director of Kartell, “China, because of its size, importance and the complexity as a market required a targeted and wide-ranging plan. That is why we decided to join forces with a Chinese company, a leader in the luxury sector, such as Gold Bond Enterprises, with a 10-year agreement which will allow us to enter this market with the best approach. The GB Kart Ltd. is the result of the joint venture and will represent our brand and distribute Kartell products (rigorously Made in Italy). We are confident that through these synergies we will achieve concrete results in both the residential and the contract areas.”
Linda Lin, President of Gold Bond Enterprises, adds “Gold Bond Enterprises Ltd. and Kartell have combined their experience and created GB Kart Ltd. which will develop a single brand retail plan together with Kartell and will distribute its products exclusively in China.” Thanks to Linda Hong Lin’s extensive experience in distribution and Claudio Luti’s continuous design research, this joint venture is an important step in introducing Kartell’s iconic and glamour design to the Chinese market. And it will offer a unique experience to Chinese consumers who are always on the lookout for the latest in Italian excellence.
About Kartell
A leading design company, founded by Giulio Castelli in Milan in 1949, and today under the leadership of Claudio Luti, Kartell is one of the companies that has symbolised Made in Italy design for over 60 years. A success story told through an incredible series of products: lamps, furniture, accessories, and interior design items made of plastic which have become part of the domestic landscape if not veritable icons of contemporary design. Today Kartell has a sales network with 120 single brand stores, 200 shops-in-shop and more than 2500 retailers throughout the world.
About Gold Bond Enterprises
Gold Bond Enterprises Ltd was born out of the passion for style and design. The Chinese company established and headed by Linda Hong Lin since 1993 is a leader in the luxury goods sector with a long line of successes in positioning and development of various prestigious Made in Italy brands in a highly competitive market such as the Chinese one. The mission of Gold Bond Enterprises Ltd. has always been to select the companies representing Italian excellence and to make them an integral part of the life of Chinese consumers who are keen for the latest, for elegance and for style. Gold Bond Enterprises Ltd. now has 10 of the most prestigious Italian brands and a sales network of about 130 direct single brand stores in China and Hong Kong.
Ma Yansong of Chinese studio MAD is exhibiting architectural models and sculptures in a Beijing courtyard to illustrate his vision for a future city inspired by nature and shaped by human emotion (+ slideshow).
The exhibition centres around an architectural model of Shanshui City, a new urban development proposed by MAD for Guiyang, China. Inspired by a concept first developed in the 1980s by Chinese scientists, the city is named after the Chinese words for mountains and water and is intended as a model of how cities and their inhabitants can reconnect with the natural world.
In an accompanying book, Ma Yansong explains: “The city of the future development will be shifted from the pursuit of material civilisation to the pursuit of nature. This is what happens after human beings experience industrial civilisation at the expense of the natural environment.”
Ma Yansong’s “Shanshui City” Book Launch and Exhibition Held in Beijing
On June 6, 2013, Ma Yansong’s “Shanshui City” exhibition officially opened; the exhibition is displayed in a Qing Dynasty courtyard garden at Wu Hao in Beijing. More than twenty architectural models and works of art are scattered around the ancient courtyard. Among rocks, screen walls, bamboo groves, pools of water and beneath the sky, the scale of each piece varies and collectively they form a futuristic utopian urban landscape.
The pieces on display range from a fish tank to the conceptual model of the “Shanshui City” which represents a proposal of hundreds of thousands of square metres in size. All the pieces exhibited express the sentiment of humans towards nature and depict the “Shanshui City” as the social ideal of the future. The newly issued book “Shanshui City” – released simultaneously with the exhibition – is an important turning point for Ma Yansong’s ten years of architectural practice and theory.
In the book, he says: “The city of the future development will be shifted from the pursuit of material civilisation to the pursuit of nature. This is what happens after human beings experience industrial civilisation at the expense of the natural environment. The emotional harmonious relationship between nature and man will be rebuilt upon the ‘Shanshui City.'” This small brochure illustrates the young Chinese architect’s ideals concerning futuristic habitation. “It would be a great pity if the vigorous urbanisation could not breed new urban civilisation and ideal.”
Fake Hills
The famous Chinese scientist Qian Xuesen proposed the concept of “Shanshui City” in the 1980s. In view of the emerging large-scale cement construction, he put forward a new model of urban development based on Chinese Shanshui spirit, which was meant to allow people to “stay out of nature and return to nature.”
However, this idealistic urban concept was not put into practice. As the world’s largest manufacturing base, a large number of soulless “shelf cities” appeared in contemporary China due to the lack of cultural spirit.
Qian Xuesen pointed out that modern cities’ worship of power and capital leads to maximisation and utilitarianism. “Buildings in cities should not become living machines. Even the most powerful technology and tools can never endow the city with a soul.”
To Ma Yansong, Shanshui does not just refer to nature; it is also the individual’s emotional response to the surrounding world. “Shanshui City” is a combination of city density, functionality and the artistic conception of natural landscape. It aims at composing a future city that takes human spirit and emotion at their cores.
In the opening forum of “Shanshui City,” a round-table dialogue was held with the participation of Liu Xiaochun, Li Xianting, Bao Pao, Wang Mingxian, Jin Qiuye and Ma Yansong, leading to be, undoubtedly, a historic moment. Perhaps the “Shanshui City” ideology is the very progress that China’s urbanisation can contribute to the world.
Après son incroyable timelapse Traffic in Vietnam, le photographe Rob Whitworth nous propose de découvrir de la même façon Shanghai, ville fourmillante aux 4 000 gratte-ciels. Une superbe création réalisée en collaboration avec JT Singh et produite par A ThrillingCities à découvrir dans la suite.
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News: construction has started on a mixed-use development by Danish studio Schmidt Hammer Lassen on the former site of the 2010 Shanghai Expo.
The 50,000-square-metre Green Valley project is located next to the red Chinese pavilion and will feature shops, offices and restaurants.
Two major buildings will be located on each side of a central courtyard of greenery and water, with each featuring hanging gardens in its atrium.
“It will be a green, sustainable landmark for the city and for the entire region,” said Kristian Lars Ahlmark, partner at Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, which has offices in Shanghai as well as Aarhus and Copenhagen.
Green Valley, which is expected to be completed in 2015, is one of four projects across Shanghai designed by the same architects, all of which are redevelopments of the former industrial sites along the riverfront.
On 30 May 2013, Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, East China Architecture and Design Institute, and Shanghai Expo Construction Development Company celebrated the ground breaking for, and start of construction of, the new Green Valley project on the site of the former 2010 Shanghai Expo.
Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects won the international competition in 2012 to design the 50,000-square-metre project located immediately next to the iconic Chinese pavilion. The Green Valley development will become a new central urban development in Shanghai, integrating new sustainable solutions in both the urban design and the individual buildings on the site.
The Shanghai World Expo in 2010 placed emphasis on the future sustainable development of the formal industrial dockyard area of the city. The Expo event itself transformed this area into a new destination for the city. What remains after the Expo event is over and most of the pavilions are torn down is a strong and well-developed infrastructure with green parks, promenades and cultural attractions. The Green Valley project will mark the heart of the new permanent development of the site.
“The new Green Valley development, with offices, shops and restaurants, will become a new destination not only for the main users of the area but for people from Shanghai in general,” explained Kristian Lars Ahlmark, partner and project responsible at Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects. “It will be a green, sustainable landmark for the city and for the entire region. It is a great honour to be part of this development on such a prominent site.”
A central open space composed of greenery, water and a soft landscape runs through the middle of the site. It functions as the spine of the Green Valley. This open space splits the site equally into two, with two major buildings located on each side. The buildings have a large, connected structure, tightly choreographed to set a new scene for urban life. It will act as a guiding element in the development of the entire area.
The buildings are designed to offer modern office facilities with a high standard of finish, flexibility, consideration of environmental issues, and low operating costs. The design expresses openness and accessibility, with a strong identity. The green hanging gardens inside the open atriums will be visible from the surrounding areas, and the people working in the buildings will be offered a great view to the greenery and city beyond.
“The project is designed so that, despite the monumental scale of the site, it relates to the human scale in the public spaces, giving a diverse, vibrant and inclusive community,” said Chris Hardie, associate partner and head of Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects’ Shanghai office.
The Green Valley is just one of four major projects currently being designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects in the centre of Shanghai. All the projects relate to the redevelopment of the former industrial areas along the riverfront, and build on the studio’s celebrated track record in regenerating a number of prominent waterfront sites in major cities throughout Scandinavia. In Shanghai, the studio is designing the new Xuhui Binjiang Performance Arts Centre, is working on a redevelopment of a former coal storage building which will become a new art gallery and museum for an international art dealer, and has recently been appointed to design a pavilion for the West Bund International Biennale of Art and Architecture, alongside architects Atelier Deshaus, Atelier BowWow and Pritzker prize winner Wang Shu.
The Green Valley development is expected to be completed in 2015.
Lead design architect: Schmidt Hammer Lassen architects Local architect: ECADI (East China Architecture and Design Institute) Client: Shanghai EXPO Construction Development Co. Ltd. Area: 50,000 m² Competition: 2012, 1st prize in invited international competition Status: Construction period 2013 – 2015
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