2011 shenzhen & hong kong bi city biennale of urbanism \ architecture opens tomorrow

‘ultra light village’ invited by shenzhen’s biennale curator terence riley, five architecture practices explore their ideas through full-scale models, constructed in the public space of shenzhen’s immense civic square. the plaza has a multi-level surface and unlike permanent structures, foundations can not be excavated nor can the models be anchored directly to the ground.

in addition, each of the structures will become nomadic midway through the 2011 shenzhen & hong kong bi-city biennale of urbanism \ architecture with each of the transitory constructions being reinstalled in various parts of the city. the public intervention refers to two legendary architecture theorist’s statements — aldo rossi’s ‘teatro del mondo‘ 1980 installation and buckminster fuller’s polemic question ‘how much does your building weigh?‘.

shenzhen’s ‘ultra light(weight) village’ addresses themes of sustainability and inefficiencies of traditional construction. participating architects: amateur architecture studio, hangzhou, china; MOS, new york, USA; studio up, zagreb, croatia; clavel architectos, murcia, spain; obra architects, new york, USA; wei chun yu, changsha, china.

designboom is the principal international media sponsor and has visited civic square prior to the opening of the biennale. all of these works, once finished, will be interactive and illuminated during night. this is only a sneak preview — please stay tuned for more to come, we’ll report on the various events and lectures.

‘ultra light village’ by obra architects on shenzhen’s civic square
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‘ultra light village’ by amateur architecture studio on shenzhen’s civic square
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full scale model by amateur architecture studio
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‘ultra light village’ by amateur architecture studio
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night view
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‘ultra light village’ by wei chun yu on shenzhen’s civic square
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detail of wei chun yu’s installation
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‘ultra light village’ by wei chun yu
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shenzhen stock exchange by OMA – office for metropolitan architecture – under construction
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‘ultra light village’ by MOS on shenzhen’s civic square
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installations seen from above and detail
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studio up’s project
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‘ultra light village’ by clavel arquitectos on shenzhen’s civic square
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‘ultra light village’ by clavel arquitectos on shenzhen’s civic square – detail
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in the same venue, the work of shanghai designer, artist and sculptor mi qiu is exhibited. he welded the structure entitled ‘eudemonic: genesis- eudemonic decade’ in-situ.

the work of mi qiu. ‘eudemonic: genesis, eudemonic decade’on shenzhen’s civic square
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detail
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small size model
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shenzhen’s civic square
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the shenzhen biennale program includes more than 30 exhibitions, symposiums, panel discussions and performances. he has appointed a number of scholars, architects and artists as members of the curatorial team, including jeffrey johnson (director of china lab, columbia university), dr. tang keyang (curator of china pavilion, 12th venice architectural biennale), xiangning li (professor of theory and criticism, tongji university), qingyun ma (dean of the school of architecture, university of southern california), dr. mary ann o’donnell (research associate, college of arts, shenzhen university), jonathan solomon (acting head of the department of architecture, hong kong university), rochelle steiner (dean & professor, roski school of fine arts, university of southern california) and david van der leer (assistant curator of architecture and urban studies, guggenheim museum), among others.

about the curator
terence riley has been appointed chief curator for the 2011 SZHK biennale, he is the first international curator for the event. riley is a founding partner of k/r (keenen/ riley), an architecture studio known for its design for art museums and galleries, including the master planning of the 100 acre-site of the museum of art, design and the environment (murcia, spain) and a complex of four new museums in hangzhou, china. most recently, riley was the director of the miami art museum where he led the institution through the design phase of a major expansion; an innovative waterfront design by herzog & de meuron. before, he was the philip johnson chief curator of architecture and design at the museum of modern art, new york.  there he organized exhibitions of well-known figures including rem koolhaas and bernard tschumi, and scholarly retrospectives on ludwig mies van der rohe and frank lloyd wright.

about the shenzhen & hong kong bi-city biennale
the shenzhen & hong kong bi-city biennale of urbanism \ architecture began in 2005 as a response to the fast progress
of urbanization and architectural activities in china, particularly shenzhen and hong kong. the biennale is the first to
focus on urbanism as an ongoing theme to explore issues of the city as an active agent in contemporary culture.
the shenzhen & hong kong bi-city biennale is the only architecture biennale that broadens its focus beyond the realm
of architecture to consider urbanism and various aspects of growing cities as significant factors for international progress.

shenzhen (a city that was developed as the first special economic zone for the people’s republic of china in 1980) and hong kong are seen as international crossroads and serve as an ideal location for the focus on the dynamics between cities and architecture. based on the biennale’s concepts established by the curatorial team, the hong kong edition will work to complement the shenzhen biennale in an integrative way. the biennale in hong kong, curated by gene king and anderson lee, is now under preparation and opens in february 2012.