Shenzhen is China's first Special Economic Zone（SEZ), serving as a window for China's Reform and Opening-up and an emerging immigrant city. It has evolved into an influential, modern, and international metropolis, creating the world-renowned "Shenzhen Speed" and earning the reputation of the "City of Design." Architectural design stands as the most intuitive expression of Shenzhen's spirit of integration and innovation. Over the past decade (2015-2025), the development of urban architecture in Shenzhen has closely integrated with its open and inclusive urban character, ecological advantages of being nestled between mountains and the sea, and the local spirit of blending traditional culture with innovative technology, showcasing Shenzhen's unique charm and robust vitality across multiple dimensions.
Plaza of Kanagawa Institute of Technology / junya ishigami + associates. Image Courtesy of Junya Ishigami + Associates
The American Institute of Architects (AIA), a professional organization dedicated to supporting architects and advancing the field of architecture, has announced the elevation of 93 architects to its College of Fellows. This recognition is awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions to the profession and society. This year's class includes 83 AIA member-architects and 10 international architects granted Honorary Fellowship. The newly elevated Fellows will be recognized at the AIA Conference on Architecture & Design 2025 (AIA25) in Boston.
Milan Design Week stands as one of the most important events in the global design calendar, serving not only as a showcase of innovation but also as a catalyst for critical discourse and creative exchange. This year, the event unfolds with a multitude of exhibitions, installations, and talks happening throughout Milano during the week of April 15-21, 2024. By bringing together diverse voices, perspectives, and talents, Milan Design Week becomes relevant for architects and serves as a nexus for interdisciplinary dialogue. To help you better navigate the plethora of events, conferences, and installations, this article highlights the main venues hosting activities revenant for architects and designers, from the expansive trade fair Salone del Mobile in Rho Fiera to design districts across the city and unexpected locations hidden in Palazzo courtyards or reimagined industrial heritage sites.
The Second Studio (formerly The Midnight Charette) is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by Architects David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features different creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions.
A variety of subjects are covered with honesty and humor: some episodes are interviews, while others are tips for fellow designers, reviews of buildings and other projects, or casual explorations of everyday life and design. The Second Studio is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.
This week David and Marina of FAME Architecture & Design are joined by Architects Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu, founding partners of Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, to discuss their upbringing, moving to the United States in their youth; meeting at Berkeley; studying and teaching Architecture; moving to China; starting their office together; running a multi-disciplinary office; their philosophy; and more.
Neri&Hu presented “Liminality”, a multimedia exhibition selected by Lesley Lokko, at the International Architecture Exhibition in Venice. The exhibition took place in the Dangerous Liaisons section of La Biennale di Venezia at the Arsenale. In response to Lokko’s curatorial statement, Neri&Hu’s display explored the concept of liminality, the “zone” between design practice and theoretical exploration. The display consisted of three adaptive reuse projects that represent the practice’s research in “Reflective Nostalgia, Recasting Vernacular, and Ruinophilia/Future Artifact.”
Rising living costs are relevant hurdles to young people, seeking a place to live, while much older generations might find it more difficult to settle into comfortable post-retirement settings. These general issues have been pushing forth a recurring solution, namely a return to multigenerational family living.
While communal living concepts and developments had been adopted in recent years, familial involvement is proving to be a financially, legally, and emotionally viable alternative.
Fotografiska Museum has announced its expansion to three new locations in Berlin, Shanghai and Miami, to be housed within existing buildings redesigned by Herzog & De Meuron, Neri&Hu and Rockwell Group. A former department store in Berlin's Jewish Quarter, a 1946 factory building in Miami and a historically significant warehouse complex in Shanghai are the future Fotografiska venues set for completion in 2022 and 2023. Together with the existing locations in Stockholm, Tallin and New York, these will form the world's largest private art museum in terms of size, number of locations, and exhibitions per year.
During the latest Design Indaba Festival, we have the chance to interview Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu, from Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, a Shanghai-based inter-disciplinary architectural design practice, about their work and way of thinking about architecture.
Neri&Hu has designed a distillery and brand home for China’s first whisky, in Emeishan, Sichuan, China. The Pernod Ricard Malt Whisky Distillery puts in place a timeless architecture, inspired by the site itself and its unique components, blending together whisky-making and the landscape into one holistic narrative.
Lyndon Neri (b. 1965, Philippines) graduated from Harvard and Rossana Hu (b. 1968, Taiwan) from Princeton; they met while pursuing their undergraduate degrees at the University of California at Berkeley. Before establishing Neri&Hu in 2004 in Shanghai, a prolific, multidisciplinary practice with over 100 international architects and designers, the husband-and-wife partners worked for a decade at Michael Graves & Associates in Princeton. Among their most recognized works are The Waterhouse at South Bund in Shanghai, The Walled – Tsingpu Yangzhou Retreat, and Suzhou Chapel. Apart from running an architectural practice and design studio the partners lead a retail store Design Republic and serve as creative directors of a furniture brand Stellar Works. The following is an excerpt from our candid conversation at their Shanghai office.
Neri&Hu have unveiled a new video exploring the Aranya Art Center in Qinhuangdao, China. Designed to evoke notions of space for art versus communal space, the project places a strong emphasis on the spiritual nature of the seaside community. Drawing inspiration from the seasonal ocean waters nearby, the building seeks to encapsulate the natural wonder of water.
The Aranya Art Center in Qinhuangdao, China has been completed, designed by Neri&Hu. Situated in a seaside environment, the scheme was designed to evoke notions of space for art versus communal space. Despite the straightforward brief for the art center, the scheme reaches further to become a communal space for residents in the deeply spiritual community.
Mercuric Table - Zaha Hadid x CITCO. Image Courtesy of CITCO
As the week comes to an end, Milan Design Week wraps up yet another successful year of creativity and innovation. Thousands of design companies displayed their creations to more than 200,000 visitors hailing from different countries, demographics, and career backgrounds. Although the design fair gravitated towards the world of interior design, many renowned architects participated in the week-long exhibition and joined their forces with interior and furniture design experts.
Along with the impressive collaborations that these architects created with lighting companies, take a look at how they used their expertise in forms and structures to develop unique furniture pieces.
Shanghai/London-based firm Neri&Hu has published details of their “Unfolding Village” installation, set to take center stage at the StockholmFurniture & Light Fair 2019. The exhibition, taking place in February, will see Neri&Hu depart from the traditional convention of furniture fairs, often purely focused on product design, and instead actively engage with pressing social issues unique to their base country of China.
Having recently studied the issue of disappearing villages and village cultures in China, the designers were alarmed by the impact of such a disappearance on community, family, and cultural roots. With many products centered on the ideas of nostalgia, dwelling, and “the individual’s relationship within a collective,” the firm created the “Unfolding Village” exhibition to capture the essence of traditional Chinese villages.
https://www.archdaily.com/909620/unfolding-village-exhibition-celebrates-vanishing-cultures-of-gossip-and-eavesdroppingNiall Patrick Walsh
Manufacturers: Fritz Hansen, Arne Jacobsen, Carl Hansen, Classicon, De La Espada, +13Flos, Gandia Blasco, Kvadrat, Labo, Mattiazzi, Parachilna, Roll & Hill, Serge Mouille, Stellar works, Viabizzuno, Vitra, Vola, e15-13
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