Design Anthology - Asia Pacific Edition
Future Focus
From studios in Guangzhou, Dali and Beijing, these architecture firms are reinterpreting local conditions and traditions for the contemporary context. Their work offers
but a sample of the talent emerging from China
After the initial outbreak, and despite intermittent regional flare-ups, China has proven relatively resilient to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that has so thoroughly disrupted life in many other parts of the world. For the three rising architectural studios profiled here, this context meant the past year has been defined by curtailed international travel, but more time spent on a full roster of domestic projects. Of course, China's national boundaries contain a tremendous diversity of climatic and cultural conditions for thoughtful practitioners to engage with, whether exploring new interpretations of local typologies and topographies or renewing interest in traditional building techniques. Here we present a small sample of the talent emerging across the country, with other studios to watch including Beijing's chaoffice, Shanghai's NATURALBUILD, Nanjing's Sounding Architecture and many more.
O-office Architects principals Jianxiang He and Ying Jiang say they're excited by the possibilities that China offers ‘to build in a wide range of social and spatial diversity'. Having undertaken postgraduate training in Belgium and France respectively, they founded their studio in Guangzhou in 2007. Jiang and He describe O-office's design approach as stemming from critical observation and analysis of socioeconomic conditions. ‘We like to explore and capture the unique natural, physical or spiritual characteristics of the designated site and strengthen those through our design,' says He.
The firm's portfolio suggests a curiosity and versatility spanning new builds and reinterpreted structures of various scales. Their Hongling Experimental Primary School in Shenzhen's Futian District responds to increased density requirements with a ‘micro-city that belongs to the kids' in the middle of the CBD. Embracing the site's topography, the building is excavated to bring daylight to the lower level, while novel floor plans and ‘barrel-shaped' classrooms aid both natural ventilation and flexible teaching practices.
Other projects for sites in the Pearl River Delta are as diverse as a dramatically transformed upper level of a 1960s grain silo building (2013), a prefab staff dormitory for Vanke in Dongguan (2017), a hillside courtyard house (2018), and most recently, the revival of a derelict 120-hectare tea plantation and factory in Foshan.