The 2010 Expo Shanghai UKTI/RIBA Architecture Workshop – aka the charette – is in full swing with six groups of around ten each tackling three sites in and around the city. Through a combination of luck and judgement the selected sites highlight very distinct but equally edgy problems thrown up by the hyperfast expansion of Shanghai – or any comparable metropolis.

Me at the charette presentation

Yesterday was mainly spent on site visits. I went with the two groups tackling a site in Qingpu, an old town nestling amongst canals and waterways 20km west of central Shanghai, which is now taking a lot of the development pressure of the region. Along with the farmland the farmers are displaced and so far they have been resettled in blocks of flats which, as the Urban Planning Bureau of Quingpu recognises, were designed for a quite alien lifestyle. The allocated site is 5 hectares of verdant, hand tended market garden on very fertile land and our group’s natural reaction was dismay at the loss of a way of life, and instant speculation about designing housing which would have cultivated, productive gardens instead of public areas with hard paving and raised beds, as the norm. Then we got to talk to one of the resettled farmers who said farming life was hard and unpredictable and things were much better with his regular state allowance. He would like a patch of ground to grow vegetables for himself, but not for selling; and he liked the hard paving which was easier to walk on. What really spells the end of a centuries old way of life is that young people are not interested in smallholdings and would rather have a job in the city. The challenge then is to design housing and other community facilities for an entirely new condition, exploring and inventing typologies other than the standard ranges of parallel six-storey blocks.

Another site is that around the disused 10th Steel Factory of Shanghai. Here the developer’s concern is how to protect the last remnants of a historic architecture while realising profit. It is clear that the neither is negotiable. People now realise how much built heritage has been irrevocably lost in the last decade and lament its loss, however proud they are of the rapid development of the city. That is of course one of the overarching concerns of our workshop, underlined by its location in a disused warehouse on the Creek. We are in a wonderful set of raw spaces that the owner, said to be the Chinese equivalent of Ridley Scott, has committed to conserve and re-use as a cultural and arts centre. Such re-use is still very rare in China, interesting contrast to the huge scale of the recycling business.

As the architects sketch and draw the people from the graphics company Crystal CG, one of the sponsors, create CAD models so that at the final presentation this evening the proposals will all be easy to visualise. So much of this event is about the confounding of preconceptions, both ways. Many of our local partners are surprised that despite the availability of virtual modelling I go shopping for plasticine and card, in hot demand at the tables. They are also surprised that the Brits in their design speculations are ignoring the Codes laid down for the sites. My own preconception reverse is a growing affection for Shanghai’s elevated roads and flyovers (can’t believe I am writing this). They leave a functioning and permeable urban space underneath. It could be made much more pedestrian friendly but the shading helps and many of the roads are so high up that quite a lot of sky remains visible. They have all been painted semi-gloss white (for the Expo I believe) and that makes a big difference to the light quality underneath. Personal transport is not going to wither away even with good public transport infrastructure. There is the germ of a new settlement between car and pedestrian here, but at real ground level there needs be an entirely new approach to buildings, circulation and pubic space. Topic for the next charette.

The public is invited to climb, sit in, walk through (and occasionally queue for) a series of site-specific installations across the Victoria & Albert Museum. The 1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces Exhibition explores the ideas and possibilities embodied in small spaces.

Each space is unique and when inhabited engages a different range of senses and emotions. To find out more about the inspiration and thinking behind each design there is a temporary display in the Architecture Exhibition Space (Room 128a). It includes all the concept models submitted by the nineteen architects for the exhibition, seven of which were chosen and built. The display is near the permanent exhibits on architecture, from the V&A + RIBA Architecture Partnership, in the adjoining Architecture Gallery (Room 128).

Entry to the installations and display in Room 128a, is free. The exhibition runs until 30 August 2010.     

Architects Build Small Spaces Exhibition

  

                                                                             

On the way from the airport the elevated road flies some 30 metres above ground over the Shanghai Expo site. A fine early introduction on Sunday to the extravaganza. Also a definite danger to traffic when the very obliging taxi driver cheerfully ignored the two hundred metre tail back he instigated to indulge happy snappy UK architects craning out of the window, checking out the corten fort of the Australian Pavilion or the aluminium coil of the Danish one. The resplendently red Chinese pavilion towers over everything.

Shanghai

Following an open invitation 13 British architectural practices of different sizes have joined this joint UKTI/RIBA trade mission to explore the possibilities of working in China. The ideas came out of an RIBA seminar at Beijing during the 2008 Olympics on the topic of sustainable cities, the title translating back elegantly from Chinese as ‘Cities for Future Fulfilment’. Carma Elliot the British Consul General in Shanghai was impressed and offered help. We expanded it beyond a trade mission to include a one day design workshop: taking three real sites in and around Shanghai and making proposals for them, working in six group each with 2-3 of the RIBA ‘missioners’ as they are called, and 6-7 local architects, planners and engineers. The day after the workshop the practices will meet potential clients who have shown interest and will also make a 3 minute presentation to a larger group of people in regeneration and development. Through the workshop and preparation for it they will have had an intense introduction to the Shanghai scene, which should help communications.

Of course a venture like this by itself will not help much with the drop in UK architects work prospects. It has to be part of a larger project of expanding the market, embracing the opportunities of a globalised economy. A significant expansion of the market should help the UK profession as a whole, including those who don’t wish to, or feel they can’t, work outside the UK.

Today was allocated to a tour of the Expo in the afternoon. Like everything in urban china the scale and pace of construction is mind blowing. Staging the Expo – theme “Better City- Better Life” – has cost £40bn. The website posts daily attendance figures: 448,400 yesterday and almost 30m to date, with the event just about halfway through. With the tickets at £16 each that hardly makes a dent in the cost. More figures: in the 7 years since winning the bid 2.6 sq km were cleared along the river re-housing 18,000 families and 270 factories including a shipyard with 10,000 workers. 6 new subway lines have opened in the last two years, 4000 taxis added and 1.7 million volunteers trained to help visitors. Even not knowing all that, walking around the 5.3 sq km site on two sides of the river makes the sheer size very real.

First then to the Vanke pavilion, one of the corporate pavilions, which consists of 4 huge beautiful cones, some this way up and some that, clad in chipboard ‘tiles’ under a big framed glass canopy. Held between them is a lofty breezy plaza from which you enter the ‘halls’ each with an ecological message delivered by multi media sense-surround shows. One show is called “2049 The Possibility of Respect”. A minute into the show a giant caption asks “Is the sky to be polluted by the smog of human desires?”. Quite an exciting thought; sadly it turns out this is bad thing. But the weary European cynicism of the party cannot but be won over by the unashamed idealism of the shows aimed very much at school students. OK, there is serious mismatch between the eco messages and the reality of prevailing mode of urban expansion; but if young people in China today grow up infused with these messages they will surely show the rest of the world how to do sustainability by the thousand square kilometre and fast.

Then to the large double pavilion by Bill Dunster’s Zed Factory with its familiar cowls, PVs and grass slopes. The guide tells us that at zero carbon Bedzed in London no one has to pay gas and electricity bills. Makes you realise the connection between brand and myth. Bedzed is amazing enough as the pioneering 21^st Century example of design and construction in which complete individual and communal lifestyles were re-considered from the low carbon point of view. It does not need the myths that when exploded could undermine the larger project. In one section is the London exhibit with a witty and highly communicative travelling exhibition ‘Unpacking London’ with all the displays in open suitcases, what else?

And finally Thomas Heatherwick shows us around the literally and metaphorically, and truly moving British pavilion, the most highly visited of the Expo; 3.8 million visitors, almost 4 times what was expected. All our expectations also exceeded. The National Youth Theatre is promoting itself here today, putting on excerpts from A Midsummer Night’s Dream – but I have to come back to the hotel and write this blog and miss out on a fittingly surreal event.

The current exhibition on show at the RIBA British Architectural Library, gives an insight into the main buildings and street layout designed by John Nash, starting from Regent’s Park and continuing along to St James’ Park.

In the exhibition are images of Nash’s buildings, such as Chester Terrace and Park Crescent. All the images on display are from the collections of the British Architectural Library at the RIBA.

Walking with Nash: from Regent’s Park to St James’ Park is open until September.

Cabinet showing pictures of the construction of All Souls Church and the BBC Broadcasting House.

A cabinet containing designs for the Athenaeum Club House and the Army and Navy Club on Pall Mall.

It was an exciting and busy evening when the new Edwin Smith exhibition opened yesterday at the Chris Beetles Gallery. In front of a near-capacity crowd, talks on the life and work of Edwin Smith were given in the gallery, the first was by Robert Elwall (Assistant Director, British Architectural Library, RIBA) who gave insights into Smith’s working methods and the history behind the images in the exhibition.

Currently on display at the gallery are 55 key images from his career, all sourced from the RIBA British Architectural Library Photographs Collection. His work has been sadly overlooked in recent years, but this exhibition is another sign of a revival of interest in one of the greatest post-war British photographers of architecture and landscape. Smith’s archive is held at the Photographs Collection and many of his images can be viewed online via RIBApix.

The exhibition is now open to the public throughout the summer.

Preview night

Edwin Smith Exhibition seen from the street

The crowd for the talk on Edwin Smith

The world premiere of Eye Over Prague took place last Friday at 66 Portland Place. The film tells the moving story of Jan Kaplický’s last great project, the currently unrealised National Library in Prague. Featuring contributions by Brian Clarke, Eva Jiřičná, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Václav Havel and the team Future Systems, the film charts the controversy around the radical but popular design.

Debate after the screening of Eye Over Prague

The screening was followed by a debate to a packed hall, chaired by Deyan Sudjic, with guest speakers: architect and designer Eva Jiřičná; British artist Brian Clarke; and Irena Murray, Sir Banister Fletcher Director of the British Architectural Library. The night ended with a call by the panel for Kaplický’s last, and possibly greatest design, to be built in his homeland.

The event was part of the London Festival of Architecture. It was organised by the Czech Centre London and RIBA Trust. 

Event poster

Outside 66 Portland Place after the event finished

Here are photographs taken during the private view of the Over Here Exhibition on Tuesday 22 June. It opened to an excited crowd at the 12 Star Gallery in London and among those who were present were: Ruth Reed, President of the RIBA; Irena Murray, Sir Banister Fletcher Director of the British Architectural Library; the Czech Ambassador to the United Kingdom; and the staff of the British Architectural Library Photographs Collection who curated this exhibition.

The exhibition explores the tremendous contribution made by architects from the European Union to the shaping of London. All photographs at the exhibition are from the Photographs Collection, these and other images from the collection can be seen online at RIBApix.

The exhibition closes 9 July 2010.

Ruth Reed, President of the RIBA

Czech Ambassador to the United Kingdom

Library staff and guests

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exhibition private view

A photograph from the exhibition: Penguin Pool, London Zoo

 

 

 

RIBA Presidential candidates Richard Parnaby, Angela Brady and Roger Shrimplin put forward their manifestos for change at a hustings debate in Bath last night. A lively debate with difficult questions from members across the branch ensued. Questions included the role of CABE and RIBA; Prince Charles vs Richard Rogers and the integrity of archtiects within the planning system.

One questioner asked what inspires the candidates, to find out listen here -  http://bit.ly/bFB59E

In the final scrabble to 6th May RIBA members questioned candidates in the Oxford East seat last night. With all three main parties putting Oxford East as one of their target seats they are vying for the favour of the Oxford people.  This will be a seat to watch on election night.

Questions posed focused around how to provide housing in Oxford with the numbers in need of housing at a very high level; what might happen if Regional DevelopmentAgencies were to be abolished; the role and future of CABE; problems with the planning system; whether the private sector should adhere to minimum space and environmental standards for housing. The panel were challenged as to how they would end ‘boom and bust’.

With support from the candidates for in-house architects for Local Authorities; a need for either design standards or some way to improve design quality and an agreement that retrofitting and the carbon agenda were going to be a high priority for the next Government it was clear that the built environment is seen by the Oxford candidates at least as an election issue.

Centre for Cities released polling results from Ipsos Mori this week which showed how the urban vote might influence the outcome showing differences between struggling cities and what they termed buoyant cities. With many of our main cities sharing power between parties what might be crucial is how successful this is seen to have been working and whether the public thinks based on local experience a hung parliament might be a good thing.