On January 13, 2023, the finale of the 2022 First Beijing Art Biennale, "Blueprint Beijing", was unveiled at the Biennale's branch venue, M Woods Art Museum (Qianliang Hutong). The exhibition was curated by Ma Yansong and co-organized by MAD

The theme of this architectural art exhibition is "Blueprint Beijing", focusing on the theme from two dimensions: "Historical Rings, Future Fantasy". A total of 20 domestic and foreign architects/artists participated in the exhibition with works such as architectural models, installations, and images. Literature research of 8 architects (groups) and 4 imaginative film images of modern China were also exhibited at the same time. Architects from different generations and countries responded to the curator's questions about the future and Beijing, presenting the picture in everyone's mind.

This is a collective creation. Most of the works are specially made or reproduced according to local conditions. The exhibition works span regions and ages, colliding, conversing and resonating with thoughts and emotions to inspire everyone's imagination of the future of the city.

Curator Ma Yansong mentioned at the opening ceremony: "The main topic of Blueprint Beijing is the future. In today's exhibition, part of it is the familiar Beijing, and part of it is the Beijing in everyone's imagination. We have placed architects and their works who have idealistic and crazy imaginations about cities and architecture all over the world in the past 100 years in a time and space. Blueprint Beijing will open in 2023. The future must be full of imagination, full of energy, and a more open and integrated future."

Some participating artists and curators took a group photo on site

Blueprint · Beijing

Blueprint originally refers to the working tools of architects, and later metaphorically refers to historical archives and future visions. Excellent architects constantly transform reality through their thoughts and visions. Looking at the "historical blueprint" that promotes the urbanization of Beijing, just like Beijing as the capital of China, it is very Chinese and also affects the current situation and development of modern Chinese architecture. When China's urbanization development moves into a new stage, the "future fantasy" actually not only predicts Beijing but also makes people think of the future of China. The "future blueprint" that architects have had in history may also inspire us and show the relationship between the values ​​of urban development and the power of architects.

Beijing. History is composed of the imagination of the future at that time. The imagination of planners and architects about the future of Beijing in the 1950s opened up the pattern of Beijing today; the buildings that have become the background of the city now reflect the general state of Beijing in that era. When talking about cities, we often can’t escape the basic elements of life such as living, resting, entertainment, dining, and working. As architects, what we need to do is to find a new way out between the constant confrontation and tug-of-war between tradition and innovation, protection and development, local and global, individuality and group, with reflections on the past, observations and experiences of the present, and beautiful imaginations of the future.

Curator Ma Yansong's on-site tour

Sir Peter Cook, the principal architect and director of Cook Haffner Architects, created two works, Filter City and City as a Room, to explore the future of cities during the pandemic.

Sir Peter Cook, the principal architect and director of Cook Haffner Architects, exhibited works: Filter City and City as a Room

The latest generation of Astro Balloon 1969 Revisited - Feedback Space, created by Wolf de Preux of Coop Himmelb(l)au for this Beijing Art Biennale, is a cloud-shaped, translucent and reflective floating space installation. As a prototype of futuristic architectural housing, it can interact with the emotions and activities of the residents.

Coop Himmelb(l) Koeln | Wolf de Prix's exhibited work: Astro Balloon 1969 Revisited - Feedback Space

Toyo Ito's "Tokyo Nomad Girls Bag II" responds to the contemporary issue of "what is living in the current era of consumerism?"

Toyo Ito's exhibited work: Tokyo Nomad Girl Bag II

Apart from protecting and imitating the ancient city of Beijing, are there other ways? "Beijing 2050" is the response and attempt of MAD

Drawing Studio's exhibit: Riverside Restaurant

"Liminal Beijing", created by He Zhe, Shen Haien and Zang Feng of Zhongjian Architecture, connects Beijing in different time and space through interconnected pipes.

People's Architecture | Works by He Zhe, Shen Haien and Zang Feng: Liminal Beijing

Liang Chen's "Endless Tower" constructs a Sisyphus monument leading to infinity.

Liang Chen's exhibited work: Endless Tower

While setting up the "Tu Paradise", a mobile library in New York's Central Park, Wei Architecture Design Institute imagined life on Earth a hundred years later, using the "Symbiosis Plan" to provide a comfortable living space for people to travel the universe.

Works exhibited by Wei Architecture Design Institute: Symbiosis Plan and Picture Paradise

Cheng Yanchun's "Super Domino" system house attempts to fundamentally reconstruct the design and construction process of housing, creating a future living space that allows people to have a truly suitable living space for themselves.

Cheng Yanchun's exhibited work: Super Domino

Junya Ishigami's "Cave Restaurant and Residence" is a naturally generated building, just like the sediment produced by rock solidification, depicting the vision of future architecture.

Junya Ishigami's exhibited works: Cave Restaurant and Residence

Urban development cannot escape "expansion" and "abandonment". When industrial facilities have completed their tasks in urban development, what fate will they have besides being abandoned?

The New City project created by Eric Owen Moss in the 1980s set a contemporary standard for the adaptive reuse of buildings.

Eric Owen Moss's exhibited work: The New City Project

MVRDV Architecture and Planning Office proposed solutions to slow down the disorderly expansion of cities in the future through the "Greater Paris Plan: Replacing Urban Sprawl with Increased Density".

MVRDV Architects and Planning Office's exhibited work: The Greater Paris Plan: Replacing the disorderly expansion of the city with increased density

Zaha Hadid Architects "Global City" applies parametric design models to large-scale urban design with the sensitivity of architects to meet the needs of London's eastward expansion for connectivity and density.

Zaha Hadid Architects' exhibited work: Global Cities

Li Hu and Huang Wenjing of OPEN Architecture proposed two ideas, "Everyone's City" and "Second Ring Road 2049", to make Beijing better in the future, based on the "vacancies" and "congestion" phenomena in Beijing today.

OPEN Architecture | Works by Li Hu and Huang Wenjing: Second Ring Road 2049 and Everybody's City

When bicycles change from a means of transportation to a lifestyle, Chang Yung-ho of FCJZ hopes to create a "cycling city" with diversified functions and spaces.

Very Architecture | Zhang Yonghe's exhibited work: Cycling City

"Surrealistic Beijing Paused for Three Seconds" and "Pi Village Utopia: A Parallel Universe of Beijing's Blue-Collar Workers" created by Zhang Jiyuan and Bu Xiaojun of Time Architecture start from Beijing's actual urban environment and depict a unique vision of the future for Beijing.

Time-based Architecture | Zhang Jiyuan and Bu Xiaojun's works: Surreal Beijing Paused for Three Seconds and Picun Utopia: A Parallel Universe of Beijing's Blue-collar Workers

Wang Zigeng used the altar as a reference and formed two possible city model diagrams through two different transformation methods, expressing the tension between the imagined ideal city of harmony, order, and hierarchy, and the real world of their own expression and diversity.

Wang Zigeng's exhibition work: Imagined Beijing

Wang Mingxian uses video images, document collections and literary quotations to present to the public an old Beijing city that is submerged in history.

Wang Mingxian's exhibited work: City and Memory

Sun Haiting recorded the huge slab-type houses on the main roads and ring roads in Beijing through photography. These "background buildings" built in the 1970s-1990s truly reflect the common living conditions of an era.

Sun Haiting's exhibited work: Background Architecture

Zhu Sha uses visual design to present the exciting events in overseas and Beijing that MAD Architecture has sorted out into 47 posters with Beijing characteristics. The blank space at the end also asks everyone: What is our vision for Beijing's future?

Zhusha's exhibited works: Beijing Poster

The works of visionary architects (groups) from the mid-20th century to the present: the Architectural Telecommunications School, Richard Buckminster Fuller, Arata Isozaki, Kisho Kurokawa, Oscar Niemeyer, Frei Otto, Superstudio, Lebbeus Woods, etc. are presented in the exhibition as visual archives. Chinese science fiction films in the 1980s also showed thinking about social and philosophical issues.

Richard Buckminster Fuller's works in the exhibition: Geodesic Dome and Dome over Manhattan

Documentary "Frei Otto: Leaping into the Future"

The "Blueprint for Beijing" exhibition officially opened to the public on January 14 and will last until March 12.

Appendix: Main participating artists (sorted by surname or firm's first letter)

Cheng Yanchun
Cook Haffner Architects | Sir Peter Cook
Coopers | Wolf de Preux
Very Architecture | Zhang Yung-ho
Drawing Architecture Society
Junya Ishigami
Toyo Ito
Liang Chen
MAD Architects | Ma Yansong + Dang Qun + Yosuke Hayano
Eric Owen Moss
MVRDV Architecture and Planning
OPEN Architecture | Li Hu + Huang Wenjing
Time Architecture | Zhang Jiyuan + Bu Xiaojun
Sun Haiting
Wang Mingxian
Wang Zigeng
Un Architecture Design Institute
Zaha Hadid Architects
People's Architecture | He Zhe + Shen Haien + Zang Feng
Crimson Sha

Documentary

Architectural Telecommunications School
Richard Buckminster Fuller
Arata Isozaki
Kisho Kurokawa
Oscar Niemeyer
Frei Otto
Superstudio
Leibers Woods

Image

Joshua V. Hassel
Huang Jianxin
Jinshan
Wang Jiayi + Roger Pigot
Wang Minsheng
Academic Advisor

Wang Mingxian

Blueprint Beijing
Architecture Art Section of the First Beijing Art Biennale 2022

Curator: Ma Yansong

Venue: M Woods Museum (Qianliang Hutong)
Public opening date: January 14, 2023 - March 12, 2023
Spring Festival opening arrangement:
Closed from January 21 to 23, 2023 (New Year's Eve - the second day of the first lunar month)
Resume normal opening from January 24, 2023 (the third day of the first lunar month)
Opening hours: 11:00 - 19:00

Thanks to the team:

Curating coordination: Qi Ziying, Wang Yiqi, Peng Xie
Design execution: Zheng Chengwen, Yang Xuebing, Edgar Navarrete S., Rozita Kashirtseva, Zhang Tong, Ye Lanshan
Research and imaging: Liu Danyang, Liu Guannan, Xie Xiaozhang
And thanks to Li Shu, Ning Tong, Miao Fangyi for their support during the design process.

Construction and production: Beijing Zijin Qinghua Construction Engineering Co., Ltd.
Work printing: Green Shadow Studio
Model production: Shenzhen Jingyida Architectural Model Co., Ltd.
Lighting: Liu Hongjian, Huo Xin

Curating and research support: He Jingyun (Anouchka van Driel)

Photography: Zhu Yumeng, Lian Yiting Lien, @Strange Temper Uncle Monday｜Xiaohongshu