Structural China: the OUTDOORS

That the world’s architectural gaze focuses squarely on China is cliche. No country ever urbanized and modernized at this speed and on this scale. For years now, this has been the playground for the world’s most reputable and rising architects. China offers opportunities for realization of projects on a level and with a pace and frequency the West cannot match. The world’s gaze has fixated on Beijing projects like the Bird’s Nest Stadium, the CCTV tower, and the Grand Theater.

 

Recently several cities outside Beijing and Shanghai, like Qingdao, Chongqing, and Guangzhou, have commissioned structures that aim for the vaunted status of “iconic”, with many completed in the last year. Approaches are maturing and diversifying though. These days architects who focus only on attention—grabbing exteriors at the expense of sustainability and a human dimension seem Vainglorious, not to mention retrograde. No ne w project can fail to consider its environmental impact of how people will relate to the structure. In this age of increasingly 1imited resources and a new appreciation for authenticity, a new emphasis is placed on renovating older gems, revitalizing old neighbourhoods, and design that has a sense of heritage. Not everything on the following pages is merely impressive and history-making.

 

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OUTDOORS

This ribbon-esque pedestrian bridge connects a plaza in the city’s center with a large forest park along the highway, providing pedestrians safe passageway between public recreational areas of the city. Stretching a total length of 635m, the bridge spans over several major highways as well as waterways.

 

The project’s aesthetic inspiration draws from the flow of water, as well as from a form of Chinese traditional dance using floor-length embroidered sleeves that flit and trail with the dancer’s every move.

 

Beach of Qinghuangdao City

Turenscape

 

As is often the case, the beach surrounding this project was facing destruction due to the region’s overdevelopment. In keeping with the notion that people will love what they can enjoy, the city implemented a plan to restore the beach’s ecological health, constructing walkways and parks for the public to reconnect with the ocean and its inhabitants. The development, which also involved restoring nearby wetlands, includes a winding wooden walkway, botanical gardens, a manmade pebble shore, and a bird museum. The designs of the botanical garden and bird museum incorporated elements from the beach, wetlands, and nearby tide pools, as well as the ocean's wind and waves, and local bird species.