On September 4, 2019, the “New In Old – Urban Renewal Thematic Exhibition of 2019 Beijing Design Week” was officially opened in the No.23-29 of Qingyun Hutong. Dai Pu, the director architect of Daipu Architects, was invited to participate in the exhibition, presenting two new projects in the form of pictures – “Force Field Hutong” and “Gallery Delta”.
The exhibition focuses on the theme of “New In Old” and extensively collects outstanding urban renewal cases at home and abroad. The exhibition also includes (in no particular order) Zhu Xiaodi, Zhang Yonghe, Zhang Wei, Rem Koolhaas, Yan Yanwu, Li Xinggang, Zhuang Weimin, Liu Jiaxuan, Zhu Xi, Liu Yichun, Ma Yansong and other construction projects of more than 60 architects at home and abroad.
“In recent years, our studio has been working on a series of renovation projects. This is a legacy phenomenon caused by the mass and fast production during the past 10-20 years in the construction industry, and it impels us to proactively reflect on and respond to the professional reality behind this phenomenon.”
—-Dai Pu《Anti-Domino No.02 – Wood Mountain》
Urban renewal is the main proposition of urban development in China today. In the past few years, Daipu Architects has been adhering to high standards of design practice, continuously exporting iconic spatial transformation forms, and proposing innovative ways of life experience, such as Anti-Domino No.02 – Wood Mountain, MINDPARK, Gallery Delta, Force Field Hutong, etc. Through the opportunity of this exhibition, we also selected two representative works (Force Field Hutong, Gallery Delta), through a series of design drawings, renderings, diagrams, and design texts. Show the thoughts behind it to everyone, presenting the urban renewal that Daipu Architects understands.
We wrapped the courtyard with a transparent, invisibility cloak-like glass skin. The two courtyards are now connected optically. This glass cloak layer preserves the building in its original state, the glass cloak can also be removed without a trace, returning the courtyard to its former state.
In actuality, urban renewal is not a solely aesthetic issue. What it needs is the renewal of spatial relationships to revive and attract new human usage. A force field is created between the once separated courtyards. The magnetism of the force field creates a vibrating fluctuation of the environments of the whole site, pulling energies from the river inward. An invisible and ethereal force destabilizes the spatial and visual flow all over the site.
—-Dai Pu《Force Field Hutong》
