track_visitor(137609, ”);

Introduction

THE WESTERN VS. THE EASTERN ARCHITECT “…The average lifetime construction volume of the Chinese architect in housing alone is approximately three dozens thirty-story high rise buildings… There is one-tenth the number of architects in China than in the United States, designing five times the projects volume in one-fifth the time, earning one-tenth the design fee. This implies an efficiency of 2500 times that of an American architect.” 

THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD     The past five years have seen a revolution in Chinese architecture – the emergence of independent designers, and a number of new stars – and above all new and interesting buildings that are not the product of direct Western influence. These developments have laid the groundwork for an indigenous modernity that differentiates itself from outside schools as well as eschewing the temptation to put a “Chinese-style” foof on ordinary office blocks. The fact that Beijing has been chosen to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games has been more that a catalyst for the development of high-quality contemporary architecture in China. Major foreign firms like OMA/ Rem Koolhaas or Herzog & de Meuron are participating in the design of buildings that will have functions during the Games, but Chinese architects, too, have been mobilized in this massive effort to prepare the country for an unprecedented level of world-wide attention. 

RED STAR RISING     It is difficult to read a paper or see a televised news program today without hearing about China, the great economic success story of the past ten years. There can be no doubt that the world’s largest country in terms of population (1.313.973.000 people according to a July 2006 CIA estimate) has awakened from its long somnolence. While more developed countries go through cyclical periods of expansion and reduction of their economic activity, China has felt the need to build new on a historically unprecedented scale. New spending on contruction and factory equipment in the five months ending May 30, 2006, was up 30% over the same period in 2005, and such investments are likely to exceed dollars 1.3 trillion in 2006, or almost half the countrys’s gross domestic product (GDP). Development on this scale obviously does not often pay attention to quality, though the exceptions to that sweeping statement are frequent enough and match or exceed what is being done in any Western country. The same intelligence and hard work that is evidenced in other areas of economic activity is also becoming more obvious in architecture, in large part because of recent changes in Chinese laws governing the profession itself. It is this change, the unchaining of the architect, as it were that is the most important event in the midst of an unprecedented outpouring of construction.

Source: Architecture in China by Philip Jodidio, TASCHEN Publishing 2007

How to read this blog:

 Do you want to know what is going on in the building industry in China? Or are you interessted in working and living in China as an architect or maybe just travel around in China to be amazed by the major projects the whole world is talking about? – then you have come to the right place, because this blog provides you with the most important things you need to know! This blog is written by a Danish architect who have traveled, lived and worked in China and it is dedicated to both Danish and Chinese architects. The language is commen though, so everyone can read it. Not many technical terms and ‘archiwords’ – just plain English. BUILT in CHINA consists of 5 pages which you can click on above and read. On the right you will find many useful links about China and Denmark.  I hope these articles will inspire you and lead you into the amazing universe of exotic senses and foreign cultures like my own travelling between Denmark and China did to me.  

Enjoy this blog!

Welcome to my new blog “BUILT in CHINA”

This blog will be about new architecture in China and Denmark and the relationship and friendship between Chinese and Danish architects. Articles will be both personal and professional experiences expressed as well as on general news on the subject. I am looking forward to share my stories and my knowledge with you. Furthermore I hope this blog can contribute to ‘building bridges’ between China and Denmark and narrow the cultural misunderstandings of one another. 

Author David Kreutzer

Arkitektur Kina – Danmark

I sidste uge blev min rejserapport færdiggjort og afleveret til DAC (Dansk Arkitektur Center) som en dokumentation og evaluering af 3 måneders ophold og arbejde i Kina. Projektet var en Undersøgelse af det Kinesiske Marked og Vestlige Arkitekters Præmisser i Kina. Vil du vide mere om projektet, så læs inde på http://www.danish-edge.dk/ (søg på ‘David Kreutzer’ fx).Fra november 2006 til februar 2007 boede jeg i en lejlighed i Taipei, Taiwan og arbejde på den taiwanesiske tegnestue J.M. Lin Architect / The Observer Design Group (vinder af den amerikanske arkitektur pris AIA 2006 NYC). Se mere på http://www.jmlin.com.tw/

Opholdet blev sponsoreret med Kr. 50.000,- af Kulturministeriet og prisen blev overrækt af kulturminister Brian Mikkelsen ved Dansk Arkitektur Center på Strandgade i København.