China Now: Architecture and Urbanism

A series of lectures presented by the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland focuses on the unprecedented social and economic development occurring in urban China.

Six events taking place from August to October, Fast Forward 2015 - China Now: Architecture and Urbanism offers insights in to emerging critical design and research approaches that reframe contemporary urbanism.

Over the last few decades China has undergone the largest urban migration in history. By 2020 a staggering 300 million Chinese are predicted to have left the countryside and moved to cities.

China is one of New Zealand’s most important cultural and economic partners in the Asia-Pacific, and its rapid development has triggered a profound shift in our conceptions, interpretations and production of urban space. Given the rapid process of urbanisation, how has China coped with the rate of change and growth? And what impact will China’s faltering stock market have?

Renowned national and international scholars and practitioners in the fields of architecture, planning and urban design will discuss theory and research in to Chinese architecture and urbanism and its impact globally as well as on New Zealand.

The series begins with a panel discussion looking at some of the problems, opportunities and scenarios of contemporary Chinese architecture and urbanism. Led by senior lecturer Manfredo Manfredini from the University of Auckland, the event features Roberto Bannura of Steven Holl Architects, Gregor Hoheisel of GRAFT and Patrick Sloan of Warren and Mahoney. All three will offer an overview of their experience in China and present a selection of projects.

The next event is a lecture by Philip Yuan, co-founder of the Digital Architectural Design Association of the Architectural Society of China, and co-ordinator of the Digital Design Research Center in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University. He will discuss performance tectonics, an architectural design and production methodology that combines studies of the environmental, structural and behavioural characteristics of buildings.

Ideas about the ideal city come under the spotlight in the following week’s lecture by Colin Fournier, emeritus professor of Architecture and Urbanism at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London.

The fourth lecture in the series is by Professor Wei Chunyu, dean of the School of Architecture at Hunan University, who will discuss design based on landscape perception.

Next up is Professor John Zacharias from Peking University who will look at the urban planning of new cities in China and examine how they differ from earlier ones and ask to what extent these new cities are sustainable?

Contemporary Chinese cinema’s attention to the country’s changing urban condition is the subject for the final Fast Forward lecture by Xuelin Zhou and Laurence Simmons from Media, Film and Television at the University of Auckland.

Fast Forward 2015

China Now: Architecture and Urbanism
6.30pm, Engineering Lecture Theatre 439, 20 Symonds Street.

12 August: Perspectives on contemporary Chinese architecture and urbanism.
Panel discussion led by Dr Manfredo Manfredini, University of Auckland.
Panelists: Roberto Bannura, Steven Holl Architects; Gregor Hoheisel, GRAFT;
Patrick Sloan, Warren and Mahoney.

19 August: Philip Yuan, co-founder of the Digital Architectural Design Association of the Architectural Society of China, and co-ordinator of the Digital Design Research Center in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University: Performative Tectonics.

26 August: Colin Fournier, Emeritus Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London; Visiting Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Chairman of TETRA X, Hong Kong: The Ideal City.

16 September: Wei Chunyu, Professor and Dean of the School of Architecture at Hunan University: Types and Fractals: Design Based on Landscape Perception.

24 September: John Zacharias, Professor in Urban Planning, College of Architecture and Landscape, Peking University: The Urban Planning of New Cities in China.

14 October: Dr Xuelin Zhou and Professor Laurence Simmons, Media, Film and Television, the University of Auckland: Chinese Urban Cinema.

Fast Forward 2015, curated by Manfredo Manfredini, is free to the public.

The series is recognised by the New Zealand Institute of Architects as an accredited professional development activity, with each lecture attended earning 10 CDP points.

Fast Forward 2015 is supported by NZIA, The Warren Trust and GIB.

For more information and lecture recordings visit the Auckland University website.