Made by Chinese – Architecture

Présentation
Frédéric Edelmann
Made by Chinese — Architecture

Cet ouvrage, écrit par Frédéric Edelmann, journaliste au Monde, propose à travers différents voyages en Chine des images, des essais et des interviews sur les réalisations architecturales les plus marquantes de ces dernières années. Plus de 100 bâtiments à travers la Chine, réalisés par une cinquantaine d’architectes différents, ont été visité par notre équipe et photographiés par Tim Franco, photographe basé à Shanghai et spécialisé en architecture.

Made by Chinese — Architecture est le premier d’une série de trois coffrets sur la création contemporaine en chine qui aborderont ensuite le lifestyle et le monde de l’art (soit au total 3000 pages en 7 volumes).

«Architectural design is there to prepare the future, but how, without knowing this a priori, can we have this “vision of the future”? We first have to think about the issues of today: is the current situation sustainable, and for how long will it be sustainable? From this analysis, we will be able to define what our problems are and how we can solve them, instead of using form as the starting point to solve them.

Another example is that today urbanisation in China faces an enormous challenge: 400 million additional people — a huge number — will have to live in cities. If we follow the present course, the fields will be turned into urban areas. We are going to be facing huge housing and social problems, as well as problems of identity. Then, there will be economic problems, job problems, etc. That is what we must focus on.

In order to solve the problems linked to urban development in China, we cannot simply follow the Western or Chinese model. One day or another the economy could stall: if there is no more countryside, what will do for work, how will we feed ourselves? No more countryside means 1,4 billion people who will need food. That is not the same as Singapore, which has five million inhabitants. For us Chinese, providing food for ourselves is a question of survival, not a question of aesthetics. Of course, the urbanisation of China is not yet to be mapped out. We need to think about immediate problems.»
Li Xiaodong

Sommaire
VOLUME I: VOYAGE
— “Voyage” by Frédéric Edelmann
— “Turbulence” by Jérémie Descamps
— Jinze ancient town
— Trip I: Beijing, Xian, Tianjin, Ordos. Interviews with Ma Yansong, Qi Xin, Li Xiaodong
— Trip II : Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. Interview with Liu Jiakun
— Trip III: Guangdong province. Interview with Liu Xiaodu
— Trip IV: Shanghai, Qingpu, Jiading. Interview with Liu Yichun & Chen Yifeng
— Trip V: Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, Nanjing. Interviews with Wang Shu, Zhang Lei

VOLUME II: REBIRTH
— Chinese cities: a metaphorical classification
— Rebirth
— What’s next
— Index