#Industry News
MVRDV envisions the future of the hutong at beijing design week 2015
during beijing design week 2015, designers, architects and innovators from across the world have come together to research and reflect upon the city’s current living standards.
within ‘the nurturing house’ — the netherlands participation in BJDW sited in the dashilar hutong district — dutch studio MVRDV has presented ‘the next hutong research’, marking the culmination of their experimentation and investigation into a proposed solution for densely-populated city life.
‘in this urban age, how can we be healthy and happy in our cities? and how should we nurture our cities, with clean air, water, energy, and food, so that they in turn nurture our lives?’
building upon this brief, MVRDV has formed a conceptual masterplan that outlines a model for the future development of the xianyukou hutong in central beijing. located next to beijing’s tiananmen square, the district’s progress has been delayed in comparison to surrounding sites, creating an enormous potential for the area. the studies envision a sustainable economy housed within the existing urban structure, in an aim to both respect and build upon daily life in the historic village. the several spatial tests that have been conceived each explore a specific economic, social or aesthetic potential, and provide an alternative to the hutong redevelopments that have taken place over the last few decades.
the alterations and interventions conceived by MVRDV propose strategies for the further use of the hutong by evolving and adapting the area to both current and future needs. ‘can we imagine combining the qualities of these individual, extreme hypotheses so as to create a hutong that is at once historic, dense, green, mixed and individual?’ the practice ponder. ‘in this era of globalization and urban development, what will be the next hutong?’
for beijing design week 2015, the project is exhibited as a film and a large format book. the exhibition epitomizes innovation in imagining a better urban future, while simultaneously demonstrating the pragmatic, open-minded and conceptual spirit and strengths of dutch design.
