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'Urban Ecologies' - a Projects' Conversation Between Vicente Guallart and Yu Kongjian

Date: Nov 10-Dec 22 - 10 am

Venue: Instituto Cervantes, Beijing

The exhibition brings together two masters in urban design from Spain and China to exchange the ideology and practices of urban ecologies in China and worldwide. Vicente Guallart and Yu Kongjian will maintain a dialogue about their concept of design, the urban planning and their integration in a growth model that minimizes the environmental impact. The modernity of the early twentieth century was an explosion of ideas that provided new horizons to architecture and its use of materials and sculptural forms.

Although some trends developed without practically any contact with the nature, many architects began to worry about how the new architecture could create a symbiosis with nature. Thus was born sustainable architecture. Vicente Guallart and Yu Kongjian are part of this contemporary and essential way to conceive the design.

Both founded their own advanced education program to use education as research and innovation engine to the projects to bring positive impacts to the city making. Vicente Guallart is founder and principal of Guallart Architects, founder of IAAC (Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia) and former chief architect of Barcelona. Yu Kongjian is founder and principal of Turenscape, Dean of School of Landscape Architecture, Peking University.