The 2015 Shenzhen Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism exhibits, makes, and discusses architecture that reflects the reuse and rethinking of existing buildings, the re-imagination of our cities, and the remaking of our daily lives by design. It is be a biennale of fragments, not abstract plans; of collage, not grids; of tactical urbanism, not top-down strategies.
The ETH Zurich Master of Advanced Studies Program in Urban Design – chaired by Marc Angélil and directed by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes – has investigated informal settlements in Cairo, looking into designs for affordable housing units in the neighborhood of Ard-el-Liwa. The MAS contribution to the exhibition at the Bi-City Shenzhen Biennale is a first for informal areas of Cairo, largely ignored at home and abroad. Selected projects for the UABB exhibition show how rearranging existing building components can lead to new urban forms. The exhibition consists of a 1:20 scale model of the studied urban area, showing remains of agrarian land, property lines and irrigation channels that form the base for subsequent urbanization, as well as the existing streetscape with established housing types of concrete frames and brick infill. Alternatives design proposals developed by the MAS Urban Design are positioned on site within the urban fabric.
The MAS Urban Design conducts a reflection towards a defiant repositioning of the discipline against its eroding leverage, in a global context where architects are losing ground to both informal modes of construction and to the speculative real-estate sector. The goal is to rethink the way forward and the role of the architectural profession as our cities continue to grow.
Title
Exhibition: Radical Cairo at the Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of ArchitectureType
ExhibitionWebsite
Organizers
Curated by Aaron Betsky, Alfredo Brillembourg & Hubert Klumpner, Doreen Heng Liu with ETH ZurichFrom
December 04, 2015 02:15 PMUntil
February 29, 2016 02:15 PMVenue
former Dacheng Flour Factory, Shekou, ShenzhenAddress