Recent Asia Lecture at WHUT

Matt was in China at the beginning of October, delivering a lecture on Metaamo’s design philosophy, methodologies, and recent work at Wuhan University of Technology (WHUT) in Hubei Province. Thanks to the faculty and students for the invitation and opportunity to share our work.

New Adaptive-Reuse Design Hotel in Shanxi, China

Somewhere over Shanxi, China… Metaamo is working on several hospitality projects, including an adaptive-reuse of this spectacular 350 year-old rammed earth residential fortress. 

Daxing Villa - GFRC Panel Installation

Meanwhile, in South Beijing, the construction team is installing GFRC (glass-fibre-reinforced concrete) panels on the Daxing Villa, seen in these two (somewhat grainy) images. These massive panels are the outside-most component in a rainscreen cladding assembly designed to withstand the harsh environment, and achieve lasting materiality with a sense of gravitas through the projection and distribution of sheer volumetric mass.

#metaamo #建微知筑 #china #architecture #villa #housedesign #GFRC #cladding #sitevisit #construction #lo-fi #mass #weight #volume #silence #uschina

Construction Update - Daxing Villa Rising

Construction continues on the North Elevation of the Daxing Villa, where the crew is infilling block masonry into a structural frame of reinforced concrete.

The villa was conceived as a collection of stacked stone volumes that pinwheel around a central courtyard, where a light-filled garden gives light and focus to the inward living spaces.

To the top left, an exterior terrace will lead to a roof garden; top right, a child's bedroom; bottom right, a kitchen and pantry are separated from service quarters and a service entry (bottom left) by a vertical slot that will function as a garden and light well.

 #metaamo #建微知筑 #architecture #pdxdesign #villa #beijing #sitevisit #concrete #toppingout

Metaamo Runs Summer Workshop on Adaptive Reuse in China

We were in China recently, where Matt and Sunny had the pleasure of running a two week, intensive studio workshop @ WHU. With over two dozen students, we focused on the adaptive reuse of an historic campus courtyard building, where proposals blended architecture, urbanism, and building science to bring new life to the forlorn structure.

#metaamo, #建微知筑, #China, #architecture, #workshop, #buildingscience, #adaptivereuse

Matt Speaks about Adaptive Reuse on Chinese TV

This past weekend, we were honored to participate in an exhibition at 'Big House' in Wuhan, China, which focused on Adaptive Reuse and Cultural Heritage Protection.  'Big House' is an adaptive reuse project of a former Spin Mill, and now is a gathering place for various events.  Here, Matt is being interviewed for a documentary special that will play on Chinese TV and in public spaces in Wuhan.  Special thanks to the Non-Profit China Endangered Cultural Protection (CECP), the French Consulate General, the Netherlands Business Support Office (NBSO Wuhan), Wuhan TV, and the Ouyang family (descendents of the original building owners) for all making the event possible. 

#metaamo #建微知筑 #china #AdaptiveReuse #architecture

Recent Design Presentation in Shenzhen, China

We were honored to have our proposal selected for the final round of an invited competition in Hebei Province last year.  Shown here are Matt and Xiaonuan with Malaysian Architect Dr. Loo Kok Hoo, Here are a few shots from a formal presentation that took place with the project's board of directors in Shenzhen, China.

Metaamo Proposal for an Ancestral Hall in Hebei Province Shortlisted

Here's a glimpse of a proposal for an ancestral hall built into the side of a mountain that we did this year in Hebei Province, China. Metaamo was selected as a finalist in the invited competition. #metaamo #china #cultural #landscape

Matt & Xiaonuan give Luojia Lecture @ WHU

Matt and Xiaonuan were in China on April 21 to lecture about Metaamo's recent work at Wuhan University, for the Architecture Seminar of LUOJIA Lecture Series. 

Matt Participates in "Great Cities" Urban Design Conference in Wuhan

This past week, Matt was in Wuhan to take part in the "Great Cities" Workshop, sponsored by the British Council and Wuhan Tiandi, which focused on how Architecture and Urban Design can help to create and shape great, liveable cities.  

The session Matt participated in, 'Urban Design in the Modern Era,' was a conversation between Matt, Li Baofeng (Architect, HUST, Wuhan), Catherine Pease (vPPR, London), and Albert Chan (Developer, Shui On Land, Hong Kong), and dealt with the question of how to make big cities (which are now dominated by large scale projects and high rises) more tuned to the human user, i.e. smaller scale, pedestrian friendly, and more liveable.  The discussion broached the subjects of scale, how to balance the best aspects of the old and new cities, diversity and pluralism in urban design, the need for changes in code at the policy level, and sustainability.

Other participants included Hisham Elkadi (Dean, SBE, University of Salford), Thomas Jefferies (Head, Manchester School of Architecture), Cheng Shidan (Wuhan University), Satoshi Ohashi (Zaha Hadid China & Asia), and Nick Whittingham (the British Consul General), et al.  

Jinan Urban Design Project Featured in Planning Practice Publication

A low-carbon city project we worked on with MIT and Tsinghua University in Jinan was recently published in the book "Planning Practice: Studios + Workshops 2005-2015" from SA+P Press. The project dealt with Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and urban agriculture, and sought to suggest new building typologies that integrated the vibrancy, flexibility, and community-focused aspects of traditional "villages" into high density, modern developments.

http://dusp.mit.edu/news/planning-practice-studios-workshops-2005-2015

Metaamo receives five new commissions in Southern China

Metaamo has received five commissions to design new municipal buildings among the dynamic topographic landscapes of terraced rice fields, just outside the city of Kunming, China. We were in Yunnan Province this week visiting these incredible and diverse sites (one shown below) and are greatly looking forward to collaborating with these communities.

Metaamo wins Gold Prize in Liang Sicheng Cup for UNESCO site

We're happy to announce that our project, "Dialogue Between Wind and Earth," has won the sole Gold Prize in the Liang Sicheng Cup, the highest honor in a global architectural ideas competition for a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Kaiping, China, for the preservation and celebration of Diaolou, a unique tower structure created by local Chinese who had travelled abroad and returned home to build with a mix of Western and Eastern influences. 

http://www.lscbadc.com/goods/?atd=show_0_18_1_0

Remarks from the judges:   "At the graphic level, this design proposal utilizes a vertical tower unit (Diaolou) and a horizontal, courtyard housing group. Woven together to generate the spatial framework of a rural cultural center, the library and museum’s two rectangular massing blocks superimpose, while cleverly resulting in an interstitial path linking the adjacent villages. Through a simple floor plan, the modulation and combination of spatial cells results in spatial variation, a rational distinction between main and service space, and rainwater collection tanks that are neatly organized into the plan grid. A continuous, pitched roof is constantly cut by courtyards and light wells, creating an interior space rich with light and shadow, while simultaneously reproducing the form and scale of the traditional courtyard houses. The programmatic form of the towers (Diaolou) not only reproduces their historical memory and becomes a sign of the cultural center, but also reflects the flow of energy by using the towers for wind capture. Across historical and present time dimensions – as well as between the cultural and natural character of architecture – the authors have created an organic joint, and an interesting translation. An excellent design should not only have an interesting concept, but the key lies in the usage of rational logic derivation, poetic spatial imagination, as well as the ability to efficiently convert those ideas and actually construct them.  There is no doubt that this team conducted a successful attempt."

The competition was sponsored by the Guangdong Housing and Urban-Rural Department, and supported by Tsinghua University, Tongji University, and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, among others.  According to the competition website, after the announcement in November 2015, they "received a total of individuals, teams and organizations from more than 10 countries and regions, [including] nearly 400 group registrations, and a final harvest of nearly 200 entries."