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Bamboo home has future
By Nie Xin |
October 22, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE two-story German-Chinese House is hard to miss in the World Expo Shanghai. Light, elegant, futuristic and sustainable, the pavilion made of 8-meter-long bamboo culms from south China is held together using modern connecting technology.
For visitors who feel pity about the future of the pavilion at the end of the six-month Expo, fear not. News comes that the German-Chinese House will be handed over to Hangzhou after the expo and located in the International Exhibition Center as a permanent museum.
On Tuesday, Germany's Goethe Institute and Hangzhou's International Exhibition Center signed the German-Chinese House donation agreement.
"When we talked about the future of the bamboo pavilion, we thought the beautiful city of Hangzhou would be her perfect home. We are so excited that this idea has been realized so soon and especially because it will be involved with the Hangzhou International Exhibition Center," says Dr Wolfgang Roehr, the German consul general in Shanghai.
In the near future, the German-Chinese House will be displayed at the Museum of Contemporary Architecture, or at the International City Museum, as an example of 21st-century architecture and creative design.
"The internal eco-architecture and urban design reflect the theme of the exhibition, promoting the concept of environmental protection and sustainable urban development," says artist Markus Heinsdorff, the designer of the pavilion.
This pavilion with its unique design was made especially for "Germany and China - Moving Ahead Together," a series of events organized by the Federal Republic of Germany in China.
It aims to encourage successful cooperation while promoting Germany's image as a future-oriented, innovative country.
Heinsdorff designed the pavilion with traditional bamboo elements as it is not only environmental friendly, but also mobile.
"Bamboo, a fast-growing grass, is a traditional building material in China. My inspiration for the bamboo house came from Marco Polo's travels," he says.
Heinsdorff held his debut exhibition in Hangzhou this year, beside the West Lake, where he lived for a couple of months during his long stay in China.
"This beautiful city has already become my second hometown," he says.
The future home of the German-Chinese House, Hangzhou International Exhibition Center, is part of Hangzhou government's efforts to protect and use old industrial buildings as the core of the museum's international tourism cluster complex.
The project is located in Dongxin Road, in old factories covering about 500 acres. The site will gather art museums, theaters, hotels, office buildings and studios. All museums are free and open to the public.
It is designed by the world-class architectural design masters Stephen Hall, Herzog & De Meuron and David Chipperfield.
The former director of Miami Art Museum, Terence Riley, and founder of Beijing's Ch'ien Men 23 and Shanghai's Three on the Bund, Li Jinghan, have been invited to head the overall group planning, and exhibitions, collections and other operational management.
"The whole project is named 'City Star,' and it will be completed in four to five years. The bamboo pavilion will be one of the first opened to public," said Lu Xiaoliang, general manager of Hangzhou Tourism Group.
"It is not only an innovative art, but also an environmentally friendly exploration and interpretation of the World Expo Shanghai 'Better City, Better Life' theme, while also fitting the international city of Hangzhou Expo theme," says Michael Kahn-Ackermann, the president of the Goethe Institute in Germany and also "Germany and China - Moving Ahead Together" project director.
Heinsdorff says that when the German-Chinese House moves to Hangzhou, he will adjust the inner structure of the house to suit the local temperature and environment.
"But the appearance will be kept the same. The concept of environmental protection and sustainable urban development will definitely be promoted," he says.
For visitors who feel pity about the future of the pavilion at the end of the six-month Expo, fear not. News comes that the German-Chinese House will be handed over to Hangzhou after the expo and located in the International Exhibition Center as a permanent museum.
On Tuesday, Germany's Goethe Institute and Hangzhou's International Exhibition Center signed the German-Chinese House donation agreement.
"When we talked about the future of the bamboo pavilion, we thought the beautiful city of Hangzhou would be her perfect home. We are so excited that this idea has been realized so soon and especially because it will be involved with the Hangzhou International Exhibition Center," says Dr Wolfgang Roehr, the German consul general in Shanghai.
In the near future, the German-Chinese House will be displayed at the Museum of Contemporary Architecture, or at the International City Museum, as an example of 21st-century architecture and creative design.
"The internal eco-architecture and urban design reflect the theme of the exhibition, promoting the concept of environmental protection and sustainable urban development," says artist Markus Heinsdorff, the designer of the pavilion.
This pavilion with its unique design was made especially for "Germany and China - Moving Ahead Together," a series of events organized by the Federal Republic of Germany in China.
It aims to encourage successful cooperation while promoting Germany's image as a future-oriented, innovative country.
Heinsdorff designed the pavilion with traditional bamboo elements as it is not only environmental friendly, but also mobile.
"Bamboo, a fast-growing grass, is a traditional building material in China. My inspiration for the bamboo house came from Marco Polo's travels," he says.
Heinsdorff held his debut exhibition in Hangzhou this year, beside the West Lake, where he lived for a couple of months during his long stay in China.
"This beautiful city has already become my second hometown," he says.
The future home of the German-Chinese House, Hangzhou International Exhibition Center, is part of Hangzhou government's efforts to protect and use old industrial buildings as the core of the museum's international tourism cluster complex.
The project is located in Dongxin Road, in old factories covering about 500 acres. The site will gather art museums, theaters, hotels, office buildings and studios. All museums are free and open to the public.
It is designed by the world-class architectural design masters Stephen Hall, Herzog & De Meuron and David Chipperfield.
The former director of Miami Art Museum, Terence Riley, and founder of Beijing's Ch'ien Men 23 and Shanghai's Three on the Bund, Li Jinghan, have been invited to head the overall group planning, and exhibitions, collections and other operational management.
"The whole project is named 'City Star,' and it will be completed in four to five years. The bamboo pavilion will be one of the first opened to public," said Lu Xiaoliang, general manager of Hangzhou Tourism Group.
"It is not only an innovative art, but also an environmentally friendly exploration and interpretation of the World Expo Shanghai 'Better City, Better Life' theme, while also fitting the international city of Hangzhou Expo theme," says Michael Kahn-Ackermann, the president of the Goethe Institute in Germany and also "Germany and China - Moving Ahead Together" project director.
Heinsdorff says that when the German-Chinese House moves to Hangzhou, he will adjust the inner structure of the house to suit the local temperature and environment.
"But the appearance will be kept the same. The concept of environmental protection and sustainable urban development will definitely be promoted," he says.
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