Massage Fun!

This particular place has bars on the ceiling for the massage therapists to grip as they walk on our backs.. Here we are playing around after they were done..

Ningxia is a tiny province in Northern China, west of Beijing. I took a 19 hour train to come out here with 6 friends for the May holidays. Although the cities are quite typical, the rural landscape is quite unique and diverse- mountainous, sandy, and desolate.

At Shapotou:





Alvin riding a mechanical bull..
On a speedboat on the Yellow river... Riding camels...


Steep terrain...


Visiting a senior's residence..

Urbanus projects

I had a chance to go to a few of their projects:
OCT Sales Office, Beijing




OCAT area, Shenzhen




A Yung Ho Chang Sculpture within the Shenzhen Project:

Hong Kong

This is HK, the epicenter of the Cantonese world. It's refreshing to be able to use Cantonese and English to get around. These are some pictures.

The value of time

After having worked here in China for several weeks, I'm starting to understand the dynamics of the Chinese architectural practice.

There are a few things of note. First, employees do not benefit from the 40-hour work week that we enjoy in North America. Workers are paid monthly. Although a salary guarantees the amount of money made, it does not guarantee a set number of hours. This allows the employer to squeeze as much time out of the worker as possible, because it doesn't cost the company anything more. Overtime becomes standard, and workers do not complain because there is always a good supply of unemployed people on the fringe who could work cheaper and longer.

Having said that, the system works because employees do not demand much. Their lives revolve around work, and they have little to do outside of work. The work day is divided into two parts, separated by an hour and half "siesta". People generally use the spare time after lunch to sleep. At the studio, there are foldable cots for sleeping- quite an interesting phenomenon. However, aside from the brief pause during the day, there is no other time to take a break.

Although this sounds abusive by North American standards, it is a lifestyle here in China. People accept the long hours, and fruitful designs are produced as a result of it. Dinner is provided if people stay late- not so much to entice people to stay longer- but as a basic necessity for willing employees to extend their day. Perhaps a side benefit is that people enjoy working when they do not need to count every single hour. Profitability is not longer strictly based on efficiency... (and since when was design ever efficient?)

The Great Wall- Simatai

Panjiayuan Market

A few weeks ago, I went to the biggest antiques flea market in Beijing, if not China. It was bustling, chaotic, and full of life.

FOUND A JOB!!!

I'm now working at Urbanus, one of the leading young design firms in China. Click here to see some of their work:

http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/portfolio/archives/0512_5.asp

I'm pretty excited because this offers me the opportunity to stay in Beijing until the 2008 Olympics, to be right at the leading edge of Chinese design, and also forces me to learn Chinese. Also, this allows me to go to Ninxia during the May holidays.

COLORS magazine opening

Luciano Benetton, of United Colors of Benetton, made an appearance in Beijing to promote a new issue of the magazine.

My foldable bike got stolen!

I took this photo mere hours before the theft. It's the only photo I have, interestingly enough.

CBC

I tuned in to CBC radio one tonight. It's been quite a while since I last listened to Canadian media. What I realized was the stark contrast between topics in the news here in Beijing, and those in Montreal. Here, the main news items are the stock market frenzy, intense economic activity, and rampant tourism during CNY. But on the morning news in Montreal, in typical CBC soothing fashion, the topics were multiculturalism on Parc Ave, a movie about Schartz's, and daycares that will stay open during the winter weather. When I arrived in 1999, Montreal seemed like a metropolis. But tonight, for a few brief moments, it became a small town.

I want to go to a Pecha Kucha

"The Japanese term 'Pecha Kucha' roughly translates as 'chit-chat.' Up to fourteen participants get to show 20 slides for 20 seconds each, meaning the audience experiences an exhilarating range of speakers and images over the course of the evening. There's also music, drinking and the inevitable exchange of ideas that occurs when you get so many architects, designers, artists and so on together in the same room.

The Pecha Kucha format was formulated by the Tokyo-based outfit Klein Dytham Architects. Dezeen editor Marcus Fairs and design writer and curator Max Fraser have brought the event to the UK and organise all events across the country. In London, they have teamed up with The Club at the ICA with a series of events planned throughout the year.

The UK events began in summer 2005 and became an instant success."

-from http://www.pechakucha.co.uk

Shanghai at Night