Where in the world am I? I haven't posted in several months. The past few months have been chaotic because of a family crisis. Also, having blogspot blocked in China didn't help. Within the last nine weeks, I have flown between Beijing and Toronto 3 times, or 31,839 km. In June, I left China for good, to be with my family in Toronto during a very uncertain time. Two weeks ago, I went to Montreal to get some paperwork sorted out. Got a chance to catch up with old friends, and had time to take in a little bit of the Jazz Fest. And now I'm back in Toronto, working on a few projects, and waiting for that next step.

I just moved into a new place in Lido, a neighborhood just outside the 4th ring road where many foreigners live. The apartment looks a bit extravagant with the classical detailing, but actually, the rent is nearly the same as my old ratty apartment in Dongzhimen. Also, all the modern conveniences are just downstairs- including two excellent bakeries, a Tex-mex restaurant, a Starbucks, an expat grocery store.. and everything else is within walking distance.

My room has a chaise.


The other bedroom has a nook!


Roommate Daniel cooking up something in a kitchen that has.. an OVEN (rare in Beijing)!


The living room


The courtyard outside with the shops. You can walk through these double-fronted shops to get to the street (every morning I walk through Starbucks to get to work).

Two videos somewhat related to each other.


Chick Throws Embarrassing Tantrum Over Soup - Watch more Funny Videos


Woman Loses Her Mind at the Airport - Watch more Funny Videos

For decades, urbanists have advocated for moving back downtown. Now, it's not simply a matter of lifestyle choice, or philosophy. It is starting to happen on a macro-scale, as a result of the economic downturn and of systemic changes in our social and economic geography. Richard Florida of the Atlantic writes about this phenomenon :

Suburbanization—and the sprawling growth it propelled—made sense for a time. The cities of the early and mid-20th century were dirty, sooty, smelly, and crowded, and commuting from the first, close-in suburbs was fast and easy. And as manufacturing became more technologically stable and product lines matured during the postwar boom, suburban growth dovetailed nicely with the pattern of industrial growth. Businesses began opening new plants in green-field locations that featured cheaper land and labor; management saw no reason to continue making now-standardized products in the expensive urban locations where they’d first been developed and sold. Work was outsourced to then-new suburbs and the emerging areas of the Sun Belt, whose connections to bigger cities by the highway system afforded rapid, low-cost distribution. This process brought the Sun Belt economies (which had lagged since the Civil War) into modern times, and sustained a long boom for the United States as a whole.

But that was then; the economy is different now. It no longer revolves around simply making and moving things. Instead, it depends on generating and transporting ideas. The places that thrive today are those with the highest velocity of ideas, the highest density of talented and creative people, the highest rate of metabolism. Velocity and density are not words that many people use when describing the suburbs. The economy is driven by key urban areas; a different geography is required.

Full article here.

Tangshan Museum of Urbanism

I worked on this project back in the spring of 2007, and within 18 months, it is completed. Amazing photos from URBANUS.

TVCC building in flames

Right now, on the last day of the Lunar Festival, Rem Koolhaas' TVCC hotel building is engulfed in flames. I wasn't able to get to the other side, but it is quite a dramatic scene right now in the CBD, with the 3rd ring closed to traffic, and the entire western facade is destroyed. Columns of troops were marching down the street, and spectators were told to move away from the building.

I think this is, perhaps, a sign of things to come.. a thorough questioning of current avant-garde architecture is due. In this current economic climate, it is tough to sell this kind of architecture, and even tougher to sell now with this TVCC fire, which might have moved up the building quite fast because of the continuous folding corrugated metal facade.

It is too bad that this building- highly anticipated in architectural circles here in Beijing- was destroyed just months before its opening...

A very interesting article in the WSJ about what it says about society when it accepts fake over real, simulated over real- most evidently shown in the past month from Yo Yo Ma's inauguration cello that produced no sound, to the lip-syncing Jennifer Hudson at the SuperBowl. 

"The performers, you see, care too much about their art to risk presenting something substandard. But what is art without risks? Any live performance is a high-wire act, and the wire can be wobbly. Nowadays, it seems that -- when it really counts -- musicians are willing to put the wire on the pavement and walk along it as if they were doing something just as daring as the real thing."

Makes me wonder too about what the public thinks about authenticity of materials in architecture. Again.. back to Ruskin (see below).

Google Books might just be the next big thing. Imagine no longer having to go to the library.. every book ever made is within your grasp, or for a small fee you can access periodicals and special collections. Here is one book that you can read for free online- Ruskin's Seven Lamps of Architecture:

Longqing Gorge

Just north of the Badaling Great Wall is Longqing Gorge. During this time of year, there is the Festival of Snow and Ice, which transforms the gorge into a light and color wonder world.

Chinese New Year 2009- Confucious Temple

Hoards of people and jammed traffic made it nearly impossible to go to Ditan Park today. So we went to a much quieter temple instead.

More fireworks photos

Happy Niu Year!

Went on the rooftop of Calvin's place in Fulicheng (just south of the CBD) to watch a panoramic view of the New Year fireworks. This is how crazy it is.

Skiing at Nanshan

Out in the arid brown mountains north of Beijing is a artificial-snow ski resort. It's not Whistler, but it satisfies the ski craving. Never saw so many Chinese people skiing before. Lots of French too. I went with a bunch of SHA colleagues there last week to go snowboarding and drink lots of pi jiu.

Toronto

Gehry's new Ontario Art Gallery.

Ivs posing for scale.

A brilliant staircase!

The serpentine ramp at the front entrance is an understated masterpiece.

The new ROM.

The new Four Seasons Opera House. Although very conventional, it does manage to create interesting moments where theatrical display and public promenade coalesce.

Korean buffet!

Montreal 

View from the plane. Notice the downtown core shrouded in haze, hugging the base of the mountain, called Mont Royal (hence, Montreal).

An interesting layering of urban patterns. St. Joseph's Oratory is the dome on the left.

Nothing beats a bowl of pho. 

St. Viateur, where they make melt-in-your-mouth bagels.

Lebanese cuisine is amazing. This is the schwarma.

At Steak-Frites with old friends.