Beijing Design Week is at the halfway point, meaning that there's only one week to check out some of this year's events and displays. (If that doesn't make sense, you probably didn't realize that it now runs over two weeks – becoming a misnomer seems a small price to pay for an expanded offering.)
The widened program and, crucially, the scope of ideas and discussion it incorporates, has helped make Design Week a yearly highlight that reaches far beyond creative industries. The topics broached – design, innovation and urbanism – are of enduring relevance to the city (indeed one of its recurring themes, smart cities, forms the core of last month’s cover story).
At the heart of everything, you’ll find the Design Hop areas – locations across the city that will host installations, exhibitions, pop-ups, workshops, talks and more until October 7. The number of areas used has jumped from two to ten since 2011, so here’s our guide to each and what you can see there.
Baitasi
Finding design inspiration by the commercial drabness of Financial Street might seem a thankless task. But hidden in its own ‘cultural and historical preservation zone’ lies the tranquil Baitasi (The White Pagoda Temple). Here, a regeneration project will host a series of interconnected architectural, cultural, social and virtual projects which examine how to live more efficiently and sustainably amid the area’s structural disconnect.
Indigo
Having opened in 2012, Indigo is newer than Design Week itself. You may know it for its shopping facilities but its actually a mixed-use project covering almost 60,000sqm. For Design Week, the space will host ‘INDIGODesigned to Delight,’ a collection of installations and other curated content from some of Beijing’s most celebrated young talents.
Dashilar
Dashilar has long been considered the focal point of Design Week, due to the ongoing drive to improve quality of life while preserving the area’s heritage. This year should prove no different. On-site installations and presentations from a range of participating architects will address the issue of how innovative urban design can address the needs of this unique community.
751 D-Park
One of the two original Hop locations (along with Dashilar), 751 D-Park is the focus of Beijing’s younger generation of designers, architects and urban planners. The 751 D-Lab, invites creatives aged 18-40 to submit their ideas across a range of disciplines. As for what we’ll see there this time? Who knows – entries were still being accepted at the time of going to print.
And elsewhere...
October 1-7: Wukesong's MasterCard Square hosts 10 Festival, the "first and largest tech-amuse event of interactive technology in China." It consists four themes: technical interaction, parent-child education, music entertainment and lifestyle.
For up-to-date information on the program and event schedule, visit www.bjdw.org or follow That’s Beijing on WeChat (username: That’s_Beijing).
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