This traveling exhibition reflects on the process of designing fourambitious projects in China from 2003-2009: Nanjing Museum of Art andArchitecture, Beijing Linked Hybrid, Shenzhen Horizontal Skyscraper,and Chengdu Sliced Porosity Block.

As China experiences one of the world’s largest urbanization inhistory, these works explore the creation of urban and collectivespaces within this context- as opposed to object building- on amacrocosmic scale. Individually, each project investigates thephenomena of light and tactility through material development andexperimentation. Comprised of large multimedia projection screens andphysical models, the exhibition aims to illustrate the design processfrom initial conception to current status. Exhibition films provideinsight into the studio operations, documenting the collaborativeprocess of model making, drawing, and animation in working towards thefinal design. The works presented are the product of a cooperativeeffort between Steven Holl Architects’ offices in New York andBeijing, where the difference in time zones often facilitates acontinuous 24 hour cycle of production, the result of which areunprecedented works that are a fusion of landscape, urbanism, and architecture.

Steven Holl Architects
Steven Holl founded Steven Holl Architects (SHA) in New York in 1976, and incorporated in 1989. In 2000, Li Hu joined Steven Holl Architects and became the partner in 2005. SHA is a design-oriented office with locations in New York and Beijing. The firm has been recognized internationally with numerous awards, publications and exhibitions for quality and excellence in design, including nine National AIA Honor Awards and, most recently, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s “2009 Best Tall Building Overall” award for Linked Hybrid and the 2009 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award. SHA specializes in works for the arts and higher education that include Kiasma: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki; Higgins Hall Center Section at Pratt Institute; School of Art and Art History, University of Iowa; and the Chapel of St. Ignatius, Seattle, Washington. Recent completions include the Horizontal Skyscraper in Shenzhen, China, Linked Hybrid in Beijing, the Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark, the Knut Hamsun Center in Norway, the highly acclaimed, internationally recognized Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, which The New Yorker calls “one of the best museums of the last generation.” The firm’s current work includes: the Cite de L’Ocean et du Surf, with Solange Fabião in Biarritz, France; the Campbell Sport Center at Baker Field, Columbia University, New York; and the Creative and Performing Arts Center at Princeton University.

Steven Holl

Steven Holl was born in 1947 in Bremerton, Washington. He graduated from the University of Washington and pursued architecture studies in Rome in 1970. In 1976 he joined the Architectural Association in London and established STEVEN HOLL ARCHITECTS in New York City. Considered as one of America’s most important architects, Steven Holl is recognized for his ability to blend space and light with great contextual sensitivity and to utilize the unique qualities of each project to create a concept-driven design. He specializes in seamlessly integrating new projects into contexts with particular cultural and historic importance.

Steven Holl has realized academic, cultural, civic and residential projects both in the United States and internationally. The Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Finland (1998) is generally considered to be his masterpiece. Other notable work includes the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art (2007) and Chapel of St. Ignatius, Seattle, Washington (1997). Some of Steven Holl Architect’s current works includes Herning Center for the Arts, Herning, Denmark; Cite du Surf et De L’Ocean, Biarritz, France; Bakers Field Athletic Center, Columbia University; and the Creative and Performing Arts Center at Princeton University.

Li Hu

Li Hu, born in China in 1973; now lives and works in both Beijing and New York. He received his B.Arch in Tsinghua University in Beijing and M.Arch in Rice University in Houston. In 2000, he joined Steven Holl Architects and became the partner in 2005. Since 2006, he has been leading their Beijing office and the projects throughout Asia. He is the partner-in-charge for the Nanjing Museum of Art and Architecture, the Linked Hybrid in Beijing, the Vanke Center in Shenzhen, and Raffles City in Chengdu. Li Hu has been a frequent lecturer and critic at the universities in the U.S. and Asia. Most recently, he is appointed as the director of Columbia University GSAPP’s Global Experimental Research Center, Studio-X in Beijing. Together with Steven Holl and Yungho Chang, Li Hu also founded the bilingual architectural journal 32: Beijing/New York in 2002. Since 2003, together with Huang Wenjing, he has also been leading the work of OPEN Architecture, a design and research studio dedicated to experimentation on design practice to bring architecture to the mass.

“URBANISMS: Steven Holl + Li Hu” Opening

Venue：Vanke Center, Da Mei Sha, Shenzhen
Time：17:00-19:00, Dec 7, 2009

Cocktail Partyco-sponsored by Architectural Record, Steven Holl Architects and China Vanke Co. Ltd

Venue：Vanke Center, Da Mei Sha, Shenzhen
Time：19:00-21:00, Dec 7, 2009

URBANISMS: Steven Holl + Li Hu
Venue：Vanke Center, Da Mei Sha, Shenzhen
Exhibition Time:  Dec 7,2009 – Feb 12,2010