TU Delft at Beijing Design Week

Celebrating creativity and innovation in the fields of design and architecture, the annual event is one of the largest and most influential platforms for design in Asia. From September 23 to October 7, 2015, students and faculty members from the two technical universities will showcase their collective work on design issues specific to the Chinese capital. The exhibitions were made possible with the help of the Dutch Embassy in Beijing and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Two of these expositions (Reclaiming the Human Space and Design for the People) are the result of the close collaboration we have with the
Beijing University of Technology, sharing mainly education activities,” said Dr. Roberto Cavallo, Assistant Professor and Chair of Building Typology at TU Delft. “Students of both faculties worked together on interrelated
design issues inspired by current spatial challenges in the inner cities of Beijing, which also involved local forces and initiatives.” The third exhibit “Networked by Nature” presents a comparative study between the two regions of Jing, Jin, Ji (Beijing region) and Randstad Holland.

Initiated by Dr. Cavallo and Dr. Xiaoxi Hui – a TU Delft alumnus who now works at Beijing University of Technology– and with the support of Dr. Maurice Harteveld and members of the TU Delft Faculty of Architecture, the collaborative project was two years in the making. The Reclaiming the Human Space and Networked by Nature exhibitions are displayed at the Dutch Pavilion while Design for the People is featured at the Hutong Museum annex where locals and visitors are invited to vote for their favorite future design proposals.

“We are very pleased to show our work in the Dutch Pavilion among other prominent Dutch firms like OMA, MVRDV, West8, UN Studio or VenhoevenCS,” Cavallo shared. The expositions will be visited by a Dutch delegation on a Sustainable Urban Development economic mission and by the Dutch Royals during their state visit to China.