Absurdity, Allegory and China

A few months back (October 14, 2011) Rem Koolhaas, brand architect behind OMA, the architectural firm that has been involved with the design and building of the iconic CCTV Headquarters Building on the East Third Ring Road, was the subject of an article in Bloomberg’s BusinessWeek: Pritzker Star Koolhaas Frets Over EU, Tops Giant Beijing [...]

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I had to make a quick trip to Guomao this morning, so, of course, I brought along my camera. I wanted to follow up on a story from a couple of days ago. Late Friday morning, December 23, 2011, during the demolition of a building near the CCTV Headquarters Building, a part of said building [...]

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Here’s a shot from late last week in Beijing when the air was somewhat clear, the man was somewhat short – though longer than the bed of his trike – and the Hyundai Elantra was max shiny. And the CCTV Bldg was the CCTV Bldg., since it’s hard for it to be anything else. (click [...]

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Below are some shots I’ve taken over the past 8 days. When a friend comes to Beijing you find yourself going to places you normally wouldn’t go, though many of the sites are too good to pass up for a one time trip to the Jing. I also ended up taking a couple of spins [...]

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What a difference 34 months makes. Not the same angle, but the same lane. The b&w (top) was taken in the lane between Hujialou East and West on the afternoon of March 24, 2008. The color photo (bottom) was taken in the late afternoon today, January 5, 2011 on the now treeless lane between Hujialou [...]

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It has been awhile since I’ve blogged, though not because I’ve not wanted to. I just haven’t wanted too enough. Inertia is … addictive. The force that changed my direction was, as it has so often been, the CCTV HQ Building. On the evening of December 20, 2010, the folks at the CCTV Headquarters Building [...]

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I had written a long blog entry to go with these photos, explaining the National Holiday air quality issue, but I lost it. It happens. Though I’m not one who usually lets things go, there’s not much I can do about this one, so I’ve come to terms with the fact that it has been [...]

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In Amsterdam this past Monday evening, September 27th, there was a book launch of Koolhaas in Beijing, by Edzard Mik, the fifth book in a series of essays commissioned by Fonds BKVB / Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture. The designer Marco Stout of Stout/Kramer, Rotterdam has introduced the book on their website. [...]

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Below are a few shots from this morning at Guomao, where the Dongsanhuan (East Third Ring Road) and Jianguomen Dajie entwine. It was another lovely, steamy, smoggy, summer morning in the capital city. It’s not always like this, though it is quite a lot. These photos are part of a larger set shot between 5:24 [...]

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The last two mornings have seen capital sunrises in the capital city, and below are a few photos of Beijing architecture from both mornings, shortly after sunrise. (Click on each photo for a larger version that opens in a lightbox.)

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