Inverted Architecture Exhibition, Shenzhen, South China Images, Chinese Interior Architecture Images
Inverted Architecture Exhibition in Shenzhen
15 Mar 2023
Design: Studio Link-Arc
Location: Shenzhen, China
Photos: Bai, Chao Zhang
Inverted Architecture, China
Inverted Architecture Exhibition Duration: Dec 10, 2022-March 12, 2023
‘More than Human Adventure’ is the theme of the Exhibition for the 2022 Shenzhen Biennale, titled Urban Cosmologies. In response to the theme, Studio Link-Arc proposes to explore the intersection between living organisms and architecture.
Mycelia (mushrooms) are living, root-like structures that can sometimes cover thousands of acres. They have tremendous abilities to survive and adapt to various environments and their demands. In this installation, the firm aims to reflect, visualize, and learn from such organisms to adapt the languages and techniques of architecture to the future.
Using the language of construction, this installation explores relationships between architecture and an ecosystem that is mostly unknown. The aim is to dissolve boundaries and create a symbiosis, or a collaboration between both realms. The inverted-pyramid shape flips traditional views on its head, illustrating the existence of second natures, double functionality, duplicate purposes, man-made and nature, present and future, and finally growth and decay. A symbol that is also an anti-symbol.
The installation consists of 400 hanging mushroom bricks, which is a renewable and bio-degradable material. Bricks are grown, rather than manufactured. Using an agricultural waste straw, bagasse, and wheat bran as substrate, mycelium grows naturally and, in time, solidifies. The end result is a material with enough structural strength and plasticity that, under the right temperature and humidity, can be grown into any shape. Once its life as construction material ends, several months in the soil will see the complete degradation of the mushroom brick, thus being no burden to the environment.
The exhibition takes place in a converted old brewery, with gallery spaces between continuous concrete frames. The indoor-outdoor space provides an ideal place for mushroom bricks to absorb moisture from the air. In addition, a pool is created under the installation to provide a moist micro-climate.
The mycelia will be deactivated in the manufacturing process. To compensate, the team selected some bricks to grow fresh mushrooms after assembly. The hope is to make this installation part of the sustainable ecological cycle, a man-made device that grows and evolves as a living organism.
Inverted Architecture Exhibition in Shenzhen, China
Design: Studio Link-Arc – https://www.aedas.com/
Project Name: Inverted Architecture
Project Location: Shenzhen, China
Exhibition Duration: Dec 10, 2022-March 12, 2023
Chief Architect: Yichen Lu
Project Manager: Shiyu Guo, Luis Ausin, Simeng Qin, Zhenwei Zhong
Project Team: Letty Lau, Zida Liu, Lingyun Yang, Zeynep Ugur, Rui Zhou, Chenhao Ma, Xiaoxuan Hu, Yu Lai, Shawlon Hsieh
Biological Technology Support: Bio-Loop
Sponsor: Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government
Undertaker: Shenzhen Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, Shenzhen Luohu District People’s Government
Executed by: Guangdong Yuehai Land Group Co., Ltd
Supported by: Shenzhen Biennale Public Art Foundation, Shenzhen Urban Planning and Design Institute
Special Fund Support: Shenzhen Cultural Industry Development Special Fund
Chief Curators: Lu Andong, Wang Zigeng, Chen Bokang
About Studio Link-Arc, LLC
Based in New York City, Studio Link-Arc, LLC is an international team of architects and designers. The firm’s name, Link-Arc, refers to the practice’s collaborative nature, as well as its mission, which is to work across disciplines to create strategy and design in the fields of urban planning, architecture, spatial art, and landscape. Link-Arc accomplishes that by linking knowledge, resources, and intelligence derived from multiple perspectives and diverse backgrounds.
Link-Arc’s body of work includes innovative projects at all scales. The firm sees the relationship between architecture and context as an opportunity to create a new context, new nature, and a new understanding of the world. Through research, they uncover the essential truths unique to each project, and then use those truths to create concepts and shape form. Link-Arc endeavors to create refined works of architecture, creating spaces that promote contemplation and imagination, providing quiet satisfaction through the simple act of occupation.
Link-Arc approaches each project with an open mind. The firm works to understand the constraints unique to each project and then integrates them into the process, enabling the work to develop in an informed manner. Link-Arc’s work addresses societal and cultural issues, which in turn promotes design integrity and the understanding that context extends beyond the physical.
Link-Arc’s intellectual approach is based on openness to challenge, gaining strength from diverse cultural backgrounds and contexts, and viewing architecture as a discipline that transcends the pragmatic act of building. The firm believes that architecture can be an inclusive discipline that rises to the challenges of the current era.
Photography: Bai, Chao Zhang
Inverted Architecture Exhibition, Shenzhen, China images / information received 150323
Location: Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
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