Architecture

Focus speaks to Simon Mitchell, co-founder of global design studio Sybarite, about the future of retail in China Simon co-founded Sybarite with Torquil McIntosh in 2002, since which time they have delivered nearly 3,000 projects, including retail and experiential concepts, and designs for notable brands and retail operators of varying scales, from monobrands through to master planning. Their successful repositioning of the Shin Kong Place mall to ‘SKP’ in China …

Heatherwick Studio’s partner Lisa Finlay discusses the firm’s current ambitious landscaping project, 1,000 Trees, their past designing the British Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, and future architectural trends in China, with Clizia Sala   The renders of the 1000 Trees Project under construction along the Suzhou River in Shanghai look stunning and extremely ambitious. Can you describe the project? The project has the shape of two mountains topped by living …

  Juan Du is Associate Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and a founding director of the Shenzhen Centre for Design. Her new book ‘The Shenzhen Experiment: The Story of China’s Instant City’ (Harvard University Press) emerged from her active involvement in the ongoing development and planning of the city. It’s a study of a city planned to foster innovation, business and co-operation, …

Tom Pattinson speaks to London-based town planner and social economist Dr Wei Yang about China’s urban planning and how a Victorian town planner of British home county towns might have a big impact in China Wei Yang might speak softly but she talks boldly about what China could learn from Britain. We meet in a majestic hotel in her adopted home of London to compare notes on the last three …