immediate city exhibition at shenzhen hong kong biennale 09

the immediate city: the urban game has new rules! post

the immediate city was an exhibition that was part of the shenzhen hong kong (SZHK) biennale 09. it was developed as an alternative solution to presenting and sharing architectural content about, for, within, from and against the city. the exhibition featured the content of the ‘immediate city’ through different forms of communication: t.v. programs, radio shows, newspaper articles, magazine reports neon signs etc.

the people of guangzhou discovering ‘ultrastructures’!

the immediate city is a research project focusing on the pre-metropolitan condition of the territory (shenzhen / hong kong) and the increasing speed of its urban development. the project aims to propose a quantum leap of architecture for the city – the minimum amount of architecture involved to activate a city. it aims to be an inquire on the basic physical and organization structures needed for the operation of a society and the development of a city.

the flash architects – ‘faster than me’

infrastructure facilitates the production and distribution of resources and energy,

thus defining our relationship to the original environment which still surrounds us.

the research aims to interrogate the usual process of planning the city, by upgrading the first

elements that enable and structure any contemporary cities, into elements of foundation

and activation in the immediate form of urbanity – the ultrastructures – striving to propose

prototypes of buildings based on a city’s direct practical requirements.

‘manipulating the natural condition’ before zero – proposals of urban development focusing on the foundation of cities and their speed of expansion

in such an occasion like the biennale, the building is ‘put on stage’ as a polemical object,

a formal, theoretical and practical application of ideas, as an opportunity to provoke reactions

more than literally proposing constructions. projects like the immediate city can be ‘built to react’

and consequently dare to become a form of mobilization within the metropolitan arena.

‘the city reaches an artificial form of existence’ before zero – proposals of urban development focusing on the foundation of cities and their speed of expansion

‘the immediate city’ before zero – proposals of urban development focusing on the foundation of cities and their speed of expansion

from infra to ultrastructures – ultra cooling tower

from infra to ultrastructures – ultra silo

graphic illustrations of the various forms of ‘ultrastructures’

from left to right: mies van der rohe, robert venturi, philip johnson, rem koolhaas, bjarke ingels

exhibition graphics

the project was developed by ourgroup™: cheng chow yiu, emmanuel guilloux, antonin maeno, arthur van peteghem and romain vaulont.