Melbourne University Beijing Most 2009 Architecture Studio

In 1999, we conducted an architectural and urban design-research studio in Beijing –MOST999. The focus was on Luo Gu Xiang (LGX), a quiet, traditional residential precinct, located north of the Forbidden City. Our project addressed various issues of urban regeneration, with an emphasis on the introduction of new contents and forms into the historic milieu, as a way of generating new energies that facilitate culturally sustainable development.

Over the last ten years, a lot has happened in China and in Beijing.  Recent hits on ‘Google’ declare: ‘Luo Gu Xiang: A Popular Hangout for Young Beijingers’ and ‘Beijing’s Hidden Bohemia: Nan Luo Gu Xiang’. That is not what we experienced there in 1999 and it is why we wish to revisit Beijing this year.

MOSTO9 will start from the transformation of Luo Gu Xiang and those three words which, at the beginning of the 21st century, seem to have been compressed into a single meaning: globalisation, urbanisation, China.

We will investigate the role of urban design and architecture in those processes. Using the example of Beijing, we will explore how cities change and how traditional precincts like Luo Gu Xiang respond to rapid transformation: what are the losses, where are the gains and how to do better? 

Our opening position is eco-urbanity. The starting hypothesis of MOSTO9 is that, in a time of rampant globalisation, there is a need for cultural rooted-ness and/or referentiality of change. The key concepts that open literature, fieldwork and design investigations within the studio include: architecture, Beijing, China, city, conservation, culture, eco-urbanity, difference, globalisation, heritage, otherness, regeneration, resistance, sustainability, urbanity, urbophilia.

Our journey will start in the first capital of China – Xi’an.  In Beijing, Luo Gu Xiang will be our focus. It will provide an inspiration and the actual locus for development of design-research ideas and interventions. The graduates from MOST999 studio have agreed to provide valuable input and a sense of continuity to MOSTO9.  The studio will be conducted in collaboration with Tsinghua University, Beijing, and Keio University, Tokyo.