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MVRDV Presents The Vertical Village At The 10th Shanghai Biennale

United Kingdom Architecture News - Dec 19, 2014 - 12:09   2161 views

MVRDV Presents The Vertical Village At The 10th Shanghai Biennale

The Vertical Village tries to offer a radical alternative to the monotonous housing-block architecture which is replacing the historic city fabric that exists throughout East Asia. This destruction is a clear consequence of the region’s steadily increasing urban population and it’s desperate need for higher density. Anonymous high-rise settlements offer little individuality or respect for social networks and communal characteristics that have developed  over hundreds of years in urban environments. The Vertical Village explores how these urban areas could be densified while preserving the qualities of the traditional village - rich diversity, flexibility and informality.  Can a new model for Asian cities be imagined?
The Vertical Village installation at the 10th Shanghai Biennale consists of two sculptures of 29 and 10 pieces located at the northern end of the Xintiandi District. From the end of December till the end of January 2015, a parallel exhibit of the Vertical Village sculpture will go on show at Pudong International Airport, consisting of 39 pieces.  From February 2015, all three will be combined into one large sculpture of 75 pieces and exhibited in the central outdoor plaza of Xintiandi until March 8th 2015. 
The installation forms part of the city pavilion in Xintiandi, the theme of which is the “Spectacle of the City”. The pavilion explores this topic within the environment of the contemporary city itself, discussing the changing spectacle of the city as affected by production, consumption and differing modes of living. The Vertical Village exhibition has been conceived as a collaboration between MVRDV, The Why Factory- a global think tank and research institute run by MVRDV and Delft University of Technology, and the JUT Foundation for Arts and Architecture in Taipei. It was previously shown in Taipei, Seoul and Hamburg.
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