NOW CONFERENCE – SEASON 1
1 JULY 2011 – 2 JULY 2011
The conference, previously known as DATUM:KL, remains the principal anchor event for the Festival, but shall from this year onwards be re-conceptualised as the NOW CONFERENCE. NOW implies an immediacy, a moment in the present to define new positions and potentials, an architectural status update! At a time when architecture seeks new directions and new beginnings, the debut conference will seek to examine and describe key trajectories of thinking and practice, and to underline the essential transformative aspects of architecture as a critical instrumentality to engage a continually changing world.
NOW CONFERENCE / SEASON 1 will feature a series of lectures by a selection of both established and emergent architects and designers with divergent range of approaches and interests from the region and internationally. In addition to introducing a new set of exceptional talent to the Datum community, this year we welcome back some of our original speakers who over the years has also risen in stature and profile alongside Datum. The new conference will also have a refreshed and updated format but will leave intact the things that have worked well.
SPEAKERS (in alphabetical order)
YB SENATOR DATO SRI’ IDRIS JALA PUTRAJAYA
ALFREDO BRILLEMBOURG CARACAS
PITUPONG CHAOWAKUL BANGKOK
FLORIAN IDENBURG & JING LIU NEW YORK/BEIJING
ZHANG LI BEIJING
LAURENCE LOH PENANG
JÜRGEN MAYER BERLIN
HIROSHI NAKAMURA TOKYO
OLE SCHEEREN HONG KONG/BEIJING
MARC SIMMONS NEW YORK
CAMERON SINCLAIR LONDON
ALAN TAY & SEETOH KUM LOON SINGAPORE
ZHANG LI BEIJING
TEAM MINUS www.teamminus.com
LECTURE TITLE: ON CONTINUUM ('--')
Zhang Li (a.k.a. Brian Chang) [1970-] (D. Eng. | M. Arch.),
Professor of Architecture, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University
Director of Design, TeamMinus, Beijing.
Zhang Li got all his degrees from the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University and has been a Tsao Fellow in the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University.
Zhang Li's research focuses on oriental philosophy and contemporary urban redevelopment. Besides his teaching in Tsinghua, he has also taught or been involved in teaching studios in Harvard GSD, Yale, Barcelona, Berlage, and NUS. He has also lectured in universities including Syracuse, Berlage and NUS.
Zhang Li and his team has won awards such as the Chinese Award for Design Excellence, the SCA Award for Emerging Architects, and the 1st Price in the IABR 2007 Rotterdam Competition.
Led by Zhang Li, TeamMinus, set up as a design research laboratory became a full-fledge practice in 2005 and now engages itself in a wide range of real world projects as well as academic research explorations. The word 'TeamMinus' refers to the team working pattern based upon two elementary processes: a) open discussions among individuals before major design decisions; and b) highly specialised coordination after major design decisions.
TeamMinus advocates a reinterpretation of the oriental philosophy in built environment. The oriental subject-object unity leads to alternative strategies on architecture and urbanism today. The primary concern of TeamMinus is the bridging of gaps between normally opposing concepts, such as inside and outside, city and rural, old and new, man and nature.
From the year 2000 to 2010, Zhang Li and TeamMinus has designed a series of projects in China, including some high-profile, award-winning projects like the Culture Centre in Jinchang, the Chinese Provincial Pavilion and Roof Park in Shanghai Expo, the National Flower Show Complex, and the Jia-Na-Ma-Ni Visitor Centre in the earthquake damaged Kampa Tibetan region.
TeamMinus also maintains a tradition in doing academic research. Through its transformation from laboratory to practice, this tradition has been maintained by a series of autonomous research projects, including: Mobile School of Hope for Depressed Regions (2000-2001), The Farmer's House with Honour for the Rural North-West China (2007-2008), 'Back to the Trees' as a New Prototype to Urban Agriculture (2009-), etc.
