Reï¼?fabricating City

Exhibition utilizing the existing prisons.

Despite the success positive attitudes shown from the Biennale, exhibitions from famous non-Hong Kong architects did not manage to take advantage of the given constrains and programs. Putting the judgment of their works aside, we can see here the so-called “professional impromptuâ€?: over half of the exhibitions were set up to be displayed only one or two days before the exhibition, needless to say that some did it just right before the opening exhibition. Moreover, their exhibition materials are basically printed boards showing the architect’s recent works hanging down from the ceiling ribs simply to cover the existing walls in front of some raw curtains. From a point of view of a person who is disappointed, I was expecting from these celebrity design some interactive stuff that create some kind of dynamism between the exhibits and this existing condition, or some insightful and exemplary strategies as comparisons from which Hong Kong could learn, towards the Biennial’s theme on urban re-fabrication.

Generally most of the distinguished design that fits well into this venue is far deep into the jail by local designers and students, rather than the ones surrounding the main courtyard that tends to be superficial. It might be the reason why local are assigned with the places fall back that they provides more constrains that are time-consuming and challenging to deal with in terms of exhibition. Non-standard exhibition rooms and insufficient lighting has surprisingly made the exhibitions in it a great success, compared to the ones in the front. However it was a pity that only small bridges and indistinctive passes leads to the middle and back of the exhibition due to the compound’s existing building conditions. It is worse that there aren’t obvious instructions and on-site information that implies all programs to visitors that they may actually miss the most valuable part by the jail in the middle of the compound and backyard. If you ever get a chance to visit, be sure to explore further into this compound, especially into the F building at the very back with a real tour in the steel cages and the prisoner’s cafeteria.

One other deficiency on this Biennale is that we merely see any connections and responses to Shenzhen, the other side of this Bi-City Biennale. It was said to be a brand new model of two adjacent cities’ cooperation on urban and architectural Biennale, but only from the opening speech and few exhibitions from the organizer could we feel this feeble urban relationship to Shenzhen in which its deputy mayor emphasize so much on in the opening ceremony. We couldn’t help but be curious on what these architectural and urban practices are, or was that just an insurmountable political factor? Or what is Shenzhen up to?

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Hao Ruan is a graduate student in architecture at Tsinghua University in Beijing and a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Design. He is interested in the different contemporary stages of architectural development and design practices concerned in China and around the world.