Architects take Beijing’s smog into account

Posted by FFW on Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The LA Times, BEIJING — The relationship between smog and architecture is not one that critics or scholars — or architects themselves, for that matter — have traditionally given much thought. But in the pollution-clogged Chinese capital, the link is nearly impossible to ignore.

Often exacerbated by more benign haze and fog and by periodic dust storms, smog acts as an always-shifting veil in Beijing, shrouding old and new architecture alike. It changes the personality and color of buildings and manipulates their outlines. Huge towers just four or five blocks away fade into oblivion.

Smog levels and the Beijing skyline are thoroughly intertwined: Not only have they risen in tandem during the city’s growth spurt over the last two decades, but the construction of new skyscrapers is in part responsible for generating the haze that surrounds them when they’re finished. Architects have begun choosing color palettes and finishes for their Beijing projects with the poor visibility in mind. And in an odd twist, completed towers in Beijing now look blurrier, somehow less fully formed, than the crisp computer renderings used to promote them before they’re built….

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[Images + Text Courtesy The LA Times]