KCAP at Sino Dutch Sponge City Seminar in Zhuhai

Together with Suyi Design and Urban Planning Institute of Nanjing University, KCAP has been selected as one of five shortlisted teams out of 40 for the international competition of Zijin Mountain and XuanWu Lake urban design in Nanjing, China. Nanjing, situated in the Yangtze River Delta region and today the capital of Jiangsu province, has a long and rich history. As the capital of multiple dynasties, Nanjing is one of China's Four Great Ancient Capitals. Zijin Mountain is famous for its royal cemetery, listed as world cultural heritage with other royal cemeteries from the dynasties Ming and Qing. XuanWu Lake is a popular park and the most significant Royal Garden in China. The meaning and symbolism of Zijin Mountain and XuanWu Lake's natural elements have changed during the time. That made the competition very exciting for KCAP. How could we develop a new identity for Nanjing from these two elements of a famous and historically loaded cultural landscape, opening it up to the citizens? And how to do this fulfilling the requirements of the ecological-based development movement throughout China? Our multidisciplinary team is honored to work on this exciting task and will complete the design by April 2021. Aerial image: @2021千图网

Last week, the demonstration zone of East Dike Shenzhen was officially opened by Mr. Huang Min, vice mayor of Shenzhen, accompanied by Mr. Zhang Liwei, head of the Water Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality. As from May 1st , the demonstration zone is open to the public, welcoming visitors and serving local residents. East Dike is located in Dapeng, a mountainous peninsula in the direct proximity of Hongkong and Shenzhen. In 2018, the typhoon Mangkhut damaged the coastline to various degrees. In 2019, team KCAP+FELIXX has been selected to develop the plans, restore the coastline and raise protection standards. With the ‘Triple Dike strategy’, the team developed an integrated approach towards the climate adaptive reorganization of the 130 kilometer long shore. In the concept, water safety strategies are connected to eco-development and nature restoration and merged with social and economic growth. On a 500m long strip in Yangmeikeng, the performance of the proposed nature-based strategies for the sea wall are tested and materialization principles are explored and refined. The realization of this demonstration zone is the first milestone in the construction of 18 kilometers of embankment to be completed by 2021. Strategic projectsFor 6 villages along the shore, all originating from fishers’ communities, the strategy is turned into strategic design projects, creating unique and site-specific realms. The ‘Triple Dike’ is composed of three development zones, carefully embedded in the local conditions and responding to the specific future needs of every village. The small-scale identity will be protected and their different characteristics reinforced. Village Dongshan is situated in a quiet bay, allowing the embankment to be designed as a green park, merging the mountains and the sea. Guanhu is a creative and cultural district. The dike performs as a vivid green beach boulevard, a backbone that unites existing functions with new recreational facilities. Moonbay is ...

KCAP, in collaboration with Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl, designed an ecological masterplan for Jinan's Southern Mountain area in norther China. Its purpose is to restore and protect the mountainous geological structure and ecology of the region. Protection is vital because the Southern Mountains are the source of the famous Jinan springs. Also, they contain several drinking water reservoirs and functions as the green sanctuary of the city.  As a strategy to restore and protect water resources, the masterplan provides ecologically orientated development of cities, mobility, agriculture, economy and tourism in the area. The plan has been approved by the municipality of Jinan. The Southern Mountains in Shandong is a mountain area of 600 km2. North lies Shandong’s capital Jinan. The historic centre of the city is known for over seventy natural artesian springs. South of the mountains lies the holy Thaisan mountain, as the first of the five holy mountains, where Chinese emperors through the ages took the 6293 stairs to the top to bring offers to their god at the start of their reign. In between mountain ranges, separated by three larger valleys, the landscape and water resources over the years became gradually more polluted by agriculture and urbanization. Also, the underground water systems became congested, which was a growing problem not just for water supply and environment in general, but especially for the city of Jinan. The city wants to be recognized as world heritage by UNESCO for their historic city centre and over seventy-two artesian springs. It was a necessity to restore and protect the water systems at the source. The project has started with identifying ecological sensitive areas, elements and systems in order to layer them according to urgency, importance and threat. KCAP also calculated population and land capacity and locate potential areas where production and urban developments are ...

Construction work of our project East Dike in Shenzhen is progressing fast and the design is taking shape. Team KCAP + Felixx is supervising the construction process on site together with our client and LDI team. This week,  we were happy to welcome our client, the Water Resources Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality, lead by director Zhang and director Zhao, at the construction site of Yangmeikeng demonstration zone to present the work in progress. Meanwhile, the design of all six areas was presented to the representative committee of the Shenzhen People's Congress and Shenzhen Ocean Bureau. The design of those areas will now progress towards the final design stage. We are looking forward to see the finishing of the demonstration zone in Yangmeikeng in beginning 2020!!

KCAP has presented an urban plan for the development of Futian. KCAP’s urban design vision proposes a strategy to turn Futian, Shenzhen’s City Centre into a vibrant urban city centre that can compete with the centres of other mega-cities. This challenge cannot be achieved by completely re-designing parts of the centre in a top-down way, but rather to implement customized local interventions as test-projects that can provide a direction for incremental urban transformation. The main theme of this overall urban design is the development of Futian from border city to open city, It focuses on how to promote Futians development into a more spatially and socially inclusive urban area through the optimization of road space and green structures, resulting in a more diverse and socio-economically resilient area. The biggest problem of Futian is that it is both very large and it consists of fragmented neighbourhoods of radically different character, separated by large car-oriented roads, that increase the segregation between districts and prevent the development of an inclusive and porous urban centre. At the same time, the larger road grid in Shenzhen forms a clear system of orientation that should not be abandoned but transformed. Hence, our design strategy transforms the functional areas that are isolated by the main roads to cross the physical boundaries that restrict them, and to soften the very rigid borders, so that economic activity in the various characteristic areas can radiate more freely to the surrounding areas, thereby promoting urban diversification and better supporting economies of scale. Additionally, it also proposes to create a large, comprehensive overall green & blue network of connecting public spaces, based on the current road network, that provides Futian a better base of orientation between the Mountain Ridge in the North, Shenzhen Bay and River in the South, and improve the definition towards the ...

On June 27, Kees Christiaanse will speak about his "Textbook", published with nai010 Publishers last year. The Textbook covers 30 years of his thinking about cities. It is a collection of 21 texts that has been carefully selected and redacted in collaboration with Jessica Bridger. The subjects of the collected texts range from charting the personal influence of the bicycle on his thinking about future mobility to the examination of dominant concepts and projects in the contemporary built environment. Christiaanse’s sketches, personal notebook pages, and watercolours complement this unique collection. Thursday 27 June, 20:00 Library of Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam Admission is free, but seats are limited. Please register here. As a warm up for the presentation of Kees Christiaanse's Textbook on June 27, partners at KCAP give sneak previews of the book that holds thirty years of personal notes on urban design and architecture by Kees. First comes Anouk Kuitenbrouwer. Sneak Preview Anouk Kuitenbrouwer Ute Schneider and Kees Christiaanse have worked together closely for many years. Prior to the presentation of Kees' Textbook on June 27, she reflects on the collection of experiences at KCAP and his involvement in developments on the field of urban planning and architecture in the past thirty years. Sneak Preview Ute Schneider In this short video Edward Schuurmans, partner at KCAP, shares his findings on Kees Christiaanse’s Textbook (personal notes on 30 years of urban design and architecture). He focuses on an inspirational footnote, in which Kees states that design should be equally well appreciated by a construction worker as well as by an architect. Or, as Edward puts it, David Bowie’s music liked by ordinary rock fans as well as by sophisticated music experts.Sneak Preview Edward Schuurmans Ruurd Gietema and Kees Christiaanse are long time companions as international operating urbanists and share comprehensive visions on urbanism and broad themes that affect ...

KCAP's De Opgang, comprising of a program of 79 apartments, a church and daycare facilities, is one of eight projects selected for publication 'Complex Housing' (Routledge, USA), which introduces an architectural type called complex housing, common to the Netherlands and found in other Northern European countries. It is one of eight fully illustrated case studies that show successful approaches to designing for density, which reflect values such as long-term planning, a right to housing, and access to light and air. The case studies demonstrate a wide range of applications including a mixture of urban and suburban sites, various numbers of dwelling units, low- to high-density approaches, different architectural styles, and organizational strategies that can be adopted in projects elsewhere. De Opgang was also one of the projects presented at the symposium “Complexity: Dutch and American Housing” that explored the similarities and differences between the way housing is designed, developed, and constructed in the Netherlands and in the United States, as a way to create new practices. Extending from the book Complex Housing: Designing for Density and accompanying the exhibition Dutch Complex Housing, the symposium at the University of Minnesota brought 12-13 presenters from the Netherlands, including architects, developers, residents, urban planners, and politicians to engage in discussions about best housing practices. The conference addressed such questions as how to build equitable housing that: 1) incorporates mixed-income households, 2) includes rental and purchase opportunities, 3) is financed in new ways, and 4) is architecturally innovative and diverse? Han van den Born, architect, Henk-Jan Hollander, developer and former alderman of Amsterdam Duco Stadig, all involved in the project De Opgang, jointly presented the project at the symposium.        

Against the background of the exhibition "Train and the City", KCAP and OMI organize a special event around Rotterdam Central District on Tuesday 5 September. You are cordially invited to participate in the event. Rotterdam Central District, the station area of Rotterdam, is developing fast. What are the recent developments and opportunities of the area? What can we learn from the development of station areas in other European cities? What are the essential elements of ‘making’ a city? And how does the district become a driving force for the further development of Rotterdam? These and other questions will be discussed with Kees van Oorschot, Wijnand Galema and Kees Christiaanse. Patrick van der Klooster, director of AIR architecture center Rotterdam, will moderate the evening. During the program, the following topics will be discussed: • Recent developments of Rotterdam Central DistrictKees van Oorschot, process manager municipality Rotterdam for Rotterdam Central District• Cultural-historical research SchiekadeblokWijnand Galema, architectural historian• Rotterdam Central District as a driving forceKees Christiaanse, urban planner and partner KCAP Architects&Planners The entrance is opens at 4:30 pm at OMI Rotterdam, Schiekade 205. The program will last from 5.00 until 6.30 pm. We close the event with a drink. We look forward to welcoming you on September 5th. Please register for the event before Friday September 1st.      

Kees Christiaanse is one of the keynote speakers at the annual real estate symposium in Baden, Switzerland on March 28th. With the title "Die Stadt erfindet sich neu - Immobilien Quo vadis?", the Swiss Real Estate Association SVIT has invited national and international experts to look out to future visions and take a glimpse back into the past of urban development. Focus of the discussions will be on: Changing conditions of cities and urban regions Influences, needs and time periods New uses in a changed world New real estate for new cities Click here for more information. 

Ute Schneider is one of the international jury members of Europan 14 Austria. On March 22nd, the competition will be officially launched with an opening event at the Haus der Architektur in Graz with Ute Schneider as keynote speaker. Europan is the world´s largest competition for architects, urbanists & landscape architects under 40. It covers 45 sites in 13 European countries. 'Europan A' has 3 sites in Austria.The topic of Europan 14 is 'Productive Cities' and deals with the question on how mixed is actually the mixed-city. The competition entries will have to be submitted by June 30th, the results will be announced on December 1st. Find here more information on Europan 14 Austria. Click here for the European website of Europan.

On Thursday, February 16th, Ruurd Gietema will give a lecture about KCAP's experiences with working in China at TU Delft. The lecture is meant as preparation for the STYLOS travel to China but it is open to everyone. Time: 12:45 am - 1:45 pm Location: Room A Click here for further information.

Kees Christiaanse will be one of the speakers at the symposium 'Schiphol towards the future', organised by the podium for architecture in Haarlemmermeer and Schiphol. During the event, the book 'The adaptive airport' will be presented to which he contributed with an essay named 'the productive landscapes in Haarlemmermeer'. Kees Christiaanse will contribute his expert knowlegde that is based on the numerouw airport projects within KCAP, his experience as supervisor of Schiphol Airport from 2008-2013 and his activities in the international Airports and Cities research platform, a cooperation of his chair at ETH with the SEC/ETH Future Cities Laboratory Singapore and TU Munich Professorship for Sustainable Urbanism, Prof. Mark Michaeli. The symposium will take place November 11th at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam. 

At the Building Green conference in Copenhagen on November 2nd and 3rd, Jeroen Dirckx, urban planner and associate at KCAP, will introduce KCAP's approach to sustainable urban design and present three international cases as keynote speaker. Since its founding in 1989, KCAP is focussing on realising sustainable urban neighbourhoods with a strong social coherence. With the GWL Terrain in Amsterdam, KCAP pioneered in designing a car-free living environment with communal facilities and urban farming. In Hamburg, we planned the flood-resilient HafenCity urban expansion, one of the largest brownfield developments in Europe, which received a TOD Gold Award. More recently, KCAP leads the multi-disciplinary design team of the CO2-neutral FredericiaC project in Denmark. This transformation of a polluted former harbour area into a vital new city district includes themes like climate change adaptation, urban prosperity, energy efficiency, urban farming, participation, temporary landscape and social cohesion. 

KCAP has extensive experiences with working in Russia in all phases of architectural and urban projects. This expertise has gained us an invitation share our expert knowlegde from an international perspective on the first edition of the international forum 'Environment for Living', held October 20th and 21st in Innopolis, the Republic of Tatarstan. The forum is one of the first steps to evaluate building regulations, generate a public discussion and initiate legislative changes in the fields of urban planning, housing construction and public improvements with the aim to establish a new design culture and working methodology. The forum is organised by the Government of the Russian Federation, the Russian Ministry of Construction and Housing, the Government of the Republic of Tatarstanand the Federal Agency for Housing Mortgage Finance.

The Urban and Landscape Week is the biggest annual academic symposium hosted by TU Delft’s Faculty of Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences and is organized by study association POLIS. ULWeek provides a platform for collaborative and multidisciplinary engagement by inviting students, researchers and professionals within different academic disciplines from within Europe and overseas.  On ULWeek's first day, Kees Christiaanse is one of the international speakers, talking about LIVING IN THE LANDSCAPE. Click here for more information.

Today, KCAP participated in the annual interregional science and research conference “Modern Engineering System-2016" (MES-2016), taking place in Kazan, Russia. Riikka Tuomisto, senior project leader and urban designer of KCAP, gave a lecture “Better prevent than cure”, speaking on how to transform cities into places where people can enjoy all aspects of live in a non-conflicting manner with healthy and vital environments as a main goal. In 2016, the conference is celebrating its 10th anniversary along with the 50th anniversary of the Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering. Among speakers of MES-2016 – architects, heads of clinics, leading experts from world-scale suppliers and other professionals interested in construction and modernization of hospitals. The conference is organized by Interregional Clinical and Diagnostic Center, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Tatarstan, Ministry of Construction and Architecture of the Republic of Tatarstan, Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan and others. Click here for the conference website.

KCAP joined as one of the speakers the Ningbo Sponge City Delegation Visit, organised by The Consulate General of the Netherlands in Shanghai last week. Ningbo, a large, rapidly growing port city in the eastern part of China, is hoping to transform 25% of its area into a Sponge City by the year 2020. With cities getting bigger and climate change threatening to bring more extreme weather, sponge cities may be an interesting solution. They are a so-called reimagination of the urban environment where almost every raindrop is captured, controlled and reused. Instead of funneling rainwater away, a sponge city retains it for use within its own boundaries. KCAP, being a Dutch company with rich experience on waterfront planning and urban transformation, was therefore invited to share our projects and exchange our ideas with local government. Approximately 171 Sponge-City projects with different focuses, such as Sponge-City Neighourhood, Sponge-City Road and Square Design, Sponge-City Parks and Green Spaces, Water and Ecology Restoration, Flood Control and Drainage, Building Capacity etc. will be implemented in China in the coming three years. Six other Dutch companies were also invited to express their thoughts on the subject.  

The creation of human living environments and intelligent breeding grounds for sustainable communities is key to KCAP's work. At the Sochi Investment Forum, Ruurd Gietema will present this expertise as one of the panelists in the session 'Modern Approaches to the Human Environment'. In addition, KCAP’s international perspective will make a meaningful contribution to the discussion about developing comfortable and high-quality urban environments in Russia. The Sochi Forum is a traditional platform for presenting Russia’s investment and economic potential and regional aspects of the global economy. It is also well-known for boosting cooperation and strengthening ties between Russian and foreign business leaders, experts, and media representatives. It takes place on September 29th and 30th in Sochi. Click here for more information about the program. Photo credits: Tass Photo

Kees Christiaanse is one of the speakers at the annual conference of Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) that takes place from September 14-16 in Singapore.Future Cities / Challenges is the first annual conference of Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) in its second phase. It will showcase the progress FCL researchers have made one year into the programme. The conference as a whole will focus on the challenges that future cities pose for researchers, planners, designers, and the society at large. Click here for more information.

Last month, Kees Christiaanse was one of the speakers at the annual Urban Age conference in Venice, jointly organised by LSE Cities at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Deutsche Bank's Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft and integrated with the Venice Biennale. Click here to view his lecture during the 2-day conference.  

Ya-Hsin Chen, associate and chief representative of KCAP Shanghai, was one of the speakers at the 2-day event ‘Sino Dutch Sponge City Seminar’ in Zhuhai in June, co-organized by Embassy of the Netherlands in China, Zhuhai Housing and the Urban-Rural Planning & Development Bureau. KCAP and four other Dutch architects' offices, including Arcadis, Deltares, KuiperCompagnons and OMA, were invited to share their visions and experience about water and city. HafenCity and Bao'An were presented as two KCAP showcase projects of our approach towards new water cities.      

Kees Christiaanse is one of the speakers at the annual Urban Age conference, jointly organised by LSE Cities at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Deutsche Bank's Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft. It will be integrated with the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia which started in the end of May and will run through November 2016. The 2-day conference has as title 'shaping cities' and features a wide range of high profile international speakers and topics. Click here for the conference website.  

Tomorrow starts the first International Course Rotterdam Architecture (IC-RA): City force: Rotterdam architecture.  This 3-day summer school for (young) professionals examines various Rotterdam city themes, forces and architecture in workshops, lectures, office & project visits and debates with experts from a wide range of educational organisations, design-practices and clients. Themes are gentrification, transformation, innovation and city-branding. All regarded in relation to the strength of architecture design. The program is a 3-day course-en-route through the city with day 1 focussing on Rotterdam Zuid: Wilhelminapier, Katendrecht and Piekstraat. KCAP is invited to co-lead and host the afternoon workshop about the area around Piekstraat Rotterdam. Jeroen Dirckx, associate of KCAP, together with Stijnie Lohof, senior urban designer Rotterdam Zuid at the municipality of Rotterdam, and Vincent Taapken (New Industry project developement and involved in the Piekstraat development) will accompany the group during their analysis and elaborations. Day 2 will focus on Rotterdam North and East, Central District, Markthal Quarter, Hoogkwartier and the Maas, day 3 on Rotterdam West, Merwe4Haven. Click here for more information.  

Ruurd Gietema is speaker at the first of the 3 days of BAU congress in Bejing. During the congress, Chinese and international speakers will discuss the outlook for the future of the Chinese market. Ruurd's lecture will be on July 4th which has as focus "Urban strategies”, while on the second day the focus is on “Project development and implementation”, and on the last day focuses “Smart building technology”.    

On June 23rd, Kees Christiaanse is one of the keynote speakers at the 3-day 'Central Europe towards Sustainable Building' conference 2016 in Prague, subtitled with Innovations for Sustainable Future. CESB16 continues the tradition of sustainable building conferences in Central Europe of the previous years 2007, 2010 and 2013. Click here for more information about CESB16.  

On May 17th, Rotterdam will host the third edition of the annual international Urban Transformation Conference (UTC). The program consists of six sub themes under the central theme Vital Cities. UTC targets city planners, architects, planners and administrators, politicians but also artists, active citizens, scientists and entrepreneurs. Jeroen Dirckx, urban planner and associate of KCAP, will present FredericiaC within the session 'increasing complexity of integrated urban design processes'. 'As early as since 1989, KCAP Architects&Planners focuses on sustainable neighbourhood development with a strong social and health agenda. With GWL Terrein in Amsterdam, we pioneered in designing a car-free living environment with a strong sense of community. Today, we have devised a multidisciplinary design approach to confront the increasing complexity of integrated urban design processes. Exemplary for this approach is the CO2-neutral FredericiaC project in Denmark, which was designed in a participatory process. This transformation of a polluted former harbour area into a vital new city district includes themes like climate change adaptation, urban prosperity, energy efficiency, urban farming, temporary landscape and social cohesion. As a leading Rotterdam practice we can draw lessons from this project for Rotterdam.' Click here for more information about UTC.  

KCAP co-organised yesterday the first HPP Café, together with Holland Property Plaza. HPP Café is a new format within the various activities of HPP. As new networking initiative it brings together the professionals and decision makers of today with young potentials, the decision makers of the future. The format aims at benefits for both by combining the knowledge of the experienced professionals with the creativity and energy of the younger generation.  HPP Café takes place at inspiring locations throughout the Netherlands. The first edition yesterday took place at Fenix Loods in Rotterdam Katendrecht. Rotterdam's city district Katendrecht was once a picturesque village. After excavating the Maashaven and Rijnhaven and annexation by Rotterdam the character changed considerably. Katendrecht quickly became a neighborhood known for violence and prostitution. From the beginning of this century a transition is going on. By extensive demolition and rebuilding the neighboorhood, it quickly changes its character. Today is Katendrecht a hip and trendy place and preferred housing location within Rotterdam. Three speakers, all involved in the redevelopment of Katendrecht, highlighted the project from different perspectives. Wienke Bodewes, Chair of Holland Property Plaza introduced the topic and speakers: * Matthijs van Ruijven, Chief urban planner of the municipality of Rotterdam talked about the area development of Rotterdam Katendrecht and the role of the municipality in this proces. * Harry-Jan Bus, director of theater Walhalla in Katendrecht highlighted how culture can stimulate and contribute to the quality of urban developments * Peter van der Gugten, Director Heijmans Vastgoed presented the programming aspects of the area developments and how to combine it with private initiates of stakeholders The discussion after the speeches was moderated by Patrick van der Klooster, director of AIR Foundation, the Rotterdam architecture center and was continued during the informal drinks after the program. The audience, around 65 real estate professionals, had the chance to walk around ...

Ruurd Gietema is one of the panelists of the 'Urban Environment and Resilience' panel at the European Habitat Conference in Prague. The 3-day conference started March 16th and serves as one of the pre-events of the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development - Habitat III which will take place in Quito, Ecuador in the fall of this year. The main organizers of the Prague event are the Ministry of Regional Development of Czech Republic alongside with the City of Prague. Other regional and thematic meetings will take this month in Toluca (Mexico), Barcelona, Mexico City, Pretoria and Abjuja (Nigeria). Click here for more information about European Habitat Prague. Click here for more information about Habitat III.  

Kees Christiaanse is one of the speakers at the symposium 'Future Healthcare' which is held every two years in Berlin. It serves as an international platform to offer political, medical, ecological and economical as well as architectonical perspectives on the construction of health facilities. The 2016 edition is the sixth symposium in the series. The event addresses architects, carriers of health facilities and health professionals as well as politicians. The interdisciplinary discussion will analyze and present current tendencies, innovative concepts and latest findings. It will be accompanied by international experts who are invited to contribute. Click here for more information about the program.  

Today, Kees Christiaanse will give a lecture about 'The impact of big projects on the city‘ within the spring lecture series of the University of Hong Kong. 'Today, the equilibirum of cities seems to be widely steered by Big Projects, like Kowloon Station, Lujiazui in Shanghai, Kings Cross in London or HafenCity in Hamburg. Also the impact of Big Events, like the Olympic Games, in the city have a far-reaching influence on the local urban condition. What does this mean for the role of urban design?' Click here for more information.

New images have been taken which document the current status of KCAP's urban plan for Trinity Shenyang, a new urban district for living, working  and communal facilities. The 70 ha site, around 6 km from Shenyang centre, was a mainly rural territory and occupied with temporary settlements. Towards the North, the area is bounded by the river Hun, towards the South by the third ring road and the adjacent university. This project for the Trinity site is integrated in an overarching masterplan for the entire left bank of Shenyang, envisioning the development of a 8 km ‘linear city’ parallel with the river. Like Shanghai and Rotterdam, Shenyang ‘jumps’ over the river establishing urban life and multiple centres on both sides of the river. The river Hun will transform from being an edge into a ‘green’ center.The masterplan is based strategically on the proximity and relation of the area to the river and on being a self-determining village. The plan defines three centers and two landscape axis. It maximises the outward orientation of the commercial and business facilities. Within this main frame, a archipelago of districts, each of which with its own subcentre, are the founding principles of the urban concept. The plan is being constructed since 2008 and the last phase is heading towards completion.

Next Level – Urban planning without boarders. Learning from international experiences is the title under which the Dutch Creative Industry Fund gathers various experts to discuss: - how do international design projects and research contribute to find solutions for large-scale urban challenges? - what are the lessons the Dutch design community can learn from international experience? In parallel sessions three different topics will be examined: living environments, waterscapes and international workfield. Ruurd Gietema will share KCAP's experiences with housing strategies in the session about environments for living and working. Click here for more information.

KCAP has been selected as finalist in the second stage of the competition JinShan Waterfront in Shanghai. The competition is for a 580ha new town development along the 23 km2 sea coast in the south of Shanghai facing Hangzhou Bay. The first stage was an open competition, in which from 120 entries 5 teams have been selected: GALA GROUP ARTE CHARPENTIER AMA & RICHEZ ASSOCIATES RMJM ARCHITECTS&PLANNERS KCAP ARCHITECTS&PLANNERS The kick-off meeting and contract signing ceremony was held on May 28th in Jinshan District Government.

On March 25th, KCAP was invited to host a design salon at the Dutch Consulate in Chongqing. The aim was to share KCAP's experience and discuss the future possibilities of Chongqing’s city development by having a dialogue with local stakeholders, developers and representatives of the Chongqing University. The event was planned as a first session with more to follow. The next Design Salon is will take place in the summer.

Irma van Oort and Mark Dekker are delegates of the economic mission with Amsterdam's mayor Eberhard van der Laan to Vietnam, from December 7 to 11.  

KCAP in cooperation with Atelier Dreiseitl and the Nanchang Planning Institute Consortium, has been selected as one of three designers for the Nanchang Riverbank design. The other competitors are: Guangzhou Urban Planning Survey Design Institute + USA SWA GROUP Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning Design Institute

KCAP was one of the experts in a seminar session organized by ReadatChina, supported by the Dutch Consulate of Shanghai and hosted by Yurun Group about the development of commercial complexes in 4th and 5th tier Chinese cities. The seminar was attended by local developers, representatives of Yurun group and ReadatChina and some local design institutes (LDI).  

After the delivery of the first two buildings of the China Media Park in Qingdao [CN] earlier this year (see below), the next 4 buildings are almost ready. This building is a combination of 'loft' and 'soho' units on two floors of commercial plinth. The elevation is a dynamic pattern of perforated and non perforated aluminium panels to hide the individual aircon units. The China Media Park in Qingdao is a urban creative cluster for the advertising, media, film and communication industries. The 30 ha site is located in Qingdao’s Chenyang district, strategically located near the Qingdao airport. The design connects a wide variety of different places, programs and conditions surrounding the site. Many existing centralities in the vicinity of the site are currently disconnected neighbors and by becoming an integral element of its surroundings, or even more, a driver of the urban regeneration, the project will equally contribute to the evaluation of its success and determine the project’s future. The proposal helps to (re)activate and connect all the assets from its vicinity into a functional and high quality urban space, able to become a recognizable destination in Qingdao.

Nice picture of KCAP's office space in the Anken Green Building where KCAP Shanghai is located since February 1st. Address: 1B room, 1st floor 668 Huai An Road, Jing’an DistrictShanghai, China, 200041 T: +86 21 6180 8177 shanghai@kcap.eu

The team KCAP together with LAY-OUT, Shenzhen and Atelier Dreiseitl, Beijing is one of 8 shortlisted competitors of the Bao'An West Coastal Zone competition. Bao'An Coastal zone is located in the west of Shenzhen and at the east side of the Lingdingyang Bay, the mouth for Pearl River enering the sea. The coastline to be planned comprises of 45 kilometers, which is a fifth of the 248 km of Shenzhen’s coastlines. It is an important part of Shenzhen’s city public coastlines and contains multiple spatial patterns including formed natural coastlines, inner bays, tidal flats, a peninsula and an offshore island. The area contains Shenzhen Bao'An Airport, major ports, terminals and other transportation and production facilities. Within the development strategy of ‘three zones, two hearts and one valley’ it is ultimately about building an international coastal city. The designs have to be submitted in the middle of July, a jury result is expected by the end of July.  

Today is the official opening of the Dutch Design Exhibition at the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts in Wuhan. Several Dutch design related companies, including KCAP, are showcasing their work. The exhibition is part of the Dutch Days in Wuhan that are being held from April 5 - 26.    

On January 30th, China celebrates the start of the new year. We wish everyone a Happy New Year of the Horse! KCAP Shanghai will start the new year in a new office location. Our new address as of February 1, 2014 is:KCAP Shanghai1B room, 1st floor668 Huai An Road, Jing’an District,Shanghai, China, 200041T: +86 21 6180 8177shanghai@kcap.eu

Recently, the Selling Center of the VankePark project in Shanghai was opened. This building is the first of in total 32 buildings, all designed by KCAP Architects&Planners. The construction of five other buildings is well on the way. All the buildings are part of KCAP’s masterplan for the 10 ha business area in Shanghai’s Minhang district, close to Hongqiao airport, one of China’s biggest hubs for domestic flights. Themed ‘happy to work’ it aims to create a vibrant working environment in a three dimensional green setting. Delivery of the next 4 buildings is expected in December, the whole project should be realized by the end of 2014.

Kees Christiaanse, together with Ma Yansong, MAD Architects, China and Wolf D. Prix, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Austria will join a panel on September 13 during the 3 day World Economic Forum in Dalian, China. The title of the panel discussion is Thinking like an architect. Date: September 13 Time: 12:00 am - 1:00 pm Click here for program information.

The Selling Centre of the China Media Park in Qindao is almost completed.The centre is the first building within KCAP’s 30 ha masterplan in Qindao’s Chenyang district. With its core ‘creative village’ the area targets the advertising, media and film industry and enables the site to reconnect and regenerate its context. KCAP is responsible for the urban scheme and the architecture of the nine buildings of phase 1 of the development. On key positions in the masterplan buildings with distinctive architecture are located. The Selling Centre with its triangular façade elements is one of these landmarks which welcomes visitors to this urban quarter and marks the entrance of the main pedestrian area into the heart of the creative village.  

KCAP Architects&Planners celebrates the second anniversary of KCAP Shanghai.In May 2011 KCAP Shanghai was officially opened as the second branch office next to Zurich (CH) and KCAP’s headquarters in Rotterdam (NL). In its second year KCAP Shanghai managed to intensify the personal relationships with our clients and collaborators and continued successfully its inspiring work in China and other parts of Asia. Throughout the year KCAP worked on a variety of urban planning and architectural projects, some of which are already under construction, such as the 'Rotterdam Gardens' mixed-use project in  Shenyang. In the various projects, KCAP pursued its work on urban regeneration processes. In Shenzhen KCAP, together with local partner Shenzhen Lay-out Planning Consultants Ltd, was selected for the international consultation on the overall Urban Design Guidelines for the regeneration of the Sungang and Quingshuihe areas, as well as for the planning of subunits 1, 13 and 15. In December 2012, in a two-weeks design workshop in Shenzhen Luohu District, the concept was further developed. The workshop was a collaboration of KCAP with more than 30 local developers, the Urban Planning, Land and Resources Commission of Shenzhen Municipality and our client Luohu District Land Reform Authority. The approved result is expected in the early third quarter of 2013. It will serve as the statutory document for the urban regeneration of the area.With projects in Qindao and Shanghai, KCAP focused on the planning of knowledge hubs as catalyst areas in city development. The 30 ha masterplan in Qindao’s district Chenyang targets with its core 'creative village' the advertising, media and film industry and enables connecting the site to its surroundings in order to profit from the existing qualities. Next to the urban scheme, KCAP is also responsible for the architecture of the nine buildings of the first phase of the development for which the construction ...

The free Hong Kong magazine Metro Pop has published a 2 page feature about KCAP in the category 'Life Style Architecture'. Click here to view the magazine. To find the article, choose 'Architecture' in the menu at the bottom.

  On February 10th the Chinese New Year's Day will be celebrated. KCAP wishes everyone a healthy and happy new year!  

The travelling exhibition Dutch Design on the Move is presented again - after Beijing Design Week and Guanzhou Kanton Fair - at  100%Design Shanghai, from November 8-10. KCAP is again part of the participants. Click here for more information and the program.

KCAP is one of the Dutch participants of the travelling pop-up exhibition 'Dutch Design on the Move', organised by the Dutch Design Workspace, the DutchDFA and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Beijing. The first of the platform to present the exhibition is the Beijing Design Week 2012, running from September 28th through October 6th.  Next shows will be presented at Shanghai Design Week, Hong Kong Business of Design Week and Guangzhou Canton Fair. The exhibition 'Housing with a Mission' is also featured during Beijing Design Week at CAFA, Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Housing with a Mission is based on a match making program initiated by the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) in which KCAP as one of five Dutch architects to collaborate with five Chinese architects to develop new concepts for high quality affordable housing in China. The exhibition was previously shown at the 2011 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture and received the Organizer Committee Special Award of the Biennale.  Click here for the detailed program of Dutch Design at BJDW 2012.  Or go to the official website of Beijing Design Week.  

The 2012 edition of the Dutch Design in China Yearbook, initiated by Dutch Design Work Space (DDWS) in Shanghai, features more than 40 top design companies from the Netherlands that have set up a permanent base or have realized a project in China. The disciplines range from design, fashion, architecture to branding and advertising. Click here for more information.  

On Saturday, May 12th it is one year ago that the branch office of KCAP Architects&Planners in Shanghai was officially opened and the Chinese website www.kcap.eu/cn was launched. In this first year of presence in China, we were able to enhance our personal relations with our clients and collaborators and expand our previous experience of more than 10 years of building activity in China. We were happy to also welcome one of our Chinese clients in Europe for a tour to major European cities including Hamburg and Amsterdam.   Throughout the year we were involved in more than 12 projects in 7 different cities in various parts China. The projects range from large-scale urban designs across masterplans to a series of architectural designs with a great variety of programs.     Related to our experience and research on sustainable urban regeneration processes, KCAP wrote a column for the Chinese Business Herald. The text with the title ‘Urban Breeding Grounds’ was published in January 2012. In February, DutchDFA released a film portrait about KCAP in their series ‘Dutch Profiles’, giving insights into how KCAP develops their ideas about cities.   Next to our architectural activities, KCAP joined the Beijing Design Week 2011 in September 2011, the Shanghai International Creative Industry Week 2011 in October, the International Green Habitat Forum 2011 in Zhenjiang in November and in March 2012, as part of a group of Dutch architects active in China, KCAP was present at the China Sustainable Building Forum & Expo 2012 in Shanghai. The presentation was organised by the Dutch Consulate General in Shanghai. Just recently, in the middle of April, KCAP participated in the Dutch Week 2012 Shanghai, also initiated by the Dutch Consulate General in Shanghai, on the occasion of 40 years of diplomatic relations between China and the Netherlands. Furthermore, KCAP is member of the ...

KCAP as part of a group of Dutch architects active in China joins a stand at the China Sustainable Building Forum & Expo 2012 in Shanghai which is part of the 2012 Shanghai Architecture Fair and will take place in the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. The initiative is organised by the Dutch Consulate General in Shanghai. The fair is from March 27th till March 29th.

Kees Christiaanse was invited to write a column in the Chinese Business Herald. [[file:articlebusinessheraldcn]] [[file:articlebusinessherald]]