Profile: Minjie Si |
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This is the public profile of Minjie Si, Additional information and high-resolution images are available for accredited press members, to access additional information about Minjie Si please login as a press member.About Minjie Si : With increased urbanization in China, both people living in the old city center and rural farmers are having to adjust to life outside of their traditional communal lifestyle. Meanwhile with the development of the Chinese middle-class, now many Chinese aspire to new collective spaces for the social change, which can accommodate more possibilities and variability, and therefore create collective memory for the new generations. VRAP (Vernacular Research and Practice) was established by Minjie Si in Beijing 2016. focus on re-defining new collective spaces through observing social evolution and technological progress, modern transformation of towns and villages. The main types of projects are involved with old city renewal, rural revitalization and cultural tourism development. The works by VRAP are trying to achieve a delicate balance between strategy and form, built and preserved, rigor and freedom, specificity and generality, immediacy and evolutionary instinct. Despite of practice, VRAP also consider research and publication as an essential tool for making design better. Research project Rural Area in the Mountain Area Surround Beijing was selected as the Science and Technology Project 2017 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. Project Sky Farm has won the China Design Power List 100 2018 and was exhibited in UABB (Shenzhen-Hong Kong Biennale). Urban design of Taohuayuan Eco City in Changde has won the Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements Awards 2019. Project Bridge Pavilion has won Paris DNA Design Award 2021 and shortlisted for China Sustainable Design Award 2021. Project Farm Factory was exhibited in Rotterdam Architecture Biennale 2016 (Next Economy) and Beijing International Design Week 2016. Besides Minjie also curated parallel exhibition in Venice Architecture Biennale 2016 and delivered a speech at the 2016 IFLA (International Federation of Landscape Architects) Annual Meeting in Turin, Italy.
STATEMENT OF ART:With increased urbanization in China, both people living in the old city center and rural farmers are having to adjust to life outside of their traditional collective lifestyle. With the development of the Chinese middle-class, more and more families are relocating and altering their way of life, which has left many members of the older generation struggling to adapt. China's new middle class is not just buying houses and cars, it is buying a new lifestyle. In old China, communal living and communal values went hand-in-hand. But now many Chinese aspire to their own space and a new culture of individualism is emerging.
However, it is not the ending of collective spaces in China but a new chance to redefine collective spaces for the social change, which can accommodate more possibilities and variability, and therefore create collective memory for the new generations. Redefinition for new collective spaces in China may include three key points as the following:
First, re-thinking the 'function-ism', more socially engaged and responsible – designing collective spaces for social change, an opportunity for transformation evoking the new energy and vital force. The collective spaces, fertile ground for ‘architects’ and ‘citizens’ together: here, architecture can redefine the imperatives of space quality, as the heritage of collective memory; here, architecture can direct new attentions and responsibilities.
Secondly, a delicate balance between strategy and form, rigor and freedom, specificity and generality, immediacy and evolutionary instinct. The objective is to build open infrastructures, by already imagining their future development. In short, it's a matter of reading the richness of a specific context in order to plan highly flexible buildings, capable of stimulating ever wider uses and functions.
The last but not the least, economize and localize materials, rather than just offering a list of materials. ‘How can a material be ‘efficient’ and stimulate the design of a building that functions as a high ‘performance’ machine?’ Here, answering this question is a priority.
In conclusion, redefine new collective spaces in China may open up new avenues of design ideas and practice. In China old city centers, historic blocks, communal residential blocks and rural villages call for new collective spaces, with a deeper understanding of context, bringing in dynamic flows between daily life and architecture which provide a vessel for vivid (r)urban life.
ORGANIZATION:
VRAP
EDUCATION:
Master of Urbanism, TU Delft, the Netherlands
European Master of Urbanism, TU Delft, KU Leuven, IUAV Venezia, UPC Barcelona,
Bachelor of Architecture, Tongji University, China
EXPERIENCE:
2016- , Founder and Principal, VRAP, Beijing, China
2012-2014, Studio Director, Turenscape, Beijing, China
2010-2011, Project Manager, Atkins, Beijing, China
2008-2009, Urbanist, De Urbanisten, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
2004-2006, Architect, Fudan Urban Planning and Architectural Design Institute, Shanghai, China
2003-2005, Assistant Architect, Changqing Studio, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
MIXED EXHIBITIONS:
2017, "Sky Farm" UABB (Shenzhen Hongkong Biennale), Shenzhen, China
2016, "Farm Factory", IABR (International Architecture Biennale of Rotterdam), Rotterdam, the Netherlands
2016, "Sharing and Regeneration", Biennale Venezia, Venice, Italy
2015, "Farm Factory", Beijing International Design Week, Beijing, China
EVENTS:
2015, Curator, World Rural Design Exhibition, Yanzhou, China
2016, Curator, "Sharing and Regeneration", Biennale Venezia, Venice, Italy
AWARDS:
2018, Top 100, Project Sky Farm has won the China Design Power List 100
Urban design of Taohuayuan Eco City in Changde has won the Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements Awards 2019. Project Bridge Pavilion has won Paris DNA Design Award 2021 and shortlisted for China Sustainable Design Award 2021.
LANGUAGE SKILLS:
Chinese (native)
English (fluent)
French (basic)
Italian (basic)
COMPUTER LITERACY:
Autocad ,Advanced
Adobe Illustrator, Advanced
Sketchup, Advanced.
Adobe Photoshop, Advanced.
SYMPOSIUMS AND ACADEMIC CONFERENCES::
2016, IFLA (International Federation of Landscape Architects) Annual Meeting in Turin, Italy.
MEMBERSHIPS & ASSOCIATIONS:
2011, LEED GA, USA
2015, ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architect), USA
HOBBIES:
Travelling, photography, pet
WEB SITE:
www.vrapstudio.com (underconstruction)
PORTFOLIO URL:
www.vrapstudio.com (underconstruction)
RSS URL:
www.vrapstudio.com (underconstruction)
REGISTRATION DATE:
2021-05-05 02:57:15
COUNTRY/REGION:
China
ACCOUNT TYPE:
Non-Profit
Awards received by Minjie Si
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Stone White Villagers Activity Center Bronze A' Design Award Winner for Architecture, Building and Structure Design Category in 2021 Minjie Si and Xianfeng Ye for Vrap |
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