Through our Beijing office, we have been providing architectural design, interior design and urban planning consultancy services in China since 2018.
We have worked for private clients, corporations and local governments developing residential, commercial and public buildings.
Our urban planning expertise is complemented by the development of research programmes and cultural activities related to urban planning in conjunction with the country’s leading universities.
lecture at the Dashilan design hop
Giannantonio Bongiorno, curator of the exhibition ‘Next stop: Hutopolis‘, presented together with Luis Aguirre Manso the contents of the research that will start next fall about the Chinese urban conditions.
our analysis of the Chinese market for El País
El País correspondent in China has interviewed Luis Aguirre to learn more about the architecture market in China and the opportunities it offers to Spanish architects.
architects at work
The second edition of the Architects@Work festival, an event showcasing architecture and industry-related products with a special focus on innovation and education, took place in Beijing last December 5th and 6th. AQSO participated both at the ‘Spanish design in China’ seminar and the conference ‘Hutong to Hutopolis’.
(un)made in China
The exhibition (un)made in China, organized by Cannon Design opened last Thursday at the ‘Ide@s gallery’ in Shanghai. The retrospective features a selection of twelve projects developed by international offices and aims to show not only the value of the architecture itself, moreover the process and the experience of these architects when facing the challenge […]
W salon opening
The interior of a hair salon in Beijing designed by AQSO has been recently completed.
aqso and cca awarded for Liuzhou museum
The proposal for the new Industrial museum in Liuzhou presented by CCA and AQSO has been awarded the 3rd prize in the restricted competition organised by the local government. The museum is intended to use a 62000 sqm old factory near the Liu river in the second largest city in the Guangxi province (China).
starchitecture and cityscape
The world’s increasing urban population signifies that the inhabitants’ penchant for rural areas has surpassed. The rural population started to decrease since the 1950s. Urban areas are now becoming dense and compacted in character as people from all walks of life move in. Mass migrations require a plethora of housing and economic opportunities for the […]
hutopolis restrospective
Beijing Design Week is scheduled to be an annual event composed of several sections: a design forum, design exhibitions, workshops, a guest city program, design hops and an annual design award. ‘Next stop: Hutopolis’ is a retrospective on the urban condition of Beijing and specifically its Hutongs.
architecture without context
Contextualism in architecture refers to the visual relationship of a building about its surroundings. Architecture is the single unit interwoven into an urban fabric. Added collectively, these interconnected units engage a dialogue concerning the culture, time and history of a place. Contextualism creates an environment where memories of a place are collected together.
China’s construction: designing the future
China’s construction industry has been a driving force in the nation’s economy since the early 80s. The country is experiencing an unprecedented exodus of population from rural areas to cities. The urban population has increased half a billion since 1980 and 300 million people are expected to live in cities by 2030. Shanghai and Beijing […]
city visions
City Visions is an exhibition that collects one year of research, experiments and events organized in China and Europe by the Hutopolis research program. Soft and physical urban planning strategies, visions and ideas have been developed taking Beijing as a case study.
a map of hutopolis
A Map of Hutopolis contains the result of a research program about the urban development in China. The book envisions in a map solutions to the problems provoked by the radical development going on in the biggest country in Asia.
round table at 751
Cannon Design organized a roundtable at the 751 lecture hall coinciding with the exhibition ‘Unmade in China’ presented at the 2012 Beijing Design Week. The event featured projects developed by the architectural firms featured in the exhibition followed by a discussion about the particular characteristics of the design process in the Chinese market.
urbanization process in China
It is not easy to see the sky in Beijing. Sometimes because of the storms, sometimes because of the fog and most of the times because of the tangible pollution surrounding the city the atmosphere becomes a ghostly mass in which the buildings are merely glimpsed. At night the stars cannot be seen, only flashing […]
lecture at the Global Pioneer design forum
AQSO was invited to participate at the Global Pioneer Design forum organised by the Galaxy arts centre and 5cats editors in Shenzhen, China, last May 26.
a map of hutopolis
AQSO is pleased to announce the publication of the book ‘A Map of Hutopolis‘, a monograph comprising the projects developed during the Hutopolis research program and a series of articles written by researchers and professors on the topic of Chinese urbanisation.
the people’s urbanism
Last Saturday 22th took place in Hong Kong the presentation and discussion entitled ‘The People´s Urbanism’, an event organized by AP+E about bottom up approaches part of the last edition of the Hong Kong/Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture (UABB).
analysing the customer journey
Circulation in public buildings is a critical factor to consider in the design process. Flow becomes the emblem of the building’s concept and even shapes its form. In simplistic terms, it is how people move and interact with space.
from policies to design
Modern urbanism involves several disciplines beyond architecture and sociology. Often the rules guiding urban development are established taking into account economic and political factors. In a complex scenario where the future of urban areas is more difficult to predict, how policymakers can take into account public participation?
reinterpreting the traditional courtyard house
The idea of creating an inner space open to the sky blends a haven of nature and architecture. We understand the need to immerse deeply in a natural environment while being protected at your shelter and in fact, we have rediscovered the beauty and functionality of this typology in numerous projects.
lecture at the Iterate workshop
Last February 7th AQSO participated in the ‘Iterate’ workshop in Beijing with a lecture about the changing conditions of the Chinese cities and the progress of the ongoing research program ‘Hutopolis’.
learning from Dashilar
Organized by ‘Beijing Design Week’, Dashila(b) and Capital M, the event included speakers such Kenya Hara, designer from Nippon Design Center and director of design for MUJI, Fang Zhenning, curator of the Chinese pavilion of the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale, Liang Jingyu, architect from Approach Architecture, Giannantonio Bongiorno, curator of Hutopolis and Luis Aguirre from […]
old is new at Today Art Museum
On the occasion of the the 70th Anniversary of John Lennon’s Birth, Beijing-based Today art museum organized last October 16th an outdoor event including multimedia video projections, poetry readings, music performances and discussions under the name “old is new“.
transformations
Transformations, a dialogue about the evolving city is the title of a documentary recently presented by AQSO at the 2013 Beijing Design Week. The movie is conceived as the conclusive chapter of the Hutopolis reseach program launched in 2011 for studying the urban changes on Chinese cities.
identities in comparison
What is the influence on urbanism when a planned economy shifts to a new model of development? How to promote an urban evolution based on soft elements? Can social interactions catalyse strategies of urban regeneration?
3×3 projects in contexts
Last October AQSO presented the short documentary ‘3×3 projects in contexts’ at the Lisbon Architecture Triennial. The event was complemented with a lecture where the latest works done at the office were presented.
unmade in China
While much attention – and some criticism – has been focused on major completed works in China, little is known of those projects that disappear, fizzle out, or sit abandoned.
Iberian architecture in Beijing
AQSO participated at LAMIPA, an audiovisual exhibition about Spanish and Portuguese architecture which opening took place in Beijing on September 25.
AQSO launches urban research Hutopolis
“Hutopolis” is a research program that aims to investigate new boundaries for the urban development in China. The study intends to re-use and enhance the existing urban framework and networks as a key idea to generate a new evolution of the city. AQSO organises an exhibition curated by Giannantonio Bongiorno and Luis Aguirre, with the […]
glass magazine #11
Glass magazine aims to bring integrity and guardianship to creative culture, by providing access to the genuinely inspiring adventures in fashion, art, music and design that allow us to further imagine and create.
(un)made in China exhibition in Shanghai
The Xubeihong foundation project proposed by AQSO has been selected for the exhibition ‘(un)made in China, architecture undone in the P.R.C’. The retrospective aims to celebrate the best missing Chinese projects from the last decade.
