St Sophia Cathedral Architecture Museum, Harbin
St. Sophia Cathedral is an Architectural Musem in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, China. We went to have a look at Harbin's Architectural History! :)
Unit 731, Harbin, China
Unit 731 is a museum and historical landmark in Pingfang, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China. It is the site where the Imperial Japanese Army committed war crimes against innocent Chinese civilians during WW2. Filmed and edited by Thomas Clark in September 2018.
A DAY AT THE HARBIN OPERA HOUSE - #donotsettle x MAD Architects
This is the one we have been waiting for a looooong time! We are so happy the video is finally ready!
Are you ready to be taken along for a day at the Harbin Opera House?
This project has been on our list since its was first announced in 2013. Interest only sparked after seeing endless photos appear on our Instagram feed. We had to see this with our own eyes!
With the help from MAD Architects, we ventured out to Harbin, a city in the north-east of China.
A proper approach, always an essential part of visiting architecture, already proved mind-blowing. Rising up from the landscape, the fluid shapes form 2 venues, which encapsulate a large urban plaza. Arriving in the early morning, the plaza was already bursting with activity. What a beautiful sight for our still slightly tired eyes. From young kids to the elderly, the plaza proved to be a popular spot for Harbin’ers and tourists. And why wouldn’t it? With this architecture as backdrop, we could spend days on end observing every corner of this building. (OH WAIT! There is not one corner in this building. Everything blends together!!)
We ventured along the ‘mountain flanks’ making our way up the building to arrive at a viewing platform overlooking the city and the landscape. Wow! It felt like a proper mountain hike. Visitors interacting with the building, forms the absolute highpoint of this visit. But then we hadn’t seen the interior yet!
The interior is out of this world. There was no beginning, no end. It all blends together. The foyer is filled with light, merging interior and exterior. The Grand Hall, is well, Grand. In every possible meaning of the word. The interior forms spaces after space, each with its own views, own feelings, evoking different emotions.
The whole day was leading up to this moment, the whole visit was crafted around this last climax. Lights go dark and a group of well dressed young musicians enter the stage. Sounds are produced, creating an atmosphere that possibly only could happen in this space. Wow, what an experience, what a moment.
This building is not just a building. It’s a journey, an experience. This building is ARCHITECTURE.
We are so happy to finally have seen this project in person. We hope this video captured the feeling visiting this architecture from a new perspective.
If you ever have the chance to visit Harbin, runnnnn to this building. You will not be disappointed.
Thank you for the great team at MAD Architects to make this visit possible. We can not wait to be immersed by more mad architecture soon.
Thank you Rachel Li for accompanying, filming, translating and endlessly stalking people asking them for their opinions.
Have a great week ahead!
#donotsettle
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Shot on: Canon 80D/Canon S120/iPhone 6s/DJI Mavic Pro
Shot in Harbin, China
Edited in Shanghai, China
Ordos Art & City Museum | MAD Architects | Inner Mongolia, China | HD
• Architects
MAD Architects
• Location
Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China
• Architect
MAD Architects
• Directors
Ma Yansong, Yosuke Hayano, Dang Qun
• Design Team
Shang Li, Andrew C. Bryant, Howard Jiho Kim, Matthias Helmreich, Linda Stannieder, Zheng Tao, Qin Lichao, , Sun Jieming, Yin Zhao, Du Zhijian, Yuan Zhongwei, Yuan Ta, Xie Xinyu, Liu Weiwei, Felipe Escudero, Sophia Tang, Diego Perez, Art Terry, Jtravis B Russett, Dustin Harris
• Associate Engineers
China Institute of Building Standard Design & Research
• Mechanical Engineer
The Institute of Shanxi Architectural Design and Research
• Client
Municipality of Ordos
• Building Height
40 m
• Construction Contractor
Huhehaote construction Co., Ltd
• Site Area
27,760 sqm
• Area
41.227 sqm
• Project Year
2011
• Photographs
Shu He
Text description provided by the architects. Conceived as a reaction to the strict geometry of the master plan, the Art & City museum by MAD Architects is an amorphous building that seems like it has landed on the earth. Its surrounding dunes, monumental stairways and belvederes have been generated from the empty Gobi desert which was here just a few years ago. Located in the new city center of Ordos, the space itself is deeply rooted into the local culture. Although it has contemporary presence, there is a chance to think over what the term “local culture” means, where it is rooted and what it can become in the future.
The structure is wrapped in polished metal louvers to reflect and dissolve the planned surroundings. This results in a solid, windowless, building firmly anchored to the ground. This shell encloses a interior totally separate from the urban reality. On entering, the logic changes and the spaces begin to buzz: heights are disproportionate, holes buckle upwards, surfaces creep sinuously around, creating openings and interstices which tone down the effect of the sheer quantity of light streaming down to the floor.
The central lobby welcomes and guides visitors into the canyon-like public corridor. People can come in to visit the exhibits, or walk through the canyon and out the other side. In this space, natural light comes in through skylights and highlights the bridges that connect the galleries. The light also blurs any internal boundaries; it creates an illusion that’s accentuated by the organic form of the bridges. As for the gallery spaces, we didn’t know what kind of exhibitions they would hold, so they are designed to be flexible.
H/T :Archdaily
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Chinese architect makes his mark on Chicago
That's especially true for a new museum being built in Chicago. Chicago is known as a world capital of modern architecture. A new design is taking modern to new heights-courtesy of Chinese architect Ma Yansong.
China's penchant for buildings isn't just transforming the country. Some Chinese architects are also influencing how the world looks at them.
That's especially true for a new museum being built in Chicago. Chicago is known as a world capital of modern architecture. A new design is taking modern to new heights-courtesy of Chinese architect Ma Yansong.
His firm is behind the blueprints for Chicago's new George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
CCTV America's Roza Kazan spoke to Ma Yansong on what he calls a new type of architecture.
Harbin Opera House | MAD Architects | Heilongjiang, China | HD
• Architects
MAD Architects
• Location
Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
• Directors
Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano
• Area
850000.0 ft2
• Project Year
2015
• Photographs
Hufton+Crow, Adam Mørk
• Manufacturers
Sika
• Design Team
Jordan Kanter, Daniel Gillen, Bas van Wylick, Liu Huiying, Fu Changrui, Zhao Wei, Kin Li ,Zheng Fang, Julian Sattler, Jackob Beer, J Travis Russett, Sohith Perera, Colby Thomas Suter, Yu Kui, Philippe Brysse, Huang Wei, Flora Lee, Wang Wei, Xie Yibang, Lyo Hengliu, Alexander Cornelius, Alex Gornelius, Mao Beihong, Gianantonio Bongiorno, Jei Kim, Chen Yuanyu, Yu Haochen, Qin Lichao, Pil-Sun Ham, Mingyu Seol, Lin Guomin, Zhang Haixia, Li Guangchong, Wilson Wu, Ma Ning, Davide Signorato, Nick Tran, Xiang Ling, Gustavo Alfred Van Staveren, Yang Jie
• Associate Engineers
Beijing Institute of Architectural Design
• Façade/cladding Consultants
Inhabit Group, China Jingye Engineering Co., Ltd.
• BIM
Gehry Technologies Co., Ltd.
• Landscape Architect
Turenscape, Earthasia Design Group
• Interior Design
MAD Architects, Shenzhen Z&F Culture Construction Co., Ltd.
• Lighting Design
Toryo International Lighting Design Center, Beijing United Artists Lighting Design Co., Ltd.
• Acoustic Consultants
Zhang Kuisheng Acoustics Research Institute of Shanghai Modern Design Group
• Stage Lighting Design
EKO Lighting Equipment Co., Ltd.
• Stage Mechanical Engineers
Chinese PLA General Armament Institute of Engineering Design
• Signage Design
Shenzhen Freesigns Signage Co., Ltd.
Text description provided by the architects. MAD Architects unveils the completed Harbin Opera House, located in the Northern Chinese city of Harbin. In 2010, MAD won the international open competition for Harbin Cultural Island, a master plan for an opera house, a cultural center, and the surrounding wetland landscape along Harbin’s Songhua River. The sinuous opera house is the focal point of the Cultural Island, occupying a building area of approximately 850,000 square feet of the site’s 444 acres total area. It features a grand theater that can host over 1,600 patrons and a smaller theater to accommodate an intimate audience of 400.
h/t : Archdaily
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MUSEUM ON MAN-MADE ISLAND
Wow! This museum is stunning. We had a short 24h layover in Doha last month and had the chance to visit this masterpiece designed by IM Pei. We were speechless. Sort of, because we still had a lot of words left to describe this stunning piece of architecture. Please follow along and make sure to stop by when you are in Doha (it's free!)
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Music: Hanvai - Morning sunrise
Shot on: iPhone 6
Shot in Doha,Qatar
Edited in Shanghai, China
Harbin Opera House: Building at Extremes | The B1M
The city of Harbin, in the north eastern corner of China, is an extreme environment. The average January temperature is -18 degrees Celsius, though it often falls to -24. Such hostility, makes the creation of Harbin Opera House even more remarkable. For more by The B1M subscribe now -
Read the full story on this video, including images and useful links, here:
Images used courtesy of MAD Architects, Hufton + Crow, Iwan Baan, Adam Mørk and Fred Dufour/AFP.
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© 2016 The B1M Limited | Share + Inspire
Best Attractions and Places to See in Harbin, China
Harbin Travel Guide. MUST WATCH. Top things you have to do in Harbin. We have sorted Tourist Attractions in Harbin for You. Discover Harbin as per the Traveler Resources given by our Travel Specialists. You will not miss any fun thing to do in Harbin.
This Video has covered Best Attractions and Things to do in Harbin.
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List of Best Things to do in Harbin, China
Harbin Ice and Snow World
Sun Island (Tai Yang Dao)
Zhongyang Pedestrian Street
Volga Manor
Unit 731 Museum
Zhaolin Park
Harbin Polarland
Sophia Square
Harbin Snow Fair
Ice Festival Harbin
Len Lye Centre: Building a Museum with BIM | The B1M
Len Lye was a famous kinetic artist. The Len Lye Centre is dedicated to his work and is New Zealand’s first single-artist museum. Here we look at how building information modelling (BIM) helped to deliver this impressive facility. For more by The B1M subscribe now -
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Images courtesy of the Len Lye Centre and Govett Brewster Art Gallery, Patterson Associates, Patrick Reynolds, Grant Sheehan, Sam Hartnett, Gregory Young, Davor Popadich and Leith Robertson. Principal software used: GRAPHISOFT ARCHICAD, GRAPHISOFT BIMx, Revit Structures and Revit MEP.
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© 2016 The B1M Limited | Share + Inspire
More foreign tourists visiting Unit 731 ruins in NE China
A site that was used by Unit 731, a Japanese military unit that conducted illegal experiments on human subjects during World War II, has become a popular tourist destination.
Foreign tourists in particular have visited the site, located in northeast China's city of Harbin, in greater number this year. Many of the tourists have expressed shock and anger at the atrocities committed by the unit.
Breaking Down Silos: Building the Museum of Contemporary Art Africa | The B1M
How British designer Thomas Heatherwick carved a gallery out of an historic grain silo to create the largest art museum in Africa (MOCAA). For more by The B1M subscribe now -
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Images courtesy of Iwan Baan, On The Waterfront, Heatherwick Studio and Petar Milosevic
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Architecture Students Invited to Ice Building Competition in China
A group of students and faculty from the Kent State College of Architecture and Environmental Design become the only American team invited to the prestigious Harbin Institute of Technology's “Extraordinary ICE Building Design Competition,” in Harbin, China.
Provincial museum of Heilongjiang
The museum is in Harbin in Heilongjiang Province. Heilongjiang is China's northernmost province and is north of North Korea. It has been a site for the region's power struggles for thousands of years between the Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Mongolians, several tribes and Russians. Harbin itself began as a Russian city.
Harbin - China, 2018 (Harbin Ice and Snow World)
Harbin- China
哈尔滨-中国
Harbin is the capital of Heilongjiang, China’s northernmost province. The city grew in the late 19th century with the influx of Russian engineers constructing the eastern leg of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. The city's Russian architecture includes its green-domed Saint Sophia Cathedral, an Eastern Orthodox church now a local history museum. Across the river, Sun Island Park is famed for year-round ice sculptures.
Harbin Ice and Snow World (冰雪大世界）
Zhongyang Pedestrian Street（中央大街）
Sophia Square
Saint Sophia Cathedral
Songhua River
Siberian Tiger Park
Song: Bülow - Not A Love Song
Made by: Vic Videos
Ma Yansong, Founder & Partner, MAD Architectures
Beijing-born architect Ma Yansong is recognized as an important voice in the new generation of architects. As founder and principal of MAD Architects, Ma leads design across various scales. Many of Ma’s designs follow his conception of the “Shanshui City”, his vision to create a new balance among society, the city and the environment through architecture. At MAD, Ma has created a series of imaginative works, including Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Absolute Towers, Harbin Opera House, Hutong Bubble 32, Ordos Museum, China Wood Sculpture Museum, Fake Hills, etc. Parallel to his design practice, he has been exploring the cultural values of cities and architecture through domestic and international solo exhibitions, publications and art works. Ma has received numerous awards and recognition, including the Architectural League of New York’s “Young Architects Award” (2016), the World Economic Forum’s “Young Global Leaders” (2014), as well as being the first Chinese architect to receive a RIBA fellowship. Ma graduated from the Beijing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture and holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture from Yale University. He is currently a professor in Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, as well as an adjunct professor in Tsinghua University.
Summer in Harbin (8): H.I.T
Walked from the main campus to its architecture school.
Harbin Institute of Technology really needs to repair the staircases in some of its old buildings.
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Music in this video:
DIZARO - CRAZY
How the Chinese View Russian Tourists (Harbin, China)
Zhongyang Dajie (Central Avenue) or Zhongyang Street / 中央大街 is a cobblestone lined pedestrian only street serving as a remnant of Harbin's bustling international business activities at the turn of the 20th century. The 1.4-km long street is museum of European architectural styles, including Baroque and Byzantine facades, Jewish architecture, a few Russian restaurants, French fashion houses, fake Chinese Brands, American snack food outlets (McDonald's and KFC), lots of sausages/ice cream sellers and lots of stores selling Russian bread, dolls and chocolates. There are also Chinese and Russian musicians performing along the street.
Walking Harbin's Zhongyang Street (China)
Zhongyang Dajie (Central Avenue) or Zhongyang Street / 中央大街 is a cobblestone lined pedestrian only street serving as a remnant of Harbin's bustling international business activities at the turn of the 20th century. The 1.4-km long street is museum of European architectural styles, including Baroque and Byzantine facades, Jewish architecture, a few Russian restaurants, French fashion houses, fake Chinese Brands, American snack food outlets (McDonald's and KFC), lots of sausages/ice cream sellers and lots of stores selling Russian bread, dolls and chocolates. There are also Chinese and Russian musicians performing along the street.
At the end of the street is the Harbin People Flood Control Success Memorial Tower / 哈尔滨市人民防洪胜利纪念塔 built to commemorate the several floods of the Songhua River / 松花江. In winter, one can walk out onto the ice or take a dog sledge or horse sledge ride across the frozen river.
Harbin's Saint Sophia Cathedral (China)
The Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom of God or Saint Sophia Cathedral / 聖索菲亞教堂 / Софийский собор в Харбине in Harbin is a former Russian Orthodox church located in the central district of Daoli, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China.
St. Sophia Orthodox Cathedral was built in 1907 after the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1903, which connected Vladivostok to northeast China. The Russian No.4 Army Division arrived in this region just after Russia's loss to the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). St. Sophia Church was built and completed of timber in March, 1907 as part of a plan to reconsolidate the confidence of the army by building an imposing spiritual symbol.
In 1921, Harbin had a population of 300,000, including 100,000 Russians. The church was expanded and renovated from September 23, 1923, when a ceremony was held to celebrate the laying of the cornerstone, to its completion on November 25, 1932, after nine years. The present-day St. Sophia Church was hailed as a monumental work of art and the largest Orthodox church in the Far East.
According to Harbin municipal religious and Daoli district archives, Fr. Fotiy Huo Desheng was the ninth rector of St. Sophia Church of Harbin.
The church is located on the corner of Toulong Street (Toulong jie) and Zhaolin Street (Zhaolin jie). It stands at 53.3 meters (175 ft) tall, occupies an area of 721 square meters (0.18 acres), and is the perfect example of Neo-Byzantine architecture. The main structure is laid out like a cross with the main hall topped with a huge green-tipped dome. Under the bright sun, the church and the square area it stands on look quite like Red Square in Moscow.
Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in mainland China in 1949 by the victorious Communists, who ended all Christian missionary work, treaties were signed between the Soviet and Chinese governments that provided for the turning over of Russian churches to Chinese control. The cathedral was thus closed from the period of the Great Leap Forward (1958–61) and Cultural Revolution (1966–76).
Although the cathedral's sturdy structure withstood its intended destruction during the Cultural Revolution, its empty hull became a warehouse for a nearby state-run department store, its windows were bricked up and saplings grew from the roof. Prefabricated concrete high-rises boxed the church in on all four sides, coming within yards of its walls, making the cathedral inaccessible and invisible from the street. For decades it remained the invisible center of the city, surrounded by decorative material stalls, an auto body shop, a pen factory, and apartments for city government employees, until the Beijing government designated the cathedral a national cultural heritage site in 1996 as part of a nationwide campaign to protect historical sites.
Following its designation in 1996 as a national cultural heritage site (First class Preserved Building), a newspaper article about the hidden cathedral prompted donations from locals to restore the church. Local corporations, individual businesses as well as workers from nearby department stores donated money to restore the cathedral and renovate the square. A total of 12,000,000 yuan (approximately $1.5 million US) was eventually gathered and the cathedral regained its visibility in 1997, as the surrounding buildings were torn down.
A new Harbin Architecture Square conspicuously highlighted the cathedral with a huge new fountain at its entrance. The European-looking space was assigned a new meaning as the embodiment of culture and art and was re-presented to the public as the proud heritage of the city.
As of 1997 the cathedral was turned into the Municipal Architecture and Art Museum (Harbin Architectural Art Gallery), showcasing the multi-cultural architectural developments of Harbin throughout the ages.