13:100Thirteen New York Architects Design for Ordos

An exhibition organized by the Architectural League of New York

October 11—November 26, 2008

From: FAKE Design [mailto:ordos100@gmail.com] Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 4:16 AMTo: 001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 009, 010, 011, 012, 013, 014, 015, 016, 017, 018, 019, 020, 021, 022, 023, 024, 025, 026, 027, 028, 029, 030, 031, 032, 033, 034, 035, 036, 037, 038, 039, 040, 041, 042, 043, 044, 045, 046, 047, 048, 049, 050, 051, 052, 053, 054, 055, 056, 057, 058, 059, 060, 061, 062, 063, 064, 065, 066, 067, 068, 069, 070, 071, 072, 073, 074, 075, 076, 077, 078, 079, 080, 081, 082, 083, 084, 085, 086, 087, 088, 089, 090, 091, 092, 093, 094, 095, 096, 097, 098, 099, 100Subject: Invitation Ordos 100

Dear Mr/Ms Architect,

FAKE Design, Beijing extends a warm invitation to you and ninety-nine other ar-chitects from around the globe to participate in an unprecedented architectural collaboration for the year 2008. You are one of one-hundred international architects and designers specifically recommended by Herzog & De Meuron to come to China and design 100 villas in a newly emerging residential district in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. Attached, you will find a letter of invitation along with a package of materi-als to introduce you to the scope and services of the project. Please carefully read through all of the enclosed material and submit the requested confirmation form by the deadline of January 6 th, 2008. Time is very limited, so please do not hesitate to download the attached mate-rials and reserve your position in our team by the deadline! (P.S. Actually we already sent this e-mail to you(100 architects) 3 weeks ago, on the 27th of Decembe, 2007, and we are failed to reach your e-mail. So we re-send this to you as we just got your new e-mail contacts from herzog de meuron office yesterday. Also, you may take part in the design assignment of phase 2 as we already confirmed the architects list for phase 1, please see the attached files for the introduction of the project and we are really sorry for the delay due to some unexpected incidents.)

Best Regards and We Wish You a Happy New Year! FAKE DesignNo.258 Cao Chang Di, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China 100015T / F +86 10 8456 4194

Photograph: Work AC

PROGRAM

ABOVE GROUND

INDOOR GARDEN/SMALL COURTYARDS 40 m2

LIVING AND RECEIVING AREASEntrance hall 40 m2

Big dining room 40 m2

Big living room 50 m2

Small dining room 25 m2

Small living room 25 m2

Study 20 m2

Toilet 10 m2

Western style kitchen 20 m2

Garage (2 cars) 40 m2

ADDITIONAL BEDROOMSBedroom 1 30 m2

Bathroom 1 10 m2

Bedroom 2 25 m2

Bathroom 2 10 m2

Bedroom 3 25 m2

Bathroom 3 8 m2

Optional bedroom 4 20 m2

Optional bathroom 4 8 m2

Optional bedroom 5 20 m2

Optional bathroom 5 8 m2

EXERCISESwimming pool/pool area 90 m2

Gym/game room 40 m2

Bathroom/changing 15 m2

MASTER BEDROOMBedroom 45 m2

Bathroom 15 m2

Closet 10 m2

WORKERSLaundry 10 m2

Workers bedroom 20 m2

Workers bathroom 10 m2

Chinese style kitchen 10 m2

BELOW GROUND

LOUNGEHome entertainment center 30 m2

Sauna 15 m2

SERVICEStorage 20 m2

Equipment room 15 m2

Vault 4.5 m2

Wine cellar 10 m2

TOTAL AREA 834 m2

+20% Circulation and exterior wall area 167 m2

TOTAL AREA 1000 m2

DESIGN CRITERIA

SETBACK REQUIREMENTS—1.5 M FROM PUBLIC AREA, 3 M FROM NEIGHBORING PARCEL

The provided footprint is the preferable location in relation to neighboring buildings. Those who wish to deviate from the provided footprint must coordinate with the architects of the neighboring parcels

VOLUME AND SIZE REQUIREMENTS—TOTAL BUILT AREA

1000 m2 (includes exterior and interior walls)—BUILDING HEIGHT TO PARCEL SIZE RATIO

Parcels over 1500 m2 require 3 floors @ 3.5 m minimum floor to floor which equals a 10.5 m total building height.Parcels less than 1500 m2 require 2 floors @ 3.5 m floor to floor minimum which equals a 7 m total building height

ORIENTATION N/S/E/W —SOUTHERN ORIENTATION

due to climate conditions in northern China and Chinese tradition houses should have southern orientation

DAYLIGHTING— WINDOW TO WALL RATIO

North wall as required by programSouth wall maximum 100%East wall maximum 80%West wall maximum 50%

CONSTRUCTION METHODS— CAST IN PLACE LOAD BEARING STRUCTURE

Applications: wall/floor/roofing— PRECAST CONCRETE

Applications: wall/floor/roofingFoundation types: footings/piles/slabs

— MODULAR BRICK MASONRY Applications: cladding/infill/interior walls

— MODULAR STONE MASONRY Applications: cladding/infill

— STEEL/METAL Applications: light gauge framing and interior finishes

— WOOD Applications: interior framing and interior finishes

THERMAL PROTECTION—RIGID INSULATION

Roof/wall/slab/foundation—BATT INSULATION

Relevant interior walls/subflooring

MOISTURE PROTECTION—WATER BARRIER

Waterproofing below foundation /roof—VAPOR BARRIER

Vapor barrier in walls

HEATING—RADIANT HEATING

Electrical radiant heating (floor or wall) / water radiant heating (floor or wall)

ARCHITECTS (parcel number, name, city,country)*

NORTH AMERICA2 PRODUCTORA—Condesa, Mexico6 MOS—Cambridge, MA, USA7 Lyn Rice Architects—New York, NY, USA14 Dellekamp Arquitectura, SA de CV—Condesa, Mexico16 OBRA Architects—New York, NY, USA24 Multiplicities—New York, NY, USA29 Bill Price Inc.—Houston, Texas31 Slade Architecture—New York, NY, USA33 Barker Freeman Design Office—New York, NY, USA34 Oyler Wu Collaborative—Los Angeles, USA35 FRENTEarquitectura, Juan Pablo Maza—Condesa, Mexico 37 UNI: Chaewon Kim, Beat Schenk—Cambridge, MA, USA38 Keller Easterling—New York, NY, USA43 IWAMOTOSCOTT—San Francisco, CA, USA46 Johnston Mark Lee architects—Los Angeles, USA47 Preston Scott Cohen—Cambridge, MA, USA48 at103 Pardo, Francisco and Amezcua, Julio—Cuauhtémoc, Mexico49 Escobedo, Frida—Mexico52 Bilbao, Tatiana—Mexico City, Mexico55 Ikstudio, Mariana Ibanez+Simon Kim—Cambridge, MA, USA61 F451arquitectura—Cambridge, MA, USA62 Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss/NAO—New York, NY, USA64 Toshiko Mori Architect—New York, NY, USA66 PAD—Toronto, Canada67 Rojkind Arquitectos, Michel Rojkind—Col. Polanco, Mexico 71 rsvp architects—San Juan, Puerto Rico/New York, NY, USA80 Ingeborg Rocker, Rocker-Lange Architects—Cambridge, MA, USA86 JSª(formerly Higuera + Sánchez), Javier Sánchez—Mexico City, Mexico 89 nARCHITECTS—New York, NY, USA92 SINGLE speed DESIGN—Cambridge,MA/New York, NY, USA93 Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis—New York, NY, USA 97 Taller Territorial de Mexico Arturo Ortiz Struck—Polanco, Mexico 96 WORK Architecture Company—New York, NY, USA

SOUTH AMERICA17 Leon de Lima—Lima, Peru32 Aravena, Alejandro—Santiago , Chile36 Radic Clarke, Similian—Santiago , Chile56 Dieguez Fridman—Buenos Aires, Argentina 87 Puga, Cecilia—Santiago, Chile

AFRICA11 BlackLinesonWhitePaper—Johannesburg, South Africa83 Makeka Designs Mokena Makeka—Cape Town, South Africa

EUROPE1 Jan De Vylder architecten—Gand, Belgium3 Rafi Segal Architect Princeton—Princeton, United Kingdom4 Shadi Rahbaran/studio-sr—Switzerland/Germany5 Luca Selva Architekten ETH BSA SIA AG—Basel, Switzerland8 Testbedstudio Architects—Stockholm, Sweden9 Estudio Barozzi Veiga SL—Barcelona, España10 Encore heureux + G Studio—Paris, France12 Tham & Videgård Hansson Arkitekter AB—Stockholm, Sweden

13 NL Architects—Amsterdam, The Netherlands15 Könz Molo Architects—Lugano, Switzerland19 Coll-Leclerc, Arquitectos SL—Barcelona, Spain20 Mimarlar Yapi Tasarim Mühendislik Ve Danismanlik Hizmetleri—Istanbul, Turkey21 Pedrocchi Meier Architects—Basel, Switzerland22 John Palmesino/Palmesino Rönnskog-Territorial Agency—Basel, Switzerland25 Manuel Herz Architecture—Basel, Switzerland26 R&Sie(n), architect-Paris-NY—Paris, France27 Christophe Hutin Architecture—Bordeaux, France28 NU architectuuratelier—Gent, Belgium39 Ann-Sofi Rönnskog/Palmesino Rönnskog-Territorial Agency—Basel, Switzerland40 L’Atelier Provisoire—Bordeaux, France41 Jean-Frédéric Luscher Architect—Basel, Switzerland42 Bottega + Ehrhardt Architekten GmbH—Stuttgart, Germany44 OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen—Belgium51 HHF—Basel, Switzerland53 ines huber architektin eth sia—Basel, Switzerland54 Buchner Bründler AG, Andras Brundler—Basel, Switzerland58 Christ + Gantenbein—Basel, Switzerland59 Colboc & Franzen—Paris, France 60 Bachelard Wagner Architekten ETH SIA, Anne Marie Wagner—Basel, Switzerland63 Polaris Architects—Luxembourg-Belair, Luxembourg65 Michelle Howard, constructconcept—Berlin, Germany68 Sanaksenaho, Matti—Finland69 DRDH Architects Daniel Rosbottom, David Howarth London, UK 72 Milica Topalovic - Bas Princen - Paul Gerretsen—Basel, Switzerland73 Heiermann Architekten, und Severin Heiermann Bernadette—Cologne, France74 JDS architects - Julien De Smedt—Copenhagen, Denmark75 Simon Conder associates, Nile street studios—London, United Kingdom76 Sami arquitectos—Setubal, Portugal77 Larnaudie Jean & Luc—Toulouse, France79 Lost Architekten > Dietrich Lohmann—Basel, Switzerland82 Mazzapokora, Daniel Pokora Gabriela Mazza—Zürich84 AndreasThiele.Architekten/Ines Geisler—Berlin, Germany Weizman Architecture—London, UK85 Rintala Eggertsson Architects, Sami Rintala + Dagur Eggertsson—Oslo, Norway88 JSA @ Norway - Jensen Skodvin Arch., Jan Olav Jensen—Norway91 weberbuess Architekten—Basel, Switzerland95 Miller Maranta Architekten—Basel, Switzerland98 HA :SKA, Mia Hagg+Sunkoo Kang+Jennifer Schmachtenberg—Paris, France 99 Ligia Nobre + Eduardo de Oliveira Rosa—Brazil/Switzerland100 Mierta & Kurt Lazzarini Architects—Samedan, Switzerland

ASIA18 Senan Architects—Jerusalem, Israel23 Matharoo Associates—Ahmedabad, India30 Atelier Bow Wow/ Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Momoyo Tsukamoto—Tokyo, Japan45 Efrat-Kowalsky Architects—Tel Aviv, Israel 50 Jun Igarashi Architects inc.—Hokkaido, Japan57 Minsuk Cho Mass Studies—Seoul, Korea70 Fujimoto, Sou—Japan78 Purnomo, Adi—Indonesia81 Lekker Design, Ker-Shing Ong & Josh Comaroff—Singapore, Malaysia90 Babel Architects - Sharon Rotbard, Dan Hasson,Yuval Yasky—Tel Aviv94 Zenin, Adrian—Jakarta , Indonesia

*Source: http://www.ordos100.com/architeclist.htm, September 26, 2008

064

062

007

016

096093

092

089

024

038

033

031

007. Lyn Rice Architects

016. OBRA Architects

024. *multiplicities

031. Slade Architecture

033. Barker Freeman Design Office

038. Keller Easterling

062. Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss / NAO

064. Josh Uhl / Toshiko Mori Architect

071. r s v p architects, psc San Juan-New York

089. nARCHITECTS

092. SINGLE speed DESIGN

093. Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis

096. WORKac

16. OBRA Architects

31. Slade Architecture

7. Lyn Rice Architects

16. *multiplicities

33. Barker Freeman Design Office

89. nARCHITECTS 92. SINGLE speed DESIGN

96. WORKac

64. Josh Uhl / Toshiko Mori Architect 71. rsvp architects, psc San Juan-New York

62. Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss / NAO38. Keller Easterling

13:1007. Lyn Rice Architects Lyn Rice, principal; Astrid Lipka, associate principal; Ivan Chabra, project architect; Benjamin Cadena, project designer; Karl-Erik Larson; Steven Chen; Clara Wong; Daria Supp; Buro Happold: Cristobal Correa, associ-ate principal

16. OBRA ArchitectsPablo Castro and Jennifer Lee; Shin Kook Kang; Atsushi Koizumi; Sara Kim; Patricia Bohrer; Ricardo Escutia; Soojeong Jo; Jiyoung Kim; Min-gkyu Kim; Yixin Liu; Doreen Lam; Alvaro Mayoral; Selin Semaan; Paula Zapolski; Arup: Mahadev Raman, Brian Markham, Rajesh Shah

24. *multiplicities Daniel Holguin; Issei Suma; Perla Pequeño; Joanna Park Sohn; Chris-topher Chan; Nicole Rodríguez; Masayuki Sono; Ove Arup, New York: Methus Srisuchart, Tatchapon Lertwirojkul; Jee Won Kim Architects: ID Engineer, Virginia Harper 31. Slade ArchitectureJames Slade, Principal; Hayes Slade, Principal; Emily Andersen, Associ-ate; Tia Bouman; Jean Pierre Casillas; Rajiv Fernandez; Tian Gao; Jeremy Kim; Eliza Koshland; Tammy LePham; Julia Molloy; Chia Ping; Lamar Wembley; Kory Whittaker; Stephanie Wong; Gilsanz Murray Steficek; Ramon Gilsanz; Jessica Mandrake; Arup: Fiona Cousins, Kristina Taylor

33. Barker Freeman Design OfficeAlexandra Barker; Reid Freeman; Rich Garlock, Leslie E. Robertson As-sociates; Ben Martinson; Jennifer Hardy; Renee Glick; Daniel Ramirez; Hart Marlow; Adrien Allred; William Wong; Michael Russo; Cole Bel-mont; Phuong Nguyen; Katy Seaman; Bill Caplan; Pratt Institute

38. Keller EasterlingFred Scharmen; R. Gerard Pietrusko; Andy Lucia; Matt Lake; Vivian Chin; Mohamad Al Kayer; Atelier 10: Paul Stoller

62. Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss / NAOSrdjan Jovanovic Weiss, partner; E Thaddeus Pawlowski, partner; Kevin Keller, designer; ; Julia Murphey, designer; Ding Liu, intern; Margaux Schindler, intern; Kristen Smith, intern; Renderings: Benjamin Muller & NAO; Model: Johnny Lee; Structural Engineer: Jane Wernick Engineers, London; Translation: Tao Liu, Ding Liu

64. Josh Uhl / Toshiko Mori ArchitectProject Architect: Josh Uhl; Project Team: Aejie Rhyu, Justin Brown, Flo-rian Lippmann, Phoebe Springstubb

71. r s v p architects, psc San Juan-New YorkFrancisco Javier Rodríguez, AIA; Rodrigo Vidal; Carlos Pérez-Ortiz; Car-los García Moreira; Katia González; Jeannette Reyes; Ariana Hernández; César Noriega; Shellar García; Clara Tresgallo; Juan Carlos Báez; Hadit Mejía; Cristina Marrero; Gabriel Blackburn; Edwin Gómez; Structural: Weidlinger-NY; Mechanical: J.L. Marrero, PE; Electrical: Luis Cabrera, PE

89. nARCHITECTSEric Bunge, principal; Mimi Hoang, principal; Dominique Gonfard; Hubert Pelletier; Alice Wong, Project Manager; Adam Vana; Consulting Engineers: Ove Arup, New York; Mahadev Raman, Mechanical; Markus Schulte, Structural; Thomas Claassen, Structural; Translation: Lingchen Liu, Architect, Beijing 92. SINGLE speed DESIGNJinhee Park AIA; John Hong AIA/LEED; Brett Albert; Frederick Peter Ortner; Matt Allen; Caroline Lang; Clara Wong; Bao Wei; Structural Engineer: Paul Kassabian, SGH Inc.

93. Lewis.Tsurumaki.LewisPaul Lewis; Marc Tsurumaki; David J. Lewis; Michael Tyre; Deric Mizo-kami; Katherine Snider; Kristen Nakamura; Laura Cheung; Mia Lorenzetti; Eli Allen

96. WORKacAmale Andraos; Dan Wood; Anne Menke; Mikkel Bogh; Amie Shao; HVAC System: Arup MEP; Roger Chang; Structural Engineers: LERA, Dan Sesil and Patrick Hopple

558 WORDS ON 13:100Notwithstanding the current fascination among curators and critics for an “architecture beyond building,” the desire to build remains power-ful among architects themselves. The Ordos 100 offers one hundred emerging architects from around the world, many of whom have never built a free-standing building, what could be regarded as the dream commission: the opportunity to design a single-family home, without a specific client to complicate the design process, in a country with considerable architectural momentum. As conceived by Chinese art-ist Ai Weiwei, however, the highly unusual configuration of the proj-ect—one hundred villas of 1,000 square meters, each designed by a different architect within one hundred days—transforms Ordos into something much more than the typical house commission.

Though a relatively small project—however large the homes, this resi-dential development barely registers when compared to the massive developments now underway elsewhere in China, the Middle East, and other regions around the world–Ordos amplifies contemporary concerns about ecology, economic inequity, celebrity, and cultural he-gemony. The result leaves many in the international architecture com-munity with a great sense of unease. The environmental implications of building a residential development in a desert region have been de-scribed as potentially disastrous. The site plan has been characterized as a poorly considered, culturally inappropriate reinterpretation of a 1950s American suburb. And a collection of one hundred villas, each more than 10,000 square feet in a country where families are limited to one child, is considered by many to be unseemly, if not obscene.

Given these concerns, it is reasonable to question whether an ex-hibition about the Ordos 100 is appropriate. Doesn’t it run the risk of seeming to celebrate the project, of holding it up as a model of enlightened development or otherwise conferring on it some degree of cultural authority? That is not the League’s intention. Rather, we want to give the participating architects an opportunity to make a case for why Ordos matters. In an installation designed by Project_, each of the thirteen New York-based architects participating in Ordos has been given 1/100 of the gallery to present their project in images, texts, drawings, and a 1:100 scale model. Additionally, audio excerpts of interviews conducted over the past two months are included to allow architects to describe in their own words their experiences working on the project and how they feel about it now that the design phase has come to an end.

Many critics have suggested that Ordos might have been more ac-ceptable had the houses not been so large or the list of architects so long. It is a fascinating exercise, in fact, to try to identify the point at which Ordos passes, for its critics, from unremarkable to objection-able. Would it be a better project if there were only twenty houses, or if the houses were only 5,000 square feet? To argue for a different set of variables, however, misses the point. As many of the architects in the exhibition maintain, Ordos has to be the size and scale that it is for it to make sense. It is only in the accumulation, in the intensifica-tion of the everyday compromises that architects face—whether they are aesthetic, economic, structural, or ethical—that Ordos begins to reveal the complexity of how buildings are made and forces us all to confront those realities of architectural practice that can otherwise remain obscured.

—Gregory Wessner Exhibition Curator

13:100 | Thirteen New York Architects Design for Ordos

Organized by the Architectural League of New YorkCurator: Gregory WessnerExhibition design: Project_ (Ana Miljacki and Lee Moreau) with Benjamin Porto and Daniel Sakai13:100 Guide: Luke Bulman/ThumbBox display fabrication: Paul PoggiSound editing: Project_ with Sarah HirschmanSound mastering: Project_ with Mateja MiljackiResearch assistant: Sarah Snider

7. Lyn Rice Architects 16. OBRA Architects 24. *multiplicities

31. Slade Architecture 33. Barker Freeman Design Office 38. Keller Easterling

62. Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss/NAO 64. Josh Uhl/Toshiko Mori Architect 71. r s v p architects, psc San Juan-New York

89. nARCHITECTS 92. SINGLE speed DESIGN 93. Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis

96. WORKac

10 questions for 13:100

Project_, in collaboration with the Architectural League, asked each of the thirteen architects in the exhibition to respond to the following list of ten questions, inviting them to articulate their thoughts about the Ordos 100 and reflect on their participation in the project. Excerpts from these interviews constitute the audio portion of the exhibition. The complete video interviews are available on the League’s web site, www.archleague.org.

1. What was your initial reaction to the invitation? Did you ever consider not accepting the commission?

2. How aware were you of Ai Weiwei’s work when you accepted the commission? To what extent do you think we need to see the Ordos 100 project in the context of his work thus far?

3. Describe how you dealt with designing a private residence for an abstract client.

4. To what extent were you designing with Chi-nese construction techniques and standards in mind? How is this reflected in your design?

5. Please describe what is architecturally at stake in your project? What were you after architectur-ally?

6. How do you feel about your participation in the project now that the design phase is over?

7. What do you think of the site plan and the cumulative effect of the Ordos 100 architectural interventions?

8. Can you imagine an equivalent development/situation to the Ordos 100 in the US? Why, how, or why not?

9. Please describe how you think the sheer size of the Ordos undertaking impacts the role and the position of the architect.

10. Describe your dream commission.

Photograph: Work AC

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