Three years ago, the ten year old luxury furniture brand Boloni Home Décor purchased a furniture factory in the Gaobeidian area of Beijing in the hopes of establishing its own factory district. Soon afterwards, the area was incorporated into the CBD business district. Boloni was determined to look towards the future and contribute to future city planning based on its status as a professional business, and to advocate a unique and prominent art district that would be completely integrated with the creative industry. 

Whereupon, in the area that connects CBD and Tongzhou named "Beihuayuan" by Kublai Khan, Boloni Home Decor together with Thinking Hands Co.,LTD, the curators of the Dangdai International Art Festival (DIAF), attempted to construct a district that merges art, living quarters, design, creation, and leisure -- the GBD Art District. The plan involves six blocks on 450,000m2 of land and includes: the Industrial Renewal Art District; the Flagship Store Street with international top brand stores; the New Scene of Qingming Shanghe Street that is a fusion of traditional culture; the Peach Blossom Island that is a recreation area with bars and clubs; the Creative Land that houses an open air venue for avant garde art; the Business District with a high class hotel and conference center. This six block area is slated for completion in 2010. 

Three years later, GBD is about to implement this contemporary and open spirited spatial experiment: art for life, art for people.

Prior to GBD, many art districts formed in Beijing. They brought new and rich energy to the city. Yet, they were never completely integrated with the creative industry and were often short lived. The most common types of enclosed districts to occupy the city developed rapidly but did not exhibit humanitarian concern, were unsuitable for living, felt restrictive, and lacked pleasure.

Facing these challenges, the GBD Art District Phase 1 Competition officially kicks off at the start of 2007. Furthermore, with great aspiration, the organizers present the following unique concept: 

Design a structure that is 50 m2, 10m high, and 500m3.

1. Ratio of length to width? You decide.

2. How many floors will there be, and will the stairs be inside or outside? You
decide.

3. Entertain the possibility of several 500M3 units assembled together.

4. If your design involves connected 500M3 units, please consider the framework.

5. The roof deck can be used, but the railing should not exceed 1 meter in depth.

6. You may sink the ground floor by 1 meter below the street level.

Over two hundred "500M3" units will combine to form the initial phase of the GBD Art District. GBD does not address architectural form or the merge of urban and rural. It is a sincere attempt at life, not real estate.

GBD needs to become a reality, and not a static Utopia. For this reason, Boloni and Thinking Hands sincerely invite individuals with a sense of creativity from all over the world to participate in the GBD Art District Phase 1 Competition Phase. 

They welcome architects, artists, designers, and any creative individual to submit designs for the future "500M3 ." They believe that the future of the city belongs to anyone: Everyone for me, me for everyone. 

Jury for the competition will include architect Zhu Pei, architect Yi Jiezhong, architect Neville Mars, artist Huang Rui, media personality Hong Huang, and GBD founder Cai Ming. Seven winners will be selected at the end of the competition, with a total prize of 250,000RMB. 

Join GBD, design the future.

For more information about GBD, please visit: www.artgbd.com

Press Conference, Feb. 8, 2007

GBD Art District Phase 1 Architecture Competition
Guests Press

ZHU Pei
Celebrated architect, Partner and Principal Architect of the architect firm URBANUS, Zhu Pei received his Masters of Science in Architectonics from Tsinghua University as well as a M.S. degree in Architecture and Urban Planning from University of California, Berkeley. Zhu has been a team member of many acclaimed architecture designing firms abroad and has won many international architecture competitions. He has been invited to participate in international art and architecture exhibition such as the 2003 France Pompidou China Art Exhibition, 2004 Chinese Young Architects Exhibition，and 2005 Brazil Sao Paulo Biennial. During that time, he also taken teaching positions with Tsinghua University, University of California, Berkeley, and Hong Kong University to name a few. Zhu is also on the Editorial Board of World Architecture and Architecture News Guide magazines.   

XIE Haitao
Deputy Secretary-General of Design Committee of China Constitution and Decoration Union

YI Jiezhong
CEO and Executive Director of Flamingo Communication, architect, and designer, with an M.S. from University of Southern California Institute of Architecture and Ph.D. of art history from the China Central Academic Fine Art. Yi has participated in the design and planning for many Chinese architecture projects and he is also an active proponent of cultural development in China.

HUANG Rui
Contemporary artist, curator, and the founder of the 798 Dashanzi Art District, Huang Rui works in the mediums of painting, photography, installation, and performance art. Huang was an original member of the groundbreaking, historic Chinese contemporary art group, The Star Group. Since 2003, he has unflinchingly initiated creative arts projects such as Transborder Language: Poetry/Performance Art, Blue Sky Exposure, and the DIAF (Dashanzi International Art Festival) within the 798 Dashanzi Art District. Huang is also prolific in publishing and planning print works including 798, the definitive volume on the history and development of the art district.

SU Mang
Editor in Chief of the premier fashion magazine Bazaar, Su has also tenured at Cosmopolitan and Esquire magazines. In 2001, She founded the Chinese-language edition of Harper’s Bazaar and single-handedly built a readership of elite Chinese women. Su also developed the internationally renown high-end men’s magazine Bazaar Men’s Style, which today sets the precedence for Men’s fashion magazines with its bold, innovative and advanced men’s fashion consciousness,

CAI Ming
Cai Ming, CEO of Kebao & Boloni Kitchen & Bathroom Furniture Co., Ltd. started the Boloni Home Decor company in 1992, then soon after began to expand into the high-end kitchen equipment industry and collaborated with Italy Boloni to found the Boloni Kitchen & Bathroom Furniture (Beijing) Co., Ltd. In 2005 he introduced the core concept of an integrated home equipment décor and design solution as a basic component of modern lifestyle.

CAI Ming

HUANG Rui

ZHU Pei

SU Mang

YI Jiezhong

XIE Haitao