Chinese architecture exhibition opens in Oslo

The Contemporary Chinese Architecture Exhibition opened on February 4 at the National Museum of Architecture in Oslo, Norway's capital.

The exhibition "M8 in China: Contemporary Chinese Architects" features prominent architects from eight firms in China, including Amateur Architecture Studio, Atelier Z+, DnA_Design and Architecture, Jiakun Architects, MADA s.p.a.m, Standardarchitecture, Studio Pei-Zhu and TM Studio.

Anne Marit Lunde, project leader of the exhibition, said he appreciates the fact that some Chinese architects are using materials from buildings that have been pulled down.

"It's kind of renewable. In one of their projects, the architects, they used 7 million old bricks and stones" from the buildings pulled down, she said.

The organizers said that during the last two decades China's economic development has drastically transformed the country, resulting in a gigantic building boom, which in turn has caused the Chinese architectural market to be considered the most dynamic in the world today.

Commenting on his Chinese colleagues' works, Reinhard Kropf, a Norwegian architect, said, "It's something unique and it is new. This will put a new standard on architecture."

Most of the founders of the firms, who have studied abroad and have maintained good international networks, are highly visible in international architecture competitions.

The exhibition, organized in collaboration with the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt, will conclude on April 10.