Masterplanning the Adaptive City

methodologies guiding the design and construction process. The office’s
distinctive methodology emphasizes open spatial configurations, material
transformation, and refined detailing and craftsmanship. Underlying themes in 
the work include the conceptual use of building tectonics, components and
materials, modified with both traditional and digital techniques.
Serie Architects, London, Mumbai, Beijing
Founded in 2006 by Chris Lee and Kapil Gupta, Serie has recently opened offices 
in China. Serie’s portfolio includes projects in India, China, Singapore, Eastern
Europe, and the UK, focussing on masterplanning, housing, restaurants, and the
design of cultural and civic buildings. The practice is known for its theoretical
position which emphasizes the study of building typologies and their evolution,
and the careful study of precedents as a basis for speculating on new solutions.
Their approach to design emphasizes rigorous geometry and the innovative use 
of materials. This design focus is complemented by a meticulous and inventive
approach to construction. In 2010, Serie won the Young Architect of the Year
Award.
Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning and Design Institute, Shanghai
Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning and Design Institute (TJUPDI) was established in
1996. Acting as a practice-based platform of Tongji University engaging in urban
planning services, TJUPDI is comprised of over two hundred full-time urban
planners, including Su Yunsheng as a Chief Planner. This team has completed over
one thousand planning and research projects, including sixty-three prize-winning
projects at a provincial and municipal level as well as twenty-nine at a national
level in China. TJUPDI was the planning team for the World EXPO 2010 in
Shanghai, and their work has been widely published and exhibited.
XWG Studio, Beijing
XWG Studio is a research-based architecture firm, operating via encoded 
and explicit processes across the fields of architecture, art, education, and
dissemination. XWG’s work aims to investigate and reflect the problems of
socioeconomics and ecology within the context of rapid urbanization in China.
Currently, the studio is working on a unique courtyard-based low-energy-use office
building in Qinzhou, to be completed in 2013. In addition, the studio is engaged in
a series of larger-scale projects in Wuhan, including the design stage for Kaidi
Science Park, six office towers in the East Lakes District in Wuhan, and the design
of a three-square-kilometer masterplan for a mixed-used community in Qinzhou.
XWG Studio also organized and curated the Beijing Biennale in 2004, 2006, 2008,
and 2010, together with Neil Leach.
Zaha Hadid Architects, London (HQ)
Zaha Hadid Architects is an award-winning practice based in London and many
other cities around the world. The office works at all scales in all sectors to create
transformative cultural, corporate, residential, and other spaces that work in
synchronicity with their surroundings. Led by Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher,
the office has designed 950 projects in forty-four countries, by 350 current staff
originating from fifty-five countries. Iraqi-born Hadid has been awarded a DBE by
289
CONTRIBUTORS

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Queen Elizabeth II (2012), the Pritzker Prize (2004), and the Stirling Prize (2010,
2011). Both Hadid and Schumacher are highly influential in shaping the next
generation of young architects, through their teaching, lectures, and publications.  
290
CONTRIBUTORS

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adaptation 2,12, 34–37, 61–6, 89, 102–4, 111, 129,
171–2, 178, 186, 233, 235, 268
adaptability 3, 50, 71–72, 92, 129, 173, 233–35, 240,
268
Aish, R 148
Amsterdam 71
Alexander, C xii, xiii, 18, 95, 64–5, 88–9, 91–2,
105–12
Algorithm 27, 88, 107, 170–2, 186; algorithmic
design 141–2, 145, 150 , 172, 179, 181, 186–7,
191; see also parametric design
Allen, S 112
Archigram 12, 156, 196, 
Aristotle 14–15, 30–1
Architectural Association (AA) xiii, 40, 180, 226
Architecture xiii, 2–3, 8, 17, 21, 24, 26–30, 33, 37–8,
41–2, 48–52, 55–64, 69, 71, 75–6, 82, 88–9,
91–95, 100–13, 118–22, 126–7, 136, 143, 153–4,
161–2, 168–83, 189–92, 194–7, 214, 223–7,
230–3, 266–74; and complexity xi–xii, 1–3, 8,
12–13, 15, 20–1, 23–4, 27, 30, 36, 41–7, 52,
59–65, 68, 75, 78–9, 84, 88–91, 96, 99–114,
118–20, 122, 124, 129, 142–51, 153, 162, 169–74,
176, 178, 180–3, 186–7, 190–2, 195, 206, 214,
223, 226, 228, 230–1, 266, 269–70, 273; and
decay 13, 36, 38, 63–4, 126, 233; and duration
2–3, 8, 13, 24, 36–7, 54, 60–5, 73, 94–5, 100, 102,
127; 223, 233–4, 273; and functionality xii, 2,
10, 13, 16, 21, 33, 35, 54–5, 58, 62–4, 80, 82,
87–88, 92, 102–7, 119–20, 126, 141, 151, 154,
173, 177–8, 182, 194–5, 227, 233, 268–9, 272;
and obsolescence xiii, 2–3, 30, 35–8, 50, 52, 
54, 60, 62–3, 92–3, 196, 223–255, 271; iconic
architecture 51, 125, 230–1; and performance
1, 3, 8, 33, 51, 58, 61, 94, 100, , 103–108, 124–6,
141–51, 156, 173–79, 224–7, 233, 246, 269
artificial 12, 14, 16, 36, 50–3, 61–2, 68, 70, 73–4, 
77, 92, 99, 103, 110, 172, 178–9, 248
artificial intelligence 52 
associative model 145, 181
associative logic 7, 15–18
Athens 13
Automation 136, 150, 168, 172, 175–6, 178–80, 267,
270
Banham, R xiii, 32, 37, 61–2, 69, 169, 225
Baghdad 13
Batty, M xiii, 102, 108, 172, 
Beijing 17, 29, 32, 34, 49–50, 58, 63, 82, 132, 198,
245
Berlage Institute 209–212
Biology 12, 14–15, 17–18, 61–2, 64, 77, 91, 99,
104–5, 113, 145, 169, 173, 178–9, 186, 190–2,
195, 227, 253
biological paradigm 12, 17–18, 61–2, 77, 99, 113,
145, 169, 173, 178–9, 190–2, 253
biomimetics 109, 168, 173, 175, 
biomorphism 168, 173
Building Information Modeling (BIM) 52, 125,
168, 176–7, 179, 270, 
Burry, M xi–xii, 8, 16–7, 56, 64, 89, 102–4, 107, 111,
142, 145, 150–1, 168, 170, 172–3, 176–8, 227, 230
Burry, J 8, 17, 56, 64, 89, 102–4, 107, 111, 145,
177–8, 227, 230
Campanella, T 29–30, 36–7, 54–5, 58
Castells, M 1, 10–11, 56–7; megacities 1, 56–7;
Southern China Metropolis 56–7
Castro, E 82–4, 237–40, 287–8
city/cities; and abandonment 13, 37–8, 235; and
density 36, 48–9, 54–6, 59, 71, 77, 79, 132, 159,
165–7, 198–90, 194–5, 201–2, 209, 238, 245, 259;
and decline 2, 13,14, 35, 38, 223, 235; and
design 3, 16, 40, 61, 76, 93, 123–6, 148, 168,
235; and complexity xii, 2–3, 12–15, 23–4, 36,
42–7, 52, 60–2, 65, 68, 75, 78, 84, 87, 93, 102–6,
109–12, 120, 129, 142, 144–51, 163, 169, 172–3,
178, 181, 186–92, 214, 223, 226, 230–5, 265–74;
and countryside 7, 13, 16, 31, 33, 55–57, 62, 
78 142, 193; and form 10–16, 20–1, 23–8, 
30–1, 40–7, 50–3, 55–7, 59–65, 68, 71–4, 77,
87–96, 102–13, 118–22, 147–8, 150–1, 153–8,
168–73, 176–9, 182–3, 186–92, 205–6, 230, 
266, 268, 273–4; and growth I, xi, 2, 8, 10,
12–16, 20–1, 27, 31–4, 37–9, 48, 58–65, 68, 
72, 75–6, 87–92, 100, 103, 106–8, 112, 151, 
164, 168, 172,–3, 182,–3, 187–924, 214, 274; 
and homogenisation 11, 23, 26, 44, 54, 
57–8, 113, 158, 162, 181, 186, 196–7, 267; and
industrialisation 3–4; and obsolescence xiii,
2–3, 36, 50–52, 54, 60, 62–3, 92–3, 196, 214–19,
223–35, 271; and landscape 11, 15, 17, 30–4,
43, 61–5, 71–2, 75–6, 82–5, 98–102, 112, 142,
147, 170–3, 177, 198, 201–2, 234, 237, 241, 245,
248, 253, 268; and permanence
2, 7, 8–9,
20–1, 28, 33, 56, 63–45, 88, 94, 99, 128, 183,
227–235, 268, 273; and self-organisation xii,
11–15, 35, 57, 62, 88–91, 103–5, 120, 143–4, 182,
191, 235; and systems xii, 8–18, 20–22, 24, 29,
36, 45, 53, 62–64, 82, 87–9, 91–6, 98, 99–112,
120–2, 124–7, 130–1, 141–6, 148–51, 162–3, 166,
1689–73, 176–83, 186–7, 191–7, 205, 207, 214,
223–4, 227–8, 230, 233–4, 239, 245, 253–4, 273;
and utopia xi, 12–3, 21, 25, 31, 63, 89, 92; as
centres of trade xi, 8, 34; as a machine 11, 13,
15–6, 25, 32, 34, 94, 147, 195; as an organism
17, 21, 33, 64, 104, 106, 124, 142, 154, 171, 173,
178, 195; and the economy 1, 10–1, 20–2, 41,
48, 56, 61, 65, 95–7, 118–9, 123, 195, 231, 259,
270; city walls 16–7, 25, 28–9, 50
Chicago 34, 36, 
Childe, V. G 8, 148, 
China: ancient China 28–30; and danwei 28, 
58; and Deng Xiaoping 29, 48, 56; and the
megablock 26; and rapid urbanisation xiii, 1,
24, 28–30, 38, 48–52, 54–9, 99, 187, 191, 193–7,
266, 268; Cultural Revolution 193; Empires
196; modern China 1, 24–6, 28–30, 34, 37–8,
48–52, 54–5, 58–9, 77–9, 80–2, 88, 92–3, 124,
128, 132–6, 193–7, 237, 241, 245, 248, 259, 267,
271–2
Chongqing 56, 110, 224, 228, 231, 234
Civilisation 7–8, 16, 32, 27–8, 97, 100, 118, 123, 
complexity xii, 2–3, 12–15, 23–4, 36, 42–7, 52, 
60–2, 65, 68, 75, 78, 84, 87, 93, 102–6, 109–12,
120, 129, 142, 144–51, 163, 169, 172–3, 178, 181,
186–92, 214, 223, 226, 230–5, 265–74
computation xii, xiv, 1–3, 13, 26–7, 51–2, 60, 75, 87,
91–6, 100, 105–7, 118, 121, 124–5, 132, 141–151,
INDEX

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