The Complete Map of Capital Beijing

Beijing, China

Photo © Wang Hongyue

Art + Installation + Exhibition

arkkitehdit: Drawing Architecture Studio

Location: Beijing, China
Year: 2021
Team: Drawing Architecture Studio: Li Han / Hu Yan / Zhang Xintong / Zhang Yuanbo / Liu Ping; Syracuse Architecture: Studio team: Luo Chenhao / Huang Deqiang / Zhu Haihui / Zhong Junye / Zhuang Kaicheng / Wang Kexin / Feng Wenting / Meng Xinqi / Tang Xinyu / Feng Yiqun / Liu Yian / Wang Yuxuan / Zhang Yi / Zhang Yaqi / Yang Zhexu / Zheng Zhi Installation team: Xu Xiaoxuan / Lyu Nuo / Sun Danlin / Ma Jiazi / Lyu Zizhou / Zhao Chendong / Ye Rulin / Wang Jiaqi / Xie Mingrui

As a collaboration by Drawing Architecture Studio and Syracuse University School of Architecture in 2021, the installation The Complete Map of Capital Beijing is a contemporary copy of its original version from the Qing Dynasty, in which some most iconic Beijing architecture are collaged and mixed. In a 1:100 architectural diorama, the three-dimensional models are the results of some style transfer algorithms in which some classics of Western modern architecture are mixed with the language of Beijing vernacular constructions, growing from two-dimensional images. The creation process of this piece is a self-organized "game". Drawing Architecture Studio provides the framework of Capital Beijing and creative path. Students from Syracuse University School of Architecture freely fill in the framework while being regulated by a series of provisos on "style and language". Drawings and models become independent "selves" and construct an "independent world" on the architectural diorama.