Following their extraordinary success participating at the recently concluded Cityscape Abu Dhabi, the Hong Kong-based founder of 'Cybertecture' futurist architect James Law has now set his sights firmly on Cityscape China which takes place on 24-26 May at INTEX in Shanghai.
"We now have projects throughout the Middle East and Asia in cities such as Dubai, Seoul, Bangalore and of course Hong Kong. This is the first time we have participated at a property investment and development event in China and we feel that the mainland markets are now mature enough to appreciate our concept," Law said.
Of late, Law's firm is best known for its iPad project in Dubai, a building that literally looks like a giant iPod. The complete philosophy of 'Cybertecture' is embodied in the tower. The project features 231 'intelligent' apartments equipped with a host of advanced electronics such as a real time projection of any skyline in the world, which can change the view from any individual apartment, integrated technology to check on the resident's health, a plethora of voice-activated controls and a special server to project the tenant's favourite works of art.
Indeed, the Shanghai event will be the first time that industry professionals have been exposed to the Cityscape concept. Previously, the focus in China has been on downstream events that only focus on the marketing of existing properties.
Cityscape China will address all areas of the development cycle offering an upstream alternative driving investors to meet developers and architects for the first time under one roof.
"We chose to participate at Cityscape China because 'Cybertecture' is a proven international concept and we wanted a proven international platform to launch on the mainland," added Law.
The size of the Chinese market has been well documented, with 20% real estate growth per annum since 1995, over 750 cities to be built over the next 15 years and 2,520 projects either planned or currently under construction, including waterfront developments, industrial free zones, 'techno' cities and tourism projects on a monumental scale unique anywhere in the world.
To keep pace with China's burgeoning population growth, some 500 to 600 million m² of residential real estate needs to built every year for the next two decades, presenting huge challenges for architects, urban planners, developers and city governments.
Neil Hickman, Exhibition Director, commented, "The key to our success is that we are providing a platform to bring together developers and investors with government and industry support against a backdrop of unprecedented economic growth."
Shanghai is an appropriate venue for Cityscape China, boasting some of the world's tallest buildings amongst an urban spread accommodating over 16 million inhabitants. It is recognized as the commercial and financial heartbeat of China. In total 6,000 m² of exhibition space has been reserved accommodating international industry heavyweights such as Limitless, Tanmiyat, Fortune Investment Group, Denis Lau, Arquitectonica, Hill International, Halcrow and GHD to name a few.
Source: Cityscape
