The China International Fair for Trade in Services was co-hosted by the Ministry of Commerce and the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, with World Trade Organization, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and many prominent international organizations offering crucial mutual supports. The forum itself was co-hosted by Beijing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Shijingshan District People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, Beijing Association for Science and Technology, and Beijing NGO Network for International Exchanges, as the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries served as the leading director.

Through keynote speech, round table talk, and interntional dial, domestic and international guest speakers discussed the solution for cultural, industrial, ecological, and spiritual revival in central urban area, concentrating primarily on the transition, development, as well as the upgrade of city function during the post-Winter Olympics era. Daniel presented a comparative analysis on Manchester, East London, and Shijingshan District, aiming to offer different approaches to transform a historical industrial region into a modern, multi-functional sports campus. Meanwhile, he also introduced one of the latest projects by the Studio – the Suzhou Galactic Super Campus project, which is currently under construction – in order to elaborate on the organic integration between industrial site and the residential, commercial, and cultural.

“… What’s key, I think, about the site we found very interesting is its natural resource, having river and mountain. But of course, the site, because it has a history, like some of our case studies, which cities always tend to do, it has an industrial past that is very prominent as we see in the images here from the Ski Jump in the city. Industrial – old and new – can work together with good design. And it’s proven here in some case studies. This is Venice, which the old military barracks from before, now cultural buildings for the Venice Biennale. In London, a project we worked on where an old gas tower, the structure we maintained and can be used to insert accommodation, which we put housing and live work, housing to give energy to this area. Modular construction can also be introduced to the site. This can also take on a very industrial finish with its material, if this is really what the DNA of the site is about.”