01
Xujiahui Academy is open
One is hard to find
Shanghai
Shanghai has a new landmark! After three years of renovation and upgrading, the high-profile Xujiahui Academy (the new library of Xuhui District) has finally opened to the public.
The library is adjacent to Xujiahui Catholic Church, and as soon as it debuted, it became a popular check-in place, with long queues at the door every day.
From a distance, it looks like a giant beige box, wrapped in slender fins, created by Pritzker Prize-winning architect David Chipperfield, of the West Bund Art Museum.
The interior is divided into 2 underground floors and 3 floors above ground, with nearly 800 seats, and the designer Yu Ting operates.
Step into it, and you will see a basilica-style atrium space with a ceiling height of 14 meters and a total of three floors, providing a very open view.
Under the dome, a desk more than 20 meters long stretches out into the distance.
Even more special is a transparent openwork art installation: "The Gate of Light".
It was artistically recreated based on the image of the Tushan Bay Archway in Shanghai, and through 3D printing technology, it took 50 days to complete by two robots.
Crystal clear in the sun, beautiful as a phantom.
Climbing up the stairs, there is a semi-open-air corridor on the 2nd and 3rd floors.
From the balcony, you can enjoy the view of the church square. The century-old Xujiahui Observatory, Guangqi Park, and Xujiahui Library also have a panoramic view.
Xujiahui Academy is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00-17:00, closed on Mondays, and you need to make an appointment on the mini program.
02
It moved 230 meters in 43 days
5 old buildings in Shanghai go home
Shanghai
After 43 days, the five old Western-style buildings in Yongqingli, Jing'an District, completed the "real moving": the building rose from the ground and moved as a whole.
These houses were built in the 30s of the last century in the style of Shikumen Lilong houses, which have important historical and cultural significance.
In 2020, because an underground garage was needed here, they were temporarily moved to another plot to protect the five old buildings from damage. Now that the underground garages are built, they have been moved back to their original positions.
The process is quite complicated and difficult: first 170 centimeters high, then 90° "Qiankun Great Shift" in the air, then at a speed of 20 millimeters per minute, across Kangle Road, Anqing Road, and finally land, the whole journey is about 230 meters.
This is the largest and longest cumulative translation distance of group building translation homing construction project in Shanghai so far.
In the future, these historic buildings will be renovated inside and out.
03
Wang Yuhan opened the exhibition
There are flames and stars in the painting
Shanghai
In January 2023, Wang Yuhan's solo exhibition "To be continued to be continued", co-sponsored by No. 7 Art Museum and WeA+D Wuwei Art, was successfully opened.
At the age of 26, his works were selected for the Water Cube exhibition and collected by the Olympic Organizing Committee; At the age of 29, he became the first Asian artist to exhibit at CANOVA22, a well-known gallery in Rome, and Wang Yuhan kept walking. In addition to their inherent intensity and fullness, the paintings in this exhibition have precipitated the thoughts of the past two years. If you felt the dazzling brilliance of Yuhan in the past, this solo exhibition can even understand the quiet beauty after the spray.
To be continued.
Yuhan deserves a world of her own, like the twinkling flames and stars in her paintings.
04
Nice little shop in Shikumen
Experience sustainable fashion
Shanghai
Shanghai North Bund Jinchao 8 lane, in the century-old Shikumen old building, opened a fashionable and interesting new store - the first concept flagship store of Reclothing Bank.
It is a space that exudes a natural and untouched atmosphere. The cash register and display fixtures in the store, like modern sculptures, are made from recycled scrap steel and old objects, following the brand's motto of "turning waste into treasure".
In this store, people can experience sustainable design concepts up close, such as old clothes recycling, antique recycling, green and organic, customizing new clothes with memories and emotions...
Founded in 2010 by independent designer Zhang Na, Reinvention Bank has released more than 800 sustainable items at Shanghai Fashion Week, forming its own unique closed-loop system of "recycling-recycling-selling-public welfare".
05
Dior lands at Songhua Lake
Ice sculpture shows are staged every night
Jilin
With the arrival of the snow season, Dior has created a limited-time boutique in the ski resort of Songhua Lake in Jilin.
It is divided into two parts: indoor and outdoor. Inside is a boutique selling ski and winter goods in addition to classic products. Outdoors there is a domed SnowRoom café serving coffee, cookies, chocolates, macarons and other drinks and refreshments.
Next to the café, there is also a crystal clear ice sculpture, modeled after 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris, where Dior is headquartered.
At night, the ice sculptures are lit up and there are three ice sculpture shows every day at 17:20, 20:50 and 22:10 until the end of the snow season.
06
Opening of the Pingyao Film Show
Wang Ziwen's new film premiered
Shanxi
On January 14, the 6th Pingyao International Film Festival opened in the ancient city of Pingyao.
Directed by Wang Mu and starring Yin Fang and Wang Ziwen, "Gentle Shell" made its world premiere as the opening film.
This film is Wang Mu's debut, bringing together many actors such as Yongmei and Bai Ke, and was shortlisted for the "Hidden Dragon" unit to discover the new works of Chinese film newcomers.
The short film "Broken Sun Heart" directed by Bi Gan was specially screened as "Pingyao Night Film".
This year's film festival also set up a new section of "Migration Planning: From Literature to Film and Television". The 18 literary works created by writers such as Wang Anyi, Liu Liangcheng, Tian Er, Lin Qi, Ye Mi, Di An, Luo Rixin and other writers were finally recommended.
The festival will run until January 19.
07
Architectural firm SPARK
22 years of Asian history
Singapore
SPARK's "pedigree" can be traced back to the world-famous architectural firm ALSOP. Before Stephen Pinball founded SPARK, he worked with architect Will Alsop for 16 years, and the two of them worked together like guitarists and bassists in a rock band.
THE WORD "CONSTRAINTS" HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM SPARK'S DESIGN LEXICON, AND WE CAN UNDERSTAND WHY SPARK HAS ALWAYS SHINED IN THE AREAS OF "WATERFRONT" AND "HYBRID RENEWAL", BECAUSE THESE ARE TWO AREAS OF WORK THAT REQUIRE GREAT FLEXIBILITY AND VARIABILITY TO COMPETENTLY COMPETE.
Clarke Quay, Singapore, dynamic ARTE S high-rise apartments, including the Shanghai Port International Passenger Transport Centre, which won the MIPIM Asia Best Integrated Development Award. We look forward to more surprises that SPARK will bring to Asia, especially China, in the future."
Clarke Quay
ARTE S high rise apartment
08
The world's "best restaurant" closes
Transform taste development
Copenhagen
Known as the "World's Best Restaurant", Denmark's Noma, which has topped the world's top 50 restaurants five times, recently officially announced that it will close at the end of 2024.
Founded in 2003 by Chef René Redzepi in Copenhagen, Noma is internationally renowned for its experimental, secluded cuisine and locally sourced specialties.
It can be said that it has single-handedly changed everyone's impression of Nordic cuisine.
It had a "closure" back in 2017 and later reopened in the Christiania area.
After this closure, Noma will continue to carry out new explorations and transformations, entering the 3.0 stage.
It is reported that it is likely that there will be no fixed Noma physical restaurants in the future. The chef will focus on innovation and taste development, traveling the world in search of inspiration.
But Noma also promised to return as pop-up shops in various countries from time to time.
09
The Louvre has a limited number of visitors
Only 30,000 people are admitted daily
Paris
Anyone who has been to the Louvre is impressed by the crowd before the Mona Lisa. Too many tourists will inevitably reduce the exhibition experience.
Recently, the Louvre announced that it will limit the number of daily visitors to 30,000 from 2023.
Museum staff say they have been troubled by long queues in front of masterpieces for years. Now that the world has opened up and footfall has begun to return to pre-pandemic levels, limiting the number of people is imperative "to facilitate comfortable visits and ensure optimal working conditions for employees."
10
Prince Harry's autobiography is on sale
Record sales on the first day
United Kingdom
Prince Harry's much-anticipated autobiography "Spare Tires", which has not yet been published, was officially released on January 10, selling more than 400,000 copies on the first day, becoming the best-selling non-fiction book in British history, second only to the first-day sales record set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
The book exposes many of Harry's personal privacy, such as the fact that he killed 25 people during his service in Afghanistan and took drugs because of the pressure of royal life.
In addition, Harry also mentioned many internal conflicts within the royal family, including being knocked to the ground by his brother Prince William and begging his father not to marry Camilla.
Because of the amount of information, the book has repeatedly become the focus of attention during the gestation stage, and readers have been lining up in front of the bookstore since the early hours of the morning on the release day.