shaowen zhang | March 6th, 2012 
What is a computer?
What is an algorithm?
These two components are the foundations of 21st century parametricism. Of them we have potential for geometric ingenuity, delicate variability and endless looping. In due time, the computer and the algorithm will be attributed to engendering the most polemical, most chaotic period of recorded architectural history.
//
[ algorithmic design, computer age, digital media, parametricism ]
shaowen zhang | January 23rd, 2012 
Herbert von Karajan and Evgeny Kissin perform Tchaikovsky Piano concerto No. 1.
With Berlin Philharmonic, New Year’s Day, 1988. //
[ berlin philharmonic, karajan, kissin, tchaikovsky, v_05 | i_01, winter wonder ]
shaowen zhang | October 12th, 2011 
5. I’ve lost my sense of space and time
A great plume of white dust fills the air. //
[ think ]
shaowen zhang | September 20th, 2011 
43. I just can’t stop thinking of you
Place, identity. The physics and metaphysics of place and identity stem directly from the plan, but the associations of my once urban utopia are things I can now seldom relate to, and the entirety of the urban framework has changed. It’s a sort of unyielding and unequivocal transformation that pervades the already established built environment, the former not any more perfect in design, yet somehow more legible. Layers upon layers of information extend upwards and outwards with rapid velocity. Here today, gone tomorrow. Destroyed, re-configured, layered, erased. And as the external world reproduces with such rapidity, I often question if I am truly in reality. Does anyone think anymore? Does anyone dream anymore? //
[ beijing, cities, contemporary life ]
shaowen zhang | September 6th, 2011 
I was born in the city. The most colorful memories of my childhood were in the city, and despite a hiatus to the suburbs of Atlanta, I continue to dwell in the city. High-density development is a kaleidoscope of variables, each with its own web of complexities. Chinese cities in particular are among some of the densest in the world, and as a result, some of the most esoteric.
Here is an essay of paradox. Here is an essay of contradiction. //
[ beijing, cities, contemporary life ]
