The K11 Architecture Festival: The Resurgence of Wooden Arch

K11 Craft & Guild Foundation (KCG) is a registered charity in Hong Kong to conserve and rejuvenate fast-disappearing Chinese artisanship and create craft ecosystem with sustainable social impact. By building research initiatives and educational programmes, KCG brings the long forgotten heritage closer to the public through exhibitions and events.
The K11 Architecture Festival: The Resurgence of Wooden Architecture presented by KCG in partnership with Building Society and New World China, was the debut research exhibition in Shanghai curated by Professor Li Xiangning and Wang Hao, a leading expert in traditional Chinese wooden architecture who advocates the rediscovery of traditional building techniques through research and design. KCG’s research-led project on Chinese wooden architecture focused on mapping the history and heritage of wooden architectural structures in Ningbo and the Zhedong area — an important branch of traditional Chinese architecture, which also displays great potential to adapt and innovate the technique for sustainable development in a contemporary context.
The exhibition showcased not only research findings on Chinese wooden architecture, but also how the traditional craft could be rejuvenated and integrated seamlessly in modern-day living. With story-telling of wooden architecture installations starting from the open space, which led into K11 Art Mall through to the B3 chi K11 art museum, the ART-IN-ONE customer journey offered an immersive exhibition experience. From buildings to furniture, from techniques to lifestyle, the story of traditional wooden architecture and its renaissance was revealed, featuring KCG’s debut documentary screening on the traditional craft, and architectural models of both traditional and modernised Chinese carpentry techniques.
While Shanghai was the first stop for this record-breaking exhibition with ticket sales over RMB1,800,000, attracting 110,000 visitors and media exposure of 81,912,741, the plan to bring this to other Chinese cities is set. KCG is delighted to showcase the modernisation of wooden architecture applications in the upcoming K11 Ningbo development in collaboration with Wang Hao and New World China, which exemplifies the forward-thinking vision of craft rejuvenation and ecosystem building. Instead of just preserving this impressive Chinese tradition, to breathe new life into it and make it relevant to the next generation is equally essential.