Linked Hybrid by Steven Holl Architects, and designing for the occupation of space in contemporary Beijing

An illicit visit to a chunk of Beijing in transition, in October 2009

Beijing was such a whirl that I didn’t even get to see much of the city’s archetypal and much-discussed urban form: the hutong. (Read Sorkin on hutongs and lilongs.) While that’s a regret, as they’ve been disappearing for years, recent reports indicate they are finally being valued, and so preserved. I’ll see them next time; I didn’t want to rush it. Equally, I only saw the CCTV building, ‘Water Cube’ and ‘Bird’s Nest’ from a taxi and a bus. I didn’t see the Forbidden City, and only drove past Tiananmen Square. Didn’t get on the subway. Missed the Beijing Railway Station.

Still, I saw a fair bit, as reported previously, and I did get to one project I’d particularly wanted to see: the MOMA building, aka the Linked Hybrid, by Steven Holl Architects et al.

By way of background, here’s an introduction to the project by the architects themselves:

The 220,000 square meter pedestrian-oriented Linked Hybrid complex…