Blueprint Beijing exhibition in Beijing Photo:Global Times

Blueprint Beijing, an architectural exhibition that acted as the finale for the 1st Beijing Biennial, is now open at the M Woods Art Museum in Beijing. 

It starts with a huge timeline that introduces notable architectural moments in cities in the world such as Beijing and New York. 

Referring to itself as a "blueprint," the exhibition centers at Beijing's rich historical experiences and modern progress in cultural and ­urban development to imagine how the city in the future can become an even more embracing international hub for bridging diverse cultures across the world.  

Twenty artists, from both China and overseas, have co-organized the show to offer artworks such as architectural models and installations that depict how the urbanism in future can be interpreted differently.

Blueprint Beijing exhibition in Beijing Photo:Courtesy of MAD

Building of Background, a photographic series by Chinese creator Sun Haiting shows how Beijing's welfare housing developed from 1970 through to the 1990s. Behind it was the city's memories of nolstalgia.

Architecture firm OPEN's 2nd Ring 2049 project has also been presented at the show to proposes greener solutions for upgrading the Chinese capital city's core urban area.  

Blueprint Beijing exhibition in Beijing Photo:Courtesy of MAD

"While these architectural works are more like imaginative art proposals, they still make me feel how much I've missed out when observing the city I've been living in," 

Xu Sanni, a visitor to the show, told the Global Times on Saturday.  

Blueprint Beijing exhibition in Beijing Photo:Courtesy of MAD

The show is curated by ­Chinese architect Ma Yansong, who told the Global Times that the future is also a part of the history. Blueprint Beijing aims to merge how the world imagines future urban areas and also the city of Beijing.

Blueprint Beijing exhibition in Beijing Photo:Courtesy of MAD