The body of work Neville Mars has achieved in the last ten years is both diverse and characteristic. The projects he has initiated range from commercial architecture and urban design, to documentaries, art installations, urban research and creative writing. His work is widely published and his installations have featured in international art exhibitions around the world. The red thread that runs through his work, from the beginning at OMA until today as director of the Dynamic City Foundation (DCF) in Beijing, is a profound passion for the evolution of the metropolis. He is the author of the book The Chinese Dream - a society under construction (010 Publishers, Rotterdam 2008).

The Dynamic City Foundation is a research and design institute focused on the rapid transformations of China’s urban landscape. In 2003 Neville Mars founded the DCF and started the Urban China 2020 project; an in-depth study which maps the tendencies of China’s flash-urbanization and investigates how designers can respond. The research framework is China’s objective to build 400 new cities by the year 2020. In a multidisciplinary team of sociologists, planners and designers the DCF has developed a catalog of design prototypes suitable for the increasingly market-driven conditions of China. Overarching goal is to establish a holistic approach to building China’s urban environments and networks. The work is open source and available at http://www.BURB.tv

NOTE: THIS IS A NEWLY ADDED SCI-Arc LECTURE ORGANIZED BY SCIFI

SCI-Arc // 960 East 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013