Officially opening on July 25, the International Wine Exhibition is part of a broader program of initiatives sponsored by the Chinese government for the 11th International Conference on Grapevine Breeding and Genetics, scheduled to take place in China for the first time from July 28 to August 2. The conference is an international event with a worldwide scope covering issues related to agriculture and grapevine cultivation, in particular, taken as a key to developing contemporary wine culture.
The exhibition garden covers almost 200 hectares designed and built for the occasion with artificial lakes, greenhouses, museums, gardens, a visitor center, landscape towers and bridges that enhance the visibility and use of this garden near the Great Wall. The master plan and buildingproject was the winner of an international design competition by invitation put on in 2012 by the People’s Government of Yanqing County Beijing, part of the Chinese government. This is a major recognition for Italian design and architecture. The Chinese government built the project with great skill and speed given the exceptional scope and importance of the works built.
Pavilions have been designed as circles as a metaphor for grape bunches spread over the landscape. The overall image forges an extraordinary relationship with the surrounding nature and the contour of mountains on the horizon. It perfectly epitomizes Italian and Chinese cultures, which share having elements of very old traditions merged with contemporary culture. The individual building facades echo this narrative concept in an alternation of the gray of traditional Chinese bricks with ash-gray concrete surfaces shaped into bas-reliefs and sculptures. The images offer a mere preview of this event, which also gives an idea of what is being done in Italy for the universal expo in keeping with the program theme, “Feeding the Planet”. Archea Associati has also designed the new Antinori Winery in Tuscany and other projects related to nature and architecture in China. With this project, it hopes to show that we can build the landscape and in the landscape, making it better and more pleasing.
