Shuhei Aoyama, Architect

My name is Shuhei Aoyama, I’m a Japanese architect.I think Beijing has many opportunities for young people. I can do what I can't do in Japan.And then in the face of the current pace of social development in China .Some observations of social issues, some changes in technologies.The Chinese people's desire for a new life.In this environment, I find an opportunity to explore new spaces.My favorite place in Beijing is Jingshan Park.Because I work at China World Trade Center Tower, the Beijing that I see from China World Trade Center Tower appears quite different.Looking around from Jingshan Park, within the second ring road of Beijing.Actually we can hardly see any building, what we see are mostly trees.Since the buildings are generally shorter than trees, what we can see is mostly a piece of green.And then starting from outside the second ring, you can see all kinds of tall buildings.You can see the China World Trade Center Tower in the east, the National Stadium in the north, the Xizhimen area and even farther in the west. It’s a special scene in Beijing I really like.To me, the most interesting aspect of Beijing is that tradition and the future are not opposite, or separate things.For example, I've lived in a hutong for more than a decade now.Because we can see a lot of interesting lifestyles, interesting details of life in hutongs, which we usually do not see in the new urban space.And they have a lot of cleaning tools, which they hang on some protruding details on the wall.They use this city according to their needs and their ideas in their own ways.In fact, I have been exploring the new lifestyles in big Chinese cities like Beijing.A change is that more and more young people are living alone nowadays.As for me, an architect should create or explore a state that fits this new family format and new living space of this era. That’s to say, anyone can find out a suitable living space.This is what I hope Beijing will be like in the future.As an architect, it’s very satisfying that the city where I live has architectures I designed .Then I hope, through the space I've designed to change the life of Beijing (and its people).