New Year

We spent New Year’s at ErDaYie’s house. New readers may not be acquainted with this place. It’s a single-family home development 45 minutes northeast of Beijing built on a natural spring. All homes are 4 stories tall, built of concrete and brick. Bigger is always better.



The latest status symbol for the wealthy is big protein gobbling dogs. ErDaYie has 3: a German Shepherd, a Husky, and some sort of mix.



It's tough being highly opininonated about taste and what's appropriate, and not to be able to use language to your advantage in swaying opinions or raising awareness.

We’ve spent a lot of time eating with relatives recently.



This has meant a trip to LaoLao’s house which everybody else dreads. It’s always easy for me though. Eat a lot, drink a lot, and speak a little Chinese and everybody loves you.



We got in ErDaYie’s tub/pool with everybody:



I’ll leave you with some architecture.
Steven Holl’s new typology, a self-contained city with all towers connected on the 20th floor:



OMA’s big name Beijing project, the new CCTV fortress:



The posh Sanlitun district (embassies, foreigners, and bars):







The bird’s nest:



The National Grand Theater (a.k.a the egg):







Happy New Year.