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a group of belgian architects visited shenzhen yesterday amid deepening ties between the city and the european country.
more than 20 belgian architects took part in a seminar on architecture and construction, joined by their counterparts from shenzhen investment holdings co. ltd., an investment arm of the city government.
wang huaben, deputy general manager of the company, said the seminar allowed architects and designers from belgium and his company to deepen their exchanges.
pointing to the sleek office buildings outside a window of the ritz-carlton hotel in central futian district, seminar host stefano missir di lusignano, belgium's economic and commercial consul in shanghai, said shenzhen provides abundant opportunities for belgian architects, who have strong international recognition because of their innovative concepts and scientific planning ideas.
christian de lannoy, belgian consul general in guangzhou, told the seminar: "one of the main confusions in the (china-eu) summit (last month) was to identify sustainable urbanization as a field of strategic interests to both parties where cooperation should be strengthened. i'm happy to know that in shenzhen, we are already engaged in this work."
he also revealed that belgium's queen mathilde will visit shenzhen on friday for a meeting with top city officials, and the 2013 shenzhen-hong kong bi-city biennale of urbanismarchitecture, which opens friday, will have a belgian pavilion showcasing the works of 20 young belgian architects.
after the seminar, the belgian architects visited shenzhen software industry base and shenzhen bay eco-tech industry park, built and operated by shenzhen investment holdings. the two facilities feature environmentally friendly designs including the use of solar energy for lighting and heating, and intelligent systems such as a cloud-based network that covers the facilities with wireless connections.
representatives from conix rdbm, which designed the belgian national pavilion at shanghai world expo, praised shenzhen bay eco-tech industry park for its low-carbon designs.
nathalie brison, a manager from wallonie-bruxelles architectures, said the parks demonstrated the vitality and strength of shenzhen's architectural designs and planning and she expected more foreign-invested firms to settle down in these facilities.
yesterday's event was the latest in a flurry of go-global moves by shenzhen investment holdings, which signed a memorandum of understanding with brussels invest & export during the 15th china hi-tech fair last month, regarding cooperation between high-tech and industrial parks.
with nearly 100 wholly and partially owned subsidiaries, shenzhen investment holdings is the largest state-owned company under the city government, managing assets totaling 170 billion yuan (us$27 billion).
(source:shenzhen daily)