China signs agreement with Dutch architects

RNW, 30 August 2011

Dutch architects are to collaborate with Chinese colleagues in the design of cheap housing to be realised near Beijing. The project is part of a collaboration agreement between the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) and Chinese real estate developer Vanke.

NAi and Vanke signed the agreement in Beijing in the presence of Deputy Culture Minister Halbe Zijlstra. The two parties have already been working together since June 2010.

In future, the Dutch and the Chinese will also join forces in the field of housing for the elderly. According to a NAi spokesperson: “China still has very few homes for the elderly.''

Deputy Minister Zijlstra said the agreement presented an opportunity: “Dutch architects are among the world’s best, but in the Netherlands they are now facing difficult times as a result of the crisis. Also thanks to NAi, they can give their creativity full rein here in China – a classic example of how to turn a problem into an opportunity.”