Overview

Ben Wood is a larger than life figure, an American architect who re-imagined both the heart of New York and the heart of Shanghai and in this unique memoir, he tells a thousand outrageous and wonderful stories from the back blocks of the American South in the 1950s through to the glittering skylines of the 21st century. His design of the Xintiandi area of Shanghai set the standard for urban renewal across all of China's cities, but that's just the beginning of the amazing tales he has to tell in Into The Dragon's Mouth. A post-war Huckleberry Finn growing up in Georgia, Ben drove across the country while in high school, partook in the Summer of Love, and flew Phantom fighter jets with the USAF in Europe at the height of the Cold War. But his life's work has been the re-imagining of urban life. Ben's approach to architectural design is unique and the stories around all he has done are colorful, thought-provoking and emotionally-driven. Through this marvelous book, redolent of the style of the great Southern story-tellers, Ben Wood weaves a deep wisdom and philosophy, as well as perspectives on China and the United States from one who has seen and done far more than most.

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9789888769629

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"Benjamin Wood is an American architect born on a farm in Georgia in the country's Deep South. He flew F-4 Phantom fighter jets for five years in Europe during the Cold War before earning a Master of Architecture degree at MIT, since when he has designed a myriad projects, both in the United States and China. These include the Xintiandi area of Shanghai, completed in 2003, which in the words of one critic ""reinvented the urban entertainment venue"" by preserving and re-imagining Shanghai's old houses and alleyways with a ""radical quaintness"" which changed the city and China beyond. Since then, he and his team have completed over 200 projects in China, and an estimated 450 million people visit a Ben Wood-designed venue every year. At the end of 2022, he received the prestigious Magnolia Award from the Shanghai City Government in recognition of his contributions to enhancing the city's vitality. He believes the future can be what we imagine it to be."

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