On October 19, 2024, the CADE Architectural Design Expo came to a successful close. The expo is dedicated to serving the architect community and comprehensively presents the diverse charm of the architectural design industry.
This expo covers a total area of 11,500 square meters, with 106 exhibitors gathering. They have brought a rich variety of contents including architectural design, curtain wall design and construction, innovative materials and system solutions, fully demonstrating the breadth and depth of the industry.
The expo attracted 20,000 professional visitors. The 27 exciting activities comprehensively covered the most popular topics in the architectural industry at present, such as residential architectural design, public architectural design, green and low-carbon design, urban renewal, architecture and AI/digital design, as well as building materials and building system solutions. More than 250 guests gathered here to discuss the cutting-edge trends of architecture at home and abroad.
With the theme of "Regeneration and Innovation", through various forms such as theme exhibitions, industry conferences and architect salons, the expo deeply explores the impact of zero-carbon sustainable development, AI artificial intelligence technology and human-oriented design on the architectural design industry. This not only showcases the latest trends and innovative achievements in the field of architectural design but also creates a high-quality environment for participants to share valuable experience and explore cooperation opportunities, pointing out the direction for the high-quality transformation and upgrading of the architectural industry.
UPGRADED LIVING EXPERIENCE!
GOOD HOUSES LEADING HIGH-QUALITY HOUSING
Since Minister Ni Hong put forward the concept of "good houses", the national housing construction has responded actively. In the expo, the theme content of "good houses" shone brightly. The invited exhibition area of the "good houses" theme brought together 230 outstanding cases across the country, fully presenting cases from eight climatic regions and residential renewal projects. These cases can be regarded as models of residential construction in the new era in China, setting an example for the construction of "good houses" across the country. Many powerful enterprises also showcased product technologies that help "good houses" land, such as China Jinmao Group, China Construction Eighth Engineering Division, and Beixin Building Materials. They respectively brought BIPV, intelligent control, standardized building materials, prefabricated products, etc., demonstrating the strong support of technology for creating good houses. The expo also held many professional forum salons. The "Third Healthy Human Settlement Forum" hosted by Youlv Think Tank and the "Healthy Human Settlement + Low-Carbon Life" salon hosted by the Professional Committee on Healthy Human Settlement of the Architectural Society of China deeply interpreted high-quality housing from the perspectives of design, materials, and low carbon, explored methods to improve the quality of living environment such as low-carbon green buildings and smart buildings, and pointed out the direction for the future development trend of human settlements, allowing people to see how "good houses" lead the era of high-quality housing.
JOIN THE "GREEN" MOVEMENT!
ZERO-CARBON PLAN LEADING THE GREEN TRANSFORMATION OF THE ARCHITECTURAL INDUSTRY
Under the background of the in-depth promotion of "dual carbon" globally, the construction industry is moving towards zero-carbon and even negative-carbon goals. The CADE expo had many highlights in green and low carbon. The Diversified Symbiosis · Zero-Carbon Building exhibition area showcased exemplary zero-carbon building cases and sustainable building systems and technology integration. Dozens of brands in multiple exhibition areas such as BIPV and roofing provided feasible paths for "green and low carbon" from three aspects of building systems, materials, and technology. At the same time, many forums and conferences were held around green and low carbon. The "Temperature of Architecture: Green Innovation and Design Forum for Envelope Structures" and the "2024 Academic Conference on Urban Development and the Application of Fair-Faced Concrete" focused on green building materials; the "Active Building Concept and Localization Practice Forum" explored active buildings; the "DGNB Sustainable Development Forum" promoted Sino-German cooperation to discuss carbon emissions; the "Pioneer Practice of Zero-Carbon Buildings" studied the practice of zero-carbon buildings. These activities not only deepen the public's understanding of zero-carbon buildings but also promote collaborative cooperation among upstream and downstream industries in the industry, helping the green transformation and upgrading of the construction industry.
AI ENTERS!
THE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN INDUSTRY FACES TRANSFORMATION
With the development of the Internet and artificial intelligence, the view that "AI will reshape the construction industry" has become popular, bringing uncertainty to the future of the industry. In the CADE expo, the BEYOND AI - Digitalization and AI exhibition area vividly presented the new vitality brought by AI to architectural design, engineering construction, management and operation through on-site models and demonstrations, allowing people to appreciate the great potential of building operation and maintenance in comprehensive perception and automatic adaptation. Enterprises such as Far East Curtain Wall and Yalatai in the Future Curtain Wall Technology exhibition area showcased the ingenious application of building technologies such as BIM and modularization, and showed a trend of developing towards "architecture + AI". The conference also discussed in depth from three dimensions of "AI + trend", "AI + future", and "AI + international". How to break through existing technical limitations and how to correctly and efficiently carry out the practice and exploration of "architecture + AI" is the core issue. This will help architectural design move towards digitalization and personalization and point out the direction for building a post-humanist digital and intelligent AI architectural ecology. The displays and discussions in the CADE expo fully demonstrated that AI has shown its edge in the construction industry, and its future development deserves high attention from inside and outside the industry.
FACE THE PAIN POINTS!
CURTAIN WALL 20 QUESTIONS HELP THE INDUSTRY BREAK THROUGH
Curtain wall technology is constantly developing. From simple glass panels, it has evolved into a building coat with diverse functions and rich forms, continuously expanding the boundaries of traditional architecture. In the CADE expo, the Curtain Wall 20 Questions & Strongest Sample on the Surface exhibition area planned by Yu Hui, director of RFR Asia, became the focus. This exhibition area not only provided detailed solutions to the pain points of the curtain wall industry but also displayed actual samples. 22 enterprises provided effective solutions. In addition, the curtain wall samples of 6 landmark projects are displayed here, intuitively presenting the highest quality and technical level of curtain walls at present. The Curtain Wall 20 Questions Pop-up Salon also hit the nail on the head, focusing on multiple problems to be solved in the curtain wall industry. Here, through the interactive form of quick questions and answers with architects, curtain wall experts, owners and other professional visitors, the most trend-setting technologies and materials in the curtain wall industry are presented in a one-stop manner. This series of activities centered around the Curtain Wall 20 Questions provided ideas and directions for the development of the curtain wall industry and helped practitioners find a way to break through when facing industry difficulties, strongly promoting the progress of the curtain wall industry.
EFFICIENCY, VITALITY, TEMPERATURE? THE OPTIMAL SOLUTION TO RECONSTRUCTING THE CITY'S APPEARANCE
Urban renewal has become a key path to promoting the urbanization process and improving the living quality of residents. In 2022, the government work report of the two sessions particularly pointed out that urban renewal should return to the core of people-oriented. This means that in the future renewal process, we must focus on solving the pain points, difficulties and bottlenecks of urban development, so that urban renewal can truly benefit people's livelihood and improve people's living quality. The Renewal Power · Symbiotic Field - Urban Renewal exhibition area showed the balance of urban renewal in China. A large number of excellent cases of urban renewal provided reference renewal strategies and methods, providing more possibilities for building a new relationship between diverse people and spaces and promoting the sustainable development and quality improvement of cities. The Renewal MAX - Future Urban Development Conference held by the Architectural Society of Shanghai and the Urban Renewal Branch of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, relying on project practices, invited builders, designers and operators to jointly interpret how urban renewal can stimulate social vitality. And topics such as "When the City as a Whole", "Building a Productive City", "Community Building in Urbanization", and "Restoration and Reuse" in the BCC International Architectural Technology Conference and the "Bauhaus · Sustainable Globalization Development International Forum" also had a lively and in-depth discussion on the effects and paths of urban planning and renewal, imagining a people-oriented, livable, resilient and sustainable future city.
NEW RURAL CONSTRUCTION:
THE RURAL EXPERIMENTAL FIELD OF ARCHITECTURE
In the current critical period when the rural revitalization strategy and new urbanization are advancing simultaneously, China is facing the severe challenge of unbalanced urban and rural development. Rural construction is therefore particularly important. It not only needs to optimize spatial layout and improve public service levels but also needs to promote the flow of factors and the balanced allocation of resources. At the same time, ecological protection and cultural inheritance cannot be ignored. The expo specially set up the topic content of "Exploration from a Rural Perspective", directly hitting the difficulties and pain points of rural construction and deeply analyzing how to achieve sustainable renewal of rural areas. And the two salons of "Going Deep into the Green" and "Innovation in Inheritance: New Rural Practice" started from the unique perspective of architects and specific cases of rural practice, went deep into the hinterland, and carefully discussed local culture, social life and consumption habits, exploring the connotation of rural cultural construction and the natural underlying logic of urban-rural integration, providing new ideas and directions for rural construction.
ARCHITECTURAL INNOVATION FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
The "future architectural ecology" will not be limited within a country. There are huge regional differences in policy guidance, practical cases and development cycles of architectural design. How can all links in the architectural industry chain achieve global cooperation and achieve high-efficiency high-quality development? At the EcoBuild Future Architectural Ecology Conference, domestic and foreign guests discussed exchanges and cooperation in cross-border sustainable practices, promoting the linkage and common development of the global construction industry; the Beyond AI - Future Architectural Technology Innovation Conference showcased the latest application results of domestic and foreign cutting-edge AI technologies in all links of architectural design, construction and operation and maintenance; the BCC conference brought together 36 domestic and foreign experts and big names to conduct ideological collisions and exchanges on all aspects of "100% city"; the "DGNB Sustainable Development Forum" also provided valuable opinions for international cooperation in sustainable development and global zero-carbon transformation between China and Germany.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN FOR THE FUTURE:
FULL-DIMENSIONAL IMAGINATION AND PRACTICE
With the rapid development of science and technology and human beings' continuous exploration of the unknown world, the design and development of polar architecture and extraterrestrial architecture have become the focus of attention. Combined with the construction practice of the Qinling Station of the Chinese Antarctic scientific research station and the release of China's medium- and long-term national space science development plan 2024-2050, a full-dimensional imagination and practical discussion on polar architecture and extraterrestrial architecture for the future is needed. The survival and adaptability of architecture in extreme environments will also promote innovations in materials, structures, energy and other aspects of future architecture. In the expo, the "Polar Architecture: Frontier Progress and Interdisciplinary Exploration" hosted by Tsinghua Institute and China Institute deeply discussed the design solutions and practical experience of polar architecture, and also looked forward to the development trend of future architecture and the challenges and opportunities of extraterrestrial exploration, continuing to lead the development trend of more intelligent, green and sustainable future architecture and extraterrestrial exploration.
This time, the CADE Architectural Design Expo, BAU CHINA International Building Technology Expo, FBC China International Doors, Windows and Curtain Wall Expo and China International Roofing and Building Waterproof Technology Exhibition are linked together, with a total area of 145,000 square meters and a total of more than 800 exhibitors! We believe that in the near future, in November 2025, CADE will bring more "architects" to gather in Shanghai. At that time, we will gather again and share the innovative feast of the architectural field.
