SYN Architects is a planning and design consultancy based in Beijing, founded by Zou Yingxi. The firm specialises in integrated urban-rural development (pastoral complex, rural revitalization, and rural holiday projects) and urban renovation. Headquartered in Beijing and with branch offices in Shanghai, Chengdu, and Jinan, its business scope includes strategic planning, architectural, landscape, and interior design and construction.
In 2013, in cooperation with the New Pastoralism Group, SYN Architects created the first pastoral complex in China: Wuxi Pastoral Oriental. Since then, the firm has developed research and implementation practices based on innovative urban and rural integration driven by cultural tourism. In this way, SYN Architects advocates the planning and design of urban-rural integrated projects and cultural tourism through design, actively exploring effective methods for sustainable rural development.
Currently, SYN Architects has developed more than 60 comprehensive urban-rural integrated projects in China, including, to a great extent, their construction and operation. Of these projects, several are considered representative prototypes of integrated urban-rural development in the Jing-jin-ji Metropolitan Region (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei), Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Sichuan.
Zou Yingxi graduated from the Central Academy of Arts and Design (today’s Tsinghua University Academy of Arts and Design) and the College of Architecture and Design of the Berlin University of the Arts.
Among his most significant projects in China, he designed the Longmen Grottoes Museum, a World Cultural Heritage Site, and the central corridor of Beijing’s 751 Art District. He was also the lead designer of the Mafengwo Travel Network Headquarters (phases I and II), the Jinhai Lake International Resort, the Blossom Hill Pastoral Poem Resort, and other projects that were attractive to overseas media.
In 2013, Zou Yingxi led his team in township planning, design, and construction. Together with New Pastoralism, he created Wuxi Pastoral Oriental, the first pastoral complex in China. Later on, at the beginning of 2017, the No. 1 Central Document (the first policy statement released by Chinese central authorities each year) included the concept of pastoral complexes as a development model for rural revitalization.
Under his leadership, Syn Architects has completed more than 60 large-scale regional planning projects in the Jing-jin-ji Metropolitan Region (Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei), Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Chengdu, and other pivotal regions in China. In 2019, as the chief planner of the Huanyi Lake Urban-Rural Integrated Development Pilot Zone, he promoted the implementation of the Yishui Lake Art Community project and, together with Ivyone Business Travel Group, co-sponsored the Yishui Lake International Art Triennial scheduled to take place in 2022.
Zou Yingxi includes the core concepts of new farmers and the spirit of the soil in the planning, design, and construction phases of rural revitalization projects. To him, a project following such concepts, conducting effective planning and moderate construction and transformation, will attract people back to the countryside to cultivate its nutritious soil. By improving the living conditions of new farmers, villages will constantly attract and keep the newcomers. The revitalization of human talent through the implementation of well-balanced design services is essential to the sustainable development of rural areas.
In 2013, in cooperation with the New Pastoralism Group, SYN Architects created the first pastoral complex in China: Wuxi Pastoral Oriental. Since then, the firm has developed research and implementation practices based on innovative urban and rural integration driven by cultural tourism. In this way, SYN Architects advocates the planning and design of urban-rural integrated projects and cultural tourism through design, actively exploring effective methods for sustainable rural development.
Currently, SYN Architects has developed more than 60 comprehensive urban-rural integrated projects in China, including, to a great extent, their construction and operation. Of these projects, several are considered representative prototypes of integrated urban-rural development in the Jing-jin-ji Metropolitan Region (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei), Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Sichuan.
Zou Yingxi graduated from the Central Academy of Arts and Design (today’s Tsinghua University Academy of Arts and Design) and the College of Architecture and Design of the Berlin University of the Arts.
Among his most significant projects in China, he designed the Longmen Grottoes Museum, a World Cultural Heritage Site, and the central corridor of Beijing’s 751 Art District. He was also the lead designer of the Mafengwo Travel Network Headquarters (phases I and II), the Jinhai Lake International Resort, the Blossom Hill Pastoral Poem Resort, and other projects that were attractive to overseas media.
In 2013, Zou Yingxi led his team in township planning, design, and construction. Together with New Pastoralism, he created Wuxi Pastoral Oriental, the first pastoral complex in China. Later on, at the beginning of 2017, the No. 1 Central Document (the first policy statement released by Chinese central authorities each year) included the concept of pastoral complexes as a development model for rural revitalization.
Under his leadership, Syn Architects has completed more than 60 large-scale regional planning projects in the Jing-jin-ji Metropolitan Region (Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei), Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Chengdu, and other pivotal regions in China. In 2019, as the chief planner of the Huanyi Lake Urban-Rural Integrated Development Pilot Zone, he promoted the implementation of the Yishui Lake Art Community project and, together with Ivyone Business Travel Group, co-sponsored the Yishui Lake International Art Triennial scheduled to take place in 2022.
Zou Yingxi includes the core concepts of new farmers and the spirit of the soil in the planning, design, and construction phases of rural revitalization projects. To him, a project following such concepts, conducting effective planning and moderate construction and transformation, will attract people back to the countryside to cultivate its nutritious soil. By improving the living conditions of new farmers, villages will constantly attract and keep the newcomers. The revitalization of human talent through the implementation of well-balanced design services is essential to the sustainable development of rural areas.
