The growth and expansion in Beijing is rampant; scaffold-covered buildings and towering cranes dot the city’s skyline. But, architecture is not the only industry benefiting from the capital city’s insurgence of wealth. Along side booming property development, there is a new frontier in design that is slowly being discovered and explored. The recently established RAWR, a design incubator and rapid proto-typer, is looking to bolster that sector and to assist creative, design and technology-based companies in both China and abroad.
Inside R+D Lab (Courtesy of RAWR)
Founded by Parsons School assistant professor of computational and media design, Benjamin Bacon, and esteemed Chinese furniture designer, Naihan Li, the duo has set up their research laboratory and development factory in Beijing’s Caochangdi, a district known for its contemporary galleries and artist studios. Set amongst the area’s ‘Red Brick Buildings,’ designed by Ai Weiwei, the newly outfitted research center is fit for the most innovative ideas in design and technology, specializing in practices from wearable technology and other product design to data visualization, and from gaming design to interactive architecture. Expanding beyond the boundaries of an average think tank, RAWR! has a fully equipped factory that enables designers to build working models of their prototypes.
RAWR! R+D Laboratory
Prototype Factory (Courtesy of RAWR)
Having just launched, RAWR! has already collaborated with a group of 20 Parsons’ students working in Beijing for the summer. Intended as an R&D center for young designers themselves, or for larger companies requiring rapid product design and production, RAWR! has a highly trained team capable of meeting the demands of this world’s rapidly evolving design and technology innovations.
For more information, contact Benjamin Bacon at me@benjaminbacon.com.
RAWR!
