From the Middle East to the Far East. CHEHARDA visited the Expo Build China 2026 exhibition in Shanghai.

From March 31 to April 3, a grand exhibition took place in Shanghai, bringing together urbanism, urban design and planning, landscape architecture, new materials, and production technologies. CHEHARDA generally loves to look at a project as a whole. From the idea of development and city logic — down to the node, material, fastening, and how it is then assembled by hand. Perhaps that is why this perspective is close to us: we do not divide the world into "architects" and "those who will somehow build it later." Our designers, architects, artists, production team, and construction crew have long been talking to each other without an interpreter.

In Shanghai, we got to see both poles at once. On one side — how big urban ideas are formulated; on the other — how they translate into material, detail, technology, and assembly.

If anyone thought CHEHARDA went to look for a Chinese alternative to Russian materials — no, we love our own production too much to trade it for ready-made answers. But peeking at how their connections, materials, and technical logic are arranged — that we did with pleasure. Later, as is our custom, we will import-substitute something in the opposite direction. And as for why this is also a story about a NEW SCALE OF IMPLEMENTATION for us — we will tell you separately.