IMAGING LANDSCAPE URBANISM FROM EASTERN GARDEN THEORIES Architectural Memory of Water in Downtown Orlando
SI LI CHAIR: Hui Zou CO-CHAIR: Albertus Sunliang-Liu Wang
IMAGING LANDSCAPE URBANISM FROM EASTERN GARDEN THEORIES Architectural Memory of Water in Downtown Orlando
By SI LI SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: Hui Zou, CHAIR Albertus Sunliang-Liu Wang, CO-CHAIR
ABSTRACT OF THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2021
CONTENTS
ABSTRACT BODY, VIEW, AND EMOTION IN A CHINESE GARDEN THE THEORY OF SPACE AND DISTANCE IN CHINESE LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS SEARCHING FOR THE MEMORY OF WATER IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER CONCLUSION The Atmospheric Space Imagined Through Watercolors
BIBLIOGRAPHY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
Chinese gardens provide mnemonic experience of
oversimplified, leaving landscape a monotonous and
landscape with the participative building form and
secondary consideration in the urban development. Urban
spatial arrangement. In a garden, the landscape contains
design based on functionality and economics may allow the
buildings as a whole and creates pleasant spaces for the
cities to work efficiently and create more utilized spaces,
movement of body and mind. This research analyzes the
but it overlooks the ecological harmony and the inner
historical gardens and their aesthetic theories to approach
equilibrium of human body, mind and soul. A city should
a new understanding on urban design based on landscape
be the place for celebrating the diversely meaningful
integration. With the growth of urbanization, cities are
life. The eastern gardens integrate the cosmos, ecology
facing new humanistic, environmental, social and cultural
and architecture to create the joyful and memorable
problems. The theories and methods of modern urban
dwelling. This research starts from urban dilemmas and
design feel short in meeting ethical urban development
seeks solutions through a comparative study of Chinese
and people’s needs for healthy and poetical life. Modern
garden history and theory. The design project applies
architecture emphasizes pragmatic function, aesthetic
the research discoveries to an urban optimization of the
forms, space utilization, and land use. However, due to
Orlando downtown, exploring the role of water memory
the neglect of the ecosystem and humanity’s complexity,
in an urban design.
the landscape as an integrated design element is usually
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CHAPTER 1 I BODY, VIEW, AND EMOTION IN A CHINESE GARDEN
BODY, VIEW, AND EMOTION IN A CHINESE GARDEN
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CHAPTER 1 I BODY, VIEW, AND EMOTION IN A CHINESE GARDEN
Chinese gardens are founded on a non-materialist attachment to beauty, aiming to create the aura by sceneries to evoke viewer’s emotional resonance. With this principle, Chinese gardens focus on making the unique way of bodily experience through mind and vision beyond physical touch and tangible encounters. Accordingly, a successful Chinese garden is to “intertwine scenery and emotion into perfect harmony” (qingjing jiaorong 情景交融). The term qing (情) can be translated as “emotion or sentiment” in English; it also means “feeling, passion, affection…” in Chinese. The concept of qing is a subjective word. The term jing (景) means “the view, the scenery.” The concept of jing typically indicates an objective view of scenery. But in Chinese tradition, the division of objectivity and subjectivity are ambiguous and they are interchangeable rather than like Cartesian opposites. In the mutual conversion of subjectivity and objectivity, sentiment and scenery can be fused.
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CHAPTER 1 I BODY, VIEW, AND EMOTION IN A CHINESE GARDEN
The principle of “intertwining scenery and emotion into perfect harmony “ unfolds an atmospheric perspective view from the viewer’s body. The term ti (体) can be translated as “body,” which is a critical concept yet unexplored in Chinese gardens. The ti does not only mean the body of a human but also can indicate the body of water and the body of mountain. In the Chinese garden treatise Yuan ye (Craft of Gardens, 1631), the author Ji Cheng elucidates the garden theories of “appropriateness or suitability of the body” (tiyi 体宜) and “borrowing the scenery” (jiejing 借景) as the two essential principles for making literatus gardens. If ti (体, body), either the viewer’s body or the forms and topography, is defined appropriately, even a simple and small architectural work can provide a magnificent view for memory and meanings.
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CHAPTER 1 I BODY, VIEW, AND EMOTION IN A CHINESE GARDEN
The Plantain Balustrade The new plantain is over ten feet tall, After the rain it is clean as though washed.
芭蕉檻
It does not mind the height of the white wall,
新蕉十尺強，得雨淨如沐。
But elegantly matches the zigzag red balustrade.
不嫌粉堵高，雅稱朱欄曲。
Autumn sounds enter my pillow and feel cool,
秋聲入枕涼，曉色分窗綠。
Morning light shines green on the lattice window.
莫教輕剪取，留待陰連屋。
Let no one take the scissor heedlessly, Leave it until shades reach my house.
芭蕉檻在枕雨亭之左，更植棕陰，宜為暑月。 ---徵明
The Plantain Balustrade is to the left of the Pavilion of Resting in Rain. Later, palms were planted to make a suitable shade for the summer months. ---[Wen] Zhengming (16th century)
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CHAPTER 1 I BODY, VIEW, AND EMOTION IN A CHINESE GARDEN
In the Chinese Ming dynasty (c. 14th-17th centuries), garden design reached its highest peak, so were garden theories. Significantly, the scholar gardens in Suzhou achieved a new level in qualities and quantities, and the Garden of the Unsuccessful Politician (Zhuozhengyuan 拙政园) was the largest and most influential existing garden. The garden was built in 1513 by Wang Xiancheng who gave up the official post after experiencing an unsuccessful and disappointing political life and returned to his native home to create a shelter for his solitary enjoyment. Because of his disappointment at political life, he named his garden as the Garden of Unsuccessful Politician. Ironically, the garden is an outstanding achievement in garden design throughout the history. In 1533, Wang Xiancheng invited the painter Wen Zhengming to depict the garden; Wen painted” thirty-one scenic-views” coupled with calligraphed poems. It is worth mentioning that the traditional Chinese garden design is always integrated with Chinese poetry, paintings, and architecture, representing the highest aesthetics of Chinese culture and art. Before the Ming dynasty, there had existed no complete treatise on garden design except for the garden poetry and literature such as the literary genre of “garden record” (yuanji园记). 6
CHAPTER 1 I BODY, VIEW, AND EMOTION IN A CHINESE GARDEN
The Bower of Fragrances Various kinds of flowers are planted next to the thatched hall, Purple luxuriance and red beauty in random array.
繁香坞
The spring radiance and brilliance embroiders them with a
雜植名花傍草堂，紫蕤丹艷漫成行。
thousand artifices;
春曉爛漫千機鑠，淑氣薰蒸百和香。
In the clear air and scented mist a hundred fragrances mix.
自愛芳菲滿懷袖，不教風露溼衣裳。
I love the smells that fill my bosom and sleeves;
高情已在繁華外，靜看游蜂上下狂。
I do not let the wind and dew wet my clothes. My thoughts fly high beyond the flowery world. Quietly, I watch the bees dance up and down.
繁香塢在若墅堂之前，雜植牡丹、芍藥、丹海棠、 紫璃諸花。孟宗獻詩云“從君小築繁香塢”。 ---徵明
The Bower of Fragrances is in front of the Rustic Hall. It is planted with a mixture of various kinds of peonies, begonias, wisteria, and other flowers. Meng Zongxian’s (1163, jinshi degree) poem states, “Next to your cottage is a bower of many fragrances.” ---[Wen] Zhengming (16th century)
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CHAPTER 1 I BODY, VIEW, AND EMOTION IN A CHINESE GARDEN
In 1631, Ji Cheng published the earliest known Chinese garden treatise, The Craft of Gardens (Yuan ye 园冶). The author’s main intention is to compile the garden methodology exclusively from a designer’s perspective. This masterpiece comprises three main volumes (juan). The first two volumes introduce the theories of garden layout, building types, and non-structural and structural features. In the final chapter of the third volume, Ji Chen explains explicitly, “ Garden design has no fixed formulae; the borrowing of views involves interdependence.” The phrase of “interdependence” (yinjie因借) appears frequently in the book, which explains that what a garden provides is not a single static view of scenery for the fixed mind’s eye, but rather the mutual influence, interactive touching, and the three-dimensional resonance between emotion and scenic elements. The concept of “borrowing a scenic-view” (jiejing) in the same chapter echoes the idea at the beginning of the book to “adopt the existing conditions” and conveys the action of “adopting” or “blocking out” a distant view as something intentionally undertaken, depending on whether the landscape elements are “attractive” or “prosaic.” Through the progressively changing view in a Chinese garden, the visitor’s mood also changes and reach the consummate state of harmony when the visitor’s eye touches the scenery with emotional resonance (chujing shengqing 触景生情). The emotional resonance experienced in a Chinese garden is like seeing Monet’s 8
paintings in a museum, in an instant cross of time and space, and the beholder’s emotion resonates with the artwork.
CHAPTER 1 I BODY, VIEW, AND EMOTION IN A CHINESE GARDEN
The Bamboo Grove Bamboos planted around the low mound, Have grown into a bank circling it.
湘筠塢
In the height of the summer, I am startled by autumn’s approach.
種竹遶平岡，岡廽竹成塢。
So deep is the wood, one cannot tell when it is noon.
盛夏已驚秋，林深不知午。
In its midst is a man who has abandoned the world,
中有遺世人，琴樽自容與。
Enjoying himself with a zither and wine.
風來酒亦醒，坐聼瀟湘雨。
When a wind stirs, he awakes from inebriation, Sits listening to the rain tapping the bamboo leaves. The Bamboo Grove is located south of the Peach-blossom Rill and
湘筠塢在桃花沜之南，枕雨亭北， 修竹連亙，境特幽迥。 ---徵明
north of the Pavilion of Resting in Rain. It is planted all around with bamboos and is especially quiet and secluded. ---[Wen] Zhengming (16th century)
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visual focal point. The overall space of the garden diverges in all
and activity situations in the Chinese garden. The different
directions, and the degree of connection gradually decreases,
types of buildings present unique spaces for the specific
forming different types of connected spaces, such as “uniting
poetical emotion and picturesque view (shiqing huayi 诗情
and opening,” “opening -- enclosing -- opening,” “enclosing
画意); some spaces are for functional purposes, and others
-- opening -- enclosing,” and so on. Each garden building
are for bodily and visual connection for poetical emotion.
adopts a specific site in a unique environmental condition
Buildings are usually independent and scattered within the
and seems to be independent, but the water, bridges, and
garden. The passage walks (lang 廊) and bridges connect the
meandering passage walks allow the spaces to be interspersed
buildings and provide the path to travel in the garden. Taking
and permeated. This fluid movement arrangement constitutes
the Garden of the Unsuccessful Politician as an example, the
the complex and rhythmic spatial structure of the garden.
garden has experienced several major reconstructions in its
The modern Chinese garden scholar Chen Congzhou once
long history and its current look may not fully correspond to
commented, “The Garden of the Unsuccessful Politician turns
what is depicted in Wen Zhengming’s painting album of Thirty-
around the pool at the edge of the path, and the gallery is so
one Scenic Views.
beautiful for viewing in motion.”1
The layout of the garden sets open water in the middle as the
1 . Chen Congzhou, On Chinese Gardens (Shanghai: Tongji University Press, 1986), 50-51.
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CHAPTER 1 I BODY, VIEW, AND EMOTION IN A CHINESE GARDEN
There are multiple building types with different spatial functions
CHAPTER 1 I BODY, VIEW, AND EMOTION IN A CHINESE GARDEN
Spatial analyses of the Garden of the Unsuccessful Politician (Zhuozhenyuan 拙政园).
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CHAPTER 2 I THE THEORY OF SPACE AND DISTANCE IN CHINESE LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS
THE THEORY OF SPACE AND DISTANCE IN CHINESE LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS
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The Chinese garden has a close tie with “poetry, calligraphy, and painting,” representing the highest realm of Chinese culture and art. Chinese gardens and Chinese landscape paintings are always aesthetically related and complement each other. It is also commonly said that the Chinese garden is appreciated as if one immerses oneself into a landscape painting, and the spatial perceptions in both gardens and paintings are complementary. Chinese landscape paintings emphasize depicting a jing (景, scenic-view) and create a kind of spatial feeling or atmosphere. Moreover, the landscape painting offers the imagined bodily movement experience similar to gardens; the viewers can imagine themselves to wander through the depicted sceneries. The painting theorist Guo Xi (c. 1010-c. 1090) of the Song dynasty first introduced the theory of “three visual distances” (sanyuan 三远) in his essay “The Lofty Messages of Forests and Streams” (Linquan gaozhi 林泉高致). In the essay, he proposed the “three distances” for landscape paintings: high-distance, deep-distance, and level-distance as the ways of viewing mountain scenery: Mountains have three types of distance. Looking up to the mountain’s peak from its foot is called the high distance. From in front of the mountain looking past it to beyond is called deep distance. Looking from a nearby mountain at those more distant is called the level distance.2
2. Guo Xi 郭熙, “Linquan gaozhi 林泉高致” (11th century). For an analysis on Guo Xi’s theory of “three distances” (sanyuan) in landscape painting and its relationship to the Chinese traditional perception of space, see Hui Zou, A Jesuit Garden in Beijing and Early Modern Chinese Culture (Lafayette, IN: The Purdue University Press, 2011), 77-78.
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CHAPTER 2 I THE THEORY OF SPACE AND DISTANCE IN CHINESE LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS
Guo Xi’s Early Spring 早春图. National Palace Museum, Taipei (scroll, ink on silk).
CHAPTER 2 I THE THEORY OF SPACE AND DISTANCE IN CHINESE LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS
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CHAPTER 2 I THE THEORY OF SPACE AND DISTANCE IN CHINESE LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS
Guo Xi’s “three-distance” theory provides the methodology of depicting visual distance and atmospheric space in landscape paintings and presents the placement of the human body within the mountain. Guo Xi also advanced the theory of “walkable, visual, inhabitable, and travelable” (可行、可望、可居、可游之) for landscape paintings. His essay “The Lofty Messages of Forests and Streams” is not only about painting methods but also expresses the Eastern Asian spatial philosophy. “Creating a scenic realm” (zaojing 造境) is not simply to copy natural scenery, but rather by creating the space depth to evoke an infinite breadth of perceptual artistic conception. From Guo Xi’s own painting masterpiece Early Spring (1072), collected in the National Palace Museum of Taipei, we will better understand his three-distance theory practice and the distant mountain views (jing) he creates. Each visual distance with a certain layer of scene in depth stands for itself, shifting from far to close, from high to low, from left to right. All the scenes are connected by the waterfall, which evokes visual poetical depth through its spatial layering, from misty to brightness, from small to large, from high to low, from dynamic to static. The water plays an essential role in bringing the painting alive and processes the spatial depth (shenyuan 深远).
The “high-distance” in Guo Xi theory of “three distances,” in the Manual of the Mustard Seed Academy (Jieziyuan huapu 芥子园画谱), late-17th century. 15
CHAPTER 2 I THE THEORY OF SPACE AND DISTANCE IN CHINESE LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS
The “level-distance” in Guo Xi theory of “three distances,” in the Manual of the Mustard Seed Academy (Jieziyuan huapu 芥子园画谱), late-17th century. 16
CHAPTER 2 I THE THEORY OF SPACE AND DISTANCE IN CHINESE LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS
The “deep-distance” in Guo Xi theory of “three distances,” in the Manual of the Mustard Seed Academy (Jieziyuan huapu 芥子园画谱), late-17th century. 17
CHAPTER 3 I SEARCHING FOR THE MEMORY OF WATER IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO
SEARCHING FOR THE MEMORY OF WATER IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO
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CHAPTER 3 I SEARCHING FOR THE MEMORY OF WATER IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO
A city’s memory of water The city carries modernism and memory. Roaming in the city, The scenes awaken the ambiguous memory. The memory deep in the soul, The memory about water.
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It is suitable to imagine the topography of Orlando as many
globalization, Orlando is losing its cherished city identity
islands floating on the water, and the beauty of the city
and memory under the pressure of rapid urbanization
resides in the metaphor of various forms of water, which
through autonomous and homogeneous buildings and
can be flowing, quiet, delightful, or melancholic for the
urbanscape. My research on Chinese garden theories of
mind. Water is the landscape monument of the Orlando
the interaction among body, view, and emotion in the
city, and Lake Eola is the iconic memory of downtown
distance of landscape aims to retrieve and rebuild the
Orlando. This project starts from searching the traces of
meaningful memory of the city Orlando which holds its
the memory of Lake Eola and identifying the potential
charisma of water landscape. Florida as a peninsula is
spatial pockets in the downtown built fabric for evoking
surrounded by the ocean, like a tentacle reaching out into
the memory of water. I choose 5.5 sites which represent
the Atlantic. Orlando is located in the center of Florida,
5.5 common building conditions, and also suggest memory
not immediately near the coast but full of numerous
cues in the city. I use the collages to present the bodily
big and small lakes. This is a true City of Lakes. The city
experience of the selected sites and highlight the urban
immerses in the views of the water on different physical
views I intend to integrate into the sites. By embracing
scales, which in turn emerges as the cherishable vision
the past and reality, my mapping of the memory of water
and memory of water in urban life. This intrinsic memory
in Orlando reveals spatial cues for reconnecting and
of water in Orlando remains hidden and fragmentary in
rebuilding the poetical memory of the city for the people.
the current mechanicalized urbanscape, and the search
The architectural reconnection of water scenery, urban
for the memory of water becomes an urban design and
abandoned sites, and isolated historic buildings leads to
architectural motive.
the life moments of Aristotle’s “recollection” of the city’s memory.
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CHAPTER 3 I SEARCHING FOR THE MEMORY OF WATER IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO
As a typical American modern city facing 21st-century
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CHAPTER 3 I SEARCHING FOR THE MEMORY OF WATER IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO
Water Memory In Downtown Orlando
SITE 1 N ORANGE AVE
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CHAPTER 3 I SEARCHING FOR THE MEMORY OF WATER IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO
Site 1. Urban Site with Mixed Usage
E ROBINSON ST
CHAPTER 3 I SEARCHING FOR THE MEMORY OF WATER IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO
Site 2. Urban Site with Commercial Usage
SITE 2 E ROBINSON ST
N MAGNOLIA AVE
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CHAPTER 3 I SEARCHING FOR THE MEMORY OF WATER IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO
Site 3. Urban Site with Mansion Buildings on the Side
E JEFFERSON ST N MAGNOLIA AVE
SITE 4
E WASHINGTON ST
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SITE 3
CHAPTER 3 I SEARCHING FOR THE MEMORY OF WATER IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO
Site 4. Urban Site with a Glimpse of the Lake
E JEFFERSON ST N MAGNOLIA AVE
SITE 4
SITE 3
E WASHINGTON ST
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W WASHINGTON ST
W CENTRAL BLVD
N ORANGE AVE
SITE 5
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CHAPTER 3 I SEARCHING FOR THE MEMORY OF WATER IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO
Site 5. Urban Site in an Abandoned Condition
WALL ST
CHAPTER 3 I SEARCHING FOR THE MEMORY OF WATER IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO
Site Collage --- Tracing the path, the memory of activity
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The Map Of the Dream of Water --- The Trigger for Memory
CHAPTER 3 I SEARCHING FOR THE MEMORY OF WATER IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO
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CHAPTER 3 I SEARCHING FOR THE MEMORY OF WATER IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO
The Map of Vehicle Streets--Flowing fresh air into a mechanical urban desert
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
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adopts the site conditions and defines the potential
the different views of the city. Under the guidance of Ji
spatial gestures (shi 势) for the sites. Each building on the
Chen’s theory of “borrowing a scenic-view” (jiejing) in
selected site carries an architectural form to respond to
Chinese gardens, my design project in downtown Orlando
the building’s programmed function and create meaning
“adopt the existing conditions” and conveys the action of
for architecture and its embodied urban life. The view,
“adopting” or “blocking out” a distant view as something
imagination and memory of water act as the armature
intentionally undertaken, depending on whether the
tying together all the 5.5 selected sites and their proposed
elements are “attractive” or “prosaic.”
building programs; and the architecturally configured
There is a total of five-and-a-half sites are selected for
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
The different sites provide different moments and catch
metaphor of water aims to evoke the city’s latent memory.
this design project in Orlando. The selection of sites
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
THE URBAN HALL (tang 堂)
SITE 1 THE URBAN HALL (tang 堂)
The gazing pavilion, cascade, and a gothic facade
Site 1. Urban Site with Mixed Usage 32
façade for a picturesque memory. The water is introduced
represents a masculine and monumental space character.
for linking the framed view of the church and the memory
The spatial gesture of tang is solemn and open to the
of Orlando. The architecture provides two types of
front. With openings on all four sides, a tang is usually
moment of water: one is the lily pond on the back of the
surrounded by verandahs under the eaves so that it is
building, which is framed by the existing buildings, and
possible to observe the scenery either by sitting inside the
the water implies the static and silent moment; another
hall or by walking along in the marginal verandahs.
is a cascade flowing from the building side to the front,
For maximizing the façade view of a Gothic-style church
pointing towards the historic church, and the water looks
and reconnecting its historical memory with the city, the
more open and vivacious for interacting with people and
designed building of tang is leveled up and directly faces
stands for the dynamic moment.
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
The tang as a traditional type of Chinese garden building
the church to block the street view and frame the Gothic
SITE 1 THE URBAN HALL (tang 堂)
Hall (tang 堂)
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
Site 1. Urban Hall [tang 堂]--A framed frontal view from the building
SITE 1 THE URBAN HALL (tang 堂)
The hall faces south dignified and imposing, Across the hall is a historic church with a round window, Like the sapphire in a crown. On a sunny day, I sit quietly, Like admiring a painting.
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
Site 1. Urban Hall [tang 堂]--View and viewing between new and old buildings Half is water, half is flame;
SITE 1 THE URBAN HALL (tang 堂)
Half in the present, half in the past.
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SITE 1 THE URBAN HALL (tang 堂)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
The sunset bathes the city, Under a blaze of glory. The tide of night is silent, Overflows the city’s dream.
Site 1. Urban Hall [tang 堂]--View under a sunset 37
SITE 1 THE URBAN HALL (tang 堂)
PLAN
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
ELEVATION
SITE 1 THE URBAN HALL (tang 堂)
Sections SECTIONS
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
URBAN WALK (lang 廊)
SITE 1.5 URBAN WALK (lang 廊)
The oblique veranda, mirroring pool, and neo-classical postcard
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
SITE 1.5 URBAN WALK (lang 廊)
The lang (zigzagging passage walk, verandah, or gallery) serves as the arteries and veins in a traditional Chinese garden. It links buildings together and provides viewing routes for viewers. The proposed urban walk is an “accidental” bond to connect site 1 and site 2; it works as a half-site (banjian 半间) in the urban fabric. It is not only a corridor but also a walking and viewing gallery. The walker’s changing body position activates the variability in the sense of spatial depth. It is not that space is objectified and compressed in one direction, but rather the moving human body passes through the oblique lang, viewing at an angle the surroundings, including a setup sided mirroring pool which reflects the postcard view of a neo-classic post office. 43
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
SITE 1.5 URBAN WALK (lang 廊)
Site 1-1/2. Urban Walk [lang 廊]--The color of pond changes with the weather, time and mood.
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
SITE 1.5 URBAN WALK (lang 廊)
Site 1-1/2. Urban Walk [lang 廊]--The color of pond changes with the weather, time and mood.
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
SITE 1.5 URBAN WALK (lang 廊)
Site 1-1/2. Urban Walk [lang 廊]--A mirroring water
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
SITE 1.5 URBAN WALK (lang 廊)
Site 1-1/2. Urban Walk [lang 廊] --Elevation of blue shades
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
BOOKSTORE (ge 阁)
SITE 2 BOOKSTORE (ge 阁)
The spiritual ark
Site 2. Urban Site with Commercial Usage 48
area with glass curtain walls filling between the structural
windows on all four sides. The building serves as a book
columns; the curtain walls allow the daylight to shine into
collection and reading area; the first floor is open for the
the reading space. The adopted arch structure responds
public. The second floor is more private for reading with
to the memory of the historic post office across the street
an outside verandah under the eaves so that it is possible
and meanwhile embodies the historical architectural
for the reader to overlook the scenery in a side-yard
metaphors of “spiritual ark” and “arch of thoughts,”
garden on the ground and linger at the verandah. Implying
which are related to reading and meditation. The water
the spatial gesture of ge, the bookstore has a side-yard
channel leads people to the garden, and the fountainhead
garden in which a straight water channel is flowing from
symbolizes the “spring of wisdom” like in a Renaissance
a fountainhead at the beginning towards a remote square
garden. Water in Chinese philosophy implies wisdom, and
pool at the end. The second floor is a private reading
the bookstore is an ark of knowledge.
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
The ge is a building type usually of two stories with the
SITE 2 BOOKSTORE (ge 阁)
Belvederes (ge 阁)
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
SITE 2 BOOKSTORE (ge 阁)
Site 2. Bookstore [ge 阁]--Daylight effects in the building
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
SITE 2 BOOKSTORE (ge 阁)
Site 2. Bookstore [ge 阁]--The monumental arches for reading
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
SITE 2 BOOKSTORE (ge 阁)
Site 2. Bookstore [ge 阁]--Reading at a Raining dusk
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SITE 2 BOOKSTORE (ge 阁)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
SITE PLAN
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54 SITE 2 BOOKSTORE (ge 阁)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
FIRST-FLOOR PLAN
SITE 2 BOOKSTORE (ge 阁)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
SECOND-FLOOR PLAN
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SITE 2 BOOKSTORE (ge 阁)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
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57 SITE 2 BOOKSTORE (ge 阁)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
SECTIONS
58 SITE 2 BOOKSTORE (ge 阁)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
ELEVATIONS
SITE 2 BOOKSTORE (ge 阁)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
ROOF GALLERY (xuan 轩)
SITE 3 ROOF GALLERY (xuan 轩)
The grand salon near a statue pool
Site 3. Urban Site with Mansion Buildings on the Side 60
structural framing and material selections. The gallery is
building. The site provides an open view and needs a
next to a high-rise building and opens three sides into the
light-feeling spatial program to fit the site’s features. In
city. One open side adopts the existing roof of the adjacent
the Craft of Gardens, Ji Cheng describes the building type
building; one side opens to the ramp garden at site 4. One
of xuan as the implication of “feathery and lofty,” which
side descends to a small courtyard garden with a statue
indicates a flying gesture. This building type usually has
pond on the ground. The three sides open to the spaces
three sides open and is suitable for a high open place
on different floor levels, which provide various spatial
where it can perform its proper function of enhancing the
experiences and views. While the roof gallery acts like a
view of scenery.
grand salon on a high platform for artistic celebration, the
The programmed roof gallery speaks the spatial language
quiet courtyard pond and statue serve as a mimesis of the
about open views and lightweight feeling with the
dialogue between body and water.
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
Site 3 is a lift-up site that is to borrow the roof of an existing
SITE 3 ROOF GALLERY (xuan 轩)
Gallery (轩 xuan)
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SITE 3 ROOF GALLERY (xuan 轩)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
Site 3. Roof Gallery [xuan 轩] 62
SITE 3 ROOF GALLERY (xuan 轩)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
Site 3. Roof Gallery [xuan 轩]
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SITE 3 ROOF GALLERY (xuan 轩)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
Site 3. Roof Gallery [v 轩]--The sunken sculpture garden 64
SITE 3 ROOF GALLERY (xuan 轩)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
SITE PLAN
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66 SITE 3 ROOF GALLERY (xuan 轩)
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FIRST-FLOOR PLAN
SITE 3 ROOF GALLERY (xuan 轩)
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SECOND-FLOOR PLAN
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68 SITE 3 ROOF GALLERY (xuan 轩)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
SECTION
SITE 3 ROOF GALLERY (xuan 轩)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
ATMOSPHERE
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70 SITE 3 ROOF GALLERY (xuan 轩)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
ELEVATIONS
SITE 3 ROOF GALLERY (xuan 轩)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
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SITE 4 RAMP GARDEN (lang 廊)
The garden of forking paths, catching a glimpse of the distant lake
Site 4. Urban Site with a Glimpse of the Lake 72
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
RAMP GARDEN (lang 廊)
activities; when the weather is pleasant, it will be an ideal
forking paths,” which is connected to site 3 by a skywalk
place for touring and enjoying scenes in movement.
over the street. The garden occupies a street corner
Implying the spatial gesture of lang, the Ramp Garden
and is designed as a strolling park for visitors of the roof
extends and interweaves the lang (path) from horizontal
gallery. As discussed before at site 1.5, the lang serves
planes to vertical decks to create a “garden of forking
as the arteries and veins in the traditional garden. It
paths.” Walking along the ramp, people will gather the
links buildings together and provides viewing routes for
different views and moments of the city, and at the highest
viewers. The lang can be considered as part of a spatial
ramp spot right over the street corner catch a glimpse of
chain composed of several garden views and architectural
Lake Eola. The revealed distant view of the water forms a
spaces with the circuitous path network to create the
perfect “borrowed view” in the garden, which unites here
spatial feeling of infinity on a limited site. The network
and there into a memorable wholeness of the city.
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
Site 4 is a ramp garden, like Jorge Luis Borges’s “garden of
of lang also provides a special place for varied spatial
SITE 4 RAMP GARDEN (lang 廊)
Corridor (lang 廊)
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
Site 4. Ramp Garden [lang 廊]
The ramps cross each other and weave between the trees. Like the mist in a forest, Like clouds between mountains.
SITE 4 RAMP GARDEN (lang 廊)
The garden is a day dream in the city.
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SITE 4 RAMP GARDEN (lang 廊)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
Site 4. Ramp Garden [lang 廊]--A glance at the lake
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76 SITE 4 RAMP GARDEN (lang 廊)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
FIRST -FLOOR PLAN
SITE 4 RAMP GARDEN (lang 廊)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
SECOND-FLOOR PLAN
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78 SITE 4 RAMP GARDEN (lang 廊)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
THIRD-FLOOR PLAN
SITE 4 RAMP GARDEN (lang 廊)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
MOMENTS OF STROLLING
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CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
HIDDEN BOWER (zhai 斋)
SITE 5 HIDDEN BOWER (zhai 斋)
A summer retreat with shaded water
Site 5. Urban Site in an Abandoned Condition 80
modern urban desert site invites the spatial concept of
tang in site 1; but a zhai is secluded, and its atmosphere
zhai, namely a garden bower hidden behind plants, which
looks restrained; it has the power to provide peace and
combined with intersected walls block the view from the
retreat. It shields noise and provides a half-open and half-
street. A waterfall produces delightful water sounds to
private place for nourishing the spirit.
keep off the noise of vehicles. The tree and wall shades
Site 5, the final step of forming the architectural memory
and the water melody create an ideal summer retreat for
of water in Orlando, is currently surrounded by parking
people to hang out or have a refreshing break.
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
The building type of zhai has a similar spatial gesture as the
garages and the back houses of restaurants. This typical
SITE 5 HIDDEN BOWER (zhai 斋)
Bower (zhai 斋)
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SITE 5 HIDDEN BOWER (zhai 斋)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
Site 5. Hidden Bower [zhai 斋]
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SITE 5 HIDDEN BOWER (zhai 斋)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
Site 5. Hidden Bower [zhai 斋]
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SITE 5 HIDDEN BOWER (zhai 斋)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
Site 5. Hidden Bower [zhai 斋]
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SITE 5 HIDDEN BOWER (zhai 斋)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
Site 5. Hidden Bower [zhai 斋]--Details
Site 5. Hidden Bower [zhai 斋]--Axonometric View 85
SITE 5 HIDDEN BOWER (zhai 斋)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
SITE PLAN 86
SITE 5 HIDDEN BOWER (zhai 斋)
CHAPTER 4 I THE 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS OF WATER
PLAN
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CONCLUSION THE ATMOSPHERIC SPACE IMAGINED THROUGH WATERCOLORS In western architectural history, the understanding of architecture and space has been geometrical based on linear perspective since the Renaissance, and architectural design depends on accurate application of geometry and proportion. However, in Chinese gardens, the scale and proportion between buildings and landscapes are less geometrical but rather more atmospheric and ambiguous. Just as Ji Chen states in his Craft of Gardens, “Garden design has no other fixed formulae” than “appropriateness or suitability of the body.” The “appropriateness of the body” (tiyi) reflects the reunion of body, mind, and soul in an intersubjective world so that the view of scenery will vary with different viewers and different moods. The atmospheric space in Chinese gardens demonstrates the unity of environment and spirit through bodily movement. Rather than creating accurate geometrical spaces, Chinese gardens provide an evocative spatial atmosphere, creating bodily and emotional memories. By defining the building elements on ambiguous scales and in the atmospheric depth of views, a garden is hardly measured perspectively and geometrically but creates a mystic non-perspectival spatial experience. Since a traditional Chinese garden is not designed for a perspective view, modern photography and instrumental perspective drawings cannot capture the spirit and emotion in a garden. Inspired by the poetic depth (shenyuan) in Chinese landscape paintings, I choose to use watercolor to imagine atmospheric space. The watercolor’s character is similar to traditional Chinese painting; both use water as the carrier to make the color flow and grow on the paper; the drawing process is full of uncertainty and surprise. Because once the color falls on the paper, it is difficult to modify the color later, it compels the painter to accurately record the moment of painting, which is an instant encounter between subjective emotion and poetical imagination of architectural spaces. In this project, I use watercolors on different scales and from an atmospheric perspective, which is called shi (spatial momentum or gesture) in Chinese garden theories, to imagine and compose urban spaces which carry the memory of water towards the cultural identity of Orlando.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Chen Congzhou. On Chinese Gardens. Shanghai: Tongji University Press, 1986. 2. Feng Jizhong 冯纪忠. “Ren yu ziran 人与自然：从比较园林史看建筑发展趋势.” Jianzhu xuebao 建筑学报, no. 5 (1990): 39-46. 3. Fung, Stanislaus. “Memory, Direct Experience and Expectation: The Contemporary and the Chinese Landscape.” In Thinking the Contemporary Landscape. Edited by Christophe Girot and Dora Imhof. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2016. 4. Fung, Stanislaus 冯仕达. “Suzhou Liu Yuan de feitoushi kongjian 苏州留园的非透视空间.” Jianzhu xuebao 建筑学报, no. 568 (2016): 36-39. 5. Guo Xi 郭熙. Linquan gaozhi 林泉高致. Edited by Yang Bo 杨伯. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2010. 6. Ji Cheng. The Craft of Gardens. Translated by Alison Hardie. Shanghai Press, 2012. 7. Ji Cheng 计成. Yuanye 园冶. Anno. Chen Zhi 陈植. Beijing: Jianzhu gongye chubanshe,1988. 8. Pérez-Gómez, Alberto. Attunement. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2016. 9. Wen Zhengming. An Old Chinese Garden : A Three-Fold Masterpiece of Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting. Translated by Kate Kerby. Shanghai: Chung Hwa Book Co., 1923. 10. Zou, Hui. A Jesuit Garden in Beijing and Early Modern Chinese Culture. Lafayette, IN: The Purdue University Press, 2011. 11. Zou Hui 邹晖. Suipian yu bizhao 碎片与比照 (Fragments and Mirroring: The Twofold Discourse of Comparative Architecture). Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2012.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to extend special thanks to Prof. Hui Zou and Prof. Albertus Wang, who helped guide me throughout my Master Research Project. It was a learning and relearning process, and I have enjoyed it. Prof. Zou’s erudite and preciseness aroused my interest in academic research. He has led me to understand the Chinese garden in a poetic and literary way, which will benefit me in my future life. I always see Prof. Wang as my mentor; his wisdom and kindness helped me get through my most difficult time in graduate school.
Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for all their love and help. Without their support, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.
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SI LI UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2021