Workshop Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Intelligent Environments J.C. Augusto and T. Zhang (Eds.) © 2014 The authors. This article is published online with Open Access by IOS Press and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License. doi:10.3233/978-1-61499-411-4-295
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The condition of Chinese architecture: Elaboration of a critical approach Pier Alessio RIZZARDI a,1 and Hankun ZHANG a a TCA Think Tank, Milan, Italy L’ARCA Internalional, Monte Carlo, Monaco Politecnico di Milano University, Milan, Italy
Abstract. The Paper is entitled "The Condition of Chinese Architecture: Elaboration of a critical approach." The object of the research is the contemporary Chinese architecture. In short, the research consists of 3 sections: Nowadays reality, the contemporary architecture studied through the big numbers of its expansion, the size and quantity of projects, the issue of demolition-history, the relationship between the project and the context and the so-called “no context”, the explanation of numbers of the Chinese phenomenon and condition that determines its architecture and the will of the search for identity. Trends Panorama, they are divided between objects mega-structural, landmark buildings and buildings icons, traditional and vernacular architecture. Considerations, the opposite point of views of Rem Koolhaas and Yung Ho Chang, one focused on the understanding of the reality and the current situation in Asia and the other one defining a new type of architecture focused on the quality of the space and the against the formalism. Keywords. China, nowadays, consumption, ratio, identity
1. Introduction The numbers of the urban development in Asia considering the European one are incredible: 5 times faster (in 20 years happened what has been done in Europe in 100 years), 8 times bigger (23 cities with more than 5 million people in China while only 3 cities in Europe) and this covers a population twice as big (731,000,000 in Europe 1,342,000,000 and in China). It’s intuitive as these data lead to a way to tackle the project completely extraneous to a Western architect. [1] Currently, the urban population exceeding the rural population rose up to 51%. It is estimated that this will reach 83% in 2035 when the process stabilizes. [1] The urban population requires services and infrastructure. The design approach is thus based on the big numbers. One need only consider that the projects that are advertised in Europe as the CCTV Tower by Koolhass and opera house by Zaha Hadid are dozens or even hundreds of times much smaller than other projects in construction: infrastructure, construction of new cities, industrial areas, ports etc. The number and size of projects strongly influence the way of making architecture.
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Corresponding Author: Pier Alessio RIZZARDI, TCA Think Tank, Milan, Italy.
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Figure 1: GROWTH: “TWENTY-FOUR-SEVEN� Non-stop Development Chinese population growth, the esodo from the countryside the world population proportion.
In China, the face of the city is characterized by the demolition. To quote Wang Shu, Pritzker Prize, only 10% of the historical buildings in China has survived to this day. Basically the reasons that can be found are two. [2] The first is based on past history: the traditional architecture used wood as the main material for building. The result is then the practice to reconstruct the image of architecture with new materials. The second is based on the recent history: the Cultural Revolution used the cancellation of the past in order to build the new culture. The lack of historical urban tissue creates dynamics completely different from those found in Western cities. With the almost total demolition of historic parts of the cities the Asian society must constantly face with the concept of tabula rasa. This leads to the possibility of free development with a complete world to rebuild.
Figure 2: Chinese Theorem: 33% world Concrete consumption, 10% world average Amount of profit, 1% world Number of architects
The number of architects is extremely significant. The proportion of residents and architects is 40,000 to one, incredible if we think that Italy is raised to 400 people for an architect. The number is 100 times greater. [1] If you look at the data of Chinese architecture, we see the peculiarity of the Asian condition. The Chinese architects must be much more efficient than their Western counterparts to work. The volume of the use of reinforced concrete in China is 33% of the world total amount, the number of Chinese architects in the world is one hundredth of the total. The turnover instead stays to a tenth of the world average. [1]
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This creates the theoretical condition of Chinese architects and architecture of China. A Chinese unique phenomenon is the process of City-making. The state, the only landowner, rent the land to individuals allowing them to build. In this way the state receives funding from the private sector.
Figure 3: City-Making-Process: Political Marketing vs Market Building
The state government has absolute control, not only through the possession of the land, but also through the imposition of masterplan. The government cannot do anything else but planning, it doesn’t have an absolute power on architecture. [3] The government defines a masterplan in which investors and architects formally define the buildings and then the shape of the city. Homes are sold as investments, and these remain empty for years. [4] Today, the condition of Chinese architects imposes the reduction of both the design and construction time. The project with limitless possibilities becomes mechanical as industrial production and not time is left to think about it. The speed of execution and the will to characterize the site generate examples such as One City Nine Towns in Shanghai, satellite towns in European style. After 1980, the new Economic politics and the freedoms gained stimulated people to seek an improving in their living condition. Everything that came from abroad was seen as innovation, a goal to aim. China wants to experience life in Western way. Investors get the message and build idealized European cities.
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Figure 4: Importing European architecture the example of the nine Cities and one town”.
The fact to import Western styles and impasse to churn out buildings creates a hybrid halfway between the one and the other culture. Real Estate is built, used, and when it cannot give any more profit, it is being demolished to make way for a new investment. “Tou Fu Buildings” are buildings in which materials and technologies are sacrificed to lower production costs and speed up the execution time. No one escaped from this trap even the Archistar as Zaha Hadid Opera House Guangzhou experienced the consequences of such philosophy. [5]
Figure 5: Tofu Buildings, lack in details.
The cultural upheaval of recent generations has resulted in a hybrid architecture, where profit directs the project. The large numbers of Chinese architectural theorem,
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the Olympics and Expo and the economic boom create opportunity and need to build. But China is still there, since it opened its doors to the West, in the process of creating its own identity.
2. CONTEMPORARY TRENDS The architectural trends of recent years can be grouped by different types: International Architects (iconic architecture that aims at large-scale projects), Local Architects, the new Chinese generation (small-scale architecture and vernacular) and background Architects. The Archistar entered in the Chinese architectural scene, interpretating the voluntary of China to be visible at the world level. As it was Manhattan in New York nearly a century ago, China turns into a new stage in world architecture. This architecture is pointing up. Skyscrapers have a strong iconic impact: this is given by higher image and then economic returns. The city remains a “shopping window” for the modernization of the country, as Deng Xiaoping wanted Pudong in Shanghai, the “Manhattan of China.”
Figure 6: Collage: “the myth of the heights”, Jingmao tower in Shanghai and painting of Babel Tower.
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China wants importance and visibility; the tendency of the government is toward recognizable, great and iconic architectures seeking a world-wide recognition.
Figure 7: Collage: “Architecture of the traditional objects”.
2.1. Nostalgic Architects “Nostalgic Architects” pursuit the “Chineseness” in architecture through the idea of rebuilding portions of the city in a traditional style. The idea of Mao was the new against the old. Now is the old against the new. 2.2. Traditional Iconic Architects “Traditional Iconic Architects” use the way of the magnification in scale of images of the cultural tradition. They explicate architectural symbols by putting an immediate icon in the city. Architects use traditional symbols like lanterns, fans, dragons, coins to instil in their buildings, the icon of “Chineseness.” 2.3. The vernacular architects “The Vernacular Architects” are composed by who have studied in leading universities of the United States. These architects are open to experimentation contaminated by Western notions. They reject the current architectural situation, creating a choice based on the purity of the tectonics, radical shapes, vernacular materials and simplified
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building technologies. If we compare the timelines of the Chinese and Western architecture, we see the existing time gap. Analyzing the current ways of doing architecture of the new generation of architects, you will notice many features in common with the architectural period of post-war Europe and the West, from New Empirism in Sweden, to German Neo-expressionismus, but also English Brutalism, Italian Neorealism and Brazilian Brutalism.
3. CONCLUSIONS Concerning the architectural critic there are different point of views. 3.1. Eastern view From the Eastern side we can read from the writings of Yung Ho Chang, a Chinese architect and theoretician, clearly convey the message of the need for critical architecture that goes against the present-day consumerist situation based on the independence of architecture, radical forms and the use of vernacular architecture. 3.2. Western view The western counterpart is well represented by Koolhaas. Koolhaas talks about the need to pay attention to these emerging phenomena and to study them from a theoretical viewpoint as the necessary attitude for upgrading the architectural profession and maintaining a critical spirit. As it was Manhattan in New York nearly a century ago, China turns into a new stage in world architecture.
Figure 8: The new stage for international architects
4. CONCLUSION The cultural upheaval of recent generations has resulted in a hybrid architecture, where profit directs the project. Large numbers of Chinese architectural theorem, the
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Olympics, the Expo and the economic boom creates opportunity and need to build. But China is still there, since it opened its doors to the West, trying to figure out what its architecture.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This paper couldn’t be created without the support of Joseph Di Pasquale and l’ARCA International Magazine; The initiative of Li Xiangning to make this project happened; The intelligence of Yibo Xu; the support and connection to Denise Scott Brown and Ke Feng of Susan Scanlon; the confidence and encouragement and feedback of Alessandro Mendini; the straight forward critics and theoretical apport and feedbacks of Harvard professor Christofer Lee.
References [1] R. Koolhaas, S.Boeri, S. Kwiter, N. Tzai, Hans Ulrich Obrist, ‘Mutation’, ACTAR, Bacelona, 2001 [2] W. Shu, ‘Geometry and narrative of Natural Form, Kenzo Tange Lecture, HGSD. 2011 [3] A. Demagistris, ‘Storia dell’architettura dell’iltimo Sessantennio’, Politecnico di Milano University, Milan, 2010 [4] J. Grima, G. Cambiaggi, ‘Instant Asia’, SKIRA, Milano, 2008 [5] M. Moore, ‘Guangzhou Opera House falling Apart’, THE TELEGRAPH, 2011