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Material Identity Essay I have chosen the topic of “material identity”. The reason I have chosen this topic is because I have always wanted to discuss and argue how material identity can affect human life and how we transfer it towards physical and social aspects of life. As economies improved and people gained more knowledge, we started to aim towards a better quality of life but we have also forgotten the real meaning behind it. Therefore in this thesis I would like to talk about what I understand it to be and will illustrate it with examples. Material identity comes from two words; there are many meanings for both material and identity when they stand on their own. Material can firstly mean “a substance that can be used for making or doing something; secondly, connected with real or physical things rather than the spirit or emotions and lastly a important and needing to be considered.” When used in landscape urbanism I think we should look at the second definition- physical. In landscape urbanism physical things can be water, mountains and anything which is formed as a landform. Different pieces of land create their own structure; the length and width decide its forms and shape. People have to take those into account when they design something, they cannot just destroy something and put a new design in its place. Before putting any pieces of new design or architecture onto a natural landscape we need to have a clear and good understanding of the site analyses. Studying the physical material thoroughly, knowing how to work with the design, when we start doing the construction, material will change its meaning, it will become the actual material we are using whether it is timber, plastic or concrete. The second meaning identity can mean “who or what a person or a thing is” . Identity is like a brand, something which has its special feature and vitality. From my point of view a successful identity needs to be intensely remarkable; people remember it from the first time they see it and want to see the interior and study further to understand the story behind it. There are many ways of creating something’s identity, the landmarks location, the form or shape for the actual design and the fabric material that is chosen for adding on top of the design. It seems easy to build a new piece of architecture, but when we really take material identity into account it’s not so simple. We need to think about how human activities relate to the spatial spaces, how to represent the building in the best way or the way of selling it and controlling the effect on the environment to minimize the change as little as possible. Water is a classic example which demonstrates the “material” in a physical term. Water is like a magic engraver. When water flows it leaves its footmark, erodes the mountainside, forms gorges, waterfalls, lakes, meanders and deposition deltas and alluvial plains. I would like to give an example of river in Taiwan (picture 1). The shape of Taiwan is like a sweet potato, long from north to south and narrow from east to west. The topography of Taiwan is quite steep, the height in the middle is about 3952m above sea level but the two sides east and west are very flat (picture 2). Therefore the gradient is very steep, the velocity of the water is very fast and has much energy to modify the topography. Because of its steepness the topography has a different footmark due to the effect of water erosion, and creates very different conditions for settlements, drinking, irrigation, generating electric power, water conservancy and sightseeing. Nowadays city development is so rapid and this has polluted water enormously; manmade embankments have been created along rivers to protect areas of high population density. This means we hardly see water flowing in our daily life due to the high embankments which obscure the views. To protect our natural water system people have started to go back and work closely with it. They started to measure the footprints, lengths, population density and historical topography of the Tamsui River; at the same time create new channels into the settlement areas and wetland areas in national parks. Tamsui River (picture 3) is an example I would like to point out; it is the third longest river in Taiwan which is situated in north Taiwan- Taipei. The length of river is about 158.67 kilometers and its footprint is 2726 square kilometers. In 1860 Tamsui River became an international exchange centre where people imported and exported all the goods and people set up their business and factories along the river, the river tributaries spread like a spiders web towards many settlements, therefore people could transport goods toward the harbour such us; rice, tea and timber. After 1941 the harbour could not be used anymore due to the deposition. In 1997, people started to talk about blue motorways which were using the river systems as major transport routes; people could use them for sightseeing and as a route to the wetland park. Because of the flat topography every summer when the typhoon comes over Tamsui River always has really bad flooding which affects the
whole city, therefore people started to introduce new canals and straightening the meanders in order to speed up the flow of water, this removing the water from the area more quickly. The reason I am using water as a physical material is because I want to show how matter could affect the area in terms of its social environment, topography and population settlement. Water is the most important resource in our daily life. People need water for domestic use, factories, and transportation in order to live. But people tend to forget the importance and people dump rubbish and other forms of pollution into it thinking no one needs the resource, and this is destroying our environment and people start to drink dirty water, getting different kinds of illness. The level of oxygen has decreased due to decaying rubbish therefore fish no longer survive, also chemical waste is being poured into the river and it makes the lead and mercury level increase therefore the water and animals become poisoned. Material identity can also be transfered into different scales; it can be as big as a city scale to a little daily product for example a chair, a cup or a bag. I think as long as you have some thoughts and ideas and really make it work and give it new life and energy everyone could create new material identity. Examples which talk about identity, identity can be a brand, a name which is manmade. Gwenael Nicolas- French Designer, born in 1966. Graduated at ESAG (Ecole Superieure d’Arts Graphiques et d’Architecture Interieure) in 1988 and Industrial design from the Royal College of Art in1991, Gwenael said there are two ways of making presentations. The first one is asked by the client to try to achieve the targets they set. The other one is create its own material identity without any client or project. In this case I would like to talk about the second type of presentation. “Meilo Hotel” (picture 4) is a classic example of creating its own style of material identity; the reason he did this project is because he simply wanted to show his dream hotel to see if this really could be achieved. Although Meilo was fictitious, he still gave it’s location- Tokyo, Japan, in the hotel he designed everything in real such as the lobby, conference rooms, ball room, guests rooms and rendered it in a 3D view (picture 5). Then put it on the Internet and sent the cataloge to many businesses. He thinks this is a very different and interesting way to show and sell his idea therefore when people want to build a hotel they might take his design into account; he also make a presentation sheets just in case someone asked him to present it, it was ready. This idea has been developed since January 2006 and at the end he really got a project on designing a hotel at Okinawa, Japan. The client AALU_0910_TERI (TZU-HUI) KAO
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asked him to use a similar style to the one on the Meilo hotel. As well as the furniture which had been designed for the Meilo hotel he had chosen some companies to make the real chairs. Second example I would like to talk about is Akihisa Hirata a Japanese architect, born in 1971 Osaka, Japan, in 1994 he graduated at Kyoto University with an architectural degree and in 1997 he got his master degree in architecture. After he completed his study he worked at Toyo Ito’s practice until 2005 and now he has set up his own practice called Akihisa Hirata. He said once when he was doing the design for a commercial shop the owner told him, he did not want the customer to see the interior thoroughly from the exterior of the shop because he wants the customer to have a curious feeling when they enter and to want to know what he is selling inside. He said if the customer sees everything from outside they might be quite subjective on deciding whether to go in or not. I think this is another way to show how the identity should be when doing the design for the commercial space. When designing a commercial space we need to think about how human activities interact with the display of the objects, they need to have the same language for customers to understand what all this is about. There is an example which has been going on for many years- the EXPO. “We seem to have a clearer conception of what urbanism was than of what it is or what it will become. Modernism was abundantly transparent in its division of the components that made up the new city: housing, work, leisure, etc. these elements were thought to be all that was needed, and the masterplan provided the vehicle for holding these functions together while nevertheless ensuring that they remained distinct and apart.” On top of these elements people started to add their own identity therefore each area has its attraction and speciality, people using different type of materials, landscape and techniques to construct and plan the site, for example the next EXPO at Shanghai- China. Every country can build up one temporary architectural design which represent their country and to show the world their identity. Normally the architect who had been chosen to design it is the top architect which belongs to their country, they not only represent their own practice but also as a whole country; the appearance of the building shows each country’s culture. “Expos are unique events unparalleled for their scale and their power to attract large masses. The BIE’s mission is to ensure the integrity and quality of Expos so that they may continue to educate the public and promote innovation in the service of human progress.” The size of the EXPO site has been growing through time from 10.4 square hectares in year 1851- London, UK to 162 square hectares in year 2000 at Hannover, Germany. Big scale exhibition site give architects better design rooms, from the early stage people just building an individual building without relating the environment beside it and recently people started to design the building with a masterplan using different functions or facilities of architectures to link with the city such as conferences centres, theatres and service centres EXPO also needs to consider the landscape, location, transport infrastructures and stations to be able to give it a new life. Which is what China is aiming for; Better Life, Better City. In another way EXPO can seem as a competition between countries; firstly each country only has a very short time to construct their site, although most of them are temporary. Secondly, each country only can allow to use certain amounts of land, some past year EXPO exhibition site only had enough room for the exterior design such as Aichi, Japan in 2005 and Zaragoza, Spain in 2008. Thirdly, how to show the culture and style in a strong oppositional, contradictory and allusional way, so people can remember it. Fourthly the techniques of the building, architecture is like a piece of sculpture it represent the country therefore the appearance is very important, a good building should speak for itself,
people can recognize what the country belongs to and what its identity is. Next to last, architects need to think about the future, what do we need to be aware of; for example in 2000 Hannover, Germany thought about ecological green architecture (picture 7). Lastly, the value of the architecture; some of the architecture took a long time for people to see its value for example in 1925 Le Corbusier designed in Paris and in many years later people rebuilt it and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe represented Germany built at Barcelona, Spain in 1929 until 1986 people saw its value and rebuilt it. Another example is the Shanghai 1966 Plan. Shanghai had been developed too quickly and now is too over crowded therefore the government drew up a new plan which is one central city with nine new towns. The new towns spread around Shanghai city and they have different functions such as political, economic and cultural which means the city can grow out like a spiders web at the same time expanding its land; creating settlement areas and business parks which gives a better network between rural and urban areas. The government had also given the new town identity such as an English town (picture 8) and a Germany town by building the architectures into different styles and said this is their “new material identity�. I think it is a very odd way of thinking, because there does not seem to be anything to relate to the thinking behind it, it does not relate to the environment, landscape nor culture around it. I have talked to a few people who are from Shanghai, it appears that hardly any local people know about this plan and when I tell them of it they did not seem interested at all even though they would get you cheaper land with more space in the new town; people still prefer living in the centre. On the other hand when material identity goes to a smaller scale it does not need to be physical, it can also be social and cultural which is closer to our daily life in a physiological way, how do people see and feel towards a perceived site, do people think they belong there? In this case I would like to talk about temples in Taiwan, because temples not only have strong identity by the appearance but also in the spiritual way. Architecture like all arts shows the pathway of human living not only culture but also the environment in that period of time. The traditional temples give the evidence of how human lives thought out the last hundreds of years. In 1949, people were moved from Mainland China by the government and were very anxious about their future and the surrounding environment. Therefore they built a temple with their own hands and methods- hoping their believes and ancestors would look after and take care of them. That’s how settlement started to build up- people tended to live near by and then setup their own business and families. There is one area I have visited which I would like to point out- The Long-Shan Temple. (picture 9) This area is the downtown of the Taipei city but now has become the outskirts. The area around Long-Shan temple is no longer prosperous and bustling it has started to lose its identity. The age of the population has become higher since most of the teenagers moved out to get better jobs and education. The whole place looks as if it is dying just like flowers slowly. The shops and the business are closing down and the streets have become very quiet. From a historical point of view these areas are fundamental, a clue showing the changing experience of space and time. Because architecture is our primary resource AALU_0910_TERI (TZU-HUI) KAO
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which leads us to “understand the external and internal space, physical and spiritual, material and mental, unconscious and conscious priorities concerning the senses as well as their relative roles and interaction. ” On the other hand identity is not only shown visually. Buildings are objects and do not react to us by gaze, whereas hearing helps us to connect with the spatial aspect. I use different sensation with my eyes closed to walk in the dark depth of a temple, without looking- ‘sound’ was the first sense which came into my mind. Following the sound by hearing the praying leads me directly to the core of Buddhism. The praying plays at a regular rhythm and speed, somehow my steps merged with the music, my mind had become very peaceful and washed away all the vexation and the people around me became very quiet when they talked; I discovered all these changes had happened automatically without me noticing. It does not matter if I understand the sutra or not; the echo encompasses the surrounding streets and the local community makes me aware of our citizens. Therefore I chose a place as my starting point and walked around the area to see how important our citizens identity can be represented by the temple. I chose my father’s dental clinic as my starting point and walked in the area which is no bigger than 300 square meters and I found out within this area there are ten temples and six out of ten have got disciples praying inside. I was amazed at the amount of temples I found in the area and this makes my statement even stronger that people in Taiwan still see Buddhism as an important part of their lives and somehow that shows what our identity is. While walking around in the temple the second sensation which came into my mind was smell- I felt the temple coming alive when lighting the incense (picture 10)people can see the smoke waving upwards just like dancing in the air and it also gives smell- it is a strong sandalwood smell but can make you feel calm, a lot of people believe that Buddhism will take care of you if you manage to get the smoke on your body and take the ashes away. Also the heat rising up as the incense burns all the time, just like the circulation in our human bodies it encircles us by deep breathing. It is very interesting that once you enter the temple it is like stepping into another world- what you have seen as interior and decoration; what you have smelt- the incense burning; what you have heard- the praying and the language are very different from the outside world. I think the reason people integrate with it so well is because we are used to having temples as part of their daily lives. What is material identity? I think we have to keep asking ourselves this question. We cannot forget the basic things around our lives not only in the physical term but also in our social life. Material identity pushes us to think of things in a more detailed way, how to combine the ideal city into our lives, keeping the old traditions but creating new style as well. Be competitive and creative towards nations because that is the only way we can improve our life towards a better quality of environment. The world is changing all the time, nothing stays at the same, we ought to think how to run it continuously. For eastern countries most of the problems start to come out these days because most eastern countries are still counted as developing countries therefore their economics are still growing; the original facilities such as transportation, health care and public spaces need to be rethought. The major cities in Asia have started to talk about mega vision when looking to redesigning the old settlements, transferring people into new areas and new ways of connectivity. To successfully give its new material identity they cannot just give a certain area a new road, bridge or canal, every part has to have a very
detailed and deep research into its landscape topography, culture and the activities happening there; or by destroying the environment there and sending local people to live else where. Last year December 2009 when I visited China, I realized this is a major problem happening now. The trip started at Shanghai, this place is now known as an international city when I visited the leisure and tourist sites (picture 11) all the hardware had been done really nicely for examples the commercial centres, shopping centres and restaurants. But once you stepped into the residential areas (picture 12) everything had becomes really old and dirty; household things just hanging or dumped everywhere, there was not a street pattern; There is a very big contrast from people being smartly dressing and affluent to posh to beggars on the street. The problem appeared worse when I visited the undevelopment rural areas in Hangzhou at Xiaoshan. The government had just started to redevelop Xiaoshan as result of the new airport being constructed; they want to build a new road infrastructure which will connect from the airport to new business parks and the city therefore the government just destroyed local people’s houses and farms (picture 13). One local person told me his neighbour wanted to fight for his house, protect his land, so he burned himself on the street in the hope that the government would not keep ignoring them and this was not the only sadness which happened there. When I was there none of roads and settlement had fully been redesigned, everything was only half finished, I could not see any material identity there. After visiting China I was questioning myself as to their “real identity” before realising China has already lost its material identity, because what I saw in China can happen in developing countries, people just rush to build a new city using really cold materials; when they redesign it, it seems they did not take culture nor social facts into account. I think giving an area its material identity does not need to be complicated, it can be very simple. For example the building along the side of the Thames River in London (picture 14) cannot put up any advertising. The only place in central London which allows this is at Piccadilly Circus on the big screens. I think this is a very good example to say this is London’s identity. I think this has been a very successful decision; while Piccadilly Circus is a busy dynamic area of central London with people and traffic moving at all times. The signs constantly moving are in phase with this. While the buildings by the river create an urban landscape of gentle movements and greater stability and a quiet area where all the Londoners can come for a walk or exercise without too much disturbance. Therefore has created two different types of environment in central London which has also given it very different social life and I think that’s how landscape urbanism should be.
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FLIGHTS TAKING OFF The drawing shows how the noise pollution spread when flight are taking off. It started with a high volume 110dB at airport and as the plan goes up every one meter reduce 5dB until 12m height 55dB which is not longer effect the environment and living quality
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FLIGHT APPROACHING The drawing shows how the noise pollution spread when flight are approaching. When flight is 9m away from the land people can start to feel the noisy pollution which is 70dB. Every 1meter down the nosiry increase 5dB until it land it at the airport the noise pollution can reach to 110dB. 55dB
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Mat Building Essay - Introduction During the twentieth century, people started to participate in the relationship between architecture and its surrounding environment; to give ample space for light, air and transportation by replacing the existing urban environment with a conceptual utopian city and reconnecting the inhabitants into the natural environment through building configuration. One problem that has come out from this urban environment ideal city is that it is undesirable. It is a challenge for the modern movement- an iconic tall housing block; it has the same objectives and concepts needed to create cities that control both the exterior and interior. Therefore we have introduced this type of topology and given the name- Mat building. In this essay I would like to use this as an opportunity to discuss a Mat City by using an example of Foshan Sansui City at Guangdong, South China. Because it is a unique project which has combined the old traditional Chinese culture with the western point of view. As well as this it is a project which was built by Western people for the Eastern people to use. Therefore the debate driving from this project will be very interesting for me to study in depth and analysis it, at the same time to understand the history of mat building and how it has developed over time. Mat building theory and this topic has attracted the attention of many scholars and architects in China at the present time. In practice the theory plays a positive role in guiding city construction. From the macroscopic view this has a main feature and achievement for reality. What is a Mat City? For the context of this theory, mat buildings have evolved through several generations and in each generation it has reflected the theoretical discourse surrounding architecture at the time of its codification. In 1954, Peter Smithson had presented ‘valley section; this theory had been widely accepted that climate determined both biology and behavior. This was an anthropological index relating human land use to natural divisions in the valley section and can be a model to use in city planning. On the other hand Le Corbusier had different ideas and understanding of the mat buildings. He thinks each house should depend on its climate: “At this moment of general diffusion, of international scientific techniques, I propose: only one house for all countries, the house of exact breathing.” There was very little connection made between environment and climate. Later on, the specific environment had been re-presented as an iconic description of mat building: ‘all outside, all inside.’ In the early stage exterior was often described as something foul- full of noise and pollution from automobiles. But mat buildings have provided the meaning of control; the exterior could be controlled the same way as the interior environment. Le Corbusier had taken this theory into his project and described the dynamic responsiveness of a Venice Hospital to its exterior environment: “ The space of the pilotis forms a shaded region in which the reflections of sunlight on water would create continuous movement. Over this space, which is articulated by numerous columns whose grouping would alter with the movement of the observer, floats a vast roof, punctured in places to let in the sunlight and give a view of the sky”. In 1990s, the mat building typology was inherently energy efficient and environmentally sustainable; the characteristics of mat buildings could automatically be described as energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable.
Mat buildings claim environmental performance in five different ways; they represent the current justification for environmental performance as follows: Firstly, mat buildings allow for greater adaptability in the use of space. Mat buildings can thus be seen as providing flexible ‘shells’ to support different activities, in contrast to those buildings designed with function-specific to accommodate predetermined activities. Secondly, mat buildings use land efficiently. Although mat buildings typically extend over a large land area; they have interspersed regularly with courtyards to allow the mat building to extend beyond the boundaries. As well as from the space-planning point, it might not be efficient even with increased density because the building is dedicated to circulation space at the expense of functional space. Thirdly mat buildings are inherently energy conserving. The courtyard spaces of the mat building increase the penetration of natural light, air and solar energy to facilitate natural ventilation. But on the other hand, the spaces might be overheated by light and solar radiation. Fourthly, mat buildings reduce the overall need for transportation. Mat buildings tend to associate with the image of pedestrian movement. It is focused on designing social space with pedestrian zones in mind. This has resulted with an argument that mat buildings have reduced the space for the automobile. Lastly, mat buildings create their own microclimates, because the mat building separate building from urban noise and filth. In 1974 Aldo van Eyck announced a statement in the meeting at Rotterdam;“ You see, how impervious people are, physically poisoned, the useless and unreadable spaces, all motorcars, and all that noise. They’re becoming afraid of noise too.” These five claims were the development of mat buildings throughout different generations. Mat urbanism can also be referred to as ‘A Thick 2D’. It connects to recent tendencies in landscape architecture which creates mat like effects of connectivity and emergence. It follows an organizational strategy and an architectural effect. There are a series of architectural objectives which internalized the mat buildings such as; a shallow but dense section, activated by ramps and double- height voids. This is a strategy that lets the city flow through the project as well as an ongoing dialogue of project and response which continues to add to the catalog of potential mat building effects. Mat building is a loose descriptive category; it started with a simple horizontal extension and the buildings to follow certain significant spatial patterns; to fit the parts together. They operate as fieldlike assemblages, condensing and redirecting the patterns of urban life, connecting both internal and external. The study of mat building responds to a fundamental urbanistic question such as how to give space to the active unfolding urban space; how to organize different parts in a systematic way; how to extend the architect’s design control over a period of time and finally mat building is antifigural, antirepresentational and antimonumental. Mat building proliferate is landscape architecture, landscape emerge as a model for urbanism, it can also be seen as the art of organizing horizontal surfaces; a relationship between the contemporary city extended field to topological surfaces. A topological surface has its material and characteristics such as the effect of slope, hardness/ softness, permeability, depth and soil chemistry which influence the behavior of the land and activities. Nowadays people experience the city by taking account the speed of the movement; people tend to move with minimal transition from one place to another. Infrastructure spreads out along corridors; wrapping the entire landscape to become part of the mat urbanism. Mat urbanism embraces sunlight, air and water to enrich and protect the soil, meadow and forest. For the artificial landscape it is AALU_0910_TERI (TZU-HUI) KAO
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predominantly horizontal organization behaviour. It can be divided into different levels and slope movements for example the traffic movement can be divided into different speeds of movement. Foshan Sansui Urban Plan Sansui district is situated at Guangdong Province Northwest of Pearl River Delta at South China (fig 1). The territory is made up of hills, a plateau 591 meters from the sea level and flatland. The average temperature for the winter is around 12.7 degree and summer 28 degree with the annual rainfall 1687mm. The total footprint of the city is 874.22 Kilometres Square with the 68 kilometres from North to South and 30.1 kilometres East to West. The total population 410,000 in 2008, including people from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Sansui translated into Chinese means “three rivers�, the city is surrounded by three rivers which are called Xi River, Bei River and Sui River. Foshan Sansui City has a very good geographical location in terms of transportation networks- the harbour, highway and railway, land resources and ecological environment; and good access between Hong Kong, Macao and mainland China. In recent years the Chinese have realized that when developing the urban city they needs to consider the greenbelt. This is a new trend of planning for Chinese cities, to give a new concept of landscape design, humanized facilities, ecological and waterscape. Therefore in 2006 the government had put Sansui Urban Plan into international competition hoping it could get some benefit from the foreign designers (fig 2). There were four architect practices- Germany, UK, Australia and USA involved with this competition the aim of this master plan was to create a green corridor cross the whole city including the bridge, highway, hospital, schools and public leisure facilities. In the end, the American architect practice- Reiser+Umemoto won the competition (fig 3). The idea of this master plan is to create courtyards that provide communal space and natural ventilation. This is a new concept, the green mat building which has included urban scaled typology such as commercial, residential, corporate and cultural programmes to ensure human needs for the green spaces and pleasant circulation (fig 4). Reiser+Umemto designed its a multilayered functional infrastructural sheet which can be divided into three layers and covering the entire site. On the upper layer there are parking spaces woven through the whole city with the lower part of the sheet the architect has introduced low-rise commercial and retail spaces on large floor plates and used streets to define and create boundaries and at the top layer there is a urban park covering the whole city. The pedestrian paths network act as a connection between office towers, cultural, public programmes and retail spaces. The whole design is surrounded in a bright and natural environment, as well as the three layers providing three times more urban green spaces. Infrastructure both artificial and natural has similar behaviour; rather than dividing the city it knits the city together. Infrastructural and territory act in harmony which means the roads are never separated from the territory. There are eight points which Reiser+Umemoto has achieved; 1. Rational Planning- in a modern urban green environment, the designer cannot just use their ideas and creativity to build and construct. They need to consider topography, geomorphology, hydrogeology, urban style, road system, industrial and residential land to support their design. 2. Pluralism- understanding the city structure and its characteristic layout for example the ecological and economic value. 3. Structure of Systematic- for a modern mat building it needs to include three layers; first of all the green earth subsystem, planning this to
include ecological and tourism planning. Secondly the planning of urban green space subsystems such as urban public green, green residential area and river forest. Lastly it looks at smaller areas such as family based internal and external eco-garden for examples; yards, balconies, roof greening small environment subsystem planning. 4. Open Space- a relationship between urban growth and green building should be paid more attention to. A modern urban green space should be considered in a wider range rather than focusing only on built-up area. Private garden design should become a public landscape. 5. Green Forest- this is the idea of bringing the forest into the city, a combination between trees, shrub and grass. 6. Human and Cultural Landscape- this is the very early influence formation of the landscape from social and cultural backgrounds and cannot just be destroyed. When designing it needs to combine with those elements. 7. Waterscape Ecology- there is little sustainability and no human intervention involvement. Water features can be maintained by themselves as well as aquatic plants and animals coexist. 8. Facilities for Human needs- the most essential characteristic of human nature are freedom, flexibility and functional requirements. Nowadays people are seeking more enjoyment of spiritual pursuits. Therefore ergonomics acts as important parts because they need to meet human physiology and psychology needs. For example the proportion of the facilities size, the quality of the construction, controlling of lighting and disabled access. Issues needed to be considered when designing a Mat City When constructing the ground we need to consider the scale issue. This is inherent in all urban landscapes but is barely addressed in design theory and practice. The scale is not only the size of the land but also it needs to take natural, ecology, culture and historical factors into account; when those elements are included it can be called landscape Urbanism. Kenneth Frrampton an architectural historian has written that “priority should now be accorded to landscape, rather than freestanding AALU_0910_TERI (TZU-HUI) KAO
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built form, in the making of cities.� This means the landscape scale should cross borders to engage the complexity such as the architecture, landscape architecture and urban design. The landscape urbanism can be divided into three types of scale to associate each practice. First of all the Architectural Scales traverse building from interior to exterior, from the smallest detail to the overall vision. Secondly is the Urban Scale this extends beyond what is visible from the particular site and planning may occur to implicate. Lastly is landscape scale this has to include a much larger area than any specific site, to encompass multiple ecology sites. Lefebvre introduced a diagram of nested scales (fig 5); the diagram supports a formulation of the city as a space into two strategies. In the first innovation it came out with the letter M which means a transitional scale- a function as a mediator between P (private) and G (global). The diagram can also support the design approach- dynamic and multidimensional in different spaces. To push this theory further we can start to think about spatial identity and those parallel subject identity. Identity is indeed grounded, in terms of geographic and historic ideas. At the same time it is also articulated in a sociological sense, because nowadays we recognize people have multiple identities and therefore we can make the same point in relation to places. Between spaces, the infrastructures stand in an important position; it is a connection of elements from one to another for example urban to suburban life. It is a challenge for the city to run as a circulation. To make sure a city runs smoothly and effectively the surrounding urbanization, public policy, development, urban design and environmental sustainability play very important parts. When these strategies have been combined and developed together it creates different ecological designs from natural phenomena. Therefore it approves the statement that landscape can be represented and understood as a dynamic system of the city; because it is the most effective way to explore the relationship between natural processes and the city. Especially in the period of the postmodernism between 1980s and 1990s it had a great impact and engagement with social and cultural influence; however on the other hand people started to think and take issue with the
aspects of crossing landscape urbanism’s disciplinary boundaries. This is a separation of humans from nature- either nature or naturalness; nature is a development from the field of urban ecology- a characteristic of the plants and animal communities; when human activities get involved and shape the nature processes it becomes naturalness therefore it is very difficult to identify and define the difference between natural landscapes and human landscapes. Nowadays people work with this solution in parallel in order lead to new design strategies based on an acceptance of the disturbed and hybrid natural ecological environment; bringing all the factors together requiring a synthesis of social, political and economic factors and related to urban wildlife and water management. During the twentieth century public landscape infrastructure became the most important generative part due to the increasing standardization of infrastructural systems and technical efficiency. People realized that landscape cannot stand in isolation; it needs the development of networks- social and cultural needs of the community, designers need to engage in all sorts of activities such as parking facilities and transit interchanges as well as the relationship between the topography and hydrology and the integration of public space and water management which creates the urban form. When designed landscapes meet with automobiles it becomes a challenge, because when elements relating to vehicles, car parks, road and motorways it can easily become a mundane landscape. Therefore solving the urban conflict between cars, mass transit and people’s activities has come up for discussion; to avoid this problem people hardly relate corridors such as freeways and expressways into their design with the surrounding environment. Theory of Nature In 1974, a British historian Amold J. Toynbee published a book called Mankind and Mother Earth. In this book he described the whole processes of human civilization, development, mutual exchanges and mutual integration. He had abandoned the long-standing Western historians, instead putting Europeans in the centre he focused on non-European civilization; he said “I do not like the Western tradition of world history as the history of Western civilization and give too much prominence, but I also try to avoid the opposite error, but still the West and its history has given due attention.” In the book he valued human achievements in the field of spiritual culture, Toynbee believes that the categories of civilization, political and economics are only superficial; culture is an essence core- the conflicts, integration and interaction have impacts on human civilization. He also attached the great formation and development of civilization, geography, climate, water conservancy and transportation to show how they can change human nature but he also noticed that the profound power of the human material and technological advances in destruction of nature. Therefore he thinks people should protect nature, to protect human life and the entire living environment. In 1984, a Germany philosopher Han Sachsse published a book called Ecological Philosophy. In this book he talked in three different parts- What is natural? How does the technology affect us? What does the community demands? In prehistoric times, human and nature are the opposite, enemies; by the Neolithic, the development of agriculture settlement phenomenon shows humans can transform nature and to Descartes the machinery had helped us to transfer nature and analyse different facts, at one point humans thought themselves to be above the natural position but actually man can never fully understand it therefore he thinks humans and nature should always work in harmony. In 1988, American scholars Fritjof Capra and Alan Cater published a book called Green Politics- The hope of the world. The main idea of this book is talking about the relationship between man and nature, profound reflection and rationality of capitalist industrial civilization. The idea came from AALU_0910_TERI (TZU-HUI) KAO
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the serious environmental pollution and ecological imbalance during the capitalist revolution- the unreasonable development; excessive use of land and rapid population expansion had resulted in smaller appropriate space for human survival. The author thought green political theory as a long-term future, the principles points are ecology, social responsibility, democracy and non-violent basis. To establish a peaceful society without exploitation as well as emphasis on economic issues in the development of ecological perspective. Arguments and Problems of Foshan Sansui City From the Foshan Sansui Urban Plan Project (fig 6) there are problems which need to be solved immediately and at the same time arguments have come out. The arguments can be divided into four main issues; first of all it squanders money from the taxpayers. Secondly, emphasis on its visual appearance is more apparent rather than people’s life and need. Thirdly, it conquers nature rather than working with it. Lastly, it undermines the macroeconomic environment. Although the project has become very popular for the local people who are very fond of greenery and water. On the other hand when we think about the city there is a lack of water supply this has become a very big contrast. Some construction of the lake and making the water network deeper and wilder has destroyed the natural habitats. Some artificial lakes have penetration problems which means water wasting is continually happening, the amount of money for the water circulation is unbelievably high. People started to think, are the fountain, artificial lake, tourism boats and complex water network really necessary in our lives? Also on the top layer of this master plan it has been covered up with grass and this means everyday people need to sprinkle a lot of water especially during the summer because south of China can get really hot and dry during the summer time as shown earlier. The government announces all the time, telling people to be aware of energy saving, but at the same time they are wasting the energy. One report which came out in 2006 said in China there was a total of 800 cities, 400 are facing a lack of water soon and 110 cities have not enough water to use where 2.5 million suffering since 2006. 10 million people suffer desertification from their land and this is expanding 2.46 kilometer square per year. For the cultural side of the problem people worship Western style and Japanese garden design, after the revolution people realized the differences between Western and Eastern cultures are huge and this has resulting in a loss of historical sense. In early 1990s Scientist Qian Xuesen established a theory which was to analyze and to reveal its core essence of critical regionalism; different approaches in respect of regionalism, urban nature and focus on medium to small size cities. This idea has somehow merged with Le Corbusier’s Glorious City; in the book he mentioned sun light, air and greenery are the basic elements of happiness as well as in the City of Tomorrow he described the centre of the city being a park with a swimming pool and school, surrounded by buildings with distance between each building being less than a hundred meters. Car parks, elevators and roads should connect to each other. The rooftop should be continuous garden where people can have activities. These ideas have influenced the mat building theory- big pieces of greenery cover the city with good transportation networks. To push this statement further we need to understand that mat building is not only for the surface appearance but also the geographical and culture zones. Nature no longer stands for natural landscape but also the natural “rhythm”. Another significant problem which had come out were people building a “natural landscape”. People did not think carefully when they planted the vegetation. Some vegetation is not suitable for certain conditions such as the weather and environment; therefore people have wasted a huge amount of money replanting and removing them.
Conclusion From the project of Foshan Sansui Urban Plan and the study of Mat Building, I do agree that we should make the most to try to make the city green. To make ourselves live in better quality and a nicer environment. On the other hand I do not think the project itself came out very successfully. First of all I think the reason why Chinese government built this project is because they wanted to make a big project on eco-friendly showing the world that they are “thinking” and “taking” it as well. Therefore they did not consider deep enough the whole situation and requirements, this has resulted in loss of culture and destruction of the natural environment. Secondly, rather than facing the problem and dealing with it, the Chinese government has decided to hide from it and not tell the public the truth, such as how much is tax payer paying for the maintenance on water supply and replanting vegetation. Thirdly, China did not educate the public with basic knowledge on how to look after the Mat building and integrate their lives into the society, therefore the project has been built there but people do not know how to cooperate with it. I think to improve these problems; the Chinese government should starting educating and giving people the idea of green roof. Because green roofs are the smaller scale of the mat building, if everyone can contribute green roofs idea into their house rooftop it will be much easier to build and plan a mat building. The public can start with a small footprint to understand how green roofs works; the structure and maintenance of it and later on people will be able to deal with looking after and circulating the mat building by themselves, instead of spending huge amounts of money asking specialists to look after it. So while beneficial, the Foshan Sansui Urban Plan its not reaching its full potential, if the government gives people the knowledge in which to integrate their lives into mat building and maintain it then mat planning will aid the city with storm water management, urban heat island reduction, energy efficiency, biodiversity and air quality leading to economic benefits and overall a better quality of life for the inhabitants.
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This is the zoomed in image focusing on a particular area of the master plan without roads to show the canal and piers. Phase One - Industrial sites
The master plan for the whole region including road and canals, starting with Phase One
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This is the zoomed in image focusing on a particular area of the master plan without roads to show the canal and piers. Phase Two - Business and Commercial Sites
The master plan - Phase Two
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This is the zoomed in image focusing on a particular area of the master plan without roads to show the canal and piers. Phase Three - Commercial and Residential Sites
The master plan - Phase Three
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This is the zoomed in image focusing on a particular area of the master plan without roads to show the canal and piers. Phase Four - Residential Sites
The master plan - Phase Four Complete
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Site visiting
maa Published in great Britain in2005 by Wiley-Academy, a division of John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Copyright @ 2005. reprinted February 2007, November 2007, May 2008
Thames River- London, United Kingdom Piccadilly Circus- London, United Kingdom Tamsui River- Taipei City, Taiwan The Long-Shan Temple- Taipei City, Taiwan Tzu-En Temple, Chia-Yi City- Taiwan Zeng- Guang Temple, Chia- Yi City- Taiwan Pu- De Temple, Chia- Yi City- Taiwan Shanghai- China Xiaoshan at Hangzhou - China
The Anti-Aesthetic. Essays on postmodern culture by Hal Foster P.16 Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance- Kenneth Frampton 1983 by Bay Press. First New Press printing 1998. reprinted by permission of Bay Press. Published in the United States by The New Press, New York Distributed by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, New York Genius Loci- Towards a phenomenology of architecture by Christian Norberg Schuiz
Interview Cheng- Yu Shi- monk from Tzu-En Temple, Chia-Yi City- Taiwan Architect Wen- Zhi Xu Disciples from all temples Local people from Shanghai, China Local people from Xiaoshan at Hangzhou - China
Visions Of The City Utopianism, power and politics in twentieth- century urbanism David Pinder, 2005 Edinburgh University Press Ltd 22 George Square, Edinburgh printed and bound in Great Britain by The Cromwell Press, Trowbridge, Wilts
Bibliography •
•
Primary resources;
Secondary resources;
References from books Landscape Urbanism- A Manual for the Machinic Landscape AA publications are initiated by the Chairman of the Architectural Association Edited by Mohsen Mostafavi and Ciro Najle Printed in Spain by SYL.ES
EXPO and Architecture- theory studies Published in Taipei, Taiwan November, 2009 by Zheng Ling and Yi Chen Talk. Architectures Published in Taipei, Taiwan October, 2009 by Masaaki Takahashi Translate by Qing-Wen Cai
The Creative City- A toolkit for urban innovators The Eyes Of The Skin- Architecture and the Senses by Juhani Pallas- Published in Great Britain copyright 2000,2001,2002,2004,2005,2006
,2007 by Charles Landry This edition arranged with earthscan Oxford Dictionary Edited by Miranda Steel First published 2000 Tenth impression 2003 River in Taiwan- Formosa Edited by Jian- Church Lee Published in 2005 Internet http://163.22.98.130/nature_pic/E1/e2.htm http://www.ysnp.gov.tw/ http://ntudlm.csie.ntu.edu.tw/tamsui/ http://www.expo2010.cn/expo/sh_expo/ztyy/zxdt/userobject1ai35228. html http://en.expo2010.cn/ http://sh.eastday.com/eastday/node3521/node144492/chat/zxft/ u1a4581602.html http://www.bie-paris.org/ http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/ziliao/2003-11/16/content_1180753.htm http://www.meilohotel.com/ AALU_0910_TERI (TZU-HUI) KAO
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Bibliography Books: • The Landscape Urbanism Reader Editor- Charles Waldheim Published by: Princeton Architectural Press 2006
Website: • http://www.reiser-umemoto.com/ •
http://www.ss.gov.cn/main/
• • Le Corbusier’s Venice Hospital and the Mat Building revival/ edited by Hashim Sarkis with Pablo Allard and Timothy Hyde • Editor- Hashim Sarkis Published by: Prestel 2001 •
http://www.cqla.cn/chinese/product/productview.asp?id=462
• From New Towns to Green Politics: Campaiging for town and • country planning 1946-1990 Author- Dennis Hardy • Published by: Spon 1991
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMC2q5Mc318
• Arch-Manual: design, concept, script, process Author- Bruce Q. Lan Published by: Beijing office/United Asia Art & Design Cooperation 2008 Thesis: • Shanshui City: critical regionalism in China Zhuo Min, May 2009 • Shanshui City Theory Zheng Guangfu, Sept 2008 • Classical Meaning of Shanshui City: Discussion on philosophy- thinking about shanshui city Wang Duo and Ye Ping, Jan 2009
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