The Paradoxical City: Goumao, Beijing by Kim Võ

THE PARADOXICAL CITY GUOMAO, BEIJING

The University of Melbourne Master of Architecture Studio 22 Leading by Richen Jin, Kim Vo

Collected By Qian Yu

Content PROLOGUE GuoMao, Beijing Since 1985 The Hutong Manhattan CCTV by OMA

05 08 12

CITY New Within the Existing The Paradoxical Approach

19 24

EPILOGUE Appendix 1: Capricious and Folly Appendix 2: Archive

49 65

BIBLIOGRAPHY

143

PROLOGUE

GUOMAO, BEIJING 北京国贸

In Beijing, a city where ancient and modern intersect and strongly collide, there is never a shortage of landmarks. GuoMao could distinguish itself in a forest of towers with isolated cores From different angles, buildings represent the uniqueness or distinctiveness of a certain aspect of this city. Such buildings representing the city with its iconic appearance. At the beginning of the creation of a landmark, the pursuit was a peak in the coordinate system, but time passed, and the real landmark eventually evolved into a memory of the era of urban spiritual culture. China World Trade Center has long become a memory symbol. And this is GuoMao nowadays, from the dusty manufactory park, successfully transformed into the ‘Hutong’ version of deconstructed-Manhattan.

THE HUTONG MANHATTAN The rising, and the ultimate rising

The first architectural group was proposed in this industrial region in 1985, serving as an commercial complex to reception the international group. In 10 years time, there’s was only 1 additional building proposed to the world trade central (Fig 2), until the Beijing decided to start on the CBD development, right before the bidding of Olympic. Since the success in bidding for the 2008 Olympic games, across the central axis and the east-west axis, architectural starts to became medium for the host’s message, the demand in architecture is for size, expressions of immensity. From then, architecture becomes a race for height, the speed of construction, to maximise the profit and the national image. And when there will always be someone taller until it reach the regulation limits, architect started to experiment with alternative forms. Which we then referring back to the CCTV, both the institution and architecture embody a tension between official ideologies and the market. Paul Goldberger as an architectural critique once said, if CCTV was refer as a big short, we still have to wears them loudly.

Fig 2. “China International Trade Center” was proposed in 1985 after the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee discussion to accommodate the foreign business groups.

Fig. 3 CBD development settled in GuoMao region, right before the bidding of Olympic.

Fig. 4 With the rising of iconic landmarks, Guomao has become a symbol of Beijing showcasing the economic strength and power of the state.

This is GuoMao nowadays, from the dusty manufacture park, successfully transformed into the Hutong version of de-constructed Manhattan. Architectural system had been transformed unconsciously. The metropolis has been an unpredictable city due to these everchanging condition(world economy, population migration, environmental degradation). If Building (as a city) had been determined as isolated islands with the separation of building exterior and interior, Every iconic building of GuoMao is maximum the urbanistic ego, and the proliferation of the individuality of each building makes GuoMao an archipelago of possibilities.

CCTV by OMA

“It was a perfect coincidence between Chinese urgency and a historical moment where we were ready for it. What you see in China is that the huge potential is to some extent invested in an endless series of very mediocre skyscrapers, we’re trying to invest in new forms that are neither simple copies of prototypes nor those reinvented form the recent past” - ‘Interview with Rem Koolhaas’ by Ma Weidong

Fig. 7 Facade

For the Nation?

Fig. 7 Iconography

For the Leader?

Fig. 7 10,000 People

Or for the people?

Fig. Fig.89Perspective Site Plan

Fig. 9 Programme Diagram

Visitors are admitted to the “Loop“, a dedicated path circulating through building and connecting to all programme.

Fig. 10 Circulation Diagram

The loop of six horizontal and vertical sections, dedicated to 4 major groups. (stuffs, visitors, vip and actors)

Fig. 11 “The Loop”

THE PARADOXICAL CITY New urban insights, social habits, and cultural aspirations could emerge if we critically inspect our cities anew through the lens of congestion.

Through the Lens of Congestion “Since each of these sites is to meet its own particular programmatic destiny beyond the architect’s control- the Skyscraper is the instrument of a new form of unknowable urbanism.” (Delirious New York, Rem Koolhaas) Architectural system had been transformed unconsciously. The metropolis has been an unpredictable city due to these ever-changing condition, world economy, population migration and environmental degradation. The 2008 Olympics further accelerated Beijing’s transformation. The Olympics not only gave rise to some of the largest building projects in human history, which would become Beijing’s new architectural ‘monuments’, redefined Beijing’s status as China’s global city. If Building had been determined as isolated islands with the separation of building exterior and interior, Every iconic building of GuoMao is maximum the urbanistic ego, and the proliferation of the individuality of each building makes GuoMao an archipelago of possibilities. These cause the congestion condition/phenomenon within this urban context. Buildings within this region set an invisible boundary, Liberalism, accountability, and openness are manifested here not in inhabitable, material form. If the functional recognizability of the exterior of a building begins to be formally separated from the diverse needs of the interior space, does the exterior design of the building still need to be subject to changes in the interior functions of the building? The city will be addressing notions of using the Rem’s bigness (how Man’s need for shelter has evolved down the years, into desire for Architecture, connecting us to the beyond) and Culture of congestion, to suggests permanence, solidity form and subsequently inform programmatic aspects. To question the relationship between the building external and the programmatic internal of the building within GuoMao through the lens of congestion. To question the iconic stance of the building exterior and the complex interior. To deal with these undetermined events, the ambiguity and undeterminacy within the building could be bought inside out to fill up the negative spaces, maximazing the complexity to the entire city, as a respond to the unpredicted future.

To question the relationship between the building external and the programmatic internal of the building within GuoMao through the lens of congestion.

The iconic skyscrapers in GuoMao standing their giant footprints. If Building (as a city) had been determined as isolated islands with the separation of building exterior and interior, Every iconic building of GuoMao is maximum the urbanistic ego, and the proliferation of the individuality of each building makes GuoMao an archipelago of possibilities

The Invisible Boundary

Buildings within this region set an invisible boundary, Liberalism, accountability, and openness are manifested here not in inhabitable, material form, but as icons, as architectural gestures.

The Negative Spaces

To deal with these undetermined events, the ambiguity and undeterminacy within the building could be bought inside out to fill up the negative spaces, maximazing the complexity to the entire city, as a respond to the unpredicted future.

The last undeveloped land in GuoMao with its unpredicted future

The Void Where there is nothing, everything is possible. Where there is architecture, nothing (else) is possible. - Rem Koolhaas

Event becomes rather monumental with the execution of an even larger void within a larger solid which used to kill the obligation to form. The void with its emptiness/infinite possibility, itself becomes an aggregated effect provides a level of architectural ambiguity and experiential intrigue

The Strips

Tiling the negative spaces with the layers/strips, where each programmes occupies a strips. The multiplication will cast the metaphors on the ground floor; and the conquest of the block will assure the tower’s solitude as the sole occupant of its site lot. This combination will enable the building to accommodate different programs, making it a self-contained universe

The Segregation

The Segregation and the major programmes

Programmes within the builing has now been flatten and filling up the unoccupied region, programmes are brought out and leaving the skyscrapers and empty iconic shell.

Reshuffle and the Chaotic

Programmes that were summarised into different categories, has now reshuffled with its position to maximised the chaotic and complexity of the living activities

The Loop

Strips are connected back using the Loop. when the three attributes ally with each other, the tower will give meaning to the multiplication; the multiplication will cast the metaphors on the ground floor; and the conquest of the block will assure the tower’s solitude as the sole occupant of its site lot. This combination will enable the building to accommodate different programs, making it a self-contained universe

The Entrance

The only accessing point to this region is from the subway station. activities are limited to a certain traffic area. People cannot stop while driving through this city of desire. Every new, changing, and transforming spaces are out of reach, prompting people’s curiosity towards this complex/restless city.

The Viaduct

The Empty Shell

1:2500 Plan

“ The paradoxical intention to solve congestion by creating more congestion suggests the theoretical assumption that there exists a congestion barner.” - Rem Koolhaas The sole occupancy of the empty “shell” does not make enough profits to support itself. However, when the attributes ally with each other, the ‘strips’ and the ‘wall’ will give meaning to the multiplication; the multiplication will cast the metaphors on the ground floor; and the conquest within the wall that will assure the tower’s solitude as the sole occupant of its site lot. This combination will enable the activities happens within the boundary to accommodate different programs, making it a self-contained universe

More important than the design of cities will be the design of their decay” focussing on the interplay between the city and its vacant structures. Event becomes rather monumental with the execution of an even larger void within a larger solid which used to kill the obligation to form. The void with its emptiness/infinite possibility, itself becomes an aggregated effect provides a level of architectural ambiguity and experiential intrigue

The external of the big container is a structure that’s beyond a certain critical mass and becomes a empty, ‘monumental’ symbol. A condition that suggests permanence, solidity and serenity. A reflection of what GuoMao was hoping to be, a solipsism, celebrating its disproportionate existence. Merely is itself and through sheer volume cannot avoid being a symbol - an empty one, available for meaning as a billboard is or advertisement. It is a solipsism, celebrating only the fact of its disproportionate existence, the shamelessness of its own process of creation.

Entering the Paradoxical City

Leaving the Empty Shell

APPENDIX 1 Capriccio & Folly

CAPRICCIO 01

“Arise from chaos, back into chaos”

- Romance of the Three Kingdoms

The Capriccio is a study of Rem Koolhass concept through the book [S,M,L,XL] and the theoretical studies of the “bigness”. The high density of population and the diverse culture within the city had became a mass that can no longer be controlled by a single architectural gesture. So beyond this critical mass, a building becomes a Big Building. Base on Beijing’s existing context and the political standing point, the capriccio hopes to showcase the city’s future possibility from a hypothetical view. With the decentralization of power, which appeared as the split of the solid central axis, people’s activities can no longer be predicted and the city’s operation will no longer under mandatory control.

Perspective and composition study of the given Capriccio ‘Verismo’ by Carl Laubin 2007

Axonometric View of the City

Perspective of the City

FOLLY 01

‘Depixelizer’ Quote:

“She dresses like that to go out for noodles?” - In The Mood For Love

The conclusion the character came up with was purely based on the visual response and it form the stereotypes. The process of understanding an individual through different sensory palette has been skipped. The Folly is trying to restructure the immediate visual response towards the city, within the invisible enclave zone. The structure is formed by series of kaleidoscope tubes decomposed the framed view and reorganise to multiple representations. The staircase lead to the a certain height which reveal the decentralisation of central axis, speaking for the future possibility of the city’s operation. The folly is discussing the multiple possibilities under the same visual setting. To then raise people’s consciousness that definition based on vision is changeable and fragile, instead we should walk out from this boundary, to experience and understand the city.

Axonometric View of the Folly

Perspective of the Folly

Plan

Section

FOLLY 02

‘Not To Be Seen?’ Quote:

“Telling a complete stranger the most intimate things about us?” - The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

In the context of Beijing, people are living under countless of monitoring camera and this forms an unbreakable surveillance system. The folly introduces certain ways to survive under the society of being monitored every day, but ironically all the solutions seem to be unachievable in real life. Being visible is both an opportunity for validation and civic participation as well as a precarious exposure that can be captured and exploited. By having the positive+negative impact on the civil world. Can surveillance systems be actually destroyed or being removed from our life? Escaping from surveillance is never a solution because the system itself is not the root problem. The existence of unnecessary surveillance is due to the over-centralized power. As one could determine how to make use of it. Thus I created this formless folly to speaking for the truth that the surveillance system itself is not the root issue, but how one centralized power exploited it.

Axonometric View of the Folly

Perspective of the Folly

21ST CENTURY SURVIVAL GUIDE “HOW NOT TO BE SEEN” Hide! hide under the safe zone

bEING DISAPPEAR WITH THE INVISIBLE CLOAK

bEING THE SAME AS OTHERS

Representative Graphic

OR CENTRALIZATION?

SURVEILLANCE ISSUES?

Representative Graphic

FOLLY 03

‘Decentralization’ Quote:

“You spent your whole life building a reputation and a bank account... and now they’re blown” - Birdman

Reputation and unnecessary surveillance caused numerous issues affecting the city’s operation. The combination of technologies, capitalism, and collective standards, which all form under one centralized structure. People’s activities and the city’s operations are easily determined by one individual power. From a hypothetical view, what if the power or the concentrated central is diversified, where everyone will have the chance to involve with the process and decision, and non-individual will have the coercive impact on the whole public. The attempt of the last folly is to deconstruct the CCTV Headquater, transforming the rigid facade into a ductile form. If power was translated into architectural form, it appears everywhere in the past context. The overlaid walls in the summer palace, the numbers of stairs lead to the People’s Court, and even the solid/cold marble stone facade. Those matrix and symbols with a sense of oppression and distance should be toned down in the decentralized city. Proposing with this pliable form, people’s actions from entering the chosen direction, will determined the future city patterns. The network and relationship between people and the city is everchanging, and by then we will have a chance to participate in operating the future city.

Axonometric View of the Folly

Perspective of the Folly

Plan

Section

CAPRICCIO 02 “Moment of Falling”

The Capriccio is a respond to Aldo Rossi notions: City forms the narration. The chosen site Berlin used to be called the enclave during cold war and the Berlin Wall was physically and ideologically divided Berlin. The Capriccio hope to be the microcosm of the history, which the architecture speaks for people’s flow chasing for liberty. The only significance of the wall is the moment when it fell, as that shows the population flow and their wills, by capturing this moment in the capriccio, it hope to containing the Berlin History and attach importance of the popular wills. (Teatro Del Mondo / Schutzenstrasse / II Palazzo Hotel)

Perspective and composition study of the given Capriccio ‘Cinquecentenatio’ by Carl Laubin 2008

Axonometric View of the City

Perspective of the City

Folly 1 Model

Folly 2 Model

Folly 3 Model

APPENDIX 2 Archive

Notes: Reading Rem

The most challenging viewpoint in Koolhaas’s thought is undoubtedly the idea of accepting (or even the so-called “unconditional” acceptance) of reality. Protective engineering: add new dimensions, new functions, new beauty or appeal to it. Various signals indicate that globalization needs to be rethink and adjusted. Koolhaas's "Singapore" and the "Generic City" based on it are both a proof and an irony. As proof, it presents the roads and patterns of urban development in China over the past 30 years in many ways: the “white paper strategy” led by the state, major demolition and construction, urban life from streets to shopping centers, all-encompassing indoor spaces, materiality Fake antiques after the destruction of historical heritage and the rampant prevalence of Disneyization, suppression of modernization’s demands for true freedom with historical cultural identity and material welfare, etc. In other words, instead of viewing Koolhaas’s city tour as a place of moral decay, or with a more certain view as a generator of architectural design concepts: but at the same time, under the political pressure of China, this kind of Western design The National Normal University's ambitious plan and the act of performing strange and heterogeneous thinking are also cleaning the face of China and pushing it to a more globalized, broad-spectrum city. The theory of the relationship between architecture and environment, which is more in line with the nature of contemporary cities, regards “site condition” as a “contextual tactics” (contextual tactics). Rem Koolhaas criticized three kinds of urban concepts, namely the “contextualism” represented by Luo and Kurt’s “Collage City”, and Rob Krier’s “Rationalism” represented by “Urban Space” and “Structuralism” represented by Aldo van Eyck. Regarding “contextualism”, Koolhaas’s criticism has three aspects: First, Koolhaas believes that “contextualism” reduces the long urban history into a single historical moment, which is a short-circuit historical continuation (shortcircuit). -circuits historical continuity); secondly, the “contextualism”’s excessive fascination with “contextualism” leads to a kind of idealization in reverse, which transforms the original anti-Platonic “experiential facts” into “another “Utopia”; third, the overly idealized urban “contextualism” “in fact has excluded a series of more complicated and accurate choices that can focus on the real context from one’s sight.”

12/05/2021

https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/43894311

Ғ‫ګࢴح‬ᆟՀট䦭ᜭ৛ϡኮऎ䦮 - Ҍল

4/12

12/05/2021

https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/43894311

Ғ‫ګࢴح‬ᆟՀট䦭ᜭ৛ϡኮऎ䦮 - Ҍল

5/12

12/05/2021

https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/43894311

Ғ‫ګࢴح‬ᆟՀট䦭ᜭ৛ϡኮऎ䦮 - Ҍল

3/12

76 THE VOID

77 CCTV & BEIJING

86 City as an object

The possibility of a nonfigurative architecture is not new but is already latent within a reading of architectural history - a reading in which the unfolding of such a history is understood not as the change of styles or accumulation of more and more complexities and contradictions, but rather as a series of constructive denials. These denials can be interpreted within the evolution of modernity in terms of the rise of the "generic" condition of urban space. (Pier Vittorio Aureli - more and more about less and less)

88 CCTV By OMA

This is what is defined today as "biopolitics," a constitution of political subjectivity where what is at stake is the management of life and its forms of reproduction. In this sense it is possible to say that fundamental urban categories that shape the political economy of the contemporary city such as labor force, reproduction, and sustainability are the ultimate sources of the "generic" attributes of the urban condition.

Building Globalization Transnational Architecture 91 (Chapter1.Space Capital and Global Cities

The dominant position of “Western” is that “non-Western” cannot just maintain a state of resistance. If these two basic questions are established, what methods and attitudes should we adopt to deal with this change of identity? How does China get out of its own path of modernization? The possibility of getting out of your own modern country and economic system. The process of learning from the West in the past 100 years, including the study of politics, is still continuing. Sooner or later, the East, or China, will have a unique path to modernization. It is also what Xi emphasized and expected that the process of learning from the West in the past 100 years, including political studies, is still continuing. Sooner or later, the East, or China, will have a unique path of modernization. (The ‘China’ urbanlization& national image)

Beyond Revolution 94 Notes on Contemporary Chinese Architecture

3 waves of national form Mao’s Communist ideology stated that art had a political purpose (Socialist Content) and should adopt folk, regional and national form. The ten projects (1950) as a whole marked a transition from the tradition-based National Form to an ideologically based political symbolvism. (20世纪50年代的北京十大建筑是人民大会堂、中国历史博物馆与中国革命博物馆（两馆属同一建筑内，即今中国国家博物馆）、中国人民革命军事博物馆、民族文化宫、民族饭店、钓鱼台国宾馆、华侨大厦（已被拆除，现已重建）、北京火车站、全国农业展览馆和北京工人体育场。)

1971UN Deng’s The agenda now shifted from revolution to economic reconstruction and modernization. Deng’s ideologically conservative position led, in practice, to a more liberal approach in politics, the economy, and social and cultural life

1980s, the third wave of National Form occurred Looser and more pluralistic, it was encouraged though not controlled by the government, and had no strong ideological articulation. Commercial replica Many buildings were designed as literal imitations of traditional styles. 1980s vibrant but increasingly turbullent decade. Ideas and new practices flooded into the country, joining the rush towards the great national goal: modernization. The 开国门和西方现代文化 modernisation&westernization led to the 64 tiananmen movement led Deng Xiaoping’s reforms and his open-door policy: between the new open approach which encouraged a market economy and Westernstyle liberalism, and the existing Communist centralist state.

Forms and Politics 98

The Forbidden City of Ming and Qing Dynasties in Beijing (China space strategies, Beijing pg91) how forbidden itself represent an indivusal, and how the boundary is enclosed and open responds to power

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- Nowadays: we have conceived a new national image that bear with the “context” (what China has always done: a road to socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics) (refer to below text point3) - Use the displacement of existing buildings to express the overall management and control, as well as the phenomenon of scattered development of the people's city then led to the idea of China unique path of modernization?

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n terms of function/form, the political significance or power of cctv is limited to the distinctiveness of the architectural posture and the uniqueness of typology. Even from another perspective, from the bidding of the project to the selection of international architects, to the realization of a challenging structure to reflect the power and national financial resources and strength, this cannot prove that the building and praticality of the building and the space setting have a decisive relationship with power. . But why is CCTV able to become Beijing’s new icon and also as a symbol of China’s strength? It is because of these superficial appearances. If these appearances are superficial, they can be questioned and changed. So my stance is if the architecture is separated from the iconic appearance, how the order of space and the scale of the ontology relate to authority and express 108 authority.

Architectural mass replaces Cerda's gridded urbanism. The city as a solid becomes a pure architectural figure with no relationship to its ground. The city as a solid object becomes the model of the neoliberal city. A megaform carries programs like housing, offices, and leisure activities, and by its pure size turns into a landscape or land formation detached from its surroundings. [The same programme carries under a different shell could be plug out and place in any other where else. The building surface and the interior had totally detached ]

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The China Spatial Strategies

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Beijing's urban planning is more similar to Go Chess. Western countries are more like chess filling the positive areas between occupied squares. The grid should be understood as an idea of formal reduction that can structure or simply help to map the complexity of the modern city. Historically, the grid is assumed to represent the least “complex” formal order ，the same formalization of reason was redefined in terms of the idea of administrative logic, or the presumed rationality of capitalism itself。

111

From Pier’s word, the city/beijing could be defined as "biopolitics," where its a constitution of political subjectivity where what is at stake is the management of life and its forms of reproduction. And forms the "generic" attributes of the urban condition. To Beijing, the mega city. It had came into Rem’s words that “more and more mice have to share the original bait, the stronger the identity, the more it imprisons”. Beijing its like a ultimate expanding bait, it attracts the population with its central/high resource position, and then it expand with its land coverage and infrustratucre, and then it attracts more population coming in to the city. However, this doesn’t solve any of the current issues with high property price and competitiveness and all of the mega city issues, but to become a vicious cycle. The megaform like the cctv headquarters carries multiple programs activities, but this pure size turns into a landscape or land formation detached from its surroundings. Looking into to Beijing existing contexts which strictly follows the formal order grid, base on the idea of administrative logic, or the presumed rationality of capitalism itself. However, looking more into detail, Beijing is more like a collage of cut and paste in the photoshop. You can see huge neon sign advertisements display on the residential block windows. Modern youngsters drinking in the bar, and just few meters away from there, there’s people gather around the so called low class street food stall. Beijing is modern and international, but at the same times, it is rough and cluttered. The grid should be understood as an idea of formal reduction that can structure or simply help to map the complexity of the modern city. However if a city already has complexity and chaos that cannot be accommodated, does the mandatory grid system restricted the flexibility of development? The more the city grow according to the grid, the more homogeneous building will rise and the more it detached from the population. Hence it came to the first idea of breaking the grid through the diversified centre, and from one diversified central it defines the condition of the next. And it came to the idea of shuffle city, where the disrupted core could actually switch it’s position through time, carry by the population’s flow.

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If the city is composed of the most down-to-earth fragments in the city, and the boundary of the space is determined by the people, the people will have the process of participating in the development of the city, to experience and then to decide what should be maintained and discardable in the city. Will these action of participating allowing people to have the right to judge the current planning and improve the standard through judgment? instead of obeying the passive state/ almost non-reflexive response. Therefore, instead of establishing a new standard in this city, it is better to shift the existing order of urban objects and break the standard of outward development from the center to express the possibility of a decentralized city.

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IBeijing: The existing Beijing is like a collage of cut and paste in the photoshop. You can see huge neon sign advertisements display on the residential block windows. Modern youngsters drinking milkshakes in the bar, and just few meters away from there, there’s people gather around the small street food stall. Beijing looks like modern international, but at the same times, it is rough and cluttered.

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If the country's cities and buildings want to be better, the driving force is the improvement of the people's ability to judge/decide the standard of cities and buildings. It's a pity that most people's judgment standards are too simple nowadays, together with the economic interests, simple and rude architectural standards are rampant everywhere.

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In 1960s, DaBeiYao (the current GuoMao) area was planned as the most concentrated factory area in Beijing. Workers in labor cloth uniforms, towering chimneys, and large trucks passing by were its hallmarks。 After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in 1978, China took the steps to open up to the outside world. Foreign businessmen gathered in the capital Beijing for a while, and the volume of foreign trade imports and exports increased significantly year by year. However, in Beijing at that time, the urban infrastructure was very backward, and foreign businessmen did not even have a decent and suitable place for negotiations, accommodation, and exhibitions in China. This brought a lot of inconvenience to the development of foreign trade. As a result, several leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation put forward a bold idea-to build a “China International Trade Center” in Beijing. In 1993, the new name GuoMao DaBeiYao. As the factories moved to other places, buildings rose from the ground. This area of 3.99 square kilometers attracts many large multinational companies, international organizations in China and foreign-invested enterprises to settle down.

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OMA's CBD Core proposal evolved from the observation that the tower has made the Central Business District into a structure that is identical everywhere. At the same time, however, global economic pressure and extraordinary advances in information technology have dramatically changed the nature of office work. The increasing ubiquity and mobility of information technology paradoxically stresses the importance of face-to-face human interaction so that, at the dawn of the 21st century, business is communication. 119

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The CBD Core, therefore, has to define a typology that promotes human interaction and communication. However, with the understanding that the Beijing CBD will boast over 300 towers, the essential question became one of how the CBD Core could distinguish itself in a forest of towers with isolated cores that minimized interaction.

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The realization: The same amount of urban substance can be configured in many different ways from a compact tower to a dispersed network. CBD Core evolved to become a lowrise network of dispersed cores and flexible office courtyards combined with commercial and recreational activities that not only maximize interaction, but also offer the opportunity for a CDB with a 24-Hour urban life. 123

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As a compliment to this series of dispersed horizontal nodes, a dense network of vertical connections (including offices, apartments, and hotels) is proposed over one of the peripheral urban highways. Beijing’s CBD Core ultimately becomes 100% Park 100% Program

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Capriccio & Folly Archive

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Notes Taking On Reading Aldo Rossi Architecture is a narration of the city. What forms a city, what’s the principle to its development, how does community grow from one house to the whole region/neighbourhood. Hence he emphasise on the ‘architectural type’ and as well critique the ‘naive functionalism’. He once mention that a city’s monuments, routes, neighbourhoods and geographical features that define its particular culture or locus. “By architecture of the city we meant two different things, 1 can be seen as gigantic man-made object, a work of engineering and architecture that is large and complex and growing over time, seond, certain more limited but still crucial aspects of the city, namely urban artefacts, which like the city itself are characterised by their own history and thus by their own form. In both cases architecture clearly represents only one aspect of a more complex reality, of a larger structure but at the same time, as the ultimate verifiable fact of this reality, it constitutes the most concrete possible position from which to address the problem.” A city is an aggregation of many meaningful and recognized things (urban facts), which are related to specific life in different times and different places. On this basis, Rossi overturned the rigid principle of “function determines shape” in modernism. He does not regard architecture and urban space as the product of the operation of a functional system. Instead, he regards the city as man-made objects and works of art, and advocates starting from architecture. , Geography, history and other perspectives to read the city both Loos and modern architecture was not a search for a metaphysical detachment from reality but for a deeper attachment to the anonymous and abstract character of the modern city.

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An architectural intervention always takes the form of a subjective decision to confront the exisiting context rather than to overcome it. Realism is the ability to represent this dimension (A man’s life in every dimension of space, time, and place) through architectural events. A projection of social and cultural expectation that are concretised in particular. Defending that the popular tradition as a “current of reality” Rationalism - a highly specific knowledge of a disciplinary landscape that cannot be reduced to simplistic formulas. While duplicating designs, coming up fancy forms and thought that our concept will be solving the current issues, ain’t we always part of the solution because we HAD ANSWER answer instead of coming up with more questions. Before propose, first is to understand The past realism was a documentation of one’s life - the exemplary historical and social cases. (模范型人物或主义). 新现实主义的诞生是否为了让我们了解或关注我们不曾经历过的人生, (Culture as a moral life, in architectural theme, the real needs of the common man’s life) to think of a life we didn’t experience, the diversity of mindset, experiences and desires. From both exemplary and typical, both temporary and part of a larger structure.

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“On the one hand, you have the typical landscape of the Roman lower-class districts with their lost, desolate climates, which are nevertheless rich with an inextinguishable vitality, the violence of which puts pressure on the whole city. On the other, you have the Milanese suburbs, where the immigrant is nothing more than a member of the labor force in a system of production in which the best position he can aspire to is the role of consumer.” A structure or further a city to contain from social, cultural, and ideological expectations in a single artifact, that’s is the aspitration of unity. From Rossi’s view to Stalinist architecture, as a convincing form for the modern development of the city, the structure is giving the firs tawareness of the relationship between the character of the city, the political strategies of architecture and a mode of architectural intervention based o the idea od singular urban events. These skyscrapers was the possibility of architecture to impose itself as a cultural, but event that evokes shared popular theme. At this point, we throw away the political differences, but simply raising up how architecture is containing the culture and influencing on its population. An architectural intervention always takes the form of a subjective decision to confront the exisiting context rather than to overcome it. Forget about the concept of TabulaRasa, I think the idea of planning out an entire city without site context, or looking into its culture sounds really dictatorial, unless its an empty new born isolated land and going to conduct some inhuman-bio experiment. The fact of not responding to the each’s past background might be the new beginning of conflicts. If we are having a site which does exist for decades, the geographical features, the political context, the diversity of the whole population. people are seeing new structure raising up, Given creative expression a dynamic, often unsettling voice. Each object is still confuses, surprises and delights people. Approach: Bringing the urban event/city element as a typical elements to form a exceptional structure (An architectural form takes a typical element of the city and develops it as an exceptional one) find the underlying intersections between ways of living, material conditions, and architectural form. “A building typology is concretely determined by problems relating to land division, the formation of lots, building regulations, and the needs of daily life. The relationship between these factors can be established through different forms, since they are all disrupted by radical changes in life, in the same way that radical changes subvert the form of the city.”59

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Site: Mitte, Berlin The Enclave: The West Berlin was isolated in the East German which under governance by the Soviet Union. II Teatro Del Mondo: Characterized by three factors: Having the use od a delimited space; finding its meaning as a shape on terms of the forms of surroundings(The form of the building is constructed/dominated by the surroundings.); being on water: showing the liberty of a life of its own, a freedom of styles.A city that is free.” Independent of the possibility of its being built or of its being used. Notindependent of a Venetian method of construction, or of a way of designing that seeks fantasy only in real world.

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While analysing the Mondo Floating theatre, the structure is designed to be a delimited space, being on water, showing the liberty of a life of its own, a freedom of styles. A city that is free. By taking only its the tubular steel frame, transforming to the base structure of the capriccio, a breathable, see-through ground level, representing the vanished and falling Berlin Wall. Yet emphasising on the history that the land, people and culture used to be separated by political scandal to remind the willingness of reuniting. The ground floor pedestrian flow simulating the historical movement, where people fighting for the liberty and better living. This silence sitting structure enable to be part of Berlin’s memories, containing the culture and influencing on its population. The typologic element from the Palazzo Hotel, composed a monumental facade using a series of stacked amber-colored Iranian travertine columns and chemically aged copper lintels. The elements are used on the front facade in capriccio, framing the infrastructure behind. Originally in the Palazzo Hotel, the frame and opening on the facade was to trace the warm life happening outside the building, the path and games that go on along the harbour and canals. But in the capriccio, its framing and revealing the vivd life happening within, each individual gap compelling the existence agglomeration of culture, production and residential externalities. The internal city which form by the series of blocks in Quartier Schützenstrasse. The twisting historic urban structure and intense color fuses together, the idea was influenced by one of the graffiti on the Berlin Wall, the Fraternal Kiss [My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love ]there’s total love, while the Berlin Wall separates two worlds. While keeping the fragments facades familiar to address continuity amid the historic fabric of stone buildings of Berlin. The interlacing blocks evoke the merging/reunited population, and the mixing of city layers and infrastructures. In the axonometric view, to form almost like a micro city that does not tied to a space, but to flow freely along the city. The isolated island which representing the enclave is framing the life and scenery arounds itself but yet freely accessible by the. The city is to recording the past, wether its a scars on its culture, not to only features the positive side or the human-made scence which trying to beatify itself, but to be a narration, speaking what had happened in this land. In the capriccio, people might not access to the enclave easily but they will not forget the difficulties getting out from it. Respongding to the history before the fallen of the berlin wall, which acting a rememberance

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Archive Capriccio 02 The chosen Capriccio image is done by carl laubin, who’s encompasses the assembly of buildings across fantastic landscapes. The wide span perspective framing the nature geographical elements and collective architecture which creates an ideal but yet authentic scene. Responding to Rossi philosophy that An architectural intervention always confronting the exisiting context rather than to overcome it. By criticising the idea of Tabula Rasa, or the modernist concept of celebrating the machinary madness. Rossi mentioned that Architecture should be a narration of the city, where it should be form by it’s monuments, routes, neighbourhoods and geographical features, these elements are being called the ‘urban facts’ that define a city’s particular culture or locus. In the proposed capriccio, the site Mitte,Berlin is based on the chosen project Schutzenstrasse 1992, where a long river flowing across the entire city, Berlin used to be called the enclave due to it’s political reason. It was split in two isolated city under different countries’s governance, in the 30 years of cold war period, people were fighting for their liberty of country’s reuniting, however if a city is narration as Rossi said, the city is to record the past, wether if its a scandal. The proposed Carr-icio is hoping to be part of Berlin’s memories, containing the culture and influencing on its population. The first precedent building the Palazzo hotel is standing on the isolated island in this portion of the river representing the enclave, the frame and opening on the facade was to trace the revealing life happening outside the building as it’s original intention. Each individual gap compelling the existence of culture, production and residential externalities, and this city backdrop is the reforming of the Schutzenstrasse. The individual blocks that respecting the historic urban structure fuse together, aligning the geography element and following its original topography. As it’s shown in the axometric drawing, the placing of the blocks is like a ripple waving out from river, born by the land, feed by the river, hundreds of parcels of blocks connected by the Spree River, flow through as one living. Lastly by placing series of Mondo Floating theatre in the flowing river, adding a new mobility intention to the city, In Rossi intention, the structure is designed to be a delimited space, being on water, showing the liberty of a life of its own, it then becomes a connection between the enclave and the rest of the landscape. People used to dive across the river to escape from the East Berlin during the cold war period, the Mondo floating structure may carry people’s wish of liberty and have the freedom to circulate across the land.

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Archive Capriccio 01 In Rem’s theory, he scan the an-tago-nism between big and small in the city, and consequently plug his architectural services as a way to mediate between the two. The high density of population and the diverse culture within the city had became a mass that can no longer be controlled by a single architectural gesture. So beyond this critical mass, a building becomes a Big Building. These gigantic building, might be brutal or aggressive to the city’s original form, however it’s following a logic where century passes, social patterns, population profiles and even the capitol flow have shifted, the old urban system will one day be overthrown, so shall we abandon the E’ternal elements and to adapt the future pattern. By then Bigness is no longer part of any urban tissue, it coexists with the city, beyond good or bad. So in this capriccio, is hoping to find the city’s inclusiveness and the future boundary through the progress of development, by using the visual contrast of the existing context of Beijing and Rem’s design. The context, Beijing, is following a central axis during it’s development, and beyond this, the city expand with a series of ring roads circling out from the centre. In the central, where the pass palace, the political symbol and power reputation sitting firmly within, this are the elements that the city is hoping to reveal, despite having a huge contrast with the existing quadrangle dwellings where it represents the traditions and culture. As the city grow over time, these building which shows ‘bigness’ will follow this rhythm, it might grow bigger in scale, but the proportion between the civilian living and ‘representative building’ will remain. There’s a symbiosis between the two, the city need these reputation, and these bigness is form by the smallest fragmental patterns that left in the city.

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Axonometric View of the City

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Archive Folly 01 ” Gravity doesn’t even apply to you. “ The quote is taken from the birds man. Gravity used to be called the weakest known force in nature but its controlling trajectories of bodies in the solar system, however, all of these applies in the physical manner. If gravity is pulling us down “controlling” us to stay on the ground, or a physical wall is stopping us accessing to another place. In today’s circumstance, where we can visit a place through VR, where work doesn’t end even we get off from the office door, the physical boundary is fading off, things are done in a twisting spot, are we still under the control of the natural force? Or what is controlling us here now? (”Brain”) In this Capriccio “No gravity matters”, its my description of the unseen social phenomenon. During the industrial age when labour and production is the main demand of capitalism, Philosopher Foucault probe into a term ”the disciplinary society”, which could be explained in this way: Just like any regular day, a man wake up at 6, reach the factory by 8, follows the timeline on the production line for his whole day’s of work, go home and have dinner at 6 and sleep right at the 10, this exact timetable he follows maximising his efficiency and productivity to pay the benefit to the society and the grow of capitalism. However, he terminates the action of working once he leave the factory, he’s physical action is still related to the physical boundary, and we call him as an individual that forms the basic unit of the society. But looking at today’s social format, when human being becomes steams of data and information，these information could be reform and redistribute. The productivity and substantial elements the capitalism used to desired had changed to intangible formate like service, stocks or even interpersonal relationship. Each of our fragmental data had been reformed and superimposed to maximise the exisiting benefits. We are told to add on multiple function into the same space, because the enclosed physical boundary can no longer contains their desire. And at this time we had transformed from disciplinary society into another form. We become a fragmented “dividual” to provide benefits for this society. By now you might be wondering what is the new social format that I mentioned? It’s the combination of technologies, capitalism and collective standards, which all form under this huge structure. Our field of view are covered by this gigantic and complex object. Just like looking at a huge Buddha statue, we might have a solemn admiration towards it. We confused the relationship between serving and to be served, treating this giants as souls and spirits, or even becomes the motivation and the new standards to discipline ourselves. Physical boundary had longer been used to control us, and that is why people are checking working email even leaving the office, checking our blood pressure on smart watches even we are not in the hospital. We seems to have the freedom to move freely, but our mind is always running for an invisible goal, or an end that’s far beyond to reach of. Sadly but people might be trapped in this cycle, without the boundary, our data can be extracted and reformed even more freely, by now do you still believe that the next action you make is under your own control? Or is it a behaviour that the information helps people predict and perform after the reorganisation.

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Archive Folly 02 “She dresses like that to go out for noodles?” Placing our own value on other, or being stereotyped, this is happening everyday just that if we may or may not realise. Stereotypes exist, and they will continue to exist as long as there is diversity between human individuals, there’s tendency in the human brain to compartmentalize knowledge as a way to reduce “thinking effort”. Denying the existence of stereotypes doesn’t help anyone. If anything, we should talk openly about exit and understand how they affect our thinking. And further how we might twist this. By coming up with a definition with a person’s character, we first gather the visual information, by just a glance, we might already form up the impression, however, we skipped the process of understanding this individual. However, visual/sight is just one part of human sensation. If we are able to feel the city through different sensation, or being activated by different space setting through sound, smells touch or mood , the will this help to explore and engage the city further? In the carpaccio, the enclave (which represents the outlander) only be able to view the city that’s captured whithin the frame. Extruding out from this plane view setting, the folly extend and forms a journey where different sensation elements involved. In the first layer, the walls are formed by the thin roof tiles knocking each others and create a sound that was only be able to heard in the old Beijing peddeling. Then the ground texture start to get uneven and you will need to pull around unseen strings to continue, you realised that the wall starts to reflect city fragment that wasn’t reveal from the initial frame. temperature start to get cold. You could see or almost smell the dust floating within the air particles through the light coming from the end of the tunnel, and lastly you reach a place we you start to questioning about gravity, you are standing on the window and the bike was parked above you. When the city is shown again at the end of the tunnel, the visual setting was unchanged, but the sensory palette restore an experience ground in existence. Through the measured by the eye, ear, nose, skin, tongue, and muscle.

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