Architecture in China: Rethinking the definition Of Regionalism by

University of Melbourne

Architecture in China: Rethinking the definition Of Regionalism

Manifesto , Twenty- first Century Architecture Yingxian Xiong

Abstract Under the influence of globalization, the substantial import of Western culture and conception has made China's native culture gradually disappear. It has led to the return of more and more Chinese architectural designers' regionalism ideas. Returning to locality because of globalization is not the situation that architecture should have, which will lead to many wrong conclusions. The reasons are complex. This article analyzes the causes and solutions through specific cases, with the decision demonstrating the direction of Chinese architecture from the solution.

Background Chinese Architecture in the Context of Globalization With the global culture invasion, China's contemporary a r c h i t e c t u r e w a s a l s o i n f l u e n c e d b y We s t e r n architectural culture. Such as, the Post-Modern style is more aligned with the requirement of society and citizens in China. The buildings in different regions are gradually losing their particular regional characteristics. More and More similar structures have swept through almost all cities in China in the form of industrialized and batch products. Architects often indiscriminately follow the existing design concepts and ignore the regional and cultural background of the site, which has led to the predicament of the emergence of "thousand cities that look same." If the city's name is not marked on the photo and wouldn't allow identifying the city according to the landmark building, it should be hard to recognize who they are. From a long-distance aerial view, they look similar like twins. It leads by a concept from Western developed countries with high-rise, highdensity, and extensive square features. Lacking the individual characteristics of the city, which is essential, but it doesn't have it (China Youth Daily, 2011). To pursue modernization like other countries, largescale glass curtain walls have entered people's lives. The similarity and consistency of global architecture began to cover up the uniqueness and diversity of Chinese architecture, making it lose its own unique characteristics.

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City View, Shanghai (Wikipedia), accessed May 3, 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai. Los Angeles (Wikipedia), accessed May 2, 2022, https://ia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles. Tokyo (Wikipedia), accessed May 10, 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo. Yuwen Deng, “Traditional Cities Are Disappearing in Globalization,” China Youth Daily, May 11, 2011.

Image.1 The photo of Shanghai, Los 2 3 Angel and Tokyo, the phenomenon of thousand cities that look same

The return of regionalism conception In response to this situation, people have begun to reemphasize regionalism. Regionalism architecture is the best response to the cultural background and history of the site. Generally, regional architecture is interpreted as architecture adapted to the local climate, which can respond to the region's landscape and relate to the native culture. The regionality of architecture is the adaptation of architecture to the natural environment and the inheritance of indigenous culture. China has a vast territory and a profound culture. Different places have different cultures and histories, and their architecture should be diverse. This article takes some Chinese regional architectural plans as the research object and criticizes some regional architectural ideas and achievements that have hurriedly returned because of the crisis and have not been thought about it. i) Similar in appearance In the late 1980s, Beijing proposed to recapture the style of the ancient capital. It could not turn Beijing into New York and Singapore or be like other cities in China. Some people attempt to imitate the traditional formal architecture to form the building. For example, Beijing West Railway Station is a typical controversial building that is worth to be discussed. The central point of contention is an ancient pavilion on top of the building. "Playing retro with the new architecture. Building a pavilion on it, and making it to look like the real thing" Kaiji Zhang once commented this building 4 in an interview. Traditional pagodas are placed rigidly above the building as decorations in this project. This cultural appropriation is not a natural product of Beijing's native culture.

Image.2 Aerial view of Beijing West Railway Station, VGC.com 5

Yiwa Sheng and Kaiji Zhang, “Looking Back Calmly -- Interview with Architect Zhang Kaiji” (National Knowledge Infrastructure), accessed May 7, 2022, http://www.cnki.com.cn/Article/CJFDTotal-XJZJ200602030.htm. 5 Beijing West Railway Station (Visual China Group), accessed May 10, 2022, https://www.vcg.com/creative/812299591

There were also many such "big roof" products in Beijing(Image.5), even though they did receive recognition from Beijing citizens at the time. Such as the National Library of China, China Central Radio and Television Station, etc. They all have what the architects consider a traditional building should have, a "large antique roof." Therefore, it was set above on top of a modern structure. ii) Concern for the ecological environment In 1982, the Fragrant Hills Hotel, the first work of IM Pei architects, was completed. Some architects accused I.M. Pei of abusing government privileges. The buildings built here have cut down many centuriesold trees and destroyed the natural environment of Xiangshan. Due to the unique construction effect, the expensive traditional method of hand grinding the brick joints significantly increases the construction cost. The architect did not think deeply about the conventional oriental view but only stayed on the practice of restoring the construction technology. Not considering the site context is crucial to designing regionalism.

Research

Image.3 Pedestrian view of National Library 6 of China, Wikipedia On top of the modern-style building, an antique-style roof was built. The cyan glazed tile is used as the material. The cyan color is similar to the sky and is primarily used in grand buildings. For example, the residences for princes in the Forbidden City generally use blue glazed tiles. However, the design of using blue glazed tiles in the Beijing library is also incompatible with the traditional meaning.

Image. 4 Fragrant Hill Hotel, Wikipedia

Today, contemporary regionalism should emphasize openness and communication with global cultures. Architects should understand something deeper about traditional architecture. Architects should have a deeper understanding and cognition of traditional architecture. This article introduces three solutions:

The Xiangshan Hotel is surrounded by forest, and centuries-old trees on the site were cut down to build the project

• Materials and Construction Methods • The system of ancient buildings • The exchange of modern technology and traditional culture The research results will indicate the correct direction for China's regionalism architecture.

National Library of China (Visual China Group), accessed May 10, 2022, https://www.vcg.com/creative/1106820297. Hill Hotel (Archcollege), accessed May 10, 2022, http://www.archcollege.com/archcollege/2019/04/44010.html

7 Fragrant

i) Material and Construction Method The case that best exemplifies this point of view is the Ningbo Museum by architect Wang Shu. The construction party collected many old bricks and tiles in the surrounding area. Using bamboo strips as a formwork, adding concrete, and then removing the bamboo strips, the texture of the bamboo remains on the surface of the concrete. These two unique construction methods create a sense of historical atmosphere for visitors.This kind of historical atmosphere brings the feeling through soul, with touching and watching, even smelling.The unique native culture of Ningbo has been restored to the world in this way.

Image. 5 The top of the picture is a concrete wall with bamboo patterns, and the bottom is a tile wall made of more than 10 kinds of bricks. The tile wall is composed of bricks and tiles from Ming and Qing Dynasties collected by the folk. Concrete earth wall cast with bamboo is used as decoration, highlighting the characteristics of Jiangnan traditional dwellings. 8

ii) Spirit of Design For modern architecture, it isn't significant to blindly pursue the appearance of traditional architecture. It is crucial to find the soul of ancient conventional architecture from the structure and system of old buildings. A worthy example is China Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo. The towering buildings echo the regional pavilion on the ground, reflecting the correspondence between "heaven" and "earth" in Eastern philosophy. The boundary is integrated with the idea of Jiangnan gardens, which weakens the relationship between the building and the city. Chinese red is an understanding of design traditional culture and the Eastern philosophy from the perspective of the spirit. As a building representing China, the China Pavilion is farreaching in terms of politics, history, and culture.

Image.6 China Pavilion, Shanghai World Expo. The overall shape draws inspiration from ancient bronzes and adopts the traditional Chinese wooden structure. 9

iii) Communication The Suzhou Museum is a successful example of the combination of modern technology and traditional Chinese architectural styles. It is a project after exchanging technology and the traditional culture of an era.

8 Wenyun Tan, Inside and out, Stunning Tribute to a City's Culture (Shine), accessed May 6, 2022, https://www.shine.cn/feature/ travel/1905084303/. 9 China and the World Exposition (expochina2015), accessed May 5, 2022, http://www.expochina2015.org/c_1183.htm.

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The water flows slowly from the artificial waterfall into the pool, creating a conventional serene, and elegant aesthetic. It is also a water circulation system that regulates The traditional wooden beams were replaced by glass and steel.

Although traditional buildings' construction methods and materials are well adapted to the local climate, the advances in construction methods and technology are worth considering. Progress has brought better technology to develop new regionalism buildings.

Image.7 The lotus ponds and metal roof 11 structure of building, Suzhou Museum

Solution This work can be designed by determining the purpose of Beijing West Railway Station. It should be a kind of inheritance of the soul of ancient buildings, as well as thinking in combination with the site environment. In ancient China, this place was called a post station. The mortise and tenon structure in traditional Chinese architectural design can be applied to it. To design a building in a modern style but with a tenon and tenon structure. Beijing West Railway Station can also inherit the characteristics of the old post station from the perspective of space. The modernist construction method and local characteristic materials can be used to combine and innovate new materials to inherit Beijing's culture. For example, the Beijing Siheyuan uses blue bricks and gray tiles, but considering that this is a large building, it is necessary to use steel bars to make the building structure.

Image. 8 Mengchengyi, the largest post station in the existing ruins, is a combination of a one-story house and a multi-storey house. The multi-storey buildings play a role of climbing and looking into the distance. The stationed officials stand upstairs to check the visitors from afar, or the imperial court. letter.12

Image.9 The bucket arch is located at the junction of the column head and the beam, carrying the load of the roof and the structure above to the column, which is then transmitted to the foundation by the column. The tenon and tenon joint is a kind of concave-convex linking method used on wooden components. The main elements, such as columns and beams of ancient Chinese buildings, are connected by mortise and tenon joints. 13

The Lotus Ponds, Suzhou Museum, the Most Beautiful Museum (InfNew), accessed May 10, 2022, https://inf.news/zh-my/culture/ec8f0f a2bf89e5921b87c453637f93e5.html. The Roof Structure, Suzhou Museum, the Most Beautiful Museum (InfNew), accessed May 10, 2022, https://inf.news/zh-my/culture/ec8f 0fa2bf89e5921b87c453637f93e5.html. 12 Mengchengyi, Baidu, accessed May 10, 2022, https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%9B%82%E5%9F%8E%E9%A9%BF 13 Bucket Arch, Chinese Mortise Structure: The Ultimate Secret Of The Forbidden City's Thousand-year Standing (Zhihu), accessed June 5, 2022, https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/67195627?from_voters_page=true

Conclusion As a Chinese architectural designer, it is appreciable to go back to the region to think about the architectural design in China. The above research shows that there will be lost and misunderstood to answer the definition and question of regionalism architecture too hastily. With the change of times, the definition of regionality has also changed. It is rethinking Chinese regionalism architecture suitable for this era. It should be combined with the age of time. China's regionalism architecture is not traditional in history. It has been eliminated by the times and is destined to disappear in the long river of the history. Blindly rebuilding and repairing ancient buildings is not a right to construct regional building. Even if the indigenous buildings in history, they respond well to the geographical environment and traditional culture. However, the technology of the new period can be better satisfied the needs of the contemporary natural environment and the concept of sustainable development. The traditional architectural style system, materials, and craftsmanship are the intangible cultural heritage worthy of inheritance. An excellent regional architect is responsible for deeply studying the soul of conventional architecture and continuing it. The regional architecture itself is more significant in cultural heritage, so its experience to visitors is crucial. Thinking with the heart, not simply imitating, is crucial.

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