Contemporary Architecture In China

- Critical analysis of 60 projects from 60 architects in China - Highly illustrated throughout with rich technical details Architectural exhibition is an important aspect in the study and transmission of architectural culture. The academic thoughts and design styles that influence the trends of global architecture are all established through one or a series of important architectural exhibitions. This book is produced based on the GSD (Harvard Graduate School of Design) autumn exhibition: 'Towards a Critical Pragmatism: Contemporary Chinese Architecture'. It reveals a unique perspective of contemporary Chinese architecture by showcasing 60 works from 60 contemporary architects within five thematic categories: cultural, residential, regeneration, rural, and digital. The selected architects attempt to maintain, from the earliest moments of the design process to its finished outcome, a certain level of critical thinking and quality. It is a record of the continuous evolution and growth of contemporary Chinese architecture and hopes to open up a new avenue from which to encourage further conversation regarding both the present and future state of China's architecture culture.

Contemporary Architecture in China features new architecture by focusing on 30 structures built since 1999. These buildings, located in ten different cities over a vast geographical area, cover a wide variety of types, from residential to commercial to public use. China's architecture can be seen as a mirror of the country's development as a whole. During China's reform and opening up in the past 30 years, the country and its architecture have undergone great changes, developing at an overwhelming speed. In the past ten years, in particular, as China has strengthened its global ties, it has also experienced increasingly close cooperation between Chinese and foreign architects. This communication and exchange of ideas has resulted in an impressive number of internationally-recognized design projects. While introducing details of construction—including date, location, use and technical information—the book also focuses on the aesthetic contribution these innovative buildings have made to China's urban landscape. The book's abundant images further enhance the reader's understanding of architectural styles and design features. Developments in construction and engineering as well as trends in architectural design can also be traced, giving readers a better understanding of today's China and its dynamic architecture.

Berlin-based writer Dubrau has selected 25 buildings for presentation, each with about eight to ten pages containing full-page or double-page photos, plans, and a page of text describing particularities of context, construction, challenges, and unique features. His essay on new trends in Chinese architecture, and another essay on the subject (by Brigitta Hahn-Melchor) describe some of the economic, social, cultural, and environmental forces that are shaping what has been getting built in China, much that is extraordinarily innovative and, also, extraordinarily controversial from both Chinese and international points of view.

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2010 in the subject Art - Architecture / History of Construction, ( Atlantic International University ), course: Doctorate in Architecture (PhD), language: English, abstract: China is transforming in terms of economy, social, culture and physical development. Due to this, rapid urban development in China threatens the urban fabric of Chinese cities. Development has attempted to balance strong Western influences with traditional Chinese forms and has met mixed results. Although, it is already in existence of a new current of Chinese regionalism in architecture but this trend could be further improved by careful applications of the principles of architecture. This thesis presents five case studies of current Chinese completed building projects in two major urban settings; Beijing and Shanghai, designed by Western architects. Each case study is examined in each of the basic elements of architecture in relation to traditions and modern architecture. These case studies are then used as the foundation for specific recommendations for future development of contemporary Chinese architectural regionalism, in particular focusing on ways to integrate traditional or vernacular techniques, devices and forms with modern needs, modern technologies, and foreign influences in order to enhance the regional culture and built environment. There is distinction made between Beijing and Shanghai in which Beijing is more of a historic city emphasizing Chinese government, while Shanghai is more of an economic nerve of China emphasizing trade, finance and international business. Together, the two cities form the forefront of the built environment showcase of China.

本书通过对当代中国本土博物馆的案例展示, 印证了当代中国建筑师游走于传统与现代之间的探寻之旅, 同时也反映出了中国的传统文化与建筑哲学之间的共生关系.书中每座博物馆案例都通过自身的鲜明个性, 艺术的展现方式传达出优雅与高尚的气息, 在建筑, 室内与景观的互动过程中, 表达出建筑师对于藏品, 氛围以及观众感知体验的尊重.通过对本书的阅读, 除了能够对中国当代建筑师的设计风格及理念有一定了解之外, 还能感受到博物馆作为一种独特的文化建筑, 通过自身的比例, 空间, 色彩与质感的组织传递出独特的文化内涵与意识形态.

A collection of essays on architecture of modern China, arranged chronologically covering a period from 1729 to 2008, focusing mainly on the twentieth century. The distinctive feature of this book is a blending of ‘critical’ and ‘historical’ research, taking a long-range perspective transcending the current scene and the Maoist period. This is a short, elegant book that condenses the wide subject matter into key topics.

In the early twentieth century, Chinese traditional architecture and the French-derived methods of the École des Beaux-Arts converged in the United States when Chinese students were given scholarships to train as architects at American universities whose design curricula were dominated by Beaux-Arts methods. Upon their return home in the 1920s and 1930s, these graduates began to practice architecture and create China’s first architectural schools, often transferring a version of what they had learned in the U.S. to Chinese situations. The resulting complex series of design-related transplantations had major implications for China between 1911 and 1949, as it simultaneously underwent cataclysmic social, economic, and political changes. After 1949 and the founding of the People’s Republic, China experienced a radically different wave of influence from the Beaux-Arts through advisors from the Soviet Union who, first under Stalin and later Khrushchev, brought Beaux-Arts ideals in the guise of socialist progress. In the early twenty-first century, China is still feeling the effects of these events. Chinese Architecture and the Beaux-Arts examines the coalescing of the two major architectural systems, placing significant shifts in architectural theory and practice in China within relevant, contemporary, cultural, and educational contexts. Fifteen major scholars from around the world analyze and synthesize these crucial events to shed light on the dramatic architectural and urban changes occurring in China today—many of which have global ramifications. This stimulating and generously illustrated work is divided into three sections, framed by an introduction and a postscript. The first focuses on the convergence of Chinese architecture and the École des Beaux-Arts, outlining the salient aspects of each and suggesting how and why the two "met" in the U.S. The second section centers on the question of how Chinese architects were influenced by the Beaux-Arts and how Chinese architecture was changed as a result. The third takes an even closer look at the Beaux-Arts influence, addressing how innovative practices, new schools of architecture, and buildings whose designs were linked to Beaux-Arts assumptions led to distinctive new paradigms that were rooted in a changing China. By virtue of its scope, scale, and scholarship, this volume promises to become a classic in the fields of Chinese and Western architectural history. Contributors: Tony Atkin, Peter J. Carroll, Yung Ho Chang,Jeffrey W. Cody, Kerry Sizheng Fan, Fu Chao-Ching, Gu Daqing, Seng Kuan,Delin Lai, Xing Ruan, Joseph Rykwert, Nancy S. Steinhardt, David VanZanten, Rudolf Wagner, Zhang Jie, Zhao Chen.

A 108-meter high Eiffel Tower rises above Champs Elysées Square in Hangzhou. A Chengdu residential complex for 200,000 recreates Dorchester, England. An ersatz Queen’s Guard patrols Shanghai’s Thames Town, where pubs and statues of Winston Churchill abound. Gleaming replicas of the White House dot Chinese cities from Fuyang to Shenzhen. These examples are but a sampling of China’s most popular and startling architectural movement: the construction of monumental themed communities that replicate towns and cities in the West. Original Copies presents the first definitive chronicle of this remarkable phenomenon in which entire townships appear to have been airlifted from their historic and geographic foundations in Europe and the Americas, and spot-welded to Chinese cities. These copycat constructions are not theme parks but thriving communities where Chinese families raise children, cook dinners, and simulate the experiences of a pseudo-Orange County or Oxford. In recounting the untold and evolving story of China’s predilection for replicating the greatest architectural hits of the West, Bianca Bosker explores what this unprecedented experiment in “duplitecture” implies for the social, political, architectural, and commercial landscape of contemporary China. With her lively, authoritative narrative, the author shows us how, in subtle but important ways, these homes and public spaces shape the behavior of their residents, as they reflect the achievements, dreams, and anxieties of those who inhabit them, as well as those of their developers and designers. From Chinese philosophical perspectives on copying to twenty-first century market forces, Bosker details the factors giving rise to China’s new breed of building. Her analysis draws on insights from the world’s leading architects, critics and city planners, and on interviews with the residents of these developments.