Strategies of Negation in Reflective Design

as an Alternative to Critical Regionalism:

A Study of Contemporary Architecture

in China and Japan since 1990

By

Lu ZHANG

Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of:

Doctor of Philosophy

June 2019

Faculty of Architecture, Building, and Planning

The University of Melbourne

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3265-7130

i

Abstract

After a long period of westernisation and modernisation, East Asian countries had begun a

common effort in regenerating indigenous cultural resources to shape their own versions of

modernity in response to a globalising homogenisation in architecture. It firstly emerged in

Japan with a rise of Metabolist movement since the 1960s. Benefited from the Chinese market

economy and opening-up policy, it happened in China only from the 1990s, amongst some

most reflective architects with independent thinking.

This situation puts China and Japan into parallel and even comparable positions to examine

East Asian approaches to respond the universalizing forces of globalisation. This is often

viewed as attempts in ‘critical regionalism’, a concept developed in European and North

American academic context using mainly western cases and concepts. This raises an issue as

to if this western category is applicable to the cases in East Asia. However, there is no

research done that addresses this issue using cases from China and Japan in a regional

framework and adopting indigenous aesthetic categories in response to formulations from the

west.

To fill up this gap, this research conducts a region-based comparative study on the most recent

reflective design practices in China and Japan. It explores the use of traditional aesthetic ideas

and strategies that – already different in the past – may depart from western categories for

contemporary practice. It aims to discover new expressions and new uses of traditional

aesthetic categories – conscious or unconscious – in contemporary design practices in China

and Japan that may indicate an alternative path to those proposed in the Euro-American

context. This thesis tries to position critical regionalism within a larger historic and

geographic context. It is neither to critique the details of the former argument, nor to debate

the value and significance of this concept in any abstract sense. Rather, it is to seek for an

alternative to critical regionalism in the current East Asian circumstances. It aims to test and

to find out an alternative approach – discovered as a strategy of negation – to critical

regionalism, an approach rooted in the local cultural and aesthetic traditions.

ii

Declaration

This is to certify that the thesis comprises only my original work except where indicated in

the preface; due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used; the

thesis is approximately 80,000 words in length, inclusive of endnotes, but exclusive of tables,

maps, appendices, and bibliography.

Lu ZHANG

June 2019

iii

Acknowledgements

This thesis was carried out during the years 2014-2019 at Faculty of Architecture, Building

and Planning, Melbourne University. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all

those who have given me the possibility in the completion of this thesis.

First and foremost, I owe my heartfelt thankfulness to Faculty of Architecture, Building and

Planning, Melbourne University for offering me the Melbourne Research Scholarship, to

make my studies possible.

My deepest gratitude goes to my thesis supervisor Associate Prof. Dr. Jianfei Zhu who

encouraged and directed me. Without his illuminating instruction, enlightening guidance and

continuous inspiration, this thesis would hardly have been completed.

Besides, I am profoundly grateful to Dr. Marcus White who had been my co-supervisor. His

encouragement, guidance and insightful comments have been essential during this work.

Furthermore, I would like to thank my thesis committee members: Prof. Alan Pert, Dr.

Amanda Achmadi and Dr. Hing-Wah Chau, for providing stimulating discussions, valuable

advices and useful critiques on this research work.

My sincere thanks must also go to Ms. Jane Trewin, research support officer of the faculty,

for her kind help and assistance in keeping my progress on schedule.

Finally and especially, I would like to dedicate my daughter Lydia Gao and to all family and

friends for their invaluable help, unwavering support, thoughtful considerations and great

confidence in me, whose continuing love has enabled me to complete this work.

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Table of Contents

LIST OF FIGURES vi

LIST OF CHARTS xii

LIST OF TABLES xiii

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 The problem 1

1.2 Literature review 3

1.3 About this research

19

Chapter 2: Conceptual framework and Theoretical discussion

2.1 Discourse analysis on the theory of critical regionalism 30

2.2 East Asian traditional aesthetics employed by critical designs today 37

2.3 Further thoughts 44

2.4 Framework of this thesis 47

PART 2: CHINA (POST 1990): CASE STUDIES

Chapter 3: Historical review

3.1 Historical background of Chinese modern architecture 57

3.2 Review of Chinese modern and contemporary architects 64

3.3 Key architects in contemporary China 72

Chapter 4: Case studies

4.1 Li Xiaodong 79

4.2 Wang Shu 90

Chapter 5: Analysis and Discussion

106

PART 3: JAPAN (POST 1990): CASE STUDIES

Chapter 6: Historical review

6.1 Historical background of Japanese modern architecture 113

6.2 Review of Japanese modern and contemporary architects 119

6.3 Key architects in contemporary Japan 125

Chapter 7: Case studies

7.1 Kengo Kuma 134

7.2 Tadao Ando 150

Chapter 8: Analysis and Discussion 165

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PART 4: REFLECTION AND CONCLUSION

Chapter 9: Comparison

9.1 China and Japan: contrasted and compared 174

9.2 Common characteristics and tendencies 182

Chapter 10: Reflection and conclusion

10.1 Aesthetics and regionality: as critical categories in design thinking 191

10.2 Reflective design: outside the west, in China, Japan and East Asia 194

10.3 Conclusion 197

NOTES 50,109,168,200

BIBLIOGRAPHY 202

APPENDICES 213

vi

List of figures

Figure 1.1 Four architects in four regions in this research. 24

Figure 1.2 Malcontenta and Garches, Analytical diagrams. 26

Figure 1.3 Garches, elevations. 26

Figure 1.4 Villa Stein, Garches. Le Corbusier, 1927. 27

Figure 1.5 Fernand Leger, Three Faces, 1926. 27

Figure 1.6 Bauhaus, Dessau. Walter Gropius, 1925-1926. 27

Figure 1.7 Picasso, L’Arlesienne, 1911-12. 27

Figure 1.8 Taiji-trigrammes and the concepts of ‘yin yang’. 44

Figure 1.9 Table number 12 否(pǐ) in 64 hexagrams. 44

Figure 1.10 Schematically illustrate feng shui. 44

Figure 1.11 Go (wei qi). 45

Figure 1.12 Schematic map of Neiankyo, which is an ancient city now known as

Kyoto.

45

Figure 1.13 Map of Chang’an. 45

Figure 2.1 Five treaty ports in the First Opium War 1839-1842. 57

Figure 2.2 Commune of the Great Wall, 2002. 62

Figure 2.3 Sifang Parkland in Nanjing. 63

Figure 2.4 Continental Bank Building, Beijing, by Bei and Guan, 1924; Union

Building, Shanghai, by Palmer and Turner, 1916; Sassoon House,

Shanghai, by Palmer and Turner, 1929; Metropole Hotel, Shangha, by

Palmer and Turner in 1934; the Grand Theatre, Shanghai, by Laszlo

Edward Hudec, 1933; Woo Residence, Shanghai, by Laszlo Edward

Hudec, 1937.

65

Figure 2.5 Building in Ginling College, Nanjing, by Hunry Killam Murphy,

1918-1923; Building in Yenching University, Beijing, by Hunry

Killam Murphy, 1918-1927; Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Nanjing, by Lu

Yanzhi, 1929; Shanghai City hall, by Dong Dayou, 1933; the College

of Sciences in Zhongshan University, Guangzhou, by Lin Keming,

1933.

66

Figure 2.6 Shenyang Railway Station, by Yang Tingbao, 1927. 67

Figure 2.7 Nanjing Central Hospital, by Yang Tingbao, 1933. 67

Figure 2.8 The Social Sciences Institute of the Academia Sinica, in Nanjing, by

Yang Tingbao, 1947.

67

Figure 2.9 The former residence of Sun Ke, by Yang Tingbao, 1948. 67

Figure 2.10 Ten Great Buildings. 69

Figure 2.11 Cui Kai’s key designs works. 74

Figure 2.12 Liu Jiakun’s key designs works. 75

Figure 2.13 Wang Shu’s key designs works. 75

Figure 2.14 Li Xiaodong’s key designs works. 76

Figure 2.15 Key monographs of Li Xiaodong. 79

vii

Figure 2.16 Regular script. 81

Figure 2.17 Cursive script. 81

Figure 2.18 Early Spring, by Guo Xi (1023-1085, Northern Song Dynasty), signed

and dated 1072.

81

Figure 2.19 Old Trees Level Distance, by Guo Xi (1023-1085, Northern Song. 81

Figure 2.20 Blank background presented as water in Chinese painting. 82

Figure 2.21 Landscape after Night Rain Shower, by Kuncan (Qing Dynasty), 1660. 82

Figure 2.22 Taiji-trigrammes. 83

Figure 2.23 Table number 22 賁(bì). 83

Figure 2.24 Site Plan of the Yuhu Elementary School. 86

Figure 2.25 Floor Plans of the Yuhu Elementary School. 86

Figure 2.26 Section of the Yuhu Elementary School. 86

Figure 2.27 The Yuhu Elementary School. 87

Figure 2.28 Bridge School. 87

Figure 2.29 Floor plans of Bridge School. 88

Figure 2.30 Section of Bridge School. 88

Figure 2.31 Bridge School. 90

Figure 2.32 Key monographs of Wang Shu. 91

Figure 2.33 Wang Shu’s copy of the work of a calligraphy master, Zhong You,

dating back to the second century.

92

Figure 2.34 Qian Li Jiang Shan Tu (A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains), by

Wang Ximeng (1096-1119).

93

Figure 2.35 Part of ‘Qian Li Jiang Shan Tu’ 93

Figure 2.36 Imitated Huanghe Shanqiao Mountains and Streams, by Xie Shichen

(1487-after 1567, Ming Dynasty).

94

Figure 2.37 Analysis of traditional painting by author. 94

Figure 2.38 Suzhou gardens. 95

Figure 2.39 Site Plan of Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art. 99

Figure 2.40 Courtyards in Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art. 100

Figure 2.41 Passageways in Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art. 100

Figure 2.42 Openings in Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art. 101

Figure 2.43 Openings in The Canglang Pavilion, Suzhou. 101

Figure 2.44 Taihu Lake Stone in The Humble Administrator’s Garden, Suzhou. 101

Figure 2.45 Vegetated buildings in Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art. 102

Figure 2.46 Ningbo History Museum. 102

Figure 2.47 Wind in Pines Among a Myriad Valleys, Li Tang, Song Dynasty. 102

Figure 2.48 Floor Plans of Ningbo History Museum. 103

Figure 2.49 Elevations and sections of Ningbo History Museum. 103

Figure 2.50 Wapan wall and zhu tiao mo ban hun ning tu in Ningbo History

Museum.

104

Figure 2.51 Section details of Wapan wall and zhu tiao mo ban hun ning tu in

Ningbo History Museum.

104

viii

Figure 3.1 Yodokō Guest House, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1924. 114

Figure 3.2 Yodokō Guest House. 114

Figure 3.3 Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1939. 114

Figure 3.4 Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1923. 114

Figure 3.5 National Museum of Western Art in Ueno, Tokyo, Le Corbusier,

1959.

114

Figure 3.6 Japanese-style Rooms in Yodokō Guest House. 114

Figure 3.7 The extension of Hyūga Residence at Atami, Bruno Taut, 1936. 114

Figure 3.8 Tokyo National Museum, Jin Watanabe, 1937. 115

Figure 3.9 ‘Modernist Architecture as Cultural Properties’ selected by

‘DOCOMOMO Japan’ in 1999.

115

Figure 3.10 The International House of Japan, by Junzō Yoshimura, Kunio

Maekawa, Junzō Sakakura, 1955.

116

Figure 3.11 Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, by Kenzo Tange, 1955. 116

Figure 3.12 55 Year House of Hosei University, by Hiroshi Oe, 1955. 116

Figure 3.13 Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo, Kisho Kurokawa, 1972. 117

Figure 3.14 Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Kunio Maekawa, 1961. 121

Figure 3.15 Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Kunio Maekawa, 1975. 121

Figure 3.16 Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. 121

Figure 3.17 Kagawa Prefectural Government Building the east offices, Kenzo

Tange, 1958.

122

Figure 3.18 National Gymnasiums for Tokyo Olympics, Kenzo Tange, 1964. 122

Figure 3.19 St. Mary’s Cathedral in Tokyo, Kenzo Tange, 1964. 122

Figure 3.20 Location of Naoshima in Japan. 127

Figure 3.21 Location of Ando Tadao’s design works in Naoshima. 127

Figure 3.22 Benesse House Museum, 1992 127

Figure 3.23 Benesse House Annex, 1995. 127

Figure 3.24 Minamidera (Art House Projects), 1999. 127

Figure 3.25 Chichu Art Museum, 2004. 127

Figure 3.26 Lee Ufan Museum, 2010. 127

Figure 3.27 Ando Museum, 2013. 127

Figure 3.28 Naoshima Ferry Terminal, SANAA (Kazuyo Sejima and Ryus

Nishizawa), 2006.

128

Figure 3.29 A-Art House. 128

Figure 3.30 S-Art House. 128

Figure 3.31 Toyo Ito Museum of Architecture, Imabari-shi, Ehime, 2011. 129

Figure 3.32 Sendai Mediatheque, Toyo Ito, 2001. 129

Figure 3.33 Library of Tama Art University, Tokyo, 2007. 129

Figure 3.34 Location of Tochigi in Japan. 130

Figure 3.35 Location of Kengo Kuma’s design works in Tochigi. 130

Figure 3.36 Nasu History Museum, Nasugun, 2000. 130

Figure 3.37 Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art, Nasugun, 2000. 130

ix

Figure 3.38 Stone Museum, Stone Plaza, Nasugun, 2000. 130

Figure 3.39 Chokkura Plaza, Shioyagun, 2006. 130

Figure 3.40 Tadao Ando’s key designs works. 131

Figure 3.41 Toyo Ito’s key designs works. 131

Figure 3.42 SANAA(Kazuyo Sejima & Ryus Nishizawa)’s key designs works. 131

Figure 3.43 Kengo Kuma’s key designs works. 131

Figure 3.44 Nō theatre (Japanese traditional theatre). 140

Figure 3.45 Noh Stage in the Forest, Japan, 1996. 140

Figure 3.46 Stone Museum, Japan, 2000. 140

Figure 3.47 Water/Glass, Japan, 1995. 140

Figure 3.48 Veranda made of water in Water/Glass. 140

Figure 3.49 Veranda made of water in Water/Glass. 140

Figure 3.50 Louvers on the roof in Water/Glass. 140

Figure 3.51 Pointillism. 141

Figure 3.52 Lotus House, by Kengo Kuma, Japan, 2005. 141

Figure 3.53 Xinjin Zhi Museum, by Kengo Kuma, Chengdu, China, 2011. 141

Figure 3.54 China Academy of Art’s Folk Art Museum, by Kengo Kuma,

Hangzhou, China, 2015.

141

Figure 3.55 Stone Museum. 143

Figure 3.56 Plan and elevations of Stone Museum. 144

Figure 3.57 ‘Porous wall’ and section detail. 145

Figure 3.58 Stone louvre and section detail. 145

Figure 3.59 Interior of stone museum. 145

Figure 3.60 Kengo Kuma’s working models. 145

Figure 3.61 Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art. 146

Figure 3.62 Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi bridge and Atak, by Andō

Hiroshige, 1857.

147

Figure 3.63 Details in the painting of Andō Hiroshige. 147

Figure 3.64 Ground floor plan, section and elevations of Nakagawa-machi Bato

Hiroshige Museum of Art.

148

Figure 3.65 Overlapping layers of Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of

Art.

149

Figure 3.66 Low and deep eaves of Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of

Art.

149

Figure 3.67 Interiors of Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art. 149

Figure 3.68 The building in the shadow. 149

Figure 3.69 Living room in Koshino Residence, by Tadao Ando. 152

Figure 3.70 Interior in Horiuchi Residence, by Tadao Ando. 152

Figure 3.71 ‘Water-Lilies’ series, Claude Monet, 1914-1926; ‘Time/Timeless/No

Time’, Walter De Maria, 2004; ‘Open Sky’, James Turrell, 2004.

159

Figure 3.72 Chichu Art Museum in aerial view. 160

Figure 3.73 Visiting route guildlines. 160

x

Figure 3.74 Chichu Garden. 160

Figure 3.75 Four seasons of the Buddha. 161

Figure 3.76 Construction progress in The Hill of the Buddha. 161

Figure 3.77 Before and after the construction in The Hill of the Buddha. 161

Figure 3.78 The aerial view of the site. 162

Figure 3.79 The pathway in Spring, Summer and Autumn. 162

Figure 3.80 The pathway in Winter. 162

Figure 3.81 Water garden in The Hill of the Buddha. 162

Figure 3.82 A narrow and straight pathway formed by heavy snow. 162

Figure 3.83 A narrow and straight pathway formed by heavy snow. 162

Figure 3.84 Spatial sequence in The Hill of the Buddha. 164

Figure 4.1 World Climate Zones. 183

Figure 4.2 Locations of case studies in this thesis. 183

Figure 4.3 Engawa. 184

Figure 4.4 Tsukimidai in Katsura Imperial Villa, Kyoto. 184

Figure 4.5 Transition areas in Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art. 185

Figure 4.6 Veranda made of water in Water/Glass. 185

Figure 4.7 Section of Yuhu Elementary School. 185

Figure 4.8 Classroom and corridor inYuhu Elementary School. 185

Figure 4.9 Corridors in Bridge school. 185

Figure 4.10 Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art. 185

Figure 4.11 Louvers on the roof in Water/Glass. 186

Figure 4.12 Walls with sliding doors in traditional Japanese tea house. 188

Figure 4.13 Penetrable walls with folding screens in traditional Chinese garden. 188

Figure 4.14 Natural growing and dissolving architecture. 188

Figure 4.15 The façade in Stone Museum, 2000, by Kengo Kuma. 190

Figure 4.16 The woven surface of stone and steel in Chokkura Plaza, 2006, by

Kengo Kuma.

190

Figure 4.17 Wall materials in Imperial Hotel Foyer, 1922, by Frank Lloyd Wright. 190

Figure 4.18 Taihu Lake Stone in the Humble Administrator's Garden, Suzhou,

1509.

190

Figure 4.19 Katsura Imperial Villa, Japan, 1615. 191

Figure 4.20 Shugakuin Imperial Villa, Japan, 1659. 191

Figure 4.21 Sento Imperial Palace, Japan, 1630. 191

Figure 4.22 Artificial nature in the Lingering Garden, Suzhou, 1593, the Humble

Administrator's Garden, Suzhou, 1509, and Ginkaku-ji, Kyoto, c1490.

192

Figure 4.23 Indirect path in Suzhou garden. For example, the Humble

Administrator’s Garden and the Garden of Cultivation, c1620.

192

Figure 4.24 Framing the views in the openings in the Humble Administrator’s

Garden and the openings in the Master-of-Nets Garden, c1785.

192

Figure 4.25 Vertical Courtyard Apartment, Hangzhou, China, 2007, by Wang Shu. 195

Figure 4.26 Sections of Vertical Courtyard Apartment. 195

xi

Figure 4.27 Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center, Tokyo, Japan, 2012, by

Kengo Kuma.

195

Figure 4.28 Sections of Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center. 195

xii

List of charts

Chart 1.1

Schematic political-economic and architectural history in China and

Japan since 1960 with a GDP comparison.

22

Chart 1.2 Framework of my research. 49

Chart 2.1 The tendency of Chinese modern and contemporary architecture. 72

Chart 2.2 Spatial analysis of Bridge School. 89

Chart 2.3 The similarity/comparability between the features of contemporary

Chinese architecture and the Chinese traditional aesthetics.

108

Chart 3.1 Family Tree of Japanese Modern and Contemporary Architects. 119

Chart 3.2 The tendency of Japanese modern and contemporary architecture. 124

Chart 3.3 Kengo Kuma’s Publications by categories. 135

Chart 3.4 Kengo Kuma’s Publications by countries. 135

Chart 3.5 The evolution of Kengo Kuma’s key design strategies. 143

Chart 3.6 The similarity/comparability between the features of contemporary

Japanese architecture and the wabi-sabi aesthetics.

167

Chart 4.1 Differences on China and Japan in the historical framework. 174

Chart 4.2 Background and brief history of Chinese and Japanese modern and

contemporary architecture.

176

Chart 4.3 GDP Comparison between Japan and China from 1960 to 2016. 176

Chart 4.4 Timelines of Li Xiaodong, Wang Shu, Kengo Kuma and Tadao Ando. 182

xiii

List of tables

Table 2.1 Biography of four contemporary Chinese architects. 73

Table 2.2 General information of key Chinese contemporary architects. 78

Table 3.1 Biography of four contemporary Japanese architects. 125

Table 3.2 Key monographs of Kengo Kuma. 136

Table 3.3 Object: ‘Photographic Architecture’ and ‘Cinematic Architecture’. 138

Table 3.4 Anti-Object: ‘Cinematic Architecture’. 139

Table 4.1 The features of cases in this research. 179

1

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 The Problem

Problem Statement

In the last two decades, benefiting from China’s market economy and opening-up policy,

there is a perceived emergence of critical voice and reflective design in the individual

architects from China. Chinese contemporary architecture has begun to gain global attention,

as represented by a steady rise of Chinese architects awarded by international institutes and

organisations. Such a phenomenon has had occurred during an earlier period and in a wider

geographic scope elsewhere, for example in Japan with a rise of Metabolism since the 1960s.

In spite of being in different historical periods and social conditions, it seemed that there was

a common effort in regenerating indigenous cultural resources to reshape their own versions

of modernity in response to the challenges of modern globalisation, amongst some most

reflective architects from Japan and China. Combined with the new technology and East

Asian values, the recurrence of the oriental traditional aesthetics has become a cultural

phenomenon. This situation puts China and Japan into a parallel and even comparable

position, to examine East Asian approaches to respond to globalisation which has been

threatening regional difference.

On the other hand, in an earlier time, European and North American scholars had started to

seek for a new approach or possibility to oppose the mainstream forces of globalisation. The

conceptual device of ‘critical regionalism’ was proposed as an alternative to postmodernism

in the late 1970s by Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre, ‘to avoid becoming entangled

within the modernist versus postmodernist debate.’1 It was gradually developed and

formulated by Kenneth Frampton since 1983. Frampton’s definition has established an

important framework for discourse and debate, in which the core idea is resistance. Two

decades later, Tzonis and Lefaivre rethought the concept and emphasized on the value of

identity of a physical, social and cultural situation, aiming at sustaining diversity while

benefiting from universality.2 This raises an issue as to whether this Euro-American category

is applicable to the cases in East Asia, and whether these architectural practices within the

context of East Asian aesthetics are contributing to an alternative to the formulations of

critical regionalism.

Existing studies on contemporary Chinese architecture and architects have started the debate

on cross-cultural exchanges in some scholars like Peter G. Rowe (2002), Zhu Jianfei (2005),

Li Xiangning (2014) and Zhu Tao (2006). Peter Rowe noticed that the boundary between

tradition and modernity has begun to be blurring. Contemporary architects in China,

according to Rowe, explored the essence of traditional culture because some modernist

characteristics were founded in traditional Chinese architecture.3 In Zhu Jianfei’s analysis,

the introduction of market economy and civil society opening up in China since the 1990s

2

made it possible for Chinese contemporary architects to gain a socio-economic basis upon

which to assert their voice and authorship.4 In addition, the Euro-American scholars

including David B. Stewart (1987), Botond Bognar (1990), Kenneth Frampton (1991, 2012)

and Rem Koolhaas (2011) have developed insights on modern and contemporary Japanese

architecture and architects. Furthermore, the re-emerging comparability in design approach

between China and Japan had been drawing attention in academic research. Rem Koolhaas

had conducted his studies on China and Japan since the 1990s. The book Great Leap Forward,

based on his field work in the region of Pearl River Delta, southeast China from 1996 to 2002,

‘consists of a series of interrelated studies investigating a complex urban condition that has

resulted from a uniquely transformed political environment.’5 Then he spent another six years

from 2005 to 2011 to record an oral history of the Metabolist movement called Project Japan,

through interviews with dozens of surviving members, mentors, collaborators, rivals, critics,

and families.6 Moreover, scholars such as Sha Yongjie (2001) and Peter Rowe (2005) have

also started to address aspects of comparability of China and Japan. Sha Yongjie has

compared modern architecture of the two countries historically from 1900 to 2000. He

examined the earlier decades claiming a framework of comparability in the process of

‘westernisation’, while Peter Rowe studied urban conditions of the cities in a wider regional

context with an open-ended framework of relatedness, rather than a straight dual

comparability between any two cases or countries in a strict sense.

With the increasing international influence, eastern values have been brought back into

architecture in many East Asian countries, which had followed Euro-American modernism in

the last century. Contemporary practices are increasingly interested in regional manifestations.

How to combine a native building tradition with Euro-American modernism became a

consistent concern. In the case of China and of Japan, it emerged with new expressions,

which were not exactly a close following of critical regionalism Euro-American scholars

proposed, but rather contained native aesthetic ideas. However, existing studies have not

looked into China and Japan in contemporary period in a cross-region approach, using East

Asian traditional aesthetics as a category of analysis on architectural design as an alternative

to the European critical approach. It is necessary to fill in this gap.

To explain further about this research, it is necessary to clarify terms such as ‘western’ and

‘eastern’. Although there are differences of meaning in geographical and cultural scope, in

this thesis, they are used as cultural and conceptual categories for theoretical discussions.

Research question

According to the problem statement above, the main research questions are as follows: This

research aims to question former scholars’ frameworks, by conducting case studies of some of

the most recent design practices and discourses from China and Japan, in which

commonalities and differences might be found, within the context of East Asian traditional

aesthetics. In addition, this thesis attempts to explain a new expression in the contemporary

design which includes the use of invisible traditions and abstract regionalism, to create a new

challenge originated from East Asia, which is quite different from Europe or North America,

3

by using the concept and methodology consciously and unconsciously in the application of

traditional aesthetics in China and Japan. It aims to question whether these architectural

practices within the context of East Asian aesthetics are contributing to a reflective

regionalism and whether ‘critical regionalism’ is fully relevant for the current practice and

debate as evidenced in the case study. If alternatives have been involved, how this was

achieved? Apparently, ideas and cultural forces in the East Asian traditions have been

employed as alternative sources.

In a word, this research aims to examine alternatives, if any, to critical regionalism that may

have been formulated with the use of East Asian traditional aesthetic ideas, by investigating

some selected comparable cases in China and Japan as emerged since the 1990s. Specific

questions are follows:

1) What are the respective trajectories of Japan and China in modern architectural history?

What are the common tendencies, if any, of design works from reflective architects in

China and Japan since the 1990s? How are the tendencies reflected in the actual design

works and in the discourses by these architects?

2) What are the strategies used in the recent design works in China and Japan? How are the

strategies related to ideas and forces in aesthetic traditions in the region?

3) Can these strategies as an East Asian aesthetical expression act as an alternative to critical

regionalism formulated as a Euro-American category, in response to the forces of

globalisation? If an alternative has been developed, how was this achieved?

1.2 Literature Review

This literature review will present the current studies related with the topic. It may be divided

into three parts: research on modern architecture in China; research on modern architecture in

Japan; and those on China-Japan comparison. Let us start with those on China.

Research on modern architecture in China

The related literature regarding the research on China can be roughly classified into the

following categories: overall study on modern architecture since twentieth century; focused

study on one period or theme; more specialised studies; and collections of academic essays.

Architects’ own manifestoes or collection of works, city focused studies, ‘coffee-table books’

with photos, and practical subject are excluded.

1) Overall study on architecture of modern China (twentieth century)

There are three scholars who have focused an overall study of modern Chinese architecture:

Peter G. Rowe, Zou Denong, and Zhu Jianfei. Peter G. Rowe, a renowned Euro-American

scholar in the fields of East Asian architecture and urbanism, has made a range of critical and

comparative overview of contemporary modernisation in East Asian cities, especially in

China. Zou Denong, more like an architectural historian, is rooted in the mainland research in

4

modern and contemporary China. Zhu Jianfei, educated in both mainland China and Europe,

is on behalf of contemporary Chinese voice; however, he is embedded in Euro-American

academia.

In Peter G. Rowe’s book Architectural encounters with essence and form in modern China

(2002), he described the architectural history from the end of Qing Dynasty to contemporary

China. He imagined a few conversations happened between three architects with different

architectural values somewhere in Beijing.7 This fresh structure and point of view are quite

different from any general academic book. As a clue, through their discussions and debates,

the author presented the academic topics and design issues of modern and contemporary

China. He discusses traditionalism and modernism, Chinese context and Euro-American

influences, architectural attitudes toward modernisation, the shape and appearance of

architecture (‘big roof’), and a series of relevant issues. Using core ideas of ‘essence’ and

‘form’, this book provides a comprehensive survey on the social, historical, political,

economic, and cultural factors that had influenced the development of Chinese modern

architecture. The book ends with this sentence ‘the gap between ‘essence’ and ‘form’ must be

filled by a specific history’8, which emphasises the relationships between architectural style’s

evolution and the specific historical development in China.

From my point of view, development in architecture is part of social history. The evolvement

of urban and society is influenced by historical processes, events, characters, and so on, in a

specific way. Only based on the historical knowledge of national, social, urban aspects, can a

more reasonable analysis be made. Although the book covers many aspects of the

development of architecture, the limitation of this book is the lack of linkage between

architectural evolutions and related architects themselves.

Zou Denong, specialised in Chinese architectural history after 1949, especially the Maoist

period, has published a few books in this field in the last three decades. Arranged in order of

time of publication, they are Zhongguo Xiandai Jianzhu Shigang (An outline of modern

Chinese architectural history) published in 1989, authored with Deshun Gong, and Yide Dou;

Zhongguo Xiandai Jianzhu Shi (A history of Chinese modern architecture) published in 2001;

Zhongguo Xiandai Jianzhu Yishu Lunti (Issues on Chinese modern architecture) published in

2006; and Zhongguo Xiandai Jianzhu Shi (A history of Chinese modern architecture)

published in 2010, as a scale-down version of the book with the same title published in 2001.

The first three books cover the seventy-year history of Chinese modern architecture from the

end of the 1920s to the end of the twentieth century with the main focus on the development

of architecture after 1949. Using historiographical approach to the timeframe, he divided the

period of modern Chinese architectural history after 1949 into the followings: the period to

renew the national economy from 1949 to 1952, the period of the first Five-Year Plan9 from

1953 to 1957, the period of ‘Great Leap Forward’ and the economic setback from 1958 to

1960, the period to adjust the national economy from 1961 to 1964, the period of ‘the

Revolution of Design’ and ‘the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution’ from 1965 to 1976,10

the period of economic reform and opening up from 1977 to 1989, and the period of planned

5

economy to the market transformation from 1990 to 1999.11

The authors described the social

background of each period, the main architectural movements, activities, experiences and

lessons, and discussed the architectural phenomena, events, works, theories and related

personnels. The last book presents a discourse on the issues of modern architecture as a style

of art, which are related with the basic theories, current practices, and even the past history, in

Chinese modern and contemporary background.12

It provides positive observations and

analyses through comparative studies of China and foreign countries in different development

stages. On the other hand, it expresses the author’s worries about current situations especially

in the negative responses to the introduction of foreign architectural theory.13

He mentions that the division on the periods of architectural history in China and the Europe

could be different. He uses 1949 as a division point of modern Chinese architectural history.14

However, he points out the query to the basis of division for historical periods and expects a

further research.15

After nearly twenty years, in 2008, his student Deng Qingtan published a

book Zhongguo Jinxiandai Jianzhu Lishi Zhenghe Yanjiu Lungang (Outline of the study on

the integration of Chinese modern and contemporary architectural history, 2008). He uses the

1900s as a starting point of modern architecture in China,16

which responds and solves the

query raised by Zou.

A comprehensive record ‘the chronicle of Chinese modern architecture from 1949 to 1999’17

is attached in appendix. The 2010 scale-down version of the 2001 book Zhongguo Xiandai

Jianzhu Shi is used as a national textbook for general higher education as listed in the

eleventh Five-Year Plan.18

These books are the most comprehensive and detailed ones in the description of Chinese

architectural history in the twentieth century. From my point of view, Zou Denong pays more

attention to architectural style and how it relates to the practice of socialism with Chinese

characteristics. The historical period he focused on is the Maoist period from 1949 to 1976,

which is also the period he had experienced. Due to political sensitivity, the discourses on

Cultural Revolution are not often seen in the literatures regarding contemporary history. One

of his contributions is that, in his books, he describes and analyses the events and buildings in

this particular period. However, what he has presented is more or less a chronological

description, which is somewhat superficial, and is lacking in dialogues, comparatives,

relationships, and interactions from both internal and external factors.

Then let us review the books from Zhu Jianfei. His book Architecture of Modern China: A

Historical Critique (2009), is a collection of his studies on modern Chinese architecture. The

articles are arranged chronologically and critically. They are categorized by three aspects:

social practice, historical condition, and formal evolution across time and geography.19

In this

book, Zhu explains the development of a unique visual form that combined European linear

perspective with Chinese symbolic representation. Furthermore, he explores the nationalist

projects in Nanjing under the control of Nationalist Party, and a spatial revolution in Beijing

after the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, followed by the emergence of national

professional architects. Then through debates and discussions came from China and the

6

Euro-America, the book presents a series of critical problems in contemporary Chinese

architecture. Combined with the Euro-American impact, all these elements, including social

practice, historical conditions and formal evolutions, result in the uniqueness of Chinese

architecture.20

Although the historical crossing covers from 1729 to 2008, it is not an overall history which

straightforwardly describes the development of architecture in China, but is one linked

together by several analytical articles based on a temporal line. As the author said, these

studies are empirical and descriptive;21

each essay aims to elaborate on a core problem in a

specific historic period.

However, the author considered too much political factors, probably due to his personal bias;

most of case studies are based on capital cities, such as Beijing and Nanjing. Coupled with the

critical moments and problems, the discourse strengthened uniqueness with a special

viewpoint. In addition, the author did not address a trend in a global perspective, and ignored

the future possibility for a globalisation of architectural styles.

Besides, Zhu had also conducted a series of researches on Chinese modern and contemporary

architecture with the use of Euro-American theories of ‘critical architecture’. He mentioned

the features of ‘critical architecture’ like ‘autonomy’, ‘resistance’, ‘opposition’, and ‘dualism’,

according to the statement of Michael Hays.22

2) Focused study on one period (pre-1949, post-1980) or theme (national style)

The books mentioned above are mainly literatures concerning the overall history of Chinese

modern architecture. Besides, there are several scholars who focus on one period or one

theme. The book Modernism in China: Architectural Visions and Revolutions (2008),

authored by Edward Denison and Guang Yu Ren, studies a period from the late Qing Dynasty,

an early period of modern China probably forgotten by local Chinese and overlooked by

countries outside of China. This extensive study illustrates well the role of modernism in the

development of Chinese architecture and urban landscape throughout the twentieth century.

The authors try to seek for a relationship between China’s ancient traditions and modern

skyscrapers that informs China’s twenty-first century architectural aspirations. Through the

study of the evolution of architectural style, the authors analyse how western styles and

fashions dominate the new urban landscape in modern China.23

Different from the scholars I mentioned above, Charlie Q. L. Xue combined theoretical

knowledge and his practical design experience into his books. Xue is a native scholar with

overseas education and professional experience. His research is mainly based on the periods

after Chinese economic reform and opening-up post 1978. Building a Revolution: Chinese

Architecture since 1980 (2006) is one of the most influential books of him. Instead of using a

chronological arrangement, the author selects and focuses on prominent topics that can mostly

represent the development of Chinese architecture from 1980 to 2005. In these thematic

chapters, the book deals with popular theories, the systems and practices, to explain how the

7

political and economic aspirations are communicated through building forms. In the last

chapter, the author presents his thought on the future shape of architecture. He points out that

Chinese architects and developers should find new balance and position in the framework of

contemporary China and the world.24

Besides, the appendices in the end of the book have

valuable information which are organised and attached, including ‘the chronicle of Chinese

architecture since 1980’, and ‘architectural education and publication’.25

Since 1980, there has been a trend that the new buildings gradually left Chinese style for a

global perspective. Charlie Q. L. Xue’s another book Quanqiuhua Chongji: Haiwai Jianzhu

Sheji Zai Zhongguo (The global impact: overseas architectural design in China, 2006)

discusses on the performance and influences of imported architecture in three periods: from

1980 to1990, from 1991 to 2000 and the 2000s.26

In each period, he discusses the social and

technical changes, representative buildings or urban design works, and their designers. The

roles and impacts of these buildings on the country are examined. In addition, this book

provides plenty of case studies with illustrations, and resourceful appendices, including the

chronology of importing of foreign architecture in China from 1980 to 2006, and a few lists of

architectural design in China from foreign architects since 1978.

These two books have potential practical values for ongoing urban construction. One of the

author’s contributions is that his research and analysis are based on the vision of dynamic

process. His insight, thinking and discussion for architectural development have been

extended into the new century, although the exploration and analysis do not give any definite

conclusions.

Xue didn’t stop his exploration and continued to extend his research in a broader scope. In

2016, he published a book Hong Kong architecture, 1945-2015: from colonial to global. It

covers Hong Kong’s contemporary history of three stages: government led modernity in the

post-war period to 1971; private forces command in the period of 1972 to 1997; and

backward and forward vision in the post-1997 period. This well structured book presents a

series of specialized topical studies, including development of private housing, the strategies

of private developers, the competitiveness of Hong Kong architects and building

professionals, and new cases of ‘rail village and mega-structure’. Hong Kong is a mirror to

other colonial cities. It combined the colonial power with a Chinese effort to make it

distinctiveness. However, its special political, economic and social conditions made it

uniqueness. As the author’s expected, this book aims to provide updated material for

analysing the architectural streams in mainland China and the rest of Asia.27

Furthermore, his post-doctorate student, Ding Guanghui developed the topic of contemporary

Chinese architectural practice, evidenced in his book Constructing a Place of Critical

Architecture in China: Intermediate Criticality in the Journal Time + Architecture (2015).

This book aims to explore how the Tongji University-based journal Time + Architecture has

engaged in the critical practice of architecture from the 1990s to the 2010s.28

Through a

comprehensive investigation on a range of topics such as architectural design, publication,

criticism and exhibition among emerging independent architects based in private design firms,

8

the author discovered the journal demonstrated a ‘dual critique or resistance’, which is an

oppositional attitude to the prevalent tendency of commodification in architectural practice

and a resistance to the general condition of architectural publication.29

He argued the journal

presented a particular form of critical architecture, which described as an ‘intermediate

criticality’, to respond with the current social conditions.30

However, the method using a

journal as a single lens needs to be carefully examined. Compared with a great deal of

architectural practices, only very limited and special cases have opportunities to be explored

and published in a single journal.

Later on, Charlie Q. L. Xue and Ding Guanghui joined together and co-wrote a book named A

History of Design Institutes in China: from Mao to market, and published in 2018. This book

traces the origin, growth, and current operation of the phenomenon of design institutes in

China from the Mao era (1949-1976) to the period of socialist market economy (1978 to now).

It provides an examination of the history of state-owned design institutes in China, focusing

on the interaction between individuals, design institutes, and the larger social, economic,

political, cultural, and ideological circumstances.31

The most recent publications also include China’s Architecture in a Globalizing World:

Between Socialism and the Market, authored by Han Jiawen, and published in 2017. This

book is developed from the author’s doctoral dissertation, which she finished in Sydney,

Australia. In this book, the author discovered Chinese architectural modernity in Maoist and

contemporary period, by using three case studies of Liu Jiakun, Cui Kai and URBANUS. She

discussed the traces of different architectural groups and firms in China during the process of

complex market transition. She stood on the point of addressing how a hegemonic position

was deconstructed during the transition from a planned economy to a market economy and

how multiple forces, including the individual impulses from Chinese architects, have

constructed new architectural identities, to avoid the arguments and criticisms of specific

architectural design.32

Apart from the books mentioned above, which are focusing on one specific period, there are a

few scholars who pay attention to a unique architectural phenomenon such as the emergence

of the national style known as ‘big roof’ in the early twentieth century. Fu Chaoqing, based

on his research of this field, published Zhongguo Gudian Shiyang Xin Jianzhu: Ershi Shiji

Zhongguo Xin Jianzhu Guanzhihua de Lishi Yanjiu (Chinese new architecture with classical

style: a historical research for bureaucratism of Chinese new architecture in the twentieth

century) in 1993. The book studies the political influence on Chinese architecture since 1900.

It deals with reasons behind new buildings with classical styles and decorated details, and

explores where a real Chinese modern architecture can be found.33

Then the author makes a

critical review on Chinese architecture with classical styles, on pre-1949 China, mainland

China after 1949, and Taiwan after 1949, to try to examine as to where a real Chinese modern

architecture can be found.34

9

However, this style characterised as ‘big roof’ is just one of the approaches to Chinese

modern architecture, and it only appeared in specific periods. The book has not examined the

overall spectrum. Lack of a global scope is the biggest pity for this book.

3) More specialised studies

In addition, there are more specialised studies which often have closer relations with politics

and state ideologies. For example, there are important urban projects with Chinese

characteristics which were closely related to Chinese unique development and experience. Yu

Shuishan’s Chang’an Avenue and the Modernization of Chinese Architecture (2013),

developed from his PhD dissertation, is a comprehensive study of Chang’an Avenue of

Beijing in the second half of the twentieth century, which is the most important street in

Chinese political and cultural history. The author structures the book in chronological order,

tracing the development of this street and surrounding buildings, which has a close linkage

with state ideology in socialist China. Using this street as a key case, the book explores the

urban texture alteration and details in the design process of individual buildings in the heart of

the capital city.35

Although this street is an epitome of the Chinese modernization process, it is more like a

symbol of power with strong political influences. Most of readers who are familiar with

Beijing and its history probably will connect it with personal political views. In addition, the

weakness with the argument is that the narration of planning and design projects lacks

adequate illustrations and graphic analysis.

Compared with the book above mentioned, Remaking Chinese Urban Form: Modernity,

Scarcity and Space, 1949-2005 (2006), authored by Lu Duanfang, provides richly illustrated

analysis, tracing the history of China’s residential planning. The author seeks to examine the

remaking of Chinese urban form in the context of Chinese socialist modernity and a historical

condition of scarcity in Maoist China. The concept of ‘work unit’ was created in the specific

spatial strategies under the centrally planned socialist system in Maoist China. It gradually

developed into the basic unit of collective consumption, integrating workplace, residence and

social services. Focuses on the development of the work unit, the book describes its main

spatial features and further discusses its socio-spatial implications under Chinese socialism.36

The book is not to offer a comprehensive history of Chinese urban form and its

transformation, but to reveal how Chinese society constructed itself in this process. However,

it is to be regretful that it is lack of historical understanding of how the new urban form

actually emerges. Another weakness with this book is that it fails to provide a comparison

among different cities in China’s urban reality. The author focused on the concept of ‘work

unit’, not relations between ‘work unit’ and people’s urban life, taking into account of

programs or activities in the urban context.

Another comparable study is Modern Urban Housing in China: 1840-2000 (2001), co-edited

by Lü Junhua, Peter G. Rowe and Zhang Jie. The book is based on the angle of examining

10

urban housing in China from 1840 to 2000 to discourse the processes of urbanisation, societal

transition and housing evolution. The historical period is divided into three parts: early

development of urban housing in the semi-feudal and semi-colonial period from 1840 to 1949;

housing development in the socialist planned economy from 1949 to 1978; and housing

development from 1978 to 2000 after China adopted reform and opening-up policy. Through

the detailed analysis of these three distinct eras, this book presents a comprehensive record of

housing phenomenon from courtyard houses to large-scale master planning with Chinese

characteristics. In addition, the book examines the major political, social and economic forces

that have impacted on the evolution of Chinese housing form.37

One of the contributions of the book is that it provides numerous valuable graphic analyses

through selected diagrams and illustrations, which are visual supplement to the text. After the

book’s publication in 2001, however, the housing and property system in China took on a new

look.

The books mentioned above focus on one specialised theme. Besides, there is another sort of

books with theoretical studies. Xiandai Sixiang zhong de Jianzhu (Architecture and

modernization, 2009), is written by Li Shiqiao, who studied architecture in both Beijing and

London, and he practiced architecture in London and Hong Kong. His field of views perhaps

come from his own experience as an architectural practitioner. There are three parts in this

book, including discourse on the relationships with British architecture and modern ideas in

the early time, the connections with Chinese architecture and modernisation in the early

twentieth century, and studies in architectural criticism.38

In another book from Li, Understanding the Chinese City (2014), which is in association with

theory, culture and society, the author presents a new set of views to understand Chinese

cities. Nine chapters are divided into three parts, which are titled ‘abundance’, ‘prudence’,

and ‘figuration’, showing the author’s three concerns: the ideal number of things and people

in cities, prudence and its resultant corporeal and urban forms, and the figuration of the

Chinese writing system. The author demonstrates how mental space in both Chinese and

Euro-American culture is determined by accumulated historical projects, and how the past has

been informing the present through hidden continuities.39

This unique view is the greatest

contribution of the author in this book.

4) Collective books of essays

Last but not least, let me review three collective books of essays with academic value for my

research. The first book is Chinese Architecture and the Beaux-Arts, co-edited by Jeffrey W.

Cody, Nancy S. Steinhardt, and Tony Atkin, and published in 2011. This book is a collection

of essays written by fifteen scholars from different countries regarding on Euro-American

influences in modern Chinese architecture within a main period from the 1910s to the 1960s.

First generation of professional Chinese architects studied in America have transferred the

French Beaux Arts into China and created a new form which was suitable for the ‘national

style’ in public buildings.40

From ‘divergence to convergence’, ‘convergence to influence’,

11

‘influence to paradigm’,41

the editors make significant architectural linkages between

Chinese traditional architecture and European neoclassical architecture in the early twentieth

century. The limitation is that the book focuses only on the architectural form in the first half

of twentieth century.

Then, let us review the other two collections on contemporary architecture. Zhongguo Jianzhu

60 Nian, 1949-2009: Lishi Zonglan (Sixty years of Chinese architecture, 1949-2009),

authored by Zou Denong, Wang Mingxian, and Zhang Xiangwei, published in 2009, provides

a descriptive linear history with a complete and coherent narrative for modern Chinese

architecture from 1949 to 2009. There are five chapters, chronologically divided by every ten

or twenty years. Besides, economic reform and opening-up in 1978 is a dividing line. The

first part is an architectural development against upheavals in the first thirty years of ‘new

China’. In the second thirty years since 1979, the authors have looked at Chinese architecture

in the contexts of economic globalisation.42

A chronicle of events in architectural history of

modern China is organized in the appendix.43

The other book in the same series, edited by Zhu Jianfei, is Sixty Years of Chinese

Architecture (1949-2009): History, Theory and Criticism. This book is also published in 2009.

It is a collection of essays written by a group of scholars, who come from China and overseas

with different architectural research fields. The editor intends to provide a possible outline of

a social and analytical history of modern Chinese architecture. With wide coverage, the book

covers many issues relating to architecture, politics, economy, culture, education and the

profession. Classified by eight sections, the themes include symbolic representation of the

nation-state, architectural styles as ideologies, mutations of a geo-political map, socialist

modernism, knowledge and institutionalization, and contemporary architecture. Each paper

deals with an aspect of the theme or problem. Based on systematic and analytical studies, with

social, political and theoretical focus, the book delivers a comprehensive perspective in the

field of modern Chinese architecture.44

In summary, current studies in this field on China have mostly focused on architectural styles,

forms and spaces, and the underlying issues such as Chinese contexts and Euro-American

influences, architectural attitudes toward modernisation, the shape and appearance of

architecture. In general, the forms of architecture are closely linked with Chinese specific

history.

Since entering the twenty-first century, the Chinese have delivered impressive economic

development at a high rate. With the coming of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the

Expo 2010 in Shanghai, the Chinese government had invested heavily in the construction of

infrastructure, transportation, sports venues, cultural facilities, and so on. Accordingly,

significant changes have taken place in the form of the cities. However, there are not many

publications discussing these significant architectural events and their impacts with critical

thinking. These potential problems will be considered in my following studies.

Research on modern architecture in Japan

12

Let us now review research literature on Japan. Since the nineteenth century, there have been

numerous theoretical researches and literatures that have been accumulated in the field of

Japanese architecture. However, most of them were written in Japanese language, only very

few of them have been translated into other languages.

Similar to the classification for research on China, the related literature regarding those on

Japan can be classified into the following categories: overall study on modern architecture

since the early twentieth century; focused studies on one period or theme; focused on one

architect’s own manifestos and theories; and more specialised studies. Publications written in

Japanese; ‘coffee-table books’ with photos; and collection of design works are excluded.

1) Overall study on architecture of modern Japan (covering the twentieth century)

First of all, let us start with those overall studies on the history of modern Japanese

architecture. David B. Stewart, author of The Making of a Modern Japanese Architecture:

1868 to the Present (1987), describes a history of modern Japanese architecture since the

Meiji Restoration of 1868. It follows chronologically from the eclectic public buildings of the

Meiji and Taishō periods45

through the reaction of nationalism, the international-style

influence of the 1930s, and the post-war period. Through elaborate analysis on Frank Lloyd

Wright’s Imperial Hotel, works of Antonin Raymond, and Le Corbusier’s Ueno Museum, he

demonstrated how Euro-American architects borrowed from and, in turn, influenced Japanese

design.46

For the post-war periods, he made a further discourse on local Japanese architects

such as Kenzo Tange, Arata Isozaki and Kazuo Shinohara who had sought new ways to

synthesise Japanese and Euro-American elements.47

In addition, issues of city and urban

design are well addressed in this book, together with information about the social, economic,

and political background.

This book is almost the most comprehensive discourse on modern Japanese architecture,

written by a Euro-American scholar in English language. However, it was published in 1987.

The matching studies after 1980s can not easily be found in Euro-American academic circles.

My research focusing on the period after twenty-first century will fill this gap.

2) Focused study on one period (pre-1960, post-1960) or theme (Metabolist)

The other similar book Contemporary Japanese Architecture, its Development and Challenge

(1985) presents a comprehensive exploration, analysis, and synthesis of the history and theory

of contemporary Japanese architecture after the 1960s. The author Botond Bognár examines

the evolution of modern architectural movement, and ideas from functionalism, structuralism,

metabolism, contextualism, symbolism and mannerism. This book has two parts. In the first

half, the author studies cultural traditions and modern architecture as a historical background

and foundation for understanding contemporary architecture. In the second half, he analyses

the broad spectrum of ideas and buildings that are being constructed currently.48

13

The scope of this book far exceeds the period of ‘contemporary’ as shown on the title. Given

that the author is from North America, he also traces the impact of Japanese architecture on

the Euro-American world. However, it has been almost thirty years since the book was first

published. The more significant transformations have taken place since then. That is what I

will focus on in my research.

Here, I want to include another book Contemporary Architecture of Japan 1958-1984, first

published in Great Britain in 1985. This book contains two introductory articles, written by

architectural historians Hiroyuki Suzuki and Reyner Banham, followed by ninety-two design

works of varying types by leading figures. Although it is mostly a collection of projects, it

contributes a survey and summary of the development of contemporary Japanese architecture.

The period from 1958 to 1984 is the new era of post-war Japanese architecture. In the article

‘Contemporary Architecture of Japan’, by Hiroyuki Suzuki, the author set the context of

historical developments since 1955. He highlighted the significant events and ideologies, with

a division of this period into three stages – ‘Legenda Aurea (1955-1964), The Era of the

Amoral (1965-1973), and Mature Architectural Technique (1974-1984)’. He identified a

global shift to interests in local traditions and histories. From the angle of a Euro-American

scholar, Reyner Banham’s article ‘The Japonization of World Architecture’ explores the

distinguishing features of Japanese architecture such as construction traditions and the

associated concepts of harmony, logics of structure and symbolic strategies, which enabled

Japanese contemporary architects to recreate stimulating alternatives to respond to world

architecture.

As mentioned above, the 1960s is a key period in Japanese architectural history. In 1960, led

by Kenzo Tange, an architectural movement known as ‘Metabolism’ was launched in Japan.

It is the only urban and architectural movement produced in Asia at that time.

Lin Zhongjie’s Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern Japan

(2010), traces the evolution of Metabolism, situating the movement’s place in the context of

Japan’s mass urban reconstruction, economic boom, socio-political transformation and

cultural reorientation. The author concluded that the origin of the movement was the urban

conditions and social changes in the post-war decades. As the initiator of this movement,

Kenzo Tange’s works and design methodology are presented in this book. As the author said,

Metabolist architects predicted that the city would grow and transform in a manner like the

evolution and metamorphosis of an organism.49

Their works reflected a new thinking about

the city. Their projects attempted to establish patterns that could respond actively to

technological advancement and changing social conditions.

In my view, this book is based on a specific topic. From selected case studies in this book, we

can find the nature of the Metabolist Movement that is characterised by diverse design and

social ideas, instead of a simple concept of mega structures. These structuralist and symbolic

strategies in urban design are still influential in the current field of Japanese architecture. The

underlying issues in the movement, such as urban, economic, political, historical, cultural,

14

social factors, and their relationships are all worth concerning. However, it is a pity that the

author has paid little attention on these. I will add these considerations into my research.

In addition, Rem Koolhaas’ Project Japan: Metabolism Talks (2011) is a survey of the

Metabolist architecture movement in Japan. It presents a history through interviews with nine

surviving members of the Metabolism movement by Rem Koolhaas and Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Combined with essays and a wealth of graphic materials, including historical photographs and

architectural drawings, it shows post-war architecture in Japan and how it was related to their

culture.50

The limitation of this book is that it is only conceived as a record of interviews. It is not

strictly an academic literature with critical and in-depth analysis. The biggest achievement of

this book is perhaps the timeline of ‘Project Japan 1940-1985’ in the appendix,51

which

chronologically describes cultural, political, economic, and architectural events in post-war

Japan.

Tracing the movement back to the budding stage, let us review the book Modern Japanese

Architecture: Masters and Mannerists in the 1950-60s (2003), which is developed from the

author Marianne Ibler’s PhD dissertation. He discovers a new design approach appearing after

the Second World War, which can be seen as an expression of a specific Japanese Modern

Mannerism, inspired by Le Corbusier, and was represented by ‘New Japanese School’ during

the 1950-60s.52

Although the author does not mention the concept of ‘Metabolism’, which is the most

significant architectural movement in that era, he analyses the works of four master architects,

Kenzo Tange, Junzo Sakakura, Kiyonori Kikutake, and Kunio Maekawa. Each of them

played an important role in the ‘Metabolism’ movement.53

One of my case studies Toyo Ito

has also been influenced by the architecture of the ‘New Japanese School’ and this movement.

The relation of social ideology and design methodology that the author has explored in this

book has enlightened me on my research.

3) Focused on architects’ own manifestos and theories

The history of Japanese architectural development is connected closely with some key

characters. Some famous architects are also foremost thinkers. There are numerous

monographs which describes architectural events or issues based on the development of a

single figure. The intention of these scholars is not to present a biography. They chose a

single figure as the central focus, to describe an architectural development in Japan.

Jonathan M. Reynolds’ Maekawa Kunio and the Emergence of Japanese Modernist

Architecture (2001), traces Maekawa Kunio’s journey. Maekawa is one of the most important

architects in Japanese modern history. He was born in 1905, and died in 1986. His life and

career crossed from before to after the war. The author Reynolds further presents how

Maekawa’s design philosophy was a part of his formative experience with Le Corbusier and

15

Antonin Raymond, who are key roles on the modern movement. According to the author’s

description, Maekawa sought to build modernist design within the existing tradition in

Japan.54

As the first Japanese architect to work for Le Corbusier, he fundamentally

contributed to modernist architecture in Japan with international views and local orientations.

Besides, his career experience is also an appropriate starting point for investigating the

formation of Japan’s thriving architecture profession. This architectural career history is also

characteristic of architects of his generation.55

However, from the examinations of Maekawa’s family background and education, we can

understand that his special experience was deeply influenced by his strong family. His

training, education and personal ties all led him to the road of success. So his case is no

universal relevance. One of the contributions in this book, in my view, is to provide a

historical background. The author outlines the development of modern architecture in Japan

from 1850 to 1930, which can be compared with David Stewart’s The Making of a Modern

Japanese Architecture (1987). The author focuses on the period of Maekawa’s professional

experience from the1930s to the 1980s, paying more attention on the peak of his career in the

1960s. The discourse ends in 1986, the year Maekawa passed away. But this book was

published in 2001; the author should consider the consequence he had made to Japanese

architecture after 1986. The other limitation is that, in the last chapter, the author makes a

conclusion only for Maekawa Kunio’s life story, not for Japanese modernism architecture in

general.

Another book Kunio Maekawa: Sources of Modern Japanese Architecture, written by Kunio

Maekawa himself, published in 1984, is a collection of his works. Different from other

collections of selected design works, in this book the main projects are analysed and classified

with a focus on the central ideas of materials and construction methods.56

It is not a

chronological presentation that only shows the best, but a structural overview enlightened by

the basic concept of construction methods based on technological and economic

considerations. This research approach will be beneficial to my studies.

Next, let us review a book from Arata Isozaki, who is one of the students of Kenzo Tange.

The book Japan-ness in Architecture (2011) is a collection of the essays from Isozaki written

over a period of twenty years. As a famous practicing architect and a theorist, Isozaki views

buildings not only as objects but also as events. This book includes a historical survey, critical

analyses, theoretical reflections, and an autobiographical account. It has four parts, starting

with the section on modernity to the present which is then followed by parts on three

buildings: Ise Shrine in the seventh century, Tōdai-ji temple in the twelfth century, and

Katsura Imperial Villa in the seventeenth century. Each one shows a landmark event in

Japanese architectural history to identify what is essentially Japanese in architecture.57

However, this thought-provoking book includes too many Japanese architectural terms and

nicknames. And the time span is almost one thousand and three hundred years. It is hard to

read without familiarity with Japanese history. In spite of that, it is worth studying Isozaki’s

theory of architectural form in a wider sociohistorical context.

16

The author of the book Intercultural Architecture: the Philosophy of Symbiosis (1991), Kisho

Kurokawa, is one of the founding members of Metabolist movement. He presented on this

book a new design philosophy and theory developed at the latter half period of his

professional experience in 1979, called ‘symbiosis’. The philosophy of symbiosis of Asia and

Europe is also one of the most essential statements of Post-Modernism.58

From my view, the

author discovers its own originality from the profound discourse. It presents Japanese

traditional aesthetic, contrast with that from the Euro-America, in different ways of fashions,

arts, trends and cultural movements. Besides, this book gives us an insight into the evolution

and development in modern Japanese architecture.

4) More specialized studies

Apart from the books above, there are some monographs with focused study on one

specialised theme that needs to be reviewed.

Dana Buntrock, the author of Materials and Meaning in Contemporary Japanese Architecture:

Tradition and Today (2010), surveys and documents the selected works from a few

contemporary architects and groups such as Terunobu Fujimori, Kengo Kuma, Team Zoo,

and others, based on extensive interviews with these architects and in-depth analyses on their

common interest in the evocative use of materials and expressive details. She uses the term

‘Reds’, which first appeared in Fujimori Terunobu’s theoretical writings. It responses to

traditional and regional design culture with local narratives, which contrasted with ‘White’

originated from the Euro-America.59

In my point of view, the contribution of this book is to

emphasise the role of regional, non-urban sites, people, practices, and activities. And the

author presents new views on Japanese modernism, which evolves the relationship to

tradition.

The next book is Architecture and authority in Japan (1996), based on a course of lectures

and tutorials by the author William H. Coaldrake. This book includes a series of essays on the

theme of the relationship between architecture and authority, through an in-depth discourse on

Japanese institutes, practices and ideas to shows how closely architecture and authority have

been linked together throughout Japanese history.60

Although the book is based on the

political and religious scope, it still provides an informed, balanced, and critical

understanding of Japan.

Architecture and Urbanism of Tokyo (2008), edited by Norihiko Dan, consists of two parts.

The first is a collection of essays by a few scholars and architects from Japan and Taiwan.

Each of them presents a themed chapter, describing the process of urbanisation in Tokyo in a

historical background. As the editor mentioned, as one of the major Asian cities, Tokyo has

been influenced by Euro-American cultures even while retaining their historical and cultural

traditions. Under the baptism of countless wars, they have been continually and ceaselessly

urbanising themselves rapidly.61

The second part presents several case studies on landmark

projects with detailed information and architects’ biographies that contribute to Tokyo’s

urban landscape.

17

Although it focuses on urbanism, we can have knowledge on how the city itself has urbanised.

Besides, we can find plenty of valuable tables and charts to see how the city is evolving and

developing. Because these authors are research scholars, and architects with practical design

experience as well, both in Japan and in other East Asian cities, the book provides a varied

and themed view in each article. However, this causes a serious weakness in that it has no

continuous theme. Every essay raises its own question, and provides neither an in-depth

analysis and nor a solution.

Reviewing these recent books on modern architecture in Japan, there are many connections

we can find among architecture, architects and events. The scholars have all committed

themselves to explore the relationships between Japan and the Euro-America, and how

Euro-American influences were related to Japanese culture. In Addition, some scholars had

paid considerable attentions on the underlying issues in the development of modern Japanese

architects, such as urban, economic, political, historical, cultural, social factors, and their

interactive impacts.

From my point of view, there are two limitations in the literature in this field. One is the lack

of a comparative study in contemporary Japanese architecture, especially in the recent decade.

The other is that the quantity and quality of English-language publications in this theoretical

dimension with analysis and criticism is far below than those in Japanese-language. I will fill

the significant gaps in English-language literature, focusing on the new design ideas since the

beginning of the twenty-first century.

The research on China-Japan Comparison

The literature on China-Japan comparison in modern architecture is very limited. Looking

back to the studies in recent years, there are two books which are valuable to my research.

One is ‘Xihua’ de Licheng: Zhong Ri Jianzhu Jindaihua Guocheng Bijiao Yanjiu (A

comparative research on development of architecture between modern China and Japan in

modern times), written by Sha Yongjie, published in 2001. The other is Peter G. Rowe’s East

Asia modern: shaping the contemporary city, published in 2005.

‘Xihua’ de Licheng, developed from Sha Yongjie’s doctorial thesis, is possibly the most

comprehensive book for a comparative research on architecture of modern China and Japan.

This book focuses on the westernisation of modern building systems in China and Japan. The

author clarified the concept of building systems, and forms the research structure based on a

realm of concerns such as style, technology and design. Seeking for the reasons of the

difference between Chinese and Japanese modern architectural development is an original

intention and motivation for the author to study the subject. Through a China-Japan

comparison of development of architecture, he analysed some issues which are ignored in the

research of Chinese modern architecture. They involve not only external elements such as

style and technology, but also internal factors such as the roles of the architects. It shows the

characteristics of westernisation for the whole development process of modern architecture in

18

China and Japan. It also shows some obvious discrepancies in the attitude of learning from

the Euro-America during different periods. In the early stage, it inclined to wholesale

acceptance. However, as time goes on, separate developments with significance of

modernisation appeared gradually in the later periods. Among this, the transformation of

westernisation in Japan was led and predominated by the Japanese themselves. On the

contrary, due to the historical background of semi-colonisation, modern architectural systems

were generated and grew in the concessions dominated by Euro-American powers. In the later

modern times, with the arrivals of Chinese architects, this process of westernisation in China

tends to be a general practice.62

This book ends with a very short conclusion and the prospect of future research is presented.

What is worth mentioning is the two attached tables in appendix showing main architects in

modern Japan and China. We can see that there is a huge difference for the numbers of

architects in these two countries. The status and development of architects in Japan are much

earlier than those in China. Besides, we can find some clues to show the mentoring

relationships in Japan, but not in China. The greatest contribution of this book is the

comparation and classification of Japanese and Chinese architects. I will test and develop

these analyses into my study as an empirical reference for exploring contemporary architects.

One of the limitations with this book is that the comparative research is based on the Japanese

experience, using the processes and the issues of westernisation as a point of departure.63

However, in my study, I will analyse and comprehend China-Japan contemporary architecture

from the angle of design, design ideas and some underlying related issues. Furthermore, this

research took place more than ten years ago. My study aims to focus on architectural events

after the twenty-first century.

In another book East Asia modern (2005), Peter G. Rowe makes comparative analysis of

urban growth with focus on seven megacities in East Asia: Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai,

Hong Kong, Taipei and Singapore. Although they share a Confucian culture64

, each has a

unique character and is at a different stage of development. The author compares different

responses from these cities to such critical issues as historical tracing, Euro-American

influences, urban growth, urban space, urban forms, local expressions, and so on. The view is

extended to broad socio-economic relationships and political dimensions. As the author

describes, the aims of this book is to discover whether these cities conform to concepts of

modernisation to be found elsewhere in the world and particularly in the developed

Euro-American cities, and what extent might they also collectively describe a regional urban

modernity that is different from other modern cities.65

The author concludes that the

experience with urbanisation in Asia is different from the Euro-America and discovers that

the development of these cities has been more orderly and planned, more top down, than they

are initially apparent. He elaborates on his study of the contemporary city in the East Asian

context and its position within the global development of ongoing research, understanding

and communication, analysis of the metropolitan environments, and future urban prospects

and choices. It employs new concepts such as the space of a time, and the eventful experience

of time, concerning more attentions on urban growth.

19

Although the research objective is not only in China and Japan, but in a wider geographic

scope, it provides a well-informed, critical and comparative overview of contemporary

modernisation in the main cities of East Asia. The limitation is that the book is only based on

the views of growth of cities, not on the overall architectural development of the countries.

Besides, the author pays more attentions on the form, resulting in the lack of analysis on

internal factors and forces.

To sum up, the existing studies mostly focus on the architectural form and the underlying

issues such as urban context, Euro-American influence, and the role of architects. They do not

include cross-regional considerations for contemporary design in East Asia. They neither

adopt East Asian traditional aesthetics as a critical research category, nor build a linkage

between Euro-American critical thinking and East Asian traditional culture for their studies.

In addition, current scholarship on China and Japan lacks the comparative discourses in

contemporary architecture, especially in the last decade. It is important to apply the methods

of cross-regional and cross-cultural studies because we have been entering a global net

society. It is obvious that more work is necessary in this field. This lack of concern for the

dialogues, comparisons, relationships and interactions among these issues must be addressed.

1.3 About This Research

Gap

As literature review reveals, the theoretical reflections on contemporary architecture and on

comparability in China and Japan are both limited. Through a critical reading of the various

themes and new trends in contemporary Chinese and Japanese architecture that have emerged

during the last two decades, there are a few considerable gaps in the existing studies which

can be listed as follows:

1) The current researches of modern and contemporary Chinese and Japanese architecture

and architects are mainly focused on the periods before the 1990s. Because we have

moved deeper into the twenty-first century, it is necessary to fill with the gap of time

frame.

2) There is a lack of comparative and cross-region research on, for example, the two

neighbouring countries - China and Japan.

3) From the existing publications, most scholars especially from Europe and North America

used Euro-American critical theory to study the problems of contemporary Asia. The

encounters between East Asian architects and Euro-American critics were likely to have

been loaded with misunderstandings on both sides. Clarifying these misinterpretations

would require additional research taking into account of the identity of East Asia culture.

4) The concept of East Asian traditional aesthetics is seldom discussed as an approach or

tool of analysis of architectural design in the academic field. However, the apparent

similarity and comparability between contemporary architecture in China and Japan in the

use of certain Asian ideas activated me to make a further discovery.

20

Purpose and aim

To fill in this gap, this research is to address these issues. It is a region-based comparative

study on the most recent reflective design practices in China and Japan. It aims to bridge the

gaps between theoretical discussion and cultural dialogue on East Asia and Euro-America.

In the last two decades, in the situation of the Euro-American economy suffering from crises,

Asian countries obtained a rapid rise in the fields of economy. In this respect, eastern values

have been rethought and re-examined. My research objectives are to identify the emerging

‘critical regionalist’ designs in China, and the abstract invisible traditions in Japanese

contemporary designs, and to find a critical dialogue between East Asian traditions and

Euro-American ‘critical regionalism’, if it is relevant for the current debate on these design

works. Since Euro-American concepts of criticism are not from East Asian aesthetic tradition,

it is significant to develop an East Asian statement within modern Euro-American critical

theories.

My strategy is to bring the critical approach into East Asian traditional aesthetics and its

contemporary transformation on architecture, through providing a different context or

perspective on the role of East Asian traditional aesthetics for understanding the

contemporary design in East Asia. Accordingly it is to examine whether ideas and categories

in the East Asian aesthetic tradition have contributed to the rise of a criticality in

contemporary design that may have some importance on a global platform.

Scope of my Research (Geographic scope and time frame)

1) Why connecting and comparing between China and Japan?

Japan is a pioneer of Asian countries. In the modern history, the connection and interaction

with Euro-American countries in Japan were much earlier than other East Asian countries. To

a certain extent, Japan is more like a mixture with the East Asia and the Euro-America, and a

mirror for other East Asian countries to reflect the problems that have occurred or are

happening. China is one of the fastest developing countries in the world now and it is facing

an era of high population density and mass urbanization.

China and Japan used to share a long history of a common traditional cultural framework

before the arrival of industrial modernity. They both ended a long period of isolationism in

the early-mid nineteenth century. The difference is that, China was compelled to open its door

to the Europe under various unequal treaties following the First Opium War in 1840.

However, Japan opened its door to the Europe since the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and

quickly set up a close positive relationship with Europe and America. The connection and

interaction with Euro-American countries in Japan were much closer than other East Asian

countries. In the pre-war and post-war period, China and Japan have had an antagonistic

relationship. In 1972, when the American President Richard Nixon visited China, under the

21

efforts of the Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, Japan normalised relations with China, and kept

a growing open, pro-China policy from then on.

Besides, in the process of westernisation and modernisation, China and Japan had followed

different paths of development. The theoretical reflection about its contemporary architecture,

including exhibition practice and academic publications are less developed in China. There is

a considerable gap between China and developed countries in architecture and culture. Japan

had obtained an international audience in the field of architecture since the Kenzo Tange’s

generation and the 1960s Metabolist movement. Although Japanese economy entered a period

of stagnation and fluctuation since the 1990s, Japanese architects’ unique viewpoints and

understandings which reflected in the recent distinctive design works, had kept them in the

global recognition. In the meanwhile, with the implementation of the policy of reform and

opening-up, and the introduction of market economy, China entered into a new period of

transition with an amazing pace of construction since the 1990s. From then on, there emerged

a new voice in the individual architects to assume authorship in their discourses and design

positions.66

(From Zhu Jianfei’s analysis, the introduction of the market economy and a civil

society opening-up in China since the 1990s made it possible for Chinese contemporary

architects to have a socio-economic basis upon which to assert their voice and authorship.67

)

With this respect, there appears to have a common effort in regenerating local and native

cultures to critically respond to a globalising homogenisation, amongst some of the most

reflective architects with independent thinking in China and in Japan. And it seems that there

is an emerging comparability of the design approaches between these two neighbouring

countries, which shared a variety of traditions in the East Asian traditional culture, where

were quite different from those in Europe and North America.

This phenomenon had drawn attention from international architects and scholars, such as Rem

Koolhaas, Sha Yongjie and Peter G. Rowe. My research aims to set up a new framework, by

focusing on the critical voices from the most recent architects in China and Japan in their

response to globalising forces and in their departure from Euro-American conventions.

2) Why the period after1990?

As I have stated above, critical practices emerged in China since the 1990s. It is well known

that this is a prominent period with great changes in China due to the implementation of

market economy and opening up policy. During this period, there was an expanding group of

architects in China whose designs involved self-conscious strategies to resist or oppose

mainstream practice.68

This made it probably comparable with that in Japan, which has

produced critical practices since earlier times.

After the Cultural Revolution, a series of significant political and economic events happened

in China, including resuming college entrance examinations in 1977, launching economic

reform and opening-up policy in 1978, Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, the opening of

Pudong in Shanghai in 1990, Deng Xiaoping’s southern tour in 1992, the transfer of

sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997, the transfer of sovereignty of Macau in 1999, China being

22

admitted into WTO in 2000, Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, Shanghai World Expo in 2010.

The transformation and evolution happened in Japan in an earlier time. The significant

historical events in post-war period of Japan include ‘Metabolist movement’ in architecture in

1960, Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964, Osaka World Expo in 1970, Oil crisis shock in 1973,

institution of the first uniform national university entrance exams in 1979, and the economy

entered a severe recession in 1997.

Furthermore, according to a GDP comparison of Japan and China (see Chart 1.1), their

respective economic developments present a quite different rhythm and trend. The GDP in

Japan increased much more than that in China before mid-1990s. The turning point is in 1995,

when the disaster Great Hanshin Earthquake happened. After that, Japan was in the stage of

fluctuation. However, a sharp rise appeared in China since 2005, which is a period of that a

new generation of Chinese architects were emerging. In the historical review, this thesis will

observe the following trajectories of Japan and China, in design and in overall history:

Chart 1.1 Schematic political-economic and architectural history in China and Japan since 1960 with

a GDP comparison. (GDP data from World Bank online source, updated on 18 Sep 2017)

a) China’s contemporary history could be marked according to economic growth by periods

as: Stage of economy recovery and readjustment from 1949 (when the People’s Republic

of China was founded) to 1976 (when ‘the Great proletarian Cultural Revolution’ was

ended); The first ten years after the reform of economic system from 1978 to 1989; The

second stage of reform featuring economic growth from 1990 to 2000; The process in a

transition and economic boom since 2000.

23

b) Japan’s contemporary history could be marked according to economic growth by periods

as: Post war economic rejuvenation period from 1945 (when World War II was ended)

to1960 (when ‘metabolism’ was formed); The rapid economic growth stage from 1960 to

1973; The first post war economic challenge between 1973 (when oil crisis shocked

global economy) and 1985; The period of economic boom from 1986 to 1995, The status

of economic stagnation since 1995.

Chart 1.1 shows schematic political-economic and architectural history in Japan and China

since 1960 with a GDP comparison. From this chart, we can see that the developments of

Japanese and Chinese modern architecture are closely related to their political, economic, and

social conditions. This chart displays a different tendency after the 1990s in both countries.

The rates of economic growth of Japan in the 1980s or even earlier are now occurring in

China. China is growing at a tremendous speed economically and its GDP has surpassed

Japan in 2009. The rate of development is accompanied by rapid urbanisation and an

unremitting boom in construction. This phenomenon may reveal a lot about the emerging

concerns and anxieties of the profession and the discipline as we move deeper into the new

century. Therefore, it is necessary to make an investigation to find out more about the various

relations and dynamics.

Research Objective

In order to make the research more effective, the representative architects in China and in

Japan will be sought and their discourses and main design works will be used for the studies.

Based on the review on the background of modern architecture, modern and contemporary

architects in China and in Japan (see chapter three and six), this research includes eight

comparative analyses on the design works of four selected architects, two in each of the two

countries.

In the case of China, the case studies include 1) The Yuhu Elementary School, designed by Li

Xiaodong, which is located in Lijiang, Yunnan province, China, and completed in 2004; 2)

Bridge School, designed by Li Xiaodong, which is located in Xiashi Village, Fujian province,

China, and finished in 2009; 3) The buildings complexes in phase I and phase II of Xiangshan

Campus, China Academy of Art, designed by Wang Shu, which are located in Hangzhou,

Zhejiang province, China, and constructed from 2001 to 2004 for phase I and from 2004 to

2007 for phase II; and 4) Ningbo History Museum, which is located in Ningbo, Zhejiang

province, China, open to public in 2008, and designed by Wang Shu.

In the case of Japan, I chose Kengo Kuma and Tadao Ando as examples. The design works

from Kengo Kuma are 1) Stone Museum, in Nasu-machi, Nasu-gun, Tochigi, Japan, built in

2000; and 2) Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art, in Nakagawa-machi,

Nasu-gun, Tochigi, Japan, completed in 2000. Tadao Ando’s design works involved in this

research include 3) Chichu Art Museum, in Naoshima-cho, Kagawa, Japan, opened to public

in 2004; and 4) The Hill of the Buddha, in Makamanai Takino Cemetery, Sapporo, Hokkaido,

Japan, constructed in 2016.

24

The four architects in this research come from different regions in respective countries. Li

Xiaodong is based in Beijing, the capital city in China. Wang Shu’s practical experiences are

mostly in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, which is a neighbour of Shanghai. Although Kengo

Kuma and Tadao Ando’s design works are scattered throughout Japan and even extended in

the world, Kengo Kuma’s own design firm and research lab are still based in Tokyo in Japan,

and the main contribution of Tadao Ando are in Osaka and Kansai area.

Figure 1.1 Four architects in four regions in this research.

After a comprehensive survey and a general review of all the design works from them, I chose

these eight cases which are not for design introduction, but for further reflections on my

explorations of the relationship between critical regionalism and traditional aesthetics in East

Asia. To avoid interfere from the issues of urbanisation, in this empirical research, I choose

the cases which are all located in country areas or suburbs, far away from central cities. The

selected empirical studies are for getting a better understanding on the correlation between

value orientation, attitude, and performance in East Asia. They range from large scale

commissions like civic public buildings and educational buildings, to small scale primary

schools and private museums. The typologies involved in these cases are school, museum and

temple. I will conduct a detailed description and analysis for these architects’ design works

and discourses, and compared these cases accordingly so as to show what are similar and

different among these types, thus revealing how aspects of aesthetical traditions have been

diversely reflected.

Research Methodology

This thesis is a cross-cultural and comparative research with mixed-methods. Generally

speaking, the methods to be used have four categories. The first one is discourse analysis of

25

the works from these selected architects, including their key publications, lectures, teaching,

and manifestos. The second category is about design review which is categorized as following:

a) layout and façade, b) space and spatial experience (sequence of movement), c) material,

texture, and tectonic, d) the use of natural light, e) courtyard and landscape, and f)

transparency and vision, such as visual fields and visual experience. In this method, I will

make comparison and analysis for some corresponding points among the selected design

works of reflective architects, to examine difference and comparability of current design

approaches of China and Japan. The third category is about an analysis of education,

professional experience, teaching and professorships in these selected architects, relating to

social development. The last one is fieldwork. I will conduct a photographic survey during the

site visits, including on-site observation, photography, and datum verification. Besides, this is

an empirically-based research. Typical approaches to this kind of research should include

observation of the results of design and surveys of designers’ perceptions.

As stated above, this thesis is based on the case studies of the most reflective architects in

China and Japan since 1990. I will review some reflective architects in China and Japan,

including their education backgrounds, professional history, teaching and professorships, key

design works, exhibitions, awards, speeches and published books. All the data and

information are from existing publications. However, these data are not always accurate and

inosculated, probably due to the authors’ bias or the source of the information. It is necessary

to verify the data I collected and obtain first-hand information through site visit for further

research in my fieldwork.

Fieldwork

To collect accurate and first hand sources for this empirical research, I have conducted a few

fieldworks in both China and Japan, ranging from three seasons including Spring, Autumn

and Winter.

The first trip to Japan happened on May in 2014, when my research was just started. After a

general visiting in the main cities of Japan, the idea and thesis topic were initially formed in

my research confirmation report. The main round of fieldwork was set on September and

October in 2015. The key cities I visited include Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo in China and

Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and other interrelated cities in Japan depending on the projects’

locations. One year later, in order to examine my research outcome, I decided to go to Japan

and China again on December in 2016 and January in 2017.

During my fieldworks, I have had a direct observation and conducted a photographic survey

on the sites, collected thousands of photographs and observation datum. Fieldwork is the key

process in my research. Through fieldwork, a detailed and unique understanding has been

obtained in my case studies. This will form the most contribution of my thesis.

Research Theory

26

The theory of research to be used is design criticism as presented by Colin Rowe (1920-1999)

and Robin Evan (1944-1993). Rowe authored the essay ‘The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa’

which was first published in 1947,69

and co-authored ‘Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal

(with Robert Slutzky)’ with Robert Slutzky,70

which was written between 1955 and 1956,

first published in 1963. Both of them were collected in The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa,

and other Essays, which was published in 1976. Robin Evans wrote the article ‘Mies van der

Rohe’s Paradoxical Symmetries’71

and published in Translations from Drawing to Building

and other Essays in 1997. Through review the books and essays of these two architectural

critics and theorists, the thesis will be developed in design criticism such as compositional

analysis and syntactical analysis in design review.

In the article ‘The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa’ of the book The Mathematics of the Ideal

Villa, and other Essays, the author Colin Rowe made a comparison between Andrea

Palladio’s Villa Malcontenta in the 1550s and Le Corbusier’s villa at Garches in 1927. He

found the two buildings have corresponding volume with ‘8 units in length, by 5½ in breadth,

by 5 in height’, exhibiting ‘an alternating rhythm of double and single spatial intervals’, and

by reading from front to back, displaying ‘a comparable tripartite distribution of lines of

support’72

(Figure 1.2). From the elevation of Garches, Le Corbusier conceals the ratio of the

golden section, A : B=B : (A+B)73

(Figure 1.3). The two architects shared a common

mathematical standard.

Figure 1.2(left) Malcontenta

and Garches, Analytical

diagrams. Source: Rowe, Colin,

The Mathematics of the Ideal

Villa, and other Essays,

Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press,

1976, Fig.1, p.5

Figure 1.3(right) Garches,

elevations. Source: Rowe,

Colin, The Mathematics of the

Ideal Villa, and other Essays,

Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press,

1976, Fig.2, p.10

In another article ‘Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal’, the author makes a further analysis

of the façade of Garches (Figure 1.4), compared with the Leger’s painting ‘Three Faces’

(Figure 1.5), to show the spatial stratification.74

It comes to a conclusion that ‘transparency’

in the façade ‘is effected not through the agency of a window but rather through our being

made conscious of primary concepts which ‘interpenetration without optical destruction.’75

From the analysis by the author, ‘transparency may be an inherent quality of substance – as in

a wire mesh or glass curtain wall, or it may be an inherent quality of organization’76

.

According to the discourse, the facade of Garches belongs to the later. Almost contemporary

27

with Garches, the Bauhaus (Figure 1.6) might emphasis on the translucent surface which is

created by the glass wall. The author compares it with a Cubist painting, Picasso’s

L’Arlesienne (Figure 1.7), and finds a transparency of overlapping planes.77

Robin Evans offers the article ‘Mies van der Rohe’s Paradoxical Symmetries’, in the book

Translations from Drawing to Building and other Essays. Through the research on Barcelona

Pavilion designed by Mies van der Rohe, the author finds a series of logic of structure and

their expression. The symmetries in the Barcelona Pavilion has been extended into a broader

filed, that is in other dimensions such as height or depth than in breadth.78

Figure 1.4(left one) Villa Stein, Garches. Le Corbusier, 1927. Source: Rowe, Colin, The Mathematics

of the Ideal Villa, and other Essays, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1976, Plate.5, p.20

Figure 1.5(left two) Fernand Leger, Three Faces, 1926. Source: Rowe, Colin, The Mathematics of the

Ideal Villa, and other Essays, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1976, Plate.64, p.180

Figure 1.6(right two) Bauhaus, Dessau. Walter Gropius, 1925-1926. Source: Rowe, Colin, The

Mathematics of the Ideal Villa, and other Essays, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1976, Plate.65, p.180

Figure 1.7(right one) Picasso, L’Arlesienne, 1911-12. Source: Rowe, Colin, The Mathematics of the

Ideal Villa, and other Essays, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1976, Plate.66, p.180

Concepts involved in this research

Instead of investigating existing theories, this research involves the theory of Critical

regionalism as a guideline and reference. Besides, in a broad sense, Asian, especially East

Asian thought included Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The common feature is an

emphasis on human relationship with nature. In this thesis I will temporarily include East

Asian thoughts which have been employed in the critical approaches, such as minimalism in

Chinese literary tradition and Japanese wabi-sabi ideas as a point of discussion. The guiding

theories and aesthetic traditions to be used are as follows:

1) Critical regionalism

This thesis will examine if the most recent design works from the reflective architects in

China and Japan display some corresponding points with ‘critical regionalism’. It is necessary

to clarify the definition of this term ‘Critical regionalism’. The idea of ‘Critical regionalism’

was firstly presented by Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre, as an alternative to

postmodernism, through the essay ‘The Grid and the Pathway’, published in Architecture in

Greece in 1981.79

And it was formulated by Kenneth Frampton in 1983 in his article

‘Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance’. In the

28

following year 1985 and 1987, Frampton slightly modified and developed the concept in the

articles ‘Critical Regionalism: modern architecture and cultural identity’, and ‘Ten points on

an architecture of regionalism: a provisional polemic’. After a few years’ arguments in

academic circle, the original authorsTzonis and Lefaivre refined this term in the book Critical

Regionalism: Architecture and Identity in a Globalized World, published in 2003. Different

from Kenneth Frampton’s standpoint for modernisation, Tzonis and Lefaivre sought for an

alternative approach to avoid entanglement with the positions for ‘modernisation’ and

‘post-modernisation’.

2) Chinese literary tradition - minimalism

The notion of minimalism can be found in the expression of Chinese literary tradition, much

earlier than German-American architect Mies van der Rohe remarked that ‘less is more’. In

Chinese literary tradition, ‘Suggestiveness, not articulateness, is the ideal of all Chinese art,

whether it be poetry, painting, or anything else….and this ideal is reflected in the way in

which Chinese philosophers have expressed themselves.’80

According to Chinese literary

tradition, the limited number of words suggested limitless ideas in Chinese poetry.81

On the

other hand, from Leonard Koren, Japanese aesthetic ideas of wabi-sabi derived from the

minimalism in Chinese poetry, calligraphy, and ink painting in the ninth and tenth century,

the Song Dynasty in China.82

Minimalist tradition is also the origination of inspiration for

Chinese contemporary architects like Wang Shu, based on his discourses.

3) Japanese aesthetics of wabi-sabi

Wabi-sabi is a traditional nature-based Japanese aesthetic ideology, or world view. It was

developed by Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591), the founder of the tea ceremony tradition, in the

sixteenth century. Leonard Koren is generally regarded as the first scholar to introduce the

term ‘wabi-sabi’ to the Euro-American through his publication Wabi-Sabi for Artists,

Designers, Poets & Philosophers in 1994. In the definition from Leonard, ‘wabi-sabi is a

beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and

humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional.’83

Wabi-sabi is more like a feeling than a

concept or form. The feeling is rooted in the aesthetic culture in Japan, and influences

expressions of arts and architecture in Japan. Japanese architects incorporate the elements like

simplicity, naturalism, of wabi-sabi into their design works. Koren also suggested that the

wabi-sabi state of mind and sense of materiality both derive from the atmosphere of

desolation and melancholy, and the expression of minimalism in the ninth and tenth century

Chinese poetry and monochromatic ink painting.84

It is necessary to connect the concept of

Japanese wabi-sabi with Chinese literary minimalism.

In this research, I will tentatively bring in these notions to test and to find out how the

architects have responded to contemporary design tasks with the strategies of negation.

Through a further analysis in chapter two, a clearer assumption will be presented.

Potential Problems

29

Firstly, the architects selected and the data collected are based on my experience and

empirical knowledge. So the ‘bias’ from me will be included. However, this ‘bias’ itself will

be analysed. For instances, questions will be asked as to if these architects are representative

of the whole voices of China and of Japan? Questions as to if the regions and cases selected

are representative of China and of Japan will also be raised and discussed?

Secondly, due to language barrier, only publications written in English and Chinese are

involved in this research. However, most publications on Japan were written in Japanese and

only a few of them had been translated into other languages. I perhaps miss some important

literature and valuable information. Despite this, those in English and Chinese have already

presented substantive evidences that may warrant an investigation.

Thirdly, these reflective architects are still in the dynamic process of professional exploration

and evolution. So the studies and observations can only reveal what have been done, rather

than what may evolve later on.

Thesis structure

The thesis includes ten chapters and is divided into four parts. Part one includes chapters one

and two. Chapter one starts with an introduction of my research background and problem,

followed by literature review. I also demonstrate the significance and approaches of my

research. Chapter two is about the conceptual framework and theoretical discussion. After a

discourse analysis on the theory of Critical Regionalism, a review of East Asian traditional

aesthetics and further thoughts on the concept of ‘negative space’, the framework of my thesis

can be formed.

Part two and three are case studies separately on China and Japan, and they are core chapters

of this thesis. Each part has three chapters. Chapter three covers the systematic review of

historical background of Chinese modern and contemporary architecture, and the

classification of Chinese modern and contemporary architects. Then I select two architects Li

Xiaodong and Wang Shu as my core case studies in chapter four. Through the analysis on

their discourses and design works, in Chapter five I explore Chinese spatial tradition and its

influence on the design of Chinese contemporary architecture. Part three has a structure

similar to part two. This part focuses on the case studies on Japan. Through the analysis on

the discourses and design works of selected architects Kengo Kuma and Tadao Ando, I

explore the Japanese invisible tradition and its impact on the design of Japanese contemporary

architecture.

Part four consists of chapters nine and ten. Chapter nine makes a closer comparative

observation of these cases covered in the above chapters. The concluding discussion includes

a reflection on differences and common characteristics in chapter nine, and a study on the use

of traditional aesthetics as critical cultural forces in design thinking in chapter ten.

30

Chapter 2: Conceptual Framework and Theoretical Discussion

2.1 Discourse analysis on the theory of critical regionalism

Facing the tendency towards globalization with the erosion of difference and plurality, the

issue of regionalism has assumed a renewed importance to resist the increased cultural and

social homogenization. As I have stated before, the common effort in regenerating local and

native cultures, evidenced in the most recent reflective deign works in China and Japan, is for

critically resisting the mainstream status of universal modernism or globalisation. In the

earlier time, however, Euro-American scholars had observed and explained this similar

phenomenon, which happened in Europe and North America in the post World War II period.

One of the highly influential and widely criticized conceptual devices is ‘critical regionalism’.

Since it was firstly introduced to the public in the late 1970s, it had caused an extensive

debate in the architectural academic field. According to the inventors of this concept -

Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre, through the essay ‘The Grid and the Pathway’ which

was published in Architecture in Greece in 1981,85

critical regionalism was proposed as an

alternative to postmodernism ‘to avoid becoming entangled within the modernist versus

postmodernist debate.’86

In 1990, Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre published an article

titled ‘Why Critical Regionalism Today?’ to explain the emergence of this concept.

According to them, the concept of ‘regionalism’ evolved from the architectural and urban

historian Lewis Mumford’s regionalist position in the 1930s. The idea of ‘critical’ originated

in the essays of Immanuel Kant The Critique of Pure Reason (1791), and was developed in

the writings of the Frankfurt School, for example, Raymond Geuss’s The Idea of a Critical

Theory, Habermas and the Frankfurt School (1981).87

To avoid the arguments of modernism

and postmodernism, Tzonis and Lefaivre proposed the concept of ‘critical regionalism’ as a

definition of contemporary regionalist architecture, and also as a response to new problems

posed by global development.

Following the 1981 essay of Tzonis and Lafaivre, this concept of ‘critical regionalism’ was

developed and formulated by Kenneth Frampton through his three articles: ‘Towards a

Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance’88

(1983), ‘Critical

Regionalism: modern architecture and cultural identity’ (1985), and ‘Ten points on

an architecture of regionalism: a provisional polemic’ (1987). They represented the evolution

of his explanation and argumentation on this concept. His influence on the discourse of

critical regionalism exceeded that of the original authors Alexander Tzonis and Liane

Lefaivre.

At the beginning of the 1983 article ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an

Architecture of Resistance’, Frampton quoted Paul Ricoeur’s discourse in History and Truth,

which was published in 1961. Paul took the standpoint of underdeveloped nations and

non-western context, and questioned the subtle destruction of spiritual and cultural traditions

caused by universalisation. The situation of contemporary architecture in China and Japan

was quite similar with the description from Paul Ricoeur ‘…the single world civilization at

the same time exerts a sort of attrition or wearing away at the expense of the cultural

31

resources which have made the great civilizations of the past…..Thus we come to the crucial

problem confronting nations just rising from underdevelopment. In order to get on to the road

toward modernization, is it necessary to jettison the old cultural past which has been the

raison d'être of a nation?...... It is a fact: every culture cannot sustain and absorb the shock of

modern civilization. There is the paradox: how to become modern and to return to sources;

how to revive an old, dormant civilization and take part in universal civilization.’89 The main

task of critical regionalism as Frampton indicated is to seek answers to this question.

However, in this essay, Frampton neither answered directly through his argumentation, nor

explained how to use modernist approach to interpret the regional culture. Rather, it attempted

to formulate the implications of Paul Ricoeur’s discourse, through ‘six points for an

architecture of resistance’ which are: ‘1. Cultural and civilization: local culture and universal

civilization. 2. The rise and fall of the Avant-Garde. 3. Critical Regionalism and World

Culture. 4. The Resistance of the Place-Form. 5. Culture Versus Nature: Topography,

Context, Climate, Light and Tectonic Form. 6. The Visual Versus the Tactile.’90

To summarise his main idea in this essay, there are few points that need to be mentioned to

make a further discussion. For the purpose and significance of critical regionalism, firstly,

Frampton suggested that there was a difference between critical regionalism and

‘simple-minded attempts to revive the hypothetical forms of a lost vernacular’.91

In a simple

term, critical regionalism is not simply regionalism in the sense of vernacular architecture

which might be developed by the native residents without architects. Instead, it is as a cultural

strategy by applying an avant-garde modernist approach to the interpretation of regional

architecture. Secondly, he indicated that the strategy of critical regionalism will mediate the

impact of universal civilization and particularities of place.92

He explained the loss of

regional culture overpowered by global development. Critical regionalism should adopt

modern architecture critically for its universal progressive qualities but at the same time

should value responses particular to the context. Frampton did not clarify the difference

between ‘world culture’ and ‘universal civilization’. Rather, he intended that the designer

should translate that material into expressions of bounded space and form, light and tectonics,

that were regionally meaningful or locally defined in terms of native history and culture.

What Frampton emphasized is mostly built form and topographical and climatic fit. He took

Jørn Utzon’s Bagsvaerd Church of 1976 as an example, annotating the interpenetration of the

oriental timber roof form under the occidental concrete shell.93

He said the revitalisation of

occidental elements with oriental profiles in this case can be regarded as an approach of

critical regionalism.

In addition, Frampton recalled Martin Heidegger’s emphasis on boundedness. ‘A boundary is

not that at which something stops, but, as the Greeks recognized, the boundary is that from

which something begins its presencing.’94 Accordingly, he suggested the expression of the

bounded place-from was essential to a critical regionalist process. According to Frampton,

place has a close linkage with geography, topography, climate, light and materials. And place

is derived from its natural physical attributes, its physical architectural characteristic and the

local human culture. Building a place-form is one of the central tasks of critical regionalism.

32

He criticised the placeless architecture, and emphasised the critical importance of topography,

climate and local light, which can cause a direct influence on a region’s tectonic qualities.

Frampton’s argument involves respect for the local climate, light and tectonic form. He

pointed out further that attention should be paid on tectonic form rather than the scenographic,

and the tactile sense rather than the visual.95

What Frampton had in mind was that a region’s

tectonic qualities can be highlighted by strategic handling of the local natural light. Such an

approach stresses a tectonic rather than a merely scenographic use of light. Gradually, in his

main argument, a dialectical relationship was mapped between local culture and universal

civilization, culture and nature, and the visual and the tactile.

In 1985, Kenneth Frampton revised and published the enlarged edition of his book Modern

Architecture: a Critical History, which was firstly published in 1980. In this revised version,

he added a new chapter titled ‘Critical Regionalism: modern architecture and cultural identity’

to attempt to deal with the phenomenon of critical regionalism. Compared with his essay in

1983, this one expanded his further thoughts on ‘critical regionalism’. Frampton emphasised

again that critical regionalism was opposed to the tendency of universal civilization.96

He

indicated that critical regionalism was ‘a critical category rather than an identifiable artistic

movement in the avant-gardist sense’.97

It could be traced since Amancio Williams’ house in

the 1940s.98

In this article, Frampton further annotated different types of regionalist

expression through analysis of cases after World War II when a number of significant

architects were able to contribute to the culture of their native cities.99

These include Jørn

Utzon’s Bagsvaerd Church of 1976, built near Copenhagen; Alvar Aalto’s Säynatsalo Town

Hall in 1952; Siza Vieira’s Beires Houses in Povoa do Varzim, Portuguesa in 1976; Botta’s

house at Riva San Vitale in 1973; Antonakakis’s Benaki Street apartment of 1975 in Athens,

Carlo Scarpa’s Querini Stampalia Galley of 1963 in Venice, and so on.100

In the end of this

article, he expanded the case studies and introduced the Japanese architect Tadao Ando’s

Koshino House in Osaka in 1981 as an evidence of his annotation. Since then, Tadao Ando

was labelled as a typical regionalist architect, and was the first East Asian architect appeared

in Frampton’s key publication about critical regionalism. Although Ando was not in full

agreement with Frampton’s discourse, according to Ando’s statement, it prompted him to

think about architecture in terms of regionalism.101

After exploring the works of these typical regionalists, Frampton highlighted seven points to

summarise the features or attitudes of critical regionalism in the end of this article. Except for

emphasizing his favour for place-form, architecture as a tectonic fact, site-specific factors,

and tactile sensitivity, Frampton supplemented his further explanation on this topic within the

cultural contexts. Nonetheless, there was not much on social conditioning and social agenda.

Two years later, in 1987, Frampton published ‘Ten Points on an Architecture of Regionalism:

A Provisional Polemic’. Through a further subtle argumentation from him, this article can be

regarded as a summary of the first two articles. As a dialectical concept, critical regionalism

can be defined as based on a series of anti thesis against ‘modernism’ or ‘globalisation’.

33

Modernism or Globalization Critical Regionalism

● universal civilization ● local culture

● scenographic ● architectonic

● visual ● tactile

● graphic ● tectonic

● space ● place

● information ● experience

● Typology ● Topography

● a free standing object ● combined interaction of climate, culture,

myth and craft

● Primarily expressed in the public domain ● response to climate, topography, local light

● artificial materials ● natural /raw materials

We can see that Frampton supplemented a new discussion point, which is information and

experience, to show his rethought in facing with a fast developing high-technology society.

As Frampton has stated, ‘we have begun to lose our capacity for distinguishing between

information and experience, not only in architecture, but in everything else as well. Reality

and irreality are deliberately confused and fused together.’102

The increasingly pervasive

technology influenced the expectation of architecture. There is a tendency to resist a current

mass transportation and mass media based concept of architecture which presents the iconic,

symbolic, image-like, or object-like character. Focus on the real and distinctive experience of

every single building is what the critical regionalist wants to express.

After tracking the evolution of Frampton’s clarity and his nuanced argumentation, the features

of critical regionalism that Frampton had indicated include:

a) Focus on the relationship of a building and its surroundings rather than a free standing

object.

b) Focus on the creation of place, rather than placelessness engendered within universal

globalization.

c) The local geography, climate, environment, topography, and cultural background should be

brought into consideration to strengthen the regional identity and contribute towards

recreating the place instead of space.

d) It favours the realization of architecture as architectonic and tectonic fact rather than

scenographic and visual one, emphasizing the tactile rather than the visual, experience rather

than information.

e) Employ a natural or raw material with a regional root.

f) Deference towards local material, craft work, and the subtleties of local light.

g) The expressions of local distinctiveness and unique identity.

h) It adopts universal values of modernism, taking into account the geographic context of the

building.

Based on the three articles of Kenneth Frampton, the clarification and evolution of this

concept can be summarised as follows: 1). In the first article (1983), Frampton formulated six

key points to response with the proposal of critical regionalism. In his subtle discourses,

34

Frampton presented both contextual and specific polemic related to this concept. Kenneth

regarded critical regionalism as an approach to both globalisation and local culture, a

combination of universal civilization, world culture and local identity, as a response to new

problems posed by contemporary global development. 2). In the second article (1985), he

made a further explanation and illustration on this concept through a few case studies. Tadao

Ando’s Koshino House, as the first project outside Europe and North America, was included

in his demonstration of critical regionalist approach. 3). In the third article (1987), Frampton

further simplified and formulated the features of critical regionalism by providing a

subsequent set of dialectical points to separate the critical regionalist buildings from modern

or post-modern architecture. They are almost the most significant contribution toward the

maturation of the discourse.

Through the three key articles from Kenneth Frampton, the concept of critical regionalism

gradually obtained a clearer profile with distinctive features. However, we can deduce that

Frampton’s notion of critical regionalism was based on the tenet of the French philosopher

Paul Ricoeur, based on his frequent quotations of Ricoeur’s essays, including ‘Universal

Civilization and National Cultures’(1955) and ‘History and Truth’(1961). The single

perspective is also the limitation of his argument. Afterwards, many scholars questioned the

notion. They tried to look at critical regionalism from many different perspectives when

attempting to define the term.

Keith L. Eggener, in his essay ‘Placing Resistance: A Critique of Critical Regionalism’

(2002), highlighted the core expatiation of Kenneth Frampton on critical regionalism. He

focused on the arguments behind critical regionalism’s main idea which is proposed by

Frampton. He argued that Frampton’s standpoint for the fundamental strategy of critical

regionalism is to mediate the impact of universal civilization, but only from one limited

perspective, because he stressed the resistance of architecture rather than the response to local

identity.103

On the other hand, as Eggener addressed, critical regionalism ‘was a method or

process rather than a product, and the process varied widely according to individual

situation’.104

In this respect, it was also used as a tool for studying some aspects of some

architects’ work. However, because of the absence of any stylistic unity to define the term of

critical regionalism, any elements like tradition, cultural identity and place are all linked to

critical regionalism without careful analysis and judgment.

Although this concept has caused huge arguments in architectural academic circle since its

birth, much scholarly criticism does not provide truly convincing proofs or refutations.

Scholars have failed to propose a better alternative until the original authors Alexander Tzonis

and Liane Lefaivre refined this term in the book Critical Regionalism: Architecture and

Identity in a Globalized World, published in 2003. Different from Kenneth Frampton’s

standpoint of modernisation, Tzonis and Lefaivre sought for an alternative approach to avoid

the framework of modernisation versus post-modernisation. They refined the concept and

clarified that the word ‘critical’ was not used to denote an opposition, or resistance against

modernism or post-modernism. They explained that ‘critical’ here meant ‘a baring, exposing

and evaluation of the implicit presuppositions of an argument, or a way of thinking’.105

The

35

word of ‘regionalism’ here indicated ‘an approach to design giving priority to the identity of

the particular rather than to universal dogmas’.106

The critical regionalist approach to design

and architecture recognised ‘the value of the singular circumscribes projects within the

physical, social, and cultural constraints of the particular, aiming at sustaining diversity while

benefiting from universality.’107

The main idea of critical regionalism, according to Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre, is

rooted in a modern tradition, but related to a geographical and cultural context. In the article

‘Introducing an Architecture of the Present, Critical Regionalism and the Design of Identity’,

Tzonis traced the origins of critical regionalism. From his analysis, this idea extended through

the German Romantic Movement into the writings of Lewis Mumford in the 1930s. His book

The South in Architecture (1941) is a key clue. In this book, he pointed out that regionalism

was not merely a matter of using local materials or copying the form of construction that the

ancestors used, but was that closely meet the actual condition of life and reflect the current

conditions of culture in the region.108

Mumford believed that regionalism did not exclude the

universal, but should be seen in a relationship of constant engagement and negotiation with it.

It was Mumford’s writings and his regionalist position that had gradually formed the core of

Tzonis and Lefavre’s thinking on critical regionalism.109

Except for a few classic regionalist projects from the 1940s to the 1980s, the case studies in

this book mostly ranged from the 1990s through to 2002. Besides, the geographic scope of

critical regionalist architecture was extended in Asia, Africa and Latin America where the

issue of identity is of particular concern. The case studies in this book include: The Mahindra

United World College in Pune, India in 2000, designed by Christopher Benninger;

Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art in Nasu-gun, Tochigi, Japan in 2000,

designed by Kengo Kuma; Yokohama International Port Terminal in Yokohama, Japan in

2002, designed by Foreign Office Architects; and Suitcase House in Beijing, China in 2002,

desined by Gary Chang.110

I assume that these cases can be used to examine the present

critical stance of contemporary architecture in East Asia. The emerging critical practices

re-examined their traditions and went back to learn their own traditional values and principles.

As Lefaivre had mentioned, it appeared that there were critical regionalist projects in Japan,

China, and other regions in the world, which transformed local material and technology into a

fresh architectural language. This can be regarded as a new tendency of critical

regionalism.111

Comparing with the argumentations from Lefaivre and Tzonis, and that from Frampton, we

see a subtle difference on the meaning of critical regionalism. In Frampton’s discourse, the

core of critical regionalism is resistance, which was established in his standpoint of critical

architecture. However, the historical and cultural foundation determining the core of critical

regionalism in Lefaivre and Tzonis’s discourses is identity. Despite ambiguity in definition,

the term critical regionalism was formulated in two different standpoints - identity and

resistance. However, these two definitions are not contrary but are related. This could also be

thought of as an issue of cultural specificity versus universality. Although there is an obvious

evolution of the ideas and opinions of critical regionalism, however, the common agreement

36

is that the fundamental strategy of critical regionalism is to mediate or resist the impact of

globalizing homogenisation.

From the above discussion, the theoretical background of critical regionalism is mostly based

on European and North American histories. As Argentine architect and theorist Marina

Waisman questioned, the Latin American version of regionalism is quite different from that

proposed by Kenneth Frampton, or Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre.112

According to

Eggener, Waisman insisted that contemporary regionalist architecture in Latin America

should be understood as ‘divergence’ rather than ‘resistance’.113

Despite its origin in reaction

to specific circumstances, critical regionalism does not limit architects to work in their local

regions. Actually it is distinct from vernacular and romantic regionalism, like traditional

residential buildings in rural villages.

So far the term ‘critical regionalism’ has not been examined at the level of a global two-way

dialogue, although few cases of Asia have been discussed. It is a pity that there is an absence

of discourses in Asia. Due to the rise of East Asia in the late twentieth century, especially

since the 1990s, there is an urgency to reshape the framework of critical regionalism to

response to this challenge from East Asia.

There is no tradition of resistance in the East Asian philosophy. Peter Eisenman, in his article

‘Critical Architecture in a Geopolitical World’ (1995), pointed out that critical thinking made

its academic appearance in the late eighteenth century in the Euro-American world. It was

developed by Immanuel Kant and Giovanni Battista Piranesi, and had strongly contributed to

the formation of a critical consciousness among European architects. However, such tradition

cannot be found in Asia.114

Chinese architects had not quite developed a critical method in

architecture until the 1990s, when some reflective architects emerged. Wang Shu, the first

Chinese architect who won the Pritzker Architecture Prize, in his book She ji de kai shi

(Beginning of design, 2002), pointed out ‘there was no architectural critique, there was no

theory in China’.115

On the other hand, as Ando stated, Frampton asserted that Ando’s design exemplified the

approach of critical regionalism Frampton proposed, just after the visiting of several works

during their first meeting in Japan in 1980. However Ando expressed that he actually did not

completely agree with some points of his discourses about critical regionalism.116

I assume

that the main reason for this is a difference in culture and aesthetic awareness, resulting in

different interpretations between architects or critics from the Euro-America and the East

Asia.

Despite the arguments and debates on Frampton’s critical regionalism, if we switch the focus

from Europe and North America to East Asia, we find that there is a response and a linkage

with contemporary design approach. For example, Frampton once mentioned critical

regionalism manifests itself as a consciously bounded architecture rather than emphasizing

the building as a free-standing object with a focus on the territory to be established by the

structure erected on the site.117

This opinion is similar to what Kengo Kuma has explained in

37

his theory of ‘anti-object’. Moreover, from Frampton, as a corollary in response to climatic

conditions, critical regionalism is opposed to the tendency of universal civilization in the use

of air-conditioning. It tends to treat all openings as delicate transitional zones with a capacity

to respond to the specific conditions imposed by the site, the climate and the light.118

This is

echoed in the recent design works of East Asian architects such as Wang Shu and Kengo

Kuma.

Contemporary architecture in East Asia is featured with an integration of global modernism

and local characteristics. Cultural forces motivate vernacular forms in addition to climate and

geological considerations. Apparently, this approach can be fitted into the definition of

critical regionalism. If it is not caused by a consciousness of resistance, what is the underlying

reason? I assume that ideas in East Asian traditional philosophy played an important role in

reshaping the contemporary architectural culture in Asia. On the other hand, the concept of

‘critical regionalism’ has also been used in the field of architectural studies, despite its origin

in a very different architectural and intellectual circumstance.

We can conclude that the reason for the arguments on the concepts of critical regionalism is

mostly based on the ambiguities of this term. Although the term of critical regionalism is hard

to define clearly, it is still an influential architectural concept to be used for explaining the

application of a contemporary place-oriented design culture in an intellectual construct. It has

been nearly four decades since it was first exposed in the public debate. The concept should

be re-thought and re-contextualised in terms of our current social circumstances, and

sensibilities, customs, aesthetic awareness, distinctive cultures and social traditions. This

research aims to position critical regionalism within a larger historic and geographic context.

It is not to critique any former argument, but to seek for an alternative understanding of the

meaning of critical regionalism in the current East Asian context. Next, let us review East

Asian traditional aesthetics adopted in critical designs in East Asia today.

2.2 East Asian traditional aesthetics employed by critical designs today

Architecture accommodates almost all daily activities of human beings like eating, sleeping,

playing, learning and working. It must have an impact on the user’s senses and emotions.

There is a recognized difference across cultures. If we regard Euro-American modernism as a

dominant aesthetic sensibility of global industrialized society featuring the common value and

responding to rapidly changing consuming culture, then we may define other aesthetic

approaches expressing distinctive cultures, local customs and social traditions indicating

stable lifestyles and regional differentiations with a linkage to native values, showing in the

aspects of expressiveness and emotional sensitivity. In this research, ideas and practices of

East Asian traditional aesthetics belong to the latter one.

To have a clearer understanding of East Asian aesthetic expression, let us trace back to the

philosophic origin of traditional thoughts. In a broad sense, East Asian philosophies, as

represented by Confucianism and Taoism, originated from China. John K. Fairbank (1973), in

the book East Asia Tradition and Transformation, confirmed that the golden age of Chinese

38

thought started from the Chou Dynasty around the ninth century B.C.119

The book I ching(易

经), also called Classic of Changes, is one of the Five Classics120

. It was associated with the

dominant Confucian tradition, and can be regarded as the origin of Chinese and even East

Asian philosophies.

The Chou Dynasty in ancient China, after 770 B.C., was a period of great economic growth,

social change, and political development.121

This situation made it possible to support large

numbers of thinkers. The two important streams in Chinese thought, Confucianism and

Taoism, were flourished since then. Confucius (孔子), also known as K’ung-fu-tzu (孔夫子)

is regarded as the first man to have been a professional teacher and philosopher in China and

have been recognised in East Asia, iconically at least, as the greatest of all teachers and

philosophers.122

The philosophy of Confucius is called Confucianism. Confucius’ thought

was born of his discovery of fundamental ideas concerning the order of the universe and

people’s relation to it. According to Fairbank, Confucianism emphasised personal and

governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity, rather than

power.123

Confucian morality and insistence on social conformity are core ideals of Confucianism.

Fairbank pointed out the feature of Confucianism in comparison with other philosophies, ‘The

judicious balancing of inner virtues and external polish is characteristic of the moderation of

Confucius in all his ideas. Great philosophers and religious leaders in India and in the Europe

have commonly dealt in absolutes; that is, they have tended to emphasise logical and

mathematical absolutes. Confucius was a relativist, thinking in social and human terms. He

set the East Asian pattern of compromise, of always seeking the middle path.’ ‘Moderation

and balance may help explain the eventual triumph of Confucianism.’124

Next to Confucianism, the most important stream in Chinese thought is Taoism, also known

as Daoism. Tao (道) literally means ‘road’ or ‘way’. Different from Confucianism, by not

emphasising rigid rituals and social order, the Taoists accepted the unimportance of

individuality considering human beings as individual manifestations of vast cosmic forces, in

the face of infinite time and space.125

Accordingly, Taoists generally tend to emphasise

naturalness, simplicity and spontaneity. From Fairbank’s arguments, the idea of Taoism is an

attempt to fit human life into nature’s rhythms. This idea represents a philosophical

expression of the interest of early Chinese in nature deities, fertility cults, and the ruler’s role

as mediator between nature and man.126

The Taoists advocated that the universe proceeds

smoothly according to its own harmonies. People’s efforts to change or improve nature only

destroy these harmonies and produce chaos.

These thoughts were found in literature and arts. As Fairbank’s has described, the Chinese

have always had a strong aesthetic urge, which the individual freedom of Taoism and its

mystical union with nature encouraged. Chinese artists and poets which closely identified

with the Confucian tradition have usually been Taoists at heart.127

39

In addition, as one of the most influencing Asian thoughts, Buddhism was introduced into

China from India in the first century. However, since its coming it had been a major factor in

Chinese civilization, exercising particular influence on religion, philosophy, art, and

literature.128

According to Fung Yulan (1976), the author of the book A Short History of

Chinese Philosophy, ‘Chan’(禅), commonly known in the West under its Japanese name

‘Zen’, is a combination of the most subtle and delicate aspects of both Buddhist and Taoist

philosophies.129

The common feature is an emphasis on human relationship with nature. Here,

the nature means not only natural scenes or images, but also a source of senses like light,

darkness, rainwater, wind, sound, smell, feeling and so on. In this regard, idealisation of

nature should have a close linkage with the ideology of Eastern traditional aesthetics related

to East Asian thoughts.

On the other hand, Fung Yulan asserted that the contribution of Western philosophy is the

method of logical analysis, which may be called a ‘positive’ method. Opposite of this,

Buddhism and Taoism both use a ‘negative’ method.130

According to Fung, this negative

method of Taoism was reinforced by Buddhism. ‘The negative method attempts to eliminate

distinctions and to tell what its object is not, whereas the positive method attempts to make

distinctions and tell what its object is.’131

Fung also had indicated his agreement with

Professor Northrop that ‘philosophy in the West started with what he called the concept by

postulation, whereas Chinese philosophy stated with what he called concept by intuition. As a

result, Western philosophy has naturally been dominated by the positive method; and Chinese

philosophy by the negative one.’132

This is an essential difference between the Chinese

traditional thinking and Western thought. Fung made a further explanation: ‘In the history of

Chinese philosophy, the positive method was never fully developed; in fact, it was much

neglected. Therefore, Chinese philosophy has lacked clear thinking, which is one of the

reasons why it is marked by simplicity.’133

This is also reflected in the Chinese traditional art

and literature.

Although contemporary China and Japan have obvious differences in political patterns and

social conditions, they share the common East Asian culture, including a writing system,

ethical concepts, literary genres, and even historical memories, which profoundly influenced

their living modes and aesthetic expressions. Arguably, the key to East Asian civilization and

its strength is to be found in the ideas of the Confucian thinking. And these ideas developed

through calligraphy, painting, poetry and music. Here, I temporarily include the notions of

Chinese literary minimalist tradition and Japanese aesthetics wabi-sabi as a point of departure

for analysis. Through the review and analysis of these ideas in the East Asian thought and

aesthetics, I try to find out how they are used as a potential philosophic framework for

explaining and analysing contemporary designs in China and Japan.

Minimalism here is different from minimalist architectural design, like the motto of ‘less is

more’ proposed by German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and is also

different from European minimalism in the geometric abstractions of visual art, emerged in

the post war period. In a more broad and general sense, minimalist art is not only for visual

40

expression, but also the moral or spiritual inspiration under the framework of knowledge in

East Asia.

The notion of minimalism can be found in the expression of Chinese literary tradition. Fung

Yulan explained the Westerners’ understanding for the Chinese philosophy. He quoted an

article named ‘Dominant Ideas in the Formation of Chinese Culture’ by Professor Derk

Bodde in 1946. Bodde pointed out that the difference of fundamental importance between

China and most other major civilizations was ethics, especially Confucian ethic, which

provided the spiritual basis in Chinese civilization. On the contrary, the Westerners were

more concerned with religion.134

According to Fung Yulan, the spirit of Chinese philosophy is suggestiveness. Compared with

the philosophical writings of the West, ‘Chinese philosophers were accustomed to express

themselves in the form of aphorisms, apothegms, or allusions, and illustrations’135

. Those

expressions are not articulate. ‘Their insufficiency in articulateness is compensated for,

however, by their suggestiveness……Suggestiveness, not articulateness, is the ideal of all

Chinese art, whether it be poetry, painting, or anything else….and this ideal is reflected in the

way in which Chinese philosophers have expressed themselves.’136 According to Chinese

literacy tradition, the limited number of words suggested limitless ideas in Chinese poetry.137

‘Tells is rich in content, though terse in words.’138

‘According to Taoism, Tao cannot be told,

but only suggested. So when words are used, it is the suggestiveness of the words, and not

their fixed denotations.’139

If we describe the expression in European art as direct, then the

one in Chinese art or East Asian art can be described as indirect.

The thinking differences are also reflected in lifestyle and the ways of traditional construction.

Tadao Ando, in his early writing, described a kind of traditional Japanese architectural style

named sukiya and used it to explain Japanese minimalist aesthetics. The uncategorizable

concept of sukiya developed in the sixteenth century. It was originally used in tea houses and

later for private residences. After centuries, the Japanese tea ceremony which can be regarded

as a quintessence of Japanese comportment, has developed into an extremely simple

aesthetics. And this kind of minimalist aesthetics has given rise to a group of extraordinary

buildings. Based on the description from Ando, the characteristics of sukiya style includes

low eaves, extended verandas, and a delicate combination of the two. Moreover, timber

construction is employed with wood left in a natural status, sometimes with the bark still

attached. External walls are typically made of clay. Great attention is paid to detail and

proportions, and the effect is one of refined simplicity. Interiors of sukiya-style spaces are

smaller and lower than spaces in western-style houses. The enclosed small spaces make it

possible for users to exist in limitless mental spaces.140

In sukiya style architecture, the order

of nature and the liberated individual always work together to create a harmony. The

architect Yoshida Isoya (1894–1974) pioneered a modern sukiya style using contemporary

materials. Sukiya style is based on an aesthetic of naturalness and rustic simplicity. Buildings

in this style are intended to harmonize with their surroundings. To have a better understanding

of this kind of traditional minimalist aesthetics, I would like to explore the concept of

wabi-sabi in this research.

41

Wabi-sabi is a traditional Japanese aesthetic concept. ‘The initial inspiration for wabi-sabi’s

metaphysical, spiritual, and moral principles come from ideas about simplicity, naturalness,

and acceptance of reality found in Taoism and Chinese Zen Buddhism.’141

After centuries of

Buddhist influences from China, wabi-sabi eventually evolved into a unique Japanese

aesthetics. It was developed by Sen no Rikyu, the founder of the tea ceremony in Japan, in the

sixteenth century. This term is hard to be explained precisely in western terms. Some

Japanese critics even believe that the meaning of wabi-sabi is indefinable due to its

mysterious and elusive nature. There is a story which is often quoted by Japanese as being the

best way to describe the meaning of wabi-sabi. This story is about how Sen no Rikyu asked

his son to clean the courtyard surrounding the tearoom. ‘This took most of the day, and

afterward his son protested that the stepping-stones had been scrubbed three times, the floor

had been polished, and every twig and leaf had been picked up. Rikyu then went over to a

maple tree that was crimson with autumn leaf and shook it so that some of its beautiful leaves

fell randomly to the floor.’142

This is wabi-sabi. ‘It is not solely the work done by nature, nor

is it solely the work done by man. It is a symbiosis of the two.’143

Leonard Koren is generally regarded as the first scholar to introduce the term ‘wabi-sabi’ to

the westerners through his publication Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets &

Philosophers in 1994. He pointed out that this concept could not be found in any extant

Japanese dictionary prior to the publication of his book, although it appeared in a couple of

Japanese books in an earlier time as single term ‘wabi’ or ‘sabi’.144 In the definition from

Leonard, he conjoined the two terms. ‘Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect,

impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of

things unconventional.’145

Leonard considered the closest English word to wabi-sabi is probably ‘rustic’.146

It was noted

that originally the Japanese words ‘wabi’ and ‘sabi’ had quite different meanings. ‘Sabi’

originally meant ‘chill,’ ‘lean,’ or ‘withered.’ ‘Wabi’ originally meant the misery of living

alone in nature, away from society, and suggested a discouraged, dispirited, cheerless

emotional state.147

Although, over the centuries, the meanings between the two words are

very blurry, according to the provisional definition by Leonard, if ‘wabi’ and ‘sabi’ were

considered as separate entities, he summarized and characterized their differences as

follows:148

Wabi refers to Sabi refers to

● a way of life, a spiritual path

● the inward, the subjective

● a philosophical construct

● spatial events

● material objects, art and literature

● the outward, the objective

● an aesthetic ideal

● temporal events

To obtain a better understanding of this term, Leonard made a further comparison and

contrast between wabi-sabi and Modernism. The latter is the dominant aesthetic sensibility of

international industrialised society in the mid- to late-twentieth century.149

42

Similarities:

● Both apply to all manner of manmade objects, spaces, and designs.

● Both are strong reactions against the dominant, established sensibilities of their time.

Modernism was a radical departure from 19th-century classicism and eclecticism. Wabi-sabi

was a radical departure from the Chinese perfection and gorgeousness of the 16 th-century

and earlier.

● Both eschew any decoration that is not integral to structure.

● Both are abstract, nonrepresentational ideals of beauty.

● Both have readily identifiable surface characteristics. Modernism is seamless, polished,

and smooth. Wabi-sabi is earthy, imperfect, and variegated.

Difference:

Modernism Wabi-sabi

● Primarily expressed in the public domain ● Primarily expressed in the private domain

● Implies a logical, rational worldview ● Implies an intuitive worldview

● Absolute ● Relative

● Looks for universal prototypical solutions ● Looks for personal, idiosyncratic solutions

● Mass-produced/modular ● One-of-a-kind/variable

● Expresses faith in progress ● There is no progress

● Future-oriented ● Present-oriented

● Believes in the control of nature ● Believes in the fundamental

uncontrollability of nature

● Romanticizes technology ● Romanticizes nature

● People adapting to machines ● People adapting to nature

● Geometric organization of form (sharp,

precise, definite, shapes and edges)

● Organic organization of form (soft, vague,

shapes and edges)

● The box as metaphor (rectilinear, precise,

contained)

● The bowl as metaphor (free shape, open at

top)

● Manmade materials ● Natural materials

● Ostensibly slick ● Ostensibly crude

● Needs to be well-maintained ● Accommodates to degradation and

attrition

● Purity makes its expression richer ● Corrosion and contamination make its

expression richer

● Solicits the reduction of sensory

information

● Solicits the expansion of sensory

information

● Is intolerant of ambiguity and contradiction ● Is comfortable with ambiguity and

contradiction

● Cool ● Warm

● Generally light and bright ● Generally dark and dim

● Function and utility are primary values ● Function and utility are not so important

● Perfect materiality is an ideal ● Perfect immateriality is an ideal

● Everlasting ● To everything there is a season

43

From the above statements by Leonard, the aesthetic of wabi-sabi presents a sharp contrast to

the functional, disposable aesthetic of modern western life. It responds with the ideal of the

Taoists, which accept primitivity without decoration. Leonard gave a very thoughtful analysis

of the elusive concept, but it is still very hard to be defined well. ‘The most reason is that

most Japanese never learned about wabi-sabi in intellectual terms, since there are no books or

teachers to learn it from.’150

Wabi-sabi is a nature-based aesthetic paradigm. It is more like a

feeling than a concept or form. The feeling is rooted in the culture of aesthetics in Japan, and

influences all expressions of arts and architecture. Japanese architects incorporate the

elements like simplicity, naturalism, of wabi-sabi into their design works. Different from

minimalism, wabi-sabi emphasised on rustic simplicity. Based on the knowledge that the

world or nature is impermanent, imperfect, and incomplete, it accepted the real natural cycles

of growth, decay, ageing, blemishing, deterioration, and death. And it also recognised

emptiness and imperfection as well. Traditional understanding of Japanese aesthetics largely

involves wabi-sabi. To some extent, architects design their works in a process which shares

something with the aesthetic ideal of wabi-sabi in contemporary Japan.

Furthermore, another obvious feature in contemporary design is the use and introduction of

light, especially natural light, which is an important controlling factor to spatial experience.

The application of light, darkness and the layered tones of various kinds of shadows can be

found in many design works in contemporary Japan. The well-known Church of the Light, in

Osaka, designed by Tadao Ando, has a strong contrast between light and concrete solid.

Through his careful design, natural light penetrates the darkness to give direction to the

architecture. It can be said that the space of the chapel is defined by light, and expressed the

power of the light. In the book In Praise of Shadows, originally published in 1933, the author

Junichiro Tanizaki favoured things softened by shadows and the patina of age. He selected for

praise anything natural, delicate and nuanced, for example the patterns of grain in old wood,

the sound of rain dripping from eaves and leaves, or washing over the footing of a stone

lantern in a garden and refreshing the moss that grows above it. He suggested an attitude of

appreciation and mindfulness as central to a life lived well. Tanizaki pointed out that, in the

traditional Japanese architecture, such as a temple, palace and house, ‘a roof of heavy tiles is

first laid out, and in the deep, spacious shadows created by the eaves the rest of the structure

is built.’ ‘Most buildings of the past their roofs give the impression of possessing far greater

weight, height, and surface than all that stands beneath the eaves.’ ‘And so it has come to be

that the beauty of a Japanese room depends on a variation of shadows, heavy shadows against

light shadows.’151

It looks there is a different attitude to the use of natural light between

European and East Asian cultures. In European artistic expression, it emphasizes that bright

light is presented as continuously searching for light and clarity, exemplified by a big range of

artworks. However, East Asian art and literature represent an appreciation of shadow, by

producing a kind of subtle and subdued form. Is this attitude closely related to the concept of

wabi-sabi?

To a certain extent, the approach of Chinese literary minimalism and of Japanese wabi-sabi

presented a similar sense of a restrained beauty. Is this feature exemplified in the

44

contemporary architectural design in China and in Japan? Does this attitude reflect an

appreciation of negation? I will discover it in this research.

2.3 Further thoughts

Next let me have a basic introduction to some concepts of traditional cultures to develop a

clearer understanding of positivity and negativity in spatial philosophy in East Asia.

As Fairbank (1973) revealed, Taoism had served as a balance to the dominant concepts of

Chinese culture.152

It is possible to say that the core of Taoism is a harmonious balance in

changing circumstances. Since everything is linked with a shared origin and each being has its

place in the whole, there exists a natural tendency toward harmony. Harmony is achieved by

striking a balance by conceptualizing an oppositional binary, like yin (阴) and yang(阳). Yin

yang is recorded as the symbol of Taiji (太极), also called bagua (eight trigrams 八卦) which

comes from I Ching (Yi Jing 易经). This book was firstly published in the late ninth century

before Christ, and can be regarded as the first source of Chinese philosophy. Taiji refers to the

essential of nature of the universe, which is built up around the eight trigrams and sixty-four

hexagrams. It composes of two opposite energy principles of yin and yang that interact with

each other. The dual concepts yin and yang come from the Naturalists who developed one of

the thoughts in the period of ‘The Hundred Schools’ dated from the sixth century B.C. during

the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period of ancient China. From Fairbank,

yang is considered as an expansion with more light, expansive, upward-moving, active and

solar. On the contrary, yin is thought of as concentration to be more dark, submissive,

downward-moving, passive, and lunar.153

Peter Rowe (2002) also pointed out that the notion

of yang refers to the power of positive thinking or process, while yin to the power of negative

thinking or process.154

Based on this definition, they do not opposite, but are related to each

other. Within each half of the Taiji symbol, a small circle with opposite colour represents an

opposite aspect, which reminds people that extreme yang will eventually become yin, and

vice versa. The curving line represents the continuous interaction and movement between

darkness and light, the negative and the positive.155

The interdependence of the two

principles was well symbolised by an interlocking figure. It reflects an interconnection and

continuous change in the dynamic process of nature. A balance between yin and yang creates

harmony and stability in a place. The coexistence of positive and negative forces is regarded

as the spirit of East Asian philosophy.

Figure 1.8(left) Taiji-trigrammes

and the concepts of ‘yin yang’.

Figure 1.9(middle) Table number

12 否(pǐ) in 64 hexagrams.

Figure 1.10(right) Schematically

illustrate feng shui.

In Bagua, the upper trigram of symbol pǐ is ☰ (乾 qián), representing heaven. The lower

trigram is ☷ (坤 kūn) which means earth. They are combined as a symbol (否 pǐ) (table

45

number twelve from sixty-four hexagrams). It has a meaning of ‘obstruction’ or ‘standstill’

which responds to the concept of ‘negation’. The definition of the term ‘negation’ needs to be

clarified for a better understanding of further discussions. According to the definition from

Oxford dictionary, there are two main meanings of the word ‘negation’. One is the

contradiction or denial of something. The other is the absence or opposite of something actual

or positive. In this thesis, the word ‘negation’ does not mean disagreement, refusal or denial,

but relatedness.

Furthermore, the concept of feng shui (风水) is closely linked to Taiji trigrammes. It is a

Chinese philosophical system of harmonising everyone with the surrounding environment.

The feng shui practice discusses architecture in metaphoric terms of ‘invisible forces’ that

combine both real and abstract sources, like sunlight, air flow, water, sound, the feelings of

our thoughts and emotions, and much more, known as qi (气).156

The consideration of feng

shui serves environmental purposes well. Architecture needs to be considered as having a

human relationship. Positive and negative forces have to work together. This balanced

dualism in philosophy and in personality has persisted until the modern day.

Using the concept of ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ strategies, a similar comparison can be drawn

between board games of Chess and of Go. Chess is a hierarchical game where the object is to

catch the king. It is believed to have originated in Eastern India since sixth century and

developed in Europe later on.157

Go (or weiqi in Chinese) is a traditional game originated in

China more than two thousand and five hundred years ago, and had spread to Japan and

Korea around seventh century.158

In Japan it is called Igo and in Korea it is named as Baduk.

The play rules are simple, but the strategy is complex with Asian philosophy. The key of Go

is to find a balance between attack and defense. The purpose is to surround and obtain larger

territory. The game board contains a nineteen-by-nineteen grid-like pattern, which show the

spatial traditions in some extent, and became the basis of the construction of ancient Kyoto

City in around 794.159

As Jianfei (2013) discussed, another ancient capital city Chang’an

(now known as Xi’an) in China had formed the urban planning with similar grid pattern in the

Sui and Tang dynasties from 583 to 907.160

Go is essentially a game of abstract strategies

with positive objective, like black and white stones (playing pieces), and negative space (void

area). The void space surrounding the territory plays important role in the whole game. The

attitude towards the result of game is ‘never be unduly elated by victory or depressed by

defeat.’161

This is a typical life philosophy in East Asia, and this is also one of the main

reasons to explain that the overwhelming majority of Go player are East Asian.

46

Figure 1.11(left) Go (wei qi).

Figure 1.12(middle) Schematic map of Neiankyo, which is an ancient city now known as Kyoto

(source by the guide of Kyoto Imperial Palace).

Figure 1.13(right) Map of Chang’an. Source: Zhu, Jianfei, ‘Ten thousand things: notes on a construct

of largeness, multiplicity, and moral statehood’, in Christopher C.M.Lee (ed.), Common Framework:

rethinking the development city in China, Part 1: Xiamen – The Megaplot, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard

University Graduate School of Design, 2013, p.34

Besides, there are various explanations on the spaces of positivity and negativity, especially in

the field of arts. In this research, I try to use the definition from Yoshinobu Ashihara in his

book Exterior Design in Architecture, firstly published in 1970, revised in 1981. He

illustrated two kinds of architectural space: ‘one whose vector focuses inward on the center,

and the other whose vector diffuses outward from the center.’162

Ashihara uses examples of

negative space as being natural. Exterior space is created by delimiting nature. Nature can be

regarded as ‘negative space’.163

He also quoted Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu(老子)’s words

‘Though clay may be molded into a vase, the essence of the vase is in the emptiness within

it.’164

Let me explain it. One of the most important concepts in Taoism is wu (无, emptiness),

which means nonbeing or nonexistence. It has been recorded in Chapter Eleven, Tao Te

Ching (道德经), by Lao Tzu: ‘Thirty spokes unite around one hub to make a wheel. It is the

presence of the empty space that gives the function of a vehicle. Clay is molded into a vessel.

It is the empty space that gives the function of a vessel. Doors and windows are chisel out to

make a room. It is the empty space in the room that gives its function. Therefore, something

substantial can be beneficial. While the emptiness of void is what can be utilized.’165

We

work with the substantial, but the emptiness is what we use. From Ashihara, the ‘negative

space’ is like the emptiness of a vessel or container.

Simply speaking, ‘positive space’ is the figure or form occupied by the subject, while the rest

is the area around the subject, more like a background, which can be regarded as ‘negative

space’. ‘Negative space’ is not empty space. It contains at least some subtle form or texture. It

is seemingly unimportant area that does not immediately draw the conscious attention of the

viewer, but nevertheless helps define and enhance the shape, action, or size of the subject.

‘Positive space’ and ‘negative space’ can even be reversed, to conceive of the idea of ‘reverse

space’, like reversibility of interior and exterior space in Ashihara’s discourse.166

Besides, Fumihiko Maki advocated the use of empty or open spaces called ma (in Japanese

word 間), which suggests interval, pause and gives an idea of space including the concept of

time. This is related to Japanese aesthetic principle reflecting Buddhist spatial ideas. Ma is the

critical compositional element of all art forms. Thinking in terms of figure-ground

relationship, Ma can be imagined as a ‘negative space’.

The concept of ‘negative space’ emphasises the dynamic relationship between objects and

emptiness, form and formlessness. It is experienced progressively through intervals of spatial

designation. The use of ‘negative space’ is a key element of artistic expression in East Asia.

The necessity of emptiness is reflected in traditional painting, calligraphy and other arts.

47

In general, many central ideas of the traditional cultures in East Asia originated from the

concepts of negation, as initially found in Taoism. This becomes an inspiration for the

productions and creations of contemporary works of art and architecture in East Asia, setting

apart a unique path of thinking and doing.

However, the strategy of negation does not the belong of East Asia only. It has existed in the

Europe in a much earlier time and a wider cultural field. For instances, the ancient Greek

statue of Venus de Milo presented a beauty of imperfection. The missing arms gave people

limitless imagination and a persistent enigma. Another example is a piece of music

composition called 4’33’’ (four minutes, thirty-three seconds). It was composed by American

experimental composer John Cage in 1952.167

The entire piece consists of silences of

different lengths. What audience hear is the sound of the environment while it is performed.

Following by heart with imagination, nothingness can produce limitless possibilities. This

controversial creation is not something to which audiences are accustomed in European

classic music. It is regarded as a reflection of the influence of Buddhism. Silence does not

mean ‘nothing’. The sounds of silence can express any emotion or feeling depends on the

audience’s experience or imagination. The Chinese proverb ‘silence is golden gold’ can be

used to explain this notion.

2.4 Framework of this thesis

Thorsten Botz-Bornstein, in his article ‘Wang Shu and the Possibilities of Architectural

Regionalism in China’ (2009), proposed a question, ‘Will Chinese architects be able to create

a valuable Chinese environment with works that flow out of a critical interchange with

China’s own history?’ The conclusion from him is, ‘Critical Regionalism will most probably

install itself within niches created by a unique tradition of regional politics and hopefully

begin to face its own past and formulate its own Chinese principles.’168

However, he did not

really answer his question. He was limited in his background of European theories and

histories, and lacked acknowledge of East Asian aesthetics. This is a common phenomenon in

European academic circle. My research aims to expand his question into a wider geographic

scope of East Asia where a shared traditional aesthetics originated from.

Critical regionalism is one of important voices in critical architecture which is a broader

concept. According to Peter Eisenman (1995), the concept of ‘critical architecture’ was

introduced in the late eighteenth century in the European traditions.169

In contemporary

development of East Asia, critical stance came from the gap caused by social alteration

between the old-fashioned or traditional lifestyle and the information-based, technological

advanced society. The rapid change and the fast rhythm in new life styles let people left far

away from their old aesthetic sense and traditional way of life. It happened in Japan during

the 1960s when the gap appeared and the modern way of life introduced into Japan in the

post-war period. Furthermore, since the 1990s, when China launched a series of rapid

economic growth, together with the social transformation, people’s value and attitude have

changed quickly and comprehensively. Therefore contemporary design in China and in Japan

48

can not been judged and assessed by European criteria. They should have something of their

own presenting a local and specific East Asian context.

Based on the literature review, in the existing academic circles, especially in East Asia, the

concept of critical regionalism has not been accepted totally. Xin Ruan, the author of the book

New China Architecture (2006) holds an opinion that ‘much of the twentieth century Chinese

architecture, unfortunately, does not seem to have matched the expectations of critical

regionalism (as modern architecture did in Japan or India)’.170

One of the evidence is that

some additional definition have been created and developed by some scholars and architects

such as ‘critical pragmatism’ by Li Xiangning, and ‘reflexive regionalism’ by Li Xiaodong.

They are looking for a suitable term for the contemporary China design strategy. On the other

hand, the slogan of weak and negative architecture proposed by the contemporary architects

in Japan can match with the idea of compromise in Confucian thoughts which has been rooted

in East Asian philosophy. Here I prefer to use the concept of negation in the study of

traditional aesthetics, for the purpose of explaining and analysing the contemporary design

works in East Asia and to seek for a resonance and meaning in East Asia.

Frampton’s comment on Ando’s works is close to the answer. He wrote: ‘It is possible to

claim that Ando’s work is critical on two interrelated counts. It criticizes universal modernity

from within by establishing new goals and limits for modern architectural practice without at

the same time denying its continuing validity as a vital cultural force. Yet it also evokes as a

precedent for a more autochthonous critique, the enduring significance of the Sukiya

tea-house style invented in the second half of the sixteen century by Sen no Rikyu.’171

As a

Euro-American scholar, Frampton can identify the oriental features reflected in Ando’s works.

However, he did not clarify on the basis ideas and frameworks in the East Asian cultural

tradition.

Furthermore, as Peter Rowe (2002) had noticed, some modernist characteristics have been

founded in the Chinese traditional architecture, reflecting some ideas of traditional culture.

For example, the use of intermediate spaces such as courts and arcades, the tendency of

structures to blend in with natural surroundings, a sense of transparency or layering between

inside and outside, and the use of building surfaces that often tend to be flat and therefore

abstract in their overall appearance.172

Traditional aesthetics are critically re-interpreted in

contemporary design not only in China but also in other East Asian countries.

However, aesthetical tradition is also a very broad concept. In my research, it needs to be

considered in the two aspects: philosophical traditions and cultural traditions. Philosophical

traditions for design practice should include yin yang and feng shui. Cultural traditions for

design practice will include gardening, traditional practice like calligraphy, ink painting,

poetry, and so on. These traditions were related to a shared culture. On the other hand, the

aesthetics of East Asian architecture are significantly different from those of the Europe and

North America. The conception of nature, materiality, rhythm, and spiritual climate create

different relationship between users and the buildings.

49

To sum up, the framework of this thesis should be as follows: Firstly, this thesis looks for the

differences between East Asian and Euro-American worlds in their critical voices to resist the

mainstream of globalisation which threatens regional distinctiveness and diversification. Then

it looks at these differences in relation to some other variable coexisting in those societies to

see if it is related. The bilateral framework connecting the main points (Chart 1.2) defines the

main theoretical framework of this thesis. In this research, I will tentatively bring in strategies

of negation to represent East Asian critical approach, to test and to find out an alternative to

Euro-American critical regionalism, as revealed in the contemporary design in both China and

Japan. As I have discussed before, the concept of ‘negation’ is not only about opposition,

reverse or inversion, but also relatedness. In this sense, this research will contribute to the

integrality of the critical approaches in architectural design in a global perspective.

Chart 1.2 Framework of my research.

Anti-globalisation (1990s-)

Euro-American

Critical Regionalism

East Asian critical approach

(Strategies of Negation)

China Japan

50

Notes

1 Lefaivre, Liane, and Alexander Tzonis, Critical Regionalism: Architecture and Identity in a

Globalised World, Munich; London: Prestel, c2003. p.10. 2 Lefaivre, Critical Regionalism: Architecture and Identity in a Globalised World, p.11, 20.

3 Rowe, Peter G., Seng Kuan, Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern

China, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002. p.210. 4 Zhu, Jianfei, ‘Criticality in between China and the West’, Journal of Architecture, Vol. 10,

No.5, 2005. 5 Online. Available HTTP:

<http://oma.eu/publications/project-on-the-city-i-great-leap-forward> (accessed 01

September, 2014) 6 Koolhaas, Rem, Project Japan: Metabolism Talks, Koln: Taschen, 2011.

7 Rowe, Peter G., Seng Kuan, Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern

China, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002. p.1. 8 Rowe, Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.213.

9 The five-year plans of People's Republic of China (PRC) are a series of social

and economic development initiatives. Online. Available HTTP:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-year_plans_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China>

(accessed 01 September, 2014) 10

Gong, Deshun, Zou Denong, Dou Yide, Zhongguo Xiandai Jianzhu Shigang (An outline of

modern Chinese architectural history), Tianjin: Tianjin Kexuejishu Chubanshe, 1989. p.5. 11

Zou, Denong, Zhongguo Xiandai Jianzhu Shi (A history of Chinese modern architecture),

Tianjin: Tianjin Kexuejishu Chubanshe, 2001. pp.13-5. 12

Zou, Denong, Zhongguo Xiandai Jianzhu Yishu Lunti (Issues on Chinese modern

architecture), Jinan Shi: Shandong Kexuejishu Chubanshe, 2006. 13

Ibid. 14

Gong, Zhongguo Xiandai Jianzhu Shigang, p.2. 15

Zou, Zhongguo Xiandai Jianzhu Shi, pp.6-12. 16

Deng, Qingtan, Zhongguo Jinxiandai Jianzhu Lishi Zhenghe Yanjiu Lungang (Outline of

the study on the integration of Chinese modern and contemporary architectural history),

Beijing: Zhongguo Jianzhu Gongye Chubanshe, 2008. p.6. 17

Zou, Zhongguo Xiandai Jianzhu Shi, p.703. 18

Zou, Zhongguo Xiandai Jianzhu Shi. 19

Zhu, Jianfei, Architecture of Modern China: A Historical Critique, London: Routledge,

2009. p.5. 20

Zhu, Architecture of Modern China: A Historical Critique. 21

Zhu, Architecture of Modern China, p.1. 22

Hays, Kenneth Michael, ‘Critical Architecture: between culture and form’, Perspecta 21,

The Yale Architectural Journal, 1984, pp.15-29. 23

Denison, Edward, Guang Yu Ren, Modernism in China: Architectural Visions and

Revolutions, Chichester, England; Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley, 2008. 24

Xue, Charlie Q. L., Building a Revolution: Chinese Architecture since 1980, Hong Kong:

Hong Kong University Press, 2006. p.170.

51

25

Xue, Building a Revolution 26

Xue, Charlie Q. L., Quanqiuhua Chongji: Haiwai Jianzhu Sheji Zai Zhongguo (The global

impact: overseas architectural design in China), Shanghai: Tongji University Press, 2006.

pp.2-3. 27

Xue, Charlie Q. L., Hong Kong architecture, 1945-2015: from colonial to global,

Singapore: Springer, 2016. pp.311-5. 28

Ding, Guanghui, Constructing a Place of Critical Architecture in China: Intermediate

Criticality in the Journal Time + Architecture, Farnham, Surrey, England; Burlington, VT:

Ashgate, 2015. pp.1-12. 29

Ding, Constructing a Place of Critical Architecture in China: Intermediate Criticality in

the Journal Time + Architecture, pp.201-7. 30

See abstract in Ding, Constructing a Place of Critical Architecture in China. 31

Xue, Charlie Q. L. and Ding Guanghui, A History of Design Institutes in China: from Mao

to market, London and New York: Routledge, 2018. Introduction. 32

Han, Jiawen, China’s Architecture in a Globalizing World: Between Socialism and the

Market, London and New York: Routledge, 2017. Introduction. 33

Fu, Chaoqing, Zhongguo Gudian Shiyang Xin Jianzhu: Ershi Shiji Zhongguo Xin Jianzhu

Guanzhihua de Lishi Yanjiu (Chinese new architecture with classical style: a historical

research for bureaucratism of Chinese new architecture in twentieth century), Taibei:

Nantian Shuju, 1993. 34

Ibid. 35

Yu, Shuishan, Chang’an Avenue and the Modernization of Chinese Architecture, Seattle:

University of Washington Press, 2013. 36

Lu, Duanfang, Remaking Chinese Urban Form: Modernity, Scarcity and Space, 1949-2005,

London; New York: Routledge, 2006. 37

Junhua, Lü, Peter G. Rowe and Zhang Jie (eds.), Modern Urban Housing in China:

1840-2000, Munich: Prestel, 2001. 38

Li, Shiqiao, Xiandai Sixiang zhong de Jianzhu (Architecture and modernization), Beijing:

Zhongguo Shuili Shuidian Chubanshe, 2009. 39

Li, Shiqiao, Understanding the Chinese City, London: SAGE Publications Ltd. 2014. 40

Cody, Jeffrey W., Nancy S. Steinhardt, and Tony Atkin (eds.), Chinese Architecture and

the Beaux-Arts, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, c2011.p.xii. 41

Cody, Chinese Architecture and the Beaux-Arts, p.xvii-xviii. 42

Zou, Denong, Wang Mingxian, and Zhang Xiangwei, Zhongguo Jianzhu 60 Nian,

1949-2009: Lishi Zonglan (Sixty years of Chinese architecture, 1949-2009), Beijing:

Zhongguo Jianzhu Gongye Chubanshe, 2009. preface. 43

Zou, Zhongguo Jianzhu 60 Nian, pp.285-354. 44

Zhu, Jianfei (ed.), Sixty Years of Chinese Architecture (1949-2009): History, Theory and

Criticism, Beijing: Zhongguo Jianzhu Gongye Chubanshe, 2009. pp.7-15. 45

Designed either by European architects or by the young Japanese architects sent to study in

Europe. 46

Stewart, David B., The Making of a Modern Japanese Architecture: 1868 to the Present,

Tokyo; New York: Kodansha International, 1987. 47

Stewart, The Making of a Modern Japanese Architecture.

52

48

Bognár, Botond, Contemporary Japanese Architecture, its Development and Challenge,

New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1985. pp.12-5. 49

Lin, Zhongjie, Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern

Japan, New York: Routledge, 2010. p.1. 50

Koolhaas, Rem, Project Japan: Metabolism Talks, Koln: Taschen, 2011. 51

Koolhaas, Project Japan, pp.780-4. 52

Ibler, Marianne, Modern Japanese Architecture: Masters and Mannerists in the 1950-60s,

Aalborg: Aalborg University Press, 2003. p.17. 53

Ibler, Modern Japanese Architecture: Masters and Mannerists in the 1950-60s. 54

Reynolds, Jonathan M. Maekawa Kunio and the Emergence of Japanese Modernist

Architecture, Berkeley; London: University of California Press, 2001. 55

Reynolds, Maekawa Kunio and the Emergence of Japanese Modernist Architecture, p.2. 56

Maekawa, Kunio, Kunio Maekawa: Sources of Modern Japanese Architecture, Tokyo:

Process Architecture Publishing Co., 1984. 57

Isozaki, Arata, Japan-ness in Architecture, Cambridge, Mass: MIT, 2011. 58

Kurokawa, Kisho, Intercultural Architecture: the Philosophy of Symbiosis, London:

Academy Editions, 1991. 59

Buntrock, Dana, Materials and Meaning in Contemporary Japanese Architecture:

Tradition and Today, London: Routledge, 2010. 60

Coaldrake, William Howard, Architecture and authority in Japan, London; New York:

Routledge, 1996. p.viii. 61

Dan, Norihiko (eds.), Architecture and Urbanism of Tokyo, Taipei: Garden City Publishers,

2008. p.8. 62

Sha, Yongjie, “Xihua” de Licheng: Zhong Ri Jianzhu Jindaihua Guocheng Bijiao Yanjiu

(A comparative research on development of architecture between modern China and Japan

in modern times), Shanghai: Shanghai Kexuejishu Chubanshe, 2001. p.10. 63

Sha, “Xihua” de Licheng: Zhong Ri Jianzhu Jindaihua Guocheng Bijiao Yanjiu, p.3. 64

Rowe, Peter G., East Asia modern: shaping the contemporary city, London: Reaktion,

2005. p.9. 65

Ibid. 66

Zhu, Jianfei, Architecture of Modern China: A historical critique, London: Routledge,

2009. 67

Zhu, Jianfei, ‘Criticality in between China and the West’, Journal of Architecture, Vol. 10,

No.5, 2005. 68

Zhu, Architecture of Modern China: A historical critique, p.129. 69

Rowe, Colin, ‘The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa’, The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa,

and other Essays, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1976, pp.1-27. 70

Rowe, Colin, ‘Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal (with Robert Slutzky)’, The

Mathematics of the Ideal Villa, and other Essays, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1976,

pp.159-83. 71

Evans, Robin, ‘Mies van der Rohe’s Paradoxical Symmetries’, Translations from Drawing

to Building and other Essays, London: Architectural Association, 1997, pp.233-76.

53

72

Rowe, Colin, The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa, and other Essays, Cambridge, MA: MIT

Press, 1987, pp.3-4. 73

Rowe, The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa, p.9. 74

Rowe, The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa, p.168. 75

Ibid. 76

Ibid. 77

Rowe, The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa, p.166. 78

Evans, Robin, Translations from Drawing to Building and other Essays, London:

Architectural Association, 1997, p.272. 79

Tzonis, Alexander, and Liane Lefaivre, ‘The Grid and the Pathway’, Architecture in

Greece, No.5, 1981. 80

Fung, Yulan, Derk Bodde(ed.), A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, New York: The

Free Press, 1976, p.12. 81

Ibid. 82

Koren, Leonard, Wabi-sabi for artists, designers, poets & philosophers, Berkeley, Calif.:

Stone Bridge Press, 1994. 83

Koren, Wabi-sabi for artists, designers, poets & philosophers, p.7. 84

Koren, Wabi-sabi for artists, designers, poets & philosophers, p.31. 85

Tzonis, Alexander, and Liane Lefaivre, ‘The Grid and the Pathway’, Architecture in

Greece, No.5, 1981. 86 Lefaivre, Liane, and Alexander Tzonis, Critical Regionalism: Architecture and Identity in

a Globalised World, Munich; London: Prestel, c2003. p10. 87

Tzonis, Alexander, and Liane Lefaivre, ‘Why critical regionalism today’, Architecture and

Urbanism, no. 5, issue 236, May, 1990, pp.23-33. 88

Frampton, Kenneth, ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of

Resistance’, The Anti-Aesthetic. Essays on Postmodern Culture, Hal Foster (eds.), Port

Townsend, Wash.: Bay Press, 1983. pp.16-30. 89

Frampton, ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of

Resistance’, p.16. 90

Frampton, ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism’ 91

Frampton, ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism’, p.21. 92

Ibid. 93

Frampton, ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism’, pp.22-3. 94

Frampton, ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism’, p.24. 95

Frampton, ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism’, pp.26-9. 96

Frampton, Kenneth, ‘Critical Regionalism: Modern Architecture and Cultural Identity’,

Modern architecture: A Critical History (Revised and Enlarged Edition), London: Thames

and Hudson Ltd, 1985, pp.327. 97

Frampton, Kenneth, Modern architecture: A Critical History (Revised and Enlarged

Edition), London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1985 (first published 1980), p.7. 98

Ibid. 99

Frampton, ‘Critical Regionalism: Modern Architecture and Cultural Identity’, p.321. 100

Frampton, ‘Critical Regionalism: Modern Architecture and Cultural Identity’, pp.314-325.

54

101

Ando, Tadao, and Matthew Hunter (trans. and ed.), Tadao Ando: Conversations with

students, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2012. p.38. 102

Frampton, Kenneth, “Ten Points on an Architecture of Regionalism: A Provisional

Polemic”, Center, Vol. 3: New Regionalism, Austin: Center for American Architecture and

Design, 1987, p.20-27. 103

Eggener, Keith L., Vincent B. Canizaro (ed.), ‘Placing Resistance: A critique of Critical

Regionalism’, Architectural Regionalism: Collected Writings on Place, Identity, Modernity,

and Tradition, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2007, p.395. (firstly published in

Journal of Architectural Education 55, no. 4, May 2002. pp.228-37) 104

Eggener, ‘Placing Resistance: A critique of Critical Regionalism’, p.395. 105

Lefaivre, Liane, and Alexander Tzonis, Critical Regionalism: Architecture and Identity in

a Globalised World, Munich; London: Prestel, c2003. p.21, see note 2. 106

Lefaivre, Critical Regionalism: Architecture and Identity in a Globalised World, p.11. 107

Lefaivre, Critical Regionalism: Architecture and Identity in a Globalised World, p.20. 108

Mumford, Lewis, The South in Architecture, New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1941,

p.30. 109

Lefaivre, Critical Regionalism: Architecture and Identity in a Globalised World,

pp.18-20. 110

Lefaivre, Critical Regionalism: Architecture and Identity in a Globalised World, p.96, 110,

132, 138. 111

Lefaivre, Critical Regionalism: Architecture and Identity in a Globalised World, pp.52-3. 112

Eggener, Keith L., Vincent B. Canizaro (ed.), ‘Placing Resistance: A critique of Critical

Regionalism”, Architectural Regionalism: Collected Writings on Place, Identity, Modernity,

and Tradition, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2007, p.403. 113

Ibid. 114

Eisenman, Peter, ‘Critical Architecture in A Geopolitical World’, in Cynthia C. Davidson

& Ismail Serageldin (eds.), Architecture beyond Architecture: creativity and social

transformation in Islamic cultures, London Academy Editions, 1995, pp.78-81. 115

Wang, Shu, She ji de kai shi (Beginning of design), edit by Wang Mingxian, Du Jian,

Beijing: Zhongguo jian zhu gong ye chu ban she, 2002. 116

Ando, Tadao, and Matthew Hunter (trans. and ed.), Tadao Ando: Conversations with

students, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2012. p.38. 117

Frampton, Kenneth, “Critical Regionalism: Modern Architecture and Cultural Identity”,

Modern architecture: A Critical History (Revised and Enlarged Edition), London: Thames

and Hudson Ltd, 1985, p.327. 118

Ibid. 119

Fairbank, John King, and Edwin O. Reischauer, Albert M. Craig. East Asia: tradition and

transformation, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1973, p.33. 120

Five Classics include the Classic of Songs (Shih Ching, also known as the Book of Poetry),

the Classic of Documents (Shu Ching, also known as the Book of History), the Classic of

changes (I Ching, also known as the Book of Divination), the Spring and Autumn Annals

(Ch’un Ch’iu), and the Record of Rituals (Li chi, also known as the Book of Rites) 121

Fairbank, East Asia: tradition and transformation, p.40.

55

122

Fairbank, East Asia: tradition and transformation, p.44. 123

Ibid. 124

Fairbank, East Asia: tradition and transformation, p.46. 125

Fairbank, East Asia: tradition and transformation, pp.46-7. 126

Fairbank, East Asia: tradition and transformation, p.47. 127

Fairbank, East Asia: tradition and transformation, p.49. 128

Fung, Yulan, Derk Bodde(ed.), A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, New York: The

Free Press, 1976, p.241. 129

Fung, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, p.212. 130

Fung, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, pp.329-30. 131

Fung, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, p.330. 132

Fung, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, p.341. 133

Fung, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, p.342. 134

Fung, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, pp.3-4. 135

Fung, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, p.12. 136

Ibid. 137

Ibid. 138

Fung, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, p.25. 139

Fung, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, p.13. 140

Ando, Tadao, “From Self-Enclosed Modern Architecture Towards Universality”, Japan

Architect, no.301, 1982. Frampton, Kenneth (ed.), Tadao Ando: Buildings, Projects, and

Writings, New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. 1984. p.140-1. 141

Koren, Leonard, Wabi-sabi for artists, designers, poets & philosophers, Berkeley, Calif.:

Stone Bridge Press, 1994. p.31. 142

Juniper, Andrew, Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence, New York: Tuttle

Publishing, 2011, p.42. 143

Ibid. 144

Koren, Leonard, Wabi-sabi: Further Thoughts, Point Reyes, California: Imperfect

Publishing, 2015. pp.75-6. 145

Koren, Wabi-sabi for artists, designers, poets & philosophers, p.7. 146

Koren, Wabi-sabi for artists, designers, poets & philosophers, p.21. 147

Koren, Wabi-sabi for artists, designers, poets & philosophers, pp.21-2. 148

Koren, Wabi-sabi for artists, designers, poets & philosophers, p.23. 149

Koren, Wabi-sabi for artists, designers, poets & philosophers, pp.25-9. 150

Koren, Wabi-sabi for artists, designers, poets & philosophers, p.16. 151

Tanizaki, Juníchirō, Thomas J. Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker (trans.), In Praise of

Shadows, London: Cape, 1991. pp.17-8. 152

Fairbank, East Asia: tradition and transformation, p.49. 153

Ibid. 154

Rowe, Peter G., Seng Kuan, Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern

China, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002. p.4. 155

Online. Available HTTP:< https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang> (accessed 12

October, 2017)

56

156

Online. Available HTTP:<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui> (accessed 15 October,

2017) 157

Online. Available HTTP:<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess> (accessed 12 October,

2017) 158

Online. Available HTTP:< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game)> (accessed 16

October, 2014) 159

According to the guide of Kyoto Imperial Palace. 160

Zhu, Jianfei, ‘Ten thousand things: notes on a construct of largeness, multiplicity, and

moral statehood’, in Christopher C.M.Lee (ed.), Common Framework: rethinking the

development city in China, Part 1: Xiamen – The Megaplot, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard

University Graduate School of Design, 2013, p.36. 161

Chinese saying 胜不骄, 败不馁. 162

Ashihara,Yoshinobu, Exterior design in architecture, New York; London : Van Nostrand

Reinhold, 1981, p.20. 163

Yoshinobu, Exterior design in architecture, p.11. 164

Ibid. 165

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter Eleven, 2nd Century BCE. Online. Available

HTTP:<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Te_Ching> and

<http://www.with.org/tao_te_ching_en.pdf > (accessed 25 September, 2017) 166

Yoshinobu, Exterior design in architecture, p.16. 167

Online Available HTTP:<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4’33’’ > (accessed 10 March,

2018) 168

Thorsten, Botz-Bornstein, ‘Wang Shu and the Possibilities of Architectural Regionalism

in China’, Nordic Journal of Architectural Research, Vol. 21, No.1, Hawally, Kuwait: Gulf

University for Science and Technology, College of Arts and Sciences Philosophy, 2009, p.14. 169

Eisenman, Peter, ‘Critical Architecture in A Geopolitical World’, in Cynthia C. Davidson

& Ismail Serageldin (eds.), Architecture beyond Architecture: creativity and social

transformation in Islamic cultures, London Academy Editions, 1995, pp.78-9. 170

Xin Ruan, New China Architecture, Hongkong: Periplus, 2006, p.14. 171

Frampton, Kenneth (ed.), Tadao Ando: Buildings, Projects, and Writings, New York:

Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. 1984. p.7. 172

Rowe, Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.210.

57

PART 2: CHINA (POST 1990): CASE STUDIES

Chapter 3: Historical review

3.1 Historical background of Chinese modern architecture

China is one of the world’s four ancient civilizations. With more than five thousand years’

human history, China has contributed to the world significant heritages in the aspects of

culture, literature, philosophy, religion, art and science. The Chinese modern history can be

considered starting from the First Opium War, which is a battle between Great Britain and the

Qing government from 1839 to 1842. With Chinese being disastrously defeated and the

signature of agreement of ‘unequal treaties’ which was called ‘Treaty of Nanjing’, China was

forced to open its gate to Europe for the purposes of economy, trade, and even the right of

administration in the concession areas. From then on, China ended the domination of

feudalism with more than two thousand years and turned into a semi-colony and semi-feudal

country. This event marked a new stage in the relationship between China and Europe. The

emergence of modernization and westernization in China can be traced to this period.

In the aftermath of the Opium War, five treaty ports in Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Xiamen

(formerly named as Amoy), and Guangzhou (formerly named as Canton) were opened for

foreign trade. The trade promoted the foreign

architectural practices in the early Chinese

settlements. The concession areas of Eastern

coastal cities became the places from which

modern European ideas and technologies were

propagated.1

Furthermore, with the arrival of foreign powers,

the earliest foreign architects in modern China

appeared in the mid-nineteenth century. They

were British architect Strachan, William Kidner

(1841-1900), and Walter Gilbert Scott

(1871-1946).2 They imported the ideas of modern

architecture and urban planning principles through

their practices in the foreign concessions, mostly

adopting an eclectic or neoclassical style which

was popular in Europe. Later it emerged a

so-called ‘compradoric style’3. This is a mixture

of British colonial style with the Chinese native

characteristics. Peter Rowe explained this style

derived from the compradors who effectuated

trade between China and Europe for the economic

interests.4

Figure 2.1 Five treaty ports in the First

Opium War 1839-1842.

Source: Online. Available HTTP:

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Opiu

m_War> (accessed 5 March, 2017)

58

The emergence of ‘compradoric style’ has indicated the starting point of the situation of

struggling for the balance between Chinese tradition and Euro-American modernism. Peter

Rowe used the words ‘ti(体)’ and ‘yong(用)’ to present the concepts of ‘Chinese tradition’

and ‘Euro-American modernization’. Here ‘ti’ refers to body, essence, or foundation; ‘yong’

stands for use, function, application, or form. ‘Ti’ and ‘yong’, or essence and form, is a binary

concept in East Asian philosophy, and should be viewed as a continuation of Neo-Confucian

thought that was established during the Song Dynasty, and called for a new kind of learning

in which the ‘solid’, ‘real’, and ‘practical’ would replace the ‘emptiness’ of Buddhism and

Taoism. It was gradually recognized by the Euro-Americans in the Self-Strengthening

Movement (1861-1895, Yangwu yundong洋务运动) in the late Qing Dynasty. It eventually

became identified with the doctrine of ‘zhong xue wei ti, xi xue wei yong’ (Chinese learning

for essential principles, western learning for practical functions 中学为体, 西学为用).5

During that period, the transactions between China and Euro-America were mainly one-way.

Foreign methods of construction of buildings were borrowed extensively with relatively little

attention to the local circumstances.6 In the early twentieth century, under the consistent

foreign influence, the official attitudes toward European architecture were changed from

limited and signified inclusivity of Self-Strengthening Movement into a broadening concept

in the use, application, and form component in the One Hundred Day’s Reform (1898, Bairi

weixin百日维新) and the Constitutional Movement (1905-1911, Lixian yundong 立宪运

动).7 The Xinhai Revolution (1911-1912, Xinhai geming 辛亥革命) overthrew the Qing

Dynasty, ended the autocratic monarchy that had ruled China for more than two thousand

years and led to the establishment of the provisional government of the Republic of China.

The capital city was switched into Nanjing until in 1949 when the People’s Republic of China

was founded.

In the early Republican period of the 1910s, modern urban planning and administration in

many Chinese cities were imitated directly from Euro-America, or imported from

Euro-America via Japan, or borrowed in the foreign concessions.8 By way of example, the

Bund in Shanghai, the legendary riverfront embankment, was initially a ‘British concession’,

but was later united into an ‘international concession’ with a combination of the British and

American settlements. From the end of the nineteenth century, the buildings with multifarious

architectural styles were erected along the western bank of Huangpu River. Due to the control

by the British, most of them were designed by British architectural firm Palmer & Turner, and

built as international headquarters, banks, hotels, clubs, press organizations, other business,

and even consulates, such as British, American, Russian and Japanese consulates. These

typical European architectural styles include Romanesque, Classical, Baroque, Renaissance

and eclectic styles. They formed together an iconic streetscape since the 1930s, as the city’s

memory remained well into the present.9 The intensification of foreign import indicated the

tendency of cultural encroachment, which promoted the emergence of first generation of

Chinese architects. From the Self-Strengthening Movement during the late Qing dynasty,

through to the Republican and Nationalist Reform in the 1920s and the 1930s, the boundary

between Chinese tradition and Euro-American modernism was shifted many times. From

Peter Rowe, the process of change was to accommodate China in modernizing life and in

59

philosophically reframing of modernization in Chinese terms.10

Soon after, Chinese modern

architecture gradually stepped onto a new stage which mixed with the complexity,

contradiction and collision of Chinese tradition and Euro-American modernism. The first

generation of Chinese architects set up an educational and professional system for modern

Chinese architecture, although they were mainly American-educated. In the next three

decades, China had experienced a series of wars, including Chinese Civil War between the

Nationalist Party and the Communist Party (1927-1937, 1946-1950), Second Sino-Japanese

War (1937-1945), and World War II (1939-1945). Under this unstable social situation,

Chinese early modern architecture still kept developing and strengthening. By the 1940s,

there were two major attitudes toward Chinese architecture: ‘one overtly modernist and the

other continuing to incorporate traditional-looking Chinese characteristics into modern

programs.’11

The former favoured the new international style, while the latter retained

traditional forms of expression representing a continuation of Nationalist architectural

ambitions.12

Under the support from the Soviet Union, the Chinese Communist Party won the Chinese

Civil War and established the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Mao became the leader of

China, and set up an alliance with the Soviet Union. In the early economic recovery period

after the war, the planned economy scheme was introduced by the Communist Party of China.

The launching of the first Five-Year Plan in 1953 called for national building. The

architectural community criticized the waste involved in non-productive building. At that

time, the Soviet style standard was considered to be adapted and modified to make the

building climatically and culturally more compatible with environment. From Peter Rowe,

‘Socialist architecture demands that we meet the functional demands of people with the most

economical means.’13

Because the Soviet architectural theory gained influence over the

development and modernization of China, a new national style combined with Soviet model

emerged in the 1950s, which can be regarded as an outcome of the national liberation and

economic revival. To some extent, the Soviet model had an advocacy of ‘socialist content and

national form’, or ‘cultural form and socialist content’, which pushed the new Chinese

architecture of the early Communist period in the direction of monumentality, formalism, and

a renewal of strong traditional forms such as big roof.14

The matter of tradition and

modernism was becoming much more closely intertwined.

However, the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)

disrupted the development of economy. China entered into a period of economic stagnation.

With the end of the Cultural Revolution, as well as the end of Mao era (1949-1976), China

was facing with a restructuring period, led by Deng Xiaoping. The policy of economic reform

and opening-up was introduced in 1978. The economic system in China was shifted from a

planned economy to a market economy. Different from the early opening-up one century ago,

the attitude toward this policy was positive and longing. The economic transformation has

been approved as one of the most significant social changes in Chinese modern and

contemporary history. Following the program termed ‘Socialism with Chinese characteristics’,

it was claimed socialism adapted to Chinese social-economic conditions, considering China

as an underdeveloped socialist nation and critically analysing Euro-American scholarship and

60

technical expertise. Under this social environment, a broad cultural movement called ‘Chinese

Culture Fever’ aroused great interest and enthusiasm among intellectuals on various cultural

issues. The traditional value was reasserted.

Following the economic reform and opening-up policy, since 1980, China has established

special economic zones in Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou in Guangdong Province and

Xiamen in Fujian Province, and designated the whole Hainan province as a special economic

zone. In the special economic zones, foreign and domestic trade and investment are conducted

without the authorization under the Chinese central government. They are intended to

function as zones of rapid economic growth by using tax and business incentives to attract

foreign investment and technology.15

In 1984, China further opened fourteen coastal cities.16

These cities have experienced a process of openness and liberalisation followed by the

establishment of special economic zones as an experiment. As a direct result, these cities

attracted many investors and architects from Europe, North America, and Japan.

With the implement of socialist market economy, China entered into a new period of

transition with an amazing pace of construction since the 1990s. China has become one of the

most remarkable countries of architectural practices. Globalization became a label of this

period. According to Charlie Q.L.Xue, in the first decade of the implementation of the

economic reform and opening-up, although foreign investment was permitted for entering

Chinese business market, the most industry remained state-owned. However, with the

increase of overseas companies, they undertook more and more commissions in large civic

project funded by government or joint venture. The local architects and design institutes have

been quickly overshadowed by the designs of internationally celebrated architectural practices.

For instances, the Grand Theatre in Shanghai was designed by the French architect

Jean-Marie Charpentier in collaboration with the East China Architectural Design Institute in

1998; and the National Grand Theater in Beijing was designed by the French architect Paul

Andreu in collaboration with Tsinghua University in 2007. On one hand, planning and

construction in China has offered foreign architects, town planners and investors unique

opportunities to realise exceptional projects. On the other hand, a new round of internationally

pioneered technologies and methods were introduced in design and construction, the rapid

urban construction was labelled by huge, strong, high-tech, symbolic, and monumental public

buildings, and commercial high-rise residential apartments.

As advantaged cities in the reform and opening-up, Shanghai, Beijing and the Pearl River

Delta witnessed the great development in the last two decades. The increasing planning and

construction in China has offered foreign architects, town planners and investors unique

opportunities to realise exceptional projects. For instances, in Lujiazui financial and business

district of Shanghai Pudong area, the early contemporary symbols was still designed by the

Chinese architects, such as Oriental Pearl Tower which was completed in 1995. However, the

local architects and design institutes have been quickly overshadowed by the designs of

internationally celebrated architectural practices. Jinmao Tower, designed by SOM (Skidmore,

Owings & Merrill LLP), was constructed in 1998; the World Financial Center, commissioned

to KPF (Kohn Pedersen Fox architectural practice) by the Japanese firm Mori, was completed

61

in 2008; Shanghai Tower, designed by Gensler architectural practice, opened to public in

2016. In the capital city Beijing, the international architects are invited for the civic,

commercial and even political construction projects. For the preparation of 2008 Beijing

Olympic Games, a series of celebrated grand architecture were completed by 2008. For

example, Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3 was designed by British architect

Norman Foster in collaboration with Beijing Institute of Architectural Design; Beijing

National Stadium (Bird’s Nest) was designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron.

Besides; the CCTV Headquarters, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas in

collaboration with the East China Architectural Design Institute, was completed in 2012.

These projects produce the images symbolized with a global modernity and are characterized

by their massive volume. However each building exists as an urban sculpture separated from

local environments and architectural traditions, and lack of relationship to human scale and

daily activity. One of the purposes of government is to create national icons as representative

of power, showing a social ambition. In the meantime, many private developers and even

government officials have sought to draw attention to their own architectural symbols and

distinctive architecture for claiming the world’s tallest and largest building for a local

commercial and political gain, through giving commissions to internationally renowned

architects. Here I take Jinmao Tower as an example. It used to be a landmark skyscraper with

the height of 421 meters in Lujiazui, Shanghai. This building with postmodern style absorbed

the forms of Chinese traditional architecture such as tiered pagoda and bamboo. Tradition was

simply translated into abstract symbol. If we traced in an earlier time of the 1980s,

Chinese-American architect Leoh Ming Pei built the Fragrant Hill Hotel in the north-west

Beijing, attempting to translate traditional Chinese building principles and Suzhou classic

garden design into a contemporary language. The conflict of the thoughts between China and

Euro-America is always a complex issue in the architectural practices in contemporary China.

By engaging international architectural practices, China brings into new concepts, new

strategic thinking and new building technologies. However, Euro-American concepts cannot

be translated into China on a simple basis due to complex sociological and climatic

conditions.

On the other hand, the privatisation was involved and the numbers of private-own company

grew remarkably in the 1990s.17

Charlie Q.L.Xue, in his book Building Practice in China,

described the emergence of private practice, ‘in 1985, a joint-venture design firm, “Great

Earth”, was incorporated in Beijing, led by Alfred Pei-gen Peng, a Tsinghua University

professor returning from Canada. This firm is the first of its kind in China, and some directors

are retired government officials who have extensive connections in China.’18

Meanwhile, the

system of Chinese registered architects resumed and implemented in 1995. Under this social

background, tremendous practising opportunities were provided to Chinese contemporary

architects for experiments on their reflected design.

According to my earlier research19

, at the beginning of the 1990s, the Chinese government

concentrated only on new construction, and little consideration was given to the preservation

and reuse of old buildings and historical areas. As a result of policy of urban modernization in

the 1990s, large areas of the traditional fabric were demolished and replaced by modern-style

62

high-rise buildings. The heritage issues have been able to be taken into consideration.

Renovation and redevelopment became a new topic in contemporary China. In 1997, Deng

Kunyan, an architect and interior designer from Taiwan, redesigned and reused ‘Si Hang

Warehouse’ on the Suzhou Creek in Shanghai as his art studio. This had initiated the reuse of

historical buildings in contemporary Shanghai. The rebirth of Shanghai Xintiandi in 2001

involving an adaptive reuse of traditional residential buildings has attracted increasingly more

tourists and has brought about a huge economic benefit for itself and the business in

surrounding areas. With the support of government, more and more cities adopted the practice

of adaptive reuse of historical buildings and revitalization of old city as new driving forces for

economic development. The extensions and redevelopments are carried out for traditional

residences or old industrial warehouses which are mostly located at the central city or

waterfront areas. For instances, ‘Tianzi Fang workshop’ in Taikang Road, Shanghai, ‘M50

Creative Graden’ in Moganshan Road along Suzhou Creek, Shanghai. Studio Zhu Pei

restored and extended a traditional Siheyuan courtyard house near the Forbidden City in

Beijing. Ma Yansong installed ‘hutong bubbles’ as additional showers and toilets in the

traditional courtyard houses in central Beijing. The method of reuse they adopted is by adding

a modern but simple material like aluminium or glass to connect with the existing structure.

Benefiting from the economic miracle of the reform and opening-up era, developers aim to

obtain a competitive advantage through intensive experimentation. In 2002, the commune of

the Great Wall, invested and developed by SOHO China Ltd., a real estate enterprise

dominated by Pan Shiyi and his wife Zhang Xin, invited twelve internationally recognised

architects of Asian origin to bring their contemporary design works with their own

decipherment of spatial culture. The site is located near the Badaling portion of the Great

Wall in Beijing. The twelve projects are Airport House by Chien Hsueh-Yi (Taiwan),

Bamboo Wall by Kengo Kuma (Japan), Cantilever House by Antonio Ochoa (China),

Commune Clubhouse by Seung H-Sang (South Korea), Distorted Courtyard House bu Rocco

Yim (Hong Kong), Forest House by Nobuaki Furuya (Japan), Furniture House by Shigeru

Ban (Japan), See & Seen House by Cui Kai (China), Shared House by Kanika R’kul

(Thailand), Split House by Yung Ho Chang (China), Suitcase House by Gary Chang (Hong

Kong), and The Twin House by Kay Ngee Yan (Singapore).20

Their designs present the

considerations and concerns on cultural context and geographic nature environment. However,

there is a huge difference in the application of material, consideration of texture and tectonic,

creation of courtyards, spatial design and visual experience. It was exhibited at the Venice

Biennale in 2002 and was the first time when Asian contemporary architecture attracted

international attention to this extent.

Figure 2.2 Commune of the Great Wall, 2002.

Source: Online Available HTTP:< http://commune.sohochina.com/en> (accessed 2 March, 2018)

63

The emergence of the commune of the Great Wall brought a new strategy in which more and

more local architects together with international architectural practices were commissioned to

deliver individual designs. Other similar art parks or villages include the Sifang Parkland in

Nanjing, formerly known as the China International Practical Exhibition of Architecture. This

project is the result of immense collaborative work. More than twenty award-winning

architects and artists were invited to showcase their works and artistic activities in the natural

environment of Laoshan National Forest Park. The architects include Steven Holl (USA),

Arata Isozaki (Japan), Zhou Kai, Yung Ho Chang, Cui Kai, Liu Jiajun, Wang Shu, Zhang Lei,

Ai Weiwei, Ettore Sottsass (Italy), Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa (Japan), Mathias Klotz

(Chile), Sean Godsell (Australia), and so on.

Figure 2.3 Sifang Parkland in Nanjing. (photos by author on Oct 2015)

In addition, entering the 1990s, China experienced many significant events such as Deng

Xiaoping’s southern tour in 1992, Hong Kong and Macau returning to China in 1997 and

1999 respectively, China being admitted into WTO in 2000, the 2008 Olympic Games being

hosted in Beijing, the 2010 World Expo being held in Shanghai. These political and cultural

events had stimulated economic development in turn. According to The Wall Street Journal,

China overtook Japan as the world’s second largest economy in 2010, just behind the U.S.

Facing the unprecedented transformation and globalisation it appeared critical thinking in

some emerging vanguard architects. They expressed their dissatisfaction with existing

conditions and started to explore alternate architectural methodologies.21

In this regard, they

conducted a critique of modernity in the name of past traditional ideas. China’s Confucian

thought was re-examined and the national cultural tradition was re-defined. Their works were

interpreted both as modern and traditionally based architecture, presenting harmony between

human and nature. These architects did not focus on the struggle for tradition and modernity,

instead of looking for a deeper cultural meaning in contemporary architecture.

From the statement above, the history of Chinese modern and contemporary architecture can

be divided into three main periods. The first period features Euro-American influence from

the 1840s to the 1910s. The second period is full with struggle for the balance between

Chinese tradition and Euro-American modernism from the 1910s to the 1990s. Chinese

architecture during this period was shaped by review of its own historical models mixed with

external influences. The third period started with the reflexive conversation between the

contemporary and the traditions since the 1990s. The development of Chinese modern and

64

contemporary architecture was closely related to the political, economic, and social conditions.

My research will focus on the third period.

3.2 Review of Chinese modern and contemporary architects

Before we have a further study on the contemporary design, it is necessary to take a general

review of Chinese modern and contemporary architects. According to the periods of being

influenced in the modern and contemporary architectural history, Chinese architects can be

classified into a few groups. They are the first generation in the pre-war and early post-war

period; the second generation and the third generation from the post-war period to the 1980s;

the fourth generation since the 1990s, which is my focus in this thesis, and the fifth generation

in the most recent emergence in the 2000s.

In the ancient China, most buildings were carried out by craftsmen and master builders who

were following traditional skills and guided by old illustrated treatises on timber systems and

other earlier forms of construction.22

Chinese modern architects just appeared in the1920s.

As Peter Rowe had mentioned, ‘until the second decade of the twentieth century, China had

no professional architects to speak of in the Western sense.’23

To some extent, Zhuang Jun

(庄俊, 1888-1990) can be regarded as the first modern architect in Chinese architectural

history. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1914, thereafter returned to China

with his learning outcome in America. Besides Zhuang Jun, the representative first generation

architects include but not limited to: Guan Songsheng (关颂声, 1892-1960), Lü Yanzhi (吕彦

直, 1894-1929), Liu Dunzhen (刘敦桢, 1897-1968), Dong Dayou (董大酉, 1899-1975), Tong

Jun (童寯, 1900-1983), Liang Sicheng (梁思成, 1901-1972), Yang Tingbao (杨廷宝,

1901-1982), Chen Zhi (陈植, 1902-2002), Cai Fangyin (蔡方荫, 1901-1963), and Lu

Qianshou (陆谦受, also called Luke Him Sau, 1904-1991). They were mostly born in the

1890s and the 1900s. After training in the premier European and American schools, especially

in America, with Beaux-Arts-educated system, they returned China since the 1920s with the

latest architectural ideas from the leading designers and countries. It appeared the issue of

how individuals absorbed and reacted to European theory. It can’t avoid the numerous trials,

compromisers and adaptations between the two technologies and cultures. Most of them paid

more attentions on the revival of Chinese traditions and nationalism. They have attempted to

combine traditional Chinese design into modern expressions which they have learned

overseas. Their works in the 1930s, from Sha Yongjie (2001), on one hand, reflected the

influence of nationalism, on the other hand, presented their enthusiasm to individual creations.

This individualism was allowed in the social environment of that time.24

The contribution of the first generation architects is not only the creation of architecture. The

most significant effort is the foundation of the educational system and architectural

organizations. For example, Zhuang Jun established the Society of Chinese Architects in 1926.

Two years later, ‘in 1928, a professional architectural infrastructure began to take shape with

the creation of department of architecture at the Northeastern University, headed by Liang

Sicheng.’25

Liang was also the founder of the program of architecture at Northeastern

University. ‘In 1930, an architecture programme was reorganized at National Central

65

University in Nanjing in 1930,’ just followed by Beijing University and Tsinghua

University.26

In the same year of 1930, a research institute in Chinese architecture called

Yingzao Xueshe (营造学社, the Institute for Research in Chinese Architecture) established by

Zhu Qiqian (朱启钤, 1871-1964). In addition, they also set up a series of professional

journals and associations in the late 1920s and early 1930s. For instance, Hexagon was

founded in 1930, Zhongguo Jianzhu (The Chinese Architect) and Jianzhu yuekan (The

Builder) began publication in 1932.27

Furthermore, ‘registration of architects and engineers

had begun in Shanghai in November 1927. By 1931 twenty-eight of the fifty-one architects in

the Society of Chinese Architects were American-educated; that number rose thirty-five

members by 1935, and eight more were trained in foreign countries other than America’.28

Last but not least, Liang Sicheng devoted to the research of tracing Chinese architectural

evolution, and completed the book History of Chinese Architecture (中国建筑史) in 1943.

This is the first formal publication thoroughly documenting the evolution of classical Chinese

architectural tradition.

Since the first generation of Chinese modern architects appearing in the1920s, modern

architecture arrived in China, mostly in the concession areas of Eastern coastal cities.

According to the statements from Peter Rowe, there were four approaches to Chinese modern

architecture before the 1940s.

The first approach, as I have discussed before, emerged in the foreign concessions, was to

totally ignore the local tradition, instead by the European forms of expression with

modernization in design and construction. This was exemplified as some neoclassical work

produced by Chinese firms and architects Lu Qianshou (陆谦受, 1904-1991), Bei Shoutong

(贝寿同,1895-1941), and Guan Songsheng (关颂声, 1892-1960), Zhu Bin(朱彬, 1896-1971),

Yang Tingbao(杨廷宝, 1901-1982). Their early design works, for instance, the Continental

Bank Building in Beijing (大陆银行北京分行大楼), designed by Bei Shoutong and Guan

Songsheng, in 1924, reflected what they had directly learnt from oversea experiences and

educational systems.

Figure 2.4 (left to right) Continental Bank Building (大陆银行北京分行大楼), Beijing, by Bei and

Guan, 1924; Union Building (有利大楼), Shanghai, by Palmer and Turner, 1916; Sassoon House (沙逊

大厦, 现和平饭店北楼), Shanghai, by Palmer and Turner, 1929; Metropole Hotel (新城饭

店),Shangha, by Palmer and Turner in 1934; the Grand Theatre (大光明戏院),Shanghai, by Laszlo

Edward Hudec, 1933; Woo Residence(吴同文住宅),Shanghai, by Laszlo Edward Hudec, 1937. Source:

Online. Available HTTP: <https://en.wikipedia.org/> (accessed 7 March, 2017)

66

Apart from those Chinese architects educated overseas, the most influential and prolific

foreign firms based in China was Palmer and Turner in Shanghai(上海公和洋行), firstly

founded in 1868. They designed the Union Building (有利大楼) in Shanghai in 1916. In the

late 1920s, there was a gradual transition from European neoclassicism to the modern and Art

Deco style. This was exemplified by the works of Palmer and Turner such as Sassoon House

(沙逊大厦, 现和平饭店北楼) in Shanghai in 1929; Metropole Hotel (新城饭店) in

Shanghai in 1934. At the same time, a new International Style was created by Slovak architect

Laszlo Edward Hudec (邬达克, 1892-1952).29

His works were mostly located in Shanghai.

The representative projects include the Grand Theatre (大光明戏院) in 1933, and Woo

Residence(吴同文住宅) in 1937.

The second

approach was

adaptive method

towards tradition

and modernity.

This was called

‘adaptive Chinese

modern

architecture’(折

衷的现代主义).

The concept of

‘adaptive

architecture’ in

China was firstly

introduced by an

American

architect Hunry

Killam Murphy

(1877-1954). According to Peter Rowe, the core of this approach emphasized the classical

Chinese style, yet adapted in a Euro-American modernity when necessary. He thought the

most essential feature of traditional Chinese architecture was the ‘curving upturned roof’ with

clay tiles of some colour.30

Applying for this principles, he designed Ginling College(金陵女

子学院, 现南京师范大学) in Nanjing, built between 1918 and 1923, and the Yenching

University(燕京大学, 现北京大学) campus project in Beijing, constructed between 1918

and 1927. The other representative Chinese architects included Lu Yanzhi, Dong Dayou and

Lin Keming (林克明, 1901-1999). Responding to the National Rejuvenation of the 1930s,

they considered that architectural development at that time was requested to express national

sprit with traditional culture. For example, Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum (中山陵) in Nanjing,

which was designed by Lü Yanzhi in 1929; Shanghai City hall (中华民国上海市政府大楼),

which was designed by Dong Dayou in 1933; and the College of Sciences in Zhongshan

University in Guangzhou, which was designed by Lin Keming in 1933. Those buildings

modified the classical Chinese style, and can be regarded as ‘Chinese Renaissance’ mode,

which can be considered as the origin of ‘big roof’ style later on.

Figure 2.5 (top to bottom, left to right) Building in Ginling College, Nanjing,

by Hunry Killam Murphy, 1918-1923; Building in Yenching University,

Beijing, by Hunry Killam Murphy, 1918-1927; Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum,

Nanjing, by Lu Yanzhi, 1929; Shanghai City hall, by Dong Dayou, 1933; the

College of Sciences in Zhongshan University, Guangzhou, by Lin Keming,

1933.

67

The third approach was to be merged with a modern European neoclassical tradition learned

by Chinese architects educated overseas. By using Euro-American modern building materials

(such as steel and reinforced concrete) and techniques, architects tried to develop a new

modern Chinese architecture without a traditional curved roof. This was exemplified as some

works produced by Yang Tingbao.31

For instance, Shenyang Railway Station(沈阳火车站)

in 1927; and Nanjing Central Hospital(南京中央医院, 现南京军区总医院) in 1933.

Figure 2.6 (left) Shenyang Railway Station(沈阳火车站), by Yang Tingbao, 1927.

Figure 2.7 (right) Nanjing Central Hospital(南京中央医院, 现南京军区总医院), by Yang Tingbao,

1933.

The fourth approach was more like an attempt to conserve and document the presence of

traditional modes by thoroughly understanding classic Chinese architecture.32

Corresponding

to the nationalistic mood at that specific period, and inspired by a sense of pride and value in

China’s architectural heritages, Chinese architects paid more attention on Chinese cultural

traditions. The representatives of this approach were Liang Sicheng (梁思成, 1901-1972), and

Liu Dunzhen (刘敦桢, 1897-1968).33

They were both the members of Yingzao Xueshe (营造

学社), sharing the responsibility for directing and organizing restoration, fieldwork and other

archival activities in Chinese traditional architecture.34

Peter Rowe further pointed out that the four architectural attitudes had been reduced to two

expressions by the 1940s. The first one, introduced during the 1930s, was obviously

modernism, following the new International Style and overseas trends. The second one was to

incorporate traditional Chinese characteristics into modern programs, resulting in retaining

signified forms of expression.35

Figure 2.8 (left) The Social Sciences

Institute of the Academia Sinica, in

Nanjing, by Yang Tingbao, 1947.

Figure 2.9 (right) The former

residence of Sun Ke, by Yang Tingbao,

1948.

Furthermore, it has been mentioned that many architects were shifting between different

design styles. For instance, in the late 1940s, Yang Tingbao represented stylistic extremes in

his works the Social Sciences Institute of the Academia Sinica in Nanjing with Chinese

traditions and Sun Ke Residence with international style. They all demonstrated the idea that

68

prominent institutional architecture should be applied for Chinese traditional style, while the

free expression would be allowed in other buildings. The style of architecture was closely

related with politics.

The second generation of Chinese modern architects were mainly born in the 1910s and

1920s, and had turned out in the post war period, including Zhang Bo (张镈, 1911-1999), Hua

Lanhong(华揽洪, 1912-2012), Zhang Kaiji (张开济, 1912-2006), Xu Zhong (徐中,

1912-1985), Mo Bozhi(莫伯治, 1914-2003), Feng Jizhong (冯纪忠, 1915-2009), Huang

Zuoshen (黄作燊, 1915-1975), Dai Nianci (戴念慈, 1920-1991), and Wu Liangyong (吴良镛,

1922-).

In the early 1950s, learnt by the Soviet Union mode and under the assistance of Russian

professionals, a new Soviet style was adopted in some prominent projects to celebrate the

socialist revolution and a sense of nationalism. For example, the Soviet Exhibition Hall in

Beijing of 1953 was designed by Russian architects Sergei Andreyev. On the other hand, with

the strengthening of national consciousness, Chinese architectural languages were paid more

attention again. ‘Big roof’ style was emerged during that period. Furthermore, influenced by

the Soviet Union mode, some government or state owned design institutes were established in

the early 1950s. Professional practices became gradually nationalised. Institutional forms of

professionalism revived in the early 1950s. Moreover, Zhongguo Jianshu Xuehui

(Architectural Society of China 中国建筑学会) was created in 1952, and Architectural

Journal (建筑学报) was founded in 1953.36

In the late 1950s, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People’s

Republic of China and respond to the movement of ‘Great Leap Forward’, ten public

buildings in the capital city Beijing were selected as ‘Ten Great Buildings’. Except for the

Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, which was a historic hotel and guesthouse complex with more

than eight hundred history, and used to accommodate foreign dignitaries and government

officials, other nine buildings were all designed by Beijing Architectural Design Institute in

collaboration with other institutions, principally the Beijing Planning Bureau and the Ministry

of Construction,37

and constructed between 1958 and 1959.

According to Peter Rowe’s elaboration, these nine buildings can be divided into three groups

based on the expression of architectural style. Firstly, Beijing Railway Station, the People’s

Cultural Hall, and National Agricultural Exhibition Center kept ‘Big Roof’ tradition for the

expression of appearance. Secondly, the Great Hall of the People, the Museum of Chinese

Revolution and History, and the Chinese People’s Revolutionary Military Museum was

inspired from Soviet architecture, reflecting primarily socialist realist. Thirdly, the Beijing

Workers Stadium, the Minzu Hotel, and the Overseas Chinese Hotel had obvious tendency

with characteristics of Euro-American modernism. These projects to some degree examined

the modern Chinese architectural development during the past decade. They included

elements of expression that had been a part of architectural thinking and discussion,

particularly on the relation between modern architecture and the use of Chinese tradition.38

69

The architectural style of ‘Ten Great Buildings’ emphasized on monumentality combining

factors based on historicism, modernism and communism, responding to a great upsurge of

national consciousness and patriotic pride. Generally speaking, actual architectural production

during the late 1950s was eclectic, and can be regarded as an earlier form of revivalism. The

second generation of Chinese architects dealt with the issue of how best to blend tradition into

modern architecture in China, and make an innovation on the appearance of traditional

Chinese architecture rather than just replication.

In the early 1960s, a critical attitude was being expressed to the modern architectural styles of

that time borrowed from the Euro-America. Under a strong political shift to the ‘left’,

Euro-American functionalism was condemned. In 1966, the Cultural Revolution was

launched. Because of the extreme political environment, only few important buildings were

completed during this time, and they were almost entirely intended to support external

relations, such as sports facilities and stadiums for some sports (especially table tennis)

competitions, and hotels built to accommodate foreign visitors for trade, exhibition and other

affairs.39

Figure 2.10 (top to bottom, left to right) Ten Great Buildings: Diaoyutai State Guesthouse (钓鱼台国

宾馆); Beijing Railway Station (北京火车站, Principal Architects: Yang Tingbao); Cultural Palace of

Nationalities (民族文化宫, Principal Architects: Zhang Bo, Sun Peiyao); National Agricultural

Exhibition Center (全国农业展览馆, Principal Architects: Yan Xinghua); the Great Hall of the People

(人民大会堂, Principal Architects: Zhang Bo, Zhao Dongri); the Museum of Chinese Revolution and

History (中国革命和历史博物馆, Principal Architects: Zhang Kaiji); the Chinese People’s

Revolutionary Military Museum (中国人民革命军事博物馆, Principal Architects: Ouyang Can, Wu

70

Guozhen); Beijing Workers Stadium (北京工人体育场, Principal Architects: Ouyang Can); the Minzu

Hotel (民族饭店); the Overseas Chinese Hotel (华侨大厦, demolished in 1988)

Source: Online. Available HTTP: < http://www.china.com.cn/> (accessed 9 March, 2017)

The third generation of Chinese architects include Dai Fudong (戴复东, 1928-), Qi Kang (齐

康, 1931-), Peng Yigang (彭一刚, 1932-), Cheng Taining (程泰宁, 1935-), Zhang Jinqiu (张

锦秋, 1936-), He Jingtang (何镜堂, 1938-), Xing Tonghe (邢同和, 1939-), and Zheng Shiling

(郑时龄, 1941-). They were mostly born during the 1930s and the 1940s. Due to the specific

historical development and political conditions, they were mainly educated and trained in the

Communist China. Their view of the world was framed by the political reality. The first stage

of economic reform and opening-up policy was restructuring period from 1978 to 1989. The

third generation of Chinese architects was growing in that social condition, and was deeply

influenced by the first generation. For example, Qi Kang was one of the students of Yang

Tingbao, and Zhang Jinqiu studied in Tsinghua University, supervised by Liang Sicheng.

They inherited the spirit from the former generation and gradually coordinated their reflective

thinking on the new tendency into the coming new era. In addition, this generation also paid

the efforts on the reform of educational and professional systems in Chinese architecture.

By the end of the Cultural Revolution, limited by the scanty resources, architectural design

preferred modern simplicity. The Soviet standard housing mode, which was ever popular in

the early 1950s, came back into the production. This mode was more like an industrialized

building system that emphasized construction speed, low cost and labour savings. Basic

features were design standardization, mass production and systematic construction. Due to the

economic saving, this general mode obtained a wide application on architectural industry,

especially the residential buildings. These standardized units were just satisfied with the

people’s basic social life. They did not consider the China’s geographical climate and

people’s living conditions. The improvement needed to be reconsidered. However, the value

of economic use of building materials and efficient, functional layouts of buildings were kept

as fundamentals to apply on the design of simple and modern buildings in order to meet

China’s developing requirements at that condition.40

On the other hand, the ‘Cultural Fever’ of the 1980s brought the issues of how individuals

absorbed and reacted to European theory. As Peter Rowe had argued, ‘in architecture, the

philosophical confrontation with modernism and postmodernism required a substantially

different set of theoretical underpinnings and trajectories of development within the field

itself’. However, ‘China never really underwent a modernist phase of art’, some scholars ‘saw

postmodernism as a form of historical revival, and others applauded the pluralism and

diversity it promised; but on the whole, art in China seems to have remained overwhelmingly

simple, descriptive, and narrative in its format. The same might also be said of architecture.’

However, since the tentative efforts of the 1980s, it has allowed contemporary architectural

expression to find a voice. Some architects, particularly those in the youngest generation have

begun to consider constructive, material, and transparent qualities, in ways that effectively

accommodate contemporary architectural interests and requirements.41

71

Accordingly, entering the 1990s, there was a new approach to architecture emerging in China,

which was manifested as a rise of reflective designs with traditional aesthetics and reflexive

regionalism by the fourth generation architects such as Yung Ho Chang (张永和 1956-), Liu

Jiakun (刘家琨 1956-), Zhu Pei (朱培 1962-), Wang Shu (王澍 1963-), Li Xiaodong (李晓东

1963-), Zhang Lei (张雷 1964- ), Ma Qingyun (马清运 1965-), Dong Yugan (董豫赣 1967-),

Liu Xiaodu (刘晓都1961-), Meng Yan (孟岩1964-), Wang Hui (王辉1967-) and so on. They

were born in the 1950s and early 1960s, and brought up during the Cultural Revolution. They

received their first architectural degree in China as early-period students entering universities

after the Cultural Revolution. Benefited from the reform and opening-up policy, most of them

continued their master studies overseas (mostly in America) in the 1980s, to assimilate the

modern Euro-American theories about architecture and urbanism. They set up their own

private design studios in the 1990s, which was a period of China’s starting a rapid

transformation, accompanying a huge change on Chinese social situation. Since this

generation, it began to emerge a new critical voice in the individual architects to assume

‘authorship’ in their discourses and design positions.

In the book Building a Revolution: Chinese Architecture since 1980, the author Charlie Xue

categorized this generation into several different groups. ‘Learning from the West’ was

exemplified by the works of Yung Ho Chang, Zhang Lei, Ma Qingyun and Meng Jianmin,

using the western system of design and theory as guidelines. The type of ‘Chinese taste:

another way out’ included the works from Wang Shu and Liu Jiakun. They neither follow the

western stream, nor keep the early way of Chinese national forms, but explore another

approach in Chinese culture and traditions. In addition, ‘Other trendsetters’ presented a

creative trial, although it does not have a clear design ideology. ‘Borrowing from other arts’

inspired from the experimented works of the contemporary artists. ‘The loft designers’

focused on the reuse of industrial architecture.42

The common feature of this generation is not

only using simple architectural language of the design, but also emphasizing the harmonious

union of people, architecture and environment. The particular attention paid by these

architects is blending with the environment, space, construction and building materials to

achieve a combination of contemporary aesthetics and local culture.

The fifth generation is the most recent emerging architects. They were mostly born in the

1970s. Based on the ‘Vanguard Architects’ under forty years old awarded by Architectural

Record 43 annually since 2000, the Chinese architects include Xu Tiantian (徐甜甜 1976-),

Rossana Hu (胡如珊), Lyndon Neri (郭锡恩), Zhang Ke (张轲 1970-), Liu Yichun (柳亦春

1969-), Zhuang shen (庄慎 1971-), Chen Yifeng (陈屹峰 1972-), Hua Li (华黎 1972-), Dong

Gong (董功), Xu Qianhe (徐千禾), He Jianxiang (何健翔), Ying Jiang (蒋滢), Han

Wenqiang (韩文强). From the comments of Architectural Record, ‘It brings together the

architects who are already doing some of the most innovative work in the field and will lead

the profession in the future. They are the firms at the forefront of design and the architects are

the ones to watch.’44

Although they are young, their completed works are limited and still on the way of discovery,

their influence is increasing. Most of them have completed further studies in America, and

72

return to China to design buildings in their own practices. The commissions are mainly from

private clients. They digest Euro-Amercian ideas and reformulate them, following Chinese

traditional concepts. For example, the representative architect Ma Yansong (马岩松 1975-)

proposed his design philosophy called ‘shan shui city’. He asserted that this idealistic urban

concept expands beyond nature and captures the individual emotional response to the

surrounding world. Here, tradition is considered as an ideology, not just a tool. In the 2000s,

this generation of architects began to win international competitions and obtained significant

commissions in Euro-American countries. In 2005, Ma Yansong and his team won the

competition to design the Absolute Towers in Canada, which are two high-rise residential

buildings. After one decade, he won the commission to design the Lucas Museum of

Narrative Art, in the U.S. in 2014. The trend to build abroad has started since this generation.

The design philosophy rooted in East Asian tradition is being spread into Euro-American

countries. The one way communication in modern architectural history is being changed since

this generation.

Based on the review above, since the introduction of modern architectural theory into China,

generations of architects have tried to explore the combination of Chinese culture with

modern design, in the aim of promoting the revitalization of Chinese architectural design

theory. I proposed the development of Chinese modern and contemporary architecture as

below chart. Experienced the western influences between the 1840s and the 1910s, and the

combination with Chinese abstract tradition and western modernization from the 1910s and

the 1990s, since the 1990s, Chinese contemporary design appeared a new reflexive

conversation with the traditions. Through the further analysis, I try to examine my proposal,

and find out how the visible tradition and intangible spirit are critically re-interpreted in

Chinese contemporary design.

Chart 2.1: The tendency of Chinese modern and contemporary architecture.

3.3 Key architects in contemporary China

This research will focus on the fourth generation of Chinese architects who were born in the

1950s and 1960s, as the early beneficiaries of the national college entrance examination after

the Cultural Revolution, and mainly trained in mainland China. The representative architects

include Liu Jiakun, Cui Kai, Wang Shu, and Li Xiaodong. Architects’ creations are always

related to their personality, social environment and personal experiences. Through their

experiences, we can probably find some linkages or clues to explain the phenomenon in

contemporary Chinese design.

Western

influences

(the 1840s-

the 1910s)

Chinese abstract

tradition and western

modernization (the

1910s – the 1990s)

Reflexive conversation between the

contemporary and the traditions:

visible tradition and intangible

spirit (since the 1990s)

73

Liu Jiakun (1956-)

1982, Bachelor, Chongqing Institute of Architecture and Engineering

1982, Chengdu Architectural Design & Research Institute (CDAD)

1984-1985, Tibet

1987, Engaged in literary work in College of liberal arts in Sichuan

province.

1990-1992, Xinjiang

1999, founder, Jiakun Architects

Cui Kai (1957-)

1984, Master of Architecture, Tianjin University

1984, Architect, Architecture Design Institute, Ministry of Construction,

Beijing,

1985, Architects, Huasen Architectural & Engineering Design

Consultants Ltd., Shenzhen and Hong Kong

1989, Senior Architect, Vice Chief Architect, Architecture Design

Institute, Ministry of Construction, Beijing

1997, Vice President, Chief Architect, National Design Master, China

Architecture Design & Research Group, Beijing

2003, founder, Cui Kai Architecture Studio (renamed: Land-Based

Rationalism D.R.C, 2014)

2011, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering

Wang Shu (1963-)

1985, Bachelor of Science in Architecture, Department of Architecture,

Nanjing Institute of Technology (now Southeast University)

1988, Master Degree in Architecture, Nanjing Institute of Technology

(now Southeast University)

1997, founder, Amateur Architecture Studio

2000, PhD, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji

University

2000, professor, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou

2007, Dean, School of Architecture, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou;

2012, Pritzker Architecture Prize

Li Xiaodong (1963-)

1984, School of Architecture at Tsinghua University

1993, PhD, School of Architecture, Delft University of Technology,

Netherlands

1997, Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore

1997, founder, Li Xiaodong Atelier

2005, Chair professor, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University,

Beijing

Table 2.1 Biography of four contemporary Chinese architects.

74

According to Christian Dubrau (2010), private architectural practices were not officially

allowed in China until 1994.45

Yung Ho Chang founded the first independent architectural

practice ‘Atelier Fei Chang Jian Zhu’ in 1993. His first commission in China is called

Book-Bike-Store in Beijing, built in 1996. This research-oriented small-scale shop provided a

critical discourse to Chinese contemporary architectural practices. After that, more and more

Chinese architects who learnt from the Europe, North America and Japan, came back China

to found their own practices. The Chinese market created the opportunity to develop and

implement their own design ideas and produce buildings that do not need to be considered

with too much political significance. The practices normally started as a small construction

such as houses, restaurants, artists’ workshops, and galleries. For instance, Ma Qingyun began

his early architectural work by designing a house for his farther in Lantian village, Shanxi

Province in 1992.

However, Cui Kai, Liu Jiakun and Wang Shu are trained in mainland China. They have never

made extended stay overseas. Cui Kai is engaging at the China Architecture Design and

Research Group (CAG) since 1984, which is a central state-owned enterprise located at the

capital city Beijing. Cui plays multi-roles in his architectural career life. He acts as an

architect, professor, organiser, and project manager. He has established himself as a

decision-maker and as a team captain. His leadership embodies that he can stay closely with

the models of the 1980s which marked by the attempt to prolong the stereotypes of the

revolution, while he has let himself be influenced by the updating strategies. Different from

most of their colleagues, he has opportunities to receive large and public commissions due to

his role and position in the state-owned institute CAG. In his creation process, he always

takes all exterior factors into consideration, including the owner’s proposals, investment scale

and construction technology, and then adjusts his design strategies accordingly. From Cui

Kai’s practices, we can feel that architecture is a socially systematic project rather than a

personal creation. His key design works include Beijing Feng Ze Yuan Hotel in 1994; Office

Building of Beijing Foreign Study & Research Press, Beijing in 1997; Capital Museum,

Beijing in 2005; Beijing Desheng Shangcheng Office Building in 2005; Lasa Railway Station,

Lasa, Tibetan Autonomous Region in 2006.

Figure 2.11 Cui Kai’s key designs works.

Liu Jiakun is based on Chengdu, the most important city in middle-west China, which is

probably not being familiar with or overlooked by countries outside of China. Compared with

his contemporaries, his personal experience is extraordinary. After his architectural training in

Chongqing Institute of Architecture and Engineering and graduated in 1982, he spent two

years staying in Chengdu Architectural Design & Research Institute (CDAD) before starting

to work in Tibet, a very rural area in west of China. Until 1990, his profession was that of a

75

writer not an architect. His personality was formed during that period, which was also

reflected in his later design works in an ingenious way. His works include He Duoling Studio

in Chengdu in 1997; Luyeyuan Stone Sulpture Art Museum in Xinmin, Sichuan Province in

2004; Shanghai Qingpu Urban Planning and Exhibition Centre in 2006; Hu Huishan

Memorial in Anren, Sichuan Province in 2009; and West Village Basis Yard in Chengdu in

2015. In the case of Hu Huishan Memorial, which was built to memorize a fifteen-year old

girl who was a victim in Sichuan earthquake, the main building material rubble was taken

from buildings which were destroyed by the earthquake and reinforced with straw and cement.

It is a prototype for the reconstruction programme ‘Rebirth Brick Plan’ rather than just a

small memorial.46

Figure 2.12 Liu Jiakun’s key design works.

The similar approach can be found in Wang Shu’s practices. Wang insisted on the protest

against the demolition of old courtyard houses and villages. In the 2008 Architecture Biennale,

he expressed his idea by assembling thousands of roof tiles to make an exhibition installation.

I will make a further analysis on this method in next chapter. Moreover, Wang Shu is the first

Chinese architect of winning the Prizter Architecture prize. His practice and professional

background is based on Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, which is in the middle-east China, and

very closed to Shanghai. His first design work is a youth centre in the city of Haining in

Zhejiang Province, completed in 1991. Wang Shu designed a cubic volume cut by a diagonal

element connecting the heterogeneous parts, reflecting the search for a new approach in

Chinese contemporary architecture. His other works include Library of Wenzheng College,

Suzhou University in 2000, which is an attempt to a cross between Chinese pavilion

architecture and white modernity; Ningbo Contemporary Art Museum in 2005; Ceramic

House in Jinhua in 2006; Vertical Courtyard Apartments in Hangzhou in 2007, which is an

attempt to vertically arrange the traditional courtyard house in a high-rise tower; and Ningbo

Tengtou Pavilion for Shanghai Expo in 2010.

Figure 2.13 Wang Shu’s key designs works.

Different from his contemporaries mentioned above, Li Xiaodong spent twenty years

overseas from 1980s to 2000s, including PhD study in Delft University of Technology,

Netherlands and professional teachings in Department of Architecture, National University of

76

Singapore. During his stay in Netherlands, he had a deep influence by his mentor Alexander

Tzonis who proposed the concept of ‘critical regionalism’. Li Xiaodong established his own

atelier in 1997, focusing on small-scale, self-initiated and research-originated projects. Since

2005, he came back China as a chair professor at Tsinghua University. So his design works

have a close connection with his academic research. They are mainly located in rural China

where the landscape and local community need to be considered. For instances, the Yuhu

Elementary School in 2004 and the Water House in 2009, which are both located in Lijiang,

Yunnan Province, in west China; Bridge School in Xiashi Village of Fujian in 2009; Liyuan

Library on the outskirts of Beijing in 2011; and the Screen in a mountain range called Dichen

Valley on the outskirts of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province in 2013.

Figure 2.14 Li Xiaodong’s key design works.

Furthermore, due to the enormous economic growth, a great amount of construction works in

China provide more opportunities to Chinese contemporary architects to explore their ideas.

However, as the demands of architectural practice increased, many Chinese practitioners did

not have enough time to spend on the steady process of discovery to seek for innovations.

This generation recognized the isolated status in Chinese architectural education and practices.

Therefore, most of them have teaching experience in universities to pass on their experiences

and ideas to a younger generation. For instances, Yung Ho Chang founded the Graduate

College of Architecture at Beijing University. He was appointed as the professor and former

Head of Architecture Department, MIT, and the professor of Tongji University. Wang Shu is

currently the dean and professor in the School of Architecture, China Academy of Art,

Hangzhou. Li Xiaodong has been the chair professor of the architectural programme at the

School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, in Beijing since 2005. Zhang Lei is the

professor in the School of Architecture & Urban Planning in Nanjing University. They

combined with academic research, design, teaching and professional works to avoid to only

pursue the economic interest or the brief of client. By reflecting a real voice emerging from

this generation, they returned to explore contemporary possibilities for a traditional Chinese

design language to resist the globalization that makes all cities look similar.

Their architectural expressions presented the concerns on cultural context and regional nature

environment including the application of materials, consideration of texture and tectonic,

creation of courtyards, spatial design and visual experience. Rather than concentrating their

attention on metropolitan cities, they advocated small communities and villages deserve the

respect as well. They amplified the contextual considerations and indigenous landscape more

than just the physical environment of a project site. The design works of this generation have

brought attention internationally. In 2001, the Aedes Gallery, an architectural forum in Berlin,

held an exhibition named ‘Tu Mu’. Some Chinese contemporary architects and artists were

77

involved in this event, such as Yung Ho Chang, Ma Qingyun, Liu Jiakun, Wang Shu, Zhang

Lei, and so on. As the representatives of the fourth generation of Chinese contemporary

architects, they presented their experimented works as products of thought processes,

gradually demonstrated their international quality rather than being a mere local architecture.

From then on, more and more Chinese architects obtain international awards and honours in

the architectural field. After fourteen years later, Aedes architectural forum held another event

in 2015 by continuing its focus on Asia and China. The themed exhibition ‘Contemplating

Basics’ showed the methodology and works of ZAO/standardarchitecture, which was founded

by Zhang Ke, a representative of the younger generation.

Name

Born

Locaion

Educations Professional

History

Teaching and

Professorships

Design Work

CHANG

Yung Ho

1956

Beijing

Bachelor: Nanjing

Institute of Technology

(now Southeast

University), 1981

Master: University of

California at Berkeley,

1984

Founder of

Atelier

Feichang

Jianzhu in

Beijing, 1993

Professor and

former Head of

Architecture

Department,

MIT

Professor of

Tongji

University

LIU

Jiakun,

1956,

Chengdu

Bachelor: Chongqing

Institute of Architecture

and Engineering, 1982

Jiakun

Architects in

Chengdu,

1999

WANG

Shu,

1963

Hangzhou

Bachelor: Southeast

University, 1985

Doctor: Tongji University

Shanghai, 2000

Amateur

Architecture

Studio, 1998

Dean, School of

Architecture,

China Academy

of Art,

Hangzhou

LI

Xiaodong

1963

Beijing

Bachelor: Tsinghua

University

PhD: Delft University of

Technology, Netherlands

Li Xiaodong

Atelier

Professor,

School of

Architecture,

Tsinghua

University,

Beijing, 2005

ZHANG

Lei

1964

Nanjing

Bachelor: Southeast

University, 1988

Master: ETH Zurich,

1993

Atelier

Zhanglei,

2001

RZL

Architects

Professor,

School of

Architecture &

Urban Planning

in Nanjing

University

78

MA

Qingyun

1965,

Shanghai

Bachelor: Tsinghua

University

Master: the University of

Pennsylvania

MADA

s.p.a.m. 1996

Dean, School of

Architecture, the

University od

Southern

California

DONG

Yugan

1967,

Beijing

Bachelor: Northwest

Architectural Engineering

Institute (Now Chang’an

University), 1991

Master: Tsinghua

University, 1996

Associate

professor,

Beijing

University, 2003

TONG

Ming

1968,

Shanghai

Bachelor: Southeast

University, 1990

Master: Southeast

University, 1993

Doctor: Tongji University

Shanghai, 1999

TM Studio,

2000

Professor of

Tongji

University

Table 2.2 General information of key Chinese contemporary architects.

Li Xiangning in his article ‘Key Concepts of Chinese Architecte Today’, which was

published in AV Monografias 150 in 2011, used twenty-four key words under four categories

to describe the built environment and social reality faced by the contemporary Chinese

architects.47

They are:

1) Phenomena and Commissions: Bigness, Monumentality, Novelty, Swiftness and

Cheapness, Heterotopias.

2) Operational Frameworks: Uncertainty, Spatial Politics, Sustainability, Urbanity,

Grassroots Movement, Nostalgia.

3) Theoretical References: Tectonics, (Critical) Regionalism, Critical Pragmatism,

Everydayness, Place, Computation

4) Practical Strategies: Negotiation, Advocacy, Makeshift, Formalism, Global and

Chineseness.

This may be the most comprehensive summary to formulate the contemporary issues in

Chinese architecture. And all these features can be found in the design of Chinese

contemporary architects listed above.

79

Chapter 4: Case studies

As I have mentioned in the last chapter, on the way of discovery of the reflective design, it

appeared different voices in philosophical debates among those contemporary architects. A

group of them looked back and studied Chinese cultural traditions, setting out to explore a

new approach of thinking about tradition out of the mainstream.

In this research, I will choose Li Xiaodong and Wang Shu as examples. Their projects range

from small-scale projects with low budget to large public buildings in the urban context. They

tried to explore a creative process, promoting a distinct and discrete modernity that embraces

the potentials of local craftwork for new solutions. Moreover, they have started to rethink the

expression of tradition, not in the simple imitation of the physical form, but the reflection of

the spirit behind the tradition. They were discovering how the intangible spirit was reflected

in the tangible form, and to accommodate modern function. This is also what I want to

explore in this chapter.

Next through the critical analyses of their discourses, including key publications, speeches,

teaching, and manifestos, and the representative design works, I try to explore whether

contemporary architectural theory and practice might be enriched through dialogue with

traditional culture, and how the concepts of Chinese tradition might be expressed in

contemporary approach.

4.1 Li Xiaodong

Li Xiaodong was born in China in 1963. He received a Bachelor’s degree at the School of

Architecture, Tsinghua University in 1984. He had a further study of PhD at the School of

Architecture, Delft University of Technology, in Netherlands from 1989 to 1993. He

proposed an alternative approach called ‘reflexive regionalism’ to suit for the existing

Chinese conditions, and made an updated version of his mentor Alexander who originally

proposed the idea of ‘critical regionalism’. He taught at the Department of Architecture,

National University of Singapore between 1997 and 2004. Since 2005, he has been the chair

professor of the architecture program at the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University in

Beijing.

Analysis on his discourses

Figure 2.15(left to right) Key monographs of Li

Xiaodong.

Li, Xiaodong, and Yeo Kang Shua, Zhong Guo Kong

Jian (Chinese Conception of Space), Beijing:

Zhongguo Jianzhu Gongye Chubanshe, 2007

Li, Xiaodong, and Zhuang Tsinghua, Zhong Guo Xing

(Form-making in Traditional Chinese Architecture),

Beijing: Zhongguo Jianzhu Gongye Chubanshe, 2010

80

Li Xiaodong had conducted a series of academic studies on Chinese traditional culture for a

long time, before he published two key books: Zhong Guo Kong Jian (Chinese Conception of

Space) in 2007, and Zhong Guo Xing (Form-making in Traditional Chinese Architecture) in

2010.

The book Zhong Guo Kong Jian sets out to investigate the Chinese conception of space and

how the Chinese concept of space is formulated through the particular philosophical systems,

such as Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. According to Li Xiaodong, this work began as

a research project comparing of space in China and the Europe. He explained that ‘Western

architecture develops from perspective, with the building understood as an object to be looked

at from “without”, while Chinese architecture develops from the idea that the building is

something to be experienced from “within” ’.48

He regarded it as a major distinction between

Chinese and Euro-American thought. The way we think space has largely been shaped by the

ways in which the western culture has perceived it. The Chinese tradition of looking at space

alludes to and allegorizes space in ways that cross disciplinary boundaries.49

The core

chapters began with the exploration of the natural spatial perception, followed by a

philosophical perspective and its relationship with cosmology which explicates the Chinese

worldview. Through examinations of the traditional Chinese painting, sculpture, theatre,

spatial imagination of Chinese architecture, language and space in Chinese architecture, the

book presents a detailed view of the issue of propensity of space within the Chinese context.50

As a supplement of Zhong Guo Kong Jian, the book Zhong Guo Xing is published after three

years. In this book, Li Xiaodong focused on the form-making in traditional Chinese

architecture, by deriving a formal framework based on the analysis of formal properties. He

studied the principles of ancient Chinese architecture (yingzao fashi 营造法式) and the origin

of Chinese thinking. Standing for the philosophical concept of Laozi, ‘what is important is

what is contained, not the container’, Li Xiaodong insisted architecture should be less about

individual building forms than about how space is defined by the structures that surround it.51

‘Buildings are not object placed in the landscape; they are part of the landscape.’52

These

concepts became fundamentals exemplified in his design works.

Next let us have a detailed study of his discoveries on Chinese traditional arts of intelligentsia

which had been ever expressed through calligraphy, landscape painting, and poetry, then

followed by his reflections on Chinese spatial tradition and hence reflexive regionalism.

1) Chinese calligraphy

The practice of writing has had spiritual significance in Chinese culture. Studying Chinese

calligraphy in the concept of space was demonstrated in Li Xiaodong’s book Zhong Guo

Kong Jian (Chinese Conception of Space). ‘In the case of regular script (kai shu, 楷书,

Figure 2.16), each character is itself a complete matrix that is made up of brushstrokes of

approximately equal line-weights, with approximately equal spacing between the strokes thus

accomplishing harmony. Likewise, with changes in the size of the matrix, space within the

matrix, will be affected.’53

In the case of cursive script (cao shu, 草书, Figure 2.17) which is

less constrained and faster in writing movement, ‘each character is composed with varying

81

Figure 2.16 (left) Regular script (kai shu, 楷

书);

Figure 2.17 (right) Cursive script (cao shu,

草书)

brushstrokes of varying line-weights, but the

matrix is still retained fundamentally in each

character.’54

From the expression of calligraphy,

the characters and even the whole chapter are

restricted by the invisible lines and frames. The

relationship of the brushstrokes and the

relationship of the space between the

brushstrokes are the key of Chinese calligraphy.

In short, the spatial experience of calligraphy is

affected by the size of word, the shade of ink,

the thickness of line and the rhythm of

movement. Similarly, designing is like hand

writing, and like tracing the multiple

possibilities of a living situation with several

words or sentences. The techniques for the

creation of calligraphy can be directly related to the creation of an architectural space by way

of designing the movement through space.

2) Chinese landscape paintings

Li Xiaodong also had a critical and historical study of Chinese landscape painting. He

asserted that landscape painting represented the perception of nature and space. The Chinese

perception of nature, reflected by landscape painting, was a panorama which continuously

changes as one moves along a route.55

He quoted that a spatial gamut is created through ‘the

use of concealing mists, depicting spatial recessions into depth; distant objects which are

drawn in lighter ink tones to impress themselves upon a hazy atmosphere.’56

He has had a

study on Chinese landscape paintings of the Song Dynasty, in which, nature is portrayed as a

living organism. Guo Xi (郭熙 1023-1085), a Chinese landscape painter who lived during the

Northern Song Dynasty, compared rocks to bones, water to blood, trees to hair and clouds,

and mists to the complexion of a living person. These features were exemplified in his

paintings Early Springs (Figure 2.18) and Old Trees Level Distance (Figure 2.19).

Figure 2.18(left) Early Spring, by Guo Xi (郭熙, 1023-1085, Northern Song Dynasty), signed and

dated 1072.

Figure 2.19(right) Old Trees Level Distance 树色平远图, by Guo Xi (郭熙, 1023-1085, Northern

Song.

82

Figure 2.20 Blank background

presented as water in Chinese

painting.

Moreover, Li Xiaodong took Chinese painting as an

example to explain Chinese focus on the intangible

rather than the tangible. In Chinese traditional paintings,

the variety and balance created and enriched in the way

of omitting the background entirely and simply leaving

it blank. The empty spaces allow people with

imagination, which is an essential part in Chinese

tradition.57

This is called Liu Bai (left-over white space

留白). Figure 2.20 shows two swimming goldfishes.

The presence of water can be inferred from the blank

background. The left-over white space is an important

part of the whole painting. It constitutes unstated

expression and provides a broad space to give observers

a rich aesthetic experience. The expression of

abbreviation inferred the illimitable imagination.58

Yoshinobu Ashihara in his book Exterior Design in

Architecture (1970) compared two different approaches in traditional paintings. One is used

in European oil paintings. The painter applies colours fully to the background as well as to the

figure and leaves no space unpainted. The other one is used in Oriental ink paintings. The

background is an unpainted, empty, infinite, diffuse space which can be regarded as ‘negative

space’.59

The use of ‘negative space’ is a key element of artistic composition in East Asian

tradition.

Furthermore, in the Chinese traditional painting, ‘three perfections’, the gathering of

poetry, calligraphy and painting, emerged during the Tang Dynasty. The combination of

painting and poetry was introduced into one piece of artwork. For instance, in the painting

Landscape after Night Rain Shower (Figure 2.21), a poem has been inscribed on the top right

corner, becoming a part of visual structure. The ‘soundless poem’ described how observer

might experience a painting with sound, sight, smell, touch

and emotions.

The spirit behind the natural principle is related with daily

experience of each individual. According to Wang Shu, the

practice of Chinese calligraphy led him into a tranquil inner

world, a focused but very natural and relaxed state of mind.

Li Xiaodong also mentioned he has been practising

physical exercise tai chi (太极拳)60

since he was twenty

one years old to strengthen his sensory system. He thought

that tai chi is a flow of energy made possible by the

systematic relationship and harmony of physical

elements.61

Accordingly it is important to analyse the site

and the flow of energy through it prior to the schematic

design.

Figure 2.21 Landscape after

Night Rain Shower, by Kuncan

(Qing Dynasty), 1660.

83

Figure 2.22(left) Taiji-trigrammes.

Figure 2.23(right) Table number 22 賁(bì).

Similarly, in Chinese calligraphy and painting, air of universe flows in space through left-over

white spaces, and permeates each other to find a balance and harmony. The multi-view

perspective and left-over white space are special components in Chinese painting for creating

space. If we define a space as having ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ aspects, the essential in

Chinese traditional paintings and calligraphy is manifested in the use of a void or ‘negative’

space.

3) Chinese ‘baibi’ aesthetics

The Chinese aesthetic concept of baibi, one of the ideals of Chinese traditional art, can be

found in Chinese poetry, Chinese ink painting, and Chinese calligraphy. The term bi means

adorning. It is from Taiji trigrammers (table number 22) in I Ching (Yi Jing 易经). Bai

indicates blank. Baibi literally can be translated as taking out decorations. It is an aesthetic

concept about the importance of void or emptiness.

The word was firstly quoted in the field of architecture by Li Xiaodong in his article ‘ “Baibi”

Aesthetics and New-Modernism’ in World Architecture in 2003. He conducted a comparative

study between the

concept of Chinese

‘Baibi’ and modern

architecture to

demonstrate how the

traditional cultural value

could be reused for

contemporary design and

how cross culture

reference could be

employed in design. He

mentioned the concept of

baibi aesthetics, which literally means plain embellishments.62

According to his preceding

statement, the emergence of landscape painting in Song Dynasty was one of the consequences

of the loss of embellishment or the aesthetics of simplification. The rise of simple aesthetics

happened in an earlier time during the mid-late Tang Dynasty. It manifested in the negation of

colour in painting and non-rhetorical literary works. The painting presents a landscape whose

details are negated. ‘Negation of embellishment becomes transformed into a negative

dialectic, reality is neither this nor that, neither here nor there, becoming denegation.’63

He

linked the concept of baibi with the Chinese minimalism in traditional arts.

4) Chinese spatial traditions

Since spatial expression can be found in the traditional painting and calligraphy, let us have a

clearer cognition on Chinese spatial tradition following Li Xiaodong’s study. When Li

re-interpreted the traditional spatial experiences, he pointed out a fundamental difference

between ‘being present in a space’ where people are absorbed with it, and ‘looking at an

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image of a space’ where people’s mind is detached.64

From a distance, people look at a

building as an object shown in silhouette. Once entering into the building, people start to

perceive it as a series of spatial relationships by awareness of scale, distance, texture and

enclosure and people become conscious of their own presence inside the building.65

In

Chinese tradition, space has been articulated within a defined framework that allows for

reinterpretation in different contexts using imagination rather than through logic. This

possibility of reinterpretation is what makes the culture sustainable.66

He also took the

Forbidden City as an example to assert that the Chinese building is about experiencing space

rather than appreciating individual buildings.67

This can be used to explain the distinction

between Chinese and Western thought. As Li Xiaodong mentioned, ‘the Western tradition is

based on the experience of the world as a series of objects recognised by a subject looking at

them, the Chinese tradition does not differentiate between subject and object.’68

He described

a ‘negative’ world of view in Chinese thinking, ‘this “western” perception of space privileges

the tangible over the intangible; with the Chinese, the reverse is true.’69

According to the statements above, we could have some ideas about Li’s understandings of

traditional and aesthetic concepts that maybe used for a reflective design today. Next let us

take two design works of Li Xiaodong as examples, to further explore how he developed the

traditional and reflexive approaches. I will review and critically analyse the following points:

a) layout and façade; b) space and spatial experience; c) material, texture, tectonic and scale;

d) the use of natural light in relation to climate and nature; and e) physical lightness and

spatial fluidity.

Analysis of design works

During his study at Delft University of Technology, under the supervision of professor

Alexander Tzonis, Li Xiaodong was influenced by the theory of ‘critical regionalism’. To suit

for China’s social conditions, he developed an alternative approach which he termed as

‘reflexive regionalism’70

for his theoretical framework for design.

After a critical reading of his early design works, I found that most of them were projects for

social engagement. Li Xiaodong and his team were involved in Project Hope (希望工程), a

public service project aiming to bring education to poverty-stricken rural areas of China, to

help children to complete primary school education. And these areas usually have particular

historical culture under the protection of World Cultural Heritage. The main challenge is how

to address and respect the local environment, history and culture, and meet modern functional

demands under the financial difficulties, resource shortages, and technical constraints in the

local area. Next, let me take his two non-profit small-scale design works as examples, to

explore how his ‘reflexive approach’ responds to the local conditions.

1) The Yuhu Elementary School, Lijiang, Yunnan, China, 2004

This small-scale project has a site area of 1,330 square meters, and total floor area of only 830

square meters. The major materials used in this project include local wood, gray tiles, white

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calcareous sedimentary rocks and pebbles.71

The site is located in a Naxi village called Yuhu

in Lijiang, Yunnan Province, in south-west China, within the World Cultural Heritage area. It

is adjacent to the former residence of Joseph Rock, who is a well known Australian-American

botanist and journalist for National Geographic.72

Yuhu sits at the foot of the Yu Long (Jade

Dragon) Snow Mountain at an altitude of 2,760 meters. It is dominated by the Naxi

community, which still maintains a number of traditional cultural activities in their daily life.

This project began with a research trip in this area. The funding to rebuild this primary school

mostly came from the donation through multiple channels including Li Xiaodong himself and

his team. Because architect is as the fundraiser, without a client’s intervention, their outcome

from research and experimentation can be achieved to a maximum degree.

The features of typical Naxi dwelling include three building blocks with a screen wall facing

the gate of a house (san fang yi zhao bi 三坊一照壁), four sided courtyard house with five

patios (si he wu tian jing 四合五天井), main building block which is higher than the side

blocks and faces south (zheng fang yi fang jiao gao, fang xiang chao nan, 正房一坊较高, 方

向朝南)’.73

The basic layout arrangement is four building blocks with verandas around a

central courtyard which formed the basis of everyday life, following the spatial organization

by their inward-facing structures, hierarchy, axiality, symmetry and enclosing walls. However,

this design principle has not been strictly reflected in this project. Li Xiaodong developed

courtyard-based Naxi residential typology, considering the requirement of elementary school

and the particular topographic feature in the mountain and half-plateau area. He referred to

the model of a log courtyard which still exists in the local area, by making the site layout less

compact than those in traditional Naxi dwellings. The neighbouring houses including Joseph

Rock’s former residence on the east are involved into the site plan, as the ‘borrowed’ parts of

the newly proposed courtyard houses. It is a careful integration with the rest of the

surrounding buildings. There are no obvious boundaries between the new and the old, making

it look like a growth from nature. The entrance is on the north by linking the surroundings.

The z-shaped two storey main building includes four classrooms and four staff rooms. It

divides the site into two courtyards: one is a community centre surrounding by an old maple

tree, and the other one is a semi-enclosed exhibition space open to a pool. The exhibition area,

veranda and corridor play a common role of transitional space to link the main building and

two courtyards. The water area near the main entry produces reflections harmonious with the

surrounding environment, including the snow mountain as a background. The building is

integrated into the setting of the snow mountain. Those two courtyards provide public spaces

to the village for local residents’ leisure activities.

In this project, the essence of local traditional courtyard house was extracted and

re-interpreted in the educational design of form and space. In the floor plan of main building,

Li Xiaodong followed the standard division of interior space in an old style house. From the

elevations, all the traditional decorative techniques and ornamentation were simplified into

abstract symbols. For instances, traditional curved roof ridges were straightened; indigenous

gable-end ornaments, inspired by farmers’ grain-drying racks, were simplified as timber

lattice frames.74

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Figure 2.24(upper) Site Plan of the Yuhu Elementary School.

Figure 2.25(middle) Floor Plans of the Yuhu Elementary School.

Figure 2.26(bottom) Section of the Yuhu Elementary School. Source: World Architecture, Beijing:

Tsinghua University Press, September, 2014

Sitting in a region of earthquake hazard, the original school building on this site was damaged

by earthquake of magnitude 7.0 and 5.6 in 1996 and 1998. Under limited local resources, it is

a big challenge to find an inexpensive material with antiseismic capability.

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In addition, for reasons of economic sustainability, this project presented a design using local

materials, including stone, timber and earth. Natural light performs as humble and colourful

effects through the application of these materials. The selection of materials is crucial in

blending with the regional characteristics. Following the principles of maximization of the use

of local materials, local resources like white calcareous sedimentary rocks and pebbles were

substantially used in the walls and pavements. To save the cost, they reused the steel plate

from salvage yards, instead of expensive steel, and matched to wood templates in a scale of

1:1. The steel plates were then cut to the same size as the templates.75

Figure 2.27 The Yuhu Elementary School. Source: World Architecture, Beijing: Tsinghua University

Press, September, 2014

Furthermore, due to the low latitude and high elevation, the site experiences a mild

subtropical highland climate with distinct dry and rainy seasons. The transitional areas in this

school are well considered and designed to facilitate more outdoor activities instead of just as

a passageway. The width and depth of veranda and exhibition area are bigger than usual.

Walls screening the rooms from the courtyards are mainly made by wood lattices with natural

tones which bring bright sunlight and fresh air in the inside building. They not only are

physical mediums or in-between spaces, but also transform as the climate changes.

All these considerations were integrated carefully into the local context with particular

attention paid to site conditions and programme. This project can be regarded as his early

experimentation in the integration of contemporary architecture and regional culture.

Contemporary design language did not compete with tradition, but reflexively communicate

with tradition. Environment is more important than the building itself. This project is in

harmony with its surrounding environment through the use of local building techniques and

limited resources. In the research and investigation process, the vernacular architecture has

been studied and re-interpreted into the new design with environmental understanding.

2) Bridge School, Xiashi Village, Fujian, China,

2009

This project was completed in 2009 with a site

area of 1,550 square meters, and total floor area

of 240 square meters. The major materials are

steel and wood. The structural systems consist of

steel truss structure and wood screen.76

The site

is located in the Hakka village called Xiashi in

Figure 2.28 Bridge School.

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Pinghe Country, Fujian Province, where the world heritage Tulou (土楼), originated a unique

congregate dwelling form in the mountainous areas of south-east China. The earliest Tulou

can be traced to the twelfth century. It is usually a large enclosed and fortified earth building,

most commonly circular or rectangular in configuration, with thick load-bearing rammed

earth walls of three to five stories in height.

Figure 2.29(left) Floor plans of Bridge School.

Figure 2.30(right) Section of Bridge School. Source: World Architecture, Beijing: Tsinghua University

Press, September, 2014

The form of the proposed school building did not respond to the style of Tulou. On the

contrary, it was built like a bridge, connecting two parts of the village which used to be

separated by a stream, to solve the existing status of lacking a public space for villagers’

gathering, communication and activity on both sides.

By combining a number of different functions in a single space, this primary school only have

three functional blocks, in which two classrooms (also as lecture theatres) are linked by a

library. During the after-school hours, by means of sliding and folding doors, the classrooms

can be transformed into a theatre stage to open for public use. The surrounding open spaces

provide a playground for the children and a public square for the villagers.

The concept of open air theatre has a close linkage with the characteristics of openness and

absence in oriental garden. As Taut explained, this kind of absence is further emphasised by

the simplicity of materials’ colours and building forms. The addition of people with various

age groups and activities will generate diverse spaces. Under this condition, the place begins

to take on life. He called this phenomenon as ‘architecturalised interrelationships.’77

Li

Xiaodong also explained his design works as about relationship of a building to its

surroundings rather than a building as a discrete object. This is similar to the concept of

anti-object from Kengo Kuma, which will be further explained in chapter seven.

Moreover, the whole design in this project is more like a transitional area, which generates a

central social place in the village that connects and integrates its previously separated

communities. The proposed primary school is only three rooms, but they reorganise the

relationship of the village and the natural environment, creating a new spatial sequence. The

enclosed space of the library links the two semi-open classrooms, visually extending to the

open squares in front of the Tulou on both sides. The stream used to be a division line,

separating the village into the two parts. This situation has been changed since the bridge

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school is completed. The meaning of this bridge building is not only for the transportation

from one side to the other side of the village, but for providing an interpersonal

communication centre and a linkage. Li Xiaodong arranged two bridges which do not

interfere with each other in this project. Apart from the main bridge building, another bridge

is suspended under the building by steel wires to provide an alternative pathway, directly

connected the both riversides without passing through the main building above.

Chart 2.2 Spatial analysis of Bridge School.

Next let us look at the material approach in this small building. Tulou literally translated as

earthen structures. In a traditional Tulou, the outer structures are formed by compacting earth,

mixed with stone, bamboo, wood and other raw materials. Branches, strips of wood and

bamboo chips are often laid in the wall as additional reinforcement. But the materials used in

this project did not match with the local ones. This building is a modern steel structure

combined with a screen of wooden slatted frames and wooden floor, resulting in physical

lightness and spatial fluidity. The wood screen and vertical louvers keep the view of

pedestrians directly outside the spaces from disturbing class activities but allows the

waterscape further away to be viewed clearly.78

For tectonic language, Li Xiaodong avoided

the use of regional forms and symbols. He attempted to find the appropriate contemporary

material to propose a new space. This small project includes the basis form of Chinese

classical gardens. The whole building can be regarded as a pavilion, linking with covered

walkways and passages that slip between building and bridge over the river.

With limited funds, the design was forced to focus on economical construction and reasonable

application. The highlight of this building is the fact that ‘it provides no power supply for

heating or air-conditioning. Natural methods have been applied to enable the houses to

self-adjust along with the alternation of outside environment. The building is designed to

optimise the effect of solar radiation in the winter to create warmth. In the summer, natural

ventilation provides a cool indoor climate.’79

It provides an affordable construction for

90

improving the spatial qualities of rural communities and upgrading the lifestyles of rural

residents. It provides an example to interpret contemporary architecture in a traditional

context.

Figure 2.31 Bridge School. Source: World Architecture, Beijing: Tsinghua University Press,

September, 2014

From the discourses and design works of Li Xiaodong, I discover that he tried to create a

sense of regional identity by mixing modern functional considerations with local materials

and traditional culture. He described his proposal as representing a ‘reflexive regionalism’80

,

which is a revision of ‘critical regionalism’. Influenced by his mentor Alexander, Li

emphasises on local identity rather than global resistance. His designs are originated in

specific socioeconomic and historical circumstances, and are shaped by a vernacular cultural

context. In addition, climatic, social and cosmological concerns merge in a single design. He

develops reflexive regionalism from its indigenous version into an extensive concept that

allow designers to reflect regional cultural cues in response to national traits, blurring the

limits of culture and nature.

4.2 Wang Shu

Wang Shu was born in Wulumuqi, Xinjiang province, China, in 1963. He received a

Bachelor’s degree at Nanjing Institute of Technology (now named as Southeast University) in

1985, and a Master’s degree there in 1988. After graduation, he was attracted by the natural

landscapes and ancient artistic traditions in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, thinking it as the

heart of Chinese traditional culture, which is quite different from the northern city Wulumuqi,

where he was born and grown up. He therefore decided to relocate to Hangzhou permanently.

Between 1990 and 1998, Wang Shu worked with and learned from local carpenters and

craftsmen. During this period he founded Amateur Architecture Studio with his wife Lu

Wenyu in 1997. Meanwhile, he completed a PhD research study at Tongji University in 2000.

In the same year, he started to teach as a professor in China Academy of Art, Hangzhou.

Since 2007, he took the position of the dean at the School of Architecture, China Academy of

Art. In 2012, he became the first Chinese architect to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Analysis on his discourses

There are three key monographs written by Wang Shu. They are She ji de kai shi (Beginning

of design 设计的开始) (2002), Imagining the House (2012), and Zao Fangzi (Building a

house 造房子) (2016).

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Figure 2.32 (left to right) Key monographs of Wang Shu.

Wang, Shu, She ji de kai shi (Beginning of design), Beijing: Zhongguo jianzhu gongye chubanshe,

2002.

Wang, Shu, Imagining the House, Zürich: Lars Müller Publishers, 2012.

Wang, Shu, Zao Fangzi (Building a house), Hunan: Hunan meishu chubanshe, 2016.

In his essay ‘Zao yuan yu zao ren (Building a garden and shaping a man)’81

, Wang Shu

argued: ‘Before becoming an architect, I was just a literati.’ It indicates his culture and

literature-based approach. He named his office as ‘amateur studio’. He explained that it meant

not only a non-professional approach but also an emphasis on pleasure from a process of

discovery that leads to new possibilities. There is a close linkage between his design thinking

and ideas with his personal life and experience. His open mind and scholarly mentality might

be attributed to the social transformation and also personal experience. As Wang Shu

described, he had no architectural commission to do for almost one decade in the 1990s. He

spent most days from morning to midnight on construction sites and in the company of

craftsmen and builders. Apart from that, he went for walks and enjoyed the scenery around

the West Lake (Xi Hu) in Hangzhou. His daily life was just practicing the Chinese calligraphy,

while drinking tea.82

In this condition, Wang Shu proposed the idea of ‘poetics of construction’. He believed that

contemporary China had ignored or lost most of Chinese traditional values, which can be

found in Chinese traditional gardens, and also painting and calligraphy. He advocated the

concept of ‘living in nature’, and developed his philosophical thought through his daily life,

such as practising Chinese calligraphy, freehand drawing, and drinking tea. The book Wang

Shu: Imagining the house collects his hand drawings and records his design thinking process

in his most important design works.

The recent publication Zao Fangzi is a collection of his main articles in the last decade, where

Wang Shu reviewed his own designs. Most of them have been published before. For example,

the articles ‘Zao yuan yu zao ren (Building a garden and Shaping a man)’ (2007), ‘The

Narration and Geometry of Natural Appearance’ (2009), ‘Dang kong jian kai shi chu xian

(When “Space” began to appear)’ (2003), ‘Go to a Translunary City’ (2003), ‘Ying zao suo ji

(Architect Nots)’ (2008), ‘The Field of Vision on Section’ (2010), ‘We Recognize: Notes on

the Design of Ningbo Museum of Art’ (2006). In these essays, Wang insisted that tradition

was just a source of inspiration.83

According to him, what most attractive to him as a designer

was Chinese tradition and especially the philosophical debate that consists in identifying what

92

Figure 2.33(left) Wang Shu’s copy of the

work of a calligraphy master, Zhong You,

dating back to the second century. His

work is considered to be closest to nature.

Source: Wang, Shu, Imagining the House,

Zürich: Lars Müller Publishers, 2012

grounds that tradition in nature. It is a direction to find a critical way for China’s

development.

In those three books, Wang Shu repeated the statement of the literature-based ideal and his

theory of Chinese traditional culture. Next let me make an analysis from the aspects of

Chinese calligraphy, Chinese landscape paintings, Chinese traditional gardens, and

contemporary working method in relation to Chinese traditional methods and concepts.

1) Chinese calligraphy

In the book Imagining the House, Wang Shu

pointed out that Chinese calligraphy plays an

influential role in his life. ‘For me, practicing

Chinese calligraphy year-round also has a special

significance for my designs and sketches.

Compared with the contemporary fast pace of

Chinese society, calligraphy always helps lead

me into a tranquil inner world, a focused but very

natural and relaxed state of mind. The writing of

every character is like constructing a living place

or part of a garden.’84

According to Wang Shu’s

records, he practises Chinese calligraphy every

day since his childhood. Under the widespread

acceptance and application of computer-aided

design, he still keeps using freehand sketches and

drawings to express his design ideas and even construction details. He explained that the

abstract expressions like the tonal and textural gradations of ink, dynamic movements of lines

and the changing of its aspect at every turn cannot be achieved through computer skills and

can only be found in freehand drawings and writings. His purpose in design is to present a

place for people to live in nature. He thought that freehand drawing is the best way of

expressing an imitation to nature.85

He pointed out further that Chinese calligraphy combined

several simple elements, by measuring the surroundings of all scales, without hierarchical

differences.86

Different from the idea proposed by Li Xiaodong, Wang Shu extended the concept of Chinese

calligraphy from the spatial into the temporal experience. It was also discussed by Kengo

Kuma in his book Anti-Object for analysing the sketches of Katsura fromTaut. From Kuma’s

arguments, Chinese black ink is a medium that can describe the passage of time by the

transition of brushstrokes from heavy black to light black.87

The attempt to capture time in a

two-dimensional framework is also discovered in traditional landscape paintings.

2) Chinese landscape paintings

Apart from Chinese calligraphy, Wang Shu looked back and studied Chinese traditional

painting, especially Chinese landscape painting of the Song Dynasty, which presented

93

numerous landscapes of topographically identifiable sites. Wang Shu described those

paintings as an expression of a world view with the ‘natural way (zi ran zhi dao 自然之道)’,

which is an important part of Chinese traditional culture.

Figure 2.34(top) Qian Li Jiang Shan Tu (A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains), 51cm(height) x

≈12m(length), by Wang Ximeng (1096-1119). Source: Wang, Shu, Wang Shu: Building a different

world in accordance with principles of nature, Paris: Editions des Cendres 2013. p.26-7.

Figure 2.35(bottom) Part of ‘Qian Li Jiang Shan Tu’.

The ‘natural way’ is a value that goes beyond human relations, it is a framework with which

man-made architecture and cities can attain the highest degree of harmony. Philosophers,

artists and artisans have worked together to devise a system that coexists harmoniously with

nature.88

The key components of China’s traditional landscape painting include ambiguity of scale and

emphasis on relativistic perception. According to Wang Shu, it presents the relationship

between the whole and the parts. For example, Qian Li Jiang Shan Tu (A Thousand Li of

Rivers and Mountains), painted by Wang Ximeng, was measured 51cm in height by 12

meters in length. Because of the size of the scroll that is usually very long, observers cannot

see the whole and the details at the same time. Narrative progression and shifting perspectives

animate the reading of a painted scroll. This gives Wang Shu inspiration in controlling the

whole as well as the parts when dealing with a building. He proposed the concept of ‘guan

xiang (观想)’, which means observe and contemplate, or viewing and thinking, to explain the

traditional approach in natured landscape.89

Besides, Wang Shu has mentioned the ‘three distances’(三远) perspective in Chinese

traditional painting, proposed by Guo Xi. The concept of ‘three distances’ consists the ‘high

distance’, the ‘deep distance’ and the ‘flat distance’. The painter shows depth and distance in

multi-view perspective, compared with three-dimensional space in one point perspective

initiated in European painting. Guo Xi’s painting Early Spring (Figure 2.18) is a typical

composition of the ‘deep distance’ concept, depicting a misty mountain range in an early

spring dotted with pavilions and circles by winding streams that exhibits spatial depth in a

small flat painting surface.90

94

The multi-view perspective linked a series of scenes like cinematic expression. For instance,

the painting Imitated Huanghe Shanqiao Mountains and Streams (Figure 2.36) presents us

with motionless expressions of movements in time by means of discrete viewpoints.91

The

observer is invited to enter the painting and wander within the landscape in his own

imagination. It conveys a perception of the experience of travelling amidst real landscapes. It

is more like a subjective view reconnected with space and time. Accordingly, design is like

creating a landscape painting. The positions of buildings are all carefully considered, in

relation to the places of trees, mountains, rivers in order to suit for human habitation. In a

word, the images on a Chinese landscape painting can be appreciated as a series of

movements with space and time through imagination.

3) Chinese traditional gardens

Chinese traditional garden presents the same idea of sequence, multi-layering, various forms

and arrangements. Wang Shu has made substantial studies on traditional gardens. According

to his discourses, he was influenced by Chinese architect and historian Tong Jun (1900-1983),

who studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania from 1925 to 1930 and taught at

Nanjing University since 1949. Tong Jun was considered as the first modern architect who

undertook systematic research into the classic Suzhou Gardens.

Figure 2.36(left) Imitated Huanghe Shanqiao Mountains and Streams(仿黄鹤山樵山水图),

by Xie Shichen (谢时臣 1487-after 1567, Ming Dynasty).

Figure 2.37(right) Analysis of traditional painting by author.

95

Tong Jun, in his book Jiang Nan Yuan Lin Zhi, concluded that the feature of Chinese garden

lay in the interplay of illusion and reality, the contrast between large and small, and the

balance between high and low.92

Influenced by Tong Jun, Wang Shu considered all Chinese

buildings as one type, whether urban, rural, residential, palace, temple, office, school,

workshop and jail, they were all transformations of the residential courtyard house.93

Obviously, he favoured a more poetic and perceptual reality instead of a sense of rationality.

He mentioned that the memories of everyday life could only be reawakened through real

personal experience, not historical styles or any symbolic languages.94

Figure 2.38 Suzhou gardens. (photos by author on Oct 2015)

Wang Shu studied on gardens in Suzhou. He asserted that the garden of Suzhou neither sets

up an object such as sculpture, nor mimic nature’s form or patterns, but rather responds with

the experience of natural hills and bodies of water. The pavilions and houses are interwoven

with natural elements such as stones, ponds, streams, trees, and flowers, which then in turn

influence the pavilions and houses’ spatial layouts.95

Experiencing a building is more like a

journey of discovery. The Chinese garden can be regarded as a spatial and temporal model.

The approaches of contemporary Chinese design such as spatial layering and sequences are

all evidenced in Suzhou garden. In the garden, visitors are encouraged to wander. The paths

in the gardens often take the form of covered walkways, passages that slip between buildings,

or bridges that pass over tranquil ponds. Through several layers of screens and windows,

different structures frame and reframe views of the architecture and landscape. The four

seasons and changing weather, the distances and dimensions, contribute to a change in

people’s perceptions. This perceptual experience is in relation to the relative, fluid and

malleable characteristics in the Chinese gardens. This approach of experiencing a building is

similar to the concept of ‘cinematic architecture’ Kengo Kuma proposed in his book, which

will be discussed in chapter seven.

In addition, Wang Shu is fascinated by Chinese courtyard dwelling, which is designed with a

peaceful inner yard and rooms around for achieving good lighting and ventilation. He used

this method in his works such as Sanhe House in Nanjing and Xiangshan Campus, China

Academy of Art in Hangzhou. Simultaneously he applied other Chinese traditional gardening

principles into his design. For example, in the Library of Wenzheng College and the Ceramic

House, he sank part of the structure to a point closer to the lake or water, as if it were a

pavilion. He also used different scales for each building. By wandering in the traditional

classic gardens, visitors experienced a shifting of scales and rhythms, relativity and fluidity.

4) Contemporary working method in relation to Chinese traditional craftsmanship

96

As I have mentioned before, there were no architects in the modern sense in China until the

1920s. Traditional buildings were built by craftsmen and artisans. Wang Shu thought it was

necessary to learn the craftsmanship in order to acquire knowledge of construction methods

from rural practices. He worked with local craftsmen for eight years in the 1990s, and

asserted that architectural design should be related to tradition, both formally and

technically.96

As Wang Shu has stated, ‘These two things, the most poetic and philosophical reflection, and

the technical and concrete work of the artisan must be carried out together. To me that is

fundamental.’97

In his architectural practices, most projects were built by local construction

teams. They worked together to achieve the integration of traditional materials and

technologies in a modern format. They can even reinterpret the traditional approach creatively.

The raw materials they used include earth, ceramics, recycled bricks and tiles, wood, and

bamboo. All these materials are related with nature. For instance, earth is as a building

material that has been used in China for thousands of years, and it is still used in the

countryside today; ceramic is most directly derived from earth and, like earth, it is a material

that breathes, it is ‘alive’; bamboo occupies a special place in Chinese culture in a practical

sense and in symbolic expression.

Benefited from this experience, Wang Shu developed an innovative, site-specific, and

experiment oriented methodology. He asserted that his basic working method included a field

research, then a long-term collaboration with local craftsmen. Through a series of material

and structural experimentation in small-scale projects, he gradually re-defined and established

a design and a construction method for larger-scale projects.98

According to him, for example,

the project of Five Scattered Houses in Ningbo was to do experiment for the project of the

second phase of the Xiangshan campus, China Academy of Art, which was under

construction at that time. The experiments of materials and structures at one-to-one scale were

conducted by him and craftsmen prior to construction.99

Instead of creating a kind of new

building method, he only made some small adjustments on an existing developed skill. In

Five Scattered Houses, he experimented with recycled bricks and tiles for the construction, to

find out how these traditional materials can be constructed with concrete and steel together,

which is called wapan tiling. This building skill was then exemplified in the construction of

Xiangshan campus, China Academy of Art. Thereafter, this approach was also accepted by

the Ningbo History Museum, a large-scale public building funded by the government.100

In addition, Wang Shu had his own unique working method, which reflected his thinking

progress, including free hand drawings and daily practices in the Chinese calligraphy. Besides,

he mentioned that travelling, observing nature, drinking tea, chatting with friends, and

listening to music played by string instruments also played important roles in his everyday

life. He pointed out, in the schematic design of Xiangshan Campus, he drew on A4 or A3 size

sheet of paper with pencils, rulers, and compass, without any stopping and adjustments,

quietly and quickly.101

It only took a few hours to complete the entire design. However, he

97

had spent a few years on imagining it. He even never made any working model. He just used

his pencil drawing to control everything.102

Insisting on the importance of the ‘handicraft aspect’ of architecture, Wang Shu paid more

attention to rediscovery and reinterpretation of traditional construction process. The quality of

construction determines the design methods. Wang Shu tailored the design to the capabilities

of the existing less-skilled workers, rather than produced schemes that could not easily be

realized. This was exemplified in wapan tiling using recycled bricks and tiles. This humble

method of compensating for significant limitations allowed for the realization of memorable

forms of material expression. Yung Ho Chang, Liu Jiakun and Li Xiaodong all attempted the

similar approach, which maybe described as ‘low-tech strategy’. They all explored a creative

process, promoting a distinct, discrete modernity that embraces the potentials of local

craftwork for new solutions. Because of the existing condition in China of low-cost labour,

this strategy can be achieved in low budget projects. Contemporary design is closely related

to social-economic reality.

To sum up, the main ideas that Wang Shu insisted in his discourses is, through spatial

experience, the reassembly of raw materials and rediscovery of traditional techniques, to

create a close linkage with the environment, the landscape, the climate and the local economy.

This attitude delivers a resistance to standardisation and main stream of globalization.

Analysis on design works

Compared with the approach of Li Xiaodong, the design works of Wang Shu are embodied

with innovative and low-tech material strategy. He combined with modern and traditional

techniques, developed together with local craftsmen, assembling in raw and even leftover

materials from demolitions of old villages or ruins. However, different from Li Xiaodong,

based on the long-term collaboration with local craftsmen, the design works of Wang Shu are

mostly located in Zhejiang Province or nearby villages and towns. Began with the study of

the small-scale experiment, he finally got the chance to implement his strategies into

metropolitan public spaces. Next I choose two urban scale public buildings as examples to

examine his approach.

1) Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Phase I&II, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China,

2004, 2007

The site of Xiangshan Campus in China Academy of Art with 266,640 square meters is

located in an industrial area near the Qiantang River. The landscape was substantially ravaged

in the last two decades. The Chinese Academy of Art decided to locate the site of the new

campus here instead of a place proposed by the government.

The site includes a hill and two streams, and was divided into two phases by the hill. Two

streams originating in the mountains run along the northern and southern sides of the hill,

flowing into Qiantang River. Over thirty buildings were built according to topography,

98

blending in with the landscape of hill and river. Located on the north side of the hill, phase

one started with the schematic design in 2001, and construction was finished in 2004. It

comprises ten buildings with a total building area of about 70,000 square meters, including

one library (1), six academic buildings (2-6, 9), one management office and art studio tower

(7), one small stadium (8), and one gallery (10) (Figure 2.39). Phase two is located on the

south side of the hill, including eleven buildings. It started the design in 2004 and finished

construction in 2007. It comprises eleven buildings with a total building area of about 80,000

square meters, including one workshop building (11), eight academic buildings (12-19), one

small stadium (20), and one dormitory and dining hall (21) (Figure 2.39). The total building

area is over 150,000 square meters. The major materials include bamboo plank, concrete,

recycled bricks and tiles, local firs and bamboo. The structural system consists of concrete

with steel bars frame and steel in some parts, and brick walls.103

As I have discussed before, Wang Shu considered all Chinese buildings, even the garden as a

transformation of residential courtyard house. He said, ‘Chinese garden do not mimic nature’s

forms or patterns from the human standpoint, but rather echo the pleasurable experiences

people derive from natural hills and bodies of water’104

. He applied this concept into the

design of phase one in this project. Reflected by an inspiration from Chinese traditional

courtyard dwelling, semi-enclosed courtyard can be found throughout the whole campus,

representing the combined neighbourhood. It has one side open to the outside, creating an

isolated space for the use of various functions and keeping the spatial fluidity. This lies not

only in the building itself, but its relationship with the neighbouring environment.

Compared with the phase one, the design in phase two is more dynamic, flexible and irregular

in the layout. In the site plan, the buildings were not placed randomly, but arranged in a

certain way in relation to the landscape. According to Wang Shu, the survey of the features of

the site has been carried out prior to making any draft. Here, topography has been considered

carefully, and existing nature are protected. The location and direction of buildings sensitively

respond to the mountains and rivers.

Apart from that, due to the mass volume, proportion is more important than style. The context

showing in this building is based on the measurement of traditional garden. The various

sections of the building and their interconnecting courtyards are at different heights. The

internal spaces are carefully arranged, considering the interplay of slopes, rocks, pools and

plants, which contrast well with the white walls and black roof tiles of the buildings. On the

other hand, in this project, every single building was designed as a vertical garden and all the

buildings were connected into a landscaping system. The whole campus is interlinked by

numerous elevated walkways and bridges on multiple levels which all designed by Wang Shu.

Arcades, footbridges, bridges and aerial beams become subtle design components. They share

the same function with the corridor in Chinese traditional garden. They are combined with the

interplay of light, shadow, water and green spaces, creating overall coherence to a complex.

The spirit of this ingenious route is continued inside and outside where the users are induced

repeatedly to focus on particular sights outside the countryside, and inside the inner space. It

99

conveys a perception of the experience with movement, such as wandering in a picturesque

traditional garden.

Figure 2.39 Site Plan of Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art. (source: Wang, Shu, Wang Shu:

Building a different world in accordance with principles of nature, Paris: Editions des Cendres 2013.

p.72.)

100

As Wang Shu had mentioned, this project was inspired by Chinese literati art and tradition.

Traditional Suzhou garden, in which Wang Shu obtained inspiration, has an important

architectural feature that is ubiquitous windows and openings, including perforated window

with different patterns, and the window openings without any pattern or glasses. They aim for

reframing scenery and producing the spatial fluidity, while allowing for ventilating and

daylight. Wang Shu borrowed this idea into his design. In this project, the scattered openings

in external walls were designed to give framed panoramas of the scenery, partly shaped as

Taihu Lake Stone (Figure 2.44) in traditional Suzhou garden. Taihu Lake Stone is a kind of

limestone, featuring by pores and holes. The constructed elements and the nature were

interwoven through these openings. If visitors observe the façade by standing outside,

probably they will feel the openings on the wall are arranged arbitrarily. However, when they

walk through and wander inside building, they will find the relations of openings (windows,

doors, gates) and views are carefully considered, connected by passageways, to blur the

boundary between the inside and the outside. Combined with the factors of climate, nature,

and the use of natural light, all the buildings are carefully designed with sustainability in mind,

incorporate eco-friendly nature-based materials and optimize the use of daylight to reduce

energy demand. The mechanical air conditioning system is seldom installed in the building.

The building is ventilated by the air passing through these openings. The openings enable the

building to have a direct connection with the outdoor environment, and allow air and natural

light flowing through the building. The interior natural air circulation is benefit from the slope

courtyard layout.

Concrete is a main structural material in this project. Other major materials to be used

included recycled bricks and tiles, local firs and bamboo.105

According to Wang Shu, seven

million recycled bricks and tiles from the demolition sites of traditional villages combined

with vernacular building technique were applied in the whole Xiangshan Campus. On one

hand, the recycled bricks and tiles only cost half price of new industrial products.106

However,

this approach is not only to make the construction at an affordable price in a sustainable way,

but also to keep the memory in this region. On the other hand, the recycled materials used in

the design also reflect the respect with nature and tradition. The reuse of old materials

continues the life of the building, allowing traditional culture remaining in the existing region.

This is one of the approaches dealing with the rapid development in the urban context.

Figure 2.40 Courtyards in Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art. (photos by author on Oct 2015)

101

Figure 2.41 Passageways in Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art. (photos by author on Oct

2015)

Figure 2.42 Openings in Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art. (photos by author on Oct 2015)

Figure 2.43(left one to four) Openings in The Canglang Pavilion(沧浪亭), Suzhou. (photos by author

on Oct 2015)

Figure 2.44(right one and two) Taihu Lake Stone in The Humble Administrator’s Garden (拙政园),

Suzhou. (photos by author on Oct 2015)

As Wang Shu mentioned, the whole construction system of Chinese architecture does not pay

much attention to the eternal stability of human society, but rather to the pursuit of natural

evolution.107

So the scope of his work does not restrict itself in the production of new

building, but engages in the reconstruction of the natural and poetic living environment. I

visited this campus in October 2015. It has been eight years since phase two was built, and

eleven years since phase one was completed. After almost one decade, the external walls of

most buildings have been covered and even permeated by woody climbers and other

vegetation. According to Wang Shu, the buildings cannot be said to be completed until the

relationship between nature and the human being is achieved. This inspiration is similar to the

fundamental of Chinese traditional garden. In which once the rocks, hills, ponds and pavilions

have been set up, people have to wait for the growth of the plants and trees settled in the

garden. By the time the willows and pines have started to provide the shade, and the moss

along the footpaths has begun to cover the paving stones, the garden can be considered being

taken form. In this project, it seems that Wang Shu has fully contemplated the natural

growing and ageing process after the completion of the construction, allowing plants to grow

as a part of building. The vegetated façade melted into the environment, making the big

volume building hiding in the nature. Obviously, Wang Shu has a foresight on the potential of

green facades. Most of buildings do not provide power supply for heating or air-conditioning.

The natural growing and vertical greenery façade is playing multiple functions, by means of

varying natural elements like the changing seasons and abundance of rain and wind. It works

as an insulation layer, providing thermal performance and evaporative cooling effects. It has

the ability to mitigate duct, and habitat creation for urban wildlife, including insects, and birds.

The building materials are considered that can be exchanged when they are damaged. The

insistence on the temporary character is in response to wabi-sabi aesthetics. It regards a

102

Figure 2.46 (left) Ningbo History Museum. (photos by author on Oct 2015)

Figure 2.47 (right) Wind in Pines Among a Myriad Valleys (1124, 万壑松

风图), Li Tang, Song Dynasty.

building as a form of life which experiences a series of natural aging process. When buildings

and plants work together, it becomes most obvious that, as long as time keeps running,

architecture is subjected to constant changes. It reflects the fluid dynamism of architecture

when it is integrated with nature.

Figure 2.45 Vegetated buildings in Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art. (photos by author on

Oct 2015)

To sum up, these construction methods with dynamic expression have existed in the local area

for hundreds of years. This design approach and its unique characteristic used to be applied

on the production of the typical traditional building like a courtyard house. Wang Shu

re-coordinated all elements and fulfilled the contemporary requirements in the local rules, to

finally create a distinctive design. If the project in Xiangshan Campus is a complex

harmonious with the existing site at its natural condition, the following work can be regarded

as creating a new building itself as nature.

2) Ningbo History Museum, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China, 2008

This massive

30,000 square

meters

government

funded museum is

located in a new

district without

urban context in

Ningbo, Zhejiang

province, facing

the central plaza

of this new city

centre. Surrounded

by mountains, the

103

Figure 2.48(top) Floor Plans of Ningbo History

Museum.

Figure 2.49(bottom) Elevations and sections of

Ningbo History Museum.

(Source: Wang, Shu, ‘The Narration and Geometry of

Natural Appearance: Notes on the Design of Ningbo

Historical Museum’, Time + Architecture, Shanghai:

Tongji University Press, Issue 3, 2009. p.70, 72, 77)

site with 45,333 square meters was originally a farmland, but dozens of old villages were

demolished to make way for the urban development. How to set up a connection with the past

memory of daily life? How to design a monumental structure as though it was a nature? The

building is therefore designed as an artificial mountain.108

According to Wang Shu, this

building is inspired by the traditional

painting Wind in Pines Among a

Myriad Valleys (1124, 万壑松风图),

painted by Li Tang (1050-1130), in

Song Dynasty. This concept is quite

similar to the idea of ‘shan shui city’

proposed by Ma Yansong. In fact, the

idea had been examined in the design

of his own apartment in an earlier time.

Wang turned his two bedrooms’

apartment into a tiny traditional

‘garden’, by designing and installing

eight lamps. The core design concept

of a ‘building as nature’ is to sustain a

traditional culture which has been

ignored in contemporary urban

developments.

According to the local building codes,

there is a limitation of construction

with a maximum height of twenty-four

meters located one hundred meters

away from the surrounding

development. Therefore this project

acts as a sculpture object in an open

field of a new urban district. The site

planning aligns the museum’s

rectangular floor plan in a symmetrical

arrangement. With its 144 meters long,

65 meters wide and 24 meters high, the

104

shape of the building is simple. The basic structure of this building consists of a

mountain-like formation. The structure of exterior walls is a box with a slightly slope starting

from the second floor. The most important characteristic is the inner open space. The internal

three storey structure, spaced by the atriums, sunken courtyards, caves, and terraces, formed

the valleys and ridges. Visitors enter the museum via a bridge across an artificial pool into a

cave-like space. The building inside is divided by three ‘valleys’, which are accessed by

escalators. Multiple complicated series of pathways, rising from the ground floor up to the

roof, interconnect public spaces where the visitors are guided along the exhibits. The

mountain topography is demonstrated through the experience of visitors. A big outdoor

terrace from the first floor through to the roof reminds visitors the sense of climbing a hill,

accompanying vertical cliffs of the external valley on the roof deck. It therefore forms the

garden in the interior of the building, allowing natural ventilation and harmonious

combination with views. Only when entering the building, visitors can sense the poetic

conversation between the rustic situation and refined aspirations of the project.

Figure 2.50 Wapan wall (left) and zhu tiao mo ban hun ning tu (middle) in Ningbo History Museum.

(photos by author on Oct 2015)

Figure 2.51 Section details of Wapan wall (left) and zhu tiao mo

ban hun ning tu (right) in Ningbo History Museum.

(Source: Wang, Shu, ‘The Narration and Geometry of Natural

Appearance: Notes on the Design of Ningbo Historical Museum’,

Time + Architecture, Shanghai: Tongji University Press, Issue 3,

2009. p.78)

105

The structural systems include concrete and steel framework, bridge framework, concrete

inside wall and recycled bricks outside wall. The major materials in this building are bamboo

plate model concrete, local stones, recycled bricks and tiles.109

What is the most significant

and innovative aspect in this building is the material approach, which has an obvious contrast

with global modernity of high-tech façade. This building is multi-material assemblies. The

raw materials and leftover materials from demolition site of old villages are assembled by

combining modern and traditional techniques, and developed together with local craftsmen.

This façade is shown as concrete with bamboo clad and up to twenty different types of brick

and roof tile. Two main methods of construction were used in this project. The first one is a

local technique of clay tile wall called wapan. This technique combined concrete with tiles,

bricks, stones and fixed them together to a wall with cement to give a material texture with a

variegated colour and grain that are in harmony with the natural environment. In fact this

construction method is not Wang Shu’s invention. It is actually a very natural and ecological

tradition in this region. Local farmers used to apply this fast and simple construction method

to quickly rebuild villages after typhoons or landslides, reusing the remains of destroyed

buildings. The combination of the reinforced concrete with the lighter recycled materials has

resulted in excellent structural performance and insulation performance. From the statement

of Wang Shu, the local construction workers could arrange the recycled tiles, bricks and

stones according to their own way which was not planned by the architect. The involvement

of the local workers is an embodiment of the respect and trust to the manual labour and

craftsmanship in continuity with traditional building culture. The second method is called zhu

tiao mo ban hun ning tu (bamboo-strip concrete mould). It used bamboo as the formwork for

large surfaces of cast concrete with a natural sensibility. The natural cracks, patterns and

textures of bamboo leave an impression in the surface of the concrete, reflecting traditional

aesthetics of humbleness. Wang Shu has recorded the story that former local residents came

to visit the new museum. They found the feelings in which the museum represents memories

and traces of the past in their lives.110

Through the analysis of the design works above, we can find that Wang Shu’s approaches are

closely related to the basic ideas and methods of traditional Chinese architecture, which can

be understood as the relationships between nature and human being. By producing the

contrast of solid and void, strong and light, enclosure and openness, new and old, Wang Shu

innovatively transformed the characters of Chinese traditional garden or courtyard house into

his design to establish a sensitive engagement in a broader material application and spatial

organization. He even extended this method into a bigger scale construction to adapt

contemporary social demand. Furthermore, he regenerated material quality through recycled

bricks relating with traditional building techniques. This material approach, as a mode of

adaptation, transforms a physical memory of materials to an emotional content. The strategies

exemplified in the Wang’s design can be considered as a critique and reflexivity of

contemporary urbanization in China.

106

Chapter 5: Analysis and Discussion

From the design works of Li Xiaodong and Wang Shu, despite stylistic plurality, they are

characterized by similar critical approach, including the tactile immediacy of spatial

experience; the necessary response to climate and topography; a sense of reality to the

cultural meaning of architectural form, and the possibility of engaging local labour and skill

in architectural production.

The design works mentioned above are from only a very small and unique part of

contemporary Chinese design. According to the analysis, the four cases demonstrate different

approaches to explore the possibilities of applying traditional Chinese architectural ideas in

concert with contemporary architecture and environment. In the case of Yuhu Elementary

School, the simplification and abstraction of traditional decorative techniques and

ornamentation have a direct response to the vernacular context. In the case of the Bridge

School, a new spatial sequence was created by designing a transition area with spatial fluidity.

In the case of Xiangshan Campus, the architect recalled the experience of traditional gardens,

reframing the panoramas of the scenery through passageways and openings such as doorways

and windows. In the case of Ningbo History Museum, the reclaim of old materials and the

application of low-tech material strategy involved an innovative use of traditional building

techniques.

Nevertheless, they are all cases that have resolved efficiently the problem of low budget in a

developing country. Besides, they have showed some common characteristics in revealing a

comprehensive and thoughtful evolution that is rooted in Chinese traditional thinking with the

value of negation. It provides a new vision of architectural progressiveness, and liberates from

the western modes of thought and practice. In the context of Chinese contemporary design,

the main characterises of these architects’ works are: regeneration, reflexivity and

regionalism.

‘Regeneration’ here includes two layers of meaning. First, it refers to a craft aspect by

assembling raw materials and leftover materials from demolitions of old villages, using

modern and traditional techniques which were developed together with local craftsmen. In

this way, the reclaimed materials may be replaced over time. Second, it refers to a recall of

spiritual expression which has existed in Chinese traditional arts like calligraphy, ink painting,

and classic garden for a long time. The blank surface as a ‘negative space’ can express

abundant meanings. They switch people’s focus on the creation of the intangible rather than

the tangible. From the cases above, there is also a growing awareness of native cultures and

invisible traditions. Although there are subtle differences in their observations of Chinese

culture and sensibilities, the common Chinese philosophy of life demands continuity with

nature, and with harmony.

‘Reflexivity’ is found in the modes of expression, technical innovation and aesthetic

judgement of the contemporary Chinese design works. Facing with the overwhelming

economic boom and the fast-paced construction, Chinese contemporary architects adopted a

107

method to deal with the incomprehensible challenge of engaging with the nation’s long

history, modern disruptions, and contemporary harmonisation under the frame of traditional

aesthetic sensibility. The critical voice which separates Chinese new generation contemporary

architecture from the universalism of the international style is evidenced in the recent

reflective design works. These works combined a spiritual exploration of ideas with rational

thinking and were based on a continuing inquiry into the underlying concepts of space in the

Chinese context. This approach results in a clear understanding of space, materials, and

proportions blending with the Chinese expectation of a poetical architectural language. In the

cases above, the architects are more persistent to their ideas of a link with the local history in

a more spiritual way. They took up the dialogue with the landscape and applied the spatial

traditions of China while conforming to local building codes and the demands of modern

lifestyle.

‘Regionalism’ here refers to not merely the concept proposed by western scholars. China is a

country with strong diverse regional styles. On one hand, due to the complex natural and

geographical conditions in China, there exist the phenomena of unevenly distributed

population, resulting in the uneven development among the different parts. On the other hand,

Chinese economic reforms also caused income inequality and hence the regional imbalance,

resulting in the ‘rural to urban’ migration within provinces, and migration from inland to

coastal cities. A few social factors have intensified the gap between rural and urban area, and

this phenomenon of widening inequity has increased significantly in contemporary China.

Accordingly regionalisation is a necessary factor that needs to be considered in the design.

Chinese contemporary architects gradually formed their own localized design ideas after

sorting out the concepts of regionalization and localization. To some extent, architecture can

be regarded as a regionalized carrier that expresses local culture and natural environment.

From the design works mentioned above, the distinctive feature is a subtle response to the

region and its characteristics. To meet with affordability and sustainability, low-tech rather

than high-tech strategies has been applied in contemporary design. However this has a direct

and necessary relation with low-cost labour in the existing condition. Low-tech handcraft

causes high labour cost in Japan or Euro-American countries, so it cannot be an approach in

their places. So this strategy with Chinese characteristics reflects local conditions of China.

Using clear components and structures, combining local construction methods and materials

with a simple formal language, they achieved the most that local craftsmen were technically

capable of. In addition to regional technologies, the design takes into consideration of spatial,

relational, formal and material factors, to find a solution that would allow the integration of

contemporary building language, traditional culture, and vernacular feelings, for local

conditions and sustainable development.

The three characters are interrelated. Chinese contemporary architecture is part of the

regeneration of tradition but lacks a critical approach as some Euro-American scholars have

argued. Through the analysis of the discourses and design works from the representative

architects, the involvement of Chinese traditional aesthetics is a clue to understand the

capacity for abstract spirituality. The features of Chinese traditional aesthetics, which can

respond to the contemporary design, include harmonism, minimalism and naturalism.

108

Features of Contemporary Chinese Design Features of Chinese Traditional Aesthetics

● regeneration

● reflexivity

● regionalism

● harmonism

● minimalism

● naturalism

Chart 2.3: The similarity/comparability between the features of contemporary Chinese architecture and

Chinese traditional aesthetics.

In the last three decades, China has experienced a big change and a fast development with

huge quantity of construction. Most of the traditional cities have been demolished. The

overwhelming development and construction in China resulted in a lack of responsibility to

the natural environment, local customs and heritage of a particular place. With an increasing

environmental awareness, some independent architects, such as Li Xiaodong and Wang Shu

in my cases, are creating a sense of regional identity by mixing modern functional thinking

with local materials and traditional culture. The contemporary design in China gradually

integrates new buildings with local environment and to re-interpret traditional architecture

using a modern language without formal imitation. The essence of traditional architecture was

extracted and then re-expressed in the new design.

Tradition is an abstract concept. The essence of Chinese architectural tradition lies in its

sensitivity and adaptability to local conditions. The fusion of local materials and skills,

landscape conditions, and cultural values shaped the vernacular tradition in harmony with

environment. Communication with tradition is beyond mere repetition or imitation, but is

about absorbing the spirit of intangible tradition. Taking the cultural, economical, resourceful

and environmental consideration, reapplying the traditional building ideology is

interdependent with the natural landscape to contemporary conditions. The approach is

exemplified in the following aspects: reflexive approach to respond to site conditions,

communication with traditions, and respect the forces and rhythms of nature. The design

approach, as I would propose, is using the visible tradition linking with nature to reinterpret

the intangible spirit behind the Chinese traditional aesthetics.

109

Notes

1 Rowe, Peter G., Seng Kuan, Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern

China, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002. p.2. 2 Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.33.

3 Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.38.

4 Ibid.

5 Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, pp.5-6.

6 Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.53.

7 Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.43.

8 Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.46.

9 According to author’s master thesis. Adaptive Reuse of Historical Buildings and Urban

Areas in Shanghai (1990-2008): A Practical and Critical Assessment, Faculty of Architecture,

Building, and Planning, The University of Melbourne, 2009, pp.51-2. 10

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, pp.21-2. 11

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.88. 12

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.89. 13

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.112. 14

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.95. 15

Online Available HTTP:<

https://www.vitra.com/en-gb/magazine/details/the-hill-of-the-buddha> (accessed 22 February,

2018) 16

Including Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Yantai, Qingdao, Lianyungang, Nantong,

Shanghai, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Zhanjiang and Beihai. 17

Xue, Charlie Q.L., Building Practice in China, Beijing: Zhongguo Jianzhu Gongye

Chubanshe, 2009. p.97. 18

Charlie Q.L., Building Practice in China, p.109. 19

Based on author’s master thesis. Adaptive Reuse of Historical Buildings and Urban Areas

in Shanghai (1990-2008): A Practical and Critical Assessment, Faculty of Architecture,

Building, and Planning, The University of Melbourne, 2009 20

Online Available HTTP:< http://commune.sohochina.com/en/architecture> (accessed 27

February, 2018) 21

Xue, Charlie Q. L., Building a Revolution: Chinese Architecture since 1980, Hong Kong:

Hong Kong University Press, 2006, pp.131-2. 22

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.24. 23

Ibid. 24

Sha, Yongjie, “Xihua” de Licheng: Zhong Ri Jianzhu Jindaihua Guocheng Bijiao Yanjiu

(A comparative research on development of architecture between modern China and Japan in

modern times), Shanghai: Shanghai Kexuejishu Chubanshe, 2001. p.37. 25

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.48. 26

Ibid. 27

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.49. 28

Ibid. 29

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, pp.56-61.

110

30

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.61. 31

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, pp.77-82. 32

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.83. 33

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, pp.83-6. 34

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.84. 35

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, pp.88-9. 36

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.92. 37

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.114. 38

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.116. 39

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China 40

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, p.133. 41

Peter G., Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, pp.186,

197-8. 42

Charlie Q. L., Building a Revolution: Chinese Architecture since 1980, pp.131-150. 43

Architectural Record is a monthly magazine dedicated to architectural design with over

110 years history, published by McGraw-Hill Construction in New York, USA. It is an

authoritative publication with the academic and practical values. At the end of every year

from 2000, ten vanguard architects under forty years old were selected by a professional panel

and were published in Architectural Record’s annual Design Vanguard issue. 44

See the website of Architectural Record. 45

Dubrau, Christian, Contemporary architecture in China: buildings and projects 2000-2020,

Berlin: DOM publishers, 2010, p.43. 46

Christian, Contemporary architecture in China: buildings and projects 2000-2020, p.47 47

Li, Xiangning, “Key Concepts of Chinese Architecte Today”, AV Monographs, vol. 150,

Madrid: Arquitectura Viva, 2011, pp.6-15. 48

Goodwin, Kate, Shang Jin (trans.), ‘Interview with Li Xiaodong’, World Architecture,

Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, Issue 9, 2014. pp.22-3. 49

Li, Xiaodong, and Zhuang Qinghua, Zhong Guo Xing (Form-making in Traditional

Chinese Architecture), Beijing: Zhongguo Jianzhu Gongye Chubanshe, 2010, p.4. 50

Li, Zhong Guo Xing, pp.8-9. 51

Goodwin, Kate, Shang Jin(trans.), ‘Interview with Li Xiaodong’, World Architecture,

Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, Issue 9, 2014. pp.22-3. 52

Rosemann, Jurgen, Xu Zhilan (trans.), ‘The Humble Master: Li Xiaodong as Architect and

Teacher’, World Architecture, Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, Issue 9, 2014. p.29. 53

Li Xiaodong, and Yeo Kang Shua, Zhong Guo Kong Jian (Chinese Conception of Space),

Beijing: Zhongguo Jianzhu Gongye Chubanshe, 2007. p.55. 54

Ibid. 55

Li, Zhong Guo Kong Jian, pp.12-29. 56

Li, Zhong Guo Kong Jian, p.56. 57

Rosemann, Jurgen, Xu Zhilan(trans.), ‘The Humble Master: Li Xiaodong as Architect and

Teacher’, World Architecture, Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, Issue 9, 2014. p.29. 58

Li, Zhong Guo Kong Jian

111

59

Ashihara,Yoshinobu, Exterior design in architecture, New York; London : Van Nostrand

Reinhold, 1981, p.21. 60

An internal Chinese martial art practiced for both its defense training and its health

benefits. 61

Goodwin, Kate, Shang Jin(trans.), ‘Interview with Li Xiaodong’, World Architecture,

Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, Issue 9, 2014. p.25. 62

Li, Zhong Guo Kong Jian, pp.59-61. 63

Li, Zhong Guo Kong Jian, p.64. 64

Kate, ‘Interview with Li Xiaodong’, p.25. 65

Kate, ‘Interview with Li Xiaodong’, pp.22-3. 66

Li, Zhong Guo Kong Jian 67

Kate, ‘Interview with Li Xiaodong’, pp.22-3. 68

Li, Zhong Guo Kong Jian 69

Li, Zhong Guo Kong Jian, p.2. 70

The term “reflexive regionalism” was firstly proposed by the American folklorist Archie

Green for the identity-enhancing relationship between folk culture and geographical area. 71

Datum from World Architecture, Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, September, 2014. 72

-, ‘The Yuhu Elementary School, Lijiang, Yunnan, China, 2004’, World Architecture,

Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, Issue 9, 2014. p.36. 73

-, ‘The Water House, Lijiang, Yunnan, China, 2009’, World Architecture, Beijing:

Tsinghua University Press, Issue 9, 2014. p.51. 74

-, ‘The Yuhu Elementary School, Lijiang, Yunnan, China, 2004’, p.41. 75

Ibid. 76

Datum from World Architecture, Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, September, 2014. 77

Kuma, Kengo, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, London:

Architectural Association, c2008. p.22. 78

-, ‘Bridge School, Xiashi Village, Fujian, China, 2009’, World Architecture, Beijing:

Tsinghua University Press, Issue 9, 2014. p.57. 79

Rosemann, Jurgen, Xu Zhilan(trans.), ‘The Humble Master: Li Xiaodong as Architect and

Teacher’, World Architecture, Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, Issue 9, 2014. p.29. 80

According to his lecture titled ‘Towards a Reflexive Regionalism’ at CUHK School of

Architecture on 24 March 2016. 81

Wang, Shu, ‘Zao yuan yu zao ren (Building a garden and Shaping a man)’ (造园与造人),

firstly published on The Architect, Beijing: Zhongguo Jianzhu Gongye Chubanshe, Vol.126

Issue 2, Apr, 2007, pp174-5, then collected by Zao Fangzi (Building a house), Hunan: Hunan

meishu chubanshe, 2016. pp.13-21. 82

Ibid. 83

Wang, Shu, Wang Shu: Building a different world in accordance with principles of nature,

Paris: Editions des Cendres 2013. p.47. 84

Wang, Shu, Imagining the House, Zürich: Lars Müller Publishers, 2012. prologue 85

Wang, Shu, She ji de kai shi. 86

Wang, Imaging the House

112

87

Kuma, Kengo, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, London:

Architectural Association, c2008. p.23. 88

Wang, Wang Shu: Building a different world in accordance with principles of nature, p.27. 89

Wang, Wang Shu: Building a different world in accordance with principles of nature, p.30. 90

Online Available HTTP: < http://www.yishu.com/news/20160121/7631.html > (accessed

13 April, 2017) 91

Li, Zhong Guo Kong Jian, p.69. 92

This book was written by Tong Jun in 1937 and submitted to Yingzao Xueshe (营造学社,

the Institute for Research in Chinese Architecture). Because of the start of the Second

Sino-Japanese War, the manuscript was almost lost. This book was firstly published in 1963,

and reprinted in 1984 in a revised and supplemented edition. Tong, Jun, Jiang Nan Yuan Lin

Zhi (A Survey of Gardens in the South of the Yangtze River), Beijing: Zhongguo Jianzhu

Gongye Chubanshe, 2014. p.16. 93

Wang, Imagining the House, project 1. 94

Wang, Imagining the House, prologue. 95

Wang, Imagining the House, project 1. 96

Wang, Shu, She ji de kai shi. 97

Wang, Wang Shu: Building a different world in accordance with principles of nature, p.45. 98

Wang, Shu, ‘We are in Need of Reentering a Natural Philosophy’, World Architecture,

Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, Issue 5, 2012. p.21. 99

-, ‘The Five Scattered Houses, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China, 2005’, World Architecture,

Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, Issue 5, 2012. pp.98-9. 100

Wang, Shu, ‘The Narration and Geometry of Natural Appearance: Notes on the Design of

Ningbo Historical Museum’, Time + Architecture, Shanghai: Tongji University Press, Issue 3,

2009. p.76. 101

Wang, Imagining the House, project 2. 102

Li, Xiangning, and Xiaochun Zhang, ‘An interview with Wang Shu’, Time + Architecture,

Shanghai: Tongji University Press, Issue 4, 2012. p.99. 103

Datum from GA document vol.112, p112. 104

Wang, Imaging the House, project 1. 105

-, ‘China Today’, GA Document, vol. 112, Tokyo: A.D.A. EDITA Tokyo Co., Ltd., 2010.

p.112. 106

Wang, Shu, ‘One Day’, Time + Architecture, Shanghai: Tongji University Press, Issue 4,

2005. p.100. 107

Wang, Shu, ‘We are in Need of Reentering a Natural Philosophy’, World Architecture,

Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, Issue.5, 2012. p.20. 108

-, ‘Ningbo History Museum, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China, 2008’, World Architecture, Beijing:

Tsinghua University Press, Issue.5, 2012. p.80. 109

Datum from GA document vol.112, p97. 110

Wang, Shu, and Lu Wenyu, ‘Poetics of Construction with Recycled Materials: A World

Resembling the nature’, Time + Architecture, Shanghai: Tongji University Press, Issue 2,

2012. p.69.

113

PART 3: JAPAN (POST 1990): CASE STUDIES

Chapter 6: Historical review

6.1 Historical background of Japanese modern architecture

Japan and China used to share a long history of a common cultural framework. In

industrializing and modernizing, however, they had followed different paths of development.

After experiencing a series of complex historical events, social transitions and destructive

natural disasters, Japanese architects gradually developed their unique viewpoints and

understandings to the world views. Japanese architecture, in both its traditional and its

contemporary form, has made substantial contributions to modern architecture. To clarify the

evolutions of their architectural idea, let us have a brief review of the Japanese modern

architectural history.

In the modern history, Japan has experienced a long period of isolation for foreign policies in

the Edo Era from 1603 to 1868. Since the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japan opened its door to

the West. From then on, Japan quickly set up a close relationship with Europe and America,

and made westernization and modernization its goals. Through inviting European and North

American architects, scholars and educators by the turn of the twentieth century, modern

Euro-American architecture was introduced into Japan and exerted a profound influence on

Japanese modern architecture. According to Stewart (1987), the starting point of Japanese

modern architecture can be traced since this period.1

Botond Bognár (1990) made an introduction about the foreign architects from the Meiji

Restoration to the post-war period. They were Josiah Conder, Charles Alfred Chastel de

Boinville, C.V.Capelletti and Hermann Ende, who were all from Europe. The visiting

architects included the American architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Antonin Raymond, the

German architects Bruno Taut and Walter Gropius.2 The interactions between tradition and

innovation, the East and the West, started from that period. David B. Stewart (1987) made an

elaborate analysis on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel, the works of Antonin Raymond,

and Le Corbusier’s National Museum of Western Art, to demonstrate how Western architects

borrowed from, and in turn, influenced Japanese design.3

Among them, Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the most strongly influenced architects by

traditional Japanese art and architecture. Inspired by Japanese spatial arrangements and the

concept of interpenetrating exterior and interior space, in the residence of the Yamamura family

which was re-named as Yodokō Guest House since its opening to public in 1989, he used walls

made of sliding doors that opened into the neighbouring spaces4, which is quite common in

traditional Japanese residence. In turn, his organic vision of architecture and the respect of the

surroundings and nature continued to influence the contemporary Japanese architects until now.

Yodokō Guest House is his early attempt to fully utilize the topography. This house is located in

114

Ashiya, Japan, and built in 1924. The site is with a sloping landscape. The house has four

stories, but the maximum height in appearance is only two stories. After he returned to America,

he designed Fallingwater (Kaufmann Residence), located in Pennsylvania, America, and was

completed in 1939. These two projects completely unified with the environment are

representative examples to response the design approach of partly burying underground which

was developed later in contemporary Japanese.

Figure 3.1(left) Yodokō Guest House, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1924. Source: Online. Available HTTP:<

http://www.yodoko.co.jp/geihinkan/raireki/index_e.html> (accessed 14 February, 2018)

Figure 3.2(middle) Yodokō Guest House. (photo by author on September 2015)

Figure 3.3(right) Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1939. Source: Online. Available HTTP:<

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallingwater> (accessed 14 February, 2018)

Figure 3.4(left one) Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1923. (photo by author on

September 2015)

Figure 3.5(left two) National Museum of Western Art in Ueno, Tokyo, Le Corbusier, 1959. (photo by

author on September 2015)

Figure 3.6(right two) Japanese-style Rooms in Yodokō Guest House. (photo by author on September

2015)

Figure 3.7(right one) The extension of Hyūga Residence at Atami, Bruno Taut, 1936. Source: Online.

Available HTTP:<http://www.fuji-travel-guide.com/news-item/kyu-hyuga-bettei/> (accessed 25

January, 2016)

Moreover, Bruno Taut was another western architect which was influenced by Japanese

traditional architecture. He was generally credited with discovering the Katsura Imperial Villa

and first revealing it to the West. His only design work exists in Japan is the extension of

Hyūga Residence at Atami in Shizuoka, built in 1936, which is on the site below the original

house in the cliffside. In this project, on one hand, Taut interpreted the Japanese minimalist

aesthetic in the Katsura Imperial Villa; on the other hand, he created a sequence of movement

by the users or visitors to transfer his experience of Katsura, and generated his own idea

which emphasised on spatial sequence rather than architectural form. He introduced the

115

concept of time in his design through allowing it to retain its flowing character. The

contemporary architect such as Kengo Kuma was profoundly influenced by this design

philosophy.5 Another contribution from Taut is that he discovered Katsura Imperial Villa and

Grand Shrine of Ise as the essence of Japanese aesthetics which has become a source and

model for modern architecture. It includes architecture blending with nature; architecture

without extra ornaments, making the best use of its natural materials and architecture

possessing the ultimate beauty of simplicity. This opinion was also followed by German

architect Walter Gropius.6

In the meantime, at the early twentieth century, several young

Japanese architects went to work with European architects

such as Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. Gradually, the

newly trained generation of modern Japanese architects, such

as Kunio Maekawa (前川国男 1905-1986), took the leading

role.7 Before World War II, by the 1930s, the historicist

architecture in Japan still stood the dominant position, which

had been studied since the Meiji period. The reconstruction of

Honkan building in Tokyo National Museum8, completed in

1937, is a typical example. However, the historicist styles

were quickly surpassed by the modernist architecture. And

Japanese modern architects combined the traditional Japanese

ideas and concepts of architectural space into the results of

modern technological innovation.9

Figure 3.9 ‘Modernist Architecture as Cultural Properties’ selected by ‘DOCOMOMO Japan’ in 1999.

Source: the visitors’ guidebook in Kagawa Prefectural Government Office East Building.

Figure 3.8 Tokyo National

Museum, Jin Watanabe,

1937. Source: Online.

Available

HTTP:<https://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Tokyo_National_M

useum> (accessed 25

January, 2016)

116

After World War II, between 1945 and 1952, Japan was under the occupation and

rehabilitation of the Allied Powers, led by the United States. During this period, Japan was

changed to a new democratic society from colonial empire. After the occupation, Japan has

established itself as a global economic and political power. And meanwhile, Japanese

architects were aware of Japanese tradition to be indelibly eroded by a nationalist and

imperialist history and in need of radical reformulation. Since 1952, modernist architecture

with international style was submerged,10

and replaced by a kind of new architectural style

incorporating traditional elements into modern designs. Although during the 1880s, Japanese

architects had begun to develop eclectic buildings that combined with both Japanese and

Euro-American sources, According to Botond Bognár, the new Japanese architecture was not

formed and expanded to the world until the mid-1950s.11

In 1999, ‘DOCOMOMO Japan’12

selected twenty buildings for ‘Modernist Architecture as

Cultural Properties’. They had been classified into four categories which were ‘the battle with

historicism’, ‘the approach of modern technology’, ‘Japanese tradition and creation’, and

‘pursuing dynamic models’13

. And the period of time was from the 1920s to the 1960s.

Figure 3.10(left) The International House of Japan, by Junzō Yoshimura, Kunio Maekawa, Junzō

Sakakura, 1955.

Figure 3.11(middle) Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, by Kenzo Tange, 1955.

Figure 3.12(right) 55 Year House of Hosei University, by Hiroshi Oe, 1955.

From the book Contemporary Architecture of Japan 1958-1984 (1985), written by Hiroyuki

Suzuki, Reyner Banham, and Katsuhiro Kobayashi, there are three significant architectural

works which were constructed in 1955, the new era of post-war Japanese architecture. In

1955, Junzō Yoshimura (吉村顺三 1908-1997) collaborated with Kunio Maekawa and Junzō

Sakakura (坂倉準三 1901-1969) to design the International House of Japan in Tokyo, which

represented the modernist architecture, but yet the delicacy of its material expression, the

horizontality of its façade and its clean lines also echo traditional Japanese architecture. The

materials were concrete and Oya stone, which was also used by Frank Lloyd Wright in the

Imperial Hotel. According to the essay by Hiroyuki Suzuki (1985), the other two significant

buildings were the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, designed by Kenzo Tange(丹下健

三 1913-2005), and the 55 Year House of Hosei University, designed by Hiroshi Oe (大江宏

1913-1989).14

These two projects presented two different attitudes of modern Japanese

architecture. The first one carried on traditional architectural values and influenced the

development of Japanese modernism. The latter one showed a steady stylistic transition for a

117

form that would simultaneously express traditional culture and modern civilization.15

These

three works reflected the attitudes to the Euro-American modernist at that time, and struggled

for the position of Japanese traditions. In the same year 1955, Konrad Wachsmann brought a

sample of architectural education – seminar. According to Hiroyuki (1985), ‘During the ten

years following the war, Japanese architecture found an international audience through the

works of Tange and Oe, and through events such as this seminar the Japanese were exposed

to the current of international architecture.’16

The new movement toward internationalisation

began with these symbolic events in 1955.

At the beginning of the 1960s, Japanese post-war architecture

reached its first peak because of the sudden economic growth,

urban expansions, and construction boom. In 1960, the world

Design Conference was held in Tokyo. A group called

‘Metabolism’ was formed. The Metabolists stood in opposition to

the Modernist, to response to the particular urban and cultural

crises confronting post-war Japanese society. The Metabolists

advocated the philosophy of symbiosis, and proposed the idea of

flexible and renewable architecture as a reaction against the rigid

rationalism of the modern movement.17

The Metabolism was

regarded as the first architectural movements led by the Asians

and was a challenge to Westernisation of Japanese architecture.

The Metabolists emphasised temporality and changeability which

mean the individual elements could be selectively removed and

repaired, similar to the Buddhist philosophy about impermanence

and change.18

The representative example of Metabolism in

architecture is the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo, designed by

Kishō Kurokawa (黑川紀章 1934-2007) and completed in 1972.

During 1960 and the early 1970s, as a strategy of recovery of national identity, a few

international events were held in Japan, such as the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo

and the 1970 World Exposition in Osaka. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen (normally called bullet

train) was constructed and opened in 1964 to set up a quick linkage of Tokyo with Osaka.

Japan became the second largest economy in the world in 1968. A series of experimental

architecture with creative design approaches were produced by the native avant-guard

architects.

In 1973, the oil crisis strongly affected the Japanese economy and revolution. From 1973 to

1985, Japan gradually slowed down the paces of its economic growth. In this period, Japan

experienced a transition from planned economies to free markets, from public to private

investment, from nationalism to regional associations.19

The dominant industry gradually

shifted from heavy manufacturing to information industries.20

Japan’s post-war cultures

began to form during this period. In the 1980s, Japan started to experience a huge increase of

Figure 3.13 Nakagin

Capsule Tower in

Tokyo, Kishō

Kurokawa, 1972. (photo

by author on September

2015)

118

urban land prices, called the ‘land bubble’ phenomenon, which led to new strategies in the

urban development process. In 1989, The Shōwa Emperor died. The revolutions of 1989

terminated the Cold War. The economic boom ended in the 1990s. Thereafter the whole

country entered two decades of economic stagnation.

Apart from the economic and political elements, another important factor influenced Japanese

economy is natural disaster. As we all know, Japan is one of the countries which is mostly

affected by natural disasters. In the modern history, since the twentieth century, this country

has periodically and unpredictably suffered a range of natural disasters, such as earthquakes,

typhoons, floods, fires, tsunamis, and volcanic explosions. The most extreme disasters include

the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, the 1995 Great Hanshin and Awaji earthquake, and the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. In these disasters, most of the buildings suffered severe

structural damage. Major cities, such as Tokyo and Osaka, were almost entirely destroyed in

these disasters. If we considered the destruction caused by the war, most Japanese cities have

experienced a few times of urban reconstruction historically. Kishō Kurokawa (1993) pointed

out this continual repeated destruction of buildings and cities had given the Japanese an

uncertainty about existence, a lack of faith in the visible, and a suspicion of the eternal21

,

which has greatly influenced the contemporary architects. For example, from an essay of

Toyo Ito in the book Project Japan: Metabolism Talks, he stated that, after visiting the areas

destroyed by the 2011Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and witnessing the devastating

condition, he rethought what Japan’s sixty years of modernisation since the war was all about.

He questioned the formula of modernism, re-mentioned the urban proposals such as those

made by the Metabolists. He pointed out that now is a good moment for architects to break

away from the former mode of introversion and abstraction and regain a viable relationship

with nature.22

According to the statement above, I categorised the evolvement of Japanese modern and

contemporary architecture into three periods, using the year 1952 and 1989 as division lines.

As I mentioned earlier, in 1952, Japan ended the post-war occupation by the Allied Powers,

and liberated from the Western control. Japan was changed to a new democratic society from

colonial empire. In 1989, the Shōwa Emperor Hirohito died and the Cold War was terminated

with the end of revolutions. These significant political, economic and social events determine

the development of architecture in Japan.

In short, Japan has experienced three major periods in its modern architectural history: The

first period occurred from the Meiji Revolution of 1868 through to the end of post-war

occupation in 1952, with large-scale modernisation and westernisation. The second period

was between 1952 and 1989, from pursuing the discoveries of the Euro-American Modernism,

to the development of their own version of Modernism. During this period, Japanese

architects were looking for the balance between traditional Japanese architecture and

Euro-American influence. The third period started 1989, which was identified with the period

119

of economic restructuring. My research is focus on the third period, when the contemporary

Japanese architects started to rethink the relationships among architecture, nature and life.

6.2 Review of Japanese modern and contemporary architects

Next let me classify the Japanese architects and their evolvement of design strategies in the

modern and contemporary period.

From Sha Yongjie (2001), Japanese modern architects appeared in 1879.23

David B. Stewart

defined Kingo Tatsuno (1854-1919) as Japan’s first full-fledged professional architect.24

He

and his contemporaries such as Yamaguchi Hanroku (1858-1900) and Tokuma Katayama

(1854-1917) were one of the first Japanese architects to be sent to Europe and North America

to study architecture and interior decoration. After returning Japan, they started to produce

their early design works in western or semi-western styles.25

They had a strong influence on

Japanese colonial architecture.

This research focuses on the later period, at the beginning of the early twentieth century. In

this time frame, the Japanese architects had been classified into a few groups according to the

periods of born, the periods of being educated, and the periods of being influenced.

Chart 3.1 Family Tree of Japanese Modern and Contemporary Architects.

120

Source: Hagenberg, Roland, 20 Japanese Architects: Interviews and Photos, Taipei: Garden City

Publishers, 2009. Kurokawa, Kishō, New wave Japanese architecture, London: Academy Editions;

Berlin: Ernst & Sohn; New York: distibuted to the trade in the United States by St. Martin's Press, 1993.

Developed by the author.

Chart 3.1 shows a family tree of Japanese modern and contemporary architects. It was firstly

produced by Taro Igarashi, who was a Japanese architectural critic and historian, and was

published as an appendix in the interview collection book named 14 Japanese architects

(2009). From the original version (Table 3.3 in appendices), we can see that the inherited

characters, the connections, and relationships between generations were very complex and

overlapped. A few years ago, in Chinese version published in Taiwan26

, it was simplified as

Table 3.4 (in appendices). It was easier to understand, but it missed out some key information.

For example, Masato Otaka, one of the core members of Metabolism, does not appear in this

diagram. Based on the information mentioned above, and the classification from Hagenberg

(2009) and Kurokawa (1993), my thesis makes a development and an extension on the

‘family tree’ of Japanese modern and contemporary architects (Chart 3.1). In this chart,

Japanese architects had been classified into a few groups, according to the periods of being

influenced. Sometimes the boundary of the generation was very blurring.

According to Kishō Kurokawa’s book New Wave Japanese Architecture (1993), it was noted

that if the pre-war generation of Japanese architects were defined as those who were educated

before World War II, they should include Togo Murano (村野藤吾 1891-1984), Seiichi Shirai

(白井盛一 1905-1983), Junzo Sakakura (坂倉準三 1901—1969), Seiichi Shirai (白井盛一

1905-1983), Junzō Yoshimura (吉村顺三 1908-1997), Kunio Maekawa (前川国男

1905-1986), Kenzo Tange (丹下健三 1913-2005), Hiroshi Oe (大江宏 1913-1989) and

Takamasa Yoshizaka (吉阪隆正 1917-1980). This generation has been strongly influenced by

Euro-American architecture.27

They tried to reconcile Euro-American modernity with the

traditions of the Japanese heritage. The span of their life and work crossed pre and post war

Japan, when is the period of emergence of Japanese modernists. Among them, Kunio

Maekawa played a key role in the inception and development of Japanese modern architecture.

It is said that, in his early career stage, he travelled to Paris to apprentice with Le Corbusier

for two years and had acquired the essential principles of modern architecture. After returning

to Japan, before he established his own office, he spent five years to work with Antonin

Raymond.28

Then he had started to infuse Japanese aesthetic ideas into modern architectural

design, by returning to the traditional spatial concepts and modular proportions of tatami

(Japanese traditional sleeping mats). In the book Maekawa Kunio and the Emergence of

Japanese Modernist Architecture, Jonathan M. Reynolds traced Kunio Maekawa’s journey.

He presented how Maekawa’s design philosophy was formulated through his formative

experience with Le Corbusier and Antonin Raymond, who are key architects on the modern

movement in the European architectural history. According to Jonathan’s description,

Maekawa sought to build modernist design within the existing tradition in Japan.29

As the

first Japanese architect to work for Le Corbusier, he fundamentally contributed to modernist

121

architecture in Japan with both international views and indigenous orientation.30

In his later

career stage, he paid more attention on traditional aesthetics, from his works Tokyo Bunka

Kaikan in1961 (Figure 3.14) and Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in 1975 (Figure 3.15,

3.16), we can feel his change from the use of exposed reinforced concrete to a ceramic tiling

system with a perceptible thickness and tactility.

Figure 3.14(left) Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Kunio Maekawa, 1961. (photo by author on September 2015)

Figure 3.15(middle) Figure 3.16(right) Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Kunio Maekawa, 1975.

(photo by author on September 2015)

Besides, the most prominent architect in this generation, as well as in Japanese history, was

Kenzo Tange. He is the first Japanese architect who was awarded the Pritzker Architecture

Prize. He started his architectural career in pre-war period, but his most significant

contribution was post-war reconstruction and revival. He worked at first for Maekawa,

followed his concept of functional modernist, but later Tange created his own method of

harmonising international style with traditional Japanese architectural style. His design work

has been essential to the projected self-image of the nation.31

For example, the Peace

Memorial Museum in Hiroshima (1955) was carried on traditional architectural values and

influenced the development of Japanese modernism. In this project, by applying new building

materials, such as steel and concrete, and construction methods from the Euro-America,

mixing a variety of new types and traditional architectural treatments, Tange created a unique

style with the emphasis on simplicity, horizontal lines and flexible spaces. In the situation of

post-war reconstruction and the rebirth of the country, Tange’s other main design works

included Kagawa Prefectural Government Building the east offices (1958), National

Gymnasiums for Tokyo Olympics (1964), and St. Mary’s Cathedral in Tokyo (1964). Kagawa

Prefectural Government Office combined with pillars and beams creating the impression of a

wooden structure. It was noted for its spacious composition, in particular the area dedicated

for the public use in the city, its expression of tradition, cooperation with artists during

construction, and its core system for protection against earthquakes.32

National Gymnasiums

for Tokyo Olympics reflected the Euro-American influence to Japanese modern architecture,

which was embodied not only in the form, but also the structure. From the statement of

Hiroyuki (1985), the use of steel I-beam in this project was the evidence.33

Tange produced

textures on the surfaces of the concrete and even steel, and integrating gardens and sculptures

into their designs. In fact, it was Tange who link modernist architecture to traditional

122

Japanese culture in a new prototype. He reconstructed national confidence and brought hope

from the setback of war.

Figure 3.17(left) Kagawa Prefectural Government Building the east offices, Kenzo Tange, 1958.

Figure 3.18(middle) National Gymnasiums for Tokyo Olympics, Kenzo Tange, 1964.

(photo by author on September 2015)

Figure 3.19(right) St. Mary’s Cathedral in Tokyo, Kenzo Tange, 1964. Source: Online. Available

HTTP:< https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary%27s_Cathedral,_Tokyo> (accessed 15 February,

2018)

Next let me divide the Japanese architects after World War II into a few groups based on

every ten years’ interval period. The architects of the first post-war generation were mostly

born in the 1920s or1930s, including Kazuo Shinohara (篠原一男 1925-2006), Kiyonori

Kikutake (菊竹清訓 1928-2011), Fumihiko Maki (槇文彦 1928- ), Masato Otaka (大高正人

1923- ), Arata Isozaki (磯崎新 1931- ), Kishō Kurokawa (黒川紀章 1934-2007), Minoru

Takeyama (竹山実 1934- ), Hiroshi Hara (原广司 1936-), Takefumi Aida (相田武文 1937-),

Yasufumi Kijima (木岛安史 1937-), Yoshio Taniguchi (谷口吉郎 1937-), and Kan Izue (出

江寛 1931-). The boundary of this generation is overlapped. Kurokawa (1993) placed

Fumihiko Maki in war generation, which is neither the pre-war nor the post-war generation.

The first post-war generation shifted their focus from Europe to the United States. Under the

condition of prevailing post-war democracy, influenced by Kenzo Tange, this generation paid

close attention to Japanese traditions and local characteristics, and sought new ways to

synthesise Japanese and Euro-American elements.34

The first and the only architectural

movements so far led by Asian, called Metabolism Movement came onto the scene in the

early 1960s. The founders of the Metabolist group include Kiyonori Kikutake, Masato Otaka,

Fumihiko Maki and Kishō Kurokawa. The Metabolists tried to apply organic and metabolic

system to buildings based on ecological considerations. They advocated a renewable form of

architecture in which buildings, or parts of them, could be adaptable and replaceable. They

believed in technology, mass production, systematic urban infrastructure and growth.35

Among them, Kurokawa was the youngest founding member of the Metabolism Movement.

He was deeply concerned with ecology. However, in addition to his theory of symbiosis, he

also retained invisible thread of oriental aesthetics.36

Apart from the Metabolists, another major architect of this generation was Arata Isozaki. He

was close to the members of Metabolism, but he never joined this group. He at first worked

under Kenzo Tange before establishing his own firm. And his design style was originally

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based on Le Corbusier’s modernist approach and then turned his attention toward the further

exploration of geometric shapes and cubic silhouettes. His design neither belong to modernist,

nor to traditional Japanese. He synthesized Euro-American high-tech building concepts with

Japanese spatial, function, and decorative ideas to create a new Japanese style.37

The second post-war generation is those who born in the 1940s, including Shoei Yoh (葉祥栄

1940-), Tadao Ando (安藤忠雄 1941-), Toyo Ito (伊東豊雄 1941-), Itsuko Hasegawa (長谷

川逸子 1941-), Kiko Mozuna (毛綱毅曠 1941-), Kijo Rokkaku (六角鬼丈 1941-), Akira

Komiyama (小宮山昭 1945-), Kazuhiro Ishii (石井和紘 1944-), Osamu Ishiyama (石井和紘

1944-), Hajime Yatsuka (八束はじめ 1948-), Kunihiko Hayakawa (早川邦彦 1941-), Riken

Yamamoto (山本理顕 1945-), and Shin Takamatsu (高松伸 1948-). Because they were born

in the 1940s, their twenties coincided with the 1960s when was a revolutionary decade in

Japanese history. This generation learnt architecture when the Metabolist movement was

developing. They were influenced by the student protest movement of 1968 in both Europe

and Japan, and appeared in the stage of architecture after the oil crisis of the early 1970s.

They started to question the Metabolism ideas for the city of the future. They gradually turned

away from Metabolism, and explored the new approaches. Tadao Ando, studied architecture

by himself, developed his distinctive language from others of his generation. Most of his

architecture is of simple construction with concrete forms. Different from Le Corbusier’s

concrete works, Ando’s use of concrete embodied Japanese aesthetics feeling with a rich

expressiveness by extreme simplification.38

Moreover, the distinguishing feature of this

generation is provisionality that can be seen in the works of Toyo Ito, Itsuko Hasegawa and

others. Instead of the mass production machine image of modern architecture, this generation

shifted the design strategy to the light and the floating images since the 1970s.39

The third post-war generation, including Atsushi Kitagawara (北川原温 1951-), Tadasu Ohe

(大江匡 1954-), Kiyoshi Sey Takeyama (竹山聖 1954-), Kengo Kuma (隈研吾 1954-),

Norihiko Dan (團紀彦1956-), Kazuyo Sejima (妹島和世1956-), Coelacanth K&H Architects

(Kazumi Kudo (工藤和美 1960-), Hiroshi Horiba (堀場弘 1960-), and Akira Yoneda (米田明

1959- ), were mostly born in the 1950s. This generation presented a multiplicity of

architectural vocabularies, using high technologies and various materials. Some of them had

inherited the transparency and floating character with light weight structure from the former

generation, such as Kazuyo Sejima. Some of them were looking for new approaches to follow

provisionality, such as Kengo Kuma. They expressed a pluralistic aspect of contemporary

society to restore the disconnected cultural context which was broken in the Metabolism

period. They considered social conditions in relation to the urban context. In general,

simplification and symbiosis with the environment were their common concerns.

The current researches of the modern and contemporary Japanese architecture and architects

are mainly focused on the periods before the 1990s. After that time, a number of avant-garde

experimental groups were emerged by the turn of the twenty-first century. Based on the

‘Vanguard Architects’ chosen by Architectural Record, I make an extension and development

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of the contemporary architects. Architectural Record is a monthly magazine dedicated to

architectural design with over 110 years history, published by McGraw-Hill Construction in

New York, USA. It is an authoritative publication with the academic and practical values. At

the end of every year from 2000, ten vanguard architects under forty years old were selected

by a professional panel and were published in Architectural Record’s annual Design

Vanguard issue. From the award lists in the last fifteen years, we can divide the Japanese

‘vanguard’ into two groups. Those who born in the 1960s include Atelier Hitoshi Abe (阿部

仁史 1962-), Shuhei Endo (远藤秀平 1960-), Takaharu Tezuka (手塚贵晴 1964-), Yui

Tezuka (手塚由比 1969-) , Manabu Chiba (千叶学 1960-), Masaaki Endoh (远藤正明

1963-) , Taira Nishizawa (西沢大良 1964-), Ryue Nishizawa (西泽立卫 1966-), Kumiko Inui

(乾久美子 1969-), Hiroshi Sambuichi (三分一博志 1968-), Yoshiharu Tsukamoto (冢本由晴

1965-), Momoyo Kaijima (贝岛桃代 1969-). Those who born in the 1970s include

Yasutaka Yoshimura (吉村靖孝 1972-), Sou Fujimoto (藤本壮介 1971-) , Makoto Tanijiri

(谷尻诚 1974-) , Masahiro Harada (原田真宏 1973-), Mao Harada (原田麻鱼 1976-), Hiroshi

Nakamura (中村拓志 1974-), Koji Tsutsui (筒井康二 1972-), Hironaka Ogawa (小川博央

1975-), Yuko Nagayama (永山祐子 1975-), Akihisa Hirat (平田晃久 1971-), Keisuke Maeda

(前田圭介 1974-), Go Hasegawa (长谷川豪 1977-), Makoto Takei (武井诚 1974-), Chie

Nabeshima (锅岛千恵 1975-).

These new generations of architects paid more attention on dealing with the relationships

among architecture, nature and daily life. They gradually kept way from the big scale or high

rise buildings. Due to the economic crisis and social transformation in Japan starting from the

late 1970s, their fundamental experiences were based on small scale residential buildings.

After exploring for and responding to the individual qualities and the regional characters, they

were pushing a human-friendly alternative that had roots in the humble simplicity of the

traditional Japanese architecture. They were not only focused on sustainability and energy

savings, but also the cultural and spiritual needs to establish a new relationship with nature

and local environment.

Based on the statements above, I proposed the tendency of Japanese architecture as shown in

the below chart. Experienced the westernisation between the 1860s and the 1950s, and the

combination with Euro-American modernisation and Japanese visible traditions from the

1950s to the 1990s, since the 1990s, Japanese contemporary design entered into a new stage.

Through the further analysis, I try to examine my proposal, and find out how the invisible

traditions and high technology are critically re-interpreted in contemporary design.

Chart 3.2: The tendency of Japanese modern and contemporary architecture.

Westernization

(the 1860s -

the 1950s)

Western modernization &

Japanese visible traditions

(the 1950s - the 1990s)

High technology &

Japanese invisible traditions

(since the 1990s)

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6.3 Key architects in contemporary Japan

My focus in this thesis is the second and the third post-war generation, who were mainly born

in the 1940s and 1950s, educated in the 1960s. They had turned out and become the

mainstream in the new wave of the late 1970s and the 1980s, and continued to influence the

younger generation until now. Let us look closer to the representative architects in this group,

for example, Tadao Ando, Toyo Ito, Kengo Kuma and Kazuyo Sejima.

Tadao Ando (1941-)

1962-1969 Self-education

1969, Founder, Tadao Ando Architects & Associates in Osaka

1995, Pritzker Architecture Prize

1997, Professor, the University of Tokyo

Toyo Ito (1941-)

1965, Department of Architecture, The University of Tokyo

1971, Founder, Urban Robot, Tokyo

1979, change its name to Toyo Ito & Associate, Architects

1991, Guest professor, Columbia University, USA

2013, Pritzker Architecture Prize

Kengo Kuma (1954-)

1979, Master, Department of Architecture, The University of Tokyo

1985-1986, Visiting Scholar, Columbia University, USA

1990, Founder, Kengo Kuma & Associates

1998-2009, Professor, Keio University

2009-present, Professor, The University of Tokyo

2008, PhD, Keio University

Kazuyo Sejima(1956-)

1981, Master in Architecture, Japan Women’s University

1981-1987, Toyo Ito & Associates

1987, founder, Kazuyo Sejima & Associates

1995, founder (with Ryue Nishizawa), SANAA

2005-2008, Visiting professor, Princeton University, USA

2010, Pritzker Architecture Prize

Table 3.1 Biography of four contemporary Japanese architects.

Table 3.1 is a highlight of their background such as education, professional experience, and

teaching experience. We can see three of them have been awarded by Pritzker Architecture

Prize, except for Kengo Kuma. From their birth years, they are from two generations. Tadao

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Ando and Toyo Ito were born before World War II. Kengo Kuma and Kazuyo Sejima were

born after World War II in the mid-1950s. Among them, Toyo Ito is a key linkage. He was

born in South Korea and in the same year with Tadao Ando, and he was the mentor of Sejima.

Toyo Ito’s theory of lightness and transparency had a deep influence on Sejima. This is

evidenced in Sejima’s design works with light structure, white and pure atmosphere.

The first prominent work of Tadao Ando is the Row House in Sumiyoshi, Osaka, completed

in 1976. In this small concrete residential house, Ando created a distinctive architectural

language. The inner courtyard separated from the real urban context by the enclosed solid

concrete walls. The open staircase and bridge upstairs connect all the rooms in this house to

weaken the sealed atmosphere. In this case, Ando explored the plastic possibilities of concrete

in the language of minimalism, and had a positive trial of the use of light and shadow.

However, this design caused the inconvenience of the residents. It is not suitable for the real

comfortable living. In the same year of 1976, Toyo Ito’s ‘white U’ residence was constructed

in Tokyo. Similar with Tadao Ando’s Row House, this residence was built in metro city

within dense urban fabric, featuring the external concrete walls without outward-facing

windows, enclosed internal courtyard, and the light and shadow from the ceilings. It was

designed for Toyo Ito’s older sister, who had just lost her husband due to cancer. The interior

spaces expressed the atmosphere of huge upset and depression. It was said that the daughter

in this family felt this house was more like a tomb. After twenty one years, the family was

ready to re-establish their links with the outside world. And they gradually moved out from

this sealed house. The house has been demolished in 1997. From the two cases above, we can

sense that moral significance had been considered as a key factor through an abstract visual

expression. These two architects’ reputation quickly grew throughout the 1980s.

Since the 1990s, Tadao Ando has been involved in a series of architectural practices called

‘Benesse Art Site’, which is located in three rural islands called Naoshima, Teshima and

inujima, surrounded by the Seto Inland Sea in the west-south of Osaka. These scenic islands

are home to small communities mostly consisting of an aging and declining population.

Benesse’s companies, headquartered in Okayama, bought these islands and invited a group of

contemporary artists and architects to revitalize the region.40

The first project in Naoshima is ‘Children’s campground’, which was started under the

supervision of Tadao Ando and opened to public in 1989. It was designed as an area where

people can experience the natural surroundings of the Setouchi region by staying in yurts

brought over from Mongolia. Focusing on the concept of ‘coexistence of nature, architecture

and art’, Ando used different approaches to deal with the varied environment. In 1992,

Benesse House Museum was completed just above the camping area. It is the first building in

Naoshima designed by Tadao Ando. Visitors approach via a sloped walkway and enter an

exhibition space surrounded by galleries, dining facilities and an outdoor sculpture court.

Three years after the completion of Benesse House, in 1995, Tadao Ando completed the

Benesse House Oval, a hilltop annex with oval courtyard. Opening to the sky and containing a

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large oval pool, the courtyard is surrounded by guest rooms with views to the sea. Then

Benesse started the Art House Projects. In 1999, Minamidera was completed. This house was

to accommodate the art work of artist James Turrell. As one of the most important works in

Naoshima, Chichu Art Museum was completed in 2004. Ando limited the architecture only to

an underground structure and avoided to have an exterior design rising out of the ground. I

will choose this project as my case study in the next chapter. Lee Ufan Museum, completed in

2010, is only ten minutes walking distance from the Chichu art museum. It collected the

works of the Korean-born artist Lee Ufan, in a tall, grey, windowless construction in a field.

In 2013, Ando Museum opened to public. It is a reuse of an old traditional wooden house. By

preserving and modifying a traditional wooden house and surrounding walls, Ando filled the

original timber structure with new life through its concrete interior.

All these works designed by Tadao Ando had an emphasis on activating and inheriting the

environment of the Seto Inland Sea. He has taken up the theme of symbiosis between the

environment and architecture, and regarded architecture as a part of the environment. He

attempted to achieve a rich expressiveness by extreme simplification, a process which shares

something with the Japanese aesthetic.41

Figure 3.20(left) Location of Naoshima in Japan.

Figure 3.21(right) Location of Ando Tadao’s design works in Naoshima.

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Figure 3.22-27 Ando Tadao’s design works in Benesse Art Site, Naoshima, Kagawa, Japan

Figure 3.22 (upper left) 1. Benesse House Museum, 1992.

Figure 3.23(upper middle) 2. Benesse House Annex, 1995.

Figure 3.24(upper right) 3. Minamidera (Art House Projects), 1999.

Figure 3.25(lower left) 4. Chichu Art Museum, 2004.

Figure 3.26(lower middle) 5. Lee Ufan Museum, 2010.

Figure 3.27(lower right) 6. Ando Museum, 2013.

On Naoshima island, there is another symbolic architecture called Naoshima Ferry Terminal,

design by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA). Because the only way to connect

with mainland is through ferry, this ferry terminal is the main point of access to the island. Its

transparency and floating character with light weight structure were quite different from other

ferry or station terminal. The delicate columns support a thin and flat roof that provides shelter

for cars, a glass-enclosed waiting area and a food shop. Kazuyo Sejima inherited her mentor

Toyo Ito’s theory of transparency and provisionality. Transparency is one of the features of the

tendency of Japanese contemporary design. It includes many layers of meanings. In these cases,

transparency is obtained not by transparent materials such as glass, but by blurring the boundary

between buildings and environments, and dissolving architecture into the surroundings.

Furthermore, she created a white and pure atmosphere in her design. Besides, Inujima ‘Art

House Project’ was developed by the artist Yuko Hasegawa and the architect Kazuyo Sejima.

Both artist and architect work together to transform some abandoned houses into artworks that

build upon the space, history, and memory of the place. ‘A Art House’ and ‘S Art House’ are

transparently curving acrylic walls host artworks, which are composed of flowers and laces. In

these practices, architecture is designed as a container to accommodate these art installations.

Figure 3.28 (left) Naoshima Ferry Terminal, SANAA (Kazuyo Sejima and Ryus Nishizawa), 2006.

Figure 3.29 (middle) A-Art House. Figure 3.30 (right) S-Art House, Inujima ‘Art House Project’,

Kagawa, Japan, 2010-2013.

Generally speaking, all the buildings and art installations in these islands can be regarded as

experiments with exploring the relationships among contemporary art, architecture, local

history and nature. The new structures are part of the environment, and have a close

relationship with their topography and nature. Artists and architects worked together, and

attempted to achieve a rich experience by extreme simplification to transfer these remote,

faraway, even desolate islands into art villages with contemporary museum and installations.

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Similar with the practices in ‘Benesse Art Site’, Project Omishima started in 2012 aiming for

transforming Omishima, which is located in the middle of the necklace of islands in the

Inland Sea, into the most beautiful island. Toto Ito was involved in this project with other

local artists and architects. Omishima island is known for its farming, deep local history and

Oyamazumi Shrine that houses Chinjugami which means the God of Land. Toyo Ito Museum

of Architecture, designed by Toyo Ito opened on this sacred island in 2011. Different from his

earlier works, this museum set up as a geometric sculpture made of an iron framework with

reinforced concrete. It mostly used for exhibiting the development of this island by

introducing the island’s landscapes and the residents’ lifestyles via photographic and video

works.42

Although the rock-like building should be regarded as an object, its volume and

materials made it became a part of the mountain.

If we trace back in the 1980s, we can see Toyo Ito’s works mostly presented the characteristic

of lightness and transparency. For example, ‘Tower of Winds’ (1986) expressed this kind of

lightness in the high-rise building and seemed as if the wind could blow right through it. It

implied his design approaches through its temporariness and transparency. The notions of

lightness and transparency Toyo Ito explored came from the social reality at that time when

Japan was struggling with the impact of the bubble economy. He didn’t want to design heavy

and definitive buildings, but ones that somehow ‘lacked reality’.43

Since the 1990s, he sought

the linkage between nature and the reality of urban everyday life. In the Sendai Mediatheque,

he continued his earlier thoughts about fluid dynamics within the modern city. In the book

Toyo ito: Blurring Architecture, published in 1999, he explained the floating character

demanded by a networked society where people are living detached from locality and

becoming ever more dependent on non-localized communication. The floating character

could bridge the gap between the reality which the living biological body adapts and the

networked invisible city. The link between external and internal consisted of communication.

Accordingly the boundary becomes blurred and natural elements involved as a part of

design.44

Figure 3.31 (left) Toyo Ito Museum of Architecture, Imabari-shi, Ehime, 2011.

Figure 3.32 (middle) Sendai Mediatheque, Toyo Ito, 2001.

Figure 3.33 (right) Library of Tama Art University, Tokyo, 2007.

However, in an earlier time, this approach of ‘blurring architecture’ was adopted and

developed by Kengo Kuma. In his first notable design work Kiro-san Observatory, completed

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in 1994, he buried the building on the top of the mountain and proposed the concept of

‘anti-object’. Kuma demonstrated the relationship of seeing and being seen, through Akira

Kurosawa’s film High and Low to point out the danger inherent not just in seeing, but in

objects. The seeing subject in the object on the hill also opens up the possibility of being

seen.45

In this project, Kuma created a sequence of movement by the subject. The last stage

in the hierarchical sequence is the deck of the highest point of the observatory. He took

Foucault’s panopticon as an example to explain the six devices by electronic technology

expose the imperfection of vision and reverse its privileged status.

In his process of exploration, Kuma is committing himself to construct building to connect

with nature. The project of Water/Glass is a transparent glass box inserted between the

horizontal planes of floor and roof. The highlight of this building is a veranda made of water,

not normally wood. The infinity-edge reflecting pool connects the building to the ocean,

allowing the viewers to virtually erase the distinction between them. Kuma utilized the

medium of water and form of Japanese traditional veranda, to achieve integration of building

and nature visually.

In the late 1990s, Kuma was involved in a series of architectural practices in Tochigi area. For

example, Nasu History Museum in Nasugun in 2000, Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige

Museum of Art in Nasugun in 2000, Stone Museum in Nasugun in 2000, and Chokkura Plaza

in Shioyagun in 2006. These projects are with strong regional characteristics. I will choose

two projects for my case studies in the next chapter.

Figure 3.34 (left) Location of Tochigi in Japan. Figure 3.35 (right) Location of Kengo Kuma’s design

works in Tochigi.

Figure 3.36-39 Kengo Kuma’s design works in Tochigi, Japan.

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Figure 3.36 (left one) 1. Nasu History Museum, Nasugun, 2000.

Figure 3.37 (left two) 2. Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art, Nasugun, 2000.

Figure 3.38 (right two) 3. Stone Museum, Stone Plaza, Nasugun, 2000.

Figure 3.39 (right one) 4. Chokkura Plaza, Shioyagun, 2006.

However, the natural disasters like the Great Hanshin and Awaji earthquake in 1995 let him to

search for a suitable interface between human being and the environment. He is ‘trying to

construct ‘weak buildings’ that are polar opposites of ‘strong buildings’. According to him,

‘weak buildings’ are buildings that have already been destroyed and broken into fragments from

the start. There is no way they can be destroyed any further.’46

This approach of ‘conquering

the unyielding with the yielding(以柔克刚)’ is came from Taoism which is a philosophical

tradition of Chinese origin that emphasises living in harmony with nature. On the other hand,

using or reusing local materials in the new technological frame and the strategy of ‘weak

building’ are all effective ways for reconstruction after disasters. ‘Study the materials that have

used for many years in each place. By using such elements, local residents had managed to

survive in harmony with nature.’47

Kuma’s experiments will be or have been benefited to

disaster area.

Figure 3.40 Tadao Ando’s key designs works.

Figure 3.41 Toyo Ito’s key designs works.

Figure 3.42 SANAA(Kazuyo Sejima & Ryus Nishizawa)’s key designs works.

Figure 3.43 Kengo Kuma’s key designs works.

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Besides, Kengo Kuma led a laboratory called Kuma Lab in the University of Tokyo. This

research team gave Kuma technological analysis and support. From the titles of doctorial

theses, we can have a general knowledge of Kuma’s design direction. For example,

‘Observations on Polywood Development in Twentieth Century Japan: Between

craftsmanship and industrialization’, ‘The Study on the open-ended system of architectural

desing method -The indeterminacy theory of Cedric Price-’, ‘Studies on light-transmissive

photovoltaics (LTPV): patterns of integration into architectural design’. They are all materials

and methods focused. The researches on the spatial design appear to the master theses, such

as ‘The Influence of Traditional Design on Spatial Composition of Modern Architecture:

Comparing of Japan ENGAWA and China TIANJING’, ‘Thresholds and Boundaries: Spatial

Relationships within the Context of Damascene House’, ‘Dynamic Flow- Flow simulations

based on personal space’, ‘Fabricating Fabric: Recycled Components for Urban

Infrastructures (Section II) A Computational Approach to Geometric Self-Generative

Component System Research’48

Compared with his design approaches, his research

directions are worth paying more attention.

According to the review before, the common feature of this generation of architects is using

simplified forms and carefully controlled details to great effect in expressing the Japanese

tradition. To some extent, they do not deal with architectural style, but strategy and

methodology. Facing the quick development of megalopolis and consumerism of the modern

city, they pushed the boundaries of local material and methodologies to create new design

languages, which were different from the Tange’s, and also different from the former

generation. For the reasons of this transfer, I considered there are two points: the first reason

is because of the economic stagnation in Japan since the 1990s; the second reason is the

frequently happened natural disasters, such as the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, and the

2011 East Japan earthquake and tsunami. This also brought new topic and new thoughts on

contemporary Japan.

When we traced back to the early twentieth century, at that time Japanese architects had been

influenced by the Euro-American modernism which were as visible forms or stylistic traits.

Some Japanese architects were totally westernised and even refused Japanese tradition.

However, soon afterwards, they realised that modernism was not just a set of formal

regulations, but need to be adapted to the Japanese cultural and climatic context. They

rethought the significance of tradition. On the other hand, as Koolhaas stated in Project Japan

(2011), modern high technology and design offer possibilities for transcending Japan’s

traditional wooden structural weakness.49

Tradition is a big concept. In Kurokawa’s article ‘The Special Character of the Japanese

Tradition’50

, he divided tradition into two groups. The first one is called visible tradition,

including architectural styles, works of art, and traditional symbols and forms, which are

given expression in concrete objects such as roof shapes, decorative elements, and traditional

performing arts. In contrast, religion, philosophy, aesthetics, customs, psychological

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environment and conditioning, emotional sensitivity, and sense of order are all invisible

tradition.51

The trend of Japanese contemporary architectural design turned into being paid

more attention on the invisible tradition. We can find these features from the works of those

contemporary architects such as Tadao Ando, Toyo Ito, Kazuyo Sejima and Kengo Kuma.

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Chapter 7: Case studies

To make this research more precise and productive, I choose Kengo Kuma and Tadao Ando

as my case studies to make a further exploration.

7.1 Kengo Kuma

Kengo Kuma was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, in 1954. He completed

his Master Course at the Department of Architecture, Graduate School of Engineering, in the

University of Tokyo in 1979. When he studied at the University of Tokyo, he followed the

Japanese architects who were influenced by Le Corbusier’s modernism. His teacher Hiroshi

Hara carried forward the thoughts from Kenzo Tange. Kuma also learned from his mentor

Fumihiko Maki, who is one of the members of metabolism. According to Botond Bognar,

Kuma’s interest in the concept of spatial layering might be connected to Maki’s researches

and designs as layered collages.52

From 1979 to 1985, he worked at Nihon Sekkei and TODA

Corporation. In 1987, after he finished his study as a visiting scholar in Columbia University

in New York for one year, he returned to Japan and established Spatial Design Studio with his

partner. In 1990, he founded his own office Kengo Kuma & Associates in Tokyo. Thereafter,

with the increase of overseas commissions, Kuma & Associates Europe was established in

Paris, France in 2008. Apart from that, Kuma has a few global teaching and professorship

experiences at Columbia University, Keio University, University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Tokyo. He received a PhD from Keio University in

2008. Moreover, he led a research laboratory called Kuma Lab, in the Department of

Architecture, Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tokyo, since 2009.53

His manifestoes such as ‘anti-object’, ‘erasing architecture’, ‘weak architecture’, ‘natural

architecture’, ‘particalisation’, ‘organism’, and so on are receiving increasing attentions on

the global stage. In the following sections, I will review and analyse his discourses and design

works to explore these design approaches he proposed and applied into his practice.

Accordingly, we can discover how much these methods may be influential to the current or

future design practice.

Analysis on discourses

There are few Japanese architects like Kishō Kurokawa, Arata Isozaki, and Kengo Kuma who

expressed their design ideas not only from the design works but also from the discourses

written by them. Next let me take Kengo Kuma as an example, through his key publications,

to explore the development of his design methodology.

From the website of Kengo Kuma and Associates, since the first book written by Kengo

Kuma named Jutaku-Ron (Ten Houses) was published in 1986, there are more than one

hundred books published up to 2015.54

Below there are two charts showing his publications

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separately by categories and countries during this period. My review is based on Kengo

Kuma’s own monograph published in English and in Chinese.

Chart 3.3 Kengo Kuma’s Publications by categories.

Chart 3.4 Kengo Kuma’s Publications by countries.

According to the influence worldwide - one of the evidences is the translation into

multi-languages other than the native language - I choose key books as my review objectives.

They are originally published as follows:

1. Shin-Kenchiku Nyumon (New Introduction of Architecture, 1994),

2. Anti-Object (2000),

3. Makeru Kenchiku (Architecture of Defeat, 2004),

4. Shizen na Kenchiku (Natural Architecture, 2008).

Looking back on these books he has written, his architectural ideas has evolved and been

converted into new approaches for actual practice at approximately five-year intervals.55

Based on these key books and the relative design works as turning points, let us trace the

evolution of Kuma’s design strategies.

In Shin-Kenchiku Nyumon (New Introduction of Architecture, 1994), Kuma questioned the

core ideas of modern architecture dominated in the twentieth century. He criticized the

modern architectural ideas which was not environment focused, but dominated by

architecture as object. Accordingly, he proposed a reverse relationship between architecture

and environment. He regarded environment as a dominate position, and architecture as a

supporting role, which has similarity with oriental Taoism philosophy.56

After rethinking the

proposition on what is architecture, Kuma analysed and elaborated on the philosophic

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relationships between architecture and space, coming to the conclusion that: architecture is

spatialised tectonics.57

Book covers of publication by countries Publication details

Japan UK China

Shin-Kenchiku Nyumon

Japan: Chikuma Shobo Publishers, 1994

China: CITIC Press, 2011

Anti-Object

Japan: Chikuma shobo, Publishers, 2000

UK: Architectural Association, 2008

China: Guangxi Normal University Press,

2010

Makeru Kenchiku (Architecture of Defeat)

Japan: Iwanami shoten, Publishers, 2004

China: Shangdong People’s Publishing

House, 2008

South Korea: Design House, 2009

Taiwan: Goodness Publishing, 2010

Shizen na Kenchiku (Natural Architecture)

Japan: Iwanami shoten, Publishers, 2008

South Korea: Ahn Graphics, 2010

China: Shangdong People’s Publishing

House, 2010

Taiwan: Goodness Publishing, 2010

UK: Architectural Association, 2015

Table 3.2 Key monographs of Kengo Kuma.

Subsequently, Kuma began to explore the application of his own sensation and experience

with respect to the given place in a phenomenological method. Combined with his actual

practices, Anti-Object (2000) questions the attitude of object-based economy by discovering a

way to connect time and space. ‘The objective was to eliminate distracting noise and allow

my own consciousness to concentrate on experiencing a place.’58

The article ‘Making a

connection: the Hyūga Residence by Bruno Taut’, which was collected in this book, recorded

the inspiration and origin on his theory of ‘anti-object’ in Bruno Taut’s encounter with

Katsura Imperial Villa as a field of relation rather than an object.

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Makeru Kenchiku (Architecture of Defeat, 2004) is more like a collection of his essays which

have been published from 1995 to 2003. It elaborates on the evolution of his ideas from a few

different perspectives rather than specific themes. In this period, Kuma began to realize that

consciousness responded not to a discrete building, but to a relationship of the building and

the total environment.59

In the book Shizen na Kenchiku (Natural Architecture, 2008), based on his actual cases

studies, Kuma has become more aware that material relationships are most important with

respect to the environment around a building.60

He criticised the idea that concrete is an

irreversible rigid material made by its instantaneous solidification. It will destroy subtle

relationship between a building and its surrounding environment. In his practice, he used

more natural materials such as water, stone, bamboo, timber, soil, and even paper. He endued

them new vitality through a series of experiments with new technologies, and accordingly

made a building rooted in nature. He indicated that nature is a kind of relationship and natural

building is one that establishes a happy relationship with the site.61

In the following 2009, Kengo Kuma & Associates published a book Studies in Organic,

summarised his thinking progress from ‘erasing architecture’ to ‘organic architecture’. The

change of his methodology has occurred at a ten-year interval: the material-based approach

(M2), and the non-formal approach (small bathhouse in Izu) in the 1980s of bubble economy;

the erasing of architecture and confronting materials (Water/Glass, Stone Museum, and

Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art) in the 1990s; and a shift from ‘erasing’ to

‘making’ manifest since the 2000s. Thereafter he started to focus on organic architecture, on

organism as a yardstick for architecture, and organism as relationship.62

Next let me review

his evolution of design philosophies and key design strategies.

1) ‘Photographic Architecture’

Kengo Kuma believed that modern architectural design was profoundly influenced by mass

media such as photography, movie, and so on, in the past century. The rapidly evolving media

were demanding the transformation of architectural culture in the world. Le Corbusier and

Mies van der Rohe kept steps with this social mainstream trend in the early twentieth century.

Their design ideas quickly received public attention and recognition. However, their

contemporary, German architect Bruno Taut, represented an entirely different direction. The

design approach of Taut mostly failed at that time. One of the most important reasons is that

he was out of step with times, disregarding the power of the media.63

After nearly half a century, in the end of the 1990s, Kengo Kuma, inspired by Bruno Taut,

questioned the ‘photographic architecture’ created by Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe.

He pointed out that they led architecture in the direction of being separated from its

environment. In Villa Savoye, ‘Le Corbusier used pilotis to elevate his building off the

ground.’ ‘His intention was not to make the ground available for use by people but rather to

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isolate his buildings and make their pure forms more prominent.’ ‘For Mies that same

function was served by the podium.’ In Barcelona Pavilion, ‘placing a building on a podium

was a standard practice in classical architecture: it isolated the work in the same way that a

pedestal isolated a sculpture.’64

In Kuma’s argument, the medium they used was photography.

The two-dimensional images were obtained by a subject observing an object from a certain

distance. In this way, it is difficult to express the materials, details, and textures of

architecture. The architecture they created is just an object which is suitable for

communication through photos in mass media. Kuma redefined: ‘It could be recorded on

photographic paper as an easily recognizable thing, that is, an object.’65

In this respect, a

monumental or nationalistic architecture is a typically object-oriented style of architecture

based on traditional models.66

In Kuma’s definition, the architecture with international style,

art deco, beaux arts and so on which dominated in modern movement belonged to

photographic architecture.

2) ‘Cinematic Architecture’

However, ‘object’ is not limited in ‘photographic architecture’. Kuma pointed out that Le

Corbusier also considered the integration of space and time. He introduced cinematic method

into Villa Savoye. For example, by setting up vertical movements by means of stairs and

ramps and giving them independent forms, he transformed the path of circulation into objects.

However, the fully exposed staircase and ramp are regarded as a remarkably sculptural

object.67

‘Photographic Architecture’ ‘Cinematic Architecture’

Villa Savoye,

Le Corbusier

Barcelona Pavilion,

Mies van der Rohe

Villa Savoye,

Le Corbusier

Table 3.3 Object: ‘Photographic Architecture’ and ‘Cinematic Architecture’.

When I looked back the origin of Kuma’s thinking process and design strategies, I found that

he was always trying to look for a medium connecting the subject to the object. Through the

experience of Hyūga Residence, it was getting closer to the answer. Bruno Taut’s design

approach was diametrically opposed to those of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. This

extension project, built in 1936, was on a site below the original villa in the cliffside.

Acooridng to Kengo Kuma’s interpretation, Taut did not introduce time into space, but

instead allowed time to retain its flowing character. Taut created a sequence of movement by

the subject. The diversity of such experience with time flowing cannot be conveyed by a

simple medium such as a photograph.68

Taut absorbed the Japanese minimalist aesthetic in

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Katsura Imperial Villa and generated his own idea which emphasises spatial relationship

rather than architectural form.

Extension of Hyūga Residence at Atami,

Bruno Taut, 1936

Katsura Imperial Villa

Table 3.4 Anti-Object: ‘Cinematic Architecture’.

Accordingly, Kengo Kuma continued to take Japanese traditional architecture as example, to

clarify his proposal of ‘anti-object’. Paths or bridges in some traditional buildings such as

Japanese shrine were designed for a carefully orchestrated sequence. Having crossed a bridge,

climbed the steps and reached the inner sanctum, a hierarchical sequence carefully and

gradually leads visitors into the inner depths of nature.69

He mentioned that path or bridge in

traditional Nō theater stage of Japan were never parallel to the stage. Through a bridge with a

slight angle in layout, the spatial depth and temporal depth coexist in the stage. Indirect access

or path provides visitors a series of experience in a sequence: every scene, every fragment of

the interior. The angled and indirect path is a spatial and a temporal axis.70

The matter and

consciousness are connected in a way that is not just spatial but temporal.71

In traditional

Japanese garden, through openness and ‘absence’, as indirect lane as well, time with

movement is flowing through it. This approach can be found in his works, like Kiro-san

Observatory, Water/Glass, Noh Stage in the Forest and Stone Museum.

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To sum up, Kuma divided ‘cinematic Architecture’ into two categories. One is that linked by

a medium involved with time but expressed in the object, like the stairs and ramps in Villa

Savoye. The other is that linked by a sequence of movement. The latter one belongs to the

Kuma’s proposal ‘anti-object’.

Figure 3.44 (lower right one) Nō theatre (Japanese traditional theatre).

Figure 3.45(lower left one) Noh Stage in the Forest, Japan, 1996.

Figure 3.46(lower left one) Stone Museum, Japan, 2000.

Figure 3.47(lower right two) Water/Glass, Japan, 1995.

3) ‘Particalised architecture’

The origin of Kengo Kuma’s particalisation can be traced in his first architectural work, the

Small Bath House in Izu in 1988. As he mentioned, however, at that time he had not yet put

that desire into words. All he wanted to do was to fragment architecture.72

In the project of

M2 in 1991, his aim was to ‘break up the vocabulary of classicist architecture into fragments

and disperse those fragments as if they were particles’73

, resulting in dissolving into the chaos

of metropolitan Tokyo city. From his books Anti-Object and Shizen na Kenchiku (Natural

Architecture), it can be seen that the project ‘Water/Glass’ is a turning point to generate his

thinking about the relationship between subject and the world. The interfaces linking nature

and building are not only the water in the pool and the sea, but also the stainless steel louvers

on the roof (Figure 3.50). The blades of stainless steel louvers are 1.5mm wide and 75 mm

high, at 75mm intervals. The louvers stand between the environment and the subject, and

reflect their relationship. Their relative character is not fully determined by the designer or

architect but by each observer or user, allowing for user’s input.74

The relationship

connecting nature and artificialness is the interface formed by particles. This can be seen as a

starting point for his theory of particalisation.

Figure 3.48(left), Figure 3.49(middle) Veranda made of water in Water/Glass.

Figure 3.50(right) Louvers on the roof in Water/Glass.

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From the history of Japanese modern architecture, Kenzo Tange was one of the architects

who had inherited and developed the architectural philosophy of Le Corbusier. However, his

contemporary Uchida Yoshichika (内田祥哉 1925-) rejected cast-in-place concrete.

Yoshichika sought for the way to re-separate the unity which is combined into a whole easily,

breaking down the material into pieces.75

On the other hand, Alvar Aalto had used the idea of

cellular growth in his studies for ‘flexible standardisation’ from the mid-1930s onwards.76

From this point, Kuma is not the first person in Japan to propose this design idea of

particlised architecture. However, it was him who had made this approach into a further

practice. In the book Anti-object, he wrote: ‘As the polar opposite of photographic

architecture, the silhouette of particlised architecture is ambiguous.’ ‘When viewed from a

distance, it is hard to distinguish the constituent particles. It is relative in nature. It can appear

transparent and weightless one moment and opaque and massive the next, depending on the

way light hits it.’77

Figure 3.51(upper left) Pointillism.

Figure 3.52(upper right) Lotus House, by Kengo Kuma, Japan, 2005.

Figure 3.53(lower left) Xinjin Zhi Museum, by Kengo Kuma, Chengdu, China, 2011.

Figure 3.54(lower right) China Academy of Art’s Folk Art Museum, by Kengo Kuma, Hangzhou,

China, 2015.

When Kengo Kuma was seeking for a particlised interface to blur the boundary, he took

‘particlised’ painting - called Pointillism in the impressionists - as an example. In this way,

colours should be mixed, not on the artist’s palette, but on the retina of the observer. Like the

television imaging form principle, the impressionists applied pure colours directly onto the

canvas in dispersed dots. Mixed on the retina of the observer, these dots created subtle hues

and shades. It broke a unilateral privileged status, and the observer was expected to assume a

completely passive one.78

However, the other painters who were less scientifically oriented

did not embrace this way of painting by reduction to science of colour optics. And for another

reason of the dabs of paint in a uniform size, the pointillism was failed in the end. Kuma

learnt from this lesson, and he paid special attention to the sizes and rhythms of particles and

visual scientification when he created particles.79

This was exemplified in his design works

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such as Lotus House in Japan (2005), Xinjin Zhi Museum in China (2011), and China

Academy of Art’s Folk Art Museum in China (2015). These design works, to some degree,

can be regarded as the experiments to explore functional relationships in the size of particles.

The size of particles is determined by actions of the kind Kuma called ‘breaking apart /

connecting.’ Through repeated such acts, ‘showing / erasing; entering / leaving; and breaking

apart / connecting’, users arrive at particles of optimal dimensions. ‘The body, matter and the

environment repeatedly engage in a dialogue until certain dimensions are achieved.’80

In

other word, the dimensions of particles are not absolute; they must be determined in each case

by the surrounding environment. The entire sequential process determines the dimensions of

the particles, which adjusts the rhythm and pace of the building so as to harmonise the details

and the whole space.

4) ‘Organic architecture’

In the last thirty-year’ practices and experiments, Kengo Kuma speculated the relationship

between architecture and environment, architecture and space, architecture and users. Finally,

he proposed the approach of organism. The term ‘organic architecture’ was firstly introduced

by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1908. He advocated that a well-designed building should be

responsive to nature. However, different from Wright’s organism, Kuma considered it as a

way to conceal architecture by nature.81

In the book From Erasing Architecture to Organic

Architecture (2009), Kuma pointed out that Le Corbusier’s teleological view of body or

organism (such as functionalism), Frank Lloyd Wright’s idea of organic architecture, and

Kishō Kurokawa’s philosophy of symbiosis in Metabolism essentially regarded organisms as

a yardstick or a metaphor for architecture. ‘Architecture undoubtedly houses organisms, but

there is absolutely no need for architecture itself to resemble organisms.’82

In Kuma’s

definition, organism should be more like relationship with the outside world. His aim was ‘to

design relationship between architecture and the external world through particles.’83

He explained that if we supposed photographic architecture is a ‘point’ by perspective and

still photography, cinematic architecture is like a ‘line’ by moving images, and then

particlised architecture and organic architecture are more likely trend towards ‘nets’

(networks or wilderness). From ‘point’ to ‘line’, from ‘line’ to ‘net’, the relationships turn out

blurring. According to Kuma, garden is between ‘line’ and ‘net’. However, in the garden, ‘no

matter how freely gardens may be arranged, they will still have paths that are determined by

their designers. Interaction is still prearranged, and designers still exercise control over

people.’84

The closer answer may be the wilderness or field, which is a space without

boundaries and paths, like a network society. This kind of architecture, he named ‘organic

architecture’, is that Kuma is aiming for in his most recent thinking and practice.

During the process of exploring the approaches to deal with nature and architecture, Kuma

was trying to transit spatial approaches to temporal approaches. From his manifestoes such as

‘anti-object’, ‘erasing architecture’, ‘weak architecture’, ‘natural architecture’,

‘particalisation’, ‘organism’, we can feel this transition.

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According to the analysis above, I organised the evolution of Kengo Kuma’s key design

strategies. His architectural ideas have been employed into his approaches for actual practice.

If we link his dynamic developing idea process, we can find out that it seems to have a

relationship between particle and organism. Particles, like cells, are growing. Cell is a part of

body, and body is a part of organism. It seems to be a life circle. In the aesthetics of wabi-sabi,

it accepts the real natural cycle processes of growth, decay, ageing, blemishing, deterioration,

and death, based on the knowledge that nature is impermanent and imperfect. It is

exemplified the works of pursuit on the flexibility and assembility of structure and façade and

allowing plants to grow as a part of building.

Design Strategies of Kengo Kuma

Object Photographic Architecture

Cinematic Architecture

Anti-object sequence –path/bridge

Particlised Architecture particlised interface

layering

Organic Architecture build underground

blurring boundary

transparency and openness

the use of natural light

Chart 3.5: The evolution of Kengo Kuma’s key design strategies.

Analysis on design works

According to the statements above, we could have an idea about the linkage of recent

reflective contemporary designs and Japanese traditional aesthetics. Next let me take the

selected design works from Kengo Kuma to further examine how contemporary design

approaches are related to the traditional Japanese aesthetics. I will make a review and critical

analysis on his key design works, through the following points: a) layout and façade; b) space

and spatial experience; c) material, texture, tectonic and scale; d) the use of natural light in

relation to climate and nature; and e) physical lightness and spatial fluidity.

1) Stone Museum, Nasu-machi, Nasu-gun, Tochigi, Japan, 2000

Figure 3.55 Stone Museum. (photo by author on September 2015)

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This museum, with site area of 1,383 square meters and building area of 533 square meters, is

located at Nasu-machi, Tochigi, Japan. It is a reuse of the existing rice storehouses. It was

designed from 1996 to 1999 and constructed between 1997 and 2000. The original structure

was built in the early Showa era, dating from the 1930s, and was demolished in the 1995

earthquake. This single storey museum with 7.8 meters at the highest point and 5.5 meters at

the eaves has a newly built part with 281 square meters and a repaired part with 247 square

meters. The major materials used are Ashino stone, Shirakawa stone, steel and wood. Ashino

stone is a local plain and grey andesite. Shirakawa is a special mineral in neighbouring

Fukushima. Kengo Kuma proposed that the overall environment should be reorganised by

ways of a few additions to these

existing structures. He used masonry

structure and steel frame as structural

system.85

The new complex consists of three old

storehouses which used to keep rice and

three new buildings as additions. The

old structures were reused as an

entrance hall, a main gallery and a tea

room. In the entrance hall and gallery,

the interior spaces are reinforced with

Yamizosugi86

, which is a kind of wood.

From Kengo Kuma (2010), this project

is recorded as a challenge to the

material – stone which he used to

dislike, but it was the only building

material he can use due to the low

budget. He wrote that he did not reject

the material of stone itself. What he

disliked was the so-called modern

construction methods when stone was

used in the construction. Therefore, he

started to think about the new

approaches of construction with

masonry.87

Finally, he decided to use the same Ashino stone but to particlise it to create several layers

between the existing buildings to the additions which were open and semi-open, more like

fences rather than enclosed buildings. Through particalisation, the solidity of the stone is

converted into something ‘weak’ and ‘soft’. In this way, it made the silhouette of the stone

storehouses ambiguous, causing them to melt into the surrounding air.88

From real to virtual,

Figure 3.56 Plan and elevations of Stone Museum.

Source: Alini, Luigi, with an essay by Kengo Kuma,

Kengo Kuma: works and projects, Milan:

Electaarchitecture; London: Phaidon [distributor],

2006.

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from the old to the new, from heavy to light, from dark to bright, all elements combined with

each other, establishing a relationship between subject and environment.

Figure 3.57 (upper left) ‘Porous wall’ and section detail.

Figure 3.58(upper right) Stone louvre and section detail. Source: Alini, Luigi, with an essay by Kengo

Kuma, Kengo Kuma: works and projects, Milan: Electaarchitecture; London: Phaidon [distributor],

2006.

Figure 3.59(lower left) Interior of stone museum. (photo by author on September 2015)

Figure 3.60(lower right) Kengo Kuma’s working models. (photo by author on September 2015)

From the view of Japanese traditional techniques, this project is a tectonic, constructivist

interpretation of architecture. The highlight in this project is ‘soft’ walls that created by

‘heavy’ material of stone, for example: ‘stone-louver window’ and ‘porous wall’. The walls

provide softness by making a series of stone louvers and punching numerous small openings

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in a stone-mounted wall. They are both made by Ashino stone, which is porous, soft and

fragile compared to granite, marble and sandstone. It enables the structural system to have a

dual character – soft and strong. The light admitted by the same perforated blocks will

produce an unostentatious yet dramatic effect, while passing breezes will bestow a certain

variety on the inner life of the building. According to the statement of Kengo Kuma, after

repeating experiments with craftsmen, the ‘porous wall’ was constructed by taking out about

one third of the stones. It became possible to lighten the heaviness exerted by the massiveness

of the wall and yet stay within structural limits. The openings on the wall are filled internally

with marble, which lends the construction a translucent quality. For creating the ‘stone-louvre

window’, the rectangular section of stone slices is 40mm by 150mm with a length of 1500mm

at intervals of 80mm. All the stone slices are fixed to the steel structure by stone uprights with

three meters high inserted in steel pillars of the HE type. This new system is satisfied with

antiseismic requirements of local codes.89

This project applies a finely tuned craftsmanship to

the simple spaces of contemporary architecture. Because of being the proud traditions of

craftsmanship, attention to detail is a feature in Japanese manufactured goods, and sometimes

the products are more detailed than is necessary. The belief in the importance of

craftsmanship details is also bound to be reflected in all contemporary Japanese architecture.

From Kengo Kuma (2007), this project is an extended research of the Venice Biennale 95

Japanese Pavilion.90

It hosts an exhibition of Kuma’s design works with stone details. All

working models are at one-to-one scale. He made experiments on different kinds of

possibilities to illustrate the potentials of stone in the maximum degree. This project itself is

an artwork of stone. All interior settings, including partitions, screens, fittings and even

furniture are made refinedly by stone. It dealt with the relationships between stone and light,

between stone and water, between stone and nature. In contrast to the traditional approach,

solid, rough-hewn masonry of the old structure, the walls of the proposed additions are

precisely worked and articulated to relieve the sense of heaviness associated with stone.

Owing to the airy openings filled with sunlight, the surface of stone wall has the feature of

transparency. By eliminating solid exterior stone walls, Kuma created a linkage between the

interior space and the exterior space, including the immediate environment. This is a key

project to be used to explain his “anti-object” theory. Next let us look at his another similar

project built in the same year but in different material and approach.

2) Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art, Nakagawa-machi, Nasu-gun, Tochigi,

Japan, 2000

Figure 3.61 Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art. (photo by author on September 2015)

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Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art was designed in 1998 and constructed from

1998 to 2000. This single storey museum with 6.5 meters at the highest point and 3.2 meters

at the eaves has overall site area of 5,587 square meters, building area of 2,189 square meters

and total floor area of 1,962 square meters. The major materials in this project are Yamizo

cedar and steel. The structural system is reinforced concrete and steel frame.91

This Museum was proposed to collect the works of Japanese

ukiyo-e artist Ando Hiroshige. According to the records, his

original pieces of work were discovered from a storehouse of

Aoki residence after the Hanshin earthquake in 1995, and have

been donated to the local city where Aoki family lays its deep

relation. The purpose of this project was to plan a museum

which contains the spirit and art works of Hiroshige for the

city.92

The art works of Hiroshige are characterized by his

visualization of nature and changes in nature, and making solid

expressions of them. Because natural elements such as light,

wind, rain and fog are continuously changing in their character

and essence, it is difficult to provide a single expression to such

ambiguous entities. Kengo Kuma used the fundamental method of Hiroshige which he

applied in his ukiyo-e art works, expressing the ambiguity into solidity by selecting natural

elements with specific clear features.93

Figure 3.63 Details in the painting of Andō Hiroshige.

Kengo Kuma indicated that the core of Japanese traditional painting is transparency, layering,

as well as the integration between nature and artificialness. He took Ando Hiroshige’s

painting ‘Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi bridge and Atake’ as an example to clarify his

design approach. This painting, as part of the series ‘One Hundred Famous Views of Edo’,

was published in 1857. Hiroshige’s layering was most apparent in his depictions of rain. He

Figure 3.62 Sudden Shower

over Shin-Ōhashi bridge and

Atak, by Andō Hiroshige,

1857.

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used vertical lines for the rain, and they overlapped in a way that created depth. This method

produces a sense of depth by multiple layering of transparent planes, which is quite different

from the perspective approach used by European artists. It is much closer to the ‘three

distances’ perspective in traditional Chinese paintings, which I have discussed in chapter four.

Kengo Kuma pointed out that the spaces in Japanese traditional painting and in Japanese

traditional architecture are as a whole based on the same non-perspective philosophy. The

perspective monumentality in Euro-America is the core concept of European classical

architecture. The differences between the two values are also contained profound ideas

associated with their respective cultural foundation. He asserted that the ukiyo-e style

approach taking anti-monumentality as a principle might be used to counter the destruction of

environment.94

Figure 3.64 Ground floor plan, section and elevations of Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of

Art. Online Available HTTP: < http://kkaa.co.jp/works/> (accessed 3 August, 2018)

In this project, Kuma was greatly influenced by Hiroshige’s ability to express the

three-dimensionality of space through multiple transparent layers. The layering is one of the

distinctive techniques of traditional Japanese spatial expression. Inspired by Hiroshige’s

evocation of space in ukiyo-e, Kuma sought for similar techniques in architecture. He

incorporated the linear rain motif and brought it into the design of this Museum. He took the

idea of using overlapping layers to create spaces with depth. In Nakagawa-machi Bato

Hiroshige Museum of Art, the major material to be used is a local cedar called Yamizo cedar

and is treated with fireproof and rotproof processes. There are three layers in the outside walls,

and they are not just stacked up. From outside to inside, the first layer is the lattice, made of

Yamizo cedar, and constructed from 30mm × 60mm squared cedar pieces at 120mm intervals.

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The middle layer is the louver, made by squared cedar pieces and wrapped in Japanese paper.

And the last layer is the panel of ‘light wall’, which is made from Japanese paper, at 240mm

intervals. The deeper layers are more delicate. Kengo Kuma said it is in the same way as

people wear an overcoat on the outside, then the sweater, and then the underwear.95

Apart

from layering, the low and deep eaves in this building produced shadows, which can be

regarded as another layer between the outside wall and the environment. The outside wall is

set back beyond the low and deep eave. As natural light changes, the wall becomes darker,

and harder to identify.

Figure 3.65 Overlapping layers of Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art. (photo by author

on September 2015)

Figure 3.66 (left) Low and deep eaves of Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art. (photo by

author on September 2015)

Figure 3.67 (middle and right) Interiors of Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art. (photo by

author on September 2015)

Figure 3.68 The building in the shadow. (photo by author on September 2015)

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The other design approach in this Museum is the use of natural light and shadow. As

Junichiro Tanizaki pointed out in his book In Praise of Shadows, in the traditional Japanese

architecture, including temple, palace and house, ‘a roof of heavy tiles is first laid out, and in

the deep, spacious shadows created by the eaves the rest of the structure is built.’ ‘Most

buildings of the past their roofs give the impression of possessing far greater weight, height,

and surface than all that stands beneath the eaves.’ ‘And so it has come to be that the beauty

of a Japanese room depends on a variation of shadows, heavy shadows against light

shadows.’96

The praise for the appreciation of shadow was exemplifies in this design. Kengo

Kuma pointed out that ‘with its big gabled roof, deep eaves, and latticed walls, the building

blends into its rich natural surroundings. In fact, the roof, the walls and the entire building are

completely wrapped in lattice work, which is all three centimetres by six centimetres at

twelve centimetres pitch, and made from local cedar trees. Thus, the natural light can be

appreciated wherever necessary. The light strikes or penetrates the interface and is further

reflected by the other interfaces, creating complex shadows. Local materials are also used for

the interior such as handcrafted paper walls and local stone paved floors. In this design,

Kengo Kuma insisted on his manifesto of ‘defeated architecture,’ which means not to

self-assert but to give way to the environment and the history, culture and local materials of

the site. Therefore, this building can be regarded as the charming expression of his interest in

traditional Japanese materials and culture, and the pursuit of an environmentally-conscious

and culturally sensitive architecture.

According to my critical review on contemporary design of Kuma’s projects, these design

approaches were developed by Tadao Ando in his later works. Next let me have a further

clarification on the application of tradition from Tadao Ando.

7.2 Tadao Ando

Tadao Ando was born in Osaka, Japan in 1941 and was raised in the Kansai region of

south-central Japan. He spent his late teens travelling in and around Osaka visiting the

historical Japanese architecture in that region.97

He worked as a truck driver and boxer before

pursuing his architectural career. Despite the lack of formal academic training in architecture,

he began his self-education by apprenticing to several relevant persons such as designers and

urban planners for short periods.98

From 1962, he started an extensive travel through Europe,

North America and Africa, inspired by renowned architects such as Le Corbusier, Ludwig

Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Kahn. He returned to Japan in 1968 and

established his own firm -Tadao Ando Architect & Associates in Osaka in 1969.99

He was

awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1995. After receiving guest professorships at the

University of Yale, Colombia and Harvard, he became a professor at the University of Tokyo

in 1997.100

Analysis on discourses

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Different from Kengo Kuma and some other Japanese architects who are communicative and

articulate, Tadao Ando mostly used his design works to express his design ideas, rather than

writings. Compared with his extensive and notable design works, his publications are

relatively less elaborate. It is not easy to trace a clear development of ideas in his writings.

There are more writings on him than those written by himself. However, some of his earlier

writings, published in the journal Japan Architect in the late 1970s and the early 1980s,

provide important ideas. For example, ‘A Wedge in Circumstances’, originally published in

Japan Architect in 1977. ‘From Self-Enclosed Modern Architecture Towards Universality’,

first published in Japan Architect in 1982. The other essays and books I referred include

‘Interview with Tadao Ando’, originally published in the Princeton journal Thematic Studies

in Architecture in1983; Tadao Ando: Light and Water, published in 2003; and Tadao Ando:

Conversations with students, published in 2012. Generally, in my research, his design ideas

might be organized into four categories: solid and void, the use of natural light, traditional

inspiration and his regionalism.

1) Solid and Void

Through his early publications, we can have a basic understanding of his design approach,

featured by solid material and void space. In the article ‘A Wedge in Circumstances’, he

summarized the two main characteristics in his design works. Firstly, he used limited

materials and exposed their characteristic textures. Secondly, the spaces he designed were not

always given clear functional articulation.101

The first character exemplified in his use of the unfinished walls, fabricated from smooth

poured concrete. The free standing concrete wall can be found in most of Ando’s design, and

became his distinct architectural symbol. From his statements, the concrete he chose for the

only building material is because of its universality and timelessness. So he can pay all his

attentions on the creation of internal spaces. Ando quoted that the meaning of traditional

Japanese tea house is not in the floor, walls or ceiling, but in the world contained inside.102

The primary concern is to create the space contained. To achieve this, he chose simple and

regular form.

The second character can be found in the enclosure of external walls which generate a void

space inside. On one hand, the concrete solid walls without vertical openings separated the

building itself from the outside world. On the other hand, the ceiling openings or high

windows allow light and wind filtering into the building inside. In most of his cases, the

concrete geometric box was created as a container to collect natural light and wind

circulation.

According to Ando (1984), in the Japanese traditional aesthetics, limitless extension is

suggested by an extremely small space screened off by a single layer of wall; eternity is

represented by a moment into which everything is metaphorically compressed. It is the

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Japanese concept of time and the Japanese aesthetic sense which made such compressed

space possible.103

In his writings (2003), Ando clearly presented that the natural elements like light, wind, and

water, not concrete walls, are important controlling spatial factors. He believed that the

architectural materials do not end with tangible forms but go beyond to include light and wind

which appeal to our senses.104

Generally speaking, a uniform solid concrete frame is as the primary structural element, and it

stands in strong contrast to the void inside spaces. Solid defines the place of daily activities,

while void enables the users to relate directly to nature and environment. They are related and

clearly articulated. Solid and void can be summarized as the main features in his works.

2) Light in Ando’s works

From the discussion above, the use of natural light plays an important role in the creation of

void spaces in Ando’s design works. Ando mentioned Junichiro Tanizaki(谷崎润一郎

1886-1965)’s annotation about light in the book In Praise of Shadows, ‘the nuance of delicate

light amid a certain gossamer darkness’ has always been a vital element of traditional

Japanese architecture. He explained further that the Japanese traditional culture is

nature-oriented and favours the incorporation of natural colours into the building.105

The use

of natural light and shadow became a theme to foster the residents’ sensitivity to environment

and generate emotions rooted in the deep spiritual levels. His well-known church of the light

in Osaka is exemplified the use of light and shadow, and transferred Japanese traditions in a

modern language.

Figure 3.69 (left) Living room in Koshino Residence, by Tadao Ando. Source: Frampton, Kenneth

(ed.), Tadao Ando: Buildings, Projects, and Writings, New York: Rizzoli International Publications,

Inc. 1984, p82

Figure 3.70 (right) Interior in Horiuchi Residence, by Tadao Ando. Source: Frampton, Kenneth (ed.),

Tadao Ando: Buildings, Projects, and Writings, New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.

1984, p57

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From Ando’s statements, natural light in his works is used in two ways. The first one is to be

used as an object. In Ando’s Koshino Residence, the light behaves in a sculptural way when it

hits the wall of the living room (Figure 3.69), but only lasts for a very short time. As the light

moves, the room changes in character. The second and more common way is using the tones

of a gentle light to make the environment more comfortable to facilitate daily activities. The

concrete wall displays little materials variation, and therefore the concrete surface may reflect

rays of sunlight. In this condition, natural light entering from the top and from a lower

window will produce different effects. The ambient light stands out in bold contrast to the

dark inside. By manipulating light in well organised openings, the space can be made

sufficiently uncertain. All ornamentation has been eliminated in a thoroughgoing pursuit of

the characteristics of the materials themselves. The diffuse light penetrates the space in

different depths, and gradations of light are made more apparent in this controlled context.

Ando attempted to transcend physical limits by means of light and shadow. However, in most

cases, Ando use the light in both ways. For example, the interior in Horiuchi Residence

(Figure 3.70) presents the rich and distinctive spatial expression by using the direct natural

light and diffusing lights.

Applying the method of making fundamental divisions of space according to the qualities of

light, the meaning and rhythm of a space can change by controlling the amount of light. The

space formed by light might be considered as the ‘negative space’.

3) Traditional inspiration

Furthermore, to discover the design inspirations from Ando, we are not limited in the form,

material, and even the use of natural light and shadow. We should look into the depth to find

the hidden factors. In the article ‘From Self-Enclosed Modern Architecture Towards

Universality’, originally published in Japan Architect in 1982, Ando made a further

clarification that concrete walls became abstract and negated, and approach the ultimate limit

of space.106

He expressed clearly that he preferred to deal not in the actual forms, for example

traditional elements like roof forms, deep eaves, lattices and verandas, but in their spirits and

emotional contents.107

This kind of spirit has a direct relationship with sukiya style, mostly in

the traditional tea ceremony houses. It was exemplified in the works of sixteenth-century tea

master Sen no Rikyu. According to Ando, in sukiya architecture, openings on the wall can be

arranged in accordance with the dictates of appearance and demands for views. The wall was

made abstract and was no sense of mass to aim for achieving a mere surface background.

Inside spaces can change depending upon whether light is direct or reflected, and whether it

comes from one direction. If the light only comes from one direction, architect still create

different spaces depending on the way it is received. The Japanese interpretation of time and

aesthetic awareness are essential to the generation of spaces as condensed as those of sukiya

buildings. ‘Such openings make possible two kinds of time-related alterations of scene:

alterations depending on the time of day, the changing climate, and the seasons of the year

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and alterations depending on the motion of the human observer.’108 Ando indicated that the

aesthetic awareness and emotion which exist in traditional tea ceremony is fundamental to the

Japanese people. To revive the sukiya aesthetic in contemporary society, it is necessary to

employ its spirit, not necessarily its physical forms, allowing architecture to accommodate

with its environment.109

In short, the contact with traditional Japanese sukiya style tea house

and minka style farm building in his childhood has rooted in his mind and been a part of his

life. His understanding of Japanese traditions impelled him to reinterpret the essence of

traditional architecture rather than to recreate the vernacular forms or styles.

Ando mentioned his intention was to create a weightless, still world of primarily horizontal

orientation, which is closely related to the traditional sukiya of Japan.110

However, Ando

insisted that his approach was different from sukiya style. ‘I prefer the consistent application

of a method that surrounds the individual territory and cuts it off from the rest of the

environment. I do this by erecting a single wall that physically links the separated interior and

exterior on a subconscious level.’111

From Ando’s argument, a wall is set up not for

disrupting the continuation of landscaping, but conceptually connecting human beings and the

environment while physically enclosing daily life. He separated the interior users’ daily

activities from the chaotic urban context by enclosing the exterior in a continuous concrete

wall. There is a common philosophy of life in Japan which is the relationship among nature,

architecture, and life. Architecture is constructed to enhance life. It has to contain human

activity. Ando emphasised that his spaces would set up a deep dialogue between the users and

architecture. The most important thing need to be considered in his design is the fundamental

aspects of humanity that is the daily life of the users.

Sukiya style is related to a building which also known as a chashitsu serving for traditional tea

ceremony. Sukiya building includes roji garden and tea house itself. From Ando’s statements,

he also has had a great influence by Japanese traditional tea garden roji space. Roji, literally

means ‘dewy ground (露地)’. It is a Japanese term used for the garden through which one

passes to the chashitsu for the tea ceremony.112

The roji is usually divided into an external and

internal garden with a pergola. The typical features in roji include ablution basin, stone lantern,

stepping stones and wicket gate. The plantings are generally in preference for moss, ferns and

evergreens, but ume and Japanese maple are also used. In Shugakuin Imperial Villa, the three

core parts, lower villa, middle villa and upper villa, are connected with pine-lined path. If we

compared Ando’s design works with traditional tea ceremony, the building itself is as chashitsu,

while the alleyway or path through to the entrance of building can be regarded as roji. This

transition area is mostly the essence of traditional Japanese architecture, and has obtained the

great development in contemporary Japanese design.

From the analysis above, traditional aesthetics related to Japanese traditional tea ceremony are

main inspirations for Ando’s architectural creation. He transferred his understandings of

Japanese culture into his practices in a universal language.

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4) Ando’s regionalism

It might be due to the lack of systematic architectural education in academic institute, Ando

designed his work by following his heart. His interest in architecture and all his trainings

came from his various experiences in his twenties ever in his teenage. He observed the ways

of environment with his eyes and sensitivities when he was young. Through observation of

how trees grew and the way the sunlight filtered through high window into the room inside,

he obtained direct physical knowledge of the personalities of materials. Based on his early

interview, his design method is the use of a simple plan combined with his own sensibility

including such things as sense of proportion, method of selecting materials, and sense of

colour and handcrafting.113

Accordingly, his design idea was regarded as having a close

linkage with his personal and unique experience. The book Tadao Ando: Conversations with

students records his design philosophy and the working process. It is a collection of excerpts

from a series of lectures delivered at the University of Tokyo in 1998. It was originally

published in Japanese in 1999 and in English version in 2012. It is said this is the first

English-language translation of Ando’s own writings.

From his personal experience of the global travelling as a self-taught practitioner, Tadao

Ando was deeply influenced by Euro-American modernism. He realized the gap between a

modernity symbolized uniformity and homogeneity and the reality of place, climate, and

history.114

Ando wrote, ‘For me, architecture is the reconciliation or synthesis of opposing

concepts; it arises from the subtle interstices of conflicting ideas. In other words, it is the

sublimation of polar opposites – inside and outside, east and west, part and whole, history

and the present, art and reality, past and future, abstract and concrete, simple and complex –

into a single expression of personal will.’115 From here, we can see his pursuit is filling up

the gap of balance between global modernization and local identity. On the way to seek for a

sense of place, he was inspired by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and Gerrit Rietveld’s

Schröder House (1924) in Netherlands. He appreciated Koolhaas could think about the city

and architecture constantly through the framework of Japan, rather than the places where he

originated from. He was impressed by Schröder House, the icon of modern movement in

architecture, as an expression of abstract art, fluid spatial composition, and congruity between

the exterior and its surroundings. They share the Dutch psychological climate and reflect a

common mindset.116

In the late 1970s, his design works were caused the attentions by the European and North

American scholars. His design approach to architecture was categorised as critical

regionalism by many architectural critiques. He was labelled as critical regionalist by Kenneth

Frampton in the early 1980s. As I have discussed before, Frampton’s stance of critical

regionalism is the resistance, Ando’s design works were assumed a culturally oppositional

standpoint to the instrumentality of megalopolitan development and consumerism of the

modern city. In this regard, his fundamental stance of resistance against standardization and

homogeneity is match with the formula of Frampton’s critical regionalism. According to

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Ando’s statement, he met with Kenneth Frampton in 1980. Following the visiting of several

houses by Ando near Osaka, including Koshino House, his works were firstly exemplified as

critical regionalism by Frampton. Although Ando did not completely agree with some points

of Frampton’s discourses, the visit with Frampton prompted Ando to think about Japanese

regionalism which is about transmission of a sort of spiritual and mental climate through

architecture.117

Frampton insisted the resistance from Ando’s early works is predicated on emphasizing the

boundary.118

His iconic Row House in Sumiyoishi, Osaka, which was widely considered his

representative work, was enclosed by its external walls completely without any opening

except the entrance door, letting the inhabitant enter an entirely private and organized

courtyard in the middle of the house. In this case, Frampton regarded the enclosed wall as an

approach of critical regionalism. Because of being rooted in different culture, it appeared

different interpretation between Ando and Frampton. According to Ando’s discourse, his

focus was on how to bring natural light, wind, and water into the building through the

carefully designed openings within an enclosed private territory. The boundary he set up

using solid concrete walls is for separation of the interference from the outside community.

The commissions Ando mostly involved are mostly located in Osaka and Kansai area, where

he was born and raised. It is the geographical centre of Japan’s earliest cultural history.

Although Ando does not draw consciously on this tradition, he is clearly influenced by such a

root that is a simple aesthetic awareness cultivated in Japanese culture. The relation with

nature is deliberately pursued in traditional architecture. The main aim was not to express the

simplicity of the simple materials. As Ando pointed out, Kenzo Tange described two

approaches to tradition in the January 1955 issue of Shinkenchiku magazine. ‘In the first

method, tradition is inherited on the basis of form. In the second, it is inherited not through

form, but through spirituality.’119

Ando indicated his approach was to preserve and carry

onward to future generations the spirituality flowing through the core of Japanese tradition,

not the concrete materiality of its form.120

Furthermore, according to Ando, he was trying to reunite the culture of Japan with universal

ideas of modernism. His works embody a regional consciousness and feature tangible

elements rooted in local climate and lifestyle, including geographical and cultural contexts in

addition to the unique history and identity of a specific site.121

But this can only be used to

explain his early works from the 1970s to the 1990s. Since the late 1990s, Tadao Ando

considered more about social responsibility in architecture. He was involved in the urban

reconstruction following the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake in Kobe where was he

mostly based, and 2011 earthquake and tsunami. His later works paid more attention on

spiritual recovery and emphasis of the hidden spirit within the tangible form. He wanted to

return to architecture a sense of identity and specificity. He also said, ‘Through the

incorporation of natural elements such as light, wind, and water, I tried to express local

climate, features, and culture while simultaneously introducing a contemporaneity and

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universality using the languages and materials of modern architecture and geometric

composition.’122

This constructive approach by using geometry fabricated from exposed concrete made it

possible to bury the main construction into the existing environment. Ando said, ‘I have

always had a tendency to imagine architectural space as being enclosed and cave-like. It

seems to me that clues to the origins of architecture are to be found below ground. Beneath

the earth’s surface, light is reduced, the sense of depth increases. And darkness is born. I

have long imagined space as something into which one descends, until light is gradually

reduced and one is wrapped in an atmosphere of cool tranquillity.’123 This attitude can be

reflected in his later design works, such as Chichu Art Museum, the Hill of Budda, and so on.

Different from his early works which are solid, concrete and strong, he gradually broke the

boundary, letting building become a part of nature.

According the analysis on discourses from Kuma and Ando, we can find a clue to discover

the motivation of Japanese contemporary design approach. For example, both Ando and

Kuma mentioned that they were inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel in Tokyo

and Le Corbusier’s modern design philosophy when they were young, and later find a linkage

with Japanese aesthetic awareness exemplified in the traditional architecture such as Katsura

Imperial Villa. They were deeply influenced by Euro-American modernism and forwarded

the design traditions from Kenzo Tange’s generation. They experienced the complex social

transformation and natural disasters, and finally formed their own unique design philosophy.

Analysis on design works

Next let us focus on the analysis of Ando’s design works. The first prominent work of Tadao

Ando is the Row House in Sumiyoshi, Osaka, completed in 1976. In this small concrete

residential house, Ando created the inner courtyards, using open stairways and bridges to

lessen the sealed atmosphere. In addition, he explored the plastic possibilities of concrete in

the language of minimalism, and the use of light and shadow. The well-known work of ‘the

church of the light’ in Osaka, completed in 1989, has the strong contrast between light and

concrete solid. Through his careful design, natural light penetrates the darkness to give

direction to the architecture. It can be said that the space of the chapel is defined by light, and

expressed the power of the light. The use of natural light is one of the important approaches

of Tadao Ando during that period. In addition, the use of the water is another distinctive

feature in Ando’s works. Instead of real nature, the artificial pool created by Ando plays a

similar role with traditional rock garden. Since the 1990s, in his practices in Naoshima Island,

he has taken up the theme of symbiosis between the environment and architecture, and

regarded architecture as a part of the environment. Generally speaking, the feature of his

works is the concrete wall stretching wide length and spanning great height. He attempted to

achieve a rich expressiveness by extreme simplification, a process which shares something

with the Japanese aesthetic.124

To some extent, his concrete wall is a kind of expression of

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‘negative space’. Once the concrete walls are set up, their actualities can disappear, and only

the space they enclose gives a sense of existing. This critical expression redefines the

interrelation of outdoor and indoor space. I summarised his design strategies as four aspects:

geometry, the use of natural light, symbiosis between nature and building, and formlessness.

His early design works have exemplified the first three features. My focus is his last stage

about formlessness. This feature is exemplified in his designs on underground buildings

without a visual outer form. Next I choose Chichu Art Museum and the Hill of the Buddha to

explain my hypothesis.

1) Chichu Art Museum, Naoshima-cho, Kagawa, Japan, 2004

This museum is located on the island of Naoshima, Kagawa Prefecture, surrounded by the

scenic Seto Inland Sea, as the part of the Benesse Art Site. The site area is around 9,900

square meters, and total floor area is 2,573 square meters. Major materials used in this

museum include concrete, steel, glass, and wood. The structural system is reinforced

concrete.125

This project was built as a subterranean space with three underground levels to

reduce the influence on existing environment. This museum is designed for providing the

specific environment for permanent collection of the artworks from three extraordinary

Western artists Claude Monet, James Turrell and Walter De Maria. The word ‘chichu’ in

Japanese (and Chinese as well) means underground, which indicated the museum will be

partially buries into the earth. This museum was intended holistically to use natural light as a

guide. Three major exhibition spaces even do not offer artificial illumination.

Firstly, Claude Monet gallery exhibits five Monet paintings themed ‘Water-lily’, produced

between 1914 and 1926. The size, design and materials of the room were selected to unite the

Monet paintings and the space. The interior space is the setting for the artworks enveloped by

the natural light while being underground.

Secondly, the exhibition halls of Walter De Maria and James Turrell are corporately created

by both artist and architect. In Walter De Maria’s gallery, the space is defined by specific

measurements and carried by light. The name of installation is ‘Time/Timeless/No Time’. A

2.2 meter diameter sphere and twenty seven wooden sculptures applied with gold leaf were

placed in the space. The appearance of artwork constantly changes from sunrise to sunset.126

Thirdly, the works of James Turrell present light itself as art. The artworks include ‘Afrum,

Pale Blue’ in 1968, ‘Open Field’ in 2000, and ‘Open Sky’ in 2004. Tadao Ando arranged the

intended viewing experiences involved tailoring these rooms to Turrell’s own

specifications.127

The natural light became a part of the artworks. Through various openings

in the ceiling it creates spectacular lighting effects that vary throughout the day.

All the settings are presenting both artist and architect’s mastery of light and shade. The

sunken courtyards captured and collected the natural lights. The sky is hardly visible from the

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interior galleries. However, the natural lights fill in the interior space or filters through the

transparent or half transparent interfaces that helps to dramatize the various feelings that take

place within the building. The building has been considered letting in an abundance of natural

light that changes the appearance of the artworks and the ambience of the space itself with the

passage of time, throughout the day and all along the four seasons of the years. This approach

is used specifically for the purposes of evoking emotion or creating experiences of spiritual

elevation.

Figure 3.71 (left to right) ‘Water-Lilies’ series, Claude Monet, 1914-1926; ‘Time/Timeless/No Time’,

Walter De Maria, 2004; ‘Open Sky’, James Turrell, 2004. (Source: the visitors’ guidebook in Chichu

Art Meseum)

The use of natural light is achieved by the application of openings on the roof. From the

photos in aerial view, we can find a series of geometric courtyards carved into the earth.

Although there are no clear axes above ground, Tadao Ando still used the well designed paths

to create a varied sequence within a configuration of simple, geometrical forms in sunken

concrete structure. He changed the point of view and pulled the exhibition into focus by

creating a series of lookouts, focal points and a certain route to be followed. The visitors’

journey is full of light and dark, open and closed experience. As the starting point of this

journey, Chichu Garden is situated along the road from the ticket centre to the entrance. It

represented the image of scenery that inspired by Claude Monet’s painting ‘Monet’s garden’.

Chichu Garden features a pond with nearly two hundreds types of plants and trees that

appeared in Monet’s woks, reflecting the changing light and colours over the course of a day

and through the four seasons.128

The three exhibition spaces are not final destinations, but

stoping points along a continuous path. The legible path sequence not only orients visitors

physiologically, but psychologically and spiritually as well, preparing visitors for the

destinations of their spiritual journey.

In Ando’s design, there is usually a free standing concrete wall leading through to the main

entrance. The wall is inserted into the main block at an angle and sweeps through the

landscape, which is one of his design elements, emphasizing the polarity between the natural

and artificial. The leading path and walls tend to abstract the materials employed, determine

the location of openings and control the amount and the direction of light introduced. In its

internal spaces, its expression of enclosure and semi enclosure give lights character in its

simple but various spatial composition. These features are all exemplified in this project.

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Apparently, this project was built on the basis of geometrical order, enclosing a few sunken

courtyards and introducing natural elements such as sunlight, wind and rain. However,

connecting to his early ideas, we maybe find these galleries were not created as parts of a

whole unity, but rather were all part of a series of isolated solutions to the problem of

harmonizing architecture with the environment. In this regard, this project can be viewed as a

complex of sukiya style architecture. Ando expanded the concept of sukiya into the

underground and multi-levelled buildings. He actually attempts to create a vertical traditional

garden.

Figure 3.72(left) Chichu Art Museum in aerial view. Figure 3.73 (middle) Visiting route guildlines.

Figure 3.74 (right) Chichu Garden. Online source: HTTP:<http://benesse-artsite.jp/en/art/chichu.html>

(accessed 9 April, 2017)

To sum up, the highlights of this building include building underground, the use of the natural

light and the design of the movement sequence. This design approach of building

underground has appeared in the earlier time in Kengo Kuma’s works Kiro-san Observatory,

built in 1994. After making a few design proposals, Kuma gradually realized that any convex

form on a hill is an object in the environment. Instead of building a monument on the hill,

Kuma made a polar opposite of an object. His intention was ‘to make the polar opposite of an

object’ by ‘exploring the potential of a form that was concave and thoroughly passive rather

than assertive’.129

From Kuma’s statements, this approach is inspired by Bruno Taut who

tried to translate the philosophy of Immanuel Kant130

into architecture, which is based on an

awareness of dichotomies between subject and object. Taut abhorred object, believing that

architecture was more a matter of relationships. In the Hyūga Residence, he explored the

relationship between architecture and the environment, world and subject, matter and

consciousness. This underground work inspired Japanese architects. With the respect with

nature and the consideration of topography, building buried or partly buried in nature can

minimize the impact on environment. This has been used as an approach to deal with the

relationship between big volume building and nature. It can be considered as the origin of

Kuma’s design methodology of ‘erase’ architecture in the early 1990s. After ten years later,

Tadao Ando adopted the similar approach to indicate his turning point from form to

formlessness. Different from Kengo Kuma’s ‘anti-object’ idea, Tadao Ando used solid

geometric concrete boxes to transfer the object-like into underground. The structure was

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buried or partly buried underground in order to leave undisturbed atmosphere of the site and

rebuild the inner spiritual world.

Next let me have a further explanation of this approach of formlessness through the other

work from Tadao Ando, that is ‘The Hill of the Buddha’.

2) The Hill of the Buddha, Makamanai Takino Cemetery, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, 2016

Figure 3.75 Four seasons of the Buddha. (photo by author on December 2016 and online source)

This project has a site area of 180 hectares and it is located in a cemetery near Sapporo, Japan.

The project itself includes an existing Buddha statue, an artificial hill in gentle slope with

150,000 lavenders, a concrete forty-metre approach tunnel, a pool, two semi-opened circular

pavilions, linking by a pathway. The existing Buddha status is 13.5 meters in height and 1,500

tons in weight. It was made of solid stone and has been sculpted fifteen years ago. From the

photos (Figure 3.77) of former site, the Buddha status stood alone in the field, facing to a

widely open square. Ando used the opposite way to show the respect with this sacred place by

hiding the body of the Buddha. He described that his design idea was to cover the Buddha

below the head with a hill of lavender plants. He called this idea the ‘head-out’ Buddha.131

Figure 3.76 Construction progress in The Hill of the Buddha. Online source:

HTTP:<http://www.hangjianet.com/v5/topicDetail?id=15048625349690000> (accessed 7 April, 2017)

Figure 3.77 Before (left) and after (right) the construction in The Hill of the Buddha. (photo by author

on December 2016 and online source)

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To approach this idea, he simplified the layout and form, and the only building material

employed in this project is concrete. The character of the geometrical composition is

reinforced by top lighting and a forceful central axis. The axis, which imposes a strong order,

subdivides the site plan of simple geometrical forms. By coincidence, the shape of the site

plan responds with the symbol of a cross, which is the religious sign originated from ancient

European cities. This case indicates the spirits of Europe and Asia to be unified

fundamentally.

Figure 3.78(left) The aerial view of the site. Figure 3.79(middle) The pathway in Spring, Summer and

Autumn. Figure 3.80(right) The pathway in Winter.

Figure 3.81(left) Water garden in The Hill of the Buddha. Figure 3.82(middle), Figure 3.83(right), A

narrow and straight pathway formed by heavy snow. (photo by author on December 2016 and online

source)

The Buddha is accessible through a forty-meter concrete tunnel. Visitors are led through a

long pathway linking with different spaces in sequence before arriving at a rotunda embracing

the statue which is the only place visitors can see the whole Buddha statue. Tadao Ando

designed a deliberate spatial sequence from the entrance through the tunnel leading the way to

the Buddha, whose head is enriched by a halo of sky through the opening. The texture on the

concrete in the tunnel responds with the ray of natural light. The feeling of experience is

changing as visitors move through the spaces which also vary with the change of seasons. The

transitional path is a simple linear element. The sight through to the main prayer hall is

straight. However, the path leading to the Buddha status can be changed in the different

seasons. Most of the year, visitor has to walk around the water garden (Figure 3.79, 3.81)

located in the central axis and acts like a sacred boundary. The pool with circular detour

opens wide in contrast to the path. However, during the winter, the water in the pool is frozen

and is covered by ice and snow. The pool and circular pathway disappear (Figure 3.80, 3.82,

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3.83). Visitors can make a straight approach to Buddha status by walking above the pool

connected directly by the tunnel. By considering the climate’s changing, Ando provides an

expression with various adaptations and possibilities. In this respect, well considered

landscaping become important part of his design. By using the changing nature with weather

and seasons, the place is filled with fresh green verdure in spring, pale purple lavenders in

summer and silky white snow in winter, creating a dynamic scene within its natural

surroundings. According to Tadao Ando, ‘The project might be considered on the scale of

landscape rather than architecture.’132

In this respect, he created a unified architectural

concept blurring the boundary between inside and outside. Moreover, the natural elements

such as water and light play an important role in this design. Light is a mediator between

space and form. As I mentioned before, Ando considered nature not only as something to be

looked at, but also as elements to be listened to, touched and sensed. In this work, the concept

of nature is expanded into a broader field including light, wind, fog, rain, water, and snow.

All these natural elements become the dynamic composition involved in the whole project.

In addition, responding to the function of a cemetery, which is a place for burying the dead,

Ando designed a ‘grave’ to indicate the experience to the ‘Shrine’. In Japanese tradition,

‘Shinto’ literally ‘the way of the gods’, is a form of animism where gods pervade all aspects

of life and natural phenomena including the wind, sun, moon, water, mountains and trees. It

can be seen as the underlying force behind the deep appreciation of beauty in nature and the

changing of seasons that is the foundation of Japanese art and culture. The distinctive quality

of Japanese culture, like visual art, design, performance, architecture, customs and lifestyle,

can be attributed to the merging of its indigenous ‘Shinto’ beliefs of nature worship. In this

project, the outer expression is invisible. The water garden, the sunlight from the sky and the

natural scenery overhead create a blessed moment.

The womb-like concrete tunnel and a rotunda with concrete shell buried by an artificial hill

are to enclose the space, which is opposite to the former open spatial experience. Ando turned

the whole site into a semi-enclosed space with the sense of solemnity and spirituality. The use

of natural light is as a medium of symbolic meaning and spiritual experience in this religious

space. By turning the objective space into a site without objects, this approach can be

considered as about formlessness. Ando applied the contrast on the artificial and the natural,

the enclosed and the exposed, the emptiness and the infinity, to create mysterious spaces with

religion consideration. The new construction melts into the nature and leads visitor into a

unique experience with nature and the principles of Buddhism in a spiritual way. It also

responds with the description from Frampton, ‘Critical Regionalism may find its governing

inspiration in such things as the range and quality of the local light, or in a tectonic derived

from a peculiar structural mode, or in the topography of a given site.’133

In this case, the only background of the theme Buddha is minimized and purified by sky. The

path through to the Buddha is guided and led by a sacred light from the ceiling opening in

main hall where accommodates the Buddha statue. Ando did not create a symbol of the dead

164

but a place to remember the dead through transferring the former graveyard into a

landscaping garden. By applying this way, he creates an oriental tomb with a unique religious

space without any traditional visual elements.

Figure 3.84 Spatial sequence in The Hill of the Buddha. (Source: Domus China Domus, Vol.116)

From Chichu Art Museum to the Hill of the Buddha, Ando gradually buried his symbolic

concrete frame into the earth. Probably we can say, whatever material he uses, it will be

hidden and invisible, such as the dark showroom in Minamidera134

. From the early analysis of

his discourses, it is clearly that he only focuses on spirit and emotional part which building

can express. In these two projects, Ando provided an intangible spiritual expression by

considering a real experience of vision, hearing, taste, smell and touch. He erased the

boundary between the inside and the outside. The opening on the ceiling introduces the

natural light and accordingly guides visitor a clear and straight direction. All these natural

elements and personal senses result in the contrast of positivity and negativity of space,

emphasizing the harmony among nature, architecture and human being.

165

Chapter 8: Analysis and Discussion

According to the statements above, though the four projects are quite different, they have

certain shared traits. In Stone Museum, the whole complex is designed as an art walk of stone

pieces. Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art transfers the building itself into a

scene found in the paintings of Ando Hiroshige. In Chichu Art Museum, the building itself

became an artwork of light and nature, which is expressed in the theme of the three permanent

collections. To respond with an environmental motif, the Hill of the Buddha was designed as

a tomb without visual form, a tomb that changes with the seasons. This thought is not new,

but articulated by the Chinese philosopher Laozi. He mentioned that what is important is what

is contained, not the container. The four works turned the form into formlessness, and turned

the container into the contents. Instead of being closed and self-contained, these designs are

open or semi-open to a free, ambiguous field.

On the other hand, from the general review above, these works apparently do not seem to

have any special connection with the Japanese traditions in form or in materiality, yet we can

sense the presence of traditional aesthetics behind the high technology. In the four projects

analysed above, the design of the whole sequnence of movement is like the design of roji

space. The whole projects present a personal experience with emotions, rather than that with

visual forms. The concept of nature reflected in their works is distant from the apparent

features of the traditional sukiya style, but in fact is deeply influenced by that tradition.

Furthermore, the attitude toward an appreciation of shadow is closely related to the concept of

wabi-sabi. It was exemplified in the works of Ando, Kuma, and many other Japanese

architects, including the low and deep eaves which produce shadows, using layered paper

instead of transparent materials. The subtle transformations caused by delicate contrasts of

light and shade effected the connections with nature. The essential roles of emptiness and

darkness are unique features in the East Asian artistic expression.

Through the analysis of the discourses and design works from the architects in my study, the

ideas of Japanese traditional aesthetics turn out to have crucial clues to understanding the

inner bases of the abstract methods in contemporary architecture of Japan. The new approach

of Japanese design is related to the regeneration of Japanese invisible tradition and the

engagement with an expanded concept of nature. In this respect, I categorise the

contemporary Japanese design works, and summarise into the three main characterises:

‘provisionality’, ‘indefinition’, and ‘naturalism’.

‘Provisionality’ here not only means something that is short-lived and easily amended or

added to. In Japanese urban environment, architecture is in constant growth and change. For

example, the Grand Shrine of Ise has been rebuilt every twenty years. On one hand, the

frequency of natural disasters has taught Japanese not to regard buildings as permanency. On

the other hand, the four seasons are extremely clear in Japan, and the changes through the

166

year are dramatic. Seasonal references are an indispensable part of Japanese culture.135

The

spiritual aesthetics or invisible tradition reflected in the theorised design mentioned above

was linked to the oriental philosophy of impermanence, as well as to the concept of

‘provisionality’.136

‘Indefinition’ here is defined as a blurring of the boundary. The attitude to nature is quite

different between East Asia and Europe. Traditional East Asian architecture paid more

attention on the sensitive inflection of each contiguous part rather than the logical system

which unifies the whole. In the Eastern tradition, it is very important to respect the

relationship between architecture and nature, life and nature. They navigate the depths of time,

transform space through light and shadow, advocate dialogue between people and nature, and

practice the philosophy of harmony between heaven and humanity. The boundary between the

two states is ambiguous and relative. This is different from European architecture, in which

surrounding walls divide the interior from the exterior to form two separate worlds.137

Traditional Japanese space is not expressed directly in form, but rather in sensitivity. Due to

the blurring of boundary, the new experience stimulates various potential possibilities and

interactions among the users, architecture and nature. The space created is not fixed but is

changing organically and variably.

‘Naturalism’ emphasizes an attitude that previses the importance of nature. In order to

examine the working methods of Japanese contemporary architects, they should be

understood by considering the fundamental differences between Euro-American and East

Asian attitudes toward nature. The European modern architectural ideas were not

environment focused, but architecture dominated. Japanese contemporary architects, however,

present a reverse relationship between architecture and nature. In this study, both Kuma and

Ando regard nature as a dominate position, and architecture as a supporting role. This is best

reflected in the concept of ‘anti-object’ proposed by Kuma138

. ‘Naturalism’ is also reflected in

the expression of growth which is the feature of all living being. A building is a form of life

with personality and emotion. It experiences the process of birth, growth, and decay. It is

designed as an incomplete status, allowing possibility for growth.

The three features I have identified above have profound links with Japanese culture. The four

design works demonstrated the concept of sensation and physical experiences, which mainly

influenced by Japanese traditional aesthetics. For example, the application of light, dark and

the layered tones of various kinds of shadows can be found in many design works in

contemporary Japan. The use of natural light and the praise for the appreciation of shadow are

closely related to the concept of wabi-sabi. The Japanese aesthetic concepts, such as

wabi-sabi, emphasize nothingness, and empty space, to represent the beauty of simplicity, and

concentrate on inner feeling rather than outward appearance. The design approaches, such as

‘boundary blurring’, ‘particlised interface’, ‘transparency’, ‘layering’, ‘the use of natural

light’, ‘erasing architecture’, ‘sequence of movement’, ‘building underground’, and so on,

have a close linkage with the characteristics of indefinition, provisionality, and naturalism.

167

This is in the cultural framework of wabi-sabi’s spiritual value, corresponding to the ideas of

imperfection, impermanence, and incompleteness. (see chapter 2). From form to formlessness,

from visible to invisible, from tangible to intangible, the approaches turn into emphasis on the

characters of negativity. I would like to use the phrase ‘strategy of negation’ to summarize

this system of methods.

Features of Contemporary Japanese Design Features of Japanese Wabi-sabi Aesthetics

● indefinition

● provisionality

● naturalism

● imperfection

● impermanence

● incompleteness

Chart 3.6: The similarity/comparability between the features of contemporary Japanese architecture

and the wabi-sabi aesthetics.

168

Notes

1 Stewart, David B., The Making of a Modern Japanese Architecture: 1868 to the Present,

Tokyo; New York: Kodansha International, 1987. pp.13-32. 2 Wesern architects included Josiah Conder (1852-1920, 1877-1920 in Japan) from England,

Charles Alfred Chastel de Boinville (1850-1897, 1873-1881 in Japan) from France,

C.V.Capelletti (-1887?) from Italy, Hermann Ende (1829-1907, 1886-1887 in Japan) from

Germany. The visiting Western architects included the American architect Frank Lloyd

Wright (1867-1959, 1905-1923? in Japan), the Czech American architect Antonin Raymond

(1888-1976, 1926-1939 in Japan), the German architect Bruno Taut (1880-1938, 1932-1933

in Japan), and the German architect Walter Gropius (1883-1969, May- Aug 1954 in Japan).

They brought and exerted a profound influence on Japanese modern architecture.

Bognár, Botond, The new Japanese architecture, New York: Rizzoli, 1990. p.35. Notes 4. 3 Stewart, The Making of a Modern Japanese Architecture.

4 It is said that these Japanese-style rooms, which are connected to each other and covered

with tatami matting, were not part of Wright’s original drawings. They were designed by

Wright’s disciples Endo Arata and Minami Makoto. From visiting guidelines in Yodoko

Guest House. 5 Kuma, Kengo, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, London:

Architectural Association, c2008. p.27. 6 Kurokawa, Kishō, New wave Japanese architecture, London: Academy Editions; Berlin:

Ernst & Sohn; New York: distibuted to the trade in the United States by St. Martin's Press,

1993. p.7. 7 Bognár, Botond, The new Japanese architecture, New York: Rizzoli, 1990. p.11.

8 The original building was damaged in the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923.

9 From the visitors’ guidebook in Kagawa Prefectural Government Office East Building.

10 Botond, The new Japanese architecture, p.12.

11 Botond, The new Japanese architecture

12 An international organization for the documentation and conservation of buildings, sites,

and neighbours of the Modern Movement. 13

From the visitors’ guidebook in Kagawa Prefectural Government Office East Building. 14

Suzuki, Hiroyuki, Reyner Banham, and Katsuhiro Kobayashi, Contemporary Architecture

of Japan 1958-1984, London: The Architectural Press, 1985. p.5. 15

Hiroyuki, Contemporary Architecture of Japan 1958-1984, p.6. 16

Ibid. 17

Kawazoe, Noboru, Metabolism 1960: Proposals for a New Urbanism, Tokyo: Bijutsu

Shuppansha, 1960. 18

Kurokawa, Kishō, Metabolism in Architecture, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1977,

pp.23–40. 19

Kurokawa, Kishō, New wave Japanese architecture, London: Academy Editions; Berlin:

Ernst & Sohn; New York: distibuted to the trade in the United States by St. Martin's Press,

1993. p.14. 20

Kishō, New wave Japanese architecture, p.13.

169

21

Kishō, New wave Japanese architecture, p.8. 22

Koolhaas, Rem, Project Japan: Metabolism Talks, Koln: Taschen, 2011. p.697. 23

Sha, Yongjie, “Xihua” de Licheng: Zhong Ri Jianzhu Jindaihua Guocheng Bijiao Yanjiu

(A comparative research on development of architecture between modern China and Japan in

modern times), Shanghai: Shanghai Kexuejishu Chubanshe, 2001. p.44. 24

Stewart, The Making of a Modern Japanese Architecture, p.48. 25

Stewart, The Making of a Modern Japanese Architecture, pp.48-62. 26

Hagenberg, Roland, and Wang Zengrong (trans.), 20 Japanese Architects: Interviews and

Photos, Taipei: Garden City Publishers, 2009. 27

Kurokawa, Kishō, ‘The Special Character of the Japanese Tradition’, New wave Japanese

architecture, London: Academy Editions; Berlin: Ernst & Sohn; New York: distibuted to the

trade in the United States by St. Martin's Press, 1993. p.15. 28

Antonin Raymond was a former assistant to Frank Lloyd Wright. 29

Reynolds, Jonathan M. Maekawa Kunio and the Emergence of Japanese Modernist

Architecture, Berkeley; London: University of California Press, 2001. 30

Reynolds, Maekawa Kunio and the Emergence of Japanese Modernist Architecture, p.2. 31

Kestenbaum, Jackie (ed.), Emerging Japanese architects of the 1990s, New

York:Columbia University Press, 1991. p.3. 32

From the visitors’ guidebook in Kagawa Prefectural Government Office East Building. 33

Hiroyuki, Contemporary Architecture of Japan 1958-1984, p.17. 34

Stewart, The Making of a Modern Japanese Architecture. 35

Koolhaas, Rem, Project Japan: Metabolism Talks, Koln: Taschen, 2011. p.18. 36

Kurokawa, Kishō, New wave Japanese architecture, London: Academy Editions; Berlin:

Ernst & Sohn; New York: distibuted to the trade in the United States by St. Martin's Press,

1993. 37

Ibid. 38

Kishō, New wave Japanese architecture, p.17. 39

Ibid. 40

Online Available HTTP:< http://benesse-artsite.jp/en/> (accessed 10 September, 2017) 41

Kishō, New wave Japanese architecture, p.17. 42

According to Project Omishima 2015 visiting guideline. 43

“Toyo Ito: this year's Pritzker laureate reflects on his success, telling Claudia Hildner about

his early life under Kikutake and why architects must now pull together”, The Architectural

Review, April 2013, Vol. 233 Issue 1394, p.18. 44

Ito, Toyo, Toyo Ito: blurring architecture, Milano: Charta; Suermondt (D): Ludwig

Museum Aachen, 1999. pp.50-9. 45

Kuma, Kengo, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, London:

Architectural Association, c2008. 46

Kuma, Kengo, Yukio Futagawa (ed.), ‘Weak Architecture’, Kengo Kuma, Series: GA

architect, 19, Tokyo: A.D.A. Edita Tokyo, 2005. p.9. 47

Kuma, Kengo, ‘Earthquakes and Nature’, Kengo Kuma: Atmospheric Works 2000-2014,

Series: AV monographs; 167-168, Madrid, España: Arquitectura Viva, 2014. p.17.

170

48

Online Available HTTP: < http://kuma-lab.arch.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/thesis.html > (accessed 17

June, 2015) 49

Koolhaas, Rem, Project Japan: Metabolism Talks, Koln: Taschen, 2011. p.13. 50

Kurokawa, Kishō, ‘The Special Character of the Japanese Tradition’, New wave Japanese

architecture, London: Academy Editions; Berlin: Ernst & Sohn; New York: distibuted to the

trade in the United States by St. Martin's Press, 1993. pp.7-19. 51

Kishō, ‘The Special Character of the Japanese Tradition’, p.7. 52

Bognár, Botond, Material immaterial: the new work of Kengo Kuma, New York: Princeton

Architectural Press, 2009. p.18. 53

Online Available HTTP: < http://kuma-lab.arch.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/index.html > (accessed 17

June, 2015) 54

Online Available HTTP: < http://kkaa.co.jp/books/ > (accessed 25 May, 2015) 55

Kuma, Kengo, Yukio Futagawa (ed.); ‘Interview: Gaps, Freedom and Ethics’, Kengo

Kuma, Tōkyō: A.D.A. Edita, 2009. p.8. 56

Kuma, Kengo, Xin Jian Zhu Ru Men (Shin·Kenchiku Nyumon), Fan Yiqi (trans.), Beijing:

China CITIC Press, 2011, p.V. 57

Kengo, Xin Jian Zhu Ru Men, p.19. 58

Kuma, Kengo, Yukio Futagawa (ed.), ‘Interview: Gaps, Freedom and Ethics’, Kengo

Kuma, Tōkyō: A.D.A. Edita, 2009. p.8. 59

Ibid. 60

Ibid. 61

Kuma, Kengo, Zi ran de jian zhu (Natural Architecture), Chen Jing (trans.), Ji Nan:

Shandong Renmin Chubanshe, 2010. p.10. 62

Kuma, Kengo, ‘From Erasing Architecture to Organic Architecture’, Studies in organic

/ Kengo Kuma & Associates. Tokyo: TOTO, 2009. pp.8-63. 63

Kuma, Kengo, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, London:

Architectural Association, c2008. p.14. 64

Kuma, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, p.13. 65

Kuma, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, pp.4-32. 66

Kuma, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, p.19. 67

Kuma, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, p.25. 68

Kuma, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, p.27. 69

Kuma, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, pp.53-4. 70

Kuma, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, p.43. 71

Kuma, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, p.22. 72

Kuma, Kengo, ‘Particle on Horizontal Plane’, works and projects Kengo Kuma, Milan:

Electa Architecture, 2006, p.220. firstly published in JA The Japan Architect, 38, Summer

2000. 73

Ibid. 74

Kuma, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, p.99. 75

Kuma, Kengo, Fu Jian Zhu (Architecture of Defeat), Ji Nan: Shandong Renmin

Chubanshe, 2008. pp.124-6.

171

76

Pallasmaa, Juhani, ‘Lyrical Atmospheres’, Kengo Kuma: Atmospheric Works 2000-2014,

Series: AV monographs; 167-168, Madrid, España: Arquitectura Viva, 2014. p.9. 77

Kuma, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, p.106. 78

Kuma, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, pp.100-1. 79

Ibid. 80

Kuma, ‘From Erasing Architecture to Organic Architecture’, p.60. 81

Kuma, Kengo, Xin Jian Zhu Ru Men (Shin·Kenchiku Nyumon), Fan Yiqi (trans.), Beijing:

China CITIC Press, 2011. p.61. 82

Kuma, ‘From Erasing Architecture to Organic Architecture’, pp.50-6. 83

Kuma, ‘From Erasing Architecture to Organic Architecture’, pp.56-60. 84

Kuma, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, pp.112-3. 85

Datum from Kuma, Kengo, Chang suo yuan lun, Wuhan: Huazhong University of Science

and Technology Press, 2014; and Kengo Kuma, Seoul: C3 Publishing Co. 2007. 86

Source: the visitors’ guidebook in Stone Museum. 87

Kuma, Kengo, Zi ran de jian zhu (Natural Architecture), Chen Jing (trans.), Ji Nan:

Shandong Renmin Chubanshe, 2010. 88

Kuma, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, p.116. 89

Kuma, Zi ran de jian zhu, pp.47-9. 90

Kengo Kuma, Seoul: C3 Publishing Co. 2007. p.212. 91

Datum from Kuma, Kengo, Chang suo yuan lun, Wuhan: Huazhong University of Science

and Technology Press, 2014; and Kengo Kuma, Seoul: C3 Publishing Co. 2007. 92

Kengo Kuma, Seoul: C3 Publishing Co. 2007. p.224. 93

Ibid. 94

Kuma, Zi ran de jian zhu, pp.77-9. 95

Kuma, Zi ran de jian zhu, pp.94-5. 96

Tanizaki, Juníchirō, Thomas J. Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker (trans.), In Praise of

Shadows, London: Cape, 1991. pp.17-8. 97

Ando, Tadao, and Matthew Hunter (trans. and ed.), Tadao Ando: Conversations with

students, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2012. p.13. 98

Online Available HTTP: < http://www.pritzkerprize.com/1995/bio> (accessed 9 April,

2017) 99

Online Available HTTP: <https://pediaview.com/openpedia/Tadao_Ando#cite_note-4 >

(accessed 9 April, 2017) 100

From the guidebook in Ando Museum. 101

Ando, Tadao, ‘A Wedge in Circumstances’, Japan Architect, No.243, 1977. Frampton,

Kenneth (ed.), Tadao Ando: Buildings, Projects, and Writings, New York: Rizzoli

International Publications, Inc. 1984. pp.134-5. 102

‘Interview with Tadao Ando’, conducted and translated by Toshio Okumura. Originally

published in The Princeton Journal: Thematic Studies in Architecture, Volume I, Ritual,

Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press, 1983. Frampton, Kenneth (ed.), Tadao Ando:

Buildings, Projects, and Writings, New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. 1984,

p.131.

172

103

Frampton, Kenneth (ed.), Tadao Ando: Buildings, Projects, and Writings, New York:

Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. 1984, p.84. 104

Ando, Tadao, and Massimo Vignelli. Tadao Ando: Light and Water, New York:

Monacelli, 2003. 105

Ando, Tadao, and Matthew Hunter (trans. and ed.), Tadao Ando: Conversations with

students, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2012. p.41. 106

Ando, Tadao, ‘From Self-Enclosed Modern Architecture Towards Universality’, Japan

Architect, no.301, 1982. Frampton, Kenneth (ed.), Tadao Ando: Buildings, Projects, and

Writings, New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. 1984. p.142. 107

Frampton, Tadao Ando: Buildings, Projects, and Writings, p.140. 108

Ando, ‘From Self-Enclosed Modern Architecture Towards Universality’, p.141. 109

Ando, ‘From Self-Enclosed Modern Architecture Towards Universality’, pp.140-1. 110

Frampton, Tadao Ando: Buildings, Projects, and Writings, p.84. 111

Frampton, Tadao Ando: Buildings, Projects, and Writings, p.38. 112

Online Available HTTP:< https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roji> (accessed 12 February,

2018) 113

“Interview with Tadao Ando”, conducted and translated by Toshio Okumura. Originally

published in The Princeton Journal: Thematic Studies in Architecture, Volume I, Ritual,

Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press, 1983. Frampton, Kenneth (ed.), Tadao Ando:

Buildings, Projects, and Writings, New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. 1984,

p.130. 114

Ando, Tadao Ando: Conversations with students, p.20. 115

Ando, Tadao Ando: Conversations with students, pp.23-4. 116

Ando, Tadao Ando: Conversations with students, pp.29-38. 117

Ando, Tadao Ando: Conversations with students, p.38. 118

Frampton, Tadao Ando: Buildings, Projects, and Writings, p.6. 119

Ando, Tadao Ando: Conversations with students, p.45. 120

Ibid. 121

Ando, Tadao Ando: Conversations with students, p.24. 122

Ibid. 123

Jodidio, Philip, Tadao Ando at Naoshima, New York: Rizzoli; Enfield: Hi Marketing,

2005, p.8 124

Kishō, New wave Japanese architecture, p.17. 125

Datum from: Chichu Art Museum: Tadao Ando builds for Walter De Maria, James

Turrell, and Claude Monet, Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, c2005. 126

Source: the visitors’ guidebook in Chichu Art Museum, 2015. 127

Ibid. 128

Ibid. 129

Kuma, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, p.52. 130

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was a German philosopher who is widely considered to be a

central figure of modern philosophy. Kant believed that the concepts of space and time are

173

integral to all human experience based on the subject–object problem. According to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant 131

From Vitra Magazine. Online Available

HTTP:<https://www.vitra.com/en-gb/magazine/details/the-hill-of-the-buddha> (accessed 18

April, 2017) 132

Ibid. 133

Frampton, ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism’, p.21. 134

As one of Art House Projects in Naoshima, Minamidera design by Tadao Ando is

completed in 1999. 135

Kishō, New wave Japanese architecture, p.8. 136

Ibid. 137

SANAA Ltd, Luis Fernández-Galiano (eds.), SANAA : Sejima & Nishizawa, AV

Monographs 171-172, 2015, Madrid, España: Arquitectura Viva, 2014, p.9. 138

Kuma, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture.

174

PART 4: REFLECTION AND CONCLUSION

Chapter 9: Comparison

9.1 China and Japan: contrasted and compared

According to the above studies in part two and part three, the development of modern and

contemporary architecture in China and in Japan are related to their respective historical,

political, economic and social conditions. To make it clearer, it might be useful to make a

comparison and contrast on them in the historical and contemporary framework.

Firstly, let me compare and summarise the social history and architectural trends of China and

of Japan. According to my historical review in chapter three and chapter six, modern

architecture appeared in China in the 1840s, approximately twenty to thirty years earlier than

that in Japan, but the progress is relatively slow and irresolute. Japanese modern architects

came into being in the 1870s, due to a thorough renovation in the early modernization.

However, China did not appear its own modern architect until the 1920s. The development of

modern architecture in China was far behind that in Japan. There is a forty to fifty years gap

between the two countries. Japanese architects obtained an international recognization and

respect much earlier than Chinese architects. In the post-war period, after experiencing a

series of complex historical events and destructive natural disasters, Japanese architects

gradually developed their unique viewpoints and understandings. And it was gradually

accepted and recognized in Euro-American mainstream. The achievement of Japan in

architecture maintained a leading position. The situation in China is quite different. Due to

complex political events in the 1960s and 1970s, and economic reform and opening-up policy

launched in 1978, China just restarted the engine for the development. Entering the 1990s,

Chinese contemporary design began to have a critical voice, and Japanese design also

experienced a turning point because of social transformation. This is a critical period in both

countries.

Historical development of architecture in China in Japan

Modern architecture started the 1840s the 1860s

Modern architects appeared the 1920s the 1870s

Contemporary critical practices happened the 1990s the 1950s

Chart 4.1 Differences on China and Japan in the historical framework.

Let me analyse the reasons. In modern and contemporary society, the development of

architecture in both countries encountered influences of Euro-American architects and

scholars, the efforts of native architects, and restrictions of the political, economic and social

conditions. Firstly, the contrast was embodied in their different attitudes and responses to the

Euro-American pressure. In the nineteenth century, they both open their doors to foreign trade

and relations. However, the modernisation in Japan was much earlier than that in China,

although China firstly opened its door to the Europe in 1840, almost three decades earlier than

Meiji Restoration of Japan in 1868. One of the main reasons was the attitude to the European

175

intrusion. Due to its defeat in the Opium War, China was forced to establish a system of

unequal treaties. In China, the advanced modern architectural technology was not brought by

Euro-American architects and engineers until the late nineteenth century. China implemented

western innovations from industry revolution and attempted to modernize only at a superficial

level.

Comparing with the Chinese passive acceptance, Japan was more receptive to the European

pressure, and more efficient in modernisation and industrialisation. Japan learnt the lesson

from China’s earlier experience, and recognized the importance of modernisation with the

help of the Euro-American. Supported by the government, foreign technicians were brought

to Japan and the increasing numbers of Japanese young students were sent to western

countries, mostly Europe to directly learn and work with European architects. A systematic

theoretical knowledge of architecture related engineering and industry in a modern sense was

gradually established, which also incorporated a higher education system.

Due to different historical timing, and based on the attitude to Euro-American influences,

China and Japan had different experiences in the progress of modernisation and

westernisation. As Peter Rowe mentioned, in the case of Japan, since the Meiji Restoration, it

involved straightforward embracement, followed by partial rejection and lastly a thorough

assimilation. In the case of China, the evolution was more varied, with repeated processes of

acceptance, rejection, and revolution.1

Despite all that, generally speaking, they all have experienced the process of acceptance,

rejection and transformation of the western models. Former practitioners of the first

generation studied in Euro-America, bringing back knowledge about design methods and

construction technologies. They all interpreted and transformed their learning and findings

from the West, which later have been questioned and also injected into the local context.

Although there is a gap in the modern architectural development of both countries, in the

recent period of enormous economic growth, both countries have faced similar situation,

including population growth, high density, mass urbanization, increasing pressure on natural

resources, megacity phenomenon, and so on. The Chart 4.3 shows GDP tendency in Japan

and China from 1960 to 2016. Their respective economic developments present a different

rhythm and trend. We can see that there has been a sudden and steep drop in the GDP of

Japan in 1995. As we have known, in that year the Great Hanshin and Awaji earthquake took

place, and the Tokyo subway sarin attack happened. The Japanese economy has been

influenced seriously by these disasters. After that, Japan was in the stage of fluctuation. When

the economy started to revive since 2007, however, the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in

2011 brought Japan into predicament again. On the contrary, there was a sharp rise in China

since 2005, which is a period in which a new generation Chinese architects were making their

debut. Responding to the different social situations, architects in both countries worked on

conceptual exercises in staging exhibitions, doing research, producing essays to develop a

critical approach. It is necessary and significant to connect China and Japan for a further

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discovery of the origin if any, and to explore future tendencies in contemporary architectural

practices.

Chart 4.2: Background and brief history of Chinese and Japanese modern and contemporary

architecture.

Chart 4.3 GDP (Trillion USD) Comparison between Japan and China from 1960 to 2016.

Source: GDP data from World Bank online source, updated on 18 Sep 2017

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Based on the studies in part two and part three, differences of features, approaches, attitudes

and relationships in contemporary design can be summarised as below table:

in China in Japan

● regeneration, reflexivity, regionalism ● indefinition, provisionality, naturalism

● visible tradition and intangible spirit ● invisible traditions combined with spiritual

values

● handicraft + low technology ● handicraft + high technology

● tradition materials ● material intrinsic quality rather than

material hierarchy

● less concerned with religion ● have a close linkage with religion

● regionalism ● compatible between globalisation and

localisation

● local practices ● global practices and influence

● living in the nature ● connecting with nature

● reconnect the time between the present and

the past

● reconnect the space between nature and

people

The above discussion is based on the angles of modern and contemporary history in

architecture related in social, economic and political development. The features of

contemporary design are also exemplified in their architectural practices.

Firstly, the layouts of works from Li and Kuma can be read easily from their two-dimensional

drawings. While the design from Wang and Ando have more abstract expressions from their

conceptual draft in the schematic design stage. This is exemplified by their producing method

of hand drawing and construction without elevation drawings. Secondly, the feature of

fragment is obvious in the façade of design works from Li and Kuma. They considered that

the construction elements are from the part to the whole. Different from them, it looks that

Wang and Ando regard the construction as a whole box or a nested box. The highlights of the

building only can be achieved by people’s entering the internal space. Thirdly, the spatial

experiences in the works of Li and Kuma are direct and clear. On the contrary, in Wang’s

works, people feel like wandering in the traditional garden which has a unique feature with

narrative. However, the feeling in experiencing Ando’s design is full of curiousness due to the

itinerary which is designed and organized brilliantly by Ando. Fourthly, the building

materials Li chose for his work were mostly natural and directly from the local area. However,

the projects from Ando were mainly built by concrete whatever the location and local weather.

The tectonic approaches in material are developed in the works of Wang and Kuma. Wang

has created new building methods by combining the recycled building materials and local

craftsmanship. Kuma has produced the synthetical building materials by using the

high-technology to improve the capability accord with new building codes while keep the

natural appearance of original materials. Fifthly, the four architects have different ways to use

and deal with natural light. For example, Li and Kuma introduced the effect of natural lights

through the arrangement of size and rhythm of particles. In Wang’s design works, the

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openings of the walls to allow the involvement of natural light is the key factor to control the

spatial experience. In Ando’s design, the light and shadow play important roles either to

emphasize the space in a sculptural way or as tones of a gentle light. Sixthly, from the view of

visitors and users, the experiential process in physical lightness and spatial fluidity is obtained

mostly through visual effect in Li and Kuma’s projects. However, Ando’s works enlightened

people into a level of mental or spiritual experience. Wang combined visual and spiritual

expressions to imitate the nature in traditional garden.

According to my exploration, the selected eight cases have differences in design strategies

and design approaches. I summarised these features as below diagram (Table 4.1) to have a

clearer comparison and contrast.

Architects Li Xiaodong Wang Shu Kengo Kuma Tadao Ando

Selected

cases

1. The Yuhu

Elementary

School, 2004

3. Xiangshan

Campus, China

Academy of Art,

Phase I&II, 2007

5. Stone Museum,

2000

7. Chichu Art

Museum,

2004

2. Bridge School,

2009

4. Ningbo History

Museum,

2008

6. Nakagawa-

machi Bato

Hiroshige

Museum of Art,

2000

8. The Hill of the

Buddha,

2016

Features in design

Layout 2D

(two-dimensional)

expression

Dynamic; 3D

(three-dimensiona

l) expression

2D

(two-dimensional)

expression

Dynamic; 3D

(three-dimensiona

l) expression

Façade Pixelated;

from the part to

the whole

Nature-like solid;

from the whole to

the part

Particalised;

from the part to

the whole

Solid geometry;

from the whole to

the part

Spatial

Experience

Direct Narrative Direct Itinerary

The use of Natural Tectonic Tectonic Concrete

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material (low-tech) (high-tech)

The use of

natural

light

Related to the

arrangement of

pixels

Through the

openings

Through the

size/rhythm of

particles

Light and shadow

in a sculptural

way and the tones

of a gentle light

Experiential

process

Visual Natural Visual Spiritual

Table 4.1 The features of cases in this research.

Some scholars have contributed the analyses on these four architects in different frameworks.

Among them, I chose the critiques focusing on their writings and practices in general as a

comparison with my research to discover how my findings are different from other scholars.

Zhou Rong2, as Li’s alumnus and colleague sharing a similar experience in education and

professorship, published an article ‘From the Chinese Space to Cultural “Bai sema”: Probings

into the Architectural Thinking and Practice of Li Xiaodong’ in the journal World

Architecture, in 2014. Zhou highlighted the five criteria to summarize Li’s reflexive approach.

Firstly, creating ‘the identity of being’ is to respond with nostalgia for traditional culture.

Secondly, Li tried to interconnect local thinking resource with global contemporary

architectural culture in which material appearance is weakened and formal perception is

downplayed. Thirdly, Li criticized ‘critical regionalism’ and developed his own manifesto

‘reflexive regionalism’ by adding three characters – integration, interaction and individuality.

Fourthly, emphasis on boundary through maneuvering architectural scale and enclosure of the

space is to produce an identified field not only space but also mental aura. Fifthly, Li’s

architectural philosophy is influenced by rustic simplicity and guard against weakness which

are rooted in Daoism thoughts.3

The main idea is strengthening boundary to distinguish identity. However, from the case

studies in chapter four, the boundary that Li created is fragile and impermanent such as local

earth, timber louvers and wooden stick cladding. In this respect, the approach is more like

blurring the boundary to connect building with nature, instead of intensifying field interface

which Zhou has argued in this essay.

Wang Shu, well known in China and the other countries especially since he was awarded by

Pritzker in 2012, has been studied, quoted and criticized as a sample of experimental architect

in contemporary era. Li Xiangning, Tong Ming, Ge Ming, Shi Jian, Li Kaisheng and many

other scholars have written dozens of articles mostly published in the journals World

Architecture (based in Beijing) and Time + Architecture (based in Shanghai).

I chose the essays from Tong Ming to make a further discovery. Tong Ming has a similar

educational background with Wang Shu. Both of them graduated from department of

architecture in Southeast Univesity (former Nanjing Institute of Technology).4 Both of them

had a further PhD research study in College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji

University, supervised by Qi Kang.5 Tong has taught in Tongji University since 1999. While

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Wang Shu came back Hang Zhou and worked as a professor in School of Architecture, China

Academy of Art.

As an alumni, colleague, and friend of Wang Shu, Tong Ming contributed a comprehensive

angle of view of analyses on discourses and design works of Wang Shu. Tong Ming is

grandson of Tong Jun who was one of the first generation architects in modern China to study

Chinese traditional gardens and the inspirational origin to Wang Shu. Tong Ming traced the

evolution of Wang’s thinking since he was an undergraduate in university in the early 1980s.

From Tong Ming’s argument, the character of experiencing exemplified in Wang’s works

comes from observation of everyday life in linong alleys and traditional residential areas in a

way similar to the ‘flat distance’ perspective in Chinese landscape painting. Wang’s critical

attitude comes from the rethinking on new urban development since the reform and opening

up in the 1980s. His master thesis and PhD thesis express a strong resistance to Chinese

reality. He proposed a new concept of ‘poetical structure of space’ in his master thesis.6

However, apart from Tong Ming’s statement, the relatedness and hidden clues to form Wang

Shu’s thought can be discovered. From the writings especially early publications, Wang is not

only inspired by Chinese traditional garden, but also western philosophy. After a thoughtful

understanding of European philosophy and theory, for example, Kevin Lynch’s work on the

perceptual form of urban environments, and quotations of ideas from Roland Barthes, Charles

Moore, Le Corbusier, Marcel Duchamp, Van Doesburg, Aldo van Eyck, Peter Eisenman,

Aldo Rossi, and so on,7 Wang Shu obtained speculative ability which supported his

theoretical foundation. Taking European modernism as a mirror, Wang Shu looked deeper

into the possibility of vernacular expression. His early works reflect a transition from

postmodernism to ‘critical regionalism’, from geometrical composition to poetical narrative.

He used the concept of traditional aesthetics in Chinese garden to explain his design ideas.

Even if he did not literally demonstrate his inspiration originated from European theory and

philosophy, it is approved in his writings.

The studies on Japanese architects in Euro-America were mostly published as collection

books of design works with prefaced by architect himself. As representative Japanese

architects attracting the attention from Euro-American scholars, Tadao Ando and Kengo

Kuma are frequently quoted and criticized in the publications on Japanese contemporary

architecture. Among them, Frampton criticized on both Kengo Kuma and Tadao Ando, and

mentioned that they belonged to a totally different generation.8 In the article ‘The

anti-objective architecture of Kengo Kuma’(2012),9 the author Frampton commented on

Kengo Kuma’s theory of anti-object. However, it is more like a review of Kuma’s book

Anti-Object, originally published in 2000 and translated into English in 2008. He did not

really understand the meaning of ‘anti-object’ proposed by Kuma. He described ‘Kuma’s

“anti-objective” architecture is anti-perspectival in that it is categorically antithetical to the

subject/object split of the occidental tradition.’10

However, from Kuma, the key point of

‘anti-object’ is making a connection between nature and building. In an earlier time, Botond

Bognár’s published articles ‘An architecture of dissolution? The work of Kengo

Kuma’(2005),11

and ‘Materiality and Immateriality in the Architecture of Kengo

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Kuma’(2009).12

In the first essay, Bognár made a brief introduction on Japanese modern

architecture since the end of World War II to give a historical background for tracing Kuma’s

transformation of his design ideas. He explained Kuma’s works ‘aspire to be more an illusion

than an object’.13

He continued this opinion in his second essay and described the appearance

of Kuma’s buildings is ‘comparable to low-resolution prints or photos that are out of focus or

in the process of fading’.14

It looks they have had a misunderstanding on the concept Kuma

proposed. According to Kuma, his focus is creating a relationship by breaking the boundary

enclosed by architecture. The purpose is to form an organic macrocosm under the framework

of nature.

This cultural confusion happened in an earlier time. Prior to the publication of Kenneth

Frampton’s book Modern Architecture: a Critical History (1985) in which it firstly

introduced Tadao Ando’s work as an example of critical regionalism, Frampton edited a

collection book Tadao Ando: Buildings, Projects, and Writings in 1984. It provides an

opportunity to English-speaking audience for reading the early writings from Ando which

were published only in Japanese. Since then, Ando was frequently invited as a visiting

professor in American Universities, including Yale University in 1987, Columbia University

in 1988, and Harvard University in 1990 (appendix Table 3.6). Frampton firstly labelled

Ando as a regionalist architect. This preconceived definition is likely prejudiced, aiming for

arguing with the Alexander and Liane’s ‘Critical Regionalism’. As I have discussed in

chapter two, Frampton insisted that occidental elements with oriental profiles can be regarded

as an approach of critical regionalism. And he mentioned that ‘occidental and oriental

references are equally in Ando’s works’15

. In Frampton’s discourse, the core of critical

regionalism is resistance of globalization. However, in the last three decades, Ando’s works

spread to all of the world with distinctive identification. In the discourse analysis of Ando

(chapter seven), Ando mentioned he preferred to deal not in the actual forms, but in their

spirits and emotional contents. Therefore, the oriental inspiration with traditional aesthetics is

a key to form the style of Ando’s works. In this respect, Ando’s approach can be considered

as an alternative to critical regionalism.

Next, let us come back to the discussion of comparability of these four architects in my cases.

To some extent, the personality, environment and personal experiences of an architect should

have significant influence on his creations. The Chart 4.4 shows the timelines of education,

professional experience, teaching, and professorships, based on the information of these four

selected architects (refer to Appendices Table 2.3, 2.4, 3.5, 3.6).

From this chart, we can see that they share differences and common attributes. For example,

they all founded their own architectural firms and have significant professional practices.

They are all involved in the academic field and have teaching positions. Among them, Tadao

Ando is self-taught in architecture and learnt from his travelling experience, instead of

receiving a professional architectural education, which is not common in his contemporary.

Wang Shu and Li Xiaodong, who probably represent Chinese contemporary experimental

architects, have not any overseas commissions up to the first decade of the twentieth century.

Besides, Kengo Kuma and Wang Shu apparently have some similarities in their personal

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experience. They were all trained and were rooted in their home countries, and they all had an

interval of around ten years in the 1990s due to the lack of opportunity or unwillingness to

work for architectural practice. In this period, they all learned from local craftsmen for

traditional tectonics. All these factors should be considered with the social and economic

development. By comparing with the background and the history of Chinese and Japanese

modern and contemporary architecture (Chart 4.4), this analysis sets up a connection among

design ideas, biographical experience, and social dynamic development.

Chart 4.4 Timelines of Li Xiaodong, Wang Shu, Kengo Kuma and Tadao Ando.

9.2 Common characteristics and tendencies

In the progress of exploration and practice, both countries struggled for the national traditions

which absorbing Euro-American modernism in the modern history, and always looked for a

deeper cultural meaning in contemporary architecture, to resist or oppose the mainstream

practice brought by globalisation. They are not interested in argument of tradition and

modernity. After absorbing Euro-American notions and practices, they are delivering a new

architectural thinking, which is rooted in native traditions, by re-interpreting them in a

contemporary and critical way.

The common characteristics between reflective designs of China and of Japan are exemplified

in their recent discourses and design works. From the above selected eight design works of

the four contemporary architects in these two countries, ranging from big scale civic public

building (Wang Shu), to small scale project under low budget under community engagement

in rural area (Li Xiaodong, Kengo Kuma), and from being inspired by traditional culture

(Wang Shu, Kengo Kuma), to creating a spiritual depth with religious traditions (Tadao

Ando), they gradually had shifted from pursuing visual forms to a spiritual indication in a

critical regionalist expression. In addition, they have all paid a common effort to provide the

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design and construction expression which are neither new nor original, but rather about a

relationship to link and reorganize those traditional elements in both substantial and spiritual

regeneration.

They are located far from metropolises and resist commercial domination. Most of them are

research based and experiment oriented, which gave architects abundant freedom of action to

make their own decisions unfettered by the interests from the third parties. Prior to the real

project, an experiment was made to test the reality of the material essence, and study on

patterns for assembly. For instances, before the construction of Xiangshan Campus, China

Academy of Art, and Ningbo History Museum, Wang Shu conducted a series of architectural

experiments in small scale project Five Scattered Houses in Ningbo. Kengo Kuma’s Stone

Museum is also an extended research of the Venice Biennale 95 Japanese Pavilion.16

After

that, the architects can obtain a practical understanding on the construction skills to match

with that the local craftsmen are technically capable of. The works from Wang Shu and

Kengo Kuma reflected the appreciation of craftsmanship. The architects integrate adapted

strategies and specific solutions into the local context and culture. The result comes with

narrative expressions that contrast with the highly technology-orientated modernity.

Figure 4.1(left) World Climate Zones. Source: online available

HTTP:<http://www.geography.learnontheinternet.co.uk/topics/climatezones.html#factor> (accessed 10

March, 2018)

Figure 4.2(right) Locations of case studies in this thesis. (1. The Yuhu Elementary School; 2. Bridge

School; 3. Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Phase I&II; 4. Ningbo History Museum; 5.

Stone Museum; 6. Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art; 7. Chichu Art Museum; 8. The

Hill of the Buddha.)

Apart from that, based on the chart of World Climate Zones (Figure 4.1), in these eight cases,

only the location of The Yuhu Elementary School in Li Jiang belongs to tropical climate zone

which means hot and wet weather throughout the year. Others are all located in temperate

climatic zone with cold winters and mild summers. The latitude is from 26°N to 43°N. The

contrast in temperature range is not obvious. The weather conditions are quite close. The

similarity of geographic distribution and climatic condition made this research limited to

specific region and situation.

After the previous analysis and comparison in part two and three, we can see that the

architects have put emphasis on design process rather than building itself. I categorized two

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strategies to have a better understanding of design process. They are: firstly, the design of

interface and transitional area which shows a spatial strategy, and secondly, material strategy.

Next let me explain it.

1) Spatial strategy - the design of interface and transitional area

From the studies in chapter four and chapter seven, a common character reflected in these

cases is that traditional aesthetics and value which influenced architects’ expression and

vocabulary of architecture. Firstly, it was embodied in the design of edge and transitional area

that acts like an intermediary space, which is neither interior nor exterior. Actually, it is not a

new method. It has been used to represent spatial relationship in traditional buildings and has

been always evolving. The most comprehensive realisation of Japanese aesthetics of

wabi-sabi is found in the context of the tea ceremony. Let us look at the design of a Japanese

traditional veranda. In the traditional tea house and Japanese-style room, the walls were made

of sliding doors that opened into covered verandas and gardens, erasing any explicit

boundaries interior and exterior. The edge of the veranda connects the interior of the building

to the garden and links the subject to the nature.17

It was exemplified in the Tsukimidai of

Katsura Imperial Villa, which is a veranda for moon-viewing (Figure 4.4), and was

constructed with bamboo flooring. The Japanese name of verandas in traditional architecture

is called ‘Engawa’. This word means ‘edge’. In this way, the space is created by both nature

and architecture. It provides flexibility and provisionality in space to buffer climatic changes.

It enables the spaces of the inside to merge with the garden outside, the continuous flooring

extending as a platform for daily life.

Figure 4.3 Engawa.

Figure 4.4 Tsukimidai in Katsura Imperial Villa, Kyoto.

Source: (left) Online. Available HTTP:< http://www.kikuyou.or.jp/gosyo_rikyu/katsura-rikyu.html>

(accessed 27 January, 2016), (middle) Online. Available HTTP:<

http://takatsuka-architects.com/suki&sukiya.htm> (accessed 27 January, 2016), (right) photo by author

on September 2015.

185

To some extent, for contemporary architectural design in Japan, it is a key to design a

transitional area or ‘edge’ to link building with nature. Different from the convex balcony in

European countries, the edges in East Asia mostly present in concave form, normally with a

canopy overhead. Kengo Kuma’s design works ‘Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of

Art’ (Figure 4.5) and ‘Water/Glass’ (Figure 4.6) are typical examples to interpret the use of

the edge. In Hiroshige Museum of Art, a deep canopy is hung over a piece of empty ground,

to create a resting place. Architectural space is created on a natural piece of ground by

bringing into existence a wall or canopy. If we determine that the open and semi-open

transition areas blurring the inside and outside are closer to a traditional demonstration of

engawa, then we see Kuma used a natural element - water as a material in the design of

engawa in his earlier work Water/Class. The highlight of this project is a veranda made of

flowing water, not wood or other solid materials. The reflecting pool connects the building to

the ocean, allowing the viewers to virtually erase the distinction between them creating an

‘edge’ of infinity. Kuma utilized the medium of water and a form of Japanese traditional

veranda, to achieve integration of building and nature visually.

Figure 4.5(left) Transition areas in Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art.

Figure 4.6(right) Veranda made of water in Water/Glass.

This approach has also been exemplified in contemporary Chinese architectural design. In the

design of Li Xiaodong, the corridors created a sense of safety like that of an inner realm,

meanwhile, it was a transition area linked with folding partitions, like vertical louvers,

creating a semi-transparent interface, to blur internal and external spaces. In the design of

Wang Shu, the whole Xiangshan Campus was connected by passageways with moveable

partitions to open and enclose the boundary, setting for a connection between exterior and

interior.

Figure 4.7 (left one) Section of Yuhu Elementary School.

Figure 4.8 (left two) Classroom and corridor inYuhu Elementary School.

Figure 4.9 (right two) Corridors in Bridge school.

Figure 4.10 (right one) Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art.

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Figure 4.11 Louvers on the roof in

Water/Glass.

From the design works which I have analysed in case studies of part two and three, they are

all about the relationship of a building to its surroundings rather than a building as a discrete

object. The approach can be regarded as the design of interface and transition area. I

categorise three types of interface experimented and developed in their design works.

The first one is transition area like veranda with the moveable partitions or sliding doors, and

normally with canopies or awnings over the footpath to provide shutters to the corridors and

doorways. This is a normal and traditional way adopted in the whole world for a long history.

In contemporary design, it has been developed and innovated into multi-layered spaces.

Through connecting two transition areas such as corridors and balconies by moveable panels

in Bridge School and Xiangshan Campus (Figures 4.9 and 4.10), the transition area is divided

into two spaces: inside semi-open and outside semi-open areas. Those transition areas carry

out the same function of rebuilding and reinforcing the connection with nature. The

relationships between inside and outside, closeness and openness determine a place’s

expression.

The second one is paticalised interface like lattice,

louvers, permeable bricks and semi-transparent

screen, as filters between within and without. As I

have mentioned in chapter seven, Kengo Kuma

used particlised interface to blur the boundary.

Actually in most works of Kuma, the skins and

façades are simple repetition of the same pattern

without special meaning and narrative content.

Kuma called this approach ‘paticalisation’. Kengo

Kuma’s ‘stone-louver window’, ‘porous wall’ in

Stone Museum and ‘wooden-structured grids’ in Hiroshige Museum of Art are typical

examples to annotate this method. Similar to Kengo Kuma’s paticalisation, Li Xiaodong

proposed the design concept of ‘pixel’ in his works ‘The Screen’, in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China,

in 2013. The aim is to further integrate the building with the environment. Through the use of

louvers, permeable bricks or stones, the interface presents a mixed physical and virtual effect.

The building itself partially overlaps the background to achieve integration. This approach is

making façade look like being composed by grids, forming a matrix surface made up of

multilayer pixels.18

In this approach, the size of particles is significant. The dimensions of

particles are not absolute; they need to be determined in each case by the surrounding

environment. The entire sequential process determines the dimensions of the particles, which

adjusts the rhythm or pace of the building so as to harmonise the details and the whole space.

Along with the change of light and visitor’s movement, the patterns of grid can transfer into a

solid translucent surface, or sometimes a transparent interface. In this way, the interface is not

only limited in vertical direction, but also in horizontal or even multi directions such as nets.

In Kengo Kuma’s Water/Glass, the interfaces linking nature and building are not only the

water in both the pool and the sea, but also the stainless steel louvers on the roof (Figure 4.11).

The blades of stainless steel louvers are 1.5mm wide and 75 mm high, at 75mm intervals.

According to Kuma, the louvers stand between the environment and the building and reflect

187

that relationship; they interact more than they reflect. Their relative character is not fully

determined by the architect but by each observer, allowing for user’s input.19

With a

momentary change of light or in respect to the observer’s movement, the louvers instantly

disperse and dissolve. The relationship connecting nature and artificialness is the interface

formed by the parts that can be regarded as particles.

In the most cases, the particles are made up of the combination of old and new materials,

being produced by timber, bamboo, straw and paper coordinating with metal, plastic fibre,

brick and concrete. There are two methods of creating particles. The first one is to carefully

arrange all small pieces as an additive and cumulative use. This is the most popular approach

in the contemporary design. However, the particalised interfaces usually work together with

modern material like glass to enhance physical comfortability. This reflects the contradiction

of modern and tradition. How to find a balance between both physical and mental sensitivity

is a historical topic in the whole world. The second one is to break down the unified entity

into its elementary particles. The two construction methods stated above are both building

techniques of ‘dry’ construction,20

which has been discussed by Kengo Kuma in his theory of

particalisation. Sometimes, particalised interface and natural elements have to work together

to maximize the spatial effects. For example, morning light enters through the particalised

interface to illuminate the inside; in the evening the rays of the sun reflected on the wall

express the changes of subtle tones; at night the artificial light from inside falls onto the

outside street, indicating the transformation in space between positivity and negativity.

The third type of interface refers to an invisible and spiritual expression through an

experience of light, wind, sound, sight, smell and touch, creating emotion or consciousness. In

a sense, nature is as an extended interface without a clear boundary. This intangible approach

is based on East Asian aesthetics. Tadao Ando’s most recent designs such as Chichu Art

Museum and the Hill of the Buddha adopted this method. He used the concept of

interpenetrating exterior and interior space in his design. The openings which were carefully

designed and organized give views of the exterior and bring the air, sound, rain, wind and

natural light inside. The interior space is articulated by the amount and quality of light

entering through the interface. Soft light and bright light coming from opposite directions

combine to create an expanded sense of spatial volume. The light helps to clarify the

relationship between inside and outside. Similar with natural light, breezes pass through the

inside in different directions and create a tactile sense of the space. Even in his early works,

the courtyard was enclosed by solid concrete walls. The only connection between the interior

and the outside was an uncovered roof, which serves to illuminate inside spaces and allows

air or wind to flow in and out. All these natural elements work together to mediate the

relationship between nature and architecture. The totality of the space is perceived not only in

terms of its simplified compositional logic but also in terms of its actual physical presence.

The architectural space based on this principle can convey not only intangible spiritual ideas,

but also heightened experiences of spirit and soul.

These three types of interface are not separate but related. They coordinate into a design and

form multi layered interfaces. They have common characters which are transparency and

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openness. In the traditional East Asian architecture, open spaces to outside views are to be

obtained as much as possible by eliminating solid exterior walls. Pergolas and tea houses with

external sliding doors provided places for connecting with nature. Intimate relation between

architecture and nature forms a core value of traditional East Asian architecture. A further

example is Liyuan Library by Li Xiaodong, built in 2011. The ‘pixel’ of the façade is formed

by wooden sticks which are used for fuelling the cooking stoves by local residences. With the

natural growing, the screen of the building can be inhabited and becomes part of the regional

ecology.21

The architect considers the dynamic growing and aging process of a building. This

approach is also practised by Wang Shu in his Xiangshan Campus. It is in accord with the

principal of wabi-sabi aesthetics.

Figure 4.12(upper left) Walls with sliding doors in traditional Japanese tea house. (photos by author on

Sep 2015)

Figure 4.13(lower left) Penetrable walls with folding screens in traditional Chinese garden. (photos by

author on Oct 2015)

Figure 4.14(right) Natural growing and dissolving architecture. Source: the booklet Moriyama RAIC

International Prize 2014

2) Material strategy

Accordingly, the contemporary architects in both countries have a trend of returning to the

studies of traditional architecture of an earlier time, because some modernist characteristics

were founded in traditional architecture. In the use or reuse of traditional materials, the

biggest challenge was dealing with traditional material in a way that should provide

indispensable fire protection, waterproofing, insulation, strength and aseismicity to satisfy the

requirements of current building codes. The new technology as well as traditional

craftsmanship played a significant role in all contemporary experiments with traditional

material. For example, in the Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art, assisted by

local craftmen, Kuma dealt with cedar using the technology of far-infrared radiation to finally

pass the fire testing.22

In the creation of wapan wall, Wang Shu through the use of a series of

old materials and with structural experimentations made sure the new techniques satisfied

with the local building codes.

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Besides, in Takayanagi Community Center, Kengo Kuma decided to use Japanese paper for

the dividing wall. He worked with a local craftsman, who came up with the idea of coating

the paper with konyaku (jelly) and persimmon juice (an astringent) to improve fire resistance

and strength. This is an approach originally taken when building wartime balloon bombs.

From Kuma’s records, a fire-resistance specialist came up with other additional processing to

secure adequate fire protection and waterproofing. Insulation was achieved by using two-ply

paper, with an open air space in between.23

In ‘the Great (Bamboo) Wall’ house, the bamboo

frame benefits from a new architectural technology called CFT (concrete filled tube). Kuma

also learnt from local craftmen, using boiled water to eliminate the oil to increase the

durability of bamboo.24

In the Adobe Repository for Buddha Statue, external walls are made

in a reproduction of the local traditional adobe method. Because of adobe’s humidity

controlling function by material itself, air conditioning was not installed in this building.25

Furthermore, in both countries, the traditional craftsmanship was involved in the

contemporary design. Wapan wall created by Wang Shu, and finely cut stone-louvres and

Japanese paper with new coating created by Kengo Kuma, are all based on local traditional

techniques. As I have mentioned in chapter four, Chinese architects have developed a

low-tech material strategy to respond with the reality of low construction quality. In the

wapan technique, millions of recycled bricks were laid by hundreds of local people without

professional construction skills. It can be achieved under the low budget because of the

low-cost labour in Chinese existing conditions. In Japan, the labour cost is much higher than

that in China. In Japanese contemporary design, traditional technique is always combined

with advanced high technology, resulting in the innovation of construction skills and high

efficiency.

The concept of creation of particlised interface has a linkage with natural disasters and

demolition practices. The influence of frequent natural disaster pushed East Asian

contemporary architects to search for a suitable interface between human being and the

environment. Wang Shu also mentioned he might learn some truths from ruins in the

demolition sites. For instance, how earth and brick can mingle in one wall, and how rubbles

reveal the changes that have occurred over time.

Furthermore, similar with the case of Stone Museum, in which Kengo Kuma used local

Ashino stone as the building materials, in the project Chokkura Plaza and Shelter in 2006, he

reused the Ōya stone from a warehouse nearby and combined with steel plates in which they

arranged diagonally. In this system, the steel sheets working as the tensional members were

woven into a diagonal mesh, while the Ōya stone, being at the compression member, was

knitted into it. This enabled the stone to be used not only as the façade but also as functional

structure. In a word, this building comprised masonry structure as well as steel structure. Due

to the openings, the woven surface of stone and steel is achieved transparency. Unlike other

stones, Ōya stone is a type of volcanic tuff, formed as the lava and ash from a volcanic

eruption solidifies. It resists erosion and is fireproof. It can only be found near Utsunomiya

and its surroundings in Tochigi prefecture. The surface of the Ōya stone has small holes

similar to a sponge. It contains numerous fragments in which the ash is not completely

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transformed into stone. Therefore, this kind of stone presents a different feature which is

porous, soft and fragile, from strong, rigid and heavy in granite, marble, and other types of

stone. It has a warm texture and is easily carved, which allows much versatility. Frank Lloyd

Wright also chose Ōya stone in his work of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo in 1922.

Taihu Lake Stone in Suzhou garden, what Wang Shu mentioned many times in his discourses

and designs, has similar characters. It is a naturally shaped limestone which was appreciated

in the design of Chinese traditional garden. Due to long-term dissolution and erosion by water,

it has many pores and holes on surface, forming a dynamic effect mixed natural light and

shadow.

The common feature of these stones is weakening of the materials with a variety of holes

drilled or to be carved into the fragments in an attempt to make it appear weakness and

fragility. To an extent, any material can be treated as one which is supposed to be tough, but

is rendered as porous enabling a new flow of space through it. In a word, whatever material is

selected, the relationship between element and its component method in nature is the key to

achieve the goal of flowing as a whole.

Figure 4.15(left one) The façade in Stone Museum, 2000, by Kengo Kuma. (photo by author on

September 2015)

Figure 4.16(left two) The woven surface of stone and steel in Chokkura Plaza, 2006, by Kengo Kuma.

(Source: http://kkaa.co.jp/; Kuma, Kengo, Studies in organic / Kengo Kuma & Associates. Tokyo:

TOTO, 2009)

Figure 4.17(right two) Wall materials in Imperial Hotel Foyer, 1922, by Frank Lloyd Wright. (photo

by author on September 2015)

Figure 4.18(right one) Taihu Lake Stone in the Humble Administrator's Garden(拙政园), Suzhou,

1509. (photo by author on October 2015)

To sum up, these two strategies aim to create void space or porous characteristic in material.

The features of transparency and absence are obtained by various artificial opening and

natural holes. The positivity and negativity of space are well considered and coordinated in

the design. By raising the concerns on negative strategies, contemporary architects in China

and Japan return to the origin of their thoughts. This design approach maybe form a new

power parallel to the critical voices in Euro-American countries.

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Chapter 10: Reflection and conclusion

10.1 Traditional aesthetics and regionality: as critical categories in design thinking

According to the discussion above, a ‘negative strategy’ has been involved in the

contemporary design. An intangible spirit in East Asian traditional architecture aims to

prompt harmony with the surrounding world of nature. When we look at the architecture in

the Chinese and Japanese traditional gardens, we can sense that this approach has existed and

been examined for hundreds of years. Traditional architecture was created as humble

structures and spaces. The additions need to care about the continuity of form and the scale

and rhythm of space. The natural environment and surroundings serve to protect the

completeness with the new design. The relationship between architecture and environment is

always important in traditional gardens. This kind of architecturalised interrelationship was

also discovered by Bruno Taut in his study of Katsura Imperial Villa.

It is necessary to rediscover and reinterpret the core ideas of traditional gardening practice.

The ancient urban architecture was in fact planned and built in relation to nature and

landscape, as well as garden design at difference scales. Most of the significant buildings in

East Asia were related to garden, courtyard, and landscape in design ideas. The views

between sites, entities and buildings are important. Based on the discourse analysis in chapter

four and seven, both Li Xiaodong and Kengo Kuma asserted that European tradition is based

on the experience of ‘the world’ as a series of objects recognised in a framed perspective by a

subject looking at them. The Eastern tradition, however, does not differentiate between

subject and object. This approach has been well exemplified in Chinese and Japanese

traditional gardens.

Figure 4.19(left) Katsura Imperial Villa, Japan, 1615. (photo by author on September 2015)

Figure 4.20(middle) Shugakuin Imperial Villa, Japan, 1659. (photo by author on September 2015)

Figure 4.21(right) Sento Imperial Palace, Japan, 1630. (photo by author on September 2015)

As I have explored before, one of the main characters in contemporary design as well as in

traditional gardens in East Asia, transparency and absence are achieved by various artificial

and natural openings, or layers of screens and windows to incorporate background landscape

into the composition of a garden. Accordingly, framing and reframing views of the

architecture and landscape are in surprisingly different ways from each observing point.

Framing plays an important role in shaping a space of relations that negates the objects. It

keeps changing in size and shape with the movement of a visiting person, and accordingly the

proportion and balance of all entities shift. The sense of closeness and distance in the garden

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is produced by the harmonization of the panoramic views in the background and the

individual pavilions. This contrast is called ‘borrowed scenery’ (jiejing in Chinese and

shakkei in Japanese). It means the use of natural scenery in creating a picturing atmosphere.

The traditional gardens are considered as multiple layers of ‘borrowed scenery’. This is a

unique feature distinguishing East Asian gardens from those of Euro-America.

In contrast to European classical gardens, which usually emphasize geometrical shape and

symmetrical layout, a garden in East Asia is asymmetrical and even formless. Besides, the

gardens in China and Japan are also different. For instances, there is always a lake or pond

with an intricate shoreline in East Asian gardens, but the lake can be natural or artificial. The

artificial islets of various sizes over which there are bridges made of earth, wood or stone.

The typical Chinese garden is featured by pavilion, hall, bridge, lotus pond, rock mountain,

and so on. However, apart from those, some of the Japanese gardens use gravel or sands

representing water. This kind of garden is called rock garden. The well-designed and

carefully-organised artificial islet, beach, mountain and buildings work together to form a

sense of aesthetic quality in the scenery.

Figure 4.22 Artificial nature in (left) the Lingering Garden (留园), Suzhou, 1593, (middle) the Humble

Administrator's Garden(拙政园), Suzhou, 1509, and (right) Ginkaku-ji, Kyoto, c1490. (photo by

author on May 2014 and October 2015)

Figure 4.23 Indirect path in Suzhou garden. For example, (left) the Humble Administrator’s Garden

and (right) the Garden of Cultivation (艺圃), c1620. (photo by author on October 2015)

Figure 4.24 Framing the views in (left) the openings in the Humble Administrator’s Garden(拙政园)

and (right) the openings in the Master-of-Nets Garden (网师园), c1785. (photo by author on October

2015)

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Like the creation of ‘nothingness’ in the traditional writing and painting, both Chinese and

Japanese architects have been applying ideas of negation and erosion in contemporary design.

In Kuma’s essay ‘Digital Gardening’ (2009), he wrote: ‘To prevent an object from appearing,

that is to erase architecture, we must reverse the direction of vision. We must reverse from

perception. Instead of looking at architecture from the outside, we must look at the

environment from the inside. Architecture must be planned as a frame for viewing the

environment from within.’ ‘In gardening, no privileged position from which a “planner”

observes and manipulates the scenery exists. The “gardener” is always inside the garden’.26

His contemporary Chinese architect Wang Shu, also used this idea of gardening as his design

strategy, emphasizing a sequential experience.

In addition, Japanese traditional gardens always include lanterns and wash basins in

appropriate locations, with pathways laid out in a circuit for strolling. The pathways through

the garden were carefully organized, giving an uncertainty with constant surprises to the

visitors. Sometimes the pond disappears entirely from the view, only to return in a panoramic

vista, with the path itself leading the visitor from the waterside to elevated positions.

This expression of formal, semiformal and informal has been exemplified in contemporary

design. The indirect path, framing the views of borrowed scenery, with spatial layering, are

all in evidence in a traditional garden.

However, the features of reflective contemporary designs are not limited in the similarity with

those in the traditional garden. As I have discussed in chapter seven, in Kengo Kuma’s

discourse on “organic architecture”, organism should be more about relationship with the

outside world. Different from the garden which is still arranged by designers, organic

architecture is more inspired by a wilderness without boundaries and paths. This is a response

with negative space Yoshinobu Ashihara defined. ‘The positivity of space indicates the

existence of human intentions or of planning with regard to the space……On the other hand,

the negativity of space implies that the space is spontaneous and has no plan.’27

Ashihara also

pointed out Japanese gardens were revealed to be elaborate artificial miniatures of nature as

they require frames to separate them from true nature. They involved various relations

between nature and architecture.28

From the contemporary architects I analysed above, they all insisted on the temporary

character of architecture, and regard the evolution of building as a dynamic journey like the

growth of human being. The regional and climatic characteristics are decisive and

determining the entire concept of the building. The atmosphere changes not only with the

flowing of the time of day, but as the seasons. Architect has to consider this factor case by

case. In a region or area where the sun is strong throughout the year, it is difficult to introduce

sun and outside air into the body of the building. In this case, the relation of the structure to

nature becomes problematic. In this research, the cases used are located in the areas with

similar geographic latitude and climate. This made them possible to be connected and

compared.

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Respect for local climatic factors, promotion of natural modes of energy and emphasis upon

the use of cultural precedents are all aspects of the ethic of sustainability that may lead to

regional expressions of built form. However, the intangible spirits beyond region bring in

timeless expression of East Asian culture. There is difference in the purpose for retuning to

tradition. In China, the aim is mostly for recovery in the aftermath of urban destruction due to

fast modernisation and people’s memory, while in Japan, it is mainly for a spiritual recovery

in the aftermath of urban destruction and natural disasters.

Last but not least, compared with Euro-American critical regionalism, contemporary design in

China and Japan lack certain critical and resisting polemic in an oppositional manner as often

found in the west. This differentiates the work of East Asian architects from other reflective

and critical architects in Europe and North America. The contemporary architects in China

and Japan use their own reflective expressions which have been often intuitive, suggestive

and dialogic, rather than oppositional and precisely formulated. They look back to the

tradition and obtain inspirations from traditional aesthetics and ways of doing in a more

holistic and intuitive manner.

10.2 Reflective design: outside the west, in China, Japan and East Asia

Under the influence of globalization, the process of urbanization of China, Japan and other

East Asian countries has shown problems of great similarity. Most architects and urbanists

have attempted to construct uniform models for rapid urban growth that are expected to apply

for other contexts. However, each city or region has its own distinct historical context and

climate condition, and has been affected profoundly by the recent development, whether as a

dynastic capital, a regional trading centre, a global mercantile powerhouse or a foreign colony.

More attentions should be paid on tradition, geography and customs of each place and local

people.

On the other hand, contemporary architecture is defined by coexisting communities that are

spatially contiguous but separated by invisible socioeconomic boundaries. The current

architectural practices from contemporary East Asia can be explained as originating in

specific historical circumstances, and shaped under a global cultural context. They provide

the examples for further practices in the similar condition.

With the demand of high rise buildings, both Chinese and Japanese contemporary architects

developed the approach of vertical layering to avoid piling up in a duplicated way. The

contemporary design practice generated by the use of vertical layering can be examined in the

recent projects.

In Vertical Courtyard Apartment (Figure 4.25) in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, built

in 2007, Wang Shu designed two-storey high courtyard for each dwelling into high rise

residential buildings to recall a traditional living style which has disappeared in the

contemporary urban society. The horizontal floors and ceilings of the building were folded

upright, keeping the flow of the sections. Through employment of courtyards in the air, a

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residential density requirement for urban living is achieved. The space for the courtyard

allows for the growth of plants. This experimental high-rise residential building is a challenge

to the large scale construction activity and the new urban living condition currently spreading

in China and other East Asian countries.

In Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center (Figure 4.27), Tokyo, Japan, completed in

2012, Kengo Kuma divided the eight-storey structure into eight one-storey houses with

sloping roofs rising horizontally. Every storey has its own function. He resembled multi

layers vertically by piling up roofs and floors. Equipments are stored in the diagonally shaped

spaces between the roof and the floor every storey. As floor and roof/ceiling in horizontal

surfaces are key features in Japanese traditional architecture, Kuma blurred the boundary and

the positioning between them. In this way, he kept this feature vertically in the high density

area of the inner city of Tokyo.

Figure 4.25(left) Vertical Courtyard Apartment, Hangzhou, China, 2007, by Wang Shu.

Figure 4.26(middle, right) Sections of Vertical Courtyard Apartment.

(Source: World Architecture, Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, Issue.5, 2012.pp.103, 105.)

196

Figure 4.27(left) Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center, Tokyo, Japan, 2012, by Kengo Kuma.

(photo by author on May 2014)

Figure 4.28(middle, right) Sections of Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center.

Source: Online Available HTTP:< http://kkaa.co.jp/> (accessed 17 June 2015)

In the case of Vertical Courtyard Apartment, all the layers are loaded in a similar pattern

which creates a static relationship. However, in the case of Asakusa Culture Tourist

Information Center, the relationships between layers are more complex and dynamic,

achieving a varying movement. Creating a vertical architectural system, the operation of

layering overlaps has the capacity to organize varied architectural elements by defining

relationships in-between them. By overlapping spatial layers, the stratification enables users

to have alternative readings and experiences of the space. This approach of vertical layering

can be considered as the concept of fragmentation and also as a supplement to the theory of

“particalization”. It reflects a resistance to the commercial real estate development in the

contemporary society.

Now we are facing an era of accelerating urbanization, and ever-increasing pressure on

natural resources and the environment, architects have responsibilities to study the

relationship between architecture and nature in depth to obtain a better understanding which

will be increasingly important in the future to come. The trend urges contemporary architects

to think more about social responsibility of those involved in architecture due to the

stagnation of modern architecture and the frequently occurred natural disaster like

earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and tsunami. The 1923 Great Kantō earthquake devastated

Tokyo metropolitan area, causing severe damage and more than 100,000 fatalities throughout

the Kantō region. The 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake brought irreparable damage which was

extremely widespread and severe on Kobe and Osaka areas. The 2007 Wenchuan earthquake

struck the Sichuan Province of central China, resulting that over 69,000 people lost their lives.

In the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the magnitude-9 earthquake and subsequent

tsunami, thereafter devastated the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which suffered a

level seven nuclear meltdown after the tsunami.29

The frequently happened natural disasters gave architects a new topic on rethinking the

relationship between building and nature. The layering system was revitalized. Traditional

technique has been studied and developed to meet the needs of a modern building. Instead of

assembly of raw materials and leftover materials which are from demolitions or recycled

materials, a more acceptable approach is a philosophy of ‘particles’ by discovering potential

of the materials. The theory of ‘particalization’ or ‘pixel’ provides a method of gradual

assembly of parts to constitute the outline of the whole. European architecture reflects the

philosophy of a logically assembled composition or totality, from which the parts develop.

However, East Asian traditional architecture originates from the part. Construction from the

part to the whole is a reflection of craftsmanship and form a unique East Asian aesthetic. By

learning lessons from nature, more and more architects are shifting their focus towards a

‘negation’ of building. They are considered as small pieces already destroyed and broken

from the start, and cannot be subdivided further. As Toyo Ito (2000) explained his design of

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Sendai Mediatheque, ‘The basic principle of modern architecture is to divide a whole into

elements and to organize those elements according to some rule. This is similar to the

methods of modern science, which is to try to analyse and reduce things to elements and

explain everything mechanistically in terms of the relationships of those elements.’30

Another reality is the emergence and popularity of digital technology in the past two decades.

This has posed new challenges and given new-generation architects new tools with which the

working methods and even thinking methods have changed. However, the architectural

thought is supported by abstract ideology, and influenced by differing political, social and

cultural characters. The common responsibility of architects lies in the perpetual

reconsideration of the relationship among nature, human being, and architecture. Because we

are facing the highly information-based society and digital world, the homogenization of the

world is accelerating. The actual project is much more complex than what can be defined by

academic theorization due to regional variations, economic conditions, and many other

controlling elements. We need to bring new insights to explain this phenomenon. Although

cultural divisions exist throughout the world, our society exists as an intricate web of

relationships, and accessibility is limited by people’s connections and place within the global

hierarchy. Contemporary design approaches represent a new field of exploration in relation to

architectural deterritorialization and erasure which is evidenced in the proposal of ‘digital

garden’ proposed by Kengo Kuma. The philosophy of erasing architecture can also be

regarded as erasing privilege and hierarchy. They dissolve all hierarchies, and all existing

territorialities. The new role of architects is to consider the earth as a whole nature, and

eliminate the regional discrepancy, to fit any environment easily and toward the trend of

digital world.

If these Asian architects are correct, as exemplified by Kuma’s erasure of the object and

monumentality, and as evidenced in a common appreciation of the garden as a field of

relations as found in all these East Asian architects, then the digitized and networked future

would promote more of the philosophy and strategy of negation by which solid objects and

the associated cultures would be eroded and made open to an expanding field of relations and

openness – for which oriental tradition of negation and relation may provide important

suggestions.

10.3 Conclusion

Based on all the reviews, statements, analyses and discussions above, my hypothesis has been

examined in the category of East Asian aesthetics. The key features of critical design

approach in China and Japan are: anti-object, informality, invisibility, intangibility and a

negation of the material and the object/subject, to response with the features such as object,

formality, visibility, tangibility and positivity as often found in the Euro-American culture

and practice. East Asian philosophy emphases a moral and relation approach in their ‘way of

nature’. In addition, the intangible spirit can be sensed by the mind but difficult to explain in

textual articulation. In this research, I use the phrase of ‘strategy of negation’ to suggest and

clarify this overall approach. ‘Strategy of negation’ does not mean complete inaction but

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rather doing what comes naturally in a relational manner. Taoists advocated that the universe

proceeds smoothly according to its own relational harmonies. People’s efforts to change or

improve nature – in an oppositional manner – only destroy their harmonies and produce

disorders.

The basic world views in oriental philosophy made it possible to consciously and

unconsciously use strategies of negation in East Asia in architectural design. It includes two

steps. The first is translating abstract concepts into tangible formal ideas evidenced in

traditional arts. The second is to transfer the tangible forms and functions into abstract

methods. The latter one is what the contemporary architects are concerned with.

In contemporary practices, both Chinese and Japanese architects developed from the idea that

building is about making an emotional and experiential architecture in a specific context.

They explore relationship not only between nature and architecture, but connectivity to

culture and understanding of social traditions within the context of a place and its

environment. Their design works have an acute sensitivity to local context, taking care of the

relationships with landscape and masterfully using natural or recycled materials to create a

pastoral simplicity, reflecting the origins and substance of a local history. Traditional

aesthetics are critically re-interpreted in contemporary design through the strategy of

negation.

To understand contemporary design in China and Japan, it is necessary to have a fundamental

knowledge of East Asian traditions and cultures. Comparing with Euro-American tradition,

the notions and sentimentalities of the aesthetic tradition of East Asia are often more

intuition-based, nature-oriented and implicit or suggestive. As I have discussed, the

suggestiveness is essential in the East Asian aesthetics. Acceptance of restraint and

uncertainty is fundamental to the Eastern thoughts. So, I have employed the central idea of

negation, or the strategy of negation, as one of the defining aesthetic sensibilities and

methodologies of East Asian civilization – a strategy with which one is able to employ

infinite potentiality originated from a vast void of nothingness.

There are three aspects of the strategy of negation – in the case of architectural design – that

can be highlighted in the conclusion. The first one is the creation of porous interfaces, which

is achieved by exploring materiality and the tectonic in design. The second one is the use of

layering and filtering to generate fluidity and accordingly to heighten the ambiguity of

enclosure and openness, contributing toward an erasure of architecture. The third one is the

creation of recurrence of intangible spirituality, revealing the notion that limitless possibilities

can be created by nothingness.

Contemporary architectural practice in China and Japan is caused neither by the intention of

resistance in the framework of Frampton’s critical regionalism, nor by the idea of identity in

the definition of Lefaivre and Tzonis. The design motivation has been rooted in East Asian

traditional aesthetics, featuring informality, invisibility, intangibility, relationship, and an

erosion of the object/subject. In short, the use of strategies of negation is now becoming a

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possibility in contemporary design, as an alternative to critical regionalism as initially

formulated with the Euro-American categories, in response to the forces of globalisation.

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Notes

1 Rowe, Peter G., Seng Kuan, Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern

China, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002. p.205. 2 Zhou Rong has similar education and teaching backgrounds with Li Xiaodong. Zhou

Studied in Tsinghua University and received Bachelor of architecture in 1991 and Master

degree in 1996. He had a further study on Master of Design in Harvard University until 2000

and returned to Tsinghua University to complete his PhD research in 2006. Since 2001 he

worked as an associate professor in School of Architecture, Tsinghua University. 3 Zhou, Rong, ‘From the Chinese Space to Cultural “Bai sema”: Probings into the

Architectural Thinking and Practice of Li Xiaodong’, World Architecture, Beijing: Tsinghua

University Press, Issue 9, 2014. pp.33-5. 4 Wang Shu received a Bachelor’s degree in 1985. Tong Ming did in 1990. Wang Shu

received a Master’s degree in 1988. Tong Ming did in 1993. 5 Wang Shu completed a PhD in 2000. Tong Ming did in 1999.

6 Tong Ming, ‘Composing and Depicting (I): An Analysis on the Text and Architecture of

Wangshu’, The Architect, Beijing: Zhongguo Jianzhu Gongye Chubanshe, Issue.2, 2013. 7 See his master thesis – Si wu shou ji(死屋手记) and PhD thesis – Xu gou cheng

shi(Fictionalizing City 虚构城市). 8 Frampton, Kenneth, ‘The anti-objective architecture of Kengo Kuma’, Kengo Kuma:

complete works, London: Thames & Hudson, 2012. p.11. 9 Frampton, Kenneth, Kengo Kuma: complete works, London: Thames & Hudson, 2012.

pp.11-25. 10

Frampton, ‘The anti-objective architecture of Kengo Kuma’, p.12. 11

Bognár, Botond, Kengo Kuma: selected works, New York: Princeton Architectural Press,

2005.pp.18-41. 12

Bognár, Botond, Material immaterial: the new work of Kengo Kuma, New York: Princeton

Architectural Press, 2009. pp.12-53. 13

Bognár, Botond, ‘An architecture of dissolution? The work of Kengo Kuma’, Kengo Kuma:

selected works, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2005. p.41. 14

Bognár, Botond, ‘Materiality and Immateriality in the Architecture of Kengo Kuma’,

Material immaterial: the new work of Kengo Kuma, New York: Princeton Architectural Press,

2009. p.30. 15

Frampton, Kenneth, ‘Tadao Ando’, Tadao Ando, New York: Museum of Modern Art,

c1991. p.14,17. 16

Kengo Kuma, Seoul: C3 Publishing Co. 2007. p.212. 17

Kuma, Kengo, Anti-object: the dissolution and disintegration of architecture, London:

Architectural Association, c2008. p.40. 18

-, ‘The Screen, Ningbo, China, 2013’, World Architecture, Beijing: Qinghua University

Press, Issue 9, 2014. p.83. 19

Kuma, Anti-object, p.99. 20

‘In essence, industrialisation referred to technologies used to break down that heavy mass

into particles, and specifically to ‘day’ construction. Dry construction is the opposite of wet

construction, a building technique that mixed a material with water, and is completed only

201

when that materials has dried.’ from Kuma, Kengo, Anti-object: the dissolution and

disintegration of architecture, pp.102-3. 21

From the booklet Moriyama RAIC International Prize 2014. 22

Kuma, Kengo, Zi ran de jian zhu (Natural Architecture), Chen Jing (trans.), Ji Nan:

Shandong Renmin Chubanshe, 2010. p.86. 23

Kuma, Zi ran de jian zhu, pp.151-9. 24

Kuma, Zi ran de jian zhu, pp.103-5. 25

Kuma, Zi ran de jian zhu, pp.125-33. 26

Kuma, Kengo, ‘Digital Gardening’, (originally published in Space Design, November 1997,

translated by Hiroshi Watanabe), Material immaterial: the new work of Kengo Kuma, New

York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2009. p.224. 27

Ashihara,Yoshinobu, Exterior design in architecture, New York; London : Van Nostrand

Reinhold, 1981, p.21. 28

Ashihara, Exterior design in architecture, pp.25-9. 29

Online Available

HTTP:<http://www.livescience.com/39110-japan-2011-earthquake-tsunami-facts.html>

(accessed 12 February, 2017). 30

Ito, Toyo, “Dividing versus Making”, Sendai Mediatheque, Miyagi, Japan, 1995-2000,

Tokyo: ADA Edita, 2000, p.7.

202

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Appendices

Table 2.1 The name and D.O.B. of Chinese architects

Bei Shoutong (贝寿同 1895-1941),

Cai Fangyin (蔡方荫 1901-1963),

Chen Yifeng (陈屹峰 1972-),

Chen Zhi (陈植 1902-2002),

Cheng Taining (程泰宁 1935-),

Dai Fudong (戴复东 1928-),

Dai Nianci (戴念慈 1920-1991)

Dong Dayou(董大酉 1899-1975),

Dong Gong(董功),

Dong Yugan (董豫赣 1967-),

Feng Jizhong (冯纪忠 1915-2009),

Guan Songsheng (关颂声 1892-1960),

Han Wenqiang Han(韩文强)

He Jianxiang (何健翔),

He Jingtang (何镜堂, 1938-),

Hua Lanhong(华揽洪 1912-2012),

Hua Li (华黎 1972-),

Huang Zuoshen (黄作燊 1915-1975),

Jiang Ying (蒋滢),

Li Xiaodong (李晓东 1963-),

Liang Sicheng ( 梁思成 1901-1972),

Lin Keming (林克明 1901-1999)

Liu Dunzhen(刘敦桢, 1897-1968),

Liu Jiakun (刘家琨 1956-),

Liu Xiaodu (刘晓都 1961-),

Liu Yichun (柳亦春 1969-),

Lu Qianshou (陆谦受 also called Luke Him

Sau, 1904-1991)

Lu Yanzhi (吕彦直 1894-1929),

Lyndon Neri(郭锡恩),

Ma Qingyun (马清运 1965-),

Meng Yan (孟岩 1964-),

Mo Bozhi(莫伯治 1914-2003),

Peng Yigang (彭一刚, 1932-),

Qi Kang (齐康 1931-),

Rossana Hu(胡如珊),

Tong Jun (童寯 1900-1983),

Xing Tonghe (邢同和 1939-)

Xu Qianhe (徐千禾),

Xu Tiantian (徐甜甜 1976-),

Xu Zhong (徐中 1912-1985),

Yang Tingbao (杨廷宝 1901-1982),

Yung Ho Chang (张永和 1956-),

Wang Hui (王辉 1967-)

Wang Shu (王澍 1963-),

Wu Liangyong (吴良镛 1922-)

Zhang Bo (张镈 1911-1999),

Zhang Jinqiu (张锦秋 1936-),

Zhang Kaiji (张开济 1912-2006),

Zhang Ke (张轲 1970-),

Zhang Lei (张雷 1964- ),

Zheng Shiling (郑时龄 1941-)

Zhu Bin(朱彬 1896-1971)

Zhu Pei (朱培 1962-),

Zhu Qiqian (朱启钤 1871-1964)

Zhuang Jun (庄俊 1888-1990)

Zhuang shen (庄慎 1971-),

214

Table 2.2 Chinese first generation of modern architects

Name Years Education (graduated from) Working experience

Zhuang Jun

庄俊

1888-1970 the University of Illinois in 1914

Lu Yanzhi

吕彦直

1894-1929 Cornell University Murphy’s office

Liu Dunzhen

刘敦桢

1897-1968 the department of architecture of the

Tokyo Institute of Technology

Zhao Shen

赵深

1898-1978 the University of Pennsylvania

Dong Dayou

董大酉

1899-1973 the University of Minnesota and

Columbia University

Lin Keming

林克明

1900-1999

Tong Jun

童寯

1900-1983 the University of Pennsylvania

Cai Fangyin

蔡方荫

1901-1963 the University of Pennsylvania

Liang Sicheng

梁思成

1901-1972 the University of Pennsylvania

Yang Tingbao

杨廷宝

1901-1982 the University of Pennsylvania Paul Cret

Chen Zhi

陈植

1902-2002 the University of Pennsylvania

Lu Qianshou

陆谦受

1904-1992 British-educated

Guan

Songsheng

关颂声

1892-1960 MIT and Harvard

Zhu Bin

朱彬

the University of Pennsylvania

215

Table 2.3 the brief of Wang Shu

Birth Info

Nov, 1963, Wulumuqi, Xinjiang Province, China

Educations/Degrees

1985, Bachelor of Science in Architecture, Department of Architecture, Nanjing Institute of

Technology (now Southeast University)

1988, Master Degree in Architecture, Nanjing Institute of Technology (now Southeast

University)

2000, PhD, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University

Professional History

Since 1988, Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, in Hangzhou, doing research on the environment

and architecture in relation to the renovation of old buildings.

1997-present, Founder, Amateur Architecture Studio

Teaching and Professorships

2000-present, Professor, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China

2007-present, Dean, School of Architecture, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou.

Awards

2004, China’s First Architecture Arts Award

2006, Holcim Awards Acknowledgement 2005 Asia Pacific, Holcim Foundation for

Sustainable Construction

2007, First Global Award for Sustainable Architecture Cite de I’Architecture et du Patrimoine,

France

2008, Nominated International highrise Award 2008, Frankfurt, Germany

2008, Nominated BSI Swiss Architectural Award

2010, German Schelling Architecture Prize

2010, A special mention is awarded to Decay of a Dome by the team of Amateur Architecture

Studio by the Official Awards of the 12th International Architecture Exhibition Venice

2010 People meet in architecture

2011, Gold Medal, French Academy of Architecture

2012, Pritzker Architecture Prize

Key designs and buildings

1989-1990, Youth Center of Haining, Haining, China

1999-2000, Library of Wenzheng College, Suzhou University, Suzhou

2001-2005, Ningbo Contemporary Art Museum, Ningbo, China

2002-2004, Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Phases I, Hangzhou, China

2002-2007, Vertical Courtyard Apartments, Hangzhou

2003-2006, Ceramic House, Jinhua, China

2003-2006, Five Scattered Houses, Ningbo, China

216

2004-2007, Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Phases II, Hangzhou, China

2003-2008, Ningbo History Museum, Ningbo, China

2010, Ningbo Tengtou Pavilion, Shanghai Expo

Lists of completed architectural works (1989-2016):

1990, Youth Center of Haining, Zhejiang Province, China

2000, Library of Wenzheng College, Suzhou University, Jiangsu Province, China

2004, Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Phases I, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province,

China

2005, Ningbo Contemporary Art Museum, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China

2005, Teaching Building of Music and Dance Department, Dongguan Institute of Technology,

Guangdong Province, China

2006, Ceramic House, in the Jinhua Architecture Art Park, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, China

2006, Five Scattered Houses, in the Yinzhou Park, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China

2007, Vertical Courtyard Apartments, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China

2007, Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Phases II, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province,

China

2007, Ningbo History Museum, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China

2008, Huamao Art Museum, Huamao Foreign Language School, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province,

China

2009, Old Town Conservation and Intervention of Zhongshan Street, Along Zhongshan Street,

from Gu Lou (Drum Tower) to West Lake Blvd, Shangcheng District, Hangzhou,

Zhejiang Province, China

2009, Exhibition Hall of the Imperial Street of the Southern Song Dynasty, Gu Lou (Drum

Tower) to West Lake Blvd, Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China

2010, Ningbo Tengtou Pavilion, Shanghai Expo Zone E, Shanghai, 2010

2010, Thermo-Forming Building in Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou,

Zhejiang Province, China

2013, Wa Shan Guesthouse: the China Academy of Art Experts Building (水岸山居：中国美

术学院专家楼), Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China

2014, Sanhe House, Nanjing Sifang Collective, in the Buddha’s Palm Lake Scenic Area of

Laoshan Forest Park, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China

2015, Ai Qing Memorial New Hall (艾青纪念馆新馆), Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, China

2016, Fuyang Cultural Complex (富春山馆), Zhejiang Province, China

2016, Renovation of Wencun Village, Fuyang, Zhejiang Province, China

Pavilion/Installation

2000, Wall Gate 墙门(Instrument) (Demolished), Hangzhou, China

2001, Division 一分为二(Instrument) (Demolished), Hangzhou, China

2006, Tiles Garden, Chinese Pavilion of the 10th Venice Biennale of Art, Italy

2010, Decay of a Dome, Venice Architecture Biennale, Italy

2014, Glatzegg, BUS:STOP Krumbach, Germany

Key exhibition (1999-2017)

217

1999, Chinese Young Architects’ Experimental Works Exhibition, UIA Congress, Beijing;

2001, “TU MU-Young Architecture of China”, AEDES Gallery, Berlin, Germany;

2002, Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum;

2003, “Alors, La Chine?”, Centre Pompidou, Paris;

2003, Synthi-Scapes: Chinese Pavilion of The 50th Venice Biennale In GuangDong Museum

of Art, GuangZhou and in Art

2003, Museum of Central Academy, Beijing

2004-2005, Jinhua Architecture Park, JingHua, China

2006, China Contemporary, NAI, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2007, Built in China –Architecture Exhibition in NewYork Architecture centre

2007, Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture;

2008, “Chinese Gardens for Living: from Illusion to Reality”, Bergpalais, Dresden, Germany

2008, “Dans la Ville Chinoise”, Cité de l‘architecture et du patrimoine, Palais de Chaillot

2009, “Architecture as a Resistance” solo exhibition, BOZAR Centre, Fine Arts in Brussels;

2009, “M8 IN CHINA” , DAM, Frankfurt, Germany

2009, Exhibition of “GLOBAL AWARD FOR SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE 2007,

2008, 2009”, Cité de l‘architecture et du patri moine, Palais de Chaillot

2017, The Architect’s Studio: Wang Shu – Amateur Architecture Studio (series of

exhibitions), Museum of Modern Art, Louisiana, U.S.A.

Key literary works

She Ji de Kai Shi (The Beginning of Design), China Architecture & Building Press, 2002

Imaging the House, Zürich: Lars Müller Publishers, 2012

Zao Fangzi (Building a house), Hunan: Hunan meishu chubanshe, 2016

Key lecture publication

Wang Shu: Building a different world in accordance with principles of nature, Paris: Editions

des Cendres 2013

Key words of his approach/ideas

Critical regionalism

Thesis

Master: Si Wu Shou Ji 死屋手记, 1988

PhD: Xu Gou Cheng Shi (Fictionalizing City)虚构城市, 2000

Key articles written by Wang Shu:

‘Logic behind the breaking’(破碎背后的逻辑--中国当代建筑学的危机), Periodical edited

by Wang Shu etc, Nanjing Institute of Technology, 1987

‘Education/Simplicity’ (教育/简单), Time + Architecture, Shanghai: Tongji University Press,

Issue Supplement. 2001. pp.34-5.

‘Dang kong jian kai shi chu xian (When “Space” began to appear)’ (当“空间”开始出现), The

Architect, Beijing: Zhongguo Jianzhu Gongye Chubanshe, Vol.105 Issue 5, Oct, 2003,

pp.68-70.

218

‘Go to a Translunary City’ (走向虚构之城), Time + Architecture, Shanghai: Tongji

University Press, Issue 5, 2003. pp.40-3.

‘On Changing of Tongji’ (同济记变), Time + Architecture, Shanghai: Tongji University

Press, Issue 6, 2004. p.79.

‘Café 9#’(9#咖啡室), Interior Design Construction, Nanjing: Nanjing Linye University Press,

Issue 9, 2004.

‘Xiao mo xing / Chai zhu jian (Small Models)’ (小模型/拆筑间), edited by Jiang, Yuanlin,

and Jian Shi, Yi chu de cheng shi (Overflew Cities 溢出的都市), Guilin: Guangxi Normal

University Press, 2004

‘Zao fang zi de ren (The Man who build)’ (造房子的人), Graphic Architecture, 2005

‘One Day’ (那一天), Time + Architecture, Shanghai: Tongji University Press, Issue 4, 2005.

pp.96-106.

‘Zhuantang Campus of China Academy of Art’ (中国美术学院转塘校园设计), World

Architecture, Beijing: Qinghua University Press, Issue 8, 2005. pp.104-8.

‘Ning bo mei shu guan (Ningbo Contemporary Art Museum)’ (宁波美术馆), Architectural

Journal, Beijing: Jianzhu Xuebao Zazhishe Youxian Gongsi, Issue 1, 2006. pp.44-7.

‘We Recognize: Notes on the Design of Ningbo Museum of Art’ (我们从中认出: 宁波美术

馆设计), Time + Architecture, Shanghai: Tongji University Press, Issue 5, 2006. pp.84-95.

‘Building or City’ (是建筑还是城市), New Design (新设计丛集), Hangzhou: China

Academy of Art, Issue 1, 2006, pp.52-5.

‘Zhuantang Campus of China Academy of Art’ (中国美术学院转塘校园设计), New Design

(新设计丛集), Hangzhou: China Academy of Art, Issue 1, 2006, pp.101-9.

‘The Reconstruction of Huge Urban Buildings and Local Urban Structure—Notes for the

Creation of Ningbo Contemporary Art Museum’ (当代大型城市建筑与地方性城市结构的

重建—宁波美术馆设计手记), New Design (新设计丛集), Hangzhou: China Academy of

Art, Issue 1, 2006, pp.110-4.

‘Vertical Residence: Hangzhou Qianjiang Times, China’ (垂直院宅：杭州钱江时代，中国),

World Architecture, Beijing: Qinghua University Press, Issue 3, 2006. pp.82-9.

‘Zao yuan yu zao ren (Building a garden and Shaping a man)’ (造园与造人), The Architect,

Beijing: Zhongguo Jianzhu Gongye Chubanshe, Vol.126 Issue 2, Apr, 2007, pp.174-5.

‘Between Viewing and Doing (观行之间)’, Building Review (建筑业导报), Hongkong:

Jianzhuye Daobaoshe, Jan, 2007

‘Phase II of Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art’ (中国美术学院象山校园山南二期

工程设计), Time + Architecture, Shanghai: Tongji University Press, Issue 3, 2008. pp.72-85.

(written with Lu Wenyu)

‘Ying zao suo ji (Architect Nots)’ (营造琐记), Architectural Journal, Beijing: Jianzhu

Xuebao Zazhishe Youxian Gongsi, Issue 7, 2008. pp.58-61.

‘Works of Design: Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art)’ (中国美术学院象山校区),

Architectural Journal, Beijing: Jianzhu Xuebao Zazhishe Youxian Gongsi, Issue 9, 2008.

pp.50-9. (written with Lu Wenyu)

‘To Recollect Fang Ta Garden’ (回想方塔园), World Architecture Review, Shenzhen:

Shenzhen University Press, Issue 3, 2008. p.57.

219

‘The Narration and Geometry of Natural Appearance: Notes on the Design of Ningbo

Historical Museum’ (自然形态的叙事与几何: 宁波博物馆创作笔记), Time + Architecture,

Shanghai: Tongji University Press, Issue 3, 2009. pp.66-79.

‘Sanhe House’ (三合宅), Architecture Technique (建筑技艺), Beijing: Yatai jianshe keji

xinxi yanjiuyuan, and Zhongguo jianzhu sheji yanjiuyuan, Issue 7, 2009, p.127

‘The Field of Vision on Section’ (剖面的视野), Time + Architecture, Shanghai: Tongji

University Press, Issue 2, 2010. pp.81-7.

‘Five Scattered House’ (宁波五散房), World Architecture Review, Shenzhen: Shenzhen

University Press, Issue 1, 2010. pp.94-5.

‘Poetics of Construction with Recycled Materials: A World Resembling the Nature’ (循环建

造的诗意: 建造一个与自然相似的世界), Time + Architecture, Shanghai: Tongji University

Press, Issue 2, 2012. pp.66-9. (written with Lu Wenyu)

‘We are in Need of Reentering a Natural Philosophy’ (我们需要一种重新进入自然的哲学),

World Architecture, Beijing: Qinghua University Press, Issue 5, 2012. pp.20-1.

‘About Construction’ (营造琐记), World Architecture, Beijing: Qinghua University Press,

Issue 5, 2012. pp.22-3.

‘Contemporary Large-Scale City Buildings and the Regeneration of Local Urban Structure:

on the Design of Ningbo Contemporary Art Museum’ (当代大型城市建筑与地方性城市结

构的重建—宁波美术馆设计手记), World Architecture, Beijing: Qinghua University Press,

Issue 5, 2012. p.76.

‘Zhongshan Road: Renovation of a Road and a City, Hangzhou, China, 2009’ (中山路: 一

条路的复兴与一座城的复兴, 杭州, 中国), World Architecture, Beijing: Qinghua

University Press, Issue 5, 2012. pp.114-121.

220

Table 2.4 the brief of Li Xiaodong

Birth Info

1963, China

Educations/Degrees

1984, Bachelor of Architecture, School of Architecture at Tsinghua University

1989-1993, PhD, School of Architecture, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands

Professional History

1997-present, Founder, Li Xiaodong Atelier

Teaching and Professorships

1984-1989, Lecturer, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing

1989-1993, Research Fellow, School of Architecture, Eindhoven University of Technology

and Delft University of Technology, Netherlands

1997-2000, Assistant Professor, School of Design and Environment, The National University

of Singapore

2001-2005, Associate Professor, School of Design and Environment, The National University

of Singapore

2005-present, Chair professor, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing.

Awards

2000, RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), Tutor Prize, The President’s medal

2001, SARA (Society of American Registered Architects), Tutor Prize

2004, Best Design Award, EDRA (Environment Design and Research Association) Places

annual awards, USA

2005, UESCO Jury Award for Innovation

2005, AR+D Highly Recommended

2005-2006, ARCASIA Gold Medal

2006, Architectural Records, business week China Awards, best public building

2009, Bridge School, AR emerging Architecture Award

2010, Bridge School, Aga Khan Award for Architecture

2010, WA Chinese Architecture Award

2011, Man of the Year Award, GQ China

2012, AIA Honorary Fellow, U.S.A.

2012, Liyuan Library, Culture Category of the year award in WAF (World Architectural

Festival), Singapore

2012, Listed in the annual “Eight Green Buildings” of The Times.

2013, Liyuan Library, Architecture of Necessity Awards, Sweden

2013, Yuhu elementary school, EDRA/Places annual design Awards (US)

2013, Yuhu elementary school, Business Week/Architectural Records China Awards best

Public Building.

2014, Liyuan Library, Moriyama RAIC International Prize of Architecture

221

Key designs and buildings

2004, Yuhu Elementary School, Lijiang, Yunnan, China

2009, Bridge School, Fujian, China

2009, The Water House, Lijiang, Yunnan, China

2011, Liyuan Library (篱苑书屋), Beijing, China

2013, The Screen, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China

2014, New Building of School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Books:

Written by LXD himself:

Li, Xiaodong, Dancing Dragon: Chinese Aesthetics since 1979, Utrecht, The Netherlands:

Drills, 2000

Li, Xiaodong, and Yeo Kang Shua, Zhong Guo Kong Jian (Chinese Conception of Space),

Beijing: Zhongguo Jianzhu Gongye Chubanshe, 2007

Li, Xiaodong, and Zhuang Qinghua, Zhong Guo Xing (Form-making in Traditional Chinese

Architecture), Beijing: Zhongguo Jianzhu Gongye Chubanshe, 2010

Written by others:

Goodwin, Kate, Jin Shang(trans.), ‘Interview with Li Xiaodong’ (李晓东访谈), World

Architecture, Beijing: Qinghua University Press, Issue 9, 2014. pp21-5.

Articles:

-, World Architecture, Beijing: Qinghua University Press, Issue.5, 2012.

Table 3.1 the name and D.O.B. of Japanese architects

Akihisa Hirat (平田晃久 1971-)

Akira Komiyama (小宮山昭 1945-)

Akira Yoneda (米田明 1959- )

Arata Isozaki (磯崎新 1931- )

Atsushi Kitagawara (北川原 温 1951-)

Chie Nabeshima (锅岛千恵 1975-)

Fumihiko Maki (槇文彦 1928- )

Go Hasegawa (长谷川豪 1977-)

Hajime Yatsuka (八束はじめ 1948-)

Hironaka Ogawa (小川博央 1975-)

Hiroshi Hara (原广司 1936-)

Hiroshi Horiba (堀場弘 1960-)

Hiroshi Nakamura (中村拓志 1974-)

Hiroshi Oe 大江 宏 (1913-1989)

Hiroshi Sambuichi (三分一博志 1968-)

Hitoshi Abe (阿部仁史 1962-)

Itsuko Hasegawa (長谷川逸子 1941-)

Junichiro Tanizaki (谷崎润一郎 1886-1965)

Junzo Sakakura 坂倉準三 (1901-1969)

Junzo Yoshimura 吉村顺三 (1908-1997)

Kan Izue (出江寛 1931-)

Kazuhiro Ishii (石井和紘 1944-)

Kazumi Kudo (工藤和美 1960-)

Kazuo Shinohara (篠原一男 1925-2006)

Kazuyo Sejima (妹島和世 1956-)

Keisuke Maeda (前田圭介 1974-),

Kengo Kuma (隈研吾 1954-)

Kenzo Tange 丹下健三 (1913-2005)

Kijo Rokkaku (六角鬼丈 1941-)

Kiko Mozuna (毛綱毅曠 1941-)

Kingo Tatsuno (辰野金吾 1854-1919)

Kisho Kurokawa (黑川紀章 1934-2007)

Kiyonori Kikutake (菊竹清訓 1928-2011)

Kiyoshi Sey Takeyama (竹山聖 1954-)

Koji Tsutsui (筒井康二 1972-),

Kumiko Inui (乾久美子 1969-)

Kunihiko Hayakawa (早川邦彦 1941-)

Kunio Maekawa 前川国男 (1905-1986)

Makoto Takei (武井诚 1974-)

Makoto Tanijiri (谷尻诚 1974-) ,

Manabu Chiba (千叶学 1960-)

Mao Harada (原田麻鱼 1976-)

Masaaki Endoh (远藤正明 1963-)

Masahiro Harada (原田真宏 1973-)

Masato Otaka (大高正人 1923- )

Minoru Takeyama (竹山実 1934- )

Momoyo Kaijima (贝岛桃代 1969-)

Norihiko Dan (團紀彦 1956-)

Osamu Ishiyama (石井和紘 1944-)

Riken Yamamoto (山本理顕 1945-)

Ryue Nishizawa (西泽立卫 1966-)

Seiichi Shirai (白井盛一 1905-1983)

Shin Takamatsu (高松伸 1948-)

Shoei Yoh (葉祥栄 1940-)

Shuhei Endo (远藤秀平 1960-)

Sou Fujimoto (藤本壮介 1971-)

Tadao Ando (安藤忠雄 1941-)

Tadasu Ohe (大江匡 1954-)

Taira Nishizawa (西沢大良 1964-)

Takaharu Tezuka (手塚贵晴 1964-)

Takamasa Yoshizaka (吉阪隆正 1917-1980)

Takefumi Aida (相田武文 1937-)

Togo Murano (村野藤吾 1891-1984)

Tokuma Katayama (片山东熊 1854-1917)

Toyo Ito (伊東豊雄 1941-)

Uchida Yoshichika (内田祥哉 1925-)

Yamaguchi Hanroku (山口半六 1858-1900)

Yasufumi Kijima (木岛安史 1937-)

Yasutaka Yoshimura (吉村靖孝 1972-),

Yoshiharu Tsukamoto (冢本由晴 1965-)

Yoshio Taniguchi (谷口 吉郎 1937-)

Yui Tezuka (手塚由比 1969-)

Yuko Nagayama (永山祐子 1975-)

223

Table 3.2 “Modernist Architecture as Cultural Properties”, “DOCOMOMO Japan”, 1999

1. Sumitomo Building (1926) by Sumitomo Eizen Design Office, Eikichi Hasebe and Kenzo

Takekoshi,

2. Chochikukyo (1928) by Koji Fujii,

3. Kosuge Prison (Toyko Detention Center) (1929) by Shigeo Kanbara (Building Section of

Judicial Office),

4. Tokyo Central Post Office (1931) by Tetsuro Yoshida,

5. Dojunkai Building (1926-1934) by Dojunkai Building Department,

6. Kameki Tsuchiura House (1935) by Kameki Tsuchiura,

7. Keio Gijyuku Grade School (1937) by Yoshiro Taniguchi + Sone Chujo Architects,

8. Ube City Public Hall (1937) by Togo Murano,

9. Miyuki-no-ma, Hasshokan (1950) by Sutemi Horiguchi,

10. The Museum of Modern Art, Kanagawa (1951) by Junzo Sakakura,

11. Hiroshima Peace Center (1952) by Kenzo Tange,

12. KanagawaPrefectural Library and Music Hall (1954) by Kunio Mayekawa,

13. Hara House (1954) by Makoto Masuzawa,

14. Chichibu Cement Plant (Taiheiyo Cement Plant) (1956) by Yoshiro Taniguchi + Nikken

Sekkei,

15. Hizuchi Grade School (1958) by Masatsune Matsumura,

16. Kagawa Prefectural Government Office (1958) by Kenzo Tange,

17. Gunma Music Center (1961) by Antonin Raymond,

18. National Gymnasiums for Tokyo Olympics (1964) by Kenzo Tange,

19. Inter-University Seminer House (1965) by Takamasa Yoshizaka (AtlierU),

20. Palaceside Building (1966) by Nikken Sekkei (Shoji Hayashi).

224

Table 3.3 Family tree of Japanese architects (produced by Taro Igarashi, 14 Japanese

architects, 2009)

Table 3.4 Family tree of Japanese architects (simplified by Roland Hagenberg, 20 Japanese

Architects: Interviews and Photos, 2009)

225

Table 3.5 the brief of Kengo Kuma.

Source: online available HTTP:<http://kkaa.co.jp/> (accessed 24 July 2018)

Birth Info

Aug, 1954, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

Educations/Degrees

1979, M.Arch, Department of Architecture, Graduate School of Engineering, The University

of Tokyo

2008, Ph.D, Keio University

Professional History

1979-1985, Nihon Sekkei and TODA Corporation

1987, Founder, Spatial Design Studio in Tokyo

1990, Founder, Kengo Kuma & Associates in Tokyo

2008, Founder, Kuma & Associates Europe (Paris France)

Teaching and Professorships

1985-1986, Visiting Scholar Graduate School, Columbia University and Asian Cultural

Council (USA)

1994, Lecturer at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia

University (New York, USA)

1998-1999, Professor at the Faculty of Environmental Information, Keio University

2001-2009, Professor at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University

2007-2008, Visiting Professor at the School of Architecture, University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign (Chicago, USA)

2009-Present, Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, The University of Tokyo

Professional Affiliations

First class Architect in Japan

Architecte DESA (Diplôme de l’Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture)

Architecte inscrit au Tableau de l’Ordre des Architectes

International Fellow for Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)

Honorary Fellow for The American Institute of Architects (AIA)

Main Literary Works

1986, Jutaku-ron (Shi Zhai Lun)十宅论, Japan/China: Toso Publishing (Chikuma Shobo,

Publishers) / Shanghai Century Publishing, 1986/1990

1989, Good-Bye Postmodern 再见．后现代－11 American Architects(Kajima publishing)

1994, Shin-Kenchiku Nyumon 新·建筑入门 (Chikuma Shobo, Publishers, 1994/China CITIC

Press, 2011)

1994, Kenchikuteki Yokubo no Shuen (Death of Architectural Desire) 建筑的欲望之死 Japan:

Shin-yo-sha Publishing, 1994

1995, Kenchiku no Kiki wo Koete (TOTO)

226

1999, Kengo Kuma Tokuhon – 1999 (GA)

2000, Anti-Object 反造型, Japan: Chikuma shobo, Publishers, 2000; UK: Architectural

Association, 2007; Zhu E (trans.), China: Guangxi Normal University Press, 2010

2004, Makeru Kenchiku 负建筑, Japan: Iwanami shoten, Publishers, 2004; China:

Shangdong People’s Publishing House, 2008; South Korea: Design House, 2009;

Taiwan: Goodness Publishing, 2010

2004, Kengo Kuma Tokuhon II – 2004 (GA)

2007, Kengo Kuma : Lecture and Dialogue (INAX)

2008, Studies in Organic (TOTO)

2008, Shin Toshi-ron Tokyo (co-authored with Yumi Kiyono / Syuei sha shinsho)

2008, Shizen na Kenchiku (Nature Architecture)自然的建筑, Japan: Iwanami shoten,

Publishers, 2008; South Korea: Ahn Graphics, 2010; China: Shangdong People’s

Publishing House, 2010; Taiwan: Goodness Publishing, 2010

2008, The Origins of Materials (Graphic sha)

2010, Santei Shugi 三低主义(co-authored with Atsushi Miura 三浦展) Japan: NTT

Publishing

2010, Kyokai (Tanko sha)

2011, Shin Mura-ron Tokyo (co-authored with Yumi Kiyono / Syuei sha shinsho)

2012, Basho genron (Ichigaya publishing)

2012, Nihonjin wa dou sumaubekika? (co-authored with Takeshi Yorou / Nikkei BP)

2012, Taidanshu Tsunagu Kenchiku (Iwanami shoten)

2013, Kenchikuka, Hashiru (Shincho-sha)

2013, Chisana Kenchiku (Iwanami shoten)

2014, Boku no Basho (Daiwa Shobo)

2015, Hiroba (co-authored with Hidenobu Jinnai·Tankosha)

2015, Onomatope Kenchiku（X-knowledge）

Solo Exhibitions

1992 Tokyo columns (Tokyo, Japan)

1995 Velocity of Transmission (Tokyo, Japan)

2004 Kengo Kuma: Defeated Architecture (Tokyo, Japan)

2004 Niwa: Where the Particle response (Tokyo, Japan)

2005 KRUG×KUMA＝∞＜Infinity＞ (Tokyo, Japan)

2005 Kengo Kuma, The Architecture Between Tradition and Innovation

(Siracusa/Milan/Napoli, Italy and Stockholm, Sweden)

2005 Kengo Kuma, Mock-ups (Tokyo, Japan)

2008 Build Built (Beijing, China)

2008 Material Immaterial (Chicago, USA)

2009 tudies in Organic (Tokyo, Japan)

Awards (1997-2016)

for Kengo Kuma:

1997, First Place, AIA DuPONT Benedictus Award for “Water/Glass” (USA)

1997, Architectural Institute of Japan Award for “Noh Stage in the Forest”

227

2001, Togo Murano Award for “Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum”

2002, Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award (Finland)

2008, Bois Magazine International Wood Architecture Award (France)

2008, Energy Performance + Architecture Award (France)

2009, Decoration Officier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France)

2010, Mainichi Art Award for “Nezu Museum”

2011, The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art

Encouragement Prize for “Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum”

2012, Japan Information-Cultuology Society Award

2012, The 6th ASIAGRAPH Award

2016, Global Award for Sustainable Architecture

For Associates:

1995, Grand Prize for JCD Design Award 1995 Cultural / Public Institutions for “Kiro-san

Observatory”

1997, Grand Prize, Regional Design Award, Kochi Prefecture, for “Yusuhara Visitor’s

Center”

1999, Honorable Mention, Boston Society of Architecture, Unbuilt Architecture Design

Award (USA)

2000, Tochigi Prefecture Marronnier Architecture Award for “Stone Museum”

Tohoku Architecture Award for “River/Filter”

2000, Grand Prize, Inter Intra Space Design Selection for “Kitakami Canal Museum”

Director General of Forestry Agency Prize for “Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige

Museum”

2001, International Stone Architecture Award for “Stone Museum” (Italy)

Building Contractors Society Prize for “Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum”

2005, The Marble Architecture Award 2005 East Asia External Facings 1st prize for

“Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum” (Italy)

2007, Detail Prize 2007 special prize for ’Chokkura Plaza and Shelter” (Germany)

International Architecture Award for the Best New Global Design for “Chokkura Plaza

and Shelter” (USA)

2008, Emirates Leaf Award for Public Building for Suntory Museum of Art (UK/UAE)

Design For Asia Award for “Fujiya Ryokan” (Hong Kong)

2009, Conde Nast Traveler Magazine’s World Best New Hotels 2009 for “The Opposite

House” (USA)

2014, Architectual Institute of Japan Prize for Design, Specific Contributions Division for

“Nagaoka City Hall Aore”

2014, JIA Award for environmental architecture

Competition Prizes (1998-2016)

1998, First Prize, Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum Competition (Tochigi, Japan)

2001, First Prize, Nagasaki Prefecture New Museum Design Competition (Nihon Sekkei.inc

+ Kuma Kengo) (Nagasaki, Japan)

228

2002, First Prize, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Exhibition Center Competition (Tokyo,

Japan)

2002, First Prize, (provisional title) Living National Treasure Museum in Ota City

Preliminary Design Outsourcing Proposal (Gunma, Japan)

2004, First Prize, Ondo-cho Learning Center Design Competition (Hiroshima, Japan)

2004, First Prize, Utsunomiya Station East Plaza Urban Design Competition (Tochigi, Japan)

2004, First Prize, Tobata C Block Urban Design Competition (Fukuoka, Japan)

2007, First Prize, Nagaoka City Hall Architectural Competition (Niigata, Japan)

2007, First Prize, Architectural Competition for the Complex of Government Buildings

related to the area of the “Eiffel Hall”－Western Railway Station of Budapest

(Budapest, Hungary)

2007, First Prize, Besancon City of Arts and Culture Architectural Competition (Besancon,

France)

2007, First Prize, Fond Regional d’Art Contemporain Competition (Marseille, France)

2008, First Prize, Asakusa Tourist Information Center Architectural Competition (Tokyo,

Japan)

2008, First Prize, International Invited Architectural Competition for iconic park and mixed

development in Iskandar Malaysia (Johor-Bahru, Malaysia)

2008, First Prize, Granada Performing Arts Center Architectural Competition (Granada,

Spain)

2010, First Prize, Macdonald Public Facility Complex of General Education and Sports

Competition (Paris, France)

2010, First Prize, Aix en Provence Conservatory of Music Competition (Aix en Province,

France)

2010, First Prize, V&A at Dundee Competition (Scotland, UK)

2011, First Prize, HIKARI, ILOT-P, Lyon Confluence Competition (Lyon, France)

2011, First Prize, The proposal for “the Towada city plaza for social communication”

(Aomori, Japan)

2012, First Prize, The proposal for “Iiyama Plaza” (Nagano, Japan)

2012, First Prize, The proposal for “Tomioka City Hall” (Gunma, Japan)

2012, First Prize, The competition for “EPFL-Espace et pavillions sur place Cosandey”

(Lausanne,Switzerland)

2012, First Prize, The competition for “Susa International train station” (Susa valley, Turin,

Italy)

2016, First Prize, The competition for “Nihondaira observatory in Shizuoka prefecture”

(Shizuoka, Japan)

2016, First Prize, The competition for “Moriyama city library” (Shiga, Japan)

2016, First Prize, The competition for “The H.C. Andersen’s House of Fairy Tales in Odense”

(Odense, Denmark)

Lists of completed architectural works (1988-2017)

1988, A small bathhouse in Izu (villa), Atami-shi, Shizuoka, Japan

1991, M2, Tokyo, Japan

1994, Kiro-san Observatory, Imabari-shi, Ehime, Japan

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1994, Yusuhara Visitor’s Center, Yusuhara-cho, Takaoka-gun, Kochi, Japan

1995, Water / Glass (guest house), Atami-shi, Shizuoka, Japan

1996, Glass / Shadow (club house), Tomioka-shi, Gunma, Japan

1996, Noh Stage in the Forest, Tome-shi, Miyagi, Japan

1996, River / Filter (restraunt), Tamakawa-mura, Ishikawa-gun, Fukushima, Japan

1998, Awaji Service Area, Iwaya, Awaji-shi, Hyougo, Japan

1999, Wood / Slats (guest house), Hayama-machi, Miura-gun, Kanagawa, Japan

1999, Kitakami Canal Museum, Ishinomaki-shi, Miyagi, Japan

2000, Takayanagi Community Center, Kashiwazaki-shi, Niigata, Japan

2000, Nasu History Museum, Nasumachi, Nasugun, Tochigi, Japan, 2000

2000, Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art, Nasu-gun, Tochigi, Japan

2000, Stone Museum, Nasu-machi, Nasu-gun, Tochigi, Japan

2001, Sea / Filter (restraunt), Sanyo Onoda-shi, Yamaguchi, Japan

2001, Parking Building Takasaki, Takasaki-shi, Gunma, Japan

2001, Disaster Prevention Center, Toride-shi, Ibaraki, Japan

2001, Ginzan Onsen Hot Spring Bath House, Obanazawa-shi, Yamagata, Japan

2002, Great (Bamboo) Wall, Commune by the Great Wall, Beijing, China

2002, Plastic House (residence), Meguro-ku, Tokyo

2002, Adobe Repository for Buddha Statue, Shimonoseki-shi, Yamaguchi, Japan

2002, ADK Shochiku Square, Tokyo, Japan

2003, Shizuoka International Garden and Horticulture Exhibition, Pacific Flora 2004 (the

main gate of exhibition), Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka, Japan

2003, Horai Onsen Bath House, Atami-shi, Shizuoka, Japan

2003, Soba Restaurant at Togakushi Shrine, Nagano-shi, Nagano, Japan

2003, Forest / Floor (villa), Japan

2003, Baisoin Temple, Tokyo, Japan

2003, JR Shibuya Station Façade Renovation, Tokyo, Japan

2003, One Omotesando, Tokyo, Japan

2004, Waketokuyama, Waketokuyama Honten, Tokyo, Japan

2004, Kirara Glass Factory, Sanyo Onoda-shi, Yamaguchi, Japan

2004, The “Food and Agriculture” Museum Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan

2004, Canal Court Cordan Block 3, Tokyo, Japan

2004, Murai Masanari Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan

2004, NTT Aoyama Building Renovation Project, Tokyo, Japan

2004, LVMH Osaka, Osaka, Japan

2004, Cocon Karasuma, Kyoto, Japan

2005, Fukuzaki Hanging Garden, Osaka, Japan

2005, The Scape (apartment), Tokyo, Japan

2005, Banraisha, Keio University Mita Campus, Tokyo, Japan

2005, Nagasaki Prefecture Art Museum, Joint project with Nihon Sekkei Inc, Nagasaki, Japan

2005, Hoshinosato Annex, Yamaguchi, Japan

2005, Lotus House (villa), Eastern Japan

2005, Chokkura Shelter, Hoshakuji statation, Tochigi, Japan

2006, Y-Hütte (villa), Eastern Japan

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2006, Chokkura Plaza, Tochigi, Japan

2006, Ginzan Onsen Fujiya (hotel), Obanazawa-shi, Yamagata, Japan

2006, Z58 (office), Shanghai, China

2006, Yusuhara Town Hall, Kochi-ken, Japan

2007, Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo Midtown Garden side, Tokyo, Japan

2007, Steel House, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo

2007, Tobata C Block Project, Tobata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan

2007, Yien East (villa), Japan

2007, Sake no Hana (restaurant), London, UK

2007, Kure City Ondo Civic Center, Kure-shi, Hiroshima, Japan

2008, Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, Osaka, Japan

2008, Ryotei Kaikatei Annex “So-an” (restaurant), Fukui, Japan

2008, Hoshakuji Station, Tochigi, Japan

2008, The Opposite House (hotel), Beijing, China

2008, Sanlitun Vilage South, Beijing, China

2008, Tiffany Ginza, Tokyo, Japan

2008, Wood / Berg (residence), East Japan

2009, Nezu Museum, Tokyo, Japan

2009, Museum of Kanayama Castle Ruin, Kanayama Community Center, Gunma, Japan

2009, Garden Terrace Nagasaki (hotel), Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan

2009, Tamagawa Takashimaya S·C Marronnier Court, Tokyo, Japan

2009, Kawatana-no-mori Cortot Hall (museum), Yamaguchi, Japan

2010, Bamboo / Fiber (residence), Japan

2010, GC Prostho Museum Research Center, Aichi Prefecture, Japan

2010, The Momofuku Ando Center of Outdoor Training, Nagano-ken, Japan

2010, Sysla-Mademoiselle BIO headquarters (office), Paris, France

2010, Tamagawa Takashimaya S·C (façade renovation), Tokyo, Japan

2010, Community Market Yusuhara, Takaoka-gun, Kochi Pref., Japan

2010, Glass / Wood House (residence), New Canaan, Connecticut, USA

2010, Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum, Takaoka-gun, Kochi Pref., Japan

2010, Sanlitun Soho, Beijing, China

2010, Stone Roof (villa), Nagano, Japan

2011, Lake House (villa), East Japan

2011, Mesh / Earth (terrace house), Tokyo, Japan

2011, Café Kureon (restaurant), Toyama-shi, Toyama, Japan

2011, Memu Meadows (residence), Hirogun, Hokkaido, Japan

2011, Casalgrande Old House, Casalgrande, Reggio Emilia, Italy

2011, Green Cast (complex building), Odawara-shi, Kanagawa Pref., Japan

2011, Starbucks Coffee at Dazaifutenmangu Omotesando, Fukuoka, Japan

2011, Xinjin Zhi Museum, Chengdu, Sichuan prefecture, China

2012, Teikyo University Elementary School, Tokyo, Japan

2012, Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center, Tokyo, Japan

2012, Nagaoka City Hall Aore, Nagaoka-shi, Niigata, Japan

2012, One Niseko (hotel), Hokkaido, Japan

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2012, FRAC Marseille, Marseille, France

2012, Besançon Art Center and Cité de la Musique, Besançon, France

2012, Jeju Ball (villa/hotel), Jeju, Korea

2012, Water / Cherry (residence), East Japan

2012, Incline to Forest (villa), East Japan

2013, Kids Academy Taiyogaoka Hoikuen, Ishikawa, Japan

2013, Garden Terrace Miyazaki (hotel), Miyazaki, Japan

2013, Kyushu Geibun Kan Museum (main building), Fukuoka, Japan

2013, Kyushu Geibun Kan Museum (annex 2), Fukuoka, Japan

2013, Sunny Hills, Omotesando, Tokyo, Japan

2013, Alibaba Group “Taobao City”, Hangzhou, China

2013, PC Garden (residence), East Japan

2013, Extend to Forest (villa), East Japan

2013, Darius Milhaud Conservatory of Music, Aix en Provence, France

2013, Ryoguchiyakorekiyo Higashiyamaten (shop), Aichi, Japan

2014, Daiwa Ubiquitous Computing Research Building, Tokyo, Japan

2014, Hayama no mori, Kanagawa, Japan

2014, Garden Terrace Nagasaki Royal Terrace building, Nagasaki, Japan

2014, La Kagu (shop), Tokyo, Japan

2014, Entrepot Macdonald (Education and Sports Complex), Paris, France

2014, Beijing Tea House, Beijing, China

2014, Wuxi Vanke, Wuxi, China

2014, Naver Connect One, Chuncheon, Korea

2015, Umeda Hospital, Yamaguchi, Japan

2015, Towada City Plaza, Aomori, Japan

2015, Keio Takaosanguchi Station, Tokyo, Japan

2015, Hikari (urban design), Lyon, France

2015, Okubo Animal Hospital, Takasaki, Gunma, Japan

2015, Toyama Kirari, Toyama, Japan

2015, China Academy of Art’s Folk Art Museum, Hangzhou, China

2015, Sogokagu Design Lab, Mie, Japan

2015, Komatsu Seiren Fabric Laboratory fa-bo, Ishikawa, Japan

2015, Iiyama Cultural Hall, Nagano, Japan

2015, Hongkou SOHO, Shanghai, China

2016, Mont-Blanc Base Camp (office), Les Houches, France

2016, Aitoku Kindergarten, Saitama, Japan

2016, Under One Roof (project for the EPFL ArtLab), EPFL campus, Lausanne, Switzerland

2016, Dassai Store Iwakuni, Yamaguchi, Japan

2016, Beijing Qianmen (office, café), Beijing, China

2016, Novartis Shanghai Campus Multifunction Building, Shanghai, China

2016, Portland Japanese Garden, USA

2016, Water / Stone (guest house), East Japan

2016, Tsukiji KY Building (office), Tokyo, Japan

2016, Vancouver Tea House, Vancouver, Canada

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2016, Roof / Birds (villa), Nagano, Japan

2017, Narita Rehabilitation Hospital, Chiba, Japan

2017, INIAD HUB-1 (Faculty of Information Networking for Innovation and Design, Toyo

University), Tokyo, Japan

2017, ONE@Tokyo (hotel, restaurant), Tokyo, Japan

2017, Japan House São Paulo (Multimedia Space), São Paulo, Brazil

2017, Seijo Kinoshita Hospital / green hospital, Tokyo, Japan

2017, Minamisanriku Sun Sun Shopping Village, Miyagi, Japan

2017, Minamisanriku Hamare Utatsu, Miyagi, Japan

2017, Whitestone Gallery Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan

2017, COEDA HOUSE (café), Shizuoka, Japan

2017, Yugawara Station Square, Kanagawa, Japan

2017, Shipyard 1862 (Retail, Theater, Multipurpose Room), Shanghai, China

2017, COMICO ART MUSEUM YUFUIN (Recreational and Training facilities), Oita, Japan

2017, Toho Gakuen School of Music, Chofu City, Tokyo

2017, MOKUMAKU HOUSE (residence), Nigata, Japan

2017, Hekikai Shinkin Bank Misono (office), Aichi, Japan

Lists of pavilion/installation (1996-2017)

1996, Space Design of Venice Biennale 1995, Japanese Pavilion, Venice, Italy

2005, Oribe Tea House (Exhibition: Gensei Oribe Zanmai Fair), Gifu Prefecture, Japan

2005, KXK (Exhibition: KRUG X KUMA), Tokyo, Japan

2005, Paper Snake (Anyang Public Art Project), Anyang, South Korea

2006, t-room (Exhibition: Alternative Paradise), Ishikawa prefecture, Japan

2007, Cidori (Exhibition: Milano Salone 2007), Milan, Italy

2007, Water Block (Exhibition: Tokyo Design Premio 2007), Milan, Italy

2007, Tee Haus, Museums für Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt, Germany

2007, Stone Card Castle (Exhibition: Marmomacc 2007), Verona, Italy

2007, Floating Tea House (Exhibition: World O-CHA Festival 2007), Shizuoka, Japan

2008, Two Carps (Exhibition: Two carps: water/earth – village/city – Phenomenologies),

Padova, Italy

2008, Casa Umbrella (Exhibition: Casa Per Tutti), Milano, Italy

2008, Water Branch House (Exhibition: MOMA Home Delivery Fabricating the Modern

Dwelling), NY, USA

2008, Polygonium (Exhibition: Rakuichi), Toyama-pref., Japan

2010, Ceramic Yin Yang (Exhibition: Interni Think Tank), Milano, Italy

2010, Air Brick (Exhibition: In Between), Shanghai, China

2010, Casalgrande Ceramic Cloud, Casalgrande, Reggio Emilia, Italy

2011, Con / Fiber (Exhibition: Tokyo Fiber Senseware), Milano, Italy

2011, Bubble Wrap (Exhibition: Dojima River Biennale 2011), Osaka, Japan

2013, Hojo-an after 800 Years, Kyoto, Japan

2013, Stonescape, Bologna, Italy

2013, Naturescape, Milano, Italy

2013, Nangchang-Nangchang (Gwangju Design Biennale 2013), Gwangju, Korea

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2014, Sensing spaces, Royal Academy, London, UK

2015, Wind eaves, Hsinchu County, Taiwan

2015, Mushizuka (Mound for Insects), Kanagawa, Japan

2015, Irori & Paper Cocoon, Milano, Italy

2015, Yure, Paris, France

2015, TSUMIKI, Tokyo, Japan

2016, Owan (Design Miami/Basel 2016), Basel, Switzerland

2017, Neowa Dome, Gwangju, Korea

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Table 3.6 the brief of Tadao Ando

Birth Info

September, 1941, Minato-ku, Osaka, Japan

Educations

1962-1969 Self-education

Professional History

1969, Founder, Tadao Ando Architect & Associates in Osaka

Teaching and Professorships

1987, Visiting Professor, Yale University

1988, Visiting Professor, Columbia University

1990, Visiting Professor, Harvard University

1997, Professor, The University of Tokyo

2003, Emeritus Professor, The University of Tokyo

2005, Special University Emeritus Professor, The University of Tokyo

2005, Regent Professor, University of California, Berkeley

Civic Activities:

1982, International Architectural Conference, Charlottesville Conference “P3”, U.S.A.

1986, International Architectural Conference, Chicago Conference “P4”, U.S.A.

1992, Anywhere Conference, Yufuin, Oita, Japan

1995, Chair Person, Hanshin “Awaji Ten Year Reconstruction Support Committee”

1996, Campaign Leader, Hyogo Green Network

1996, Sommet Cultural Franco-Japonais 1996, Tokyo, Japan

1997, Sommet Cultural Franco-Japonais 1997, Paris, France

1999, Les Architects Japonais et le Musée, Le Louvre, Paris, france

1999, The Scientific Committee of The 20th UIA Beijing 1999 Congress, China

2000, UT Forum 2000 in Boston, U.S.A.

2000, Campaign Leader, Setouchi Olive Foundation

2003, World Economic Forum 2003, Davos, Switzerland

2007, Campaign Leader Conferences, Umi-no-Mori (Sea Forest) Fund-Raising Campaign

Awards:

1979, Annual Prize (Row House, Sumiyoshi), Architectural Institute of Japan, Japan

1983, Japan International-Design Forum Award “Rokko Housing”

1985, The 5th Alvar Aalto Medal, The Finnish Association of Architects, Finland

1986, Annual Award (to encourage new talent in fine arts), Japanese Ministry of Education

1987, The Mainichi Art Prize “Chapel on Mt. Rokko”

1988, Isoya Yoshida Award “Kidosaki House”

1989, Gold Medal of Architecture, French Academy of Architecture, France

1990, Art Prize, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture

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1991, Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize, American Academy of Arts and Letters, U.S.A.

1992, Carlsberg Architectural Prize, Denmark

1993, Japan Art Academy Prize, Japan

1994, The Japan Art Grand Prix “Chikatsu-Asuka Historical Museum, Osaka”

1995, Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France

1995, The Asahi Prize

1995, The Pritzker Architecture Prize

1995, The UNESCO Miry Medal

1995, The 7th International Design Award

1996, The 8th Premium Imperiale, First “FRATE SOLE” Award

1997, Royal Gold Medal, Royal Institute of British Architects, U.K.

1997, Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France

1997, Hyogo Prefecture Cultural Award

1998, The 6th (every 2 years) Public Building Awards, Japan “Chikatsu-Asuka Historical

Museum, Osaka”

2002, Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects, U.S.A.

2002, Honorary Degree, Universita Degli Studi di Roma, Italy

2002, Honorary Degree, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

2002, The Kyoto Prizes, Japan

2003, Person of Cultural Merit, Japan

2005, Gold Medal of Union Internationale des Architects (UIA)

2006, Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur, France

2006, Commendation for Contributions in Environmental Conservation

2010, John F. Kennedy Center Gold Medal in the Arts

2010, Shimpei Goto Award in 2010, Order of Culture (Japan)

2012, Neutra Medal for Professional Excellence, Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental

Design, United Skates

2013, Commander of the Order of Art and Letters (France)

2015, Grand Officer of the Order of Merit (Italy)

2016, Isamu Noguchi Award

Affiliations:

1991, Honorary Fellow, The American Institute of Architects

1993, Honorary Fellow, The Royal Institute of British Architects

1997, Honorary Membership of the German Architect Association

1998, Honorary Fellow, French Academy of Architecture

1998, Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland

2000, Honorary Fellow, The National Association of Architects, Republic of China (Taiwan)

2001, Honorary membership, The American Academy of Arts and Letters

2002, Honorary Academician, The Royal Academy of Arts in London Academic Activities

Selected Exhibitions

1978, A New Wave of Japanese Architecture, U.S.A. (Traveling Exhibition)

1979, Magyar Építőművészek Szövetsége, Budapest, Hungary

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1991, “Hines V: Tadao Ando”, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA

1993, “Musee national d'art moderne/Centre de creation industrielle”, Centre Georges

Pompidou, Paris, France

1993, The Royal Institute of British Architects, London, U.K.

1994, Expo MOPT, Madrid, Spain (Ministerio de Obras Públicas, Transportes y Medio

Ambiente)

1994, Fundaciy “la Caixa”. Centre Cultural, Barcelona, Spain

1995, The Basilica Palladiana, Vicenza, Italy

1996, 6th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

1998, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea, Seoul

1998, Royal Academy of Arts, London, U.K.

1999, Galerie Aedes Est, Berlin, Germany

2000, The Pritzker Architecture Prize 1979-1999, Chicago, Pittsburgh, U.S.A. / Toronto,

Canada

2000, At the End of the Century 100 Years of Architecture, MoCA (The Modern of

Contemporary Art), Los Angeles, U.S.A.

2000-2005, Museums for a New Millennium (Traveling Exhibition)

2001, Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, U.S.A.

2002, 8th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

2002-2003, Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, U.S.A.

2005-2006, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China

2006, Museums in the 21st Century: Concepts, Projects, Buildings (Traveling Exhibition)

2007, Tadao Ando Construction Site 2006", A Hard-Fought Process", 21_21 DESIGN

SIGHT, Tokyo, Japan

2008, Tadao Ando Architecture, “Challenges – Faithful to the Basis”, Japan

2009, “Tadao Ando Exhibition 2009: The City of Water/Osaka vs. Venice”, Suntory Museum

Tempozan, Japan

2011, Tadao Ando: Chinmoku, Hamiltons Gallery, London, U.K.

2012, Tadao Ando Exhibition at Duvetica Store and Showroom, Milan Design Week, Italy

2017, “Tadao Ando: Endeavors”, the National Art Centre Tokyo, Japan

Completed architectural works (1973-2017):

1973, Tomishima House, Osaka, Japan

1974, Uchida House, Japan

1974, Uno House, Kyoto, Japan

1974, Hiraoka House, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1974, Shibata House, Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

1975, Tatsumi House, Osaka, Japan

1975, Soseikan-Yamaguchi House, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1975, Takahashi House, Ashiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1975, Matsumura House, Kobe, Japan

1976, Row House, Sumiyoshi, Osaka, Japan

1976, Hirabayashi House, Osaka, Japan

1976, Bansho House, Aichi Prefecture, Japan

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1976, Tezukayama Tower Plaza, Sumiyoshi, Osaka, Japan

1977, Tezukayama House-Manabe House, Osaka, Japan

1977, Wall House (Matsumoto House), Ashiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1978, Glass Block House (Ishihara House), Osaka, Japan

1978, Okusu House, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan

1979, Glass Block Wall (Horiuchi House), Sumiyoshi, Osaka, Japan

1979, Katayama Building, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1979, Onishi House, Sumiyoshi, Osaka, Japan

1979, Matsutani House, Kyoto, Japan

1979, Ueda House, Okayama Prefecture, Japan

1980, Step, Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan

1980, Matsumoto House, Wakayama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan

1980, Fuku House, Wakayama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan

1981, Bansho House Addition, Aichi Prefecture, Japan

1981, Koshino House, Ashiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1981, Kojima Housing (Sato House), Okayama Prefecture, Japan

1981, Atelier in Oyodo, Osaka, Japan

1982, Tea House for Soseikan-Yamaguchi House, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1982, Ishii House, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan

1982, Akabane House, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan

1982, Kujo Townhouse (Izutsu House), Osaka, Japan

1983, Rokko Housing I, Rokko, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1983, Bigi Atelier, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

1983, Umemiya House, Kobe, Japan

1983, Kaneko House, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

1984, Festival, Naha, Okinawa prefecture, Japan

1984, Time's I, Kyoto, Japan

1984, Koshino House Addition, Ashiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1984, Melrose, Meguro, Tokyo

1984, Uejo House, Osaka, Japan

1984, Ota House, Okayama Prefecture, Japan

1984, Moteki House, Kobe, Japan

1984, Shinsaibashi TO Building, Osaka, Japan

1984, Iwasa House, Ashiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1984, Hata House, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1985, Atelier Yoshie Inaba, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

1985, Jun Port Island Building, Kobe, Japan

1985, Mon-petit-chou, Kyoto, Japan

1985, Guest House for Hattori House, Osaka, Japan

1986, Taiyō Cement Headquarters Building, Osaka, Japan

1986, TS Building, Osaka

1986, Chapel on Mt. Rokko, Kobe, Hyogo

1986, Old/New Rokkov, Kobe, Japan

1986, Kidosaki House, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan

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1986, Fukuhara Clinic, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan

1986, Sasaki House, Minato, Tokyo, Japan

1987, Main Pavilion for Tennoji Fair, Osaka, Japan

1987, Karaza Theater, Tokyo, Japan

1987, Ueda House Addition, Okayama Prefecture, Japan

1988, Church on the Water, Tomamu, Hokkaido, Japan

1988, Galleria Akka, Osaka, Japan

1989, Children's Museum, Himeji, Hyogo, Japan

1989, Church of the Light, Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan

1989, Collezione, Minato, Tokyo, Japan

1989, Morozoff P&P Studio, Kobe, Japan

1989, Raika Headquarters Building, Osaka, Japan

1989, Natsukawa Memorial Hall, Hikone, Shiga, Japan

1989, Yao Clinic, Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

1990, Matsutani House Addition, Kyoto, Japan

1990, Ito House, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan

1990, Iwasa House Addition, Ashiya, Hyōgo Prefecture. Japan

1990, Garden of Fine Arts, Osaka, Japan

1990, S Building, Osaka, Japan

1991, Water Temple, Awaji Island, Hyogo

1991, Atelier in Oyodo II, Osaka, Japan

1991, Time's II, Kyoto, Japan

1991, Museum of Literature, Himeji, Hyogo

1991, Sayoh Housing, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1991, Minolta Seminar House, Kobe, Japan

1992, Benesse House, Naoshima, Kagawa, Japan

1992, Japanese Pavilion, Expo '92, Sevilla, Spain

1992, Otemae Art Center, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1992, Forest of Tombs Museum, Kumamoto

1993, Rokko Housing II, Rokko, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan

1993,Vitra Seminar House, Weil am Rhein, Germany

1993, Gallery Noda, Kobe, Japan

1993, YKK Seminar House, Chiba Prefecture, Japan

1994, Suntory Museum, Osaka, Japan

1994, Maxray Headquarters Building, Osaka, Japan

1994, Chikatsu Asuka Museum, Osaka, Japan

1994, Kiyo Bank, Sakai Building, Sakai, Osaka, Japan

1994, Garden of Fine Art, Kyoto, Japan

1994, Museum of Wood culture, Kami, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1994, Inamori Auditorium, Kagoshima, Japan

1994, Nariwa Museum, Okayama Prefecture, Japan

1995, Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum & Annex, Naoshima, Kagawa, Japan

1995, Atelier in Oyodo Annex, Osaka, Japan

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1995, Nagaragawa Convention Center, Gifu, Japan

1995, Meditation Space, UNESCO, Paris, France

1995, Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Museum of Art, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

1996, Shanghai Pusan Ferry Terminal, Osaka, Japan

1996, Museum of Literature II, Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1997, Museum of Gojo Culture & Annex, Gojo, Nara Prefecture, Japan

1997, Toto Seminar House, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1997, The Yokogurayama Natural Forest Museum, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan

1997, Harima Kogen Higashi Primary School & Junior High School, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

1997, Koumi Kogen Museum, Nagano Prefecture, Japan

1997, Eychaner/Lee House, Chicago, Illinois, USA

1998, Daikoku Denki Headquarters Building, Aichi Prefecture, Japan

1998, Daylight Museum, Gamo-gun, Shiga Prefecture, Japan

1998, Junichi Watanabe Memorial Hall, Sapporo, Japan

1998, Asahi Shimbun Okayama Bureau, Okayama, Japan

1998, Siddhartha Children and Women Hospital, Butwal, Nepal

1999, Church of the Light Sunday School, Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

1999, Rokko Housing III', Kobe, Japan

1999, Shell Museum, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

2000, Fabrica (Benetton Communication Research Center), Villorba, Italy

2000, Awaji-Yumebutai (Awaji Island Project), Tsuna-gun, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

2000, Rockfield Shizuoka Factory, Shizuoka, Japan

2001 Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, Missouri , USA

2001, Komyo-ji (shrine), Saijō, Ehime, Japan

2001, Ryotaro Shiba Memorial Museum, Higashiosaka, Osaka prefecture, Japan

2001, Teatro Armani-Armani World Headquarters, Milan, Italy

2001, Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of Art, Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

2001, Ryotaro Shiba Memorial Museum, Osaka

2002, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

2003, Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, United Kingdom

2003, 4x4 house, Kobe, Japan

2004, Invisible House, Ponzano Veneto, Italy

2004, Chichu Art Museum, Naoshima, Kagawa, Japan

2004, Langen Foundation, Neuss, Germany

2005, Gunma Insect World Insect Observation Hall, Kiryū, Gunma, Japan

2005, Picture Book Museum, Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

2005, Morimoto (restaurant), Chelsea Market, Manhattan, USA

2006, Saka no Ue no Kumo Museum, Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan

2006, Omotesando Hills, Jingumae 4-Chome, Tokyo, Japan

2006, House in Shiga, Ōtsu, Shiga, Japan

2006, Benesse House, Naoshima, Kagawa, Japan

2007, 21 21 Design Sight, Minato, Tokyo, Japan

2008, Stone Hill Center expansion for the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts,

USA

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2008, Glass House, Seopjikoji, South Korea

2008, Genius Loci, Seopjikoji, South Korea

2009, Punta della Dogana (restoration), Venice, Italy

2009, Tokyo Skytree, Tokyo, Japan

2009, House, stable, and mausoleum for fashion designer and film director Tom Ford, rancho

near Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States

2009, Rebuilding the Kobe Kaisei Hospital, Nada Ward, Kobe, Japan

2009, Gate of Creation, Universidad de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico

2009, Niwaka Building, Kyoto, Japan

2010, Lee Ufan Museum, Naoshima, Kagawa, Japan

2010, Capella Niseko Resort and Residences, Niseko, Abuta District, Shiribeshi, Hokkaido

Prefecture, Japan

2010, Interior design of Miklós Ybl Villa, Budapest, Hungary

2011, Kaminoge Station, Tokyu Corporation, Tokyo

2012, Centro Roberto Garza Sada of Art Architecture and Design, Monterrey, Mexico

2012, Asia University Museum of Arts, Wufeng,Taichung, Taiwan

2012, Akita Museum of Art, Akita,

2012, Bonte Museum, Seogwipo, South Korea

2013, Hansol Museum (San Museum ), Wonju, South Korea

2013, Aurora Museum, Shanghai, China

2014, Visitor, Exhibition and Conference Center, Clark Art Institute, Williamstown,

Massachusetts, USA

2014, Casa Wabi, Puerto Escondido, Oax, Mexico

2015, JCC (Jaeneung Culture Center), Seoul, South Korea

2016, The Hill of the Buddha, Makamanai Takino Cemetery, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

2017, Pearl Art Museum, Shanghai, China