yung-ho chang tries to restore an appreciation for design : a chinese architect goes home - wall air purifier

"They turned it into a theme park," Rong said . " 2001
He Chang pointed to the Yuanmingyuan Park outside the office of Peking University.
"There's nothing special about that place.
"Around the headquarters of Chang Xin building Graduate School Center, Yuanmingyuan left some unrepaired debris --
A great Chinese
Baroque stupidity, built by the Jesuit for the Emperor Qianlong, was-
In 1860, the French army remained a powerful symbol of the tragedy of China's failure to engage with the wider world.
Now China wants a second chance.
In this case with the practice of modern architecture.
A former professor of American nationality. S.
At China's most prestigious university, Professor Zhang leads a new department.
If the restored, commercialized Yuanmingyuan next door represents a contemporary Chinese obsession with consumerism, Chang's appointment marks another trend, after years of poverty, the isolation of art and design appreciation and the destructive political struggle.
Despite his long teaching career, Chang, 45, began practicing only after returning to his hometown of Beijing in 1997, setting up the studio Feichang Jianzhu (
"Amazing" or "extreme Building ")
With his wife, Lu Lijia and Wang Hui.
Since then, his combination of ecological ingenuity and creative re-interpretation of the Chinese concept has been widely praised.
Hou Hanru, an art critic in Paris, said the advertisement "has three aspects of his work ".
"The first is to try to integrate modern architecture with the Chinese context.
Second, bring the environment into the building. Last, 'micro-
Architecture as a microcosm of the city.
"Zhang's proposal in Anji, Zhejiang province is to take advantage of the structure and environmental potential of bamboo.
In his essay "urbanization of bamboo," he wrote, "density is accepted because it supports a very Chinese way of life.
Skyscrapers and glass curtain walls can be made Green, bamboo can play the role of umbrellas, air purifiers and humidifiers --
Curtain wall on site.
"He used channels and bridges at the 1999 Chenxing math center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to create a micro-
Its central atrium is squeezed to accommodate more dense contemporary cities.
The "Great Wall commune" residence in the suburbs of Beijing incorporates the terrain features such as streams into the structure and uses a stamped earth that is more difficult than concrete, which is an excellent insulator, it has been used since the Shang Dynasty.
Although his father worked at the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design, "a bit like a municipal building department," he often reluctantly came to the construction industry.
"I am more interested in art," he said . "
But the cultural revolution delayed his education, and when the university reopened in 1977, the competition for admission was very fierce, "especially painting and music, which people can practice in private.
So he came to his father's alma mater, Nanjing University of Technology at that time.
Southeast University now).
"It's important to get somewhere.
My interest in architecture has developed in the process.
"These courses are highly technical," the university fears anything ideological, but it has its advantages: "Today, students are suddenly exposed to the contemporary West without any foundation
On the other hand, we are completely out of this circle.
I remember I was excited about Mies van der Rohe and found out that he died 10 years ago.
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In 1979, students were allowed to go abroad again, and in 1981, Chang received a scholarship to study for a bachelor's degree in architecture at Mansey power State University in Indiana.
"You still need a good relationship," he said . "
"First of all, no one has money.
You can only get about $50 in forex.
Fortunately, our family and friends live in the United States. S.
"Zhang Fei goes to San Francisco, where his family lives and goes to Indiana by bus," it was an interesting trip to the United States.
He did a six.
San Francisco architect Clement Chen, behind the first joint construction company in Beijing, conducted a one-month internship
Founding hotel.
"It's a bit frustrating," Chang recalls.
"He is very talented, but he has become very practical as a Chinese.
For example, Jianguo is a direct replica of Holiday Inn Palo Alto.
"After graduation, Professor Zhang went to the University of California, Berkeley to study for a master's degree.
Later, he worked in Chen, but eventually taught at Ann Arbor's University of Michigan until 1990, at Berkeley, until 1992, and finally at Rice University in Houston.
Advertising is disappointed by the lack of opportunities to build, often frustrated by the life of academia.
"Lalls Lepp, one of my teachers, and the one who took me to rice like the Dean, always urged me to leave the black box.
He believes that it is very important how architecture affects society.
During a visit to Beijing in the Chinese new year, he was surprised by his numerous requests for talent.
"In America, I was thinking, when will I make a building?
"His first job was to work in a casino in Shantou, east of Guangdong province.
"Unfortunately, the customer died in an accident.
"The studio Feichang Jianzhu starts indoors, such as the present --
Xishu bookstore closed down;
Their first building was in the center of Chenxing.
"After the opening ceremony, my father asked me to attend a banquet with him.
When I arrived, the president of Peking University asked me to open a school of architecture in his university.
I have never considered teaching here, because I do not have a high rating of Chinese schools, especially construction schools.
But I cannot reject the offer.
"Since then, the business of Feichang Jianzhu has started --
Today's projects include office buildings in Shanghai and Hebei, Haibin International Convention Center in Qingdao, City Hall in Zhangye county, 306 villa communities near Beijing and zhuta, A small office in the middle village of Silicon Valley, China, with bamboo walls and his concept of "living building. Frustrations?
"Contractors are very sloppy and, despite the large differences in land and labor costs, construction costs are often higher than in Hong Kong.
The finished building is so bad that it has to be demolished, which is not rare.
"What about the good side?
"You'll be surprised, but it's easier to build here than in the US.
There's more to be built, of course.
But what's interesting is that people are more open. minded.
They considered these things for the first time.
Jonathan namepak wrote about art and pop culture in Asia.
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A version of the article was published in the International Herald Tribune on April 14, 2001.