China Homegrown

Today, architecture in China is at a watershed. Over the last decade, rapid urbanisation and the burgeoning economy turned the country into a playground for the world’s signature architects, making it possible to realise extravagant forms and structures at a vast scale. The Chinese government has now drawn a line under this phenomenon by issuing a directive calling an end to the ‘oversized, xenocentric, weird’ buildings devoid of character or cultural heritage that have sprung up across the country, requiring that urban architecture be 'suitable, economic, green and pleasing to the eye'. This government directive comes at a time when homegrown architecture has become increasingly self-assured and reflective in its approach. A new generation of architects in China in their 30s and 40s are emerging, and in a wholly contemporary way they are exploring local responses to often bewildering urban and rural conditions and serious social and environmental challenges. This is often expressed through a revival of interest in traditional street patterns, courtyards and gardens. At the same time, architects are also recognising the opportunities to harness the potential of China’s established manufacturing base to develop prefabricated building systems. Innovative practices are employing new modes of working, such as research-based studio teaching and exhibitions, field workshops, cross-disciplinary collaboration, laboratory-based practice, design think-tanks and collective projects, generating a vibrant culture of design research. Contributors: Lu Feng, Murray Fraser, Xiao Fu and Wei You, Xiahong Hua and Shen Zhuang, Xinggang Li, Yichun Liu, James Shen, Yehao Song, Hui Wang, Shuo Wang, Xin Wang and Qiuye Jin, Philip F Yuan and Xiang Wang, Li Zhang, Xin Zhang and Jingxiang Zhu. Featured architects: Archi-Union Architects, Atelier Archmixing, Atelier Deshaus, Atelier Li Xinggang, Integrated Architecture Studio, LanD Studio, META-Project, People's Architecture Office, SUP Atelier, URBANUS and Zaoyuan Gardening Studio

About the Guest-Editors 5 Introduction: Responsive Experimentalism 6 Integrating Geometry Within a Poetic Setting: Steering a Path Between the Artifi cial and the Natural 16 Arcadia: A Contemporary Chinese Garden Experiment 24 Lost and Found: Reinventing Multi-Screen Adaptable Architecture 32 Constructing Critically: Prefabricated Systems with Soul 40 Plugin Society: Bridging the Gap Between Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches to Urban Development 46 Everyday Change and the Unrecognisable System 52 Informal Density: Animating Historical Neighbourhoods 58 A New Protocol for Space Production: Generating Socially Cohesive Urban Architecture 66 Three Main Drivers of Sustainable Design: A New Architectural Vernacular for China 74 Basic Green Building Design: Reconnecting Sustainability to the Vernacular 80 Responsive Structure: Architecture as a Thing-scape 88 From Theory to Praxis: Digital Tools and the New Architectural Authorship 94 Lighting-Led Architecture: A Collaborative Approach 102 Architecture as Synthetic Agency: Narrative-Augmented Design in Practice 110 Imagining the Immediate Present: Responsive Approaches to the Investigation of Things 116 Turning East: Design Research in China in a Global Context 124 Counterpoint: Alternative Modernity, Rural Rediscovery and What Next: The Ongoing Debate on the Modern in China 134 Contributors 142