In economic terms China developed phenomenally in the last few years. From one of the poorest third world countries it has become within twenty years the second biggest economy in the world. Foreign investors and architects were called to built a contemporary global city. We are trying to find out whether there is a tendency in contemporary Chinese architecture to seek inspiration in their own tradition. In October 2012 the chair of J.Ll. Mateo organized a study trip to China. The visit to the traditional Chinese city Pingyao compared to Beijing made one understand the extreme change which Chinese cities have undergone in the last century.
IDENTITY. Could we say that there is a new tendency in Chinese architecture orientated to the recovery of its original identity?
WANG LU. Shortly to say in China we cannot escape from style. After the Cultural Revolution the whole China started to reconsider how to build the...
Tradition in the Beijing urban development
ZHU WENYI: From the viewpoint of urban space or urban design, a lot of things are related to tradition; they have not disappeared and still alive. The Chinese architecture and city, as same as the Chinese food, is a part of Chinese culture...
The ancient city of Pingyao stands on the East bank of the middle reaches of the Fenhe river, which runs across the south of the Taiyuan Basin of Xanshi province. According to the Records on Pingyao County completed in 1882 the old city was established during Western Zhou Dynasty (827-782 BC),...
Read moreNot Vital was born in 1948 in Sent, Graubünden (CH) and has been living and working between the USA, Africa, Chile, Italy and Switzerland.
In 2008 he commissioned his collaborator, the young Japanese architect Mitsunori Sano, to design his new Atelier in Caochangdi, an artist neighbourhood of...