week 6 : amateur architect
Amateur Architect, composed of Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu is a chinese architecture firm that believes that spaces are more fundamental than just a building in a sense that there is a rich history in every site they build on.
The firm often uses recycled materials to build their projects, due to the architecture environment in China. China is undergoing mass redevelopment where there are non-stop demolishing houses to replace with high rise housing. This has caused the loss of the essence and interaction between people in the neighbourhood, as well as the overall physical looks of the old spaces.
Making use of the fast pace of rebuilding by the chinese government, the studio decides to make use of the materials of the old buildings, to try and recover the original essence of the space, reminiscing the old site. By using these materials, when the old residents of these villages visit their new homes, they will still feel a sense of familiarity to the space.
One example of this is the Ningbo History museum that they have designed. They made use of some of the destroyed materials from the neighbouring spaces and used it as a building material in the museum. He mentioned in the talk that when the older generation visited the space, they felt a sense of familiarity and even pointed out to him that one part of the new museum was actually part of his old house. Therefore, his approach to designing these spaces has done a good job in respecting the site history while breathing new life into it.
“Locality” to Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu is the original essence of the site. It may not be physical materials that originated from the site, but instead the interactions and daily lives of the people living in the area. In my opinion, I think locality is very important when designing a space for clients. When designing, it is important to keep in mind that we are not the one living in the space that we designed, but the users. Therefore, trying to retain as much as the original interactions, between humans and also spatially, is important in creating an effective and successful design.
Apart from using physical materials, Amateur architects also make use of old ancient paintings as reference while designing complexes. One example of this is Fuyang Cultural Complex in Hangzhou, where the overall form of the building when viewed from the front has elements of old ancient paintings of China. Ancient landscape paintings often have many layers of landscaping to them, in the foreground all the way to the background. This layering effect was carried over to the museum. They arranged the different buildings in different heights and distances so when the users enter the space, it is similar to the old ancient paintings of Hangzhou.
