Beijing: Architectural Showcase

By staff reporter ZHANG HONG

Chinese cities are becoming showcase for the works of world-class architects.

FIFTY years ago, Beijing was the world’s sole well-preserved medieval city. It consisted of four layers: the Forbidden City at the center, the Imperial City surrounding it, and the inner and outer residential cities where there were palaces, temples and grand mansions. This layout reflected Chinese ancient philosophy and achieved, as great Chinese architect Liang Sicheng said, “an unparalleled masterpiece of city planning.”

After more than 50 years of renewed construction, great changes have taken place in Beijing. Since the 1990s, notable works of architecture that combine Chinese and Western styles have been erected in the capital. They include the National Theater designed by French architect Paul Andreu, the “Bird’s Nest” National Olympic Sports Center, one of the three landmark buildings built specifically for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games jointly designed by Herzog and De Meuron Architekten Ag, Switzerland and China Architecture Design Institute, and the new CCTV Building designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. Some projects are still at the blueprint stage, but world first-rate architects from around the world nevertheless continue to converge in Beijing since its successful bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games.

In recent years Beijing’s outlook has changed rapidly. Many old buildings have been demolished and new ones built. Beijing is now becoming the most popular “city under construction” in the world.

World top architects have dealt a visual shock to Chinese urban citizens on more than one occasion, often arousing social concern. Owing to inadequate knowledge of Chinese culture and folklore, architectural “unaccustomed to the climate” anomalies by foreign architects appear every now and then, and doubts are raised as to the wisdom of apparently blind acceptance of international bidding for Chinese city planning.

Foreign Architecture vs Siheyuan

“Bird’s Nest” designed by Swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron.

Following rapid economic development, China’s cities have become arenas in which world-class architectural design agencies vie for the privilege of displaying their city planning concepts. According to British magazine World Architecture, 15 of the top 20 global design firms of 2002 have participated in design and planning of Chinese cities. In addition to the new CCTV Building, known as the “Z Crisscross,” the “Bird’s Nest” National Olympic Sports Center and the “Water Cube” National Swimming Center, buildings designed by world-renowned architects appear all over the country. Herzog and De Meuron have also been invited to Zhejiang Province to design buildings for its small city of Jinhua.

In recent years, a series of landmark buildings designed by international architects have been erected in Beijing, despite opposition from China’s mainstream architects. These buildings have challenged Chinese architectural traditions based on the siheyuan design. China’s urban construction is in transition from the “courtyard” mode to overall city planning.

Siheyuan constitute the basic pattern of Beijing’s city construction, and as such should be treated as historical sites. Yet the area occupied by Beijing’s siheyuan has been reduced from 17 million square meters in 1949 to today’s 3 million square meters. The architectural design of siheyuan may be aesthetically pleasing, but inhabitants complain about their lack of sanitation, necessitating trips to the public toilets, and limited water supply. In addition, the side and back views of a siheyuan are unprepossessing, while a Western style building looks good from all angles.

New CCTV site (Z Crisscross) designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.

Those that are pro Western architecture say that its inner structure has obvious advantages being based on framework technology that allows its inner structure to be changed and reorganized at will. Beijing’s old buildings, on the other hand, are stoutly resistant to modification.

Chinese vs Foreign Architects

Not all foreign architects bring advanced concepts clothed in visual delight to the Chinese people. Some Chinese specialists have criticized overseas designs for being “flashy and without substance” and “impractical.”

Criticisms mainly center on two aspects of foreign designs: hidden structural dangers and high costs. The National Theater designed by French architect Paul Andreu has been criticized for “over-emphasizing formalistic breakthroughs at the cost of safety.” The “Bird’s Nest” designed by Herzog and De Meuron was also re-inspected from a safety aspect, and adjustments made. Construction of new CCTV Building designed by Rem Koolhaas had to be temporarily suspended on account of its huge cost.

Wang Bing, architect at the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design Research (BIAD), says of the new CCTV Building (Z Crisscross) designed by Rem Koolhaas that it gives nothing to those viewing it but a visual shock, and a costly one at that. Koolhaas has never designed a building of such huge dimensions anywhere else, and China has to spend billions of yuan for his experimentation.

Wang Bing points out that in Europe, city planning is under strict control and caution exercised as regards the construction of huge buildings. China, on the other hand, provides opportunities for foreign architects they could not dream of in their own countries.

Alfred Peng, professor of architecture at Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University, is unimpressed by the design of the National Theater. He says a city’s outlook should reflect the soul of the nation, and that as so little remains of Beijing’s original city layout, adding a futuristic building to its already updated center is rather over-icing the cake. As Beijing has in recent years gone to great efforts to restore its historical architecture, new buildings should coordinate to recreate, rather than negate, Beijing’s original features.

The astronomical cost of foreign design is another cause of controversy. Alfred Peng points out that China’s GNP is just 8 percent of the world’s total, and only a quarter of the USA’s. Building a national theater at a cost quadruple that of the Lincoln Center amounts to asking Chinese citizens to bear a burden 16 times that of their American counterparts. Foreign architects are keen to innovate, but domestic architects consider the entire Chinese culture.

French architect Paul Andreu.

Chinese architect Wu Chen voices the sentiments of many others in his declaration, “Beijing has become an experimental site for foreign architects.” He says of the eggshell outline of the National Theater project that it clashes with its surroundings. He believes that too many compromises have been made, as architectural functions, in the creation of this innovative building.

Chinese Yardstick for Foreign Designs

In May 2004, another work by French designer Paul Andreu, a terminal at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport, collapsed. This sparked off considerable debate, reassessment and concern as to the safety of the National Theater and foreign designed architecture in general. Zhou Ganzhi, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, says, “No other country has opened its architectural design market to the world as wide as China. The rise of pan-internationalism threatens the distinctiveness of Chinese cities, making architectural evaluation difficult.”

Not everyone in architectural circles concurs with Wu Chen’s statement that Beijing is an experimental site for foreign architects. The majority is most concerned with what they see as the real problem --- Beijing’s original look being under threat of faceless contemporization.

Many other specialists in the field say that Beijing is rapidly becoming a commercial city indistinguishable from any other. They raise the Oriental Plaza on Chang’an Avenue in the city center as an example of an edifice that has nothing to do with Chinese traditional culture. If not for Tian’anmen by its side, no-one would realize they were in the ancient capital.

There are still others that say that prior to the 1990s, Beijing was an experimental site for Chinese architects, but that their influence on architecture, as regards preserving Chinese characteristics, is unapparent.

Inviting foreign architects to Chinese cities introduces foreign expertise, enabling a city to develop from a higher starting point. But it is a common understanding among Chinese specialists that city planning should have a sense of propriety when adopting foreign designs. Whether foreign or Chinese, architects should seek to embrace the soul of whatever Chinese city is concerned in their designs. This should be their cardinal principle.

National Olympic Sports Center The “Bird’s Nest” was jointly designed by Herzog and De Meuron Architekten and the China Architecture Design Institute. It has been both acclaimed and decried. There are those that think the design too avant-garde and not in keeping with acceptable conventions. However, insiders see the "Bird's Nest" as the expression of a new architectural vernacular which could not occur without an understanding of Chinese philosophy, with its emphasis on good timing, topographical appropriateness and harmonious human relations. According to designer De Meuron, it is, first and foremost, a contemporary Chinese building. Second, it maintains aspects of Chinese culture, and third, it has been built with reliable yet innovative technology. The stadium is designed for people and its “gentle” environment shows respect and consideration for athletes. The stadium is bowl shaped in gray mining steel with red grandstands covered in a transparent membrane. This "Bird's Nest" is an original creation, and an exciting example of global architecture. Main stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games, the National sports center is located in the Olympic Park, northeast of the city axis line. It is designated as venue for the opening and closing ceremony of the 2008 Games. When the Games finish, it will be converted into a stadium suitable for large-scale sport competitions and other non-competitive events. The National Olympic Sports Center thus destined to become large-scale venue for sports, recreation and entertainment for the people of Beijing. National Theater According to French architect Paul Andreu, upon completion of construction, the National Theater will resemble a huge green pool with a single silver ovular grand theater at its midst. The egg “shell,” made of titanium and glass, will be embedded with lights that will add radiance to the structure. The National Theater will be surrounded by semi-transparent, golden networked glass walls and the sky will be visible through its dome. Some people describe the complete Grand Theater as “a crystal drop of water,” others as a “big eggshell” or “boiled egg.” The project went into construction on December 13, 2001. It is expected to be complete in 2005, when it becomes China’s top arts performance and cultural center. Covering a total area of 118,900 square meters, the Grand Theater has a total floor space of 149,500 square meters. Within it are halls in which to perform opera, music and drama, as well as hold art exhibitions and exchanges. It was designed by Paul Andreu, who also designed Shanghai’s Pudong Airport, the terminal at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, and the French terminal of the Britain-France Channel Tunnel.