I've been presented with a wonderful opportunity! The Suzhou government authorities have asked me to design and develop a museum for the city. Suzhou has a long history of traditional chinese art and culture and is already world renowned for it's intricate stone bridges, pagodas and gardens (Wikipedia). I am so excited to put my stamp on this city with a museum that will proudly display some of China's most valuable history in the modern era.
The officials that I have been working with specifically asked for a "modern" building in the Suzhou style.
(Image from Wikipedia)
A Historic Canal Street in the City of Suzhou
Many buildings in the city exhibit white washed walls and dark wooden accents. The buildings often have traditional clay roof tiles and many of the classic architecture styles. Over hangs with brackets pioneered during ancient Chinese dynasties, lattice windows which were popular with scholars in the Ming and Qing dynasties and pagoda like framework seen frequently in traditional Chinese architecture.
A Historic Canal Street in the City of Suzhou
Many buildings in the city exhibit white washed walls and dark wooden accents. The buildings often have traditional clay roof tiles and many of the classic architecture styles. Over hangs with brackets pioneered during ancient Chinese dynasties, lattice windows which were popular with scholars in the Ming and Qing dynasties and pagoda like framework seen frequently in traditional Chinese architecture.
Humble Administrator’s Garden, Suzhou, Ming period (16th century).
Literati class
(Images from Prof. Wang's Powerpoints)
Scholarly Gardens in Suzhou
Suzhou is a beautiful city! I can't wait to get started on the design of this project. There is just so much creative potential here! The more I think about this project the more I want to clearly express the traditional techniques that have guided the development of the rest of the city, yet bring all those iconic elements into harmony with the modern building materials and the architectural style of today's Suzhou. This molding of artistry is not actually unusual in Chinese art either. Dong Qichang, a well known scholar of the Qing dynsaty, often preached the importance of the evolution of painting. He said that painting must continually move forward and I will be contributing to this concept by evolving traditional Chinese architecture and modern construction.
I'm already buzzing with ideas! I definitely know that the traditional scholar's gardens need to be a huge part of this project. After a little bit of research, it has become clear to me that the ideals of ancient chinese art that initially influenced these gardens should also be brought into my design.
Guo Xi (c. 1020-90), Early Spring, dated 1072,
(Northern) Song Dynasty,
Ink and color on silk, hanging scroll
Dong Qichang, The Qingbian Mountains,
1617, Ming dynasty,
hanging scroll, ink on paper
With the landscape paintings of the Literati class in mind, I'm falling in love with the rock formations in the gardens. There are so many concepts embedded in these landscape paintings that can transcend paper and silk and ink and that I can pull into my museum design.
I've got tons of great inspiration, now its about time to get to work and start coming up with the basics of my design and the core of my blueprints. I'll update later with my progress!
(Images from google.com)
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