2004
Construction is coming along wonderfully and the west wing of the museum Is nearing completion! Its looks great and I'm sure once it is filled with art works it will look even better. The gardens are still just planes of semi-landscaped dirt as the construction crews are sure to stomp all over any plant life put there. Even though the gardens are still in their pre-life stages the Scholars rock garden (you remember my sketch!) is beginning to come together! The pond walls have been reinforced and my design teams have begun to bring in rocks from Scholarly collections around the country.
My sketch from the design stages
The rock collection is beautiful! The corckscrewy one (you can see it better in the black and white photo) is my favorite. This rocks embody the magestic mountain ranges seen in so many ancient landscape paintings and the white wall behind it really helps to bring out their individual features. The white seems to serve as the "empty" space in many landscapes which the scholars felt helped to represent the majesty and mystery of mountains in their art. When designing this particular feature I was thinking about the Chinese interpretation of rocks and why they felt they were so important to their gardens and art work. Rocks, during the Ming and Qing dynasty were symbolic of the "bones" of the earth. I wanted this formation to bear similarity to a spine, as if the skeleton of Suzhou is uncovered here. Scholars in the south of China during the Ming and Qing dynasties maintained intricate gardens and lavish rock collections as a way of respecting the concepts the rocks presented. The intellectual and artistic elite had formations like these right in their own homes and gardens and now I am bringing this art to the everyday people of China.
Dong Qichang, The Qingbian Mountains,
1617, Ming dynasty,
hanging scroll, ink on paper
1617, Ming dynasty,
hanging scroll, ink on paper
This is just one example of a landscape painting from the Qing dynasty that I drew inspiration from. The Mountains in the background give the impression of a skeleton holding up the trees and rivers in the painting.
The gardens are planned to hold many more scholars rocks, and I'll post pictures when that starts to come together. In the mean time, since the west wing is closest to completion I'll explain a little more of the design used there. When I started this project, ancient Chinese artistic philosophies really influenced the direction I took with most of the buildings. One of the most prominent themes I found in my research was balence, order and harmony.
Photo of the hallway in the west wing
This picture is a good example of what I interpreted as order, balance, harmony and symmetry. The ceiling is made up of geometrically precise "grates" demonstrating perfect symmetry throughout the lenght of the hallway. The spaces between the slats offer a lighter, airier feel which balences with the heavy solid presencse of the dark floor and white washed walls. The window is a slightly more detailed geometric shape but still displays perfect symmetry in the hexagonal shape.
(Image from Wangjianshuo's blog)
The west wing from the outside
The entire structure is being built using a steel frame, a little deviant from traditional wood structures but recall that the goal was not to copy my ancestors but to use their influence in a new and unique way. The straight lines and geometric patterns help to bring concepts of order and balence to this structure as well as give it a uniquely modern identity.
More pictures to come as the museum nears completion. I'm excited about starting work on the gardens! I've been looking forward to that since the beginning!
-I.M. Pei
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