2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games : a sustainable projects for Taizicheng village
Valentino Pileggi, Francesco Serra
2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games : a sustainable projects for Taizicheng village.
Rel. Gustavo Ambrosini, Mauro Berta, Michele Bonino, Zhang Li, Liu Jian. Politecnico di Torino, Master of science program in Architecture Construction City, Master of science program in Architecture For The Sustainability Design, 2015
Abstract
FOREWORD
It seems almost superfluous to say that, nowadays, China, on the international scene, is one of the countries (if not the country) with the greatest potential as regard the urban development, even already partially expressed in recent years. However, the radical changes taking place in the Asian country cannot be dismissed as caused by the aforementioned premise. First of all, both the physical size and the extent of the impact of these transformations are the factors that lead to a reflection on the mode of action and the resulting responsibilities. Debunked the myth of limit-less growth, the reflection on the concepts of sustainability is a key issue at any scale of intervention. The complexity of this scenario develops within a continuous growing society ideally chasing its own international success through symbols and images. Peter Eisenman, in his essay "Critical Architecture in a Geopolitical World", deals with the problem of theoretical lack in Chinese architecture, because the influence of economic matters. Ho Chang, a theoretical Chinese architect, talks about the necessity of a new course architecture in China against the current tendency to the globalism, through the re-discovering of traditions of vernacular architecture. The consequence of the cultural revolution that brought China to the current capitalistic economic system, is an hybrid architecture, in which economic aspects have a great influence on the architectural design process. It's a real business.
China needs visibility in the international scenario: the Government request is about architecture of Bigness (as R.Koolhas could say), very iconic and recognizable worldwide. "Archistars" (as Z.Hadid, S.Holl, the same R.Koolhas and so on) are called to firm such iconic architecture. China is the most important international stage for architects. Exactly as Manhattan has been 100 years ago. Cities are the place where the modernization (or westernization) mostly acts. This kind of iconography is built through architecture, is called to celebrate the achieved international importance of the country. Thus, we see the competition for the tallest skyscraper, not as idealistic wish to reach the top of the heaven, but just to show our superiority (economical and technical) compared to the nearby.1 Or even the competition for the most spectacular Olympics. Architecture (as urban monuments) are no more called to be connected with history or society: they became always larger and their value is just a product brand, reduction of the artistic activity of architecture to mass media communication, destined to change in few time, because of the lack of a ideological and critical substratum and unable to have influence on transformation of the society.
Then, what does it mean for an architect to work in such a context? It is first and foremost a design challenge, due to the explicit differences apparent between the historically consolidated (and familiar) European context and those found in the developing Asian country. Secondly, recognizing the importance of a comparison with a different culture and identifying its values and ideologies to gain a clear understanding of it in its entirety. Then the knowledge of the past and its monuments (we can learn even form the present time, as a part of history) with the willfulness of its languages and especially through understanding practical solution process of architecture. Ultimately the aim is that all those principles will be considered during the development of the project, founded on the basic ideas of integration and sustainability.
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