"Denis Diderot's New Dressing Gown"
Getting off Beijing's Airport Expressway and driving east on either the Third or Fourth Ring Road, you will see the colorful buildings that are part of the SOHO New Town development. SOHO New Town and Jianwai SOHO, both developed by Beijing Redstone Industrie, have made the SOHO (Small Office Home Office) housing concept the focus of China's fashion world, mass media and homebuyers as well.
The city of Beijing is home to some of the most conservative men of culture as well as to some of the most avant-garde individuals. Perhaps it is the avant-garde group who best identify with the SOHO brand. But even the most conservative men cannot deny that this is the age of consumption. In such an age, certain products will achieve success only when they become a necessity under the 'Diderot Effect'.
To explain this we need to digress a bit. Denis Diderot once received an elegant dressing gown as a gift from one of his friends. In order to match the elegance of the new gown, he replaced all the furnishings in his house one-by-one. Diderot later wrote an article entitled 'Regrets on Parting with My Old Dressing Gown'.
Even though he wrote it from a philosophical point of view, he was not able to deny the cultural significance behind the new gown. As a matter of fact, the 'Diderot Effect' came to symbolize the lifestyle represented by the new gown, rather than the shape and style of the gown itself. What Diderot did afterwards by redecorating his home was simply to create his new lifestyle.
So what does this 'new dressing gown' have to do with the SOHO development? Pan Shiyi often says that diversity is a part of life and therefore, nobody can stipulate a standardized lifestyle. As a developer, if he wants to build houses that people will still love to use in the future, he must consider building houses that meet people's needs for diverse lifestyles.
Therefore, the best designs are those that offer unlimited flexibility and possibilities. This idea originated at of a conference held at Harvard in 1999, which Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin attended. Zhang Xin said many participants at the conference were from the IT industry, a number of them were even Wall Street elites.
These people all lived in luxurious houses. If they could not be at home, they would only live in the best hotels. All of a sudden, however, they rolled up their sleeves to take on web site construction. Such an intense atmosphere made Pan and Zhang feel that the world was changing--that this new network technology would soon have a great impact on man's work and lifestyle.
The home is the center of one's life and therefore has to be adapted for such a change. The most direct result of the IT trend is that many kinds of work will no longer depend on traditional offices, that is, a great number of people can now choose to work at home. Since it is not easy to know which people will work at home and what kinds of work they will undertake, flexible spaces were seen as the solution and provided a means to realize a certain lifestyle.
Nevertheless, there should be some limit on flexibility; otherwise the architect will be unable to make effective designs. The limit on flexibility is the basis for building houses. For this reason, Pan Shiyi gathered a group of architects to discuss what characteristics people have most in common.
To some people, this may seem to be an extremely impractical idea and simply a metaphysical issue, but Pan wanted to hear these architects' opinions on the matter. On the other hand, Pan was not interested in discussing floor plans and designs, which he believed to be merely superficial concerns.
In
the context of architecture, there are indeed too many styles. Even when reading
an introductory architectural textbook, it is very hard to keep track of the
various terminologies that have emerged since the appearance of modernism. For
example, structuralism, deconstructionism, minimalism, localism, high-techism,
neo-rationalism and metabolism--let alone more general terms like European continental
style, Chinese classicism, Mediterranean, Hawaiian, etc. Only those with a Master's
in architectonics could hope to fully understand all these terms. However, there
is one new idea that stands out--a modernist tenet that says architects and
designers are ethically responsible for consumers. That is, to help common people
understand the concepts and quality in their buildings. Postmodernist designs
are marked with change. Since the 1980s, the entire world has seen a transition
in architectural design. In France, anthropologists are now managing the design
department of the Pompidou Center; in Japan, manufacturers are paying big money
to conduct research on "lifestyles"; in the US, computer giants are
now as interested in recruiting psychologists as engineers. People no longer
care so much about the look of a product; they are more concerned with the lifestyle
that the product represents.
The concept of SOHO and its goal of creating a new lifestyle, which incorporates
the cultural attitudes of Chinese people, is currently in its development stage.
With the help of computers, China has been flooded with new expectations and
possibilities. The idea of lifestyle marketing is directly derived from types
of cultural uniformity. It is related to how a sub-culture group of people sees
themselves. These groups hold an anti-establishment attitude, and they select
creatively, taking unique things to form a collection of products, which showcase
their individuality. Such consumer attitudes mean that the lifestyle images
portrayed by products are just as important as the purely functional elements.
A successful brand is therefore endowed with image power, and hence consumers
define their individuality by association with certain products.
At a certain point in the course of modernization, many problems resulting from
urban development should be reflected upon. For instance, one pleasant aspect
of cities is that high urban density allows people to stroll from one small
shop to another along the streets. However, the charm is gradually lost with
the appearance of large shopping centers and roads jammed with heavy traffic.
Walls surrounding many communities have interrupted the flow of city streets,
while enclosed apartment complexes have hindered free and leisurely communication.
When Redstone invited architects from both China and abroad to submit designs
for Jianwai SOHO, it instructed them to confront such issues. Eventually, SOHO
chose the design of Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto. His blueprints fit in
well with the SOHO concept in that they allowed for the mixed-use of space and
a blurring of boundaries. To a certain extent, the architect also provided some
solutions to the aforementioned social problems. If not fully resolved, the
designs at least attempted to confront some of these dilemmas in modern housing.
For the Jianwai SOHO project, Mr. Yamamoto designed 14 pedestrian lanes, each four to six meters wide. The lanes, totaling 5,000 meters, crisscross one another throughout the development. Along the roads, there are plans for a series of scattered and irregular small gardens, inviting passersby to come in and take a rest.
The fourteen lanes are connected to the rest of the city, along which can be found shops, restaurants and offices. One key theme is the rebirth of the finer aspects that come with "urban density". The complex becomes an inherent part of the city. Life here will be more pleasant because Jianwai SOHO provides its residents with their own streets.
These private streets are connected to the lobbies on top of each of the 3-story buildings and are accessible only to the residents. Some of them are footbridges, serving as through streets for the residents.
In addition, Mr. Yamamoto rotated the buildings 30 degrees to the east. This enables all the apartments to enjoy direct sunshine and eliminates the embarrassment of looking directly into your neighbors' windows. With the 30 degree shift, it is the four corners, instead of the four sides, of each building that face true north, south, east and west.
The three corners that face east, west and south on each floor of all three apartment buildings will be residential housing, while the community living rooms and elevators are positioned at the north corner. These common living rooms are fit for year-round use and are as comfortable as the insides of the apartments they connect to.
Mr. Yamamoto believes that "once placed in a new environment, man will behave in a completely different way. You can imagine how the common living room will evoke interpersonal communication."
Spirit of Revolutionary Romanticism
The idea of building a villa complex at the foot of the Great Wall originated
from a more ambitious social context.
At the very beginning when China implemented her open-door policy, the Chinese
envisioned their future based on the way Europeans and Americans were living.
Over 20 years have passed since then and the future has finally arrived. Yet,
simply duplicating things that were originally designed years ago has oppressed
our creativity. Along with economic growth, national confidence supports more
profound desires. For example, China's new entrepreneurs have come to a common
understanding that they will not use slogans such as "the Chinese IBM"
any more. "Copying the ways of others means you will forever lag behind
them". For Redstone Industrie, to create a brand richly rooted in culture
is the goal of the company. On the other hand, foreign representatives, stockbrokers
and the like, who are benefiting from this exciting era, no longer think in
the way that is depicted in a well-known photo entitled, 'I buy therefore I
am.' Now their identity is defined by unique style, elegant luxury and finding
harmony in hard work and refined living.
To satisfy these criteria in a villa development, Redstone chose a rather challenging name--"Commune by the Great Wall". According to the company, "China is now seeing a large amount of construction, but more often than not, most of the buildings are simply replications of average looking things.
By giving the architects the freedom to design as they pleased, this US$24million project has not only enjoyed strong sales, but also, as Zhang Xin mentioned, "revealed a variety of possibilities for China and those related to architecture, including developers and architects, evoking people's awareness and imaginations to seek a more beautiful life.
" Zhang also believes, "Yung Ho Chang's Tamped Earthen Wall, for instance, instead of being an example for others to study, reflects the spirit of architecture and his understanding of life." It has a true spirit of revolutionary romanticism.
At the entrance of the "Commune" is a concrete wall structure, designed by Ai Weiwei, the landscape designer for the development. Actually, it is intended to be a gate, an open gate that guides passersby. Its huge size echoes that of the Great Wall; one is provoked to consider the difference in building materials, uses and opinions regarding these two very different walls.
Similar to fashion designs, the value of the houses will increase if people know more about the achievements of the architects. As early as the conception stage, Redstone widely publicized the architects and their individual concepts. The architects continued to present their experimental architectural works on various occasions throughout the world.
For example, Seung H-Sang, architect of the Commune's clubhouse, created a detached house that was selected as one of the 10 best buildings in Korea during the 20th century. Gary Chang, architect of the odd-looking "Suitcase" house, once won an award in Hong Kong for the design of his own 30 square meter house, which people claimed, "had abundant space".
His works were also displayed at the prestigious architectural exhibition--La Biennale di Venezia 2000. Japanese architect Shigeru Ban's works can be found all over the world; for example, fashion designer Issey Miyake's residence in Tokyo and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Part of his philosophy is to build houses with non-traditional materials.
He is probably best known in the architectural world for his use of paper in building construction. Ban's paper house won an award at the Hanoverian Architectural Exhibition 2000. Another of the Commune designers is Yung Ho Chang, one of the most famous architects in China who is said to embody the experimental spirit.
Houses in the Commune are truly unique and stunning. They make use of the Great Wall, which is an invaluable cultural reference. Among these houses, one is only 200 meters from the Great Wall--the closest point possible as stipulated by the Beijing Bureau of Cultural Relics. The developer recently decided to turn the villas into a boutique hotel resort. Before the resort officially opens, the company has invited guests to try out 3 of the villas with the aim of finding out how to provide the best service to its guests later on.
The Bamboo House designed by Kengo Kuma was one of the 3 villas selected in the hotel trial. When asked about his design, Kuma said, "Generally speaking, the objective of modifying the site is to create a contrast between the site and building. This time, however, I decided to take a reverse route.
The roughness of the landscape surrounding the Great Wall is very attractive and I did not intend to defy that. Instead, I decided to build an equally rough house in line with the roughness of the landscape and create a harmonious blend between the two. In recent years, the incompatibility of the delicacy between natural and man-made objects was blamed on the individuality of the architect.
Today, however, emphasis on this incompatibility is believed out-dated. The space that makes people feel relaxed and pleasant is where the delicacy of natural objects makes its transition to the building. It is bamboo that helped me realize such a concept." The plate glass is surrounded by bamboo walls, on which the doors and windows can be pulled open and pushed closed.
Inside the house, bamboo walls are used to partition off the open space into different penetrating levels. The bamboo functions like blinds, cutting the incoming sunlight into fantastic rays. In addition, the double-glazed walls have a hollow, inner space, which is filled with goose down.
In this way, not only is the house kept warm, but it is aesthetically pleasing as well, with glass walls that look like they are made of goose down. In this house, bamboo and glass compliment each other. The imagination embodied in the design is exactly what the Commune had in mind from the beginning.
Judging from its outside appearance, the White House by Thai architect Kanika is not so eye-catching, but its interior design is complete with wonderful details. She believes that a weekend home in the mountains should provide "contrasts" to the lives of the users. It should expose components of nature that are missing in the city without necessarily taking us away from city life and the comforts of modernization.
Only when man is satisfied both spiritually and physically, can he or she reach a more balanced existence. Here in the Commune, things that are annoying in cities--noise, pollution, crowds, for example--are not found; and everything that cities lack--mountains, woods, cool breeze, tranquility, starry skies--can be experienced.
Such is luxury. The luxury will also be embodied in the service at the Commune. Zhang Xin is now thinking about inviting the head of a Swiss hotel school to come train the staff, so that all the details at the Commune exceed guests' expectations. She says, "What is satisfaction? Satisfaction means to transcend the imagination.
"
What has gone beyond the imagination of the director of La Biennale di Venezia is that China actually has such an amazing architectural project, which includes the 12 avant-garde designs of the Commune. The Biennale was founded in 1895 and the Venice biennial architectural exhibition was added to it in 1975.
This year they will hold the 8th annual exhibition. The director of the Biennale extended a written invitation to the Commune by the Great Wall, stating, "The theme this year is 'Next' we are looking for key projects around the world that will set the agenda for architecture in the decade to come.
Your project, with its combination of aesthetic ambition and the reinforcement of Asian identity through architectural innovation, does that in so many ways. I investigated the Commune development, and the project certainly sounds very appropriate for the architectural exhibition coming up this September.
" All 12 buildings at the Commune will be showcased at the Biennale, marking the first time this honor has been bestowed upon a multi-structure development.
