Sheff Lecture presented by Joe Carter at McGill University, School of Architecture, on November 24, 2014. Most of the presentation concerns Joe's almost thirty years of experience as an architect in China. It also includes some of his Canadian experience before going to China, in Montreal and Newfoundland.
2. Building Cities:
Perspectives
from China
My talk is more experiential
than academic; from the point of
view of a practicing architect.
I designed close to 6 million m2
of buildings, and about 600,000
m2 were built . (1 in 10)
.
“Those with manual skill without
scholarship have never been able to
reach a position of authority to
correspond to their pains, while
those who relied only upon theories
and scholarship were obviously
hunting the shadow, not the
substance. But those who have a
through knowledge of both, like men
armed at all points, have sooner
attained their object and carried
authority with them.”
Vitruvius
3. Building Cities: Perspectives from China
1. China’s Rapid Urbanization Begins; Challenges for Architects
2. Examples of My Work in China
3. From Canada to China
A Concluding Thought
4. Building Cities: Perspectives from China
1. China’s Rapid Urbanization Begins; Challenges for Architects
2. Examples of My Work in China
3. From Canada to China
A Concluding Thought
8. http://countrymeters.info/en/China
Physical change not as great as social change
Montreal: 1000 people/km2 of built-up area Beijing: 5000 people/km2 of built-up area
Beijing 2010: Built-up Area 2400 km2
9. Liang Si Cheng
China’s Rapid Urbanization: Challenges for Architects and Planners
Blessing and a burden
26. Building Cities: Perspectives from China
1. China’s Rapid Urbanization Begins; Challenges for Architects
2. Examples of My Work in China
3. From Canada to China
A Concluding Thought
27. www.townsnet.cn
Beijing office of a Chicago
design firm 1999-2005
My own firm
2006 to the present
3 built & 3 not yet built projects
Chinese architectural offices: 1989-1996
34. Construction Area: 222,000 sq.m. Plot Ratio: 2.16
Population Density: 777 people/hectare
Beijing’s First Social Housing Project
Beijing, Nan Xin Yuan Residential District 1993
49. Project Brief
Performing Arts/Stage Arts Campus
List of room areas for each building
140,000 m2 Total Building Area
18 m. height limit
No Chinese references
Simple, square forms
Modest cost
Logical zoning
Planning Concepts
Generate Context by making a “town”:
• Use buildings to make space
Streets & Squares
Courtyards open & closed
Conversations between buildings
• Dining & Library; heart at center
• Formal axis at entrance only
• Autonomous departments
Central Academy of Drama (20 hectare site)
99. Tianjin International Tennis Center,
West District of Tuanbo New Town, Jinghai County,
60,000 m2 venue for the 6th East Asian Games. Completed in 2012
Collaboration with KDG Architects, Shanghai
Tianjin International Tennis Center
2007
Shanghai, China
128. Building Cities: Perspectives from China
1. China’s Rapid Urbanization Begins; Challenges for Architects
2. Examples of My Work in China
3. From Canada to China
A Concluding Thought
132. The world was one, and we had to be anxiously concerned about
its needs. We had to build a new kind of world, one that was just,
one that transcended nationalism, sexism, racism and any kind of
religious intolerance. Cultural diversity was important. Our survival
included searching for synergetic relationships and preserving the
cultural gene pool.
Expo 67
133.
134. Back to school, thanks to Maureen Anderson
Understanding of architecture as part of larger enterprise of city building
both inner and outer.
A Humane “Inner” City A Humane “Outer”
City
186. Building Cities: Perspectives from China
1. China’s Rapid Urbanization Begins; Challenges for Architects
2. Examples of My Work in China
3. From Canada to China
A Concluding Thought
Why are we building cities? What is China’s role?
Cities are the infrastructure and nodes of an emerging global community.
187. "The Age of Nations is past.
The task before us now,
if we would not perish,
is to build the Earth.”
T. de Chardin
The Great Unity,
All Under Heaven is One Family (China)
Maturation of Humanity (Baha’i)
All-inclusive Family (Toynbee)
Omega Point (de Chardin)
Grand Synthesis (Lazlo)
Majestic House (Du Fu)
Global Village (McLuhan)
New World Order
India
Africa
China
Jewish / Christian / Western
Indigenous North America
Islam
A Shared Dream
A Common History
A Common Heritage
A Common Home
A Common Future Evolution
has a purpose
"Heaven is my father
and earth is my mother..
all people are my brothers and
sisters, and all things are my
companions...“
Zhang Zai (1020-77)
McGill Poet, Frank Scott
“The world is my country
The human race is my race”
Map of Human Maturation
188.
189. The construction of the inner and outer city is a necessary part of the
construction of the Great Unity. Cities are nodes of the global village.
Urbanization Wave: West/China/India/Africa. China has much to offer,
not just city-building experience.
190.
191.
192. World Community
Globalization
Empire/Nation
City/City-State
Tribe
Family
The Evolution of Social and Political Order
Greater and greater release of human capacity
193. Humanity’s Collective Maturation Process
(process comparable to the maturation of the individual)
专制型放纵型
Summary (2 of 2)
Humanity’s collective maturation can be compared to the maturation of the individual.
194. China was the leader of
our collective
development until about
AD1300.
195. Development continued
with Islam, from about 600
to 1500, building a
civilization, a knowledge
bridge, that stretched from
Fuzhou to Seville. The
fruits of the Chinese,
Hindu, Jewish, and Greek
worlds – and everything in
between – was absorbed
and shared across all that
same territory.
196. Islam’s turn to lead exactly
corresponded with the
Dark Ages of the West.
Islamic civilization caused
the Renaissance in
Europe. The west has led
us into the 20th century.
Its materialistic consumer
paradigm currently
dominates the globalization
process.
197. The world is challenged to
build a civilization that is
both materially and
spiritually advanced, and
that draws on our collective
heritage.
198. Learning from the Discourse
on Social and Economic Development
“Outer” City “Inner” City
Architects grow in Discourse “A”
but the inclusiveness habit spreads the search, and
Discourse “A” begins to merge with Discourse “B”.
Some Criteria for the Sustainable “Outer City”
• Mixed-use
• Rich street life based on pedestrians and public transportation
• New green city infrastructure for water and waste
• A net zero energy and water community
• Agriculture imbedded into the community
Some Criteria for the Sustainable “Inner City”
• On-going Capacity Building
• Individuals who are constructive, responsible protagonists
• Communities that are originators and encouragers,
that work together with a common purpose
• Institutions that provide for meaningful participation
199. Writing
BOOK
Some Thoughts on China and the New World Order
China Worker’s Publication Company, Beijing, China, 2009 http://
ebook.newlightbook.com/book_show.asp?id=139 (Downloading is a little slow. Patience!)
ARTICLES
The Maturation of Cities
http://www.townsnet.cn/artWriting/writing/papers/theCity/theCity.htm
Contemporary Chinese Architectural and Planning Practice: Aspirations and Challenges
Prepared for the International Research Workshop: A Cross-Cultural Transfer of Building Environmental Information,
March 14-16, 2002, at the Liu Center for the Study of Global Issues, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
The conference paper was published, July 2003, as a chapter in
Buildings, Culture and Environment: Informing Local & Global Practices, edited by Raymond J Cole and Richard Lorch.
http://www.townsnet.cn/artWriting/writing/papers/chinasArchitectsAndPlanners/chinasArchitectsAndPlanners.htm
The Great Unity and China’s Development Path
http://www.slideshare.net/qiaokate/the-great-unity-da-tong-draft-2014-01-02bilingual
POWER POINT PRESENTATIONS
1. China's Sacred Literature (English)
http://www.slideshare.net/qiaokate/resonance-20131214-en-29594114
2a. China's Development Pattern as Found in its Sacred Literature (English)
http://www.slideshare.net/qiaokate/chinas-development-pattern-as-found-in-its-sacred-literatureda-tong-conf-20130620-en
2b. China's Development Pattern as Found in its Sacred Literature (Chinese)
http://www.slideshare.net/qiaokate/21-29593948
3a. The Great Harmony (English)
http://www.slideshare.net/qiaokate/the-great-harmony
3b. The Great Harmony (Chinese)
http://www.slideshare.net/qiaokate/the-great-harmony-chinese
4a. China's Resources and Potentialities (English)
http://www.slideshare.net/qiaokate/china-r-p-en-201001231
4b. China's Resources and Potentialities (Chinese)
http://www.slideshare.net/qiaokate/china-resources-and-potentialities-chinese
5. A Selection of Contemporary Design by Younger Mainland Chinese Architects, 2014
http://www.slideshare.net/qiaokate/chinas-younger-architects-2014