The Condition of Chinese Architecture

The Condition of Chinese Architecture
Pier Alessio Rizzardi, Zhang Hankun
TCA Think Tank, September 2018



Paperback | 7 x 10 inches | 480 pages | English | ISBN: 978-1916453722

Publisher Description:
In China, 1% of the world’s architects have to design 50% of all the buildings and must do so for 15% of the profit. This extreme situation in which architects have to operate, design and build, creates the theoretical basis for The Condition of Chinese Architecture.

In addition to interviewing the critical voices of contemporary Chinese architecture, the authors report the nowadays reality of the country, the architectural evolution since the first contacts with the West in 1582 and the issues affecting its contemporary practice.

The result is a groundbreaking, cumulative reckoning teased out through layers of personal accounts and cross-disciplinary research, drawing on architecture, aesthetics, philosophy, politics, and society.
dDAB Commentary:
Chinese architecture, a staple of news about the built environment for the last dozen or so years, tends to veer between two poles: the cookie-cutter high-rise housing developments that are enabling the mass migration from the countryside to cities, and architectural icons screaming for attention, many designed by foreign architects. Most books tend to focus on one or the other (e.g., Bianca Bosker's study of Chinese developments that copy European and other contexts, and Clare Jacobson's collection of a few of the country's many new museums) rather than both phenomena. The Condition of Chinese Architecture takes a different approach and attempts to create what the authors call a "cumulative reckoning" of contemporary Chinese architecture.
The theoretical basis behind the book written and published by TCA Think Tank (it is the product of their contribution to the Chinese Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale) is spelled out in the first paragraph of the publisher's description above and is found on page 12, in the first of the book's three sections. Here, and in the following 125 pages, the authors paint a portrait of China through words and images; the former (translated words?) are in dire need of grammatical revision, but the latter's photos, diagrams, and historical illustrations are a helpful layer that aids in understanding what the authors are trying to convey in words. (Given that the book is apparently self-published/print-on-demand, it should be noted that the image quality is inferior to traditional publishers; but the quality is still satisfactory given the large number of images and the book's low price tag; less than $20 on Amazon.)

Starting on page 140 is the book's second section: interviews with sixteen Chinese architects, among them Ma Yansong (MAD), Li Xiaodong, Li Hu (OPEN), and Lu Wenyu (Amateur Architecture Studio). This section is what will be most appealing to readers, to fans of contemporary Chinese architecture. The selection of architects is highly commendable, the interviews are easier to read than the first section, and the images accompanying the Q&As highlight important works, some in the form of collages by TCA Think Tank. Following the roughly 150 pages of interviews is the third and last section, "Issues." Incorporating statements from the interviewees and words by the authors, this section explores six issues that embrace the book's "cumulative reckoning": Do What Is Taught, Peasant Construction Workers, Pushed by Practice, Visual Impact, Immaterial Legacy, and World Culture. "Issues" is a satisfying conclusion to a substantial book about a place often misunderstood by foreigners.
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Author Bios:
Pier Alessio Rizzardi graduated from Polytechnic University of Milan and University of São Paulo. Since 2007, he worked in Milan, São Paulo, Melbourne, Shanghai, London, Beijing, Bangkok, Seoul, and Singapore. Zhang Hankun is an architect and writer graduated from Polytechnic University of Milan and Northwestern Polytechnic University in Xi’an.
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