Joe Yue Sun from Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka Unitec School of Architecture is a finalist for his project '福鼎上河图 A Day Along the River, Creating a Fuding in the Image of the Greatest Chinese Painting'.
Project description
China is developing at an incredible speed and its urbanisation process, derived from the West, is replicating economy and efficiency on a massive scale, crowding out traditional architecture and modes of living. We are losing our identity and our modern cities no longer represent our culture.
Along the River During the Qingming Festival by Zhang Zeduan is one of China’s most notable handscroll paintings and it presents a traditional Chinese city better than any real scene. This inspired me to create a new image of a Chinese city. Fuding is the small city in Fujian province where I was born, and the predominant design method undertaken to capture it was drawing – carefully reimagining traditional Fujian architecture, including the covered bridge and traditional Fujian dwelling, tulou. Through exploration of the colour palette, composition and variance of form and mass, the design idea began to respond respectfully to both traditional regionalist culture and the modern city. The result is a future vision, achieved by providing an urban architectural intervention and subsequent precedent to inspire Chinese cities and other cities around the world, in the hope of rebuilding a cultural image that we are proud of.
Jury citation
Rapid urbanisation in China is erasing its architectural history, and with it goes the loss of cultural identity. If modern cities no longer represent a culture, what do they represent?
In its imagining of a contemporary urban village, this project sensitively addresses history, art and identity and how they can be applied to architecture in a meaningful way. This project was inspired by a notable scroll painting by Song Dynasty artist Zhang Zeduan. In exploring traditional Fujian architecture, its composition and colour palette, Joe respectfully responds to regionalist culture and shows how it can inform the contemporary setting. His sophisticated analysis brings architectural knowledge to the reading of a new city, tradition and the role of craft.
Form, mass and scale have all informed the architectural response and there’s a strong understanding of spatial arrangements, scale and the grain of a city. Joe is the son of an architect and there’s little doubt his family will be immensely proud of his exploration of tradition and the innovation applied in creating new ideas and details. His presentation, discussion and analysis were thoroughly enjoyable, said the judges.
