He Jingtang: Culture is the key to whether a country or city can become a famous city. Famous cities in history, such as Paris and Rome, have low GDP, but their influence on the world is immeasurable.
In the cultural heritage, architecture is the most important, because it is both practical and ornamental. Whether it is the ancient East or the developed West, when it comes to urban culture, the first thing is to look at architecture. A good building will soon become a symbol of a city. For example, the Sydney Opera House in Australia was only built in the 1970s, and now it has become a symbol of the whole country.
So I think, first of all, cultural inheritance is the only way for human beings to cope with the development of natural society. If a country or a nation loses this thing, it will lose its roots and history. The cultural development of any country must be based on the original blood, otherwise there will be no history and no roots.
Tang Guohua: Guangzhou is a famous cultural city with a history of more than 2,000 years. Even in today's globalization, it should have its own inherent characteristics. Unless we continue to tear down and rebuild all our historic buildings, historic blocks and ancient villages, Guangzhou's unique urban characteristics will disappear, but if we do so, the government and people will certainly not agree. Recently, the Guangzhou Municipal Government instructed the Guangzhou Planning Bureau to set up a "Famous City Protection Office", which is to realize the seriousness and urgency of the problem. I think the level of departmental units is not high enough. It should be like ten years ago, when the famous city protection office was located in the Guangzhou municipal government office, it was more authoritative and more protective.
Master Wang: For example, Zhouzhuang Town, an ancient water town in the south of the Yangtze River, is famous all over the world, but in fact, as a region under the jurisdiction of Suzhou, Zhouzhuang's GDP has never been ahead. In terms of economic benefits, Zhouzhuang is not a lovable child, but in terms of social benefits, Zhouzhuang is a golden signboard of Suzhou Jiangnan culture.
Huang Bin: A good building has its own cultural characteristics. The cultural individuality of a region can be reflected in all aspects of society, and architecture is an important carrier. Excellent architecture can flexibly reflect the essence of local culture. This kind of building that best embodies the essence of culture is obviously not a copy of "Roman style" and "Italian town", but a building that is flexibly integrated into the local cultural style and cultural connotation. Only when the building bears the individuality and shows the style of regional culture can it become a symbol of local culture. At present, many designers of foreign buildings and foreign communities often simply "draw lessons from" and copy the styles of other cities and countries, without considering how to implant elements of Guangzhou culture and Lingnan culture into buildings. Therefore, although it may be qualified in the use function, strictly speaking, it is not a building in Guangzhou or Lingnan style, but a "foreign building" in Guangzhou, so it is not.
Architecture is the inheritance of history and culture.
He Jingtang: I have three views on how to avoid the problem of a thousand cities:
First of all, architecture should reflect the regional and environmental characteristics of the area. Architecture is different because it has its own personality, which comes from regional characteristics, including regional climate, specific terrain and environmental characteristics. Guangzhou is located in the subtropical zone, where the high temperature lasts for a long time and there is much rain. Different from other cities, buildings must be shaded, insulated, ventilated and moisture-proof. No matter in the past, present or future, building houses in Guangzhou must solve the climate and environmental problems, and in the process of solving them, the urban characteristics will naturally be reflected.
Second, architecture should reflect the humanistic characteristics of the region. Guangzhou has been deeply influenced by foreign cultures for a long time, but its roots are in the Central Plains. The basic pattern and courtyard layout of buildings often reflect the characteristics of the Central Plains, but there are also foreign exotic customs, such as arcade and Dongshan Xiaoyanglou. These buildings are the natural result of the blending of local culture and overseas culture. To solve the problem of a thousand cities, architecture should reflect the social, humanistic and cultural characteristics formed locally and reflect the connotation of regional culture.
The third is the attitude towards strong western culture. In the wave of globalization, the influence of western strong culture is relatively common. It is easy to introduce foreign culture into urban modernization, not to say that foreign culture should be denied, but that the new site of Beijing CCTV has completely lost its China characteristics, which leads to great controversy. But it's not good to overcorrect. If all the traditional symbols are copied back to the ancients, they will lose their agility.
Without inheritance, there will be no roots, and if you forget your ancestors, you will forget everything, but copying your ancestors will lack innovation and keep up with the times. The key is the harmonious combination of the two. How to grasp this degree? My personal view is that inheritance is the foundation and innovation is the key. When inheriting, we should dig roots, highlight roots and enhance the connotation level of culture, instead of mechanically copying a symbol and a component. A good building should use modern material technology, including modern aesthetics, combined with cultural connotation.
Huang Bin: A famous historical and cultural city is a historical heritage, and architecture is an aspect of cultural heritage. As a famous historical and cultural city, Guangzhou has inherited quite a few old buildings from our predecessors, such as Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and Chenjiaci. At the same time, we should also think about how some buildings will be passed down in our generation. We were handed down from our predecessors. What can future generations pass on to us? 100 years, hundreds of years, can our buildings today be passed on to future generations? Therefore, we must have a sense of historical responsibility and be responsible for history. Today's architecture must contribute to the accumulation of future urban architectural culture, provide precipitation for the accumulation of future urban culture, and provide inheritors for the inheritance of future urban culture. Otherwise, the architecture of your period will be blank, and the history will be traced back to your generation.
He Jingtang: As far as Guangzhou is concerned, to avoid "one side of a thousand cities" is to take into account the existing new characteristics of reform and opening up and reflect the characteristics of Lingnan. In short, it is "both Guangzhou and modern".
Tang Guohua: One-sided practices should be avoided. First, historical and cultural relics, especially historical buildings and historical blocks, should be protected. Second, modern new buildings should learn from traditional buildings and absorb their essence, instead of wearing traditional symbols stiffly without analysis. Adapting to Lingnan climate can not rely entirely on artificial air conditioning, but should advocate energy-saving and ecological architectural design; To get rid of the shackles of "new expressionism", the so-called new expressionism is to strive to show an image in architectural form, which depends on the designer's design skills and cultural literacy, otherwise the designed works will arouse the public's opposing understanding, which is the "alienation effect". For example, the Guangzhou Gymnasium designed by Andrew originally wanted to express Sanye, but many people think it is like the most taboo fishing boat in the Pearl River Delta. In fact, the excellent traditional buildings in China will not look like anything. Also, architecture should obey the environment and nature, and should not compete with the "fair weather".
Architecture is the space of spiritual life.
Huang Bin: Take foreign architecture as an example, such as Gothic architecture. The architectural style is complicated, with sharp edges and vaults, creating a light and slender sense of flight. The purpose is to create a sense of loftiness in spirit, and let you have a spiritual detachment after entering the building. Therefore, architecture is not only a residence, but also a spiritual living space. A good building is a good spiritual living space, and a successful building is a symbol of a successful city.
He Jingtang: A good building will naturally embody a spirit, and its spiritual function will be greater than its use function. The embodiment of Guangzhou's urban spirit does not necessarily mean that the building adheres to the traditional "Lingnan style" in details. For example, it is difficult to find out the specific elements of Lingnan style in large public buildings such as Guang Zhouta, but it conveys a lively and eclectic spirit of the times, which is exactly the style of Guangzhou city, that is, "the spirit is similar but not similar", which generally shows the spiritual pursuit of Lingnan culture's freedom and positive progress. Including the name "Little Man's Waist", although it is not the proper name of Guang Zhouta, the people like it. Now the secretary and mayor often say "Little Man's Waist", which is also the embodiment of a civic spirit today.
Huang Bin: Architecture should be connected with the "roots" of local culture. Wang Yang, secretary of the provincial party committee, also proposed to promote the history and culture of Lingnan at the "Working Conference on Improving the Urbanization Level of the Province". But Guangdong is a province with a large foreign population. If the architecture in a place represents the cultural identity and carrier, can the migrants find their own cultural identity through Lingnan architecture? For example, when China people come to the United States and Britain, they will build a "Chinatown" even if they usually live in the same house with the locals. Eating and shopping in Chinatown on weekends is not only a pastime, but also an emotional sustenance.
People spend most of their time in architecture, which is objectively the "root" of people's life. If we can arouse people's inner identity through harmonious architectural style, then we can sublimate it into the destination of the soul and realize the harmonious unity of matter and spirit. There are tens of millions of migrant workers in Guangdong, and their feelings cannot be ignored. If Lingnan architecture can give migrants a sense of belonging, strengthen their sense of belonging and realize active role change, instead of "drifting south", it should take root in Guangdong. I think this kind of building is badly needed now. This "new Lingnan" building should be different from the old Lingnan building, with stronger integration and openness.
Tang Guohua: Take Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall as an example. It was also a brand-new building. Some scholars call it "Chinese National Renaissance Architecture". It not only inherited the cultural tradition of China, but also adopted the most advanced building materials and technologies in the world at that time, which was a masterpiece. Designer Lv Yanzhi learns from China and the West. In his thirties, he has been able to organically combine steel structure, shear wall structure, reinforced concrete frame structure with traditional brick structure to build an unprecedented large space. Then, under the condition that the basement was not covered with soil, he adopted the "ground cooling" structure with natural constant temperature and humidity, combined with natural ventilation and mechanical ventilation, and solved the heat dissipation problem of 5000 people in the hall. Innovative spirit is an important element of Lingnan style, and Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall was innovative that year. The four characteristics of Lingnan architecture: lightness, agility, fluency and transparency, which were summarized by previous Lingnan architects, are still applicable today.
Master Wang: At present, the two biggest builders in the city are real estate developers and the government. If they don't pursue Lingnan style, there is nothing anyone can do. If the two biggest subjects are pursuing the European style and don't advocate Lingnan culture, it will be difficult for the city to have Lingnan characteristics.
He Jingtang: We can't mechanically understand that the root of culture is local characteristics. When I designed the China Pavilion, people asked me if I would move Lingnan architecture to Shanghai. I said that I just inherited Lingnan architectural thought, that is, architectural creation should reflect the harmony and unity of region, culture and contemporary architecture, and combine with the local to form a local style. I will provide anything needed in different places.
Protecting architecture means protecting history and culture.
Huang Bin: People are usually impressed by European cities. For example, in Rome, many buildings are marble structures with vaults and beams, so it goes without saying that others can know that they are taking pictures of Rome. Guangzhou once had such a strong architectural identity, such as Qilou Street, xiguan big house and Shisanhang in the old city. But now the new city has lost this recognition. Therefore, as an old city with a strong Guangzhou identification symbol, it should be protected. This kind of protection is not only to protect buildings, but also to protect city labels, city business cards and city culture. Protection should not only protect a single building, but also protect the whole block and community, forming a scale effect.
He Jingtang: For traditional blocks and ancient cities, three words are very good: first, historical buildings should be kept original, that is, cultural relics; The second is to keep the environmental features of historical blocks intact; Third, the new building should continue its traditional characteristics. Authenticity, integrity and continuity, as long as we have these three characteristics, we can transform them. For cultural relics, they should be restored as before, but many historical blocks that are not cultural relics should continue their environmental features. A look at the urban texture will make people feel the continuity of history. It's not that you can't build a new house in the old city, but you must continue the original style when building a house. Liwan Square destroyed the texture of the whole old district.
Ivory North Community, located in Jiefangzhong-Dade Road, recently won the gold medal, which is a good old city reconstruction project, and its transformation completely conforms to the texture of the region. In order to build this block well, the government did not hand it over to the developer, but took the lead in the transformation. Aborigines can choose to move back, or live in other places, or replace them with shops. In the end, most indigenous people chose to move back.
The transformation of the old city can not be forced to balance on the spot, but depends on three major benefits, social benefits, environmental benefits and economic benefits. If partial balance cannot be achieved, the government needs to come forward, proceed from the bigger overall situation and make overall plans. The taste of the old city has improved, and the overall taste of Guangzhou has also improved.
Tang Guohua: Not only in the old blocks, but also in the new blocks, we should also see that traditional neighborhood relations, harmony and mutual assistance, modern living conditions and historical and cultural relics can coexist harmoniously. Therefore, in the construction of the new district, we should not eradicate all the old buildings, but leave the good things behind and design new buildings according to local conditions. For example, during the construction of a real estate in Fangcun, a small park was built in Datong Temple, one of the eight scenic spots of Yangcheng in Song and Yuan Dynasties, and the social response was very good. Imagine that if there are ancient buildings on every campus today, our campus culture will be more historical.
Master Wang: Take South West China as an example. In the second phase reconstruction project of South China Creek, we adopted the mode of "bundling" the historical protection of South China Creek with the efficient development of Caofangwei, transferred the plot ratio of South China Creek to Caofangwei, and demolished the Caofangwei intensively to obtain economic benefits, thus "feeding back" the historical block of South China Creek. This "binding" mode has solved many problems in the first phase of southwest reconstruction project, including the protection of Panjia Courtyard. I have estimated that if there is land in a better location, the efficient development of 1 hectare can protect about 2.5-3 hectares of historical blocks, which is equivalent to replacing the pressure of demolition, and can also generate some funds to repair infrastructure and make the whole block "alive". Now it is necessary to form a complete comprehensive replacement system for the transformation of the old city.