The New Architectural Trend in China: The Heritage and Deelopment of Traditional Culture

Abstract

After the failed Anglo-Chinese War of the 1840s, China was forced to open to international trade. China is still borrowing developing experiments from the West in the distinctive Chinese cultural context. By doing so, a cultural conflict between China and the West leads to a chaotic time in art and architectural design. How can Chinese architects, educated and working globally, identify Chinese culture when designing and building todays China? New buildings in the Chinese urban condition mostly constructed by international firms, which is leading to the lack of local unique replaced by global similarity. To solve this architectural problem, well-known Chinese architect Liang Sicheng (1901-1972) first proposed the grammar and language of buildings and transferability of different local architectural language. He is the founder of Chinese modern architecture and city planning. His ideas still influence most Chinese architects and architecture students. According to Liang Sichengs study, the pattern language abstracts from the traditional architecture to state Chinese culture as a valuable tool for future Chinese architectural design. This paper begins with a brief discussion of the current cultural situation in China, and based on the case studies of Chinese buildings that attempt to combine vernacular culture with contemporary buildings, this paper suggests the trend of “New China” architecture style will lead to a great transition of Chinese contemporary buildings. Using the unique Chinese elements from the traditional architecture to reconstruct new Chinese buildings, this experiment will also contribute to the worldwide architectural design for a unique national identity