Conceptual Narratives of Yung Ho Chang's Cross-cultural Practice (2014)

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ARCHITECTURE AND CULTURE

Conceptual Narratives of Yung Ho Chang’s Cross-cultural PracticeHing-wah Chau

ABSTRACT Under economic reform and social liberalization in post-Mao China, a new generation of independent Chinese architects has emerged. Among those architects, Yung Ho Chang is a pioneering and prominent figure. His design strategies are shaped primarily by his cross-cultural background and exposure. A salient feature of his works is conceptual narratives, in which the three major themes are everyday objects, voyeurism and the subversion of material norms. Apart from examining his conceptual narratives, this article also discusses his design-studio teaching at MIT, which signifies a shift toward a more socially responsive design approach. His practice continues to cross cultures, not only contributing to the development of contemporary Chinese architecture, but with growing influence worldwide. Besides architectural design, his practice is diverse and in some ways multidisciplinary, with participation in international exhibitions, curatorship, teaching, product design and publications.

`��$�� *��*��#��#��!��it is quite common for Chinese architects to be immersed in numerous design commissions with a conventional professional architectural core. Yet, there are some alternative practices emerging which are

Hing-wah Chau, The University of Melbourne. [email protected]

Keywords: conceptual narratives, cross-cultural practice, Yung Ho Chang, contemporary Chinese architecture

Volume 2/Issue 2July 2014pp205–212DOI: 10.2752/ 205078214X14030010182263

Reprints available directly from the publishers. Photocopying permitted by licence only.©Bloomsbury 2014

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exploring disciplinary boundaries in architecture. Anthony Vidler suggests that there are new terms of reference for architecture within ��$��#��experimentation.[1] One manifestation is the provocative blurring of institutional frameworks between art and architecture.[2] Architects ��#��`�§��Rendell’s terminology, this is “critical spatial practice,” which emphasizes the construction of critical concepts as its most important purpose.[3] Her examples include Bernard Tschumi, Daniel Libeskind and Shigeru Ban. In Chinese architectural circles, I suggest that Yung Ho Chang is �� =�� architecture’s disciplinary experimentation.

In the world of contemporary Chinese architecture, Yung Ho Chang ( , b. 1956) is in many ways a pioneer compared ��"��#��students who received local university education and overseas study opportunities after the ten-year Cultural Revolution (1966–76), he was a forerunner in setting up a private architectural practice in China in 1993 after the economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping ( ). He was the founding professor of the Graduate Centre of Architecture at Peking %��!��#��of the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, 2005–10), and has been appointed as a jury member of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize since 2012. Chang’s design strategies are shaped by his cross-cultural background. He was brought up in a liberal family environment in Beijing, which allowed him to develop his own, individual interests. Both his parents were good at ��&�� , 1912–2006), was a well-known architect responsible for the design of many landmark buildings in China.[4] Following his father’s advice, he studied architecture, enrolling at the Nanjing Institute of Technology in 1977, and went to the US for further study in 1981. [5] Chang’s studies in both China and the US raised his awareness of cultural differences. In contrast to the Beaux-Arts teaching approach in China at that time, the American curriculum provided him with more freedom regarding individual exploration. He has noted his gratitude for meeting “excellent teachers” in the US, especially Rodney Place at Ball State University, who “completely changed” his understanding of architecture.[6] Since Place studied under Robin ��"��"��""��=��""|��$�� |��#��!��<��[7] One of Rodney Place’s design studios in which Chang participated was titled “Use, Overuse, Misuse,” requiring students to observe an everyday object ��!��#��research focus, within a “Bike Story” theme (1982–3). He interacted with teenagers on the street and used a camera to record how they used their bicycles to jump over kerbs, steps and ramps. Through the “misuse” and

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207 “overuse” of different elements on streets, these bicycle riders creatively converted an urban space into an exciting playground. This recalls Henri Lefebvre’s emphasis on everyday life concerning the sensory experience of space and Ian Borden’s analysis of the skateboarder’s spatial production in ordinary places.[8] Chang’s conceptual designs were well received by teachers, but Place encouraged him to pursue design excellence as a Chinese designer through assuming cross-cultural vantage points.[9] Chang’s teaching and practice after graduation ��#��#��teaching experience in the US from 1985 to 1992 enabled him to be immersed in Western concerns and methods,[10]� ��continually on his cultural identity as a Chinese designer has led to Chang incorporating Chinese elements into his works. After his return to China, his cross-cultural practice has been further strengthened through establishing his own architectural atelier in Beijing in 1993, namely the Atelier Feichang Jianzhu ( ��$��his interest in conceptual narratives and Chinese texts with multiple meanings based on different interpretations.[11] Regardless of the staggering economic growth in China due to the Southern Tour of Deng ¨�� $��!�� some design commissions, there were relatively few opportunities for ��{��Feichang Jianzhu (1997), which collects his unrealized projects before ��"�� =��#�� =��monograph in China was immense. It served as a showcase representing ��*��=��independent architect in post-Mao China in contrast to the collective ��"��!��|�designs is conceptual narratives. He consistently demonstrates strong conceptual ideas through his practice and publications. Rather than pursuing political activism, major narrative themes in his works are everyday objects, voyeurism and the subversion of material norms.

Everyday ObjectsAs an everyday object, the bicycle is a recurrent theme of Chang’s work. Following his “Bike Story” studio project, he continued to develop this concept in his subsequent assignment, the “Bike Apartment” (1982–3), which combined bicycle activity spaces with residential units. Fascinated by Marcel Duchamp’s exploration of the concept of the readymade in attaching a wheel to a kitchen stool in Bicycle Wheel (1913), Chang installed bicycle wheels, ubiquitous ordinary objects in Chinese society, under bookshelves in his Book-Bike Store, Beijing (1996) to enable them to be rotated for spatial variations (Figure 1). As the location of the bookstore was previously designed as a passage for bicycles to pass through, the use of bicycle wheels in the store responded to the ��

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Having a keen interest in everyday life, Chang’s design ��but has been stretched to product design, fashion design and even jewelry design. For his jewelry design, rings and necklaces are treated as mini-architecture, capturing living scenes with conceptualized furniture to accentuate his notion of “living on body.”[12]

Voyeurism`��#�� =��"��=��Rear Window (1954), Chang was fascinated by the idea of voyeurism. He ��Rear Window into drawings, showing a series of fragments of interior spaces through different window frames (Figure 2). He subsequently incorporated the concept of voyeurism

Figure 1 Book-Bike Store, Beijing (1996). Courtesy of Yung Ho Chang/Atelier Feichang Jianzhu.

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into his architectural design projects. For example, the Luoyang ( ) Kindergarten project (1992) was designed as a visual playground in which the fenestration was based on visual corridors between two teaching buildings.[13] Protruding cubes from external facades not only physically strengthened the alignment of visual corridors, but also established a dialog between the campus and the surrounding context.

Voyeuristic pleasure and visual perception were reinvestigated in the recent car display stand, the Audi Haus, Shanghai (2011). The display car was surrounded by a series of glass panels and the narrow gaps between the panels offered a glimpse of the car. Since the glass �� =��#��#��animation, creating an illusion of car movement (Figure 3).

Subversion of Material NormsChang’s subversion of material norms is manifest in the Sliding Folding Swing Door installation (1998). He added a new swing door and a folded doorframe between a pair of abandoned sliding garage doors (Figure 4). During the door-opening process, the three actions of sliding, folding and swinging could be carried out sequentially, challenging the conventional notion of the door.

Figure 2 Fragments of interior spaces through different window frames (1989–91). Courtesy of Yung Ho Chang/Atelier Feichang Jianzhu.

Figure 3 Audi Haus, Shanghai (2011). Courtesy of Yung Ho Chang/Atelier Feichang Jianzhu.

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For the Seoul Design Fair (2010), Chang’s Tea Pavilions investigated the potential of traditional Chinese roof tiles. Rather than �� *�$�� *�$��#��#�� {��lightness of materiality. This is a cross-cultural creative work combining a traditional building material with an inventive assembly method (Figure 5). The subversion of norms was also illustrated in Chang’s retrospective exhibition in Beijing (2012), as the exhibition venue was seemingly converted into a construction site by building display stands on the spot.

Socially Responsive ApproachIn addition to conceptual narratives, his socially responsive approach ��$��)`�� 2009 Chang led the “1K House” design studio, which required students to design affordable houses at a unit cost of barely one thousand US dollars. This is a proactive way to address world poverty and post-disaster reconstruction.[14] Under the three fundamental principles of ��#��#��#��&��

Figure 4 Sliding Folding Swing Door, Beijing (1998). Courtesy of Yung Ho Chang/Atelier Feichang Jianzhu.

Figure 5 Tea Pavilions, Seoul Design Fair (2010). Courtesy of Yung Ho Chang/Atelier Feichang Jianzhu.

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211 the Pinwheel House, was erected in Sichuan Province, China in 2011.[15] Chang led the “10K House” design studio at MIT in 2011 to respond to the destructive earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Students were required to design post-disaster houses in Japan at a unit cost of ten thousand US dollars.[16] These design studios transcended the narrow concerns of formal architectural language and moved toward a practical response to fundamental housing issues in society, cultivating a sense of social responsibility in students.

ConclusionsThrough exploration of the interrelationship between architecture, art and everyday life, Chang’s experimentation is conceptually embedded and critical in context. His conceptual narratives traverse everyday objects, voyeurism and the subversion of material norms. The “1K House” and “10K House” design studios illustrate a shift of his focus toward a more socially responsive approach, enabling students with different cultural backgrounds to engage with pressing housing problems in �� '�� #��the market by participating in real-estate development projects for ��$��$��*��in China. His cross-cultural practice is contributing to reformulating disciplinary trajectories in contemporary Chinese architecture.

AcknowledgmentsThe author is grateful for receiving the advice of Associate Professor Jianfei Zhu, Associate Professor Gregory Missingham, Dr Peter Raisbeck and the valuable comments from the editors and anonymous reviewers. The author is also grateful to Yung Ho Chang/Atelier Feichang Jianzhu for permission to reproduce the illustrations.

Hing-wah Chau has a Master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Hong Kong, a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of London and a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is a registered architect in Hong Kong and a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects. He recently completed his doctoral research at the University of Melbourne on contemporary Chinese architecture. He has received the Australian Postgraduate Award, the Norman MacGeorge Scholarship and the Melbourne Abroad Travelling Scholarship. He participates in teaching architectural history, theory and design.

Notes

1 Anthony Vidler, “Architecture’s Expanded Field: Finding Inspiration in Jellyfish and Geopolitics, Architects Today Are Working within Radically New Frames of

Reference,” Artforum International, 42, no. 8 (April 2004): 142–7.

2 John Macarthur and Andrew Leach, “Architecture, Disciplinarity, and the

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Arts: Considering the Issues,” in Architecture, Disciplinarity, and the Arts, ed. Andrew Leach and John Macarthur, 7 (Belgium: A & S, 2009).

3 Jane Rendell, Art and Architecture: A Place Between (London, New York: I.B. Tauris, 2006), 4.

4 Landmark buildings designed by Zhang Kaiji include the National Museum of Chinese History, Beijing (1959), and the National Art Museum, Beijing (1962).

5 Yung Ho Chang completed his undergraduate study at Ball State University in 1983 and his Master’s degree at the University of California at Berkeley in 1984.

6 MIT 150 Infinite History Project Team, “Interview with Prof. Yung Ho Chang.” At http://mit150.mit.edu/infinite-history (accessed June 30, 2012).

7 Jianfei Zhu, “Criticality in between China and the West,” The Journal of Architecture, 10, no. 5 (2005): 487. Jianfei Zhu, “Robin Evans in 1978: Between Social Space and Visual Projection,” The Journal of Architecture, 16, no. 2 (2011): 267–90.

8 Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space (1974), trans. David Nicholson-Smith (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991). Iain Borden, Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body (Oxford: Berg, 2001).

9 Yung Ho Chang’s sharing on his weibo dated April 20, 2012. At http://weibo.com/yungho chang (accessed February 12, 2013).

10 Yung Ho Chang was an assistant professor at Ball State University (1985–8), the University of Michigan (1988–90) and the University of California at Berkeley (1990–2).

11 Feichang jianzhu has multiple meanings: as a noun phrase, it means “unusual architecture” or “special architecture”; as a gerund (noun formed from the verb), it denotes “unusual construction”; while as an adjective phrase, it conveys the meaning of “very architectural.” Yung Ho Chang, Feichang Jianzhu (Haerbin: Heilongjiang Kexue Jishu Chubanshe, 1997), 1.

12 Yung Ho Chang, “Living on Body,” Abitare (Special Issue: Being Yung Ho Chang), 32 (October–December 2012): 98.

13 Yung Ho Chang, “Cong ‘Hou Chuang’ dao ‘Kan de Youxi’” [“From ‘Rear Window’ to ‘Visual Game’”], Shidai Jianzhu [Time + Architecture], 2 (1994): 36.

14 “MIT’s ‘1K House’ Project: Affordable Housing for the World” (November 20, 2009), MIT Center for Real Estate. At http://web.mit.edu/cre/research/1k-house-project.html (accessed June 30, 2012).

15 The “Pinwheel House” was designed by the student, Ying Chee Chui, in the “1K House” design studio led by Yung Ho Chang, Tong Ciochetti and Dennis Shelden in 2009 at MIT.

16 For the “10K House” Studio, MIT was in collaboration with the University of Tokyo, Tsushima Design Studio, Atelier Feichang Jianzhu, MUJI and Vanke China. At http://10khouse.wordpress.com/about/ (accessed July 18, 2012).

References

– Abitare (Special Issue: Being Yung Ho Chang), 32 (October–December 2012).

– Chang, Yung Ho. Feichang Jianzhu. Haerbin: Heilongjiang Kexue Jishu Chubanshe, 1997.

– Gutierrez, Laurent, and Portefaix, Valérie (eds). Yung Ho Chang/Atelier Feichang Jianzhu: A Chinese Practice. Hong Kong: Map Book Publishing, 2003.

– Leach, Andrew, and Macarthur, John (eds). Architecture, Disciplinarity, and the Arts. Belgium: A&S, 2009.

– Rendell, Jane. Art and Architecture: A Place Between. London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2006.

– Vidler, Anthony. “Architecture’s Expanded Field: Finding Inspiration in Jellyfish and Geopolitics, Architects Today Are Working within Radically New Frames of Reference.” Artforum International, 42, no. 8 (April 2004): 142–7.

– Zhu, Jianfei. Architecture of Modern China: A Historical Critique. London: Routledge, 2009.

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Conceptual Narratives of Yung Ho Chang's Cross-cultural Practice (2014)

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