Building the Invisible Bridging the Gap Between Past and Future in Chinese Architecture.

摘要

China is a country with a booming economy that has paved a path to tremendous development and growth. The urgency to build at an accelerated pace due to the country's political and economic transformation, along with its unprecedented population growth, has been reflected in its architecture. Following Mao's Cultural Revolution in the 1970s, the motto became "revolution, not evolution". Traditions, culture, and anything considered old were viewed as taboo and were suppressed and disregarded. Only the new could represent China's new face. Under new leadership, China aims to rebuild its cities, there has been a strong pull to attract international star architects to develop cutting-edge work.;This thesis seeks to question if there is an "in between" that merges the past and future. It aims to discover new architecture potential in old Chinese architecture principles with contemporary architecture strategies to create a new architectural identity in China. The focus is in Houhai, a historic hutong neighborhood in Beijing that sits within the Second Ring Road. The site consists of restaurants, bars, and lounges with waterfront views that promote vibrant night life; with adjacent residential neighborhoods consisting of old traditional Chinese courtyard houses. The site has gone through transformation to adapt to the changes of the city. Thus, the methodology of introducing new construction with emphasis on traditional Chinese architecture principles is the appropriate approach to preserve the culture of the site. Traditional principles will be revisited and applied to a new setting, which in turn will aim towards culturally sustainable architecture.