China Central TV Headquarters
Beijing
2012
Office for Metropolitan Architecture
East China Architectural Design & Research Institute
Chinese Monographs
A selection of texts on Chinese architecture, both historical and contemporary. As with the preceding section this list is necessarily abbreviated, as it would be impractical to list every title or architect, and is intended to provide a representative sample of materials available in the library.
Hong Kong Architecture; the aesthetics of density by Call Number: Large 720.95125 H772ISBN: 379131324xPublication Date: 1993
Art of the Yellow Springs by
We might think the Egyptians were the masters of building tombs, but no other civilization has devoted more time and resources to underground burial structures than the Chinese. For at least five thousand years, from the fourth millennium B.C.E. to the early twentieth century, the Chinese have been building some of the world's most elaborate tombs and furnishing them with exquisite objects. It is these objects and the concept of the tomb as a "treasure-trove" that The Art of the Yellow Springs seeks to critique, drawing on recent scholarship to examine memorial sites the way they were meant to be experienced: not as a mere store of individual works, but as a work of art itself. Wu Hung bolsters some of the new trends in Chinese art history that have been challenging the conventional ways of studying funerary art. Examining the interpretative methods themselves that guide the study of memorials, he argues that in order to understand Chinese tombs, one must not necessarily forget the individual works present in them--as the beautiful color plates here will prove--but consider them along with a host of other art-historical concepts. These include notions of visuality, viewership, space, analysis, function, and context. The result is a ground-breaking new assessment that demonstrates the amazing richness of one of the longest-running traditions in the whole of art history.
Call Number: Online accessISBN: 9781861897183Publication Date: 2015
Shanghai by
An architectural view of one of the world's most dynamic and exciting cities. Shanghai's explosive development since the early 1990s has provided students and fans of architecture with myriad examples of superlatives: from the world's tallest buildings to its longest bridges. As timely as it is comprehensive this collection of essays confronts the broader concerns of Shanghai's role as a harbinger of China's future and a global testing ground. Essays cover the socio-political, cultural, and historic aspects of the city as well as offer more pointed topical analyses of urban design, preservation and the developments of the city's waterfronts. Throughout the book, color photographs and illustrations examine thirty ongoing and completed projects. The resulting overview presents a vibrant city of tension and contradiction, one that both mirrors and drives China's struggle to break free from economic constraints while adhering to its political ideals
Call Number: Large 720.95113 S528ISBN: 3791331159Publication Date: 2004
Original Copies by
A 108-meter high Eiffel Tower rises above Champs Elys#65533;es Square in Hangzhou. A Chengdu residential complex for 200,000 recreates Dorchester, England. An ersatz Queen's Guard patrols Shanghai's Thames Town, where pubs and statues of Winston Churchill abound. Gleaming replicas of the White House dot Chinese cities from Fuyang to Shenzhen. These examples are but a sampling of China's most popular and startling architectural movement: the construction of monumental themed communities that replicate towns and cities in the West. Original Copies presents the first definitive chronicle of this remarkable phenomenon in which entire townships appear to have been airlifted from their historic and geographic foundations in Europe and the Americas, and spot-welded to Chinese cities. These copycat constructions are not theme parks but thriving communities where Chinese families raise children, cook dinners, and simulate the experiences of a pseudo-Orange County or Oxford. In recounting the untold and evolving story of China's predilection for replicating the greatest architectural hits of the West, Bianca Bosker explores what this unprecedented experiment in "duplitecture" implies for the social, political, architectural, and commercial landscape of contemporary China. With her lively, authoritative narrative, the author shows us how, in subtle but important ways, these homes and public spaces shape the behavior of their residents, as they reflect the achievements, dreams, and anxieties of those who inhabit them, as well as those of their developers and designers. From Chinese philosophical perspectives on copying to twenty-first century market forces, Bosker details the factors giving rise to China's new breed of building. Her analysis draws on insights from the world's leading architects, critics and city planners, and on interviews with the residents of these developments.
Call Number: NA1545 .B67 2013ISBN: 9780824836061Publication Date: 2013
Contemporary Architecture in China: buildings and projects 2000-2020 by
When people think about architecture in China, then it is usually the overpowering presence of Western masters conjuring up entire large cities that spring to mind. Be that as it may, Chinese architecture is also undergoing a massive upsurge. This book presents selected projects of eight young architectural bureaus from the Middle Empire, all of which hold their own very well alongside the large foreign firms and are making their very own contribution to the creation of a modern China. Furthermore the volume contains a selection of projects of German architectural bureaus which have successfully risked taking the step in the direction of the East.
Call Number: NA1545.6 .D831 2010ISBN: 9783869221205Publication Date: 2010
The Living Builiding: vernacular environments of South China by Call Number: Large 720.951 L7855Publication Date: 1995
Chinese architecture, civil and ornamental. Being a large collection of the most elegant and useful designs and plans and elevations, &c. from the Imperial retreat to the smallest ornamental building in China. ... The whole neatly engraved on twenty-four by Call Number: Online accessPublication Date: 1759
Chinese Spatial Strategies by
Chinese Spatial Strategiespresents a study of social spaces of the capital of Ming Qing China (1420-1911). Focusing on early Ming and early and middle Qing, it explores architectural, urban and geographical space of Beijing, in relation to issues of history, geopolitics, urban social structure, imperial rule and authority, symbolism, and aesthetic and existential experience. At once historical and theoretical, the work argues that there is a Chinese approach to spatial disposition which is strategic and holistic.
Call Number: 720.95115 Z63cISBN: 0415318831Publication Date: 2003
Traditional Chinese Architecture - Twelve Essays by
A groundbreaking book by one of the world's leading historians of Chinese architecture Translated by Alexandra Harrer. Fu Xinian is considered by many to be the world's leading historian of Chinese architecture. He is an expert on every type of Chinese architecture from every period through the nineteenth century, and his work is at the cutting edge of the field. Traditional Chinese Architecture gathers together, for the first time in English, twelve seminal essays by Fu Xinian. This wide-ranging book pays special attention to the technical aspects of the building tradition since the first millennium BC, and Fu Xinian's signature drawings abundantly illustrate its nuances. The essays delve into the modular basis for individual structures, complexes, and cities; lateral and longitudinal building frames; the unity of sculpture and building to create viewing angles; the influence of Chinese construction on Japanese architecture; and the reliability of images to inform us about architecture. Organized chronologically, the book also examines such topics as the representation of architecture on vessels in the Warring States period, early Buddhist architecture, and the evolution of imperial architecture from the Tang to Ming dynasty. A biography of Fu Xinian and a detailed Chinese-English glossary are included. Bringing together some of the most groundbreaking scholarship in Chinese architectural history, Traditional Chinese Architecture showcases an uncontested master of the discipline.
Call Number: NA1540 .F82513 2017ISBN: 9780691159997Publication Date: 2017
Contemporary Architecture in China - Urban Landscapes by Call Number: Online accessISBN: 9781619870819Publication Date: 2013
Chinese Architecture and Planning by
This book presents a thematic discussion of architectural history and city planning, with a focus on the issues of ideas, methods and techniques in the context of the culture, politics and religion of the pre modern China.
Call Number: Large NA1540 .G87 2005ISBN: 3932565541Publication Date: 2006
Chinese Architecture by
Ancient Chinese architecture is not only a source of reference for modern Chinese design, it has also had an international influence and attracted global attention. Moreover, architectural remains in China reveal much about the history of this ancient civilisation. The palaces, gardens, temples, tombs and dwellings of the Chinese people reflect, for example, the military achievements of the Qin emperor, the spirit of the Tang Dynasty, the palace intrigues of the Ming Dynasty, the diversity of Chinese culture through the ages and the skill of countless generations of craftsmen and labourers. Chinese Architecture provides an accessible, illustrated introduction to this essential part of China's cultural heritage.
Call Number: NA1540 .C35313 2011ISBN: 9780521186445Publication Date: 2011
