Art

These two books describe the building boom

that is dramatically changing China’s cities and the development of new towns

such as Luchao Harbour City, Shanghai, which is on the scale of Brazil’s

Brasilia and India’s Chandigarth.

‘Arriving at Guomao underground station

which lies submerged under the China World Trade Centre’, writes Layla Dawson,

‘is to step on to the film set of Blade Runner in Metropolis… There are blank

sloping metal or stone walls without shop windows or any indication of human

occupation, building entrances without footpaths and glazed precipices

overlooking roads choked with taxis, cars, buses and intrepid bikers… This is

an environment only bearable when viewed from an executive penthouse or air-conditioned

limousine.’

Judging by the buildings featured in her

book, mostly designed by foreign architects, this damning description applies

to the majority of recent projects and is especially true of the large-scale

developments for which the existing urban fabric is being torn down. Schemes

like Hua Mao Centre Masterplan, an area the size of a suburb near Beijing’s

central business district, and Plaza 66 (two skyscrapers and a shopping mall in

the heart of old Shanghai), encourage megastructures that dwarf their users and

the surrounding area.

In her incisive introduction, Dawson

outlines the history and attitudes that led to the open-door policy that has

sparked off the current property boom, which she describes as ‘a first deposit

payment for a brighter future… China is transforming itself under the label of

modernity and Western architecture provides the fitting image. When, and if, a

Chinese Modernism evolves it will probably not make use of historical elements…

until then China is wearing Western camouflage.’

Bernard Chan’s introduction is more upbeat.

Chairman Mao viewed architects with suspicion, closed design institutes and

sent architects and engineers off to the paddy fields. Some 30 years later, the

vacuum created by their banishment prompted Zaha Hadid to describe China ‘as an

incredible empty canvas for innovation’; but Chan sees signs of renewed

confidence. ‘If there were ever any insecurities over the issue of foreign

versus local architectural prowess’, he claims, ‘this book demonstrates that

they have long since dissipated.’ His selection includes small-scale buildings

which are far more interesting and less bombastic than the slick,

glass-and-steel clichés highlighted by Dawson.

Commune-by-the-Wall, for instance, consists of twelve houses commissioned by

developer Soho China as weekend retreats for well-heeled Beijingers. Each by a

different architect, many of whom are Chinese, the designs are intelligent,

discrete and desirable.

Whichever book gives a more accurate

picture of this seemingly unstoppable redevelopment, one thing is certain: the

Chinese are living through interesting times.