On July 10, 2013, the Beijing News' "New Art" monthly published Ma Yansong's third column "Shanshui City and Hutong Bubbles". Ma Yansong introduced his two architectural projects - "Shanshui City" and "Hutong Bubbles", and brought up his thoughts on the humanistic spirit carried by cities and architecture.

Ma Yansong proposed that protecting the old city is not just for those houses, but for our spiritual home. In this process, it is not necessary to adopt large-scale reconstruction, but small-scale reconstruction should be used to achieve the recovery of the entire community by changing the local situation.

The full text is as follows:

"Shanshui City and Hutong Bubble"

I just did an exhibition called "Shanshui City" in a courtyard in Maoer Hutong. This exhibition is in an ancient outdoor garden, where my architectural models are scattered. Under the cover of rockery, screen wall, bamboo forest, pool and sky, the scales of each other are blurred, showing a surreal future city picture. "Shanshui City" is a theme I have been thinking about. The focus is on how to combine architecture with nature in China's large-scale urbanization movement, how to find the emotional sustenance of modern people in nature and traditional culture, and how to create a future city that belongs to people. This is also the reason why I chose to do the "Shanshui City" exhibition in the courtyard.

During the exhibition, I had to take some of my Chinese and foreign friends to see it. However, every time I entered Maoer Hutong, I would walk past the dusty construction sites around Di'anmen and Jinding Bridge. This place is adjacent to Shichahai on the central axis, which is particularly eye-catching. Such a realistic scene also formed a huge contrast with this exhibition in the hutong.

Business and profit maximization have become the model of urbanization. Increasing land value, real estate and GDP are hard indicators of urban success. This model has created a city pattern with a thousand cities looking the same. At present, large-scale urban development driven by economic development is gradually approaching the traditional urban texture. The changes in neighborhood relations and the lack of necessary sanitary facilities have caused the originally beautiful and peaceful living space to become a big urban problem, and the disparity between the rich and the poor has also made residents' homes the most easily acquired assets with huge commercial benefits.

In Beibingmasi Hutong, not far from the "Shanshui City" exhibition, there is a project I completed a few years ago, called "Hutong Bubble". Inside it is an added bathroom and a staircase leading to the rooftop platform. It is like an "acupuncture therapy" for Beijing's ancient urban body. Some small-scale elements are inserted into the gaps of the courtyards. They will update living conditions and activate neighborhood relations like magnets; they complement the surrounding old houses and give each of them life. These bubbles in the corners seem to be small life forms from outer space. The smooth metal surface reflects the ancient buildings, trees and sky in the courtyard; history, nature and the future coexist in a dream world.

I think that in the face of the decline and abuse of urban cells, we need to change reality from the level of life. It is not necessary to take large-scale reconstruction, but small-scale reconstruction, like acupuncture, to achieve the recovery of the entire community by changing the local situation. "Hutong Bubble" was originally part of my urban concept plan "Beijing 2050". Unexpectedly, the first bubble was realized in 2010.

But now it seems that the ideal of 2050 is far from being realized. Beijing's old city and culture should be connected with everyone's dream. Protecting the old city is not just for those houses, but for our spiritual home, so that we will not lose our way when facing the future.

2013-06-19

Ma Yansong published his second column article "Art Museums in China" in "Beijing News"

On June 19, 2013, "New Art", a monthly magazine of "Beijing News", published Ma Yansong's second column article "Art Museums in China".

《Art Museums in China》

China is planning to build the world's largest national art museum, with an exhibition area larger than the Louvre in Paris, but less than 1/8 of the Louvre's area. What is even more puzzling is that the new National Art Museum is not located in the city center like the Louvre, but is located on the north side of the Olympic Stadium outside the Fourth Ring Road of Beijing.

As the cultural heart of a country, the National Art Museum should naturally be placed in the center of the city. Important cities in the world, such as New York, Paris, London, Tokyo, Berlin, and Washington, each city has several world-class art museums, and they are all located in the most central and best environment of the city. The location of the art museum represents the taste and openness of a city to a certain extent, and also represents the importance a city attaches to culture and art. An art museum in the city center can easily become a part of the historical and cultural environment, and become a place for daily activities for citizens.

The old building of the National Art Museum of China was built in the 1960s and is located in the center of the old Beijing city, on the east side of Jingshan. Compared with the Great Hall of the People and the National Museum of China, which were also commemorative projects for the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the National Art Museum of China did not choose the so-called international style, which is actually the Soviet-style architecture, but chose the Chinese national style of "big roof". The street garden on its east side has become the public space of the art museum, and many important art events in history have taken place here.
It is said that the new art museum was originally planned to expand on the original site, but because the surrounding land prices were too expensive, the plan had to be abandoned. This reason is puzzling. In the old city of Beijing, how many ancient hutong courtyards have been demolished to make room for shopping malls, residences, and hotels? Why is there no place for a national-level art museum? Perhaps the real reason is that art and culture retreat to business!

The combination of the humanities and natural environment of the art museum and the architecture is extremely important, and art museums in various countries also have this feature. If you think that a successful art museum only needs to consider image and function, then many shopping malls seem to be very good art museums. But the reason why a national art gallery is not a shopping mall that looks like an art gallery is that it is actually creating a place with spiritual appeal, an urban space for people to experience the aesthetics of architecture and environment, and a place for citizens in the city to meet art, culture and nature. The future art gallery should not only be an image or traditional display function, but also a cultural engine with vitality and humanistic atmosphere for citizens to participate and interact. Who would design the engine outside the car body?

And the combination with the environment and nature can be said to be the most important part of Chinese architecture and art that is different from the West. Most of the architectural planning in the old city of Beijing has this feature. If China is clear about this unique artistic view and life view in its culture, it will have a clearer understanding of what kind of national art gallery it wants. For a culture, there is no definition of "better, more advanced, and bigger". The original intention of establishing a national art gallery is to establish a national cultural consciousness and unique artistic values, not the opposite.

In the 1960s, Japan held the first Olympic Games. The Japanese government invited young and middle-aged Japanese architects at that time to design a number of Olympic venues. Among them was Kenzo Tange, who later became the most important Japanese architect, and he influenced generations of Japanese architects. This decision has greatly promoted the Japanese urban and architectural culture. The unique influence and status of modern Japanese architecture in the world comes from the inheritance and development of their own national culture by generations.

As a young Chinese architect, I call on the National Art Museum of China to consider re-selecting a site and building a new museum in the old museum or the city center, and let Chinese architects freely use their imagination to combine with the environment to imagine a modern art museum with Chinese humanistic characteristics, showing the importance of culture to a rising power. Only with the understanding of one's own culture can there be a world-class art museum.

2013-05-08

Ma Yansong published a column article "Urban Ambition and Ideal" in "Beijing News"

On May 8, 2013, "Beijing News" monthly magazine "New Art" published Ma Yansong's column article "Urban Ambition and Ideal".

《Urban Ambition and Ideal》

Not long ago, a super high-rise building called "The Shard" was completed in London. With a height of more than 300 meters, it is like a sword piercing the sky, becoming the tallest building in the European Union. Every time I go to London, I am asked by local media about my opinion of this building. Maybe for Londoners, this building is like the CCTV building for Beijingers, and they can't find a comfortable feeling.

Suddenly one day, I looked at this building and it became more and more familiar. It reminded me of the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang. This is also a spire that reaches straight into the sky. It is 330 meters high and was built in 1987. At that time, North Korea wanted to surpass the Empire State Building in New York and compete for the first place in the world and Asia. As a result, due to insufficient funds, this building has been unfinished for more than 20 years.

Interestingly, both are spires that reach straight into the sky, which are very similar to the enlarged tops of ancient churches, but the ancient spires represent the worship of God and the closeness to God, while the two spires in London and Pyongyang have new meanings.

However, no matter what kind of extreme worship is out of, such competition has actually spread around the world like a virus, which is an extreme distortion of urbanization. The "confidence" conveyed by those buildings built to consolidate power and capital has nothing to do with the spiritual demands and imagination of people living in contemporary cities. Perhaps this is the reason why people "feel uncomfortable" with some buildings in the city.

Since the slogan of "faster, higher, stronger" was put forward at the 8th Olympic Games in 1924, competition has become a way of survival for modern people, overwhelmingly dominating the spiritual orientation of modern society, and life is filled with various competitions. Competition between cities is also reflected in various buildings that can represent power and capital ambitions. The original intention of building many high-rise buildings is to aim at urban competition. The soaring steel and concrete forest has become a monument to praise capital power and despise human emotions. People love and hate cities, hovering on the edge of staying or leaving.

Today, when some large North American cities in the industrial civilization period began to decline, Chinese cities have become rising stars, building a higher, faster and stronger Chinese version of the American dream. In the past thirty years, China has been full of quick-built cities that are similar, lack characteristics, destroy history and nature, but have to create an illusion of pride. Such cities are always proud of having a government building similar to the White House or the Great Hall of the People, a civic square, or a skyline like Manhattan, New York. It is a very embarrassing fact that the base of the world's largest manufacturing city has become the world's largest copycat design country due to lack of cultural preparation. The problem of the city is not the skyscrapers and big buildings themselves, but the lack of culture, humanity and spirituality caused by the authoritarian and pragmatic values ​​behind those buildings.

Some people say that China is a test factory for cities and buildings. I think this is a good thing. A stage of urban civilization will be tested in China and burst out with more possibilities. I think China's urban decision-makers should look further and imagine what our practice can leave for human urban civilization after 50 years of urbanization.

A new idea should be born, not by copycat, not by pragmatism, and not by looking back. We should talk about what kind of future city we dream of?

London's "The Shard", with a height of more than 300 meters, has become the tallest building in the European Union.