Rockbund Art Museum 上海外滩美术馆

Looking Into the Past

In the 1980s, the field of architecture was rapidly developing in Asia. With urbanization acting as the engine for modernization, commercial office buildings and housing developments sprung up in large numbers throughout cities, as they facilitated economic development and boosted consumer spending. And although these complexes made life more convenient for city dwellers, capitalism came to dominate every domain of urban culture and mindset, and architectural projects increasingly became products to be developed and marketed.

The influence of the global market as well as the introduction of a large architectural vocabulary caused several Asian cities to move towards homogenization — Shanghai is Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong and Taipei; Shanghai could also be Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Yangon and Ho Chi Minh.

To scrutinize the reason for such homogenization, one must go back more than 10 years, to the steady development of architectural theory in the West and its direct influence on China and other Asian countries. Several architects who are well-known today, such as Rem Koolhaas, Thom Mayne, Daniel Libeskind, Steven Holl and Zaha Hadid, had proposed modernist concepts in architectural design, which were unprecedented in their time, and made use of emerging tools such as computer-aided design as well as images of different types of architecture to facilitate their research. Their designs and theories became intimately connected with certain academic institutions, influencing the next generation of young students to pursue their studies at leading schools in the West. And as Western culture began spreading throughout the world, architecture also played part in colonialist policies worldwide.

As such, the rapid expansion of modernization and industrialization has almost eradicated the unique cultures of regions around the world. It has caused us to, on the surface, live similar lives, eat at similar chain restaurants, become consumers of similar brands, purchase similar household products - in light of such a reality, does the word ‘culture’ still hold any significance in our present world?

Contemplating Strategies for the Future

Up to the present day, when we think of urban residential spaces in Southeast Asia or even the entire Asian region, we think of the residences designed by Geoffrey Bawa, Kerry Hill and Robert Arthur Morton Stern. However, upon entering city spaces we find streets filled with the sounds of beeping horns, we see the light pollution produced by rows and rows of tall buildings; and even in the outskirts of the city center, we might find illegal street fairs, slums not regulated by the government, shacks shoddily built under highways, and long, winding dead alleys. Such sights are only found in Southeast Asia and other Asian countries, making up a truly local architectural landscape.

The local residents use commonly found scrap materials to build their homes, and despite having never received an education in architecture, their creations surpass those of trained architects in their understanding of how to use their environment. Illegally constructed rain canopies, vending and food stalls, push-carts, and other examples make up this special man-made landscape. The existence of these temporary structures truly reflects the fact that humans are a part of nature, and demonstrate how one can rediscover a new kind of ‘nature’ in the concrete jungle of the city. There is in Asian cities a phenomenon of development that is initiated by the masses, where analogies can be drawn between nature and ‘man-made nature’, and a way of design that ‘belongs to the people’ emerges.

浮现过去的问题

1980年代亚洲地区建筑实践的历程发展迅猛。城市化作为现代化引擎，因其增加大众消费而有利于经济发展，商业办公楼和住宅商品房随之大量涌现，其虽然为都市居民创造了便捷的生活，但集体文化思维却受到资本主义操纵，建筑实践更成为市场化的商品开发。

全球市场的影响和大波涌入的现代化建筑语汇，促使亚洲多数大城市走向均质化──上海是东京是首尔是香港是台北；也可以是曼谷是雅加达是吉隆坡是仰光是胡志明市。

审视这些城市的内部原因在于过去十多年，西方建筑学理论的茁壮发展并直接影响中国及亚洲其他国家，许多现今知名的建筑师如Rem Koolhaas、Thom Mayne、Daniel Libeskind、Steven Holl、Zaha Hadid等人提出不同于以往现代主义思考的建筑创作观，并结合新的设计媒介如电脑辅助建筑设计与建筑图像学进行研究。他们的建筑实践与学术理论承上启下地与各个院校相互连接，进而影响新生代青年学子纷纷前往西方知名一流学府深造。当西方文化输出到世界各地时，建筑也成为殖民政策的一部分。

因此，现代性与工业化快速传播的同时，近乎抹灭了全球各地文化的差异性。它令我们在表面上过着相似的生活、吃着相似的连锁餐厅、依赖着相似的国际化品牌、购买相似的居家用品，文化一词对于当代是否还存在着任何意义……

面对未来的对策

直到今日，我们对东南亚乃至整个亚洲的城市居住空间想像，还停留在Geoffrey Bawa、Kerry Hill、Robert Arthur Morton Stern所设计的住宅。但当我们走进这些城市中，发现满街道的车辆喇叭声、高楼林立产生的光污染；甚至在城市中心区边缘，还能发现违章市集、未受管理的贫民窟、高架道路下棚户、迂回环绕的死巷子等。然而这些景象却仅存在于东南亚及其它亚洲地区，形成一种极具本土的建筑形态。

这些当地居民使用随地可见的废材搭建房屋，他们没接受过任何建筑专业教育，但却比建筑师更懂得如何利用环境──这些违建雨棚、大排档、路边摊棚户、移动式推车…等构成独特的人为风景，然而这些临时建筑群的存在真实揭露人们作为自然的一部分，如何在钢筋水泥的城市中重新找到另一种“新”自然性。这些亚洲城市中具自主性发展的现象，让自然与“人造自然”的关系产生类比的可能性，从而形成属于“我们”的设计方法。

Hung Jenchieh, lead architect for HAS design and research, founder of Chinese-Thai Research Studio, specially appointed advisor in design for the Department of Urban Planning at Tongji University. Previously worked as design manager and project lead at Kengo Kuma and Associates as well as Kris Yao Artech; projects include the Yangcheng Lake Tourist Center in Suzhou and Shipyard 1862 in Shanghai.

Working as an architect with his own practice in both Bangkok and Shanghai, HUNG has researched contemporary architecture in Southeast Asia for several years, and is devoted to the projects in both architecture and culture in China and Thailand. He was invited to curate and review the exhibition THAINESS: Thai Contemporary Architecture, and served as associate editor for the magazine Taiwan Architecture, having written special columns such as “Roaming in Architecture: Globalization and New Approaches to Architecture in China“ as well as “Local Evolution: Leaps and Uncertainties in Contemporary Thai Architecture”. Aside from academia and exhibition curation, Hung has also experimented with architectural theories through participating in international competitions, and his awards include the Young Talent Architectural Design Award for his project “New Taipei City Museum of Art”, which also won First Prize of Young Talent Architectural Design in the same year. His other works have also won first prizes in international competitions hosted by the Association of Siamese Architects and Art4d, as well as the World Architecture Community Award, the iF Concept Award, and the Prix Versailles.

HUNG Jenchieh is also a member of the Architectural Institute of Taiwan, and has published “Generative Surface Design: Experimentation in the Realm of Digital Fabrication through Parametric Modeling”, which won the Paper Award in Architectural Research. He was also invited to be associate editor for the American-based International Journal of Interior Architecture + Spatial. Hung graduated with first honors from Chung Hua University, after which he obtained his master’s at National Cheng Kung University and received a full tuition scholarship for a master’s program at Czech Technical University in Prague.

Kulthida SONGKITTIPAKDEE, lead architect in HAS design and research, specially appointed advisor in design for the Department of Architecture at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University; previously worked in the positions of assistant manager and project manager at Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Rocco Design Architects, NBBJ, and Architects 49.

As a first-rate, registered architect in Thailand, SONGKITTIPAKDEE was recipient of the Renzo Piano Foundation Scholarship, where she went to work at the Renzo Piano Building Workshop in Paris, France. Projects worked on during the scholarship included Columbia University's Jerome L. Greene Science Center for Mind Brain Behavior and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Afterwards she came to China to lead large-scale projects such as the International Metropolitan Plaza in Guangzhou, as well as the third expansion of the Alibaba Xixi Park in Hangzhou. Aside from architectural projects, SONGKITTIPAKDEE has also written critical essays for the Thai magazines art4d and The Cloud, Design Inspiring Node (DIN) and the website Dsign Something; she has also published a book titled Arch: Life and Rhythm with the well-known Thai publishing company Li-Zenn in 2016.

SONGKITTIPAKDEE graduated with honors from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, after which she obtained her Master’s in Urban Design at the Ecole nationale superieure d'architecture de Paris-La Villette, and also participated in a workshop exchange at Aalborg University in Denmark. She has been invited to give lectures at institutions such as Chulalongkorn University and the American Institute for Architects.

洪人杰先生是HAS design and research主持建筑师、中泰建筑研究室创始人、同济大学建筑与城市规划学院特聘设计导师；曾于隈研吾建筑都市设计事务所、姚仁喜大元建筑工场任职设计经理、项目负责人，完成项目包括苏州阳澄湖旅游集散中心、上海船厂1862。

作为在曼谷、上海两地开业建筑师，他多年研究东南亚当代建筑，受邀担任“泰国当代建筑”策展人与评论家，致力于中泰两国地域建筑与文化实践；曾任《台湾建筑》客座编辑, 出版《浮游建筑论：国际化现象下的新华人建筑观》《本土进化论：泰国当代建筑的跃进与徘徊》等专刊。学术与策展以外，洪先生透过国际建筑竞赛来进行理论实验，作品“新北市立美术馆”获建筑新人奖，同年再获建筑新人奖台湾首奖，并成为该奖项创立20年以来第一位获此荣誉头衔的建筑师。其它作品获泰国暹罗建筑师协会（the Association of Siamese Architects）与《art4d》国际竞赛首奖、World Architecture Community Award、德国iF Concept Award、法国凡尔赛建筑奖（the Prix Versailles）。

洪人杰先生也是台湾建筑学会会员，出版著作如《衍生式皮层设计》获建筑设计理论优良论文奖，并受美国建筑期刊《International Journal of Interior Architecture + Spatial》邀请为客座副主编。他以第一名荣誉学士毕业于中华大学建筑学院，尔后获成功大学建筑硕士，并以全额奖学金赴捷克理工大学（Czech Technical University in Prague）硕士深造。