This past summer I was awarded with the opportunity of a lifetime and travel to Shanghai, China. There, I bore witness to many of the phenomenal architectural feats that have been achieved.
I also was privileged enough to see the Shanghai skyline, as well as journey to the 119th floor of the Shanghai Tower (pictured in the middle of the photoset), which is the tallest observation deck in the world. After riding up elevators that went 18 k/s, (the fastest in the world), I was able to get a better, more up close photo of the Shanghai Financial Tower (pictured middle left), which is another good example of the absent center convention. The other iconic buildings which make up the city's famous skyline in the Pudong district, such as the Jin Mao Tower (the star-shaped building in the bottom picture) and the Oriental Pearl Tower (pictured on the middle right), represent the new rhetorical architectural convention. These towers maintain playful designs that almost look non-functional. The designs repeat themselves, as is what happens in the case of the Oriental Pearl Tower. Many of Asia's tallest buildings take after this convention.
Lastly, I came into contact with many buildings which followed the urbane urbanism convention. These buildings in the pictures above were found in YuYuan Gardens. At one point in time, what's pictured in the middle existed in its old, original state, but has since been renovated. The buildings pictured on either side were constructed to appear to be old, as if they followed ancient Chinese architecture styles, but are actually relatively new in comparison. They were simply just made to look older than they really are for aesthetic purposes.
Traveling abroad was the experience of a lifetime and I'm glad to have found unexpected ways to continue to relate my experiences in China with coursework back at home. Seeing these buildings first hand and also having some pictures to reflect back upon really help with digesting the material of Jencks.
The first building of note that I encountered was not one building but technically two, known as the Guanghua Towers. Most of my classes were in the subwest building, which is that smaller square building adjacent to the tower on the left. It was really confusing for the first couple of days, because the buildings are constructed in a way in which, if you aren't looking at them straight on or from the back, one tower is perfectly obscured by the other, providing the illusion that there is, in fact, only one tower. Although there technically is part of a shorter building in between the towers, I would say that this is reminiscent of what Jencks described as the absent center. There is a large portion in between the two towers that leaves space. The business of the giant towers gives way in that absent center, but still leaves enough for the audience to have a satisfying view.
Lastly, I came into contact with many buildings which followed the urbane urbanism convention. These buildings in the pictures above were found in YuYuan Gardens. At one point in time, what's pictured in the middle existed in its old, original state, but has since been renovated. The buildings pictured on either side were constructed to appear to be old, as if they followed ancient Chinese architecture styles, but are actually relatively new in comparison. They were simply just made to look older than they really are for aesthetic purposes.
Traveling abroad was the experience of a lifetime and I'm glad to have found unexpected ways to continue to relate my experiences in China with coursework back at home. Seeing these buildings first hand and also having some pictures to reflect back upon really help with digesting the material of Jencks.
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