The New Collectivity Liu Jiakun's Big Yard at Chengdu

Abstract

This essay analyzes three aspects of the West Village Basis Yard recently built by Liu Jiakun:(1) The morphology/typology of perimeter blocks.Situating the Big Yard against a global history of urban design,the essay examines the building’s direct and indirect connections with the various urban traditions,including the European perimeter blocks and Chinese courtyard housing,as well as with a set of postmodern projects produced by Leon Krier,James Stirling and Aldo Rossi;(2) The languages of the collective.After categorizing the multiple languages applied in the Big Yard into two groups-the functionalism and symbolism,the essay examines further how Liu has deliberately set up two opposing esthetic tendencies,namely the elitist and grassroots ones,within each group of the languages,to eventually generate the high tension and richness of his formal expression;(3) The duality of the housing-monument.After reviewing a series of Liu’s recent works within China’s contemporary cultural context,the essay concludes that the Big Yard marks a milestone in Liu’s persistent search for an architecture that embodies the collective values.The building possesses an unusual double character:it oscillates between a neutral,anonymous housing that sets back as an urban background and a singular monument that stands out to celebrate the collective values and city life.

文章通過三個方面分析了劉家琨的成都西村大院:(1)周邊街廓形態/類型。文章將大院放在全球城市設計史的脈絡中,檢視它與各種城市傳統之間的直接、間接的關系,包括它與歐洲周邊街廓、中國院落,以及一些后現代建筑師如克里爾、斯特林、羅西的作品的比較;(2)集體語言。文章將大院運用的多種形式語言分為功能主義和象征主義兩組,并進一步分析劉家琨如何在每一組語言內部有意設置精英和草根兩種不同的審美趨向,以生成形式表現的張力和豐富性;(3)民居-紀念碑兩重性。立足中國當代文化語境,文章回顧了劉家琨的一系列近期作品,認為大院是他持續探索蘊含集體價值的建筑實踐的一個里程碑之作。大院有著獨特的兩重性,既傾向于成為一個中性、無名,退為城市背景的民居,又是一個躍為前景,歡呼集體價值和城市生活的紀念碑。