Feature: China pavilions at Venice architecture exhibition highlight role of ancient wisdom in urban life

by Marzia De Giuli, Song Jian

VENICE, Italy, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Two Chinese pavilions displayed at the ongoing Venice Architecture Biennale seek to embody lasting ancient Chinese wisdoms in today's urban life, their designers have said.

Themed "Daily Design, Daily Tao," - the ancient Chinese concept of Tao is a holistic conception of nature - China national pavilion features the projects of a team of architects and designers wanting to reproduce the traditional values and way of life gone lost in today's globalized world.

Among them there is Ma Ke, an influential Chinese designer who said she was deeply impressed by the life of Chinese people who make a living with their own hands and are so dependent on the earth. For this reason, the objects that she designs are inspired by an inner call to look for a simple and sincere lifestyle, she added.

"The question that I kept asking myself along with the curator of this pavilion, Liang Jingyu, was where and how could we have found traditional values in the modern world," Ma told Xinhua in an interview at the pavilion.

"And our answer was that these values are not necessarily preserved in museums or in books, but are treasured within the ordinary actions of people's daily life," she pointed out.

The 15th edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale, directed by Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, is themed "Reporting from the front." For Liang and his team, "dignity, welfare and equality" of all citizens are the "ignored front" of modernization that architects cannot afford to ignore.

"The Venice Architecture Biennale is a very important exhibition which presents many innovative thoughts. But for us what is the most important is to put in practice these new ideas, and apply them to the everyday life," Zhu Jingxiang, an architect from Liang's team, explained.

Zhu and his group developed a "Dou Pavilion," a building product adapted for climate and transportation which has helped realize education centers for children in China's rural areas. By arranging the opening on different levels, these buildings lead kids to conduct exploration, and educators to have innovative programs.

Another Chinese pavilion in Venice, named "Across Chinese Cities-China House Vision", examines the future of living. It starts from the "house" to rethink the larger systems of production in cities, from environmental and energy consumption to mobility, distribution and telecommunication.

Five clusters, one of which feature a project dedicated to the "China House Vision", show to visitors the urban and social transformations affecting the architecture practice in contemporary China. Among them there is the "Bike House," a series of installations and videos that stemmed from the fascination with bicycles of Chinese architect Zhang Yonghe.

"I am from Beijing, and people from Beijing are very familiar with the bike tradition," Zhang told Xinhua. "We think that if we want to raise our living standard, we have to reconnect bike to our life. Not only bike is good for health, but also is a green mode of urban transportation. For this reason, we wanted to design housing systems made for bikers and their movements," he said.

Italian curator of the "Across Chinese Cities-China House Vision" pavilion Michele Brunello believes the Chinese national pavilion represents an architectural vision to use domestic space as a place to explore living possibilities when people have to respond to both urban challenges and human needs.

"China is offering here a big research, through a dialogue full of energy and dynamism with the international world of architecture. The influence will continue far beyond the Venice Architecture Biennale," Brunello said.