Comments on: Report on Tiananmen Square Landscape Architecture Competition

By: arch nomiho Koja

arch nomiho Koja — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 10:35:32 +0000

A further element monumental. A missed opportunity to go beyond praise … a draft anti-monumental. They needed a functional place for freedom and fragility!
enrico nieri studio architecture research, the project most brilliant and beautiful!
disappointment that the beauty and fragility will save the world!

By: Agnieszka Hubeny-Żukowska AGA H

Agnieszka Hubeny-Żukowska AGA H — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 08:46:36 +0000

Many thanks for a great competition!!!
I would like to thanks all great architects, landscape architects and designers for a wonderful competition full of interesting ideas. For me it was a great opportunity to learn how one place can be seen by different peoples, how many ideas can be given for one place!! So many graphic techniques in one place is also very interesting.
I’m waiting for a new competition 🙂

By: Christine

Christine — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 04:55:00 +0000

Poppy you could possibly begin to find out about the importance of the pole star to Chinese culture by visiting the British Museum.
[ http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/asia/t/talisman_of_the_pole_star,_ink.aspx ]

Let me know what you find out!

By: Poppy

Poppy — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 04:41:26 +0000

Re Christine,this is a very interesting,unfortunately I could not find the answer in Books. I just can say:I never note it.:(

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 05:32:11 +0000

ps. Poppy can you tell me if the pole star visible in the night sky from Tiananmen Square?

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 05:25:44 +0000

It is worth considering how the site may have been thought of in the past.
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Verbotene-Stadt1500.jpg ]

By: Poppy

Poppy — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:36:33 +0000

Thank you so much for your vivid explaination. I see now.

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 13:42:52 +0000

I know next to nothing about China, compared to you, but an outsider can often have a different viewpoint – and so does someone who has lived outside their own country. Rudyard Kipling wrote:

Winds of the World, give answer! They are whimpering to and fro
And what should they know of England who only England know?

And he could have asked: what should they know of China who only China know?

By: Poppy

Poppy — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 12:38:14 +0000

I am happy that you like Chinese peace and harmony culture.Yes!
You always understand my country much more deeper than me and never mind my naive. I totally admire!

Also, I think this web 2.0 landscape design competition is really interesting!

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 06:22:14 +0000

Old Beijing must have been symbolically dominated by the Forbidden City. It could have been a symbol of harmony in Ming times and of oppression in Qing times.
A monument to the People’s Heroes is an attractive subject for a symbol but it can never have had a role on the Beijing skyline. Also, harmony is a better subject for a symbol than heorism. Harmony is rooted in Chinese culture and I can’t think of any large country which has as good a claim as China to having stood for peace and harmony through the millennia. North, Central and West Asian countries have been far more aggressive (though I attribute this more to horse-culture vs. rice-culture than to the innate goodness of the Chinese people).
I agree that the Moon Gate makes no contribution to dealing with either climate change or Beijing’s often-unfriendly climate, and also that it could ‘start life’ as a temporary feature for the Chinese New Year.