Tong Liao (1900 – March 28, 1983) was an outstanding contemporary Chinese architect and architectural educator. Zi Bo Qian, Manchu. Born in 1900 in Fengtian Shengjing (now Shenyang, Liaoning), he graduated from Tsinghua University in 1925 and studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. During his studies, he won the second prize (1927) and the first prize (1928) in the National Architecture Student Design Competition. He graduated in 1928 with a master's degree in architecture. He then worked for two years in an architect's firm in Philadelphia and New York. In 1930, he went to Europe to investigate architecture and returned to China, and from 1930 to 1931, he was a professor in the Department of Architecture of Northeastern University. From 1932 to 1952, he co-organized the Huagai Architects Firm in Shanghai with the architects Zhao Shen and Chen Zhi, and presided over the work of the drawing room. The institute has designed nearly 200 projects, of which the three people have cooperated in the design of the Nanjing Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building, the Shanghai Grand Theater, and the Shanghai Zhejiang Industrial Bank Building. From 1944, he was a professor in the Department of Architecture of the School of Engineering of the Central University in Chongqing and Nanjing. After 1952, he was a professor in the Department of Architecture of Nanjing Institute of Technology (now Southeast University) until his death. Tong Liao participated in about 100 projects. In addition to the above, the main architectural creations include Nanjing Capital Hotel, Shanghai Jincheng Grand Theater, Nanjing Xiaguan Capital Power Plant, Nanjing Zhongshan Culture and Education Museum, Nanjing Geology and Minerals Exhibition Hall, Resources Commission Office Building, Chongqing Steel Mill, Nanjing Highway Bureau Office Building, etc., as well as many private residences in Shanghai and Nanjing. In architectural creation, he opposes imitation, insists on innovation, and the proportions of his works are rigorous and simple and dignified. In the 1930s, Tong Liao began to devote herself to the study of classical Chinese gardens, surveying, mapping and photographing gardens in Jiangnan, and was the first generation of landscape architects in China. His works include the great work of gardening science "Jiangnan Garden Chronicle", as well as "Southeast Garden Villa" and "Outline of the History of Gardening". (*March 28 is Mr. Tong's death anniversary)
The book in front of us, New Architecture and Genres, is small in length and ordinary in appearance, which is quite out of proportion to the depth of its contents. In the book, Professor Tong Liao paints a vivid and complete panorama of modern architecture from budding and growing to prosperity. The book written by the author when he was nearly 80 years old was not only to provide knowledge about the new school of architecture to the intellectual community, but also to make him look at the trends of architecture in the world for a long time, with feelings and expectations. Taking the exploration of China's architectural direction as the starting point, the author takes the twists and turns experienced in the development process of modern architecture in the world as a lesson, hoping to help people broaden their horizons, look forward to the future, no longer repeat the ups and downs and twists and turns that we have also experienced, more scientific, less blind, and create an environment worthy of the world's highly civilized and highly modern human work and living environment.
New Architecture and Genres, Tong Ju, Beijing Publishing House, August 2016.
The new building we are talking about is different from the buildings that have been produced by natural materials and ceramic materials in history, mainly by manual operation and manual handling, but mainly using cement, steel, glass and even synthetic materials, equipped with advanced equipment systems, adopting advanced structural methods and mechanized and industrial methods to produce buildings. The history of the development of new buildings is about 100 years. This is also the process by which new things in the field of architecture triumph over and replace old things.
The symbol of the birth of the new building is set by the author as the "Crystal Palace" built in 1851-1852 - the exhibition hall of the International Exposition in London, England. He stressed its technologically advanced nature. At that time, steel, cement, and glass had begun to be used in architecture, but the dominant position was still the traditional way of building, the classical form, and the superiority or irreplaceability of new things was not fully demonstrated. This time, the exhibition hall is very large and the construction period is very short, and the traditional technology and form cannot do anything about it, so it has to give way to new buildings that use new materials and advanced structures, prefabricated assembly, and rapid construction. The victory of the fittest and the replacement of backwardness by the advanced are the inevitable results.
Crystal Palace, London
As the author points out, Crystal Palace is just a sprout. It is not universally persuasive, its functional nature is special, and it is a temporary building. But after all, the Crystal Palace showed a novel shape and an unprecedented spatial effect, so it caused a long-lasting sensation in Europe. Even in the walls of farmhouses in the secluded German countryside, pictures of the Crystal Palace hang. It illustrates that new realities, new shapes, creating new senses of beauty, and promoting the pursuit of new beauty.
The author points out that the real beginning of new architecture should be the Falgus shoe last factory (in The Alfaed in present-day Federal Republic of Germany) designed by Grupius, one of the main founders of modern architecture in 1911. This industrial building used a steel frame structure and a glass curtain wall, and the first use of corner windows. The novel styling treatment, completely opposed to the classical principles, gets rid of the cumbersome and stacked manual operation, is simple and bright, refreshing, and reflects the character of the new building.
Fagus shoe last factory
There are about 15 genres of style, and the authors briefly introduce them, such as Italian Futurism, Dutch Style, French Cubism, German Expressionism, etc. In particular, the author is deeply touched by the fate of Constructivism in the Soviet Union, and repeatedly greets it here, describing it in detail.
Soviet constructivism was founded in 1920 and was the dominant force in Soviet architectural trends throughout the 1920s. The victory of the October Revolution made many representatives of modern architecture in Western Europe rejoice, they believed that the new building can best reflect the spirit of the times, so they hoped on the Soviet Union, believing that only it was the vast world for new architecture to gallop, so they went to the Soviet Union to provide advice for architectural design, so that the Soviet architectural circle appeared unprecedented prosperity. These 10 years were called the era of the New Architectural Movement by later architectural historians as "majestic and heroic". However, in 1928, the Moscow Cooperation Headquarters building designed by Le Corbusier was denounced by the "Institute of Proletarian Architects" as a "Trotskyist ghost". Since 1930, Soviet officials have also become increasingly suspicious of abstract art (including constructivist architectural trends), believing that it is "in league with the capitalist world" and no longer supporting it, but re-establishing with the so-called "realist architectural style". Lunacharsky, who had originally supported the Department of Education of Constructivism, also changed his previous ideological views and turned to classical eclecticism, believing that it was necessary to contain a classical component to be able to create socialism. In the competition for the design of the Palace of Soviets, all excellent schemes of modern architecture (including Corbusier's) were rejected, but the mediocre schemes of the classicist Jovan and the other three were won. This is the result of the use of executive orders to define the direction of construction development. Although the Jovan Scheme (at the top is a 100-meter-high statue of Lenin) was never implemented, constructivism was devastated by the blows. Since there has been no normal academic debate and comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the program for a long time, the result has been the suffocation of ideas and the rigidity of creation. This situation did not begin to change until the mid-1950s. In today's Soviet Union, modern architecture has once again become mainstream, and not only the praise for Le Corbusier's design of the Moscow Cooperative Headquarters building has reached its climax as early as 1962, but also the Soviet architecture community has published a collection of constructivist design works as a tribute to the pioneers.
Moscow Cooperation Headquarters Building
Constructivism, despite its influence in Western Europe, was, after all, formed in Russia. Among them was Lisitzki, who later became one of the representatives of constructivism, "but some conservatives in the Soviet Union thought that constructivism was entirely a product of capitalist technology!" Speaking of Lisitzki, a respected architect, the author writes with affection that "although he was born into a family of bourgeois intellectuals and received higher education in Germany, after striving to become famous, he did not covet the academic status enjoyed in capitalist society, and at the crucial moment, between the difficulties and the easy way to go, he resolutely made a decision to return to the motherland after the revolution and live a life of firm belief in communism." Lisitsky adhered to the ideal that architecture in the 20th century was social, and advocated the improvement of the living conditions of working people through architecture. He quoted Goethe as saying, "I am a man, and that means a warrior." "He practiced what he preached and fought tirelessly all his life to put this lofty ideal and belief into practice. However, patriots from bourgeois intellectual families, under the discrimination of the feudal descent theory of descent alone, are often suppressed and wronged, and what is particularly distressing is the confusion of academic similarities and differences (regardless of right and wrong) with political right and wrong, which is extremely harmful to the development of the scientific cause. On the mainland, there have also been controversies over architectural ideas, and there have also been means of executive orders, going up to the line and interfering arbitrarily. The vivid and lively situation in creation has also been suffocated for a long time. This serious lesson is worth remembering forever.
Sighing and praising the author's singing is the strange Frenchman of the modern architectural movement (originally from Switzerland) Le Corbusier. During his lifetime he made outstanding contributions to the development of modern architecture and came up with many prophetic ideas. He not only dared to explore in creation, but also constantly shouted loudly, wrote books and lectures, and attacked conservative eclecticism. He encountered ups and downs, repeated setbacks, but repeated defeats and battles, and was not discouraged. After the failure of the design competition for the Palace of Soviets, he wrote to Lunacharsky and Molotov (chairman of the program selection) respectively, arguing that "this decision has dragged the power of Soviet architecture back". Subsequent developments confirmed Le Corbusier's prediction. The author's description of the competition for the design of the headquarters of the League of Nations in Geneva is very vivid: Le Corbusier's scheme was functionally reasonable, taking into account transportation, sound, cost and the relationship between the building and the surrounding natural scenery, and was an outstanding idea; "Therefore, the lifeless And League of Nations Building, which was stable and lifeless, was taken out of the manuscript by a few mediocre materials who knew backwardness and backward architecture." (The book is 111 pages.) Attached to this paragraph is a panoramic view of the completed appearance of the Guolian Building, and its style is easily reminiscent of the symmetrical design commonly found on the mainland. The tone of Tong Lao's writing is cold and objective, but the praise and criticism of Zang are penetrating the back of the paper, and the author's opinions and tendencies are also deeply embedded in it, which is the "Spring and Autumn Brushwork" that only a large-scale writer is good at.
Rejected by the ideological backwards, Le Corbusier turned to associations and erected the banner of modern architecture. The International Conference on New Architecture (CIAM), which he initiated in 1928, was an influential organization; the Athens Charter, presented in 1933, stated that the four elements of urban function were: residence, work, transportation, and culture. This is an important hallmark in the development of human understanding of architecture, although it also has flaws that fail to take into account the impact of the urban population boom and its countermeasures.
United Nations Headquarters complex, New York
A—Now appearance; B—Corbusier's original plan
After the Second World War, Le Corbusier's theory and practice were widely affirmed by the international community. The united Nations Headquarters complex project in New York was based on his idea and was completed by the American Harrison. His Unite' d'Habitation, the complex of the capital of Chandigarh in the Indian state of Punjab, have had a great influence on the world. His Langxiang church, full of curves, inclined surfaces, irregular openings, seems to be deliberately opposed to the prevailing conventions, but vivid and poetic. Here, Le Corbusier offers a paradigm of technical subordination to spatial art, which makes an important addition to his diverse ideas. Le Corbusier died in 1965. The author commented that the author commented on this strange master of the New Architectural Movement:
Le Corbusier's 60-year life was a life of complaining about loneliness, ups and downs. The plans made, despite their epoch-making ideas, were not accepted, and the completed works were also discredited, so they considered themselves victims. But in his later years, he did get the praise he deserved and was admired by the vast majority of people. Without the Le Corbusiers, although new buildings still appear, they are not ideal. ...... He died of a heart attack in 1965 after swimming on the Shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The coffin was carried to the Louvre in Paris, and the coffin was covered with the tricolor flag of France, and the national guard stood guard to protect the spirit. Telegrams from Greece were to bury his body in the Acropolis of Athens; The Indian telegram suggested scattering his ashes over the Ganges...
The author describes the great mourning behind Le Corbusier in such affectionate strokes, although it is to show reverence for this indomitable pioneer, but it also reflects from one side the respect that an architect who has contributed to mankind should receive in civilized society. On the mainland, the status and role of architects is a topic of emotion. They often say no, but dispensable roles. No wonder anyone who says a few superficial clichés can be regarded as "architectural experts". People can also see from some buildings that bureaucracy deviates from the imprint left by science and practice - in the middle of the unit-type high-rise apartment, it is necessary to add a gate that no one will walk to show grandeur; at the top of the building tens of meters high, it is necessary to add a circle to pick out a large cornice of several meters; and to open up a car passage at will in the ancient temple garden. Matsushita drank, the flowers were dried, who was the biggest had the final say, but the architect did not get the respect he deserved. If this does not change, how can there be a wild character like Le Corbusier? The task of creating a new style of continental architecture, as a social division of labor, naturally falls on the architect (the leader has only the responsibility of inspection and supervision, and has no obligation to cross the line), it depends on the ability of the architect (including the education system that cultivates them), but at the same time it depends on the understanding of the hardships and meaning of architectural creation in the whole society. The planning and design of buildings is a difficult creative labor. The significance of creating a beautiful, vibrant, and scientific environment for the healthy development of mankind will not be overestimated. We believe that with the continuous improvement and improvement of the status of architects in our society and the gradual formation of an innovative environment, people like us who have created excellent ancient civilizations such as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Tower, and the Hongqiao will certainly be able to create a modern civilization that is no less than any nation in the world. This is the feeling and association that will inevitably arise after reading the review of Corbusier in this book.
The authors do not much promote the architectural trend of the United States. There was a Chicago School in the United States, but it did not have a worldwide impact on style; there was a Wright, with many wonderful ideas, which contributed greatly to the development of modern architecture, but had no universal significance. The author notes: "American architectural education, until the 1930s, continued the tradition of the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris. Famous architects graduated from Paris from the Chicago School, and some of the architecture colleges also hired French teachers. It was not until Gropius and Mies settled in the United States around 1937, exerting influence on American architectural philosophy from teaching positions and reversing Americans from following French architectural ideas to following Germany. "Many of the famous Architects in the United States are Europeans and Asians who immigrated to the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. European influence came mainly from the German "Bauhaus". Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus, was a doer and educator who was a pioneer in industrial mass production, prefabricated components and standard design. According to the authors, Gropius, Corbusier and Gideon (theorist and author of Space, Time and Architecture) were the three main activists of the International Conference on New Architecture.
The author summarizes the evolution of architecture and the interaction of genres since the middle of the 19th century, seeing that modern architecture has undergone a process of budding to growth, and the masters have their own unique personalities, after which he says: "Over time, the designs of others have been the same, familiar but unexplained, lack of expression and too standardized, typical, mechanized, too monotonous, regardless of the function of the building, whether it is a church or a school, it is treated in the same form"... Thus, there was the stage of "post-construction" (post Modern some translate as "new construction period"). The author enumerates the manifestations of some sub-genres of the "later" and says: "All this shows the law that if you are poor, you will think about change, and things will be the opposite." The "later" trend of thought has aroused great interest in the mainland architectural circles, and the younger generation is particularly yearning for it. Some people dismiss it as ignorant and delusional, and some people think that it is very reasonable and thought-provoking. The author does not simply affirm or deny this, but argues that the emergence of "later" is regular, a reaction to the lack of individuality of "modern architecture" or international style. This requirement is not functional, nor is it technically economical, but aesthetic, linked to the psychological factors of the person. Indeed, the new modern architectural theory involves the psychology of human behavior, the relationship between man and the surrounding nature, the ecological environment, etc., and the understanding is much more complex and profound than in the past, which is undoubtedly a kind of progress.
The aesthetic problem of architecture is especially a complex and important one. We cannot shy away from it. The defeat of classicism and eclecticism by modern architecture lies first and foremost not in its aesthetic theory, but in its rationality, advanced technical function, and at the same time economic superiority. However, people do not build buildings for the sake of technology and economy per se; after all, buildings exist to meet people's various needs, including the satisfaction of beauty. Aesthetics require harmony with modern technology (otherwise it will become an obstacle and be eliminated), but it must also meet people's diverse requirements; monotony is not enough, it must be colorful and full of personality. Some advocate the aesthetic view of transforming taste and changing traditional habits to adapt to the development of technology, and some people try to diversify on the basis of modern technology. That is the current reality. We cannot say which is the only right direction, and perhaps the two tendencies will coexist for a long time and will grow with each other. The author is not biased in mentioning both: the interest of transformation can be typical of the Centre Pompidou, while the pursuit of diversity refers to Louis Con of the "Philadelphia School", an old contemporary of the author, and Venturi. Kang's slogan, "Creative Space with Opinion," notes that "this affirms the artistic meaning of architecture," and the author praises Kang as an individual as "a poet and artist with a fearless, upright, and frank spirit."
The author's vision of modern architecture is broad and comprehensive. He devotes an entire chapter to the question of urban planning, the central issue of contemporary architectural theory. A city that integrates several individuals, without a holistic concept, cannot correctly deal with any one part: squares, individual buildings, roads, greenery, and so on. He cites modern urban planning theories (which are mainly prescriptions for the ills of large urban concentration) such as: garden cities and new towns in Britain, neighborhood units in the United States, community planning in the Soviet Union, and so on. In 1978, the International Conference on New Architecture published the Machu-Picchu Charter in Peru, which "emphasizes that architecture must take into account the human factor, combine nature with ecology; and fight pollution, ugliness, misuse of land and resources." To put forward new insights into the tasks of modern architecture, it has a guiding programmatic role.
British Garden City "Letchworth" and "Welling" planning
The American architectural critic Craston said, "Architecture is the only art that involves everyone." "Today, it is probably extremely rare for people to be able to leave the building to live. Architecture is created by man, and as a result, man has changed his habits and physique, relying on the existence of an artificial environment. Anyone cares about their home, workplace, shops, streets, even cities, parks, places of interest, and so on. The category of modern architecture is no longer a problem that can be solved by architects alone. The author's wish, in addition to providing historical review and regularity of the architectural world, also hopes to attract more people to pay attention to the development of architecture, care about the controversy and trend of architectural issues, and jointly build a beautiful living environment.
In the process of writing this article, the 83-year-old child died tragically. This is undoubtedly an irreparable loss. Professor Tong Liao has been immersed in his academic work for many years and does not seek to be heard, so there are very few people outside the architectural world who know his life and academic experience.
Mr. Tong, together with the famous modern architects Yang Tingbao, Liang Sicheng and Zhao Shen in the mainland, and Mr. Chen Zhi, who is still alive, are all classmates who went to the University of Pennsylvania to study in the Department of Architecture in the United States in the 1920s. During his student years, Mr. Tong was known for his academic excellence. In 1929, after Mr. Tong returned to China after completing his studies, he went to teach in the Department of Architecture of Northeastern University at the invitation of Mr. Liang Sicheng and Mr. Chen Zhi. Since 1931, he has succeeded Mr. Leung as The Head of the Department. Although this department is not long-lived, it has produced many famous architects such as Zhang Bao, Liu Zhiping, Liu Hongdian, Guo Yulin and so on.
After the "918" incident, Mr. Tong went to Shanghai to establish Huagai Architects with Mr. Zhao Shen and Mr. Chen Zhi. Although Mr. Tong received strict classical training in his early years, he always advocated innovation and opposed retro throughout his life, which is extremely valuable. Mr. Tong's creation, the style is condensed and bold. Before liberation, he had participated in the architectural proposal competition of the former Central Museum (now the Nanjing Museum), but the winner of the first prize was actually an absolutely retro plan and rejected his plan, for which Mr. Tong regretted it for life. In this book, he is really sympathetic to his remarks about the Jovan Scheme and the United Nations Building in Geneva, both for Corbusier and for the author's own master.
Mr. Tong cherishes the ancient cultural heritage of his motherland. As early as the 1930s, he had investigated the Jiangnan garden alone, drawn an important garden plane with step measurements, accumulated a large amount of valuable information, and wrote a book called "Jiangnan Garden History". For the ancient architecture of Europe, his achievements are also quite profound. In terms of ancient and modern Chinese and foreign architecture, his knowledge is very rare. He is a true master and a titan. This is just a matter of reading the notes to this book.
For more than 30 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, he has been teaching at Nanjing Institute of Technology, walking 10 miles to work on campus all year round, he has been indifferent and simple all his life, sitting in a fixed seat in the reading room every day, reading and studying architectural books and periodicals in various countries, and painstakingly excerpting, making a lot of notes and indexes. His bosom was like a light and a moon, and he displayed the notes and indexes that he had integrated with his painstaking efforts in the reading room for people to use and retrieve at will. For those of us students, he answered questions, read and revised texts, and never tired. I cannot but feel heartfelt sorrow at the loss of such a dear and respectable teacher as his student.
Tong Laozhixue has a wide range of interests and grand plans, and the material he has accumulated throughout his life has only begun to be sorted out in recent years. The excellent situation since the Third Plenary Session of the Party Central Committee has stimulated his desire to write, and his articles have rushed out like an inexhaustible spring. Unfortunately, death was ahead of him, and the stubborn old man died before he could complete his plan. In the last period of his life, he still resisted the torment of illness and rushed to write articles, which is still vivid in the present.
"New Architecture and Genres" is a book that celebrates new things and the pioneers in the history of architecture, and the author, Tong Lao, is one of the pioneers in exploring the road of new architecture in China. This crude article is not only to enable more people to understand the purpose, career and ideals of his work, but also to commemorate the esteemed teacher Tong Liao.