The renovation project of Tanxi Village, "Rongrong and Gong", has become the most beautiful scenery in the local area, and the beauty of the former Shunde Water Town has been recreated here.
Renderings of Shunde Wuzhou Ancient Village "Jinluan Dengke Academy".
Shunde Suixiang Village Youth Agro-ecological Science Popularization Base.
Rural landscape architect Zhang Zhiming is a native of Shunde.
"A bay of spring water flows into the village, and the ancient wood leans on the banyan tree." The curved bluestone lane is deep, and the century-old bearded old tree man. This is a poem by nostalgic designer Zhang Zhiming describing the water town of Shunde, who is not only a designer, but also a painter, sculptor, and poet, "I am an artist with a wide range of interests." In the just-concluded 2021 Hong Kong Asia-Pacific Designer Competition, Zhang Zhiming and his team won the Diamond Award and Gold Medal in the Landscape Design Category of the Competition, they are the few teams in the competition to participate in the theme of "rural revitalization" and "rural construction", and Zhang Zhiming won the "2021 Asia-Pacific Designer Most Influential Person" award.
A native of Shunde, Zhang Zhiming studied at Shunde Huaqiao Middle School from 1980 to 1986 and the Printmaking Department of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts from 1986 to 1990. After graduation, he has been engaged in sculpture mural landscape and revitalization of rural design in Shunde, is a senior designer of rural living environment transformation, has been hired by many local governments as a beautiful rural design expert consultant, a famous revitalization of rural design experts. Because he grew up in the countryside, Zhang Zhiming has a profound understanding and personal experience of ecological water towns, happy water towns, and harmonious home life materials.
"I didn't expect to receive so many awards in this competition, which shows that the design with the theme of 'rural revitalization' can also be widely recognized in the industry, and it is also a compliment to the design cause we have always insisted on." Zhang Zhiming told reporters.
Talking about his own growth experience, Zhang Zhiming believes that the water town painter Wu Haicheng has the greatest influence on him, "I am lucky that I have been guided by a good art mentor from middle school to university. Teacher Wu Haicheng can be said to be the founder of Shunde modern art, he loves life, love art, love nature, every Saturday and Sunday, my master and apprentice both go to Shunde rural sketching, Shunde village head field side are left with the figure and footprints of my master and apprentice, nearby villagers are very enthusiastic, from home to bring tea, but also greeted us to eat at home. Since then, I have deeply felt the harmonious ethical relationship and selfless and simple feelings of the villagers, and also laid a solid foundation for my painting creation with the theme of water town, the revitalization of the countryside, and the construction of a beautiful home. ”
Pay close attention to the real needs of villagers and preserve the traditional water village cultural atmosphere
"Green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains", in the improvement of human settlements, the protection of green ecology, and the construction of beautiful homes, excessive pursuit of superficial forms of "tall", ignoring the local cultural background and people's living needs, the whole demolition and reconstruction has led to a cookie-cutter approach, which is deeply criticized by people. Zhang Zhiming adheres to the "people-oriented" design concept, pays deep attention to the real needs of villagers, and retains the traditional water village cultural atmosphere, which is particularly valuable.
Zhang Zhiming, a native of Shunde Water Township, actively participated in the project of building beautiful villages under the profound local feelings, and implemented the slogan of "rural revitalization" in a project full of nostalgia and nostalgia. Tanxi Village, located in Longjiang Town, Shunde, is one of the most special projects in his mind. At the 2020 Hong Kong Asia Pacific Designer Competition, he won the 2020 Landscape Design Diamond Award for his renovation project "Rong Rong And Together" in Tanxi Village, which also enabled him and Tanxi villagers to establish an extraordinary friendship.
In order to do a good job in the landscape project of Tanxi Village, the first thing he did was to spend a lot of time visiting the village, understanding the living habits of the villagers, and listening to their ideas and needs for the village park. In his mind, this is not just a simple service to customers, but more like a kind of feedback to his hometown to nurture him, and his careful care for the lives of his fellow villagers.
"The project in Tanxi Village is the most difficult to complete", talking about this project, Zhang Zhiming has mixed feelings, "The villagers have a big difference of opinion, some old customs and habits make them feel that the wind and rain have been smooth for decades, even if they are broken, once you transform, there is an eighty or ninety-year-old man who is a bit windy, everyone can't afford it, and there are many different views among the villagers, it is 'Shunde Brother to lose his sister-in-law', left and right, and then we changed our strategy, and communicated with the village leaders and the representatives of the villagers who are highly respected. Then the more active villagers came forward, explained to individual villagers, got their understanding, and solved the problem step by step under their supervision and guidance. Zhang Zhiming also wrote a large number of water town idylls during his research, one of which is dedicated to Tanxi Village, "The two sides of Tanxi are green and shady, and the ancient banyan trees are obliquely crossed like roots." The wall shadow is left as a hometown photo, and when you see it, you think about it and dream. ”
Zhang Zhiming, who has deep feelings for the water town of Shunde, has spent a lot of thought without destroying the big banyan tree in Tanxi Village. For example, wetland plants such as aquatic plants have been planted along the long causeway, and the wetlands have been artificially preserved. In some places, which have not yet been fully developed, they have been retained for the villagers to grow vegetables and cultivate land. Today, the scenery on both sides of the Long Causeway in Tanxi Village has become the most beautiful scenery in the local area, and the beauty of the former Shunde Water Town can be recreated here. Villagers sit under banyan trees to cool off, chat, and entertain. Zhang Zhiming said that he does not care how "tall" and innovative his design elements are, but can make the villagers feel happy.
Rural transformation is not only an art class to consciously maintain and solve the cost problem
Suixiang Village Youth Agricultural Ecological Science Popularization Base is Zhang Zhiming's most satisfactory work, "not because of how beautiful it is, but it combines the policy understanding and performance of rural revitalization, spends small money, does big things, and uses very low investment to develop a sanitary and public security dead end that was originally full of garbage into an agricultural ecological park with gardens, vegetable gardens, parks, and orchards, and at the same time allows Suixiang primary school students to come here to participate in social labor, popularize agricultural science knowledge, and use their own low-lying land in one fell swoop. Building a number of small ponds, irrigating crops with groundwater, both safe and healthy, while there are a small number of parking spaces, to provide convenience for the surrounding villagers to live, after planting melon vegetables, after production, three or five groups, pull homely, healthy and harmonious.
The Rural Renovation Project is not only an art class, but also an economics class. Consider both the input and the maintenance cost after completion. The monthly maintenance cost of transforming dozens of health dead corners in the village into green leisure places in the park is a heavy burden for the countryside. However, by transforming into a "four small gardens" that integrate the functions of small vegetable gardens, small orchards, small gardens and small parks, the villagers not only have a "small world" of their own, but also solve the problem of maintenance costs. The maintenance of villagers is equal to self-reliance, they grow their favorite vegetables and fruits, in order to have a good harvest, they will consciously maintain the planting land.
Rural construction requires the support of the masses, and it is not possible to simply carry out large-scale demolition and construction
When talking about the small investment in the rural revitalization project and the low design cost, Zhang Zhiming believes that this is a problem of being a person, "If you just want to make a profit and participate in rural design is impossible, I have two experiences in this problem, the first is to broaden your team vision by participating in the revitalization of rural design, meet more friends, exercise the team, and improve your own competitiveness; the second is that participating in rural design itself is with the spirit of dedication to the society, if you design well, you will get the attention of the society to you. As your team's influence increases, you'll get more attention from social enterprises. ”
Zhang Zhiming also suggested that the government consider from a practical point of view and increase the design fee, "because the design fee is too low, which hinders many excellent design teams in the society to join the revitalization of rural transformation design." ”
At present, rural transformation generally stays in the design and transformation of municipal parks, denying everything and demolishing everything in a rough way. "I think as a designer, we must look at the problem from a higher perspective, and we cannot carry out simple design transformation, because the revitalization of the countryside must invest a lot of money, but also pay huge management costs in the future, the local government can't eat it, and the villagers also complain that if it is a vicious circle, everyone's enthusiasm is not high." How to invest small and reduce the management costs in the future is already a social problem of revitalizing the countryside to build a beautiful home, and the understanding and support of the masses is also very important, and a better plan is designed. ”
"Concentrate on serving the masses, and only with the breath of life can we have vitality"
Why can the works of Zhang Zhiming's team stand out from many spatial design works? Zhang Zhiming analyzed it this way: "Our works focus on serving the masses."
Judging from the award-winning work "Jinluan Dengke Academy", the work is based on the three generations of the famous calligrapher Su Ruohu's grandchildren, designed with the concept of Shundelun teaching Wuzhou ancient village poetry and book inheritance, and is composed of a rural library, a reading room and a rural park that introduces the deeds of Su Ruohu and the historical literati of Wuzhou Ancient Village. The whole park is designed in a traditional axial symmetrical way, full of Lingnan gardens realistic, exquisite and beautiful characteristics, but also suitable for modern aesthetics, but also planted with special spiritual meaning of bamboo, lotus and other plants, the construction structure of the park is divided into three layers, one layer higher than the other, meaning step by step, and set up the Su family's famous calligraphy wall.
In the design of "Jinluan Dengke College", a square of almost 200 square meters is planned to provide a place for the future children and children of the four townships to carry out the opening ceremony and the coming-of-age ceremony. Zhang Zhiming said: "The park designed from a historical point of view is not a simple leisure park, we must respect the local cultural heritage, and realize the use of modern means to communicate and dialogue with predecessors."
Another award-winning work, "Suixiang Rice Flower Says Good Year, River Wind Egret Spring" (hereinafter referred to as "Suixiang Park") is designed with the theme of the happy home of the new socialist countryside, "Suixiang Village is close to the river, and the water is connected, there are large wetlands, attracting egrets, 'Suixiang' itself is also very poetic, the design of the park is from scratch, rather than modifying on the original basis, so the idea can be fully exerted." Zhang Zhiming said that the construction of rural parks in Shunde can never be separated from the "water town" and "serving the masses", and it must be integrated with the daily life of the people. "Only when there is a breath of life can there be vitality, and a harmonious and naturally coordinated style is the style that the public likes." Zhang Zhiming said so.
dialogue
"Optimize the structure of the environment, improve the quality of the environment, and beautify the vision of the environment"
Nandu: What are the feelings of winning the "2021 Asia Pacific Designer Most Influential Person" award? Will more rural revitalization projects find you?
Zhang Zhiming: Participating in the "2021 Asia-Pacific Design Competition" of the Hong Kong Interior Designers Association and winning the Most Influential Person Award is really a bit of a surprise, because the rural revitalization design has made me get the attention and honor of the society, of course, I am very happy, honor is also the driving force to spur us forward, I will lead my team to continue to devote myself to the national revitalization of the countryside to build a happy home.
Next, in addition to improving the design level of my own design team, I will also cooperate with more young people in the society who are interested in participating in rural design, such as Xian Yuying, a new garden landscape designer in the province, and last year also won the gold medal of the "2021 Asia Pacific Design Competition" garden landscape, her project "Happy Home" was also completed under my guidance, and several rural transformation projects she co-designed with me this year have also been widely recognized by the society, as a senior landscape designer in China. Leading more young people to participate in this meaningful activity is exactly what it is: "Giving people roses and leaving a lingering fragrance".
Nandu: Liang Guowen, a visiting professor at the Paris Institute in France, believes that your works are based on Lingnan culture, have distinct local characteristics, and have introduced a lot of environmental protection concepts, which work can best reflect the characteristics of Lingnan? Which work is the greenest?
Zhang Zhiming: Rong Gui's Lianbai Park can best reflect the characteristics of Lingnan, and the whole park is composed of old green bricks, old tiles and old bluestone slabs. Lamber Park is also a vivid example of a multi-party effort. As Ronggui's "homecoming project" enterprise, Guangdong Lianbai Technology Group Co., Ltd. is still outside despite its "body", but its "heart" is worried about its hometown and has funded the construction of Lianbai Park. Lianbai Park is located in Ronggui Suixiang Village, covers an area of about 1,000 square meters, the original plot is a piece of idle land with poor health environment, after the transformation not only beautifies the environment, but also provides a leisure place for surrounding residents. Enthusiastic people in the village actively donate trees to add greenery to the park and build a shared beautiful environment.
Nandu: What are the problems and dilemmas in the current rural revitalization project?
Zhang Zhiming: Now many people still stay in the form of urban planning and design for rural planning and design, demolition and construction, simple and rough, and even destroy the original ecological and natural environment of livability and pleasure, without a correct understanding of the local local culture, nor do they take into account the needs of the villagers' lives, and even do not respect the customs and habits of the locals, purely for the sake of design, strictly speaking, it is "over-design".
For example, heyong is the soul of the Pearl River Delta, and the residents of the traditional Pearl River Delta are living by the river and enjoying themselves by the river, forming a natural and harmonious living environment. If a river is made of concrete and stone as a retaining wall, and the meaningless thick and thick stone handrail separates people from the river, this inverted design is a serious damage to the natural ecological environment of the countryside. It is also a very bad idea to "kill all the picturesque natural ecological trees" on both sides of the river, plant a row of stereotypical foreign tree species, and replace the beauty of the original natural harmony and poetic living environment with a vulgar aesthetic.
Nandu: What does Teacher Zhang think is the real transformation of the living environment of people in water towns?
Zhang Zhiming:I. Improve the competitiveness of the local living environment, do a good job in supporting services for the revitalization of rural industries, optimize the working environment, and beautify the living environment. Two. Increase the cohesion of the countryside, set up rural cultural rooms, entertainment and fitness areas, establish healthy mass organizations to increase rural cohesion, and advocate the customs of harmonious and ethical integration of rural traditions and simplicity. Three. Strengthen the construction of natural ecology in rural areas, restore and preserve fragile natural ecology, and take the traditional village flavor and rural charm as the main element of design, with the purpose of more embodying the traditional values of harmonious coexistence between man and nature. Four. Build a base for party and mass activities, spread positive energy, and let the masses more deeply appreciate the lofty spirit of the party never forgetting its original intention and serving the people wholeheartedly. Five. In the form of art and design, we will optimize the structure of the environment, improve the quality of the environment, and beautify the vision of the environment.
Nandu: Do designers from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have frequent exchanges? Will we learn from each other in terms of design concepts and methods?
Zhang Zhiming: Designers from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao often communicate, I am a member of the Hong Kong Interior Designers Association and the executive president of the Shunde District Interior Design Industry Association, I often participate in many social activities at work, so some friends laugh and say "you know astronomical geography, you know the broom garbage", the Hong Kong Interior Design Association itself is facing the world, recruiting outstanding designers from all over the world as members, every year there are more than a dozen famous designers around the world Academic exchanges, I have been fortunate to be invited to introduce my design ideas and design cases to share explanations many times, It's a great platform for mutual learning and mutual promotion.
Hong Kong and Macao designers have a strong control over modern pop culture, a sense of rhythm, and a strong ability to shape colors and light sources. Mainland designers are more regional and local, from the perspective of the requirements of modern living and working environment, especially drawing on traditional aesthetics, our designs are more subtle and more elegant.
Producer: Nandu Big Data Research Institute Common Prosperity Research Group
Coordinator: Chen Yangkai
Written by: Nandu reporter Xu Kun The image was provided by the interviewee