National Treasure Artist

Chapter 206 Eight Elements of China
The time is the end of September.

China's capital city, the Barcelona Expo China Organizing Committee is conducting the fourth round of China Pavilion program meeting.

Starting from the main building "Crystal Palace" of the first World Expo in 1895, each subsequent national pavilion has a great reputation in the history of architectural design.

Architectural design has always been the highlight of World Expos, and this is even more true for this year's Expo, which focuses on world art.

But in the past, the design of the China Pavilion has always been unspeakable. Not only the insiders looked worried, but even many cultural people and intellectuals outside the industry kept making sarcastic remarks.

Someone described the former China Pavilion: "Basically, it was to draw a dragon, draw a phoenix, hang a face, etc. on the wall. At most, it would erect an archway, and it was not even a matter of architectural design."

This year's China Pavilion judges are under a lot of pressure, not to mention the expectations of the common people, even the Ministry of Culture and the head of state have more or less expressed concern.

"The plans of Lao Wu and Lao He, as well as the proposal of the Architectural Design Institute of Shuimu University are all good."

The meeting room was packed with dozens of people, and the screen in front was still on, playing plans one by one.

At this time, I saw an old man in a Tang suit on the main seat, and said solemnly, "What do you all have to say?"

"Since Designer Bai proposed the concept of Chinese culture a few months ago, the effect can be clearly seen."

A capable woman raised her head and responded, "Among the proposals we finally selected, the works of Mr. Wu and Mr. He are more inclined to traditional Chinese elements."

"The works of the Architectural Design Institute of Shuimu University are more modern, and the theme of this exposition is world art. I think Chinese art should be the focus."

"So I support Mr. Wu and Mr. He's plan."

The woman's voice fell, and the judges around showed their faces thinking, either expressing approval or negative.

"Lao Wu's works extract elements from Tai Chi culture, while Lao He draws inspiration from folk life, Design Institute of Shuimu University"

The old man in Tang suit analyzed a few words, then raised his head: "Well, let's vote first."

At the end of the fourth round of proposal meeting, three proposals were selected from hundreds of proposals from Chinese people all over the world, but in the voting, the works of Mr. Wu and Mr. He ended up tied again.

Mr. Xue sat back in his office, his aged face showing some fatigue.

He stood up from his seat, looked out of the window intently, felt a little disappointed, and secretly said: "The concept and direction proposed by Designer Bai are still too late, and there are still problems in the combination of tradition and modernity."

"Even Mr. Wu and Mr. He still have the tradition suppressing the modernity, and they haven't found the most perfect fusion point."

"Time is running out."

Old Xue sighed.

At the same time, Chicago, USA.

Several weeks have passed since the lecture at the Chicago Auditorium, and the enthusiasm for discussion among ordinary people has gradually faded away, while designers have begun to conduct in-depth research.

Bai Gongtong submitted the complete plan of the American Pavilion in Barcelona to President Mason, and then signed a contract with oil tycoon Andrew.

In the city of Chicago, Bai Gongtong can easily have the most luxurious team of assistants, with a scale of hundreds of people, including four or five first-time designers.

The designers of this team are all followers of Mies van der Rohe on the road.

After drawing out the plans and ideas, and assigning the tasks to many assistants, Bai Gongtong was free for a short time.

A spacious office with sunlight streaming through the Chicago windows onto the ground.

In front of the window, Bai Gongtong and Banxia were sitting on the sofa quietly.

Gongtong held the pen in the picture album and sketched non-stop. Beside him, the corner of Banxia's eyes fell on Gongtong's face, and a smile finally appeared in her big eyes.

She narrowed her eyes and looked quietly at the book in her hand.

Bai Gongtong is really busy these days, and the time that belongs to the two of them is even more cherished.

Time passes imperceptibly, and it takes hours in the blink of an eye.

"what are these?"

Banxia put down the book and approached Davidia involucrata, her delicate pretty face pressed against the latter's chest, and her eyes looked at the album in Baitong's hand.

On the picture book, the uniform black ink was smoothly combined into one picture after another:

"Is this the horse head wall?"

Pointing to each pattern, Banxia doubtfully said: "This is a hollow flower window, this is a stone carving"

The hand-painted book of Baitongtong is exactly the typical ancient Chinese architectural elements.

"Yes, the horse head wall is an important feature of Huizhou architecture."

Bai Gongtong's brush strokes stopped immediately, and he changed the pen to his left hand. With his free right hand, he stroked Pinellia's long hair: "In the villages in the south of the Yangtze River, looking up from a high place, the undulating horse head wall, It gives people a visual sense of 'thousand horses galloping', so it is called the horse head wall, and it also symbolizes the vitality and prosperity of the entire clan."

"In villages where families live together, the density of residential buildings is relatively high, which is not conducive to fire prevention. The high horse head wall can play a role in separating the source of fire in the event of fire in adjacent residential buildings. , so the Horse Head Wall is also called the Fire Sealing Wall.”

"What about this?"

"What does this mean?"

Ban Xia pointed to another pattern, which was the flower window on the wall.

"A simple high wall will give people a feeling of oppression, and hollow carved windows on the wall will relieve this feeling."

"And these patterns not only play the role of decoration and beautification, but also have the functions of lighting, ventilation, dust prevention, and space division. Try to create a contrast between virtual and real."

Bai Gongtong was not in a hurry, and explained again with a smile on his face.

He was also interested, and without waiting for Ban Xia to ask, he began to explain to her one by one, explaining the origins, aesthetics and uses of these ancient Chinese architectural elements.

"This is the enclosed courtyard and courtyard of our country."

Pointing to a small courtyard on the paper, Bai Gongtong said in a deep voice:

"Courtyards have been the main form of Chinese architecture for thousands of years. The form enclosed by houses is loaded with Chinese ideas and aesthetic tastes."

"This kind of introverted, closed, warm and comfortable courtyard space has nourished and cultivated the temperament and character of generations of Chinese people, so that it has become the most common traditional way of life."

"Enclosure not only refers to physical protection, but also something that establishes the relationship between people. Enclosure forms an independent and complete local space to feel a sense of security and belonging."

Ban Xia slightly adjusted her posture, so that she could lean on Davidia Davidson's body more comfortably.

Then, her eyes turned to the picture again, and a slight blush rose on her face.

"This is a pitched roof, which is almost synonymous with our traditional architecture."

Baitong's voice is neither high nor low, with a sense of indifferent rhythm, which makes Pinellia obsessed even more in this quiet room:

"The sloping roof occupies a pivotal position in traditional architecture. The shape design of the sloping roof will make palaces, temples and other palace buildings produce a unique rhythm of majestic, tall, lofty, flying and elegant."

"It will also make residential buildings feel intimate, natural and warm."

"Of course, it also has many advantages, such as energy saving. It gathers heat at the top in summer, and it doesn't feel cold indoors in winter. Because the heat runs upwards, the top of the slope can gather heat at the intersection of the two slopes."

"The wind also runs upwards, because the wind will gather through the lower windows to the upper windows, so that the indoor ventilation will be better; there will be no water accumulation, and the waterproof performance will be good."

"This is the cornice."

"This is a blue brick, black tile and whitewashed wall."

“This is a courtyard house”

The eight elements of ancient Chinese architecture are drawn in the hands of Bai Gongtong.

In another world, there are not many excellent designs of China Pavilion.

There used to be a China Pavilion composed of Chinese elements, and the title was: "The crown of the East, the prosperity of China, the granary of the world, and the prosperity of the people."

But when this national pavilion was built, it was selected as the top ten ugliest buildings in the country by the people of that world.

Bai Gongtong plans to design the Barcelona China Pavilion in this world by herself.

So, starting from the eight elements, he realized the beauty and classics of tradition.

At this moment, the sound of ticking water suddenly sounded beside the ears of the two of them.

Pinellia and Davidia involucrata turned their heads to look out the window at the same time, only to find that the pattering raindrops started falling along the window sill at some point.

Bai Gongtong watched, a chuckle suddenly appeared on his face, he picked up the pen, and danced quickly with his chic strokes.

A black and white picture appeared in front of my eyes.

It is the beauty of the buildings in the south of the Yangtze River. The scenery is also in the mist and rain, and the rain flows along the blue tiles to form a rain curtain.

Some of the beauties who look like pinellia are leaning on the seat with a little laziness
The painting is beautiful, the people are beautiful, and the scenery is even more beautiful.
It seems to be brought back to the ancient Jiangnan by the picture, and I saw the elegant woman holding an oil-paper umbrella.

(End of this chapter)