Charles Ⅱ statue

Charles II Statue @ Yahoo! Video

A story for my Forbidden Soho

This is a story about nostalgia.

When people live in a new environment and miss something, what they see and what they feel may be totally different. What they see is from the physical space while what they feel is from their memories or familiar things. So these two spaces could be separate, one is outside and the other is inside. Most of time, people could not distinguish which is outside and which is inside, just know they are in the opposite space without logical relationship, and nobody knows where is the border. Just like the narration from ‘invisible cities’, ‘From one part to the other, the city seems to continue, in perspective, multiplying its repertory of images: but instead it has no thickness, it consists only of a face and an obverse, like a sheet of paper, with a figure on either side, which can neither be separated nor look at each other.’ I just want to use this imagination to present my homesick feelings.

When I stand at the crossroad and look forward to Soho Square, it is sunny and clear. The flourishing green trees stand in the interspace of buildings and the people lie on the grass to enjoy their leisure moment. 
Then I come close to the entrance of the square, my view is expanded and the pavilion in the centre reminds me of some familiar feelings. A great palace from Forbidden City, which is the strongest memory about my hometown, seems to appear in the shadows of the trees. 
Suddenly I glimpse a vogue reflection of this palace on a building window, and the surrounding turn dark, except the street lamp, radiating the warm and yellow light just like from Forbidden City. Is it my illusion?

When I go through the enclosure and walk to the pavilion, everything become normal again. I stand in front of the small house and look inside the window glass; surprisingly it is not dark but golden. There is an emperor’s throne with Chinese imperial decoration, which makes the room extremely magnificent. 
I am so curious about everything inside and push the door. When I go in the room, it is become normal again. I look outside through the window, the statue of Charles II seems become to the statue of stone lion from Forbidden City. Moreover, the buildings around square also turn into the Chinese palaces.

The same thing happens to the red telephone box. Looking inside the box, a large golden vase is placed in the corner, but when I go in to see clearly, it disappears. Standing in the poky room, the outside space become Forbidden City again.

This story refers to the two spaces existing together. Inside the border, there is the physical space as people can touch it. While outside the border, there is an invisible space. These two could never intersect just like the reality and illusion. But they stick on but never are separated nor look at each other.

The border could be people’s eyes, any real constructions, walls and enclosure.

A story from ‘ invisible cities’

When you have forded the river, when you have crossed the mountain pass, you suddenly find before you the city of Moriana, its alabaster gates transparent in the sunlight, its coral columns supporting pediments encrusted with serpentine, its villas all of glass like aquariums where the shadows of dancing girls with silvery scales swim beneath the medusashaped chandeliers. If this is not your first journey, you already know that cities like this have an obverse: you have only to walk in a semicircle and you will come into view of Moriana’s hidden face, an expanse of rusting sheet metal, sackcloth, planks bristling with spikes, pipes black with soot, piles of tins, blind walls with fading signs, frames of staved in straw chairs, ropes good only for hanging oneself from a rotten beam.

From one part to the other, the city seems to continue, in perspective, multiplying its repertory of images: but instead it has no thickness, it consists only of a face and an obverse, like a sheet of paper, with a figure on either side, which can neither be separated nor look at each other.

invisible cities

The book explores imagination and the imaginable through the descriptions of cities by an explorer, Marco Polo. The book is framed as a conversation between the aging and busy emperor Kublai Khan, who constantly has merchants coming to describe the state of his expanding and vast empire, and Polo. The majority of the book consists of brief prose poems describing 55 cities, apparently narrated by Polo. Short dialogues between the two characters are interspersed every five to ten cities and are used to discuss various ideas presented by the cities on a wide range of topics includinglinguistics and human nature. Not only is the book structured around an interlocking pattern of numbered sections, but the length of each section's title graphically outlines a continuously oscillatingsine wave, or perhaps a city skyline. The interludes between Khan and Polo are no less poetically constructed than the cities, and form a framing device, a story with a story, that plays with the natural complexity of language and stories.

The book, because of its approach to the imaginative potentialities of cities, has been used by architects and artists to visualize how cities can be, their secret folds, where the human imagination is not necessarily limited by the laws of physics or the limitations of modern urban theory. It offers an alternative approach to thinking about cities, how they are formed and how they function.

The book was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1975.

The Travels of Marco Polo, Polo's travel diaries depicting his journeys through the Mongol Empire which were written in the 13th century, share with Invisible Cities the brief, often fantastic accounts of the cities Polo visits, accompanied by descriptions of the city's inhabitants, notable imports and exports, and whatever interesting tales Polo had heard about the region.

some possible relationship between two cities from “ invisible cities”

When people come to a new city, what they see and what they remember are familiar things in their memory. For example, the goblet means bars, the curtain and plotted plant means home, the show window means shops. So their memory could be changed by the new things come to their minds. The feeling about the home and familiar space.

When people forget their memory more and get lost in the new place, they could more easily get familiar with the new one.

In this book, there are many stories about invisible cities, and several the ways of imagination are helpful for my forbidden soho. 

From the book, I found the following impossible relationship between soho and Forbidden City:

l  Under the Forbidden City, there is underground space built for some special functions, such as hiding treasures or secrets. The shape of this space is decided by the overground palaces, just like a reflection of them. The same as my forbidden soho, one could be another’s reflection.

l  When a city is destroyed and the walls are removed, if they are replaced by other kind of bricks, or make the walls in another order, it will be another city. the Forbidden Soho could be a puzzle game, the bricks from Forbidden City and soho could be moved and reset.

l  The forbidden soho is half Forbidden, half soho. The soho part is permanent and the other half is meet different people’s desires. In other words, it is people’s memory from another city. In my eyes, it is Forbidden City with Chinese style buildings, but in other’s eyes, it could be a totally different other mixture.

l  The feeling and the physical city exist in two space, the border is people’s eyes. These two spaces, sometimes, you can’t tell which is outside and which is inside. So I think if the forbidden soho could be just like this. Standing outside of the certain border and look inside, it is a real soho. But when go in the border, and look outside, it is the Forbidden City. This is just like two spaces sticking together. In one space, people could see the other one but could never get there.

The borders in Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is a huge architectural system, as so many elements are contained in this complex and exert their indispensible functions. First, to know this system, the most crucial thing to understand is the different kinds of borders.

Outside the whole palace complex, the moat runs on a rectangular plan and set up the first and natural border for Forbidden City. Inside the river, there are the tall and firm walls standing around the palaces, which were pierced by gates with lookout buildings constructed above them. They are the most impregnable defence system.  One watchtower is erected on each of the city wall. Apart from serving as lookout towers, these turrets could also be an exchange center for the Forbidden City. Information and requirements are gathered here to submit to the emperor. 

The main entrance in the south of the city is the Meridian Gate. Two extensions to the wall project southward to form a three-sided square. It was customary that after each triumphant expedition, the emperors would ascend the Meridian Gate to accept prison of war or inspect the military parade. And on the left and right of the city wall, there are four entrances for the liegeman. A so-called ‘dismounting stele’ was erected in front of each gate to remind them ‘dismount here’.

Through these walls, all the palaces are divided by another wall into two parts: the Outer Court and the Inner Court. This separation is very important for the royal life. The emperors administered their duties and held audiences with ministers in the Outer Court. And another border, the Inner Golden River, which snakes its way west to east, connected with the foundation of the Three Great Audience Halls, restrict the special rectangular area, moreover, highlight its critical status in the entire city.

The rear, northern, half of the Forbidden City, commonly known as the Inner Court, is the residential area of the emperors and imperial household. In this area, all of people must abide by the strict principles. Therefore another kind of border was built to mark off people’s rank especially for the imperial concubines.

The gardens in the Forbidden City are an integral part of the halls and palaces of the Inner Court. This is a place for entertainment. So the borders here are most corridors for walking and sight-seeing. And inner the Imperial Garden, there are several low walls with beautiful windows, which are serve as an indispensible part of the natural scenery. These borders are not for restriction but for forming the multilayer scenery. Looking through the windows, the travelers could enjoy the landscape as a great painting.

In conclusion, the functions of the border in Forbidden City are the following:

 Fortification

 Looking out

 Entrance

 Information exchange

 Highlighting the supreme status

 Inspecting the parade

 Separation

 Walking and sight-seeing

 Marking off the rank

 Setting for scenery

In these borders, there are some sorts of marks such as the stone lions and the dismounting stele.

The border seal of Forbidden City

Taxonomy of Forbidden City

The plan for term 3

From the crit in last term, I got several new ideas for my “Forbidden Soho”. But the most important and also difficult problem was how to present the cultural shock in this area. Although I have chosen my site and topic, the more pertinent background from Forbidden City and more accurate starting point from Soho should be found and connected to support my work. In the next couples of weeks, my focus will be their links.

In the end of last term, I planned to choose a certain area from Soho and build a mysterious museum which exhibits some precious treasures or unique scenarios from Forbidden City. After thinking and searching some information in the holiday, I found this one was still the most interesting and potential way, so I confirmed my decision and I will develop the project from this point.

From my opinion, this museum should contain two architectural aspects. One is the content inside the museum, which means the items on display. I have to decide which are the most typical things from Forbidden City and know the stories behind them. For example, I saw some western stuff such as glass cups and clocks displayed in some palaces of Forbidden City. These things were given as the gifts to the Chinese emperors in the past time. Another example is a western style pavilion in one palace. It is made from iron structure and concrete, which is distinctly different from others.

The second aspect is the border of this museum. There are several questions I have to solve one by one. First, how does the border set up? Why I choose this certain area to build the museum. Second, what is the function of the border? Maybe it could also be the exhibition space, or it can be the media of information exchange in terms of delivering something, or it is just the separation of inside and outside world, which could exaggerate the contrast atmosphere from two sides. If it can deliver something, how does it operate?

Some further ideas for the crit

After the last tutorial, I realized the more constructive development should be done in a more specific way in order to clarify the theme of exchange culture in my project. I wish to choose the same position in Soho area as The Three Main Palace in the Forbidden City. These three palaces can be considered as the central point in Forbidden City. Therefore when it comes to Soho area, this field, which is the heart of Forbidden Soho, should be secured and guarded strictly and secretly. In this way, the exchange of information must be imperative but complicated. I have imagined a serial scenario about it.

When people travel in the Soho area, nothing will be unusual, except some Chinese exhibition in the show windows in the near shops or bars. However, when people get close to the Forbidden Soho, the atmosphere will change gradually. When they stand outside of the border of Forbidden Soho, looking through the gate or window to see the inside scene, they can feel the huge cultural shock by the contrast of the different atmosphere. The inside buildings, may be quiet, solemn, agelong and a little horrific. And a special system is designed for the exchange from back and forth. The focus should be how the system operates, what things does it transit and what is the benefit of the exchange for both sides.

The exchange of culture and values

The tutorial on Thursday was really helpful for me to have a clearer idea about where is my project going from and aiming to.

Soho area and The Forbidden City nearly are the same size, but have totally different cultural background and behaviors. They possese their own values. The Forbidden City is the representation of supreme power in the past of China, therefore it is known as its magnificent architecture and solemn atmosphere. Besides this, its remarkable decoration and lots of royal treasures of past kingdom can be considered as an exhibition of the ancient Chinese culture. On the contrary, Soho area is a small, multicultural area of central London, a home to industry, commerce, culture and entertainment, as well as a residential area for both rich and poor. It has clubs, bars, restaurants, a few sex shops scattered amongst them, and late-night coffee shops that give the streets an "open all night" feel at the weekends. That means, it is a place full of relaxed and playful atmosphere.

Then where is my project? 

When people come to a new country which is far from their home, the cultural shock could involuntarily generate the feelings of nostalgia, strangeness and fear. When they hang out in the new city, they may create a weird space on the base of what they can see. For me, when I go to Soho area, as its size is almost the same as Forbidden City, there could be the mixture of Forbidden City and Soho area. All the shops are empty and filled with things from Forbidden City. All its entertaining atmosphere has gone. Instead, there are delicate decorations displayed in the show windows, and behind the LCD advertisement screen, there is a king's bedroom with a layer of dust. In this kind of space, there must be something forbidden. So in this way, Soho has become a museum of Forbidden City, or is called Forbidden Soho.
In the meantime, the cultural shock could also happen in The Forbidden City to the visitors in Beijing. Imagine that in this huge royal palace, the alley in comfortable size are arranged into the large and empty square and some playful shops and bars are installed into the royal garden. Maybe this could be another part of my project.
For the two places, Soho and Forbidden City, they all export culture and import values. 

Fallen Star 1/5 by Do-Ho Suh

Psycho Buildings is a cosmopolitan collaboration in which artists from as far afield as Tokyo and Cuba “take on” architecture. Suh Do-ho (right) is one of the diaspora of Korean artists working in various countries around the world.
Suh’s Fallen Star 1/5 explores culture clash in a very literal way.  In exact 1:5 scale detail the effect of the impact is described: rubble on the floor, chaos in the individual rooms.

What I plan to do for the crit

There is only less than 3 weeks left, it is time to straighten out the sparks in my mnid, clarify the theme I am  interested in and outline a formative developmental project model.

The past several weeks, I made several pieces of hand drawings about the Chinese imperial palace, the Forbidden City. Through this process, its unique structure,  decoration,  design principle and cultural atomsphere inspired me a lot. Also it possesses the feature of self-similarity, which is the initial reason I started to observation. 

Then I made a city map of Beijing, and planned to put my drawings into this map to creat a city in a city. Beijing and Forbidden City were the real background of my project, I chose one piece of furniture, a chair in the main palace of Forbidden City as my site. It seemed I can creat endless circular cities. But after the Nic's seminar, his comments gave me a new sight about my next step.  Indeed, it is a little stupid to search a site ni my hometown when I study in London. Yet if I use the same system or principle of Forbidden City in SOHO Square, that intersection could be interesting.

So I spent nearly a week to find the main principle of Forbidden City, which originated from ancient Chinese philosophy.  But it is not enough to  define a new system in SOHO area. Then I traveled to the site again and again, and finally decided where I can invent my own project.
In the typical English style area, some intercultural experience could be applied while near the China Town, the same Chinese culture could integrate in another country. 
The next step, I plan to create several models with combined English and Chinese element to show the intersection of two different culture, architecture and atomsphere. 

Picture 1 shows on the overlaid two maps, how do the two different systems integrate in different viewpoints?

Picture 2 shows the line section, the uncolored palace, the furniture interact with SOHO area.

Although I saw the movie, I haven’t got a clear idea about what I can design.

The mixture of two cultures… may be architecture, furniture, decoration, or just atmosphere. 

Some potentials in SOHO Square

After traveled through SOHO area again, I got some new exciting points that may improve my project.
The theme of my work is overlaying Chinese imperial architectural system onto SOHO area and from their integration and collision creating a new mysterious system. Today's travel gave me a new sight on the cultural background. In the site, except the typical English flat, square, cafe, shop and market, as this area is near to China town, there are also some Chinese restaurants and clinics. So apart from the different cultural system, the intersection of the same Chinese culture in London could be another point that I can present in my project.
When I thought about the spacial intersection of these two places, easily I also had some ideas about time in my mind. Now Forbidden City is a museum but not normal living area, the last period when people lived in this place was almost 100 years ago. Therefore, it is imperative to overlay the two different periods together but not only deal with the space.
Then what I can imagine about the project, is Chinese people from Forbidden City in 100 years ago may have something to do with people living in SOHO area(both English and Chinese). This additional interaction brings me great interests besides the spacial intersection.

The interesting points in the sites

Last week, although I had already overlaid the plan of Forbidden City onto the SOHO area, I nearly did nothing to present the interaction and further creation of these two totally different systems. After the logic I discovered from ancient China last week, it is imperative to find a special route, which is made of some successive points in the site area. These points must possess evidently features, such as the main entrance of Forbidden City, but also a crossing on regent street, or a dark corner of imperial palace, but also on the center of Golden Square.
Tomorrow, I will walk through the site via the two routes that I marked on the picture, and take photos as many as I can. This could help to build my own real experience when crossing the site. And if I overlay the successive photos onto the 3D models facade of Forbidden City, the real one and imaginary one may create some interesting, strange or unexpected things. We will see.

In ancient China, there were two mysterious pictures called "LUOSHU"and "HETU", which were considered as the origin of Chinese philosophy. In these two pictures, some short lines, solid circle and hollow circle, as the basic elements, represent the serial complicated principles. 
Some ancient mathematician concluded the graph into other ways: table chart. Then from the tables, people could see the regulation more clearly.
The number of the circle was written in figures in their initial positions, and the solid ones represent even while the hollow ones represent odd numbers. In the first table, the sum of any three numbers in horizontal, vertical and diagonal directions was always 15. In the second table, similar regulation could be found as well.
Apart from the main philosophical system, these two were also exert profound influence to design method from historical period. The Forbidden City was an excellent example of the principle.