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.