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Authors
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
My paper looks into the Chinese American architect I. M. Pei’s first museum project, the Museum for Chinese Art, Shanghai, conceived as his answer to an architectural representation of national identity in 1946. Although Pei’s project is envisaged for China, I consider it to be a key example that intervenes in the debate between modernism and regionalism in America in the 1940s.
In February 1948, the Progressive Architecture published in its latest issue Pei’s graduation project at Harvard Graduate School of Design, finished under the supervision of Walter Gropius. Though unrealised, the design is highly acknowledged in the P/A as a monumental piece of modern museum. The scheme suggests an extremely modernist statement, combined with the theme of a traditional Chinese garden. While the P/A article well presents its modernist vocabulary through architectural plans and close-up photos of the model, the project’s equal consideration of representing local characteristics has not been fully recognised.
My paper argues how Pei’s design introduces an architectural representation of national identity through the means of architectural regionalism, apart from its testimony to the canon of modern architecture. In my paper, I will briefly delve into the context of architectural debates between modernism and regionalism in America in the 1940s, and then identify the project’s representation of local elements as a reflection of regional characteristics. Evidence is seen from the fact that Pei intends his museum for a very specific location, the unfinished urban plan of the Civic Centre in the Jiangwan District of Shanghai in 1933, along with the project’s emphasis on characteristic language of the Chinese garden. Placing itself in a Chinese context, Pei’s design offers a distant but alternative view towards understanding the conception of architectural modernism and modernity for American audience.
Description
Keywords
Modernism modern architecture regionalism nationalism
Pedagogical Context
Citation
HSIAO, Leah – I. M. Pei’s Museum for Chinese Art, Shanghai, 1946. Modernism, regionalism and the search for an architectural representation of national identity in REGIONALISM, NATIONALISM & MODERN ARCHITECTURE. Proceedings. Porto: CEAA, 2018, p. 114-127