Chapter 364 - Ministry of Engineering University Hall (1st Shift)

"I just came from China -- I danced around the porcelain tower and made all the bells jingle!"

Looking at the appearance of the glazed pagoda of Da Bao'en Temple in the atlas, Vaux's eyes were full of appreciation, and he even remembered Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale related to this tower. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Every time he turned the page of the paintings, he looked at these oriental buildings with great interest, which were very different from European architectural styles, and as an architect, he knew very well that each architectural style had its own unique characteristics.

Two years ago, Vaux, who was planning to move to the United States, accepted the offer of Xu Shushan, one of Britain's most renowned architects, who had designed and created several gardens in the United Kingdom, and who believed that buildings should be integrated into the surrounding landscape. It also earned him honor.

As a British designer, after coming to China, he spent two years designing and planning three parks inside and outside Wuchang City, and also directly participated in the urban planning of Wuchang, and his design concept was fully exerted - integrating buildings into the surrounding landscape, Wuchang, as a city of 100 lakes, has too many lakes, while Vaux borrowed from the gardens of Jiangnan, China, and Western landscape design, and integrated the two together, turning the entire city of Wuchang into a huge park.

It is precisely because of this that at this time, he who has become a Chinese citizen and even married a Chinese lady will be in charge of the planning of the "Jiangbei Railway Station".

"I want the city to be sinicized, not Westernized!"

Facing more than a dozen designers in front of him, Zhu Yifeng directly put forward his own requirements.

"I hope that in the future, the architectural style here will be a "mixture of Chinese and foreign", Frederick, Volks, you have been coming to China for a long time, and you also have a certain understanding of Chinese architecture, European-style architecture can be used as an embellishment of the city market, but it cannot be used as the main body of the city, after all, this is a Chinese city! ”

So I mention this because the so-called "Jiangbei Main Railway" will be the capital of China in the future, which is why it cannot be Westernized, it must be a Chinese-style capital. It can't be like the Chinese cities of later generations, the so-called modern buildings are the same, and the cities are all similar high-rise buildings and residential areas are matchboxes. What's the difference between a city like that and Europe?

What's more, for Zhu Yifeng, what he needs is a "big park" with a beautiful environment and the whole city is like a park, and what he needs is a Chinese-style artwork. It's not just the stacking of reinforced concrete.

"Your Excellency, do you mean Chinese architecture like these?"

Downing, an architectural engineer, asked rhetorically, pointing to the palace in the atlas.

"It's an architectural style!"

Looking at Tang Ning, Zhu Yifeng said.

"The buildings I wanted were mainly architecturally and ornamentally ornamental, a typical blend of East and West; In terms of architecture, the building structure adopts a Western-style structure, but the overall style is very similar to the palace-style architecture of the East; In terms of carving, most of the interior adopts Western style with oriental elements, while the exterior is dominated by oriental roof tiles and dougongs with a few western image elements. ”

Looking at these architects from the West, Zhu Yifeng knew that they didn't know much about Chinese culture, or even Chinese architecture. Chinese architecture, along with European architecture and Islamic architecture, was once known as the "world's three major architectural systems". Comparatively speaking, Chinese architecture has a longer history and a more complete system.

However, decades after the introduction of Western modern architecture into China, the first generation of Chinese architects were helpless in the face of foreign culture falling from the sky, and how to make modern architecture take root in China has become the biggest proposition. So they experimented with adding roofs to reinforced concrete buildings, which are known as "big roofs". This may seem a bit self-defeating, but the purpose is good, and that is to have "Chinese-style" architecture. With the continuous attempts of those designers, they re-examined the essential characteristics of traditional Chinese culture and found that traditional Chinese architecture coincided with modern architecture, which fundamentally affirmed the value of traditional Chinese architecture and found a way out for modern Chinese architecture.

In the 21st century, the rise of the economy led to the construction of so-called landmarks. A few days after the "copper coin" became the "ugliest building", the "big iron ring" jumped out again to catch the eye; These "novel" buildings, the design may come from a foreign famous artist, and there may be the shadow of a famous building, which may be good when taken out alone, but in our city, it is not so harmonious.

The reason for this is because of the confusion about one's own "style". The history and culture of any nation has its own characteristics and vitality, which is the "core" of architecture. Only by adhering to the excellent traditions of national culture can we absorb the nutrients of foreign cultures, enrich and develop local cultures, and thus produce a "style" that adapts to the times and is exclusive to itself.

"So you're in charge of the overall planning of the city, and I want the city to be livable, a garden, and as for the buildings, ......."

After pondering for a moment, Zhu Yifeng thought of the model of the University Hall of the Ministry of Engineering that he had seen before, and it was the main building of the school that made Zhu Yifeng move the idea of building a "Chinese-style modern building".

"Otherwise, let's go to the University Hall of the Ministry of Industry?"

The Ministry of Industry University Hall is the Ministry of Industry founded by the Ministry of Industry School of "upgrading", in the Ministry of Engineering, its scale is similar to the Ministry of Household School, but with the construction of a factory and mine for the demand for specialized personnel is constantly increasing, for this the Ministry of Industry School is several expansions, and its enrollment last year as many as 465 people, now only in the Ministry of Industry School teaching Western teaching as many as 56 people, and this year the Ministry of Industry School is planned to expand to 800 students, and the Ministry of Industry University Hall is built because of its expansion.

Because it is in the cold winter wax moon, which is not conducive to concrete construction, the main building and the main body of the school building of the Ministry of Engineering are mostly suspended, and the University Hall of the Ministry of Engineering after the shutdown looks deserted, when Zhu Yifeng came here, there was almost no one in the entire University Hall.

Once again, he was in front of the main building of the University Hall of the Ministry of Engineering, looking at the main building that had completed the main construction and revealed its prototype, Zhu Yi's eyes were full of appreciation. On the second floor of the main building, the main entrance façade is supported by four square columns, a herringbone ridge, and the upper part of the second floor is a long-sloped tower-style square roof, with similar shapes at the two ends and side entrances, echoing the design of the main door. The most eye-catching thing is the tower on the side of the main gate, especially the spired roof of the tower, which has the style of the heavy eaves and five drops of water in the Song Dynasty. With the delicate detailing, the square tower has no sense of obtrusion.

This is the first real Chinese style of architecture in Wuchang with the Western modern building technology, to be precise, with the "iron concrete" technology, in fact, to a certain extent, he should be regarded as China's "traditional craft" in the West has nothing to do with - although this technology was invented by the French gardener Monière in 1867, but in this time and space, in the process of reconstruction of Wuchang, it was widely used under the leadership of Zhu Yifeng.

Especially after the problem of steel production was solved, unlike Europe, which had to wait until more than ten years later to make flower pots from reinforced concrete, in the reconstruction process of Wuchang, because it was not possible to provide the large timber required for the beams and columns, iron-reinforced concrete beams and columns were used, and it was from then that this technology began to be applied in Wuchang, and its application became more and more widespread.

So...... This new type of construction technology should be said to be "China's new construction technology". What does it have to do with the West? Now Europeans use cement and sand to make concrete, build buildings and build bridges. All they have to do is take advantage of the good adhesion of concrete, nothing more.

I invented reinforced concrete!

Again, Zhu Yifeng secretly felt that this technology will become a "traditional Chinese craft", compared with other building materials, reinforced concrete can withstand both pressure and tension, and the cost is cheap, and even the prefabricated prefabricated slabs of reinforced concrete, which are banned in later generations, are also widely used here - their cost is cheaper than wooden floor slabs, and they are more durable, and there is no need to consider the threat of termites and other pests. Now reinforced concrete, a composite material, is becoming the protagonist in civil engineering construction.

"That's right, it's nothing to do with the West!"

Zhu Yifeng muttered in his heart, looking at the main building of the University Hall of the Ministry of Engineering in front of him. He even looked forward to seeing what it would look like when it was all finished, and whether it would be as magnificent as a palace.

"Maybe we should find this designer and let him teach those foreign devils what Chinese characteristics are!"

When talking to himself like this, Zhu Yifeng unexpectedly saw a person in the snow holding a drawing board, sitting on a stone, as if he was always drawing something there.

On such a cold day, he is not too cold?

When I got closer, I could see that the painting on his drawing board was a watercolor painting of the main building of the University Hall of the Ministry of Engineering, to be precise, the auspicious clouds on the second floor of the main entrance, he was sketching the auspicious clouds, and you could see that the configuration of those auspicious clouds borrowed from the shapes of flowers in Western architecture, and the patterns were extremely complex.

"Maybe it would work better if it was modified here!"

Noticing that it seemed to have encountered a problem, Zhu Yifeng, as a bystander, reminded him with the appreciative eyes of future generations.

"That's right, it's not as abrupt as it was just now......

Guo Ziming nodded in praise and turned back to say.

"You are also a ...... architect"

Before he finished speaking, seeing the appearance of the person behind him, Guo Ziming bowed deeply.

"The minister has seen the lord!" (To be continued.) )