Architecture of Seasons, Moods and Emotions - Chinese Gardens Design Principles
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- A leisurely stroll and break down of Chinese Gardens design concepts with Kevin Hui and Andrew Maynard, and why it is an architecture that is about different seasons, moods and emotions.
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Love that fact that this walled garden could be on top a mall or a carpark and still have the same ambience .
Borrowed landscape
I'm doing a garden design course at the moment and there's so many principles and ideas I've picked up from your video. Excellent stuff.
Thank you for this beautiful video exposé of this fabulous space. I visited these gardens in 1988 (I still have a photo of me being there, beside the pond, and next to one of those sturdy Chinese-red pillars). I think the gardens have matured since that time. I wish I had gone there more often when I lived in Sydney.
This was a wonderful video tour of the garden. I really appreciated looking at it from an architectural perspective and how thoughtful the design was in terms of experience, shifting frames of perspective and scale, and the emphasis on movement within the space. Very thought provoking to bring those ideas out of that context to apply to modern residential architectural design. Thanks for this!
Absolutely amazing garden!! Excellent video guys and thanks for sharing! Please don't bash me when I say you're just missing the main reason for the entire design. It's all about the philosophy from ancient eastern wisdom. Buddhism, Taoism, including Confucianism. It's what Alan Watts speak of "be one with the universe". Pavilions are pre designed for pausing, to live in the moment. All there is is "now". Chinese gardens are crafted spaces of nature in miniature form, to help us remember we are part of it. Rock represent mountains. Water is life. Straight, circles and octagonal openings are man made forms unnatural to nature, but the shape of the frames provide man a distinctive perspective to focus, see, and experience the beauty of nature. Wind, water, fire, earth, the universe are the elements. They all remain in time, and we are temporary. Forget the past. Don't stress on the future. Life is short, so experience the beauty of nature, and live in the moment with all your passions. Cuz all we have is now :)
Yes, indeed.
this is a great inspiration and starting point for the uni project I am working on atm, about an art gallery/ tea bar that is meant to adapt seasonally
This has made me feel very nostalgic for my trip to China during my studies!
Beautiful!
I haven't been there since I was a kid. Definitely time to revisit now after seeing your video. I like the playfulness in this vid. My favourite yet. Keep up the great content guys!
Thanks. Yes definitely revisit. Only hoping to open up the complexity to others to appreciate and learn from.
When you want the luxury of the forest and the city simultaneously 😄
Good to know the thought put into designing such spaces
This is your best episode yet. I’ve given myself two sittings to view it for the first time. And I plan to return to it for deeper study. So
thought provoking! Thanks
Thanks. Yes it’s a bit long but that’s already been heavily cut down. Too much to cover and the right pace is needed to get the vibe of the place
I never fail to learn so much from your videos. Thank you for sharing these amazing Chinese Gardens, as a student of architecture, I will definitely dedicate time to studying more of them. Thanks for providing a great breakdown and for sharing the lens in which to analyse these works of architecture.
Good to hear.
How to make a garden that is infinately interesting.
Beautiful and mind blowing.💥❤🙌🏽
Infinite dimensions.
Nature itself is the best example of it.
Yes indeed!
Thank you for this great episode ❤️
Thanks for commenting
Crazy that the garden has a similar footprint to the grassy Tumbalong Park right next to it but feels so much bigger. I haven't been in a long time but will have to visit again soon.
Yes. It’s actually quite small, in fact smaller than Tumberlong Park. Yes you should go. Often. You are in Sydney.
Very very different space, but similarly under appreciated and I’d enjoy your take - Foundation Park in the Rocks. Maybe a sneaky vid next time you’re in Sydney.
Oh I have seen those space but I didn’t know it’s officially a park
@@Archimarathon It's a 'ghost house' sculptural work on the site of former C19 terrace houses. The Rocks is obviously rich in history, but so much of that history has been processed and reprocessed over the years into cliche history book description. This little park/sculpture inspires imaginings of how the old terraces in the vicinity might have felt as dwellings (they're now mostly refurbished or adapted to commercial uses).
Thanks guys. Really useful as always 👌
Awesome video - thanks for sharing! Would love to see you guys do a bit more of a video on the scrolls and how they're used in traditional architecture.
It's been 20+ years since I've been there, and it's grown a little over that time. Will definitely have to add to my to-do list next time I'm back in Sydney.
Thanks. Chinese scrolls weren’t used in architecture but the depiction of space is quite unique, beyond just the axonometric projection aspect. Best to see that video by David Hockney as he explains it best.
@@Archimarathon Ah, good to know. I'd seen them in general drawing before, but first time I'd seen them in Architecture specifically. Will watch his video, thank you!
Such an amazing episode.
Thanks
Great discussion as always. Kevin could you please recommend good Chinese garden books so I can learn their design thought process.
Start with Maggie Keswick’s book
Gardens in China by Peter Valder is more recent than Maggie Keswick.
reminds me a little knock off version of chinese garden in Biddulph grange, its somehow irritating for every step you walk in there
thanks for this brilliant video
Oh gosh that’s not a Chinese garden. That’s like those extra gaudy Chinese restaurants pretending it’s Chinese architecture.
@@Archimarathon exactly, thats why i said it quite annoying when touring around in Biddulph grange 'theme park'
however, couldn't complain much about this considering its a 19th century private property which trying to imitate Chinese garden with basically zero knowledge about what Chinese architecture is in that period of time. :P
owh i love how they framing the view on minutes 16:18
My Father Henry TSANG designed this garden
Great video. Can you recommend any resources for studying Chinese garden design?
Ji Cheng (translated by Alison Hardie, Foreword by Maggie Keswick
Your UA-cam’s are the best! I still love them.
Back when I was trying to learn Chinese, I saw a study of the traditional character for “garden”. It was presented as a composite of elements that make up a traditional garden. First a surrounding wall. Then a gateway or entrance. Then a central pond with pathways. Am I remembering correctly? This was more than 25 years ago.
Can’t say that’s how I see that character. Historically it used to mean orchard.
When Andrew said it is one dimensional, it would be better said to be surface or two dimensional. The Modernist artistic tradition anchors our minds in seeing surfaces which is different from the relational Chinese or east Asian anchoring. It steams from the though organising references of classical thinkers, Aristotle, Plato etc. Platos The Allegory of the Cave sets a tone of though through the reduction of the world to a single surface. Modernism carries this classical thinking of reduction to a surface. Framing as a concept is just way of dealing with the cognitive dissonance of the surface and that which isn't a part of the intended surface. You would be better served to shed the idea of frames in that garden because the cuts or holes are ideas of relationships. However, your audience has the language of frames so I understand its use here.
Go check out David Hockney’s video as mentioned on our video
@@Archimarathon Yes, perspective can only exist in a frames with a bounded infinity. As I said frames are a way to deal with the cognitive dissonance of the unintended surfaces. Do you think I'm wrong?
Similarly when learning physics at uni, unlearning Aristotelian physics is what is actually done. Culture is littered with this classical reminiscences and definitions. One favorite is the idea of loving someone with your heart, which is actually equivalent, or is more accurate, to saying you are loving one with your brain because the classicists though memory was a function of your heart.
This was a really interesting video, thanks Kevin and Andrew! I’m from Japan and I’ve visited some Chinese gardens in China when I was 9. This video reminded me of that trip I had with my family and made me want to learn about Chinese architecture! Walking in a precisely designed space like this one really takes you into another world. It feels like you are walking in a book. I’ll go get some books about Chinese gardens and start learning!
P.S. I'm a big fan of this channel, and I've been waiting for a new video! Your work is always super rich in quality and I love everything you post. I'm an architecture student and I've been learning so much from you. Thank you so much for all the hard work!
Thanks and thanks for commenting
Friendship
I WAS WAITING and wait thanks u
A very well designed traditional Chinese garden. However it would be better if the pavilion on the hill has a muted colour tone. In my opinion, the big bright coloured picture with golden-yellow frame beside the lake doesn’t belong to a classic Chinese garden like this. Classic authentic Chinese gardens never have bright coloured architectures. Therefore the natural beauty can be appreciated more.
Depends which part of China. Imperial gardens in the north for example very colourful expression
@@Archimarathon Yes you’re right. However the royal gardens in Beijing and Chengde are Manchu emperors' gardens. They are Manchurian not Chinese. I can understand why they like to use bright colours in their garden architecture. They have a much colder climate. So their landscapes are barren and monotonous compared to the south, and they have much fewer choices for plants and flowers.
The quintessential Chinese gardens are all in lower Yangtze river region.
The colours of the garden architecture blend into the nature, rather than steal the show.
@@52beautifulmind No sure the Manchu origin did influence the chinese imperial garden of the north
I what to build a Chinese garden in my place have dam and 7 acres any idea's please
Have a look at Gardens in China by Peter Valder to understand all the elements.
Oh my, this is such an amazing episode, and you both did so much justice to the Chinese Garden! As Sydneysider and a Chinese, I am so proud and glad! Master episode, liked and saved, for now, and future!
I have a mild obsession with sitting on a porch, or some other roofed open space, during a rainstorm (with distant thunder for atmosphere). This garden offers so many places that would be ideal to sit on a rainy afternoon, drinking tea and enjoying the serenity.
Here is Montréal, Canada , we have one of the biggest Chinese garden outside China
Been to that garden years ago..and its truly a gem to find - and to be in..simply awesome. Great stuff gents. well done. Keep it up. Been binge watching on all your videos..
You two can’t help yourselves.
Every single time that I experience one of your videos I am invited into rethinking perspective, approach, materials, context, edges. Thank you!
What are the fundamental disparities between Japanese and Chinese gardens?
Japanese Gardens tends to be more abstract 3D paintings, especially the Zen gardens which are not really designed to have people in them, but rather viewed from the edge. They are highly maintained. Chinese gardens comes alive with people in them and the 'mess' that's caused by nature such as fallen leaves are just part of the experience. Really scratching the surface here
@@Archimarathon Thank you very much. I’ve been studying Japanese gardens for a while and I’ve noted that viewing them from the edge is a common thread.
no one romances with the natural world like the cultures of the east.
This reminds me of the Jardin des plantes I found while living in Montpellier- it was a wonderfully mellowing experiential place to walk, full of tiny secrets and new landscapes. I don't think it quite serves the same purpose, but it certainly followed a lot of these principles
Going to school in the city, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to frequent this under appreciated gem, back then entry was a gold coin donation. It’s a great place to find a quiet spot to read and scoff a sanga. There’s also an interesting political and social history layer, not unique to Sydney, with prominent representatives of the local Chinese community successfully lobbying for the project to promote their local businesses and encourage greater understanding.
finally, been waiting for this video
You guys very gracefully touched on a lot. All I can point out are a couple things - temperature being one of them. The Summer Palace in particular demonstrates how wind flow is meant to carry through the space in the various seasons, and especially during summer it is considerably cooler. In Hangzhou's West Lake, there is also the segmentation of the water bodies, which lets you intimately experience the water nearby (especially on the causeways), but also look beyond to a giant lake and the distant mountains from there. So for visitors, there is also the dimension of temperature and humidity, which the larger gardens play with.
I'm just a computer scientist, so what makes me appreciate about these Chinese gardens is the ease to which their designed language becomes noticed in the average visitor's mind. The accessibility of that serenity isn't just wonderful on a democratic level, it also gets everyone to become part of the scenery, which then plays into your observations. Even in a space of nature, we are still social animals, so our mirror neurons are still going to fire based off of how we see others behaving in the space.
I like to think of these gardens as having an element of interaction much like how game designers think of interactive spaces in the context of play. The action we take in a Chinese garden is usually to slow down and simply exist, and when there is that high density reward for the simple act of being, we develop that serenity of "being in place." Key to this is the immediacy of response to our actions (our play), and the tightness of the framing of these various elements help shorten the delay between that action and response. Put everything together and the whole experience locks into place.
Amazingly observant for a non-architect. Thanks for your insights. Stay hydrated!
Beautiful! This episode transmits emotion from the very beginning. We can see how much you enjoyed being there!
So many important lessons about architecture in Chinese Gardens. For me, the most important is, that the more we connect, experience, and feel nature, the better human beings (and architects as a consequence) we can be
So many lessons
Lot of theory, lot of experiences, lot of insight... one place...
Please give it a like if you haven’t already
The Chinese Garden at the Huntington Gardens in Los Angeles is also amazing! I had to laugh at myself, when I visited them recently I thought to myself enough with the buildings already. You schooled me!
Hmmm, looking at the plan and the photos, it feels more like a Chinese “style” garden with bits of elements from Chinese gardens applied.
Thanks for the walkthrough of this very precise & deliberate series of spaces! This is for sure on my list if I ever visit Sydney
Or Suzhou in China
Finally!! I really enjoyed it and now I want to know more 😊 Thanks for the video!
Did we go during our tour?
@@Archimarathon Nope.
Well I think I knew this episode was coming out eventually and that most of you were from Sydney or Canberra.
@@Archimarathon All good :)
fantastic, you explained it perfectly
Thank you. Just scratching the surface.
Loved this video! Wished I had seen this video during my time at Uni. You guys are amazing.
fascinating! among many other things, this has made me realize that one of the things I love about the garden that came with our house is borrowed landscape: we have no tall trees but our neighbours have heaps for us to look at :). I'll definitely recommend this garden to my one friend in Sydney. I was going to say I'd never been to a Chinese garden, but googling Chinese gardens in the Netherlands, I realized I'd actually been to a prom at one twenty years ago! I'll have to revisit in daylight :).
Many are merely Chinese “style” gardens
@@Archimarathon I got three hits: one is part of a zoo, one is actually a Japanese garden (lol), but the one I was talking about was apparently designed and built by Chinese specialists, and its description references many of the principles you describe in the video. I think I'll appreciate it so much more after watching this than I did 20 years ago!
What a fantastic video. Was really interesting to see your guys interpolation and explanation and compare it to my visit. What an amazingly sophisticated place
Thanks. Only barely scratching the surface on the topic. Just trying to get people to go there and experience themselves and study them.
What a video!!!! Brillant! Suz-ney
Thanks. I doubt you have seen the whole thing yet though
@@Archimarathon maybe so but gotta promote to the algorithm
Sydney's beautiful chinese gardens...very clever use of space and using the tranquil sound of water crashing down to drown out the traffic noise. Rocks and lizards go together. Very nice enchanting garden... love the trees and the meandering natural looking pathways...to the next destination. Liked the Vancouver Chinese garden...similiar to this one...a tranquil space in a bustling city. The New Zealand Dunedin chinese garden is also worth seeing...finished in 2008 in respect of the chinese gold miners who were working on the Otago goldfields in apalling conditions. The Garden is in the traditional yuanlin style, and was designed by Cao Yongkang of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Chen Ling of Tongji University, and Tan Yufeng of Shanghai Museum.
Still nothing beats the original gardens in Suzhou in its light quality, climatic and cultural context. They get so busy with tourists these days though and hard to appreciate them the last couple of times I went
In my opinion the hill in the garden can tranform you to a mountain top some where in japan. I am amazed how you can feel locked in time and space somewhere else. Do yourself a favour and visit it and if you open your mind and heart, you will be transformed to another time and space.
beautiful video
Thanks
Why is he wearing a child-size jacket? 😆
kevin have u made a plan of this site?
No I haven’t. You can google for Sydney Garden of Friendship and see an axonometric graphic of the gardens.
yikes that was awkward but i heard that chinese people dont touch each other as much as westerners, so it makes sense.