For many non-Western countries, it is crucial to consider how to preserve their traditional culture while embracing globalization. However, the integration of the two should not be a simple matter of pasting each other together, but should connect tradition to the everyday lives of contemporary people. The traditional Chinese concept of space emphasizes the individual’s subjective experience of space, thus strengthening the connection between people and space. This provides valuable insights into the problem of isolation between the individual and the environment in contemporary urban space. My article focuses on the strength of connection between people and space under the traditional Chinese concept of space and as viewed through expressions of architecture.

Traditional Chinese thinking is correlative thinking, focusing on the relationships between things rather than analysing the things themselves. As such, the traditional Chinese concept of space focuses on the transformation between spaces rather than the space itself. The specific expression of this view in architecture is that the surrounding entities around the central courtyard form a basic unit, and the various units extend horizontally. What is important is not the surrounding solid or the central void, but the transformation between solid and void. It also allows the courtyard building to be bodily experienced rather than viewed objectively. The movement of people in the alternation of solid and void creates rhythm, which is considered the most direct and powerful medium for conveying emotion. Rhythm has the magical power to integrate people and the environment, just as the rhythm of music can naturally make the human body dance to the music. The movement of people in this rhythmic line between void and solid allows time to be integrated into space, and the boundaries between spaces become blurred. When the objective rules become blurred, the subjective imagination becomes active, resulting in a rich spatial experience.

It seems clear, then, that rhythm and ambiguity, two aspects embodied in the traditional Chinese concept of space, are not outdated, but can contribute to shape liveable space in contemporary urban space. Three recently completed projects can help substantiate this view. The SHUM YIP UpperHills LOFT project connects people with architecture by creating a rhythm through four layers of contrasts. The West Village project expands its possibilities through the flexibility it embodies, allowing more potential for the future by avoiding extremes. Porosity is the main theme of Raffles City Chengdu project, the boundaries between the city environment, the surrounding buildings and central plazas are blurred, and this ambiguity weakens the hegemony of the visual and allows the human bodies to be surrounded by the project.

My research focuses on the use of the traditional Chinese concept of space in contemporary urban space which I presented at the AMPS Conference on Local Cultures-Global Spaces. I chose to publish my research in AMPS following the conference and from the attention my presentation received.

The return of tradition: a preliminary study on the integration of traditional concepts of space with contemporary Chinese urban space by Xiaoli Liu (The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand) is published in Architecture_MPS, volume 30.

Xiaoli Liu is a PhD candidate at the School of Architecture and planning, University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her research focuses on the interpretation of traditional Chinese courtyard building in the context of comparative philosophy, traditional Chinese aesthetics, phenomenology of architecture and the convergence of traditional architectural aesthetics with contemporary living.

traditional Chinese concept of space contemporary urban space art of line void solid rhythm ambiguity