Transparent - Schüco

centre. Volkswagen is located in Anting;
therefore we have designed an international
automotive town, to include office buildings
and a Formula 1 track, which is already under
construction. The municipal authorities are
hopeful that these less attractive satellites
will acquire a German, Italian or American
character. We are planning a German town,
but this does not mean that German towns
will be built all over China. Only the principles
that we are using there, such as saving
resources, improving quality of life and public
spaces, could be transferred to other building
projects. This is not just a question of form,
but also of content. In Anting, all apartments
must be saleable. So it cannot be like a
European town. However, the fact that the
town has a centre with shops, the town hall or
maybe a hotel around it; that is acceptable.
What makes the discussion about China so
very difficult is the size of the country and
its richly varied cultures and landscapes.
Shanghai consists of many very different
districts and period buildings that can be
partly retained. Much has been destroyed,
especially during the ten years of cultural
revolution. On the other hand, it is not
possible to preserve everything in this vast
country. The sanitary and social conditions for
example in the Pudong areas may be iconic in
some ways, but they are also unacceptable in
this day and age.
Eine Auseinandersetzung mit regionalen
Formen findet in China äußerst selten
statt. Ist dieser Umstand seinem Streben
nach Internationalität geschuldet?
Einige der jungen chinesischen Büros, mit
denen wir kooperieren, haben sich sehr
intensiv mit europäischer Architektur auseinander
gesetzt, andere beschäftigen sich
mit chinesischer Architektur. Aufsehen erregt
man nur, wenn man etwas Internationales
macht. Zudem gibt es regional völlig unterschiedliche
Strukturen und Vorbilder. Wobei
die halbstaatlichen Designinstitute nach wie
vor dominieren – ohne die auch wir nicht
arbeiten könnten. Ausländische Architekten
dürfen in China nur bis zur Konzeptionsphase
arbeiten. Die Genehmigungsplanung
ist chinesischen Büros vorbehalten und das
sind sehr professionelle Designinstitute, die
mit modernster Computerausstattung zum
Teil auch sehr gute Sachen entwerfen.
Die Fragen stellte Enrico Santifaller, Frankfurt a. Main/D
Discussions on regional forms are
extremely rare in China. Does the blame
for this situation lie in its striving for
internationalism?
Some of the young Chinese offices that we
work with have carried out in-depth studies of
European architecture, whilst others concern
themselves with Chinese architecture. One
only gains attention through being active
internationally. In addition there are entirely
different regional structures and models;
the partly State-owned design institutes
dominate as before, but without them we
couldn’t function. Foreign architects are
only allowed to work in China up to the
design phase. Planning approval is reserved
for Chinese offices, and these are very
professional design institutes, which create
very good designs using the most up-to-date
computer facilities.
Professor Albert Speer was talking to Enrico Santifaller,
Frankfurt a. Main/D
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