Higashi Honganji is one of the two dominant sub-sects of shin buddhism in japan, and contains one of the world's largest wooden buildings -- Amidado Hall, where the image of the buddha is enshrined. Presently, it is under renovation and the entire hall building is encapsulated within a huge white metallic tent for repair and restoration. High steel scaffolding and working platforms are constructed around the temple, without violating the interior space of the temple and at the same time drawing reference to the tectonics of the existing temple; the slots and panels of the roof, perforated facade, and even the steel columns (carefully wrapped with wood planks) seem to recreate and emulate the structure it encloses, taking up the shape of the structure, while hiding the chaotic repairs taking place in the inside. Like the original structure itself, it is more extravagant in the interior. Not only is the mega tent a protective shed-- a box for a box, and a functional supplement to the original structure, it also becomes a symbol of grandeur and scale of the temple. It is an attempt to update the identity of the temple that is under renovation, employing modern building technologies and aesthetics.

survival strategy iv - elevation

consider the two skylines shown above; the first is of beijing, in particular the area around the forbidden city, the second is of shanghai, in particular the puxi area. each is an example of a contemporary chinese city, yet there seems to be few similarities between the two images. why is this so?

in beijing, buildings in the immediate vicinity of the forbidden city are prohibited from exceeding a certain height, presumably so as not to diminish the forbidden city's grandeur. as a result, the skyline here is kept low and flat, gradually getting higher with increasing distance from the forbidden city. thus, central beijing's flat skyline - governed by the state - and the "oldness" or "permanence" of the forbidden city affirm beijing's status as the political centre of china. on the other hand, shanghai's plethora of eclectic architecture seems to follow no rules whatsoever. the ups and downs in the skyline are representative the city's status as an global economic powerhouse, with each skyscraper a monument to western capitalism, and the skyline as a whole appearing almost as a graph of the shanghai stock exchange. shanghai is a fickle city, whose rapidly and constantly mutating urban fabric is driven not by sure-fire politics but rather by volatile economics.

thus, we can use a city's elevation (skyline) as an indicator of status.

Nanchizi Beijing

Nanchizi is an old neighborhood that is located southeast of The Forbidden City in Beijing. It is located in the Dong Cheng district. Nanchizi was an essential location for the everyday life of the Siheyuans (One-story courtyard traditional Beijing houses). Nanchizi was point out as a main conservation location in the year 2000, and the idea was to renovate old Siheyuan style houses and replaced them with modern buildings that try to imitate the typology of the old Siheyuan, this by conserving its original plan layout and extrude it vertically to make new two-story buildings.

"It's so cute!"

“It’s so cute!” It is the usual expression when girls or children see something that is really adorable, such as a dog. Recently, girls and children started to become the target of the whole tourist industry, since they cover a huge portion of the usual tourist crowd. Therefore, cartoon-ization becomes a really important commercial strategy to attract the attention of the tourist crowd during their visit. A cute cartoon mascot is designed for everything, starting from the Olympic dolls, World Expo’s Haibao, and Xi-an Expo’s Chang-An Flower Doll. Cartoonized icons can be seen everywhere on the tourist route. Those icons were printed and manufactured onto different items, which range from a small eraser to a large bike.

Even architecture cannot escape this popular trend. In Kyoto, it was discovered that the famous Kyoto Tower is turned into this cartoonized mascot. The mascot was designed using the shape of the Kyoto Tower as its head and body, with alternation on proportion to make it looks “cuter”. Enormous glittering eyes and a weird funny looking “o” shaped mouth was added to give Kyoto Tower some cute facial expression. Young crowd of tourist were taking picture with the big mascot doll standing at the entrance to Kyoto Tower. It might be funny to a lot of people, but this method of objectifying a structure in a more abstract way successfully capture the popular trend and the immerging group of younger tourist crowd as a commercial strategy.

Spectacular Reinforcement

Performance in architecture frequently involves the use of spectacle as a means of drawing attention to itself. Similar to the attraction of nocturnal insects to sources of light, the use of spectacles produces a rhythmic, predictable cycle that integrates the landmark or site into the routine and conscious of the end-user. This imparts a social use and significance to the cultural landmark, which under ordinary circumstances, would likely function strictly as a touristic object.

The Wild Goose Pagoda in XiAn offers a comprehensive example of such performances. The pagoda experiences, during low season, sparce attendance at best. However, at night, the great park that lies just north of it erupts in an elaborate fountain show that involves the use of 1124 frequency converters, 3300 colored lamps, and 2000 nozzles in total. It is during this daily event that the pagoda experiences its greatest volume of visitors, most of which are local residents, which establishes this fountain show as not just an isolated spectacle for tourists, but also a regular feature in the lives of the denizens of XiAn, and an essential diurnal episode in the life of the city. It keeps the pagoda constanly in the vision of the city and its inhabitants, aiding to prevent the Tang Dynasty monument from ostracization.

Religion and Architectural Siting

Architecture is always an important aspect and representation of religious ideology, such as the Nodre Dame de Paris in France and Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. These religious structures were first built to declare the regime and demonstrate the power of the belief. Religious pilgrims from the past used these structures as the milestones of pilgrimage, which these massive architectural masterpieces all transformed into the most significant landmark that symbolize the spirit of the nation. Nowadays, religious pilgrims are not the only crowd that inhabits the sacred religious space; crowd of tourists even outnumbered the religious pilgrims.

Two very interesting examples are the Great Mosque in Xian, China, and the Honganji Buddhist Temple (本願寺) in Kyoto, Japan. Honganji is properly sited few blocks away from the Kyoto main station. Wide main roads developed around the whole complex on all four side of the gated wall. Clear entrance way can be found located on the main road of Kyoto, where everyone passes by every day. The surrounding structures are not very dense with a lot of greenery space to prevent noise, messiness and disorder. Totally different from Honganji, the example of the Great Mosque in Xian is located in the busiest market district in the whole city. In order to get to the entrance of the Mosque, one must navigate through series of narrow streets with shops, restaurants and bars on both sides. The atmosphere is extremely lively, with the noise from the shops, the smells of the local foods, and the trashes and the messiness from the markets.

These two extreme examples both demonstrate the present day religious structures with different site and typological settings. They each took a different approach, either to adapt to their religious ideology, where Islamic is all about seeking the tranquility in the mess; and Buddhist is about solemn and tranquil, or simply just a tourist attraction strategy. Both religious structures gain their glorious success to survive through ages. With their unique setting and siting typology, the structures are successfully objectified and monumentalized. But to the devoted believer, these spaces are always their best escape, where they can find their meaning of life.

Kiyomizu-dera Temple

The importance of this temple is tied to its siting at the base of a famous waterfall, thought to prevent illness. The main hall is oriented to follow the flow of water, and many of the surrounding structures are just additions or extensions built in the last 20 years, and do not follow this siting. A priest of Nara built this temple complex in 794 at the base of Mt. Otowa, and it survived until 1629, when it was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt by the shogun in 1633, in the traditional Japanese style (without nails). The siting of this religious structure near this famous waterfall brings many people to drink from it.

Kiyomizu is a well-known temple in Kyoto because of its natural setting/waterfall. It overlooks the city as the complex situates itself above the city and into the mountain. In fact, the journey to the temple is all uphill, contributing the feeling of procession and destination.