Reading: Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China

This is the book I've been reading for the past two weeks. Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, which is written by
Peter G. Rowe and Seng Kuan.

Peter G.Rowe is the former Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he is Raymond Garbe Professor of Architecture and Urban Design.
Seng Kuan is a graduate student at Harvard University and the founding editor of the Harvard Asia Pacific Review.


This book is a really good start for the first part of my research, which is based on the question: how should China weight between traditionalism and modernism in its current architectural design practice. This book provides a comprehensive survey on the social, historical and political factors that influence the development of Chinese modern architecture since the 1840 Opium War.

I like the neural way the book ends: the gap between "essence" and "form" should be filled by specific social context.

More information about the book is on the MIT press website: http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=8768