Expository texts about Ancient Chinese and Modern Architecture
Ancient Chinese Architecture:
Architecture is a forme of expressing something, its used to communicate and to demonstrate different beliefs of culture. A popular kind of architecture is Chinese. A lot of monuments in China are ancient and signify beliefs and are also there to deliver a message. Monuments like the great wall of China and many temples like the Forbidden City in Beijing represent perfectly the basics of Chinese architecture. The Chinese architectural style is very common and known around the world usually represented by the following classic techniques. An elevation of floors with a pagoda style, walls made out of wood and traditional colours such as red, brown, green and occasionally black. One of the oldest Chinese pagodas ever to exist is the Pagoda of the Fogong Temple, built in 1056 by the emperor, Daozong. Its made of wood and contains red and brown. A common characteristic in traditional Chinese buildings is that they are usually surrounded by gardens. Plants, flowers, beautiful trees and other decorations of nature are usually found on the outside of temples, pagodas and important statues. The principle rule of Chinese architecture is symmetry. In a traditional Chinese building, the number of chambers and rooms, corridors and support beams have to be identical on both sides. The only exceptions are the gardens and the main entrance door. The non symmetrical gardens represent freedom and flow in life. The two styles of construction for temples and monuments are the following. The first one is called the courtyard. Basically what a court yard is, its a technique that allows the owner to take all the space of a big property. The courtyard technique is to surround the property with a wall or a great indoor hallway. This leaves a big space in the middle to put the important thing like a monument. This technique is very effective and covers many sectors like security, it gives the important thing a layer of protection on the outside. It makes it much more pretty than just a plain field with a monument in the middle. And also the most important thing, symmetry. The second technique is called the Sky Well. A brief description of the Sky Well technique is that if there is a monument in the middle of the property. Leaving it inside a building but leaving a hole in the ceiling right over the monument. This makes it very good looking so you can see the sky over the monument. It is also a sign of respect, making it so nothing is above the monument makes it much more honorable. The characteristics of a temple of traditional Chinese building is to use Statues of Heros and gods that scare and send back evil spirits and energy. These statues are usually placed at main entrances to important rooms and buildings. Other statues are used for respect and to indicate who built it or who lived in it. These can be emperors or even gods too. Animals and fruits like bats and pomegranates represent wealth and feelings in life. A lot of pools, water streams and wells are placed in temples for decoration. Streams of water are usually placed on the outside of the building surrounding it. To conclude this text, its proven that Chinese architecture is unique and respects its traditions.
Modern Architecture:
Architecture as we know has evolved a lot. We usually see new and futuristic buildings that are simple but complex at the same time. It’s what we call modern architecture and these days, the 21th century, its very popular. Modern architecture has a way of standing out of other styles. This type of architecture was starting to trend after the Second World War. But it was formally introduced by Philip Johnson and Henry-Russel Hitchcock at the International Exhibition of Modern Architecture in 1932, which was before World War two. So what is Modern Architecture? A famous quotation by Louis Sullivan says “Form follows function” explains modern architecture style in three words. When we picture a modern building, we think of white, grey, a lot of windows, funky and smooth shapes. It almost gives the impression that who ever lives in that modern looking house is a millionaire. You can see this type of architecture usually in a developed city, where money is not a big problem for many. A good example of a building using modern architecture styles is the City of Arts and Science in Valencia. You can observe that it’s consisted of a lot of windows, painted in white and grey, has a lot of lights and is in a odd looking hill shape. Yet, it looks so simple. Another example is the National Congress in Brazil. Its white and has a lot of windows, just like the previous example. Although, this one has grass and water around it to keep the ecological feel to it. All in all, we can really observe that architecture has evolved a lot and has come to a great look, modern architecture.