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ChinaGSD
Issue 02: Academic Panel
City as a Palimpsest:
Learning from the Regeneration of Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai
城市作为重写本:以上海外滩美术馆为例
“ A palimpsest (/ˈ pælɪ mpsɛ st/) is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document. ”
“重写本 (Palimpsest) ,指在擦除较早的笔迹后,可供一次或多次使用的笔记载体。在羊皮纸短缺时,旧的文献会被擦 除,以为新文献腾出空间。”
As the outward growth of our cities begin to slow down, urban regeneration and adaptive reuse have emerged as critical architec tural and social practices in recent years. Such shift has prompted us to seek for methods of urban regeneration that acknowledge the diachronic nature of the city, one that understands our environment as an evolving palimpsest on which we continue to write. From factories abandoned due to industrial transformation, to historical buildings repurposed through century-long upheavals, these sites of urban regeneration serve as our precious refuge from the rapid changes of the city. In a contemporary world of universal civilization, the complex layers of history that inform these spaces might offer a certain ground for the exploration of “resistance” to the irresistible commodification of our environment.
当城市在其领域外围恣意地蚕食着新地界的同时,位于原始城区内某些难以触及的角落却不幸陷入了“死水”的困境。近年 来,随着城市向外扩张的趋势有所放缓,我们不难发现都市内部的新旧交替成为了城市进一步发展的重要基点。纯粹物理空 间上的扩张与提升已不再能满足市民对都市空间的需求,大众将更多的关注转向了在急促的城市发展中得以幸存的社区历史 与文化特征,而对老建筑的保护与改造便是其中重要的介入手法之一。
The second panel of ChinaGSD 2020-2021 academic panel series seeks to open up a cross-discipline conversation on the cur rent scene of urban regeneration in China, examining, with a critical eye, the metabolism of our cities throughout time, and the challenges and opportunities that emerge when considering the various stakeholders involved. The conversation will anchor on the adaptive reuse case of Rockbund Art Museum(RAM) in Shanghai. The architecture that houses RAM now was first built as the home to Royal Artistic Society(RAS) during the concession era, and was later appropriated as the Shanghai Museum. In 1952, it was repurposed into the stacks for Shanghai Library, and in 2007, architect David Chipperfield was invited to renovate the building as a venue for public art education and the home to Rockbund Art Museum. As a historical building that has witnessed the vicissitudes of Shanghai in the past century, the architecture of RAM continues to evolve as a palimpsest and generate urban vibrancy.
上海外滩美术馆所在的建筑原为亚洲文会大楼,也是上海博物院的旧址,1952年以后又成为了上海图书馆的书库,最终于 2007年由David Chipperfield翻修改造,成为了一个公共艺术教育的容器,与社区发生着新的互动,留下了新的痕迹。这种城 市形态和集体记忆的叠加就如同17世纪被人们用来反复书写的羊皮卷重写本(Palimpsest),而建筑、街道和公共空间被翻新 再造进而重新利用的过程,其本质上也是类叠历史的见证。
This panel intends to bring together the various stakeholders that have participated in the regeneration process of Rockbund Art Museum -- architects, museum operators, artists, development companies, and the local community. What is each stakeholder’s role throughout the collaborative process of urban regeneration? What are their pursuits and what is the interplay between their different pursuits? As designers, planners, and artists, how should we address sites that have been overlaid with complex historical information? As cultural institutions, what agencies do museums have in facilitating the conversation between “old” and “new”? As citizens and members of our community, how do we voice our needs and actively contribute to reviving our neighborhoods? Therefore, through piecing together the local perspectives of each stakeholder and digging into the diachronic layers of an indi vidual building, we hope the discussion will render a cross-discipline conversation on the current practice of urban regeneration in China.
然而,城市空间品质的改善并不仅仅是一纸规划,它需要来自政策规划者、设计师、地产开发方以及城市居民作为空间使用 者的多方参与。因此,本次论坛将以圆桌会议的形式,以外滩美术馆改造项目为基点,邀请参与到项目中的建筑师、运营 方、艺术家、开放商以及社区民众,从各自相对微观的视角出发,探讨在多元机制下的城市更新项目中“新”与“旧”的碰 撞与融合。建筑师如何进行根植于场地与文化的观察与改造?美术馆如何通过策展和社区参与性的艺术项目为空间叠加新的 肌理?而作为城市空间改造的介入者,我们应该以怎样的姿态理解这些等待被改写的空间?各方参与者如何在本就错综繁 复、逐级递进的设计过程中交集碰撞?艺术家的参与能否为延续社区价值和文化属性带来更多的松弛度,为城市注入新的质 感和维度?因此,本次论坛旨在融汇各方的切身视角,挖掘单个建筑在新旧交替中形成的层层脉络,为当前中国城市的更新 实践搭建起跨领域对话的机会。

Schedule 论坛时间
Date and Time
Friday April 16th, 2021 8:00-10:30 pm CST
Friday April 16th, 2021 8:00-10:30 am EST
Friday April 16th, 2021 2:00-4:30 pm CET
Agenda
8:00-8:10 :Introduction
8:10-9:30 :Panelist Presentation
9:40-10:10 :Panel Discussion
10:10-10:30 :Q&A
HOW TO JOIN
| Zoom |
https://harvard.zoom.us/j/95949647200?pwd=WHhvNXRMNzRNZFB0WDFpNmQvVHRmZz09
Meeting ID: 959 4964 7200
Password: 094056
| YouTube |
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvkjwXzhhqr78be1Fo3JUwQ?disable_polymer=true
| Bilibili |
http://live.bilibili.com/22546225
Panelists 嘉宾
David Chipperfield
Principal Architect, David Chipperfield Architects
David Chipperfield studied architecture at the Kingston School of Art and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London before founding his own practice in 1985. He has built a design methodology that is now used across four offices in London, Berlin, Milan and Shanghai.
David Chipperfield is a member of the Royal Institute of Brit ish Architects and an honorary fellow of both the American Institute of Architects and the Bund Deutscher Architekten. In 2011 he received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architec ture, and in 2013, the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association, both given in recognition of a lifetime’s work. He was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for his services to architecture in 2021. In addition to design work, David Chipperfield has taught and lectured at schools of architecture worldwide. In 2012 he curated the 13th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale under the title Common Ground. David Chipperfield has published numerous books and arti cles, including On Planning – A Thought Experiment (2018), a publication that explores and theorises the urban qualities of contemporary urban developments. He was the 2020 guest editor of Italian design magazine Domus.
Alex Krieger
Professor of Urban Design at Harvard GSD,
Princi pal at NBBJ
Alex Krieger is the Professor of Urban Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and principal at NBBJ, a global ar chitecture and planning firm. He has directed urban design and urban waterfront projects in American and internation al cities, including the reconstruction of the Bund in Shang hai. Former chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design, Director of the Urban Design Degree Programs, and the Director of the NEA Mayor’s Institute on City Design, he remains an advisor to mayors and their planning staffs, and serves on a number of boards and commissions, includ ing the U. S. Fine Arts Commission, appointed by President Obama in 2013.
Hou Hanru
International curator, critic and prolific writer
Hou Hanru is based in Paris and currently in Rome where he has been Artis tic Director of MAXXI, Italy’s National Museum of 21st Century Arts, since 2013. Over the past two decades, he has been sin gled out for his progressive vision in trying to break free from preconceived, standard concepts. “I always look for things that are not so easily definable,” he says. Born in Guangzhou, China, Hou graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and moved to Paris in 1990.
After 16 years work ing as an independent curator and critic, he moved to the US and became Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs and Chair of Exhibitions and Museum Studies at the San Francisco Art Institute, positions he held until 2012. During the course of his career, he has curated and co-curated more than 100 exhibitions at leading institutions and events around the world.
Hou also consults for and advises numerous cultural institutions, serves on arts juries, lectures at international in stitutions, guest edits art journals and is the author of many articles and books, including On the Mid-Ground (Timezone 8, 2002), Paradigm Shifts, Water and Mcbean Galleries Exhibitions and Public Programs, San Francisco Art Institute, 2006-2011, Curatorial Challenges: Correspondences between Hou Hanru and Hans-Ulrich Obrist (2013). A consulting curator for New York’s Guggenheim Museum since 2015, he is also a found ing member of Guggenheim’s Asian Art Council, a curatorial think tank. He’s a member of Rockbund Art Museum Advisory Committee and has curated projects as By Day, By Night, or some (special) things a museum can do (2010) and Chen Zhen: Without going to New York and Paris, life could be international-ized (2015) for RAM.
Liu Yingjiu
Deputy Director of Rockbund Art Museum
Liu Yingjiu is Deputy Director at Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai. His career covers a wide range of professional areas in the museum, including curation, education, visitor experi- ence, development and administrative management. He had curated and co-ordinated many exhibitions, includ ing Song Dong: I don’t know the mandate of the Heaven (2017), Cai Guo-Qiang: Peasant Da Vinci’s (2010), and 2010 Zeng Fan zhi (2010) at Rockbund Art Museum, as well as Paula Moder- sohn-Becker (2016), Immendorff (2005) and Fresh Eyes (series, 2005-2007) at He Xiangning Art Museum in Shenzhen. He had conceived and organized numerous education projects in the museum. He organized academic conferences such as “Audiences” international conference (2017, with Himalaya Museum), “Asia Art Mutations: 1st Hugo Boss Asia Art Confer ence” (2013) and “Education in contemporary art museum in China” international conference and workshop (2012). He holds degrees in Archaeology and Museum Studies. He has participated in and contributed to many professional train ings, exchanges and conferences in museum education and management. In 2018, he was selected to the International Visitors Leadership Program by the State Office of the United States.
International curator, critic and prolific writer
Hou Hanru is based in Paris and currently in Rome where he has been Artis tic Director of MAXXI, Italy’s National Museum of 21st Century Arts, since 2013. Over the past two decades, he has been sin gled out for his progressive vision in trying to break free from preconceived, standard concepts. “I always look for things that are not so easily definable,” he says. Born in Guangzhou, China, Hou graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and moved to Paris in 1990.
After 16 years work ing as an independent curator and critic, he moved to the US and became Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs and Chair of Exhibitions and Museum Studies at the San Francisco Art Institute, positions he held until 2012. During the course of his career, he has curated and co-curated more than 100 exhibitions at leading institutions and events around the world.
Hou also consults for and advises numerous cultural institutions, serves on arts juries, lectures at international in stitutions, guest edits art journals and is the author of many articles and books, including On the Mid-Ground (Timezone 8, 2002), Paradigm Shifts, Water and Mcbean Galleries Exhibitions and Public Programs, San Francisco Art Institute, 2006-2011, Curatorial Challenges: Correspondences between Hou Hanru and Hans-Ulrich Obrist (2013). A consulting curator for New York’s Guggenheim Museum since 2015, he is also a found ing member of Guggenheim’s Asian Art Council, a curatorial think tank. He’s a member of Rockbund Art Museum Advisory Committee and has curated projects as By Day, By Night, or some (special) things a museum can do (2010) and Chen Zhen: Without going to New York and Paris, life could be international-ized (2015) for RAM.
Liu Yingjiu
Deputy Director of Rockbund Art Museum
Liu Yingjiu is Deputy Director at Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai. His career covers a wide range of professional areas in the museum, including curation, education, visitor experi- ence, development and administrative management. He had curated and co-ordinated many exhibitions, includ ing Song Dong: I don’t know the mandate of the Heaven (2017), Cai Guo-Qiang: Peasant Da Vinci’s (2010), and 2010 Zeng Fan zhi (2010) at Rockbund Art Museum, as well as Paula Moder- sohn-Becker (2016), Immendorff (2005) and Fresh Eyes (series, 2005-2007) at He Xiangning Art Museum in Shenzhen. He had conceived and organized numerous education projects in the museum. He organized academic conferences such as “Audiences” international conference (2017, with Himalaya Museum), “Asia Art Mutations: 1st Hugo Boss Asia Art Confer ence” (2013) and “Education in contemporary art museum in China” international conference and workshop (2012). He holds degrees in Archaeology and Museum Studies. He has participated in and contributed to many professional train ings, exchanges and conferences in museum education and management. In 2018, he was selected to the International Visitors Leadership Program by the State Office of the United States.
Dai Ming
PhD of Architecture, Tongji University, National Registered Urban Planner
Dai Ming is the director of the Shanghai Urban Planning Verifying Center. He has been engaged in the conservation of urban historical and cultur al heritage and land resources management in the Shanghai Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Administration for a long time. Participated successively in the formulation of Shanghai’s Historical and Cultural Heritage Conservation Regulations, the establishment of Shanghai’s historical and cultural heritage conservation committees and expert com mittees, the organization and formulation of Shanghai’s his torical and cultural heritage zoning and protection plans, and the review of Shanghai historical and cultural heritage con servation and regeneration projects such as the Bund heri tage architectures regeneration Project.
Dingliang Yang
Instructor in Urban Planning and Designat the Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Yang received his Master of Architecture in Urban Design degree and Doctor of design degree at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He is the author of Townization: In Search of New Paradigm of Urbanization in China (Springer, forthcoming 2019), Urban Grids: Handbook for Regular City Design (ORO, 2018), Zhengzhou: From A Rail-City to A Metro-Polis (AR+D, forthcoming 2019), Savannah: Rethinking the Multi-Scalar Ca pacity of the City Project (Mariscal, 2018).
He is an architect, urban designer, and the founding partner of VARY Design. His works are interdisciplinary and dedicated to critical research and cross-scale innovative design as re sponses to different urban issues during cities’ developments and regenerations. His works also have been widely pub lished in media including Archdaily, Dezeen, Archinect, and Architectural Review, as well as exhibited in the Venice Bien nale, Beijing International Art Biennale, Beijing Design Week, China International Architectural Decoration and Design Art Fair, Shanghai Urban Space Art Season (SUSAS) and Architec ture and Design Museum in Los Angeles.
PhD of Architecture, Tongji University, National Registered Urban Planner
Dai Ming is the director of the Shanghai Urban Planning Verifying Center. He has been engaged in the conservation of urban historical and cultur al heritage and land resources management in the Shanghai Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Administration for a long time. Participated successively in the formulation of Shanghai’s Historical and Cultural Heritage Conservation Regulations, the establishment of Shanghai’s historical and cultural heritage conservation committees and expert com mittees, the organization and formulation of Shanghai’s his torical and cultural heritage zoning and protection plans, and the review of Shanghai historical and cultural heritage con servation and regeneration projects such as the Bund heri tage architectures regeneration Project.
Dingliang Yang
Instructor in Urban Planning and Designat the Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Yang received his Master of Architecture in Urban Design degree and Doctor of design degree at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He is the author of Townization: In Search of New Paradigm of Urbanization in China (Springer, forthcoming 2019), Urban Grids: Handbook for Regular City Design (ORO, 2018), Zhengzhou: From A Rail-City to A Metro-Polis (AR+D, forthcoming 2019), Savannah: Rethinking the Multi-Scalar Ca pacity of the City Project (Mariscal, 2018).
He is an architect, urban designer, and the founding partner of VARY Design. His works are interdisciplinary and dedicated to critical research and cross-scale innovative design as re sponses to different urban issues during cities’ developments and regenerations. His works also have been widely pub lished in media including Archdaily, Dezeen, Archinect, and Architectural Review, as well as exhibited in the Venice Bien nale, Beijing International Art Biennale, Beijing Design Week, China International Architectural Decoration and Design Art Fair, Shanghai Urban Space Art Season (SUSAS) and Architec ture and Design Museum in Los Angeles.
Collaborator:
ChinaGSD Executive Board
PINUP Chief:
何牧 Clara He & 汪子京 Tommy Wang
PINUP issue_02 Planning Lead:
罗西若 Xiruo Luo & 闫雨 Delta Yan
PINUP Media Lead:
吴丹馨 Bella Wu
PINUP Media:
高盛枫 Shengfeng Gao,马骁尧 Xiaoyao Ma,施云子 Yunzi Shi,汪宸宇 Claire Wang,秦瑜 Qin Yu
Panel Organization Team:
陈一诺 Eno Chen,何牧 Clara He, 罗西若 Xiruo Luo, 唐艺窈 Yiyao Tang, 王玮晨 Weichen Wang, 汪子京 Tommy Wang, 闫雨 Delta Yan, 张国力 Guoli Zhang, 张世奇 Shiqi Zhang
2021 | ChinaGSD