PIN UP

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.

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.