Beyond perspectival vision: case studies of Wang Shu’s landscape painting-inspired parallel projection drawings

Extract

Despite the growing body of literature on Chinese architecture, contemporary Chinese architects’ critical approaches to drawing have received little scrutiny. To address this research gap, this essay examines the 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate Wang Shu’s creative uses of modern parallel projection methods. The essay focuses on Wang’s specific drawing strategies that have allowed him to reconcile the disengaged mode of seeing that is engrained in parallel projection with the immersive spectatorship that traditional Chinese landscape painting epitomises.

First, through a literature review, this paper highlights Wang’s observations regarding the a-perspectival nature of Chinese landscape painting. Rather than being a perspectival window for the disengaged gaze, the landscape painting invites viewers to inhabit the pictorial space. Second, through comparative studies of selected cases, this essay investigates how Wang’s acknowledgement of the landscape painting’s a-perspectival traits has influenced his specific strategies when using parallel projection methods. The examined cases include Wang’s drawings for the Chen Mo Art Studio (Haiyan, 1998), the Tengtou Pavilion (Shanghai, 2009-10), and the Xiangshan Campus of the China Academy of Art Phases I and II (Hangzhou, 2002-08).

The essay concludes by highlighting significant changes in Wang’s later parallel projection drawings. Wang’s work has increasingly delineated architectural terrains as sensory topographies to foster viewers’ time-bound immersive spectatorships. Moreover, when serving his architectural ideas, Wang’s drawings have transcended the geometric representation of depth by implying spaces that exceed the limits of projection drawings. By examining his drawings, this essay sheds light on a salient yet underexamined aspect of Wang’s architectural undertakings. By investigating in-depth case studies of contemporary Chinese architectural drawings, this essay takes a crucial step towards a better understanding of this hitherto understudied domain.