Meeting the country's construction demands has come at the expense of architectural identity, according to Philip Yuan, founder of the firm Archi-Union Architects. "It's a kind of copy and paste process," Yuan says of the repetitive, nondescript buildings found in Chinese cities. "It's a pity, (because by) building too fast, we lose tradition and identity of what China should be."
Instead of producing more cookie-cutter tower blocks, the Chinese architect has been exploring experimental new approaches to construction. His techniques, which include the use of digital fabrication and robotics, could offer a new way to produce sophisticated buildings in shorter timeframes. In the case of the Chi She Gallery in Shanghai, a robotic arm was used to lay an intricate, rippled brick facade to a level of precision unattainable by humans...
