Harmonizing Local Tradition and Contemporary Architecture Through Humanistic Design Phylosophy
Abstract
In recent decades, while contemporary architecture has been constantly
seeking “newness”, tradition has also regained more and more value. How to
coordinate the conflict and mutual influence between tradition and
contemporary architecture has generated a heated discussion. Humanistic
design philosophy is being uncovered its face as the answer in a new posture.
Rooted in the humanist experience, consciousness and psychological needs
of humanism, the new design approach suggested that elements of traditions
could create deeper connections between buildings and human in a context of
awareness of local history and culture. The analysis of four contemporary
cases shows how four architects conducted the significant exploration of
leading the traditions towards contemporary by focusing on presenting
human’s consciousness. Based on the research and comprehension of
humanistic design philosophy, this paper presents the author’s practices of
applying this design philosophy as a methodology of project design of
contemporary architecture. Three Chinese local projects with profound
traditional background demonstrate the design process under the humanistic
design philosophy, one of which is the masterpiece of the author, showing
more details of the design result.