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.