According to Brian Carter,
professor and former Dean of UB’s School of Architecture and Planning, Li
Xiaodong, a rising star in the world of Chinese architecture, was so determined to
visit Buffalo during his brief stay in the U.S. that in the face of hurricane
Sandy, the storm that has devastated the east coast, he and Leslie, his wife, rented a
car and drove to Buffalo in heavy rain where they were housed in the Martin
House gardener’s cottage and dined in the George Barton House. It all made
perfect sense when, in his presentation at UB he outlined the recent history of
Chinese architecture and his emerging place within it. By studying first in
China, then in Holland, then working in Shanghai where he watched the feverish
race to import American and European architects to build entire high-rise
cities virtually overnight, Li sensed the loss of significant chunks of Chinese
culture and a need for an authentic, regionally-based, sustainable
architecture. His Liyuan Library,
glass-enclosed and sun-shaded by thousands of salvaged sticks, is designed to
draw cool air off a nearby pool in the summer. The interior tiered hall reveals
its timber structure with a hint, perhaps, of Wright’s Larkin Building. Li’s School Bridge for the village of
Pinghe (2008-9) won an Aga Kahn Award for its multiple functions as school,
stage, playground, and bridge all of which connect two ancient round castles to
form a new civic core for the village.
Given the obvious affinity to Wright’s concern for the nature of
materials, we think Li Xiaodong and Leslie slept happily in the gardener’s cottage.
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| Interior Liyuan Library by Li Xiaodong |
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| School Bridge, Pinghe, China, 2008-9 by Li Xiaodong |
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| Frank Lloyd Wright, David and Gladys Wright House, Phoenix, AZ, 1950 |
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