ABSTRACT
The project chose Yuanlin or Chinese Garden as a regional artefact and reflected Eisenstadt's concept of “Multiple Modernities” based on distinctive geographical and cultural conditions, namely, regional characters. Yuanlin, an urban semi-private space for people to re-connect to nature for self-cultivation based on Confucian education has been one of most important space-making practices in Chinese architecture. The specific qualities of modernity given are the anachronist approaches to deconstruct and re-assemble Yuanlin to the architecture of modernity. Anachronism is inevitably a mixture of times and experiences in time. The plurality in human cognition and the teachings of Confucius imply the constant conversations of the present and the past. Based on Peng Yigang's study, permeability is central to the scheme. Each drawing represents a distinctive perspective where the philosophies of Chinese literature can be nurtured at this regional cultural-based spatial environment. The regional artefact–inspired architecture served as an attempt of modern design approach to historic architecture and landscape, an experiment of anachronist embracement on temporality, and a place to ponder, to reflect, and to abreact (Figures 24.1, 24.2, and 24.3).
