traditional moderism, trado-modernism, modern traditionalism, modo-trando....

There doesn't really seem to be a snappy way to put out the idea of this traditional modern idea I wanted to briefly blog about today. I suppose I shall never be a snazzy publicist if I can't even blend words properly. But it is election results day in the UK, I can't sleep and I always like the feeling of being the only one awake at half eight on a Friday (by choice at least, I could be in uni. at the mo, but 'I'm on holiday' to quote the boy).

Anyways, the 'My Favorite Building in Nanjing' prize easily goes to this...
































I will be honest, I'm not even sure what this building is for, it's not finished yet and annoyingly the photos of the other not finished side are trapped on my camera - but will be added at a later date.

The second photo is of the opening you can see in the first photo, on the left behind the two propped up trees.

It's just something about the impossibly traditional design of the entrance, and the curved tile roof popping out of this modern block of a building, it's beautiful in real life. The old school chinese bit carries on behind the building trailing down in a series of roofs and archways managing to look like something out of a Chinese scroll painting, despite being in the middle of NJ.
I think the whole thing sort of reminded me of the Reichstag, probably my favorite bit of design ever, it's the idea of taking something traditional and rather then trying to find ways to redesign it and make it more appropriate and practical simply keeping it as it is and propping it up with a whole load of useful.

xx