<p>Shanghai's illustrious history and phenomenal future is celebrated in this book, which examines the evolution of the city's architecture and urban form in order to contextualise the challenges facing the city today. The physical legacies that reflect Shanghai's uniqueness historically and contemporarily are examined chronologically using specific case studies of exemplary architecture interwoven in a compelling narrative that unlocks the many mysteries surrounding this amazing metropolis. Some of the most influential colonial architecture in the world, outstanding examples of Modernism and Art Deco, and an exceptional selection of eclectic and vernacular architecture reflecting Shanghai's many adopted cultures are revealed. This is the first book ever to examine this remarkable subject in a manner that is both comprehensive and captivating in its written content and stunningly illustrated with over 300 archive and contemporary photographs and maps.</p>

Building Shanghai: The Story of China's Gateway

Arts & Photography

DENISON, EDWARD

Ren, Guang Yu

Architecture

Wiley-Academy

With nearly five millennia of architectural heritage, China boasts the longest continuous architectural lineage in history. A hundred years after the dawn of the 20th century, the urban landscape of the world's most populous country has now been transformed completely. The pivotal link between the ancient traditions of China's imperial past and the high-rise, glass-clad, lust-for-wealth that characterises China's 21st-century architectural aspirations is a period of modernisation that revolutionised its architectural language and urban fabric.   Despite the fact that the reach of Modernism was as effective in early 20th-century China as elsewhere in the world, China remains conspicuously absent from written histories of Modernism - as Modernism does from written histories of China. Modernism in China confronts this by investigating China's unique experience of Modernism, its remarkable variety, striking contradictions and recurrent paradoxes. Modernism in China acquired its own unique language forged from geographical, cultural, historical and political circumstances. This extensive study analyses, for the first time, the role of Modernism in the development of China's architectural and urban landscapes throughout the 20th century and, consequently, offers valuable context to the country's recent resurgence.

Modernism in China: Architectural Visions and Revolutions

History

Asia

wiley

<p>Unlocking the history of the British home, this book reveals how its layout has evolved from the Stone Age to the present day. From modest ancient dwellings and medieval merchants' houses to imposing stately mansions and modern urban estates, the book explores the forces that have shaped these homes. Each chapter brings these ideas to life by focusing on buildings that are accessible and open to the public. Featured homes include: the Tudor mansions of Cowdray and Burghley House; and the grand Georgian terraces of London, Bath and Brighton.</p>

The Life of the British Home: An Architectural History

Luke Him Sau/Lu Qianshou (1904–1991) is best known internationally and in China as the architect of the iconic Bank of China Headquarters in Shanghai. One of the first Chinese students to be trained at the Architectural Association in London in the late 1920s, Luke’s long, prolific and highly successful career in China and Hong Kong offers unique insights into an extraordinary period of Chinese political turbulence that scuppered the professional prospects and historical recognition of so many of his colleagues. Global interest in China has risen exponentially in recent times, creating an appetite for the country’s history and culture. This book satiates this by providing a highly engaging and visual account of China’s 20th-century architecture through the lens of one of the country’s most distinguished yet overlooked designers. It features over 250 new colour photographs by Edward Denison of Luke’s buildings and original archive material. The book charts Luke’s life and work, commencing with his childhood in colonial Hong Kong and his apprenticeship with a British architectural firm before focusing on his education at the Architectural Association (1927–30). In London, Luke was offered the post of Head of the Architecture Department at the newly established Bank of China, where IM Pei’s father was a senior figure. Luke spent the next seven years in the inimitable city of Shanghai designing buildings all over China for the Bank before the Japanese invasion in 1937 forced him, and countless others, to flee to the proxy wartime capital of Chongqing. In 1945 he returned to Shanghai where he formed a partnership with four other Chinese graduates of UK universities; but civil war (between the Communists and Nationalists) once again caused him and others to uproot in 1949. Initially intent on fleeing with the Nationalists to Taiwan, Luke was almost convinced to stay in Communist China but decided finally to move to Hong Kong. There, for the third time in his life, he had to establish his career all over again. Despite many challenges, he eventually prospered, becoming a pioneer in the design of private residences, schools, hospitals, chapels and public housing.

Luke Him Sau, Architect: China's Missing Modern

Asmara: Africa's Secret Modernist City

Asmara, the capital of the small east African country of Eritrea, bordering the Red Sea, is one of the most important and exciting architectural 'discoveries' of recent years. Built almost entirely in the 1930s by the Italians, Asmara has one of the highest concentrations of modernist architecture anywhere in the world, and has evocatively been described as "the Miami of Africa." Desperate to build quickly, the colonial government of the time allowed radical architectural experimentation that would not have found favour in the more conservative European environment. Asmara therefore became one of the world's prime locations for architectural innovation during the Modern Movement. That this occurred at all is remarkable enough, but that these buildings should have survived in such numbers today makes it one of the finest modernist cities in the world. This building-by-building survey, illustrated with rare archival material and specially commissioned photographs, is a groundbreaking publication that is set to become one of the most important new books on modernist architecture of recent years.

Travel

Gebremedhin, Naigzy

Africa

Merrell Pub Ltd

Merrell Publishers

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Books by Ren, Guang Yu