ZHANG Li

Gate - Way

ZHANG Li

Entrances are usually also called "gateways".There are two assumptions embedded in this: I/At any entrance, a gate (or a door) is indispensable to mark the boundary between the inside and the outside of a building (or a building complex). II/ そis gate (or door) is different from all the other gates (or doors). It is the prime one.

Yet the concept of gateway doesn't represent the variety of understandings about entrances in full.In fact, different cultures have produced different prototypes for entrances. A comparative reading of LI Yu's Xian Qing Ou Ji of the 17th century and Laugier's An Essay on Architecture of the 18th century can generate some interesting findings.In Xian Qing Ou Ji, in the chapter on buildings,under the title "Gateways", LI Yu discussed both the functional convenience and the aesthetic experience of getting between the inside and the outside.He stated that "For convenience, you'd make the shortcut. For beauty, you'd make a negotiating path."Obviously, to him, it is desirable to actually extend and enlarge the spatial experience of inside-outside trespasses. In An Essay on Architecture however,in Chapter One, under the title "V Windows and Doors", Laugier was clear in concluding that doors(including gates or entrances) only "incidentally enter the composition of an architectural Order", and they"must never encroach on the essential parts". Thus,to a door (or a gate), its spatial experience is nowhere closely compared to its function in terms of relevance to the meaning of a building.

Modernists had great power to bring things to sameness, including the understandings of entrances under different cultures. In Towards a New Architecture, in the chapter of そree Reminders to Architects, Le Corbusier continued the tradition of conceding the uniqueness of entrances to the coherence of whole, only changing the dominating order from a defined architecture Order to a functional plan. Entrances are indeed only starting elements in this new order of functional plans.Modernist followers didn't hesitate to carry out this belief in massive numbers. In most modernist buildings around the world, entrances are made to be purely functional, no more than a visible door plus an overhanging awning. Technological evolution did change this formula a bit though, albeit only with the addition of more railings and ramps for the physically disabled. Non-functional components continued to be banned at entrances. The aesthetic value of the entrance experience was further weakened.

After the end of modernism, we've seen a return to gateway idea of the entrance, in which the spatial experience potential is explored and expressed. It is worth noting that all these exploration and expression are built upon one basic operation: to extend/expand the prototype of a gate into something bigger and larger in both space and time. Almost as proofs of LI Yu's "for beauty, you'd make a negotiating path", all these explorations and expressions play the inside-outside trespass in slowmotion, rede fi ning the concept of a gate.

In this special edition, we've collected examples of such redinfitions. Judging by the level to which the gate prototype is extended or expanded, we may categorise these examples in three groups.

The fi rst group expands a gate into the entirety of a wall. The traditional feature of an entrance or a gateway is weakened, while being replaced by the folding, opening and retracting or a mechanic wall. In Origin Architects' Culture and Creative Park in Beijing Offset Printing Factory, the main theatre building features a wall that can be retracted in full. Packed with technologies and designs, this wall dramatically ampli fi es the perception of the entrance space.

The second group expands a gate into an ambiguous space within a building or a building complex. The traditional feature of an entrance of a gateway is completely deconstructed, while the entrance re-incarnates into an independent 3D space marked by explicit or implicit boundaries. In Guardati Arquitecto's Casa M, a big rectangular overhang and a horizontal guiding wall depicts a quasi-box space,marking the existence of the entrance. In Wuyang Architecture's Long House among Pine Trees, an excessively sized bridge and staircase elongates the entrance area, giving a zoomed-in effect on the insideoutside transfer. In SANAA's 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, all the residual spaces between the circular outline and the boxes inside are part of the free- fl owing buffer after the gate, giving the entrance space a sprawling time lapse.

The third group, which is also the most radical,expands a gate into a whole building or a whole complex. The massing of the building (or the complex)is designed in such a way that it becomes a gigantic tunnel linking different parts of the dense urban surroundings. Here, the traditional feature of an entrance of a gateway is marginalised to a nonsequitur, while what matters instead is the urbanscale connection that the whole building (complex)is offering. In Steven Holl Architects' CapitaLand Raffles in Chengdu, the signature strategy (or to be more precise, idiosyncrasy) of the architect is again represented in full. Huge negative volumes eating through the entirety of the building complex, trying to bringing urbanity across the border between the public and the private. Such a treatment can be strong in its narrative, but lacks in its human connection. In contrast, MVRDV's Market Hall in Rotterdam is even more radical than the Raffles in Chengdu. The entire building is one single diagram, forming a gargantuan arch connecting the noisy market street near the metro station and the silent street flanking the residential area. The congregation of small residential scale in the roof of the arch, and the presence of large market scale under the arch form a vibrant dialogue at an urban scale, re fl ecting true urban daily life and fostering it.

Being a design subject of infinite potentials,the topic of entrance can be interpreted by more incredible "gates" or "ways" than we can imagine.そat is why we are interested in them in this edition of World Architecture.□