ARCT5529 Forensic Architecture

ARCT5529 Forensic Architecture Unit Coordinator: Dr Nigel Westbrook

DAVID MORGAN CARR

‘Yuanming Yuan (‘Gardens of Perfect Brightness’), Beijing Summer Palace’

This unit employs the methodologies of architectural drawing, modelling and analysis, backed by historical knowledge to undertake experimental reconstructions of lost buildings and urban environments – ‘forensic architecture’. For such tasks, the architect’s tools – the understanding of structure, space and spatial narrative, as well as the underlying optical principles of representation – can unlock what are otherwise inaccessible works of the past. The project shown here, by David Morgan-Carr, deploys such methods to reconstruct a famous Chinese palace and gardens, which was deliberately destroyed by British and French imperialist forces during the Opium Wars.

A once monumental complex of palaces and gardens, the ‘Yuanming Yuan 圆明园’ (Gardens of Perfect Brightness) was crafted over generations during the Qing dynasty. Originally constructed as a personal retreat away from the Forbidden City for the Kangxi emperor, the site would be transformed over 150 years into a veritable paradise of worldwide renown during its lifetime, with possibly thousands of individual structures and 3.5 square kilometres of stunning gardens.The ruins of the Yuanming Yuan remain a focal point of Chinese nationalism to this day with almost the entire site left effectively untouched since its destruction. One of the most viable visual records of the Yuanming Yuan exists in a series of paintings (and paired poems) commissioned by the Qianlong emperor in 1744. ‘Forty Scenes of the Yuanming Yuan’, depicting the various crafted vistas across the north-western region of the gardens as they were in 1744. This project explores the history and development of the Yuanming Yuan, focus on the 23rd ‘scene’ titled ‘Lianxi Lechu’ 濂溪樂處 (Lianzi’s Happy Place) – a space of relaxation and meditation created by the Qianlong emperor in dedication to one of his favourite philosophers and as an encapsulation of the Hangzhou West Lake.

Image: View from Yuanming Yuan palace to water pavilion.