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Q: Is china copying the architectural design of european and other countries ?
do they lack architectural creativity or intelligence. ?
China is trying to reproduce a full scale austrian village, Hallstatt, from the region of Salzkammergut. Crazy eh? I read it from Der Spiegel
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,768754,00.html
yes exactly the same i am saying. WHY ? if the austrian village was architect by the architecture designers why they can not do it. whats the point of sending engineer over there and picking the same thing and building it in their country. thats not creative.......... if i copy your work do i get the credit for my work or do i get credit of cheating creativity i have in it ? you can also see how they build the shanghai from where there plan and design have come. the same goes to nanjing, beijing, chengdu....... maybe many more.
Hey, Xerxes.
This article sums up both sides of the argument quite succinctly. (check link)
I don't think they lack creativity or 'architectural intelligence', as you so eloquently put it.
It's just that for massive projects like skyscapers and the like, you want to put your money down for something you're guaranteed will work. And unfortunately as things currently stands, the least amount of risk lies with foreign architects with international reputation.
Though frankly, I can't understand the logic behind that austrian city replica either - that's another issue completely.
I think the old European architecture in cities like Shanghai and Qingdao is great. There's a lot of history behind those buildings and they give the city a unique flavor. It's weird though that China is copying architecture now, just to attract more tourists. I was in Beidaihe in Northern China and pretty much half of the city is Russian themed. All the signs were in Russian and even some Chinese people spoke Russian. It was so strange. This is China...not Europe!
yes, china is ripping off contemporary designs. i noticed this when i watched a documentary about london
Yes and no. I have seen may unique buildings and bridges in my travels. Really beautiful to the eye. On the other hand I dont get the copy a Euro Village thing at all and many of the multiple high rise developments are downright ugly. When they get it right though the results are spectacular.
crimochina:
woody i first thought many of the buildings i saw were originals but after seeing 3 buildings that matched what i saw here in gz and beijing., a thought occurred to me i have not seen every building in the world so is every outstanding contemporary designed building here a ripoff from some other building somewhere in the world???
Let's hope they eventually pick up on the quality aspect of it.
For certain things, yes China is copying some architecture, like as was already stated about copying entire towns and things like that. I don't quite get the reasoning behind that. I'd personally love to see a modern town done in extravagant Chinese traditional style, like the Forbidden Palace or something like that. That would be awesome.
As for skyscrapers, I absolutely DISAGREE that China is copying other places. China now has money. They are able to buy some great designs from the international community just like other countries do because they want impressive landmark buildings. Good designs are good designs, and there are a lot of famous firms that make some excellent ones. There is no need to hire "Chinese Only" designers for buildings in China of that magnitude. The Burj Kalifa was designed by a guy from Chicago and I don't think anyone accuses Dubai of copying architecture.
As for creativity, I think there are some decent architects in China, but creativity is lacking for a majority of them. There are exceptions of course. Did anyone get to see the China pavilion at the Expo? Very impressive, especially seen in person. The man who designed it, He Jingtang, is Chinese, but even for the China pavilion, there were international design entries, so that was just a bonus for China that a Chinese designer was selected. I think the main problem here is that if someone is creative and innovative, they will be hired away by a large firm outside of China, because as of yet, there really aren't any large firms here and innovation is lacking.
The quality of the buildings really comes down to the contractors who are known for cutting corners and using sub-standard materials.
They copy everything else so I guess the obvious answer here would be "yes" 
For many things, yes, China does copy. There are a few buildings that are complete originals, where an architect was hired for that purpose. However, I think that China has a penchant for building useless architecture with inferior infrastructure. Sure, there were a lot of great buildings for the Olympics, but now what to do with them? Too many apartments are empty, too expensive for most people to afford. Maybe they don't care about creativity or practicality, but as long as it looks nice or is convenient, I guess that is good enough.
