Culture factory
Kunming, China
If one thing has stigmatized China’s recent history more than any other event is the adoption of the communist regime. The period between 1966- 1976, Mao Zedong, chairman of the Chinese ruling communist party, started a social-political movement in China in order to ‘preserve the true communist ideology’. The movement turned against capitalism and tradition and such elements found within the Chinese society were purged.
The result was catastrophic for Chinese culture, as while other cultures were being preserved and enriched throuout the years, this was being destroyed. The example of China and the cultural revolution movement that left many losses to Chinese culture strengths an approach towards the protection and preservation of cultures around the world.
The project critiques this ‘monopoly of culture’ that communists foresaw and presents this through ‘commopoly’; an imaginative communist version of the ultimate capitalist board game ‘monopoly’. In contrast to the original game, ‘commopoly’ only features one player, the state, which gradually purchases all multi-colorful properties and turns them into an identical, equal-valued property.
The project aims to create a ‘factory’ which will produce cultural artefacts that will then be distributed and commerced in the shops throughout the whole block. While it could also be named as an art and craft workshop it is rather named a ‘culture factory’ in the essence of producing elements of the wounded Chinese culture.
In my perception the block was destined as a cultural centre since its very construction. Despite looking really older, the block in reality was not constructed a lot earlier than its modern, international style context. The entire block states a clear turn towards the past expressed through the traditional Chinese architectural style.
Although a proposal with clear references to Chinese culture might have seemed more reasonable, this project chose not to follow such an approach. Instead, the design focusses on indicating what led to its destruction during the ‘cultural revolution movement’. A symbol of communism, the brutalist proposal stands bold to remind us of the catastrophy the movement brought and encourage us to face our mistakes and learn from them.
The building is composed from multiple identical workshop spaces bound together to form a repetitive order. The building’s structure is externally exposed as a symbol of communism’s ideal of equality. An dissonance to the whole consists the colourful cladding that unlike other elements celebrates diversity. Different cultures can co-exist without harming each other or dividing people, the design suggests.