Continuity or Contrast: Take Your Pick

Abstract

I have just returned from Beijing, where I had the chance to reflect on issues of change and context in architecture, what responsibilities an architect has to the collective memory of a place, and how best to reflect history in new and old buildings. Context and memory loom large in China, both because of the tremendous upheaval of the Cultural Revolution and because of the huge change wrought by its emergence as a global economic superpower.