October 2, 2021 is the 120th anniversary of the birth of Mr. Yang Tingbao , a professor of Nanjing Institute of Technology (now Southeast University ). Mr. Yang has integrated into architectural design and heritage protection, architectural education, professional organization and international exchanges, and enjoys a high reputation in the domestic and international architecture circles.
As a practical model of the first generation of Chinese architects, Mr. Yang Tingbao has received strict Western classical architecture education and systematic Chinese traditional culture. He is well acquainted with Chinese classical architecture practices and has formed extensive and profound academic attainments and solid and mellow creative literacy.
During his career, Mr. Yang Tingbao has engaged in a lot of design practice in cities such as Tianjin, Shenyang, Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Chongqing, and has completed many architectural works that have been recorded in history. What is condensed from this is the outstanding achievements he has made as an architect in the process of national construction.
Yang Tingbao has experienced two different social and historical stages, and his architectural design and creation activities have experienced extraordinary years.
In 1927, Mr. Yang Tingbao returned to China through Europe and was invited to join the Chitai Engineering Department and began his brilliant career. The business scope of Jitai Engineering Department began to be centered in the north with Tianjin as its center. After the 1930s, it turned to Shanghai and Nanjing. Its business covers many cities across the country. It is one of the most influential architectural firms in modern China.
As the main person in charge of architectural design, Mr. Yang Tingbao and his peers broke through the design market monopoly of foreign architects and stood out among many important projects. Despite frequent wars, social turmoil and weak national governance during this period, Yang Tingbao still achieved remarkable results with his strong professional basic skills, down-to-earth and diligence, as well as the comprehensive strength of the Jitai Engineering Department, and completed nearly 90 works in 22 years.
▲Shenyang Jingfeng Railway Liaoning Main Station was built in 1927 in 4 and was completed in 1930. It was the first project that Yang Tingbao presided over after returning to China. It was also the largest railway station in China at that time designed and built by Chinese architects after the Qianmen Station of Peking and Jinan Station.
▲Peking Bank of Communications , Design / Construction time: 1930/1932.6 ( Source: Yang Tingbao Relatives )
▲ Nanjing General Hospital , design / construction time: 1931/1933.6
His early creations, such as the Liaoning General Station of the Beijing-Feng Railway, Northeastern University and Tsinghua University campus architecture, etc. These projects not only reflect the strong neoclassical color in terms of architectural style, but also are very proficient in design techniques. In addition, he also tried to integrate lightweight decorative techniques based on modern structures, such as Peking Bank of Communications, Central Stadium Track and Field Stadium, Nanjing Central Hospital, Chongqing Meifeng Bank, Shanghai Daxin Company , etc. On the one hand, these projects are simplified and refined according to Western classical architectural aesthetic rules to meet the needs of modern architecture. On the other hand, they also combine the cultural elements of Chinese architecture, and focus on innovation without sticking to the rules.
At the same time, he carefully studied the characteristics of Chinese traditional architecture , but never followed the old-fashioned and committed to exploring and innovating. He presided over the design of Nanjing Kuomintang Central Party History and Historical Materials Exhibition Hall, the Office of the Central Supervision Commission of the Kuomintang, the General Office of the Central Research Institute, the Jinling University Library, etc., not only has a reasonable functional layout, harmonious building shape, and beautiful proportions, but also shows a refreshing modern national style.More than half of these works have now been included in the list of cultural relics protection units at all levels and have become precious architectural heritage.
▲ Nanjing Zhongshan Cemetery Music Station , Design / Construction time: 1932/1933.8 ( Photography : Heda . Hammer)
▲ Nanjing Kuomintang Central Party History and Historical Materials Exhibition Hall, Design/Building Time: 1934/1936.7 ( photography : Chen Hao)
▲1940s old photos of the General Office of the Central Research Institute ( photography : Heda. Hammer)
11940s, Mr. Yang Tingbao learned about the world html l5 architectural development trend, through Yanhui Pavilion, Air Force Xinsheng Society, Investment and Merchants Bureau office building and other buildings, formed the design trend that led the times; In the 1950s, he adhered to the architectural policy of "applicable, economic and possible conditions to pay attention to beauty", and highly integrated the building's terrain environment, functional layout, construction technology, economic factors with space art, and presided over and guided a large number of design projects with the influence of the times, such as Beijing Heping Hotel, Xuzhou Huaihai Campaign Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Tower, Nanjing Civil Aviation Terminal, etc. Many important milestone buildings, such as Beijing Monument to the People's Heroes, Beijing Great Hall of the People, Beijing Station , Beijing Wangfujing Department Store, Beijing Library New Library, Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge Bridgehead Building, Chairman Mao Memorial Hall, Nanjing Yuhuatai Martyrs Memorial Hall and other projects, he participated in the plan guidance and put forward suggestions.
▲Chongqing China Gliding Association Parachuting Tower, Design/construction time: 1941/1942.3
▲ Nanjing Xiaguan Railway Station expansion project, design/construction time: 1947/1947
▲ Nanjing Sunke Mansion (Yanhui Hall), design/construction time: 1948/1948 (Photography: F97 Studio)
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▲ Nanjing Investment and Merchants Bureau Office Building, Design/Construction Time: 1947/1947 (Photography: F97 Studio)
▲ Central News Agency General Office Building, Design/Construction Time: 1948/1950
Mr. Yang Tingbao used his lifelong energy to explore and concise architectural creation ideas in many aspects. He insists that design should be tailor-made, realistic, take care of the overall situation, and combine it with nature; he pays attention to solemnity and opposes flashy and extravagance; he emphasizes that solid basic skills should be used and keen observations of things. This has formed a stable, rigorous and exquisite design style, reflecting his extensive knowledge and accumulated cultivation.
History is moving forward and times are changing. Mr. Yang Tingbao is an insightful architect, and his architectural creations always develop with the overall trends of society, science and art. During his career, he has constantly extracted ideas from his own cultural foundation, and at the same time he has critically drawn nutrients from the world's architectural development trend, and combined it with the current real factors and objective conditions, embarking on an enterprising and innovative architectural creation path. His works not only became an indispensable and important part of Chinese classic architecture in the 20th century, but also had a profound impact on subsequent development.
He once said: "In this era of transformation, the 'overlapping' of the two forms of architecture is the process I experienced in the process of architectural design." From tradition to modernity, the job of an architect is to adjust, adapt and innovate in the changes of the times. Mr. Yang Tingbao has always had international qualities and vision in his architectural creation.
▲Beijing Heping Hotel, design/construction time: 1951.8/1952.9
▲ Nanjing East China Aviation College Teaching Building, design/construction time: 1953/1954 (Source: Chinese Architectural Society, Ten Years of Architectural Design, 1959)
▲ Nanjing Institute of Technology Shatangyuan Student Canteen, Design/Construction Time: 1957/1958 (Photo by Hou Bowen)
Yang Tingbao's design philosophy is well-known, adapted to local conditions and followed reality. This not only makes him an important pioneer in the practice of Chinese architecture and a master of Chinese architectural education, but also sorted out a realistic architectural creation route - absorbing the beneficial components of Western modern architecture, combining national conditions, and exploring the path of modern Chinese architecture.
Yang Tingbao presided over, participated in and guided architectural creation in a total of about 120 projects in his life, and made outstanding achievements and was well-known throughout the world. He constituted an important part of China's modern and contemporary architectural design process. The architectural practice he engages in reflects the historical background of China in the 20th century and the development of social economy and urban architecture. He made his lifelong efforts to explore the modernist architecture of , which has Chinese characteristics, and has brought a lasting impact on subsequent development.
To commemorate Mr. Yang Tingbao's outstanding contribution, Southeast University, the Chinese Society of Architecture, and many institutions will hold a series of academic activities and exhibitions to commemorate the 120th anniversary of Mr. Yang Tingbao's birth on November 20.
