In 1998, the "Red Building" of the Foreign Research Institute stood on the edge of the West Third Ring Road of Beijing, making Beijing, which was mainly composed of the "gray" of the bungalows, illuminated instantly. The Waiyanhong, which is in line with the connotation of the century-old campus culture, made everyone remember the name of architect Cui Ying.
On August 13, 1957, Cui Ying was born in an intellectual family in Beijing. In 1984, he graduated from the Department of Architecture of Tianjin University with a master's degree and joined the Architectural Design Institute of the Ministry of Construction.
Cui Yi has been committed to architectural creation and academic research for a long time. He has successively presided over the design of a large number of national and local important buildings, and is one of the architects with the most works in China. Capital Museum , Beijing Fengzeyuan Hotel , Henan Yinxu Museum, Olympic Park Sinking Garden, Lhasa Railway Station , 2019 World Horticultural Exhibition China Pavilion, Waiyan Society Building... The familiar buildings around the public are the most vivid footnotes of his career.
In 2000, Cui Ying was elected as a national engineering survey and design master. He was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2011. Currently he is the honorary dean and chief architect of China Architectural Design Research Institute Co., Ltd. He has won the honors of " National Outstanding Science and Technology Worker ", "Special Allowance Expert of the State Council", "French Literature and Art Knight Medal ", " Liang Sicheng Architectural Award ". He also published works such as "Project Report", "Desheng Shangcheng", "Local Design", "Intermediate Architecture", " Local Design II".
"Local design" is the keyword of Cui Ying's architectural design concept.
He advocated and promoted local creation and research of Chinese architecture , and proposed the "local design" creation theory. "Local design should be combined with local environment, humanities and life, as well as local materials and applicable technologies. In particular, we should pay attention to the concept of green and frugality, so that buildings respect nature and return life to nature. This is the fundamental reason for protecting the ecological environment and allowing the living environment to develop sustainable development." He interpreted this concept in this way.
"I have a tree in my heart, based on local rationalism as the backbone, rooted in the rich fertile soil of nature and humanity, and produces buildings with different characteristics that can appear in cities, in rural areas, and in historical districts."
Cui Yan said that all these buildings are related to specific lands, and they are like a green leaf of this big tree. Such a big tree with lush branches and leaves is his longing for the future development of Chinese architectural creation.
Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, honorary president and chief architect of China Architectural Design Research Institute Co., Ltd. Photo provided by the interviewee
Cui Yi is destined to become an architect.
In 1977, the resumption of China's college entrance examination system that had been interrupted for ten years, and Cui Ying, an educated youth who had worked in Pinggu for three years, walked into the examination room. Because he did a wrong math problem, he missed Tsinghua University , but by chance he passed the exam for his favorite architecture major and came to the "second choice" Tianjin University to study, laying the foundation for his career as an architect.
Before filling out the college entrance examination application, Cui Ying, who was born in an intellectual family, once felt that teachers were an ideal profession. When he graduated from graduate school, Tsinghua University and his alma mater, Tianjin University, both sent him an olive branch, hoping that he would teach in the "ivory tower". But at this time he was ready to "actually fight" in the position of architect.
In an interview with Beijing News reporter, Cui Ying, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, honorary dean and chief architect of China Architectural Design Research Institute Co., Ltd., said that he has never left the context of school architecture education in recent years. When sending a message to future architects, Cui Ying hopes that they will learn from life, "because the beautiful life in the future comes from your writing."
Cui Yi’s message to future architects. Photo provided by the interviewee
talk about the learning environment: I went to the countryside to do farm work for three years before the college entrance examination
Beijing News: I heard that you have loved painting since you were a child and became interested in architecture. Is there any reason?
Cui Yi: I was born in Beijing in 1957 and grew up in the office of my mother's office. That courtyard is located in , Jingshan East Street, , and is the former site of the Jingshi University Hall, so I have a lot of feelings about the historical environment and style of the ancient capital.My mother is the editor of People's Education Press . The cultural atmosphere of the entire government compound is very good. When I was a child, I liked painting, and it was also thanks to this atmosphere.
At that time, we had a youth home. After school, the older children organized the younger children to draw. I also like Jing very much. After school, I often go to my mother's office to find a desk to draw, and gradually develop the habit. In the context of that time, the teaching environment of Jingshan School I studied was relatively good. There was a painting group from the senior grades of elementary school to junior high school. Art teachers could teach children who were interested to draw. As a result, I began to gradually come into contact with relatively professional paintings, such as color, sketching, etc.
My father works in the Design Institute of the 5th Ministry of Machinery (Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry). He is professional in HVAC , but he likes architectural design very much. When I was in junior high school, I went to my father's unit in Lanzhou for summer vacation, so he found his colleague of architects, Mr. Shen, to guide me to paint. At that time, I followed the works of from the National Art Exhibition, and drew pencils at home. Teacher Shen helped me with guidance and also put forward opinions. Only then did I realize that architects need to be able to draw, and I also had the idea of learning architectural design at that time.
Beijing News: What was your learning environment like in high school?
Cui Yin: My high school years were greatly affected by my social background. Jingshan School was a high school that started in the late period of the "Cultural Revolution" and selected some outstanding students to study. At that time, Jingshan School had 12 junior high schools, and only two classes were included in the high school, so there was a similar stage for high school entrance exams. I had good academic performance and successfully entered high school. After entering high school, we strengthened our learning of mathematics, physics and chemistry .
When I was in my second year of high school, there was a "counterattack on the right-wing reversal" trend. The slogan at that time was "Broad world, great achievements". Everyone was devoted to going to the countryside and wanted to take root in the countryside to do something. Almost all our second year in high school were open to the school at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and we worked half a day to grow rice. When I graduated from high school in 1975, I actively sought to go to Dahua Mountain, Pinggu to become an educated youth. At that time, I had no longer had too many extravagant expectations for going to college.
1976 was an extraordinary year in China. Premier Zhou Enlai passed away in January, and I want to go back to the city to attend the memorial service. It was not until the Spring Festival at the end of January that I arrived at Tiananmen Square . Looking at the many poems on the wreaths that everyone laid for Premier Zhou, I was reluctant to leave for a long time, but I caught a cold due to a cold, and then turned to hepatitis, so I was hospitalized in the city for rest. That year, I also experienced the Tangshan earthquake and the death of the chairman. It was an unforgettable year.
When I returned home in autumn, the political context was different. The "Gang of Four" had been defeated, but it was still unclear whether we could go to college at that time. We continued to do farm work. At that time, some units and factories in Beijing went to our commune to recruit workers, and seven or eight educated youth chose to work. Later, they did not go to college because they had no time to review when they went to work and had no life pressure. The educated youth who stayed in the countryside in our commune later got admitted to college one after another.
talk about the college entrance examination: I did a wrong math problem and was admitted to the Tianda Architecture Department
Beijing News: After learning that resumed the college entrance examination , how did you prepare?
Cui Yin: Most of the parents in the People's Education and Social Security compound I lived in since I was a child are intellectuals. I heard about the possible resumption of the college entrance examination in the early 1977. My family asked me if I could go home to review.
The village I live in is very small, with only 34 households, and educated youth are an important labor force. I have always worked very well in the village and became the platoon leader of the infrastructure militia, so it is unlikely that I will completely put down my farm work and go back to the city to review. I used the Spring Festival to find some review materials and took them back to the countryside together with high school textbooks to review while doing farm work.
has been put down for two years and needs to review and do the questions again. But when we reviewed, we were catching up with the summer harvest and the autumn harvest. During the busy farming period, educated youth had to work during the day and review at night. At that time, the village was not very powered. We read books under the oil lamp at night, and several classmates memorized the formulas together to help each other.
Since I returned to the village after hepatitis, the village took good care of me and did not let me work in the field. I gave me a "beautiful bad" - looking at the green, which is to protect the fruit trees on the mountain.The mountainous ground in our village is very large. I go up the mountain before dawn in the morning, and I often wait until it gets dark before going down the mountain. Although it was hard, fortunately, this task was relatively flexible. I carried the textbook and flashlight up the mountain and used my free time to memorize. My review conditions are a little better than those of my classmates in Datian.
Beijing News: Do you still remember the specific details of taking the college entrance examination?
Cui Yi: In early winter, we took the college entrance examination in Dahuashan Commune. Our village is more than 8 miles away from the commune. Early in the morning, everyone rushed to the examination room with dry food. The rural young people who went to middle school also participated together, and the village sent a tractor to take everyone to the examination room.
After the exam in one morning, the rural youth have basically left. Many people think that the college entrance examination is like the previous selection of workers, peasants and soldiers students. They ask some common sense questions. When they arrive at the examination room, they know that they are sending papers to do the questions, and many people can't answer them. In the afternoon, most of the remaining educated youth in the examination room were left. At that time, the deputy secretary of the commune Party Committee was also a senior educated youth in the countryside who went to the countryside in Jingshan School. He walked to me while invigilating the exam. After the exam, he told me, "You did a good job in the exam." I was very excited at the time.
Beijing News: How did you consider when filling out your application?
Cui Yi: At that time, I applied for the college entrance examination before the exam. I wanted to apply for the Tsinghua Department of Architecture, but at that time, there was no admission to the architecture major of Tsinghua , so I applied to the Tsinghua physics major. The second choice was to apply for the Department of Architecture of Tianjin University. After the exam, I went home. The children in the courtyard and I compared the questions to each other and found that there was a math problem I had made the wrong formula. Because of this question, I did not go to Tsinghua University. This is a very interesting twist, because I don’t really like physics majors, but I just hope to go to the best university.
But after going to Tianjin University, I went to the road of architects, which was a fate and my luck.
Talk about university life: the teacher draws lecture notes in person, and teachers and students form deep friendships
Beijing News: What are the environment and teaching conditions of the university campus when you enter school?
Cui Yi: After the Tangshan earthquake in 1976, Tianjin was also a severely affected area. The playground of Tianjin University was filled with earthquake-resistant sheds for citizens. We don’t have a playground and we take physical education classes on the small roads of the school. However, the conditions of the teaching building are quite good. The campus where I am was built in the 1950s. It was designed by Mr. Xu Zhong and many young teachers with many young teachers. The building is very distinctive and has been protected and used well.
Before our 77 students entered the school, there were two classes of workers, peasants and soldiers who were selected in 1975 and 1976, and the teaching building was in use. We entered the Level 77 exam. The teachers gave us more expectations and attention and taught very carefully. At that time, we could see very little foreign information and there was no copy machine. The teacher used an pen to draw a lot of handouts, materials and sample pictures, edited them into a book, and printed them into an mimeographed for us to see. It is our honor to meet these teachers, and we are deeply moved by the teachers' dedication.
Cui Ying while studying at Tianjin University. Photo provided by the interviewee
We need to draw a large picture. In front of everyone, it is not a small desk, but a large picture desk. Our class has 34 students, and there are five or six rows of large picture tables in the classroom. During design classes, there is a teacher in each row, and each teacher is responsible for 6 students. Therefore, there are a lot of communication and interaction between teachers and classmates. They tell students the principles of design, drawing skills, and also learn how to modify pictures. We admire them very much, and teachers and students have established a deep friendship. Many teachers such as Mr. Peng Yigang , Mr. Tong Heling, Mr. Zhang Wenzhong, etc., are of high level and are excellent among the national architecture teachers. We are so lucky as students!
Beijing News: majoring in architecture, how did you spend your college years?
Cui Yi: During the university period, our learning atmosphere was particularly good. Everyone cherished time very much. Every day, "three points and one line" - dormitory, canteen, classroom or library, the classroom was brightly lit at night, and the students often stayed up late to draw pictures, and the time was full of time every day.
Most of the students in our class are from Tianjin and go home on weekends.A few of us from other places stayed at school and often went out shopping. Because for the architecture major, observing the city is very important. I have observed and learned along the Wudao , Jiefang Bridge , and Haihe in Tianjin, which is very important for understanding cities and architecture. Even today, the memories of those urban spaces are very inspiring to us in urban design.
I am not a "studying" person. There are open-air movies on the playground on weekends, and I like to watch them very much. In our spare time, we also went to water park to sketch. The teacher said that students majoring in architecture should be versatile. Among my classmates, there are those who paint oil paintings, calligraphy, and seal carving, and there are many experts.
The last year of undergraduate studies, Architect magazine organized the first National College Student Design Competition. I and three other classmates jointly made plans and won the first prize. In addition, Tianjin University also won several awards, and the teachers were very happy at that time. Later, it seemed that the winning of Days was a rule. There were the most design awards per single and the most double paper awards per double. It maintained its advantages for many years, which shows that the teacher Tianda taught well and the students worked hard.
Beijing News: Why didn’t you stay in school to teach after you graduated from graduate school? Instead, choose to go to the design institute?
Cui Yin: After the reform and opening up, national construction requires talents with high education. As we graduated from graduate school, many units need us very much. Later, I heard from the teacher that Tsinghua University went to Tianjin University to recruit talents and hoped that I would teach because they especially wanted people who had joined the team and had social experience. My alma mater, Tianjin University, also mobilized me to stay in school to enrich the faculty.
But I was enthusiastic at that time and wanted to work in the design institute and use the knowledge I learned to participate in the construction of the motherland. Teacher Shen, who had guided me at that time, had been transferred to the Architectural Design Institute of the Ministry of Construction. I went to her office to visit and saw that the Design Institute was designing the new Beijing Library (now National Library ). Those big and beautiful renderings deeply attracted me. I also saw some design plans for foreign aid projects at that time, and I was envious. So I decided to be an architect in practice and didn’t want to stay on campus and “sit down and discuss”. Later, I heard that the old president Liu Shijin and CEO Shi Xuehai from the Ministry of Construction Architectural Design Institute came to the school to ask for graduates, so I got what I wanted.
Beijing News: What suggestions do you have for students who are about to take the college entrance examination?
Cui Yi: Over the years, I have never left the context of school architecture education. I hope that students applying for architecture must not only learn their majors well, but also learn from life, because a beautiful life comes from their writings.
Character profile
Cui Yan, born on August 13, 1957 in Beijing. He graduated from the Department of Architecture of Tianjin University in 1984 with a master's degree. He was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2011. He is currently the honorary president and chief architect of China Architectural Design Research Institute Co., Ltd.
Beijing News reporter Zhang Lu
Editor Liu Xixian Proofreading Zhao Lin
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