Asian Architecture [ARC 2234]

Project 1: Case Study Paper



Asia is the largest of the world’s continents. It comprised of 6 main regions; Southwest, South, Southeast, east, Northern and Central Asia, each possessing distinctive physical, cultural, economic and political characteristics. It is the birthplace of all the world’s major religions and hundreds of minor ones. Urbanization is greatest in the industrialized regions of Japan, Korea and Taiwan, but huge urban centers can be
found throughout the continent. Asia is also home to some of the world’s oldest civilisations where great temples and shrines were built, and architecture, art, music and dancing were developed to high levels.

However, there are still little studies  done on the practices and issues related to architectural development in
Asia. Unlike the students in the West who have been enjoying the benefit of being in the center of wellestablished bodies of theoretical and empirical knowledge, the students in Asia seem to be lagging behind due to the rapid urban growth. Another disadvantage is the fact that the students do not have enough models which are equivalent to the Western theoretical tools. If they were to simply adopt any of the Western models in explaining the Asian historical and contemporary situations, the outcome would not befit the purpose. (Chris Abel, Architecture and Identity, 2000)

Hence, it is imperative for all these future architects to learn a lesson or two by examining critically those
practices and issue in relation to Asia in order to practice effectively and fitting the Asian context. It is to
encourage students to explore the field in which they are going to do research and gain a thorough awareness
and understanding of current work and perspectives in the era.


Learning Outcomes:

• Analyse and discuss the relationship between architecture and its social, cultural and intellectual context within the Asian region.
• Differentiate the way in which many varied factors contribute to the development of Asian architecture and urbanism.
• Produce, orally and in writing, a critical interpretation of Asian architecture and urbanism in relation to relevant theories within the contemporary discourse of architecture.
• A paper (3,000 to a maximum of 4000 words, double-spaced).
• A power point presentation (10 minutes) – which contains an outline of the paper covering key issues and themes explored, as well as bibliography.

Project 2: An Asian Street

Learning Outcomes:

• Explore an Asian street with the theme of street as an experience of the urban life, street as programmes or events, street as language, street as container of society, culture, history and memory. 
• Sketches of street and map to expose the themes. 
• Photographs to express the understanding of events and themes of the street

3D Map Sketch:

A4 Photobook