Newman Huo

AS part of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture, a multimedia exhibition featuring the art of Fangta Garden, which was designed by acclaimed Chinese architect Feng Jizhong, is being staged at the Shenzhen Fine Art Institute (SFAI) until Dec. 25.

Covering an area of 17,273 square meters in Songjiang District, Shanghai, Fangta Garden was designed by Feng in 1978.

The garden includes a nine-story wooden pagoda and a stone bridge from the Song Dynasty (960-1278), a grey brick wall from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), two temples from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), and also zigzag lanes, large lawns, a big square with several pavilions, and a teahouse designed by Feng.

Fangta Garden has been acclaimed a masterpiece of Chinese urban design, combining traditional Chinese landscaping with modern urban design and planning.

The exhibition at the SFAI includes photos, videos, Feng’s original design blueprints as well as architectural models of the gate, the teahouse and the wall in Fangta Garden.

All the objects on display aim to simulate an environment for the visitors to experience the art of Fangta Garden without actually visiting Shanghai.

Feng, 92, is the founder of China’s first major institute of urban design and planning, which was set up in Tongji University in Shanghai in 1956.

He is also the first Chinese architect on the Chinese mainland to have been awarded an honorary fellowship by the American Institute of Architects.

Born into an aristocratic family in Kaifeng, Henan Province in 1915, Feng went to study civil engineering at Saint John’s University in Shanghai in 1934.

He studied architecture at the Vienna University of Technology in Austria in 1936, and returned to China in 1946.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Feng participated in the urban design and planning of Shanghai, and also designed the Donghu Guesthouse in Wuhan, where Chairman Mao liked to stay on his tours to South China in the 1950s.

At the beginning of the 1960s, Feng put forward his own theory of “composite principle of architectural space,” which he not only taught to his students in Tongji University but also implemented in his own work.

During the “Cultural Revolution” (1966-1976), Feng’s theory was criticized and condemned, and he was sent to rural Anhui Province to receive reeducation.

Entrusted by the Shanghai Municipal Government, Feng took charge of the design and planning of Fangta Garden in 1978.

In 1986, the Helouxuan teahouse in Fangta Garden was completed, marking Feng’s greatest achievement in modern architectural design.

“With modern principles, Feng has perfectly combined the historical remains with modern architecture in the Fangta Garden,” said Zhao Bing, professor of architecture at Wuhan University.

“In the middle of the 1980s, when I first visited the garden, I was deeply touched by Feng’s overall design,” Zhao recalled. “In his design, based on traditional Chinese gardening, Feng has created a new, modern space with modern ideas and technology,” he said.

“Walking through this space, I gained a new experience I could never gain in any other city parks all over the country,” he added.

A forum on Feng’s theory of architectural space and academic achievements will be held at the SFAI on Dec. 12.

A total of 16 experts from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong have been invited to attend the forum.