A Master of Materiality

Architecture is a discipline of both art and construction, but sometimes, the latter can get lost in debates about meaning and aesthetics. Not so with Professor Chang Yung Ho, who has won a slew of international awards and held such positions as Founding Head of the Graduate Center of Architecture at Peking University, Head of the Department of Architecture at MIT, Chair Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Founding Partner and Principal Architect of Atelier Feichang Jianzhu.

Professor Chang comes from architecture royalty – his father Zhang Kaiji was one of the most important architects in China of his generation – and he has applied his skills to designing not only buildings but everything from an Alessi tray to a re-imagined qipao. Although his original ambition was to be an oil painter, he has no regrets that his poor painting skills forced him down a different path.

“Architects are ultimately not artists, we’re better than artists. We also solve real problems,” he said.

As the new Dean of Architecture, he wants students to solve modern problems with technology. But first, he has a message for them: engage with the materials you work with, touch and hold them, so you can understand how to use them to create beautiful buildings. He offers a telling example of what that means.

Stones in the sky

When Professor Chang was at Peking University, he came across a piece of stone, about one metre long and 30 centimetres square, with fine carvings etched into it, suggesting it was historically significant. He decided to install it in the courtyard by his centre, but when he and three students tried to move it, it would not budge. Two more students were brought in with the same result.

“Finally, there were eight of us and we could barely move the stone. If you never lift a stone like this, you won’t know its weight. You won’t know how to appreciate Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which has delicate stone vaulted ceilings that look weightless but are actually very heavy. The masons and artisans were brilliant, they not only used their hands, they used their minds to imagine how to put these stones into the sky.

“Using hands and head together is important for architects because we want to embrace the material, then intervene in this tangible reality,” he said.

HKU’s Faculty of Architecture is one of the few schools to emphasise a material approach to architecture, which attracted Professor Chang to the Deanship. But he is also interested in how cultural and artistic heritage can be incorporated into modern architecture, given the need to accommodate mechanical ventilation and heating and cooling facilities – something the architects of Notre Dame and the Pantheon did not have to worry about when building their magnificent, vaulted ceilings.

The task is challenging but not impossible. He points to Hong Kong International Airport, which maintains an open, airy feeling like that of the Pantheon because the mechanical duct work has been placed between the arrival and departure floors. The roof itself is thin, contributing to the feeling of space.

“Not many architects are tackling this problem. Usually, they let the mechanical engineers decide and then things get put in all the wrong places, really destroying the space,” he said.

‘One dragon’ approach

Professor Chang hopes that his Faculty can start to come up with holistic solutions to the problem of integration within the building industry. Today, most projects start with the land, then the building is designed, then it is built. What, he asks, if that process were to start with something else – a carbon reduction target, say, or even a doorknob?

“It’s a very strange challenge because advanced technologies are everywhere, but the building industry operates on a primitive level. I want to see whether, with the help of digital technology or artificial intelligence, we can fully integrate the cycle from investment and programming to planning, design, construction and management – a ‘one dragon’ project as we’d say in Chinese.”

This will take time. In the more immediate term, his attention is on celebrations for the 75th anniversary of architecture at HKU starting in September, which will include a series of talks titled ‘Beyond Architecture’. The plan is to introduce students to architects who have pursued careers in a variety of fields, such as policymaking, theatre and finance, and encourage them to see architecture as something that opens doors in many directions.

“Architecture can help students develop a better idea not only about working but living. My wife [architect Lu Lijia] and I, we appreciate the small things in life because we studied architecture. Architecture is about culture and if you study it, it will benefit your whole life.”