The Suqian Method

Scale and strenght. Producing big scale architectural icons is obsolete, irrelevant and passé. Giant entities – local and international corporations, have thrown bigger-than-life objects „above” the heads of people in every continent. But the logic of „icons” doesn’t have to be uniquely based on aggressive visual stimuli comparable to the phenomenon of pornographic representation rather than sublimation of sensual relationship depicted in poetry, also Chinese poetry. Also, because of the importance of the sustainability issue, we assume that creation of small architectural and artistic interventions is much more sustainable than building huge structures. We postulate redefining the need for identity based on „icons” by providing to the inhabitants a set of activities and resulting objects that will be associated both with Suqian and the park as geographical place, but also with themselves!

People Of Suqian. The development of new districts of Suqian with the accompanying infrastructure and public spaces is a great opportunity to propose a NEW approach in shaping, controlling and using public spaces based on shared creation and responsibility of both public administrators and local, mostly new, inhabitants and inhabitant-based Park Activist Group. It is also a possibility to make new inhabitants IDENTIFY with the city, the neighborhood and the park, to be PROUD of it and to make it a REPRESENTATION of how UNIQUE this place will be.

Park’s design. Our idea offers an added EXTRA LAYER of a NETWORK OF ACTIONS, interactions and objects that are paralel to the existing design.

The Method. Therefore the project proposes a METHOD with exemples of it’s application, both in procedural and physical terms, rather than another architectural, large-scale icon. Departing form the „non-icon policy” it is also a step into creating an environment that is less based on visual overstimulation, but rather offers a HARMONIOUS STIMULATION OF ALL SENSES.

The follies: possible resulting objects. Using the trio of notions of COOPERATION, SECRET AND FUN we propose a set of interventions, games and collaborations that can be discovered by people visiting the park. Still, the type, number of installations and their placements should be discussed and decided by Park Activist Group. The installations require different degree of skills and availability of different technologies that range between simple materials and hand-tools and more advanced electronics, hydraulics that can be provided by local fabricators.