In the morning of September, Academician Cheng Taining’s exhibition of architectural works themed “Dream · Among Water and Mountains” and the academic forum on “Practice and Thinking on Architectural Creation” were uncurtained at the Special Exhibition Hall of Nanjing Museum, which was the first station of Academician Cheng Taining’s itinerant exhibition of architectural works. This exhibition was jointly hosted by Southeast University and the Architectural Society of China (ASC), and jointly undertaken by the School of Architecture, the Architectural Design and Theory Research Center of Southeast University, CCTN Design, Nanjing Museum, Society of Architects of Jiangsu Civil Engineering & Architectural Society and Yangtze River Delta Society of Architects.
The opening ceremony in the morning was presided over by Academician Wang Jianguo of Southeast University, Academician and President Zhang Guangjun of Southeast University, Academician Cui Kai, Vice Chairman of ASC, Director-General Zhou Lan of Jiangsu Provincial Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Department, Gong Liang, Deputy Director-General of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture and Director of Nanjing Museum and Academician Wu Zhiqiang, Vice President of Tongji University addressed the ceremony in succession. Hundreds of people were gathering in the Special Exhibition Hall of Nanjing Museum, including industry leaders, experts, scholars, architects, teachers and students of higher education institutions and social media, etc.
Academician Zhang Guangjun, President of Southeast University as one of the hosts, extended sincere congratulations to Academician Cheng Taining for the initiation of his itinerant exhibition of architectural worksand expressed warmhearted welcome and sincere appreciations to all experts and scholars present in the exhibition. In the speech, President Zhang expected this exhibition and academic forum could arouse ardent feedback in the field of Chinese architecture and make active contribution to the prosperity of architectural creation in current China.
Academician Cui Kai of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Director-General Zhou Lan of Jiangsu Provincial Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Department, Gong Liang, Deputy Director-General of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture and Director of Nanjing Museum and Academician Wu Zhiqiang, Vice President of Tongji University addressed the opening ceremony.
Then Academician Cheng Taining made ebullient speech of appreciations. He explained the initial intention of this itinerant exhibition, expecting with his own works to “be versatile in changes in ancient and modern world both at home and abroad based on thorough knowledge of ‘Heaven Earth and Humanities’, and thus accomplish the academic works of an independent school in architecture”. He expected more Chinese architects can express independent thoughts though their own independent thinking and creation, and hope Chinese architectural design could have a broader development space on the world stage.
Afterwards President Zhang Guangjun from Southeast University declared the opening of this exhibition and guests visited the exhibition under the guidance of Academician Cheng.
It is reported that this exhibition has carefully selected 22 projects that Academician Cheng Taining has been engaged in since his graduation, including Ghana National Theatre, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou Huanglong Hotel and Nanjing Museum, etc. The exhibition has presented Mr. Cheng's creative practices at different regions, different cultures and different architectural styles in various ways such as video, model, picture and text., etc., which can fully demonstrate Mr. Cheng's deep thinking on the practice and theoretical construction of contemporary Chinese architecture. The four chapters of “Question, Seeking, Entry and Embodiment” focused on Academician Cheng’s exploration and thinking on “realm, artistic conception and language” in recent years.
In the afternoon of September 13, the academic forum on “Practice and Thinking on Architectural Creation” was convened at Nanjing Museum's Studio Theatre, which was presided over by Mr. Huang Juzheng, Executive Editor of the Journal of Architecture. Five well-known architects active in architectural creation, including Meng Jianmin, alumnus of Southeast University, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering and Chief Architect of Shenzhen Architectural Design Research Institute Co., Ltd., etc. to share their own creative feelings.
