mega-o-sorous

The reading gives us an architectural look into the developing city of Dongguan. The reading also shows us how lavish the people there are. Our tour guide takes us through the developing city and introduces us to the ‘men in charge. These men whom also happen to control the real estate seem to own the city as well. The era of economic hardship that once plagued the entire country is now experiencing an economic revolution that is bringing the region into the modern age. The city?s many new developments seem to be pushing Dongguan?s prosperity. Mr. Zhang, an architect and urban designer is portrayed as a man who seeks power through his built works. He tells us his plans for a new development called the Beautiful City Project. This enormous production of eye candy reminds us of Congel?s own Destiny USA. These mega-developers are conjuring up mega-productions to see mega-revenue. These characters have reinvented the way we think about urban design and master planning. It seems that pushing the envelope has come to mean bigger- and- bigger- and- bigger is better in architecture. But is this trend better, what happen to the time when less was more? Take for example, Louis Kahn and his minimalist approach to architecture. How would some of the modern architects react to today?s meg-o-sorous structures? The developers seem to think this is what we want. But when we hear that a plan for a shrine to the architect?s family is going to be apart of the agenda it makes me skeptical of the architect?s intentions. It seems more like these are the kinds of buildings they want. It is nice to push the envelope but not at the expense of good architecture. Is this Beautiful City Project in Dongguan a parallel of Destiny USA or is it a true example of the economic prosperity in China and is this really the direction architecture is headed?