First of all, I’m a Brit, but I do not share the common Brit attitude that anything architectural should be dull and derivative. There were some new houses put up in the village where I spent my childhood, and they were built in the style of cottages. In my sister’s eyes, and that of many Brits, they were well designed and really good, but to me they just looked tired and too familiar: you might as well go and live in a dog basket.
My wife, on the other hand, who is a trained architect, very much likes modern tower blocks, particular in the style common in China. For example, she really admired a series of three towers we passed in Beijing. I didn’t like them, not because they were towers, but because they were identical. There was no attempt to decorate them so that they riffed off each other. I much much prefer the French style, where exactly that happens. If the French build three towers, their decoration would relate to each other.
So you can see why I have a couple of problems with Beijing South railway station. First of all, to make it absolutely clear, it’s a railway station, and it has to function as such, and it does so very well. It works. Any ny criticism I have is minor.
The building, which is unsurprisingly massive, clearly celebrates traditional Chinese architecture. On top of the various tours, in very obvious corners, there are what I presume are copies of old old Chinese buildings. I don’t mind that; indeed, to me, it makes good sense. This station, by its very existance, is a celebration of China, it is a place that many people will visit, it is a place for Chinese railways to say “look at me, buy more tickets”. Knowing where you’ve been, knowing where you are, means you know where you’re going—all rather important things when you’re travelling by train. Putting the old buildings on top of the new represents all of that.
But what I don’t like is that the old buildings look like they’ve just been plonked there. The transformation from beige concrete to red wood is sharp and unpleasant. There’s no flow, just a knife. I would have preferred to see at least a little bit of decoration at the top of the beige where it leads in to the red. What, I don’t know, you need an architect for that (perhaps a French one!).