The Palace Museum website allows visitors a virtual walk through the Forbidden City. Having spent some time investigating this place through this website (and any other source you’d like to reference), think about the impression the architecture makes on a visitor; conversely, how does a person feel walking through the courtyards? Think about this overall design in relationship to other large spaces you have visited. How does it compare or contrast with palaces, halls of government, sports arenas, campuses, or other large designs you’ve experienced? Leave a short post here that summarizes your impressions (in 100 words or less).
Response: TBD
Architecture has a big impact with how a building or room looks and feels. It can affect people in a negative or positive way. It builds a sense of community. Walking through the courtyards in the Palace Museum, visitors feel amazed and blown away by the many grand detailed structures. These structures have a sense of hierarchy and symbolism. This reminds me of when I went to a museum in Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Art Museum. When I went into the Museum it felt fascinating. It was a very engaging structure. The wide open spaces surrounded with a glass roof and pointed arches. It has a sense of direction, of movement. The architecture from both buildings have an impact on a person and the way they can make them feel is captivating.
That is a great museum, no doubt; how does it compare with the Forbidden City in terms of “pointing” you toward what is most important in a hierarchical group?
Architecture has a big impact with how a building or room looks and feels. It can affect people in a negative or positive way. It builds a sense of community. Walking through the courtyards in the Palace Museum, visitors feel amazed and blown away by the many grand detailed structures. These structures have a sense of hierarchy and symbolism. This reminds me of when I went to a museum in Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Art Museum. When I went into the Museum, it felt fascinating. It was a very engaging structure. The wide open spaces surrounded with a glass roof and pointed arches. It has a sense of direction, of movement. The way architecture can make a person feel is captivating.
While going through the Forbidden City, i got the sense that I had entered into large extravagant community instead of a single grand palace. The buildings are smaller than I expected but the layout of the entire City is asymmetrical in its design. The Forbidden City, compared to other large and grand places I’ve visited that express governmental authority, is not secluded into a single building that houses the government but an entire set of buildings that houses it’s government. The Forbidden City is also more open and to it’s environment and beauty in nature.
How does it affect your experience when you come upon an assemblage of buildings vs. one big one? What might have been the reason/strategy there?
The Forbidden City’s remarkable design is centered around 2 hall complexes on raised platforms. There is a very clear central pathway running through the city and the various gateways, halls, and palaces. Walking through the city evokes a sense of grandeur, much like a gothic cathedral. This makes sense since the city was a home for the emperor, who was seen as a near-deity. The courtyards, especially the largest one looking towards the Hall of Supreme Harmony, awe the individual and make him feel small. The combination of natural beauty (in the trees and rivers) with man-made order feels intentionally perfect. Everything in the city is exactly how it was meant to be.
All this seems to have the reverse effect of a sports stadium. In a stadium, the people look down on the sports teams, the objects of their entertainment. In the forbidden city, the people are looked down upon by the stately home of a higher power. The city is designed as a reminder of the greatness of the Emperor.
I really like your observation about the shared characteristics of the Gothic cathedral and this palace in terms of formal elements intended to evoke certain feelings due to symmetry, scale, etc.
Walking through the courtyards, i think that a person would feel very immersed in the gardens. Being completely surrounded by amazing detail and carefully thoughtful designs, i think someone walking through the garden would feel very calm, this space would most likely imply a meditative state on someone walking through the garden. This palace is similar to football stadium in the sense that the middle is very open. The two structures contrast because the center focus is in the middle of a stadium, while in a palace the center focus is on the main palace building, which isn’t located in the center.
Reconsider the entry sequence from the south; the garden to the north was reserved for the Emperor and his family. Now what impression do you have?
Walking through the forbidden city will definitely arrange your focus to the importance of the emperor and his family as they are positioned in the center. The mass numbers of buildings may feel a bit confusing but as you understand the Chinese tradition and ordering techniques especially with the yin and yang, you will begin to understand the ordering principles of the buildings. The arrangement of stadiums reflects the focus of the higher individuals in the center much like the emperor was. They are the center focus and it would be foolish in thought to place them anywhere but the center. Much like how our campus has the Chapel in the center, upon whose focus is God. The yellow on each roof are said to symbolize the emperors ultimate power much like how sports teams all have their colors present in stadiums. These reflections and more can be seen in how we arrange our large building/stadium layouts.
What do you think about the flexibility of movement around our campus vs. the strictly constrained movement in the FC?
When a person walks through the Forbidden City, the architecture makes a great impression on the visitors. As a person walks through the city, they get the feeling that everything had a dignified purpose and that every building was built in a specific sequence to make sure that there are step or rules that needed to be followed. The large spaces in the Forbidden City are similar to other large spaces I have visited for the reason that they lead you to the main focus or point of interaction. This city is also similar to other buildings in culture because the more hierarchy something has the more important or respected something is or what it is representing
I like your suggestions about “rules” that lead us to the (single) focus of the assemblage.
The elaborate and large buildings within the forbidden city make a person feel they are in a place of great importance. Buildings are then separated by gardens which gives a sense of peace. Gardens used to separate the buildings also makes the buildings take up more space, and since space is important it shows the importance of the buildings. Similar to the white house the building is surrounded by a large garden and a fence. Also like the white house the peaceful gardens combined with elaborate buildings show the power of the ruler as well as their grace and mercy.
Who has access to those gardens?
The Forbidden City’s architecture is placed in a grid-like fashion. I imagine walking through the halls and gardens would be very peaceful because of the clean and uniform design. The forbidden city is made out of countless individual buildings in comparison to other palaces that only consist of a few giant structures.
Do you think the functions in the big spaces would elicit a sense of “peace” as well?
The architecture of the Forbidden City would have an intimidating impression on a visitor. This is due to the large courtyards that are surrounded by high walls. The high walls would make a person feel enclosed or trapped in the courtyard. I believe that this is the impact that the designer wished to convey. After all, the forbidden city was intended to emulate the power of the emperor that lived and ruled from the city. Comparing the Forbidden City to other governmental buildings in the world, both buildings seem to be representing the power of the government with the large size of the structures.
In a word, yes!
While studying the Forbidden City the first thing noticed was the numerous gates throughout the city. If a visitor were to enter the place, they might feel intimidated by how serious the place is. However, the city seems to have a balance to it. This is due to the design of the city and the buildings with a more squared off plan. The courtyards seem to look almost empty, open, and bare. When comparing it to other larger building I have seen, they fill the empty areas to make the place look not as intimidating as the Forbidden City does.
There certainly is a sense of order that is suitable for the capital of an empire, and the impression of intimidation–likewise.
The Forbidden City seems pretty intimidating because there are large elevated buildings paired with empty large spaces. Also, there weren’t any public places, so it doesn’t seem very inviting. This feels similar to some government buildings in the United States. These buildings large open spaces that have specific purposes and meanings, like a courtroom, and sometimes they are intimidating. However, this contrasts with more communal areas like colleges campuses. On campus, specific buildings have specific rolls, however there are gathering places, like picnic benches within the courtyard spaces.
Yes it is by very, very special invitation into the FC.What else makes a place feel more “welcoming” besides functional access to it?
The architecture of the buildings in the Forbidden City makes visitors feel small and almost insignificant next to their grand size and the surrounding walls. Walking through the courtyard, there is a very similar effect on visitors. Looking at photos, people appear similar to ants crawling along a large, flat, open area. It almost seems like an enclosed desert due to its vastness. This architecture dominates the surrounding area and demands attention just like the United Nations building in New York, specifically the general assembly hall. The hall captures that feeling that the courtyards evoke through the large expanse and spaciousness.
What do you suppose is the intent of the UN building compared with the scale of the FC?
When I examined the plans for the Forbidden City, it was astounding to see the grandeur of the city. The scale of the structures and courtyards completely humbles the people who enter. I have visited government structures like the Madison Capital Building, and campuses like the Illinois Institute of Technology. The Madison Capital Building contains a massive dome and also imposes a sense of grandeur and government power. However, nothing seems so radical or omnipotent than the Forbidden City with its massive gateways, waterways, handcrafted details, and courtyards.
Why do you suppose that is the case?
I believe the objective of the architect who was behind this palace was trying to illustrate the harmony between nature and man made structures. A person who sees a Courtyard like that, can’t be less than surprised at the time of seeing it since it reflects the beauty of nature being involved with the structure as a decorative feature. The structure itself seems organized, spaced out correctly, as if it was meant to make things easier for people living/working on the structure.
I’m not sure that I follow your interpretation of nature in the building–do you think that would be a primary impression of this place?
The details of the Forbidden City are thought out to the exact specifications of the architects and culture. When we walk around stadiums or arenas, they are for entertainment of the people within, not for symbolism in every last detail. So, walking around a place like Forbidden City would be so incredible if we can understand the details of each element of it. The courtyards remind me of a larger university, like Texas Christian University, with the main courtyard being surrounded by a large portion of the dorm rooms, with small “gate” areas for entrances and exits to the space.
Do you think the designers of the campus had similar ideas in mind?
The Forbidden City communicates order in its grid-like design. The gates of the are very grand is design and style. Within in the main axis leading through the city, each courtyard is large in space. These design choices showcase power of those ruling over China at the time. Despite the grand scale of the gates, palaces and buildings in the city, there is an overarching elegance the design. The roofs taper of at a swooping angle. It gives the city an air of grace but also power. When you go into the buildings, opulence and grandeur are evident because of the embellishments. The deep, burnt red used throughout the city communicate the royal prestige of the city.
It is a remarkable intersection of elegance and power, as you say–absolute political might, but a very refined culture, too.
The spaces that were created in each of the sections of the Forbidden City are reflective of their names with gardens for thinking and open places for “happiness”. When comparing to other spaces that are purpose driven the Forbidden City seems to have a structure that has clear distinctions between its sections but an overall design of axis rather than flow.
Which spaces? Consider entry from the south, to the main halls.
Looking at the layout I cant help but to think of Central Park in New York just due to the fact that in the center everything seems so open and more of a communal area and around it you have the tight workings of smaller buildings moving all along the “border” of the grand centralized area
It is indeed big, but I see many more differences between the two, starting with access and human scale.
As I navigated through the palace museum virtually I think the visitor would be awestruck with the architects work. Everything has an elaborate detail to it, the visitor can clearly see the amount of thought and work that was put into the palace. I think the person that walks through the courtyards truly feels like royalty not only because once only royalty walked through those courtyards but because of the amount of time that was put into the palace for that person to see. I think other large spaces that I’ve visited such as our campus in Elgin are similar to the palace in the consideration of strategic placement but not in detail. Usually smaller spaces contain detail and the larger ones are considered too large to have detail because of time and other people think that it is too chaotic.
Consider visitors 600 years ago and the limits placed on their movement. Who got to feel “royal” then?
Walking through the Forbidden City, you have a very visual sense of hierarchy in status and design, as well as the need for balance. The entrances are grand in scale, and show the magnitude of the space you’re entering. Walking through the courtyards, you can see how most of the space follows a very simple plan with a repeating pattern, just varying in scale. The only thing that it compares to that I’ve seen are dense European cities with cathedrals in the middle, taller than any of the other buildings. You see that kind of scale with the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and the Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, for example. But these halls are different in that they don’t feel as accessible to the public.