This research focuses on the development of Chinese modern monumental architecture from 1920 to the early 20th century by examining first-hand and second-hand information on the development of Chinese architectural theory after 1920, as well as cases of Chinese modern monumental architecture. It is hoped that this study will show in a small way the influences from the West on Chinese architecture during the many periods of great socio-economic and political changes after 1920, the difficulties faced by Chinese architects in the face of two very different architectural theories, Western and traditional, and the attitudes and creative responses of Chinese architects to them.

This year's theme of the studio is based on ‘An Architecture For Art’. From churches and palaces, through the development of the Palace of Culture in the 19th century: public museums and galleries, to modern studios and galleries, art centres and the White Cube of the second half of the last century, and the gradual similarity between commercial and gallery spaces, art spaces have gradually evolved and their attitude towards the public, society and art has changed. The studio focuses on the controversial area of the space of the contemporary art gallery and also considers its societal role and how its responsibilities to the heterogenous contemporary city and its diverse population might be physically manifested in the image and presence of a new public building. The project takes an actual project as its starting point, allowing the conditions and concerns of a real brief for a real client to be one key reference point in the development of both individual and collective concerns. This year we work on a competition brief for the redevelopment of M HKA, the contemporary art museum of Antwerp, on a new site close to its existing one in the South of the Belgian city. At the same time, the site is in the old court building in Belgium, which is an important architectural heritage, so there is value in considering the retention or partial retention of the old building. So it became the theme of my project to consider the function of the new museum while preserving the existing building, using the New and the Old to provide variation to the public and exhibition spaces of the museum.