Discussion of Architectural Form

This paper discusses the concept of “form and content” (xingshi yu neirong) from the particularity of the discipline of architecture. Based on literature review of architectural theories and the idea of “Chinese learning as substance, Western learning as application” (zhongxue weiti, xixue weiyong) put forward by late-Qing and earlyRepublican intellectuals, combined with case-studies of modern architecture, the paper introduces the cultural viewpoint of Liang Qichao, a modern thinker who had sought to fifind a harmonious middle ground (“not China or the West, but China and the West”; bu zhong bu xi ji zhong ji xi). The paper then suggests to replace the current concept of “form/shape and content” with the new concept of “form/image and element” (xingxiang yu yaosu).