Collaborativ​​e

My collaborative project is related to my personal story. I grew up in Beijing and moved to Washington D.C. when I was 13 years old. Spending significant times in the capitals of arguably the world’s two biggest superpowers is quite an experience for me. The capital of a nation is where its central(federal) government is located. Therefore, the capital of every nation has built buildings to suit the political purpose it serves. In this project, I want to do a comparison of the architecture of political buildings in each city. I took pictures of the political buildings in Beijing and asked my Davidson friends who are in DC to take pictures of the political buildings in Washington D.C. Then, I made a presentation (shown below) comparing the physical buildings of the same( or have a similar function) government branches/institutions.

As we can see in the presentation, the styles of architecture between the political buildings in DC and Beijing are quite different. For one, the style of political buildings is quite diverse. Some are built in classical Greek style such as the Capitol Hill while some are quite modern. The Chinese political buildings, on the other hand, all have a highly similar style. Most of them have tall columns in the entrance and the national emblem above to highlight the authority that specific department wields.

Moreover, I personally find it very interesting how the architectural styles of the political buildings in the capital of U.S. and China are able to reflect their respective political ideologies/beliefs. It is as if the domes and ionic columns in front of the Capitol Hill are telling us that the U.S. inherited the concept of democracy passed down from the Classical Period. Looking at China, the mix of the old royal palace and newly constructed quasi-Soviet style buildings as the location of its central government is signaling that China’s political ideology is a mix between the residue of thousands of years of feudalism and Soviet-imported communism.