06/11/2026
A new publication emerging from SSA offers a compelling rethinking of architectural modernism through the lens of contemporary Chinese practice. The Other Tradition of Modernism: Writing Contemporary Chinese Architecture, edited by Guanghui Ding, Adjunct Associate Professor, presents a curated collection of critical essays that foreground alternative architectural trajectories shaped by China’s distinct historical, cultural, and socio-political conditions.
Developed from an advanced seminar in 2025, this booklet represents a rigorous pedagogical experiment that bridges teaching and scholarship. Through a combination of lectures, writing workshops, and editorial guidance, students engaged deeply with a wide range of architectural works in China. The result is a set of essays that examine themes such as nation-state formation, memory, temporality, and nature, and questions of agency and autonomy in contemporary practice.
The booklet positions these student writings as serious critical investigations, demonstrating how architectural writing can function as both a laboratory for ideas and a method of research training. The volume is further distinguished by its careful curation of visual materials, integrating high-quality images with analytical text to reflect the spatial and material concerns central to architectural thinking.
Read the publication here: https://ssa.ccny.cuny.edu/blog/2026/06/05/the-other-tradition-of-modernism/
Image Credit: The Other Tradition of Modernism: Writing Contemporary Chinese Architecture, Courtesy of Guanghui Ding
