Pan HS, Zhong MM and Wang Xh · CLIENT: School of Architecture and Design, Harbin Institute of Technology
New Chinese Style is a hand-drawn urban map of Lanzhou, China. The map presents the only provincial capital through which the Yellow River flows. The line work is drawn with a fountain pen and then colored with watercolor on specialty paper, with a base sheet of 1.1 by 1.7 meters. A moving aerial viewpoint, inspired by classical Chinese painting, links landmark buildings, waterways, roads and folk scenes into one continuous picture. The finished product includes outer packaging, the map and two postcards.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- This design represents a visual exploration that employs contemporary design language to recount the story of a Chinese city. Anchored by the spiritual core of "Golden City Lanzhou," the work takes its point of departure from a unique geographical and cultural fact: Lanzhou is the only provincial capital through which the Yellow River flows. The design transmutes the city’s historical memory, urban development, and folk customs into a readable, palpable, and "Guofeng" (Neo-Chinese style) visual narrative. Transcending the utilitarian function of a traditional map, this piece serves as a vessel to construct a cultural scroll that fuses natural landforms, urban structure, and human life, capturing the holistic temperament of a "City of the Yellow River where the ancient and modern coexist."
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Drawing specifications: the base paper for drawing: 1.1 * 1.7 meters.
- Tags
- The spatial narrative is grand, the details are richly illustrated, and the use of color is elegant and refined.
- Production Technology
- The process begins with creating the line drawing using a fountain pen (ink: Catfish brand, pen: LAMY/extra fine). Then, watercolor is applied for coloring. Based on this, the final hand-drawn map product consists of three parts: "outer packaging + hand-drawn map + 2 postcards." The material used is specialty paper.
- Design Challenge
- The entire hand-drawn map's illustration design is burdensome, taking a total of 1,200 hours to complete. There are 143 buildings and scenic spots alone, more than 100 different character shapes, and there are more flowers and trees. On the other hand, distilling and organizing these complex elements requires a profound level of creative thinking and design experience.
- Project Duration
- Completed Date& Duration: October 2023, Duration: approximately 6 months; Project Location: Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, China
- Operation Flow
- With the aerial perspective of "mobile point of viewing", combined with the Yellow River and urban roads passing through Lanzhou. Together, they create an intertwined spatial structure and visual guidance, showcasing the architectural sequence of Lanzhou's urban area as well as its folk culture and daily life.
- Research
- In order to fully showcase Lanzhou’s urban development and the new vitality of its social folk culture, this work innovatively uses the unique loess landscape of the region as its foundation, skillfully integrating the multi-point perspective composition and ink-and-color-on-silk techniques found in the classical Chinese artwork Along the River During the Qingming Festival. By adopting a mobile viewpoint, it dynamically captures landmark architecture, waterways, roads, and folk scenes, weaving these complex elements into an elegant and cohesive humanistic picture. Presented in the popular contemporary format of a hand-drawn map, the piece offers a comprehensive portrayal of Lanzhou’s renewed image. The resulting visual narrative merges the rich earthy presence of the Loess Plateau with the delicate texture of silk painting, culminating in a expansive spatial story that transcends time and space.
- Inspiration
- Taking the expressive methods and painting styles of ancient Chinese classical art, mainly drawing inspiration from the famous Northern Song painter Zhang Zeduan's 'The Qingming Festival along the River'.
- Image Credits
- IP and copyrights belong to Husheng Pan and Wang Xiaohong.
- Patents
- Copyrights belong to Husheng PAN and Xiaohong WANG
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