Jackson Wang: Preserve the memory and the culture of the city

Dressed in an oversized hoodie, with a black cap and a pair of trendy sneakers, the stylish boy seated in front of me is hard to be imagined as a professional architect.

Jackson Wang, as one of the youngest architects in Xiamen City, is admired and well-known for his redesign and renovation on the old architectures in the city. Living in Xiamen for more than 30 years, Jackson has witnessed the great change and vicissitude of the city. The madly continuous construction of the skyscrapers based on the destruction of the old buildings impresses him most. However, the modern skyscrapers not only replace the old buildings, but also deprive the city of its own unique culture and deprive the local residents of their old memory about the city.

“When I was a little child, I lived with my grandmother in the local traditional house. Most of the houses for living in the city were generally built in such a traditional style: The red bricks were used as the dominant material to construct the whole house, and the roofs of the houses were mostly decorated with boats and dragons. Those traditional houses are the symbol and the culture of the city, which should be regarded as the cultural heritage to be protected. However, more than half of them were destructed during the process of the modernization of the city,” Jason mentioned.

Traditional house in Xiamen: from Xiamen Daily

He continued: “While the traditional old houses were destructed to build the skyscrapers, the old factories were also hard to avoid being destructed for the same purpose. Those old factories offered job opportunities to our parents, and provided necessities for the city. Together with traditional houses, the old factories also keeps and loads our memory about the city.”

During the process of modernization of Xiamen, countless similar apartments, office buildings and shopping malls have gradually occupied the city. However, the modern and organized architectures have made Xiamen look similar with other modern cities, which contributes to the absence of the unique features and symbols of Xiamen.

Similar modern architectures have made Xiamen lose its own feature

Jackson said: “Majoring in architecture programme, I spent my campus life in Germany. During that period I observed that unlike China, most of the cities in Germany still remain and preserve their traditional architectures in their city centers. They redesigned and renovated those traditional architectures for commercial use, which ensures that the land resources are not wasted while the culture and memory of the city is well protected.”

The café in the traditional architecture in Berlin, Germany: from Handelskammerjournal

Inspired by city planning in Germany, Jackson decided to redesign and renovate the old architectures in Xiamen to preserve the local culture and memory of the city after gradation. He founded his own architecture firm once he returned back to Xiamen.

Jackson continued: “Only when those old architectures are renovated for commercial or other valuable purpose, can the architectures prevent from being destructed by the government. So what I intended to do was to redesign, renovate and re-plan the areas where old architectures are located, which is to provides the suitable space in the old architectures for commercial and other valuable use. ”

Renovation of the old factory

His first achievement is the renovation of the factory located in city center, which is now operated as an integrated business center after his redesign. It was once the largest factory of the city. Based on the original planning of the factory, Jackson separated this area into different six zones. Each zone specializes in operating certain business type. Restaurants, health care services, beauty services, gyms, cafés and retail stores were distributed and separated into their own specific zones. To connect the various zones, bridges were designed to link between them. Moreover, the boundary of the factory was destructed and the large scales of plants and benches were added in this area, which is to create the convenient and comfortable environment for visitors to explore. “Through renovating the old factory into such a organized and convenient business center, I want to attract more young people to come to feel the history of this city,” Jackson said.

Different zones within the factory are linked by bridges: from Mafengwo

Specially, most of the old decorations of the factory are remained. The appearance of the factory is remained as what it used to be: The old roofs, the shabby walls, the iron doors and even the old machines are perfectly preserved. “We not only intend to preserve this old element to attract more visitors, but to preserve the history and extend the memory of this city,” Jackson added.

Old decorations of the factory are still remained: from Mafengwo

Renovation of the old fishing port

Another successful renovation conducted by him is the renovation of the traditional fishing port of Xiamen called “Sha Po Wei”, which is also the first fishing port in the city. At the beginning, some people argued that the old fishing port and the traditional architectures nearby should be destructed and replaced by skyscrapers, and extra new land should be reclaimed from the sea near the port for further development. That was strongly opposed by Jackson. “Fishing culture is the traditional and representative symbol of the city and the rooted memory of the older generation. Plenty of old residents of the city used to making a living by fishing, setting sail from this port. So the old port plays the key role in the local culture and the memory of local resident,” Jackson said.

The view of Sha Po Wei before the renovation: from Xiamen Daily

Under his effort, Jackson successfully persuaded the relevant institution to remain the port and the traditional architectures nearby. At the same time, he was appointed as the chief architect to renovate this area. He redesigned the arrangement of the port: He designed a pedestrian path aside the port, which enables visitors to explore the view of the fishing port. He planned the specific area for the fishing boats to berth, which allows visitors to explore the boats to feel the fishing culture. What’s more, he conducted the project on reinforcing the traditional architectures nearby, improving the appearance of the architectures, and encouraging the owners of the architectures to operate the creative cafés, restaurants and accommodations inside the houses, which is to attract more tourists to explore this fishing port.

The popular creative cafés in Sha Po Wei: from Sina

Combining the traditional culture and modern tourism industry, this old fishing port has become one of the most popular destinations within the city. “I hope that while this old fishing port is well preserved, our local culture can be also well presented and introduced to more and more tourists,” Jackson added.

The fishing post renovated by Jackson: from Xiamen Daily

When it comes to the future planning, Jackson intends to stick to renovating the old architectures of the city in the future. “As a local resident, it is my responsibility to contribute my effort to preserve the local culture. As an architect, renovating the old architectures is the most practical and effective way for me to preserve the culture and memory of the city,” he explained.