17: work in hangzhou

we now make our way to the office, and my life in new china.

there are still a few vestiges of the old, however. the elevated highway follows the alignment of the early city walls; the canal at the base served as a moat, and connected to the beijing-hangzhou grand canal just to the north of here. this feeder canal has been landscaped for the entire length, and there's a surprisingly pleasant walk down along the water edge. many of the arched stone bridges have been retained and refurbished and provide pedestrian crossings. shade is always welcome here, as is protection from the frequent rain showers. the plantings and the change in level buffer some of the traffic noise reflected from the "ceiling" of the lower roadway. vine-covered columns and the smooth, reflective finish of the underside make a far more humane space than the hellish enclosures formed by the claiborne avenue overpass in new orleans, or by many other urban, elevated highways in the states. this intervention could have been a whole lot worse, had they done it "our" way...















































under the highway and over the canal, i'm at the office. the formation of our building guards below is not just for my welcome, but a fairly common "staff meeting" seen at the start of many service workers' shifts.































this is the street lobby of our building; there are bike parking rooms down a ramp from the porch. there's also car parking and a lunch canteen on the two floors below. this is pretty much the standard for all new office buildings here.



































and this is our floor, the entire 12th (of 19 floors in all).























the layout is the typical center-core plan. some of the recent projects are displayed in the corridor around the core. four studios of about ten workstations each (for architects and engineers, again typical) are on the west, north and east sides of the floor.














































the south quadrant is a suite of private offices (for the four partners and me) and several conference areas.


















this is my office, with a great view to the east. the framed stuff on the column is my louisiana architecture license and some images from my students at chiangmai university last summer. on the floor is a chilling poster warning "beware of foreigners!" from the cultural revolution.























and this is my "broadcast booth" with my mac mini, brought from the states; the framed threesome to the left is one of the ancestor paintings that i bought in guangzhou last year; the small image to the right is a lamantia painting that i brought back with me in may. i've found a terrific framer here (lots of art schools in hangzhou); the materials, workmanship and the prices are just unbelievable: about us$12 for the largest piece. i've even brought some posters that i bought in china years ago back here for framing.

and all the ceramics- well there's another story. i've bought a few things from stalls in the street market by my apartment- a bowl for fruit, when i needed one, and a jar or vase that have caught my eye. since i walk through often, it has become sort of endurance bargaining: every time i stop to look at something, the price declines. when the price seems right, i'll negotiate the final deal; i've never paid more than twenty bucks for anything.


















one noon, i hear a knock at my office door, and i look up to see one of my street vendors, making a house call. "how the hell did you find me?" i have to ask; i've never given him a business card or discussed where i work; he told me he just asked the people on the street- which way does the big white-haired foreigner go every morning? when he got to my building, he asked security which floor i go to. when he got to our floor, he asked our floor "auntie" which office was mine; she happily escorted him to my door. now the western me was a little creeped out by the stalking, i must admit. but the kid is really good at figuring out what i like, and now he visits me with new stuff every other week or so. his prices are great, and i now own brush pots, a qing dynasty cricket bowl (for when i buy my fighting cricket), ming dynasty wine cups, and lots of other stuff. i'm sure most of it is fake, but the forms and decoration are so cool and so pleasant to look at, that to me they are worth the money, even if they were made yesterday!

this is my "pot dealer", liu yin fei; no, i didn't buy that piece...