Ambigue continuità. Note sul progetto di Atelier FCJZ per il Forbidden City Cultural Relics Museum a Chongqing, Cina / Ambiguous continuities. Notes on Atelier FCJZ’s project for the Forbidden City Cultural Relics Museum in Chongqing, China

Abstract

This paper reflects on the temporal and disciplinary ambiguities embedded in the restoration and expansion project of the Forbidden City Cultural Relics Museum in Chongqing, China, curated by Yung Ho Chang and Atelier FCJZ since 2020. Conceived within a campus-like system of dispersed pavilions – a strategy born from the site's complex topography and pre-existing structures – the project proposes a subtle yet radical redefinition of periodization. This is achieved not by a stylistic break, but through a deliberate continuity of tectonic language and a careful selection of materials, textures, and colour palette. While traditional materials are consistently employed, the newly designed forms explore more fluid geometries, pushing the structural and expressive potential of conventional construction techniques. By examining the project through the lens of tectonics and building techniques, this contribution draws a conceptual thread back to the Yingzao Fashi (1103 CE), the canonical Chinese treatise on architecture authored by Li Jie during the Northern Song dynasty. FCJZ’s project resonates with this heritage, not by replicating it but by updating its underlying principles within a contemporary syntax.