MEMBERS AREA
ACTIVITIES
Dumfries & Galloway
April AGM, including talk by Andy McNab
‘Chinese Planning and Architecture:
Kunming – City of Eternal Spring’, was the
title of a talk given at the AGM by Andy
McNab. Andy is a chartered town planner
who lived and worked in Kunming whilst
managing a rural development project in
Yunnan. Andy sought to describe the
development of this ancient city, emphasising
the distinctive Chinese approach to planning.
The city was laid out to resemble in planform a tortoise, a symbol of prosperity and
longevity. He went on to describe and
illustrate the architecture of the city, outlining
the Chinese approach to conservation and
city planning. Whilst in many respects
Kunming is a typical provincial Chinese city of
limited architectural merit, Andy had been
able to identify historic pagodas, temples,
gates, markets and houses which have
survived and been conserved. He also
illustrated the new enthusiasm for recreating
historic buildings, contrasting the new
construction with photos of the original
buildings. Andy illustrated how the
architecture of the city reflected its social and
economic development with buildings
displaying the early French presence in the
city in the nineteenth century, international
modernist styles from the 1930s, Russian
influences in the 1950s and the monumental
Chinese public buildings dating from after the
revolution. Finally, Andy turned to some of the
more exciting new buildings and identified
their debt to traditional Chinese forms. This
was one of the most fascinating and
interesting talks we have had, giving an entirely
different perspective on architectural
development of a town from a town
planner’s view.
Ruthwell Church and the Devil’s Porridge
Bowl at Eastriggs
We undertook this visit to see the Ruthwell
Cross, now situated within the church. The
cross is designed to tell the story of the life
and passion of Christ, and is known as a
‘preaching cross’ dating from about 680AD.