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设计，联结文明共识的LSD力量

福禄装修家居
2025-09-28 12:53

Understanding Eclecticism in Design

Amidst the frequent mention of "eclecticism," we take a fresh look at ourselves. As eclecticism is simplified into a manual of style mix-and-match, and design methods like "eclectic classic" and "eclectic light French" become standardized tags, we realize that this 19th-century concept is facing its most serious misinterpretation. Eclecticism is reduced to the combination of visual elements, while its essence about "civilized dialogue" is collectively forgotten.

This has prompted LSD to reiterate the initial concept of "eclectic commonality" — true design is always searching for the common denominator of human emotions in the midst of differences.

Looking back at the history of human civilization, eclecticism has never been a simple pasting of styles, but the underlying logic of the survival of civilization. From the Hagia Sophia in Byzantium, which combines Greek columns, Persian tiles, and Christian murals, to Japanese architecture in the Meiji period that naturally coexists with both Eastern and Western systems under modern functional demands, these great cases all prove that the highest design always seeks to establish consensus. And the breakthrough progress of human civilization always follows the same logic — differences naturally appear in resonance. The essence of eclecticism is the chemical reaction between different systems in terms of function, emotion, and behavioral patterns, developing new spatial narratives.

The fusion of Greek and Egyptian art in ancient Rome, the absorption of Arabic science during the Renaissance, each leap of human civilization is accompanied by a profound process of eclecticism. This eclecticism is not random patchwork, but a deep understanding and recreation of different systems, an adaptive evolution of civilization. However, the contemporary trend of eclecticism in design has fallen into the trap of symbolic patchwork, forcibly combining representative symbols of different cultures without internal logic, or using historical elements in a fast-food way, only as decorations to create a sense of contrast, ignoring the true compatibility of function and emotion.

True eclecticism should be like language translation — not literal, but finding the most resonant expression in two cultures.

For example, during the renovation and interior design of Xi'an Fang So, we took ancient Chang'an as the starting point, formed an open and inclusive thinking logic spanning the ancient and modern, and the East and the West, ultimately extracting the design inspiration of the overall architectural space concept of "Wengcheng" (mound city).

As an important military defense facility in ancient times, "Wengcheng" was a channel for culture, trade, and communication, representing defense and connection. To some extent, this aligns with the vision of Fang So in Xi'an — to connect history, the world, and the times, and defend the spiritual territory of civilization. What LSD solves is how to make a modern cultural space converse with the historical roots of the ancient capital.

The design reshapes the exterior architectural facade from the color and encircling relationship of the rammed earth wall of "Wengcheng," completing the transformation of the entire building. The main material of the exterior facade abandons heavy stone and wood materials, instead using lighter, more orderly polyester resin boards and high-transmittance white glass to respond to the modernity of the rammed earth wall of "Wengcheng," to trigger the recognizable identity of the Xi'an Fang So building, and to present openness and transparency.

This eclecticism is not a pile of symbols, but translates the cultural genes of Xi'an into a space experience that modern people can perceive. When local readers enter the bookstore, they can feel a familiar memory, but can not identify specific "traditional elements." This is the embodiment of "commonality": design triggers not nostalgia for a specific era, but an instinctive recognition of cultural continuity.

LSD's "eclectic commonality" concept is the interpretation of this kind of deep eclecticism: eclecticism is a method, commonality is the purpose; eclecticism is a process, commonality is the result. Commonality, as a philosophical concept, refers to the universal truth beyond individual differences. In the context of design, it means whether people from different cultural backgrounds can produce similar emotions when facing the same space, and whether people with different lifestyles can naturally find comfortable ways of using the same environment, whether design can touch the collective unconsciousness shared by humans.

In today's world, design is no longer just serving a single culture but establishing this deep consensus in a pluralistic context. How to coexist the implicitness of the East and the straightforwardness of the West in space language? How to retain people's instinctual亲近 to natural materials in the digital age? How to make historical memory still perceptible in modern function? The answers to these questions are not compromise but finding a higher-level logic of unity.

Realizing true eclecticism and commonality requires following a specific methodology.

In terms of eclecticism, we pursue asymmetrical balance, not fixated on formality of equality, but letting different elements achieve dynamic harmony in conflict; we emphasize deep translation, not directly appropriating symbols, but extracting the logic behind culture or style, and reconstructing it with contemporary language; we adhere to function priority, always using experience rather than visual effects as the ultimate criterion.

In establishing commonality, we focus on the sublimation from "thing" to "space," not only paying attention to the style of single furniture or decoration, but also paying attention to the creation of the overall atmosphere; we explore the transformation from "form" to "behavior," letting design guide people's natural behavior rather than just satisfying visual aesthetics; we practice the transmission of wisdom from "history" to "present," letting the modernization of traditional elements not be simple复古, but to solve modern problems with historical wisdom.

The latest completed Shanghai Vanke · Zhongxing Aoshi always follows the "eclectic commonality" concept that the team has sorted out for many years, guiding the creation of space resources — scale, as well as the creation of behavior and content — the true nature of life, to build a quality residence that conforms to the current living context and can touch the hearts of people.

The living room is composed of different "clusters," each with independent functional attributes. In the process of combination, they achieve behaviors beyond themselves, like the gaps of a puzzle, only after completing the entire picture, can you see the comprehensive and rich world view.

"Sofas are for lying on, carpets are for sitting on, some like to eat on coffee tables, some like to read on sills... Our design is to 'sew' these behaviors together, so that seemingly different things can coexist." When we blur and extend the boundaries of space, forming a polysemous form of life. This also proves our core view: aesthetics always progresses in bias, and true consensus always grows at the intersection of culture.

Zhongxing Aoshi ultimately proves that "eclectic commonality" is not an aesthetic strategy but a cognitive upgrade — when design abandons the obsession with "pure style" and seeks a balance point in complexity, it gains the key to touch the hearts of diverse groups of people, and just verifies the truth that consensus precedes difference — when design solves the fundamental issue of "how different groups of people can coexist in a shared environment," differences will appear in the most natural way. This ability may be the most precious quality of future urban living.

In an era where values are increasingly differentiated, design has become one of the few areas that can cross cultural, language, and beliefs to directly touch human empathy. "Eclectic commonality" is not a style, but a world view — it acknowledges the existence of differences, but believes that there is a more universal resonance above differences.

The future of design will no longer be obsessed with "being different," but will be committed to "how we can understand each other and feel the beauty of diversity." Just as a hundred years ago, when Venice merchants used silk and porcelain to complete the eclecticism of East and West, when the Bauhaus tried to establish modern society's commonality with "the new unity of art and technology," when Le Corbusier achieved the reconciliation of primitive worship and modern theology in the Church of Sainte-Chapelle, they are all proving that the most enduring differences always grow on the deepest resonance.

As the founder of LSD, Mr. Ge Yaxi said in an interview: "Eclecticism that accepts complexity and embraces differences is not just a style of a certain period, but an innovative means based on the present. Establishing connections based on the consensus of the majority is what we mean by sharing. Because, all moving designs, fundamentally, are different people from different time and space speaking the same words: 'I understand you.'