PostTime：4/27/2017
Haim Dotan（right）communicated with Dr. Marom, Pro Vice Chancellor and Director General of GTIIT (left).
Haim Dotan, prominent Israeli architect and urban designer, visited Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) and exchanged ideas with the GTIIT staff. Haim Dotan said, GTIIT is a highly-recognized project by both China and Israel. He showed great interests in campus construction and looked forward to GTIIT's landmark, which will be a shining point of the university and Shantou.
Haim Dotan is considered as one of the most outstanding architects in Israel as well as the leading guru in visual arts. Haim Dotan has become known by the Chinese for his representative works, the Grand Canyon Skywalk in Zhangjiajie and Israel Pavillion for Shanghai World Expo 2010. Haim's mother was born in Shanghai, and thus he has strong affection towards China. We can see how Chinese culture influences many of his works.
The Grand Canyon Skywalk in Zhangjiajie（Source：Internet）
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The Grand Canyon Skywalk in Zhangjiajie is the longest (380 meters) and highest (300 meters) glass bridge in the world, which can be traced back to Laozi's ideas of "the loudest and the most beautiful sound is silence, while the greatest frame is shapelessness". Israel Pavillion for Shanghai World Expo 2010 is also named as "Seashell". The design idea also came from Laozi's philosophy of "Yin and Yang is interdependent". The appearance of the architecture looks like as if it is flowing, representing the spirits of endlessness and advancement. In his design, Haim Dotan tends to combine nature elements, such as wind, sunshine, moon, light and water to create a harmonious space intending to gather people. He hopes that architectures can convey emotions and create a poetic atmosphere. Take the Grand Canyon Skywalk in Zhangjiajie as an example, Haim Dotan hopes to construct a bridge that makes people feel like going through clouds. By using glass as materials, the bridge seems to be invisible and intergrated into the nature. "We want to create a poetic place for people to live. Nature is one of the most important elements."
Israel Pavillion for Shanghai World Expo 2010（Source: Internet）
During the seminar, Haim expressed his great interests in the overpass in GTIIT. When he learnt that GTIIT was going to build an overpass to connect the North and South campuses, he hoped that GTIIT would build a masterpiece that would be the namecard of GTIIT.
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Haim Dotan was introducing his works.
Haim Dotan, together with Professor Wang Shouzhi, Dean of Cheung Kong School of Art & Design, held a lecture with the topic of "Nature and Architecture in Chinese Culture" on the everning of April 19th. The lecture had won prolonged applause from teachers and students.
Text by Li Min, Cao Yanyan
Photo/ Edited by Li Min
Translated by Lan Haiting
