@Architecture Topics V Wang Xi: Architectural technology is a relatively broad concept that includes building structures, construction, mechanics, materials, electrical systems, water supply and drainage, HVAC, thermal engineering, optics, acoustics, surveying, computer-aided design and simulation, construction, maintenance, reconstruction, relocation, demolition, ecology, environment, and sustainable architecture. The birth of a building is the result of the integrated application of various architectural technologies and of the architect coordinating the work of all technical disciplines. In other words, the main and true responsibility of the architect is to express all the different factors and to coordinate all specialties to jointly build a modern building. In order to carry out this highly creative activity while making the necessary compromises among the differing requirements of specialists, must the architect possess specialized knowledge of every detail?

　　@Da Bao: I think the architect need not attend to every minute detail, but should have a clear general concept of every branch of the building industry. Like an excellent symphony conductor, he must understand the possibilities and limitations of every instrument.

　　@Zhi Jian Bao: The most important of architectural technologies is structural technology; a building without structure is like a human body without a skeleton. The development of structural technology has been slow but solid. From using natural caves and tree branches to build shelters to learning to lay stone blocks and fire bricks, humanity went through a long history of tens of thousands of years. Famous relics that still exist today include the pyramids of ancient Egypt, the temples of ancient Greece, the Colosseum of ancient Rome, and the Great Wall of China. These ancient buildings fully embody the past glory of humanity's structural technology—a glory so great that later generations continually worship and imitate it. Today, with concrete and steel structures becoming ever more refined, is such imitation a regression of technology or an exhaustion of creativity?

　　@Yao Dao Da Xiaojie: With reinforced concrete structures, architects can build buildings of almost any shape, and with the rapid development of steel structure technology, humanity's architectural history has gained new glory. The birth of the skyscraper marks humanity's reaching the highest peak of today's architectural technology. Super high-rise buildings bring together humanity's finest achievements in architectural technology; their construction, use, and maintenance require unprecedented imagination and technical support. The construction of skyscrapers represents a country's strength and, more importantly, reflects a country's technological power. Humanity clearly knows that skyscrapers have many insurmountable flaws, yet still presses forward one after another. This is a challenge to the limits of technology; this is a tragic glory.

　　@Dian Du Shuai: Thanks to the invention of refrigeration technology, people can work, study, and rest in comfortable air-conditioned rooms in the hot summer. Today's architects are too fond of using glass as building walls. To keep the surface pure, architects open as few windows as possible or none at all, which makes it necessary to rely on air cooling or heating systems for indoor air conditioning. This ventilation technology has opened up a vast world for architects' creativity: buildings are getting taller and larger, often tens of thousands or even more than a hundred thousand square meters. It is very difficult to organize natural ventilation in super-large buildings, and in super high-rise buildings the upper parts cannot open windows due to wind pressure; to use these buildings, one can only rely on central air conditioning for ventilation. The invention of refrigeration technology has brought humanity a happy life, but if we rely on it too much, we will be very helpless and passive when natural disasters strike. Humanity has thousands of years of experience in natural ventilation technology, because natural ventilation is safe, hygienic, and economical. To make buildings conform to a natural layout, in addition to designing at the purely artistic level, the application of architectural technology is very important and must be considered comprehensively.