Wang Shu: Reimagining Chinese Architecture through Craft and Memory

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Born in 1963 in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China, architect Wang Shu has dedicated his career to defining a contemporary approach to building that is deeply rooted in China's cultural and material history. In 2012, he was recognized with the Pritzker Prize, becoming the first Chinese citizen to receive the distinction. The award jury acknowledged his body of work "for the exceptional nature and quality of his executed work, and also for his ongoing commitment to pursuing an uncompromising, responsible architecture arising from a sense of specific culture and place." In 2027, along with his wife Lu Wenyu, Wang Shu will be a curator for the Venice Architecture Biennale.

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Together, they founded the Amateur Architecture Studio in 1997. The name itself signifies the studio's deliberate focus on the more spontaneous and experimental aspects of design. For Wang Shu, architecture is not meant to achieve a singular, static state of "perfection". Instead, he thinks architecture is never static, as it allows the users to make of space something of their own. In that sense, he has said architecture is more of a progress in the journey of time, that evolves and lives, providing a framework for the everyday life that unfolds within it. Alongside their built work, Wang and Lu have also been very involved in the realm of architectural education in China. There, they helped to found the Architecture Department at the China Academy of Art in 2003 and later the School of Architecture in 2007.