Building Dreams

Chinese architect wins Pritzker Prize for the first time By Tang Yuankai

Building Dreams

Chinese architect wins Pritzker Prize for the first time By Tang Yuankai

W hile famous foreign architects are invited to lead the designs of landmark buildings in China such as the new CCTV tower and the National Center for the Performing Arts, many excellent Chinese architects are making great efforts to take the center stage.

Their efforts have been proven fruitful.Wang Shu, a 49-year-old Chinese architect,won the 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize—which is often referred to as the Nobel Prize of architecture—on February 28. He is the fi rst Chinese citizen to win this award.

Big success

The Pritzker Architecture Prize, founded in 1979, is an annual award given to the architect whose constructed work demonstrates a combination of talent, vision and commitment.The laureates receive a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion.

Before Wang’s international recognition,many people thought most buildings with brilliant designs were completed by foreign companies and the Chinese people were only responsible for the construction work. Today,Wang’s success proves the capability of innovative design of Chinese architects and the high qualities of their works, said John Puttick, lead architect of the Beijing of fi ce of Make Architects, a U.K.-based architectural design fi rm.

Actually, for Wang, winning the prize was not surprising. He won the French Gold Medal from the Academy of Architecture in 2011. It was the first time for a Chinese architect to win an international award in architecture. And he was offered the Kenzo Tange Chair at the Harvard Graduate School of Design for 2011-12. Generally, for a person who has received these two honors, the Pritzker Architecture Prize is within reach.

“The fact that an architect from China was selected by the jury represents a signi ficant step in acknowledging the role that China could play in the development of architectural ideals,” said Thomas Pritzker, Chairman ofThe Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the prize.

Living tradition

Wang serves as head of the Architecture Department at the China Academy of Art(CAA). His of fi ce is located at the Xiangshan campus of the university in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province. The campus, with an astonishing group of buildings in both number and scale, is just one of his masterpieces. Many buildings on the campus were his original creations. It was this campus that established his significant status in Chinese architecture.

The unique style of the campus makes a sharp contrast with most Chinese universities. Compared with buildings which imitate ancient architectures, it bears strong modern charm. Many visitors were stunned by the complex architectural space and abundant building types. The curves of the buildings match perfectly with the rise and fall of hills,forming a unique landscape.

Wang collected more than 7 million abandoned bricks of different ages. He asked the workers to use traditional craftsmanship to make the bricks into walls, roofs, window eaves and corridors. This creation attracted a lot of attention thanks to its blend of modern and traditional Chinese elements.

In addition, through use of recycled resources, Wang conveyed to the world the significance of cherishing resources and respecting traditions and history.

“Saving materials is a virtue. Today,many ancient and old buildings have been removed, so there are a large number of used bricks and tiles. These materials, which originally stood with dignity, are now abandoned as garbage. As an architect, I can’t turn a blind eye to them,” said Wang.

He started to collect these materials in 2000. “It is essential for us to find ways to bring these abandoned materials back to life.In this way, we can extend their life and restore their dignity,” he said.

Wang’s works show a profound interpretation of modern architecture and a good knowledge of traditions. Through such a balance, he had created a new type of Chinese architecture, said Tadao Ando, a Japanese architect and the winner of the 1995 Pritzker Prize. Ando said Wang’s creation should be recognized by the whole world.

Wang believes traditions should not be sealed in glass boxes at museums. “That is only evidence that proves the traditions once existed,” he said.

“Many Chinese people have a misunderstanding of traditions. They think tradition means old things from the past. In fact, tradition also refers to the things that have been developing and that are still being established,” he said.

“Today, the Chinese people are obsessed with learning Western styles and philosophy rather than focusing on Chinese traditions.Many people tend to talk about traditions without knowing what they really are,” said Wang.

The study of traditions should be combined with practice. Otherwise, the recreation of traditions would be arti fi cial and empty, he said.

Wang Shu’s Representative Works

● 2010: Decay of the Dome at the 12th Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy

● 2010: Ningbo Tengtou Pavilion at the World Expo 2010, Shanghai

● 2009: Imperial Street of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), Hangzhou,Zhejiang Province

● 2008: Ningbo Museum, Ningbo,Zhejiang Province

● 2007: The second phase of the Xiangshan campus of the CAA, Hangzhou,Zhejiang Province

● 2005: Ningbo Museum of Art, Ningbo,Zhejiang Province

● 2004: The fi rst phase of the Xiangshan campus of the China Academy of Art(CAA), Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province

HU XUEJUN

Originality

Wang said he was grateful that the CAA gave him the opportunity to design its Xiangshan campus. Despite some criticism of his design,Xu Jiang, President of the CAA, supported him fi rmly.

From 2007 to 2009, Wang led the design of the Imperial Street of Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) in Hangzhou.

The old street dated back to the Southern Song Dynasty. However, due to hundreds of years of disrepair, the 4,000-meter-long street,once a thriving marketplace, was almost a ruin.

Exploration on the reconstruction began as early as 2001, but no consensus was reached. Finally, the municipal government invited Wang to take charge of the project.

Wang made his points clear. First of all,the government should give him at least three years for the construction of the project, and before construction, he needed half a year for research. Second, it was essential to keep a strong sense of life in the street. Wang said if all the residents were moved out, leaving only commercial real estate, the street would lose its vigor and vitality. Third, he was opposed to the idea of tearing down the old street and building a new imitative one.

Luckily, the local government accepted these conditions and the municipal officials gave him full support. The project proved another big success.

Wang graduated with a master’s degree in 1988. In the next 10 years, he did not start design work like his classmates. Instead,he worked together with the construction workers. He accumulated abundant practical experience and formed a unique style of architectural design. He pursued further study for a Ph.D in 1998.

Wang is known as a very special architect. He is opposed to demolition, he is not into landmark buildings, and seldom takes on commercial projects. In China, which is undergoing rapid urbanization and architectural design industrialization, he is seen as an alien.He has always kept some distance from the trend.

“A good architect should have a special set of ideas that he sticks to. And he should always bring his ideas into practice,” said Wang.

Many architects tend to believe the reason they cannot do a good job was because they lack a good idea. “This was wrong,” Wang said. “In my opinion, what they lack badly is a coherent and sustained architectural philosophy,” he said.