Keynote 3
Topic 3: Cultural Sensitivity in Architecture
0845 - 1015 (Plenary Hall)
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Keynote 3 by Wang Shu & Lu Wenyu, partners of Amateur Architecture Studio (China)​​​
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Wang Shu
Amateur Architecture Studio (China)
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Wang Shu and his wife, Lu Wenyu, founded Amateur Architecture Studio in 1997 in Hangzhou, China. He creates modern buildings from traditional materials and using traditional methods. Amateur Architecture Studio is known for the Library of Wenzheng College, Suzhou University; Ningbo Contemporary Art Museum; Five Scattered Houses, Ningbo; Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art (Phase I) Hangzhou; Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art (Phase II) Hangzhou; Ceramic House, Jinhua; Vertical Courtyard Apartments, Hangzhou; Ningbo History Museum - constructed from bricks salvaged from buildings demolished to give way for new developments; and, Exhibition Hall of the Imperial Street of Southern Song Dynasty, Hangzhou.
In 2012, Wang Shu won the Pritzker Architecture Prize and in 2011, he received the Gold Medal of Architecture from the l'Académie d'Architecture of France. In 2010, Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu were awarded the Schelling Architecture Prize, which goes to individuals who have responsibly advanced architecture's development with significant designs, realised buildings or with profound contributions to architectural history and theory.
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Lu Wenyu
Amateur Architecture Studio (China)
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Lu Wenyu co-founded the firm Amateur Architecture Studio which became known for its use of natural materials such as wood, stones, and mud, bringing in aspects of the greater landscape; using traditional techniques in building. They chose the name as a rebuke of the "professional, soulless architecture" practiced, which they believe has contributed to the large-scale demolition of many old urban neighbourhoods. She was a visiting Professor at Harvard GSD and MIT and the Director of the Experimental Centre for sustainable building in China Academy of Art and has co-founded with Wang Shu the Architecture Department at China Academy of Art in 2003. Their work “Xiangshan Campus of China Academy of Art” was one of “The 25 Most Significant Works of Postwar Architecture” all over the world selected by the New York Times in 2021.
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In 2010, Lu Wenyu and Wang Shu together won the German Schelling Architecture Prize. In 2012, Wang Shu was awarded the Pritzker Prize for the work the duo completed together in their firm, Amateur Architecture Studio. In 2019, Lu Wenyu received the 2019 Gold Medal of Tau Sigma Delta. She is also the juror of UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.
