Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu have been appointed to curate the 20th International Architecture Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia, opening May 8th and running through November 21st, 2027, in the Giardini and Arsenale. The decision, approved by La Biennale’s Board of Directors upon the recommendation of President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, brings the founders of Amateur Architecture Studio to one of the most influential platforms in the discipline, marking a pivotal moment ahead of the exhibition’s 2027 edition.

For nearly three decades, Amateur Architecture Studio’s practice is rooted in reuse, vernacular craft, and resistance to demolition-driven development, informed by their academic work at the China Academy of Art. With past Venice appearances in 2006, 2010, and 2016 and widely recognized projects like the Ningbo Historic Museum and the Xiangshan Campus, alongside international exhibitions and Wang Shu’s 2012 Pritzker Prize, the duo now returns to the Biennale with expanded responsibility.

Weng Shu and Lu Wenyu | all images © La Biennale di Venezia by ASAC- Matteo Losurdo

From vernacular repair to global recognition

Known for their long-standing advocacy for locality, craftsmanship, and the cultural memory embedded in everyday materials, Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu have spent nearly three decades challenging dominant architectural narratives in China and beyond. Their practice, founded in 1997 and developed in close dialogue with teaching at the China Academy of Art, rejects tabula rasa urbanization in favor of repair, reuse, and construction processes grounded in the lived realities of ordinary people. Rather than treating vernacular buildings, recycled bricks, or community labor as aesthetic flourishes, they position them as structural counterweights to a global landscape of demolition-led development.

Amateur Architecture Studio first appeared in Venice in 2006 as part of the China Pavilion, returned in 2010 under Kazuyo Sejima, receiving a Special Mention for Decay of a Dome, and participated again in 2016 by invitation of Alejandro Aravena. Over the years, their practice has shaped widely recognized projects, including the Ningbo Historic Museum, the Xiangshan Campus of the China Academy of Art, the Renovation of Wencun Village, the National Archives of Publications and Culture in Hangzhou, Tiles Hill in Hangzhou, the Fuyang Cultural Complex, and the Museum of Ancient Animals in Baoding, among many others. Their work has been exhibited at MoMA in New York and Centre Pompidou in Paris, with dedicated solo shows at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Arc en rêve in Bordeaux, and BOZAR in Brussels. In 2012, Wang Shu received the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Amateur Architecture Studio first appeared in Venice in 2006 as part of the China Pavilion

Advocating durability, continuity, & grounded experimentation

For Buttafuoco, their curatorial leadership arrives at a moment demanding clarity and responsibility. ‘Their vision, deeply rooted in the memory of places and in the knowledge of construction processes, represents today an essential voice in the international debate on architecture and on the meaning of inhabiting the world’s spaces,’ he noted.

Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu, meanwhile, frame their curatorship as a response to a wider architectural culture they describe as increasingly disconnected from reality. ‘In the current world, the rapid and multiple changes in architecture are more a phenomenon of appearance, the result of excessive conceptualization or marked commercialization,’ they state. When experimentation becomes detached from place, they warn, ‘it will lead to the death of architecture.’ Instead, the pair argue for persistence, ‘insisting on a simple and true concept and method of architecture’, as a meaningful countermeasure to crisis.

Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu have spent nearly three decades challenging dominant architectural narratives

project info:

event: 20th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia

curators: Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu (Amateur Architecture Studio)

organizer: La Biennale di Venezia | @labiennale

location: Giardini and Arsenale, Venice, Italy

dates: May 8 – November 21, 2027 

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one of the panelists is no stranger to preservation and conservation. chinese architect wang shu has long been fascinated with the themes, building a body of work that earned him the pritzker prize in 2012. designboom sat down with wang shu after the discussion to learn more about the architect’s approach, and what he thinks is the biggest challenge facing architects today. read the interview in full below.

ningbo history museum, 2003-2008, ningbo, china
image © lv hengzhong (also main image)

designboom (DB): generally speaking, what should an architect’s approach to conservation be?

wang shu (WS): I think there are two different kinds of architects. one kind is totally modern, which means they don’t think that past things have meaning, and they start with totally new things — no history. the other kind of architects, when they do a design, understand that something has existed there. this is a totally different feeling.

with historic heritage, people normally talk about old buildings or old areas. for me, it is not just about the ‘old’. it just means something past that still has meaning. for me, these are very important things — everything has historic heritage. maybe architects can create some new things, but it is similar to an old tree that has new growth. this doesn’t mean you should kill the old trees!

san-he residence at the sifang art museum | image © sifang art museum
read more about the project on designboom here

DB: do you think that cities, particularly historic cities, are losing their identity? or do you think that identity is constantly evolving?

WS: I think if you have real meaning in your life, you have identity. identity is not something simple. this is why I talk about truth and true reality. this is something that is common in your life and that has meaning to you. this is why we should do some new inventions in our lives. this is the meaning of creation to me.

‘decay of a dome’ at the 2010 venice architecture biennale | image © designboom
read more about the project on designboom here

DB: you have previously mentioned that you think venice has some successful elements that have been preserved. how does it contrast with parts of china?

WS: I think that venice is a very good example of success compared to the situation in china. venice is successful because it keeps the buildings, the environment, and even the people’s lives — there is still a very clear identity of venice. for example, every year at the biennale some new things happen here. many people meet here, and for the architects and those involved it is more similar to a festival! every ten minutes you meet old friends, and it is a very good feeling. this is real life and you have life here.

I also find that maybe there are some problems. venice is quite large, and there are many buildings here, but only the tourist area is very ‘hot’. I don’t know what the feeling of the local people is, but maybe if I stay here for at least one month I would know! if you are really doing some work with historic heritage, you need a different way of working. some architects, maybe with office in milan or some other place, come to venice for two or three days to research and then they go back. it is a totally different feeling. you should stay in one place for a long enough time to really know what the real things are.

wang shu documented the preservation of traditional chinese villages at the 2016 venice biennale
read more about the project on designboom here

DB: how difficult do you think it is to balance the needs of the local community with tourism for a successful city? is there anything architects can do to help bridge the divide?

WS: I think architects can do something, but they can’t do everything. they can create some conditions. for example, they can help people meet — not just tourists, but also local people. I call this the ‘amphitheater’ concept: you design something, and then you find that something will happen there.

portrait of wang shu | image © designboom

DB: how important is it that there is a long term plan for a city, rather than a short term fix?

WS: in fact, I don’t believe in long term planning. I just know that long term means one event after another one! everyone moves into some surprise. it’s life, we don’t have a long term plan for our lives. you don’t even know if your wife is leaving forever!

DB: what do you think is the biggest challenge for architects at this time?

WS: I think the biggest challenge for architects is to get back to real life. we are still in academic thinking too much. we should get back to real life — real social life.

The post designboom interviews wang shu on historic heritage, identity, and long-term planning appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

architect wang shu talks about his work and exhibit at the venice biennale
video © designboom

the complex once completed – hopefully before the g20 summit in hangzhou in september – will host a history museum, a gallery and an archive. their research into the material, photography, to their sketches of their process in designing the new museum have been documented. showcased in a series of pallets; tiles, crushed rubble and rammed earth show the handmade materials used in their restoration project of the village of wencun. predominately, the architects want to highlight that preserving tradition does not show an act of resistance. traditional villages and historic buildings have always been a valid and useful source of knowledge and the use of ancient techniques is environmentally, socially, and culturally sustainable.

photography of the site was taken by iwan baan
image © designboom

‘right now, there is a test building on the site. at the same time, the experiment results are shared everywhere in the villages in order to preserve them. we would like to have the citizens experience the value of the country in turn, the villages regain confidence in the disappearing culture. in fact, we think chinese villages represent the most important value in modern chinese cities with their more natural and traditional way of living and working.’ – wang shu, architect

tile samples on display
image © designboom

for more images, follow designboom on our dedicated instagram account @venice.architecture.biennale

pallets that are illuminated display material samples and architect sketches
image © designboom

the display is one of the first of the ‘reporting from the front’ exhibitions curated by alejandro aravena
image © designboom

screens explaining the project are seen throughout
image © designboom

brickwork and concrete places side-by-side
image © designboom

material samples
image © designboom

wang shu was approached by fuyang city to design the museum but insisted on upgrading the historic village as the
condition
image © designboom

bamboo has been imprinted onto the concrete – seen by the samples above
image © designboom

architect wang shu at the venice biennale
image © designboom

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in context
image © trevor patt | main image © sifang art museum

side entry under the concrete canopy
image © trevor patt

image © sifang art museum

view through a shared courtyard
image © sifang art museum

(left) geometrically fenestrated outer wall bridging the two living spaces
(right) storage areas
image © trevor patt

interior living area- glass clerestories and skylights create the sensation of a floating roof
image © sifang art museum

stairs
image © sifang art museum

image © sifang art museum

living pace
image © sifang art museum

The post wang shu erects san-he housing prototype in sifang park appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

author: wang shu
publisher: lars müller publishers
year: 2012
size: 168 pages, 24 x 29.7 cm
ISBN: 978-3-03778-314-6

2012 pritzker prize winner, architect wang shu communicates the importance of hand drawing in a design world that has almost completed replaced it with computer drafting. traditional chinese calligraphy is a recurring theme throughout the work, representing an ancient practice and careful attention to scale and detail, brought to modernity and analogous with hand drawing. the 68 hand sketchesreproduced at full scale give a valuable look into his sensitive ability to draw freehand, where one can almost see the process of the designs.

bi-folds and tri-folds give us an unabridged complete view of his work, along with accompanying photographs and a description of each project presented, all bound in an appropriately rudimentary fashion, with simple holes and string.

the volume encourages us to step away from the screen and pick up a physical object to draw on. taking a look at the wide range of sketches is more than anything inspiring, and does offer an interesting approach to design that is very quickly disappearing behind technology.

signing of the book
image © designboom

wang shu on hand drawing
video © designboom

cover
image © designboom

intro and project list
image © designboom

title page signed by wang shu
image © designboom

calligraphy by master zhong you
image © designboom

technical drawings
image © designboom

project intro page
image © designboom

personal notes included with the sketches
image © designboom

image © designboom

photographs accompanied by descriptions
image © designboom

drawings showing different scales
image © designboom

from left to right: wang shu, lars müller and sou fujimoto during the book signing at the swiss pavilion at the venice architecture biennale
image © designboom

The post wang shu: ‘imagining the house’ book report appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

this is one element within the ‘ultra-light village’, an open air exhibition curated by terence riley provoking questions of the nature of permanent versus transitory construction in the creation of cities. the collection of structures explores the ideas of five notable architects including croatian firm studio up, spanish practice clavel arquitectos, chinese architect wei chun yu and new york-based practices MOS and OBRA architects.

pavilions within the shenzhen civic square
image © designboom

entry to ‘squarely sphering’ structure
image © designboom

bench seating lines the length of the tubular structure
image © designboom

at night
image © designboom

curved polycarbonate sheets protect the open air framework from weather
image © designboom

translucent polycarbonate glows softly with illumination
image © designboom

short segments of lumber form the small building’s curved tubular form
image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

rendering of complete village

section

elevation

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pritzker prize winner wang shu of amateur architecture studio designed a tray set for italian manufacturer alessi‘s (UN)forbidden city collection. one is big and the other small; one male and the other female. they meet by chance in one point, leaving space between them. the material is mirror polished steel, to virtually represent the relationship between illusion and reality. the irregular shape is visually balanced by the straight edges and the use of solid steel, with a firm, rigid border profile.

wang shu and curator gary chang

with these words, wang shu summarises the ideas behind his design: ‘this project originates from memory. chinese academics love to compare the elusiveness of clouds to the inconsistency of human emotions. the stones in the gardens of academics are clouds but they also represent the love between a man and a woman. this design is driven by my memory of stones in gardens. we always hope to achieve a sound basis in a life that is continually changing, something solid like stone. for this reason, the stones in the gardens are called ‘clouds root’. I chose the same name for my tray. the design phase involves forging an image and an uncertain emotion with the utmost precision.’

diagram illustrating the origin of the shape
pg. 212-213 of ‘(UN)forbidden city’ catalogue by officina alessi
image © designboom

‘clouds root’ tray, design by wang shu

designboom visited the preview exhibition of the (un)forbidden city research, which was presented in september 2011 at the china shijintan contemporary art center in beijing, during BDW / beijing design week.

‘(un)forbidden city’ by officina alessi 

‘clouds root’ prototype by wang shu
image © designboom

with the (UN)forbidden city collection alessi sought to organize the first exploration of the potential of chinese product design. under the project responsibility of gary chang, they asked eight chinese architects to design a tray-container. the tray, in fact, is a classic in the alessi range of production – an item on which generations of designers have put themselves to the test. alessi wants it to be a testing ground for experimentation: such a seemingly simple object offers a great starting point for an exchange of ideas about the relations between architecture and design, beginning from the cultural traditions of the east and west.

portraits of the eight architects
(left to right) gary chang, chang yungho, liu jiakun, ma yansong, urbanus, wang shu, zhang ke, zhang lei
pg. 82-83 of ‘(UN)forbidden city’ catalogue by officina alessi
image © designboom

curator’s statement in the ‘(UN)forbidden city’ catalogue by officina alessi
image © designboom

(from left to right) wang shu, zhang lei, alberto alessi, gary chang, chang yungho, zhang ke, meng yan and wang hui of urbanus
image courtesy of alessi

The post alessi and wang shu: the pritzker prize winner designs clouds root appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

along with his wife lu wenyu, they co-founded the amateur architecture studio in 1997, bringing forward their personal critique of the architecture profession in their country. his disapproval of the destruction of urban areas and therefore history as well as rapid developing of rural areas became central to his design approach. an executed example of this mindset is the ningbo historic museum, where he used recycled materials found near the site to fuse memories of the past into the modern day construct.

library of wenzheng college, 1999-2000, suzhou, china
image © lu wenyu (also main image) | all images courtesy of the pritzker prize foundation

his work process experiences three phases, initial encounters with clients, construction detailing of the project and then the introduction and acceptance of the finished product by users. the forms emerge first from introspective thought, then drawings and follows with discussion to reach final stages. maintaining a handcrafted aesthetic is of great importance, adding soul and humanizing his structures.

ningbo contemporary art museum, 2001-2005, ningbo, china
image © lu wenyu

ningbo contemporary art museum, 2001-2005, ningbo, china
images © lu wenyu

vertical courtyard apartments, 2002-2007, hangzhou, china
image © lu wenyu

vertical courtyard apartments, 2002-2007, hangzhou, china
image © lu wenyu

xiangshan campus, china academy of art, phase i, 2002-2004, hangzhou, china
image © lu wenyu

xiangshan campus, china academy of art, phase i, 2002-2004, hangzhou, china
image © lu wenyu

xiangshan campus, china academy of art, phase i, 2002-2004, hangzhou, china
image © lu wenyu

xiangshan campus, china academy of art, phase ii, 2004-2007, hangzhou, china
image © lv hengzhong

xiangshan campus, china academy of art, phase ii, 2004-2007, hangzhou, china
image © lv hengzhong

ningbo history museum, 2003-2008, ningbo, china
image © lv hengzhong

ningbo history museum, 2003-2008, ningbo, china
image © lv hengzhong

ningbo history museum, 2003-2008, ningbo, china
image © lv hengzhong

ningbo history museum, 2003-2008, ningbo, china
image © lv hengzhong

ningbo history museum, 2003-2008, ningbo, china
image © lv hengzhong

ceramic house, 2003-2006, jinhua, china
image © lv hengzhong

ceramic house, 2003-2006, jinhua, china
image © lv hengzhong

five scattered houses, 2003-2006, ningbo, china
image © lang shuilong

five scattered houses, 2003-2006, ningbo, china
image © lang shuilong

tiled garden, 2006, 10th venice biennale of architecture, venice, italy
image © lu wenyu

tiled garden, 2006, 10th venice biennale of architecture, venice, italy
image © lu wenyu

ningbo tengtou pavilion, shanghai expo, 2010, shanghai, china
image © lu wenyu

ningbo tengtou pavilion, shanghai expo, 2010, shanghai, china
image © lu wenyu

ningbo tengtou pavilion, shanghai expo, 2010, shanghai, china
image © lu wenyu

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revealed by the chairman of the hyatt foundation and sponsor of the prize, thomas j. pritzker stated the following about the jury’s selection: ‘the fact that an architect from china has been selected by the jury, represents a significant step in acknowledging the role that china will play in the development of architectural ideals. in addition, over the coming decades china’s success at urbanization will be important to china and to the world. this urbanization, like urbanization around the world, needs to be in harmony with local needs and culture. china’s unprecedented opportunities for urban planning and design will want to be in harmony with both its long and unique traditions of the past and with its future needs for sustainable development.’

‘there are significant questions about the recent process of urbanization in china, whether it should be anchored in tradition or if it should just look toward the future. as in any great architecture, wang shu’s work is able to transcend that debate producing an architecture that is timeless, deeply rooted in its context and yet universal.’ said alejandro aravena, one of the pritzker jurors.

‘my starting point is always the site, I need to understand about the life, the people, the weather. (…) I know something existed before me – my buildings come from somewhere‘ wang shu says. ‘other architects talk about space. I talk about typology and prototype. the prototype relates to memory.’ he and his wife named their firm amateur architecture studio — ‘amateur’ as someone who engages in an activity for pleasure rather than profit — ‘for myself, being an artisan or a craftsman is an amateur or almost the same thing.’

the architect graduated from the nanjing institute of technology in 1985 and followed with his graduate degree from the same program. his completed works include the ‘ningbo contemporary art museum’ and ‘ningbo history museum’ both located in ningbo, china along with the ‘xiangshan campus of the china academy of art’ in hangzhou, china. temporary works include a pavilion for both the 2010 and 2006 venice architecture biennales. see designboom’s coverage of ‘decay of a dome’, wang shu’s installation from the venice architecture biennale 2010 here.

other awards include the french gold medal from the academy of architecture in 2011 and german shelling architecture prize in 2010 which was jointly given to lu wenyu, his wife and co-founder of their practice. see designboom’s original article here.

‘decay of a dome’ at the venice architecture biennale 2010
see designboom’s original coverage of the installation here
image © designboom | portrait of wang shu © zhu chenzhou

minimally impacting the environment by resting upon the ground, the lightweight structure was intended to be easily assembled and dismantled
image © designboom

‘ultra-light village’ on display in shenzhen’s civic square at the 2011 shenzhen & hong kong bi-city biennale of architecture \ urbanism
see designboom’s initial coverage of the pavilion here
image © designboom

entry to the pavilion
image © designboom

pavilion at night
image © designboom

model of ‘squarely sphering’ on display at ‘verso est’, a survey of contemporary chinese
architecture curated by fang zhenning, exhibition at the MAXXI museum
of 21st century in rome, italy

image © designboom

model of ‘squarely sphering’ on display at ‘verso est’, a survey of contemporary chinese
architecture curated by fang zhenning, exhibition at the MAXXI museum of 21st century in rome, italy
image © designboom

The post wang shu wins the 2012 pritzker prize appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

in addition, each of the structures will become nomadic midway through the 2011 shenzhen & hong kong bi-city biennale of urbanism \ architecture with each of the transitory constructions being reinstalled in various parts of the city. the public intervention refers to two legendary architecture theorist’s statements — aldo rossi’s ‘teatro del mondo‘ 1980 installation and buckminster fuller’s polemic question ‘how much does your building weigh?‘.

shenzhen’s ‘ultra light(weight) village’ addresses themes of sustainability and inefficiencies of traditional construction. participating architects: amateur architecture studio, hangzhou, china; MOS, new york, USA; studio up, zagreb, croatia; clavel architectos, murcia, spain; obra architects, new york, USA; wei chun yu, changsha, china.

designboom is the principal international media sponsor and has visited civic square prior to the opening of the biennale. all of these works, once finished, will be interactive and illuminated during night. this is only a sneak preview — please stay tuned for more to come, we’ll report on the various events and lectures.

‘ultra light village’ by obra architects on shenzhen’s civic square
image © designboom

‘ultra light village’ by amateur architecture studio on shenzhen’s civic square
image © designboom

full scale model by amateur architecture studio
image © designboom

‘ultra light village’ by amateur architecture studio
image © designboom

night view
image © designboom

‘ultra light village’ by wei chun yu on shenzhen’s civic square
image © designboom

detail of wei chun yu’s installation
image © designboom

‘ultra light village’ by wei chun yu
image © designboom

shenzhen stock exchange by OMA – office for metropolitan architecture – under construction
image © designboom

‘ultra light village’ by MOS on shenzhen’s civic square
image © designboom

installations seen from above and detail
image © designboom

studio up’s project
image © designboom

image © designboom

‘ultra light village’ by clavel arquitectos on shenzhen’s civic square
image © designboom

‘ultra light village’ by clavel arquitectos on shenzhen’s civic square – detail
image © designboom

in the same venue, the work of shanghai designer, artist and sculptor mi qiu is exhibited. he welded the structure entitled ‘eudemonic: genesis- eudemonic decade’ in-situ.

the work of mi qiu. ‘eudemonic: genesis, eudemonic decade’on shenzhen’s civic square
image © designboom

detail
image © designboom

small size model
image © designboom

shenzhen’s civic square
image © designboom

the shenzhen biennale program includes more than 30 exhibitions, symposiums, panel discussions and performances. he has appointed a number of scholars, architects and artists as members of the curatorial team, including jeffrey johnson (director of china lab, columbia university), dr. tang keyang (curator of china pavilion, 12th venice architectural biennale), xiangning li (professor of theory and criticism, tongji university), qingyun ma (dean of the school of architecture, university of southern california), dr. mary ann o’donnell (research associate, college of arts, shenzhen university), jonathan solomon (acting head of the department of architecture, hong kong university), rochelle steiner (dean & professor, roski school of fine arts, university of southern california) and david van der leer (assistant curator of architecture and urban studies, guggenheim museum), among others.

about the curator
terence riley has been appointed chief curator for the 2011 SZHK biennale, he is the first international curator for the event. riley is a founding partner of k/r (keenen/ riley), an architecture studio known for its design for art museums and galleries, including the master planning of the 100 acre-site of the museum of art, design and the environment (murcia, spain) and a complex of four new museums in hangzhou, china. most recently, riley was the director of the miami art museum where he led the institution through the design phase of a major expansion; an innovative waterfront design by herzog & de meuron. before, he was the philip johnson chief curator of architecture and design at the museum of modern art, new york.  there he organized exhibitions of well-known figures including rem koolhaas and bernard tschumi, and scholarly retrospectives on ludwig mies van der rohe and frank lloyd wright.

about the shenzhen & hong kong bi-city biennale
the shenzhen & hong kong bi-city biennale of urbanism \ architecture began in 2005 as a response to the fast progress
of urbanization and architectural activities in china, particularly shenzhen and hong kong. the biennale is the first to
focus on urbanism as an ongoing theme to explore issues of the city as an active agent in contemporary culture.
the shenzhen & hong kong bi-city biennale is the only architecture biennale that broadens its focus beyond the realm
of architecture to consider urbanism and various aspects of growing cities as significant factors for international progress.

shenzhen (a city that was developed as the first special economic zone for the people’s republic of china in 1980) and hong kong are seen as international crossroads and serve as an ideal location for the focus on the dynamics between cities and architecture. based on the biennale’s concepts established by the curatorial team, the hong kong edition will work to complement the shenzhen biennale in an integrative way. the biennale in hong kong, curated by gene king and anderson lee, is now under preparation and opens in february 2012.

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