Wang Shu, 49, deftly melds tradition and modernity, often by reusing bricks and tiles from demolished buildings in such bold new designs as a history museum in the Chinese city of Ningbo.
Wang calls his office the "Amateur Architecture Studio," yet that name is far too modest, the jury that selected him said in its citation.
His work "is that of a virtuoso in full command of the instruments of architecture — form, scale, material, space and light," said the jury...
— chicagotribune.com
Note: as the.rkitekt points out below in the comments, "Wang is NOT the first Chinese architect to win the Pritzker as so many writers are mentioning. I.M. Pei won in the 80's and while living predominantely in the US, he was born in Guangzhou, China. Wang is the first China based Chinese architect to win the prize."
13 Comments
Great choice! It should be noted that Archinector, Evan Chakroff, predicted Shu's win back in November!
Related: Lian's live-blog of Wang Shu, Geometry and Narrative of Natural Form, from the GSD.
And make sure to check out Evan's photos of Shu's amazing Ningbo Historic Museum.
An excellent choice. Absolutely the best architect working in China today. Can't wait to see what comes next....
Wang is NOT the first Chinese architect to win the Pritzker as so many writers are mentioning. I.M. Pei won in the 80's and while living predominantely in the US, he was born in Guangzhou, China. Wang is the first China based Chinese architect to win the prize.
I was just thinking the same thing about I.M. Pei. Was pretty sure that he was from China but had spent nearly his entire adult life in the US.
Couple of other observations:
1- Are they awarding this earlier every year? I could have sworn it used to be Spring (April-ish) then last year was in March and now February. What is the deal with that?
2- Also 48 years old is too young to be a Pritzker laureate. There seems to be a trend in recent years to give the award to kids (Zaha, SANAA, etc). Frankly, this trend hurts it's credibility.
unexpected but very coolio. i met wang shu last year at conference held by my uni her in tokyo. nice guy and very impressive presentation. love his work and his approach.
i like that pritzker is not going after the usual suspects, personally. the boost it gives the winners means they get to build more and better stuff and still be young enough to see it through.
perhaps i.m. pei is not the first chinese architect to win it, because pei is not an architect but rather a builder. he has done no significant architecture beyond the commercial. in the louis kahn film, even pei himself alludes to this when he compares himself to kahn- knowing that he made money and never art.
as for this fellow,he may be the first chinese architect to win the pritzker- at least the first chinese based chinese architect who won it in the age when china is in the "ascendancy" (however one thinks or cares about the politics of that country, and surely the people behind the pritzker are savvy enough to recognize this)
not that it matters, but the only two true winners of the past pritzkers are Luis Barragan and Peter Zumthor. the rest are usually political characters manipulating the system based on their connections, commercial frauds, trendy nonsense or second/third (some fourth, fifth) level architecture with a small a.
His work is beautiful and timeless.
Poor Steven Holl.
is steve holl too old now?
Want Shu is great, I would have liked to see it go to Toyo Ito, but surely there were political advantages to picking Shu, so he got it.
Maybe Holl is too old now... Pritzker is becoming an award for up and comers rather than a medallion of lifetime achievement..
Granted, I really like Wang Shu's stuff. But still.
Ito is overdue as well..
Now, which parts of Shu's projects will start to show up in student work and mainstream buildings do you think?
Maybe he is inimitable like Zumthor or Scarpa?
Now, which parts of Shu's projects will start to show up in student work and mainstream buildings do you think?
maybe more interesting (politically charged) masonry? I hope so. I like stone and brick buildings.
Note that the Pritzker is from the Hyatt family - not a strong proponent of top quality architecture in the real world. But it is commendable their foundation attempts to recognize that which they are unable to achieve.
IMHO It is cavalier to grossly dismiss all recipients of the prize minus two. & Louis Isadore Kahn was gone by the time of the first award.
I thought Pei's family was from Suzhou.
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