Wang Shu Interview: Architecture is a Job for God

The Chinese architect Wang Shu’s buildings - a crossover between traditional Chinese culture and large-scale modern architecture - have earned him the prestigious Pritzker Prize. “Democracy means a really diverse society,” says the architect in this inspiring interview.
”Architecture is not just an object that you place in the environment,” Wang Shu explains.” Your experience of the architecture starts far away from the building. Architecture is not only the house in itself; it also includes a big area around it. All of this is architecture.” Shu does not take his responsibility as an architect lightly. Architecture can ”change the life of people and give them a new one right away. This is not a job for normal people to do. This should be the work of God.”
His studio, Amateur Architecture Studio, co-founded together with Shu’s wife Lu Wenyu, focuses on architecture that fosters community and works from the bottom up. ”We think that a society that is good for people to live in starts from the ground. Real culture starts from the ground,” says Wang Shu, and recounts his favourite project: designing a public toilet and wash-room for a rural Chinese village which became a local gathering spot for all of the villagers.
In the end Shu challenges the common understanding of Western democracy versus Chinese dictatorship. Modern societies have strong centralizing forces that level out differences, he states. In this light, Wang Shu argues, securing variety and local diversity within society is the real challenge, in China as well as the Western world.
Chinese Wang Shu (b. 1963) is considered one of the most important architects of our time. Together with his wife Lu Wenyu he runs the Amateur Architecture Studio. The studio is known for breaking architectural boundaries by weaving together ancient Chinese building tradition and an almost hypermodern formal language. He is the dean of the School of Architecture of the China Academy of Art and has received multiple awards, among others the 2012 Pritzker Prize, considered the Nobel Prize of architecture.
Wang Shu was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, in March 2017.
Camera: Rasmus Quistgaard
Edited by: Klaus Elmer
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2017.
Supported by Dreyers Fond
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[@stoheha]

Thank you for this video. This man is an unsung genius to the rest of the world. I would adore an autobiography from him.

[@Acquavallo]

Ink brush landscapes embody my childhood experience in train trips too! That's so true!

[@kmcp6139]

Wang is such a genius!!!

[@nevajiang858]

我打算考王老师的研究生，希望成功！

[@Mythetor]

大哥您成功了么？我是海外华人，不知道有没有这机会被接受

[@YNArchitecture]

I've visited the Hangzhou campus in 2013, from the bird-eye view the campus looks like traditional Chinese drawings, very esthetic. But once inside, there is not enough natural light in the classroom, the corridor... Certainly esthetic, but less functionality and comfort.

[@JasonCunliffe]

: yes !! :
***This interview with Wang Shu is the most beautiful, profound, clear, important and useful statement about architecture, I have ever heard or seen.
I love the work, its true, creative direction, soul & catalytic intelligence
I am moved to tears...
~ Thank you!
ps: where can I get a transcript of this video ??

[@nevajiang858]

you can find it in BILIBILI,in chinese internet

[@cheritaglorie1953]

I couldn’t agree more

[@xiaoyang8309]

这音乐神了

[@MaxamillianStudio]

Very whimsical work!

[@canweng5546]

wonderful

[@Mrelienad]

amazing

[@LeonardoXian]

what's the background music?

[@Xxamxum]

leonardo x I'd also like to know

[@marklazaroms3705]

what are the music credits at around 16:00?

[@itzseafairyplayz5527]

genius!

[@leiyang2445]

He fully agrees with his critical view of contemporary architecture but does not fully agree with his direction of practice.

[@henrydoake6659]

Which God is that exactly?

[@boliangdu6646]

They interviewed a Chinese architect and gave him Japanese background music. XD

[@ztc2520]

没干货呀

[@itgeltbayan]

God? hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[@dannysze8183]

it is especially strange from a communist.

[@dannysze8183]

crap

[@user-ut8gh7ww9y]

Might I see your portfolio?