Wang Shu

Amateur Architecture Studio

Baan Iwan

Accompanying an exhibition of the same name at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, this publication examines the recent work of the Chinese architect Wang Shu, Pritzker Prize winner in 2012. At a time when China's explosive urbanization is making inroads into rural areas and leaving the marks of cheap concrete construction everywhere, "Wang Shu: Amateur Architecture Studio" are keen to work against this tendency by reusing materials from the buildings that Chinese authorities are systematically tearing down and rebuilding after western models. Wang Shu's architecture reveals a thoughtful attitude toward both design and implementation, as well as the ability to react flexibly to the surroundings and history of a particular site.

About the Author

Iwan Baan, born 1975, is an architecture and documentary photographer. His photographs are published regularly in architectural magazines and newspapers, among them are Domus, a+u, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. He has worked for renowned architecture offices like SANAA, Rem Koolhaas/OMA, Herzog & de Meuron, Toyo Ito, and architects like Steven Holl and Zaha Hadid. In his photographs he focuses on the connection between architecture and the surrounding environment. Instead of isolating the built structure he embeds it in history and context.

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