Wang Shu

Wang Shu won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2012, becoming the first Chinese citizen to receive it. The jury emphasized his use of local craft, recycled materials, and a slower alternative to rapid urban development.

Amateur Architecture Studio is the practice Wang Shu co-founded with Lu Wenyu in Hangzhou. The name signals their interest in craft, everyday building traditions, and resistance to purely corporate architecture.

The Ningbo History Museum is famous for walls made with salvaged bricks, tiles, and stones from demolished villages. That reuse of material is central to Wang Shu's architectural identity.

Wang Shu often works with regional memory, old construction techniques, and modest materials instead of glossy global forms. His buildings in China, including projects in Hangzhou and Ningbo, argue for continuity with local culture.