design
mag |
19
Indeed, the use of recycled materials has
assisted Wang to acknowledge the past on
one hand and look to the future on the other,
which was a significant reason why he won the
2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize.According to
one of the judges, Chilean architect Alejandro
Aravena “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.”
Furthermore, in an interview with ArchDaily,
Aravena also said:“Then there is his distinctive
use of discarded materials coming from other
constructions.That technique not only makes
sense in terms of sustainability; it also
introduces a history in the construction, giving
a wall an ‘overdose of time’ without having to
wait for aging. It also transforms every part of
the building into a unique unrepeatable piece:
every centimetre is different from the next one.
That variation within a unity has not only
aesthetic value, but it allows for the absorption
of mistakes that unskilled labour in a rather big
volume might produce; it is idealism and
pragmatism synthesized in a single element.”
It is worth noting that obtaining new clay
bricks in China these days is not as easy as
it once was. Chinese brick manufacturing is
often on a small scale and clay extraction is
very superficial.This is in stark contrast to
Australian practice with large scale
production and intensive clay extraction
and subsequent rehabilitation that
minimises environmental impact. Given the
shortage of new clay bricks and the surplus
of used clay bricks as a result of the
unprecedented demolition of its old
buildings, it seems that Wang Shu’s extensive
use of recycled bricks is not only a matter of
him taking advantage of the material’s
aesthetic qualities and historical
significance, but also it is a very practical
response to the current situation.
Architecturally speaking, in recent years
China has been a “blank canvas.”As a
result, the country has no shortage of
modern architectural icons, such as Beijing’s
CCTV Building (2009) by the Dutch architect
Rem Koolhaas, who won the 2000 Pritzker
Architecture Prize; the Beijing National
Stadium (2008) by the Swiss architects
Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, who
jointly won the Pritzker in 2001; and the
Guangzhou Opera House (2010) by the
Iraqi-born English architect Zaha Hadid, who
won the Pritzker in 2004.
But as the nationalities of these “starchitects”
indicate, outsiders have been largely
responsible for the reinvention of China’s
built environment in the twenty-first century.
Significantly then, by awarding the 2012
Pritzker Prize to Wang Shu, China now has its
very own starchitect, which very well might
have a positive knock-on effect.
“All of a sudden Wang Shu is proving that we
can produce quality work ourselves,” said
Zhu Tao, an architecture critic and historian
from the University of Hong Kong.“China
makes up a fifth of the world’s population,
but many Chinese architects don’t have
confidence in their work,” he told the
Shenzhen Daily.“For young architects
working in the context of explosive urban
growth […] the prize ‘sends a message that
architecture is a cultural enterprise, not just a
commercial enterprise, and that architects
are creators of culture.That’s very
meaningful.’
