Over the last eight years, I have interviewed Beijing-based architect and educator Zhu Pei several times. His persistent quest to combine traditional planning and construction principles with innovative formal and spatial sensibilities intrigues me. His latest projects, including Zijing International Conference Camp (2022) and Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum (2020), are widely published and represent his most mature works. Yet, he is convinced that his best building is in the making. "This is going to be amazing! I feel so excited!" the architect told me, referring to his now under-construction Majiayao Ruins Museum and Observatory in Gansu province in Northwestern China. "I hate column-beam solutions. I want column-free spaces for the public building," he continued. Our conversation took place earlier this year on a video call, complete with dozens of relevant illustrations.
The architect spoke to me from his house in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, where he likes to spend time whenever it is possible to break from his responsibilities in Beijing, where Zhu Pei leads a ten-person practice and heads the Architecture School at the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts, CAFA. We discussed his upbringing in Beijing, his reasons for going into architecture, and the lessons he learned from his mentors—professors Guan Zhaoye, Yang Tingbao, and Charles Correa, under whom he studied at the University of California at Berkeley. Another fundamental figure for Zhu Pei is Le Corbusier. His Oeuvre Complete in Eight Volumes is a constant companion for the architect who owns several sets. Like Le Corbusier, Zhu Pei developed Five Points that define his philosophy. They constitute Incomplete Integrity, Sponge Architecture, Cave and Nest, Sitting Posture, and Structure and Form. All five are explained in detail in the video.
In our conversation, Zhu Pei repeatedly compared architecture to art and nature. "If we don't treat architecture as art, it will disappear," he insisted. His work is a kind of bridge between tradition and innovation, gained knowledge and creativity, history and modernity. A courtyard and a garden are perpetual metaphors for Zhu Pei's architecture. He thoroughly explained the intentions behind the design of the Conference Camp, Imperial Kiln Museum, and Ruins Museum. All three projects exemplify such design strategies as leaving buildings incomplete and not fully occupied, seeking inspiration in traditional village settlements, breaking architecture into elements, reacting to local culture and climate, and, while relying on traditions, never bluntly following conversions.
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Beijing Architecture City Guide: 28 Projects to Understand Contemporary Architecture in a 3,000-Year-Old CityIn conclusion, Zhu Pei spoke about trying to forget what he has done in the past, the evolution of his work, how his practice operates, teaching, and being the dean at CAFA. Underlining architecture's multidiscipline nature and complexity, he concluded, "You have to love architecture!" Earlier this year, Zhu Pei's Exhibition, "Poetic Imaginations: Interweaving Architecture with Traditional Values," showcased six completed and under-construction projects at the Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin.
Zhu Pei (b. 1962, Beijing, China) is one of China's leading architects. He completed his studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing and the University of California at Berkeley and founded Studio Zhu Pei in 2005. Apart from the abovementioned Imperial Kiln Museum, Performing Arts Center, and Ruins Museum, the architect's most notable works include Zibo Art Center (2020), CUBE Art Museum at 798 (2020), Shou County Culture and Art Center (2019), Minsheng Museum of Modern Art (2015), Taimiao Art Museum (2015), and Cai Guoqiang Courtyard House Renovation (2007). Zhu Pei taught at Harvard and Columbia Universities; he has been the dean and professor at the School of Architecture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, CAFA, in Beijing since 2018, and he is a visiting professor at Yale University. In addition to Aedes in Berlin, the architect's works have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Venice Biennales, Centre Pompidou, Victoria and Albert Museum, Kassel, and MAXXI.
Vladimir Belogolovsky (b. 1970, Odesa, Ukraine) is a New York-based curator and critic who runs his Curatorial Project focusing on curating and designing architectural exhibitions worldwide.
