HKU Department of Architecture

Spring 2025 Public Lecture Series

Speaker: 

Prof. Shu WANG 王澍

Sin Wai-Kin Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities

Lecture Title: Construction as Critique建造作為一種批判

Date: 5 June 2025 (Thu)

Time:  6:30–8:00pm

Venue: Rayson Huang Theatre, HKU (Map) 

Medium*: Putonghua, with simultaneous interpretation in English 

*Simultaneous interpretation from Putonghua to English will be available via the Zoom platform. Guests requiring SI translation should bring their own headphones to connect to Zoom on their mobile phones. 

[Live via Zoom] 

https://hku.zoom.us/j/98540260235

Lecture Abstract: 

Reflecting on over two decades of creative practices at the Amateur Architecture Studio, this lecture explores the notion of ‘construction issues’ in relation to a series of fundamental theories of contemporary architectural design, as well as the critical and subversive nature of these issues in reality over the built environment.

通過對業餘建築工作室20多年創作實踐的經驗總結，探討建造問題所涉及的一系列當代建築設計的基本理論，以及這個問題對現實的批判性與顛覆性。

Biography:       

Wang Shu is the 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate. He is an architect and educator. He co-founded Amateur Architecture Studio with Lu Wenyu in 1997. Together they founded the architecture department at China Academy of Art (CAA) in 2003. He became the first dean of the CAA’s School of Architecture upon its establishment in 2007.

Together, Wang and Lu have focused on re-establishing a contemporary language for Chinese architecture, which is reflected in their built works such as the Ningbo Historic Museum, the renovation of Wencun Village, and the Fuyang Cultural Complex, among others. In 2021, their design of the Xiangshan Campus of CAA was one of the 25 Most Significant Works of Postwar Architecture as selected by the New York Times.

Wang has been a visiting professor and fellow at leading architectural institutions around the world, including MIT, UCL, the University of Hong Kong, and Tongji University. In 2011, he was named the Kenzo Tange Visiting Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). That same year, he was awarded the French Gold Medal of the Academy of Architecture. He has been named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World (Time, 2013), and was the recipient of the Gold Medal of Tau Sigma Delta in 2019. 

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Enquiry: arcevent@hku.hk

All lectures are open to the general public. Seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis and prior reservation is needed.

CPD Credit Hours and AIA CES Learning Unit Hours are offered to members of the HKIA and the AIA.

An attendance record sheet will be provided at the venue entrances for members to register their attendance.