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Coming of Age: Modern Chinese Architecture

Chinese architecture, once derided for imitating the West, is coming into their own. As Dong Gong, a prominent young architect puts it, “We’re slowing down and focusing more on quality. Quality architecture will always generate an energy from its users. It should stimulate the imagination so that people will find their own creative ways to use the space.”

Dong is the founder of Vector Architecture best known for his Seashore Library at Beidaihe, a resort district in Qinhuangdao, Hebei province. Dubbed the world’s loneliest library, Dong’s Seashore Library has captivated both the public and the cognoscenti not only for its unlikely location but also for its clean, sleek lines. This austere 5,000 square feet building has an abstract grid form, with a double-height reading area and pivoting glass doors that open to an expansive view of the sea. This, and the minimalist architecture makes the place a perfect sanctuary for meditation.

THE SEASHORE LIBRARY, HEBEI PROVINCE, CHINA

HARBIN OPERA HOUSE, HARBIN, CHINA

The role of the wilderness in a rapidly urbanizing landscape is an idea explored in a radically different way by one of Chinese’s best-known architects, Ma Yansong. The founder of the global firm, MAD, Ma has transformed the Chinese skyline with dramatic, organic forms that have often been compared with those of the late Zaha Hadid, Ma’s mentor. An example is the Harbin Opera House and the Chinese Wood Sculpture Museum, both situated in the northern frontier city of Harbin. Both structures mirror the texture of the surroundings. The exterior of the Opera House, for example, has a shimmering white flowing design that emulates a snow dune, while the twisted, fluid steel structure of his Wood Sculpture Museum reflects the changing light like an icicle.

The Harbin Opera House, Harbin, China.
The Wood Sculpture Museum, Harbin.

NINGBO HISTORY MUSEUM, ZHEJIANG, CHINA

The Hangzhou-based architect, Wang Shu became the first Chinese citizen to win the Pritzker Prize – architecture’s most prestigious award in 2012 for his iconic Ningbo History Museum, an almost fortress-like building whose exterior is a patchwork of fresh cast-concrete sections, salvaged bricks and tiles packed together using traditional techniques. The fragmented facades have an almost archeological quality to them, and is Wang’s tribute to Ningbo’s 7,000 year old history.

Ningbo History Museum, Zhejiang Province, China.

THE 2025 PRITZKER PRIZE LAUREATE: LIU JIAKUN

The 2025 Pritzker Architecture Prize has been awarded to another Chinese architecture, Liu Jiakun “for his ability to blend traditional Chinese elements with contemporary design and for his commitment to social equity in the built environment.” Born in Chengdu, China, where he continues to live and work, Liu is the second Chinese architect to receive the accolade, following Wang Shu in 2012. Here are four of his best-known works.

Nature and architecture coalesce at Chengdu’s Luyeyuan Stone Sculpture Art Museum, one of the first projects completed by Liu’s firm, Jiakun Architects. Bi Kejian/The Pritzker Architecture Prize.
Liu’s museum architecture, including the Suzhou Museum of Imperial Kiln Brick, was praised by the jury for being “at once a historical record, a piece of infrastructure, a landscape, and a remarkable public space.” Liu Jian/The Pritzker Architecture Prize.
At the Museum of Clocks in Chengdu, sunlight passes through a circular ceiling void and slowly travels across the brick-walled courtyard like a sundial. Bi Kejian/The Pritzker Architecture Prize.
Pedestrians and cyclists on the sloped pathways of West Village, which transformed an entire Chengdu block and remains Liu’s largest work to date. Arch-Exist/The Pritzker Architecture Prize.

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