MIND LANDSCAPES: Studio Zhu-Pei, Beijing

Zhu Pei is one of the leading architects in China providing substantial solutions to urgent challenges and questions of ongoing urbanization within the country. The rapid rate of urban growth, as well as the commercial pressures of mass consumer society, require well-considered concepts that also satisfy the need for authentic architectural expression. In the cacophony of urban collages and architectural super signs against the backdrop of the real megacity, Zhu Pei has set off in search of his own roots within traditional aesthetic concepts, successfully adapting them for implementation in his work. By drawing on traditional concepts of space and the built structure, he has been able to devise solutions that are specific to the location and region, while demonstrating great skill in terms of form, aesthetics, and materiality. Informed by an understanding of the global architectural discourse, he follows his own path to give each of his buildings a specific character within a contemporary architectural form.