LU Wenyu (Hangzhou, 1966) is an architect and co-founded Amateur Architecture Studio with Wang Shu in 1997. Together, they founded the Architecture Department at China Academy of Art in 2003, initiating a new course of study that has profoundly influenced the teaching of architecture in China.
Lu is a member of the French Academy of Architecture for 2023 and was a visiting Professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University College London (UCL) and Rice University.
Together with Wang Shu, she maintains a sustained focus on existing materials, the traces of ordinary people's daily lives, the vitality of those unnamed, common structures, and the process and craftsmanship of artisans on the construction site. They advocate for a radical architectural experimentation that is rooted in the vernacular and the immediate context.
By combining recycled old building materials with modern engineering techniques and merging memory with innovation, they have offered a powerful response to the social reality of urban development that involves large-scale demolition and construction. Lu and Wang have consistently upheld a broad global perspective, expressing through their works an innovative vision that transcends the cultural conflict between city and countryside, and surpasses the traditions of the artificial and the natural, which is reflected in their built works such as Ningbo Historic Museum, Xiangshan Campus of China Academy of Art, The tiles hill in Hang Zhou, Renovation of Wencun Village, Fuyang Cultural Complex, The National Archives of Publications and Culture in Hangzhou, Preservation and Renovation of Southern Song Imperial Street, and Lin An Historic Museum, Museum of Ancient Animals in Baoding, Jin Sha Traditional Chinese Academy in Xia Men and Xi'an Opera House and Concert Hall.
Their works have been exhibited in prestigious international institutions, including La Biennale di Venezia, MOMA in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, in addition to solo exhibitions at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Arc en rêve centre d’architecture Bordeaux, and BOZAR art Centre for Fine Arts Brussels. Their work “Xiangshan Campus of China Academy of Art” was one of “The 25 Most Significant Works of Postwar Architecture” all over the world, selected by the New York Times in 2021.
Lu Wenyu was awarded the Schelling Architecture Prize in Germany, a Special Mention at the Biennale Architettura in 2010 for the project “Decay of a Dome”, and listed among the RIBA’s 2015 Fellowships. She was the recipient 2019 Gold Medal of Tau Sigma Delta. She was a juror of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. Lu Wenyu was the Chair of the Jury members for the RIBA International Prize 2024.
As a form of dual contemplation—a critical resistance against reality and a challenge towards the future—Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu together established a new Department of Architecture at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou in 2003. They launched a new model of architectural education that begins with the understanding of materials, manual labour, and the depiction of Chinese gardens. In an attempt to translate the studio's practical experience into an educational paradigm, the School of Architecture was founded in 2007. Wang Shu is its inaugural dean, and Lu Wenyu is the director of the Sustainable Construction Center.
