Liu Jiakun

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Liu Jiakun
刘家琨
ryujakun(Liu Jia Kun , Liu Jiakun).jpg
Liu Jiakun in 2025
Born1956 (age 6869)
Chengdu, Sichuan, China
CitizenshipChinese
Education Chongqing University (Bachelor of Engineering in Architecture)
OccupationArchitect
Awards
PracticeJiakun Architects
Buildings
  • Luyeyuan Stone Sculpture Art Museum
  • Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Sculpture Department
  • West Village (Chengdu)
  • Suzhou Museum of Imperial Kiln Brick
  • Tianbao Cave District renovation
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese 刘家琨
Traditional Chinese 劉家琨
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin Liú Jiākūn
IPA [ljǒʊ tɕjá.kʰwə́n]
Website Jiakun Architects

Liu Jiakun (born 1956) is a Chinese architect known for his focus on minimalism, humanism, and locally contextual design. In 2025, he won the Pritzker Prize, [1] [2] becoming the second Chinese national architect to receive this honor after Wang Shu, and the third Chinese-born overall, after I. M. Pei.

Contents

Early life and education

Liu was born in Chengdu, in the Sichuan Province of China. [3] His mother was an internist doctor at Chengdu Second People's Hospital. [4] [5] As a 17-year old during the Cultural Revolution, he was sent to the countryside to serve as a laborer, as part of the country's zhiqing (rusticated youth) program. [5] [2] Initially aspiring to be an artist, he was drawn to architecture due to its connection with drawing and design. He graduated in 1982 from the Chongqing Institute of Architecture and Engineering (now part of Chongqing University) with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Architecture. [5]

Career

After graduation, Liu worked at the state-owned Chengdu Architectural Design and Research institute. [2] He later spent time in the Tibet and Xinjiang autonomous regions of China, exploring art and literature. He returned to architecture in 1993 after being inspired by an exhibition by former classmate Tang Hua (Chinese :汤桦). [6] He began a public discourse over the influence and significance of architecture with the artists Luo Zhongli and He Duoling  [ zh ], and the poet Zhai Yongming. [7]

In 1999, he founded Jiakun Architects in Chengdu. Since then, his firm has completed over 30 projects across China, including academic, cultural, civic, commercial, and urban planning works. [5]

Architectural philosophy and select works

Liu's work emphasizes the integration of local context, traditional craftsmanship, and sustainable design, while avoiding flashy flourishes. [6] [8] [9] His projects often make use of local materials and the aesthetic of imperfection. [10] After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, he repurposed earthquake rubble into new building materials. [11] The rubble was combined with local straw fibers and cement to produce bricks, intended as a demonstration of community resilience. [12] The resulting bricks were used in buildings including the Novartis Building, the Shuijingfang Museum, and the West Village (Chengdu)  [ zh ]. [7] Liu also designed the Hu Huishan Memorial  [ zh ], which commemorates a 15-year-old girl killed when her school collapsed during the earthquake. [2] The memorial was built to resemble a tent and contains some of Hu's possessions, including a scarf and a backpack. [13] [2]

In 2002, he designed the Luyeyuan Stone Sculpture Art Museum in Chengdu, modeled on a traditional Chinese garden, to house a private collection of Buddhist relics. [2] He worked on the Shuijingfang Museum  [ zh ] in 2013, which was built on the site of a 600-year-old distillery and focused on the history of Chinese Baijiu liquor. His design of the Museum of Clocks in the Jianchuan Museum Cluster had a series of clocks depicting the end of the Cultural Revolution in China. [2]

His commercial projects included the Shanghai campus of the pharmaceutical company Novartis, which he designed in 2014. The campus combined traditional Chinese aesthetic with a contemporary exterior, including multiple tiered balconies. [4] His 2015 work "West Village" in Chengdu was a mixed-use public project that included offices, recreational, athletic, and cultural spaces; it was considered modest and visually understated, contrasting with the neighboring high-rise buildings. [2] The village block incorporated pedestrian walkways, green spaces, and cycle paths. [4] Liu's other works in Chengdu include a maternity ward at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. [6] [4]

Exhibitions and international recognition

Liu's designs have been exhibited internationally, including at the Venice Architecture Biennale and a solo exhibition at Berlin's AEDES Gallery. In 2018, he was commissioned to design the Serpentine Pavilion in Beijing, which drew international attention. [14]

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 Wainwright, Oliver (4 March 2025). "'I aspire to be like water': the exquisite buildings of Liu Jiakun, winner of architecture's top prize". The Guardian . Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pogrebin, Robin (4 March 2025). "Chinese Architect Liu Jiakun Wins Pritzker Prize". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  3. Hebei Network Radio and Television Station; Wu Na (5 March 2025). "普利兹克得主刘家琨,在赤水河畔郎酒庄园"用建筑写诗"-中宏网". 中宏网-今日新闻-财经新闻 (in Chinese). Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Ulaby, Neda (4 March 2025). "Chinese architect Liu Jiakun wins the 2025 Pritzker Prize". NPR. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Biography of Liu Jiakun". www.pritzkerprize.com. Chicago, IL: The Hyatt Foundation . Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Holland, Oscar (4 March 2025). "Pritzker Prize 2025: China's Liu Jiakun awarded 'Nobel of architecture'". CNN. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  7. 1 2 Lu Linhan (4 March 2025). "刘家琨获2025普利兹克建筑奖:建筑应该揭示一些东西_艺术评论_澎湃新闻-The Paper". thepaper.cn (in Chinese). Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  8. 生活・读书・新知三联书店 (2009). 三联生活周刊 (in Chinese). 生活・读书・新知三联书店. p. 67. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  9. 建筑三十九渡 (in Chinese). 清华大学出版社. 2019. p. 239. ISBN   978-7-302-46073-2 . Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  10. 大家: 大型文学双月刊 (in Chinese). 大家文学杂志社. 1997. p. 189. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  11. Wainwright, Oliver. "Rebirth Brick Project". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  12. Wen Wei Po Sun Yanyang. "2025普利兹克奖得主刘家琨:创造栖居之地,同时创造诗意". 上观新闻 (in Chinese). Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  13. Pogrebin, Robin (5 March 2025). "建筑师刘家琨获普利兹克奖,曾为汶川遇难者建纪念馆". 纽约时报中文网 (in Chinese). Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  14. Fakharany, Nour. "International Exhibitions of Liu Jiakun" . Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  15. 1 2 "中国建筑师刘家琨获2025普利兹克奖:摆脱了美学、风格上的束缚|界面新闻 · 天下". www.jiemian.com. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  16. 1 2 "刘家琨". 艺术中国. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  17. 1 2 "半路回家拿下建築諾貝爾獎 劉家琨:剔除自我找到力量". Yahoo News (in Chinese). 4 March 2025. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  18. 网易 (5 March 2025). "这个爱写小说的中国建筑师获得了建筑界最高奖". www.163.com. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  19. 媒体滚动 (23 January 2025). "家琨建筑设计事务所创始人刘家琨当选"第四届中国建造匠心年度人物"". finance.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  20. Daniel Cassady (10 March 2025). "Chinese Architect Liu Jiakun Wins Pritzker Prize for Thoughtful, Human-Centered Design". ARTNews.
  21. "中国建筑师刘家琨荣获2025年普利兹克建筑奖-中新网". 中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻 (in Chinese). 5 March 2025. Retrieved 7 March 2025.