Non-Conformist Design Rules

The Wa Shan Guesthouse, completed in 2013 and located in east coast city of Hangzhou, China, is the sort of building that has always fueled my advocacy for architecture being the highest art. This Pritzker-winning structure again came to my attention the other day in the strangest of ways: an architecture video. Maybe that isn't so surprising but it's the video's approach that fell flat. Where was the celebration of architecture? The approach was so reserved and conservative; and while I'm each conservative, boring, and mediocre; celebrating architecture, on the other hand, is something I try to do to excess.


The architect Wang Shu is a really interesting guy. He's actually Dean of the School of Architecture and has had a hand in designing the entire China Academy of Art's Xiangshan campus whose construction has unfolded in several phases under his supervision during the last decade. One of the qualities I most respect about Wang Shu is that he is an admitted non-conformist. Japanese game creator Shigeru Miyamoto (Nintendo) also shares this characteristic. I know from experience that taking an unconventional position, though perhaps prevailing in the end, often produces strong head winds. But one doesn't produce this type of architecture – just so off the charts excellent – without zagging when others zigged. (There's always a time-and-place for probability modelling and value-engineering in the AEC industry; it just happens to be in another post.)

Looking at the layout of the building and extending to its details notice everything is presented as united from one mind. There's not many signs of computational-optimization or value-engineering. This human touch does a great deal in creating the relaxing atmosphere of the complex. If I had more time and resources this is where I would elaborate on elements of Feng Shui I see benefiting the project but will instead skip to the architect's brilliant use of materials. Rammed earth, wood and ceramics are all natural materials which react to kindly to the human-touch. Bonus: super sustainable.

I don't want to move on without noting one use of computational design in the structure: those amazing wood trusses! I actually don't know much about them, but that might not be a good standard since I want to know everything about them. They certainly are unique and guests of the China Academy of Arts will, on the whole, certainly be in for a treat if they get to stay here.