Interview Wangshu, architecte chinois

“One of the most experimental and outspoken architects of China, Wang Shu, born 1963, surprised the world at the 2006 Architectural Biennale Venice with the Chinese contribution "Tiles Garden: A Dialogue Beyond City, Between an Architect and an Artist" in which he presented an installation of a sea of grey Chinese tiles, crossed by a bamboo bridge. Those tiles, thousands of them, came from demolition sites in China, where old structures were being replaced by new building complexes. Wang Shu shows how recycled and familiar materials (tiles and bricks) can be used in very contemporary architectural projects. He is referring to large scale demolition so common everywhere nowadays in China and how to keep up traditional modes of living in a rapidly changing context. At the moment, he is constructing five highrises of 100 m height each at Hangzhou, where traditional floorplates of two level housing with courtyards are stacked on top of each other.