Zhu Pei's 'Rich But Simple' Architecture

Fittingly, the nearly 11-minute video finds Zhu Pei speaking about the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum, which elsewhere he has described as “the most popular museum in China,” but he mentions other projects his eponymous studio has created since its founding in 2005, and more generally he positions his architecture as a counter to the prevailing trends in his home country:

“In China, we do things totally upside down. We make very simple things generic and with no character. It’s a huge effort to build the wrong way; we waste a lot of energy and complicate things. It’s a misunderstanding of architecture. Actually, making something special does not mean that it costs more. On the contrary. A lot of great architecture consists of less effort, but it feels rich.”

Watch “Zhu Pei: Build Rich But Simple” below or on the website of Louisiana Channel.