One example of this is his only commercial residential project, in which Wang designed six highrise buildings that he called Vertical Courtyard Apartments. He used the layout of traditional courtyard buildings as inspiration for the homes, piling them one on top of the other.

This project is another example where Wang’s ambitious demands and vision unexpectedly won out. “The developer figured out for me that with this design, and with RMB 5,000 as the cost of one square meter, it would need RMB 50 million,” said Wang. “He joked with me saying, ‘This is the cost of supporting your design.’”

Some might say it has been luck that has made those commissioning his work yield and see his designs through to their end. But Wang possesses a certain passion and single-mindedness that makes doing it any other way unlikely. “A good architect should stick to a philosophy,” is Wang’s motto.

Many of Wang’s contemporaries blame their unsatisfactory works on not being able to come up with good ideas. Wang doesn’t agree. “I never think this way. An idea or a pop-up thought cannot solve the problem. I think that there is a lack of a continuous, coherent and persistent philosophy in our Chinese architectural field.”

Secondhand Bricks and Congested Layouts

One of his biggest and best-known projects is the Xiangshan Campus of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, where he is the dean of the school of architectural art. The design for this campus has proved his innovative approach and sensitivity to questions faced by China’s architectural field today.

The campus is like no other, and certainly contrasts hugely with most contemporary university campuses in China. Rather than simply building new buildings in tried and tested styles, the Xiangshan Campus has a strong sense of modernity and creativity. Visitors have been astounded by its complexity of space and diversity of styles, both practical, with covered walkways protecting students and staff as they make their way to and from class, and visually stunning.

The buildings are crammed together with little space between them, so as you move through them the surrounding scenery shifts and changes with each step. Some people have had doubts about this congested campus design, but Professor Wang has his own ideas about this. “We were discussing in depth the relationship between urbanization and the natural environment,” he said. “In order to preserve the original natural surroundings, buildings must compromise with nature.”

With this in mind, the buildings were clustered together so that half of the space would be returned to nature. The result is that not only is the campus surrounded by a river, fields of green vegetables and even a tea plantation, the number of migrating birds that make their seasonal homes there is estimated to have risen from 300 to 3,000.

Another notable feature of the campus is the materials used to build it. Wang organized the collecting of more than seven million recycled bricks and tiles of every size and age from demolished buildings. The builders then worked out how to use them to build exterior walls, roofs and passageways. In reusing the materials, Wang wanted to express the idea that humans should use resources carefully as well as respect traditions and history. “This is not just simply piling up the old used stuff,” Wang explained. “A sense of time exists in them, as does cultural significance. It is a poetic and cultural expression of time and traditions.”

Wang Shu has been using recycled building materials since 2000. “Saving materials has been a virtue of Chinese people,” he said. “It is a tradition, and we should now use them wisely from an artistic and technological perspective. By reusing these bricks and tiles, we can prolong their life and consequently restore their dignity.”

In championing this kind of viewpoint, Wang Shu is using his prominent position to encourage sustainable development in architecture. Winning the Pritzker Prize will further his influence on Chinese architects and have a positive effect on China’s urban planning. As Thomas Pritzker, trustee of the award, pointed out, “China’s unprecedented opportunities for urban planning and design will be in harmony with both its long and unique traditions of the past and its future needs for sustainable development.”