CRUNCH: ON LAND 在大陆

About

Through a series of architectural works across China, architect Liu Jiakun conveys multiple themes in his design: symbiosis with nature, responsiveness to local conditions, spiritual continuity with tradition, the dialogue between history and the present, community sharing, and the interplay of collective and personal memory.

Since establishing Jiakun Architects in 1999 in Chengdu where he lives, Liu Jiakun has designed more than 30 projects ranging from academic and cultural institutions to civic spaces and commercial buildings.

The conversation will be chaired by Guang Yu Ren.

Live interpretation will be offered for this event. If you are an English speaker and would like to opt into interpretation, please ensure you bring your own headphones that connect to your smartphone with Zoom enabled. Headphones will not be provided.

通过在中国各地的一系列建筑作品，建筑师刘家琨传达他在设计中的多重主题：与自然共生，因地制宜，对传统的精神继承，历史与现实，社区共享，集体记忆与个人记忆。

自从在他居住的成都开设家琨建筑事务所以来，刘家琨已经设计了三十多个项目，涵盖学术和文化机构以及公共空间和商业建筑。

刘家琨与任广宇的对话。

This event is part of the flagship CRUNCH Series at the Bartlett School of Architecture.

Speaker biographies 

Liu Jiakun is Founder and Principal Architect of Jiakun Architects, internationally recognised for his socially engaged and context-sensitive approach to design. Awarded the 2025 Pritzker Architecture Prize, Liu Jiakun bridges tradition and modernity, drawing on vernacular craftsmanship and folk wisdom to address contemporary architectural challenges. His work explores the relationship between public life and urban cultural space, translating Chinese cultural ethos into contemporary architectural language. Liu Jiakun exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2015 and 2016, and designed the inaugural Serpentine Pavilion Beijing in 2018. His accolades include the German Design Award Gold (2022) and UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation (2021). In 2023, he founded Yulin Song Project Space, an experimental platform for design exchange. 

刘家琨 – 家琨建筑设计事务所创始人 / 主持建筑师 

刘家琨的建筑实践关注社会现实、尊重地域文脉、融入现场环境、提炼民间技艺， 每一个项目的设计试图带着现实感解决当代建筑事宜。他保持着对中国多重传统开放的视野， 怀着在现代和传统间取得兼容的信念，致力于将东方的文化内涵转译成当代的建筑语言。他的设计作品体现了当代建筑理念和对传统的精神继承，传达出中国当代建筑罕见的将个人记忆与集体记忆交融激荡的卓越品质。他始终秉持着对满足人们需求的纯粹信念， 不断探究建筑中的适宜技术。他的许多作品阐明了中国民众公共生活与城市文化空间相互交织的关系。 刘家琨主持设计的作品被选送参加威尼斯建筑双年展、威尼斯艺术双年展等众多国际展览，并担任英国伦敦蛇形美术馆的首个国际展亭设计师，多次在中外重要国际期刊出版。曾获得亚洲建协荣誉奖、建筑实录中国奖、远东建筑奖、自然建造奖、联合国教科文组织亚太地区文化遗产保护奖、德国设计奖等多个重要奖项，并应邀在法国巴黎建筑与遗产城博物馆，美国麻省理工学院、英国皇家艺术学院、巴黎夏佑宫等多所院校及机构开办讲座。 2023年创办玉林颂·设计空间，旨在搭建一个具有理想性、专业性和实验性的设计类交流平台。2025年，刘家琨获得普利兹克建筑奖。 

Guang Yu Ren is Director of History and Theory at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. Over the past two decades she has worked collaboratively with institutions and practitioners on various research and heritage projects in Asia, Africa and Europe, centred around the experiences of modernity outside the Western canon and the inequity of architectural historiography. In 2017, Guang Yu was awarded the RIBA President’s Medal for Research for her work on the architecture and urban planning in Japan’s imperial territory of northeast China, Manchuria. She also collaborated on the successful UNESCO World Heritage Nomination of the modernist city of Asmara, Eritrea, where she has worked since 2001. The Asmara project was also awarded the RIBA President’s Medal for Research in 2016. Most recently, her work has been focusing on the historical and paradoxical relationships between modern heritage, power and the Anthropocene. 

Image: West Village, Chengdu by Jiakun Architects. Photo: Qian Shen Photography