Material-ism

One of China's most accomplished contemporary architects and the founding head of the Graduate Center of Architecture at Peking University, Yung Ho Chang is the founder of Beijing-based Atelier FCJZ, one of the first independent architecture practices founded in China. He is a Professor of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he headed the Department of Architecture from 2005 to 2010. He received his Masters of Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and taught in the U.S. for 15 years before returning to Beijing. He has stated that: “In the international perception, there often seems to be a Chinese architectural project that is icon-making and turns out to be essentially a formal proposition. However, just like the rest of the world, contemporary China is confronted by pressing issues from rapid urbanization to climate change. China also deals with its own unique problems, such as the great cultural transition. My Beijing-based practice has been attempting to take on some of these Chinese and/or universal challenges and treat them as opportunities for the firm and perhaps for other architects working in China.” In his lecture, Yung Ho Chang will how his architectural practice is rooted in material experimentation, reflecting upon notions of materialism both as in the Marxist ideology of the pre-market China and in the Chinese consumers’ mentality today. Specifically, he will present four projects: two buildings—a museum of concrete and a house of fiber glass—clothes design, and a film.