I think I know Wang Shu and his work well. A Pritzker prize winner who source local craftsmanship and material and manipulate them in a modern way. But after a trip to Hangzhou and Suzhou, I realise that I don’t actually fully understand his work. Before modelling in the computer, Wang Shu would finalise every detail in sketch format. He would think about how one opens a door, things that would occur in the space, how one turns his body to look at the mountain in the distance, how one looks up, how one look down. He would relate his methodology to the methodology of a farmer who thinks through his hands and close contact with the physical material. He also refers himself as a philosopher and a Buddhist apart from an architect. He drew inspiration from traditional Chinese landscape painting and Chinese garden. In traditional Chinese architecture, nature should be the focus and architecture is just a small portion of it. In Western thinking, building and landscape are separate and usuall...