Studio Pei-Zhu

Studio Pei Zhu is a young practice of under 40 employees based in Beijing. For us, the challenge of design is to provide practical solutions while reflecting a strong and innovative conceptual thinking and a critical outlook.

Our projects, therefore, are an exploration of methods to connect process to product.

The framework for this investigation and the experimental nature of our work is formed by the context in which it takes place- Urban China. The recent rapid development of the country has created new urban environments that can certainly be described as modern but lack the vitality and soul of older districts. One of our main concerns in design is to reconnect modern urban china to its roots, reinterpreting the vernacular in a contemporary context to create architectural devices capable of energizing urban activities. In this way we hope to contribute to a regional variance of contemporary architecture appropriate to its local context.


2007  Guggenheim museum Beijing, for Guggenheim Foundation

2007  Guggenheim Art Pavilion Abu Dhabi, for Guggenheim Foundation

2007  Courtyard House Renovation for artist Cai Guoqiang

2007  Art Museum for artist Yue Minjun

2004  Digital Beijing, an Olympic project for 2008, Beijing, won the first prize in national design competition


2007  Design Vanguard, Architectural Record

2006  China Award, Architectural Record

2004  WA China Architectural Prize

2003  China Architectural Arts Award

1989  Award of Special Merit from UNESCO


2008  Chinese Gardens for Living - illusion into reality, Dresden, Germany

2008  Solo exhibition RISD, University of Rhode Island, N.Y.

2008  China Construction, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, N.Y.

2008  Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Architecture, Paris

2008  Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Architecture, Barcelona

2007  China Production, Austria

2008  China Design Now, Victoria and Albert Museum, UK

2007  Xisi Bei International Invitation Exhibition, China

2006  1st Biennale of the Architecture and Art of the Canary Islands, Spain
(®participated together with Rem Koolhaas and MVRDV)

2006  Chinese contemporary architecture, Rotterdam

2006  Biennial Beijing, Beijing

2005  Biennial Sao Paulo , Sao Paulo

2005  U space Art exhibition, Beijing

2004  8 Chinese Young Architects, Beijing

2003  Alors, la Chine?, Centre Pompidou, Paris


Guggenheim Museum, Beijing, design process

Art Pavilion, Abu Dhabi , under construction

Publishing House, Beijing, under construction

Cai Guoqiang Courtyard House Renovation, Beijing, finished

Blur Hotel, renovation project in the center of Beijing; under construction

Digital Beijing, an Olympic project for 2008, Beijing; finished

China Digital, an office building for TV studios, Beijing; under construction

Chapel of Ningbo, Ningbo, design process

UF Soft R&D Center 4, Beijing; design process

U Space, a contemporary art exhibition space, Beijing; under construction

Office building of Ningbo urban planning bureau, Bingbo; design process

X-office, Huanghua; design process

Shishang place, a mixed-use building, Beijing, design process


Interviewed by many international newspapers like The New York Times, Le Monde, The Times, The Guardian, Los Angles Times£¨Wall Street Journal and many other main newspapers of Spain, Germany and Mexico; Published by world famous magazines like domus, Architectural Record, Wall Paper etc; Invited by CCTV, NBC, BBC, DW (Deutsche Welle) TVE etc for the television interviews.