Tag: xu-tiantian | ArchDaily

Dialogue with the Code: Calibrating Standards for Adaptive Reuse to Thrive

Jonathan Yeung — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 07:30:00 +0000

There is growing awareness around sustainability—and the environmental cost of prematurely demolishing safe, structurally sound buildings only to replace them with new construction. In the broader race to reduce carbon emissions, corporations and institutions are placing greater emphasis on ESG performance (environmental impact, social responsibility, and governance). Many now require carbon accounting, set "carbon-neutral" targets, or purchase carbon credits to offset footprints.

A Cultural Center in the Arctic and a New Look at Croatian Modernism: This Week’s Review

Antonia Piñeiro — Thu, 07 May 2026 05:30:00 +0000

This week's selection of architecture news and projects invites a rethinking of the social, cultural, and environmental role of design across diverse scales and geographies. From community-led efforts to preserve modern heritage, such as the campaigns surrounding the Îlot 8 housing complex in France and a renewed photographic attention toward Croatia's Split 3 district, to broader reflections on architecture's agency in the face of climate change and social transformation, many of the featured works question how architecture adapts over time and how it engages with collective life. This week's compilation also highlights architects expanding their practice beyond buildings through furniture, lighting, and object design, while three projects explore immersive relationships between landscape, climate, and observation in remote or environmentally sensitive contexts, from Arctic Norway to the oasis environments of the United Arab Emirates and the desert landscapes of Saudi Arabia.

"Beauty in Itself Is Dangerous:" Xu Tiantian on Moving Beyond Starchitecture in Louisiana Channel Interview

Antonia Piñeiro — Fri, 01 May 2026 05:30:00 +0000

Xu Tiantian is the founding principal of DnA_Design and Architecture, an interdisciplinary practice that addresses both the physical and social dimensions of the contemporary living environment, across scales. Born in 1975 in Fujian, China, she received a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a bachelor's degree in architecture from Tsinghua University in Beijing. Her recent work focuses on rural revitalization through a strategy she describes as "architectural acupuncture," understood as small-scale, site-specific interventions designed to activate local culture, agriculture, and tourism. These interventions, primarily concentrated in China's rural regions, have been recognized by UN-Habitat as a global model for urban–rural integration. In this interview with Louisiana Channel, she reflects on the role of the architect, questions architecture itself and the concept of beauty, explains her working methodology, and emphasizes the spatial dimension of nature.

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art Opens Memoryscapes Exhibition Exploring the Design Methodologies of ATTA and DnA

Antonia Piñeiro — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 06:30:00 +0000

The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art will inaugurate, on January 22, 2026, the second exhibition in its Architecture Connecting series, focusing on the discipline's relationship with science and research across a wide range of fields, including biology, neuroscience, and anthropology. The first exhibition in the series, Living Structures (2024–2025), featured ecoLogicStudio, Atelier LUMA, and Jenny Sabin Studio, highlighting their work at the intersection of algorithms and nature and their development of methods that re-evaluate sustainable architecture and climate considerations. This second exhibition, titled Memoryscapes, explores the memories, stories, and traditions informing the working methodologies of Xu Tiantian's DnA_Design and Architecture (Beijing) and ATTA – Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects (Paris).

The UIA World Congress of Architects 2026 Barcelona Unveils Program and Speakers

Antonia Piñeiro — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 06:30:00 +0000

The UIA World Congress of Architects is an international event for architectural dialogue organised by the International Union of Architects (UIA, by its French acronym), a non-governmental organisation that unites national associations of architects from over 100 countries, representing more than one million professionals. The first UIA Congress of Architects, which also marked the institution's founding, was held in Lausanne in 1948 during the post-war reconstruction period. Since then, UIA congresses have been held every three years in a different city within a member country, serving as the organisation's main recurring event. In 2026, the Congress will be held in Barcelona, and UNESCO has consequently designated the city as the World Capital of Architecture 2026. Each Congress focuses on a key topic relevant to the profession, articulated through a central theme. Recent themes include Copenhagen 2023: "Sustainable Futures. Leave no one behind." and Rio 2020–2021: "All the worlds. Just one World." The topic for 2026 is "Becoming. Architectures for a Planet in Transition," welcoming renowned figures in contemporary architectural thought and practice for a broad and critical overview of the possible futures of architecture.

Xu Tiantian Receives the 2026 Charlotte Perriand Award

Antonia Piñeiro — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 05:30:00 +0000

The Créateurs Design Awards (CDA) announced Xu Tiantian, Founder and Principal Architect of DnA_Design and Architecture, as the recipient of the 2026 edition of Le Prix Charlotte Perriand. The award celebrates architects whose work embodies innovation, social responsibility, and a deep engagement with community and place. The architect was recognized for her transformative work bridging urban and rural communities through innovative design interventions. Her approach to architecture was acknowledged as a tool for cultural preservation and rural revitalization, making her an exemplary recipient of this honor, previously awarded to prominent architects such as Frida Escobedo, Jeanne Gang, Kazuyo Sejima, and Ryue Nishizawa.

Do We Still Need Architecture Awards? Highlights from the "Beyond the Prize" Discussion Forum in Venice, Italy

Antonia Piñeiro — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 05:30:00 +0000

During the opening week of the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale, a consortium of six major architecture awards, including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the Holcim Foundation Awards, the EUmies Awards, the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize, the OBEL Award, and the Ammodo Architecture Award, convened at TBA21–Academy's Ocean Space for a critical discussion titled "Beyond the Prize." This forum aimed to reflect on the role, relevance, and future potential of architecture awards amidst pressing social and environmental challenges. ArchDaily attended the public event and took the opportunity to ask the participants: What would the field of architecture look like if we stopped organizing architecture awards?

Beyond the Prize: Set in Venice, a New Discussion Forum Explores the Meaningful Impact of Architecture Awards

Antonia Piñeiro — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 06:30:00 +0000

A moderated discussion hosted by the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the Holcim Foundation Awards, the EUmies Awards, the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize, the OBEL Award, and the Ammodo Architecture Award will take place in Venice during the opening week of the 19th Architecture Biennale. This consortium of six architecture awards, alongside international architects associated with the prizes, will gather on Friday, May 9, 2025, at TBA21–Academy's Ocean Space to discuss the overarching impact of architecture awards and their potential to promote meaningful change. Titled "Beyond the Prize," the event aims to critically reflect on these awards' purpose, trajectory, and potential in the face of contemporary social and environmental challenges.

The Obel Award Announces the Theme for Its 2025 Edition

Antonia Piñeiro — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 07:30:00 +0000

The OBEL Award is an international prize for architectural practice, presented annually by the Henrik Frode Obel Foundation. The jury, composed of representatives from firms such as Snøhetta and MVRDV, alongside professionals from other disciplines, selects a theme to guide the choice of winners for each edition. The goal is to steer proposals toward solutions that foster dialogue and generate knowledge on emerging issues, aiming to promote architecture in service of social and ecological development worldwide. For its seventh edition, the 2025 call focus is Ready Made, targeting projects that place reuse and repurposing at the core of architecture for the common good.

DnA's Xu Tiantian Unveils her Comprehensive Design Process in CCA’s Groundwork Debut: 'Into the Island'

Hana Abdel — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 05:00:00 +0000

With the heightening of ecological and social crises all around the world, architects have had to re-evaluate their role, impact, and design approach. As the "new needs" of people arise, new architectural processes must be explored to answer them. However, this still comes with much resistance from the standing practices and push for financial gain that often makes it difficult to implement more comprehensive solutions. These notions led the CCA (Canadian Center for Architecture) to launch their new 3-part film and exhibit series called " Groundwork", curated by the associate director, Francesco Garutti. Through this project, the CCA selected and followed three renowned contemporary architects/practices as they developed their concepts and field research, which allowed them to engage respectfully with their site and residing communities. It's an up close and personal look into what motivates the selected architects to examine alternative ways of designing and the challenges they go through as the three parallel stories unfold.

Restoring a Symbol of Collective Memory: Holcim Award Winner Xu Tiantian Discusses the Impact of Adaptive Reuse

Maria-Cristina Florian — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 06:30:00 +0000

In the mountain valleys of China’s Fujian Province, thousands of large, rammed earth fortresses lay abandoned. Once used for both defense and collective housing, the tulou typology is an integral part of the region’s cultural heritage, with 46 of them being recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. Despite this, the rural communities surrounding them have struggled to find new roles and purposes for these buildings. Going beyond the need for conservation, architect Xu Tiantian of DnA_Design and Architecture set out to develop and adapt this heritage to reintroduce it into community life. The Fujian Tulou | Adaptive Reuse project recently won the Gold Prize of Holcim Awards 2023 for Asia-Pacific, recognized for creating “an exemplary model for building conservation initiatives.” In a video interview for ArchDaily, Xu Tiantian discusses the principles that underpin this initiative and the potential outcomes of adaptive reuse in rural communities.

The Obel Award Announces Theme for its 6th Cycle, the 2024 Edition

Christele Harrouk — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 05:30:00 +0000

The Obel Award is an international prize for architectural achievement presented annually by the Henrik Frode Obel Foundation. Each year, the jury selects a specific theme and grants an award to a promising solution. For the 2024 edition, the prize that honors architectural contributions that positively impact both people and the planet will be focused on “Architecture With”.

Days of ORIS 2024: Mary Anderson, Xu Tiantian and Alejandro Aravena

Rene Submissions — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 15:00:00 +0000

Since 2001, Days of Oris has brought together some of the world's most interesting global architects, in Zagreb, Croatia. This year three global practices bring unique perspective from diverse geographies: Mary Anderson from Assemble (UK), a community oriented practice that does not only focus on the building, but rather on the social impact of their projects; Xu Tiantian from DnA Design and Architecture (China), with a focus on rural China and its communities, delivering an architecture with a strong identity; and Pritzker laureate Alejandro Aravena, whose practice ELEMENTAL (Chile) has brought new perspectives to social housing and public projects across the globe, focusing on the right answer that architecture should respond to.

The Latest Exhibition at Aedes Showcases the Transformation of Stone Quarries into Cultural Infrastructure

Andreea Cutieru — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 05:30:00 +0000

Aedes Architecture Forum recently inaugurated the "Jinyun Quarries – The Quarry as Stage" exhibition, which showcases the transformation of abandoned stone quarries in the Zhejiang Province, China, into a platform for cultural and social activities. Beijing architect Xu Tiantian and the team of DnA_Design and Architecture were tasked with developing a new public infrastructure inside nine of the mines in Jinyun County, thus opening up new economic perspectives for the local people. Running until May 5th, the exhibition highlights the extraordinary spatiality of the stone quarries while communicating the complexity of the structures through a series of models, plans and photographs of the interventions.

“Architecture Should be Able to Connect the Past and the Future”: In Conversation with Xu Tiantian

Vladimir Belogolovsky — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 09:00:00 +0000

It is the end of May 2016, Alejandro Aravena’s “Reporting from the Front” Biennale is about to kick off the next day and I just landed at Venice airport. Vaporetto waterbuses are no longer running at this late hour, so I am heading for a water taxi, thinking that it will cost me a bundle to get to the city. But maybe not! I see a lonely figure, “Are you going to Venice? Would you like to share a taxi?” A young Chinese woman agrees without hesitation. As soon as the boat leaves I keep pressing my luck, “Are you an architect, by any chance?” Yes! The next hour flew unnoticed, as we discussed our discipline and common friends. Two years passed, and I am back to Venice Biennale. At the opening of the Chinese Pavilion, I am hopping from conversation to conversation until I am introduced to Xu Tiantian, “China’s most promising female architect.” We looked at each other and said in unison, “The taxi girl/guy!” We finally exchanged contacts and on my next trip to Beijing we met at Xu’s DnA Design and Architecture studio. What follows, after a brief introduction, is an excerpt from that conversation.

12 Award-Winning Women in Architecture From the Past 12 Months

Niall Patrick Walsh — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In the 12 months since 2018 International Women’s Day, we have seen many female architects come to fore of the design discourse. From Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell’s curation of the 2018 Venice Biennale to Frida Escobedo's celebrated design for the Serpentine Pavilion, the architectural newsfeeds from the past twelve months have played host to many signs of change in a traditionally male-dominated profession.

Sheila O’Donnell and Xu Tiantian Win 2019 Women in Architecture Awards

Megan Schires — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 11:00:00 +0000

For this year's Women in Architecture Awards, The Architectural Review and the Architects’ Journal have selected Sheila O’Donnell as Architect of the Year and Xu Tiantian to win the Moira Gemill Prize for Emerging Architecture in the 2019 Women in Architecture awards. The Architect of the Year award recognizes excellence in design specifically in the context of a recently completed project and the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture is awarded to women designers under the age of 45 who show design excellence indicative of a bright future.

Can Architecture Save China’s Rural Villages? DnA’s Xu Tiantian Thinks So

Keshia Badalge — Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:30:00 +0000

Travel seven hours by car in a Southwest direction from Shanghai and you will arrive in Songyang County. The name is unfamiliar to many Chinese people, and even more foreign to those living abroad. The county consists of about 400 villages, from Shicang to Damushan.