Minquan Wang Discusses the Fusion of Art & Science in Architecture

Hi! My name's Minquan Wang. I am a registered architect in Connecticut and a member of the American Institute of Architects. I received my B.Arch from Tsinghua University. I later received my M.Arch from Yale University where I was the recipient of the 2017 H.I. Feldman Prize.

After graduation, I worked at KPF in New York City for a number of years where I participated in the design and execution of multiple large-scale mixed-use international projects, including the Chongqing International Land-Sea Center, Thamrin Nine in Jakarta, and Baker Circle in Hong Kong. I went back to China in 2021 and have been working at David Chipperfield Architects' Shanghai office. I work on independent projects as a sole practitioner simultaneously.

As a child, I was gifted with unique talents in arts, yet through the majority of my childhood, my education has been heavily science-oriented. I was actually put in an "experimental" class in the top high school in my hometown to train for the science Olympiads as a teenager and always thought I would become a physicist.

In college, I vaguely heard that architects are engineers and artists at the same time, so I did not hesitate to embark on this path. Obviously, "engineering combined with arts" is far from what architecture is, but the marriage between creativity and reason does make it the perfect profession for me.

I work as an architect at David Chipperfield Architects Shanghai. Here, I have led the design on a number of high-profile public competitions, such as the Jinqiao Art Center and the ongoing Minsheng Wharf in Shanghai. I also worked on some boutique cultural retail projects, such as NIO House Beijing Huaxi Live, a community hub for NIO users. DCA excels at cultural projects (museums, galleries, art centers, etc.) and historical renovations.

It places high values on the social quality of its works, instead of focusing solely on the buildings themselves. Beyond design, I am involved in the Shanghai office's cultural and academic practices as well. In 2023 I successfully completed the inaugural edition of RAM Assembles, an important biennale cultural curation cooperated by Shanghai Rockbund Art Museum.

I also assisted Sir David Chipperfield as a studio critic during his visiting professorship at Tongji University, for which we did a design studio with 18 graduate students in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning on an urban renewal project in Jingdezhen.

Outside of DCA, I participate in open competitions and work on personal commissions, mostly on commercial and institutional projects, individually and with other architect friends. My Golden prize entry for NY Architectural Design Awards was the winning proposal in a government competition and in collaboration with SIZE Arch and ZJUT Engineering Design Group for example.

Solving complex problems in open-ended, creative ways. It is worth noting that a true architect could not initiate the design process per se without setting out a sound conceptual groundwork for it, which is more about goal definition rather than solutions, in my opinion.

I think powerful designs are the ones that we don't notice but have profound impacts on the way we live, work, and interact on a daily basis. They are the ones in the foreground and the background at the same time. Architectures provide the backdrop for our society and as much as good works stand out, they should not always be the protagonists.

Treating architecture as visual spectacles is at great risk of reducing themselves to a consumerist fetish. Architectural design is about what they achieve, not just what they are. My favorite kind of design places human relations at its center, while keeping its commitment to the architectural discipline.

Good designs grow from insightful visions. The making of any project inevitably involves real-world constraints, be it technical, financial, logistic, or political. These lead to disruptions and compromises. Without visions and reasons, architectural designers will be easily downplayed as mere service providers. Good designs are the ones that allow themselves to advance proactively, instead of reactively.

Simple in form and sophisticated in conceptualization. Coherent across the conceptual, spatial, tectonic, and material levels.

I research the project's social, cultural, and spatial contexts, understanding its goals, while playing with the basic massing based on project restraints. At some point, I would draw from these fuzzy initial tests and focus on the most important idea, which would need to translate into a system that makes sense of the project's spatial, formal, and programmatic implications as a conceptual framework or a "model".

Having a "model" is extremely important in the design process in my opinion, as it sheds light on the design decision chain from grand master planning moves to minute details. Iterations will be made to benchmark its limits and potency. Once this is verified the rest of the project will take shape given time.

I have a great interest in urban social contexts and public spaces in relation to architecture. China has quite a different cultural trajectory in these aspects. For instance, western cities were historically anchored by plazas and squares as the most important public spaces, which are also associated with the idea of democracy, activism, social progress, and civic activities.

Chinese cities never had plazas at their center historically, which is both a reflection and a contributor to the nation's ideas of publicness: dispersed instead of centralized, and temporal instead of permanent. When western plazas are grafted here, as we have seen with contemporary Chinese cities, they usually result in some rather alienated scenes.

Designing public spaces in Chinese cities would then call for a different social and spatial paradigm which, I have indeed explored in more depth in other projects such as RAM Assembles. This is just a small example of how cultural differences could play into cities and how an architectural designer would approach these issues.

It is a great reward to the team's hard work and affirmation of our talent and skills. West Zhejiang Agro-Tech Industry Park has been an unconventional project on many levels. NY Architectural Design Awards' recognition no doubt helped us showcase our vision and verify the value of our ideas and thereby, hopefully, will help us push the project further forward.

West Zhejiang Agro-Tech Industry Park is a public development by the Qujiang District of Quzhou City, a rising industry and business spotlight in the Zhejiang province in eastern China. By providing 132,000㎡ headquarters, rental offices, government-subsidized housing, and community retail spaces, the project aspires to be the new engine of Qujiang’s industrial and economic growth. The project has been awarded through a public competition and is currently in the process of planning approval acquisition.

Among my various personal works in recent years, this project allowed for some concentrated discussions on how civic spaces could be shaped in conjunction with a building's basic formal drivers. The opportunity to focus on public spaces in a commercial mixed-use project also made it unique. For these reasons, the project was chosen to be entered into the NY Architectural Design Awards.

The client envisioned the project to be a new type of mixed-use development with civic activities instead of mere commercial activities at its center. This was challenging given the programmatic and zoning restraints. We had to exploit exterior spaces that are non-GFA-accountable in order to reach this goal. This resulted in the project's unique form.

Winning Gold in the NY Architectural Design Award has offered me valuable professional exposure and is a strong testament to my design expertise. It has, therefore, greatly helped me in my professional development.

Creative agency, intellectual engagement, and the ability to see your own work materialize.

China has exhibited a combination of rapid economic growth and a relative naivete in its modernity. For creative professionals, this removes the guide and the ceiling both at the same time. The lack of private land ownership creates huge obstacles for young designers.

But in the meanwhile, the lack of establishment makes ambitious projects a possibility. I think overall the design industry in China is still struggling to understand what could be a verified way forward and hopefully will find its own path.

AI and digital agents will displace a large part of the mundane technical work. Creativity, communication skills, and the ability to synthesize and solve complex problems will gain more value. Architects as generalists instead of specialists will be appreciated even more.

My advice is actually to venture into the real world and get beyond the confines of the architectural discipline. Architecture can be a very introverted profession. We have much more to learn from people from other industries.

I honestly think the best resource is history. When I was in graduate school at Yale, we went on a summer course in Rome where we spent weeks drawing the city. It really completely changed the way I see buildings and unlocked so much with the way I design myself.

I secretly yearn to be a novel writer and have been working on my own high fantasy stories.

Peter Eisenman, my graduate school studio tutor, who showed me the power of reason. Sir David Chipperfield, who shed light on architecture's social value. Prof. Terrence Curry, my college tutor and a friend, who taught me one has to fight for his works. Also, my primary school music teacher Mrs. Landon Ma, who encouraged me to always pursue beauty in life.

You will not last long on an architect's journey without conviction. Find your passion and fight for what you believe in!

That's it. Thank you for the opportunity to share my story and thoughts!