Tiantian Xu

Tiantian Xu

Award citation:

“For her architecture that transformed villages throughout China economically, socially, and culturally”.

Prize share:

None

Tiantian Xu (1975, China) grew up during a time of significant transformation in Chinese society. She attributes her early architectural interests to her childhood home in Fujian, a vast compound that housed more than 100 people.
The traditional structure, with its layered courtyards and interwoven corridors, left a lasting impression on her, standing out in her memory for its beauty and communal spirit. Xu earned her Bachelor of Architecture from Tsinghua University in Beijing and later obtained a Master of Architecture in Urban Design (MAUD) from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Following her studies, she worked for three years in Boston before briefly joining OMA in Rotterdam.
In 2004, at the height of China’s rapid urbanization, Xu returned home to establish her own firm, DnA (Design and Architecture). Since then, she has been at the forefront of a pioneering approach to rural development—one that contrasts with the sweeping, uniform strategies that characterized China’s urban expansion. Instead of large-scale interventions, she applies a method akin to “architectural acupuncture,” carefully identifying key pressure points and integrating local materials and construction techniques. Her work prioritizes collectivity and communal space, fostering a rural transformation rooted in sensitivity and sustainability.

Xu advocates for a holistic approach to practice, using architecture to construct social, economic, ecological, cultural, and heritage opportunities in rural China. DnA has helped revitalize small villages across Sonyang County, for example, building over 20 public structures, including the Shime bridge, which joins two villages that had been separated by a flood; an outdoor Bamboo Pavilion that was constructed by villagers; and a Water Conservatory Center. Many of Tiantian Xu’s projects have bolstered local economies and improved work environments, including the Brown Sugar Factory in Xing Village, a Tofu Factory in Caizhai Village, the Huiming Tea Space on the Chimu Mountain, and a Rice Wine Factory. Perhaps the most dramatic of her rural projects is her delicate transformation on nine abandoned stone quarries in Jinyun county, resulting in a extraordinary, environmentally sensitive public infrastructure that has stimulated regional development while making visible an important cultural and economic history.

Tiantian Xu’s architecture is remarkably consistent: she favors natural materials such as wood, brick, stone, used sparingly but to great effect. Simple detailing foregrounds the materials themselves, rendering these projects – many of which are quite large in scale – surprisingly serene. Her architecture has transformed local village economies, making production more efficient, but also more elevated, more elegant.
Tiantian Xu is awarded the Wolf Prize both for her outstanding design talent, as well as for her sensitivity and innovation in using that talent to the economic, social and cultural betterment of villages throughout rural China. Her work can be characterized as timeless and timely, paving the way to a better future – a time that lies ahead.