Amateur Architecture Studio founders Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu have been appointed as the curators of the 20th International Architecture Exhibition, which aims to open in May 2027.

The 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale will take place from Saturday, May 8th to Sunday, November 21st. The pre-opening days are planned to be held on May 6th and 7th.

In 1997, Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu, architects and educators, established Amateur Architecture Studio. Together, they founded the China Academy of Art's Architecture Department in 2003 and the School of Architecture in 2007, with Wang Shu serving as its first dean and Lu Wenyu as the Sustainable Construction Center's director. 

They participated in the China Pavilion at the 2006 Venice Architecture Biennale. They were also asked to participate in the 2010 Biennale Architettura by Kazuyo Sejima, where their project "Decay of a Dome" won Special Mention, and the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale by Alejandro Aravena.

They continue to pay close attention to the materials that are already in use, the remnants of normal people's everyday lives, the life of nameless, everyday structures, and the methods and skills of the craftspeople working on the building site. They support radical innovation grounded in the vernacular tradition and local context. 

The studio offers a potent response to the social reality of urban development, which entails extensive demolition and construction, by fusing repurposed ancient building elements with contemporary engineering processes. They have continuously maintained an expansive worldview, articulating via their creations an inventive vision that surpasses the cultural struggle between the city and the rural as well as the contrast between the artificial and the natural.

Among their best-known projects: the Ningbo Historic Museum, the Xiangshan Campus of China Academy of Art (selected by the New York Times in 2021 as one of “The 25 Most Significant Works of Postwar Architecture”), the Tiles Hill in HangZhou, the Renovation of Wencun Village, the Fuyang Cultural Complex, the National Archives of Publications and Culture in Hangzhou, the Preservation and Renovation of Southern Song Imperial Street, the Lin An Historic Museum, the Museum of Ancient Animals in Baoding, the Jin Sha Traditional Chinese Academy in Xia Men and the Xi'an Opera House and Concert Hall.

Prestigious worldwide organizations, such as the Center Pompidou in Paris and MOMA in New York, have displayed their artwork. The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, the Arc en rêve Centre d'architecture in Bordeaux, and the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels have all had solo shows honoring them. They were awarded the Tau Sigma Delta Honor Society Gold Medal in 2019.

In addition to becoming a member of the French Academy of Architecture since 2023, Wang Shu was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2012, which is the most prominent worldwide prize in the field of architecture.

"We are very honored to be the Artistic Directors of the Architecture Department and Curators of the 20th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia 2027 by the invitation from President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco. And thanks to the Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia for the trust in us," said Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu. 

"The death of architecture"

"We will try our best to meet this big challenge. In the current world, the rapid and multiple changes in architecture are more a phenomenon of appearance, the result of excessive conceptualization or marked commercialization. Conceptual experiments driven to extremes are often divorced from reality and over-commercialization tends to be merely popular and short-lived." 

"This phenomenon changes rapidly in order to survive, breaking away from the connection with the real place. It will lead to the death of architecture."

"Therefore, architecture becomes a kind of delusional expression about the future. For this reason, in the face of the real crisis of this world, insisting on a simple and true concept and method of architecture has a special value. We will strive to present this value and exploration with the greatest sincerity for a better reality and future," they explained.

"Once again, we would like to express our heartfelt thanks for President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and to the entire La Biennale di Venezia team," Shu and Wenyu added.

"Their vision, deeply rooted in the memory of places and in the knowledge of construction processes"

"It is with great pleasure that we announce the appointment of Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu as Artistic Directors of the Architecture Department. Their vision, deeply rooted in the memory of places and in the knowledge of construction processes, represents today an essential voice in the international debate on architecture and on the meaning of inhabiting the world’s spaces," said the President of La Biennale Pietrangelo Buttafuoco.

"In them, La Biennale di Venezia recognizes two leading figures capable of combining cultural responsibility with experimental genius, offering a contribution of extraordinary quality at a time in history that demands knowledge, balance, and imagination."

"Their guidance will inspire broad and necessary reflection, projecting the Biennale Architettura 2027 toward new perspectives and new ways of understanding our relationship with space, memory, and the engaged community."

"We extend our sincerest gratitude to Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu for accepting this role, along with our warmest wishes for their work," Buttafuoco added.

In 2025, Italian architect and engineer Carlo Ratti curated of the Venice Architecture Biennale. 

The top image in the article is courtesy of the Venice Architecture Biennale.

> via Venice Architecture Biennale

Amateur Architecture Studio Lu Wenyu Venice Architecture Biennale Wang Shu