A Structure of Feeling – On a New Generation of Architects in China

Twenty-five years after the groundbreaking Aedes exhibition TUMU, which first introduced a cohort of young Chinese architects – the pioneers of independent practice in China – to an international audience, A Structure of Feeling revisits this legacy through the lens of a new wave of architects working under profoundly changed conditions.

This accompanying talk, taking place on the evening before the exhibition opening, brings together the participating architects to reflect on their practices in a moment of transition – when rapid expansion in China has given way to a more differentiated development shaped by shifting demands and new scales of operation. Through concise inputs, they address themes such as adaptive reuse, rural transformation and new forms of spatial production.

The exhibition’s title draws on Raymond Williams’ concept of the “structure of feeling”: a shared experience in a state of shifting conditions that resists clear definition. Both the talk and the exhibition trace these evolving realities, making them legible through specific architectural practices.
PROGRAMME

Welcome
Dunya Bouchi, Aedes Berlin

Introduction
Gao Changjun (Kris), Curator, Shanghai

Short presentations
- Bu Xiaojun & Zhang Yingfan, Atelier Alter Architects, New York/Beijing
- Fan Beilei, genarchitects, Shanghai
- Meng Fanhao, line+ studio, Hangzhou & Shanghai & Hong Kong
- Liu Kenan, Atelier XÜK, Shanghai
- (TBC) LiuYang & Xu Dan, DL Atelier, Beijing
- (TBC) Shui Yanfei, Yanfei Architects, Shanghai
- Qi Shanshan, Studio QI Architects, Hangzhou/New York
- Zhuang Ziyu, BUZZ | Büro Ziyu Zhuang Architects, Beijing/Shanghai/Berlin

Discussion
With:
- Gao Changjun (Kris), Curator, Shanghai
- Erhard An-He Kinzelbach, Founder, KNOWSPACE, Berlin / Professor, Department of Architectural Design and Building Construction, Bochum University of Applied Sciences
- Eduard Kögel, Curator and Urban Planner, Berlin
- Binke Lenhardt, Co-founder and Partner, Crossboundaries, Beijing / Frankfurt a. Main / Professor Sustainable Design, Faculty of Architecture, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Dortmund
moderated by Jacopo Benedetti, Assistant Professor, Tongji University, Shanghai / Academic Editor of A Structure of Feeling
Followed by a preview of the exhibition A Structure of Feeling and a get-together