Wu Liangyong (, born 7 May 1922) is a Chinese architect and

urban planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, tow ...

. He was a former professor in urban planning,

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

, and

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

. In preparation to the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, he was leading the team that studied the buildings of the games. He is considered the most influential architect and urban planner in China.

Life

Wu was born in

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

on 7 May 1922. In 1944, he obtained a bachelor's degree in architecture at the National Central University (now

Nanjing University Nanjing University (NJU) is a public university in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. It is affiliated and sponsored by the Ministry of Education. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. The univers ...

) in

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

, and a master's degree at the American

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

Art Academy. He also studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in the United States. Together with professor Liang Sicheng, he founded the Faculty of Architecture on the

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

in 1946, where he focused on

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

, and

. All together he taught fifty years at

.Tsinghua University, China Vitae
biography
/ref> Next to his professorate, Wu carried out different administrative functions. He was vice-president of the International Union of Architects and of the Architecture Society of China. Furthermore, he was chairman of the World Society for the Science of Human Settlements and of the Urban Planning Society of China. His development of the Ju'er Hutong in

is seen as state of the art. Furthermore, he developed the new library of Beijing and the enlargement of

Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square () is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen ("''Gate of Heavenly Peace''") located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City. The square contains th ...

, and redeveloped

Guilin Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''), postal map romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as Kweilin, is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the we ...

and the Central Art and Design Academy of the Confucius Institute. In preparation to the

in Beijing, Wu was leading the team that studied the buildings of the games. Wu received a number of awards. He was the first to win the Award for Scientific and Technological Progress by the State Education Commission. In 1993, he won a World Habitat Award of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

for his contribution to the house-building project of Ju'er Hutong in Beijing. In 1995, he won the Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize and in 1996 the UIA Architectural Education Prize of the International Union of Architects. Wu was honored with a Prince Claus Award from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in 2002. The jury praised his architectonic work, as well as his compilation of a ten-volume encyclopedia of regional architectures around the world.Prince Claus Fund
profile
/ref> Wu turned 100 in May 2022.

Bibliography (selection)

*1989: ''General Theory of Architecture'' *1991: ''The Second Report on the Rural and Urban Spatial Development Planning Study for the Capital Region'', *1999: ''Rehabilitating the Old City of Beijing: A Project in the Ju'Er Hutong Neighbourhood'', *2014: ''Integrated Architecture'' (English-Italian Translation of General Theory of Architecture), . Nuova Cultura

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Liangyong 1922 births Living people Chinese architects Chinese urban planners Educators from Nanjing Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Nanjing University alumni Southeast University alumni Academic staff of Tsinghua University Writers from Nanjing Chinese expatriates in the United States Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni Chinese men centenarians Highest Science and Technology Award winners