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Architect focuses on social aspects
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WHO is she?
Wu Ruohong is active in the fields of architecture, design and art. From China, she has lived in London for more than 12 years but is now based in Madrid, Spain. She owns her design brand, MADEbyRU, and is a co-founder of the architectural firm Wu & Quintanar. She is also involved in teaching. Her work has been widely exhibited in London, Paris, Madrid and Beijing.
Tell us about some of your works, and the one you are most proud of.
To find something in common in my work is the artistic approach and the focus is on social aspects. Take the architectural research project “It is not Garbage’ as an example. The goal was to readdress the identity of Tokyo’s homeless people within Japanese society, to transfer the areas they live into celebratory landscapes with recycled materials constructed by homeless people. The projects are about new approaches and adapting to modern society.
What are you working on now?
I am currently completing a ceramic project “TOPOI-public unique” that challenges both craft and industrial methods to create unique objects from the same production process. I’m also involved in a research project that reflects the cultural gap in China that was formed by the sudden jump into mass production. My students and I are also working on a hotel project for the Institution of European Design in Madrid. For the coming year, most of my time will be for small constructions between installation and architecture under my firm Wu & Quintanar.
Describe your design style.
I do not follow a typical style in my work as I believe that every individual is unique with her or his cultural background and life experiences. Discovering these messages will direct me toward valuable work. Take myself for an example, born in China and educated in Europe, it helps me to watch culture and society with neutral eyes, neither as an insider or outsider. My projects mostly touch on areas of cultural difference, mixture and movement.
Social responsibility is one of the most important concerns in my work, in other words, doing things for people. This means thinking of an architect as one with an invisible role during the process rather than a “star.” To be short, I never think it is “my” building or “my” design.
What does your home mean to you?
A place that reflects myself, quite similar to the relationship between the cabinets of curiosity and those who gather them.
What do you collect?
Mainly books. And I love to collect stones from every trip, the last one was from a small lake in Scotland.
Where would you like to go most in Shanghai?
The old neighborhoods where traditions of past Shanghai continue today.
What will be the next big design trend?
The reduction of scale, especially in architecture. During the last 20 years, the big trend was to construct higher, bigger and stranger buildings. The architectural profession was generally pushed to admire monuments and “impossible” structures that had a homogeneous global style. Now is the time to stress the importance of respecting local cultures and developing something closer to the users. Projects need to be understood easily and built at a reasonable cost. I do believe this idea was delivered when Wang Shu won the Pritzker Architecture prize.
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