Zhang Ke, the Aga Khan Design Critic in Architecture in fall 2016, will present and discuss the work of his Beijing-based firm, ZAO/standardarchitecture, including the Micro Yuan’er project, which involves the conservation and adaptive reuse of a historic Hutong courtyard in the center of Beijing, close to a mosque and other buildings used by the Muslim community.
Born in 1970, Zhang Ke founded his studio ZAO/standardarchitecture “标准营造” in 2001. With a wide range of realized works over the past 15 years, the studio has emerged as one of the most critical and innovative protagonists among the new generation of Chinese architects. Recent works by the studio include the Novartis Campus Building in Shanghai, the main pavilion for the Garden Expo in Suzhou, a number of Hutong and courtyard transformation projects in the city center of Beijing, and various buildings imbedded in the landscape of Tibet. In 2015, the prestigious Aedes Architekturforum in Berlin presented a solo-exhibition on the works of ZAO/standarchtarchitecture.
Zhang Ke’s work has been featured at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the MAK in Vienna, the DAM in Frankfurt, the V&A in London, and published in Casabella, a+u, Domus, MARK, Detail, and the Architectural Record, amongst others. Zhang Ke has lectured at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Universidad Católica de Chile, and the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona.
He was a key speaker at the Architecture 2.0 Symposium in Rotterdam, Milan Design Week, Helsinki Design Week, the CERASIE in Bologna, and the Forum Architektur-Fenster-Fassade in Nuremberg. Many honors have been awarded to Zhang Ke and his studio, including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, 2016; International Award Architecture in Stone, Verona, 2011; the Design Vanguard (Architecture Record), 2010; China Architecture Media Award (CAMA), Best Young Architect Prize, 2008; and WA Chinese Architecture Award, Winning Prize, 2010 and 2006. Zhang Ke received his Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1998 and his Master and Bachelor of Architecture from Tsinghua University in Beijing.
