China Seminar | 13 May 2010

Universe in a Bottle: Architectural Design with Chinese Culture

Pu Miao

How can we create a modern building which reflects local culture in a non-Western society (such as China)? The answer must go beyond merely imitating local historical form or coping with current Western fashions, and search for spatial patterns corresponding to the unique needs of local users today. Dr. Miao will use his built designs for several buildings in China to illustrate his approaches: such as pairing each room with a garden space, learning from local landscape pattern, a gradual revelation of the architectural space, and the use of local material and technology.

Dr. Pu Miao is an Associate Professor at the School of Architecture, University of Hawaii at Manoa and a registered architect, specializing in designing with Chinese culture. His designs were widely published in Chinese and international professional journals, and were part of a 2008 exhibition on Chinese contemporary architecture in Brussels, Belgium. Dr. Miao won a Far Eastern Architectural Design Award and edited and co-authored the book Public Places in Asia Pacific Cities (The Netherlands: Kluwer, 2001). Born in Shanghai, Dr. Miao received his B.S. degree from Tongji University, Shanghai, and his Master and Ph.D. degree in architecture from UC Berkeley.