On the evening of September 13th, 2016, the opening and professional seminar of the exhibition “Towards A Critical Pragmatism: Contemporary Architecture in China” was held at Harvard Graduate School of Design. This exhibition was curated by Li Xiangnign, the professor of College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University and the visiting professor of Harvard Graduate School of Design. The exhibition showcases projects from 60 avant-garde Chinese architectural firms, considered as one of the biggest exhibitions of Chinese contemporary architectures.  

With the aim of encouraging further conversation about the present and future state of China’s architecture culture, the exhibition highlights 60 projects of 60 architectural firms in five thematic categories – culture, regeneration, digital, rural and residential. The Tree Art Museum by Daipu Architects was chosen to represent the contemporary culture architecture in the exhibition.

Located at Songzhuang, Beijing, The Tree Art Museum explores the possibilities and boundaries between public and private space. The project attempts to introduce continuous and pluralistic experience flow in order to minimizing the difference between indoors and outdoors spatial atmospheres and blurring the boundaries between public and private spaces. By deforming the traditional foursquare courtyard and combining with the unique three-dimensional circulation of museum, visitors are able to receive not only different visual effect but also physical experience.