Hu Li

LI Hu, founding partner of OPEN Architecture, visiting professor at the Tsinghua University and Central Academy of Fine Arts, China, former partner of Steven Holl Architects, and director of Columbia University GSAPP’s Studio-X Beijing. LI received his B. Arch. from Tsinghua University in Beijing in 1996 and his M. Arch. from Rice University in 1998.

LI Hu has been the recipient of “50 under 50: Innovators of the 21st Century”, GQ Magazine’s “Architect of the Year 2014 and 2019”, ICON Magazine’s “Future 50”, and OUTLOOK Magazine’s “Creative Icons of the Year”. LI speaks frequently at academic conferences and universities worldwide. He is also a frequent jury and curators for important international design competitions and exhibitions.

Led by LI Hu and HUANG Wenjing, some major projects by OPEN include: Sun Tower, Chapel of Sound, Shanghai Qingpu Pinghe International School, Tank Shanghai, Pingshan Performing Arts Center, UCCA Dune Art Museum, Tsinghua Ocean Center, Garden School/Beijing No.4 High School Fangshan Campus, and Gehua Youth and Cultural Center.

OPEN’s work has been widely published and frequently exhibited around the world, such as the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennale, Venice Biennale, London Design Museum, and collected by Museum of Modern Art in New York, and M+ Museum in Hong Kong.

Recent awards include the 2021 Arcasia Awards Gold (Asia), 2021 AR Future Project Awards (UK), 2020 London Design Museum’s Beazley Designs of the Year Nominee (UK), 2019 LEAF Awards (EU), 2019 P/A Awards (USA), 2018 AIA Education Facility Design Award of Excellence (USA), 2017 Iconic Awards Best of Best (Germany) among many others.

During his tenure at Steven Holl Architects, LI Hu was responsible for some of the firm’s most influential urban projects in Asia, including the Linked Hybrid building in Beijing, Vanke Center in Shenzhen, Raffles City in Chengdu, and Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing. LI left SHA at the end of 2010 to focus on practice at OPEN with partner HUANG Wenjing.