Vital Architecture Berlin Built Environment Exhibition, Atelier Li Xinggang China Aedes Architecture Forum news

Vital Architecture, Aedes Exhibition in Berlin

21 January 2026

Exhibition: 7 February – 18 March 2026
Exhibition Talk: Friday, 6 February 2026, 16:00
Opening Reception: Friday, 6 February 2026, 18:30

Venue: Aedes, Christinenstr. 18–19, 10119 Berlin
Opening Hours: Mon 13:00–17:00, Tue–Fri 11:00–18:30, Thu 11:00–20:00, Sun und public holiday 13:00 17:00, Sat 7 February 2026, 13:00–17:00

image © Li Xinggang

Common Landscape – opening Saturday 7 February 2026, 1pm at Aedes Architecture Forum, Christinenstr. 18-19, 10119 Berlin

Vital Architecture Exhibition, Berlin

With Vital Architecture, Atelier Li Xinggang presents selected projects from China that create spaces where nature and the built environment merge into a living whole. Architecture is understood here as an interplay of space, environment, history and experience – a position between idealism and reality where the built world acts as a mediator and connector. Five spatial strategies form the foundation of a ‘Vital City’ concept, in which buildings do not stand in isolation but enter into a poetic dialogue with their surroundings. A multi-layered scenography of models, sketches, images and installations makes the architectural process tangible – from research through design to use. The exhibition demonstrates how spatial knowledge is translated into concrete, contemporary architectural ideas, contributing to a vital built environment.

image © Zhang Guangyuan

Position and Principles
Vital Architecture – Between Idealism and Reality offers insight into a practice that consistently engages with the conditions of building in a changing environment. Architecture is not understood as an autonomous object, but as a mediating entity between nature and artefact, past and present, individual perception and collective reality.

Li Xinggang’s architectural thinking draws from intensive engagement with China’s historic urban and landscape spaces. The vulnerability of the built in relation to nature, as well as the spatial power of traditional urban structures, form the background for a position that understands architecture as protective, ordering and emotionally effective space.

image © Yuan Zhimin

From decades of research into Chinese cities, gardens and building methods, Li Xinggang has developed core design principles: the close relationship between building and spatial context, the dissolution of boundaries between nature and architecture, the formative role of structural and envelope systems, the creation of spatial dramaturgy, and the pursuit of poetic spatial experience. These principles form the foundation of an architecture that is culturally situated yet universally readable.

image © Zhang Guangyuan

Exhibition
The exhibition at Aedes organises the projects into five spatial strategies: Introverted Gardens in the City; Symbiosis of the New and the Old on ‘Ruins’; Structures in Context-Deficient Environments; Clustered Shelters Based on Structural-Spatial Units; Architecture Merging with Topographical Landscape. Despite varying scales, these works share a common goal: to develop architecture as a living system that balances environment, structure and human experience.

image © Li Xinggang

The presentation follows this integrative approach. Sketches, models, photographs, films and spatial installations are arranged in layers, opening up different approaches to the projects. The wooden crates used for displaying models are made from reused transport packaging, referencing the studio’s working process in which research, design, construction and use are understood as a connected cycle. At the centre is the idea of a ‘Total Milieu’ – architecture that is experienced physically and intellectually.

Atelier Li Xinggang
Founded in 2003, Atelier Li Xinggang is an architectural practice led by Li Xinggang, Professor at Tianjin University and Chief Architect of the China Architecture Design & Research Group. It pursues a research-based approach that connects traditional Chinese urban and garden spaces with contemporary strategies. International references include the Yanqing Competition Venue for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, collaboration on the Beijing Olympic Stadium (Bird’s Nest), as well as museums, campus buildings and renovations of historic structures in China.

image © Sun Haiting

Exhibition Talk and Opening

Vital Architecture

Date: Friday, 6 February 2026, 16:00
Venue: Aedes, Christinenstr. 18–19, 10119 Berlin
Registration: www.eventbrite.de
The event will take place in English. Admittance is free.

image © Li Xinggang

On the occasion of the opening of Vital Architecture, Li Xinggang and the exhibition’s curator Li Xiangning will be joined by Chinese and international architects for a public conversation that deepens and expands the themes of the exhibition. The talk will explore how architecture today can respond to ecological urgency, rapid urbanisation and cultural memory, and how design can foster meaningful relationships between people, place and landscape. Through built projects, conceptual approaches, and personal experiences, the speakers will discuss what it means to create architecture that is not only functional and beautiful, but also alive – architecture that evolves with its environment and contributes to a more vital city.

Programme

16:00 Exhibition Preview
Welcome
Mathias Schnell, Partner, Aedes, Berlin

Exhibition Tour
Li Xinggang, Founder, Atelier Li Xinggang / Professor, Tianjin University, Beijing
Li Xiangning, Curator / Vice President, Tongi University, Shanghai
16:30 Exhibition Talk
Welcome
Hans-Jürgen Commerell, Partner, Aedes, Berlin

Introduction
Li Xiangning, Curator / Vice President, Tongi University, Shanghai

Address
Li Cundong, Chairman, China Architecture Design & Research Group / Secretary General, Architectural Society of China, Beijing

Presentation
Li Xinggang, Founder, Atelier Li Xinggang / Professor, Tianjin University, Beijing

Discussion
Moderator: Eduard Kögel, Urban Planner / Curator, Berlin
Benedetta Tagliabue, Principal and Director of EMBT Architects, Barcelona / Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury Member since 2014
Yung Ho Chang, Dean, Chair Professor of Faculty of Architecture at The University of Hong Kong / Founding Partner and Principal Architect of Atelier Feichang Jianzhu
Wilfried Wang, President of CICA / Professor, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai
Johannes Kuehn, Founding Partner of Kuehn Malvezzi / Professor, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Ulrike Eberhardt, Associate, David Chipperfield Architets, Berlin (tbc)
Li Xinggang, Founder, Atelier Li Xinggang / Professor, Tianjin University, Beijing
Li Xiangning, Curator / Vice President, Tongji University, Shanghai

image © Li Xinggang

Exhibition Opening
Mathias Schnell, Partner, Aedes, Berlin

18:30 Exhibition Opening Reception

Project Sponsor
China Architecture & Design Group

Aedes Cooperation Partner 2026
Huasheng Media

Vital Architecture Between Idealism and Reality Aedes Exhibition images / information received 210126

Location: Christinenstr.18-19, 10119 Berlin, Germany

Aedes Architecture Forum Exhibitions

Aedes Architecture Forum News in 2020

4 Jun 2020
Water Garden at Aedes Architecture Forum
Curated by Junya Ishigami & Associates

photo © Courtesy of nikissimo Inc.

Aedes Architecture Forum Exhibitions

Archi-Tectonics – Winka Dubbeldam & Justin Korhammer, New York
Flat Lands & Massive Things – From NL to NYC & Beyond

picture © Archi-Tectonics
Archi-Tectonics Architecture Event

Active Buildings – Innovation for Architecture in Motion
Aedes Architecture Forum Exhibition by falkeis²architects

photo : Filmfabrik
Active energy building in Vaduz, Liechtenstein

Woodland Sweden – Contemporary Timber Construction
Härbret Summer House in Nannberga by General Architecture/Stockholm:

picture © Åke E:son Lindman

Urban Intermedia: City, Archive, Narrative
Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative and Graduate School of Design, Harvard University

picture © Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative

The Groundscape Experience
Dominique Perrault, Paris with SubLab, EPFL, Lausanne & ADSlab, EWHA Womans University, Seoul

picture © Dominique Perrault Architecte
Dominique Perrault