Architect · Chengdu, Sichuan
Weibing Liu began practising architecture in 1988. His work connects observation of existing places with building reuse, local materials and collaboration with residents and craftspeople. Read alongside his drawings, writing and ongoing research, the projects ask how places, buildings and knowledge can continue in use.
Place & continuity
Linpan is a form of rural settlement on the Chengdu Plain, where homes, bamboo groves, waterways and farmland support everyday life. Liu’s book and drawings record these relationships between buildings, landscape and the people who use them.
The selected projects trace this work from Huaxi Village’s reconstruction design in 2009 to the renewal of a village school, collaboration with a family of bamboo craftspeople, local earth construction and experiments with reassembly. Across different scales, they work with the resources and knowledge already present in a place.
Explore Huaxi VillageBegins architectural practice
Huaxi Village reconstruction design
Nanxi Yao and Ma’s Bamboo Workshop completed
Xingfu Ridge completed; Wuxing exhibited at the 23rd Triennale Milano
Selected projects
From the 2009 reconstruction design to projects completed and exhibited in 2020 and 2022, five works explore continuity across settlements, buildings, materials and craft knowledge.
Architecture Is Circularity
2028 Global Award theme
The 2028 theme offers a way to read Liu’s projects, drawings and research together: through attention to existing places, the continued use of buildings and resources, and collaboration with residents and craftspeople.
Circularity across the practice
Dujiangyan, Sichuan
Following the Wenchuan earthquake, the design sought to retain the diversity of the Linpan settlement pattern. Work with residents and local government connected housing reconstruction, landscape planning and local livelihoods.
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Dujiangyan, Sichuan
A former village school adapted for community activities. Retaining its main structures and courtyard layout extends the building’s use, while verandas and sheltered spaces support everyday village life.
View projectDujiangyan, Sichuan
Developed with Ma Zehong and his family, the workshop brings bamboo craft into the design and construction process. It provides spaces for making and exchange with visitors.
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Danling, Sichuan
A hillside guesthouse cluster using local earth bricks made with residents. The bricks form part of a hybrid wall assembly. Anaerobic treatment and a constructed wetland address wastewater within the landscape.
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Exhibited at the 23rd Triennale Milano
A full-scale bamboo prototype developed with local craftspeople. The project explores bamboo construction through making, dismantling, transport and reassembly.
View projectDrawing, writing & inquiry
Liu’s monograph Linpan records western Sichuan’s dwelling culture through writing, painting and photography. His selected drawings observe settlement patterns, everyday life and bamboo landscapes.
His ongoing doctoral research at UCL examines energy performance in existing buildings in Britain and China; a 2025 conference paper studies relationships within a project. Read alongside the architectural work, these inquiries bring observation, adaptation and continued use into view.
From the archive
Reports, project notes and conversations about Linpan.
Chengdu, Sichuan, China
For project enquiries, research collaboration and publication requests, please contact the studio.
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