Li Hu tests new architectural possibilities across contemporary China and beyond. A cofounder of OPEN Architecture in 2006 alongside Huang Wenjing, Li designs cultural centers, museums, and theaters as collaborative environments for evolving public contexts. Whether embedding the UCCA Dune Art Museum in sand, assembling the Chapel of Sound, or converting industrial infrastructure into Tank Shanghai, his work foregrounds experiment over fixed typology.
Li earned his B.Arch. from Tsinghua University and his M.Arch. from Rice University. Before focusing full-time on OPEN, he managed high-profile projects as a partner at Steven Holl Architects, including the Linked Hybrid complex in Beijing and the Vanke Center in Shenzhen. He has taught at Harvard, UC Berkeley, and Tsinghua University and is a former director of Columbia University’s Studio-X Beijing. Named Wallpaper* China Design Awards Designer of the Year in 2022, his projects are held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.