DESIGN BY COMMITMENT

With his flair for integrated architecture, Wang Shu combines his fine eye for detail with a sense of place for every building he plans, Fang Aiqing reports.

Having to spend days on train journeys between Beijing and Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region during his childhood, Wang Shu used the time observing and drawing.

Wang, now 55, currently the only winner from China of the Pritzker Prize for architecture, recalled at a recent forum his early experiences of such journeys that have influenced his career.