China: Imperial Courtyards to Vertical Cities

China's architecture runs from timber palaces to supertall towers.

In Beijing, students walk the Forbidden City and the hutongs, then see how Herzog & de Meuron's National Stadium and OMA's CCTV headquarters broke with tradition. In Suzhou, the classical gardens and I. M. Pei's Suzhou Museum show how courtyard and garden ideas became modern form. In Hangzhou, Pritzker Prize winner Wang Shu's Xiangshan campus reuses salvaged brick and tile. In Shanghai, the Bund's colonial façades face the towers of Pudong across the river.