‘Critical’ Practice in State-owned Design Institutes in Post-Mao China

In China’s unprecedented upsurge of construction since the late 1970s, one of the leading forces is the state-owned design institutes, which are distinguished by their associations with the central government. Taking CAG (China Architecture Design and Research Gruop), a renowned design institute as an example, this book summarizes the common and consistent features of the design practice of the institute in the post-Mao era, and analyzes an underlying socio-political mechanism that is driving the design practice. This book argues for a collectivist perspective for a proper assessment of the state-owned design institutes in China, and a general collectivism in critical discussions on architecture beyond the case in China.