Chinese architect Xu Tiantian, founder and principal of DnA_Design and Architecture, has been named the 2026 recipient of Le Prix Charlotte Perriand. The Créateurs Design Awards (CDA) selected Xu for a practice defined by direct engagement with local communities, cultural preservation, and projects that reconnect urban and rural areas. The jury highlighted her practical methods for revitalizing underused places through modest, targeted interventions that strengthen local identity and economic life.
Xu Tiantian’s Global Contributions in Architecture
Xu’s work is best understood through the approach she calls “Architectural Acupuncture,” small, precise architectural moves that respond to specific social and material conditions in villages and towns rather than sweeping, top-down master plans.
This method aims to preserve local heritage while creating new uses and livelihoods, and it has been cited as an example for urban-rural linkages by international partners. The award announcement links this approach directly to sustainable community development and to the broader values associated with Charlotte Perriand’s legacy.
Xu’s portfolio includes adaptive reuse, community facilities, and landscape interventions across China that emphasize craft, local materials, and incremental change. Her projects, such as the Brown Sugar Factory, Bamboo Theatre, and Huiming Tea Space, demonstrate how modest interventions can activate sites and support local economies without erasing local character. The jury and CDA framed these projects as evidence that architecture can be a tool for cultural continuity and rural revitalization.
Xu brings a strong academic and professional background to this practice. She holds a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Architecture from Tsinghua University, and she has held visiting professorships at institutions including Yale, Tsinghua, and the University of Hong Kong. Her work has appeared in major exhibitions and biennales, and she is a recent recipient of several international honors, which the CDA cited when announcing the 2026 prize.
The formal presentation of the prize is scheduled for January 17, 2026, at the Shangri-La Paris. The CDA framed the award as recognition not only of individual projects but of a practice that consistently centers social responsibility and place-based solutions in design. Meredith Xavier, co-founder of the Créateurs Design Association, commented that Xu’s work “reshapes rural landscapes in China” and represents the values the award seeks to celebrate.
Recognition and Projects by Xu Tiantian
Xu Tiantian received the WA China Architecture Award in 2006 and 2008. She received the Young Architects Award from The Architectural League (New York) in 2008.
In 2019, she won the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architect. She also earned the 14th International Prize for Sustainable Architecture (Gold Medal). Further, in 2023, she was honored with the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture.
Beyond awards, Xu has taken on new project types and initiatives. For example, she led the activation of the Huangyan stone quarries in Zhejiang, converting abandoned stone-mining sites into public cultural spaces with minimal intervention. She has also worked on the Fujian Tulou conservation and adaptive reuse project, which won the Holcim Awards 2023 (Asia-Pacific Gold) for her approach to reviving vernacular structures.
2026 Le Prix Charlotte Perriand spotlights a mode of practice that is increasingly discussed in global architecture: incremental, community-led interventions that favor repair and reuse over large-scale replacement. For firms, funders, and students interested in socially engaged architecture or rural development, Xu’s work provides a clear example of how technical skill, local collaboration, and modest budgets can produce measurable social and cultural outcomes.
