Two views of the Liyuan Library, located in a village on the outskirts of Beijing.
Deux aperçus de la bibliothèque Liyuan, située dans un village en périphérie de Beijing.
Li Xiaodong is a Beijing-based architect, university professor and researcher. In 2014, he won the inaugural Moriyama RAIC International Prize for the Liyuan Library, located in a village on the outskirts of Beijing. He spoke to the RAIC?s Maria Cook when he was in Montreal

to deliver the RAIC International Prize Illumination Lecture last fall.
How has Liyuan Library transformed Jiaojiehe village"
Jiaojiehe was very isolated. The library suddenly opened up a window for the people living there. It?s also opened up a window for the city people, who can see a different context?that people can live harmoniously with nature. Every weekend, Jiaojiehe now receives 200 to 300 visitors. The Moriyama RAIC International Prize is given to a work of architecture that is judged to express the values of justice, respect, equality and inclusiveness. How can the prize encourage such work"
The Moriyama Prize is one of the few major international prizes that sends jury members to visit the finalist buildings. The value of the prize is very high in that sense. Nowadays, we communicate by email, by Facebook, by Twitter?140 characters to transmit our ideas. Ideas are skin deep. To overcome this problem, we need to put away the flashy forms and shapes, and to go deeper. This is exactly the position from which...