SpActrum. Research-driven architecture practice founded in 2012 by Yan Pan and Zhen Li in London. They later established the Beijing office in 2016 and the Shanghai Design Centre in 2021. The founders of SpActrum graduated from the Bartlett School at UCL and the AA School, and have extensive practical experience in the world's leading architectural design studios and a deep academic and fine art background.
Through architectural practice, the firm strategically engages with key areas of social change in China. SpActrum, in its involvement in urban renewal and rural transformation projects, delves into the era of post-urbanisation in China, employing temporal and spatial continuity as weapons against dogmatic attitudes towards history and the deprivation of intuitive experiences.
They have been actively involved in various leisure complexes and hotel projects. Such initiatives seek to establish transcendent connections with nature and sensual experiences. At the same time, SpActrum has immersed itself in the creation of new consumer scenarios, engaging in critical interventions within the age of consumption. They seize diverse opportunities for practice as a means to explore and develop architectural philosophies. Meanwhile, they believe in the refining power of form in architectural thinking, recognising that form is the ultimate medium of architectural issues. Therefore, they always strive to explore methods to generate new forms in the dynamic and conflicting modern society.
Yan Pan. Co-founder of SpActrum and Chief Architect. Graduated from the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, London, under the supervision of legendary architect and architectural educator Professor Sir Peter Cook. Before starting his own practice, he worked at renowned firms such as Foster + Partners, KPF, etc. In recent years, Yan Pan has led his team to become deeply involved in the fields of hospitality and leisure, urban regeneration, culture and tourism, and other areas where social change is profound and significant.
His works have won numerous international design awards, such as the AIA Shanghai-Beijing Design Awards Honour Award, IDA Design of the Year Award, Asian Design Awards Grand Prize, A' Design Gold Award, Gold Award of the International Ancient City Innovation Competition, UDAD Award Winner, IPA Five Star Award, IAA Awards, 40 Under 40 Award, etc., and was selected by the world famous architecture magazine Domus 100, the SYMBIOSIS section of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia, and featured on the cover of New International Architecture 2021.
Through architectural practice, the firm strategically engages with key areas of social change in China. SpActrum, in its involvement in urban renewal and rural transformation projects, delves into the era of post-urbanisation in China, employing temporal and spatial continuity as weapons against dogmatic attitudes towards history and the deprivation of intuitive experiences.
They have been actively involved in various leisure complexes and hotel projects. Such initiatives seek to establish transcendent connections with nature and sensual experiences. At the same time, SpActrum has immersed itself in the creation of new consumer scenarios, engaging in critical interventions within the age of consumption. They seize diverse opportunities for practice as a means to explore and develop architectural philosophies. Meanwhile, they believe in the refining power of form in architectural thinking, recognising that form is the ultimate medium of architectural issues. Therefore, they always strive to explore methods to generate new forms in the dynamic and conflicting modern society.
Yan Pan. Co-founder of SpActrum and Chief Architect. Graduated from the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, London, under the supervision of legendary architect and architectural educator Professor Sir Peter Cook. Before starting his own practice, he worked at renowned firms such as Foster + Partners, KPF, etc. In recent years, Yan Pan has led his team to become deeply involved in the fields of hospitality and leisure, urban regeneration, culture and tourism, and other areas where social change is profound and significant.
His works have won numerous international design awards, such as the AIA Shanghai-Beijing Design Awards Honour Award, IDA Design of the Year Award, Asian Design Awards Grand Prize, A' Design Gold Award, Gold Award of the International Ancient City Innovation Competition, UDAD Award Winner, IPA Five Star Award, IAA Awards, 40 Under 40 Award, etc., and was selected by the world famous architecture magazine Domus 100, the SYMBIOSIS section of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia, and featured on the cover of New International Architecture 2021.
