Chinese Architect Shows Daring, Creative Work

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Just because he designed Beijing’s 2008 National Olympic Stadium — along with the Swiss-based architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron — doesn’t mean he will actually ever visit it. “I look at the stadium as a project, not as a national stadium. It takes the same passion for me to build a stadium as it does a toilet facility,” said Ai Weiwei of Beijing, China, a man who possesses not only an overwhelming artistic prowess and architectural ingenuity, but also a striking sense of individuality that pushes him to straddle the fine line between artistic freedom and stringent Chinese law. He has yet to visit the construction site, and said: “I have no interest in national activities, and I don’t see myself as working for the government.”