Amid rampant overdevelopment, the Guangdong-based architect seeks to revive an appreciation for Lingnan building traditionsChen Donghua Architects is highly commended inthe AR Emerging awards 2024. Read about the full shortlist hereHistory is the basis for architects, says Chen Donghua, founder ofChen Donghua Architects (CDA), based in Guangdong inChina and active in the Pearl River Delta. For him, this means a rootedness in the architectural tradition of the surrounding Lingnan region its ancestral halls and oyster shell homes impressed on Chen, from an early age, the importance of form, light, openness and adaptability to the local subtropical climate.Chen trained at the South China University of Technology and pursued his postgraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he became captivated by the typology of the shed. Sheds are usedthroughout Guangdong and typically built from bamboo and tarpaulin to create informal semi-outdoor spaces. Upon returning to China and setting up CDA in 2017, Chen found the architectural landscape plagued by big ambitions and scale and lacking in concern for culture andcelebrating the everyday. This resonated with ideas encountered in Great Leap Forward, research compiled by Rem Koolhaas and students at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) in 2001, which argued that western-style development was destroying Chinese social structures.The sheds are materially simple yet structurally complex; they are both interior and outdoor spaceCompleted earlier this year, a primary school extension by CDA in Shenzhen responds to this condition. The school sits amid towering skyscrapers built by foreign architects including Koolhaas. Chen usedsteel, aluminium and fabric to create lightweight sheds and canopies that fill in the gaps across the site. These structures are tent-like and delicate in appearance compared with existing utilitarian school buildings, which were also lightly refurbished.The jewel in the crown is the large rooftop shed, a steel space-frame system that is perched on top of an existing building, andwhich provides a multipurpose hall forthe school. Here, a series of trusses and columns form inverted triangles inspired bythe structural language of Mies van der Rohe. The shed is materially simple yet structurally complex; it is both interior and outdoor space. Harking back to Lingnan building traditions, Chen believes that such gathering spaces should be connected with the external and feature no solid walls, glazing or insulation. The space is enjoyed by pupils all year around.Chen recently met with Koolhaas in Guangzhou, almost a quarter-century onfrom the publication of Great Leap Forward. We spoke about how overdeveloped the Pearl River Delta has become, Chen remarks. It has lost its roots. Chen hopes toexpand his practice, without losing sight of his reinvention of the local vernacular. Hisnext project will be a series of portable sheds for stray cats in Guangzhou.