On November 17 and 19, 2025, line+ co-founder and principal architect Fanhao Meng was invited by the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) to deliver a public lecture and launch his new book Fuse New into Past at Gund Hall. The events, open to the university and the public, gathered professors and architects from GSD’s architecture, urbanism, and cultural studies fields.

In his lecture, “Contradictions as Method: Building the Architecture of Contemporary China,” Meng used “contradiction” as a lens to examine tensions faced by Chinese architects amid rapid urbanization, population scale, regional diversity, and complex socio-political structures. He stressed these contradictions are not obstacles but forces shaping contemporary Chinese architecture and driving creativity.

Drawing on line+’s long-term work, he introduced the Shaping–Empowering–Optimizingmethodology, showing how line+ distills cultural context, activates social systems, and advances cross-sector collaboration—rebuilding order and expanding architectural possibilities within real-world contradictions.

The North American book launch, themed “Fuse New into Past,” took the form of a research dialogue. Participants included Atelier Deshaus co-founder and Principal Architect and GSD Kenzo Tange Professor Yichun Liu, Atelier LiuYuyang Architects founder and Syracuse Architecture visiting critic Yuyang Liu, July & Partners founder Heng Kang, and MIT Sloan senior lecturer Bing Wang. They explored the book’s ideas through methodology, cultural grounding, and urban–rural development, reflecting on the global relevance of architecture shaped by contradiction.

In the Q&A, students discussed urban inequality, rural futures, design freedom within governance systems, and how Chinese architecture influences global academia and industry. The event concluded with a book signing.

Meng’s lecture and book launch highlighted line+’s research path and design methods, offering a new framework for understanding contemporary Chinese architecture. Rooted in place and responsive to complexity, line+ continues to extend its intellectual and practical horizons in global dialogue.