Wu, King-Lui

King-Lui Wu was born on March 25, 1918, in Guangzhou, China. He studied at Yale, and then earned both his bachelor's (1944) and master's (1945) degrees in architecture at Harvard. He returned to Yale to teach in 1945, where he remained on the faculty until 1988. During his tenure at Yale, Wu taught several celebrated architects, including the current Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, Robert A.M. Stern. Wu used sabbaticals from Yale to teach at the University of Cambridge in England and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. King-Lui Wu died of pneumonia on August 15, 2002, at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He was survived by his wife Vivian and his three children.

King-Lui Wu was born on March 25, 1918, in Guangzhou, China. He studied at Yale, and then earned both his bachelor's (1944) and master's (1945) degrees in architecture at Harvard. He returned to Yale to teach in 1945, where he remained on the faculty until 1988. During his tenure at Yale, Wu taught several celebrated architects, including the current dean of the Yale School of Architecture, Robert A.M. Stern. Wu used sabbaticals from Yale to teach at the University of Cambridge in England and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His writing was published in numerous periodicals, including Architectural Record, The Architectural Review, and Werk . Although much of his work was concentrated in New Haven, Connecticut, Wu designed buildings in various locations throughout the world, such as Seoul, Korea, Changsha, China, and Hong Kong. Some of his most notable projects include the Yali Middle School, the Museum for Modern Art in Seoul, Mount Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, and the Yale student Manuscript Club. His designs include residences, offices, churches, museums, restaurants, and schools.

Wu placed great emphasis on natural light as a governing principle in design. He explored the use of this, the "most noble of natural phenomena," in what was perhaps his most popular course at Yale: "Daylight and Architecture." He applied this principle to residential design when he collaborated with artist Josef Albers on the home of Benjamin Dupont in Woodbridge, Connecticut. This house had sealed windows with hinged panels beneath them to enable ventilation. Because ventilation occurred through the panels, Wu was able focus on the windows as sources of light, which gave him greater freedom of size and placement.