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Across the city of Chengdu, China, the quiet but remarkable buildings of Liu Jiakun has slowly pierced through the dominant stereotype of bombastic Chinese architecture. Liu, who has just been named the 2025 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, has spent the past three decades carefully injecting pieces of socially conscious and transformative architecture into his hometown. Liu’s work includes subtle museums, historically informed preservation projects, and progressive urban projects that blur the edges of private space and public good. In a world that tends to create endless dull peripheries, he has found a way to build places that are a building, infrastructure, landscape and public space at the same time, writes Alejandro Aravena, chair of the Pritzker jury. Novartis (Shanghai) Block – C6 [Photo: courtesy of Arch-Exist] Liu, 69, has a unique background that informs his work. After studying architecture in the late 1970s and early ’80s, he worked at the state-owned Chengdu Architectural Design and Research Institute before volunteering to embed in remote Tibet where he developed a passion for meditation and writing. For a decade he left architecture to write novels and paint. In 1999 he returned to the field and established Jiakun Architects, when he was in his 40s. He now has more than 30 built projects to his name, many located in and around his hometown of Chengdu. In its citation for the 2025 Pritzker Prize, the jury commended Liu for his focus on the creating high-quality buildings for the lives of ordinary people. While density appears to be a more sustainable solution for people to live together, the scarcity of space usually implies a poor quality of life, the jury writes. Liu Jiakun rethinks the fundamentals of density through cohabitation, crafting an intelligent solution that balances the opposite forces at play. West Village [Photo: courtesy Chen Chen] This is especially evident in one of Liu’s standout projects, the West Village mixed use urban complex, which wraps the perimeter of a gigantic city block with a five-story building combining shops, offices, and community spaces. One full side of this megablock is made of a striking crisscross of steel ramps that serve to connect pedestrians and cyclists to the complex’s various spaces while also doubling as an inner city trail. A large courtyard of sports fields and gardens sits inside the built perimeter, with its towering ramps serving as a window frame for the 21-million-person city beyond. West Village [Photo: courtesy Qian Shen Photography] This socially minded work is continuing at an even larger scale in a forthcoming project. Liu’s firm is in the midst of creating a large park from a former steel factory in the city of Hangzhou. Opening once degraded land to the public while also celebrating its industrial heritage, the park strikes a soft balance between history and contemporary urban demands. Liu is just the second Pritzker Prize winner from China, after Wang Shu in 2012. No American has won the prize since 2005.
Category:
E-Commerce
Its not only cryptocurrency investors who are seeing red today. If youre an investor in Elon Musks Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA), the trading day is off to another bad start. Thats because Tesla shares are currently down over 6% to below $267 a share as of the time of this writing. Todays early-morning drop is just the latest one for the electric carmaker since the beginning of the year, with TSLA shares down over 33% in 2025 so far. Increasingly, theyve fallen nearer to an important psychological price barrier: $251, which is where they were trading on November 5, 2024 when President Trump won the election. In other words, Tesla is close to losing all of the gains it had made since Trump’s victory. Exactly why are TSLA shares falling this morning? There are two likely immediate reasons. Tesla sales crash in China in February China is Teslas second most important market after the U.S. However, sales in the country reportedly fell off a cliff last month. In February 2025, Tesla sold just 30,688 cars in China. That is a staggering decline of 49.2% from a year earlier. Its also the lowest number of vehicles Tesla has sold in any month in China since August 2022. However, there are a few onetime events that may have contributed to this drop. First, Tesla had to partially suspend the production of the Model Y in the country due to upgrade work. Second, there was a shift in the Lunar New Year holidays this year, which could have contributed to fewer people car shopping during the February period. However, as Reuters notes, one-offs werent the only reasons behind the fall. During the same month, one of Teslas main Chinese competitors, BYD, reported 614,679 vehicles solda 90.4% increase. Tesla is also facing an EV price war in the country. BYD recently released an EV with driving-assistance technology. The starting price of that vehicle is less than $10,000 USD. Teslas Model Y starts at around $35,000 USD in China. And BYD isnt the only rival Tesla faces in China. Other companies in the country, including Geely and Leapmotor, have recently entered into the EV price wars, heaping more competition on the company. Teslas nearly 50% sales drop in China during the month follows recent falls in other countries. Data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) shows that Tesla has recently seen a 45.2% drop in the European Union, Britain, and the European Free Trade Area. Bank of America downgrades TSLA stock A second bit of news seems to be rattling Tesla investors this morning, too. Bank of America has downgraded Teslas stock price. Previously, BoA held a $490 price target for TSLA shares, but now it’s reduced that target to $380. At $380, thats still about $110 higher than where Tesla is right now, but it’s a huge drop from the nearly $500 price point that BoA previously had on the stock. Its worth noting that Bank of America has maintained its neutral rating on TSLA shares. Trump trade wars and DOGE President Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China in the past day may also be weighing on Tesla stock. Those tariffsas well as retaliatory actions taken by America’s three largest trading partnersare spooking markets in general this morning. Economists worry that the tit-for-tat tariffs could signal that the largest economies in the world are on the cusp of a massive trade warone that would not benefit the economies of any country involved, nor the larger global economy. If the global economy worsens, it could lead to consumers pulling back on spending on everything from cars to computers. Todays 6%-plus decline in Teslas stock may also partially be blamed on ongoing worries that Elon Musks political activities and his involvement with the controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) may be tarnishing the companys brand image beyond repair. Not since Steve Jobs and Apple has one man been so connected to a company in the eyes of the public. If Elon Musks political antics continue to generate anger against the buying publicespecially the affluent, progressive, environmentally conscious consumers who tend to buy his carsinvestors worry those customers may abandon the brand. Where does Tesla go from here? Where TSLA shares go from here is anyones guess. Tesla recently passed a grim milestone last month when it lost its status as a company with a $1 trillion market cap. As of the time of this writing, Tesla is now worth below $900 billion. In December, TSLA shares closed at an all-time high of over $488. They have fallen more than $222 since then.
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E-Commerce
Sycamore Partners is planning a three-way split of Walgreens Boots Alliance if a deal to take the struggling pharmacy chain private is reached, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Walgreens’s three businessesU.S. retail pharmacy, Boots UK, and U.S. healthcarewill be separated and have distinct capital structures, according to the report. Sycamore and Walgreens both declined to comment on the report. Shares of the Deerfield, Illionois-based company rose 5% to $11.62 in early trading. The report “marks another twist in the potential go-private story” for Walgreens, Leerink analyst Michael Cherny said. Walgreens has reportedly been in talks to sell itself to private equity firm Sycamore since December, but a deal is yet to be reached. Media reports have also pointed to issues with financing for a buyout and discussion with Sycamore briefly falling out. The financing of the take-private deal is not expected to be an obstacle, according to the FT report. Walgreens’ executive chairman Stefano Pessina, who currently holds a 17% stake, is expected to maintain a significant share of the company, it added. Bhanvi Satija and Sriparna Roy, Reuters
Category:
E-Commerce
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