YEARBOOK 2016 - 2017 | XJTLU DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

IMPRESSUM 

The 2016-17 YEARBOOK is a publication by the Department 

of Architecture, produced in an effort to bring together, 

represent and communicate the diversity of academic 

and architectural outcomes generated by our of staff 

and students. This publication would be not have been 

possible without the careful selection of texts, projects 

and activities done by all members of staff. 

2016-17 YEARBOOK has benefitted enormously from 

the generous advice and input of Pierre-Alain Croset, 

Christian Gänshirt, Claudia Westermann, and Christiane M. 

Herr along with support from Bert de Muynck, Stanislav 

Ten and Nikhil Seewoo. The YEARBOOK was designed by 

Designtang with many of the photographs kindly provided 

Milan Ognjanovic. 

建 

筑 

系 

西 

交 

利 

物 

浦 

大 

学 

2016-2017 

YEARBOOK 

© 2017 Department of Architecture, XJTLU 

Edited by Peta Carlin 

Building DB 111 Ren’ai Road 

SIP Dushu Lake Science and Education Innovation District 

Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, P. R. China 215123 

www.xjtlu.edu.cn 

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University 

Department of Architecture

CONTENTS 

005 

007 

Introduction 

The Third Teacher 

B 

B Eng Architecture 

Programme Introduction 

Level 00 Year 1 

023 

025 

ARC001 

ARC002 


029 

031 

033 

035 

037 

039 

051 

059 


073 

075 

077 

079 

ARC107 

ARC110 

ARC103 

ARC104 

ARC108 

ARC101 

ARC105 

ARC102 

ARC203 

ARC206 

ARC201 

ARC202 

Introduction to Architecture and 

Visual Culture 

Lecture with studio elements 

Architectural Representation and 

Communication 

History of Western Architecture 

Humanities and Architecture 

Introduction to Environmental 

Science 

Structures and Materials 

Construction and Materials 

Design Studio | Design Thinking and 

Articulation 

Design Studio | Small Space Design 

Design Studio | Small Scale 

Architectural Design 

History of Asian Architecture 

Urban Studies 

Environmental Design and 

Sustainability 

Structural Design 

081 

095 


109 

111 

113 

115 

117 

127 

ARC301 

ARC303 

ARC306 

ARC308 

ARC305 

ARC304 

BB Eng Architectural Engineering 


169 

175 

177 

P 

ARC205 

ARC204 

ARC111 

ARC112 

ARC207 

Practice Year 1 

Design Studio | Design and Building 

Typology 

Design Studio | Small Urban 

Buildings 

Architectural Technology 

Architectural Theory 

Professional Practice 

Philosophy of Art and Aesthetics 

Design Studio | Small and Medium 

Scale Buildings 

Design Studio | Final Year Project 

Integrated Design of Small Buildings 

Architectural Technology and 

Innovation 

Building Typology in Integrated 


Practice Introduction 

M 

M Architectural Design 



191 

193 

195 

197 

199 

211 

221 


225 

227 

229 

231 

Practice Year 2 

259 

261 

263 

265 

ARC403 

ARC407 

ARC402 

ARC406 

ARC405 

ARC404 

ALA 

Applied Technology in Architecture 

Architectural Theory and Criticism 

Advanced Professional Practice 

Topics in Architectural History: 

Modern Architecture as a 

Transnational Discourse 

Design Studio 1 | A Soft Urban 

Regeneration in Suzhou 

Design Studio 2 | 2042–Networked 

Urban Towers 

Additional Learning Activities 

ARC409 Architectural Design and Research 

Methods 

ARC411 Practice Based Enquiry and 

Architectural Representation 

ARC408 Thesis 

ARC413/ARC410 Design Studio 3+4 

255 RIBA PART 3 MEAP Access Course 

OOther Activities 

Second Suzhou International Architecture 

Workshop 

Workshop W.A.Ve.2017 in Venice 

Bamboo Workshop 

Sergio Pascolo Architects - Total Housing 

267 

269 

271 

273 

275 

277 

279 

281 

283 

285 

287 

289 

291 

293 

295 

297 

299 

R Research 

304 

313 

319 

321 

323 

Lecture Series Spring 2017 

Re-Signifying the Water Town: A Survey of 

Shengjiadai (Surf) 

Concepts of Heritage in Conservation 

Practices in Rural Villages in China (Surf) 

Challenges to the Adoption of Bim in Chinese 

Architecture, Engineering and Construction 

(Surf) 

Caadria2017 Conference 

Caadria2017 Exhibition: Towards A Digital 

Architecture 

Deyang International Student Construction 

Competition 

Masterplanning the Future 

2016 Architecture Study Trip in Fujian Province 

Hong Kong Study Trip 

Hangzhou Research Field Trip 

Le Corbusier Vivant Study Trip 

Freestyle Bridge Design Competition 

Cardboard Shelters 

BDP-Farrell Prize 

Outstanding Design Brief and Outstanding 

Design Studio Coursework 

Graduate’s Project Shown at Riba President’s 

Medals Student Awards Exhibition 

Research Outputs 2016-2017 

PhD Candidates 

Students 

Academic Staff 

Academic Position Statement

INTRODUCTION 

This issue of the XJTLU, Department of Architecture 

Yearbook showcases the work produced by our 

students during the academic year 2016-17. This 

year we are pleased to announce the completion 

of our Masters in Architectural Design, marked by 

the graduation of the first six students in July 2017. 

Starting this Masters Programme and building an 

international reputation in the department has 

required a huge effort by the department leadership 

and staff. However the positive results are now 

emerging and we have seen a steady growth in 

the number of students enrolled on the Masters 

course. We now have twenty Masters students, ten 

are international students from seven different 

countries and ten are Chinese students. On 22-23 

November 2017, the initial RIBA Validation visit 

for the MArchDes programme took place with the 

programme largely well received. RIBA’s Education 

Committee will make their decision regarding 

validation in February 2018. With the arrival of 

new colleagues, research in the department is 

also growing and the number of PhD students has 

increased to seven. 

The BEng Architecture Program remains at the 

center of the teaching activity of the Department and 

the quality of results continues to grow as evidenced 

by the impressive work of students published in 

this yearbook. Two of our most innovative teachers 

received education awards and our top students 

have won awards in two international competitions. 

The attendance of staff at conferences continues 

to strengthen the international reputation of the 

Department. 

The international character of the Department is 

highlighted not only in the rich melting pot of the 

academics, representing fourteen nationalities, but 

also on the occasion of exchanges with European 

Universities. 

Our second Suzhou International Architecture 

Workshop in February 2017, was attended by eleven 

teachers and fifty-four students from five European 

Schools of Architecture (University of Liverpool, 

Graz University of Technology, Politecnico di Torino, 

ENSA Paris Val-de-Seine, Sapienza University of 

Rome). Our students also had the opportunity to 

attend workshops in Venice and London, and to 

travel to France to discover the work of Le Corbusier. 

An exchange programme has been activated with 

Politecnico di Torino, and the first two Italian 

students have been hosted at XJTLU in the academic 

year 2016-17, and four XJTLU students invited to 

Turin for the academic year 2017-18. 

I conclude this brief introduction to thank again all 

my colleagues for their expertise and generosity, 

together with the students for their creativity and 

engagement. While concluding my work as Head of 

Department, I wish my successor Gisela Loehlein 

every success in continuing to grow this unique 

department, for which I was committed with the 

utmost passion and enthusiasm, and with which I 

will continue to collaborate as Honorary Professor. 

It was an honor for me to contribute not only to 

forge the cultural identity of the Department, but 

also to design as an architect the interior spaces of 

the new Design Building, this has proved a great 

opportunity to reflect critically on the relationship 

between space and architectural education. At the 

end of the first year of activity, the Design Building 

has been admired by many Chinese colleagues and 

foreign visitors, and the academic journal “World 

Architecture”, published by Tsinghua University, 

chose it as the cover image of a special issue 

dedicated to Architecture Schools in China (“Where 

We Started: Spaces for Architectural Education 

(1)”, July 2017). In the following pages, you will see 

republished my critical reflections on a process of 

design and realization that I never imagined could be 

so complex. 

Pierre Alain Croset 

Head of the Department of Architecture

007 

008 

THE THIRD TEACHER- 

THE NEW DESIGN BUILDING AT XJTLU: 

HOW STUDENTS BECOME ARCHITECTS 

Pierre-Alain Croset 

2016-2017 YEARBOOK Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Department of Architecture 西交利物浦大学建筑系 

Final exhibition of the Suzhou Architecture International Workshop (February 2017) 

Exhibition “Sergio Pascolo Architects _ Total Housing” (April 2017) 

On arriving at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University 

(XJTLU) in Suzhou 2015 as the new Head of the 

Department of Architecture, I was informed about 

the construction of a new ‘Design Building’ on the 

South Campus to jointly house the Department 

of Architecture and the Department of Industrial 

Design. I realised this new building could represent 

a great opportunity to reflect critically on the 

relationship between space and architectural 

education. Nevertheless, at the time, I couldn’t 

imagine the difficulties involved in the process of 

decision, design and realisation. The new Design 

Building opened in August 2016, with a capacity of 

450 students and 40 academic staff for Architecture, 

and another 250 students and 20 academic staff for 

Industrial Design, with a total floor area of around 

7,000 square metres. At the end of this first year 

of activity it is now possible to sketch a critical 

reflection on the process, and on the results, with the 

support of the photographs of Milan Ognjanovic who 

documented the everyday life in the building during 

all the academic year. 

A Critical Reflection on the General 

Layout 

When I arrived at XJTLU the construction of the 

new design building had already begun. The base 

design had been made by the Shanghai branch office 

of a British architectural company BDP (Building 

Design Partnership), also responsible for the overall 

master plan of the XJTLU South Campus. The main 

constraints were contained in the particular shape of 

the plan, resulting of the assembly of three different 

types of space: an elliptical part for hosting the big 

lecture theatres, an irregular four-sided part for the 

classrooms organised around a central void with 

skylight, and a connecting glazed bridge between 

The double height ground floor with workshop equipment, the four upper floors organized around the central courtyard used as an exhibition space. *Reprinted from World Architecture, n. 2017/07, July 2017, pp. 48-57 

the two main volumes. The only changes already 

proposed by the Department, and accepted by the 

design company, were the elimination of the lecture 

theatres in the upper floors, replaced by generic 

“design studios”. From a first examination of the 

plans I verified that the general layout had remained 

quite vague about the repartition of spaces between 

the two departments, and that nothing had been 

proposed for a clear partition of the design studios, 

organised as generic “open space” with groups of 

students organised around rectangular tables, with 

only 60 cm for each student. 

It was impossible to change the structure and the 

facades of the building but the senior management 

of XJTLU offered the possibility to modify the 

general layout. It was possible to imagine a more 

rational organisation that could highlight the 

most significant spaces to be shared by the two 

departments. It was also necessary to find a place 

for some new equipment approved in the strategic 

planning: a Materials Library, an Exhibition Gallery 

and an advanced Lab for Digital Fabrication and 

Prototyping. I proposed to group all the workshops 

and archival spaces on the ground floor around the 

central Materials Library, following the inspiring 

image of an industrial factory with double height 

volumes partially covered by mezzanine floors 

for the storage of materials. In this way, the first 

experience on entering the building is the intense 

activity of students producing models and objects. 

The workshop provides a coherence of identity for a 

School of Design strongly related with the processes 

of building construction and industrial fabrication. 

On the first floor, the central void could easily 

be transformed to an Exhibition Gallery, to be 

considered the heart of the entire building with 

the upper floors organised around it: the spaces of

009 

010 

Industrial Design on this floor, the second and third 

floors for the Architecture design studios, the fourth 

floor for the offices of both departments. 

A Strong Architectural Identity for a 

School of Architecture 


The large corridors evoke the streets of a traditional Chinese city, 

with wooden façades and wooden paired doors, 

to be used as a public space for exhibiting and discussing the students’ work. 

The Design Studios as flexible spaces. 

How to design specific spaces for architectural 

education? In my opinion, to become an architect 

the student needs to be educated through the daily 

practice of the design activity, and for this reason 

a key concept of the Design Building was to put 

individual workspace of the students in the centre 

of the school, not traditional classrooms. I had the 

occasion to reflect on these questions working 

with a group of students of the Master program 

in Architecture at the Politecnico di Torino in a 

studio dedicated to the design of a new School of 

architecture 1 ) in the well-known “Palazzo delle 

Esposizioni”, realised by Pierluigi Nervi in 1947. 

As a reference for this design work, I used the 

famous theories of the pedagogue Loris Malaguzzi, 

successfully experimented in the “kindergartenmodel” 

of Reggio Emilia, but fundamentally 

appropriate also to form architects and designers: 

students learn from teachers and from other 

students, but also from the “third teacher that is the 

space”. 

For architecture student, this “third teacher” is 

particularly important, and I remembered some 

beautiful schools as the Crown Hall of Mies van der 

Rohe in Chicago, the Architecture School of Oporto 

designed by Àlvaro Siza, or the School of Nancy 

designed by Livio Vacchini, where fortunate students 

are stimulated by the space to become architects. At 

XJTLU the fact that the building was already designed 

and in construction restricted a lot the possibility for 

invention. Other constraints were the necessity to 

comply with the budget and limited time. I decided 

for these reasons to concentrate my attention on 

the relations between three different categories of 

workspace: the individual desk which every student 

takes possession at the beginning of the semester, 

becoming a “second home” for the working everyday 

life; the small work unit (the design studio) in 

which the student learns from other students in the 

teamwork, and learns from the teacher in the weekly 

tutorials; the collective space in which the student 

has to exhibit and discuss publicly the design work 

in front of other students, of the teachers and of the 

visiting critics. 

How to organise these three categories of space in an 

uneven shape of the building? How to ensure good 

working conditions for each student, regardless of the 

location in different parts of the building, and at the 

same time how to avoid an excessive fragmentation? 

Since my first visits to the traditional courtyard 

houses and gardens of Suzhou, I was fascinated by 

the modern character of the wooden façades, with 

paired doors offering a dynamic, ever-changing 

composition. I considered this image of “Chinese 

modernity” as a powerful source of inspiration 

for an international Department of Architecture 

in China, and at the same time I remembered the 

famous quote of Leon Battista Alberti: “In fact, if the 

City, according to the judgment of the philosophers, 

is like a great House, and the opposite the House is 

a small City, why don’t we say that members of it as 

the courtyard, the loggias, the Hall, the porch, and all 

these are still the same like small houses?” 2 ) With 

these two references in mind, I decided to organise 

the work space along two large corridors which could 

evoke the streets of a traditional Chinese city, with 

wooden façades and wooden paired doors. As in 

a city, where the streets are public and the houses 

private, it was possible to obtain a clear separation 

between the spaces for the individual work, and the 

spaces for the social interaction. Every student could 

stay in a small work unit offering the best condition 

for the individual work, but at the same time the 

space of the central “streets”, with a width of four 

metres, could be used as a common social space, and 

not only as a connective space. In the same way as 

the traditional Suzhou façades associate modular 

repetition and flexibility, I imagined how the paired 

doors could be moved continuously following 

different uses. For this reason, the doors have double 

faces: one face painted, and one face covered with 

cork. When all the doors are closed, you perceive

011 

012 


At the end of the semester, every student is invited to use the space of the corridors for an individual exhibition. 

only the continuity of the wooden facades, while 

when they are open the students can pin up their 

design work on the cork surface. 

Due to the great thickness of the building, I was 

conscious that the central working spaces could not 

benefit from natural light, but at the same time I 

wanted to offer to all the students the same basic 

equipment: a table of 90 × 180 centimetres facing 

a wall covered with cork for collecting sketches, 

drawings and photographs. To organize the spaces 

in relation with the different years of study, it 

was necessary to consider the special condition of 

XJTLU, with a double degree that offers Bachelor 

students the chance to migrate to the University of 

Liverpool after the second year. By the fact that this 

option is presently taken by more than 50% of the 

students, it is necessary to organize design studios 

for very variable numbers of students: more than 

200 students in Year 2, less than 100 students in 

Year 3 and Year 4, and a maximum of 25 students 

for the Master program every year. I decided for 

this reason to concentrate on the 2nd- year students 

in the central space, offering them only the basic 

equipment of the individual table with the cork wall, 

while the other design studios would have gained 

an additional space between the partition walls and 

the irregular shape of the façade, to be used for the 

teamwork and for producing big urban models. In this 

way, the students who will remain after the second 

year will have a better working space. Following the 

progression of the programme, the students occupy 

four square metres in the second year, six in the 

third year, eight in the fourth year, while the Master 

program offers ten square metres for every student. 

This organization of the design studios allows for 

constant interaction between students of different 

years, especially when reviews are organized along 

the corridors: in this way students learn from other 

students, with year 3 students facing year 2 students 

in the same corridor, and year 4 students facing 

Master students on the both sides of the central void. 

Working as a Consultant of the 

Construction Company 

The difficulties of design and realisation were mainly 

related to the fact that anything was done in the 

absence of any formal assignment as an architect. As 

Head of Department I was legitimately authorized to 

represent the interest of the users, but I was totally 

ignorant about how to design and build in China. 

Without a professional office, it was at the beginning 

very difficult to communicate my intentions, but 

something changed when LU Quanqing, who just 

graduated from Politecnico di Torino, arrived in 

Suzhou in June 2015 as an incoming PhD student 

under my supervision. From this moment, she 

became responsible for the drawings of the new 

layout and she participated to all the first meetings 

with the Campus Management Office and with 

the construction company. Successively a second 

PhD student, LIN Qian, arrived in March 2016 and 

assisted me on the definitive drawings. Finally, my 

colleague TSIEN Li-An collaborated as a consultant 

in the last phase of construction. 

At the beginning, I thought that it would have been 

possible to become a consultant of the architects in 

charge of the design, in the hope that any decision 

regarding the interior design could be founded 

on a set of complete and coherent drawings. 

However, I quickly realized not only that the local 

design institute couldn’t interpret correctly my 

sketches, but also that nobody wanted to change the 

approved plans, in the face of the risks of slowing 

the construction, or increasing the costs. After 

many misunderstandings, I finally realized that I 

should follow a different strategy, proceeding step

013 

014 


View of the ground floor, with the Materials Library to the left, and the glass wall used as a showcase for the students’ work. 

Entrance lobby, with the big glass opening the view towards the workshop facilities. 

by step according to the different phases of the 

construction, and waiting for the questions of the 

construction company. LIU Yunpeng, the project 

manager for XJTLU’s management office, helped me 

in this process, proposing me to speak directly with 

the building company, bypassing the architects and 

facilitating in this way the mutual understanding. 

The first decisions for materials and building details 

were to be taken on the ground floor. To highlight 

the industrial character of the workshops area, I 

proposed to leave the floor with the bare concrete, 

and to separate the central core from the lateral 

spaces by a long row of glass shelves, to be used as a 

permanent showcase for the best models produced 

by the students. Many discussions were needed to 

make them understand the importance of moving the 

glass to cover the heavy pillars in concrete, so that all 

the bearing structure could be hired for producing an 

image of transparency and lightness. 

Little by little grew the mutual trust with the building 

company, so that it became increasingly easier to 

propose changes for increasing the quality of the 

spaces. For example, the cladding of the central void 

was originally with panels in aluminium imitating 

wood for the long sides, and with glass along the 

short sides, as it has been realized nearby in the 

Environment Building. In the face of the need to 

transform the central void in an exhibition space, I 

proposed to unify along all the four sides the cladding 

with aluminium panels, but at the same time to vivify 

this space using bright colours, following a graduation 

from the darkest to the clearest which appears 

inverted with respect to the natural intensity of 

sunlight: red top, orange in the middle, yellow down. 

The most delicate issue was the door construction, 

because I wanted a “Chinese touch” to be 

recognisable, but at the same time avoiding any risk 

to obtain the image of a fake. With the help of many 

photos of doors in historical gardens of Suzhou, 

together with survey drawings, I was convinced 

of the need to observe a thickness of at least five 

centimetres, not only for respecting the original 

proportions, but also for obtaining something solid 

enough to respond to the function of rotating display 

panel. We produced a complete set of drawings 

in scale 1:1 for obtaining the possibility to test the 

solution with a mock-up realised by the wood 

handicraft company. I wanted the closed-door 

surface to be on the same plane with the basement 

and the lintel, so that, when all the doors are closed, 

it would have been possible to perceive only the 

continuity of the wooden facades. Many discussions 

The central void with bright colours 

The wooden doors of the design studios are painted with alternating 

traditional Chinese colours: yellow, red, dark blue and dark green.

015 

016 


The Materials Library used for the final Masters Exhibition (June 2017), with the central double height space 

on the site were needed to obtain this precision in 

assembling the doors, with four different modules 

(180, 190, 200 and 230 centimetres) for adapting 

the doors to the irregular geometry of the building. 

Other problems concerned the final choice of 

colours. I wanted to use the four typical colours of 

the Chinese tradition (yellow, red, dark blue and dark 

green), but nobody could indicate me how to find the 

exact composition of these traditional colours. In the 

end, I proposed to use some paintings, as a Portrait 

of the Qianlong Emperor and a View of a Civil 

Servant Exam, as a reference for painting directly 

some samples of colour on the doors. Along the 

two internal streets, the colours are alternate, with 

the red and yellow for the central design studios in 

continuity with the bright colours of the exhibition 

courtyard, and the blue and green for the external 

studios. These alternate colours are inverted 

between the second and third floor, so that it is 

possible to perceive simultaneously all four colours 

from any part. 

The Materials Library, still under construction, 

will house a permanent exhibition of about five 

hundred samples, and is divided into three rooms: 

a central room with a double height for small 

exhibitions and seminars, the lateral ones organized 

in two levels. The space has been used this year for 

hosting the final exhibition of the Master Thesis. 

Many discussions regarded the façade. In one of 

my first sketches, I represented the simple idea of a 

cladding with three materials: polycarbonate, steel 

and bamboo. The technical solutions for realizing 

the cladding in polycarbonate and steel were easily 

defined with the excellent team of the Campus 

Management Office, but they continuously asked 

me to have some drawings related with the final part 

to be realized in bamboo. I answered: “Bamboo is a 

beautiful material used in China, please find some 

excellent craftsmen and we will do it, we cannot draw 

a solution”. Two colleagues of both departments, Juan 

Carlos Dall’Asta and Ruggero Canova, proposed to 

organize a bamboo workshop with twenty students, 

offering the opportunity to experiment some ways 

of creating an interesting pattern. Three excellent 

craftsmen, coming from Shanghai, instructed the 

students of Architecture and Industrial Design 

about the art of building with bamboo, offering them 

the possibility to experiment with their hands, at 

a scale 1:1, how to create the beauty of a bamboo 

fence. At the end of this workshop, the four best 

proposals have been selected for the realisation, to 

be completed during the Summer. In this way, as for 

the glass wall used as a permanent exhibition which 

houses the best models produced by our students, the 

bamboo wall crowning the Materials Library will be 

a showcase of the creativity of the students. 

The idea of the Materials Library as a Pavilion with 3 rooms, the central 

one double height, comprised of 3 materials (polycarbonate, steel and 

bamboo), a mix of traditional and contemporary materials. 

[1] Design unit directed by Pierre-Alain Croset (Architectural 

Design) and Luciano Re (Building Heritage), together with 

Michela Comba (History) and Caterina Tiazzoldi (Smart 

Building), first semester 2009-2010. 

[2] Leon Battista Alberti, De Re Aedificatoria (On the Art of 

Building), 1452, Liber I (Book 1), De Disegni (On Design), MIT 

Press, 1988, p. 27. 

Credits 

Interior Design 

Pierre-Alain Croset, with the collaboration of 

Quanqing Lu, Qian Lin, and Li-An Tsien. 

Project Management 

Yunpeng Liu, Campus Management Office (CMO, 

XJTLU). 

Photographs 

Milan Ognjanovic 

Drawings 

Qian Lin, PhD student XJTLU, Department of 

Architecture

017 

018 

Contemporary China is at the threshold of a new era in thinking 

urbanism and architecture. It presents exciting opportunities for an 

architectural education at the forefront of architectural discourse 

and with an international outlook. Against the backdrop of fastpaced 

modernisation, the Department of Architecture at XJTLU 

engages with the challenges and contradictions of architecture 

in China in an open-minded and forward thinking manner. Our 

students profit from the experiences of a highly international 

academic faculty, and critically engage with the questions facing 

architecture today both locally and internationally. 


B ENG 

ARCHITECTURE 

PROGRAMME 

INTRODUCTION 

Innovation and development of the built environment derive 

from critical observation, constructive debate, speculation and 

experimentation. As academics and architects we involve ourselves 

in debates, challenge common perceptions and evaluate traditions. 

We profit from our unique location in Suzhou, a famous 2,500 yearold 

city with UNESCO World Heritage status, just half an hour by 

train from Shanghai. Confronted with the past and engaged in the 

present our students are guided to design for the future. 

The four-year full-time BEng Architecture aims to provide a 

comprehensive foundation in architecture. Students are guided to 

develop an understanding of the centricity of human needs and 

desires in relation to architectural design tasks, and to develop 

creative and responsible responses by taking into account the social, 

cultural, ecological, economic as well as technological contexts 

within which architecture is situated. The programme is centred on 

applied architectural design studio modules (50% of credits). These 

studio modules are supported by a balanced mix of humanitiesbased 

modules (25% of credits) and technical modules (25% of 

credits). 

The BEng Architecture programme at XJTLU has become the 

first programme of its kind at a Chinese university to receive 

validation by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), thus 

demonstrating XJTLU’s commitment to providing world-class, 

internationally recognised education to students from China and 

abroad. 

The Royal Institute commended “the Department and staff body 

on creating a distinctive environment in which students learn from 

an international and Chinese context with an ambition to produce 

a new type of graduate, with an emphasis on human-centred 

architecture, for the emerging global context.” 

Claudia Westermann 

2016-2017 Programme Director

019 

020 

2016-2017 YEARBOOK Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Department of Architecture 西交利物浦大学建筑系

021 

022 

LEVEL 00 


00 

Year 1 prepares students for the subsequent three years. Classes on 

English language for academic purposes are taught alongside modules 

on mathematics, Chinese culture and physical education. Year 1 also 

includes two modules that serve as an introduction to visual culture 

and architectural representation. 

● ARC001 Introduction to Architecture and Visual Culture 

(2.5 credits) 

● ARC002 Architectural Representation and Communication 

(5 credits) 


XJTLU ARCHITECTURE YEARBOOK 2016-2017

023 

024 

ARC001 

Introduction to Architecture and 

Visual Culture 

Lin Ding 

Wan Zijian 


Yu Huanghehui 

Deng Zhixin 

Deng Zhixin 

Level 0 

( Year 1 | Semester 1 ) 

Module Credits 

2.5 

Module Leader 

Bert de Muynck 

Teaching Team 



Christian Gänshirt 

Li Chengcheng 

( Language Centre ) 

Teaching Assistant 

Quanqing Lu 

Number of Students 

357 

Focusing on graphic and spatial thinking, this module aims to introduce 

students to architectural thinking and visualisation through lecture and 

course based work, including a series of small projects and workshops, 

progressing through sketch ideas, into cut-and-paste and on through 

photography and digital manipulation. 

Each project brings the student a step closer in the methods and 

principals (both pragmatic as poetic) to visualize the spatial experience 

through two- and three-dimensional representational techniques. 

Varied independent projects and workshops combine for form a 

structural entirety, and lay the basis for the understanding, analysis and 

representation of architecture and visual culture. 

Introduction to Architecture and Visual Culture seeks to awaken the 

students’ creative abilities, develop latent aptitudes and encourage their 

passion for architecture, through concentrating on three particular 

aspects: 

● Understanding how to see: To introduce a new way of seeing and 

understanding creative activities through analogous experimentation 

based on modern and contemporary artists’ research; 

● Understanding how to do: To introduce and explore spatial 

relationships through various media; 

● Understanding how to communicate: To understand architecture not 

only about space and building but also about something that happens 

in and around it, and that through various times and locations, or from 

various angles and perspectives. 

Level 00 – Year 1 

B Eng Architecture Programme

025 

026 

ARC002 

Lecture with studio elements 

Architectural Representation and 

Communication 


Sketch morphing exercises by Haomiao Zhai. 

Level 0 



5 

Module Leader 

Thomas Fischer 

Teaching Team 

Philip Fung 

Ross T. Smith 

Christiane M. Herr 

Peiling Xing 


222 

ARC002 familiarises students with architectural perceptions and 

expressions. In a lecture setting with studio characteristics, students are 

introduced to basic architectural communication and its representational 

languages. This includes the reading and the production of different 

kinds of drawing, sketching, 3d thinking, model making, writing, 

photography, collage, and architectural writing, addressing architectural 

concerns such as buildings, spaces and objects. Additionally, this module 

familiarises students with some notable architects and buildings. 

Students attend lectures, demonstrations, and work on a series of 

individual in-class and homework exercise assignments. Assessed 

deliverables are two models and a poster, as well as a final report 

document containing outcomes of all in-class and homework exercises. 

This year, student produced sketch morphings of different objects, as 

the ones shown here. Students also produced architectural typograms 

(architectural objects rendered using typography only), a piece of critical 

architectural writing, several photographic exercises under different 

lighting conditions, collage exercises, visual texture samplings, as well as 

drawings and models of dormitory rooms before and after “architectural 

interventions”. 



027 

028 

LEVEL 01 


01 XJTLU 

Year 2 provides the basis for the subsequent years of the programme. 

Students are introduced to the history and theory of architecture, 

building science, structure and construction as well as building 

technology, in parallel to modules on English language. Experimental 

studio modules introduce the presentation, modelling and design of 

architectural spaces and small buildings. 

● ARC101 Design Studio: Design Thinking and Articulation 

(5 credits) 

● ARC102 Design Studio: Small Scale Architectural Design 

(10 credits) 

● ARC103 Introduction to Environmental Science (5 credits) 

● ARC104 Structures and Materials (5 credits) 

● ARC105 Design Studio: Small Space Design (5 credits) 

● ARC107 History of Western Architecture (5 credits) 

● ARC108 Construction and Materials (2.5 credits) 

● ARC110 Humanities and Culture (2.5 credits) 

● EAP107 English Language and Study Skills III for the Built 

Environment (10 credits) 


ARCHITECTURE YEARBOOK 2016-2017

029 

030 

ARC107 

History of Western Architecture 


Students Shangtong Huang, Miao Yu, Siqi Guo, Linmei Li, and Yan Chut Bryan Jonatan Fong Choy, 

Poster exercise. 

Level 1 



5 

Module Leader 

Paolo Scrivano 

Teaching Team 


Minghao Zhang (LC) 


220 

The aim of this module, focusing on Western Architecture from ancient 

times to the 21 st century, is to introduce students to the history of 

architecture and to engage them in a critical reading of buildings and 

urban settings. Buildings, cityscapes, plans, and drawings are used to 

illustrate how architecture reflects the culture of specific geographical 

locations in diverse historical moments; in addition, architectural 

artifacts were analyzed from different perspectives (social, cultural, 

economic, institutional, etc.) with the goal of helping students acquire 

skills in understanding the built environment and develop a critical 

attitude toward architectural projects of the past, the present and the 

future. 

Organized through lectures and readings, the module included also 

drawing and written exercises intended to initiate students to the 

analysis and interpretation of architectural examples, in the expectation 

that the familiarity with architectural history will foster future 

design thinking. A short research essay requires students to conduct 

independent research and discuss a specific building or urban setting. 

Some sessions are delivered by a Language Centre tutor who assists 

students with language/study skills requirements. Moreover, students 

are provided with online language/study skills support to assist in 

engagement with the module’s content. 

During the term, students participate in to a field trip to Shanghai during 

which they analyze a select building on the Bund: the outcome of this 

exercise includes a poster that included text, photographs, and drawings 

(plans, volumes, elevations, and architectural details). 



031 

032 

ARC110 

Humanities and Architecture 


Sample images of the work produced by students during the module. 

Level 1 



2.5 

Module Leader 

Glen Wash Ivanovic 


229 

Humanities and Architecture introduces students to architecture and 

the built environment as a broadly humanistic concern, and supports 

their future studio work by introducing them to theories and methods 

on the relationship between humans and place, aiming not only to give 

students more analytical approaches to architecture and design, but also 

to emphasise the relationship between architecture, people, and society. 

Through the application of theoretical approaches and tools of spatial 

analysis students engage with real sites in the city of Suzhou, 

understanding architecture, urbanism, space, and the built environment 

as subjects crucially connected to the humanities and social sciences, 

including geography, sociology, anthropology and history. 

In this version of the module students had three routes in Suzhou 

available for them to explore. Students had to undertake three different 

research projects in their selected route. In their first project they had 

to work in groups of four to five students, later progressing to their 

individual exercises. Each project familiarises students with specific 

theories and methodologies and requires them to apply them in their 

chosen route. The results are compiled in the module report: a sort of log 

book which collects the student’s work and their reflections on it. 



033 

034 

ARC103 

Introduction to Environmental 

Science 


Final building heating and cooling energy use in 2005 and in scenarios 

from the global energy assessment (GEA) for 2050, Image source: IPCC report 2014. 

Level 1 



5 

Module Leader 

Moon Keun Kim 


219 

Introducing undergraduate students to the principles of environmental 

science in buildings, this module focuses on the quantitative aspect of 

building science where students learn the fundamental thermodynamics 

essential to understanding the building energy performance and urban 

environmental impact. 

Students learn about: bioclimatic design; the fundamental principles of 

heat transfer mechanism; the role of construction layers in domestic 

walls; window lighting and thermal performance, the impact of 

building fabric on the energy consumption; urban microclimates; 

fundamental passive heating and cooling system; the difference between 

building energy efficiency and energy consumption; fundamental 

thermodynamics; heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC); 

moisture condensation; thermal comfort; psycrometric chart; domestic 

water; solar principles; fundamentals in lighting (day light, and artificial 

light); fundamental architectural acoustics. 

Upon completion of this module, students are able to specify and 

design building walls and carry out relevant scientific approaches with 

numerical calculation and computer simulation to deliver thermal 

building energy performance. Students also learn how to specify and 

design recommended lighting levels by window size and location in 

a wall, and the shading impact on daylight quality in typical rooms. 

This module further requires students to understand the energy load 

associated with space heating, cooling and ventilation in a building and 

the impact of building energy consumption on climate change and global 

warming. 



035 

036 

ARC104 

Structures and Materials 


Drawing-based exercise in progress. 

Photograph by Christiane M. Herr. 

Zhao Anqi 

Drawing-based exercise 4 – Shell Structure. 

Level 1 



5 

Module Leader 


Teaching Assistants 

Chitraj Bissoonauth 


219 

Structures are integral to buildings. They contribute not only to 

functional aspects by supporting loads but also form spaces and thus 

help to create architectural qualities. ARC104 provides students with an 

understanding of basic structural principles, basic types of structural 

systems and their relationships to common construction materials. The 

module introduces students to holistic design approaches that aim to 

integrate architectural intentions and structural considerations with a 

view to local construction contexts. 

To support architecture students’ ways of working in the design studio, 

students are encouraged to learn through designing and building of largescale 

experimental models. Structural understanding is approached 

primarily through visual means, case studies and applied exercises. 

Structural and material appropriateness are discussed with a focus on 

architectural design concerns and in the context of different regional 

building cultures. The module further encourages inter-disciplinary 

learning and awareness as contemporary architectural practice involves 

and requires teamworking between architects and engineers. As part of 

this module, engineers and architects are invited to give guest lectures or 

guest reviews to foster architecture students’ cross-disciplinary learning 

and awareness. 



037 

038 

ARC108 

Construction and Materials 


Annan Zuo 

Micro-house design, ARC108 Coursework. 

Level 1 



5 

Module Leader 

Li-An Tsien 



Deng Siqi 


115 

Understanding the logic behind materials and construction is 

fundamental to being able to design, conceive and represent buildings, 

and thus to building and materialising them. 

Technical materials and construction principles are taught in relation to 

the broader architectural implications of sustainability, aesthetics and 

technology. 

This module introduces students to the fundamental principles and 

elements of construction, as well as to local, contemporary and 

innovative materials and building techniques within a global and local 

cultural context. Key concepts are critically discussed through case 

studies and visual examples as well as reviewed during seminars and 

applied exercises. 

During the semester, students are asked to approach construction 

through designing and detailing a micro-dwelling’s building envelope 

and foundation details. Design proposals and construction details are 

reviewed during weekly tutorials 

The aim of the module is to provide students with an understanding of 

the basic logic underlying construction, and to allow them to bridge their 

acquired knowledge of main construction principles with key concepts of 

aesthetics / sustainability / culture / environment within the discipline 

of architectural design. Awareness and understanding of construction 

principles will help students translate design ideas towards buildable / 

innovative concepts and appropriate representation. Lectures will foster 

and encourage awareness of construction issues pertaining to global and 

local future trends. The module will further nurture an understanding of 

the interdisciplinary quality of the professional practice and its constant 

requirement of sometimes large collaborative efforts between architects 

and various fields of consultants / builders. 



039 

040 

ARC101 

Design Studio 

Design Thinking and Articulation 


Architectural Picnic 

Photograph by UMC, University Marketing and Communication. 

Design Books 

Photograph by Milan Ognjanovic 

Level 1 



5 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 

Tordis Berstrand 

Antonio Berton 

Joan Cane 

Theodoros Dounas 

Dong Chen 

Dong Fanzheng 

Han Jiawen 

Silvia Martin 


Nicola Pagnano 

Qiu Jue 

Jose Remon 

Lina Stergiou 

Xi Junjie 

Xu Yizhou 

Dirk Zschunke 



Deng Siqi 


217 

This first design studio in the undergraduate degree programme 

initiates through a series of cumulative exercises architectural design 

as a research-led and human-centred design discipline, and introduces 

relationships between the conception and representation of space 

through material explorations. A series of lectures and integrated 

workshops support the two weekly afternoons of studio tutorials. 

This year’s course, entitled ‘A Hat for Three and Other Experiments in 

Architecture’, engaged the students in a 1:1 design project for the first 

exercise. Working in groups, the students designed a ‘Hat for Three’ for 

an architectural picnic that was staged in week two of the semester. Each 

student group was given a specific set of picnic characters. The exercise 

involved role playing as a means to explore the relationship between 

individual users, and between designers and users. In the subsequent two 

exercises, the students worked individually between scales of 1:20 and 

1:100, translating between solids and voids, and exploring the relation 

of activities and designed space. The main media were physical models 

- as a combination of prescribed materials, techniques and intentions - 

drawings, and digital media. The final exercise encouraged the students 

to re-think an everyday object. Re-interpreting the book as an artefact 

that also defines a reader’s interaction space, the students compiled the 

work undertaken during the course of the semester, carefully selected 

from process work, models, and research, with accompanying text into 

design books that are interpretive of narrative and present work that is 

analytical, emphatically edited, sequential and reflective in tone. 



041 

042 

WEAR 

Di Yang 

WEAR 

Chen Danhua 


WEAR 

Kong Lingsen 

WEAR 

Zhao Anqi 

WEAR 

He Yuxin 

WEAR 

Shi Yun 

WEAR 

Wang Zhihan

043 

044 

SPACE-SOLID-VOID 

Ye Chenwei 


Chen Danhua 



Di Yang

045 

046 




He Yuxin 

Su Yifan 

Space-Solid-Void 

Su Yifan 


Li Yuchen 

ACTIVITIES IN SPACE 

Kong Lingsen

047 

048 

BOOK 

Chen Danhua 



Zhao Anqi 


Shi Yun 


Ye Chenwei 

BOOK 

Dai Yiqing

049 

050 

BOOK 

Kong Lingsen 


BOOK 

Milan Ognjanovic 

BOOK 

Zhang Tao 

BOOK 

Di Yang

051 

052 

ARC105 

Design Studio 

Small Space Design 


Dream of The Red Chamber Render frame: 

still from an animation. 

Design and render by Theodoros Dounas. 

Level 1 



5 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 

Kostas Chatzigiannis 

Jiawen Han 

Teo Hidalgo Nácher 

Lina Stergiou 

Junjie Xi 

Joan Cane 


Dirk Zschunke 


Dong Chen 

Qiu Jue 

Xu Yizhou 

Jose Remon 

Silvia Martin 

Dong Fanzheng 

Wu Penghan 


220 

In this studio, students are asked to develop spaces for the female 

characters from Dream of the Red Chamber, written by Cao Xueqin, in 

the eighteenth century, the book one of the four classic novels of Chinese 

literature. 

The students were asked to study their prescribed character and design a 

space for them, not when the novel was set, during the Qing Dynasty, but 

for contemporary life in China. This approach thus required students to 

not only reflect upon their character, but to interpret how they could be 

accommodated if they were alive today. Interesting questions arose from 

the critical reflection: Do the characters keep their traits? Do imperial 

Chinese social conventions still apply today? Decisions regarding what 

to keep and what to leave behind, which areas of life must continue to 

adhere to tradition and which needed to be ‘modernised’ helped position 

the students’ understanding of their character. 

Through the analyses of a typical gesture or movement of the character, 

based on performance and recording, key frames were selected in 

order to generate a space, resulting from a process of abstraction. 

Approximately 200 models with associated drawing were produced, 

which provided settings for the characters Xue Bao Cai, Lin Daiyu, Jia 

Yuan Chun, Grandmother Jia, or Shi Xiangyun. In each instance the 

students developed the spaces in the spirit of experimentation using 

unique animation techniques to transform movement into form 

and space. 



DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER 

Dai Ruoyun


Zuo Annan

057 

058 



Dai Yiqing

059 

060 

ARC102 

Design Studio 

Small Scale Architectural Design 


Early research on the potential of language to inform 

design by student Meng Zeyuan 孟泽原 . 

Level 1 



10 

Module Leader 

Peta Carlin 

Teaching Team 

Peta Carlin 


Caterina Tiazzoldi 

Davide Lombardi 

Junjie Xi 

Lina Stergiou 

Martin Fischbach 

Philip Fung 

Ross T. Smith 

Sofia Quirago 


Chen Dong 

Jue Qiu 

Joan Cane 


Wu Penghan (Jiang Dong) 


Li Jiayi 


220 

Place and Play 

Wherever we are is always some place, whether landscape, street or 

room. This Small Scale Architectural Design Studio introduces students 

to the significance of place, and seeks to emphasise its foundational role 

in the design of meaningful architecture through the design of a Play- 

Space for children in Suzhou. 

Set on a site in Baliu Park on the east bank of Dushu Lake, the project 

acknowledges the educational nature of the precinct, with its numerous 

schools and universities, and recalls that Dushu in Mandarin, 独墅 , 

translates as “reader.” 

While the studio recognises the significance of traditional scholarly 

and academic modes of erudition, it focuses instead on the value 

of imagination and the importance of play as ways and means of 

discovering and creating the world. A joyous, spontaneous activity play 

is often devoid of prescribed outcomes and is instead, more often about 

immersion in the process rather than a predetermined end-outcome. 

In this module the focus is on the learning aspect of play; on play being 

essential to the development of not only children, but architects too. 

In designing a Play-Space in Suzhou, its scope, form and function are 

defined in response to the site, as it proposes new models of architecture 

for children. 



061 

062 


A PLAY SPACE FOR 

CHILDREN IN SUZHOU 

Zuo Annan | 左安南

063 

064 

RUINS 

Geng Biaotong | 耿彪童 


PLAYING SPACE 

Zheng Haiyu | 郑海瑜

FLOWING MOUNTAINS 

Kong Lingsen | 孔令森

069 

070 

RUINS 

Geng Biaotong | 耿彪童 


SHADOW PLAYGROUND 

Ye Chenwei | 叶宸维

071 

072 

LEVEL 02 



In Year 3 students pursue design projects in studio modules that require 

the integration of a more complex range of contextual parameters on 

the basis of a coherent design process. Students continue to learn about 

building technology and the history and theory of architecture and 

urban developments. 

● ARC201 Environmental Design and Sustainability (5 credits) 

● ARC202 Structural Design (5 credits) 

● ARC203 History of Asian Architecture (5 credits) 

● ARC204 Design Studio: Small Urban Buildings (10 credits) 

● ARC205 Design Studio: Design and Building Typology (10 credits) 

● ARC206 Urban Studies (5 credits) 



073 

074 

ARC203 

History of Asian Architecture 


Field Trip to the Fujian Province, 2016. 

Photograph by Yiping Dong. 

Level 2 



5 

Module Leader 

Yiping Dong 

Teaching Team 

Austin Williams 


Glen Wash 

Jiawen Han 

Raffaele Pernice (UPD) 

Jessie Cannady (LC) 

Guest Speakers 

Yiting Pan 

He Yan 

Hong Ji 

Ting Zhao 


Li Jiayi 


45 

History of Asian Architecture provides an introduction to Asian 

architecture with its associated technologies, cultural connections, urban 

settings and its development from ancient times to the contemporary age. 

It focuses on Chinese architectural history and its relationship to other 

areas in Asia, such as Indian and Japanese architecture. The module 

further briefly introduces the history of urban design and key concepts 

in historical Asian urban planning. The history of built architectural 

form is introduced with selected references to associated theoretical 

discourses. The module uses lectures and readings, case studies and 

field trips to explain key developments in Asian architectural and urban 

history. 

The students explored traditional urban structures, timber structures, 

vernacular settlements and earlier modernization architecture with 

a 6-night-7-day field trip in Fujian Province during the reading week 

(Oct.22-28, 2016). Additional on-site lectures about historic pagodas 

and gardens in Suzhou was provided by the module leader and a local 

heritage researcher. 



ARC206 

Urban Studies 

Level 2 



5 

Module Leader 

Austin Rhys Williams 


45 

The module provides students with a basic understanding of Urban Design 

including some of the key debates, terms, writings, ideas and spatial and 

social qualities about urban formation. We address some theories and 

practical examples of city development - including global case studies - 

to indicate how urban planning and architectural decisions can be better 

informed. The module should help students understand the city as a 

dynamic, social system. 

It is a module that intends to stimulate students’ creative engagement with 

their surroundings as well their ability to assess, appraise and critique 

various urban and cultural phenomena. Students will be encouraged to 

read a variety of journals, books and academic papers. They must be ready 

to think, formulate their opinions, and argue for their ideas. 

The module will be conducted as a series of lectures exploring the history 

of urban ideas, including sociology, urban theory and historical context. 

Over the course of the semester we will touch on planning policy in East 

and West for practical applications, explore several examples within 

China, but also look to formative moments in Western urban design. 

The module covers examples from Beijing to Barcelona, Chicago to 

Chandigarh, Tokyo to Tianjin. We regularly utilise XJTLU’s international 

staff to provide first-hand evidence about the cities in question. 

The module is made up of weekly lectures and seminars to explore 

a range of ideas. The module seeks to raise students’ awareness of a 

variety of urban forms - their benefits and drawbacks - and to encourage 

them to cultivate opinions about the nature of cities, the formation and 

transformation of their urban forms and to obtain basic urban design 

skills. It is a critical forum that seeks to get the students to think about 

what they think. 



077 

078 

ARC201 

Environmental Design and 

Sustainability 


Students take instrumental measurements to assess daylighting performance of their designs. The task is part of a more comprehensive 

coursework on window design, through which a number of implications are analysed by making use of manual calculations, digital simulations, and 

physical models. 

Level 2 



5 

Module Leader 

Marco Cimillo 


43 

We spend up to 90% of our time indoor and our comfort, health, 

productivity and well-being are heavily affected by the environmental 

conditions inside buildings. At the same time buildings are major 

consumers of energy and natural resources and among the main 

responsible for greenhouse gases emissions. The way they are designed 

and built is therefore key to sustainable development, especially in a fast 

urbanising country as today’s China. 

Since two thirds of the final energy performance of a building depend 

on basic architectural decisions, such as building form, orientation and 

percentage of glass, awareness and competence on these issues are an 

essential part of the skill set of a contemporary designer. 

ARC201 addresses environmental quality, energy efficiency and 

sustainability in architecture. The topics cover a general introduction 

to the environmental and climate issues and how they affect and are 

affected by the built environment, in addition to human comfort and 

energy efficiency in buildings. 

Students learn theories and methods to understand, design and assess 

daylighting, natural ventilation, passive heating and cooling, as well as to 

develop strategies for building services and integrated renewable energy 

production. Sustainability is also studied from a wider perspective, 

giving consideration to the entire life cycle of buildings and to the 

international assessment methods. 



079 

080 

ARC202 

Structural Design 


Liu Wang: Façade detail for high-rise building. 

Field Trip to pedestrian bridges around Suzhou Industrial Park. 


Level 2 



5 

Module Leader 



47 

In the context of architectural designing, structural design describes 

the conception and articulation of building structures that integrate 

architectural qualities with structural requirements. This module 

provides students with an understanding of different types of structural 

systems and their potential to support and enhance given architectural 

intentions, considering engineering values of efficiency and utility 

alongside architectural values concerning human experience and 

spatial quality. In this module, structural design is approached primarily 

through visual means architecture students can easily relate to, focusing 

on the integration of structural and programmatic patterns, scales and 

proportions in structural layouts. Lectures are accompanied by applied 

structural design exercises. For these exercises, students produce 

structural design proposals addressing two building types that are closely 

related to structural design concerns: a pedestrian bridge for an urban 

site and a high-rise tower. As part of this module, students participate in 

a bridge design competition that requires students to design, build and 

test bridge models for their structural performance. The module also 

includes field trips, construction site visits and guest lectures / reviews 

by internal and external engineers and architects. 



081 

082 

ARC205 

Design Studio 

Design and Building Typology 


Huang Yifei, Façade Detail 

Level 2 



10 

Module Leader 

Aleksandra Raonic 

Teaching Team 

Yiping Dong 

Philip Fung 

Juan Carlos Dall' Asta 

Guest Critics 

Xu Liang 

( Atelier XUK Shanghai ) 

Hu Ying 

(Suzhou University of Technology 

and Science ) 

Vice Dean 

( School of Architecture and 

Urban Planning ) 

Zhang Weiping 

( Design Director, Studio IFUP ) 


44 

Learning Spaces for Children Re-Imagined 

This brief responds to the stated intention of the Chinese government 

to prioritise education and to re-think the primary school educational 

model currently in operation in China. Aside from the readiness for 

change of the curriculum and the pedagogies used, this studio advances 

the significance of the physical environment that children learn both 

within and from. 

As such, students are asked to consider learning spaces as educational 

devices and to conceive of them as the Third Educator. The nature of 

spaces for learning in primary schools and kindergartens have been 

studied and proven to significantly impact upon children’s learning 

abilities and development. 

Through research and critical consideration of different educational 

models and theories in China and beyond (conventional, or alternative, 

traditional, or progressive, green or technology-focused) students are 

asked to gather a body of knowledge that enables them to develop an 

approach to primary schooling, and to envision how architecture’s often 

overlooked role in education can be challenged and re-imagined. 

The resulting designs ideally offer new primary school models for China 

that seek to successfully meet all the complexities and demands of 

modern Chinese society, are capable of embracing the high intensity of 

its continuous transformation, and are possibly even able to transform in 

response. 



083 

084 


LOST PARADISE 

Gao Hanzhi | 高含之

085 

086 


Huang Yifei

087 

088 

ABSTRACTION & RUDUCTION 

Wang Liu | 王柳 


089 

090 


INTERACTIVE LEARNING PALACE 

Namgay Tshomo

091 

092 


THROUGH EXPLORATION TO WISDOM 

Jianqiang Xia | 夏坚强

093 

094 


LEARNING FROM NATURE 

Zhu Siwei | 朱思为

095 

096 

ARC204 

Design Studio 

Small Urban Buildings 


Wu Zhouying 

Level 2 



10 

Module Leader 

Juan Carlos Dall’ Asta 

Teaching Team 


Federico De Matteis 

Teresa Hoskyns 




47 

Urban Creative Hub / Rethinking Suzhou 

Innovation is one of the key features of contemporary society and, 

consequently, of cities. Innovative potential is directly tied to creative 

ability as a manifestation of attitudes and cultural values. Today creativity 

and its related outputs are considered as a resource for the development 

and transformation of the city, involving multiple disciplines such as 

economics, politics and sociology. Creativity is particularly relevant at a 

moment in which a new paradigm of strategic urban planning oriented to 

the reactivation of urban reality through a variety of “creative actions” is 

being developed. This design studio aims to investigate the new paradigm 

and associated case studies. 

The main objective is to investigate the process of generating “creative 

clusters” with particular attention to hybrid multifunctional spaces, as 

well as to understand their role in the generation of a new identity in 

medium or small scale urban contexts. 

The resultant projects are expected to experiment with new models 

for the creation of hubs which are capable of becoming meeting places 

establishing connections between creative minds, entrepreneurial actors 

and citizens. The studio seeks to investigate how innovation is able to 

regenerate “historic districts” and initiate urban regeneration processes 

which are capable of enhancing the “existing value” of the site. Key to 

the studio is how “urban memory” and the continuation of traditions 

(living heritages) engage with contemporary modes of production in 

order to create significant social benefits for the community. 



097 

098 

Wu Zhouying 


099 

100 


Zhang Houzhe

101 

102 


Huang Yifei

103 

104 


Yu Yulin

Xia Jianqiang

107 

108 

LEVEL 03 



In their final year, students demonstrate an understanding of the 

complexity of architectural design processes from initial concepts to 

the design of buildings, taking into account human needs and desires 

as well as structural, material and environmental considerations. 

Modules on digital design and building technology, theory, aesthetics, 

and professional practice are designed to support the studio tasks. In 

Year 4 students have the opportunity to select their studio projects 

from a series of parallel briefs. 

● ARC301 Architectural Technology (5 credits) 

● ARC303 Architectural Theory (5 credits) 

● ARC304 Design Studio: Final Year Project (10 credits) 

● ARC305 Design Studio: Small and Medium Scale Buildings 

(10 credits) 

● ARC306 Professional Practice (5 credits) 

● ARC308 Philosophy of Art and Aesthetics (5 credits) 



109 

110 

ARC301 

Architectural Technology 


Wind Pavilion, Preliminary Form and Generation 

by Hao Wu and Chenke Zhang. 

Level 3 



5 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 

Li-An Tsien 

Jose Hidalgo 


48 

This year’s course developed in two parallel strands in which technology 

was considered in terms of a product as well as a process. In the first 

instance, students had to optimize and improve a construction detail 

selected from contemporary buildings recently constructed in and 

around Suzhou. In the second instance, technology as a process focused 

on the parametric design of pavilions for a small exhibition space to be 

located in the Suzhou’s higher education town precinct. Through their 

designs students sought to challenge limiting boundaries and perceptions 

in terms of what technology and design is, through the use of generative 

systems and parametric tools, designing their own systems and tools as 

part of the process. 

Technology contributes to the autonomy of architecture as a discipline, 

defining and shaping the field through which to realise building 

performance. Stemming from a deep understanding of past and 

current buildings, technology, defined both as outcome and process, 

fuses the digital and physical understanding of the world. Seen as an 

enabler of design ideas, technology provides the link between design 

and production, research and development, design exploits and social 

ambitions. Seen through the lens of human capital and potential in the 

built environment, architectural technology may erase the boundaries 

between dream and reality, potential and realisation. Through such a 

frame, architectural technology should be understood as a recovery of 

human ability rather than a constraint, in both processes and output. 



111 

112 

ARC303 

Architectural Theory 


Students interviewing Wang Shu 

Level 3 



5 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 

Jiawen Han 

Jessie Cannady (Language Center) 


51 

Architectural Theory critically reflects on written discourses in and 

about architecture. A series of lectures, accompanied by weekly readings 

and alternating between a Chinese and a European point of view, 

introduce the students to the main concepts of architectural theory, 

and provide a framework for the understanding of on-going discourses 

in the field. The themes and topics of the lectures address historical 

debates, including the role and development of theory in architecture, 

the question of style, and the historical foundations of modernity, and 

also encompass areas such as criticism of high modernism, the rise 

of postmodern and post-structural theory, critical regionalism and 

architectural criticism, as well as to contemporary discourses, and the 

mutual influence of Asian and Western concepts of architecture. 

Further areas of dialogue and debate respond to interest articulated by 

students and/or faculty members. Two research seminars accompany 

the lectures, of which the students chose one, with the themes and 

topics varying from year to year. The main task in the seminars is for 

the students to conduct their own research within the given thematic 

framework, to present and discuss their individual research in one of the 

seminar sessions, and to eventually write and submit an essay on their 

chosen topic. To enhance their research and academic writing skills, 

the students receive in-class instructions, individual tutorials, as well 

as lectures and continuous support from the language centre. A final 

written exam stimulates the students to rethink what they have learned 

throughout this course. 



113 

114 

ARC306 

Professional Practice 


Selection of slides taken from student presentations 

Level 3 



5 

Module Leader 


Sofia Quiroga 


Philip Fung 


Jiawen Han 



48 

Professional Practice in architecture makes links with architectural 

practices, as a way of engaging students with ‘real-world’ perspectives 

and practice opportunities in the field of architecture. The course 

examines diverse international and Chinese practices as a basis 

to explore opportunities for students completing part 1 of their 

architectural training. Students examine opportunities ranging from: 

starting your own office; to working in large scale mainstream practices; 

to small scale interdisciplinary and research led practices. The module 

introduces Level 3 students to the management of architectural practice, 

the role of the architect as a professional and the role of the architect 

in the construction industry and the built environments of China and 

the West. Students develop an awareness of how architecture practices 

operate. They understand how buildings are designed and built in 

the context of architectural and professional best practice and the 

framework of the construction industry within which it operates. 

The module familiarises students with forms of procurement and 

contract types and sets out the role that architects play in dealing with 

contractual matters. An understanding of health and safety requirements 

both at design and construction stages also forms part of the syllabus. 

Students are introduced to the organisations, regulations and procedures 

for negotiating architectural designs, land law, development control, 

and building control. Students develop an understanding of cost control 

mechanisms and an awareness and understanding of the principle of 

whole life costing. Principles of behaviour, ethics and codes of practice 

for architects also form part of the module. 



115 

116 

ARC308 

Philosophy of Art and Aesthetics 


Field Trip to the James Turrell exhibition ‘Immersive Light’ 

at the Long Museum, 2017. 

From left to right: Dong Yiping, Zhang Wen and Chen Yukun. 

Photograph by Claudia Westermann. 

Level 3 



5 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 



Adam Brillhart (CAA, Hangzhou) 


52 

Philosophy of Art and Aesthetics provides an introduction to the wider 

cultural framework that forms the basis for architecture and architectural 

design. It introduces critical reflections at the border of architectural 

discourse, from both East and West, in order to facilitate a better 

understanding of cultural contexts and their influence on positions and 

expressions in the fine arts and architecture. Students demonstrate their 

understanding of how philosophy, art, and architecture mutually influence 

each other in short coursework exercises related to the seminar discussions, 

as well as in an essay, which offers an optional link to the Final Year Studio 

Project. 

This year’s course responded to the theme ‘Beyond Form: Plays with the 

Formless in Art and Architecture’ with a specifically designed series of 

lectures and seminars, addressing notions of formlessness in art, design 

and architecture. Philosophical writings, reflecting the theme in an 

explicit or implicit way, were given as reading assignments and discussed 

in the seminars in relation to selected works of art, such as paintings, 

installations, films, poetry and other forms of creative writing, but also to 

works generally categorised as design. An excursion to the James Turrell 

exhibition ‘Immersive Light’ at the Long Museum in Shanghai offered an 

additional opportunity for reflection. 



117 

118 

ARC305 

Design Studio 

Small and Medium Scale Buildings 


Section by Fuwei Shao 

Level 3 



10 

Module Leader 

Li-An Tsien 

Teaching Team 

José Ángel Hidalgo Arellano 


Glen Wash 


53 

Building Creative Cities 

Long emblematic of the fast speed urban development that resulted 

from the country’s breakneck growth; engendered by massive urban 

development strategies, Chinese cities have perhaps come to embody the 

socio-economical factors that led to their creation. It could be surmised 

that, after enabling the most important environmental transformation in 

China’s history, they have become both the symptom and the illness of a 

China in constant need of transformation. 

In recent years, the speed of the economy has radically slowed. Experts 

widely agree that the country needs to undergo a painful transformation 

from an industry driven economy to a service economy based on 

innovation. Cities all over the country are now facing a number of 

important urban challenges, including rising inequality, migratory 

pressure, pollution, resources and water consumption, population aging… 

etc. Are Chinese Cities, once the unchallenged drivers and standard 

bearers of an emerging new China that was built on the prosperity 

of millions of citizens lifted out of poverty over decades of intensive 

urbanization, in dire need to be re-invented? 

If Chinese cities are to help facilitate the urban and socio-cultural 

transition that the Chinese economy and, per extension, the Chinese 

society are undergoing, is their most important challenge the need 

to somehow re-think themselves in order to become something else, 

something driven by innovation, creativity, culture and society? 

In the context of this studio, we shall explore the relationship between 

built urban spaces and creative societies. 

The studio aims at equipping students with the necessary skills to design 

small and medium-scale buildings, taking into consideration a wide 

range of architectural, urban, socio-cultural, economic and political 

issues that are inherently connected with architectural practice. 



119 

120 

REVERSE CITY 

NEIGHBOURHOOD FICTION 

Shao Fuwei | 邵富伟 


121 

122 


Sun Chenxing | 孙晨星 

NEW SPECIES INVASION 

PARASITE 

Li Shaokang | 李少康

123 

124 


PERFORMING SPACE 

Xiao Ding | 丁笑

125 

126 

URBAN ESCAPADE 

Chen Yukun | 陈玉坤 


127 

128 

ARC304 

Design Studio 

Final Year Project 


Level 3 

( Year 4 | Semester 1 and 2 ) 


10 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 


Jiawen Han 


Li-An Tsien 

Yiping Dong 





Guest Critics 

Florence Vannoorbeeck 

( Ir Architect Urban Designer and 

Planner ) 

Elodie Degrave and Fabien 

Dautrebande 

( ULB Université Libre de Bruxelles ) 

Darren Zhou 

( Skew Collaborative ) 

Chen Yang 

( Tongji University ) 

Mengjia He 

( Founder Playze Architects ) 

Zhao Deli 

( CAA China Academy of Art ) 

Bee Kuang-Chein 

( Wuhan University ) 

Zheng Jing 

( Wuhan University ) 


53 

The Final Year Project Studio is the last studio module in the course 

of the BEng in Architecture at Xi’an Jiaotong- Liverpool University 

(XJTLU). 

The framework of the FYP Studio module is set to ensure a diversity of 

approaches to Architectural Design, allowing for parallel briefs, which 

are defined to a greater extent by the students themselves. 

In year 2016-2017, the academic staff of the Department of Architecture 

offered five briefs that are to be read as provocations, guiding students to 

pose critical questions in relation to current discourse in Architectural 

Design, in order to develop contextually responsive architectural 

propositions that integrate social, cultural, technical, and environmental 

knowledge at an advanced level. 

The five briefs for this year’s final year studio respond in various ways 

to the challenges that confront Architecture in China and beyond. 

They open a conversation on Architecture that is to be reframed and 

redefined by the students in the course of their research and design 

process. Each brief, regardless, requires students to design buildings 

that respond to specific urban and socio-cultural conditions. Social 

values and the primacy of human needs and desires are central in the 

development of the proposals. 

On the basis of their propositions and in connection to a coherent design 

process, students must demonstrate an understanding of architecture 

informed by inter-dependent cultural, historical, technological and 

contextual issues. The studio module actively encourages students to 

embrace a culture of risk and experimentation, but at the same time 

requires them to fully resolve their projects responding to human, 

technical and environmental needs. 



129 

130 

BRIEF A 

Active Ageing in an island of Suzhou 


What is Active Ageing? Active ageing is the process of optimizing 

opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance 

quality of life as people age. The burning question to be addressed in this 

studio is: can architecture support the elderly to participate in all aspects 

of community life in contemporary China? 

Students are required to investigate the possibilities and potentials of 

shared space in terms of typologies and public space in fostering friendly 

communities for all generations: shared living space between the old and 

the young; shared living space between young adults and their parents 

who temporarily visit them; shared space between caregivers and those 

who are ill; shared space for recreation between young adults and older 

people with disabilities; shared space for preparing group meals, hosting 

visitors and facilitating group meetings; and shared space for various 

religious rituals, etc. 

TEACHING TEAM 


Jiawen Han 

ACTIVE AGING BRIDGE 

Shi Haoyu | 石浩宇

131 

132 

ACTIVE AGING BRIDGE 

Shi Haoyu | 石浩宇 


133 

134 

ACTIVE AGING IN AN ISLAND OF SUZHOU 

THE SENSORY JOURNEY : 

MEMORIES AND SENSES IN A PARK 

Du Hanxi | 杜涵茜 


135 

136 

A NATURAL-CITY-BASED 

SHARED AGEING COMMUNITY 

Sui Yingda | 隋英达 


137 

138 


ACTIVE AGING WORKSHOP 

Wang Yitong | 王乙童

139 

140 

BRIEF B 

Open Fabrication: 

Spaces to Live and Make 


This studio invites students to research and design spaces that foster 

innovation in and through ‘making', focusing on new types of factories 

and spaces for experimentation in production. Students are asked 

to design buildings that will house a fabrication laboratory allowing 

industry, research, design, IT and other programs to meet and crossfertilize, 

a place where both sole inventors and collaborative teams 

can excel in bringing their ideas into realisation. At the same time the 

students are asked to build an understanding of the constraints and 

challenges surrounding the question of building a new fabrication 

space, its impact on communities and to explore current and future 

understandings of means of production. 

Stepping away from what a traditional factory should look like and 

further away from the innovative potential of laptops and 3-D printers, 

the studio calls into question how does the future look like when 

one can, and needs to, produce their own clothes? What about food? 

Infrastructure? Electronics? Beyond the imaginary utopias where 

everything is possible this studio will explore the constraints and limits 

of what is truly realisable today. 

TEACHING TEAM 


Li-An Tsien 

Nikhil Seewoo

141 

142 

SPACES FOR HUMANS AND ROBOTS 

Nikhil Seewoo 


143 

144 

SPACES FOR HUMANS AND ROBOTS 

Cindy Anthony 


145 

146 

BRIEF C 

Charging the Void – Collecting a House 


The brief invites students to consider strategies for the urban 

regeneration of an historical quarter in central Shanghai, engaging 

with a set of premises to be interpreted critically for the purpose of 

designing a house for a (re)collection of their own choice. The building 

is to house the past in the present, a museum of sorts, a space to drop 

by or drop something off, generating a shared accumulation of stuff to 

gather around or inside; a place where something new is nesting within 

the old. Alternatively, the design can be a memorial to a person, event, or 

thought, or a combination of these housed in one place. Students need to 

consider how occurrences, material as immaterial, can be acknowledged, 

celebrated, and even reanimated within the framework of a built 

structure that they will design. 

The studio begins with the implementation of a void space on a chosen 

location within the larger site area outlined by the brief. This gesture 

will serve as an initial siting of the (re)collection, while the insertion 

of a negative space in the fabric of the megacity reverses conventional 

practices in regards to the settlement of the site. 

Students will charge the void that they insert – we might call it a 

courtyard space – around which the (re)collection, its visitors and 

caretakers are held by the proposed building. As such, a gathering which 

takes the form of negative space, or perhaps rather a space awaiting its 

charge is proposed. 

TEACHING TEAM 

Yiping Dong 


COMMUNICATION SPACE & READING SPACE 

Chen Jiaci | 陈嘉词

147 

148 

COMMUNICATION SPACE & 

READING SPACE 

Chen Jiaci | 陈嘉词 


149 

150 

‘IMMERSIVE THEATRE’ 

IN SHANGHAI SHIKUMEN 

Chen Tianchi | 陈天驰 


151 

152 

BRIEF D 

Framing Indeterminacy 

Polyark 4 / Fun Palace Futures 


In light of recent developments in China that prioritize form as 

image, this studio asks students to re-consider concepts of openness, 

participation, and performance as fundamental questions of architecture. 

In this context China’s rich tradition in conceiving of art as interactive 

is foregrounded, with the proposed outcomes ideally offering a new 

architecture that operates in a manner similar to a three-dimensional 

version of a scroll painting in which multiple vanishing points corelate 

and accommodate a complexity of narratives, in the making of 

meaningful places. Recalling that the old Chinese Masters asked that 

they be depicted as if alive, the studio calls into question how we might 

discover new options for our cities, and new possibilities for creating 

architecture as an interface that allows for a new form of participation - 

that turns spaces into places, and enables users to fully inhabit them. The 

students will develop architectural projects for cultural exchange that 

will include fixed and mobile parts. At the same time, they will engage in 

exchanges with students in the UK within the framework of an initiative 

that has been set up by RIBA and connects 30 schools of architecture 

worldwide. 

TEACHING TEAM 



SOUND LABORATORY 

Zhang Chenke | 张晨珂

153 

154 

SOUND LABORATORY 

Zhang Chenke | 张晨珂 


155 

156 

SHIFTING PERSPECTIVES SOUND LABORATORY IN THE 

URBAN THEATRE - A PROPOSAL FOR AN 

Zhang Chenke | 张晨珂 

ARCHITECTURE OF INDETERMINACY 

Shao Fuwei | 邵富伟 


157 

158 

A PALIMPSEST OF OLD SHANGHAI 

Li Shaokang | 李少康 


159 

160 


FRAMING INDETERMINACY 

Chen Yukun | 陈玉坤

161 

162 

BRIEF E 

Learning + Leisure: 

Spaces for Contemplation 


Children and old people do not live in the ‘world of workers’. They share 

the domestic and urban space with the middle age working class but they 

experience time in different ways. Children and old people have plenty 

of time to learn, think, play, understand and contemplate in two different 

ways: dynamic and static, so to say. 

In most cultures, especially in Chinese culture, children and 

grandparents establish close relationships, with many children even 

living with their grandparents. This studio poses the question: how is it 

possible to create a space to help young and old alike to experience their 

shared and special time outside their own houses? 

While a number of studies in education have been developed engaging 

children and elderly in daily school routines with success, this brief 

asks students to propose an architectural solution to specific needs of 

contemporary educational centres. 

Students are, thus, invited to develop a mixed programme: School for 

Children + Residence for Old People. 

TEACHING TEAM 



ELDREN VILLIAGE 

Zeng Jiacheng | 曾嘉诚

163 

164 


Zeng Jiacheng | 曾嘉诚 


165 

166 


Zeng Jiacheng | 曾嘉诚 


PYRAMID PAVILION 

PLAYGROUND 

Zhang Xu

167 

168 


B ENG 

ARCHITECTURAL 

ENGINEERING 

PROGRAMME 

INTRODUCTION 

The Bachelor of Architectural Engineering is a new programme 

run by the Department of Civil Engineering at XJTLU. It provides 

students opportunities to specialize in aspects of engineering 

centred on buildings and is professionally accredited by the JBM 

(Joint Board of Moderators), a UK based accreditation body for 

civil engineering. The Department of Architecture contributes 

four modules to the programme, of which one is shared with 

Architecture (ARC110), and three are provided specifically for the 

programme: ARC112 Architectural Technology and Innovation, 

ARC111 Integrated Design of Small Buildings and ARC207 Building 

Technology in Integrated Architectural Design. The modules 

are designed to introduce students of civil engineering to crossdisciplinary 

skills of teamworking, design thinking, crossdisciplinary 

understanding and innovating, and a broad skillset 

ranging from using various types of drawing to express and 

discuss ideas to historical background knowledge in the history 

of engineering and architecture. Two of the modules are studio 

modules, where students learn in applied ways, often collaborating 

with architecture students in the design of buildings. 

Cheng Zhang 

Programme Director (Civil Engieenering) 


Programme Leader (Architecture)

169 

170 

ARC111 

Integrated Design of 

Small Buildings 


Second Interim Review, March 2017. 

Photograph by José Á Hidalgo 

Level 1 



5 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 



10 

In this studio module, students learn to generate a small-scale design 

proposal based on an initial brief. The studio specifically addresses 

design skills suitable for engineering students, who learn about the 

integration of technical and architectural design requirements. Students 

are initially introduced to typical materials employed in architectural 

structures, including concrete, steel, masonry, timber and glass. 

Based on this knowledge, students learn to design with materials and 

structures in the spirit of an architectural design concept in a series of 

weekly design exercises. Following this stage, students are introduced 

to architectural site analysis. Considering the results of the site analysis, 

students develop a technically focused design proposal for a given brief 

and a given architectural design concept, in informal collaboration with 

architecture students of the same year (volunteering ARC102 students). 

Students’ final proposals should clearly show a process of design 

development from an initial concept to a final architectural design 

proposal. The final proposal should demonstrate students’ ability to 

design a series of spaces using appropriate technical means to support 

architectural concepts and the realization of architectural qualities. 

Design proposals should respond creatively to the site context as well 

as to spatial, structural and technical requirements required by the 

architectural design brief. 

Project work is developed through group and individual tutorials and 

presented for public discussion in interim and final reviews. A series 

of lectures and additional tutorials will be provided by structure, 

environmental and/or construction experts. External guests are invited 

to participate in project reviews. Following the final review, work 

presented in interim and final reviews will be compiled and submitted 

in form of a final concluding report. Only the final report is assessed. 

B Eng Architectural Engineering Programme

171 

172 


FINAL EXERCISE 

Kwong Chungyin | 邝颂然 

Zhong PENGMIN | 钟鹏敏 ( ARC102 student ) 


Miao Pengyun | 苗芃芸 

Tong Huiyi | 童慧怡 ( ARC102 student )

173 

174 



Zhao Ziming | 赵子铭 

Zuo Annan | 左安南 ( ARC102 student )

175 

176 

ARC112 

Architectural Technology and 

Innovation 


Structural Design Review With Guest Critics Mary Polites and Jose Hidalgo. 


Ziming Zhao: 

Structural Design Process Documentation for a “Flying Box House”. 

Level 1 



5 

Module Leader 



10 

The module is provided for the BEng Architectural Engineering 

Programme (offered by the Department of Civil Engineering) and 

provides students with a broad understanding of architectural design, 

its history and theory. The module further prepares students for 

the following studio modules, also provided by the Department of 

Architecture. The design and construction of high quality buildings 

involves a holistic and cross-disciplinary perspective on architecture 

and engineering. This module provides students with a broad background 

of the history and theory of technology as drivers of innovative 

design in architecture and civil engineering, with a particular focus on 

intersections between the two fields. Students are introduced to the 

principles and practice of building design technology and construction 

procedures within the overall framework of an architectural design 

concept. Moreover, students are offered an overview of modes of 

collaboration and innovation between the fields of architecture and 

engineering. The module employs both theoretical lectures and applied 

modes of learning to prepare students for subsequent technically 

oriented architectural design projects. To this end, a series of short 

exercises integrating architectural and engineering components 

are conducted. Students develop the ability to analyse, understand 

and creatively employ skills of research, problem solving and 

communication, with a particular focus on using drawing as a catalyst 

of interdisciplinary exchanges. Students are introduced to a variety of 

buildings at different scales, which students research thoroughly in the 

form of detailed case studies. A variety of guest lectures and field trips is 

offered to engage students in learning. 


177 

178 

ARC207 

Building Typology in Integrated 


Yuzhe Li: 


Structural Design Process in 

Collaboration with Students of 

Architecture. 

Yuelong Liu: 

BIM Model Supporting Collaborative 

Design with Students of Architecture. 

Yuelong Liu (Architectural Engineering) 

and Sizhou Li (Architecture) discussing 

and revising architectural building 

layout for structural viability. 


Level 2 



5 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 

Philip Fung 


4 

High quality buildings are typically the result of carefully integrating a 

variety of factors, including both aesthetic and technical aspects. A high 

level of integration of architectural and engineering concerns from the 

very beginning of the design process is essential in this context. This 

studio module encourages holistic thinking as well as the integration of 

technical and artistic concerns. A typology-oriented approach serves as 

a framework to explore the relationship of architecture, structure and 

construction of a specific building type based on in-depth research of 

typical case studies. As part of a holistic and cross-disciplinary approach 

to design, the module encourages collaboration between students of 

architectural engineering and students of architecture already early on 

in the design process. Principles and practice of design are integrated 

with principles and practice of technology and construction, with 

particular attention given to the unifying overall framework of an 

architectural design concept. Students learn and build skills through 

critical thinking, analysis and research as well as through applied 

designing. 


179 

180 


PRACTICE 

Most countries, including China, the UK and the US, require a 

minimum of two years of practical experience, in a registered 

architect’s office, to register as a fully qualified architect. Our 

Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees have Royal Institute of British 

Architects (RIBA) part 1 and part 2 international validation and 

this qualifies our students to take the UK pathway to qualification 

as well as the Chinese pathway to become a class 1 registered 

architect. 

For those students who wish to gain work credentials in the UK 

and obtain registration with the UK Architects Registration Board 

(ARB). They will need to complete an RIBA part 3 examination and 

a minimum of 2 years practical experience. Students who do not 

wish to register in the UK can become a Chartered Member of the 

RIBA through taking the Part 3/MEAP examination. For this course 

they need to have completed 5 years post foundation education (with 

or without RIBA validation) and 2 years practical experience. 

The first practice year can be completed before the Part 2 

examination and at XJTLU we consider this period of work 

experience to be an important year of learning for intellectually 

understanding the workings of the construction industry. We 

(as well as the RIBA) consider it desirable and recommend our 

graduates to do their first year of practice after completing 

their undergraduate studies. For some of the most highly ranked 

professional postgraduate programmes worldwide it is mandatory to 

complete to the first practice year after the bachelor’s degree. 

Our Department has developed, and continues to develop, links 

with architectural firms, design institutes and industry as a way 

of engaging students with 'real-world' perspectives. My role as 

Professional Studies Advisor (PSA) is to work with employers and 

students in a joint effort to ensure the best possible professional 

development and experience for students. We will also advise 

employers and students on all aspects of professional experience, 

including commenting on matters such as salary levels and student 

capabilities. We support and monitor students work experience 

throughout the practice years. Graduates may ask the PSA or 

any other teacher in our department for advice on how to find 

such a position, or on how to monitor their years of practice. Our 

practice procedures are based on the UK PEDR, Professional 

Experience and Development Record (www.pedr.co.uk). The PEDR 

is a structured as a three-month record that must be verified by 

a suitably qualified employer and PSA within two months of the 

completion of the period. The PSA is responsible for reviewing the 

PEDR sheets quarterly and commenting on the breadth, scope and 

adequacy of the professional experience gained by the student. The 

RIBA provides guidance for students and employers on the PEDR 

website, and encourages students to gain experience either under 

the supervision of an architect or another qualified construction 

industry professional at this stage. 

Teresa Hoskyns, Professional Studies Advisor 

2016-2017

181 

182 


PLAT-ASIA Working Area. 

Photograph by C Company. 

Adjaye Associates New York, Office. 

Photograph by Adam Brillhart. 

PLAT-ASIA Bookshelves. 

Photograph by C Company. 

Adjaye Associates New York, Office. 

Photograph by Adam Brillhart.

183 

184 

PRACTICE 



After completing their BEng studies, our graduates now are qualified 

to work as RIBA part 1 Architectural Assistants, usually earning 

reasonable salaries. We recommend that students complete one year in 

practice before starting a Master’s degree. This year is not a gap year, 

as it counts towards the two years of practice experience required to 

become a fully qualified architect in the UK. For many students the 

first year in practice is a transformative experience, the first step into 

doing real architecture. 

We recommend our graduate students to work in a renowned, small 

or medium sized architectural practice (which are usually much more 

educative than the larger firms). Students who complete a practice 

year are well prepared to profit more from their studies when they 

join our Master’s programme the following year. For many Master’s 

programmes overseas one year of practice is a mandatory entry 

requirement. 

You may choose to work for longer than one year to save money or to 

gain additional experience. Other options include taking time out to 

work in the wider construction industry, work overseas, volunteer or 

travel. 

Practice 


185 

186 


M 

ARCHITECTURAL 

DESIGN 

PROGRAMME 

INTRODUCTION 

The Master of Architectural Design (MArchDes) is a 2-year, full 

time, professional postgraduate programme, designed to deliver 

learning outcomes as defined by the General Criteria and the 

Graduate Attributes to qualify for RIBA Part 2 validation. It 

prepares students for two main purposes: to work as fully qualified 

professional architects; and/or as independent researchers, enabling 

them to undertake further post-graduate studies. Upon successful 

completion, an international Master of Architectural Design 

(MArchDes) degree is awarded from the University of Liverpool, 

United Kingdom. The MArchDes programme was awarded RIBA 

part 2 Candidate Course status in December 2016. The second, socalled 

Initial RIBA Validation Visit took place in November 2017, 

with the programme well received. The report awaits confirmation 

by the RIBA Education Committee; it is expected to be published 

in February 2018.The programme is also registered with and 

recognised by the Chinese Ministry of Education (MoE). 

The MArchDes programme reflects the unique situation of our 

university, which is located in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. 

Classes are delivered by predominantly international (rather than 

Chinese or British) educators and are conducted in English to British 

university standards and in accord with their procedures. Here, 

we are searching for innovative ways of balancing the conditions 

of a globalised economy against the constraints of individual, 

local, and regional realities. The Department’s special location 

stimulates students, as well as faculty members, to critically 

review the ideas and habits, values and ideologies that shape our 

professional identities. Embracing diversity as a key value, and 

developing a dynamic and supportive studio culture is crucial for 

us. The education we offer has three main concerns: state-of-theart 

technical skills and knowledge; ample design practice; and a 

humanities-based education that assists students in navigating 

between eastern and western cultures in the development of their 

critical thinking skills. 

The programme offers a progression pathway for architecture 

graduates from the Department’s BEng programme, within the 

same educational framework, and a closely-related approach to 

pedagogy, which consolidates and builds upon previous learning. 

It also attracts graduates from other architecture schools in China, 

and from overseas. From a more global perspective, the programme 

offers graduate students from the United Kingdom, as well as other 

English-speaking countries with similar architectural qualification 

systems a unique opportunity to learn about contemporary 

China, with language and cultural barriers largely mitigated. It 

prepares international students for a career-start in China, while 

it provides local students with opportunities for national as well as 

international careers.

187 

188 

Our MArchDes programme, however, does not simply mirror the 

MArch programme offered by the University of Liverpool, but 

rather covers the same list of RIBA criteria, and has similar learning 

outcomes. Special care has been taken to ensure equivalent learning 

outcomes in Semester 3, in order to facilitate student exchanges 

with the MArch programme at the University of Liverpool upon the 

full validation of the course. 


Alessandro Zuccolo 

ARC410 final presentation 

Xiaohan Chen 

ARC410 final presentation 

Similar to many professional MArch programmes in Europe, the 

design studio is central to the department’s teaching practices, and 

encourages critical enquiry in the form of analysis, reflection and 

speculation. Learning-by-doing and learning-by-thinking lie at the 

core of the curriculum with 50% of the teaching and learning time 

devoted to architectural studios. Studio teaching is provided in 

small groups on the basis of structured briefs. Through individual 

projects, students are led through the learning experience, which 

spans from conceptual, theoretical and historical research along 

with site analyses in the earlier stages of their studies, to a highlyresolved 

architectural proposition at the end of their degree. As 

students advance through their studies, the increase in complexity 

is accompanied by greater choice in studio briefs. In Year 2, and 

especially in the Final Thesis Project, students develop their own 

studio briefs, aligned with research interests and expertise of their 

chosen tutors. 

A special feature of our programme is a strong stream of modules 

in the humanities, including theory, history, and scholarly research. 

This continues the basic structure of our undergraduate programme, 

which we believe is crucial in fostering cross-cultural awareness 

and understanding. Over the five years of architectural education, 

students are lead towards increasing levels of individual choice and 

responsibility. 

On successful completion graduates will possess advanced skills and 

demonstrate independence of thought which allows them to tackle 

contemporary built-environment problems through intellectual 

analysis, considered assessment and design decision-making. 


2014-2017 Programme Director

189 

190 

LEVEL 04 



The first year of the Master's programme focuses on design and 

practice, with the second on design and research. A special feature of 

our programme is a strong stream of modules in the humanities, with 

an emphasis on theory, history, and research. This continues the basic 

structure of our undergraduate programme, which is crucial in fostering 

cross-cultural awareness and understanding. Over the five years of 

architectural education, students assume increasing levels of individual 

choice and responsibility, culminating in the last year of the Master's 

programme. Here they choose their individual design studio tutors and 

together with them develop their own research and project briefs. 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

Year 1 (Semester 1) 

ARC403 Applied Technology in Architecture (5 credits) 

ARC405 Design Studio I (10 credits) 

ARC407 Architectural Theory and Criticism (5 credits) 



ARC402 Advanced Professional Practice (5 credits) 

ARC404 Design Studio II (10 credits) 

ARC406 Topics in Architectural History (5 credits) 


M Arch Des 


191 

192 

ARC403 

Applied Technology in Architecture 


Field Trip and project review with façade experts 

Rebecca Cheng and Fausto Nunes at KPF Shanghai. 


Jiayi Li: 

Façade detail. 

Level 4 



5 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 

Marco Cimillo 




9 

ARC403 invites students to engage with a wide range of technologies 

and technological considerations in the design, construction and use of 

buildings. Learning takes place in seminar and small lecture settings, 

with discussions, readings and exercise assignments. Students are 

expected to complete several individual coursework assignments to 

practice techniques, and subsequently assemble the works into a holistic 

technically oriented design proposal in their individual final reports. 

The theme for this year is the medium-rise tower. The module focuses 

on the integration of architectural and technological concerns first in 

the schematic design of a medium-rise tower with a load-bearing façade 

in its first part. Students employ digital design tools and processes 

(Rhino3D and Grasshopper) as well as interior lighting analysis to 

design the tower layout and generate high quality interior spaces. 

The second part of the module subsequently extends the scope of the 

conceptual design by integrating façade technology and considerations 

of environmental impact and occupant comfort. The module is taught 

in collaboration with offices based in Shanghai: JAE (Jiang Architects 

& Engineers), specialists in high-rise tower design, and KPF (Kohn 

Pedersen Fox), specialists in façade design. 


M Arch Des Programme

193 

194 

ARC407 

Architectural Theory and Criticism 


A walk in the park, 2016. 

Photograph by Tordis Berstrand. 

Level 4 



5 

Module Leader 


Contributors 

Yiping Dong 

Irene Chiotis (LC) 

Jessie Cannady (LC) 


11 

( 9 ARC students + 2 UPD students ) 

The module introduces central themes in architectural theory 

and criticism informed by current debates within and beyond the 

discipline. Framed as challenges confronting contemporary society on 

a global scale, these are issues of the present that call upon architects 

to respond and act. If this is not simply a call to built and make, it is 

an invitation to think, again, about the critical potential of built and 

imagined environments. 

With an eye to the global and Asian context of XJTLU, the module 

pursues the intersection of architectural thinking and practice as a 

space where students come to critically examine their own work. They 

do so for the purpose of positioning themselves as future architects, yet 

also to strengthen the ability to articulate a theoretical argument as an 

integral part of this architect’s task. As a means through which thinking 

and making can be bridged, writing is at the centre of activities 

whereby it becomes a site for architecture to emerge. 

Students reflect on a series of reading assignments in weekly 

coursework submitted for grading and eventually marking in revised 

form. In-class discussions, exercises, and presentations build up 

the skills required for the final essay submission, a draft of which 

is submitted and graded halfway through the semester. Academic 

standards are observed across all submitted work, and language 

teachers from the university’s Writing Center contribute regularly with 

lectures and tutorials. A final Folio submission concludes the module 

by compiling all material produced as a statement of the individual 

student’s achievement and learning. 



ARC402 

Advanced Professional Practice 

Level 4 



5 

Module Leader 


The aim of this module is to provide students with a solid understanding 

of professional approaches and behaviour. The course introduces 

students to the basic framework of building law, economics, procurement 

models and professsional ethics within the practice of architecture. 

Further, the professsion of architecture is contextualized in its 

relationships to social, economic and political backgrounds. Students 

are encouraged to examine how buildings are planned, managed and 

constructed in professional practice through individual research and 

through seminar presentations and discussions. 


9 



197 

198 

ARC406 

Topics in Architectural History: 

Modern Architecture as a 

Transnational Discourse 


Affonso Eduardo Reidy 

Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro 1953 

[ photo Paolo Scrivano ] 

Level 4 



5 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 


Yiping Dong 

Jonathan Ford (LC) 


9 

In recent times, the field of history has been characterized by the growth 

of studies adopting a “transnational” perspective, a phenomenon that 

has touched on disciplines as diverse as the history of international 

relations, the history of social policies, cultural history, migration history, 

and intellectual history. This increasing interest reflects the mounting 

consideration for a variety of phenomena that are often referred to as 

globalization, a term that seems to have gained currency not only in an 

academic context but also in popular discourses. 

The module aims to start a discussion on the transnational character 

of modern architecture and to verify to which extent the paradigm of 

transnational history can be applied to modern architecture as a historical 

subject. In doing so, this seminar considers a narrative covering the 20th 

century but that, at times, includes events that took place during the 18th 

and 19th centuries. The module also addresses theoretical questions that 

are relevant within the discourse of contemporary architecture, such as 

the effective impact of transnational mobility on professions and building 

practices and the actual applicability and sustainability of global notions of 

design. A particular focus is placed on the relation between Western and 

Asian architecture. 

Students are asked to read and respond to the referenced literature in 

order to contribute to the discussions in class. They are also encouraged 

to actively seek out and engage with historical evidence beyond the 

brief’s bibliography, and to reflect on their own developing research 

methodologies. 



199 

200 

ARC405 

Design Studio 1 

A Soft Urban Regeneration in Suzhou 


Level 4 



10 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 


Bert De Muynck 

Quanqing Lu 

( teaching assistant ) 

Guest Reviewers 

Bing Lin (Shanghai) 

Bart Mahieu (Suzhou) 

Christian Nolf (UPD) 


9 

The challenge of this studio is to reflect on the processes of “soft 

regeneration” of an urban village located near the south-west gate of 

the old city of Suzhou (Pan Men). Originally a farming village, the site 

is presently a kind of “island”, bounded on the eastern, southern and 

western sides by the canals of the Xitang River, and on the northern side 

by Panmen Road, with very few connections to the surrounding urban 

area, creating a negative condition of isolation and segregation. 

The Planning Bureau of Suzhou has long been interested in a radical 

redevelopment of the area, due to its strategic situation near the historic 

city, however the remaining residents are opposed to relocation and 

demolition. 

In this studio, students are required to develop their designs at both 

the scale of the housing type, and that of the larger urban realm. 

Drawing inspiration from the traditional courtyard houses of Suzhou, 

students are asked to adopt a critical attitude towards the tradition, 

using as a reference point the body of work concerning the “critical 

reconstruction” of European cities in the Post-War period, as well as 

contemporary interpretations of “carpet housing” typology. In order 

to ensure greater density, this low rise / high density housing is to be 

designed (one to three floors) along with small residential towers (“slim 

towers,” eight to fifteen floors), in which to relocate the residents. 

Through this studio, a strong sense of collaboration between teachers 

and students of the architecture programme and XJTLU’s Masters 

programmes in Urban Planning, and Urban Design continues to develop, 

and owes much to their module leader Christian Nolf, UPD Department, 

whose work focuses on the same urban region of Suzhou. 



201 

Ornella LEUNG KEI 

202 


Bissoonauth Chitraj

203 

204 


Ma Bo

205 

Ma Bo 

206 


207 

Tan Jianxiang 

208 


Deng Siqi

209 

Bissoonauth Chitraj 

210 


211 

212 

ARC404 

Design Studio 2 

2042–Networked Urban Towers 


Studio Group Discussion About Masterplan Layout. 


CFD Analysis of Wind Flow Across the Project Site, Guided by Marco Cimillo. 


Level 1 



10 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 


Marco Cimillo 

Jiang Chun (JAE) 


9 

The second studio module in the MArchDes programme focuses on 

establishing and developing mutually inspiring relationships between 

technical and environmental requirements and design ideas. The studio 

addresses increasing systemic interdependencies of human habitation, 

built form, technology, society, natural and urban environments in 

contexts of high population density, as they are typically found in the 

fast-expanding cities of Asia. Design proposals must be based on a 

strong research background, which is intended to lead to a diversity of 

individually defined and well-argued architectural design approaches. 

Project work is developed in a studio setting supported by lectures, 

group and individual tutorials. Reviews of students include departmental 

staff, visiting experts from other schools as well as practicing architects. 

The brief invites students to develop experimental future-oriented 

mixed-use towers on a site in Shanghai. Students are asked to develop 

contextually responsive architectural design proposals that integrate 

social, cultural, technical, and environmental knowledge at an advanced 

level. Working individually, but with a strong focus on a highly integrated 

overall masterplan, students developed their proposals informed by 

lighting and wind analysis. The studio was supported and co-taught by 

Jiang Chun, director of Shanghai-based practice JAE (Jiang Architects & 

Engineers), specialists in high-rise tower design. A selection of proposals 

were further developed and submitted to the 2017 student competition 

of the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, of which one was 

awarded third prize. 



213 

214 


Chan Yook Fo Brian 

THE MAKER TOWER 

Bissoonauth Chitraj

215 

216 


VERTICAL STREETSCAPE TOWER 

LI Jiayi

217 

218 


ECO COMPLEX 

Deng Siqi

219 

220 


SEASONAL 

APARTMENTS 

Ma Bo

ALA 


Level 4 

( Year 1+2 ) 


0 

Hours 

200 / Semester 

Coordinator 


All Master programmes in our university require 200 hours of 

Additional Learning Activities (ALAs) to be undertaken each semester, 

the majority of which are chosen by the students. These allow our 

students to address their individual learning needs whilst contributing 

to the community beyond the confines of the university. Some of these 

activities must be undertaken during teaching periods, while others 

can be pursued over the winter and summer breaks. At the beginning 

of their studies, students with their individual Academic Advisors plan 

their ALAs for the whole two years of the programme; this plan is then 

updated at the beginning of each semester. 

ALAs do not contribute to the marks of the students, but are assessed 

on a pass/fail basis and are therefore non-credit bearing. The learning 

activities students may choose include English, Spanish and Chinese 

language and culture modules, personal and career development courses, 

independent studies with a tutor, teaching and research assistantships, 

select Level 3 and 4 modules, internships with architecture firms, study 

trips, as well as a series of ALAs which accompany and support the 

design studio modules. 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

Postgraduate English (mandatory, if required by the programme director) 

Postgraduate Spanish 

Chinese language (mandatory for international students) 

Chinese culture (mandatory for international students) 

Graduate teaching assistantship 

Graduate research assistantship 

Graduate practice placement/internship 

Participation in Level 3 or 4 lecture based modules in the built 

environment cluster 

Participation in Level 3 or 4 modules from other XJTLU departments 

or the Language Centre 

Selected topics in design tools and methods 

Selected topics in advanced digital design 

Selected topics in architectural research methods 

Selected topics in architectural representation 

Independent studies with an architecture tutor 

Scholarly presentation of a research paper 

Publication of a paper in a peer-reviewed architecture-related journal 

Personal and employability skills 

Reconstruded historical brick kiln 

Imperial Kiln Museum, Suzhou 

Level 04 – Year 1+2 


223 

224 

LEVEL 04 


04 

In the fifth and final year of architecture studies at XJTLU, the focus is 

on strengthening the abilities of the students to develop their individual 

approach to architectural research and design, and communicate research 

outcomes and architectural proposals based on critical engagement with 

a given framework. Through a coherent design and research process, the 

work produced is informed by the evaluation of theoretical concepts, 

the consideration of context, regulations and user requirements, as well 

as the integration of technical knowledge. The design studio aims at the 

development of design tools and strategies that will be investigated and 

developed further in the subsequent thesis project and thesis dissertation 

to be produced in the concluding Design Studio 4. 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 


ARC409 Architectural Design and Research Methods (5 credits) 

ARC411 Practice-Based Enquiry and Architectural Representation 

(5 credits) 

ARC413 Design Studio III (10credits) 


ARC408 Written Thesis (5 credits) 

ARC410 Design Studio. IV / Thesis Project (15 credits) 

M Arch Des 

XJTLU ARCHITECTURE YEARBOOK 2016-2017

225 

226 

ARC409 

Architectural Design and 

Research Methods 


Level 4 



5 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 




6 

The module aims to familiarize students with research strategies related 

to the design work they concurrently undertake in ARC 413 “Design 

Studio 3”. In the first instance, students address theoretical questions 

concerning design and research in the architectural field through 

literature and specific case studies; then, under the supervision of the 

teaching team, they developed their own research strategies and put 

them in practice in their studio work. 

The first part of the module has a seminar format and is organized 

through in-class discussions and reading of assigned texts, with 

lectures providing context for debate. This aspect considers general 

areas of research - specifically, in relation to site and architecture, to 

the thinking that defines the practice of architectural design, to the 

representation and prefiguration of architectural ideas, to materials 

and the material component of architectural practice, and to the actual 

processes of designing. The second part of the module is structured as 

a laboratory for the preparation of the Thesis Prospectus, under the 

supervision of the teaching team. 

Each student produces a thesis prospectus that prompts and engages with 

questions in the practice and theory of architecture. In the prospectus, 

students propose a thesis question, demonstrate their command of 

architectural research, and identify and develop a specific set of theories 

and methods appropriate to their research work. 

Guest lecturers are invited to share their research experiences; and 

special sessions are organized in coordination with ARC 413 to foster 

discussion between students and thesis supervisors on chosen research 

themes. 



227 

228 

ARC411 

Practice Based Enquiry and 

Architectural Representation 


View of the installation by Sharvari Shanmugam. 

Photograph by Sharvari Shanmugam. 

Level 4 



5 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 



6 

The module introduces advanced practice-based methodologies in 

critical creative problem solving and communication. Students are 

encouraged to explore a range of different art practices. Through representation 

of architectural projects and through shifting between 

different media – such as drawings, models, video, sculpture, interactive 

digital media, installation art – the students learn new ways to identify 

questions, to address them, and to communicate to audiences that have 

differing understandings of what architecture is or could be. The course 

also aims at initiating reflections on the differences and commonalities 

between Chinese/Asian and Western aesthetic positions, so as to 

facilitate a better understanding of a cultural context’s influence on 

positions and expressions in architecture and its relation to questions of 

representation. 

In this year’s course, texts reflecting thoughts on practice-based 

knowledge, on art, design and architecture were read, and discussed in 

weekly seminars in relation to works of architecture and design, films, 

examples of creative writing, and artworks - such as paintings, sculpture, 

installations, and performance works, to initiate a critical engagement 

with ways of knowing through practice. Through a series of exercises 

in the remaking and translation of Architecture, students engaged with 

questions of experience, and of documentation and presentation of 

spatial principles, as well as with the practices and theories of practice 

that are discussed in the weekly seminars. They learnt to understand 

this engagement as a form of critical enquiry into architectural practices 

of presentation and representation. 



229 

230 

ARC408 

Thesis 


Imperial Brick Museum, Suzhou, by architect Liu Jiakun 

Level 4 



5 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 




6 

In this module, students develop and complete the writing component of 

their Masters’ thesis, conducting and documenting a research project in 

the field of design research. 

Building on the module ARC 409 “Architectural Design and Research 

Methods” and running in parallel with Design Studio 4 (ARC 410), this 

module guides individual students in the preparation and production of 

a research thesis in the field of architectural design research in a largely 

self-guided and otherwise seminar-based learning mode. Students 

conduct and document, in thesis format, a research project in the field of 

design research, working on a written document explaining their design 

thesis’s principles and giving theoretical support to their design projects. 

The module alternates discussions with individual students on the 

preparation of the thesis’s written part with internal group seminars on 

research, with the participation of both students and tutors of the Design 

Studio 4. Students are also invited to attend seminars offered by invited 

lecturers. 

The module’s final objective is to enable students to individually design, 

execute, and report self-contained research projects in the context of 

applied architectural design. 

Views of the Exhibition presented at the RIBA part 2 Exploratory visit in 

October 2016 



231 

232 

ARC413/ARC410 

Design Studio 3+4 


MArch Des Graduation Exhibition in the Materials Library, 2017 

Level 4 

( Year 2 | Semester 1+2 ) 


10+15 

Module Leader 


Teaching Team 


Christiane Herr 

Glen Wash 

Juan Carlos Dall' Asta 


Philip Fung 


6 

In the final year of the Masters programme students develop their own 

design briefs and choose their individual tutors. The module ARC413 

Design Studio 3 framework ensures a diversity of approaches allowing 

students great freedom in defining their methods of learning and their 

approaches to architectural design. Over the summer break, they 

already define the scope and topic of their projects in close cooperation 

with their individual tutors, which are chosen at the end of May. During 

the autumn semester, the project is then developed in the usual studio 

setting supported by in-class presentations, group and individual 

tutorials, as well as lectures and seminar discussions. Students are 

guided to develop design tools and processes that allow them to explore 

their topics critically and in-depth, informing their design project, and 

initiating the thesis process that continues during the final semester of 

the Masters programme. 

Close connections with the other two modules in the semester support 

and inform the student’s enquiries: ARC411 Practice Based Enquiry 

and Architectural Representation will support the artistic side of the 

student’s design work, and ARC409 Architectural Design and Research 

Methods informs the theoretical and research aspects of the work. 

Students regularly present their work for discussion in reviews to all 

tutors involved in teaching this studio, to other faculty members, invited 

reviewers from other schools, as well as practicing architects. 

In the final semester of the Masters programme, students are supposed 

to demonstrate self-reliance in the framing of architectural problems 

and in the research required to engage these problems. Building on the 

design and research outcomes achieved in the previous semester, in 

ARC413 Design Studio 4 students address an individually chosen design 

thesis project, resolving design and research challenges identified in 

the thesis prospectus written at the end of the previous semester. The 

outcome is a self-contained thesis design project supported by a thesis 

dissertation written in the parallel module ARC408 Thesis. Effectively, 

the work produced at this very special moment of life has two objectives: 

It concludes and summarizes the years of studies, and, for the first time, 

clearly addresses the wider professional public. 



233 

234 

RE/ACTING: 

RETHINKING RECENT SUZHOU ARCHITECTURE 

Many cities in China (Suzhou included) have undergone changes in urban form and construction at unprecedented speeds and magnitudes, creating 

cities in which urban environments have reached unforeseen scenarios and contrasts. The speed in which these changes are occurring occasionally 

appear excessively fast, to the point that citizens and public spaces cannot ‘hold together’ the city anymore. Can a city’s main urban characteristic 

be dissolved, changed or replaced to the point in which it becomes unrecognisable? What is the potential of architecture to adapt to social, 

economic and environmental changes not by being demolished and rebuilt, but by reacting and responding to those changes? This master thesis “RE/ 

ACTING: Rethinking Recent Suzhou Architecture” addresses some of this questions by proposing design strategies aimed at interacting and reacting 

with some of the newest (and somehow failed) projects in Suzhou's Central Busines District. 

The first part of the thesis explores and analyses six malls located in CBD, and proposes initial conceptual transformations and architectural 

reactions to each one of them. 


The second part of the thesis develops an urban intervention in Suzhou's CBD by proposing 3 new axes which interact and transform the existing 

fabric. The thesis also develops a new version of Xinghai Square that depicts the way in which the proposed axes enact the idea of renovating and 

refurbishment of new, recently built architecture. 

STUDENT 


Glen Wash 

SUPERVISORS 

Pierre-Alain Croset

235 

236 


Alessandro Zuccolo

237 

238 


REGENERATING CREOLE ARCHITECTURE: 

ENGAGING CREOLE IDENTITY 

Driven by in-depth research on the architectural history and local resources of Mauritius, the Master thesis “Regenerating Creole Architecture: 

Engaging Creole Identity” developed an artisan market and cultural center located in Grand Baie, Mauritius. The thesis responds to the local culture 

of Mauritius, which has historically been a place of amalgamation of a wide spectrum of different cultures, including French, British, African, Indian 

and Chinese influences. The concept of the Creole defines a type of identity that develops through this type of multicultural setting – an identity that 

is defined not so much by preserving, but by flexibly accommodating and adopting from various sources. The Creole is however more than a mixture 

of external influences: in the process of adapting what is encountered, influences are edited, reinterpreted and transformed to suit the purposes 

and preferences of local contexts, climates and lifestyles. Creole identity can be found in historical architecture as vernacular, but it can also be 

expressed in contemporary built form. This studio project combines research and design to examine and generate Creole processes of productive 

amalgamation and adaptation as an alternative to anonymous globalised architecture. 

This studio project extends and applies an approach to Creole architecture that is based on the previous studio’s research process. Where during 

the earlier research phase, the main source of inspiration was Creole vernacular architecture, particularly heritage architecture, this studio project 

addresses primarily new and larger scale architectural programmes such as multi-storey residential and commercial buildings. The studio project 

employs local climate and materials as essential factors in developing a Mauritian Creole architectural identity and proposes alternative ways of 

building taking into account not only geometric and spatial, but also local material, structural and climatic aspects. 

STUDENT 

Brian CHAN YOOK FO 


SUPERVISORS 

Paolo Scrivano

239 

240 

LIVING ON WATER: 

FLOATING LANDSCAPES 

Mauritius is a small island in the Indian Ocean with 1.3 million inhabitants. During the last 15 years its main economic source has progressively 

changed from the sugar industry to the textile industry to tourism. 3 years ago Mauritius’ annual tourist arrival was 1 million. Currently the island 

receives 1.3 million tourists every year. 

However, this has also generated a number of conflicts and problems such as beach erosion, coral reef bleaching with diminished access to the 

beach for the locals. 

How to deal with an increasing demand in tourism industry and lack of coastline on the island? This is the question that the Master Thesis “Living on 

Water: Floating Landscapes” addresses by proposing a new floating settlement on the coastline of Mauritius. 


The first part of the thesis is focused on defining the cultural, historical, environmental and contextual issues which may play a role when designing 

a water settlement on the island. It also provides site analyses which identify potential locations for different types of water settlements on 

the Mauritius coastline. At the same time, it develops a prototype settlement, exploring issues such as the floatability and flexibility of floating 

architecture. 

The second part of the thesis focuses on the architectural development of a representative settlement, proposing different buildings for housing, 

commerce, utilities and production. Each one of these facilities have different requirements in terms of floatability and distribution. The project also 

develops a flexible and movable circulation system which keeps the settlement unified while generating the settlement's public spaces. 

STUDENT 

Jason Chan Sip Siong 

Glen Wash 

SUPERVISORS 

Christiane M. Herr

241 

Jason Chan Sip Siong 

242 


243 

244 

TONGLI: 

RETHINKING, REVITALIZATION AND REGENERATION 

The Master Thesis “Tongli: Rethinking, Revitalization and Regeneration” explores the tensions, conflicts and design opportunities behind the 

relationship between rural environments and urban environments in China. The economic growth of China's urban centres has impacted the 

country's agrarian communities in recent decades. It is estimated that about 1.1 million villages disappeared between 2000 and 2010. 

Once culturally and economically rich, villages are currently at a crossroad; are they going to dissipate, leaving behind disjointed patches of 

urban fragments embedded in the rural landscape? Or perhaps this is an opportunity to explore and propose new ways of architecture for rural 

development. 

The first part of the thesis identifies 3 types of villages (semi-urban, semi-rural and fully rural) and selects 3 villages representative of these 

categories; Tongli, Bishan and Nanping. After undertaking a site and morphological analyses, the thesis proposes village-scale projects aimed to 

ignite different types of rural regeneration in each of the studied villages. 


The second part of the thesis fully develops one of these proposals at an architectural scale, creating a new entrance and regeneration area in the 

water town of Tongli. 

STUDENT 

Sharvari Shanmugam 

Glen Wash 

SUPERVISORS 

Juan Carlos Dall'Asta

245 

246 


Sharvari Shanmugam

247 

SUZHOU MUSEUM OF MUSIC 

248 

With the title “Suzhou Museum of Music”, the Master Thesis developed a design research in two phases. In the first phase (semester 1), the research 

was focused on some basic questions related with the type of the museum as a driver of intellectual and artistic progress in contemporary China, 

and with the specific functional programme of a Museum of Music. They were mainly three concerns: how to exhibit music, how to present the 

traditional Suzhou music culture in an exhibition, and how to relate to the particular urban fabric of the city. 

In the second phase (semester 2), the design research has been concentrated on the interaction between the programme of the Museum of 

Music, and the specific site of Changmen in the historical core of Suzhou. The functional programme has been step by step better defined, using as 

consultants local musicians and music instrument makers. As a reference for the design, the traditional Suzhou garden has been used for defining 

an original structure of pavilions and covered corridors, exploring different forms and different materials for giving a strong architectural identity 

to the exhibition rooms (based on specific properties of materials) and performance rooms (based on acoustic rules). 

STUDENT 

SUPERVISORS 


View of the model with the Museum of Music 

in the middle of the block of traditional courtyard houses 

View of the model 

Weiwei Chen 


Philip Fung

249 

250 

RECYCLED LANDSCAPES: 

A BUDDHIST MONASTERY IN A QUARRY 

With the title “Recycled Landscapes: A Buddhist Monastery in a Quarry”, this Master’s Thesis design research was developed in two phases. In the 

first phase (semester 1), the research focused on basic questions related to soil pollution and waste- landscapes in China, as well as the analysis 

of successful landscape architecture projects. Zhongliangyunfeng village near Chongqing was selected as the site for the project, a site that had 

been extensively transformed by agriculture and stone mining. Through site investigation, three main quarries were chosen to be further developed 

through landscape reparation, with each quarry associated with a different functional scenario. Drawing from Buddhist philosophy the concept of 

recovering, which means the recovering of nature as well as the recovering of human beings came to underpin the project. 

In the second phase (semester 2), design research concentrated on one particular quarry to be recycled as a Buddhist Monastery, providing 

permanent living quarters and surrounds for Buddhist Monks and further providing hospitality for visitors. As a complement to this basic program, 

other functions were hosted by the site, including a small vegetarian restaurants, a tea house, a Buddhist bookstore, dedicated rooms for Buddhist 

Chanting and lectures. 


The project developed through the association of analytical work with speculative thinking, and deployed techniques of decontamination and 

remediation in order to determine the uses of regenerated sites, in the pursuit of an ideal combination of natural landscape and man-made 

artifacts. 

STUDENT 

Xiaohan Chen 


SUPERVISORS 

Juan Carlos dall’Asta

251 

Xiaohan Chen 

252 


253 

254 

PRACTICE 



The practice year 2 is generally made after the completion of the 

Master’s degree. RIBA part 2, graduates now are qualified to work as 

RIBA part 2 Architectural Assistants. 

To sit the part 3 examination, graduates are required to undertake a 

total of 24 months of experience under the direct supervision of an 

architect. For students intending to take the UK part 3 examination, 12 

months minimum should be undertaken in the EEA, Channel Islands 

or the Isle of Man. 

At stage 2 practical experience graduates will be given more 

responsibility on projects. At this time graduates should begin studying 

a part 3 course which covers aspects of practice, management and law. 

During this time graduates can also become a RIBA Associate Member, 

which provides a range of services and benefits appropriate to their 

needs at this stage of their career. 

Practice 


255 

256 

RIBA PART 3 

MEAP Access Course 


Co-Working Space SOHO Fuxing Lu, Shanghai. 

Photographed by Sun Fengzhu. 

Co-Working Space SOHO Fuxing Lu, Shanghai. 

Photographed by Sun Fengzhu. 

Co-ordinator 


After completing practice year 2, graduates now are qualified to sit the 

RIBA part 3 examination. 

Due to XJTLU's status as the largest joint-venture University in China 

with a strong connection, through Liverpool University to the RIBA, we 

have been selected to become the first institution in mainland China 

to host the International Part 3/MEAP access course, as presently 

running in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Gulf. In October 2017, Alison 

Mackinder from RIBA North visited the University to propose and 

discuss the conditions of the course. 

The Membership Eligibility Assessment Panel (MEAP) is a panel 

of prominent academics and practitioners who meet twice a year to 

assess the applications of international architects and academics, 

working outside the UK and do not necessarily hold RIBA-recognised 

qualifications, but want to become international RIBA Chartered 

Members. 

Successful completion of the RIBA Part 3/MEAP course enables 

architects and non-UK graduates with 5 years architectural education 

(with or without RIBA validation) and two years’ experience in practice 

to apply for RIBA Chartered Membership. It is planned that the first 

access course will run in June 2018 for three days. In preparation for 

the course, applicants receive seven web based monthly study packs, 

provided on www.architecture.com to supplement the delivered course 

on campus. These monthly study packs can be started during the 

Practice Year 2. 

For further information, please contact Teresa Hoskyns, Professional 

Studies Advisor (PSA). 

Practice Year 2

257 

258 


OTHER 

ACTIVITIES 

Hakka House. Photograph by Zhenchen Lou

259 

260 

SECOND SUZHOU 

INTERNATIONAL 

ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOP 

Urban Conservation and Modern Interventions 

in Changmen Historical District 

February 19-25, 2017 


In Yipu Garden 

Photos by Milan Ognjanović 

Final exhibition 

Photos by Milan Ognjanović 

Participants 

University of Liverpool (UK) 

Andrew Crompton, Torsten 

Schmiedeknecht, Soumyen 

Bandyopadhyay, 10 students (all BA) 

Technical University Graz (AT) 

Wolfgang Dokonal and Martin 

Grabner, 9 students (4BA + 5MA) + 2 

PhD students 

Politecnico di Torino (IT) 

Alberto Bologna, 8 students (2BA + 

6MA) 

Sapienza University of Rome (IT) 

Simona Salvo, Alfonso Giancotti, 

Luca Reale, 11 students (6BA + 5MA) 

+ 2 PhD students 

ENSA Paris Val-de-Seine (FR) 

Nathalie Régnier-Kagan, Jean Mas, 

12 students (all BA) 

Xi’an Jiatong-Liverpool University (CN) 

Department of Architecture 

Juan Carlos Dall’Asta, Federico De 

Matteis, Teresa Hoskyns, Aleksandra 

Raonic, Austin Williams, 57 students 

(48BA + 9MA) 

Coordination 

Pierre Alain Croset, XJTLU, Head of 


Juan Carlos Dall’Asta, XJTLU 

Workshop Assistants 

Jiali Hu 

Qian Lin 

Quanqing Lu 

This Workshop explored an innovative approach to the urgent problem 

of the urban conservation in China. Characterized by the presence of the 

beautiful Garden of Cultivation, founded during the Ming Dynasty (Yipu 

Garden, UNESCO World Heritage site), the Changmen Historical District 

is a dense and lively neighbourhood in a high-end residential and tourist 

area. While strict planning guidelines control and regulate historic 

buildings, including the materials, the form of the roofs, the openings and 

the heights of the buildings, these regulations do not apply to the modern 

buildings inserted in the middle of the traditional urban blocks, many of 

them realized in the years between 1970 and 1980. 

The workshop proposed to demolish the modern buildings, and to 

imagine new interventions in the historical blocks. The voids created 

in the middle of the traditional urban fabric could thus offer scope 

for innovation, and means to explore a contemporary language more 

sensitive and more elegant, or, alternatively to create pedestrian 

connections through and between the blocks. 

11 teachers and 54 students from 5 European Schools of Architecture 

(University of Liverpool, Graz University of Technology, Politecnico di 

Torino, ENSA Paris Val-de-Seine, Sapienza University of Rome), and 5 

teachers and 59 students from the Department of Architecture of XJTLU 

participated in the workshop. 

The participants were divided into 14 groups, corresponding to the 14 

sites in the Changmen District, with each group developing a “restoration 

plan” for one block, with a precise image of the urban quality of the block 

after the intervention, and with clear indications of the mix of functions. 

Critical of the idea of “stylistic reconstruction,” the workshop strove to 

forge a stronger connection between urban and architectural design, 

and between conservation and innovation as it interrogated the role of 

architects as creative interpreters. 

Other Activities

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262 

WORKSHOP W.A.VE.2017 

IN VENICE 


Proposed Future Syrian City Model produced during the WA.V.E Workshop 

View of Palmyra with the Temple of Bel, Syria, 2010. 

Photograph by Bernard Gagnon. 

Thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding recently signed between 

XJTLU and the Università Iuav di Venezia, 5 students from the 

Department of Architecture (Yu Xinning, Zhang Tao, Yan Haonan, 

Yao Wenxuan, Zhai Huihong) were invited to the prestigious W.A.VE. 

WORKSHOP in Venice, from 26 June to 14 July 2017. 

Every year for three weeks in June and July, Università Iuav di Venezia 

turns into a big open campus, or a festival, thanks to the W.A.VE. 

Workshops that sees the participation of over 100 teachers, professors 

and assistants, and 1800 students enrolled in undergraduate courses. 

W.A.VE. is formed by 28 workshops, each with a main professor and 

a group of assistants. Each workshop is attended by approximately 

60 students and is self-organized by the professors on the basis of 

instructions given by the organization. 

In 2017 W.A.Ve. dealt with the reconstruction of Syria and was organized 

in collaboration with United Nations Economic and Social Commission 

for Western Asia and select UN agencies and NGO’s. 

As such, W.A.Ve. 2017 was an opportunity to focus attention on the 

global architectural phenomenon of urbicide, with the membership of 

Syria augmented emphasizing the value of cultural heritage and the 

shared responsibility for its reconstruction. W.A.Ve. 2017 reasserted 

Venice’s and Iuav’s key role in addressing critical global and the vital 

role that architecture plays in reconstruction, conservation, and urban 

transformation. 

Other Activities

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264 

BAMBOO WORKSHOP 


Workshop Leaders 


Ruggero Canova 

Winning teams 

Yuanxin Zhao and Rui Lu 

Yu Yulin and Yuqi Shen 

Zou Yina and Luo Cong 

Lu Xiaohui and Yuanfeng Hu 

Arising as a shared initiative between the Department of Architecture 

and the Department of Industrial Design, the Bamboo Workshop was 

organized by Juan Carlos Dall’Asta (ARCH) and Ruggero Canova (IND) 

as the first didactic initiative hosted by the Materials Library located in 

the Design Building on 23rd November 2016. The workshop’s intention 

was that students experiment with different ways of using bamboo to 

generate constructive patterns for the Materials Library’s feature walls. 

In only 7 hours, ten Year 3 Architecture students and ten Year 4 students 

of Industrial Design, organized in mixed groups of two students, had an 

excellent opportunity to explore the importance of “thinking with their 

hands”, to investigate research methodologies through making or, as it is 

otherwise known, research by design. The workshop enabled students 

to transform abstract concepts into technical solutions in the knowledge 

that ideas must be open to improvements during the construction stage, 

highlighting how the building process itself plays an important role in 

design. 

Three established craftsmen from Shanghai instructed the twenty 

Architecture and Industrial Design students in the art of building with 

bamboo, providing them with the opportunity to experiment through 

making at 1:1 scale, drawing out the inherent beauty of the material. 

After many hours of prototyping and testing their concepts students 

gained in confidence and became quick and adept in weaving and 

assembling bamboo poles and strips. And by late evening everybody 

involved was astonished by the ten huge and diverse installations 

surrounding the central room of the Library.Each work expressed, albeit 

in different ways, delicate and clever designs which brought out the 

potential of this meaning-rich material. 

At the completion of the workshop, four teams were awarded the “best 

design” which will be ideally realized in the completion of the Materials 

Library. 

Other Activities

265 

266 

SERGIO PASCOLO 

ARCHITECTS - 

TOTAL HOUSING 


Photographs by Milan Ognjanović 

Dates 

20 April to 12 May 2017 

Curator 

Sergio Pascolo 

Exhibition Design 

Ross T. Smith 

Total Housing presented the work of the Italian architect Sergio Pascolo, 

based in Venice and active in urban planning, and the design of public 

and residential buildings, predominantly in Italy and Germany. 

The exhibition sought to illustrate the architect’s research trajectory and 

emphasized the interrelated significance of individual dwelling space 

as a component of the civic and social space of the city in an ongoing 

dialogue between interior and exterior places. Pascolo’s research is 

concerned with three major themes: housing design and the nature 

of its roominess; building configuration in light of the possible mix 

of residences along with other functions; and, the study of building 

typology in order to define forms of urban space that promote and 

enable social life and sustainable living. Sub-themes include: flexibility; 

notions of proximity; variation, compactness, and cost effectiveness. The 

projects presented each sought to address specific issues and to provide 

opportunities within neighborhoods, urban projects, building projects, 

housing and individual homes. Recognising the dual role of housing 

projects as dwelling spaces and as features of the wider environment, 

their capacity to host other functions such as cultural and educational 

centres highlighted their livable significance. 

Other Activities

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268 

LECTURE SERIES 

SPRING 2017 


The Department of Architecture organized a series of 5 lectures during 

the second semester of the 2016-17academic year. 

In the first lecture (23 February), Nathalie Régnier-Kagan presented 

“From the Housing to the City” which showcased the work of Kagan 

Architectures, established by her and Michel Kagan in 1989, a practice 

which focuses on social housing in urban contexts. 

With the title “Ontological Response” (14 March), Zhu Xiaofeng discussed 

the work of his office Scenic Architecture founded in Shanghai in 2004, 

which has emerged as one of the most influential young practices in 

contemporary China, with works widely published in international and 

local professional media. 

Li Zhang (27 March) used the concept of Playfulness to introduce the 

work with of his firm Atelier TeamMinus, and his design philosophy as a 

Professor at the Tsinghua University. Zhang Li’s research focuses on 

pre-industrial oriental philosophy and its contemporary reinterpretation, 

and with his partners at TeamMinus they have completed a variety 

of buildings and urban renewal projects in China, which have been 

published internationally. 

The lecture of Sergio Pascolo (20th April) was organized on the occasion 

of the his exhibition “Total Housing” at the Department of Architecture 

(see in the following pages). 

With the title “History Re-storied” (8 May), Wang Hui presented a 

sequence of projects realized with his partners in the firm URBANUS, 

including the regeneration Five Dragons Temple project in Ruicheng 

City (2016) which gave rise to a heated debate on the protection and 

regeneration of cultural relics in contemporary China. 

Other Activities

269 

270 

RE-SIGNIFYING 

THE WATER TOWN: 

A SURVEY OF SHENGJIADAI 

(SURF) 


SURF exhibition final poster 

Supervisor 

Glen Wash Ivanovic 

Students 

Linmei Li 

Yi Jiang 

Shitao Fan 

Annan Zuo 

As part of this Undergraduate Research Project we surveyed the current 

conditions of Suzhou’s canal streets. Over the years, Suzhou has lost 

80% of its original canals. Today, great emphasis is given to Suzhou’s 

emblematic canal streets like Pingjiang Lu and Shangtang Jie, yet these 

streets are predominantly commercial and tourist-centred. Hence, they 

may not be able to truthfully represent the original dwelling qualities of 

the canal street. However, there are still canal streets in Suzhou which 

retain many of their original qualities. One of them is Shengjiadai: the 

only diagonal canal in Suzhou’s old town. We undertook a survey and 

analysis of Shengjiadai, searching for traditional aspects that could have 

implications/applications for modern architectural design. 

Other Activities

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272 

CONCEPTS OF HERITAGE IN 

CONSERVATION PRACTICES 

IN RURAL VILLAGES IN 

CHINA (SURF) 


Supervisor 

Yiping Dong 

Students 

Zhuoying Wu 

Houzhe Zhang 

Yang Di 

Volunteer Students 

Hanzhi Gao 

Huihong Zhai 

Yuxin Bai 

Miao Yu 

Jiawei Fan 

Yubang Wu 

Ruochen Gong (China Studies) 

The “new rural village,” the construction and beatification of villages, has 

attracted numerous architects and considerable investment to villages. 

Focusing on conservation practices at a village level, this research 

surveyed and analyzed the concepts of “heritage” from the point of 

view of various stakeholders. Heritage conservation is considered an 

effective method to revitalize the decline of rural settlements. Different 

approaches of internal and external stakeholders and other efforts have 

shaped these practices, each with their own understanding of heritage 

and conservation. Through field visits to different villages, and semistructured 

interviews and questionnaires, this research sought to 

identify and map the different understandings of “what heritage is” by 

experts and non-experts across a range of practices. 

This research project is a collaborative undertaking with Tianjin 

University, Ruanyisan Heritage Funding and Shanghai Tongji Urban 

Planning & Design Institute. The poster won the Student Choice Award 

on the SURF Poster Day. 

Other Activities

273 

274 

CHALLENGES TO THE 

ADOPTION OF BIM IN 

CHINESE ARCHITECTURE, 

ENGINEERING AND 

CONSTRUCTION (SURF) 


Field Survey of Local BIM Practices, Interview Conducted at CSIAD ( Suzhou Institute of Architectural Design ). 


Final Project Presentation at XJTLU SURF Poster Day 2016. 


Supervisor Team 

Christiane M. Herr (PI) 


Students 

Gao Yixuan 

Zhang Jiaqi 

Yang Shihao 

The separation of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) 

professions has been criticised for stifling design quality, innovation and 

building performance. BIM* (Building Information Modelling) offers 

the AEC professions means to cooperate using shared digital project 

representations, and thus a potential to bridge professional separations. 

Despite high awareness of BIM strategies, BIM adoption rates in the 

Chinese construction industry are still relatively low. Besides some 

high profile projects, Chinese AEC practices also tend to maintain 

professional separations, implementing separate project models and 

defeating the potentials listed above. This project investigates challenges 

to the adoption of BIM specific to the Chinese AEC practices, with a view 

to formulating strategies for increased BIM adoption. 

* BIM (Building Information Modelling) is an umbrella term describing production 

and management processes in which construction procedures as well as physical and 

functional characteristics of buildings are represented digitally, with the purpose of 

predicting and controlling construction procedures and building performance. 

Other Activities

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276 

CAADRIA2017 

CONFERENCE 


Group Photo of CAADRIA2017 Conference Participants. 

Photograph by Milan Ognjanovic. 

CAADRIA2017 Keynote Speech by Prof. Manfred Grohmann. 

Photograph by Milan Ognjanovic. 

Conference Organising 

Committee Chair 


Organising Committee 



Glen Wash 


Cheng Zhang 

Assistants 


Li Jiayi 

Number of participants 

174 

In April 2017, the Department of Architecture at Xi’an Jiaotong- 

Liverpool University hosted the prestigious 22nd international 

conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design 

in Asia: CAADRIA2017. Researchers from all over Asia as well as the 

wider global digital architectural research community spent three days 

at XJTLU presenting and discussing cutting-edge research. Projects 

discussed included those related to digital fabrication, robotics in 

architecture, Building Information Modelling, interactive architecture 

and architectural-scale 3D printing, among others. 

The four public keynote speeches reflected the current state-of-the-art 

in the field as well as visions for the future, ranging from a discussion 

of digital tools in collaborations between architects and engineers by 

Professor Manfred Grohmann from Bollinger + Grohmann engineers, 

Germany to a critical reflection on the relationship between digitally 

designed and fabricated architecture and the local Chinese context by 

Professor Philip Yuan (Tongji University, China). Architect Zhenfei 

Wang (HHD_FUN, China) presented projects from his architectural 

practice, illustrating how advanced digital design practice can engage 

with local village craftsmanship. Professor Weiguo Xu, Chair of the 

Department of Architecture at Tsinghua University, gave insights into 

the way architects across China now engage in digital architectural 

design practice in a keynote speech entitled ‘Towards a New Digital 

Architecture’. Professory Xu’s speech also accompanied an exhibition 

of related works presented in the new exhibition space of the Design 

Building on the University’s South Campus. 

Other Activities

277 

278 

CAADRIA2017 EXHIBITION: 

TOWARDS A DIGITAL 

ARCHITECTURE 


CAADRIA2017 Exhibition Opening, April 2017. 

Photographs by Milan Ognjanovic. 

Exhibition Host 

Department of Architecture, XJTLU 

Exhibition Curator 

Weiguo Xu 


Tsinghua University 

The CAADRIA2017 exhibition was held as part of the CAADRIA2017 

Conference in April 2017. 38 Representatives of advanced digital design 

in China were invited to showcase their work in the atrium of the 

Design Building of XJTLU’s new South Campus. Including cases from 

architectural design practice as well as academic research, the exhibition 

presented new developments in digital architecture made in China. 

Exhibitors include: GAO Yan, LI Daode, LIN Qiuda, MAD, SHAO 

Weiping, SONG Gang, SU Chaohao, LIN Kangqiang, WANG Zhenfei, 

WANG Luming, Philip F. YUAN, ZHANG Xiaoyi, ZHONG Huaying, 

ZHU Pei, Beilida, BIAD UFo, HU Biao, HUANG Weixin, JI Guohua, LI 

Biao, Steven MA, SHI Xinyu, WANG Wei, WU Jiangmei, XU Feng, XU 

Jiong, XU Weiguo, YU Lei, Sam CHO, Alain Renk | MU Wei, South China 

University of Technology, Southeast University, Tongji University, 

Tsinghua University. 

Other Activities

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280 

DEYANG INTERNATIONAL 

STUDENT CONSTRUCTION 

COMPETITION 


Workshop Leader 

Philip Fung 

Students 

Xinyi Zhang 

Jiaheng Lv 

Xinrui Dan 

Wending Xiao 

Yang Wang 

Wenyi Huang 

Huiling He 

Yating Bai 

Jiaqi Song 

Jinyu Zhang 

Introduction 

In this Deyang International Student Construction Competition, Xi’an 

Jiangtong Liverpool University was allocated a traditional farmhouse 

with six sectors in Longdong Village. In early July, several students did 

research work on the house including climate, house dimensions and the 

expectation of the owner. Then, Philip Fung led the team to do the design 

concept and construction drawings. Four Generations under the Roof is 

the main idea hence there will be four generations living in the house, 

four bedrooms and a shared living room will be designed. The rammed 

earth wall will be reserved with reinforcement and a new house will 

be added in the right side. Therefore, the whole house including the 

courtyard will be a unified space. In the construction period in August 

2017, Philip and all participating students were actively involved, 

supervising at the construction site. Students learned a lot, especially 

in terms of creative ideas and construction procedure through this 

competition. 

Design Idea 

After asking after the expectation of the owners and a visit to their 

house, we figured out that there will be four generations living in the 

house so that they need four bedrooms for each generation. In addition, 

the owner required a specific place for worshipping ancestors. Therefore, 

the team came up with the main idea of this design plan which is Four 

Generations under the Roof ( 四世同堂 ). The living, dinning and walking 

connection through the visual perception and the flow between each 

room could be tighter in a separate pattern and the entire house is a 

combination of open and independent spaces. Furthermore, in China, the 

pronunciation of the “generation” and “bedroom” are the same, thus we 

made this homophonic as another highlight of the idea. 

Other Activities

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282 

MASTERPLANNING 

THE FUTURE 


Master Planning the Future 5th Anniversary Edition, designed and produced by Yiqing Dai. 

The departmental magazine, Masterplanning the Future (MPTF) has 

had a significant impact within and outside the University. It is the only 

independent online architecture magazine in China, written in English 

that aims to bring Chinese architecture to an international audience. 

Since its inception, MPTF has organised the Department’s speakers 

programme with local and international visiting architects. Students 

have used the opportunity to interview all speakers and post resulting 

articles, which has been a way to network with architects and build 

professional relationships for potential internships. 

We are now moving into film, recording interviews and planning a short 

documentary. We will also launch round-table, filmed discussions where 

students debate issues facing China. 

This magazine is a great way to enhance students’ critical skills and to 

develop good journalistic and English-speaking skills. We hold regular 

meetings to promote, train, engage, take questions and help students in 

this endeavour. 

We are always looking for new editorial members! 

To view Masterplanning the Future online and for further information 

go to: http://www.masterplanningthefuture.org/ 

Other Activities

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284 

2016 ARCHITECTURE 

STUDY TRIP 

IN FUJIAN PROVINCE 

Mingyang Xu 

Picture of studytrip 

Bridge house by Xiaodong Li 

Jianqiang Xia pictures 


Zhuoying Wu 

Picture of Study Trip 

Visit Xia'men University 

photography collection-Hanzhi 

Hualin Temple Main Hall visit 

Xia'men on Site lecture by Dr. He Yan 

Tour Leaders 

Yiping Dong 

Staff 

Junjie Xi 


Marco Camilo 

Quanqing Lu 

Three cities, one island and several villages and settlements, a total of more than 

20 sites were visited over a period of seven days by XJTLU’s Year Three students in 

October 2016. 

The tour commenced with a visit to “Three Lanes and Seven Alleys,” a national 

heritage site originally built during the Western Jin Dynasty. The site features 

buildings and urban patterns resulting from stratification over more than sixteen 

centuries, and includes the water-side Pavilion and performing stage in Yi Jin 

Fang, dating back to 1573. In Fuzhou, the students also had the opportunity to 

visit the Hualin Temple, one of the finest wooden structures built under the 

North Song dynasty. This Buddhist sanctuary, like several other buildings 

encountered during the trip, was surveyed and sketched on site. The two days 

in Fuzhou were concluded with a visit to the Jiu Ma residential dwelling and the 

“Stepped Courtyard”, a contemporary architecture project inspired by the Tulou, 

a vernacular residential type peculiar to this area, with several other superb 

examples later visited in Heken village, a UNESCO world heritage site. 

On the way to Xiamen, other exciting stops were encountered through the 

mountainous Western Fujian region. These included Anlian Castle, a fortification 

dating back to 1810 in Jiyang Village; the contemporary Bridge School, an awardwinning 

project designed by Li Xiaodong aimed at promoting community 

development and environmental sustainability in the village of Xiashi and the 

Hakka houses in Yongding. At the Bridge School a special Asian Architecture 

History lecture was presented with students later engaging with local villagers 

against the backdrop of the sunset. This was one of the unforgettable moments of 

the trip. 

The colonial architecture of Gulangyu Island and a visit to the spectacular 

campus of Xiamen University were highlights of the stay in Xiamen. Here too, the 

opportunity to learn how materials and technology can influence aesthetic design 

and decoration was exemplified by the traditional settlement of Cai’s Family, 

characterized by its red striped bricks, which result from a particular traditional 

manufacturing process. 

The trip was concluded with two days in the historic city of Quanzhou, where 

the group, besides visiting the Maritime Museum, West Street and the Zhongshan 

Road Historical District, experienced the diverse religious life and architecture 

of the city. Important buildings including the Quanzhou Confucian Temple, built 

during the 10th century, the Buddhist Kaiyuan Temple in West Street, originally 

erected during the Tang Dynasty, the Qingjing Mosque, dating back to 1009, and the 

Guandi Temple and Mazu Temple, where worship has continued to take place since 

the Song Dynasty, brought to the fore Quanzhou’s historical significance as major 

harbor city and the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. 

The week was very instructive, with a group of students introducing each site, along 

with contributions from local academic experts from Fuzhou University, Xiamen 

University, Datian Museum and Quanzhou Historic Town Regeneration office, 

enriching the experience and the knowledge base. 

Other Activities

285 

286 

HONG KONG STUDY TRIP 

José Á Hidalgo 

Students wandering around Hong Kong 


In The University of Hong Kong 



Urban view 

Hanxi Du 

Urban view 


Hong Kong from Victoria Peak. 

Tour Leaders 



Students 

Xu Zhang 

Xiaochen Zhou 

Tianyuan Yang 

Xing Zhan 

Yixuan Gao 

Jiaqi Zhang 

Jiacheng Zeng 

Weiwei Wang 

Fengzhu Sun 

Jianglin Qian 

Xiaoyuan Wang 

Yukun Chen 

Hanxi Du 

( year 4 students ) 

The Hong Kong Study Trip took place from 14-18 February during the 

Winter Break, just before the beginning of 1st Semester. 

It was conceived as part of the Final Year Project teaching (Brief E) and 

provided students with the opportunity to study the city, reflect on the 

relation between the natural environment and high-density urban areas 

and to visit compelling works of contemporary architecture including 

designs by Norman Foster, I.M. Pei, Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, 

amongst numerous other notable architects. 

During the trip, the students joined with a master’s students group at The 

University of Hong Kong, both teams, XJTLU and HKU, sharing tutorials 

and critique sessions. 

Other Activities

287 

288 

HANGZHOU RESEARCH 

FIELD TRIP 


Tour Leaders 


Junjie Xi 

Students 

Cindy Anthony 

Jiaci Chen 

Yukun Chen 

Jie Cheng 

Xiao Ding 

Hanxi Du 

Wei Kuang 

Jiaxu Li 

Shaokang Li 

Shiyu Qian 

Fuwei Shao 

Xiaoya Shen 

Tianyu Su 

Fengzhu Sun 

Lanke Tang 

Weiwei Wang 

Xiaoyuan Wang 

Hao Wu 

Tianyuan Yang 

Tshering Yangzom 

Kaifeng Yin 

Weijie Yu 

Xing Zhan 

Wen Zhang 

Xu Zhang 

Xin Zheng 

Ruidi Zhou 

Ruoyi Zhu 

Jianglin Qian 

Dates 

18-19 November 2016 

Over a period of two days in November 2016, the ARC303 seminar group 

undertook a research field trip to Hangzhou, where students explored 

several sites and buildings by Amateur Architecture Studio, established 

by Lu Wenyu and Wang Shu. 

The aim of this ARC303 Seminar A research project of was not only to 

gain a better understanding of Amateur Architecture Studio’s built and 

un-built projects, but to learn more about its two founding architects. 

Meeting with Lu Wenyu and interviewing Wang Shu, students were able 

to discover where and how they were educated, how they commenced 

their careers, whilst also learning more about issues that underpin their 

research and how this informs how their projects, and how they think 

and write about architecture. Students were then able to better reflect 

upon how their approach to contributes to architectural theory in light 

of discussions of it by critics and the broader profession. 

As founders of the China Academy of Arts in Hangzhou, how Lu Wenyu 

and Wang Shu’s theoretical and practical work informs their teaching at 

the architecture school was also a topic of interest. 

Works visited during the field trip included the Old Town Conservation 

of Zhongshan Street, the Vertical Courtyard Apartments; Xiangshan 

Campus Part I and II; the CAA Student Refectory, the Shui An Shan 

Ju Hotel, and a visit to a construction site with Deli Zhao, with a talk 

presented by Adam Brillhart. Students also took the opportunity to 

explore around West Lake and visit the China Crafts Museum by Kengo 

Kuma. 

(Part of ARC303 Seminar A) 

Other Activities

289 

290 

LE CORBUSIER VIVANT 

STUDY TRIP 

Ouli Tu 

Ronchamp’s Interior View and Lyon’s traboules 

Sketches 

Zhuoying Wu 

Chapel of Ronchamp 

Sketches 


Jiapeng Wang 

Students in Ronchamp 


Students in Lyon 

Hanzhi Gao 

Cultural Center in Firminy 

Hanzhi Gao 

Students in Firminy 

Yifei Huang 

Le Modulor 

Ouli Tu 

Couvent de la Tourette 

Tour Leaders 

Juan Carlos Dall’Asta 


Students 

Yunjia Ma 

Hanzhi Gao 

Ouli Tu 

Yuxin Bai 

Mingyang Xu 

Houzhe Zhang 

Shan Cao 

Zhuoying Wu 

Jingying Lin 

Lincheng Zhou 

Yifei Huang 

Jieyu Wang 

Siwei Zhu 

Jiapeng Wang 

Xueyan Feng 

Jianqiang Xia 

Bingqi Liu 

Huihong Zhai 

Xiao Ding 

Haoyu Shi 

Jianglin Qian 

Hanxi Du 

Wei Kuang 

The Le Corbusier Vivant Study Trip took place from 16-26 June following 

the end of 2nd Semester. 

It was conceived of as a unique opportunity to explore Le Corbusier’s 

work in situ from different and new perspectives. For while Le 

Corbusier’s work is well-known to students of architecture all over the 

world, many aspects of his oeuvre can only be discovered through direct 

encounter. The nature of materials, shifts in scale, and the play of light in 

space provided students with numerous memorable experiences. 

The tour started in Lyon and ended in Paris, with inspiring examples of 

historic and contemporary architecture visited along the way. The trip 

as a whole enriched students understanding of the history of western art 

and architecture, while providing a new appreciation of urban culture. 

Other Activities

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292 

FREESTYLE BRIDGE 

DESIGN COMPETITION 


Bridge design review with guest reviewers from 

the Departments of Civil Engineering and Architecture. 

Photographs by Christiane M. Herr. 

Level 2 


Event Organiser 


Guest Reviewers 

Cheng Zhang 

Isaac Galobardes 

( Department of Civil Engineering ) 



( Department of Architecture ) 


47 

The Freestyle Bridge Design Competition is an annual event conducted 

as part of the module ARC202 (Structural Design). The competition 

gives students an opportunity to experiment with complex structural 

systems and a variety of self-chosen materials in the realisation of 

architecturally driven design ideas. The competition task this year 

was to build a bridge model for a given urban site in the city of Berlin, 

supported only at the ends. Bridges should be as lightweight as possible 

while supporting a weight of 6kg distributed across the bridge. As in a 

real-life competition for bridges, models should not only perform well 

in terms of load-bearing capacity, but also demonstrate innovative ideas, 

usability, concern for the pedestrian experience while crossing the 

bridge and quality of details and general craftsmanship. To determine 

the winning team, the competition integrates numerical performance 

evaluation with a general qualitative assessment by guest reviewers from 

the Departments of Architecture and Civil Engineering. Winning bridge 

models must demonstrate good structural performance as well as good 

integration of architectural ideas and structure. The competition has 

been conducted for several years and is often described as a key learning 

experience by participating students. This year, three of the best bridge 

proposals were further developed, submitted to and presented at the 

Footbridge2017 Conference held in Berlin, Germany. 

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Final review of cardboard shelter designs by primary school children. 

Photographs by Milan Ognjanovic. 

CARDBOARD SHELTERS 


Level 1 


Event Organiser 


Teaching Team 

Philip Fung 


219 

The Cardboard Structures event is an annual event conducted as part 

of the module ARC104 (Structures and Materials). It is the culmination 

of students’ first attempt at building a life-size structure made 

primarily from cardboard, without the use of glue and relying purely 

on mechanical connections. This year, the task was to build shelters for 

school children of about 10-11 years old. Besides additional connection 

materials such as metal screws, cable binders and string, the bridge 

structure must be made entirely of cardboard. Students work in teams 

of five to seven, and collaborate on all stages of the design. The project is 

run in cooperation with Suzhou SIP Foreign Language School, with their 

primary-level 6 students performing both as ‘clients’, giving students 

initial creative inspiration, and eager test subjects once structures are 

completed. The shelter design proceeds through a series of interim 

models, including a review of half scale prototypes at the collaborating 

school. The final review takes place at XJTLU and consists of a playful 

load testing and client assessment by the school children. During the 

event, the children also vote for the “Best Cardboard Shelter 2016 

Award” by attaching stickers to their favourite shelter designs. In this 

process, architecture students learn essential skills such as design work 

in teams, planning and managing the execution of work, assembly of 

1:1 scale models as well as matching their design ideas with functional 

requirements as well as the preferences of the users of their structures. 

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BDP-FARRELL PRIZE 


The Department of Architecture at Xi 'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University 

awarded its second annual BDP-Farrell prize to Year Four student 

Shao Fuwei, for his final year studio work. The award is sponsored 

by BDP - the architecture firm that designed XJTLU's South Campus 

including the Design Building that is the home to the Department of 

Architecture. The award is also named in honour of the first faculty 

member of the Department of Architecture at XJTLU, Edward Farrell, 

the and recognises the undergraduate architecture student with the best 

studio performance in the final year of the BEng(Hons) Architecture 

programme. Studio modules allow students to apply the skills they have 

learnt throughout their degree to practical projects, with two studio 

modules featuring in the fourth year. Fuwei was presented with his 

award at a ceremony held in the Design Building’s exhibition hall, during 

the University's graduation week. The prize ceremony was chaired by 

Sofia Quiroga from the Department of Architecture and Beili Peng from 

BDP presented the award. 

Li Shaokang, already the recipient of the Best Performance in the Final 

Year Project in Architecture Award, received the BDP-Farrell second 

prize, with graduate Xu Zhang being honoured with the third. 

The award is a gift of Professor Andre Brown, former Vice President 

for Academic Affairs at XJTLU. Originally involved in setting up the 

Department at XJTLU, Professor Brown invited BDP to be a sponsor, 

thus establishing the award. BDP have close links with the Department 

of Architecture at XJTLU, with Wang Tao, one of the principal designers 

of the South Campus, lecturing for a number of years in the architecture 

programme's professional practice module. 

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OUTSTANDING DESIGN 

BRIEF AND OUTSTANDING 

DESIGN STUDIO 

COURSEWORK 


Staff and students from the Department of Architecture at Xi’an Jiaotong- 

Liverpool University celebrated the award of a number of prizes at an 

architectural education competition for universities in China. Submissions 

from the department won the ‘Outstanding Design Brief’ and ‘Outstanding 

Design Studio Coursework’ at the 2016 National Architectural Education 

Annual Symposium in Hefei, China. 

Schools and departments of architecture around China were required to 

submit architectural design studio briefs and related resulting students’ work. 

Design studio modules form the central core of architectural degree 

programmes. In a design studio module, students are asked to respond 

creatively and responsibly to questions posed by a design brief. Students’ 

projects are typically developed in a studio space in which they all work, 

and they are encouraged to discuss and think critically as a baseline for 

collaborative learning. 

A teaching team of five tutors, including Ganna Andrianova, Aleksandra 

Raonic, Austin Williams, Lina Stergiou and Jose Angel Hidalgo Arellano, 

led by module coordinator Ganna, won in the ‘Outstanding Design Brief’ 

category for their brief ‘Creative Hub/Co-working Space in Suzhou’ in the 

Shantang Street area of Suzhou. 

Andrianova developed the brief as a continuation of efforts made by the 

Department of Architecture to equip students with methods and tools that 

would enable them to act creatively in response to the question of urban 

regeneration, in the local Chinese context, as well as to locations that are 

not familiar to them. 

Two individual XJTLU students’ work won prizes in the ‘Outstanding 

Design Studio Coursework’ category for their designs that were developed 

within the ARC204 design studio module. 

Fuwei Shao, supervised by Andrianova, won for his ‘vibrant’ joint office 

environment design concept that was informed by research on biological 

processes and the growth of plants. Shaokang Li’s winning design, 

supervised by Raonic, reflected on processes in the human body to 

create a space around which creativity flows, in a similar way to oxygen 

circulating around the body. 

Other Activities

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300 

GRADUATE’S PROJECT 

SHOWN AT RIBA 

PRESIDENT’S MEDALS 

STUDENT AWARDS 

EXHIBITION 


Sun Chenxing, a 2016 graduate from the Department of Architecture at Xi’an 

Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), has had his work included in an 

award exhibition hosted by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) 

in London (beginning of December 2016 to the end of January 2017). 

The annual RIBA award recognises outstanding projects that architectural 

students have developed during their Bachelor and Master programmes at 

departments of architecture around the world and is known as the RIBA 

President’s Medals Student Awards. Each year a selection of projects entered 

into the awards competition are showcased alongside the awarded projects to 

promote excellence in architectural education, and to initiate architectural 

debate on what architecture could be, and how architectural education 

addresses these questions. 

The inclusion of Sun Chenxing’s work in the award exhibition is a sign of 

the high quality that XJTLU’s Department of Architecture has achieved in 

its education in recent years, and highlights the Department’s commitment 

to providing its students with an architectural education that addresses 

questions on the edge of international discourse, while providing them 

with the best possible basis for a start into the life as young architects and 

designers. 

The RIBA President’s Medals are widely regarded as the most prestigious 

international awards in architectural education. Having the work of a 

graduate included in the RIBA President’s Medal Exhibition also confirms 

the positive feedback that the Department of Architecture received during 

the last visit of the RIBA committee in October 2014. The committee very 

positively valued the department’s achievements specifically in regards to 

creating a new type of international architectural graduate with Chinese roots. 

The Final Year Project entitled “Urban Mountain Retreat” was supervised 

by Dr. Christiane M. Herr and Dr. Thomas Fischer from the Department of 

Architecture at XJTLU. 

After his graduation, Sun Chenxing worked for a year in an office in Beijing. 

He received offers to continue his education in professional postgraduate 

programmes in Architecture from a range of prestigious institutions, 

including the University of Edinburgh UK, the University of Melbourne AU, 

and the National University of Singapore (NUS). In the autumn of 2017 he 

commenced studies in a professional MArch Programme at the University of 

Hong Kong. 

Other Activities

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302 

The research strategy of the Department of Architecture is focused on 

three research areas: 

History, Theory and Heritage 

History, theory and heritage are fields of expertise of increasing 

importance in contemporary China. In the context of profound 

economic and social transformation, focus on the relationship between 

modernisation and tradition has taken centre stage. This applies in 

particular to the Suzhou region, where a number of significant historical 

sites and artefacts are located. 


RESEARCH 

Our staff possess strong and diversified backgrounds in the history 

and theory of architecture and building heritage, the Department of 

Architecture is ideally placed to engage in studies and research on these 

subject matters. The history, theory and heritage research area covers a 

variety of fields of interest, including history and theory of architecture, 

urban history, landscape history, building heritage, cultural and material 

history, and industrial heritage. 

Computational Design and Fabrication 

Digitally aided design and construction are key areas in which the 

Chinese building industry has potential for development and a need for 

innovation. These areas have only recently found significant recognition 

amongst Chinese universities. 

Strengths of the Department of Architecture’s academic staff, the recent 

establishment of XJTLU’s Research Institute on Industrial Design and 

3D Printing, and emerging relationships with related local industry offer 

our Department an opportunity to assume a position of leadership in 

this field. 

Urban Ecologies 

To address the challenges of contemporary urban environments 

creative solutions are needed. This applies in particular to China, where 

cities currently face the challenges of enormous transformations at 

an unprecedented pace. Within this context, urban ecologies seeks to 

research the changing nature of the urbanising world; to link questions 

of human interactions within developing cities to the political, social 

and cultural and environmental discourse; to explore and critique the 

sustainability and liveability of contemporary urbanism. 

Being initiated by XJTLU’s Department of Architecture, the urban 

ecologies research platform offers a unique opportunity for interdisciplinary 

and comparative approaches that consider the design and 

the design processes of the built environment. Urban ecologies allows for 

existing paradigms to be questioned, and for radically new approaches to 

the study of cities and their environment that take into account scientific

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304 

and technological research as well as research in sociology, art, design 

and aesthetics. 

Interrelated and not exclusive, these three areas of expertise cover a 

wide range of interests. More than rigid research groups, they support 

the formation of open research platforms; they link the Department of 

Architecture to other departments and research institutes at XJTLU, to 

other Chinese universities and to professional figures outside academia; 

and they foster international collaborations. 

RESEARCH OUTPUTS 

2016-2017 


A particular concern of the Department is to explore the possibility to 

develop a form of research that is specific to the architectural discipline: 

Research by Design. This is an experimental form of applied research 

with other less conventional research outcomes (including prototypes, 

projects, buildings, components, and exhibitions). In this way, the 

Department differentiates itself from the research work produced in the 

big design institutes of the major Chinese state universities by developing 

an experimental design activity at a small scale, with a flexible staff 

structure. 

山形灵璧石 ‘ Rock in the Form of a Fantastic Mountain’, Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), c. 18-19th Century. 

Black Lingbi Limestone; Wood Stand. H. (with stand) 26 in. (66 cm); W. 31.5 in. (80 cm); D. 15 in. (38.1 

cm). Rosenblum Family Collection, Gift of Anna Rosenblum Palmer, 2011. From The Metropolitan 

Museum of Art, New York. 

HISTORY 

THEORY 

AND HERITAGE 

Publications 

Carlin, Peta. “Bauhaus Weaving Theory.” The Journal of Modern Craft 9, 

no. 2 (2016): 255-57. 

Croset, Pierre-Alain; Peghin, Giorgio; Snozzi, Luigi. Dialogo 

sull’insegnamento dell’architettura . Siracusa: LetteraVentidue 

Edizioni, 2016. 

Croset, Pierre-Alain. “Álvaro Siza: Nature and Architecture as a Living 

Body.” In Nature Modern, Landscript 4, edited by Albert Kirchengast, 

189-213. Berlin: Jovis, 2017. 

Croset, Pierre-Alain. “The Third Teacher: The New Design Building at 

XJTLU: How Students Become Architects.” World Architecture no. 7 

(2017): 48-57. 

Croset, Pierre-Alain. “Il Tempio dei Cinque Draghi. Il merito di aprire 

un dibatito/Five Dragons Temple. The Importance of Starting a 

Debate.” Domus, no. 1011 (2017): 62-73. 

Fischer, Thomas. “Defaceable System MK 4 and Brent Shopping Yr 3.” 

In Ranulph Glanville: Art Architecture Cybernetics Design. London and 

the 1960s, edited by Marianne Ertl, Werner Korn and Albert Müller, 

63-70. Vienna: Echoraum, 2016. 

Fischer, Thomas; Richards, Laurence. “From Goal-Oriented to 

Constraint-Oriented Design: The Cybernetic Intersection of Design 

Theory and Systems Theory.” Leonardo Journal, 50, no. 1 (2017): 36-41. 

Fischer, Thomas. “In Ranulph’s Terms.” Cybernetics and Human 

Knowing 21, no. 1 (2016): 87-97. 

Gänshirt, Christian. “The Presence of the Atlantic Ocean - Swimming 

Pool on the Beach at Leça de Palmeira.” in: Mallgrave, Harry Francis 

(ed.). The Companions to the History of Architecture, Volume IV, 

Twentieth-Century Architecture. Edited by David Leatherbarrow and

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306 


Alexander Eisenschmidt. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017, 13 pp. 

(updated version of 2004) 

Herr, Christiane M.; Gao, Hanzhi. “Technical Irrationality.” In 

Footbridges for Berlin, edited by Mike Schlaich and Arnd Goldack, 186- 

88. Berlin: Jovis, 2017. 

Herr, Christiane M.; Huang, Yifei. “Spree Encounter.” In Footbridges 

for Berlin, edited by Mike Schlaich and Arnd Goldack, 189-91. Berlin: 

Jovis, 2017. 

Herr, Christiane M.; Wu, Zhuoying. “Berlin Spirit.” In Footbridges for 

Berlin, edited by Mike Schlaich and Arnd Goldack, 192-94. Berlin: 

Jovis, 2017. 

Herr, Christiane M. “Modes of Collaboration between Architects and 

Structural Engineers: A Report from China.” In Proceedings of the 4th 

Annual International Conference on Architecture and Civil Engineering, 

2016, 85-92. Singapore: GSTF Publications, 2016. 

Herr, Christiane M.; Fischer, Thomas; Glanville, Ranulph. “Foreword: 

The Past Presidents’ Day of the 2014 50 Years Anniversary Conference 

of the American Society for Cybernetics.” Cybernetics and Human 

Knowing 23, no. 1 (2016): 5-8. 

Herr, Christiane M. “What Can Cybernetics Learn from Design? Open 

Peer Commentary.” Constructivist Foundations 11, no. 3 (2016): 583-85. 

Herr, Christiane M. “Between Contemporary and Traditional: The 

Ongoing Search for a Chinese Architectural Identity.” In Handbook 

of Cultural Industries in China, edited by Michael Keane, 452-67. 

Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016. 

Hoskyns, Teresa; Stratford, Helen. “Was (is) Taking Place a Nomadic 

Practice?” Architecture and Culture 5, no. 3 (2017): 407-21. 

Scrivano, Paolo; De Pieri, Filippo. “Rappresentare il “centro storico” 

di Bologna. Politiche di conservazione e reinvenzione di un’identità 

urbana, 1965-1973.” In La scoperta della città antica. Esperienza e 

conoscenza del centro storico nell’Europa del Novecento, edited by 

Davide Cutolo and Sergio Pace, 163-83. Macerata: Quodlibet, 2016. 

Stergiou, Lina. “Architecture, Avant-Garde, and Topographies of 

Progress.” Volume , no. 51, (October 2017). 

Stergiou, Lina. “1960s, Institution Architecture: Avant-Garde Roots 

and Function.” In Cultural Production in the 20th and 21st Centuries: 

Art Collectives, Institutions and Culture Industry, edited by Ana Varas 

Ibarra and David Murrieta Flores, special issue of Re·bus - a journal of 

art history and theory 2, no. 8 (Spring 2016): 1-34. 

Xi, Junjie. “Evaluating the Functional Performance of Demountable 

Buildings.” Zhuangshi Journal 276, no. 4 (2016): 48-50. 

Xi, Junjie; Lu, Feng. “The Architectural Features and Existing Problems 

of Huizhou Folk Residence-Gen Xin Tang in Hongcun.” Journal of 

Anhui Polytechnic University 31, no. 3 (2016): 40-3. 

Xi, Junjie; Ren, Wei. “Analysing British Urban Planning Education.” 

Urban and Rural Development, Vol. 499, no. 4 (2016): 85-7. 

Xi, Junjie; Wang, Hui. “Analysing the “Grey Space” of Huizhou 

Traditional Residence.” Journal of Xi’an University of Architecture and 

Technology (Social Science Edition) 35, no. 2 (2016): 62-6. 

Conferences and Lectures 

Carlin, Peta. “The Lure of the Image.” Artist’s Talk, Stills Centre for 

Photography, Edinburgh, April 22, 2017. 

Croset, Pierre-Alain; Hoskyns, Teresa; Dall’Asta, Juan Carlos; Dong, 

Yiping. “Urban Pins: Modern Intervention as a Method for Urban 

Conservation and Urban Regeneration in the Changmen Historical 

district of Suzhou, China.” Paper presented at the “UIA World Architects 

Congress, Special Session on Urban Regeneration,” Seoul, 2017.

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308 


Gänshirt, Christian. “Baugeschichte und Entwerfen.” Invited lecture at 

Jade-Hochschule Oldenburg, Germany, June 6, 2017 

Han, Jiawen. “Suzhou as a Historical and Cultural City: Assessing the 

Role of the Ageing Population in Upgrading the Ancient City.” Paper 

presented at “The 23rd International Seminar on Urban Form,” Nanjing, 

July 8-10, 2016. 

Herr, Christiane M. “Teaching Architects to Design Pedestrian 

Bridges.” Paper presented at the conference “Tell a Story: Footbridge 

2017 Conference,” Berlin, September 2017. 

Hidalgo Arellano, José Ángel. "Sir John Soane at 12-14: home, house, 

museum." Paper presented at the conferencen "House&Home. 

International Architecture and Urban Studies Conference," Istanbul, 

March 2017. 

Hidalgo Arellano, José Ángel. "Materials and the creation of 

Atmospheres." Lecture given at Central South University, Changsha, 21 

April 2017. 

Hidalgo Arellano, José Ángel. "Archiphany: Architecture as 

Manifestation. Four Visions of the Roman Pantheon". Paper presented 

at "ATINER - 7th Annual International Conference on Architecture - 

Inter and Transdisciplinary Relationships in Architecture," Athens, July 

2017 . 

de Muynck, Bert. “Return to Reality - the experimentation and 

future development direction for architecture education.” Keynote 

Speech, “Architecture Education Leadership Forum”, Department of 

Architecture, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China, April 8-11, 

2017. 

Scrivano, Paolo. “Between the ‘Educated’ and the ‘Popular’: Italian 

Architecture in the Postwar Years.” Lecture presented at the 

conference series “The Long 1950s: Popular Culture and the (Un) 

Making of Italian Identity,” McGill University, Montréal, February 7, 2017. 

Scrivano, Paolo. “Architecture in the Face of Italy’s Postwar Change.” 

Lecture presented at the conference series “The Long 1950s: Popular 

Culture and the (Un)Making of Italian Identity,” Canadian Centre for 

Architecture, Montréal, February 8, 2017. 

Scrivano, Paolo. “The Cross-eyed Look: A European Architectural 

Historian and China.” Paper presented at the symposium “Historycode: 

A Wakeup Call? Or A Death Knell?,” Nanjing Art Festival, Nanjing, 

February 27-28, 2017. 

Scrivano, Paolo. “Housing, non-Communist Unions, and the ‘middle 

ground’ of the Cold War.” Paper presented at the international seminar 

“Cold War at the Crossroads: 194X-198X. Architecture and Planning 

between Politics and Ideology,” Politecnico di Milano, Milan, June 13- 

14, 2017. 

Scrivano, Paolo. “Stonorov and post-war Italy.” Paper presented at “The 

17th National Conference of Planning History, Society for American 

City and Regional Planning History,” Cleveland, October 26-29, 2017. 

Stergiou, Lina. “NEXT. Avant-Garde Praxis.” Paper presented at the 

Free School of Architecture, Los Angeles, July 2017. 

Stergiou, Lina. “1960s: ‘Avant-Garde’ Roots, Function. A Terminological 

Approach.” Paper presented at the Architectural Association, HTC/ 

PHD Debates, London, March 2017. 

Stergiou, Lina. “competitions@avant-garde.domain.” Paper presented 

at the “ICC 2016 Conference - The Sixth International Conference on 

Competitions,” Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, October 27-29, 2016. 

Xi, Junjie; Williams, Austin. “Comparative Analysis of Key 

Environmental Criteria: Chinese Eco-city to Western City.” Paper 

presented at the “2017 International Conference on China Urban 

Development,” London, 2017.

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COMPUTATIONAL 

DESIGN AND 

FABRICATION 

Organization of Conferences, Seminars, 

Conference Sessions, Exhibitions 

Carlin, Peta. Organization of the exhibition “Urban Fabric: Greige.” 

Stills Centre for Photography, Edinburgh, April 22-23, 2017. 

Scrivano, Paolo; Jannière, Hélène. Organization of the international 

workshop “Toward a Geography of Architectural Criticism: Disciplinary 

Boundaries and Shared Territories.” Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art 

- Académie d’Architecture, Paris, April 3-4, 2017. 

Scrivano, Paolo; Jannière, Hélène; Leoni, Giovanni. Organization of the 

international workshop “Actors and Vehicles of Architectural Criticism.” 

Università degli Studi di Bologna, Bologna, October 4-5, 2016. 

Scrivano, Paolo. Organization of the international symposium “West 

of Japan/East of Europe.” Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, 

October 18, 2017. 

Xi, Junjie. Organization of the exhibition “China Britain International 

Design Week/China Britain Smart Cities Conference.” London, 

October 2016. 

Publications 

Herr, Christiane M.; Fischer, Thomas. “An Extended BIM Adoption 

Model.” In Protocols, Flows and Glitches, edited by Patrick Janssen, Paul 

Loh, Aleksandra Raonic, and Marc A. Schnabel, 179-87. Proceedings of 

the 22nd International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural 

Design Research in Asia, XJTLU, Suzhou, 2017. 

Fischer, Thomas; Herr, Christiane M. “ 展示新选择 : 参数化珠宝设计和 

制作展 .” In DADA2015 数字建筑国际学术会 , edited by Weiguo Xu and 

Weixin Huang, 479-89. Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, 2017. 

Herr, Christiane M.; Wang, Haofeng. “Measuring the Perceptive Intricacy 

of the Chinese Scholar Garden.” In Protocols, Flows and Glitches, 

Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Computer-Aided 

Architectural Design Research in Asia, 2017, 335-44. Suzhou: Xi’an 

Jiaotong-Liverpool University, 2017. 

Herr, Christiane M.; Fischer, Thomas. “Challenges to the Adoption 

of BIM in Chinese Architecture, Engineering and Construction.” In 

Protocols, Flows and Glitches, Proceedings of the 22nd International 

Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia, 

2017, 179-88. Suzhou: Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, 2017. 

Herr, Christiane M.; Ford, Ryan C. “Cellular Automata in Architectural 

Design: From Generic Systems to Specific Design Tools.” Automati 

on in Construction 72, no. 1 (2016): 39-45. 

Lombardi, Davide. Acheiropoietic Architecture-Beyond Digital Drawing. 

Brixen: Immagini, 2017. 

Lombardi, Davide. “Il coraggio di disegnare.” In Simplified Complexity, 

edited by Giancarlo Di Marco, 419-23. Brienza: Le Penseur 

Publisher, 2017. 

Lombardi, Davide; Tedeschi, Arturo. “The Algorithms-Aided Design 

(AAD).” In Computational is the new black, 33-38. Milan: Springer, 2017. 

Raonic, Aleksandra; Christiane M.; Wash, Glen; Westermann, Claudia; 

Zhang C. (eds). CAADRIA 2017 - Protocols, Flows and Glitches: Short 

papers, posters, workshops. Hong Kong: The Association for Computer- 

Aided Architectural design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), 2017. 

Tiazzoldi, Caterina. “Combinatorial Architecture: A Methodology to 

Engage Quantitative and Qualitative Phenomenology in the Design of 

Urban Spaces, in Ambiance Demain/Ambiance Tomorrow.” In The 

international symposium Volos 21-24 September 2016, Vol. 1, edited by 

Nicolas Tixier and Nicolas Remy, 865-72. Volos: University of Thessaly 

Department of Architecture, 2016. 

Tiazzoldi, Caterina. “Combinatorial Architecture: A Methodology 

Deriving from Genetic Algorithms to Integrate Quantitative and

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URBAN 

ECOLOGIES 

Qualitative Information.” In Biodigital Architecture and Genetics, 

edited by Alberto T. Estèvez, 184-95. Barcelona: ESARQ School of 

Architecture, 2017. 


Gänshirt, Christian. “Tools for Ideas.” Guest lecture at the Beijing 

University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Nov. 20, 2017. 

Gänshirt, Christian. “Gestaltungslehre: entwerfen, erforschen.” 

Invited lecture at Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, 

Germany, Sept. 28, 2017. 

Publications 

Croset, Pierre-Alain. “L’utopia realizzata del lago Inle.” In L’attualità 

dell’utopia, edited by Valerio Paolo Mosco and Claudio Triassi. Siracusa: 

LetteraVentidue Edizioni, 2017. 


Gänshirt, Christian. “Every House, Street, District, City is Different.” 

Presentation and discussion at the Suzhou Institute of Architectural 

Design (SIAD), Suzhou, 2016. 

Gänshirt, Christian. “Theory, History and Contemporary practice of 

Urban Design.” Invited lecture at the School of Architecture, Nanjing 

Tech University, Nanjing, May 18, 2017. 

Gänshirt, Christian; Pernice, Raffaele; Chen, Bing. “SAIC Motor 

Corporation Research and Development Centre Shanghai – Conceptual 

Design Ideas for Urban and Architectural Development.” Presentation 

at SAIC Motor Corporation, Shanghai, April 27, 2017. 

Gänshirt, Christian. “Vertical Paradise: High-density High-rise Housing 

with Suzhou Garden Qualities.” Series of seminar talks, studio tutorials, 

design reviews, and a study trip to Suzhou and Hangzhou, delivered for 

the MArch programme at The University of Hong Kong, spring 2017. 

Kim, Moon K.; Barber, C.; Srebric, J. “Traffic Noise Level Predictions 

for Buildings with Natural Ventilation in Urban Environments.” Science 

and Technology for the Built Environment no. 0 (2017): 1-10. 

Kim, Moon K.; Shixin, Cui. “A Feasibility Study of Trombe Wall Design 

in the Cold Region of China,” Paper presented at “The 9th International 

Conference on Indoor Air Quality Ventilation and Energy Conservation 

in Buildings”, Incheon Songdo, October 23-26, 2016. 

Wash, Glen; Miyazaki, Shinya. “Visualizing Patterns of Occupation 

in the Old Pugao Village.” Paper presented at the “11th International 

Symposium on Architectural Interchanges in Asia,” Sendai, 2016. 

Wash, Glen; Miyazaki, Shinya. “Visualizing the Human-Landscape 

Relationship in Rural China.” Paper presented at the “18th International 

Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in 

Asia,” Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, 2017. 

Han, Jiawen. “From Gated to Non-Gated Communities: Reconstructing 

Vital Physical and Social Street Environments in Suzhou.” Paper 

presented at the “The Great Asian Streets Symposium,” Singapore, 

December 12-13, 2016. 

Westermann, Claudia. “Creating Spaces of Possibilities - The Bachelor 

in Architecture at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.” Presentation 

at the symposium “A Road to Explore: Teaching Reform Experiments 

in China for the Bachelor of Architecture,” Wuhan University, Wuhan, 

December 3-4, 2016. 

Westermann, Claudia. “The Order of Blandness: Rethinking 

Performance, Potentiality and Interaction.” Presentation at the 

international conference “Consciousness Reframed: Art and 

Consciousness in the Post-biological Era,” DeTao/M50, Shanghai, 

November 26-27, 2016.

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314 

LIVEABILITY AT THE LEVEL 

OF RESIDENTIAL STREETS 

IN SHANGHAI 


Aura Istrate, Area of Shanghai with Selected Streets for Empirical Inquiry Using Maps from Liu (2014) 

and http://www.icanvas.com (2016), 2016 

Aura Luciana Istrate 

PhD Candidate 



(XJTLU) 

This research problematises the understanding of liveability at the local 

level in urban settlements. The importance of studying urban liveability 

nowadays is reflected in the major differences that appear between 

aspirational plans and liveability outcomes in cities all over the world. 

In China, there are very few studies that assess liveability at the 

local level. In addition, the meaning of liveability varies from area 

to area based on natural conditions for living, on culture, on people’s 

background, on social groups. In this way, the principles of liveability 

that have been previously concluded in Western countries may not 

apply in the same way in China, therefore the need to specifically assess 

liveability in the Chinese context. 

This study focuses on the attributes in terms of design and planning 

that enhance liveability on local Shanghai streets. Cases are selected 

based on the different physical characteristics of the streets, including 

historical periods of formation and traffic considerations. 

A framework of objective and subjective indicators that affect liveability 

at the local level of analysis has been established based on an extensive 

literature review and on a survey with Shanghai professionals interested 

in liveability issues. Theoretical findings indicate that liveable streets 

depend on a number of qualities including: safety, a humanised 

environment, local economic development, a sense of belonging, social 

interaction and physical facilities for living. Empirical research will 

further investigate these concerns through engagements with local 

residents. 

The relationship between the physical characteristics and liveability 

at the street level is of particular importance at this moment with the 

Chinese Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development announcing 

that gated communities will gradually open towards the street space. 

The outcomes of this research thus seek to assist authorities in the 

formulation of effective urban policies for liveable streets. 

Research

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316 

RESEARCH ON AN IDEAL 

MODEL OF COMMUNITY 

HOUSING FOR THE ELDERLY 

COMMUNITY IN SUZHOU 


Qian Lin 

PhD Candidate 




With the number of elderly people growing, ageing is becoming a 

crucial social issue in China. The “One Child Policy” of 1980s limited 

the number of newborns and resulted in a 4-2-1 structural morphology 

of population across three generations: namely current families are 

typically composed of 4 grandparents, a couple, and a child. Due to 

pressure of modern fast-paced life, the younger generation born later 

than 1980s tends to live differently from their predecessors. Regardless 

of choosing to marry late, or establishing Dink families, their lifestyles 

are leading to an increasing elderly demographic. According to statistics, 

by 2030 the elderly population of China will reach 400 million, which 

means China will have the highest level of population ageing in the world 

then. However, in China the current approaches to design living spaces 

of the elderly are relatively insufficient that may hardly meet demands 

of its ever-growing population. 

Old people have their own pace of life and daily activities, and design 

strategies should be developed to effectively address their specific needs. 

In China three types of elderly care are promoted by the government: 

Home-based Care, Community Care, and Institutional Care. Home-based 

Care provides the elderly with daily care, housekeeping service, health 

care, etc., which is carried out in the form of home service. Community 

Care functions as a support to Home-based Care by offering daytime 

caring services. Its major service targets are the elderly without care 

or attention in the daytime. Institutional care focuses on developing 

facilities such as nursing homes or assisted living facilities, where the 

disabled or fragile elderly are housed and served together. Given custom 

and living habits of Chinese, many elderly people prefer ageing at home. 

As such, this research seeks to propose an ideal model of community 

housing which caters for the elderly in Suzhou. 

Research

317 

318 

ANOTHER MODERNIZATION: 

URBAN TRANSFORMATIONS 

OF SUZHOU, 1949-1986 


View From Bei Si Pagoda towards Ren Min Road, 1982, 

photo taken by Shizhao Liu, 

source: http://sz.xinhuanet.com/ 

Jie Jia Qiao, 1960s, photos from Xu.(ed), 

Traditional Suzhou Street and Lanes, 2005, Yangzhou, 

access by http://szjy.szlib.com/ 

Yin Ma Qiao, 1950s, photos from Xu.(ed), 



View From Bei Si Pagoda towards Ren Min Road, 1940, photos from 

Xu.(ed), Traditional Suzhou Street and Lanes, 2005, Yangzhou, 


Jie Jia Qiao, 1980s, photos from Xu.(ed), 



Yin Ma Qiao, 1980s, photo from Xu.(ed), 



Quanqing Lu 

PhD Candidate 




The research is aiming to understand how Suzhou’s urban form was 

transformed during the Socialist period. It spans from the founding of the 

People’s Republic of China in 1949 to 1986 when planning and practices 

of urban conservation were first initiated with the announcement of the 

national law for conservation, with Suzhou then identified then as one of 

the nation’s historic and cultural cities. Current research and literature on 

urban form in Suzhou indicates, however, that this period has been less 

discussed and there is a significant lack of information on the city’s urban 

history. 

Focusing on social factors that contributed to changes in urban form, 

surveys of Socialist urban planning and associated ideologies have been 

undertaken, these forming the basis of a literature review. Forthcoming 

research will consider the social factors that might have contributed to the 

preservation of urban form prior to the instigation of the national law, that 

is, unsanctioned practices that were executed in the absence of a planning 

authority. Research will then take into account the dynamic between the 

promotion of change and the advocacy for preservation that were at play, 

with a focus on the interactions and contradictions they created. 

Research case studies have been identified and are based on a number 

of different key focus points. The first considers the Xiang Men Area in 

Ping Jiang District, the only remaining large empty space in the historic 

city of Suzhou, which has witnessed significant industrialisation over the 

past 60 years, including: the tearing down of the city wall for the use of its 

materials in the construction of nearby industrial sites; the transformation 

of courtyard houses into small manufacturing workshops; the filling in of 

canals in order to create more space for industrial sites; and, the relocation 

of industrial sites in order to improve the city’s urban landscape and 

natural environment. 

The second case study focuses on Ren Min Road, the main axis through 

the historic city, which is one of the most important sites of construction 

undertaken during Socialist era. Following its enlargement and 

reconstruction, which included the installation of 2 new bridges and a new 

city gate, Nan Men Gate, Renmin Road connected Suzhou Railway Station 

with the Nan Men area, which was a site of heavy industry during the 

period of Japanese colonisation. 

Research

319 

320 

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE 

XI'AN JIAOTONG-LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY 

STUDENTS 


WANG HE 汪赫 LI YANG 李扬 ZHAO LIANGYIN 赵梁音 XIA JIAHUI 夏嘉桧 YANG TIANYUAN 杨天远 XU YINGSHI 徐应时 SU TIANYU 苏天宇 GUO 

ZIFENG 郭子锋 CHEN TIANCHI 陈天驰 WANG HUIYU 王辉玉 ZHU RUOYI 朱若旖 WANG YITONG 王乙童 YIN KAIFENG 尹凯丰 CHEN JIACI 陈嘉词 

ZHAN XING 詹行 GAO YIXUAN 高诣轩 LI ZHAOHAN 李兆晗 SUN FENGZHU 孙凤翥 SUN XIAO 孙潇 LINARDI FELIX FELIX ZHOU XIAOCHEN 周啸尘 MA 

YUNJIA 马韵佳 FENG LU 冯璐 ZHU RUNZI 朱润资 WANG AOLI 王傲立 WANG JIEYU 王婕妤 YOU JIAYI 尤珈仪 TANG LANKE 唐蓝珂 DENG YUSHENG 邓 

禹晟 CHEN YUKUN 陈玉坤 ZHOU RUIDI 周睿迪 JIANG HAO 姜浩 SHEN JIALIANG 沈佳梁 DING XIAO 丁笑 SHAO FUWEI 邵富伟 CAO RUICHEN 曹瑞晨 

ZENG JIACHENG 曾嘉诚 ZHAO YUANXIN 赵元新 KUANG WEI 况蔚 CHENG JIE 程婕 SHEN XIAOYA 沈筱雅 ZHANG XU 张旭 ZHU JIRUI 朱吉锐 LI JIAXU 

李家旭 CHEN ZHAOYUAN 陈昭元 ZOU WEI 邹伟 ZHANG WEN 张雯 ZHOU LINCHENG 周麟丞 LI SHAOKANG 李少康 QIAN JIANGLIN 钱江琳 WANG 

WEIWEI 王惟惟 ZHANG JIAQI 张家启 YU WEIJIE 余蔚洁 ZHENG XIN 郑昕 SUI YINGDA 隋英达 KANG WENZHAO 康文钊 QIAN SHIYU 钱时宇 DU HANXI 

杜涵茜 ZHANG CHENKE 张晨珂 WANG XIAOYUAN 王小元 ZHANG YINGQI 张英琦 WU HAO 吴昊 YANG SHIHAO 杨世豪 WANG SHUANGYI 王爽懿 SHI 

HAOYU 石浩宇 WEI ZHUO 魏卓 ZHANG JINQIAO 张近桥 KISTAMAH RYAN RYAN ANTHONY CINDY 张欣妮 LI ZEYU 李泽宇 ZHANG HONGRU 张洪儒 

FENG XUEYAN 冯雪妍 WU DANYANG 吴丹阳 WANG JIAPENG 王佳鹏 ZHOU YILIN 周依林 SUN ZHIWEI 孙志伟 XIA JIANQIANG 夏坚强 QIAO JIATUN 乔 

稼屯 CAO SHAN 曹珊 LI RUI 李睿 TONG DA 童达 TU OULI 涂欧犁 WU ZHUOYING 吴卓颖 LI SIZHOU 李四周 XU YILE 徐乙乐 WANG LIU 王柳 ZHU SIWEI 

朱思为 LIN JINGYING 林婧蓥 YU YULIN 俞裕林 GAO HANZHI 高含之 HE AIJING 何艾璟 LI ZHUOJUN 李卓君 XU XINYU 徐新宇 ZHOU YINUO 周宜诺 

ZOU YINA 邹依娜 QI XIAOZHI 齐啸之 WANG DUCHENG 王渡程 LIU BINGQI 刘炳圻 WU YIYANG 吴艺扬 ZHAI HUIHONG 翟珲宏 ZHANG HOUZHE 张厚 

哲 HUANG YIFEI 黄逸飞 XU MINGYANG 徐铭阳 BAI YUXIN 白雨馨 DEI GABRIELLA GRATIA WIRJANA MICHELLE NATASHA TJANDRA RICKY DHARMA 

MULYONO JOSHUA BRYAN SEEWOO NIKHIL KOROMILA EIRINI FAN SHITAO 范世涛 HUANG YU 黄羽 HUANG YUNHENG 黄芸衡 SHAO MEIXIN 邵美欣 

ZHONG PENGMIN 钟鹏敏 RUAN QIAOWEI 阮乔蔚 SU YIFAN 苏逸凡 GENG BIAOTONG 耿彪童 LIU HANTING 刘菡婷 LIU YIMING 刘一鸣 KANG ANQI 康 

安祺 HE JIAFAN 何嘉凡 GONG LINGFEI 龚凌菲 ZHOU ZHOU 周舟 BAO YUYUAN 鲍昱元 WANG HONGMENG 王鸿蒙 WU QINYU 吴沁瑜 ZHAO ANQI 赵 

安琦 ZUO ANNAN 左安南 NI YIXUE 倪忆雪 LI ZHAO 李钊 SHEN LIN 沈琳 WANG ZEHAO 王泽浩 CHEN JUEYI 陈珏怡 JIANG YI 蒋翌 WEI WENXIN 魏文欣 

XIAO ZHUOWEN 肖卓雯 CHEN DANHUA 陈丹华 QIU MINGYU 仇明玉 JIANG MINGRUI 蒋明睿 LIU JIAZHENG 刘家正 MA XIAOZHEN 马晓真 WANG 

LETING 王乐婷 WANG RUYING 王汝颖 WANG YUYAN 王雨嫣 WANG ZHIHAN 王知涵 YU MIAO 禹淼 ZHANG YUSI 张雨思 ZHOU XIAOYANG 周笑阳 ZHU 

YUE 朱玥 XU ZIMING 徐子名 YU XINNING 郁歆宁 ZHANG ZHENGQING 章正清 CHEN FANYUN 陈凡云 DI YANG 狄扬 DONG JINRU 董晋如 LU YIZHE 陆 

怡哲 WANG QIANYI 王千仪 WANG YUZHOU 王煜洲 YAO ZHEYANG 姚哲扬 YE CHENWEI 叶宸维 ZHANG QIMENG 张琦梦 ZHENG QINXIAN 郑沁娴 

ZHOU XINYU 周心瑜 YU JIANFEI 于鉴霏 ZHANG HAOYUE 张昊玥 SONG XINYAO 宋昕窈 CHEN SUMENG 陈甦萌 LIU CHENYANG 刘晨阳 WANG YU 王 

煜 YANG RUIZI 杨蕊滋 ZHANG YIXUAN 张逸轩 ZHOU YILI 周依黎 LI YUCHEN 李羽晨 LUO HEXUAN 罗鹤旋 HUANG SHANGTONG 黄上桐 ZHANG 

XIAOXUAN 章晓萱 CHENG LIXUE 程立雪 FANG ZEYING 方泽颖 LU SHUYUE 卢术越 WANG YICHUN 王一纯 WU BI 吴比 XIAO WENJING 肖文菁 ZHUO 

JINBING 卓锦冰 WU YAN 伍衍 ZHANG DU 张都 CHEN DANNI 陈丹妮 DAN XINRUI 但欣芮 LI DEXIN 李德馨 LI ZIYI 李子懿 LIU RUIJING 刘蕊敬 TONG 

XUAN 童轩 XU YINGZHI 徐英智 ZHANG WEIZHEN 张伟臻 AN YICHENG 安奕丞 LI GUANGYUAN 李光远 LI SIJIA 李思佳 LIANG JIANI 梁佳旎 XUE 

WENYA 薛温雅 LI JIAYUN 李嘉耘 WANG WEIJUE 王炜珏 YE WENXUAN 叶文轩 DAI RUOYUN 戴若芸 LI XIAN 李贤 TONG HUIYI 童慧怡 ZHANG LINGKE 

张零可 DAI YIQING 戴怡青 TANG QINYI 唐沁怡 KONG LINGSEN 孔令森 XU YICHUN 徐逸淳 XU MENGZHEN 许梦真 ZHANG ZHUZHEN 张竹真 PENG 

BO 彭渤 TANG SHIJIA 唐诗嘉 TU KAIXI 涂凯茜 ZHONG GUOLI 仲国溧 JIANG RUOCHEN 蒋若辰 TONG SHUOYU 佟朔宇 ZHANG XINYI 张馨艺 BAO 

QIANQIAN 鲍倩倩 CHEN HAOKUN 陈昊坤 QIN YUMENG 秦雨萌 YAO WENXUAN 姚文萱 CHEN ZITONG 陈梓橦 JIANG SHUXUAN 姜舒璇 LI ZEFENG 李 

泽丰 WANG HAN 王晗 WANG JINGJING 王菁菁 WANG WEI 王威 WU JIANGHAN 吴江浛 ZHANG YINING 张怡凝 HA ZIYU 哈姿羽 DAI LU 戴璐 FENG 

ZIYU 冯子瑜 GAO RONG 高瑢 HU MINGCHUAN 胡明川 LI XINTONG 李昕潼 ZHANG YI 张亦 CAI SHIYU 蔡诗雨 JIA ZHIYIN 贾芷茵 QIAO KEFEI 乔柯斐 

SHUI SHUMIN 水淑敏 ZHAO SIQI 赵思琪 CHEN MENGHAN 陈梦晗 CUI QICHEN 崔琦琛 HE YUXIN 何昱欣 JIA YIFEI 贾逸飞 SHI YIFAN 史一帆 SONG 

TIANYI 宋天一 XU ZIYING 许子莹 YAO YUZHENG 姚羽筝 KONG YUQI 孔羽琪 REN YIBAI 任一白 SHI LUHANG 时露航 ZHANG ZIXUAN 张子璇 LI LINMEI 

李林镁 WU YUANZHI 武园植 ZHAO ZIHAO 赵子豪 ZHANG YANG 张洋 BAO JIE 鲍捷 SHANG YIXIU 尚奕秀 ZHANG TAO 张陶 GUO SIQI 郭思齐 GUO 

ZIXIN 郭子馨 JIANG YUFEI 姜雨菲 MENG ZEYUAN 孟泽原 SHI YUN 石蕴 SI RUOQI 司若琪 XUE YUAN 薛媛 YU XUEFEI 于雪斐 LI QIANRU 李倩茹 WANG 

ZIZHEN 王子桢 YAN HAONAN 鄢淏南 CHENG JINGYUAN 程婧媛 FANG TIANYUAN 方天圆 XIONG WANTING 熊婉婷 ZE MINGXUAN 则铭暄 LIU ZIYAN 

刘紫烟 JIANG KUNHUI 蒋坤辉 LIU YANGYANG 刘阳洋 LIU ZHIHONG 刘志鸿 QI SIMIAO 漆思淼 WANG RUIHAO 王睿豪 XIA RUIQI 夏瑞琦 ZHANG 

BORAN 张博然 ZHANG SIYUE 章斯越 ZHENG HAIYU 郑海瑜 DING YUXIN 丁宇欣 MA DONGJIE 马东杰 MA MINGXUN 马铭勋 QIAN MAN 钱曼 WANG 

LINGYU 王聆雨 GUO XIANG 郭翔 LI JIALE 李嘉乐 LI YUNYAN 李昀燕 LIU WEIKANG 刘唯康 LYU YIDI 吕祎迪 WEI SHUBO 魏书博 WU YUNXI 吴韫希 

ZHANG ZIJING 张紫荆 ZHAO YIXUE 赵旖雪 ZHENG QINYUAN 郑钦元 CHENG YULUO 程瑀洛 GE TIANTIAN 葛田田 LI YIXUAN 李艺璇 LYU DANYANG 吕 

丹阳 LI KEYAN 李可言 LIANG YUHAOYUAN 梁玉皓元 WANG QIAOSHENG 王乔生 LI ZHIBING 李志炳 BAI YATING 白雅婷 MU CONGYU 穆聪雨 LIU 

XINGYU 刘星雨 LUO TIAN 罗恬 LI PEIJIA 李佩珈 SUN WEICHENG 孙炜程 YU JIAYONG 于佳永 ZHANG TIANLI 张天黎 QIAN ZIHENG 钱子恒 YE YIFAN 

叶亦繁 ZHEN ZHEN 臻真 WANG JIAYAO 王家耀 CHEN JUNMEI 陈君梅 FENG SHI 冯实 CHRISTY NATASHA YAN CHUT HANG FONG CHOY BRYAN 

JONATAN NURSALIM IVAN PERMANA TSHOMO NAMGAY YANGZOM TSHERING WONG DERRY WIBOWO GUO YILIN 郭奕麟 ZHOU YINGTONG 周映同 

LIU YUEYA 刘玥雅 DENG ZHIXIN 邓致欣 HUANG KUOLIN 黄扩霖 CHEN YINHAI 陈寅海 ZHANG TIANZONG 张天纵 WAN ZIJIAN 万子健 XIAO YIXIN 肖 

奕欣 XUE QI 薛骐 XUE NINGZI 薛宁紫 XU JIAWEI 许佳炜 ZHU CHENGHAN 朱澄涵 LI LINGBO 李凌波 HUANG MINYU 黄珉钰 ZHU QI 朱琦 KONG XINYI 

孔心怡 ZHANG ZHAOHAN 张照晗 BAI YULIANG 白宇梁 ZHOU XIAOFEI 周笑非 ZHAO RUI 赵睿 LIU ZECHENG 刘则呈 CHEN XI 陈曦 WANG HEFENG 王 

河峰 CHEN SISI 陈思思 GE YUNLIN 葛韵琳 SHEN XINYU 沈欣语 SHI YUQING 石雨青 ZHANG YU 张宇 ZHU QINGRU 朱清如 BIAN XINGCHAO 卞兴超 

CHEN JINGYUAN 陈静媛 DING LIN 丁琳 FAN JIAWEI 范家玮 GU FEIJIE 顾斐杰 HU WENXUAN 胡文轩 HUANG JIAWEN 黄嘉文 JIN SIWANG 金思王 LI 

SHUQI 李书琦 LIU YULAN 刘雨兰 LYU ZHENG 吕铮 REN CHENJIA 任晨嘉 SHAO ZIYI 邵紫怡 WANG ZHILING 王智灵 WU YELUN 吴冶仑 WU YUBANG 

吴煜邦 XU SHUYANG 徐书扬 YANG KAIWEN 杨楷文 YANG YUE 杨玥 ZHANG JUNRUI 张君睿 ZHANG YUQING 章宇晴 ZUO SHUTING 左舒婷 GUAN 

XUELI 关雪丽 ZHU QINIU 朱骑牛 SONG WENXUAN 宋文萱 HUANG WENYI 黄文逸 CHEN XINYI 陈辛夷 CHEN YING 陈颖 CHEN YUJIAN 陈予健 GUO 

HANSHEN 郭瀚绅 HUANG XINYI 黄心怡 YANG JIAYE 杨佳叶 ZHAN PANYUAN 詹攀远 ZHAN XIANG 詹翔 LIN ZHAOYUAN 林赵圆 QIAN JIEYU 钱婕虞 

SHEN YINGYING 沈迎莹 ZHENG QI 郑琦 CHEN ZEHENG 陈泽衡 NI SHUYU 倪抒予 QIU ZILI 裘子立 SHI XIONGZHE 施雄哲 WANG QIUHAO 王秋昊 XIA 

RUNHAN 夏润涵 XIE WENZE 谢文则 XU XINYI 徐昕逸 YU YIYIN 俞奕吟 ZHU TIANFENG 朱天丰 LU XUERONG 路雪融 MA RONGSEN 马荣森 SONG 

YUFENG 宋雨峰 LIU YICHANG 刘奕苌 LYU JIAHENG 吕佳恒 LUO CHUNWEN 罗淳文 MIAO YIYUAN 苗译元 TONG XIN 童心 WANG SHUTING 王舒婷 

ZHUANG YINFEI 庄寅霏 GUO YEFEI 郭烨非 LI JIANUO 李佳诺 GU YU 古钰 QIAO HAOYUE 乔皓月 SUN SITAN 孙斯坦 YAN JIAYI 闫佳宜 ZHAO XIAYU 赵 

夏雨 CHEN ZIQI 陈紫琦 LI LUN 李伦 LIU XIANGLI 刘湘礼 WANG JIAQI 王嘉琪 ZOU YUANJIE 邹元杰 FENG YI 冯怡 LI JIAYANG 李佳杨 LIU CHANG 刘畅 

XIONG MANXIN 熊曼馨 YANG YUXI 杨雨曦 CHEN YIMU 陈怡沐 FENG LEILIN 冯蕾霖 FENG TINGHAO 冯庭淏 ZHAI HAOMIAO 翟浩渺 ZHANG JINYU 张 

锦宇 ZHANG ZHENGYANG 张正阳 ZHAO XINZHUO 赵鑫卓 HUANG SIQI 黄思齐 LIN WEI 林蔚 CHEN YIXI 陈羿西 TANG YINGXUAN 唐颖璇 CAI 

ZHUOLING 蔡卓玲 HE LINZHI 何林芷 HE ZHENGCHENG 何政承 YANG JIARUN 杨佳润 JIANG XINPING 蒋心平 LU LANXIN 鲁兰心 HE JIAYING 何佳莹 

LI YILUN 李逸伦 SHI YUE 施越 ZHANG ZHIYUAN 张致远 CHEN XUANYANG 陈宣仰 SONG LU 宋鹿 CHEN SIJIA 陈思嘉 XU XUEYAN 许雪妍 CHENG 

RUNHAO 程润昊 CHENG YIMING 程奕明 GAO TIANYI 高天轶 LI XU 李栩 TANG YIFAN 唐一凡 WANG BINGYAO 汪丙尧 ZHANG DAYONG 章大勇 MEI 

XINYUN 梅馨云 CHENG ANRAN 程安然 LIN YUANYUAN 林园园 ZENG MUYUAN 曾慕远 HE HUILING 何蕙伶 DING YANWEN 丁彦文 YANG LUJIA 杨璐嘉 

HU QIXUAN 胡启铉 MAO XUESONG 毛雪松 DAI XINRU 戴昕茹 GAO CHUANLIN 高川琳 LUAN CHENQI 栾晨琦 SONG JIAHUI 宋家辉 XING YUXIN 邢雨 

昕 XU XIAOTONG 许晓彤 ZHANG JINGJING 张晶晶 ZHAO JINSONG 赵劲松 ZHANG YUNFAN 张云帆 JIA HAOCHUN 贾皓淳 TANG WEIYIN 唐维寅 SUN 

JIAXU 孙家旭 WANG SHEN 王申 FAN JIAQI 樊嘉麒 LI RONGCHENG 李容丞 LI YUANXIN 李沅欣 WANG YANG 汪阳 WANG YIXUAN 汪逸轩 YE YUHAN 冶 

钰涵 WANG WENXI 王文茜 JIN HANLIN 金瀚林 WANG HAIYI 王海懿 GAO JIAN 高鉴 JIAN YUJIE 简钰杰 LI YURUI 李禹锐 LIU YUHENG 刘雨蘅 LIU ZIYU 

刘梓钰 MU HONGYUAN 穆宏源 XIA FENGYUN 夏凤云 XU ZIHUI 徐子惠 GONG YIFU 弓益夫 PEI ZHIZHEN 裴至真 XUE YU 薛钰 WANG QI 王祺 HUANG 

WENJUNLAN 黄雯君兰 LI YUSONG 黎雨松 QIAO YUHE 谯雨荷 SONG DINGKUN 宋定锟 WANG LILIN 王俪霖 YUAN GUJUNFENG 袁谷俊峰 ZHANG 

HAONING 张昊宁 ZHANG XINRAN 张鑫然 ZHENG XIAYI 郑夏怡 CHE YUE 车越 SUN CHENLU 孙晨露 YAO YIMING 姚艺铭 GAO HUANYUE 高欢悦 GAO 

TONG 高彤 HE YUTING 贺钰婷 HOU WENYU 侯文钰 KANG BOHAN 康博涵 DUAN CHONGYUAN 段崇源 LI SIYI 李思懿 LI YUNFEI 李昀霏 SU QINZE 苏 

沁泽 SUN ZHUOPING 孙卓平 WANG HAOCHONG 王昊翀 WANG MINGYU 王茗宇 WANG YITENG 王奕腾 WANG YINGZHUO 王樱焯 XUE HAOTIAN 薛皓 

天 ZHANG HANZHENG 张涵峥 ZHANG MIN 张敏 LIU MENGTING 刘梦婷 YOU WENJING 尤文静 LIU SU 刘苏 GOPARI RICKY CHAN TAK MING 陈德铭 

LEE WOONYOUNG NACHIMUTHU SENTHILKUMAR SACHIN KUMAR PANDOWO ANDREW SADIEN IOHANS SHEKAR TJAHJADI DEILSIKA

321 

322 

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE 

XI'AN JIAOTONG-LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY 

ACADEMIC STAFF 



Head of Department 

Dipl. Arch., Ecole Polytechnique 

Fédérale de 

Lausanne (Switzerland) 

Registered Architect (CH and IT) 


PhD Universidad Politécnica de 

Madrid (ES) 

Dipl Arch Universitat Politècnica de 

Catalunya, Barcelona (ES) 


Ph.D. , Politecnico di Milano (IT) 

MArch, Politecnico di Milano (IT) 

BArch, Politecnico di Milano (IT) 


Ph.D., Architecture, University of Kent 

(UK) 

M.Sc, Architectural History, Bartlett 

School of Architecture, UCL (UK) 

M.Arch, Architecture, Royal Danish 

Academy of Fine Arts (DK) 

Peta Carlin 

Ph.D., RMIT University (AU) 

M.A. (Media Arts), RMIT University (AU) 

B.A.(Hons) (Visual Communications), 

RMIT University (AU) 

B.Arch., RMIT University (AU) 

Marco Cimilo 

Ph.D. Environmental Design, Sapienza 

University of Rome (IT) 

MArch, Sapienza University of Rome (IT) 

Yiping Dong 

Ph.D., Tongji University (CN) 

MArch, Tongji University (CN) 

BArch, Tongji University (CN) 


Ph.D., Aristotle University of 

Thessaloniki (GR) 

Dipl Eng Arch, Aristotle University of 

Thessaloniki (GR) 

Chartered Architect (GR) 

Martin Fischbach 

Ph.D., Paris1 Pantheon-Sorbonne (FR) 

MA, Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne (FR) 

MA, ENSA. Paris-Belleville (FR) 

Registered Arch DPLG (FR) 


Ph.D., Royal Melbourne Institute of 

Technology University (AUS) 

Ph.D., University of Kassel (DE) 

MEd equiv., University of Kassel (DE) 

Philip Fung 

MArch, Chinese University of Hong 

Kong (CN) 


Ph.D., Brandenburg University of 

Technology (DE) 

Dipl-Ing Arch, Universität Fridericiana 

zu Karlsruhe (DE) 

Licensed and registered Architect, 

Berlin Chamber of Architects (DE) 

Jiawen Han 

Ph.D., Architecture, University of New 

South Wales (AUS) 

M.Arch, Dalian University of 

Technology (CN) 


Ph.D., University of Hong Kong (HK) 

MArch, University of Hong Kong (HK) 

Dipl-Ing Arch, University of Kassel (DE) 


PhD , The Bartlett, University College 

London (UK) 

MA, Royal College of Art, London (UK) 

Moon Keun Kim 

Ph.D., Architecture, Swiss Federal 

Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH 

Zurich) 

M.Sc, Architectural Engineering, 

Pennsylvania State University at 

University Park (USA) 

M.Sc, Engineering Acoustics, 

Technical University of Denmark (DK) 

M.Sc, Architecture, Yonsei University 

(ROK) 


Ph.D., School of Advanced Studies 'G. 

d'Annunzio' (IT) 

BA+MA, Università degli Studi 

Gabriele d'Annunzio, Department of 

Architecture (IT) 

Federico De Matteis 

Ph.D., Sapienza University of Rome (IT) 

M.Sc, University of Pennsylvania, 

Philadelphia (US) 

Laurea (BA+MA) Sapienza University 

of Rome (IT) 


M.Arch, Architectural Engineering, 

Catholic University of Leuven (BE) 


Ph.D. Candidate, Universitat 

Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, 

2015 - (ES) 

M.Arch, Staatliche Hochschule für 

Bildende Künste, Frankfurt (DE) 

Dipl.-Ing. Arch., University of Belgrade 

(RS) 

Sofia Qiuroga 

Ph.D., ETSAM, Madrid (ES) 


Ph.D., Politecnico di Torino (IT) 

Dipl. Arch., Politecnico di Torino (IT) 

Ross T. Smith 

Ph.D. University of Melbourne (AU) 

Grad. Cert. University Teaching, 

University of Melbourne (AU) 

MArch, University of Auckland (NZ) 

BArch (Hons) Victoria University, 

Wellington (NZ) 

Lina Stergiou 

Ph.D., Faculty of Art, Design & 

Architecture, Kingston University, 

London (UK) 

M.Arch, Post-Professional, Graduate 

School of Architecture and Urban 

Design, Pratt Institute, New York (US) 

Diploma (Dipl.-Ing.), Professional, 

School of Architecture, National 

Technical University of Athens (GR) 

Caterina Tiazzoldi 

Ph.D., Architecture, Politecnico di 

Torino (IT) 

M.Sc, GSAPP Columbia University, 

Advanced Master, Architecture (US) 

Li-An Tsien 

ISACF-La Cambre, Diplôme 

d'Architecte, (BE) 

ISACF-La Cambre, Diplôme de 

Candidat Architecte (BE) 

Glen Wash 

Ph.D., University of Tokyo (JP) 

MEng, University of Tokyo (JP) 

Dipl Arch, Catholic University of 

Valparaiso (CL) 

Licensed Architect (CL) 


Ph.D., University of Plymouth (UK) 

Pgr Dipl Media Art, Karlsruhe 

University of Art and Design (DE) 

Dipl-Ing Arch, University of Karlsruhe, 

TH (DE) 

Chartered Architect (DE) 


Dipl Arch, Birmingham Polytechnic (UK) 

BSc(Hons), Bartlett School of 

Architecture, University College 

London (UK) 

Chartered Architect RIBA (UK) 

Junjie Xi 

Ph.D, University of Liverpool (UK) 

M.A. University of Leeds (UK) 

B.A. Anhui University of Architecture (CN) 

Part-time Tutors 


Joan Cane 

Kostas Chatzigiannis 

Dong Chen 

Dong Fanzheng 

Silvia Martin 

Teo Hidalgo Nácher 


Wu Penghan 

Jue Qie 

Jose Remon 

Xu Yizhou 

Dirk Zschunke 



Xiaohan Chen 

Siqi Deng 

Ornella Kei 

Jiayi Li 

Qian Lin 

Quanqing Lu 

Sharvari Shanmugam 


Supporting Staff 

Jiaqi Fu, Built Environment 

Administrator 

Lili Chen, Department Secretary 

Ma Lin, Department Secretary 

Jian Chen, Lab Technician 

Jiang Dong, Lab Technician 

Li Wenhao, Lab Assistant 

Yin Jianhao, Lab Assistant

323 

324 

ACADEMIC POSITION STATEMENT 


Introduction 

Founded in 2011, the Department of Architecture at 

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) is part 

of a young Sino-British university situated in Suzhou, 

a city which falls within the greater Shanghai area. 

With construction of the university’s new South 

Campus underway, in 2016, the Department moved 

into its new Design Building which it shares with 

the Department of Industrial Design, the building’s 

facilities of the highest international standards. 

Set in China, but closely connected with the 

University of Liverpool and the UK framework of 

architectural education, the Department’s aim is to 

offer a new global model of architectural education. 

The fostering of the students’ critical thinking skills 

is an important and distinctive characteristic of 

its Bachelor, Master and PhD programmes. In an 

environment that is fast-changing, the Department 

seeks to educate students in order to enable them to 

take advantage of arising opportunities. This includes 

the possibility of working as a “liberal professional,” 

which has only recently become an option in China, 

and offers new ways of practicing architecture for 

current and future generations of architects. 

As a relatively new and uniquely positioned 

architecture school, the Department thus affirms 

and advances the merits of architectural education 

as vital to developing critical thinking skills for the 

longer-term future. 

Department Identity and Vision 

With a faculty that contributes experiences in 

practice and research in more than twenty countries, 

the international make-up of the Department of 

Architecture at XJTLU is unique in China. It brings 

together traditions and opportunities from the East 

and the West, and seeks to provide the best of both 

perspectives in architectural and urban design, 

offering new views on the local context as well as on 

global issues. 

As China continues to undergo processes of 

modernisation, the Department is particularly aware 

of its responsibility in educating a new generation of 

architects who face enormous challenges. There is an 

emerging interest in topics such as the environment, 

building tectonics, cultural heritage, and usercentred 

design, as well as growing recognition of the 

necessity to reinvest in the extant built environment 

through urban regeneration and the refurbishment 

of existing building stock. 

These issues and concerns are viewed by the 

Department as a challenge and as an opportunity, and 

it responds through its focus on new human-centred 

approaches to learning, practicing and researching 

architectural design, in order to nurture attitudes 

that will prove valuable in the future. For there is a 

need – not only in China – for Architects who are 

critical thinkers and highly qualified professionals. 

Both the undergraduate and the postgraduate 

programmes centre on applied architectural design 

studio modules (50%), which are supported by a 

balanced mix of humanities-based and technical 

modules (25% each). 

The Department’s research concentrates on three 

headline research areas: 

● History, Theory and Heritage offers 

connections with Suzhou and other heritage sites in 

China, addressing, in particular, questions pertaining 

to multiculturalism and trans-nationalism. 

● Computational Design and Fabrication 

develops partnerships with innovative high-tech 

industries in the context of Suzhou Industrial Park 

(SIP), with research in the processes of design and 

professional practice key areas of interest. 

● Urban Ecologies engages with the changing 

nature of global urbanisation, with a focus on 

radically new approaches to the study of cities and 

their environment that are informed by research in 

science, technology and sustainable construction, 

as well as by studies in sociology, art, design, and 

aesthetics. 

The Department is also committed to Research by 

Design, an experimental form of research that is 

specific to the architectural discipline, with less 

conventional research outcomes, such as prototypes, 

projects, buildings, components, and exhibitions. 

To this end, the Design Research Centre has been 

established to facilitate small-scale pilot projects. 

It has a flexible staff structure, and involves a 

number of permanent faculty members, along with 

local professional architects who will contribute 

their specific competences in architectural design, 

planning, and construction. 

Academic Agenda 

The following key points are based on staff views, 

student feedback, internal University reports, and 

external reports by examiners and professional 

bodies: 

Recent exceptional areas of activity 

● International validation of the BEng (Hons) 

Architecture programme at Part 1 level by the Royal 

Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in February 

2015, a first for a Chinese university. 

● Award of candidate course status to the Master 

of Architectural Design programme by RIBA in 

December 2016, also a first for a Chinese University. 

● Excellent profile of an international faculty with 

experience in practice and research in more than 

20 countries directly supporting undergraduate and 

postgraduate learning. 

● Location of the Department in a new building, 

shared with the Department of Industrial Design, 

with a strong architectural identity, offering an ideal 

showcase for its staff and students in spaces with a 

particular character. 

● Initiatives such as international workshops, 

student competitions, and, summer research 

projects within the framework of XJTLU’s Summer 

Undergraduate Fellowships (SURF), positively 

impacting the programmes’ development. 

● Establishment of the first online architectural 

magazine in English in China, Masterplanning the 

Future (MPTF), which is student-led and has a 

continuously growing number of students actively 

participating.

325 

326 


Individuality of the learning environment in the 

Chinese context 

● Positioned in Suzhou, both a heritage city (classical 

gardens recognised as UNESCO World Heritage 

Sites) and an extremely dynamic new city, now the 

fourth largest concentration of economic activity in 

China in terms of GDP. 

● Unique offering of undergraduate and 

postgraduate programmes in English in China, taught 

by international educators. 

● Excellent resources on a new campus, open to the 

vibrant life of one of China’s flagship development 

projects, the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), within 

which the University and more than 100 Fortune 500 

companies operate, offering a high quality of life. 

● Excellent building resources supporting a vibrant 

studio culture, with dedicated spaces for design 

studios, reviews, and physical modelling, as well as 

for a materials library. 

● Recruitment of students from amongst the top 5% 

of Chinese high school graduates, and a progressive 

increase of international students. 

Differences between Bachelor and Master 

degrees 

● BEng programme: provides a clear sequence 

of design studios with the gradual introduction of 

ideas and skills, with a focus on the attainment of 

personal and professional confidence in order to take 

advantage of practice experience. 

● MArchDes programme: fosters student autonomy 

and responsibility in pursuing individual interests 

in view of future professional career development 

opportunities, with the second year framed as a 

“research by design” year. 

● MArchDes programme: connection with XJTLU’s 

Master programmes in Urban Planning and Urban 

Design (with the Urban Planning and Design 

Department) in year one creates unique possibilities 

for interdisciplinary design research. 

Relevance to professional practice 

● Design studio themes are strongly connected with 

real-world problems and necessities in China and 

beyond; lecture courses and coursework are related 

to contemporary issues and current concerns. 

● Practicing architects in Suzhou and Shanghai 

contribute as part-time tutors and visiting critics, 

and present guest lectures, lead site visits, and offer 

internships for students. 

● Establishment of a Design Research Centre which 

seeks to actively involve staff, students and local 

practicing architects in the development of pilot 

projects. 

● Graduates work in top architectural offices, 

and assist in strengthening the connections of the 

Department to local practice. 

Creative criteria delivering course content 

● Innovative learning environment that fosters 

independent, creative and responsible designers with 

a thoughtful, research-led and imaginative approach 

to place-making. 

● Close collaboration with the two other 

Departments of the Built Environment Cluster 

(Urban Planning & Design and Civil Engineering), 

as well as with the Department of Industrial 

Design (with shared facilities in the new Design 

Building), developing a culture of teamwork and a 

multidisciplinary approach to design. 

● Flexible programme design, with the active 

participation of a dynamic faculty, delivering 

responsive, changing projects that complement and 

extend core learning whilst still maintaining criteria 

fulfilling content.

XJTLU's Department of Architecture’s official WeChat channel publishes information in 

both English and Chinese on the educational programmes and on events. To receive our 

news, please scan the QR code using your WeChat application.

© 2017 Department of Architecture, XJTLU 

Edited by Peta Carlin 

Building DB 111 Ren’ai Road 

SIP Dushu Lake Science and Education Innovation District 

Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, P. R. China 215123 

www.xjtlu.edu.cn

YEARBOOK 2016 - 2017 | XJTLU DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

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