Research visit by Architecture Research Team to China

In late October and early November three academics from Huddersfield visited areas of China as part of research projects funded by the British Academy (Project title: The Temporality of Building: Chinese Perspectives on Architecture and Heritage) and the Vernacular Architecture Group (Project title: Dwellings of Dai Ethnic Minority Villages, China). The three: Prof Nick Temple, Dr Yun Gao and Prof Adrian Pitts are all members of the Centre for Urban Design Architecture and Sustainability (CUDAS) in the Department of Architecture and 3D Design.

Initially Dr Gao and Prof Pitts visited Beijing to speak at a Practice Orientated Rural Planning Seminar organised by Beijing University of Technology. They then travelled on to the southwest of China as part of research into Dai Ethnic Minority dwellings in the Province of Yunnan. They met with academics in the city of Kunming before moving south to the city of Jinghong which is in the Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbanna, quite close to the border with Myanmar and Laos. Yunnan is a particularly interesting province in China because of the ethnic diversity and also the emergence of village regeneration developments – many focused on the theme of tourism. Good links with the design Institute in Jinghong enabled the Prof Pitts and Dr Gao to visit some remote settlements to acquire information for their Vernacular Architecture Group project and also to supplement their understanding of regeneration processes taking place in rural China which forms an important part of their research interests.

Returning from Jinghong they met-up with Professor Nick Temple in Beijing in order to carry out work linked to the BA project and with visits to relevant sites and resources in Beijing which included Yuanming Yuan (the Old Summer Palace) and Daguanyuan (Grand View Garden) associated with the classic Chinese novel ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’. Invited presentations were also made at Beijing Jiaotong University as well as visit to a ‘model’ modern village in the Beijing suburbs. Dr Gao and Prof Temple continued their research visit in and around Shanghai including meetings at one of the highest ranked Schools of Architecture at Tongji University.