Architecture, Culture and Agriculture：The Challenges of Urbanization Design Contest Held in WKU

Architecture, Culture and Agriculture：The Challenges of Urbanization Design Contest was held at Wenzhou Kean University. A total of 10 teams from Wenzhou-Kean University, Xi-AN’ JIAOTONG Liverpool University and Wenzhou University presented their design works for Wang Zhai village.

Started in September, the Competition lasted for almost two months, finally 10 teams submitted their entries. A panel of 11 professionals and experts online and on-site formed the jury. They are from Wenzhou-Kean University, Wenzhou University from different majors such as Biology, Landscape architecture, Architecture or Finance. The guest jury members are designers and scholars from Beijing and Shanghai, from Landscape Architecture and real estate and all have excellent Academia and industry background.

During the presentation, they gave pertinent suggestions on each work, pointing out the fortes and deficiencies of it, encouraging students to reflect on the details of their designs.

Toby Michelena, one member of the jury spoke highly of the competitors: “There were some truly innovative ideas and approaches to the problem and the level of detail in the research was excellent. It was wonderful to see the collaborations between students from different the different schools.  This type of collaborations is exactly what we had hoped to see when we developed the project.”

Dr. Rob Kim applauded students’ performance as well, he added, “ I feel that it is valuable for our students, and for society to engage in this type of thinking, to increase awareness of the ideas of balancing and integrating agriculture and environmental aspects with creating pleasant living and working spaces and preserving the culture and history of the local communities.”

The team of the work of Live in the Fields is comprised of students of Architecture and Design and marketing, they told, “We have improved enormously in graphing and how to cooperate in the process. Also, it exercised our ability to work under pressure. With the guidance of the jury, we know it is necessary to knock down every concept and every idea, implement one by one. To make the bold conception a feasible approach, there is a long way to go.”

With the urbanization of Wenzhou, the contradiction between economic development and rural culture and living environment has become increasingly acute. The objective of this competition is to address these contradictions by developing a sustainable approach which balances the living environment and development.

Writer:Alisa Lai,Xiaotong Fu