Young designer determined to improve architecture education in China’s smaller cities

Having identified creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving abilities as key deficiencies among new graduates, the Chinese government is seeking to develop a range of policies that increase the relevance and practicality of subjects across the education spectrum.

FACE Interactive Session

While most education policy initiatives are driven out of the national Ministry of Education and provincial Education Commissions, private Chinese citizens are seeking to make a difference in their areas of expertise.

Inspired by the book World Architects in Their Twenties, an account of the University of Tokyo’s hosting of six foreign architects who shared their life experiences with students, Amanda Leung has devised an interesting academic program called Foreign Architect College Experience (FACE)  for delivery through colleges and universities across China. Through FACE, Leung – a young Chinese urban designer – places experienced international architects together with local students for a weekend of activities and discussions, providing a platform that she hopes will foster architectural creativity and better awareness of practical issues.

The standard and breadth of architecture education in China varies greatly from university to university. In her interview with the China Education Blog, Leung explained, “At premier institutions in the largest cities, students have opportunities to participate in workshops, lectures and other exchanges that expose them to foreign architectural experience and new ideas. In smaller cities, however, such opportunities are few and far between.” It is in these areas that Leung hopes to make the greatest difference.

Amanda Leung

Seeking to run two programs every month, the FACE agenda includes lectures, student design reviews, and open group discussions held over a full weekend. Leung encourages guest architects to discuss not only general design issues, but their interesting practical experiences, strategies to cope with studying architecture, and how they persisted through an architectural career path to reach their current leadership positions.

Having recently launched FACE, Leung has run two successful programs at Yangtze University in Hubei province and Sichuan’s Southwest University of Science and Technology, featuring James Brearley of BAU International and David Malott of KPF, respectively.

Guest architects are available to review student work and exchange knowledge with the university’s architecture academics. In exchange, they are guided to local architectural landmarks, other sites of interest, and have their travel expenses sponsored by the host university.

Leung has had significant encouragement from students, who see extensive value in the FACE programs. Further, some students have received internships to work at the firms of guest architects.

We applaud Leung’s initiative to make architecture education more practical and interesting, and look forward to tracking the success of FACE over time. Feel free to contact us for more information or to get in touch with Leung.