China: Program Overview
Summer 2025
Dates TBA
Application Deadline Forthcoming
Learn More and Apply
Virtual Information Session
Recording
Recording Timestamp:
38:39 - China Program
UVA ARCHITECTURE: CHINA
This Summer in China Program takes students to Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, the traditional centers of Chinese literati culture. We will examine a unique tradition of spatial production through visiting gardens, buildings, cities, analyzing their design strategies, and exercising the design of spaces with similar qualities. The program will provide immersive spatial experience of a cultural tradition that works with inherent material qualities of things (hence the culture of immanence) and create opportunities to understand both the histories and theories of this tradition.
Through our connections with local universities – Tongji University in Shanghai, Suzhou University of Technology, and China Academy of Fine Art in Hangzhou – we will provide a series of platforms of exchange with the professors and students in China. We will conduct three short workshops to introduce hands-on design experiences to reflect what we learn during the trip. The goals are to expand and deepen cultural understanding, to learn different methods of architectural and landscape design, and to build connections with students and faculty in China.
See this program in action! Check out the UVA Architecture: China article and video as featured in UVA Today.
LOCATIONS
Shanghai
We will visit sites of projects that are both contemporary and uniquely Chinese. We will work with both the School of Architecture in Tongji University, and with cutting edge architectural design practices of Fab-Union (Philip Yuan), and Atelier Deshaus (Liu Yichun), to expose students to the world-renowned architectural firms and a leading architectural school in China.
Suzhou
With the assistance of Suzhou University of Technology, we will embark on an extensive visit to the UNESCO sites of Suzhou Gardens. We will analyze their designs, study their literary backgrounds, and learn from them through new design works.
Hangzhou
Hangzhou is best known for the coexistence of a city and a lake. The lake is the West Lake of Hangzhou, one of the most outstanding cultural landscapes in Chinese history. Here will work with students and faculty of China Academy of Fine Arts, one of the leading creative centers in China, to study the design and history of Hangzhou and the West Lake. We will also look into the Liangzhu culture, a brilliant bronze age culture in China with outstanding artefacts of bronze and jade.
LEARN MORE —
Program dates, Program details, Planning Information, Program Costs, Financial Aid Information and Application Details can be found at UVA's Education Abroad Website.
Please note: School of Architecture students are encouraged to apply for dedicated financial aid for this program. This is a Walker Global Experience Scholarship Program - supported by a generous $2 million gift. Students may apply for an award of up $5,000 to cover expenses such as program tuition fees, room and board, transportation and incidental costs.
All participating students are enrolled in the following courses:
A Research Methods Module before departure (1 credit):
Readings of selected literature on Chinese urbanization (pre-departure)
Training in research/documentation techniques (pre-departure)
Discussions of research directions before departure (pre-departure)
Planning and installation of an exhibition at the UVA School of Architecture in Fall 2025 (post-return)
ARCH 5608 Design Research Workshop (3 credits)
The work in the course will be comprised of fieldwork during site visits, focused workshops, individual development of projects, and presentations. Students will work on individual design research projects that they develop through literature and data research, on-site survey, insights from local practitioners and academics, and an iterative visualization process, with a refined set of graphics, visuals, and text as final outcomes.
Shiqiao Li | sl2fa@virginia.edu
Weedon Professor in Asian Architecture at the School of Architecture at UVA, Professor Li was educated in Beijing and London, practiced architecture in London and Hong Kong and taught architectural design and theory in Singapore and Hong Kong. He has published widely on the topic of Chinese early modern and contemporary architecture, and his book, Understanding the Chinese City (2014), examines Chinese cities within their indigenous intellectual frameworks.
Esther Lorenz | el9q@virginia.edu
Licensed architect and an assistant professor at the School of Architecture at UVA, Professor Lorenz is Director of Undergraduate Program in the Department of Architecture. She received her architectural education at TU Graz and TU Delft, and practiced in the Netherlands, Australia and Austria. She taught at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and exhibited at Hong Kong and Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale and Venice Biennale. She is editor, with Shiqiao Li, of Kowloon Cultural District, An Investigation into the Spatial Capabilities of Hong Kong (2014).