| Flying into China is both exhilarating and daunting. The great cities of this country confront each visitor with modernity and antiquity, sparkling skyscrapers and hazy pollution, growing consumerism and extensive poverty, as well as the opportunities and challenges of a built environment, expanding at a rate exceeding that of any other country in history. Against this backdrop is an architectural community that is just now, in the second decade of the twenty-first century, finding its way. Decimated by the Cultural Revolution and overshadowed by international expertise, the nascent Chinese architecture profession and its education system are currently developing young architects who will have the responsibility of leading teams charged with supplying millions of square feet of design and construction. Providing a unique window into this rapidly growing and changing world is a small group of international graduate students studying architecture at two of China's greatest universities, Tsinghua and Tongji. These English-speaking students find themselves uniquely equipped to tell an important story about Chinese architectural education. Through interviews and focus group discussions with students and administrators, this qualitative study documents the disparate and common characteristics of these international students who are also found to be global citizens and natural problem solvers. Most of these students have achieved an undergraduate architecture education from their home country permitting a comparative, knowledgeable exploration of architectural educational experiences. This perspective and comparison indicate that the architectural education system in China is now moving from one that was focused only the most basic needs of an emerging economy to a system that must conceptually address the problems of rapid urbanization, sustainability, and social change for more than 1.3 billion people. Some of the pedagogical decisions coming from this transition emulate choices made in Western architecture schools, however, some decisions, for cultural and practical reasons are quite different. In addition, the perspective of these students permits a reflective look back at architecture education in general, suggesting a frame for understanding the pedagogical and research focus of twenty-first century architecture schools. |
