YEARBOOK 2018 - 2019 | XJTLU DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

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WORKSHOP
BETWEEN ARCHITECTURE
AND LANDSCAPE
ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN FOR FUTURE
CITIES
International workshop with Balkrishna V. Doshi (2018
Pritzker Prize Laureate)
XJTLU – VSF (Vastu Shilpa Foundation for Studies and
Research in Environmental Design, Ahmedabad, India)
2018-2019 YEARBOOK Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Department of Architecture 西 交 利 物 浦 大 学 建 筑 系
Workshop poster by Sandro Rolla, 2019/06/10,
Painting by Balkrishna V. Doshi, Vidhydhar Nagar, Jaipur
BY Chenjia Ren, Yixin Xiao, AQUATIC CITY, 2019/06/18
by Xiying Chang, Yi Jiang, Lingke Zhang, Jiaye Yang, Dexin
Li, ARTIFICIAL LANDSCAPE, 2019/06/18
by Ni Shuyu, Li Shuqi, Zhang Zhao, Magsarjav Telmuun,
ECOLOGICAL REGENERATION, 2019/06/18
by Ran Zhang, Tiantian Dong, Menghan Chen, Yue Shi,
Qixuan Hu, Lingyu Wang, NEXUS, 2019/06/18
Intermediate critic, 2019/06/14 Final critic, 2019/06/18
Final exhibition, 2019/06/18, Photographed by Sandro
Rolla
by Haoning Zhang, Lihan Huang, Simeng Zhu, Tshering
Yangzom, Xinping Jiang, Xiaoxuan Zhang, Yichang Liu, THE
GATEWAY, 2019/06/18
by Menghan Lu, Qianru Li, Kefei Qiao, Dongjie Ma, Jiazheng
Liu, URBAN CONNECTOR, 2019/06/18
Final exhibition, 2019/06/18
Creators and Organizers
Sandro Rolla
Juan Carlos Dall’Asta
Davide Lombardi
Teaching Team
Rajeev Kathpalia
Sandro Rolla
Juan Carlos Dall’Asta
Teaching Assistant
Camilo Espitia
Cindy Lai
Daniela Pico
Students
Group 1:
Chenjia Ren, Yixin Xiao
Group 2:
Menghan Lu, Qianru Li, Kefei Qiao,
Dongjie Ma, Jiazheng Liu
Group 3:
Ran Zhang, Tiantian Dong, Menghan
Chen, Yue Shi, Qixuan Hu, Lingyu Wang
Group 4:
Xiying Chang, Yi Jiang, Lingke Zhang,
Jiaye Yang, Dexin Li
Group 5:
Ni Shuyu, Li Shuqi, Zhang Zhao,
Magsarjav Telmuun
Group 6:
Haoning Zhang, Lihan Huang, Simeng
Zhu, Tshering Yangzom, Xinping Jiang,
Xiaoxuan Zhang, Yichang Liu
Lectures
Rajeev Kathpalia
(In search of the Elusive Water of
India, June 10 th )
Yuwen Wang
(Water heritage of Suzhou, June 11 th )
Balkrishna V. Doshi
(Public conversation, online from
Ahmedabad (India), June 11 th )
Final Critic Guests
Gisela Loehlein (ARC-XJTLU)
Marco Cimillo (ARC-XJTLU)
Yiwen Wang (UPD-XJTLU)
Placido Gonzalez Martinez
(Tongji University, Shanghai)
Per Erik Bjornsen (Architect, Shanghai)
Filippo Calcerano (ITABC – National
Research Council of Italy)
Contemporary cities are complex stratifications in which humans try
to balance their life in between traditional heritage and future ways of
living. It is not possible to think about sustainable growth without a correct
equilibrium between the built space and its environment.
As the world progressively becomes more urban our relationship to
natural environment, circadian rhythms and especially to our inner self is
radically affected.
As cities grow and adapt to larger populations often the pragmatic
functionality to achieve an efficiency of speed dominates at the cost
of slower, opportunistic, chance based reflective modes of doing and
thinking in their planning and design. Convenience is at the cusp between
remaining alert, alive and humanly fallible versus machine like precision
and efficiency and often the loss of humane qualities.
The workshop sets out to explore this condition through a real project
based on the city of Suzhou. Instead of defining a program or a problem
to be solved looks at a situation in the city as an opportunity to draw out
possibilities for humane which would benefit residents of the area of
intervention, citizens, visitors, tourists and others.
In this effort, connections to natural systems, landscape elements
connecting people to their deeply wired responses of their past as well
as contemporary infrastructure and current challenges of living in fast
paced, convenient environments are to be balanced.
Six groups of students from the UG program year 3 and 4 as well as from
year 1 and 2 of the Master program have volunteered to participate in this
workshop.
The culmination of the workshop was a beautiful exhibition with video
presentations, models, drawings and 6 posters summarizing the projects.
Balkrishna V. Doshi is a Fellow of RIBA
as well as IIA.
He worked with Le Corbusier as Senior
Designer (1951-54) in Paris and supervised
his projects in Ahmedabad for four
more years. His office Vastu-Shilpa was
established in 1955.
Dr. Doshi has been a jury member of several
international and national competitions and
awards. He has been visiting U.S.A. and
Europe since 1958 and has held important
chairs in several universities. Dr. Doshi is
equally known as educator and institution
builder and is a recipient of Pritzker Prize and
several other awards, honors and honorary
Doctorates.
Other Activities
Rajeev Kathpalia is involved with
Architecture, Urban Design and Planning
projects throughout India for 30 years as a
partner at Vastu Shilpa Consultants.
This critically acclaimed practice is the
recipient of several international and national
awards and honors and its work has been
published and exhibited extensively.
Besides running an acknowledged practice
Rajeev has been teaching for the past 25
years.
He is also a Trustee of the Vastu Shilpa
Foundation a not for profit research
organization in environmental and Habitat
Design.