YEARBOOK 2018 - 2019 | XJTLU DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

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XJTLU Degree
BEng(Hons) Architecture, 2015
Year Out
DnA_Design and Architecture
Master Degree
Master of Architecture, Part 2 equiv.,
University of Virginia, 2018
Current Employer
CallisonRTKL Beijing Office
Zhu Haoruo | 朱 昊 若
ACADEMIC POSITION
STATEMENT
2018-2019 YEARBOOK Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Department of Architecture 西 交 利 物 浦 大 学 建 筑 系
What role do we play in a design project, and what role do we play in a larger context? Are we just solving
problems, or are we creating different perspectives? As architecture professionals, are we making our
statements in a large but mute debate, or are we individuals obsessed in unbeknown labyrinths?
All of these questions were raised and have entangled me ever since graduation from XJTLU, which may be
painful from time to time but also an enjoyment. Starting from the undergraduate study in XJTLU until now,
these questions have changed their form and shape many times, but always remained unsolved. Few answers
appear and more questions arise, and one day a thought came to me, maybe the purpose of this profession was
never to answer anything but to make questions.
ZHU Haoruo(Collaborate with Fang Nan), University of Virginia, Master of Architecture, Folded Barcelona(AIA Washington Unbuilt Award 2018), 2018
Introduction
Founded in 2011, the Department of Architecture at Xi’an Jiaotong-
Liverpool University (XJTLU) is part of a young Sino-British university
situated in Suzhou, a city which falls within the greater Shanghai area.
With construction of the university’s new South Campus underway, in
2016, the Department moved into its new Design Building two years,
which it shares with the Department of Industrial Design, the building’s
facilities of the highest international standards.
Set in China, but closely connected with the University of Liverpool and
the UK framework of architectural education, the Department’s aim is
to offer a new global model of architectural education. The fostering
of the students’ creative and critical thinking skills is an important and
distinctive characteristic of its Bachelor, Master and PhD programmes.
In an environment that is fast-changing, the Department seeks to
educate students in order to enable them to take advantage of arising
opportunities. This includes the possibility of working as a “liberal
professional,” which has only recently become an option in China,
and offers new ways of practicing architecture for current and future
generations of architects.
As a relatively new and uniquely positioned architecture school, the
Department thus affirms and advances the merits of architectural
education as vital to developing critical thinking skills for the longerterm
future.
Department Identity and Vision
With a faculty that contributes experiences in practice and research
in more than twenty countries, the international make-up of the
Department of Architecture at XJTLU is unique in China. It brings
together traditions and opportunities from the East and the West, and
seeks to provide the best of both perspectives in architectural and urban
design, offering new views on the local context as well as on global
issues.