This week, Paul King and Oliver Cunningham – two senior lecturers from the Department of Natural & Built Environment are leading a year one architecture design project at Hunan University of Science and Technology, our educational partner in Hunan Province, China.

Students are working in groups to design a structure inspired by one of the beautiful lakes in their campus. “Learning by doing” is the ethos of architectural education at SHU, and we asked students to develop their ideas by making simple models in two minutes, five minutes, 30 minutes, then in group of six; exploring the environment – the effect of light, weather, view, activities of people by producing many different drawings.

We have seen some great work from the students, helping to create a vibrant and productive studio session at HNUST.