The 2024 Joint Design Workshop on Sustainable Development of the Ancient Town of Huize was launched on August 11 in the county of Huize, Qujing City, Yunnan Province, by the College of Architecture of Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology (XAUAT) and the Faculty of Architecture of Chulalongkorn University (Chula).

Its participants include 22 teachers and students from the XAUAT College of Architecture with Dean Lei Zhendong as the head and 15 teachers and students from the Chula Faculty of Architecture with Dean Sarayut Supsook as the head.

They will have joint teaching and research for a week on the conservation and tourism development of the ancient town of Huize.

It is the third exchange event between the two faculties since the Chula side attended upon invitation the Silk Road International Conference on Architecture and Technology in Xi’an in October 2023, and the XAUAT side attended upon invitation the Asian Universities Alliance Academic Conference on Design for Society in Bangkok in May 2024, reflecting in-depth cooperation between them in research and teaching.

The workshop is supported by a strategic research and consulting project of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the State Key Laboratory of Green Building. It is under the cooperation framework of the Silk Road International Alliance of Architectural and Technological Universities and the Asia Architecture and Urbanism Alliance.

Opening ceremony and urban planning training are held at the Huize County government

Vice County Mayor Zhang Ning declares the opening of the workshop

Dean Lei Zhendong of the XAUAT College of Architecture delivers remarks

Dean Sarayut Supsook of the Chula Faculty of Architecture delivers remarks

Participants of the workshop take a group photo

Participants visit Jiangxi Huay Kuan in the ancient town

Participants visit Kunming Old Street

Participants visit the ancient town (Slide for more photos)