SOM Foundation Announces Winners of the 2023 China Fellowship

This year’s jury was led by Peter Duncan (Practice Leader at SOM, Shanghai) and included Doreen Heng Liu (Founder and Principal of NODE Architecture & Urbanism; Distinguished Professor at Shenzhen University), Jing Liu (Founder and Principal of SO–IL, New York City), and Kongjian Yu (Founder of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and the Cheung Kong Scholar Chair Professor of Design at Peking University, Beijing; Founder of Turenscape, Beijing). All the proposals submitted were evaluated independently by each of the jurors, who then submitted their individual recommendations. Shortlisted proposals were subsequently discussed as a group. Reflecting on the three winning projects, Peter Duncan mentioned that the awardees “provide a unique perspective in researching new architectural or urban design scaled solutions for the improvement of environmental air quality.”

Xianglan He graduated from Hebei University in June, 2023, with a degree in architecture. She plans to study in the UK to enhance her design skills. She is curious about how architectural design can make a difference to everyday life, especially at a time when environmental issues are becoming increasingly serious. She hopes to look at architecture from a human and social perspective in order to become a socially responsible and perceptive architect. She loves life and has been involved in multiple volunteer and club activities during her time at Hebei University. Her proposal is titled “Air Purification and Urban Strategies.” Peter Duncan commented that the jury “was impressed with the overall design research process, which could inform design possibilities from what may be known today, whilst exploring the unknown in the future.”

Bolun Qiu was born in the city of Zigong in the Sichuan Province. He is an undergraduate student majoring in urban planning at Chongqing University. Born and raised in the hilly areas in the Sichuan Basin and studying architecture and urban in the “mountain city” of Chongqing, his growth environment greatly influenced his views on architecture and urbanism, knowing how humans face nature with their ignorance and fearlessness, arrogance, and humility. In another world, he would be an animation director in another world because of the similarities between architects and animation directors. His proposal is titled “Air Justice: A Study on the Relationship Between Urban Form, Social Class, and Air Quality.” Jing Li mentioned that “the research on the environmental conditions of our vertically organized urbanism through the lens of air reminds me of Alexander von Humboldt’s meticulously documented atlas of the great mountains in the world.”

Shuaibo Shi was born in Handan, Hebei Province. He is a postgraduate student majoring in architecture at Southeast University. Shi’s research interests focus on the relationship between climate, form, and energy of vernacular architecture. He wishes to connect architecture and thermodynamics without giving up the tectonic tradition, and provide a paradigm for regional environmental tectonics during his China Fellowship. His proposal is titled “Environmental Tectonics Through Air: Learning from Vernacular.” Peter Duncan mentioned that Shi’s proposal is “a topic of potential significance in both the conservation of traditional villages in China and through learnings applied in urban regeneration nationally.”

The jurors would like to congratulate the three winners of the 2023 China Fellowship and we all look forward to seeing the results of their research in the near future.