Dean’s message

 

    Peking University’s design discipline has gone through a long process of development. In the early years of the establishment of the national Imperial University of Peking (1898), Architecture as an important discipline had been listed in the Authorized Regulations of schools in 1902. Peiping University established department of architecture in 1928. Since then, the discipline of architecture in Peking University shared the same vicissitudes with the nation.

    At the end of twentieth century, urbanization was at an unprecedented rate, the tension between human and land was at incredible level. Thus, Peking University founded landscape design center in 1997, and its subsequent school of landscape architecture in 2003, which initiated the education and research of landscape design. Architecture study center was established straight after that in 2000, the research and education of architecture revived.

    Another 13 years has passed, great strides have been made in architecture and landscape architecture. In order to answer the call of time, Peking University followed the regularity of subject’s development, thus decided to integrate institutions and disciplines of architecture and landscape architecture. The college of architecture and landscape architecture was established, providing a robust platform for the development of discipline.

    The new collage was named by two core disciplines, architecture and landscape architecture, reflecting that its teaching and research focuses on cross-scaled subjects, as well as the synthesis and whole of the physical space of living environment, including river and plain, and from specific region, urban area, block, site, to an individual building with its internal and external environment. The spirit of research lies in the analysis and understanding of how natural process, bio-process and humane process interacting with physical site and space on different scales, and how to coordinate these processes and physical space scientifically and artistically through planning and design.

    The increasing tension between human and land, the relative scarcity of subsistent resources, the energy crisis, the deterioration of ecological environment in both urban and rural area, the dilemma of transportation and living environment and even the challenges brought by global climate change require us to take a new look at the values and methodologies we once adopted in education and practice of architecture, landscape architecture and urban and rural planning. Over the last decade, the discipline of architecture and landscape architecture in Peking University was set up to improve the living environment, drove by the requirements of talents and development of discipline in the unprecedented urbanization process. This discipline also inherits Peking University’s tradition of “always do the innovation”, explore new concept and method in urban and landscape planning and design on the base of sorting out the traditional civilization and in-depths theoretical research and abundant experience, and furthermore put into practice. In this process, we cultivated a group of talents with independent thinking ability and spirit of innovation.

    The innovation lies in the new value and aesthetics about architecture, landscape architecture and urban that we preach, an aesthetics based on environment and land ethnic, low carbon value, and common, simple beauty of weeds and big-foot. The innovation also lies in the new methodology about architecture, landscape architecture and urban that we explore, a set of scientific approaches based on ecological concern, and planning and design methodology based on artistic pursuit with humanistic concern. The innovation still lies in the mode we explore that education and social practice are combined and finite resources are utilized, which  enables the students to meet the international setting.

 

College of architecture and landscape architecture, Peking University

2010.Oct.1st