Dear Archinect community,

this first post is meant as in introduction to our 'China Builds', English Master's, program at Tsinghua University in Beijing, to understand what the program is about. 
The rest of the blog will feature updates from students sharing their experiences while studying here, in Beijing. We're looking forward in opening up China's rapidly evolving architecture community to a broader, international audience by means of this blog and we're happy in hearing any thoughts or comments you might have!

.intro
In the School of Architecture, the English Program for Master Architecture (EPMA) provides an accredited post-professional program in integrated architectural design. It combines a global network with local implementation. The program is focused on the construction of the human habitat in China, and the application of advanced building technologies.

Our overall vision has three main objectives; first of all is the will to create a top architectural program with good facilities combined with high quality education. We attract prominent professors from around the world as well as the top of contemporary Chinese professors and provide a 24/7 accessible studio environment for our selected group of international students. Secondly, the program is to promote international interaction with national & international students and faculty. Thirdly, we connect practice and theory. Our studio topics and sites often concern actual projects and design challenges. They open up the opportunity to practice architecture in the best companies and architectural studios in Beijing, through internships or as part of a particular project team.

“I believe that a good design product is the result of spiritual exploration of ideas with rational thinking, it engages with both technical knowledge and artistic judgment the richness of a good design rely on how the matrix of detail, scale, proportion and commonsense are carefully orchestrated”.
Prof. Li Xiaodong - Director of the English Program Master of Architecture

.understanding China
Besides the regular architecture curriculum (that includes studio's, theory courses, thesis, etc) the focus of this program is to integrate international students with the Chinese context and vice versa. So the school organizes weekly events that help to create a cross-over experience; in this blog you will find some information about lectures, architect's studio visits (there are over 1,000 architecture studio's in Beijing alone), symposiums, study trips, culture experiences, etc. 

If you're interested in a particular subject, area or person; we'd be happy to respond to you!
And if you want to know more about the program, you can check out our pdf booklet in ISSUU here, or post a comment :). 

All the best from Beijing!

m