Twenty-one YWIES Shanghai Gubei students were making final preparations for their special presentations at the exhibition hall of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University. Some students double-checked the placement of their design models and explanatory panels, trying to make sure that every line was perfect. Others sat in a corner, practicing their speeches in whispered voices.

From mid-November 2023 to April 2024, the students had enrolled in a special architectural design course. Their presentations about what they had learned marked the final stage of the programme. The students' architectural models included a white pottery museum, a dodecahedral rock museum, a glass spherical botanical garden, and exhibition halls and museums featuring themes such as Buddhism, parrots, and music.

The judges were impressed by the students' creativity and the high level of their completed work. The students were able to produce work that typically would be expected only of university architecture students.

The judges remained impartial, even though they were dealing with high school students. Sara, one of the students, had been inspired by a childhood trip to Singapore, and designed a glass spherical botanical garden. After Sara’s presentation, Associate Professor Tan Zheng asked her about how the design would balance the needs of both plants and people and their different requirements for temperature and humidity in the environment. Assistant Professor Qu Zhang reminded the students to consider the scale of their designs, such as whether a sphere could accommodate 5 or 50 people.

"It was a great opportunity for our students to develop their presentation skills and learn how to effectively communicate the highlights of their projects. The Tongji professors listened carefully to each presentation and gave either positive or critical comments from a professional point of view. Both positive and critical feedback are valuable learning experiences that prepare our students for the real world," said Ms Trill Zhang, the teacher in charge of the Architecture Programme and Integrator of the EdFutures Division.

In addition to teaching basic architectural concepts, Ms Zhang collaborated with the school's physics teacher Mr Quinn An, digital media teacher Mr William Ordonez, and music teacher Ms Renee Wu to integrate multiple disciplines and to help students understand of the future direction of multidisciplinary learning. In the later stages of the modelling process, Mr Hubert Hu from the EdFutures Division taught the students how to connect electrical circuits to the models, so as to introduce artificial light into the architectural space.

For example, Ms Zhang introduced the students to the design of the West Bund Museum in Shanghai, which is full of classical order, and discussed with Ms Renee Wu about how architecture could have some type of connection to music. They selected Beethoven’s "Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24 'Spring': IV. Rondo" (Allegro ma non troppo). They asked the students to choose a part of this music, find a location in the museum that seems to correspond to the melody, and describe their emotions.

"We encountered a range of emotional descriptions, such as open, bright, dim, and tense. These initial feelings are precious yet fleeting in any field of art and creativity. Through this class, the students were able to pay attention to these easily overlooked emotions and effectively express them," she recalled.

One student, Jonathan, designed a Buddhist museum, and carefully explained his design during his presentation. As the sun changes during the day, the sunlight will shine on the large Buddha's hand at the front of the museum, on the Buddha statues in the museum, and then illuminate their heads of the Buddha statues. This will enable visitors to feel the compassion and serenity of Buddhism. 

Jonathan believes that architectural design is not merely functional but also an expression of culture and emotion. The shaping of space can give life to a building and make the cold stone and steel seem warm and inviting. "I hope that my designs can help people to experience the beauty that architecture creates and to feel the harmonious relationship of architecture with nature, society, and culture. For me, architectural design is not only a profession; it is also a way to observe and understand the world," he explained.

While appreciating the high level of Jonathan's completed work, the judges advised him to develop his own style instead of relying on multiple architectural languages and symbols. In response, Jonathan said that he hopes to find the right balance and style in his own designs through these imitations.

After the project presentations, the students participated in Associate Professor Cen Wei's design workshop. One of the tasks was to design a "catio", an outdoor activity space for cats. When asked if this task catered to the students' love of cats, he explained that current designs are created from the perspective of humans and emphasise human emotions. In the future, however, the perspective for designing a space might change. What if we explored space from a cat's point of view?