Prof. Kong Yuhang Talks about Architecture Education in Post-COVID Era

On May 20, 2020, Professor Kong Yuhang, Dean of Tianjin University’s School of Architecture was invited by the ARCASIA (Architects Regional Council Asia) Committee on Architectural Education to attend the "Architectural Education in the Post COVID Era: The way forward" webinar where he delivered a keynote speech.

Prof. Kong started with the fact that many universities postponed the beginning of new semesters due to the epidemic and pointed out that for the first time in education history, people employed the remote video teaching model on a large scale and gradually promoted it worldwide.

Since the Spring Festival, nearly three hundred architectural institutes in China have adopted video teaching to hold studios, seminars and lectures online, leaving urban public spaces, urban centers, streets and campuses void of people as everyone is working and studying from their own houses.

Pro. Kong analyzed the advantages and problems of remote video teaching in detail, and explained that this epidemic would promote the thinking on architecture education in post-COVID era. Whether the epidemic disappears or survives will have a profound impact on future education.

Then, Pro. Kong proposed that the critical thinking about architecture education might be triggered by the epidemic, and more importantly, we needed to understand the convenience of communication and contact brought by the information age and many possibilities brought by the transformation from physical space operations to virtual ones. “We look forward to living and working in a poetic environment, engaging in ‘pleasant work’ with the people we expect to meet, and enjoying the community formed by the beauty of nature and the development of highly intelligent technologies” Prof. Kong said.

Architects Regional Council Asia (ARCASIA), as an Asian architect organization, is composed of the most representative and authoritative architect societies in Asian countries or regions. ARCASIA was established in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1979. Since its establishment, it has made fruitful contributions to promoting and maintaining professional links, cooperation and mutual support among member societies. Prof. Kong Yuhang is a committee member of ARCASIA Committee on Architectural Education.

By the School of Architecture

Editor: Eva Yin