The Faculty of Architecture has had decades of experience collaborating with top academic institutions in Mainland China through teaching and learning as well as research. We played a critical role in the development of both architectural and urban planning education in the Mainland after the 1979 opening up. Since 2008, the Faculty has reinforced its presence in Mainland China with the establishment of the Shanghai Study Centre (SSC).
The SSC is a vibrant place where people from all over the world and all over China meet. Each semester, a group of students from Hong Kong go to study at the Centre.
The Study Centre aims to be a place where new ideas emerge about urban development in the fastest urbanizing region in the world. The public program at HKU/SSC invites critics with challenging opinions, architects with provoking viewpoints, planners with innovative solutions and academics with new theories – all with the aim of understanding the current condition in Chinese cities, and exploring beyond today and tomorrow.
The SSC was established in 2008 by the University of Hong Kong to foster stronger ties with the Mainland through academic exchange. It is housed in the historical Post Office building along the Suzhou Creek and has been a common and convenient platform for Hong Kong, Mainland China and overseas students to pursue studies in architecture, architectural conservation, landscape architecture, real estate, construction management, surveying, urban design and urban planning. The Centre is also part of the University’s ongoing effort to achieve a global vision in tertiary education by extending its academic curricula beyond the physical confines of Hong Kong.
Besides the academic curricula, the gallery “architecture SH” within the Centre hosts conferences, exhibitions, symposia and lectures regularly – where the public and professional may meet and exchange ideas. The faculty has recently built an innovative Building Information Modelling (BIM) lab in the Study Centre in partnership with leading German technology company RIB. This is a place for HKU students and students, researchers and teachers from partner universities around the world to explore designing and managing design in a state-of-art modeling laboratory.