Daylight in an artificial sky to inform building designCredit: Harbin Institute of Technology
With a drive to improve living environments by developing sustainable human settlements, HIT’s School of Architecture (SA) is a leading institution in architectural research and education.
As one of China’s oldest architecture schools, SA was formed to respond to the construction needs of the Chinese Eastern Railway. Its efforts in cultural heritage protection for towns along the rail line were recognized by an honourable mention at the 2018 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.
Specializing in architectural design for cold climates, in the 1980s, SA led the construction of China’s first energy-saving urban community, a demonstration project for energy efficient heating. It is now leading a design project for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
A trailblazer at putting green architecture and computational design into practice, SA established an architectural computational design system that integrates artificial neural networks, and building information parametric models, to optimize design for green buildings. It also launched a new training programme in intelligent architecture.