Chair: Zhang Xinnan

Associate Chair: Yang Wei, Yuan Sinan, Zheng Ying

I. Development History

With a history of more than 80 years, the Department of Architecture of Tianjin University (TJU) is one of the oldest and amongst the  most prestigious ‘top four architectural schools’ in China.  The history of the Department of Architecture of TJU can be traced back to the Department of Architecture of Tianjin Institute of Commerce and Industry, which was established in 1937, where the famous architects Mrs. SHEN Liyuan and ZHANG Bo taught. In 1952, during the adjustment of national colleges and departments, the Departments of Architecture of Jingu University (originally Tianjin Institute of Commerce and Industry) and Northern Jiaotong University (originally Tangshan Engineering College) and Department of Civil Engineering of TJU were merged and jointly established the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering of TJU. Professor XU Zhong, the famous educator in architecture, served as the department head for a lengthy period.
Through developing over the ages, the Department of Architecture of TJU has emphasized the training system based on the spatial combination since its inception, and emphasizing the importance of the training of basic drawing skills as well as the exploration of creative design. Such pedagogies of architectural design, with the publication "Architectural Spatial Combination Theory” by Academician PENG Yigang as the medium, has formed the distinctly important influence on Chinese architectural education since the 1980s. The graduated students always receive the recognitions and appreciation from domestic and foreign architectural design firms and companies for their deep foundation of design skills, wide scope of architectural thinking, and the humanistic feelings of "native consciousness and international vision." For almost a century, many leading architects with industrial impacts have been cultivated into the field of architectural design practice of China.

II. Faculties of the Department

There are 51 faculty members in the Department of Architecture, including 19 professors, 20 associate professors and 12 lecturers. Since developing over time, the department has formed high-level disciplinary echelons with professor PENG Yigang, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, professor CUI Kai (external doctoral supervisor), Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, professor ZHOU Kai, national master of survey and design, and other young and middle-aged backbone teachers including the state-level teaching team. Currently, there are six provincial and ministerial key laboratories, research centers, and scientific research centers and two international research centers at university level, such as International Research Center of Chinese Historical and Cultural Heritages Protection, Protection and Research Center of Chinese Folk Art and Tianjin key Laboratory of Architectural Physics Environment and Ecological Technology in the Department of Architecture; the department also runs the journals of Urban Space Design and Urban Flux. With extraordinary faculties and a high-level personnel training system of undergraduates, postgraduates and PhD students, the Department of Architecture is at a high ranking amongst other top local tertiary institutions.

III. Research Directions

The main research areas in the Department of Architecture include Architecture Aesthetics, Architecture Design Methods and Theories, Architecture Morphology, Architecture Typology, Traditional Settlements and Human Settlements; Ecological Architecture, Green Building, Sustainable Architecture Theory; Environment Psychology, Architectural Education; Parametric Design, Space Algorithm; Educational Architecture, Exhibition Architecture, High-Rise Architecture, Transportation Hub, and other public architectures and residential planning and designing.

IV. Major Achievements  

While promoting the traditional advantages, the Department of Architecture has paid close attention to the academic trends both domestically and internationally, focusing on national critical demands and international frontiers of discipline, and insisting on the integration construction of industry, teaching, and researching to achieve the subject's comprehensive and balanced development. In the past five years, the architectural students have won more than 500 international and national design competitions. The department has marked multiple teaching reforms which included national teaching reforms supported by the World Bank, obtaining the Teaching Result Award and the designing of a National Key Lesson. The Department of Architecture compiled 22 textbooks of national level and provincial level, and published more than a hundred  books, among which, some specific books exerted global-level influence, such as Architecture Aesthetics, Public Architecture Designing Principles, The Analysis of China's Classic Gardens, The landscape Analysis of Rural and Township Settlements. At the same time, the department of Architecture also shoulders the compilation process of the training text books of National Registered Architect, as well as  compiling and editing works of national and local regulations and standards such as Tianjin Housing Designing Standards, and Tianjin Green Building Designing Standards. More than 500 academic papers have been published at the core journals. The Department of Architecture was also awarded six national awards and more than 40 provincial awards. It also took part in the reviewing, decision making and consultation of the National Center for Performing Arts, Beijing Olympic arenas, Shanghai World Expos, and the rebuilding of Wenchuan City and Mianyang city of Sichuan province. The department of Architecture has also joined the key researching scientific researching projects at national, provincial and district levels, directly transformed hundreds of researching achievements into real practices, and received the Architecture Creating Award from the China Architecture Association, more than 20 national-level and 120 provincial-level reconnaissance and design awards as well as more than 10 provincial Science Advance and Humanities and Social Science Awards.