First bilateral teaching exchange at CUHK

As part of the University’s internationalisation initiatives, the Bilateral Teaching Exchange Programme encourages faculty members to participate in teaching exchange at universities overseas. Mr. Patrick Hwang of the School of Architecture at CUHK and Mr. Stefano Milani of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), the Netherlands were the first pair of faculty members awarded under the programme.

Mr. Milani spent the first term of 2016–17 at CUHK and taught a master of architecture design course titled ‘The Great Beauty: The Design of an Aesthetic Clinic and a Fashion House HQ in the Former Slaughterhouse Complex in Rome’ and conducted a seminar on the role of drawing in architectural research. Mr. Milani appreciated the positioning of the school in a confluence between theory and practice and was impressed by the high degree of commitment and competency of the students at the School of Architecture.

In return, Mr. Hwang visited TU Delft in the second term of the year. During his time at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, he organised a design studio for postgraduate students titled ‘Site of Exception: Architecture in the Land of Proxy Politics, A New Model for the Hong Kong Municipal Services Building as a Settlement Principle for the Northeast Development Area (NDA) site’. The research project challenges the role of public buildings in the New Territories, offering an alternative perspective through the lens of TU Delft students.

‘The exchange has broadened my perspectives on the ways in which design instructions are thematised and implemented, particularly on the postgraduate level, which requires a higher degree of critical debate and autonomous intellectual engagement,’ shared Mr. Hwang. During his time at TU Delft, he also had fruitful exchanges with professors from other departments on the built environment and the development of future collaborations.

TU Delft is a leading university in the fields of architecture and the built environment in the world. With core competences in areas such as public building, affordable housing, sustainability development, and design for a culturally diverse society, its work is particularly relevant to addressing housing issues in Hong Kong.

Under the Bilateral Teaching Exchange Programme, a CUHK faculty member from all disciplines can invite his or her counterpart from a university overseas to teach for one term at CUHK. In return, the CUHK faculty member will teach and conduct research at his or her counterpart university for one term. Each pair of partners will receive an award of up to $200,000 for a maximum of five months to cover their airfare and accommodation during the exchange period. To learn more about the programme, please click here.