Associate Professor Wang Po-Hsun, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Innovation and Design of the City University of Macau (CityU), led a group of postgraduate students to participate in the training programme funded by the China National Arts Fund in 2022. The programme themed “Cultivation of Innovative Talents in Architectural and Art in Lingnan Overseas Chinese Hometown” (Chinese: 嶺南僑鄉建築藝術創新人才培養) aimed to nurture arts professionals for architectural revitalisation and innovation of townhouses of the returned overseas Chinese community in the southern Chinese Lingnan area.
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The launching ceremony of the “Cultivation of Innovative Talents in Architectural and Art in Lingnan Overseas Chinese Hometown” training programme was held at the Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University. It brought together scholars from Tsinghua University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, City University of Macau, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, South China Agricultural University, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, Wuyi University and Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University, as well as experts and students across the country.
In his opening address, Dr Wang Po-Hsun said the training programme focuses on arts and technological innovation to build a sound talent cultivation system with strategic, innovative, integrated and professional development characteristics. CityU represented Macao’s tertiary education institutions in participating in the programme. He emphasised the values of arts and design discipline in the Greater Bay Area’s higher education development and in Macao’s contribution to overall national development, as well as the role of higher education in helping the city achieve adequate economic diversification. To this end, Dr Wang said that CityU will strengthen exchanges with universities in mainland China. He said that the design programmes developed by CityU feature landscape, humanities and culture and industrial design and emphasise “cognitive and emotional design” and “regional culture and design” to guide students to design better projects by understanding different cultural elements and characteristics. Through the programme, he believed that CityU students will gain insights into the architectural design characteristics of townhouses of the returned overseas Chinese community in the Lingnan area.
Dr Wang also gave a lecture on “Academic Research and Artistic Design of Cultural Heritage” to elaborate on challenges and development trends of the art industry from the perspectives of academic research, technology and design. Facing current development and needs, he stressed that single knowledge background is no longer sufficient to form impressive designs. To explore the architectural innovation of townhouses, Dr Wang suggested looking into the sense of belonging and the needs of the returned overseas Chinese community, respecting the cultural history and taking preservation as the core to innovate approaches for revitalisation.
The group consisted of a master's and two PhD students in design. In their field studies, they visited the world heritage site of Diaolou – the multi-storeyed defensive townhouses – and villages in southern Chinese Kaiping city in the Guangdong province and explore the characteristics of architectural design in the returned overseas Chinese community. The Kaiping Diaolou and villages are known for the complex and flamboyant fusion of Chinese and Western building styles.
Source: Faculty of Innovation and Design
