In this joint design studio with The Cooper Union and under the guidance of Prof. Doreen Liu, our MArch Year 1 students explored alternative urbanism and the possibilities of generating public space out of the existing infrastructure hub in the Gongbei checkpoint area along the Zhuhai-Macau border. The collaboration started in March 2018, when Prof. Nader Tehrani of The Cooper Union led a group of undergraduate students to visit CUHK for a one-week design workshop together with our students, followed by a series of symposia in Zhuhai and Macau.

After weeks of individual studio work and design development, all the participating students reunited at The Cooper Union in May 2018 for a final review to summarise their collaborative efforts, fostering inspiring discussions and an exchange of ideas between The Cooper Union’s Infrastructure Studio and our School’s Urban Design and Landscape Urbanism Design Research Unit. During the trip, CUHK students also visited architecturally significant landmarks in New York and Boston, including Carpenter Center by Le Corbusier, Gund Hall by John Andrews, MIT Chapel by Eero Saarinen and Phillips Exeter Library by Louis Kahn.

This International Collaborative Design Studio is sponsored by AECOM.