• LINKS
  • BELAB WEBSITE
  • SICHUAN UNIVERSITY
  • CENTER OF BUILT ENVIRONMENTS, UW
• CONTENTS
  • BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
  • BE LAB SEQUENCE AND TIMELINE
  • PREPARATORY SEMINAR AND CHARETTE
  • SUMMER FIELD STUDIO
    • Study Tour in Sichuan and Yunnan
    • Survey and Design Work in Taoping
  • UW TAOPING DESIGN STUDIO
  • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  • PARTICIPANTS
  • NOTES

The field studio itself involved study tours of key natural and cultural heritage preservation sites of varying sizes and levels of urbanization in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, before focusing on Taoping. The studio itinerary included historic neighborhood preservation projects in Chengdu; the UNESCO World Heritage City of Lijiang and the natural conservation area of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Wenhai Ecolodge (Yunnan Province); the UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve of Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan; and both the headwaters of the Min River and its outlet into the Sichuan Plain at Dujiangyan, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. Arriving in Taoping, the studio first toured villages neighboring Taoping at different elevations and distances along the Zagunao river. Students then spent four days surveying Taoping itself, and then a day and a half conducting a charrette on planning and design ideas, and two days presenting the ideas to county government officials and village residents.

Thirteen students from UW enrolled in the field studio. More than forty students from SU participated. UW Profs. Abramson and Hou and SU Prof. Li led the field studio, accompanied by UW Profs. Chalana and Freitag. Chalana provided expertise in historic preservation and rural mountain valley community development, and Freitag provided expertise in hazard mitigation and floodplain management planning. Doctoral students Miller, Yang, and Yue Gong assisted, as did WuHe staff Luo Danheng and Sun Wen.