Tongji University's cultural heritage conservation projects win UNESCO awards

Two projects associated with Tongji University in Shanghai received the recently unveiled 2025 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

The project of Yong'an village in Yunlong county, Yunnan province, one of the award-winning projects, is led by Yuan Feng, professor from the university's College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

This project addresses multiple challenges, such as fragmented spatial structures and limited resources in the mountainous village. It demonstrates a sensitive and context-responsive approach to poverty alleviation through a clearly articulated new architectural language rooted in local expressions.

By focusing on two key public nodes and employing local materials and low-tech, adaptive construction methods, it created a socially responsible and non-commercial public space that seamlessly integrated digital technology to enhance precision and efficiency, according to the university.

The jury particularly highlighted the project's use of digital technology and parametric methods, noting that it enhanced construction efficiency while effectively ensuring overall precision in design and execution.

Meanwhile, the Sihang Warehouse Conservation Project, led by Tongji alumnus Tang Yu'en, won the Award of Distinction. Tang is now a national engineering survey and design master, and serves as senior chief architect at Shanghai Institute of Architectural Design and Research Co Ltd.

This project transformed an industrial heritage site into a public space that carries urban memory and collective commemoration. Located in an industrial district along the Suzhou Creek in Shanghai, the Sihang Warehouse has been restored as a stirring memorial site, bearing witness to the city's early urban history of commerce and trade, as well as the struggles and solidarity for peace in modern China.

Launched in 2000, this prestigious award aims to recognize the achievement of the private sector and public-private initiatives in successfully conserving or restoring structures, places and properties of heritage value in the region. It has honored 305 outstanding cultural heritage conservation projects across 27 countries in the Asia-Pacific.