Chuxuan Zhang | China Southwest Architectural Design and Research Institute Corporation

Over the summer, I worked at China Southwest Architectural Design and Research Institute corporation (CSWADI) which was founded in 1950 and is one of the earliest large-scale comprehensive Class A architectural design institutes in the industry in China. This company locates in Chengdu, China and I am in the Planning and Design department which is a core department of CSWADI and it includes all kinds of planning — master planning, detailed planning and related special planning, urban design, Concept planning, etc.

I joined several projects there. The first project is a panning project of the rural reconstruction project. I use the techniques that I learnt in my GIS course (modeling geographic space) to analysis the site there, including its elevation, the water system and the shades of the mountains. And I also learnt a lot about how to conduct a planning project during this process and learnt to use computer graphics to draw planning and design plans under the specific arrangements of the instructor of the planning department. We do not only need to do the design work, but also need to communicate with the investors, the residents in that area and the politicians of that city. Moreover, I learnt to understand the laws, regulations, and standards related to urban planning.

Then, I joined an urban renewal project which locates in Chengdu, China. In this project, I am obliged to do some research about the site, including its analysis of the surrounding transportation, the conditions of the buildings and open spaces of that area. Also, I need to make some graphs based on my analysis. The skills that I learnt from the course Digital Media helped me to manage my work. Furthermore, what I have to do is to figure out a way to renovate this area and to think about the question of bringing profits for the government and investors. And I learnt that the development of these areas is different from the newly-built residential area on the general open space. It has its own particularity, complexity and comprehensive nature. Since the old settlements contain residential buildings, public facilities and the external environment of the settlements of a certain historical age, the complexity of their development lies not only in the need for in-depth investigation and analysis of the current physical environment of the redevelopment area, but also a large number of social, historical and policy issues are involved. It is necessary to fully consider the actual situation and comprehensively consider economic and social factors, such as, the relocation of residents, etc.

In all, through the two-month internship experience, I mainly learned that no matter urban planner or preservationist, we not only need to think about the design plan of the site, but also need to learn to listen and communicate. In the preliminary research process, we need to communicate with people in different positions to obtain the accurate information needed for the project, and we also need to conduct field research and communicate with local people. In the design process, we need to take into account the requirements of various policies, and often consult the opinions of local government departments, taking into account the government departments' vision for regional development.