THEME: NEW RURALISM

Within the context of China’s massive urbanization, the residual status of Rural China is the theme of this first AAVS Xixinan. This visiting school programme shuns nostalgia, sentimentality and the tendency to lament the perceived loss of the rural in the fervent urbanization of China. The propensity to retreat from urbanization, industrialisation and globalisation, endeavouring the resuscitation of an absent past no longer fully nor ubiquitously present. This 9-day workshop takes on the urgency of issues within an increasingly Urban China, which effect the entire country as much as the whole world: Migration, social change, inequity; food and energy supply; agriculture, industry and habitation; and, ecological resilience and sustainability. As such, the verdict for culpability for the causes of the complex contemporary status of the rural does not point towards the technological apparatus of urbanization. Far from unimplicated in the demise of the rural, urbanization will be understood as having direct impact on rural land, culture and its social order. As such the problematic of the rural will be conceptualized from a larger scale perspective than that or isolated cities, enlisting a new scale of regionalism to addresses these challenges. In AAVS Xixinan, advanced sensing, simulation, data processing and design technologies will serve merely the agency with which to propose innovative alternatives to longstanding global problematics.

VENUE

Hosted at Turen Academy, Xixinan village, Huangshan, Anhui Province, China

Hosted in an exceptionally beautiful heritage village, Xixinan, which is located in one of the most beautiful regions of China near the Huangshan Mountains in Anhui Province, China. The venue for Visiting School Xixinan is the campus of Turen Academy, in the village of Xixinan. Turen Academy (TA) is the first independent academy dedicated to post-graduate, post-professional design education of the built, lived and natural environment to be launched in China. Xixinan is an easily accessible sanctuary from urban China. The academy’s independence, intimacy and unique ecological and architectural context altogether create an unprecedented setting for addressing the challenges facing China and the world in this century of accelerated urbanization.

TRAVEL

Connected by daily flights to Huangshan City from China’s largest cities, and by high speed train to Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou, Xixinan is a well-connected retreat from the daily life of Urban China. Students must make their own arrangements for travel.

APPLY

1) You can make an application by completing the online application found under ‘Links and Downloads’ on the AA Visiting School page. If you are not able to make an online application, email visitingschool@aaschool.ac.uk for instructions to pay by bank transfer.
2) Once you complete the online application and make a full payment, you are registered to the programme. A CV or a portfolio is not required.

The deadline for applications is 14 July 2017.

All participants travelling from abroad are responsible for securing any visa required, and are advised to contact their home embassy early. After payment of fees, the AA School can provide a letter confirming participation in the workshop.

FEES & ELIGIBILITY

The AA Visiting School requires a fee of £695 per participant, which includes a £60 Visiting membership fee.

Fees do not include flights or accommodation. By directly contacting Turenscape Academy, students can reserve accommodation, based on double occupancy, and full 3-meals per day board, for the cost of £38.50 ($50 USD) per day. Students need to bring their own laptops and digital photography equipment. Please ensure this equipment is covered by your own insurance as the AA takes no responsibility for items lost or stolen at the workshop.

Eligibility

The workshop is open to current architecture and design students, phd candidates and young professionals. Software Requirements: Adobe Creative Suite, Rhino (SR7 or later)