The Poetics of Immanence
2025 UVA Architecture in China Program Exhibition
Chinese gardens in the Jiangnan region offer a genuine alternative to the prevalent conception of architecture rooted in the Greek intellectual tradition. They materialize from a distinctive language and culture of poetics, Chinese thought, aesthetic sensibility, and conception of the built environment. In summer 2025, the China Program led by Shiqiao Li and Esther Lorenz set out to experience and explore what this alternative architectural tradition can mean. Through research, visits and the immersive study of the gardens in Suzhou and the West Lake in Hangzhou. as well as of contemporary architecture and landscape architecture in China, students developed approaches of visualization for their findings, each resulting in a carefully conceived and crafted “Folio of Doubleness”.
UVA Architecture China Program
Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou
26 May - 14 June 2025
Exhibition: 17 Oct - 03 Dec 2025, Corner Gallery
Gallery Talk: Mon 03 Nov 2025, 5PM, Van Lengen Lobby
School of Architecture, Campbell Hall, University of Virginia
Program Directors:
Shiqiao Li, Weedon Professor in Asian Architecture
Esther Lorenz, Associate Professor in Architecture
School of Architecture, University of Virginia
Students:
Nolan Brennan, Nicholas Ching, Agustin Cruz, Sarah Federico, Dima Hamza, Matias Hendi, Miki Li, Gordon Miller, Devlin Patton, William Riedlinger, Iliana Rong, Xavier Smith, Sara Soba
Partner Institutions:
China Academy of Art, Hangzhou
Wang Shu, Dean and Professor
Lu Wenyu, Professor
Shi Hongchao, Professor and Chair
Zhao Rong, Professor
Suzhou University of Technology
Hu Ying, Dean and Professor
Huang Ying, Professor
Tongji University
Philip Yuan, Professor
Zheng Tan, Professor
Photos: Esther Lorenz, 2025
2025 UVA Architecture in China Program Exhibition
Chinese gardens in the Jiangnan region offer a genuine alternative to the prevalent conception of architecture rooted in the Greek intellectual tradition. They materialize from a distinctive language and culture of poetics, Chinese thought, aesthetic sensibility, and conception of the built environment. In summer 2025, the China Program led by Shiqiao Li and Esther Lorenz set out to experience and explore what this alternative architectural tradition can mean. Through research, visits and the immersive study of the gardens in Suzhou and the West Lake in Hangzhou. as well as of contemporary architecture and landscape architecture in China, students developed approaches of visualization for their findings, each resulting in a carefully conceived and crafted “Folio of Doubleness”.
UVA Architecture China Program
Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou
26 May - 14 June 2025
Exhibition: 17 Oct - 03 Dec 2025, Corner Gallery
Gallery Talk: Mon 03 Nov 2025, 5PM, Van Lengen Lobby
School of Architecture, Campbell Hall, University of Virginia
Program Directors:
Shiqiao Li, Weedon Professor in Asian Architecture
Esther Lorenz, Associate Professor in Architecture
School of Architecture, University of Virginia
Students:
Nolan Brennan, Nicholas Ching, Agustin Cruz, Sarah Federico, Dima Hamza, Matias Hendi, Miki Li, Gordon Miller, Devlin Patton, William Riedlinger, Iliana Rong, Xavier Smith, Sara Soba
Partner Institutions:
China Academy of Art, Hangzhou
Wang Shu, Dean and Professor
Lu Wenyu, Professor
Shi Hongchao, Professor and Chair
Zhao Rong, Professor
Suzhou University of Technology
Hu Ying, Dean and Professor
Huang Ying, Professor
Tongji University
Philip Yuan, Professor
Zheng Tan, Professor
Photos: Esther Lorenz, 2025