This
summer, Gorenje enabled a unique international experience for the students of
urbanism and architecture at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of
Ljubljana: nine Slovenian students and their mentors visited the Aiyuan Town in
China where they worked with the students of the prestigious Tsinghua
University at an international students' competition 2019 UIA-CBC International
Colleges and Universities Competitive Construction Workshop. Their pavilion
called Lie in Between, set up in the Guoyan Village in China, was awarded
second place.
Between July 31 and August 18, 2019,
students of the Faculty of Architecture teamed up with the students of the
Beijing-based Tsinghua University to build a pavilion in the Guoyuan Village in
the Jiangsu Province, as a part of an international architecture competition
organized by the Tsinghua University. The competition received 101 applications
from across the globe, of which the organizers selected only 15 teams who were
tasked to integrate their plans into the actual landscape.
"We
are pleased to have our first opportunity to work with the Tsinghua University
that is ranked as the best in China and is therefore also dubbed the Asian
Harvard," said associate professor Alenka Fikfak, PhD, of the Faculty of Architecture
of the University of Ljubljana. "This
was the first visit to China for all of us, and we had to understand and tackle
the culture there very fast. Students and professors worked together on site,
and the local community accepted us nicely. They were checking on the progress
of construction, brought us fruit, and also provided some construction workers
who were of great assistance."
The Lie in Between pavilion builds on the
concept of a link between spirituality of a human pursuing the idea of lying
between heaven and Earth. It was erected in the famous centenarian pear
orchard. "We relied on the idea of an open-air theatre, a space
intended for gathering, socializing, games, forging connections. The
locals also immediately recognized it as excellent for playing cards and
enjoying tea," said Fikfak. The completed pavilions were then rated by
an international committee, and the students of the Ljubljana Faculty of
Architecture came in an excellent second in the overall score, amid formidable
international competition.
"Participation
in such projects is highly beneficial for any student, as this is the best way
for them to learn about the materials, to experience the construction errors
and to face the challenge of transferring a project from paper to
reality," said Fikfak, "Therefore, we are grateful to Gorenje and the Hisense Group for
affording this exceptional experience to the students." The Faculty of
Architecture is planning further cooperation with the Tsinghua University. This
year's project will be presented in October at an exhibition to which their
Chinese colleagues will also be invited.
With its social responsibility strategy,
Gorenje has a long tradition of working with a variety of colleges, both in
research and development activities and in inter-cultural cooperation. "We were happy to support the project
of cooperation between the Slovenian and the Chinese university, as it does not
only involve exchange of knowledge and acquiring of experience for the
students, but also allows the two universities to establish contact, and also
waves connections between the two countries and cultures," commented Gorenje's chief managing director Chao Liu.