On Wednesday 9 August 2023, a delegation from the Architectural Design & Research Institute (UAD) of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou visited the Campus of the Department of the Environment Constructions and Design (DACD) of SUPSI in Mendrisio. The representatives of the Chinese university were welcomed by Jean-Pierre Candeloro, director of the DACD, Roman Rudel, director of the Institute for Applied Sustainability in the Constructed Environment, Stefano Zerbi, head of the degree course in Architecture, and Annick Catella, coordinator of the SUPSI International Office.

For the occasion, a cooperation agreement was signed between the Institute for Applied Sustainability in the Built Environment and the SUPSI degree course in Architecture on the one hand and the Architectural Design & Research Institute on the other.

The intention is to renew collaboration in the field of sustainable architecture through the resumption of the Sino-Swiss workshop, which was interrupted in 2020 after nine editions due to covid.

The workshop creates opportunities for exchanges between ten students from the Chinese university and ten from SUPSI who discuss architectural design and the topics of energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings. Articulated in two sessions - one week in China in April and one in July in Mendrisio - it offers the opportunity for participants to get closer to both realities. Coordinated by architect Nicola Probst and ISAAC professor Francesco Frontini with the collaboration of lecturers from Zhejiang University, the workshop will resume in 2024.