Strong Illinois Connections to New Chinese Conservation Journal
Leaders in the field of architectural conservation from 16 nations participated in the Shanghai ceremony.
The new journal offers a major international site to address issues of cultural patrimony, architectural conservation, and both urban and rural development. It is particularly relevant as an English-language journal accessible to non-Western scholars, architects, and researchers in the preservation and conservation fields, areas dominated in published theory by European and American authors in the past.
Warfield writes a quarterly essay for the Chinese-language preservation journal Heritage Architecture. The “Warfield Column” serves as a popular centerpiece for that highly acclaimed publication. His colorful, graphic essays focus on vernacular architecture as related to design theory.
The launching of the new journal served to reinforce the Illinois School of Architecture’s ties to the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University, which began 30 years ago as a summer program led by Warfield and over three decades has involved over 150 Illinois students as well as scholars and faculty from both Illinois and China.
Tongji University’s architecture and urban planning programs are both ranked number one in China. Warfield’s former teaching assistants at Tongji include Wu Jiang (1989), the former vice mayor of Shanghai in charge of construction and the current executive deputy president of Tongji University; Li Xiangning (2000), Tongji University’s director of international programs; Wang Zhengdong (2008), the vice dean of CAU; and Gao Bei, president of UN+ Architects and the first woman CEO of a major Shanghai design firm.
In addition to Warfield’s role on the board of editors of Built Heritage, Professors Paul Kapp and Helene Silverman continue the Illinois/Tongji connection as academic advisors to the new international journal.