Webinar with China Academy of Art (CAA)
On October 31, 2022, Canada Wood China (CW China) was invited by the School of Architecture of the China Academy of Art (CAA) to host a 2-hour webinar for their students on the topic of “Building with Wood: A sustainable solution to carbon neutrality.” Nearly 100 students from four majors in the School of Architecture, including Architectural Art, Urban Design, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Art, participated in the event offline.
Founded in 1928 as the first art academy with full academic programs in China, CAA has yielded outstanding achievements both at home and abroad and has developed a unique academic structure. The School of Architecture has a long history, and its educational goal is to train “intellectual craftsmen” for the market. Its architecture major has been listed as one of the key disciplines at the provincial level since the “12th Five Year Plan” was launched in 2011.
Lily Sun, the Director of Business Development of CW China, gave a presentation that analyzed the impact of greenhouse gases on global warming from rare climate cases in recent years and highlighted China’s commitment to the vision of energy saving and emission reduction and the determination to develop new industrialized construction for the dual carbon goals of a carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. Through outreach such as this event, the renewable and carbon sequestration properties of wood are receiving more attention from the global construction industry, with growing awareness of how sustainably harvested wood products can reduce carbon emissions in construction.
In response to the question of how wood-frame construction can be developed in the context of policy support, Lily presented the students with modern wood-frame project case studies. In addition, the audience was also introduced to hybrid structures, modern wood construction technologies and the use of advanced software that can support the design and planning stages.
This webinar not only gave the students a comprehensive understanding of wood construction, but also provided them with practical advice for their efforts to design low-carbon buildings. The need for Chinese universities to train young professionals with an emphasis on hands-on experimentation provides a great opportunity for CW China to develop new cooperations to promote the benefits of wood building materials, and to raise awareness of the quality of Canadian wood products along with the importance of sustainable forestry management. After the event, the Associate Professor of the School of Architecture of the CAA, Qian Chen expressed an interest to develop ongoing cooperation in the field of wood-frame construction, to continue training the next wave of architects, designers, urban planners and artists to increase the use of wood materials throughout their projects.