Consonance in urban architecture: A case study in crosscultural architecture through a student design project

The challenge for contemporary architecture in both China and\ud Australia is how to manage the rapid expansion of the urban centres while\ud observing cultural and heritage issues of existing urban environments. Therefore\ud the design of new buildings requires a sophisticated approach to the analysis of\ud the city, including the project site and its surrounding. In this regard traditional\ud approaches to urban morphology research can provide the methods for such\ud analysis. To test this predicament a cross-institutional international design project\ud was arranged in 2015 engaging students of architecture from Queensland\ud University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and Shandong Jianzhu University\ud in Jinan, China. The ambition for the project was for students to develop an urban\ud design strategy for the site that considers the urban form of the precinct in relation\ud to its specific context guided by an understanding and interpretation of urban\ud morphology. Students from China, visited and designed an urban renewal project\ud in a historic area in Brisbane; and Australian students did the converse in Jinan.\ud The paper will discuss the background to the sensitive historic precincts in both\ud Jinan and Brisbane, and review the student design projects through analysis of\ud how an urban morphological understanding contributed to the appropriateness of\ud the architectural responses in relation to each contrasting, yet specific context